Ok, so I mentioned earlier (in my journal) that I might possibly have a “date” on Thursday with “D”. We were planning on going to Town Lake to run together. I was all cool about this until he asked, “So what’s your pace like?”
What? Pace? Um… I just run. I don’t have a pace. I run fast until I’m tired, then I run progressively slower until I can’t run anymore. Duh.
So he tells me that he runs about four miles at about eight minutes per mile. I’m thinking, “Yeah, I can do that. I can walk a mile in thirteen minutes. Surely, I can run a mile in eight.”
But then it hits me. I may be able to run ONE mile in eight minutes, but FOUR? I don’t know if you realize this or not, but that’s FOUR times as many as one. I don’t know if I can keep that pace up for that long, and outside in the heat too? No. I’m used to running on the treadmill inside at 65 degrees.
So at this point I’ve decided to get myself to the gym Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to run on the treadmill to prepare. I even decided to run outside on Wednesday just to prepare for the heat challenge.
I was talking about this with Mormon Micki at work yesterday and I’m trying to formulate a plan to stop myself from being shamed on this date. It won’t be too cool if I pass out and he has to carry me back.
…unless he has that whole Nightingale Syndrome thing, but that’s a long shot.
Anyways… so I’m thinking that the Town Lake trail is kind of bumpy and uneven. I could easily run into a dip and “throw out an ankle”, then have to stop running. If that fails, I could always throw myself in front of an oncoming bicyclist. Clearly I have options.
So I go to the gym after work Monday to do my run. I put the machine on my typical speed of 5.5mph. I start running and about half a mile into the run I check the time. Oh No! I’ve been running for like five minutes! That puts me WAY off track for an eight minute mile.
I increase the speed on the treadmill to 6.5, because at the time I was too dumb to figure out that I would have to have it on 8mph to run 4 miles in 30 minutes. Obviously, after running for a half hour, I did not make the 4 miles. Nope. Not happening.
On top of that, my right knee feels blown out and I nearly died. If I can’t do this inside, how am I going to do this outside in the heat? Now I’m all panicking. I decide that I must start running before work and after work. I have to do something!
Then I notice that I have a missed call from him, so I call him back. He has to cancel our run “date” because of other plans, but he wants to meet up with me tonight. THANK YOU JESUS!
I no longer have to shame myself in front of a cute boy, and I don’t have to fake an injury or die from dehydration. Yay me!
He is supposed to call me when he is done with his run. He actually wanted me to go running with him tonight, but I had just finished running when I called him back. What great timing, eh? Now I just have to figure out how to walk without being obvious about my blown out knee.
Oh, and the other funny thing about the treadmill is that I’m apparently not talented enough to run and look off to the side (like about 15 degrees to the left) to watch the TV at the same time. As soon as I start to turn my head, I begin to stumble and nearly fall off the treadmill. Yep, I got it going on. It’s hot… do you love it? 
I ended up meeting up with him really late last night. I went to meet him at his place at about 11. He drove us to Spiderhouse and we sat outside and had Sangria. We sat on this cute rusty old swing bench. We hung out until about 2, then I went home.
I did not get into bed until 2:45. What the hell was I thinking? So, of course I didn’t get up to go into work at 6:30. I slept an extra hour and came in about 45 minutes late. Thankfully Andrea is here in the mornings, so even if she’s not answering the phone, at least the boss will see someone sitting here.
Amazingly I’m not really that tired today. I’m sure I will crash and burn later.
