Run Naked...

I ran naked Saturday...as in no Garmin. Totally forgot it at home.

I sometimes always run faster when I leave the Garmin behind. I got my 5k and 10K PR's when I ran naked. Running is so mental and I know I am a weakstick when it comes to running and pace. If I look at my Garmin and see a 7:50 min/mile pace I freak out and slow down. Even if I'm feeling good. But I'm a stats geek and love to have the stats from all my runs, even if it makes me run slower.

So remember the marathon relay I mentioned in the last post? The one where we discovered AFTER registering that it would be 16 laps of 1.67 miles? Yeah...I was pretty worried about it but it turned out to be really cool. The "lap" was a trail through the trees with many twists and turns and ups and downs. It didn't get boring or old at all. We decided to switch off every lap. I'm not sure if that was the best idea but it seemed like a good one at the time. My first 5 laps were pretty great but by the start of my 5th lap I was getting pretty tight. I was able to hold off any one passing me except for maybe a couple of dudes. I felt like I was running pretty good when all of a sudden a chick flew by me. It ticked me off...she was blazing. Fast. Like I wanted to yell at her, "Only you can stop forrest fires!" But she was too fast and wouldn't have heard me. She was on a team of 4 and her team ended up finishing the marathon in 2:58 with an overall 6:48 min/mile pace. They were sick (in the nicest complimentary way)! She passed me and I had to let her go...It made me mad.

Running these laps reminded me of my cross-country days when we would do mile sprint repeats on a dirt road we called "The Hill" (it was a mile long). I remember one day in particular when I went home so mad because we had run 14 miles in one day. I thought that was torture. Absurd! Abuse! We had to run two miles to The Hill and then did 5 mile sprints with a recovery jog back to the bottom of the hill just to sprint it again. Then we had to run back to school. Those were the days. And Saturday's relay was much the same.

8 times I ran that loop. 8 times I could not wait to give the stupid baton to my teammate so I could go sit down. While I sat down and recovered the blazing fast team of crazy fast girls were running back and forth, jogging and staying warm. Not getting tighter and tighter...like me. I knew they had the right idea but I didn't care.

In the end me and my teammate won the Female 2 Runner Division! We were super happy with our performance!

Got our 1st Place Mugs!

So the 16 laps weren't so bad...thankfully the trail and scenery were enjoyable. I am so sore today and I'm pretty sure it's from sitting around between laps. I tried to stretch but I didn't stay lose. I almost want to say I am sorer than I have ever been. I'm so sore that the thought of my Sunday night hot yoga actually makes me hurt worse. My calves and hips and hamstrings and my knee and my back hurt.  In fact, I think I'll go back to bed right now....

And of course the Signature Pose....