Yesterday morning, I embarked on my longest run ever. With 7 miles on my training schedule, I was actually praying on my way to the park that everyone else in my group forgot to set their clocks ahead. So that I could be alone to run.
Alone to snot and hack and cough and gag while running 7 miles.
I didn’t want Robert there to drag me up hills. I love him, and continuously feel blessed to have his help (and for free).
But I just wanted to be alone.
I left my house 10 minutes late. Maybe it was on purpose. I knew they’d wait five minutes for me, but probably not 10. When I arrived to our normal parking lot, everyone’s cars were there, but they were nowhere to be found.
Victory.
I decided to veer off of the normal path around the lake because I knew that the path is only 3.2 miles around. If I had to circle the lake 2.5 times before making it to 7 miles, I wasn’t sure if I’d stick with it. I get bored easily. When I got to around the 2 mile mark, I veered off of the path and cut through a neighborhood. It just so happened to be a beautiful neighborhood filled with huge houses, and a lake that I never even knew existed. There were geese everywhere, flowers, little benches on which to sit and gaze across the lake.
It was all very picturesque.
Except for the hills.
Oh, the rolling hills.
I hated them, but I also loved them. I hated them for obvious reasons, but loved them because I knew they were preparing me for my races, especially for The Boilermaker 15K, which I will run with My Sista in July. The elevation for that race is brutal. From mile 1 to mile 4, the elevation climbs steadily to 750 feet, drops down to around 500 feet until mile 6, then climbs again up to 600 feet until mile 8. Mile 9 also has a small climb. It looks scary, even on paper.
I ran around the neighborhood lake once, and then I turned around and did it again. I wanted to make sure that I hit as many hills as possible on this run. It was painful, and there were some intermittent walk breaks thrown in for good measure. But, I didn’t cry.
When my iPod told me that I had 2 miles to go, I started to leave the neighborhood. I made my way back to the lake, and I backtracked the lake loop 2.5 miles to where I started. Robert was waiting for me when I finished. It was perfect…I got to have my solo run, but he was there to celebrate with me at the end.
So, I did 7.52 miles at 11:19 pace. Although I’m not like ashamed of my pace (I am a jogger, afterall), I was more impressed with the distance than the pace. I ran 7.5 miles, biznitches!
I promptly iced and stretched when I got home, then made a green smoothie (stay tuned for a more in-depth post about this), and a bowl of cream of wheat with almond butter and soy milk, with granola on top (gotta have some crunch).
I quickly came down with a severe case of the “itis” (as My Gazelle calls it), and I laid on the futon watching some crazy PBS show about people who grow giant pumpkins. I ended up with a pretty bad headache, and proceeded to chug water for the next 2 hours. When water didn’t help, I decided that the only way to combat the headache was to take a nap.
I’ve never really been a fan of naps. I was just never good at falling asleep in the middle of the day and then waking up refreshed. Naps generally make me feel more tired than before. This isn’t really a good reason to hate naps, I just didn’t like them.
I woke up from my nap sneezing, coughing, and with that annoying ‘tickly nose feeling’ that I’m so fond of. Not to mention, I had a severe breakout all over my face. Not just localized pimples. All. Over. My. Face.
And my neck.
Now, I officially hate naps.
I could easily chalk this horrible breakout up to the aftermath of my boredom-induced mud mask party on Friday. However, I know that it is only due to the fact that I sweatted profusely during my run, and there was no way to wash my face until I got home. I need to come up with a solution for these breakouts, because seriously…this is not just me being vain.
These are full-fledged “holy crap, what happened to your face” breakouts. My boss actually said that this AM, by the way.
So, I’m trying to come up with a solution. I’m going to google “my sweat is poisonous” and see if I can find an antidote.
