ode to Pilot VBall
I'm still running that ridiculous dog a couple times a week. When I started (back in July? or June, maybe?) I was doing about a mile and a half in a little over 18 minutes. I quickly got down to under 17 minutes, and decided that my goal would be to do a lap in 15 minutes, for a ten-minute-ish mile. That would be pretty good. When I came in one day at 15:21, I decided to go ahead and do a second lap, which I'd been planning on doing when I could do one lap in 15 minutes - I figured at that point that being able to do two laps would eventually also help me keep up a faster pace. That was awhile ago, and I'd do two laps and then hurt for a couple of days. The hurting is decreasing, though, which I'm taking as a good sign.
I've been so close over the last few weeks to hitting the 15 minute mark. Once we were going really strong and then the dog stopped to poop, which really shouldn't make me mad, and I guess it didn't really make me mad, but I do wish she could have done that on the second lap. We came in at about 15:38 for that one. Then, this week, we came in at a heartbreaking 15:01.
Today we came in at 14:39. I don't really know what the hell happened, although I suspect the wind had something to do with it. I also suspect that walking will be slightly painful tomorrow.
It's been interesting to work at this over several months. It occurs to me as I'm writing this that I should set a new goal now that I've hit the 15:00 one, although if past experience is any guide, I bet it will be hard to hit again for awhile.
To my shock, I'm dreading stopping for the winter, which will likely involve lots of un-jog-able snow. It's enough to make me contemplate trying to find an indoor track where I can run a couple of times a week, because as much as I do not enjoy running, the idea of falling back out of shape is even worse.
I went into this whole endeavor expecting it to get easier, but really, for months it just sucked a whole lot. After I gave up on it ever actually feeling good to run (which happened about a week and a half ago), it started not sucking as much. But seriously, until very recently, I would just run along mentally cursing and hating every second.
Maybe I'll add a third lap once my combined time for two laps breaks 31 minutes. Although at some point, more running will cease to be a motivating reward for going faster.
I've been so close over the last few weeks to hitting the 15 minute mark. Once we were going really strong and then the dog stopped to poop, which really shouldn't make me mad, and I guess it didn't really make me mad, but I do wish she could have done that on the second lap. We came in at about 15:38 for that one. Then, this week, we came in at a heartbreaking 15:01.
Today we came in at 14:39. I don't really know what the hell happened, although I suspect the wind had something to do with it. I also suspect that walking will be slightly painful tomorrow.
It's been interesting to work at this over several months. It occurs to me as I'm writing this that I should set a new goal now that I've hit the 15:00 one, although if past experience is any guide, I bet it will be hard to hit again for awhile.
To my shock, I'm dreading stopping for the winter, which will likely involve lots of un-jog-able snow. It's enough to make me contemplate trying to find an indoor track where I can run a couple of times a week, because as much as I do not enjoy running, the idea of falling back out of shape is even worse.
I went into this whole endeavor expecting it to get easier, but really, for months it just sucked a whole lot. After I gave up on it ever actually feeling good to run (which happened about a week and a half ago), it started not sucking as much. But seriously, until very recently, I would just run along mentally cursing and hating every second.
Maybe I'll add a third lap once my combined time for two laps breaks 31 minutes. Although at some point, more running will cease to be a motivating reward for going faster.
<< Home