A: Because I would die from the constant excruciating pain shooting out of my left knee. But I get ahead of myself.
Last night I had a sore throat, so I broke out some tea I've been wanting to try that is for sore throats. I don't like drugs, and I hate lists of side effects, so I was a bit traumatized to see that nearly a whole side of this box was dedicated to warnings. (It's a natural herbal tea!) Don't drink if you have gall stones, don't drink if you're allergic to daisies (!!), don't operate machinery or drive. Oy. Maybe my sore throat isn't that bad.
In spite of the fact that the Blackhawks game wasn't over and I was afraid the tea would make me comatose, I drank a cup during OT. The Native American herbs in the tea must've made me hallucinate because I would swear I was seeing guys in jerseys with a Native American on it hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup last night!!! During the post-game coverage, a former Blackhawk got weepy because he was so happy for the win, and happy to finally witness something his team couldn't accomplish for the fans, and I'm once again reminded that I'm running and not everyone can. Although I suspect a lot more of us want to kiss that trophy than run across a finish line, but that's not the point.
I was worried that the tea, the Mexican dinner, and the late night would adversely affect my attempt to run in the morning. But it was all worth it.
Due to the threat of severe weather, I set my alarm for the normal "go" time: 5:30. Barf, I hate it. I have read that you shouldn't do a lot of back stretches when you first wake up, because your discs, essentially, sponge up water all night, and you're at risk for injury if you do too much first thing. Obviously, I am interested in working out before work, and I'm interested in yoga, so this is something I have tried to research. Oddly, although it seems terribly important to a few people, there isn't a lot of info on it. What I have gathered is that you should allow about half an hour before stretching out your back. That's fine if you have to get dressed and drive to the gym before your yoga class, but I wanted to roll out of bed, stretch, and run (in my 'pajamas,' breaking my own rules, but I was still going to be up and dressed and in the world today, so I thought it was ok). And, if you love sleep like I do, that extra half hour is a bear.
Anyway, I don't remember hearing the alarm. I woke up at 6. Ugh. So, I dawdled around for half an hour, preset my phone alarms, whatever. Again, today was run 6, walk 5, run 6, walk 5. Last run was walk 5, run 9, walk 5. When I set my alarms, I set the run times for 9 minutes each. Holy crap. Thankfully, I'm neurotic, and always have to double-check my training plan to make sure I have the times right, despite blogging about it and thinking about it nonstop. So I reset that. Finally it was time to do stretches and leave.
I stuck with the same route I've been doing, but opened it up another block. I didn't check the time at all in the first run, but about 4-5 minutes in, I finally realized that this should be a breeze, because I ran 9 minutes two days ago. How can I not run 6 today!? I had been so focused on the total time going up by 3 minutes, I didn't notice that the individual times went down by 3 minutes. Easy. Well it would be easy if I weren't having side cramps on both sides. At any rate, I knocked out the first run, but then I had to do a couple quick calf stretches. They were both cramping up, especially the right one. I had only had a few gulps of Dew and a few gulps of water prior to the run.
When I turned towards home/the hill/the sun within a few moments of starting my second run, I was ecstatic that "Smile" (The Charlie Chaplain version) performed by Glee came on the mp3. I love that song, so much. Right after that? "You," by Atmosphere. Awesome. I figured my run should be done by the time that was over, so that was a good way to wrap up the run.
I wasn't for sure where I should be ending this run, however. I kept trying to figure it out, but nothing makes sense when I'm running. When I got close to my previous (9 minute run) finish line, I checked the time. Drat, less than two minutes still. I huffed and puffed through it. I was pretty beat down by the end of it all today. I had a hard time estimating how far to walk to get back at the right time, but I got it pretty close.
Since I woke up late, and it was trash day, and Husband still had to be at work, and I had to pack for a day in town without the car, I didn't get much chance to rest when I got home. My left knee was hurting, and I finally did get some ice on it, while I quickly entered my time and distance. Fairly unbelievably to me is that the distances for the two runs were exactly the same. Not that the paces felt different, I'm just surprised. Oh and I topped a Half-5K distance finally!
Today was Day 2 of the Blind Boone Ragtime Festival. My knee was hurting like mad. I tried everything I could think of, including holding my stainless steel water bottle on it. Mid-day, part of the festival was a tour of the Blind Boone home, which is under renovation. I was excited to go see it, but the walk there just about did my knee in. After the tour, I stopped for lunch and just nearly asked the waitress for a bag of ice. Although it never did storm today, I am so glad I didn't try to walk the 10K route, because I think some damage may have been done. It's so weird, because it wasn't hurting, significantly, and I have no idea what I did today that would make it hurt like this. Ugh.
In spite of the tremendous pain, this morning I was able to enjoy performances by Bob Ault, John Gill, Peter Lundberg, and Dave Majchrzak. Hearing "The Entertainer" performed on the piano and mandolin was simply amazing, and I also particularly enjoyed hearing "When You Wish Upon A Star" all Ragged up (I have no idea the proper lingo).
Peter Lundberg also gave a glorious seminar about coming to the US from Sweden in the 60's, to spend 99 days riding Greyhound around the country, hunting down Ragtime and Jazz history. Hilarious stories, and a great joy to listen to how a naive kid got to do dream-fulfilling things and meet people that were his idols.
Next up was a filmed version of a new play about Blind Boone's life that was AMAZING. I didn't hear about the play until after the performances, so I was shocked and exuberant to get to see it filmed. It was stunning. Afterwards, was the tour of the Boone home. All of that was the free portion of the day. I love this festival.
Since I wasn't going to hike the 10K, and I got so much out of the festival, for free, I went ahead and bought a ticket to the afternoon formal concert. As predicted yesterday, I would've done just as well to stick with the free portion! The concert was great, and the performers were awesome: Tom Brier, Richard Dowling, John Gill, Dave Majchrzak, Reginald Robinson (I love his "Freedom Dance"), Terry Waldo, Paul Asaro, Frederick Hodges, Adam Swanson, and Benjamin Anderson. I loved the opening piano duet/singing of "When the Saints Go Marching In." Again, the concert was amazing, but I love the informal morning sessions - largely the same performers, but they spend time talking and laughing with the audience.
I can't believe how much I learned in the day and a half I attended, and I can't wait to go back next year....but...much like the other Raggies never want to hear "The Entertainer" (which I love) again, I got quite my fill of "Kitten on the Keys" in the past two days. I think I heard it three times today..I'm not positive, but I do believe that's the Rag Dave Majchrzak performed in a tiger costume. Oh, and that was at the formal show. He can keep on doing what he do, but everyone else needs to give it a rest for awhile. (I do like it, but REALLY?!)
Tomorrow is a much needed rest, but god-of-the-runner's-knee willing, I'll be throwing down a walk 5, run 10, walk 5 on Saturday. (I did ice, a lot, when I got home tonight.)
Weather: 66, Sunny, No Wind, 90% Humidity
Time: 6:30am; Run 6, Walk 5, Run 6, Walk 5
Distance: 2.6K (1.61m)
Elevation: +37.5/-33.9/net +3.6 ft
5K/10K: 44:35/1:34:15 (Improved)
Run Time: 12 mins
Distance: 1.66K (1.04m)
5K/10K: 39:29/1:23:28 (Slightly worse than last time)
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