I ran so far away

Well, today was an interesting day. It went well at work, I had lunch with a few members from my team, and we were talking about a race our team was planning to take part in, so I threw my name in the ring.

It's called Ragnar, and it's a team relay race, where a 12 person team takes turns running from Huntington Beach to San Diego, just under 200 miles away. Now, I've never run 15 miles, so I need to start training. It looks like this is usually a 12 week thing, but the race is in early April, so I have 9 weeks. So, I'll need to get creative. But, it's a good project. I did want to get more active.

So, if I'm going to be anything close to ready by race time, I needed to start tonight. So, the plan was, take the treadmill at my place, 20 minutes slow, to get started, and then I'd go barbeque up some steak, and soak in the hot tub. (Spoiler alert: nothing goes according to plan).

So, I get ready and pass by the treadmill. I turn it on, but the controls seem a bit broken. I can't get it off of it's slowest speed. That's... not going to be useful. So, I head upstairs, get my keys, and drive to Tri-city park, so I can go run around the lake. Now, the main reason I couldn't run much home is because I need summer weather, I have a hard time breathing cool air when I exert myself, and it was about 8:30 by the time I got out there, so it was a bit cool, and difficult, but I was able to power through it. The worst was the halfway mark, but it got better. However, I'm apparently terrible at pacing myself... for what was supposed to be a slow run, I still ran at an 11-minute mile pace, so I may need a lower gear, for endurance.

So, I got back, and turned the BBQ on to grill that steak... I never actually grilled since... I have no idea. So, I read the instructions, and did what I could. But, it wouldn't ignite. There was heat, but that might have been from the last person who used it. I borrowed a lighter, but couldn't start it up. I'll try it out later, when someone who knows what they're doing can show me. I think it involves a long distance lighter. So, I went upstairs, and fried it up in the pan. It was good.

And as for the hot tub, it was like 9:30 by the time I got upstairs, and I never would have had enough time to fry, eat and shower before 10, so I'll wait for tomorrow.

But, all in all, it's a good start. The program has me run about 3-4 times a week, with two 'easy' runs, and two 'hard' runs, building stamina, speed, and other useful things. This could work, and given I already put my name in, I don't have much choice.

Go team!