October 03, 2013

Where's fall?! A humid run.

I had a very rough night last night, which resulted in pretty much zero sleep. When I put the kids to bed at 9:00, Eli told me that he had "growing pains" in his calf. I didn't think much of it at all, and I told him that resting it overnight would make it better.

At 1:45 in the morning, Eli came into my room, limping pretty badly and complaining that his calf hurt SO bad. It was just one calf, not both, so I didn't think it was from normal play/running around. I told him he could sleep in my bed. Once he laid down, I remembered reading that calf pain in one leg, particularly pain that starts as a dull ache and continues to get worse, could be a blood clot--very serious.

Once I got that thought in my head, I just couldn't stop thinking of it. I called my parents to see if one of them could come stay with Noah (Jerry was at work) so that I could take Eli to the ER to get his leg checked out. Overreacting? Probably. But I was worried! So my parents came over (my mom was going to come with Eli and me, and my dad was going to stay with Noah). I had gotten Eli (and myself) dressed and ready to go. Once my parents came in, we talked about it, and asked Eli a bunch of questions about his leg pain, and he seemed to be walking better. He didn't have any other signs of a blood clot (redness, swelling, warmness, etc.). So I ultimately decided not to take him in.

I felt bad that I called my poor parents over for nothing, but they didn't seem to mind. I let Eli sleep in my bed, and he fell right to sleep. But he was breathing really heavily, and I couldn't get back to sleep for anything! I was tossing and turning until around 4:30, when I finally fell asleep, only to get up at 6:00. Needless to say, I was SO tempted to skip my run this morning!

I asked Eli if he wanted to stay home from school, but his leg was feeling better (apparently it WAS just growing pains!), and he wanted to go. So they went to school, and I headed out for my last double-digit training run for the Chicago Marathon--10 miles at 8:58/mi. I brought my handheld water bottle with me, along with three Shot Bloks to have at miles 4, 6, and 8.

I really wanted to stick as closely to 8:58 per mile as I could without going over. My first mile was too fast, per usual, but after that, I tried to come as close as possible. It was a tough run today! After two miles, I was SO hot, and pouring sweat. It was a really tough run today! I kept focusing on the shorter goals--at mile four, eat a Shot Blok; mile five, I could turn around (out-and-back route); mile six, another Shot Blok; etc.

During the eighth mile, my legs started to feel REALLY tired. It was hard to keep pace, and my legs got heavy. I ate a Shot Blok at mile eight, hoping it would give me a little boost, but the farther I ran, the more tired I became. I think it was a combination of the lack of sleep and the humidity (94% this morning, ugh). But, I stuck it out and finished, meeting my goal pace for all ten miles!







When I looked at my stats on the computer, it was no wonder the run felt so tough--my average heart rate was 163. That's pretty high for me! Usually it's 145-150. I definitely think the humidity had something to do with it.

I'm so glad that I'm running the marathon without a goal in mind. During today's run, I was thinking about how miserable it would feel to try to run this pace the entire marathon! I think physically, it's a possibility that I could do it (considering I've been training as if I'm going to); but it would take everything I have (mentally) to get through it.


I got to try the Pink Ribbon bagel from Panera! This time, I called at 7:30 in the morning and asked them to hold a couple of bagels for me (Jerry wanted one, too). They were in the shape of ribbons, which was a cute idea (although pretty hard to slice).


I toasted it and put fat free cream cheese on it, and it was really good! Not my favorite bagel, but I would definitely get it again. Jerry really liked it, too. It's 10 PointsPlus, which is pretty steep, but it kept me full for a long time.

The next nine days are going to be nice--I don't have any "substance" runs--just easy paced runs and less miles than I'm used to. I know a lot of runners hate tapering, but I could definitely use a break. It's been a tough training schedule! I'm not complaining, though--I feel more prepared for this marathon than I was for the previous two, and I feel like I'm in better shape than ever.


Funny story: Jerry's sister gave him some scratch-off lotto tickets for his birthday a couple of weeks ago. Jerry scratched them off, saw he didn't win, and set them aside. Noah was looking for a bookmark, so I gave him one of the lotto tickets and he thought it was really cool to use for a bookmark. Naturally, Eli wanted one, too. So the boys have been using them in their books, bringing them to school and back every day.

Today, Noah came home from school, and it was time for him to read. He took out his book, and was looking at the lotto ticket for a minute. He said, "Daddy, did you know you won $100?" Jerry said, "No, Bud, I didn't win." And Noah said, "Yeah, you did. My friend was looking at this ticket at school and noticed that the numbers matched. You won $100." So Jerry grabbed the ticket to show Noah that he'd lost, but then he noticed that he did, in fact, win $100! I told Noah that he should charge a "finder's fee" of at least $25 ;)  Jerry's going to split the money with the boys. I just thought it was so funny that our nine-year old knows a winning ticket better than Jerry!

15 comments:

  1. I just don't know how you can run 10 miles at this pace! Do you stop and stretch your legs? I know you don't walk. Just curious!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katie you would have loved it here.... it snowed!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Poor Eli! I used to get growing pains a lot growing up, so I feel his pain!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad Eli was ok! I wonder what happened to fall too!!!! Ran 5.5 late this afternoon and it was hot and humid!!! Awesome pace on your run!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I too am glad Eli was okay! I'm so envious of your pace on a 10 miler; that's awesome! I love the Panera pink ribbon bagel. I'm a mammographer and Panera brings those to us during October every year

    ReplyDelete
  6. I had a group run at 6:30pm and was soaked in sweat when I was done.
    I always look forward to tapering, marathon training is long and tiring. Yesterday I had only 3 miles on my plan. I had been looking forward to that day for weeks! So, yesterday, it was finally that day with only 3 miles on the schedule and what was I thinking when I finished? All that was going through my head was that I didn't run enough!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's an awesome run on 90 minutes of sleep. Great job!

    Also - that is so hilarious that Noah noticed you actually had a winning lottery ticket. Maybe he can use the winnings to redesign your "dated" kitchen? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. The trick with growing pains (I learned it from my mother-in-law) is to rub their legs. I did it with my two who had growing pains REALLY bad...just rub, rub, rub and it goes away. I did it for 30 minutes one time and it made such a huge difference!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, I am so impressed that after all that excitement you still got out for such an awesome run! That's fantastic!! And I'm glad it was just growing pains :) But always better safe than sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I've always been curious about growing pains, so I found this article that might interest you. Worth a look, for sure! http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2013/08/growing_pains_in_kids_are_they_real_what_causes_them_and_is_there_any_treatment.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. My kids used to get growing pains at night. They were truly miserable.......I'm sorry you got so little sleep. Tylenol usually helped on the worst nights

    So funny about the lottery ticket. Years ago we had a family trip to Las Vegas. I put some coins into a slot machine near the edge of the gambling area where my kids and hubby were waiting. I never heard any coins hit the tray so I assumed I hadn't won. As I walked away my youngest said "mom, you didn't hit the button to see if you won" She had been watching other players play correctly. I had won $50.00. Some gambler I am!

    ReplyDelete
  12. i want your weather. It was freezing over here this morning, i had to take out my winter runnning clothes.

    ReplyDelete
  13. You're such a motivation! I read your story and instantly get a rush of energy to get out and run! I can only run for 3 minutes at a time and then my schins kill me but keep it up! You rock! How cute!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh my gosh, the lotto story is hysterical!! Good job, Noah!!

    I'm so impressed that you stuck it out at sub-9 for ten MILES in this weather--that's awesome!!! Great job!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Glad Eli is okay!

    P.S. In NY, our scratch-offs have a 3 letter code when you scratch the entire ticket. If you win $5, the 3 randomly placed letters would be F, I and V. $100 would've been HUN. So when you leave the grocery store here, you'll see tons of tickets just scratched to see the code. I hate that, since I like the actual game part of it, like crosswords or bingo. Check next time!

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

Featured Posts

Blog Archive