Confession: I (Sometimes) Hate Running

Usually I don't hate running. Most days I actually like it. However, there have been a handful of times in the last year that I have absolutely despised running. During these moments of pure, unadulterated hatred, it seems like there is a little HalfGirl devil over my right shoulder. She taunts me about how tired/cold/hungry/sick I feel and reminds me in a sing-song voice of all the other great things I could be doing like sleeping or eating pancakes.

Usually DHG (Devil HalfGirl) stays out of my way, especially during races and only shows up on those days that I am especially worn out or just bored with my routine. However, during this morning's 5k race, DHG made herself right at home on my shoulder, only waiting 2 minutes into my run to start her incessent taunting.

"It's cold. Your lungs are killing you. This hill is a killer. So is this one. So is this one. And this hill too. Wow...you're only halfway done and you had to stop and walk up that last hill. You could be in bed right now. Or at IHOP eating pancakes. Oh, here's another hill. You probably won't make it up that one either."

And so it went. In all I stopped to power walk about 3 or 4 times, for 5-10 seconds each. That, of course, is my trend. If I let myself stop to walk just once, I feel like I "have" to stop again and again. DHG did have a point about the hills though. This race had more very steep hills than any of the other races I have run before. In fact, the first 3/4 miles was nothing but one huge ass hill.

Despite the giant hills and the reminders of how I could be stuffing myself full of pancakes instead of running 25 degree weather, I finished in 30 minutes 46 seconds. That was 4 seconds faster than my last 5k, back in October, which gives me a new personal record. [ETA: I came in 11th out of 19 females in my age group and 86th overall (out of 155 finishers). The average time for the race was 31:16, so at least I was better than average.]

However, I WILL get my time below 30 minutes by April, which is the next 5k that I am planning to run.

Here's a screenshot of my run from Nike+. The spots where DHG were loudest should be quite obvious. (I also forgot to "end my workout" after I crossed the finish line, which accounts for the huge dip at the end.)