race! (and other running, plus extra wildlife.)

a couple of reports.

on friday night i was in the worst mood possible. so i went for a run. well, first i went for a 15 minute walk and i was going to start running but then when my headphones died i thought 'well, shit sucks anyway so i might as well run'. and then i ran for like an hour and 15 or 20 minutes!

here is what it felt like: - slow - humid - easy - scary.

don't know why it was so easy; i just felt like i could go forever, but i thought i shouldn't (see why below).

but why was it scary? because wildlife was everywhere, being too wild! examples include a mom duck and her ducklings running TOWARDS a busy road, why, wrong, stop, so i suddenly got my sprint on and shooed them back away from the road into the bushes... and then right near the end of the run there was a sudden huge DEER in a dark front yard, that was startled into lunging AT me for one bounding and then turning on a deer-leg-shaped- dime and bolting away into the woods, while i screeched to both a literal and figurative halt (as in, i stopped and screamed.) ... still, a success.

then this morning, i ran my first 8k race in ages! it took me about 46 minutes, which is like 9:20 miles so pretty slow for me, but it was hot and there were HILLS that i did not anticipate (because when you tell me the race is on the river, i do not think it can go up and down? because, uh, river? but apparently bridges are long and not flat) and it started at 7:45am which is a horrific punishment of a time, so overall i feel alright. (i was also 4th in my age group. um, this is not a fast racing pack. :)

a good sign from this race is that during the few times i felt like i was genuinely overheating, i slowed down briefly and it was easy to recover; another maybe more important sign is that when it felt slightly uncomfortable my brain was willing to overrule my body, which i have felt out of practice at as of late. so: good work, brain. way to show up. as soon as i was done; like as soon as my breathing slowed actually, i felt like i hadn't raced hard enough; my legs don't really feel it at all. but at the time, i did NOT feel i was wimping out... so maybe my limiting factor is breathing and not leg strength or turnover right now? certainly i was stronger on the uphills than some other people running my speed. it might also be that i'm inefficient at running in heat? not that heat doesn't slow everything down, because obviously it does, but i mean: i would expect to be able to run 9-minute miles in that weather without a crisis, but my body felt that wasn't an option. hmm.

possibly there is track work in my future. possibly i just need to handle being slower. possibly i am being silly. definitely it was hot.

final good things: at the finish line was my friend (who ran her first post-baby 5k) and also said baby, and said baby's father, and then later there was a bulgogi omelette. so, a number of successes.

and now i might nap.