One Way Trip

Because we were traveling back from my parents house on Saturday, we missed the weekly Galloway training run, which was 8 miles long. So Em and I knew we needed to make that up on Sunday. We sent out last minute emails to try to get other people to join us, to make it more fun and to provide us with enough accountability to make sure we didn't just bail out and sleep in. So luckily, Laura, Andrew and Angela were up for it so we met at the School Board building at around 9 am Sunday morning. Laura had mapped out a route down Hendricks to Peachtree, and thru the neighborhoods along the river and then back to the School Board building, which would be 8 miles. I was a little concerned about losing the group, because all those guys are faster than me, plus they like to run 3:1 intervals, and I am more comfy with the 1:1 intervals. So we compromised at 1 and a half to 1 so we would stay together.
So off we went. Right from the start I knew I was in trouble. My left leg was still getting that tearing sensation around the back of my knee. I was breathing too hard and my shins and calves were burning. It was about 45 degrees and overcast so I had on two shirts, a jacket, my running tights, shorts, gloves and earwarmers. About a mile in I was shedding the jacket and gloves and earwarmers because I was too warm. At about two miles I was still having trouble getting my breathing and heartrate under control and was starting to feel a little sick. Maybe I need to start taking my vitamins again.... Anyway, around 3 miles, I told Emory that I wasn't doing well, and I just was going to run straight down San Jose and to our house. I had my phone, water and cash with me and it was daytime, so neither of us were worried about me going it alone, so I let them go on without me, and slowed down my pace and went back to my 1:1 intervals. I started feeling alot better after that and got back into a good rhythm. I had just passed the Lakewood Shopping center and was passing in front of Lakewood Presbyterian Church about 2 miles away from home, and the next thing I knew, the sidewalk was rapidly coming up to meet me! Boom! I have no idea what I tripped on. I fell mostly on my stomach and chest but the left knee took a lot of impact and my hands got pretty scuffed up. It shook me up a bit and knocked the wind out of me. I got up and went over to sit on the side steps of the church to settle down for a minute. Then I got up and walked a bit and everything seemed okay, so I started jogging again back to my intervals and got home just fine. I don't know whether I was happy that it happened without witnesses or concerned that if I really had gotten hurt I would have had to involve strangers to help me out, but fortunately it was just a minor incident, and I am hoping that now that I have had my 'fall', I won't do that again for a long time. I've seen quite a few people fall during our group runs, and thank goodness, so far they have all bounced back up and finished the run.
So I got home safe and mostly sound and got 6 miles in. While I was in the shower was the first time I looked at my knee and noticed there was a golf ball size lump on it! Yikes! So I iced it down a couple of times that afternoon and by the next morning the swelling was gone and it's just bruised now. I've also been icing the back of my leg to hopefully get the hamstring feeling better.. I have to be solid by Saturday for that 23 mile training run... Stay tuned. :-)

Christmas Day running

I've been quite negligent in my nutrition over the last couple of weeks, using the holidays as an excuse to eat whatever I want and not make any attempt to track any of it. I am at least still writing down, and doing my workouts, which provides a little motivational boost. We spent Christmas at my Mom and Dad's house, out in the country. To combat the cabin fever and offset all the wonderful food we ate for Christmas dinner, we set out that afternoon at 4pm with a plan to run 5 miles. It was 49 degrees out so we layered up. I couldn't find my interval timer, so we had to kind of guestimate the 1:1 intervals and/or keep an eye on my watch to know when to run and when to walk. That always messes me up as we seem to go out too fast for too long when I don't have an interval set. I don't know if it was the sitting in the car for 6 hours the day before or just all the food, and sugar overload, but I was having a hard time keeping up. Or maybe Emory just keeps getting faster and faster, at a faster rate than I am getting faster... so it feels like I am getting slower.. anyway, suffice it to say, I wasn't 'feelin' it that day.We did finish the whole 5 miles, but I started to notice a tight pain in the back of my left leg. I'm calling it a hamstring problem, but not sure if it's a muscle or tendon that is inflamed. It doesn't hurt too bad when I am actually running, but when I switch to a walk and extend my leg straight, there is a pulling, tearing sensation in the back of the leg. So I am a bit concerned about that and need to work on resting and recovering so it doesn't get worse. We ran down some clay, gravel and asphalt back roads. We saw more dogs and cows than cars. The one thing we didn't count on was how fast it got dark. The sun had set by the time we made our way back to the house and it got dark fast. We had no issues, but it sure had my dad worried. He was imagining us out running on the highway getting picked off by cars. I guess we should have told him what route we were taking.. ;-)