Racking Up the Runs

Thursday
My schedule was still wonky from being out of town, plus I woke up with a headache and just felt like crap all day.  By the time I headed out to run I decided to just do the 2 miles I missed on Sunday instead of the 3 on the schedule.  During the run I decided to try out the new water bottle/cell phone holder I mentioned buying.  It definitely worked well, except I hadn't washed out the water bottle yet so I just stuck a regular one in it. That wasn't a problem until I drank some of the water and the bottle got all squishy under my hand and made my grip awkward.  Oh well, it's better to figure these things out at 2 miles instead of 20, right?

Splits:
Mile 1 12:02
Mile 2 12:24

Saturday
Today's run was squeezed in between an all day photography workshop I attended and a party that I hosted.  When I left the workshop at 5:00 PM the thermometer in my car said that it was 112 degrees.  I knew this run was going to hurt and it did.  Bad.  I only planned on going 2 miles, but I didn't even make that.  However, after this run I have come to the conclusion that any miles ran in 100+ degrees should count double!

Splits:
Mile 1 10:58
Mile .5 6:13

Monday
For the second week in a row, I ended up doing my long run on Monday night after work.  Right now my mileage isn't high so it's no big deal but this really has got to stop soon.  I think I may need to reevaluate my training schedule since so far I haven't completed a single long run on the day I scheduled them.

The run felt pretty decent until the last mile.  I spent mile 3.25 - 3.80 reminding myself that it wouldn't be worth the guilt if I didn't finish and I spent mile 3.80 - 4.00 chanting, "I am not a quitter. I am not a quitter. I am not a quitter." over and over and over until I was done.  To makes matters even worse, I didn't plan my route out very well and had to walk .25 miles back home once I was done.

Then I returned home and took my first ice bath of this training season.  I'm in for a world of hurt if I'm there already.  Surprisingly, my ankles are doing more protesting of the pounding than my knees are.  I may need to consider different shoes.  I'm going to do my next run in an old pair just to see.  The ones I'm running in currently are new and comfortable, but my ankles just don't seem too happy with them.

Splits:
Mile 1 12:34
Mile 2 12:31
Mile 3 12:31
Mile 4 12:19

I'm slowly starting to get donations trickling in! I am so happy and thankful for the kind support of my friends and family.  Fundraising: $475 donated - Thanks Mom & Dad, Uncle Doug & Aunt Noreen, and Sherry!!