Despite a mid week bout with a stomach bug that made its way around work, on the whole this was a great week. Monday I really should have run in the morning before work to avoid the heat and humidity, but when the alarm clock went off at 5am I just could not bring myself to get out of bed. Feeling guilty from sleeping in, I was determined to run when I got home from work despite temperatures near the 90s and terrible humidity. Somehow I talked Jason into coming with me, but we decided to leave the pups at home due to the heat. We wound our way through random streets in Myers Park for 2 miles with no particular path in mind, then turned around to find a different route back to the car. I have noticed that lately I take a long time to warm up, so when we were close to finishing my body was finally waking up and read to go. Hopefully as my stamina starts improving this won't be an issue much longer. Monday was a great run because my legs were strong and I got to spend time with Jason, but the humidity was killer.
Keeping in mind how difficult Monday was with the humidity, on Wednesday when the alarm clock went off at 5am I dragged myself out of bed for 4 miles. Other than feeling groggy from lack of sleep, nothing stands out about this run for the week so I will skip ahead to Saturday.
This weekend has been long awaited for several months for one very special reason ... HARRY POTTER!!!!! The final movie came out this weekend and my brother in laws, Michael and Brian, plus Michael's girlfriend Erica came down to Charlotte to watch the movie with us. Erica and I have a special bond over Harry Potter, and as soon as the date was released for the last movie we planned to watch it together. With extra people in the house we thought it would be fun to make crepes and serve them with nutella, strawberries and blueberries. We had everything we needed except for the berries, and I decided that running to the grocery store and back would be a great way to get my 5 miles in for the day while productively shopping for groceries. Mike and Reese (our smaller dog) came with me while Erica and Brian stayed with Jason to do Kenpo X. While I think it is really cool to use running to accomplish a task, I don't think that the people in Harris Teeter appreciated my dripping sweat all through the store as I picked out and payed for my products. While in the store I noticed a strong odor and thought something must have gone bad, then I walked outside and it still smelled ... and I realized it was me! I just won't shop there for a while in case they recognize me as the smelly runner girl that bought berries. Mike and I each carried a bag and ran at a relaxed pace back to the house. I must say, Mike is a trooper; I do not know many people that can walk out and run 5 miles for the heck of it. I really enjoyed the company and am glad he came.
Saturday night we were up late watching the new Harry Potter movie so waking up at 8:30 on Sunday was tough. I really wanted to run before church so out I went to tackle my longest run so far. The plan was 7 miles, and a few months ago this would have been the distance of a regular weekday run, but this morning it was a daunting thought. I struggled through the humidity on the first mile, then my body seemed to adjust and I settled into a nice rhythm. With 3 miles to go I was starting to worry. My body and lungs felt the way I used to feel after 20 miles, and all I could think about was how far I have to go over the next several months. I kept pushing and tried to focus on relaxing and enjoying the fact that I was outside running on such a beautiful day injury free, then before I knew it I was only 1 mile from home. The last mile was so easy, I think because I was happy with the thought of finishing my first long run back, bringing my total mileage of the week to 20!
The week was definitely a success. I think less and less about my injury each day, and I am still waiting for the day I forget about it all together. My body is responding well to the slowly increasing mileage in addition to P90X, and I am looking forward to throwing in some tempo runs soon to begin regaining my speed. Still not ready to commit to a time goal for the Richmond Marathon, but I have a hunch I'll be aiming low!
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