Bionic Woman

On Sunday I ran 7 miles all by myself. Huge. I was a little scared, but it turned out to be one of my best runs yet. I realized that I really do all of my runs by myself, the actual running part. Going with friends is my favorite, but I think I am past the point of needing motivation just getting to the parking lot or trailhead. Dare I say trustworthy to myself now. Ha!

I ran the 7 miles in 1:21 which is a 11:34 pace, improvement. A couple funny things happened during the run. At about mile 1 I started walking in order to shed a layer. I had wrapped my long sleeve around my waist and was trying to put my Camelbak back on, but could not find one end of the fastex buckle to clip together. Annoying! I had to backtrack to find it and wasted about 5 minutes there.

The other weird thing happened at about mile 3. It's a popular trail and it was on the weekend so there were plenty of people out. As you get further in, though, you see fewer people and farther between. Sometimes at that point I start thinking about mountain lions and rabid foxes(a Prescott problem) and bad people. I think about what I would do if encountered. I think I've successfully rationalized to myself that if a mountain lion wants to get me he is going to get me. I will do my best to fight back, gouge his eyes out and whatever else comes to me in the moment, but really, there's nothing I can do about it. My husband would argue "it's a good way to go".

I have plans for a rabid fox.

Then there's the creepy guy. As I was running I saw a walker going in the opposite direction, walking toward me. He didn't quite fit the mold of the people on this trail - one of these things is not like the other type thing. As he passed me I wanted to turn around to make sure he was continuing on his way. As I turned to look over my shoulder, I simultaneously saw something moving quickly at me and heard the ground crunching underfoot loudly. At that moment time slowed down tremendously (this is when the Bionic Woman noise played in my head). I was experiencing a crazy adrenaline rush and high. Finally (probably 1 second had passed) my vision cleared and a biker nearly took me out as he whizzed by me from behind. I did kind of a jump hop, as in fight or flight, to take on the perpetrator. Whew! It was an intense physical reaction that I've never quite experienced. During the next minute of running I settled down and eventually laughed at myself and the whole situation. I think I was ready to fight though!

I took a gel at mile 4 and drank water pretty consistently throughout the run. Incredibly my last mile was my fastest, a 10 minute pace! Another fact worth mentioning is that I'm running the entire time now instead of a run/walk combination. That is a goal reached in itself. Go me!

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