Good Run!

I don't think the word 'dread' adequately describes how I was feeling about today's 2:45 run. I think that I was so anxious about it that I actually wasn't feeling great this morning.... my tummy was a rumblin! Always a convenient excuse not to run. BUT, I went anyway... I figured if I ended up-chucking THEN I could abort the run and try another day.

I arrived, but Christy didn't. I was quite nervous. After all we had the long run planned, this was not just the usual morning run. I was going through the scenarios of what I would do if she would not show (another good excuse not to run?). My car clock struck 5:00, so I got out to talk to Todd about it. I couldn't talk to Jill about it since she is trying to get the gold medal for living up to nicknames - No Show Gal (NSG). I decided to give Christy a call and just as it finished its first ring I saw a white car screaming down the road (hopefully the local police don't read this blog - if they do, I am NOT saying she was speeding!). Whew!

So, let's get this over with! I explained to Christy that I broke it down to 2 and 3/4 morning runs. THAT wasn't THAT bad! Well, it wasn't that bad! I think I was dreading the run so much because I had such a miserable experience during the 2:30 run. This run I finished feeling great - like I could keep on going and wanted to pick up the pace for the last leg home! YEAH!

Of course it helped that we had a new runner with us. Christy's sister joined us at 6:00 for most of the rest of the run. A whole NEW set of conversation topics! Time just FLEW by! As is typical - Christy said a whole bunch of things that I thought - "Remember that for the blog". Yeah right, I am not 42 so obviously remembering anything during the 2:45 hour run is not happening. Of course, I am not as old as my friend Sandy who had a birthday this week. I wonder how she does it ;-)

When I got home I decided to take an ice bath. Now, I have done this in the past and it really wasn't that bad. I am not a die hard since I only put cold water in - no ice. I did not take any video of it like Shut Up and Run, but let me tell you - I was a bit more vocal. This time it really was bad! Jim was laughing pretty hard at all my screams and squeaks, but when he saw my blue lips and my uncontrollable shaking he said, "you better get out of there". So, I made it maybe 7 minutes. MAN! I think it was more miserable than past experiences since those were in the summer when I was training for a fall marathon. So the temperature of the cold water coming into the house was much warmer than it is now. I just cannot get over how miserable it was compared to when I did before. Even my Sudoku puzzle didn't distract me. Plus, I was having a hard time writing due to the uncontrollable shaking!

So, the bottom line is the Run was GREAT (well, let's be honest, it was okay) and the ice bath SUCKED!

p.s. Hopefully this time I don't misspell certain words into swear words! If I do, I am sure Tom will point it out (to everyone but me!)

You try and be careful

I think we all try and be careful when we go out running alone or for that matter with the group, but sometimes things are just out of your control. It is so sad when freaky things like this (article) happen. It reminds me of the person who was killed while kayaking when a tree fell on him. I can't help but wonder if things had been different if somewhere in their day they had been delayed for 5 seconds or was it inevitable?

My prayers go out to his wife and young son and daughter.

Cut it Short

I cut my run short today. A whomping 2.36 miles.

My shins or the muscles along side my shins have been bothering me. Yesterday's run went better, but today I was really feeling them. Looking for excuses.....I realized that it was my fourth day in a row running. I had forgotten about running on Sunday which is not a usual running day for me. Plus it was a CRAPPY run and when my shins started bothering... so in other words an run I would have liked to forget anyway. Another excuse..... our 2.45 run is this Friday. What better reason to give my legs a break. So, I told the shocked, Christy, Katie and Tom that I was heading back. I would have told No Show Gal but she was being true to her name AGAIN today.

Thinking about it on the way home, I decided I am going to get a new pair of running shoes. I have been trying to hold off, but it may be time. I have over 300 miles on each pair. I think I am going to go up a half size since my feet seem to have grown in the last year. I am also going to see if I can find a cheaper model, but keep with Asics.

It was FOGGY today!

A New Experience

Quite a new experience this morning. A first since I started running with the running group. It was me and the boys running this morning. I think Mike was running on air with the knowledge that I was finally experiencing what he had for the past 3 (has it been that long?) years. They were very kind and didn't make me go through some bizarre male initiation ritual in order for me to run with them. Of course, if they did they knew it would appear in this blog.

We did the "Beer" run. Not because we get to indulge in beer at the turn around point, rather we run by the beer distributorships. Interestingly, it is the only run that has a name. I am sure we all of have names for the different routes we do such as $#&^% Margaret St. route, or blankety-blank County B route, but true to the positive nature of the group (except Christy) we tend to keep those names to ourselves.

Mystery

We have a little mystery!

This morning when we returned to the Walgreens parking lot there was a new, as in unknown to us, car parked among ours. It caused immediate comment and discussion. Who could it be? We all KNOW that NO ONE can park in the Walgreens parking between 5:00 and 6:00 am without being a runner. We protect our turf very carefully. We have thought about flinging a pair of tied together Asics on the power lines surrounding the parking lot in order to mark the boundaries of our territory similar how gangs do it (Kwik Trip Gal errr, I mean No Show Gal taught me that). Did we leave someone behind? Were they on the poll? All questions we did not have answers too.

We decided that it must be Kristi M. A runner group alum who had been making noises about joining us again. I checked in with her this morning and NOPE! NOT her! HMMMMM. Who could it be, Who could it BE? The Running group wants to KNOW!

She Knows its Coming

Kwik Trip Gal's name is now officially No Show Gal.

I am sure she will have some good excuse like she had to change the batteries in her smoke detectors since it was daylight savings. I was even feeling guilty that I may not have waited for her long enough, so after returning home to pick up my dog (who is always willing to run with me) I ran by our meeting place to make sure she hadn't come. Nope. She did leave me a message 30 minutes after our meeting time saying she was sorry and she would look for me.... hmmmm She was probably really on her way to get more batteries.

AND in addition to that heart breaker, my run SUCKED! My shins were killing me. I thought they would warm up and it would turn into an okay run. Nope. And my pace just kept on getting slower and slower. Too bad too because the morning gave the feeling that it was going to be a beautiful March day. We might actually get the see the sun today.

However, there was a happy being in all of this. Shiner. He was one happy dog when I came back and got him. His tail was just a waggin'. He would have looked like this dog: