Training Run 7 - 2.5 Miles

whoops, i did 0.5 more than i was supposed to. my bad. i also ran the reverse of this route, starting south on eastlake, then up the ramp onto fairview.

this was more than a good run. this was a kick-ass, hell-yeah, i'm so happy that i'm doing this sort of run. 22 minutes, kids. despite the hills, i finished this mother in 22 minutes! now, i know that a lot of you could do this much, much faster and you're awesome for it. just realize that it's been hard to recognize that i devolved so quickly, and that it's taken a lot of patience for me to get through being slower and more awkward than i used to be. any sign of improvement buoys me and helps me through the harder days, and running an almost-three-miler that quickly...well, yeah. it's definite improvement. :D

i usually hate any sort of hill. hills are more tiring, they do a number on my glutes and back, and i think that i have a bit of a mental hang-up when i see them. they intimidate me. having run the seattle half-marathon in 2008, i can tell you that there is no room for hill-intimidation. you finish mile 8 and all of a sudden, you have to run up Madison for nearly a mile. Seriously! (...ookay, i may be exaggerating, but it's still a BFH). then you get a bit of a downhill before taking on Interlaken, which runs at a small (but noticeable) grade for a few miles. it's nearly sadistic! so, yeah. i'm trying to train appropriately. it seems only wise to get myself used to running hills, especially after i've already run over half of my route. this way i'll train my body for everything that makes the seattle half so difficult.

that said, it was really fun getting up to the top of the ramp onto Lakeview. You get to see all of Lake Union, the Aurora Bridge, the Olympic Mountains to the west if you're lucky. On a smaller scale, and especially if you've just run from the lowest point on Eastlake, you get to look down on tall buildings that had towered over you when you started. doing so made me feel powerful, as though i'd just conquered a mighty enemy through sheer determination alone.

even though this was a good one, i have to say: holy calf cramping! the pain seems to express itself most in the area of my soleus, and i can feel that it's tighter when i'm at yoga, trying to do the downward dog without yelping. i stretch, and i'm eating bananas on a somewhat regular basis. i've never really had issues with my calves cramping before, either. any seasoned vets out there have some advice for me?