Runfessing in May

I can’t believe it is time again for another session of Runfessions, where we confess the running sins (mostly venial) we have committed since our last meeting. Step into the runfessional and let’s begin.

“We only regret the runs we didn’t do.” that’s what I thought. Until yesterday.

I runfess, friends, I immediately regretted taking a run yesterday. Let me explain.

I am not much of a streaker but yesterday was the tenth day in a row I ran at least 3 miles. The day before yesterday, I did a 7.5-mile trail run (which I loved), and the day before that was a 10.5-mile road run (also a good run).

You might think my legs would have been tired after those runs but, not so. What sent me over the edge was playing “water tag” with my grandsons.

Water tag is just what it sounds like. Played in bathing suits, you tag someone by getting them wet. A hose is a viable source of water. So are squirt guns or a bucket.

Running at full speed around our very hilly yard wore me out. My legs felt like they had lead weights attached to them on my run the next day. I was hoping to do some intervals today, but those are not happening. Maybe tomorrow.

I wrote in previous posts about how I lowered my cholesterol 50 points by removing added sugar from my diet last year.

Therefore, I must runfess that after the completion of our recent 4x4x48 Challenge (running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours), I made apple-cinnamon-pecan muffins and cheated on my no-sugar diet.

Did I mention the cream cheese frosting? But they must be healthy. The apples, right?

I have resisted getting a GPS watch for years.

I didn’t want the temptation of being able to sneak a peek at my watch and seeing my pace or the mileage, adding pressure to my runs.

After signing up for some virtual races this spring, however, and using Strava to record the time and distance so they would be “official“, I must runfess, the idea of having a watch was pretty appealing.

The tipping point came when I talked to my trail running buddy, Al. He keeps track of his heart rate while he runs.

I struggled with confidence this spring, especially during long runs and I thought that being able to see my (low) heart rate while running might convince me I was OK.

I decided I wanted a watch for monitoring my heart rate.

Bill, knowing that I would probably dither around for months before finally actually spending the money for a watch, got me a Garmin for Mother’s Day.

I must runfess, I love it.

I have it set to display total distance, time, and heart rate on the home screen. Seeing my heart rate is indeed calming. I don’t think it is a coincidence that my two long runs since getting the watch have been my best long runs in months.

You understand the pressure I am under now, of course, to respond with a fabulous gift for Bill for Father’s Day.

My plan was to buy him a new grill, but he just bought one for himself.

Back to square one.

If you have any gift suggestions, please leave them in the comments!

See you next month for Runfessions.

 

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