Pace: 12:34 avg
Falls while running: 0
Falls on ski slopes: 5
I'm writing this from Pinetop, Arizona. Have been visiting Toe-Shoes Tina and her family over the holidays. She gave me an AWESOME pair of light-up shoelaces for Christmas, plus some travel-size body glide and a Brita water bottle (and a cute scarf). All good running presents! Can't wait to try out those shoelaces.
I wanted to report on last week's progress, because I was having grave doubts last time I posted. So my plan was to rest three days, get my deep tissue massage, stretch a lot, and then do five, eight, five, and a long run. I didn't want to do too long of a long run and wreck myself, as I had missed the last two weeks of long runs. On the other hand, there are only a few weeks left until the full and I need to get in my long runs!
I'm horribly off schedule, and it didn't seem like a good idea to just jump back into it with a 20-mile run. I asked for help. Coach and I decided my mission--if I chose to accept it--would be to run 14 on Christmas Day, then 16, then 18--and then to taper for the full.
(I wonder if I should start holding my hands like that for my 12-minute miles.)
For me, this was a really important 14-mile run. If I couldn't finish it because of knee pain, I was probably going to have to give up the plan to run a full marathon on February 2. But if I could....
I decided that I would run around the neighborhood, taking one dog at a time. Clancy and I ran the first five together. Clancy is a really solid runner and an excellent pooper. He likes to poop on sidewalks where it is harder to clean up.
(I was trying to stretch on the floor afterward and had some enthusiastic observers.)
In any event, Christmas Day in my neighborhood was full of Christmas spirit: people were playing outside with their families, or walking to their cars holding trays of food, or riding stolen bikes around casing the neighborhood trash cans to see who got what for Christmas so they could rob those homes later. I'm not joking. One of these suspicious characters kept pedaling by me on his bicycle and leering at me, leading to this exchange:
Creepo: Heeeeeeeeeeeey.
Me (with death glare): LEAVE ME ALONE.
He pedaled off.
(I'm gonna have to start carrying bear spray, too, apparently.)
The other incident during the first five miles took place at the park. A baseball team was gathering to play baseball, and I was sort of watching them and thinking how healthy and fun it was to play ball on Christmas Day, when a large stray pit bull charged up to Clancy. The two dogs were posturing, side by side, determining who was dominant. It was terrifying; I was worried the dogs were going to fight, and how would I pull this big stray off Clancy? I made a sort of EEEP! sound when the dog appeared. Seeing the situation, the entire baseball team came over and tried to call the dog and offered advice. It was kind of awesome. I had 25 helpers. The dogs were stuck together, and the stray would come with us if I tried to move Clancy--this standoff took awhile. Then my sweet Clancy-Boy decided to MOUNT the stray. OMG. I freaked a little (well, a lot)--that seems like an excellent way to start a fight! I pulled Clancy off. Eventually, the baseball team distracted the stray dog and Clancy and I were able to walk away, me waving thank you to all of them from a distance like a parade queen. My pounding heart and adrenaline carried me through the rest of our five miles.
I returned an uninjured and foolish Clancy to the house, drank some water, had a Honey Stinger energy goo thing that TST had recommended, and leashed up Clifford. Clifford and I decided to stay WELL AWAY from the park. Clifford is a big, robust boy, and he would be fine for dealing with Creepo Bike Guy (in fact, he would be awesome), but he is a submissive dog and the stray dog might just destroy him for practice. So we did a HUGE 2.5 miles. Because Clifford is, ah, big boned, he is not really a distance runner. I towed him the last half mile back to the house, and we picked up Dog #3: Betty Bamba.
Betty and I decided to run into a nicer neighborhood for the last part of the run, so we ran over to Willo. As I predicted, the worst thing we ran into was a yappy Pomeranian who was loose in its front yard.
The best thing about this run was that I did not have any knee pain. I had other issues. Like, fatigue. It seemed like it would be a good idea to stop, but I didn't. Or foot pain. The bottoms of my feet started to hurt. Or general knee achiness that wasn't IT band pain and that I could work through. But all of these things are part of the tedium of running longer distances. It wasn't incapacitating. It was just fine.
I dropped Betty back at the house at 12.5, and finished the last 1.5 alone. It was mentally hard, but I wanted to finish and know I did my 14. And I did!
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