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April 23, 2006
Running Backwards
Today I did the impossible. I ran backwards.
Before you think I've gone crazy - let me explain. I went out for my long run this afternoon (being inspired by so many runners at the London Marathon) to clear my head and relax a bit. I started out great... until after 400m my Garmin suddenly decided that it didn't have a signal anymore and started flashing the little dish at me. 200m later I stopped and stretched and when Garmin still didn't want to pick up a signal reset it, switched it off, switched it on and within seconds it had picked up a signal and I was on my way again.
Now I have a tendency to check the watch every time it goes off to let me know a km had passed. There's something about knowing how fast I did the last kilometer in that just makes me feel good. The first kilometer went by, then the second... I had settled into a lovely pace by now and the music on my iPod wasn't bad either. 700m later I looked at my watch and estimated where the third km beep would take place. As I approached the spot I looked down.... and nearly stopped dead in my tracks. My Garmin was now telling me that I had run 1.95km so far... a whole km got lost between the 2.7km mark and where I was at that moment.
A little upset with it all, and not trusting the mechanism of doom on my arm anymore, I decided that the one thing it couldn't lie about was the time I had been running (then again, it is evil, so it could) and with a decision to disregard the distance and go on the time from that moment on, I finished my run many kilometers later.
As I stopped, my legs turned to jelly. Stopping on a hill was probably not the best idea I've had in ages, but then again, it all makes for good training.
Now I'm sitting here with ice on my legs, hoping that this evening won't go so quickly that by the time I go to bed, it is too late for me to get a lot of sleep.
Posted by karinm at April 23, 2006 7:37 PM