Gossip

Mariana told me that her friend told her not to be afraid to be uncomfortable.

Scandalous.

I woke up on Tuesday, early, and headed to CP for the torture that is speed work. I didn't give myself enough time to stretch, so I was stressed. The threat of re-injury whispers to me periodically, so I try never to start a run without at least 20 minutes of stretching. When we got to our location I tried to cram in some hamstring and quad stretches, but noticed that my left quad was still sore from the previous week, which seemed strange since it never takes my muscles that long to recover; plus, my right side was fine. I decided to ignore it and go about the business of "gear shifting" around Sheep's Meadow. Basically, we started running in 1st gear and had to work our way up to 5th so by the time we were at the the south part of the loop we were sprinting. (This is a hard exercise, by the way, and I highly recommend it.) So, there I was trotting along in 1st gear until the point where I had to shift to 2nd. Still ok, just a little faster, not bad. Then it was time to shift to 3rd, which is definitely out of the comfort zone. I sped up, started breathing harder, thought about slowing down for a split second, when Mariana's friend's words flashed in my head:

"Don't be afraid to be uncomfortable."

I shifted to 4th gear.

"Don't be afraid to be uncomfortable."

Shifted to 5th and sprinted up the slight incline, then came back down the other side, only putting on the brakes so as not to loose complete control. As I rounded the corner, full speed, Abby told me to keep my elbows at my sides and not let my arms cross in front. She also clapped in support.

We were given time to let our heart rates come down before the next assignment, which was the loop again, but this time running the whole thing in 3rd gear. Halfway through I kept up my mantra "don't be afraid to be uncomfortable", and I was very uncomfortable, but at least I wasn't afraid.

I'd love to say this story ends with the heroine empowered and faster than a speeding bullet, but she was thwarted by the aforementioned quad pain that resulted in a major cramp during the last exercise -- sprinting to a tree and back. I've never felt my leg seize up like that before. It was like that runner at the Olympic trials this year who, during his sprint, just collapsed because his muscles wouldn't cooperate. I have since taken a rolling pin to the offending quad and am hoping for a better result next week.

Saturday will be my first long run since the injury. 13 miles. I'm going to stretch like there's no tomorrow. And, I'm not going to be afraid.