23 miles SUCKED!

Let me tell you about the worst run of my life, 23 miles! It all started by eating mexican food the night before. Yep, I'm smart. Then it continued by being woken up several times by airhorns of drunken Ranger fans screaming, "YEAAAHHHH, GO RANGERS!!! WE ROCK! TAKE THAAAAT!!!" ...and as much as I love the Rangers, a good night's rest took priority on something as big as 23 miles. So, I woke up tired and grumpy. To add insult to injury, it was muggy and humid outside, the suckiest weather to run in. We started sweating on mile 1 and once we hit mile 2, my shoulder became incredibly inflammed and that pain consumed me for a long time. Later on in the run, when I was really hurting and looked down to see that I had 16 more miles to go, I about cried. To add to the already established annoyance, I kept dropping the water bottles on my new running belt and random pads kept falling out of it. About 2 miles later, I slammed my finger in a trashcan, dropped 2 more water bottles and then got this crazy sensation of having to go to the bathroom when you don't really have to go. I was so uncomfortable that the tears finally came. I was miserable. I was able to get some ice mid-run to numb the firey pain from the shoulder and that gave me some relief. I got in a little better of a mood when we hit half way, anything to get us closer to done. My shoulder pain became bearable and we finally got closer to done. My legs held up okay though I could tell all of us were hurting. We finally finished at in 6 hours and 41 minutes. I know that seems forever long, but keep in mind we took several long breaks. I'm glad I finished, but I didn't feel accomplishment...I just felt relief that it was over.

Recovery

This recovery was different than any other I've had for several reasons. First of all, I had chaffing on the whole back of my body. Never have had that before. Second, I had red marks that were close to bloody in the shape of a sports bra, never had that either. I felt nauseous and really hungry but that's pretty normal for long runs. I slept for 3 hours when I got home and was pretty out of it the rest of the day. I can honestly say that out of all my runs, this was my worst, and I have a feeling that anything I do after this will not suck as much as this 23 mile training run.

I have a half-marathon this Sunday and I'm pretty excited about it. I am fully prepared to push myself hard this week. Next weekend, we have a 26 mile training run scheduled but I have not decided whether I'm doing it with the group, or doing it on my own if I choose to go to Six Flags instead. Decisions, Decisions! Then we have 2 more weeks of 10 miles and then it's the RACE! I'm so excited about becoming a marathoner! That's going to be an awesome day!

Today

I had great nutrition today and ran 2 miles @ 26:56 time. It feels good to be back in the game!!!!