The older two kids went to my mother’s last night, so this morning husband and I had a little bit of a sleep-in with the baby. It was quite nice, actually. We all ate breakfast together and after my second coffee, I started to get the itch to go for a run. It’s been four days since I last ran – the last one was a hill repeat and while my legs felt pretty good, I knew I wanted to try for another 10km this week, so I took a few days off to rest.
After the baby went down for his nap, I set out on my run. As usual, my legs felt tight for the first few kilometers, and once they loosened up a stupid stitch in my right lower ribcage started nagging me. Around 5km, I started to need a few extra 20-30 second walk breaks which were annoying and I felt like I wanted to just throw in the towel. But I kept going, walking and stretching when I needed to. Then, around 7km, I headed toward a splash pad that I knew had a water fountain and I prayed it was still working. (Our city closes most water parks after Labour Day.) To my absolute delight and utter relief, the splash pad was running. So, not only did I stop for a drink of water, I also ran through the water a few times to cool off.
I felt energized after that and kept going. The damn side stitch came back though and made the last 2km tough. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I beat my first two 10km times by almost 3.5 minutes! Say whut?!?! I have no idea how that happened. I certainly didn’t run a negative split, but I suppose a few faster splits made all the difference. I also wonder if the hills I’ve been doing once a week may also be helping. You tell me!
To say I was surprised at my time is a bit of an understatement. Shocked is more like it. I felt so incredibly sluggish through most of this run, not to mention having to abandon some of my intervals to walk a bit extra here and there, I feel like I can hardly say this was a solid 10km. But then again, I did travel a distance of 10 km and overall ran about 85% of it, so I should probably stop beating myself up about it.
Then, about an hour after the run, husband wanted to go for a bike ride with me and the baby. A couple of friends of ours joined us and we had a fantastic afternoon. I saw a blue heron, a crazy mudslide, and we rode 21.9 km.
After a much-needed shower, I took a nap.
On this Saturday, records fell, indeed.