No one said it would be easy.

Yesterday, I headed back to RR for my first run in 2.5 months. I was ready to do an easy run, but as it turned out there was no 10K group there doing 6. See, the new 10K group starts today, and yesterday was sort of just an in between day. Well, there was a half-marathon group in store. I recognized a lot of the members of the group and a lot of them were welcoming me back too after my long absence. So, as we were going off I was faced with the choice of joining the 5K group doing their 5 minute intervals, or joining the half-marathon group in their hill training. Eh…I dunno. I think the thing that made me choose to go with the half group is just that I knew the people in it. Sure, they’re all super-speedy but I was fully planning on just taking it easy, so whatever.

As we started out of store, I kept up with the group and felt alright. However that faded pretty quickly. It’s probably due to the whole rush of getting out of the gate, but I seemed to have abandoned my intention of going slow. I was really pushing just to keep up with the rear, and eventually I was just forced to slow down. My heart was pounding hard. My rate was in the puke-inducing 190′s and I wasn’t feeling good. My throat was starting to get clogged with mucus, and I told myself that I would have slow down significantly just to avoid puking. Lovely, no? Well, due to pushing too hard I took a few long walk breaks. I just couldn’t get myself to start running again for a longer period than a few minutes because I was still attempting to hold my lunch down.

What the hell was I thinking when I tried to keep up with them?

I did eventually make it to the big hill, and someone was there asking me how I was feeling. I told him my situation and he said that he recommended that I not do hills at all. Well, since I just ran 2K to get there I wanted to at least do one of the four repetitions that they were going to do. I told him that I would do one and see how I felt after. He told me he would wait at the top, and to start halfway up, so I did. I pushed and I pushed, and I felt like crap! I stopped about 50-100m from the top and I just walked it off. I was thinking about how this was all a really bad idea, so I was ready to head back when I got to the top. However, the guy that said he would wait wasn’t there. So…I thought I’d give it another go. I ran down, and on the way back up I pushed hard for half the distance. Once again, I ran out of steam with 50-100m left and I walked it off. I felt a little better. Sure my heart rate was still way up there, but I wasn’t close to puking anymore. I thought I’d try it one more time and see if I felt horrible after. I got to the bottom and headed back up. Once again I stopped and thought, “NO MORE.” I felt all sorts of gross and walked for a bit up the hill. Close to the top I did an easy jog to get to the top. Up there, there were a few people resting including the guy who told me to take it easy. We were laughing at how we were all struggling. Yeah, it’s funny, but humbling at the same time. The were set to run back to the store, so I thought I would join them. However, when I passed the starting point of the hill, I thought…”I came here to do four!” Uh oh. So, as they continued on, I just turned and went back down the hill! I took it easy. Again I had to walk it off about 50-100m from the top, but it was alright. When I got to the top, I walked it off.

However yeah…hill training is not recommended when you’re coming back from a long break. Holy crap.

On the way back, I took up a really slow pace and fully intended on doing a continuous run back to store. I didn’t want to break once. On the way back I was passed by some half-marathon people that I knew, and they were happy to see me. I wanted to convey the idea that I was doing something stupid in doing hill training first day back. I think I wanted to elicit something in the area of sympathy. I’m not sure how I sounded, but I think they responded with a “good for you!” attitude. Which…HA! I don’t know, if they were aware of how slow I was taking it and how I was taking a lot of walk breaks, would they be so congratulatory? Whatever. They handily passed me. :-p

The way back was great. Sure, I was alone, but one the way I passed by so many RR people–mostly the marathon group, which was only getting out now to do their run. I greeted most of them. I even ran into the kababayan that helped me through my 13K long run. “Good to see you, my brother!” Hee. Made me smile and laugh. It was great to see her too. I eventually made it back to the store, and yes, I managed to make it a continuous slooooow run. It’s all good. When I got back there were the half-marathon people I knew still hanging out in the parking lot and they were giving me high-fives galore. Again, would they be so congratulatory if…? However they do know that I’ve been gone for a while. Heh. I guess it really is something to complete the set despite just coming back (even though I walked though a good chunk of it).

Well, that’s what happened yesterday. I’m going to be doing the 10K clinic. If you pass by, I’ll be the one at the back holding the rear and plod plod plodding along.