Not Too Late

Yesterday I went on a 10 mile bike ride around town. It's the first time I've been on my bike in ages, I literally had to brush the cobwebs off of it when I got it down. I had that feeling you can only get on a road bike, flying down the road, wind blowing in your face. The weather was gorgeous and the route I took was almost entirely flat so I didn't have to work too hard. Still, my cycling muscles are not toned so my legs were complaining a bit.

Last night I had some girlfriends over for dinner. We drank champagne and ate fancy cheese and crackers, and then had skirt steak and roasted brussells sprouts for dinner. My girlfriend Reina brought cupcakes for dessert, I think there must have been at least 10 of them. I quartered them so we could try each one - although I think I'm the only one that did.

These meals are always so difficult to try and track. So I just enter 25 and figure that's close enough. In reality I probably ate more than 25 points but whatever. Can't be too far off. Anyway, I was glad to have done the bike ride earlier to balance out all that food.

But I also had a loose plan to run this weekend, and hadn't yet. So that left today. I kept myself busy all day doing odds and ends, and next thing you know it was 5pm. Ohhh, should I run? I managed to squander away another couple hours and still hadn't decided. Now it was 7pm! Almost too late to run, right? It would be getting dark soon.

No! Not too late! I made myself jump up and don my running clothes before I changed my mind. I got out the door, making an agreement with myself that 3 miles is fine. My Garmin started acting up so I decided to run a route I know is 3 miles. But once I was warmed up I started thinking about that damn half-marathon I have in only 3 weeks!

Post-run selfie

I ran 7 miles last week so I should run at least 8 this week. I wasn't sure about that so I settled on 6 miles. As I closed in on what I thought should be around 6 based on time, I mustered the motivation to go for the whole 8, even with it being dark and risking falling on my toches. My Garmin being of no use so I had to guesstimate how long I would need to run to insure I covered 8 miles. I assumed I was running between 11 and 12 minute miles and made the goal time of 1 hour, 39 minutes. Didn't quite make it, I ran for 1 hour, 36 minutes. But mapping my route afterward and it looks like I ran about 8.64 miles. Score!

My pace was around 11:06 minute miles, and these days that's hard work, especially at that distance. The last couple miles my left calf was threatening to seize up and I got a painful blister. I told myself that running is a close relative of pain, sometimes to release it, other times to tolerate it, and journeyed on. Once back home I did a cool-down walk and then took a hot bath and ate an apple. But my tummy is hurting, I think the apple, and me not training much lately, are the problem.

I don't know about this whole half-marathon thing, but I'm going to keep moving forward, no pun intended. I'll shoot to run 9-10 next weekend (w/ gym visits and some runs this week) and see how that goes.

Before I sign off I just want to thank you for all the supportive comments on my FB page, the messages and emails. It's nice to receive all the messages of encouragement and hope. Thank you! Ok, it's after 11 and I'm tired. Time to hit the sack.