FIVE MILES!

I did it!! For the first time in my entire life, I ran five miles today. Five miles is a long way--32 laps around the indoor track at the gym, to be exact. I was really, really happy I got that lap counter a few months ago, because there was no way I was going to be able to count 32 laps in my head without mucking it up. ("Umm, lessee, was that lap 24 or lap 42?")

I've been anxious about this run for a while. I had done a few runs in the 4-mile range before signing up for Team in Training, but never a five-miler, and considering how many workouts I've skipped lately and my recent right-knee creakiness, I wasn't sure how five miles would feel. My left knee was a little creaky while walking the dogs this morning, but I thought, "Well, time to put up or shut up," and called Betsy, my sometime workout partner, to come get me before I talked myself out of running. And ate a whole bagel with blackberry jam to make sure there were plenty of carbs in my system.

I wore my Team in Training tech shirt to remind myself why I'm doing this, and whom should I see when I get to the track? My lovely neighbors, Walt and Nancy, the nice people who mailed me a donation all the way from Florida! They were walking while I was running, and that gave me a welcome boost. I certainly didn't want to look like some lazy excuse-making slouch in front of them!

Since this was my first attempt at the distance and I wanted to keep my knee from acting up, I decided to walk a lap after running ten laps, or not quite 2 miles. I drank some water during my walk lap and launched into my second ten laps. After the second walk lap (lap 22), everything seemed okay, so I went ahead and pushed through to the end, though I was definitely starting to fade on those last five laps. I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor, which is just as well--I suspect I would have been mortified at the reading there at the end. I still finished with a big grin.

And then I looked at my watch.
Oh. My. GAWD! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! I mean, on the one hand, BAD BAD BAD BAD AMANDA, because your long run is supposed to be a SLOW run, but holy frijoles, I never thought I could run that fast over that long a distance! WOW! That's a 10:29 pace per mile. Just to remind you, the fastest pace I ran yesterday was 12:00 per mile.

I couldn't wait to show Betsy my watch ("Look! Look! I KICKED this run's ASS!"), and we went and had some nice Greek food to celebrate. I got a hummus wrap and naughtily splurged on fries and a Coke WHICH I TOTALLY EARNED THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Seriously, I cannot even remember the last time I had French fries.

I will continue to float up here on this ALL-CAPS CLOUD OF HAPPINESS until...umm...next Friday. When I have to do six miles. Which I have also never done before. *gulp*