Yoga Pants Life

Phew! Just finished my long run. Not sure how I feel about it. It wasn’t a bad run, but it wasn’t exactly confidence-building either. I ran 8.25 miles. I honestly didn’t really look at the time I left and I didn’t take my Garmin, so I have no idea about pace. I only know I ran 8.25  miles because I remember looking at the mileage on my Fitbit as I left.

I know it wasn’t a fast run, but I certainly don’t think it was my slowest. It was windy, so that didn’t help with speed. Neither did being dehydrated or hungry.  I also had a scary incident about 1.5 miles in – the stoplight was flashing red for a four-way stop. I was a quarter of the way across the street, when a car blew through the stop (I’m guessing around 30 mph) and was a few short feet away from me (if that.) We all make mistakes, but I’ve noticed more and more lately that people have a general lack of courtesy and common sense on the road. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost been hit by cars/bikes/scooters, etc. (this is also why I’m the nerdy lady who will wait for the traffic signal to cross the street vs. just go when I think no cars are there.)

About half a mile after that incident, I got a whiff of skunk. Gross. However, even grosser, I saw the disemboweled skunk seconds after the first whiff. Double gross. I continued on for a few more miles before stopping at 7-Eleven to grab a bottle of water because I was parched. I also took a few Honey Stinger chews, but I’m pretty sure it was too little too late on the fueling.  I pressed on and eventually made it back.

The good news is that I had little pain (my knee flared up after 6 miles, but nothing a little Biofreeze couldn’t fix) and I DID IT. No matter how ‘meh’ I feel about it, it’s another deposit in the running bank.

The bad news is that I still haven’t learned how to fuel and hydrate properly. I KNOW BETTER!!!!

Still nervous for the half next week, as it’s a brutal, hilly and unforgiving course. I’m going into it knowing it’s going to be rough and I’m just going to try to have as much fun as possible. It’s my hometown race and I will have a lot of friends on the course with (who am I kidding? I mean ‘ahead’ of me.) My main goal is simply to finish…my second goal is to beat my time from the last time I ran this course three years ago. If I PR it will probably be a miracle.

Alright, time to go enjoy my post-run high (I’m a bit endorphin-buzzed at the moment) and get some food. I’m hungry!