What's more, I remember all of my failures. When I was in junior high, each of the few times I didn't do well on a test, I was always comforted with the line: "You won't even remember this in a year!" Au contraire. I still remember that I failed BOTH of the two pop quizzes in 7th grade science. (The minute I heard the words "pop quiz," I froze. I still remember that one of the quizzes had a question about the difference between primary sex characteristics and secondary sex characteristics. I just kept thinking: "WHY IS THE WORD 'SEX' ON A QUIZ?" even though we had clearly studied the concept.) I got a 72% on my test on verbals in 7th grade (2 points away from failing--and since I considered "B"s failing this one required a tearful "confession" to my father at work in the middle of the school day from the office phone.) In 8th grade, I got a 67% on my Honors Algebra I semester exam and was booted down to Accelerated Algebra I. These three junior high failures are still part of my psyche despite the fact that I had a 4.0 average at the conclusion of junior high.
ANYWAY...
This morning I was supposed to run nine miles (actually, the official nine mile run isn't supposed to be until this weekend, but we are going to be in Michigan for a wedding, so I was attempting to get my long run out of the way). I set my iPhone alarm for 5am. I woke up at 8:30. My iPhone was face down on the floor. I have no recollection of the alarm going off, but clearly it did.
Shelley alleged that it was actually "quite cool" outside, so I decided to go ahead with my plans despite the fact that it was no longer early morning.
I lounged around for a bit, took the corgis for a walk, and finally started running at 9:30am. My grand plan was to run five miles (2.5 miles out and back), grab a few swigs of water from my water bottle, and then run four more.
But for some reason, even though it was sort of cloudy out, I started feeling quite strange after three miles. My lungs were great (thanks to years of swimming and running, I am an very good cardiovascular shape if I do say so myself), my legs felt fine, but I was so dizzy. I looked down and saw little beads of sweat all over every inch of my body. My running clothes were sticking to me, which isn't unusual for a long run, but doesn't usually happen after three miles. I ran another half a mile...and then decided to STOP. EPIC FAIL.
I walked the remaining 1.5 miles to get back home. Even though it wasn't extremely hot (81 degrees), it just felt awfully humid and gross.
I used the self-timer to capture my epic failure, but Atticus thought it was the perfect moment for a photo opportunity.
The bottom line is that I will just have to TRY AGAIN tomorrow morning. (Hopefully I can actually get out of bed at an appropriate time!) But, there was really only one thing I could do to cheer myself up at the conclusion of today's disaster:
Yes, that's an MNM cone. Yes, I realize the irony of my eating an MNM cone as I run to fight childhood obesity. Yes, I will punch you in the face if you tell me not to eat MNM cones!
UGH!
PLEASE DONATE TO TEAM FOR KIDS SO I FEEL LIKE LESS OF A FAILURE!!!
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