W5D3

Just as I'd thought, it was ALL mental.

I woke up before my 7:45am alarm and started getting dressed for my drive to shady (and soccer-enthusiast infested) Meyer Park. I put less water than usual in my camelbak lumbar pack. I figured that I'd take a few sips during the run, but the majority of water would be taken immediately after the run (with some given to Lucy in her portable bowl). I still wanted to carry it with me, but not full and heavy.

Anyway, the run was uneventful. I'd expected the first five minutes to be hard. They weren't, really. After that the run flew by. I plodded along, not focusing much on Ullrey's verbal cues for the other runs. By the time he told Day 1 to start the last five minute run, I was mulling over the idea of running an extra minute along with Day 1 and 2. However, I noticed that Lucy was starting to slow. At that time we were running what I consider the park's *squirrel gauntlet*, so she was distracted, but she may also have been tiring. When Ullrey told me I was done with my D3 run, all thoughts of that extra minute fled and I slowed to something that could NOT be called a "brisk walk".... but I did keep moving.

My legs were immediately infused with a sense of lethargy that lasted for a few minutes. I don't think I could have started running again at that point if my life depended on it. I sipped water from the camelbak and walked. I was nowhere near the car by the end of the cool down, so I put on another high energy song and continued along the path. My legs eventually recovered and by the time I got to the parking lot, I was walking briskly.

Arriving back at the truck, I figured that my workout had been a total of about 40 minutes, with a running distance of maybe 1 1/3 mile (I jog pretty slowly).

Looking ahead, Week 6 is looking pretty easy. After having gotten over the mental hump of the 20 minute run, two 10 minuters on D2 should be a piece of cake. The 25 minute run on D3 is just another matter of keeping going until it's time to stop. I can do it.

If I keep to the schedule of 3 runs per week, my 5K race on June 20th should coincide with my W9D3 workout. My graduation run will truly be my graduation!