Rainy Sunday - Half Marathon Training 9/26/10

Wow - how is it already 8:30?  Where did my day go?

My day started around 8 a.m. with a crick in my neck and a headache.  Last night we fell asleep on the couch (Bruce) and oversized chair (me) watching football and it did a number on my spine and head equilibrium.

(Side note - I slept on that chair all throughout college when I was pulling late nights and didn't want to crawl into bed and never had a problem!  Am I getting old?

Wait, don't answer that.)

When I stood up (oh at some point in the night I ended up on the floor), I realized that I really needed to get dressed to run in order to get in 6 miles before church.  The problem was that it was 8:00 and if I went for a run I would miss church - but still make it in time for Sunday School and the meeting I had afterwards.  So really I needed to be awake by 7.  But since it was too late for that, I decided that I would run, skip worship and just make it to church in time for Sunday School.

And trust me when I say that there was definitely NOT a lack of praying going on just because I wasn't sitting in a church pew.

There was plenty of praying once my sneakers hit the pavement.

Especially during miles 1, 2 and 5.

Let me back up.

As I was stumbling around the kitchen, Bruce sat up on the couch and asked me what I was doing.  I told him I was skipping church to run.

Bruce:  Ohh.
Me:  Do you want to come?
Bruce:  Yeah.
Me:  Oh.

See here's the thing - he totally didn't seem like he was in the mood to run 6 miles.  I mean ... I wasn't either.  But I was trying to fake enthusiasm (or should I say, I WAS TRYING TO FAKE ENTHUSIASM!).  He was not.  So we both laced up our sneakers and took off.  At this point we had literally only been awake for about 20 minutes, were completely under-fueled (I had choked down half of a half of a bagel with a little bit of peanut butter) and were both really tight and crooked because of how we slept.  I suggested we walk out to the road (it's 0.25 miles from our apartment building to the road) to try to loosen up.

I suppose it didn't hurt, but it didn't really help.  We took off and about a half a mile in, Bruce yelled from behind me (we were on a really narrow sidewalk, so we weren't running side by side at that point) ...

Bruce:  How are you feeling?
Me:  My legs feel like crap.
Bruce:  Yep.

So then I hear Bruce behind me starting to reroute us so that we would only run 3-4 miles.

Bruce:  Soooo, if we run down to [such and such] and turn around, we'll be at [such and such a number of] miles, then down to QT and back, that's another mile that would bring us to four ...

Now, this is when the Type A side of my personality kind of came out ... in a "I've had better moments" kind of a way.  All I heard was "that would bring us to FOUR" ...

My schedule said six.

Me:  Well, I'm running 6 miles - if you want to shorten the run, then you can run by yourself.
Bruce:  Don't be like that ...
Me:  Don't yell at me!
Bruce:  You were yelling at me!
Me:  I didn't run last weekend and I have 6 miles scheduled for today.  I NEED TO RUN SIX MILES TO STAY ON SCHEDULE!

(Mom, I blame you.  You raised me to make lists, show up places on time and follow through on my commitments.  This is all your fault.)

Let the record show that our first three miles were run in silence.  At which point my garmin beeped, we slow down to give our legs and backs a 15 second stretch, gave each other this super secretive looking nod and took off running for home.

Our last three miles were full of smiles, laughter and conversation.

And then we came home and Bruce made strawberry mango smoothies.

I swear we should have written something into our marriage vows about "in times of half marathon training".  Max - you should mention that to the next couple you marry.

In all seriousness, it is reeeally nice to have a running partner.

Especially when I go on these longer runs.  An extra hour spent with my husband on a Sunday morning?  Yes please!

In the end, we covered 6.02 miles in 1:08:16, averaging a 11:20 pace.  Not bad considering we weren't exactly singing "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" when we left.

Even though I got the miles in, I haven't really been full of energy today.  I've actually been kind of blah.  We literally took speed showers and ran out the door to get to church on time.  No time to stretch, refuel properly and catch a breath.  I came home, crashed for an hour and then went over to a friend's apartment.  We literally sat and talked for two hours (nothing strenuous at all) but I'm still totally exhausted.  With the amount of traveling and working I've been doing lately, I've fallen out of good eating, hydrating, stretching and sleeping habits.  It's time to pull  myself back together!

I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday!  It started pouring about 20 minutes after we got back from our run this morning (perfect timing!) and hasn't stopped raining since, so I am currently curled up on the couch watching football and listening to the sounds of rain.  I cannot think of a better way to spend my night.

Goodnight!