Couple of Good Days

It's a fact of the running life that there are good days and bad days--even though that sounds like something you'll find inside a fortune cookie.

We always tell other runners when they're struggling that there are good days and bad days, and you just have to take what the day will give you. On a good day nobody needs encouragement.

Well, I just had a couple of really good days.

Tuesday evening I ran with the Half Wits and felt like I was struggling. Then Thursday came along and I just floated along. I ran the 4 miles from LRS out on West Washington to Meadowlark and back on Victoria Lane. There are hills along there and I just wanted to see how I would be doing on hills.

I did just fine, thank you very much.

Then Saturday was the Lincoln Memorial half marathon. It was my official cutback week, it was a training run, I wasn't going to push myself. In fact, I was thinking about maybe walking up all four major hills. And I was going to be running with my daughter, who had never run the distance before.

Yeah yeah, all that. I went out and felt strong the whole way, ran up all the hills and finished in 2:18:30. That's an average 10:35 pace.

I really couldn't believe how good I felt going up the hills. Melissa made me run the Lincoln Street hill, which I think is the hardest hill on the course. Then she had pain in her right foot around the 9 mile mark and told me to go ahead and "boogie". So I did.

I just maintained my steady pace, and on 1st Street behind Lincoln Park I started running up the hill and just kept going. When I crested the hill and turned into the park, I felt great. I still felt strong and just wanted to keep going.

Even sprinted the last couple blocks and the finishing chute. Couldn't help it.

This week will be interesting. The schedule says 4 on Monday, 10 on Tuesday, 4 on Thursday and then (gulp) 20 miles next Saturday. Right now, I feel like I can actually do it.

Still In

Turns out I was getting all worried for no reason.

Several people who've gone the marathon distance listened to my woes and patiently explained to me that laying off for a week, even missing my 18-mile workout, won't hurt me. I should be fine, even if I only get a single 20-mile run in before race day.

They also said it's perfectly normal to panic in my situation, although they may have just been trying to humor me.

So I was up before dawn this morning, running 4 miles long before the rains came along. It felt good, even when I was running straight into the wind.

And I'm gonna quit thinking about quitting. At least for now.

Sick Time

The odds were against me--almost everyone I know has suffered a touch of flu or bad cold that's been floating around.

Linda had bronchitis and a sinus infection. Andrew's had a bad cold. People at work have had the flu.

So it really wasn't that much of a surprise to me that I felt bad Thursday morning. Bit of a fuzzy head, scratchy throat, touch of nausea, general achy feeling. Of course I had my usual breakfast and headed to work.

Each hour I felt worse until I finally went home at noon, drank TheraFlu, slept, drank more TheraFlu, and slept some more.

I didn't feel great Friday but went to work anyway. No, I'm not a Type A person, but I was in the last week before a big deadline and there's work on this project that nobody else can do. So I was there.

Saturday I was feeling less bad, but a trip to the grocery store for Italian bread and white wine for making shrimp scampi wore me out. This morning I actually had an appetite for the first time since Wednesday. I'm still pretty tired, though.

Here's the thing: Saturday was supposed to be an 18-mile run. I didn't run a step. I haven't run a step since Tuesday's 9-mile run in the wind. I haven't had the energy.

Tomorrow begins a cutback week, with 13 miles on Saturday. The following Saturday is 20 miles, then 14 the next week and 22 the week after that. I'm hoping that will be enough training to get me over the finish line in May.

Or maybe it's time to quit.

Very Blustery Day

I'm not Winnie the Pooh, but I dealt with an extremely blustery day today. The schedule said 9 miles on Tuesday, and it was really nice to do the Tuesday run actually on a Tuesday.

The wind was coming from the south at 17 mph or so, with gusts (according to the National Weather Service) in the neighborhood of 30 mph. That's quite a neighborhood, and I was running straight into it for a couple miles (I'm guessing) along Koke Mill Road.

Heading straight into the wind wasn't really easy, but it was fine compared to what I endured on Saturday. Today's run was almost all flat as a pancake, and that's exactly what I wanted today. Besides, once I had the chance to turn around and run north, the wind literally pushed me along. That felt nice.

No grouchy ankles, no tired and cranky legs, just a nice, easy 9 mile run. That was definitely a nice change of pace.

Oh, and instead of taking water along or looking for a public drinking fountain, I took along some cash and stopped at Walgreen's for a bottle of water to wash down my Carb BOOM. That store was right about at the 6 mile mark. Strategic planning.

Crank It Out

So Sunday the ankles were pretty sore but I got them stretched out by evening. Then the right one was stiff again this morning.

I worked on it while I was working, popped a couple of Advil, and went out for the scheduled 4 miles. It was sore and tight for at least the first mile and a half but slowly stretched out a bit. I was never truly comfortable, but I got the mileage in.

Tomorrow is 9 miles. We'll see how it goes, but I really am a little tired.

Well, That Was Difficult

Running 17 miles today was simply the most difficult running workout I've ever had. I quit.

Okay, I'm not quitting but geeeeeeeeeez this was hard.

I was up at 5 for instant oatmeal with peanut butter in it, a banana, water and Gatorade. I packed three Carb BOOM packets in my gear bag and got to 6th and Madison early enough to run a couple of miles before the Half Wits had their practice run on the Lincoln Memorial course.

I got going and about three blocks into my run I encountered Mary and Emily, so I ran with them. I know we were going faster than I should have, but who's gonna tell those two to slow down? Not me.

And things weren't bad on the half marathon course until around 8.5 miles (about 10.8 for me). I even ran up the Lincoln Street hill without much problem. Then we hit Oak Ridge Cemetery, and I walked up that hill. From that point on, I wimped out on the hills.

But things didn't get better. We hit the 12 mile mark (14.3 for me) and the only thing that kept me going was not wanting to fall too far behind the women I was running with. After we crossed the finish line, I set out for another mile and a half, and it was slow going. Then it was walking, running, walking, running.

Sheeesh.

Once I got done, I was so drained that I plopped into the back seat of my car and dug around for a dry T-shirt to change into. The morning had stayed cold but 17 miles meant that I had soaked my shirts with sweat. So I struggled out of the running shirts and into a T-shirt. Then I dug out a dry long-sleeved T-shirt to go over the other one. Then I hauled myself to a standing position by the car to pull on my heavy ISU hooded sweatshirt.

That's when the Mormon missionaries decided to start talking to me. Why me, God? I commiserated with them a bit over the fact that I had hauled my 51-year-old fat body through 17 miles and they were quite impressed. Then I begged them to just let me go home--I could chat with Mormon missionaries another day.

They were nice about it.

I had no calf cramps during the run, but my legs feel tired and a bit tight. What's weird is that my ankles don't feel outrageously sore the way I expected them to feel after 17 miles. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Nooner

Running on streets during daylight was a real shock to my system when I started with Abe's Army in 2005. I had been running, and before that I had been walking, in a lot of predawn hours when nobody could see me.

After I got going with Abe's Army, I eventually started running at noon. Working for LRS gives me access to health club facilities, including locker room and shower, so changing into running clothes and back to work clothes was no issue at all. Running by myself in full view of people was a bit of an issue.

But now it's no big deal at all. That's good, because today I left my desk around 10:30 to change and head out for an 8-mile run. EIGHT MILES! Yikes!

I've never attempted a run like that during a work day before. That's longer than what my Saturday long runs used to be. So how do you manage 8 miles at, um, lunch time?

Weeks ago I had a discussion with my manager about my training and the need I would have to disappear for a couple hours at a time. I said that I would either make up the extra time or take paid time off, so that wasn't an issue. His concern? He wanted to make sure somebody knew where I was in case something came up that needed to be dealt with. So I put the long run on my calendar in Outlook which is accessible to everyone, and I make sure the administrative assistant is aware of my bizarre plans.

And I stressed over food. I had oatmeal with peanut butter and a soy shake at 7 am, and then I ate a banana around 9. Plus I drank a lot of water this morning and slugged down some Gatorade.

The run itself was pretty nice. The temperature was around 40 with a wind out of the north that felt pretty cold when I was running into it. But the conditions were really the best they've been in weeks. I kinda looped through Washington Park, out on some side streets, and finished feeling pretty good. I chatted with older ladies I saw out walking their dogs and just tried to enjoy being out.

Quite a change from those early Abe's Army days.

I also stretched thoroughly after running. That's another advantage of having access to the LRS health club.

Tomorrow I have to do 4 miles. I wonder if THAT's going to be an adventure . . . . and I hope not.