Thoughts on Nine

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Things I learned on today's 9 mile run:

1. I am not as hardcore as I think I am.

2. Running with a papercut is super painful.

3. Harry Potter will keep you distracted when your iPod needs to be recharged.

4. When my treadmill hits 100 minutes, it turns itself off.

5. Increasing your mileage requires buying more than just new shoes more often.


In more detail:

I know I said I was going to try my hardest to run outside this weekend. Alas, I did not. I had about a one hour of window of no rain and that's when I was on the highway driving to and from picking up a headboard for my guest bedroom (I FINALLY found on one craigslist that I liked). No less than 15 minutes after arriving back home, it started thundering and pouring again. I will run in the rain, but I will not run if there is a threat of lightening. Therefore, it was the treadmill for me.

As for the papercut, last night my Runner's World magazine tried to kill me. Seriously. I opened the cover and got a huge papercut on the tip of my right ring finger.



Don't you think it looks like I tried to slice the tip of my finger off? And getting sweat in it while running? Ouchie! Yes, even my hands sweat when I'm working out.

I admit I was super bummed that I didn't feel comfortable running outside. I procrastinated as much as I could before getting on the treadmill. By the way, hugging your allegedly hug-starved husband? Not a good enough excuse. He WILL remind you over and over again that you should be running. So, when I finally made it onto the treadmill and turned on my iPod I was extremely bummed that the battery was on its last legs.



So, while doing my warm-up walk, I searched the Tivo for something to watch. I didn't have much luck finding something that would interest me for an hour and a half. Finally, I gave up and settled on the ABC Family showing of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I've seen it before, but I have Harry Potter amnesia. I can never remember what happens in which movie. It worked in my favor today, though, because watching the movie kept me entertained for my entire run. Commercials and all. If I'm going to be stuck on the treadmill for any more long runs, I'll have to keep Harry in mind.

And speaking of long runs, today was the longest run I've ever done on my treadmill. I knew that at the speeds I was running at (5.5, 5.6, 6.0 and 6.1 MPH) I was going to hit at least 90 minutes and possibly even longer. I ended up finishing my 9 miles in around 97 minutes. That's almost exactly what my training plan suggested for today's run. Anyway, by that point I was curious to see what would happen if I hit 100 minutes. See, the time read-out on my treadmill only has space for 5 digits. Two for them minutes and three for the seconds. It doesn't do hours. What would happen when I hit three digits for the minutes? I had to know. So, I did a cool-down walk until I hit 99:999. And in that next second, the treadmill shut itself off. Seriously. I guess it figures you've been on long enough! It's a good thing to know, though. Especially if I have to do any of my 10 mile runs on it.

Finally, I have my first non-running shoe clothing casualty. I ran a hole through the toe of my sock.



And that's even with my toenails trimmed! I'm sad because these are one of my favorite pairs of socks. Thankfully I have a second pair in the drawer. I guess this is an excuse to go shopping, right?

Overall, it was a decent run. I did do a little bit of walking but that was only so I could eat my Sport Beans and drink some water. I tried to time the walks to coincide with where I would be pausing to cross major intersections were I running on the bike path. It wasn't as nice as running outside, but it sure was nice not to be soaked in rain water. Soaked in sweat, on the other hand, always makes me feel accomplished.