The pic above is the rails to trails along the river headed to Tybee beach, taken last sunday.
It seems as though my weeks are patterned, for every awesome, solid 7 days i have of running, follows 7 lame snarky days. such was the past two weeks. this one, being the first official week of training for my upcoming 1/2 marathon debut in september, meant that each day NOT running, and each MISERABLE day of finally getting out there, left twice as many bruises.
It didn't start out too bad, Tuesday's 4 miles, taken late-ish at night, went down to be my fastest non-racing time to date. i enjoyed the break from the sun, and felt like a caged bird set free to soar on wings like eagles! then fear took over, and this bird dropped like a rock. tempo run set for thursday (wed. was a non-run day) and promptly ignored. i can't even remember what my excuse was. all i know is that in truth, i'm just chicken when it comes to pushing my comfort zone and inviting pain to come in and visit for awhile. sigh. its a fear i'm determined to conquer........... some other time. no, really, i'll just keep picking myself off the ground, dust off, and try again until something snaps and it finally sticks.
so, putting off thursday's workout rippled into putting off friday's workout (unless a few laps and some lazy drifting at the pool counts as cross-training) and suddenly it was saturday and i had a whopping 4 miles logged for the week!!!! so, sat. was scheduled to be another day off before my sunday long run, but i headed out 11am or so for some quick miles to comfort my bruised ego. at this time, it happened to be 103 degrees with the heat index, the air was thick, and my stubborn pride kept me from even thinking to take some water. 4 miles later i was sprawled on my tile floor trying to keep from passing out. the day was spent recovering.
so the big sunday long run was set for today. the plan was to get there at 6am but a late night at a friend's house resulted in a few too many snooze smashes, and i stumbled out of the house a half an hour late, trekked the 30 minutes to the Rails to Trails, having packed EVERYTHING i could possible need (SOOOO glad I remembered a towel this time!) even remembered to freeze some water bottles for the fuel belt and toss them into the cooler with my sigg bottle. of course, i wound up chickening out on that too (i always feel weird w/ the fuel belt- like admitting i'm weak and can't handle it, even thought the truth is, i'm weak and i can't handle it, as was proved today- its also why i've NEVER taken water or anything on a long run, not Gu or any sugaraids) i set out and the first 3 miles aren't too bad. i was bummed to have to stop a few times and do some fancy footwork to get through parts of the path that had completely erroded. Its so good that there's not too much traffic- cuz even the idea of a single fiddler crab running accross my foot had me mimicking some african tribal dances while crossing logs and planks.
But i got to my first turn around and let myself catch my breath, take in the local shrine that i get SUCH a kick out of take off again just as the 'squitos caught whiff of me (insert more african tribal dancing)i headed back..... the last three miles tho- staring into the rising, beastly sun was agony. I can honestly say, to the best of my memory, I have NEVER sweated so much in my LIFE! It was just pouring down my face and arms in giant drops leaving puddle trails behind me, the salt seeping into my eyes stinging them so all i could do was squint, as I staggered back to my starting point.
Once there, I ripped open the car door and barbarically lunged for my fuel belt water bottles from the cooler- which were in an ironic twist- still frozen, guzzled down the contents of my sigg bottle, and debated finishing up the remaining four. sigh. a glance at my phone told me i could probably swing it, then high-tail it back home to get ready to go to church (started volunteering in the elementary area again- so i had to be there early) or i could leave now and NOT be late for once. even now i hang my head in shame because even though i know i chose the better option, I have NEVER cut a run short like that.
Well, the twist to the story is that for every 7 days of lame snarky running (or lack of), sits another 7 awesome solid ones on the horizon. The good news is that because my run wasn't as taxing on my body, muscle-wise, as usual, I will have no problem, muscle-wise, in heading out for a few make-up miles tomorrow, which is another scheduled day off.
Thinking of all the junk I packed along this morning, for humor's sake, here's a recap. Heading out the door, I felt as though i was packed for a weekend, not just a few hours of running...
*first and foremost, the mighty Mizunos
*second, and in my opinion, nearly as important, the iPod
*uniform- the obligatory singlet and tempo shorts (i collect nike tempo shorts like most women collect shoes, lol)
*Nike+ sensors, armband
*hat and sunblock (yeah, right, like that helped!)
*fuel belt and frozen bricks of water bottles, packed in cooler
*towel for wipe down and to protect the leather
*water bottle
*gu or energy bars if your smart (mine stayed safe in the pantry at home)
*camera just incase (i wish mine was more portable, but it pretty much stays in the car, too)
*money for post-run sugary drink (after downing all the water- i prefer nesquick) on the way home (coupled with dozens of staring eyes no doubt wondering if i'm about to keel over at any moment)
*and the berry, which serves no real purpose sense i don't take that on the run either, but it did serve to deliver the time today, so not completely void of use, and then, could have potentially served to call an ambulance should the sun turn up its heat even a half degree more!
Quite an armload!
