Saturday LSD Run: TEN miles

My first run in the double digits sucked. The first few miles it felt like I was running on air and it was so lovely out at 6 AM. There was a fog in the air and it was actually pretty warm. And then at about mile 7 it started to feel like a huge struggle. I could barely move my legs by mile 9, but I kept running. I'm sure it looked like I was hardly moving. My pace was horrendous. I had to stop by my house to eat a banana and refill my water as the park has had no water in their water fountains for a week now. Grr. I also had to stop for cars and things, but still.... I'm looking at over a 3 hour half marathon if this is how I'm going to run it, and that is disappointing. I don't know what's wrong with me. Maybe the hills are just really hard on me, as it is SUPER hilly on the route I usually run on. It really wipes me out. I was posting much better times back in the summer when I could only run 3 miles tops. It was on the flat corkscrew track in the 90+ temperature, but still. I should be getting better. Sure, I now know I can hobble/run for almost 3 hours, but it's still upsetting. I don't just want to do things - I want to do them RIGHT. I suppose that's why I get so frustrated sometimes with my weight loss journey.

Now that I can run ten miles I can run a half marathon, but there aren't any half marathons within 50 miles for the next two months and the race schedule for next year isn't up yet. Boo.

I'm sure if I went back onto the track I'd be seeing 10 minute miles again, but the point is to train myself hard so that any race route thrown at me can be conquered. Still, ascending and descending all these hills really blows for my time and my confidence. I might as well be walking with the times I post...

It's strange. For a while I was keeping up right alongside my much slimmer friend who has been running longer than I have. I felt good about myself. Now she is wayyyyy ahead of me and no matter what I do I can't keep up for more than half an hour. I get much slower after I can no longer see her. I want to know why I was so much faster before and now I can hardly run?

This is frustrating. If I am running well, I am not losing weight. If I am running poorly, I am losing weight. Why can't I have them both?