July 04, 2014

Fourth of July long run and get together

Yesterday, when I sat down to write a blog post, I realized that I had absolutely nothing to write about. My day was so boring! So I didn't write.

I looked at what the weather was supposed to be like this morning, and it was supposed to be as perfect as it could possibly be for a run (in July in Michigan). I decided to plan on doing my long run in the morning, about eight miles. When I got up this morning, it was 60 degrees and the humidity was only in the 50% range. The humidity has been in the 90-100% range for a while, and it's been miserable, so I was thrilled to see the temps this morning.

I spent about a half hour trying to figure out where I wanted to run, which was a big waste of time. I finally decided to do an out and back from my house--10 miles total. I brought my handheld water bottle because I didn't think I'd need much water with the low humidity. And I decided to run a 9:1 ratio--run 0.9 miles and walk 0.1 mile, and then repeat. Almost as soon as I started running, I just felt "off". My legs felt so heavy and clunky!

I had planned on running in the low- to mid-9:00's, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. My first running portion was a 9:37 pace, and even that felt tough. At around mile 1.75, I was really having a hard time. I decided that I'd finish out the run portion, and at mile 1.9, I'd call Jerry to come pick me up. My whole body just felt so tired and clumsy.

When I started walking, I pulled out my phone to call Jerry, and then had the thought that I'd give it one last effort to keep going. I really wanted to finish, because we're having friends over tonight, and I wanted to earn some activity points! So I gave myself permission to run as slowly as I wanted, even if it was a 12:00/mi pace. That seemed to help, because once I slowed it down for mile three, I felt like I could at least keep going.

When I reached mile three, I started to feel much better, and my pace dipped back into the 9:00's. I wasn't trying to push myself at all--I just ran however I was feeling at the moment. I was so surprised to see how few cars were on the road. Usually, it's a pretty busy road, but today, there were moments where there weren't cars coming from either direction--it was almost eerie. Normally, I would be too embarrassed to take a selfie if there were cars, but nobody was around ;)



When I hit mile 4, I debated briefly whether to turn around there or to keep going another mile, to get 10 total. I was feeling good in the moment, so I decided to keep going. I took it easy on the running, and took a 0.1 mile walk break at the bottom of each mile. At mile eight, I was thinking about calling Jerry for a ride again, but I knew I could finish. So I just kept going. At mile 9.25, my mom drove by with my kids--she was taking them to a parade. I was so glad to turn onto my street.


It definitely wasn't what I would call a "good run", but I am really happy that I stuck it out and didn't quit at mile two, like I'd wanted. I felt good when I was done, and I'd burned a lot of calories for our get-together tonight :)

We hadn't been planning to have a party or anything, but a couple of days ago, we ended up inviting one of Noah's friend's family over, and then invited one of Jerry's co-workers and his daughter, and our next door neighbors. We never do anything on the fourth, so I'm glad we decided to have people over.

As soon as I got home from my run, I didn't even change out of my sweaty clothes. I just started cleaning the house, and I made coleslaw. I've never made coleslaw before, but figured it'd be a good side for the craft beer brats we'd bought to cook on the grill. I chose this recipe (a copycat KFC recipe), and when I got out the ingredients, I realized that I had forgotten that I broke my food processor the last time I used it. So I had to chop all the cabbage by hand--to the size of a grain of rice. Hahaha, it took a while, but it worked out. And the coleslaw turned out really good!


I spent a couple of hours cleaning the house, and then I finally was able to take a shower. I was bummed when I realized that my boobs had chafed from my sports bra during my run! I had planned on wearing a sundress (which was pretty low-cut), and when I put it on, you could totally see the boob chafe.


Because I'm classy, I still wore it, despite the chafe. We have a cooler full of cold drinks, so that's all that matters anyway, right? ;)

7 comments:

  1. I am so glad to hear that you have tough runs too. Sometimes my legs just don't want to go. Congratulations on finishing your run.

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  2. Your are my hero.... even with a not so good run, you keep going! I had a "roll over" day...every time I thought about getting up, I just rolled over.

    Dress looks great and I so would of done the same thing....and enjoyed the cool drink : )

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  3. such an inspiration... even on your tough days.. thank you for being so open and honest about everything..... its good to know "we" are not the only ones going thru certain stuff..whether its diet / running / or sundress wearing ---

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  4. I need to buy a dress that makes my boobs look that good! :0

    Also, you are a champ for sticking out that run.

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  5. HAHA, I laughed out loud at the boob chafe. Exercise isn't always glamorous and I love that you share those parts of it with us!

    Every time I feel uninspired to work out, I tell myself, "You won't regret it after". That usually works, thankfully!

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  6. My first thought was that your booby chafe was from leaving your workout clothes on...I have to change right away or I get that....underneath, though. I'm in Michigan, too, (SW side), and have been loving the cooler weather. Planning to run tomorrow night instead of the morning since its going to rain on Monday morning.

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  7. I'm glad to know that bad runs aren't just me. . . sometimes I have no explanation. . . it doesn't matter if I ran the day before or had a day off. . . sometimes there is no rhyme or reason for my legs feeling like they weigh 500 lbs each or being totally fresh and ready to go. I love the fresh days and I dread the heavy days. Pushing through can be tough but I try to do it just to burn the calories. And the slower I go, the longer I take, the more cals I burn :)

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