I never got around to telling about my 14 mile long run on the trails last week, but first let’s talk about this week’s long run. Hope you’re ready for some stories – this is a long post! (sorry) I’m up to 16 miles now, and due to time restrictions, I couldn’t run on the trail. So I ran on our bike trail again – a Rails to Trails path. It was mostly paved, but I also went into the park for a bit.
And I got to see a few deer close up (he’s eating on the side of this hill…)
I wasn’t even going to run today, since I’ve been trying to limit my runs to 2 in a row, but I’m going to another PT for some more help and I figured I needed to get everything all angry so I could properly address the issues. Mission accomplished!! I was sore all day 🙁 And freaking exhausted at the end of the run, which was a struggle. I was trying to keep the pace slower, but the distance just was REALLY LONG. No jump shots today. Just flopped on the ground.
You probably wonder – “why do you keep running if it makes you so sore??” It’s a couple of reasons – 1) I don’t want to have a miserable trail marathon on June 17th. 2) It’s a “functional injury” and has been around for what feels like forever, so I’m sadly getting quite used to it 3) I’m hoping these runs put some points into my “fitness base” bank.
Here’s what went down last week for my 14 miler on the trails…. I hit the trail with Alan again, this time running the full distance which is right around 15 miles. I was happy that I didn’t feel exhausted at mile 6 like last week… it took until around mile 12 until I was ready to be done! ha! Still I’ll consider that a win. Progress people, progress!!
The fun parts of this weeks run was:
- Around 8 miles I started thinking about how I had run on a trail in the early spring with a friend and she had tripped and fallen twice. I started thinking that I was doing pretty good making my way on the trail and how much easier it is to stay upright when there’s no leaves on the trails. Until I caught my toe on a root, and DOWN I went. DOH! Luckily just some dirt and no twisted anything or strains.
- Around 2 hours into our run I started getting a rumbly in my tumbly (that’s what Winnie the Pooh says…). Luckily my husband is THE BEST and he had made a special fueling run and got several candy bars for me! All of them were my favorites, but this one was the best of all… Reeses with Pieces! Don’t mind the dirt on my hand from that fall.
- Alan wore two different watches because he is trying to figure out which one to keep. At one point his watch was off by 1/2 a mile from mine, but then it caught up again. Weird! I’m going with the longer distance so we look faster too.
- We wear matching shirts because we’re a team! JUST KIDDING! We always seem to wear our coordinating Columbus marathon race shirts by accident, because they are so awesome!
- I had to rush to a Dr’s appointment right after our trail run so I showed up with wet hair, in a braid and then had to sit in the Dr’s office for almost 45 mins while he ran late with the appointments. Would have been nice to know that ahead of time so I could have blow dried my hair!!
Congrats to you for making it to the end of the post. I need to post more often so I don’t write so much stuff 🙂
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Q: Do you prefer a crushed gravel trail or a dirt trail?
Q: Have you ever had Reeses cups with Pieces??
If not, you should!
Q: Do you have a favorite race shirt that you wear all of the time??
Definitely my Columbus marathon shirts. They are the perfect women-cut Nike shirts. Not sure why they ever changed the style for the race, but the newer ones are just not the same!!
Dirt trails over gravel anyday! And there will be lots of goodies at every aid station during Mohican. So many goodies that you might just want to run another loop. ha
Crushed gravel seems to drain better so less mud on rainy days but either are better than asphalt or concrete. Depends on how fine the gravel has been crushed. The path we normally run on is called the Illinois Prairie Path and is mostly crushed gravel or limestone and stretches of dirt. Formally a railroad right-of-way converted into a bike path. I have a shirt from the 2014 Boston 5K, the year after the bombing, that says Boston Runs As One. I wear it quite a bit in the summer.
Way to get the runs done! I know all about functional injuries… ugh. What did your doctor say? Paul and I tend to accidentally color coordinate when we are going out somewhere. But then again, we both wear a lot of black and grey, so we are bound to dress alike sometimes!
Megan @ Meg Go Run recently posted…Weekend Wrap Up!
I’ll be writing about my appt later this week. It’s a great way to document what’s going on, so you can go back and reference it!
Totally – black and grey is my standard outfit combos at work!!