Awwwe HELL Yeah!!!

I did so much better this weekend than I did Memorial Day weekend. It did not look too promising at the beginning. Even though I had started off right by walking the two miles on Thursday, it did not look very good for the weekend because I didn't do my upper-body workout, which I had planned.

Usually, my upper-body workout consists of an exercise with dumbbells for each of the following: chest, shoulders, back, biceps, and triceps... I do three sets of 15 reps for each exercise. Every time I do an upper-body workout, I try to make sure that I do not repeat the same exercise that I had done last time. This would normally help "confuse" the muscles by mixing things up a bit. Well, I did not have to play such "mind games" with my muscles because I decided not to do a goddamn thing involving either weights or movement.

While I had a few things that I needed to take care of right after work on Friday, I had absolutely nothing going on that night. I mean I did laundry that night... You know that if a person does laundry on a Friday night, it's not because it's so much more fun and entertaining than going out and meeting up with friends. It means that person literally has nothing going on. It wasn't like I was counting down the days of the week at work, looking up different fabric softeners, and drying techniques in anticipation of the extravagent laundry party I had in the basement of my apartment building. NO... I had nothing going on and was down to my last pair of clean boxers. That was the predicament I found myself in on Friday.

I put the first load of laundry on, and I did not have to change it for another 40 minutes. What did I do for that 40 minutes? I went into my apartment, looked at the dumbbells, took a DEEP breath, sat down, and watched Arrested Development (Awesome show... I'd do it again in a heartbeat). This is what I did all night. It was great, but will not do if I plan on sticking with these running shenanigans. I realized this before falling asleep.

I woke up on Saturday morning really pumped to run. It was my goal to get my runs in early in the morning since I sucked so bad at squeezing them in the weekend before (Just realized I put "get my runs" and "squeezing" in the same sentence... gross but funny to me :). I went and picked up me lady, Claire; and we headed off to the park to get our run on. Since she was nice enough to agree to come with me, and I know how much she hates it when I leave her in the dust when we run together, I agreed to let her set the pace. It was slower than my norm... a 10 minute mile, but it felt good to know that I was SLOWLY getting back on track.

Sunday morning's workout was FANTASTIC! For most Sundays throughout the summer, a portion of the Bronx River Parkway is closed from 10am to 1pm so that bicyclists, rollerbladers, and badass runners (like me) can use it. I feel like this is the perfect opportunity to train because my first race (the 10K in October) is the full length of this closed off section of the parkway - Boom! Woke up as if running was the most important thing I ever had to do, picked up my best gal, and went to the parkway.

We started running a little late... about 11ish. So, the sun was out and in full effect. Since I've been training for this thing, I have yet to run in the middle of the day. It's always been in the early morning or at night. But since I'm Superman, I can do whatever I imagine in my head with nothing capable of stopping me. I told Claire I'd stick with her slow-running crap for a little bit, but it was time to do big boy stuff after the first mile. I WAS DYING by the first mile-marker. The sun was kickin my ass, and I was doing everything in my power to keep pace with Claire and look as if SHE was slowin ME down (the male ego is a frail thing that requires constant attention... like a baby bird with a broken wing). We made it to the two-mile marker, which is where we decided ahead of time to turn around and head back. Claire asked if we could walk for a bit. I made it look like, "... I guess. I mean I could definitely keep going if I wanted to, but I'm a good guy. So, I'll walk with you for a lil bit." What I was actually doing was thanking God because if I had to run another 20 feet, my face would have hit the pavement fo sho.

We walked for about a mile, then started back up running again. We got about 3/4 of a mile in, and I swallowed my pride and requested that we walk the rest of the way. I was truly shot. It was the most I'd ever ran. It felt really good when I was done... like I had accomplished something great. I'm grateful that I promised all you ONE followers (that ONE is CLAIRE!- HAHAHA!) that I was going to do better this weekend. It definitely motivated me. I am also grateful that I had a very helpful running partner.

Also, I learned not to underestimate the sun or overestimate my strength... If I had started at the pace I normally go, I would have been shot and given up before the mile marker. I gotta keep that in mind next time I go out. Anyhoot, here's my line up for the week:

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 1 mile @ 8:00 pace
Wedesday - 1.5 miles @ 8:30 pace
Thursday - 1 mile @ 8:00 pace
Friday - Upper-body workout (I promise!)
Saturday - 1 mile @ 9:00 pace
Sunday - 2 miles @ 9:30 pace

Wish me luck!

Btw... Promised you a race... I'm signing up to run a 5K in Pound Ridge on the 4th of July... Less than a month away... Gotta get moving!

Thanks!