I posted last week about having one of the best days ever. It's like it's just kept going (with one exception, detailed below). Work is awesome. I mentioned winning the running class prize at dinner on Wed. About two days after that, I came home to a really large check waiting for me -- the results of a re-balance of my escrow account on our house (we don't escrow ourselves, it's in with the mortgage), so technically I'm just getting my own money back, but score! Since we owed an insane amount (let's just say just shy of 5 figures) on our taxes, it's basically going to that, but still a nice little treat.
Yesterday was the big St. Pat's run. I pushed my sweet godson in a stroller. Here he is after the race.
Unfortunately, I may have scarred him for life. This was the scene in front of us for way too many minutes. And don't forget at what level my godson is seeing this race.
As you can see, this was an uphill stretch so I had to stay behind him until the top when I finally hit the gas just so this sweet kid didn't have to look at that guy's butt anymore.
The race was tough. It was hard to run with a stroller. I started a little further back than I should have. I wanted to run and push, but I started behind a lot of people who were walking. So there was tons of time spent trying to weave around others, both walkers and slower runners.
We ended up with an okay finish time, considering the people dodging, the stroller, and the easy pace I tried to maintain.
The rest of the day was fab. Went with the kids and their mom to meet a whole bunch of friends to watch the parade. Got too much sun unfortunately. Then went to a friend's house party for the rest of the afternoon. Sat around snacking and eating and chatting. Not drinking. I drank a bit at the tailgate party, a couple beers and a single jello shot. But I was nervous about today.
Came home and cooked our usual Sat night meal for a long run.
This morning was 22 miles -- set up with 12 easy, 8 marathon pace, 2 easy. I felt really good for the 12, and then the first 6 at race pace, but then I started fading a bit. Unfortunately, my garmin died after mile 19! It gave me a low battery message, then crapped out to blank screen (despite having 100% charge at the start of the run). And then it randomly came back on with 1.3 miles to go! VERY FRUSTRATING.
I think for the race I might wear my old trusty sports watch in addition to my garmin. My old watch has never failed me, the garmin seems too picky.
Anyway, after the 6 solid race pace miles, I felt like I started slowing down a bit. My heart rate was good, but I was struggling. It was in the low 60s and 80-90% humidity, so that was tough. But I still held a pretty strong pace through mile 20, when we went back to easy pace.
The guy who'd been right in front of me was stopped at the 20 mile water stop when I got there, and he was going to wait for a woman who was right behind me, but I wanted the run over, so I headed out solo.
And somewhere around maybe mile 21, I started getting some sharp pains in my upper left calf. If I'd had anything more than about 2 miles to go, I think I would have stopped. But I figured I'd tough it out.
Unfortunately, it actually hurts right now. I did my ice bath when I got home and went out for Mexican food with hubby and ran a few errands. Now I've iced again and I am about to put on my compression leg sleeves. And I've had a ben gay patch on since after my shower. Fortunately the tortilla smell was stronger than the ben gay smell!
I'm afraid. Actually very afraid. It's my first real possible injury this season. And it hurts when I walk, which is a very bad sign. And it's definitely just the one leg. When both legs I hurt, I figure it's just soreness. This is possibly injury.
I'm taking tomorrow off. This is our last really big week, so I'm hoping it was just the stress of the long run, and I'll be fine on Tues morning.
Fingers crossed! About to start doing some major cooking for dinner tonight and lunches this week!
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