Now You're Just Trying to Embarass Me

What a weird running week so far. It started off hot, humid and miserable and ended cool, rainy and...fast? Yeah, I was shocked too.

On Tuesday, after a couple of weeks having scheduling conflicts, my running partner Wendy and I finally got a chance to run together again. I was feeling optimistic that my 3 miles after a rest day would be a fairly simple workout to check off my training schedule. I was coming off a pretty awesome 7 mile run from the weekend before and I was ready. It didn't quite work out that way. Wendy's legs, after a week of vacation and limited running, were fresh. Mine weren't. Actually they felt like I had anvils strapped to my ankles. It was hot. I was tired and grumpy. To add insult to injury, Wendy's husband Dan showed up to run with us that day and so I had 2 witnesses to my butt-dragging, sweat-inducing, complaint-spewing run.

It's no surprise that after Tuesday, I was not looking forward to my next run. But to my utter shock, when I took to the trail the next day I felt great. My legs were pumping and my breathing was good. I didn't even feel like I needed the water stop I had pre-arranged. The next day's run was a repeat performance. I had energy. I had confidence. And could it be that I was enjoying my training? (Side note: shout-out to Kay who supplied me with some ice cold water this week. Thanks Kay-Kay!)

I'm not sure what caused the difference between Tuesday's and Thursday's runs but I have 2 theories. 1) It's my legs' way of getting revenge on me for torturing them - by embarrassing me when I run with others, or 2) all the extra protein I've taken in the last 2 weeks by ingesting swarms of soybean aphids gave me an energy surge. Who needs Gu?

And now for a happy note to end on for the day. A lovely thought entered my head on one of my pleasant runs this week. My last long run was 7 miles. That means I am already capable of running over a 1/4 of the distance of the marathon.

Tomorrow I "step back" to a long run distance of 5 miles. Normally, that would give me an feeling of confidence, but I'll be running with Wendy again. Who knows what my legs will have in store for me?