Football, Run, and Foam Rolling

Boo! Can you believe the weekend’s over already??? On the brightside—it’s a 3 day week!!!! Can’t wait! But, before we can get to this coming weekend, let’s chat about this past weekend.

 

It was a WHIRLWIND weekend (again). The Hubs, the in-laws and I headed out Friday night for Champaign, Illinois to see the University of Illinois (my Alma mater) v Purdue (the Hubs and FIL Alma mater) football game Saturday. We stayed with my FIL’s cousin, which was great. We didn’t get in til late Friday, but stayed up for a bit to visit. Then, Saturday we woke up to a HUGE breakfast (blueberry pancakes! My fav!!) and then headed onto campus to tailgate (aka: consume MORE food and alcohol) and then football it up!

 

Sadly, my Illini couldn’t pull out a win. Now, the Hubs had bragging rights all year. BOOOO. Next time!

 

Fun random story: The Hubs and I actually got married on the day these teams played football last year. We didn’t even plan it! I swear! Anyway—we're both HUGE fans of our respective Alma maters. Proof?

Yup-- I had an Illinois garter at the wedding. LOVED it.

 

So anyway-- we agreed that the loser of the game on our wedding would have to sing the winners team fight song at the wedding. Well, it didn’t exactly go down like that… but, when word came out during pre-ceremony pics that my poor Illini lost (again) I did get the pleasure of having all of the Hubs groomsmen (who also went to Purdue) and the Hubs serenade me with the Purdue fight song. Such a loving pre-wedding moment.

Me showing the boys my "gratitude" after they YELLED the Purdue fight song to me.

 

Anyway... back to this weekend... so, we footballed all day Saturday. The Illini didn't come out on top. Boo. We headed back home Saturday night and ended up getting home right around 11:30pm. Not too bad, though clearly WAY past my bedtime.

Sunday we slept in a bit, but were still up by 9am. I decided I wanted to TRY a "long run". I got dressed, powered the Garmin up, and headed out the door, telling the Hubs I was going out for anywhere between 6-10 miles.

 

 A hour and 41 minutes later-- I couldn't stop smiling.

 
11.25 miles. 9:03 average pace-- say WHAAAT?!?!?! ALL negative splits. Without me ever looking at my watch til the LAST mile, where I PUSHED it to get a 8:20is pace! And, most importantly-- PAINFREE. Every step. PAINFREE. Seriously-- you couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the day.


I honestly would have done more if I had brought some fuel with me. But, I didn't eat breakfast before I left, didn't have any Gu or anything, and KNEW I shouldn't push it anymore, so I called it then. It's runs that Sunday's that makes me wonder why ANYONE ever runs less miles when they can run more? Salty face? Check. Sore legs? Check. Gross, sweaty smell? Check. 11.25 glorious, perfect miles? CHECK.

I did a quick round of 8-minute arms and 8-minute abs when I got home and then spent the rest of Sunday running errands, relaxing, icing, foam rolling. The knee ached for the rest of the day and I woke up this morning with sore shins and the knee still a bit achy, so decided against a run this morning and stuck to Spinning instead. I might try to go out for a few miles after work today... we'll see. Either way, I'm still riding my Sunday long-run runner's high.