I HATE RUNNING (even when I love running)

Sometimes, running is marvelous. The stars align. The temperature is perfect. There are rainbows and unicorns and glitter and cupcakes. A "quick" pace feels easy. Legs feel fresh. All is right with the world.

Sunday, I had one of these runs. Remember? 12 glorious miles. 12 makes-me-remember-why-I-love-to-run miles. Those runs are great. Perfect. Runner's high inducing.

Not every run is like that.

Some runs BLOW. Simple as that.

Yesterday was one of those runs.

I started the day with Signature Strength, which I already bitched about. What I didn't mention was that despite the TERRIBLY annoying instructor, I actually did get quite a workout in. We did a shit ton (a very scientific measurement, I know) of squats and lunges and TONS of inner and outer thigh work. GREAT for muscles. BAD for later running plans.

Anyway, I also mentioned that my shins were just SO sore after Sunday's glorious run. I haven't had sore shins in a while. I'd forgotten what they feel like. I've been so focused on my little whiny bitch of a right knee, my shins were the last of my concern. Whoops. Never underestimate the possibility that NUMEROUS of your body parts might be  little whiny bitches at the same time.

So, I skipped my normal post morning class 2 mile quick treadmill run because my legs were just trashed from class and my shins were still SO MAD.

I decided I'd be somehow magically healed and good as new by lunch.

I WAS WRONG.

Noon rolled around and I was giddy with excitement to get out there and run with my new shoes.

I laced em up, realized I didn't pack a sports bra (FAIL. BIG, big FAIL. Have you ever tried to run with a regular bra? I should've known it was going to be a disaster.), powered on the Garmin and hit the road. Less than 10 steps in and I was already counting down the distance. Making deals with myself about how far I had to go. Debating stopping right then. HATING the run. Hating RUNNING. My internal convo went a little like this:

-OMG, this sucks.
-How long have I been running?
-.4 miles???? That's it?!?!?! WTF??
-Right foot, left foot. Just focus on 1 step at a time. Ignore the pain.
-Ok, I know you wanted to go 5 miles. Let's just do 1, then turn around. 2 total. Max.
-THIS SUUUUUCKS.
-Why do my shins hurt SO bad?
-Right foot, left foot. Just focus on 1 step at a time. Ignore the pain.
-Does my knee hurt again?
-SHINS... HURT
-How far have I been now?
-Right foot, left foot. Just focus on 1 step at a time. Ignore the pain.
-OMG! AM I REALLY RUNNING A 10:30 MILE??
-And, it's only been .6 miles?!?!?! HOOOOOOW????
-Ok, just 1.5 miles out, then back. Come on. You can do it.
-THIS BLOWS.
-I HATE RUNNING.
-Right foot, left foot. Just focus on 1 step at a time. Ignore the pain.
-Turn around. Just turn around.
-No, don't turn around yet. You'll regret it. Stick it out.
-But, everything hurts!
-SO WHAT? It will make you a stronger runner.
-Ahhhhh!!!! THIS SUUUUUUCKS. Come on!!!
-Right foot, left foot. Just focus on 1 step at a time. Ignore the pain.
-ONLY 2 miles in???
-Ok, definitely turn around. You gave it a good effort.
-Right foot, left foot. Just focus on 1 step at a time. Ignore the pain.
-Deal. 2 miles out, 2 miles back in. 4 miles total. You tried.
-YOU SUCK FOR GIVING UP.
-How long now? Only 2.3 miles??? OMG.
-I HATE RUNNING.

(source)

I think you get the point, no?

I managed to BARELY squeeze 4.2 miles out.

4.2 of my slowest miles in a long time (not including the marathon, of course).

4.2 hard, shitty, painful miles. 4.2 miles where I HATED every step. Where running SUCKED and I just did not want to do it. 4.2 miles where NOTHING positive went through my mind. 4.2 miles where I legit counted down the seconds til I could be done.

But, I did do 4.2 miles.

Did I finish the 5 miles I set out to do? No.

Do I think I made a good choice "toughing it out"? NO. You know that whole "No one ever regrets a workout" phrase?

(source)

Horseshit. I regret that workout. My shins are STILL screaming. Louder than they have in a LOOOONG time. For what? For 4.2 stupid miles? I honestly, honestly think I would have been better off listening to my body and just giving it the break it was asking for.

Moral of the incredibly long, boring story?

1. Some runs just SUCK. Not every run can be great. The shitty runs make us grateful for the amazing runs. Gotta take the good with the bad. One bad run is not indicative of your entire running "career", nor is it a sign you SUCK or anything in between. Breathe. Bad runs happen to everyone, just like good runs do.

 

2. If your body and mind is SCREAMING "NOOOOOO!!!!" (& assuming you're not doing this all the time and that it's not a key training session to a major race)-- LISTEN. No one is superman. Sometimes, just LISTEN to yourself. It knows best. YOU know best. Stop being a pig headed egomaniac and just REST if everything is telling you to. The world will be OK. YOU will be OK.

 

3. It's ok to hate running sometimes. It doesn't mean you REALLY hate running. I LOVE running and yet there are days and runs that make me HATE running. It's ok. The I LOVE RUNNING days will return and they outnumber the RUNNING SUCKS days. Promise.

So, yesterday I hated running. Yesterday running SUCKED and I couldn't wait for the stupid run to be over. The day before I loved running and couldn't stop smiling. Win some, lose some. Something tells me tomorrow will be another sunshine and sprinkles and "I LOVE RUNNING" kinda days. And, I say-- bring it on!

Goat Cheese and JGL... oh, and some running talk

If you know me, you know that when I get into something, I GET INTO IT. 100% obsession.

So, here's a few things I am obsessed with right now...

Goat Cheese and Artichoke Dip:

(source)

I've only had this dip once, but I've been CRAVING it since. And, it's been months. Note to self: MUST MAKE THIS AGAIN!


Joseph Gordon-Levitt:

(Lost the site, found on Pinterst. I suck, sorry.)

I mean... come on! He's my newest celebrity crush. Move over, Jason Mraz. JGL is just so cute. And a good actor. And all indie-cool. I just love him. Sorry, hubs.
 

Baking:
No pic for you... yet! I'm scheduled to bake up a storm tonight for Thanksgiving. Cookies, pies, puppy chow (not technically baking, I know). Oh my! I love baking. I don't tend to eat a ton of what I bake... but, I love the process. And, seeing as how it's cookies and pumpkin pie-- I'm sure this time there will be plenty of eating involved too!


That's it. A full list of 3 whole things. My mind's just not working today.

In other news, I ran last night after work. I'm really into the quick post-work runs. Nothing crazy. Just a quick jaunt. I was back home by 6pm. Perfect! Though, I do think the whole working out at night thing is giving me MORE night-time energy which doesn't make for the easiest time trying to fall asleep at 9pm to give me energy to get up for the 5am gym classes. Hopefully this'll sort itself out.

Anyway, the run was kinda rough... my legs were clearly still very fatigued from Sunday's "long run." I tried not to focus on pace and ended up with a solid 9:15ish average pace. It felt good to shake them out a bit. My shins were SUPER tight and sore... guess the legs just aren't used to double digits anymore. LAME. The knee felt OK... felt like it was JUUUUST about to start screaming the whole time, but never quite did. Didn't feel 100%... but, definitely didn't hurt either. Guess that's a win?

This morning I went to Signature Strength. It was lame. And it was early. Too early.

Blurry locker room self-pic FTW!

 

I'm so over this teacher. She's just so damn chipper and up and energetic and ANNOYING. It's 5:30am. Take it down a notch. And, NO-- I do NOT want to do a "short tabata drill" in the middle of my STRENGTH class. Argh. Not a happy camper with this class.

 

I skipped my normal post-class TM run because my shins are still SCREAMING post-long run (which is so odd... it was outside! My shins never hurt after running outside! Boo!!!) and running on the TM makes them hurt even more. Plus, I'm HOPING to run at lunch today. And, I'm super pumped about said lunch run because I get to test out these suckers!

I won a free pair of Mizuno shoes from FasterBunny! I finally got them in the mail yesterday. I decided to go with the Wave Creations. I haven't tried them yet and I'm SO EXCITED to test them out today. They're not the cutest shoes in the world, which is definitely a big bummer... but, if they work-- I'll take em!

 

So, now I'm just waiting for lunch and for the rain to hold off so I can get a few miles in with the new shoes. Hurry up, "lunch" time!!

 

 

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.

WIAW - Recycled Edition

Ugh! Another morning of literally having to DRAG my ass outta bed. Anyone else out there just struggling lately in the mornings? Ugh. I need a vacation. Good thing I have one coming up in less than 2 months. Eye on the prize, Meagan. Eye on the prize.

 
Anyway—another weird thing that's been going on... I thought I had the whole vitamin-nausea thing under control. I started cutting my vitamin in half and taking each half about 30 minutes to an hour apart. But, MAN! The past few mornings I have just had a HUGE nausea wave after taking the first half. And before ANYONE even thinks it— I am not preggo. I promise. It’s been pretty brutal though. Today I actually made a dive for the trash can because I was SURE I was gonna vomit. False alarm, thank goodness. But, man—something’s waging a war on my tummy. I think I’m gonna try a different kind/brand of multivitamin and see if that helps.

 
So, it’s Wednesday. HALF WAY THROUGH THE WEEK! I’m actually super excited for this coming weekend so I’m stoked it’s already Wednesday. Friday I’m going to see Jason Mraz (my other husband… shhh! Don’t tell the Hubs!) in concert with one of my very best friends so I couldn’t be more excited for that. THEN, Saturday I have a friend’s bachelorette party. FUN! Oh yeah, and ya know… an 18-something mile long run to get at some point. HURRY UP, Weekend!!

 
Back to the present day… I did manage to someone get outta bed this morning at 5am and made it to my 5:30am spinning class. The instructor is not my favorite. AND she just took over the Monday 5:30am class too. Greaaaat. She’s OK… she just talks too much. Today she was ALL chatty about The Voice coming back to TV and how pumped she was. Um… yeah, I just don’t care. At 5:30am while sweating my ass off—I just don’t care. PLUS, she’s a pop top 40 playlist kinda instructor… which I’m OK with (I love me some pop music!)… but, in the right dosage. It’s like she brings in one of those “Today’s Hits Volume 233534” CD mixes and goes to town. I’m just over it. Hopefully she starts mixing it up more soon or I might have to start adjusting my gym schedule. Ok, rant over. After spinning I did 2.5 miles on the treadmill in 22:01. Shins were a little sore. Likely too sore and I shouldn’t have run, but I just felt like it. Whatever. They’re not feeling too bad right now, so I’ll call it a draw.


This edition of WIAW (thanks to Jen!) is brought to you 100% by old, recycled pics. That’s right… EVERYTHING I ate yesterday I’ve already shown in (at least one other) WIAW before. Wow. I need to mix up my diet. I guess I’m a creature of habit. Oh well. Without further ado…

 

Breakfast…Greek yogurt with cereal (mixed together). Coffee with multivitamin of death.

 

Lunch…Hummus, pretzels, apple, carrots. Diet Pepsi. 

 

Snack... Handful of lightly salted raw almonds. x2.

 

 

Dinner... Brown rice with red peppers and onion. Peppers and onions were sauteed with cooking spray, soy sauce, TJ's peanut salad dressing, and Siracha. These pics also show TJ's mini wontons and, sadly, I didn't have those last night. I figured you could use your imagination to mentally remove those from the pics.

Dessert... Fro Yo. Duh.

S-M-R-T

Today's been pretty eventful. It's a New Student Orientation day on campus, which always means lots of new, excited students roaming all over the place. I also do 4 presentations in 5 hours, so it's a busy day.

Thankfully, today is also a rest day. A MUCH NEEDED rest day. See, yesterday I might not have made the world's greatest life choices. After waking up at 5am and feeling my left shin literally aching in pain before even standing up, I knew a morning workout was out. Then, I couldn't get away from the desk for an afternoon workout. I was OK with that. I figured it was my body telling me it needed an extra rest day. Even with compression sleeves under my dress pants all day at work, my shins (particularly my left shin) were screaming and just not happy. 

So while I told myself over and over it was OK that I took an unplanned rest day, 5pm rolled around and somehow my internal mental conversation changed to "NO! You can't take a rest day today. Your rest day is TOMORROW. You cannot take 2 rest days back to back. Not happening. Get your ass to the gym."

<Spoiler: NOT smart decision about to be made.>

So, I went to the gym.

I KNOW, I KNOW. MEAGAN! Stupid life choice! I know.

<Spoiler: Even less smart decisions about to be made.>

I told myself there was a 6pm Spinning Class I could go to. NO impact. Totally safe and fine for the shins. Uh huh. I didn't take into account that I'd get to the gym at 5:20 from work and have 40 minutes to kill before class started.

Now a SANE and SMART person would have just hung around and waited, maybe spent a few relaxing minutes in the sauna or done some stretching or foam rolling. Me? Not so smart.

(source)

Despite knowing better, despite even consciously thinking "Meagan, this isn't a great plan" I hit the treadmill. BAD PLAN, MEAGAN.

I know! I know! What was I thinking? Well, I was thinking "I know I shouldn't run. I know it's going to do more harm than good, but hello! You have a certain number of miles to get in and dammit- you have to! it's on THE PLAN. So, man up, Meagan. It'll only hurt a little. It's not big deal. You'll be fiiiiine."

This mental chat continued every step of my run. Every painful step. Sharp, intense pains flying down my left shin. I made it 2.5 miles @ 9:00/mile pace before calling it.

It was stupid. It was unneeded. It added NOTHING to my marathon training. It did nothing for me. It was STUPID.

My shins were more than screaming when I stepped off the treadmill. So, I sat around for 10 minutes, giving them some time to stop burning. I told myself if they still ached this bad in 10 minutes I'd skip spinning and just head home.

<Spoiler: I lied.>

10 minutes later and while the pain might have been SLIGHTLY less, it was still definitely there. But, I told myself "Hey, spinning's totally fine. Hello! It's SPINNING. No impact. You'll be fine. It'll be practically the same as just sitting on the couch. And, you have your compression sleeves on. You'll be fine. Man up. Go to spinning."

So, i went. Turns out, spinning's not exactly impact free. There's standing on the pedals... hello. IMPACT. Not as much as running (duh), but the constant in and out of the saddle isn't "no impact". I made it through. it definitely didn't hurt as much as running, but it wasn't a smart decision either. I should have just gone home and did some RICE-ing.

I KNOW better. I know better. I know I know better. I made a bad decision. I think I just really wanted a good sweat session. I had some pent up frustration from life-stuff and just need to sweat it out. I should have figured out a different outlet and given my body the rest it needed. I know that. Really.

Luckily, no serious damage was done. By the end of spinning, while my shins were still tight and sore, they weren't feeling nearly as sore as they were before spinning. I'm feeling pretty good today. I'm, again, rocking some hot compression gear today and am taking the WHOLE DAY AS A REST DAY. No "it was only 60 light minutes on the elliptical" nonsense. TOTAL and complete rest day... unless you count walking to and from the table with doughnuts on it at this morning at Orientation's Welcome event two times as exercise. I'm planning to do some more ice, compression and elevation tonight and hope tomorrow brings shins good as new so I can do my long run (only 13-14 miles! WOOWOO!) pain free. Don't worry... I PROMISE... if something doesn't feel right-- I'll stop.

I PROMISE.

Ok. So, lesson learned. Sometimes I make crappy decisions. I'm learning. Slooooowly.

In other news, yesterday was also my ADORABLE and PERFECT nephews first day of kindergarten!!!

He's SOOOO big! I feel like it was just yesterday he was only a week old and took a HUGE poop on my leg when I was changing his diaper. Yes, I just put that story on the internet for the world to see. I seriously considered putting the pic on here with it, but decided I didn't want to embarrass the poor 5-year old too much. Anyway-- he's far too big. I told him he needs to start growing down. He didn't like that. He likes being a big boy. I like him, so I guess I'll just have to deal. Anyway-- GOOD LUCK WITH KINDERGARTEN, C!!! I'm SO proud of you and love you more than the sun, and the moon, and the stars!

Velocoraptor-less 8 Mile Hike

I realize this post is about 4 days late. Hey, better late than never, right?

Anyway- let's time travel back to Sunday. The Hubs and I had talked the day before about possibly going to a local state park Sunday and doing one of our epic walks. I told him it'd depend a lot on my post-long run legs and how cooperative they would be.

So, Sunday morning I woke up and, to my surprise, while my left shin and calf were tight/sore, my legs were overall feeling pretty good. Bring on the park!

We headed to Potato Creek State Park Sunday morning. It's about 20 minutes away, but the drive flew by and we were there in no time. $5 admittance (per car, not per person) later and we were making our way through the huge park looking for the "Mountain Bike Trail". Did either of us have bikes? Nope. But, it was the longest trail (7.4 miles) and was one of the few that weren't "beginners" level. The Hubs and I wanted an adventure and a challenge! No beginners level for us! Plus, with a map that made the trail look like this (see below)-- how could we not pick this one? It's a complete wack-a-doo, random, not-a-straight-line-in-sight path. Sign us up.

We drove around the big lake and eventually found the right parking lot for the Mountain Bike Trail.

After about a .25 mile walk from the parking lot, the Hubs and I got to the start of the trail (in the map above, it's the purple circle with "0.0" marked on the bottom left).

While it was an easy walk to the trail, that's pretty much where the "easy" ended. It wasn't hard, per say... but, there were definite steady inclines and dips and just rough terrain. I wasn't really sure what to except, but this was definitely more of a hike than a walk.

My legs started screaming at about mile 3 and I knew I was in trouble. We still had over 4 miles to go and I was ready to be done. DANGER. By mile 4, I was in PAIN and, worse, my stomach was growling so loud it could have woken up a sleeping bear.

Speaking of bears, asked the Hubs about a million times if he thought there were bears in the woods and he assured me there weren't. The Hubs then told me all about the types of environments different dinosaurs lived in. How did we get to that conversation? I may or may not have asked him about a million times if there were any velocoraptors in the parts of the trail that had tall grass. Come on... you know you remember velocoraptors from Jurassic Park. Those things scared the shit out of me when I was a little kid.

(source)

The Hubs informed me all about their habitats and the climates and environments they actually lived in, as well as other nerd-alert Jurassic Park facts. I, in turn, ignored him and kept my eyes out, just in case. For the record, I didn't see any bears or velocoraptors. Lame.
 

We kept walking and walking... err, hiking and hiking, I mean. Around corners, over tree branches, up steep inclines, down crazy hills, around bends, through dirt and some mud (it rained the day before... remember?). I couldn't really think about anything except HOW HUNGRY I WAS. I took the lead from the Hubs and started walking so fast he joked that I could have taken the gold in Olympic Speed Walking. I just needed to get to the end. We crossed mile markers anytime our trail intersected with another trail. I thought we were soooo close to the end and then we hit mile marker 6 and I legit almost had a breakdown. I was on the verge of tears. I honestly started trying to figure out how I could get some food so I could finish the stupid trail. There was some serious pouting and cursing action. But, I sucked it up and made out way to the end.

 
We made it! And I didn't even have to eat any wild plants or hunt down a non-existent bear! Immediately upon getting to our car I inhaled the snack I remembered to bring with us (+1 point for Meagan!), but forgot to actually take with us on the trail (-10 points for Meagan!). It wasn't enough, though, so I made the Hubs hit a snack bar and he came back with the best cookie I've ever had in life. Ever. Ok, maybe that was just the delusional hunger talking, but man oh man, I needed that cookie.

So, lessons from Sunday's trail adventure?
1. BRING SNACKS. The day after a long run, hunger is just outta this world. Snacks are needed. Also, a 8-mile hike is a lot in and of itself! Fuel is needed. Got it.
2. Trails are FUN! Even though I was a whiny brat by the end, it was a LOT OF FUN to explore something new.
3. Trails are DIRTY. I had a rockin' dirt sock line.
4. Best post-hike meal? Pizza. Hands down.

The Hubs and I decided we'd try to find more local trails and parks and stuff to explore. Makes our epic walks (or HIKES!) even more fun and is a great way to mix it up to avoid boredom.

So, there you have it. The 8-mile hike where I didn't see any velocoraptors, almost died of hunger and would have killed a bear, had we ever saw one.

____________________________________________________________________________

Life this week has been much less exciting than our velocoraptor-less hike. Work, gym, food. The normal. Sadly, my left shin and calf have still been crazy tight, despite icing and elevating every night.

I did get a good run in Tuesday (5.25 miles OUTSIDE! Sub 9-minute pace!) and Wednesday (2.5 miles sub-8 minute pace in the morning on the TM!!!! And, 6.25 miles at lunch on the indoor track), but woke up today in some serious pain. What's a girl to do?

1. Rock compression sleeves like there's no tomorrow.

Yes, yes I did wear compression sleeves under my dress pants to work. ALL WEEK. No, no I do not wear pants that hike up this much.



2. Embrace the elliptical.

Is it boring? Yes. Do I want to be running? Yes. Can I take much more of it? No. But, I'm hanging in there. Thank goodness for magazine with articles on Kara Groucher, my woman-crush, and i-pads.

3. Eat lots of fro-yo. What??? Fro yo hasn't been proven to help speed up the recovery of shin splints? You're talking crazy.

19 MILES!

19.15 miles done! Freaking crazy. I honestly can't comprehend that my legs carried me through 19 miles of running. I mean... it's just craziness.

So, I carb loaded like a champ Friday 9:

Some kinda spicy shrimp pasta dish with garlic, spinach, and sun dried tomatoes. YUM. Enjoyed after my all time favorite appetizer: baked goat cheese in marinara with fresh bread. SO FREAKING GOOD. I ate WAY too much of the appetizer and only about 1/3 of my pasta.

I passed out Friday night before 10pm (I'm so cool!), after several internal panic attacks about just how long 19 miles really is. Not really sure why it seemed SO insurmountable, since less than a week before I tackled 18, but MAN! I was nervous and SO mentally shaky.

After a solid night of sleep, I woke up at 6:45am Saturday still feeling more than nervous. My mental game was just not on, but I pressed forward-- body glided everywhere, dressed, ate 1/2 an English Muffin with PB, and headed out by 7:15am.

When I walked out to this forecast I was excited about weather for the run.

Of course, that couldn't actually be accurate. I should have known better. When is the weather actually right?!?!

I wasn't even down my street before it started to drizzle. Less than 1/2 a mile into the run and it was full out raining. Not POURING, but definitely not just drizzling. It was a legit RAIN. And, while the "Partly Cloudy" ended up being "Rain", the temps were spot on, so I was actually on the chilly side while it was raining. Speaking of while it was raining... just how long did it rain on me? Oh... ya know... JUST the first SEVEN MILES.

Mile 1: 9:37
Mile 2: 9:38
Mile 3: 9:35
Mile 4: 9:36
Mile 5: 9:28
Mile 6: 9:24
Mile 7: 9:20

Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled with the rain, but I'm pretty proud of the pace I managed to keep despite slippery surfaces and my less than stellar mental outlook. I literally spent the first few miles mentally yelling at myself for putting myself voluntarily through this. HOWEVER, I didn't, even for one second think about turning around or not doing the run. I think I realized that around mile 7 and suddenly I gave myself a HUGE pat on the back. It was like I suddenly realized I'm much more tough than I give myself credit for.

From here, I was in the game. I realized I hadn't seen anything over a 9:40 on my watch and I was determined to maintain a 9:30 pace. Even bigger? It felt good. I felt strong. I started ENJOYING the run.  

Mile 8: 9:19
Mile 9: 9:07
Mile 10: 9:28 (not really sure what happened here... stop light maybe? Or I just slowed down a bit... I'm OK with it!)
Mile 11: 9:14
Mile 12: 9:04
Mile 13: 9:00
I stopped at Mile 13 to fill my water bottles and use the bathroom. I stopped my Garmin, but watched the clock and was stopped for 3 1/2 minutes. I ate a Gu and chugged some water when I stopped here, too.

Mile 14: 9:09
Mile 15: 9:08
Mile 16: 9:08

I stopped after mile 16 to call the Hubs to ask him to get me some ice. I again stopped my Garmin, but watched the clock and was stopped for about 40 seconds. At about mile 15.5 my left calf started cramping and hurting like crazy. Not long after that same shin started aching, as well. I pushed through, but definitely slowed down those last few miles. By mile 18.5 I was in PAIN. It hurt, but not in a "OMG I TORE SOMETHING" kinda way... just in a "ARE WE DONE YET?!?!?!" kinda way. My legs were rFINISHED and eady to be DONE.

Mile 17: 9:17
Mile 18: 9:11
Mile 19: 9:12
Mile 19.15: 1:37

Average Pace = 9:20/mile         

So, I was supposed to run 19 miles, but seeing as how I'm a complete freak of nature (you know this by now, right?) I knew I wanted to do 19.15 since last weeks long run ended up being 18.15. Freak. I know.

I got home and literally chugged some chocolate milk and got straight into a 15-minute ice bath. Hurts so good. Ok, that's a lie. The freaking ice bath just HURTS. I KNOW it's for my own good, but MAN OH MAN it hurts.

When I was in the ice bath, I looked at my stats for the first time. I was AMAZED at my pace. 9:20! WHAAAT?!?! My fastest LR ever-- and my longest distance! WOAH. I was (and am!) so proud! I pushed... hard. And, it paid off. I was (an am!) PROUD of myself. PROUD of what I did. PROUD of what I put my body through. PROUD of what I'm capable of. It's a great feeling.

Post ice-bath I sticked my legs for a few minutes (not long enough), went to a friends baby's birthday party, had some friends visit (where we went on a long walk, drank some beers, and had some delicious cheese fries!), and then I passed out at 8:30pm. YUP. 8:30pm. I was SO tired. Beyond tired. I woke up at about 10 and managed to watch a little of the Olympics before calling it a night around 11pm and I slept (hard!) til 8am the next morning. My body clearly needed the sleep and I was happy to oblige.  

Confession: I think I might still be on a runner's high from Saturday and I'm a so incredibly OK with that.

I have faith in you, legs.

Yesterday, I got to run. Not sure if you knew this, but I kinda love to run. So this was very exciting for me. My shins have been crazy sore since the 5K this weekend and I took Sunday and Monday completely off running. Tuesday I ran 3 ½ short miles, just to see how I felt. As I said—it wasn’t quite pain-free. Not terrible, but definitely still some nagging shin issues. ARGH!

Listen here, legs—it’s time for you to work and be pain free. Got it? Good.

So, yesterday I ran again. Yeah, yeah. I know. If I had pain Tuesday I should have taken Wednesday off. Not to mention the whole tapering thing. Whatever. I wanted to run. No, I needed to run. It was just ONE OF THOSE DAYS. So, I laced up the Brooks during my lunch hour and hit a local trail.

5 glorious miles later I felt like a new person. NO PAIN! Ok… that’s a slight exaggeration. There was very, very minimal pain. It felt more like stiff leg pain than shin splinty pain, though, so I’ll take it and call it a win. They weren’t fast miles (10:08ish average pace), but they were fabulous, glorious, much needed miles.

And then I woke up today.

With more pain.

UUUUUUUUUUUUGH!

C'mon, legs! What are you doing to me?!?!? WOOOORK with me! Please???

So, again—I took today off running and spent 60 boring minutes with the elliptical this morning. And, tomorrow I’m going to take a… wait for it… FULL REST DAY. Shocking, I know. And, I’m going to ice tonight. A lot. And tomorrow. A lot. Hopefully the ice and rest and probably some compression action will make for some healthy, ready to rock legs by Saturday’s race.

I have faith in you, legs. You are loved and I promise to be much better to you in the future. I’ll even treat you to a massage in the near future if you behave well on Saturday. Ball’s in your court.  

No, I did not run on the TM this week. This is an old pic. But, it's of my legs, so it seemed fitting. Just seeing this pic made me actually MISS the damn treadmill (gasp!). I just wanna ruuuuuuun.