Day 2: Humble Pie

Before I say anything else, you should all know that I kept up with Beth and Jen on the track today. And those were possibly the most glorious 20 meters of my running career.

This morning I had a healthy dose of humble pie. A big, fat piece of that pie, in fact. I think it is funny that Elizabeth and Jen who claim to be the elderly here at camp, insisted on a swim at an elderly-friendly time – which oddly turns out to be 10am in the dead heat of the day in a place where there is no shade. None.

I resisted getting out of the car for as long as possible but it became eventually evident that I would melt to death in the car which would be far less austere that a well-earned death on the track. Take a moment folks, to imagine my mindset. I arrived at the track with Beth, Elizabeth, and Jennifer. These girls can run. These girls “love the track” and say all sorts of peppy things about the track. I don’t even know the rules of the track. I’m not even sure if it’s legal to spit on it and I’m too embarrassed to ask. But I spit on the track anyway because if these girls can pee in my holy place (the pool), then I can spit on theirs. Fair is fair.

Back to my state of mind…no track running for weeks and weeks due to injury. Not much running at all anywhere. No way I’m breaking out the racing flats after a period of injury. So there I am in my big, heavy running shoes with no confidence and the knowledge that I am slower than last time I graced the track and my knee is still not 100%.

So off I go with my little run workout all fired up to run like the big girls and of course I went out too hard and too fast and my knee was screaming by the end of the first mile. There were tears of frustration for a little bit followed by some good stretching and a much less painful next few miles. I won’t bore you with anymore unpleasant details of my running today, but lets just say it was a truly awe-inspiring experience to watch those girls run.  And also there is no substitute for having an awesome cheering section while you’re finishing up your 800s.

We have not done much since then although I did have the honor of going to dog park with Boss and Liz. It was nice because I got a chance to run around and play off-leash which is always a big relief.

Our open water swim has been cancelled due to thunderstorms and it’s looking like I might be stuck swimming at what is usually my bedtime. Should be interesting. No doubt someone will blog about it but it’s not likely to be me because I’ll probably fall asleep on the way home from swimming.