The heat finally broke so running has been more pleasant. Having to get up before dawn on a holiday weekend to get a run in while it was semi-tolerable was not my idea of a good time, so despite mourning the loss of summer, I have welcomed the cooler mornings.
With the cooler weather, we also started to see some rain. The effect on my training last week was two-fold. 1) It caused me to skip my Thursday evening Recess Run sponsored by Fleet Feet. I wanted to avoid slipping and sliding in wet grass as I am hyper aware of anything that could cause injury. 2) Instead of my Thursday night run, I decided to join the monthly early morning Fleet Feet Friday run. I set up my alarm for 5:20 am (ugh), got up, got dressed, rolled my calves a bit and headed out the front door only to discover it was raining. I stood in the doorway for a moment trying to decide what to do. Normally, rain in the pre-dawn hours is my get-out-running-free card but I was already awake (sort of), dressed and ready to go so I went. That might not have been the best idea.
Only 4 of us showed up to run Friday morning in the rain.The first half mile went well.The section of sidewalk we were running on has several spots that are pretty badly broken. We know this and look out for them. This particular morning the rain caused these spots to hold deep puddles. I spotted one particularly deep puddle, shouted a warning to the folks behind me, and then proceed to catch my toe on the broken slab of concrete and go down. Hard. Right in the very puddle I was trying to sidestep. I got up and and turned down offers to go back to the store and wash up. I figured I was already awake, running and dirty - might as well finish the run. I had no idea how hard I went down until I got back to the store and could barely raise my right arm and this picture was shown to me. So much for avoiding situations that could cause bodily damage.
Running - 1, Raegan - 0
Sunday I competed as part of a triathlon relay in Litchfield. Our all-female relay team, Mid-pack Attack, decided to do the Olympic distance option, mostly because I needed to get a 10K run in for my training. Sorry Ashley and Jenny for making you do the long course!
Sidenote: we stayed at a local hotel in Litchfield. When you travel for a triathlon, you have a lot of stuff you need to have with you: bikes, bike pumps, wetsuits, running shoes, etc. Jenny's car was loaded down with all of this - a lot of which we needed to carry up to our room so I wanted to make this as easy as possible. When the front desk employee gave us our room number, I asked him where we should park given where our room was located. This was was our conversation:
Clueless Front Desk Guy: Here you go. You're in room 222.
Me: Great. Thanks. So where should we park then?
CFDG: (blank look) In the parking lot.
Me: Ok - let me rephrase. Given where our room is and the door we should use, where would be the best place to enter?
CFDG: Uh, the front door is right there.
Jenny: Aren't there doors at either end of the hotel too?
CFDG: Yes - one on either end.
Me: (thinking at this point, he'd show us a map of the hallway and where our room was) Ok. Good, then in WHAT PART of the hotel is our room?
Ashley: (Visibly frustrated) There's the sign with the room numbers, looks like we are to the right. Let's go!
In any event, we got to our room and were all in bed with the lights off by 9:05. Wild and crazy ladies on a Saturday night.
You know what? Litchfield is hilly. My flatlander legs did not appreciate that. But I will say it was beautiful down near Lake Lou Yager, near which the triathlon took place. Ashley swam a kick butt .9 mile course and Jenny hit an impressive mph on the 24 mile bike. I anchored the relay for the run and got to see those hills close up. There may have been some walking on a couple of the more obnoxious uphill sections. In any event, Mid-Pack Attack won the female Olympic distance race. It's very possible we were the only female team in that event.
We've decided to still claim pride in our win because we're assume the other female teams were too scared to do the long distance.
Our awards were water bottles, which none of us were too excited about
because each of us has a kitchen full of water bottles. But the they did
put a nice little finishing touch on them. And I am trying to be better about drinking more water during the day so this might be a good reminder to do that.
Raegan - 1, Crazy hilly 6 miles - 0
In other news, my friend Jennie got a sticker maker last week. It's her new favorite toy and I'm her new favorite recipient of stickers. She made me several "Pain-O-Meter" stickers featuring The Oatmeal. She said she thought I needed them to track how much my training runs hurt. I must say, it is one of the most unusual training gifts I have received. I'd probably put the run at Litchfield at about a 7 - tears, but no blood coming out of my eyes.
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