My Journey With Weight Loss – A Really Hard 16k Run

Yesterday I had my annual blood work done and the results were pretty good. My fasting glucose level was a bit high but that was likely caused by celebrating Lunar New Year by eating dim sum for dinner so far too many refined carbs. For a year now, with no medication, my A1C, the average glucose level, has been absolutely normal so I will be having a discussion with my doctor about where I now am on the diabetes scale. The confusing one is total cholesterol which shows in the abnormal range as high. This confused me as my LDL levels are low, HDL levels are high, my risk ratio is low, and my triglycerides are low. Seriously, everything is better than the target my doctor had set. I did some research to learn that if your LDL and triglycerides are are within the normal range and your HDL high (that is my situation) then you have nothing to worry about (HDL being the ‘good’ cholesterol so you want it higher). Ok, another topic to discuss with the doctor.

Today was my long run for the week and it was 16k. I got up this morning to find it was raining. I had 2 options, run in the rain (and cold) which is extremely unpleasant or do the treadmill for 2 1/2 hours (which you know I would hate). I opted for the run in the rain so on goes my moisture wicking pants and cloth jacket and then layered up with my water resistant running jacket. I had only done 3 blocks when I though damn, I should have put on a ball cap as I already had water running down my face.

My route for the 16k is to head to North Bluff (the main East-West street in White Rock), up to Johnston (the main North-South street) down to Buena Vista back to Stayte Rd and repeat 3 times (I have to tack on a few extra blocks at the end to get to 16k). By time I did the first loop I was miserable. I was soaking wet and cold which makes running unpleasant to say the least. I convinced myself I would just do 1 more loop and then stop.

The funny thing I find about running is it is always the 1st half of the run that seems to take the longest (it doesn’t because my pace is pretty even the entire time). It is almost like if I can push through the 1/2 way point then I can make it to the end. Having said that I was still convincing myself to quit after the 2nd loop but when I was almost at that point I thought hey, you are training for a 1/2 marathon, rain and being wet is not a good enough excuse not to to push yourself. I hit that last loop and just kept going. It was finally when I hit the 13k mark that the rain eased up some so I picked up my pace a little. I finished my 16k at a better speed than I had done my 8k on Tuesday.

When I got home I was cold and soaking wet. By wet I mean everything down to my socks, underwear and bra. I peeled off layers of wet clothing and hung them up to dry and put my socks, gloves and runners in front of the gas fire place. I admit even the large hot coffee did nothing to warm me up. It wasn’t until I had a hot shower that I started feeling normal and could reflect on that run. It was probably the toughest run I have done to date but you know what, it was also the most satisfying because I pushed through the discomfort to get it done. I have to say I felt pretty proud of myself knowing that I am keeping my eye on the goal I plan to achieve in June.

Tomorrow is hill training and the weather forecast is even heavier rain. Oh well, at least it is only an hour of training and I will remember to wear my ball cap.