Day 63: Week 9 Closes With A Pllthh..

First, let me set the scene. After my last run, I felt pretty good, then I took a nap. When I got up from my nap, my left ankle was a solid mass of ow. Last night, my left knee randomly started hurting. Of course, it has hurt in the past, but this go-around is most likely due to to trying to avoid putting pressure on my left ankle. I've also had a sore throat off and on lately, certainly because I can't breathe through my nose when I run. It used to wear off after my runs, but as the run times have increased, so has the time of the sore throat. And after some time of not having headaches, they're back, and I can't get rid of them.

More scenery: A large motorcycle rally is starting in Columbia tomorrow. They're expecting over 35,000 bikers. In a town that only has 100,000 people, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that all the hotel rooms in all the towns nearby are booked up. I was surprised that on my little road to nowhere street, bikers felt the need to cruise all day yesterday. At one point 3 bikes stopped in the street, blocking traffic, and generally annoying the piss out of me. As I stood at my front door, one of these jackasses pulled into the alley and drove THROUGH my front yard. I was violent. If they weren't disgustingly loud obnoxious vehicles, I would have been out the door screaming at them.

So today, for the first time, I am running with pepper spray. I've given it a lot of thought, and I knew there was some in the house, but I hadn't felt threatened enough to dig it out. I'm sure there is truly no added threat, but I don't even want to be hassled. So, yes that is pepper spray in my pocket, and no, I'm not happy to see you. You've been warned.

One other bit of news since my last post. I saw on the news that there was a 5K held in Columbia to benefit a theatre company. It was called the Break a Leg 5K and encouraged participants to dress as their favorite stage character (the old ladies from Arsenic and Lace would be mine - I am used to running with stuff, and I would run with a bottle of wine). I mention it because the race was held in the evening, "because theatre people aren't morning people," according to the interviewee on the news. Damn, I thought evening races was my idea, but yay that they exist! Now I just have to be able to both run one and hear about them ahead of time! (And I would totally run for a theatre, one of my favorite things about being alive!)

So I woke up today facing a 25 minute run. My ankle was very stiff, and my head hurt a little, but overall I've just been feeling very blah. I have two run 25 minute days in a row, so I felt like today was a throwaway day. I could go ahead and rest today and kill it tomorrow, but I may not be able to run on my ankle two days in a row. I was getting conflicting weather reports that made me uneasy. I was hungry. I was thirsty. I think I had plenty of water yesterday, but I don't really remember. I have been waking up so late, though, that it's not surprising that I am so thirsty halfway into the day. My goal has been to run first, eat and drink later. Maybe I'm just tired - my sleep has been less than regular. Whatever, the general sense of disinterest that running was supposed to help me avoid is setting in, hard.

Screw it, let's do this.

I had just enough water again today to wet my mouth and throat before heading out. I didn't have a route in mind, but with an additional minute, I didn't want to run the same route of the past two runs. I also didn't want to face that hill at the end of that route. So, I set out towards downtown, with no route in mind, but come to think of it, I don't want to face any hills. I ran past the post office, so I was over a block from the main street. I ran downhill down this street that I have been suffering uphill lately. This way, I can run uphill on the main street where the long incline isn't so severe. It's a pretty street, but I never get to take it in when I am suffering uphill into the sun. I took it in today. It's so pretty, I can almost pretend I'm in a town that makes me happy.

I'd be a lot happier if my legs didn't weigh 20 million pounds today. Is it the pepper spray weighing me down?? Ugh, I was doing pretty well with my breathing, not always breathing in my mouth, but I couldn't get the legs going. I felt like I was running very slow, which was a necessity to survive 25 minutes anyway. I was also trying to work out my route because I knew I'd be back at the house before 25 minutes.

When I got to the end of the road, I made it uphill one block and debated running up another block (my hated end of road hill), but because I had thus far kept my breathing in check despite being in total misery, I went ahead and turned on the main road. Of course, this was still uphill, just not as severe. I trudged along, knowing I couldn't make it 25 minutes.

I decided to turn towards home and see if I had anything left when I got there. I didn't. It was right at 20 minutes when I got home, and that was good enough for me. Tomorrow I'll fix this. I have to fix this because my "race" is in one week. I was mad at my terrible run until the waves of nausea and delirium passed and I realized I had just run, fairly easily all in all, for 20 minutes. It wasn't 2 miles, but it was a recently inconceivable 1.7 miles. Yay me.

I did have to ice my left knee and ankle, while feeding my face.

Weather: 83, Partly Cloudy, Light Breeze 10 mph, 72% Humidity, Feels Like 90
Time: 11am; Run 20 minutes
Distance: 2.73K (1.7m)
Elevation: +58.7/-58.7/net 0 ft
5K/10K Predictor: 38:27/1:21:17 (Second Overall Predictor to Day 61 - a surprise given my legs weren't coming off the ground.)

Just for a comparison to the hills from the last couple of runs, here's the elevation profile for today.