Tales from Yesterday, a.k.a. the Price of Admission

Today started with a 6:30 a.m. conference call, which got arranged at 8:30 p.m. last night, which meant I couldn't go with Jeff to do the CF endurance workout this morning as planned, which sucked. Hmph. That's okay, I'm turning negatives to positives today, plus I'm a Gemini, so I'm flexible and adaptable--which are also my occasional downfalls--so I'll just do the EPOC workout plus my run after the conference calls wind up this afternoon. There, it's settled (picture me sweeping my hands together the way people do when they say things like, "There, it's settled").

For now, I must share Tales From Yesterday. I popped out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and did the WOD at 6:15 a.m. with Coaches JDP and Travis. Here's how it went:

5 rounds for time:

- 30 situps
- 15 ring dips (orange band)
- 9 SDHP (Rx = 95, I did 60 and felt damn good about it)

Result: 4 full rounds plus 30 situps at the 17 minute cutoff

I'm pretty sure no one but Jeff actually reads this blog, but just in case, I gotta give a shout out to JDP. He pretty much coached me through every SDHP I did, and I was oh-so-glad for the encouragement and instruction. High pulls of any kind have been a major weakness for me dating back to ninth grade, when my dad had the revolutionary (at the time) idea of getting his scrawny little cross country running daughter down into the basement "weight room" to help build up her completely non-existent upper body strength. I'm still incredibly weak everywhere but my legs, but I'm getting better.

Anyhoo, as it was, I had intended to run about six miles yesterday afternoon. Jeff and I have a pretty little 6-mile loop that takes us up Shoal Creek, over to West Campus, and back downtown. Nutrition-wise, I was doing well, no post-breakfast "dessert" of berries or a handful of nuts, three almonds for a mid-morning snack (as opposed to, like, ten), and chicken-veggie stir fry with half an apple paleo muffin for lunch.

Then evil demons entered my body and made me eat my weight in cashews and roasted pumpkin seeds. Disaster.

I am, however, a resourceful and solutions-driven kind of girl, so what was my answer? Beat myself up, mentally and physically. After about two hours of mental self-flagellation, which also happened to be just enough time to let the seeds and nuts digest, I put on my running clothes and headed out the door for my 6-miler...plus an extra two miles to at least partially account for the cashew part of the nuts-and-seeds binge.

So how did it go? First off, when you run the Lady Bird Lake 7-mile loop counterclockwise, there's this looooonnnnggggg stretch (it's only, like, a mile, but whatever) between Lamar and Mopac that is mental anguish for me (inexplicably, it's not so bad for me running the other way). Second, that hill on Riverside up to IH35 is a BITCH on tired legs! I admit, I walked it, and even then my legs were screaming. Third, I never actually warmed up, I was just creaky and winded the whole way. But I got through the whole eight miles (clarification: it's a half mile down to and a half mile back from the trail from our condo, so 1/2 mile + 7-mile loop + 1/2 mile = 8 miles--taa daa!).

Any other day I would've stopped at, say, four miles, and I didn't keep going yesterday because of the nuts-and-seeds binge. I kept going because a mantra of sorts came to me out of nowhere and would not leave my head, and it was, "This is the price of admission." And it made perfect sense. I want my lean, muscular legs back--the ones that took me to state championships in high school, earned me a college scholarship, have taken me through four marathons (so far), survived the duathlon worlds with me, and generally haul my fat ass around Austin. Speaking of my ass, I want that back, too. It used to be cute, now it's downright flabby.

More than either of those things, though, I want to feel good about myself and the paths I choose and the direction my life is headed. And that 8-mile run yesterday was one small contribution to the price of admission to the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual life I want.