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October 23, 2005
Mingling with Runners
Letting an extra day go by before writing in my blog seems to make me scrimp on writing about what actually went on. It seems like when there are more runs to write about, I write less about each run because I don't think that anyone really cares that much if I felt great or if I felt like crap. That being said, this will either be really long or really short.
Yesterday morning did not have ideal running conditions. When I woke up, I could hear that it was absolutely pouring. I had to run early because I had already paid the money for a ticket to go to homecoming. I'm cheap, I paid for it, I'm going to use it. I got over to the school where we meet and it was dark. Nobody else was there. I waited for a few minutes and M, who usually runs over because she lives so close, drove over. She said that if nobody else was there, she wasn't going to run. At this point, I was considering going to the gym and running on the treadmill because it was raining awfully hard. We waited for a few more minutes, and three more people showed up. L could only run for an hour, and nobody really cared if we went an hour, so we did a loop that is about 8.5 miles. The rain did ease up during the run, it was probably what Becky considers "fake cold". It was chilly if you were just standing around, but once you got moving it wasn't too bad. I was comfortable in shorts, long sleeves, a light jacket, baseball cap, and gloves that stayed on until I had to fix one of my shoes. The pace was nice and relaxed, it was one of the more enjoyable runs that I have gone on in a while. I ended up adding on with one of the guys who made it. We ran for another half hour, about 12.5 miles. I would have liked to get to run for two hours, but I couldn't convince anyone to go that long and it was just gross outside.
I skipped my cross training and lifting yesterday because I had to get ready to go to homecoming. I would have had time to at least do my lifting, but I would have been too cold. Even changing into dry clothes would not have helped because I was chilled to the bone. A hot shower was really the only thing that was going to get me warm once I stopped moving.
Homecoming was fun. There was a track/cross country reunion. Mingling with runners usually results in conversation about what races you have run and what your times are. Most of the alums who were there were men in their forties. The assistant coach and I were the token young females. Thank goodness they had tents because it rained quite a bit yesterday. After a while we went up to the local bar that we all frequented in college. I ate terribly yesterday, all junk and I paid for it today. I got home too late to eat a real dinner, so I snacked on junk.
This morning, my run was pretty crummy. It was sunny and very windy. My legs didn't feel all that bad after a shorter long run yesterday and lots of walking around. My stomach wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. I felt pretty weak because I ate so poorly yesterday. A few years ago, the way I ate yesterday was normal, but I have made a real effort to eat more nutritious foods and when I don't, I can really tell.
I went for my second run after the Eagles game. The game was not pretty, but they managed to pull it out. This run was much better than the one this morning. I have to believe that it was partly from getting some healthy foods in me and just getting the junk out of my legs this morning.
I ended up with 67 miles for this week. I never used to be mileage obsessed, but now that I'm running more mileage, I don't like having low weeks. I realize that because I am going to be racing more often now, my mileage will have to drop if I want to race fast. In another six weeks or so, I'll have a week that is either zero or in the single digits-yikes! It's hard to do, but it is good for me...it prevents injuries and it keeps things fresh, but it is so hard.
Posted by Blondie at October 23, 2005 08:17 PM