If it doesn't hurt, you're not really running

So this past week was my first 40 mile week.  17 miles last Sunday, 8 on Wednesday, 5 on Thursday, and 10 on Saturday.  Then today I did the Nike + 10k.  It was GREAT!  I've decided I need to sign up to do more races.  It's very motivational - instead of just running, you feel like you have to push yourself harder.  I reworked my play list and added some new songs, including Ok Go's "Here We Go" and Fort Minor's "Remember the Name."  Remember the Name is my new song!  When I become a famous runner and I enter an arena (they don't really do that for runners, do they) or I have a Nike commercial, I will do it to Fort Minor's "Remember the Name."  

"This is 10 percent luck, twenty percent skill

Fifteen percent concentrated power of will

Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain

And a hundred percent reason to remember the name"

This song really powered me through my work out and made me pick up my pace.  That's the power of a good song, and also of a new song.  Putting a new song in your playlist will give you an extra boost in your workout.  After the first 2k, I realized that I hadn't run like that in a long time.  It hurt.  I was winded.  When I finished my 10k, I had to sit down for a minute.  That is running.  Now, I'm the first one to say that you can't do that all the time.  You'll make yourself sick if you don't learn pacing and you seriously can't always do anaerobic work outs.  But I had a math teacher in high school who was also a track coach - he told us a story once about a kid who really wasn't very good at track.  But this kid tried his heart out and in the final meet of the season, he ran so hard that when he crossed the finish line, he puked his guts out.

Let me tell you one thing.  If I don't pass out or puke from exhaustion after I finish this marathon, I know that I didn't push myself to my limit.  And that's just totally unacceptable.

Later today, I went to a beginner's yoga class.  I know some of the basics, but I'm still not that great, so I stick with the ones that are for beginners, all levels, or I just go to Pilates classes (I took that in college, haha).  We had to start with "ohm" again but this time I actually just did it and only snickered a little.  And when we did it at the end, I didn't even laugh.  There was significantly less picking of the feet in this class, although I have to admit that my flexibility is no better.  My hamstrings are incredibly tight, which was, of course, noted by the class because today the instructor picked me to use as her example.  I was really surprised when she asked me if she could use me, so I just said yes.  I haven't decided if this is because she figured I would need the most help out of anyone and just wanted to help me herself, or if she just thought I looked like a sucker.  Both are very possible.  But she had me do a downward facing dog, which I hate, and then pushed down on my back to get me to pull back my shoulder blades.  Then she had me do a downward dog on my forearms and proceeded to put her foot between my shoulder blades and told me to put one of my feet on the wall and straighten my leg.  Then she had me put the other leg up to join it.  So I was on my forearms, with both legs straight out on the wall.  I'm not describing this well...but basically I never thought I could do anything like that and it was really....FUN!  It was fun to do one of those crazy "yoga" things.  And the instructor's attitude was really refreshing - someone asked if my legs were supposed to be bent and she said that it was just cause my hamstrings were tight (which she knew without ASKING me) and when people kept being nit-picky about my form and where I was on the mat, she said, "C'mon people, it's just YOGA!"  She was great.  It was the best yoga class I'd taken so far.  

Total miles: 10 Saturday, 6 Sunday

Total miles/bribe $ earned: 28 miles, $28