I kick ass.

I so did not want to do my interval workout tonight. I think I was just scared, because I hadn't looked at the schedule until this afternoon, and when I did it said "6 x 800, 400 jog". oh lord. mentally, I wasn't really prepared for this. I mean, I vividly remember doing the exact same workouts when I was in season in cross country in high school. It was hard then. I'm not in that sort of shape. No way can I hammer out 6 800's. I could barely handle 7 400's last week, and I was supposed to do the 800's this week at the same pace that I had difficulty doing the 400's at last week. ugh. Not only that, I got out of work late, so I hadn't eaten a good meal in a while. hmph.

But I hopped on the treadmill. I did a warmup mile. And then I started hammering them out. 800 at 4:00 pace. 400 jog. repeat. I walked for .08 miles after I was done with the third set, mostly so that I could take a big swig of water and thoroughly wipe the sweat from my face. Then I headed back to it. The last 3 I did at 4:03 pace, but I did all 6 of them. and I felt good. triumphant, if you will. I am in that kind of shape. I'm ten years older, but I still kick ass. We never used to jog 400's between intervals back then. We took a much larger recovery time, to the point where our coach would be tapping his foot, waiting for us to get back to it. I had my entire workout done in an hour. that was unheard of back then. I may not be quite as quick (I honestly don't remember what I used to run 800 intervals at in high school), but I'm also not training for only a 5k, so that doesn't matter. Back in those days, 10k seemed like an unbearable distance. Now I'm eyeing a 50k and wondering if I could possibly, possibly, be ready in the next year? I've come so far; I don't need my mind telling me what I can or cannot do. My body will be more than willing to take on that task itself. I just need to listen when my body talks to me, and learn to accept it and back off if I'm going beyond my physical bounds.

but I can do this. and I will. because I am better than I was back then. I am awesome.