Get Fit or Die Tryin’ – Vegas Nearly Steals My Mojo

Got back Monday night from a week in Las Vegas to watch the World Finals of the Professional Bull Riders. It was an awesome week, hanging out with my mom and visiting our family in Henderson in between bull riding events.

There was a lot of this:

And a lot of this:

And definitely lots of this:

But there was not, sadly, a lot of this:

I had the best of intentions (and we all know where those lead us). I packed all my running gear, and tried to make plans, but I never made them happen. I thought I’d run down the Strip in the early mornings, but once I actually got there I was too chicken to do it. I’d see other women running, but usually in the middle of the day. And I didn’t want to hijack my mom’s vacation by making her wait while I shuffled up and down Las Vegas Boulevard.

I’d get up early to get some work done for my freelance clients, and each morning on my way to Starbucks at 7 a.m. I’d see the treadmills at the spa in the hotel full of people running. That totally was an option for me, but frankly, all those people looked much fitter and thinner than me, and I was embarrassed to get on a treadmill and shuffle along in front of them. There’s a reason I only go running on our rural roads in the middle of the day, when there’s little to no traffic. I know, logically, that I had no reason to be embarrassed  and that I’d never see any of these people again, but logic has never been my strong suit when it comes to working out.

So I didn’t run for nearly a week and a half, and finally got out to do a run this afternoon. I did pretty much everything wrong pre-run – I ate too close to my run, I was dehydrated, and my knees have been complaining ever since I jammed them into the airplane seats last Monday. But I got out there anyway, and according my Nike+ app, logged my fastest mile yet.

Huh. Go figure.

I’m up to running eight minutes, walking two, for three repeats – a total of 24 running minutes. I even did the first two-thirds of the run on the abandoned railbed near our house, which was another not-smart move – the rocks were really loose which was hard on my knees, and I kept expecting serial killers to jump out of the woods surrounding the trail. Sure, it was 2 p.m., an unlikely time for serial killers to be roaming rural Altoona, but still…

So it seems that Vegas wasn’t successful in stealing my running mojo. I’ll be testing it for the first time this Sunday, when I participate in the Chocolaterie Stam 5K Hot Chocolate Race. I won’t lie to you – I signed up for this race primarily for the cool fleece jacket each runner gets, and the prospect of free chocolates after I’m done. But I’m kind of excited to see how I do – today’s run was 3.2 miles in just over 37 minutes, with a lot of slower-paced walking at the end. By Sunday, I should be running nine minutes, walking two, for three repeats, and that’s the schedule I plan to follow during the run. Check back Monday to see how I do!