Meghan's Blog

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March 13, 2006

Meghan's Bad Decision

Or shall I say, a series of bad decisions. I wasn't the smartest little runner today, but I pulled off what I needed to. Here's the scoop, snoops.

First, it started by getting 4 hours and 45 minutes of sleep. My "night" was so rudely interrupted at 11:45 am by the screaming of the emergency pager, wherein I had to stumble into firefighting gear and go stand in the snow and cold for an hour. And I didn't even get to fight a fire because there wasn't one. Despite the outside cold, the inside ambient climate of those turnouts is akin to a Costa Rican rainforest. I digress, but I was well on my way to dehydration when it was all over. The right thing would have been to return home, down a half liter of Gatorade, and crawl back into bed for an hour. The wrong thing to do, or what I did, was to make a pot of coffee and start my day.

Next, I got all busy doing stuff. So busy that I forgot to eat breakfast. I started to realize this when the combined firefighting dehydration and caffiene jitters made me feel oh-so-happy. The right thing to do would have been to sit down to a wholesome meal of eggs, toast, fruit, and juice. The wrong thing to do, or what I did, was to chug a little water, eat a banana, and go out running.

So, there I am, starting a 12 mile run, feeling dehydrated, coffee jittery, and just plain hungry from the get-go. I knew I was going to feel all pooey and that I better run an out-and-back course. If I were to do a series of loops closer to home, who knows whether I would have the willpower to keep going when my house is just around the corner and I could stop anytime. I know that some runners have got the mental strength, but I questioned my own today. To do an out-and-back course from my home involves significant elevation change, either up and up or down and down. I chose to go up on the way out, and down on the way back. Perhaps this is the only good choice I made all day!

Once I got going, a couple miles in, the empty belly growls and shaky arm jitters quieted themselves and I settled into a rhythm of grinding uphill. In this direction, it's 1 mile uphill, 1.5 miles downhill, then the rest uphill. I had so many things to think about while I was out there (Right, I'm sure I wasn't thinking anything in my altered state of sanity.), that I forgot to turn around. One minute I looked at my watch and it said 38:xx, then the next time I looked at it, it said 59:xx. I was planning to turn around at 50:00. Luckily, when I finally got my wits about me to turn around, I then had miles and miles of downhill cruising. Once I got to the 1.5 mile uphill near the end, I began to falter. What's the worst is that you can see the top of the hill the whole time, but it's just way, way up there!

Then, then, I encountered a herd of bison hanging out in the road. I stopped and waited, and waited, and waited. These creatures never move fast. The right thing to do would have been to make a big wide circle around them in the brush, and keep going. The wrong thing to do, which I did, was to just stand there and watch bison move at a pace of about 1 foot/15 seconds, until I lapsed into uncontrollable shivers. Between my wet clothes, the snow and wind, and stopping for about 5 minutes, I got really cold. Then, I finally wisened and took the route through the bushes around them.

Luckily, all this standing around resting made climbing the last hill back up much more bearable. The final mile cruise downhill felt great. It was the best I felt all day! I got home and went directly to a hot, steaming shower, and my skin hurt when it hit the water! I was SO cold! The smart thing to do would have been to bring a bottle of Gatorade with me into the shower to begin the rehydration process. The wrong thing to do, and what I did, was to forget all about it and stand in hot water and steam until I felt like I was going to pass out. Then I finally got out and started drinking water. I made a hearty lunch/dinner and ate well, just many hours belated.

As a side note, Audrey recently described a running incident wherein her sports bra completely failed. I thought her story was really funny because it sounded like we have the same pink sports bra that zips up the front, only mine worked. Anyhow, I was chuckling about Audrey today as I pulled out the pink zip sports bra and wore it in her honor. About 2 miles into this run, I realized that it was coming unzipped! Sure enough, all this laughing at Audrey and my sports bra does the same thing the next day! What the? I'm sure I was a sight to behold, stuffing my hands into 5 layers of clothing and groping myself every mile or so to rezip the bra. I liked that thing until today, it's cute. And now, I feel Audrey's pain. But at least mine didn't come unzipped all the way!

So, I ran at least 14 miles today, maybe a bit more when I get out the map for a look-see. I ran a very hilly route. I ran it on pavement (When was the last time I ran 14 miles on pavement? A long time ago...). I ran it dehydrated, hungry, and fatigued. It went okay, and I do feel fine now, but methinks I better watch out for myself in the next couple of days so something bad doesn't happen. And finally, tonight I'm going to do a core/lifting routine, created by Duncan. I think it's been months since I've done either. If and when I'm sore tomorrow, I'm going to curse him! :)

Posted by Meghan at March 13, 2006 7:18 PM

Comments

Posted by: Audrey at March 13, 2006 8:23 PM

Posted by: Audrey at March 13, 2006 8:26 PM

Posted by: Alison at March 14, 2006 3:54 AM

Posted by: jeff at March 16, 2006 9:16 AM

Posted by: chelle at March 19, 2006 1:09 PM

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