Just as planned, I got up and out of the house by 4:00 AM to do my eighteen mile run. The first couple of blocks had street lights and I was almost getting cocky when I noted the pitch blackness just ahead of me.
Bravely I entered into it, and spent the next few minutes freaking myself out thinking clumps of weeds were small animals. Every few minutes a flash of lightening would erupt and I would see that the wild animals were all in my mind.
Being a work day there was a surprising number of cars on the road even at this early hour. To get my mind off the animals I started thinking about a conversation I had with my sister last night. Let this be a lesson to you to keep your thoughts honorable while you run to avoid injury. The conversation went something along these lines: (me) I got you some South Beach bars while I was at the store. (her) What kind did you get? (me) The ones with 10 gms of protein in them. (her) Ya, but what kind? What if I don't like them? (me) Then you don't have to eat them. End of conversation... Replaying it, I guess I was more irritated with her than I had thought at the time, because this time I changed my last line to "A simple thank you would have done just fine." EXACTLY as I was thinking this I went to step off the road to avoid an on-coming car. My left foot came down half on, half off the road, my ankle rolled and my right knee slammed into the pavement. The pain was of the variety that makes you instantly nauseous. Lucky for me I fell after the car had passes so I took a minute to repeat my mantra, "I am healthy and injury free" before attempting to get up. My ankle held me fine and my knee was a nice reminder to keep my thoughts pure so they don't injure me!
Seventeen miles to go... Gotta tell you that there was a time that I would have turned around and went home and that would have been a fine, very ok thing to do. When did I turn into a psycho runner that doesn't let a little thing like pain bother her? Not sure, but I sure do love that feeling. I almost don't want to wash off the blood, but cart it around as a visible badge of courage for the world to see. Jealous aren't you?
The next excitement came in the form of a gentle little rain shower. I knew I should have brought a hat. Oh well, it wasn't coming down that hard and I did remember a small towel to wipe off my sweat so I used that as needed. See why I carry a full pack?
I ended up walking the last threeish miles as my ankle began to hurt on the down step. Knowing I needed to be out of town all weekend, participating in a massage class I did not want to end up with a real injury. The full distance took me the full four allotted hours to complete, which would have still given me two full hours to complete the last eight miles before the cutoff time had it been marathon day today. Piece a cake! considering I will be in even better shape by October.
So, thirty-two miles goes in the books for this week. I am excited to officially add up the miles for the month next Wednesday as I know I did more miles this month than I did in June! WooHoo!
6 comments:
Yuck!! And you are crazy and need to be careful!!!
Well at least you will be getting massages all weekend!!
Patty - I finally figured out where your running blog is. Apparently I am not that swift. Anyway, glad to know where you are. Thanks for all your kind words and thoughts and all the encouragement. I have been pretty busy with the running and travel (chicago all week), but wanted to write. We can still connect over email if you like. I love your posts and always relate to what you are saying, and usually coming away feeling better!! (I thought you would like to hear that you are making a difference!)
Great job on this run, amazing really. I probably would still be the turn-around variety! ;) I am so amazed at what the body and the mind can do. I did 8 today and can't quite yet fathom 3x that much. On the other hand, I can't believe I actually went 8 miles!!
Good luck this week, hope the knee has a chance to heel.
Nanc
Random you are just figuring out that I am crazy? And AFTER you invited me to your home?
Ya I did get some body work done, but I also had to do lots of it. It is done on the floor, either kneeling or with the sitting on your feet. YUP! Neither of those positions felt good between my knee and ankle, and then when the person working on me stretched the ankle...Ouch! But I learned a ton and will practise on you next month.
Nancy,
Please don't think that you are the only one that gets lost in blog land. I do it all the time! In addition, since I put more personal info on my running blog (names and pics with faces) I don't really advertise it's exsistance so that is why you had trouble.
I am glad to help. My motto is the moment I am not making a difference in the world is the moment I choose to die.
As to e-mailing, whatever works for you is great with me. I do think you would benefit by going to my perspective blog and scrolling down to the links and checking out my Jana Stanfield link. She is an awesome empowerer of woman. She is a singer that does motivational concerts. She has a song that goes, "What would I do today if I were brave?" Mantra for a marathon don't ya think? If you like, send me an address or PO box and I can send you a CD I made for my women friends containing songs of Jana's that speak the most to me (like, "I'm not lost I'm exploring"). It is great to listen to when you need a boost or when you are feeling fantastic about completing an 8 mile run. BIG congrats by the way.
You might be the turn around type today, but that means nothing in regards to how you will be tomorrow. The only limits we have are self-inflicted. That is why it is good to ban together with other strong women with goals and feed off their energy. About a year and half ago I had to let go of some stale negative relationships and get around more positive people. As hard as it was to start the process the people that came into my life as a result have helped me grow more than I would have ever ask for.
Here is a thought to keep tucked away...How do you run a marathon? One training run, one step at a time. (stolen from how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.)
Revel in your mileage increases. There is real power there waiting for you to take as your own. It doesn't matter where others are on the mile line, focus on what you can do now that you couldn't do then. Use this to imagine what you will be able to do tomorrow and tomorrow. Keep moving forward along the line so you can keep getting the rewards that are yours for the taking.
Here's to your future psycho runner's behavior. CHEERS!
Do you do marriage counseling also? hee hee ;o) I am working on all those "inner scripts" we have and working to turn them to the positive. (you will see that in the tag line of my site) You are just a treat to read. Thanks so much......one step at time, one day at a time :)
Nancy,
Would you really want to receive marriage counceling by a woman who is working on her third marriage? Don't think it would look too good on the shingle myself. But, in my case, the operative word above is "working" as I have finally figured out marriages not only just don't happen, but also contain less than stellar moments and that is okay.
One of the books I am reading right now is, in my opinion, a great book on marriage, because it is all about loving yourself and only being responsible for 1/2 of any relationship. Translation, we are responsible for our own happiness, and we can only change ourselves, leaving our partners change up to themselves. This is often hard for me (with any relationship) because I am SO certain that if people would just try things my way they would end up blissfully happy. I forget that some people really are not interested in being happy and that is their right.
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