1. I failed to remember to charge my Garmin before bed last night, thus I ran today with my old school (now seemingly very little in comparison) digital watch that doesn’t tell me anything fun or exciting.
2. My left arm felt amazingly light with no 3 lb garmin strapped to it. So light in fact that it kept creeping up toward the sky and I had to hold it down with my other hand lest every person I ran past wonder if they were supposed to call on me to answer a question.
Having started last Saturday with a fast 7 miles, I decided this Saturday would be another long run – but this one at a comfortable pace and maybe a little further. Matt’s post on Stu Mittleman got me revved up for an enjoyable long run and today was the day.
I wasn’t sure exactly how far I was going to go this morning, and decided to play it by ear. First things first though, a MamaBite while loading the dishwasher multi-tasking.
Come on coconut oil, show me what you got!
Yesterday during a grocery store excursion I was very excited to see young coconuts in produce! I haven’t seen them in ages and when I spotted three of them all in a row, I very happily played Eeny Meeny Miny Moe Get in the Cart and Let’s Go.
My-Mother-Says-You-Are-The-Very-Best-One.
With my sweet little young coconut in hand, I got to thinking that coconut water is really good after a hard work out. What a great reason to get out there and bust my ass first thing this morning, wouldn’t you agree?
I’m going to spoil the ending by jumping ahead and saying right at the start that today was probably one of the best runs of my entire life.
The day started at 4:55 AM when I woke up a half hour before my alarm was supposed to go off. I slept like a rock and felt great when I woke up. I called Shawn at 5:30 to make sure he was awake and moving around.
Shawn and I went over our strategy last night, but I was still feeling unsure about our approach this morning. Fast at the beginning? If so, how fast? Save it all for the end? How much do I hold back? Maintain a steady pace throughout?
I got up this morning thrilled to find we were back online almost business as usual, thanks to Zak working his late night his magic when he got home. It was like we had a visit from Internet Claus. After playing a little online catch up this morning I headed out for a run.
I ran just over 4 miles in about a half hour. It was such a refreshingly cool and comfortable morning I thought I’d take a cool down ride on my bike around the neighborhood.
It’s race day!
I got up and made myself a glass of green juice for some pre-race fuel. I use to eat a bagel or oatmeal before races but now I’m a green believer.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted coffee before the race or not. By the time I decided I did want a cup I didn’t have enough time to make a pot. I stopped on the way and got a small coffee from a coffee shop with a little half and half.
Zak is off today to catch up on family time, so I decided today would be a good day to make up for no running for two days and get a sorta long run in too.
I got up to whip up the best pre-run fuel I could think of. A Tequila Green Lemonade Sunrise.
And two slices of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel toast with raw almond butter.
I set out for a hot, humid, sunny, ass sweaty run shortly after 12:00. Someone cuff me in the head and remind me why heading out for a run smack dab in the middle of a hot summer day is not the brightest idea I’ve ever had.
It was HOT! And HUMID! And did I mention I was sweaty?
I couldn’t decide how far I was going to go. I knew I wanted today to be a longer run though. I thought about 8 miles. I thought about stopping at the house after 7 for a drink and a little fuel and going out for 3 more. But once I got back after 7 miles that was it. I was done. I ran a comfortable pace and it took me an hour exactly.
15 miles? Done! Phew.
Shawn, one of Zak’s college buddies up front in the red there, is my running partner. He’s training for a triathlon and we’re debating on doing the Rochester Marathon together, but his tri is a week after the marathon and he’s trying to convince me to do the Corning Wineglass Marathon with that’s a few weeks later but is about an hour and a half away from home. I can’t decide!
Our first leg was just shy of 9 miles and we came back to refuel and rehydrate.
More Mama’s Weeds
