Week 7: 10 Mile Run/30 min Swim

We just didn't want to do the 4 mile tempo run this week. I was actually a little sore after Tuesday's 10-Mile Pace Run and didn't want to push it. I don't know if "sore" is the right word, but I definitely wasn't recovered. I was happy to hear that both Thon and Amy were feeling the same way. We constantly remind ourselves that our Marathon is still a very long 2 1/2 months away at this point so we have permission to back it off a bit. After the Chicago Marathon people run their race in a few weeks, it's time for us to pick it up. Actually, I'm going to Columbus the weekend of the Columbus Marathon and I'm thinking of running the Half to give myself a good gauge of where I'm at. We'll see...My brother is running the full marathon so I also want to be there to cheer him to the finish!

Thon, Amy and her friend Marissa joined me yesterday for a run. We weren't really sure what our goal was. Of course, we saw Gilbert and he wanted us to do the Pace Run, but we talked him out of it. "Next time Gilbert." I was up for 7-10 miles and Amy only wanted to do 7. Soooo, Thon gave in and decided to run the 10 miles with me. Our first 4-5 miles were in the 9min per mile range and our last five were basically 8:20s-8:40s giving our overall pave around an 8:35 for the morning. It wasn't technically a recovery run and it definitely wasn't a pace run. We'll call it a steady distance run with slight revovery.

Since I had some time after the run, I decided to head over to Stacy Pool for a 30-min pool workout. Every little bit helps, right? I did about 300-400 warmup, pull/buoy for about 300-400 and fins for about 300-400. Nothing spectacular, but it was something and a good way to cool off from the run.

I also witnessed one of the funniest things I've seen in a long while. My God, it brought back memories. While I was swimming at Stacy, there was also an elementary school gym class taking place with swim lessons. Well, at about the time I was wrapping up my workout and heading to the shower, the class was also finishing and the girls were coming to my locker room as the boys headed to theirs. The kids were probably 10-11 years old. Of course, you could hear the boys hooping and hollering in their locker room and flicking each other with towels. A couple of the girls started talking, "God. Can you believe how immature the boys are?"

"I bet they never grow up," said the other one.
"Well, as long as I have you girls, I'll be fine, " said the first.

I wanted so badly to shout out, "AMEN Sister," but I didn't want to scare them for the rest of their lives!

Another girl was talking about one of the boys named Alex. Her friend asked, "Do you like him?" To which the girl replied, "NO! I've got the Alex Shield up. I'm only trying to help him learn how to swim, but that is it!" You could tell her friend could see right through that one. I could to! Her crush on Mr. Alex was so obvious and cute.

I, too, could witness the incsecurities of women. Some girls went into the stalls to change their clothes because they felt uncomfortable. Some couldn't give a damn who saw them. Actually, one said, "We're all girls. Who cares??" You could watch them maneuver their shirts over their towels so that no one could see. Hell, I was doing the same thing because I didn't want this old bag to freak them out. Their insecurities made me go right back to my insecurities. Finally, once all the girls walked out, one final student walked in and she was pretty overweight. I don't know if she had just gotten out of the pool or if she waited intentionally until no one else was left, but she quietly and covertly changed into her school clothes by herself, making sure her back was turned away from me. My heart went out to this girl and I just wanted to give her a pep talk and a hug. I had a feeling she doesn't get a lot of positive affirmation from friends or family.

I left with a smile of nostalgia because I remembered vividly what it was like to be in all of those situations...insecure, in a crush with a boy and scared to let anyone see me. I also quickly realized that not much really changes as we become adults.

Boys will still flick each other with towels.