Spent After So Little

Originally posted on October 18, 2014, by cruisingrunner

The island of Ha’afeva is great for running, relatively speaking. There is a major road between the anchoring side of the island and the town that is a very well kept dirt road, which means I don’t get scrapes along my ankles, calves, and shins from any overgrowth. There are also many side chute roads that are in various states of maintenance, and they made for lots of little ways to get sidetracked and make a long run not quite so monotonous. And by long run, I mean 5 miles, because that’s about all I’m up to. I ran slow, with “Allstar” by Smashmouth in my brain the whole time (curse you, Alex!) And by slow, I mean s…l…o…w. Knowing this was the first decent terrain I’d had to run on in about 2 weeks, I tried not to judge myself. Not judging is hard, though. I felt great at milestone 4.5, so I extended my goal from 5 to 5.5 miles in order to run just a little bit further than my last “long” run. Of course, I seriously hit the wall at mile 5, and it was a severe effort to keep moving my legs at all after that. But since I had already resolved to go 5.5 miles, I found it impossible to stop, because I rarely stop before I reach whatever distance I’ve set out for myself, only because of abnormal pain or, well, bathroom issues. I say “abnormal” pain, because there’s always a little bit of normal pain with any long run. The last half mile lasted forever, and when I was finished, I was spent. I felt like I used to feel after a 12 mile long run at home. Like I said, I was spent.

I am looking forward to running in the cooler climate of New Zealand. Not that I can blame my pathetic run entirely on the heat and humidity, but it certainly doesn’t help.

-D.