Running on Empty

I ran cross country in college, and track and cross country in high school. I loved cross country, but track was a means to an end. It helped me stay in shape for, and keep to my pace during cross country season. After graduating college, I vowed never to run another track workout or race again. Then, a few weeks ago, a couple of my friends, and fellow GWXC alumni, sent me a text message that said they thought it would be fun to run in the Masters Nationals 4x800 meter in Indiana University in March. I agreed to be a part of the team. I figured new year, new things!

I decided the first step in preparing for our race was to go to the track near the apartment so a few weeks ago on my way back from a morning run, I stopped by the track. It looked intimidating. A few days later I ran for the first time on the track doing a few 100 meter dashes, pick-ups, and plyometrics. It wasn't as terrible as I remembered and I thought, I can do this...until tonight.

This evening I ran my first track workout since graduating college nine years ago (that's a long time in terms of running). I decided to run an "easy" ladder workout which for me meant a warm-up run to the track and a few laps on the track and then, at as close to "race pace" as possible 200 meters, 400 meters, 600 meters, and 800 meters and the back down the "ladder."

Turns out nine years is, indeed, a very long time to take off from track workouts. It was painful, frustrating, and difficult, but I did it. I hated every second, which I am hoping will change in the coming weeks. I also ran much slower than I will need to run in March as part of our team, but I am also hoping that will improve over the next few weeks. This training and race will also be a first step in tackling 2012 resolutions 26 and 27 (although I have obviously done a lot of running before, I have never run in a Masters race before so it counts).

Stay posted for track training updates...