Don't be stupid

With Mark being out of town, I was craving the chance to talk to someone other than my dog. So this morning, since I couldn't find anyone to run the trails with me, I opted to go to the Team Z group run on the bike path. I haven't been to too many Team Z events lately, besides swim, so there were alot of unfamiliar faces. We started running and a group of 4 people pulled away from the pack rather quickly. I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided it would be a great idea to join them. Turns out, it was a bad idea - when your workout says a 90 min run Zones 1-3, it's a bad sign when your first mile is a 7:08 and you are huffing and puffing while the other four people around you are strolling in the park at that pace. Throw in my stupid pride (I won't be dropped, I won't be dropped, I won't be dropped...) and some disillusionment (they are probably only running 6 miles - I'll slow it down when they turn around) and a 12 mile run suddenly turned into an ugly sufferfest. I made it ten miles before I completely imploded. I still managed to finish the run at a semi-respectable 1:29, but those last two miles were a slow slog through hell. As Jen said in her feedback to my TrainingPeaks entry - this was not one of my brightest moments. I'll know in the future NOT to do a stupid fast tempo run less than a week after a 1/2 ironman (Wildflower race report forthcoming, honestly).