Countin' down to the Gobbler

The Greensboro Gobbler, that is.  I'm running my first 5k since January 1 on Thursday.  My goal was, ahem, is to run faster than 23:00.  That means 22:??, but after today's little 3-miler I'm not so sure that's going to happen.

I am still without a Garmin, but Runner's World sent me this very fashionable watch for renewing my subscription.  According to the watch, I ran three miles in just under 24 minutes, which is great except that I was totally exhausted at the end.  I would like to blame this fatigue on anything and everything unrelated to my lack of running, but I might as well be honest.  I haven't been running.  I don't think I ran once last week; I'd pack my running stuff but something would come up.  One day I got completely set for my run after school only to find out that I'd forgotten running shoes.  They're kind of important, you know.  I still did the elliptical, and I've even been working on upper body strength because I've always wanted to do a few pull-ups, but those things aren't running.

So this afternoon I ran three miles on the Greenway and it pretty near killed me.  My legs were sore, my breathing wasn't right, and I stopped a few times to catch my breath.  I never do that, but today I did.  I think my legs were sore from standing so much this weekend, but the breathing and stopping come directly from not running since last Saturday.  whoops.

I will run tomorrow and Tuesday.  Tomorrow I plan do go easy, and Tuesday I want to run at the track.  I will try not to do anything stupid to make my legs even deader than they feel today.  I will stretch every morning and evening.  And whatever time I get Thursday will be okay, as long as it's under 24:00.  I killed my marathon goal by ten minutes, so maybe I'll surprise myself Thursday morning and run a 22-something.  I'd say I'm crossing my fingers, but I know it won't help.