10 miles??!?!

Well, I am feeling better. There's still a bit of icky-ness holding on, but I really do feel more human than I have in a long time.

I won't wait until the end of the post to include the big news: I ran 10 miles yesterday!

Now, to the beginning. My runs during the week were pretty uneventful. Since I did my long run on Sunday, Monday was an off day. Then I ran 30 minutes on Tuesday, 35 on Wednesday, and 40 on Thursday. I didn't have any trouble doing then runs, but they weren't enjoyable. I just can't seem to get into running.

All 3 of the runs were my "normal" route. I am definitely further and further at the 15 minute mark each time, so my pace is improving. My legs are fairly constantly sore, and they complain a lot at the beginning of the run before just numbing into acceptance.

What makes running so difficult to me is that lack of distraction. Running really is a fairly boring activity for me. Music wasn't doing it for me anymore, so I followed Kelli's move to podcasts and books on tape. It's a little more distracting, but I still find myself spending a lot of time just wanting the run to be over.

I am also having a lot of trouble with daylight. If I rush out of work at 4, come directly home, walk and feed the dog, change, and head out, it is still dark by the time I finish my run. And it is dark when I leave in the morning for work, too, so I can't just move my run to the morning. Silly short days!

So, anyway, yesterday was our 10 mile long run. I'll admit that I went into it totally terrified. I wasn't convinced I could do 10 miles, especially with the disaster that was last week.

The route began with the loop at Memorial, went down Memorial to Waugh, crossed over to Allen Parkway, went down to Sabine (basically I-45), and turned around and went back to the park.

When we started out, I really didn't think I could do it, and I definitely started to flag around 3 miles, but I pushed on. I kept telling myself that once I got through the run, I had the whole weekend ahead of me to enjoy.

I did eventually make it through the whole 10 miles, and I didn't walk any of it. I made several short stops: once to use the restroom, 4 official water stops, and 2 stops at water fountains along the way because I definitely needed it. I'm not really sure how I made it the last 2 miles - I just wouldn't let myself stop.

My knee held up a lot better this time. I have been really good about rolling my IT Band all week, and I had my massage therapist work on it a lot Friday. I still had some pain this run (and plenty of it after), but nothing that I couldn't run through. If I keep up the routine, I should be ok.

I forgot to start my watch when we started out, so I can't tell you what my pace was. I did finish ahead of someone who says her pace is a 13-minute mile, but she might have been having an off day or something.

It was really cold out yesterday morning. Somewhere around 40 degrees. I started the run in one less layer than I showed up in because I was comfortable in what I was wearing, and I knew that it wouldn't take long for my body to warm up. I felt ok the whole run, temperature-wise, and it is definitely better than running in the heat. When I got home, though, it took forever wrapped up in my covers to bring my body temperature back to something reasonable - I was cold to the touch.

The important thing here is that I made it through 10 miles! I should totally be able to get through 13 when the time comes.

10 miles!

It gets better now? Right?

I went to the doctor Thursday. I have a sinus infection. Joy. She put me on some stronger antibiotics and told me that if I'm not completely better when they run out (2 weeks), I need to see an ENT specialist. Fun times.

On the up side, I really am feeling a bit better with the antibiotics. Better than I have in over a month, actually. Still not healthy, but hopeful that I am on my way.

I felt really, really awful Friday. I decided to put my long run off until Sunday because we would be at Ren Fest all day Saturday, and the antibiotics meant that I would not be drinking, so I wanted the extra day to let the drugs work.

I waited until it warmed up a bit to go run on Sunday (I was not about to run when I woke up and the temperature was in the 30s). At 1pm, the temperature was in the low 60s, and I decided that was the best possible temperature for running. It really was a good temperature.

The assigned distance was 8 miles, but I went ahead and mapped out a route where I could turn around and just do 6 if I wasn't feeling well. I mean, I've been really sick, and I hadn't run in a week, so I wanted to be careful. The 8 mile run left my apartment, headed to Memorial Park, did the loop there, and headed home. The 6 mile turned around without doing the loop.

At 3 miles, I felt like I could force my way through the full 8, and I really wanted to try, so I stopped to fortify myself with a gel and kept going.

A little after 4 miles, I started to feel some serious pain in my knee. I stopped and readjusted the IT Band strap and started again. The pain came back, so I slowed to a walk for a little bit before trying to force it back up to a run. Ten steps in, the pain was back. I repeated this set up steps several times before admitting that I might not be able to finish the run.

The pain was pretty severe, or I would have tried to run through it. The best I can guess, it was caused by a combination of not rolling out my IT Band often enough, not running for a week then doing a long distance, and doing a LOT of walking the day before the long run.

When I started this journey, my biggest fear was not being able to finish because of my knee, so you can imagine how much having to stop because of the pain freaked me out. The idea of trying to get through 10 miles next Saturday scares me for enough reasons without worrying that I'll be forced to quit less than halfway through because of my knee.

Anyway, back to the run - I was 4 miles from home and definitely not running, and I didn't have a phone with me, so I walked. Every so often, I would try the running again, but the pain always came back. Serious, stabbing pain.

I did eventually make it home. I have a nice blister on my heal because, apparently, the shoes that are great for running are maybe not so happy for long distance walking.

Today is my rest day, and I hurt all over. I've got runs planned Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then the big 10 miles on Saturday. I hope I don't die.

Still feeling totally crappy.

Still not running.

Seeing the doctor again tomorrow.

8 miles Friday afternoon is going to suck.

Whine-y me

Ugh.

It is gross outside today.

The bad weather made traffic messy coming home, so I got home about 20 minutes later than I wanted to. And when I did get home, it was cold and raining and looking icky out. Since I'm still feeling pretty sick, I decided that running might not be the best idea. The weather was making it dark even earlier than usual, too.

So, that's my rationalizing a skipped run.

I hate skipping runs. I just feel so bad about it. I know the weather isn't supposed to get better for the next couple of days, too. I guess I'll force out a run tomorrow regardless of the weather.

I really need to get runs in tomorrow and Wednesday since I will be skipping Thursday's run in order to move my Saturday long run up to Friday. Trying to work a running schedule around the rest of my life gets interesting.

I need to get healthy, and the weather really needs to get better.

Yet more running...

Well, I think that this week went ok. I am definitely starting to get frustrated with having to fit my running into the rest of my fabulous life, but I am getting it in. I am not one to give up on something, so I will be trying to shape my life around running through the rest of the holiday season.

I had to take care of a couple of things when I got home from work on Monday, so I was a little late starting my run (but, we're talking like 5:30 here). We were set to do 30 minutes, and I am really not having trouble with those anymore (aside from the boredom). I got 10 minutes into the run, and it started to get dark. I decided to shorten the run to 20 minutes in order to get home and minimize my time running in the dark. I just really am not comfortable running in Houston in the dark by myself. I can't believe how early it gets dark now. Silly time change.

I was in a seminar on Tuesday that didn't start until 9am, and I had plans that evening, so I decided to get the run over with in the morning (I think I would do all my runs in the morning if it wasn't still dark when I normally go to work - it's nice to have the run out of the way first thing). We had 35 minutes scheduled, and I didn't really expect to have too much trouble.

It actually ended up being a really bad run. I meant to take a gel before starting, because I can't eat before running, and I figured that I would need something. I guess some combination of forgetting the gel and running just 13 hours before hit me the wrong way. The run was just hard. I slowed to a walk several times, but never let myself walk for more than 30 seconds. It was just a rough and annoying run. I did manage to get through it, though.

Seriously, getting the run over with was awesome. It was great to come home and not have to run and shower before doing anything. I wish I could run in the morning all the time.

I skipped track night on Wednesday again. I am getting really bad about that, but I am so burnt out on running right now that it is a much needed break. I will definitely have to get back into a Wednesday run of some sort, but while I am still trying to get healthy again, I think the rest is a good thing.

I had a meeting at 8am at another site on Thursday, so I was actually able to squeeze in a run before work. This time, the morning run went really well for me. I did 40 minutes with no trouble at all. I was really pleased with the run. I am not thrilled that the weekly runs are getting longer, but I am happy to see that I am managing to get through them. I might not enjoy the running, but I am getting it done.

This week's Saturday morning long run was schedule for 10 miles, and I was very afraid. As we were warming up, the coach told us to just do 8, as he thinks it is a little early for us to be doing 10 (I hope you didn't do 10, Kelli!). I was really, really happy to just have to do 8. Putting off the 10 miler for another couple of weeks sounds like a really good plan to me.

It was pretty cold out this morning. I actually wore a jacket, and my hands and legs were pretty cold. The legs stop bothering me once I get running, but I think I need to get gloves. I saw a lot of runners on the loop this morning in shorts, t-shirt, and gloves. It looks funny, but I totally understand why they do it.

The run itself went fairly well. It was the same route as our last 8 miler - do the park loop, follow Memorial out to Chimney Rock, turn around, and head back to the park.

I definitely missed having someone to run with this morning. Running for that long alone is just so BORING. And 8 miles is a really long way.

I did manage to run the whole way, with 2 stops for water and one to get a rock out of my shoe. I also ended up running an extra 1/2 mile because I needed to use a restroom about halfway through, so I needed to take a detour. So I did 8.5 miles today, making it the furthest distance I have ever run =)

The run took me about 2 hours and 5 minutes (including the extra 1/2 mile and rest stops). I am still definitely slower than I would like to be, but I still have time to improve. I mean, I am running the whole distance, I just need to up the speed a bit. I am sure I can do it.

I wore the band for my IT Band this morning, and it seemed to help. I still had pain, but it wasn't as bad. I really, really need to get better about rolling my legs several times a day, but I really hate doing that. Silly body objecting to the torture I am putting it through.

Tomorrow will be a must needed rest day. I have come to really appreciate those...

AND parking garages?

I would like to stress that I am still not a runner. I am a person who forces herself to run 5 times a week in order to raise money and awareness for a good cause. I don't like running. I spend most of the time I am running wishing that I was anywhere else doing anything else. But I am getting through this, and it will feel amazing to cross that finish line in January.

You guys, running is HARD.

I got up just after 5am this morning to head out to the park for this week's long run. I now get up earlier on Saturday mornings than I do during the week to go to work. There is something seriously, seriously wrong with that.

Anyway, at least the weather was nice - it was chilly without really being cold, so weather never really factored into the run for me, and that is the best possible situation with weather. I know it's going to start getting colder, and I need to get some layering clothes, but for now, it's really nice.

We ran a 7 mile loop this morning. We left from the park, ran to the corner of Allen Parkway and Montrose (you can see my apartment from there - so evil!), then turned around and headed back to the park. On the way back, we stopped at the parking garage on Detering and ran 2 parking garages (up and down is about 1/2 a mile).

I guess the run went well. We ran the whole thing without any serious issues. The parking garages were really, really painful, though. I am already flagging at that point in the run, so it seemed mean to have us run garages at that point, but I'm sure it was good for us or something.

My body has definitely started to voice some complaints about the whole running thing. I have a couple of aches that just won't go away and flare a bit when I run, and my knee problem is getting worse. I know it is an IT band issue, so I just bought a strap to wear above my knee and put pressure on the IT band. It arrived this afternoon, and I tried it on - the leftover pain from the run just seemed to go away. I hope that running with the strap will help a lot with the issues. Of course, I also need to be better about stretching it and rolling it on the evil rolling thingy.

My stomach also acted up a bit this morning. I'm hoping it was just something I ate last night coupled with not enough sleep. I guess we'll see.

This week is busy outside of the running thing, so it'll be a pain to get my daily runs in, but I'm sure I'll work something out. They get longer this week. Sigh.