Pain & Misery On The Road

Welcome To Monday
I hate Mondays as much as I love Fridays - and you all know by now how much I LOVE Fridays. So you can imagine how much I HATE Mondays. I didn't weigh myself yesterday so I couldn't write my weekly weigh-in. I'm not all that concerned about it. I have a feeling I did not make any progress, so best to live in denial than to confirm that I gained weight instead of lost anything. But, let's get on with things. I have to tell you about the crap-tastic race I was in on Saturday. Ugh. Just thinking about it makes me cringe. Here we go, anyway...

25K of Hell
Alright, so 25K is a little more than 15 miles. I know by now that I am physically and mentally capable of running 15 miles. So what went wrong? I think there were three major elements I had working against me. They are:

1) Last weekend, you may recall, I ran 16 glorious miles on Sunday. Saturday, as well know, is only 6 days after Sunday. That's a problem. It takes your body a while to recover from a really long run like that. That's why I generally run long, then taper down the next 2 weekends, then bump it back up again. Make sense? It's also common knowledge that tapering is crucial to racing success. For a month leading up to marathon day, I will great decrease my mileage. I'll run 20 miles somewhere about 4-5 weeks out, and then the miles will drop off until the BIG day. Clearly, there was no tapering for my 25K if I ran 16 miles only 6 days before. Lesosn learned.

2) Lack of fuel. I didn't run with my runner's fanny pack, and the only calories I took in before the run came from half a breakfast bar. That just simply is not enough gas in the tank to keep me going. Somewhere around mile 11 (I had already been miserable for 7 miles by this point) my stomach started cramping and I began getting nauseous. I should have eaten more, and I should have had my hip runner's fanny pack loaded with goodies to keep me fueled. Again, lesson learned. Never EVER again.

3)

I don't think I really need to explain this. It hurt. Badly.

I haven't even looked up my official time or results yet. I know it's going to depress me, so why bother? It's like stepping on the scale. If I know I'm not going to like what I see, then why look? It's a self-preservation thing.

Not All Crappy
I made it up to myself yesterday, though. I bought a new pair of running shoes and these lovely blue pumps! The running shoes were $99. The pretty blue shoes? $9. On super DUPER clearance. I LOVE it when people don't like pretty things and so they go on super sale for me to swoop up. Pretty, huh?



Brando Strikes Again
Billy's dog is such an idiot! He not only chews shoes, expensive underwear & running sunglasses, but his tastes encompass the less refined as well. I can't watch him all the time!!! Billy's favorite thing to say when I lament DumDum destroying something new is, "Well, why did you let him do it?" WHAT? I didn't LET him do anything. He just does these things. This morning, it was while I was in the shower. Evidenly he's developed a taste for BodyGlide and razors. Smart? Not so much. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Gwen would NEVER do such a thing!

Take a look:


Stupid, stupid, stupid. Just like my race on Saturday. Just like Mondays. *Sigh*




These, however, are not stupid. On Saturday afternoon a VERY large flower arrangement showed up on my doorstep courtesy of my deployed hubs. Just because he loves me. Pretty sweet, eh? Someday, somehow, I will be a florist. So...instead of leaving the beautiful flowers as they were, I broke them up into 4 small arrangements. That way 4 rooms can be filled with yellow sunshine instead of just one :) There you go, there's your happiness for Monday.