Tears

After 9 miles of epic on Sunday, I can't seem to walk straight. I've got some pretty intense pain on my right hip. My coach seems to think that maybe after a couple of months of left knee pain, my right side is sore from over compensating. The good news? My knee doesn't hurt.

So I tried running again on Tuesday, went a mile, lots of pain. Tried again today, even more pain. I thought I was at least able to walk with out a limp so I should try and run. Wrong. Two steps of running shot pain through my hip.

Then, on the defeated return home, I ran into my building's maintenance man. And what does he say? "What are you doing up this early limping around?" I guess I wasn't quite limp free yet...

So I wanted to let you know dear readers, do not mistake these tears for weakness. These tears are from anger and frustration. I have no idea what Sunday will bring but I hope it won't end this way.

Mooove Over!

The one training run Meghan doesn't make it to turns out to be one of the most exciting! First off, it was wet and nasty pretty much the entire run. Started out fine, then it started pouring after the first mile. At this point I was chatting with another lady from the program so I hadn't noticed that my phone wasn't playing music anymore. After stopping for Gatorade and she ran up ahead, I realized my phone was thoroughly soaked and is now dead. I'm hoping a trip to the store will fix it but if not I'll be switching to a back-up.

So there I was, soaking wet, three miles into a run, alone, with no music. Now I know the biggest thing at races is that headphones are strongly discouraged. I don't need that lecture. I usually only run with one ear phone in and the music is turned down low anyways. I can deal with out music for a single run I suppose. I was more worried about my phone being completely dead since I don't have a land line phone to keep in touch.

Then around mile 4.5 one of the coaches decided to graciously slow down his epic pace to keep me sane over the next 4.5 miles. You'd think that the run could go on normally then right? Wrong.

Here's a little of how the conversation went:

Me: What the hell is that up there? A Cow?
Coach: No way. I think that's a horse.
(Makes sense. People ride horses on the trail all the time.)
(As we get a little closer)
Me: No way that's a horse.
Coach: Maybe it's a really big dog?

COWS. Yup. Those are cows. Yup. They're just casually crossing. THE ONE DAY I DON'T HAVE A WORKING PHONE TO TAKE A PICTURE! These pictures were sent to me by one of our fellow runners.

A lady on the side of the trail, who also didn't have a phone, was desperately trying to get someone to call her husband to tell him "Crazy Mike's cows got out!"

After all excitement, I ran 9 miles in 2:12:34. Pace of 14:43/m

And We're Back

I was forced to skip Tuesday's run due to some mild food poisoning. It was the first run I've missed since I went to Hawaii in early June so I really don't feel guilty about it. In the mean time, I'm still not eating well so I only went out for 3 miles today. 3 miles; 42:09; 14:03 pace

Going for 9 on Sunday.

Friends, Family, and Five Kilometers

Today I ran my 4th 5K. I was surrounded by friends I've known for a while, new friends that I've made through the Potomac River Running Training Program, and family.

My cousin Geneva decided to join in on the fun last minute. She ended up beating all of us out! At the advice of my coach, I went ahead and ran a mile to warm up. I've never warmed up before a race before but I did this time and I felt good come the start of the race

Here's were the butterflies start to get you. We started filing in at the starting line.

Despite the crowded appearance, this race was actually not as crowded as the Firecracker that I ran July 4th.

 Everyone linked up? Music pumping? Good. Lets get started!

Geneva and I, photo courtesy of my mother.

Me, photo courtesy of Potomac River Running.

Geneva kicking my ass across the finish.

 Me finishing 5 minutes later.

Geneva looking like a total bad ass runner .1 miles from the finish.

 Me looking like a total dork .1 miles from the finish.

Whats the point if you're not having fun right? I look like a goob out there but I'm enjoying myself. I'm also not the fastest runner but I didn't finish last. My official chip time was 42:49. Pace of 13:49. I beat my personal record by only 40 seconds but a PR is a PR no matter how close it is.

I also learned another tough lesson in hydration today. Not only should you not gulp water while running long distances but you should also try not to choke on it to. I'm walking through the next water stop. 

I now have a new bib to add to my collection.

And a new race shirt.

I even made it to the early pick up to get a killer pint glass.

Lets raise those pints to friends, family and killing five kilometers today!

Pink Power

MY FUEL BELT CAME TODAY!! I'm a little excited about it. Not only will it be incredibly helpful to have on those two hour runs, it's also adorable.

It's pink! I love it. The water bottles are easy to grab and replace while running. And yes, I did put pink Gatorade in one of the bottles.... I couldn't resist.

It even has a nifty little pouch for gels and such. We'll have to see how it does on my long run next week. Instead of running with my group on Sunday I'll be racing in the Leesburg 5K. I hope that my running buddy starts feeling better soon because I know I'm going to need her to push me to my goal.

13.1 miles? BRING IT!

The Bird

As I was running today a bird fell out of it's nest and landed dead on the trail. So after the initial shock and heart break wore off, I had had two and a half miles to contemplate. This bird had reached its end by seemingly natural causes. His passing made room for other birds to grow and to flurish.

Now I feel that perhaps an end has come to a time in my life. I think it's my turn to go forth and do something new. I'm not sure what that new thing will be yet but I know it's coming.

After the bird died, and my shoes became untied 3 times over the course of a mile, I was finally able to run the rest incident free. I ran 3 miles in 44:13. Pace of 14:44. I want to be much faster for my 5K come Sunday. The only thing stopping me is myself.

Another goal for myself: Beat the streetlights

I ran a little to late today. As the days get shorter I'll have to figure our how to make the best out of the short daylight hours. But I have another month or two to figure that all out. Until then, I have more pressing matters to turn to. Wish me luck dear readers.

Three Minutes, Twenty-eight Seconds

Today I ran 8 miles in 3 minutes and 28 seconds faster than I did last week. It may not seem like long time but to me those 208 seconds feel like a life time.

8 miles
1:58:36
14:49 pace

I also got a new shirt this week. Which I love.

Dread the Treadmill

So just before today's run I walked outside to see this:

Rather ominous clouds along with thunder and lightning.

And although it never actually rained I'm glad I decided to go across town to borrow my parents treadmill.

This thing is the biggest pain in the ass for a now seasoned trail runner. So many buttons and  I don't deal with speed in terms of miles per hour. I've become so much more accustomed to dealing in terms of minute/mile pacing. I run a 12 minute mile. This I know. Now I had to figure out how many MPH that translates to. After playing with it for about a mile, I figured out that its about 5mph.

After all of the button pushing and exploring, I ended up running 4 miles in 57:26. That's a pace of 14:21. Not bad for a treadmill workout.

I even may have watched a few episodes of Futurama on my phone while I ran....

You Know You Have A Great Running Buddy When...

You know you have a great running buddy when...

• She lends you her spare water bottle when she can't go any further
• When you think you can't, she says you can
• She offers to drive you once a week to 6 am long runs
• She gives you GU gels (and even takes your trash for you)
• She's slightly faster than you and is humble about it
• She knows when to push you and when to let you be
• She makes sure you're awake before the sun is on weekends
• One word: Accountability 
• When you say, "I'm gunna walk up that hill." She says, "No you're not"

 
“Flatter me and I may not believe you, criticize and I may not like you, ignore me and I may not forgive you, but encourage me and I will not forget you.” -William Arthur Ward



Ran 4 miles. 53:59. Pace of 13:29. New PR. All thanks to my great running buddy.

Nerves

Today I learned an important lesson in hydration. You must sip water as you run. Never gulp. Taking in large gulps of water will cause an upset stomach fairly quickly. Go ahead. Ask me how I know.

In other news, I ran 8 miles in 2:02:04. That's a 15:15 pace. I started out really well and felt great until I hit a mental wall around mile 6. This is when my pace started really slowing down.

As we've been getting up there in mileage I find myself getting nervous Saturday evening. As we were walking to the trail this morning I was chatting with a man who was heading out for 14 miles today. He said that this would be his personal distance record. He's run five 13.1 races and he was nervous for 14.

At least now I know its perfectly normal to be nervous the night before a long run.

Ups and Downs

UP: I've lost 17 pounds since I started this journey. (I'll pause here for your applause)

DOWN: Today's run Sucked. And that's Sucked with a capital S.

Some days you don't have the energy. Some days you look at that 13.1 miles and you think, what the hell have I gotten myself into? I ran 7 miles a few days ago. I kicked ass. Why did I have so much trouble running 3.2 miles today?

I guess with the good you have to take the bad and the ups with the downs. And though Sunday and Tuesday were part of the good, today was the bad.

8 mile goal Sunday.