No Boundaries, But No Map Either

Tuesday was opening night of the No Boundaries couch-to-5k training program, which I joined in order to avoid reinjury. There are about 60 people in the group, with about 20 runners. The male/female ratio is about 1:10. After a few form drills, we set out on our one-mile run through the park.

I wanted to be strictly low-key, so I tucked into the fifth position and held it. We worked our way around the first loop at about 11-minute pace. I was happy to shuffle along, since the temperature was in the upper-80s. As we began our second and final loop, the folks in front of me started to flag a little. I couldn’t slow down anymore so I gradually eased past them into the lead. I was comfortable, so I started looking around, thinking about my form, and trying to make sure I didn’t slam into any runners who were coming in the opposite direction on the narrow trail.

Pretty soon I’m running past the baseball diamonds and thinking to myself, “This doesn’t look familiar.” I turned around and found myself all alone, not a runner in sight. I looked down at my Garmin and it read 1.21 miles. Ooops. Somehow I missed the finish line and just kept going. I circled back to catch the tail end of the group, but no one seemed to have noticed.

We then did about 20 minutes of stretching, which seemed excessive to me, and that was it. We did 1.5 miles on Thursday night, but this time I stayed in front and ran no further than I was supposed to. I ran on my own yesterday and today, completing a six mile week at an average pace of 9:23. That’s still pretty slow but I’m trying to be patient.

Tomorrow my swimming lessons begin. It’s eight half-hour classes over a two-week period, so we’ll know pretty quickly if I sink or swim. I spent a lot of time in the pool this week, getting comfortable. I’m still not breathing properly, but I expect the lessons will improve my technique.

It’s going to be a busy two weeks, with swimming in the morning and running in the evening – and, oh yeah, I still have to work – but it beats sciatica to hell anyway.