The Spirit of the Thing

Week 7 Day 4

Duration: 104 minutes (1 hour 44 minutes)

Warm up: 5 minutes 

Jog: 94 minutes (1 hour 34 minutes)

Cool down: 5 minutes

6.36 miles/10.24 kilometres

Warm up was done at 3.2mph.  Jog started at 3.6mph and I did that for 34 minutes.  Then I went to 3.7mph for 30 minutes.  The last 30 minutes were done at 3.8mph.  Cool down was done at 3.2mph.

At no point during this workout did I want to quit nor did I wish for it to be done faster.  LOL!  To be honest I really enjoy these longer workouts because they're done at a nice steady pace.  It's the faster, harder spurts that I have trouble with on the shorter runs but I know they're just making me stronger and boosting my endurance for the end goal so I push through.  

Today I tried something new as I've been finding these longer workouts super boring.  Instead of listening to music I put on a podcast.  I love podcasts and have so many favourites but one of my all time favourites is (or was) The Nerdist Podcast with Chris Hardwick.  It's no longer called that though.  It's now ID10T w/Chris Hardwick.  Same format and style, just a different name.  The episode I listened to today was with Danai Gurira who plays the character Michonne from The Walking Dead and is in the new Black Panther movie.  If you're not familiar with The Nerdist/ID10T the best way to describe it is a laid back, conversational interview.  It just sounds like friends chatting and not a formal interview at all which is what I love about it.  I adore Chris Hardwick and all he does.  He also has The Talking Dead which is on right after The Walking Dead and if you're a TWD fan I highly suggest watching Talking Dead afterwards.  

Near the beginning of the podcast Danai talks about "the spirit of the thing" and it really resonated with me.  It's really what this whole thing is about, the spirit of it.  The energy of the other runners at the event.  The crowd full of friends and family surrounding the participants cheering them on.  The volunteers handing out water and offering encouragement throughout the race.  Crossing that finish line and having someone put that medal around your neck.  Even the blood, sweat and tears (literally) that goes into the training.  It's all a part of the whole experience.  The spirit of the thing.  Now Danai wasn't talking about running, it was something else, but it's the essence of it those words stuck with me.  

The podcast was a super great idea and made the workout go by super fast.  It was just over and hour so after it was done I listened to some music from my running playlist to finish off the jog.  I will definitely be listening to more podcasts during the long runs and likely during the run on race day.  If you have any you really love, please share them with me!  I'm always up for some new podcasts to listen to.

Today's run is dedicated to my sister Krystal who is training in Regina (where she lives) for this run.  We're going to be doing it together.  She's the reason I ended up signing up for this race.  I blame her.  LOL!  It's been nice to go back and forth with her when it comes to training for this race.  The training format she is using is different than the one I'm using so it's been interesting to hear what she is doing.  I'm so proud of her and know that running this race is going to be such a huge deal for her.  She's been struggling with Lyme disease for many years so even training for this is a huge accomplishment.  It's going to be amazing to cross that finish line.  

Just want to send a shout out to all of those who have reached out to me to let me know I'm inspiring them and to keep it up.  Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement.  It means a lot that what I'm doing is impacting people!  How cool is that?!  

104 minutes, no problem!  :P

Less than 20 workouts until training is complete!  Crazy!!

That's week 7 folks!  So crazy that this whole thing is almost done which means race day is getting closer.  My sister and I were just talking about how excited we're both getting about this race.  It's going to be awesome!

Gina