Sunday, May 22nd

A day that I showed myself that I really need to believe in myself, all the time! And that I can do what I set my mind to. Since I haven't been training near as much as I should be, I'm having to put in the mileage and not worry so much about the time, for this half marathon. The weather hasn't been cooperating, and I haven't been good about motivating myself to run on the treadmill, I get too bored and won't push myself on that darned thing! But today, I was going to run 10 miles come hell or high water! So as Casey left to drop the boys off at church with Grandma, I left to do this! I had my new socks and new tank top on, and new headphones on with music pumping away! I remembered to grab a bottle of water, knowing that I shouldn't be running for over 2 hours without any hydration. I walked down to Cloverdale to warm up, and started to run after I hit Cloverdale. NO GO...the media pocket in the back of the tank top wasn't snug enough, so the iphone flopped around on my back/butt like a dead fish. Had I been running 30 minutes/3 miles...I could've lived with that. But I knew there was no way I could stand it for over 2 hours/10 miles. Bad news though, the house was locked up tight, like Fort Knox. I had to sit in the front yard and wait for the hubby to get home to put my armband on and try again. Now it was after 11am, and I was worried that I wouldn't have the energy to finish since it had been so long since lunch. So while he went on his bike ride I decided to make a little trip over to Dick's to find a water bottle that has a strap to make it easier to hold while running. It wasn't a smart decision on his part to not accompany me to Dick's! $90 later, another new tank top, a new water bottle belt, GU energy pack, and new headbands...I was home and ready to do this!!!!! Now we understand why it is that I still have to work 2 days a week. I had some lunch, got everything ready, and sunscreened up. I thought I was going to die just over a mile into my run. My whole stomach was a giant cramp...I didn't wait long enough after eating! For the love of Pete!!! I focused on my breathing, hydrated, and pushed through the pain. I was going to walk it, if nothing else. I ran some, walked some, made excuses and did terrible for the first 3+ miles. Then I decided that I was going to pull through this, stop with the excuses and go! I ran almost the entire time, only walking to get a drink here and there from 4.5 miles until 9.8 (when I got home)!!! I tried the GU energy stuff, strawberry banana flavor for the first time ever. I had it at mile 5, and it made a HUGE difference! The GU is 100 calories, and is 25 grams of carbs (only 5 is simple sugar, the rest is the complex stuff so that your blood sugar doesn't spike and then crash), and has electrolytes to replace what you're sweating out! I loved how I felt afterwards! The packaging and the stuff I read online says to do it 15 minutes before the long run and every 45 minutes during the run. So for this coming weekend, I'm going to try just that and see how I do. I hope it will feel better than today did. My friend Sarah also sent me this link about hydrating before the long runs/race days and with info about eating for training/racing, so I'm reading it and going to try some of that advice as well. Who knows, maybe it will help the speed too if I'm feeling better! I had a chocolate protein shake as soon as I got home, after I guzzled a big ol' glass of water. My muscles were that 'holy crap I just got my butt kicked' sore, and I figured I'd be lucky if I could walk on Monday! After a nice hot shower I had just enough time for a quick cat nap before dinner! And I carb loaded at dinner again...LASAGNA!! : ) Of course Sunday evening was anything but lazy since laundry and housework were calling my name before work on Monday and Tuesday! Another fast, but great weekend!