Humbling Experience

This morning I met three of my Ragnar teammates and one of my teammate's sister for the HILLY canyon walk. I had planned to do the 6.8 mile version, of which I was intending to run 4 miles. My friends are all LOTS faster than I am (Let's face it: I run about as fast as they walk). I was quite a way behind them the entire time. They had to stop and wait for me a few times. I was trying to keep up with them for a fair amount of the route, but it was painfully obvious that I was NO match for them. I knew this going into it, but it was still disheartening for me. I am SO SLOW. I came home pretty bummed and Tim had to remind me not to compare myself to them, but to think about how far I have come and to remember that I have the potential to be faster. All true things. I just get in this mindset where I feel so confident and proud of myself and think I am a real runner. Then I actually exercise with another person and am forced to face the fact that I am slow as molasses and that my "running" is more like trotting. Yes, I have made improvements. There is no doubt about it. But not as much as I wish I had. I also had to really think about the fact that I will not get faster until I lose some weight. So it was a very reflective experience for me.

Anyway, I did my 6.8 mile HILLY canyon walk, of which I ran 3.5 miles. It took me 1 hour and 50 minutes. I was sore and exhausted when I got home!

I enjoyed being with my friends and I was able to do the course 10 minutes faster than I usually do. So they did push me. I think if I were to do this once a week with them, I would see more improvement.