Ouch and Ugh

Sometime last night, when I was at a hockey clinic for our youngest son, I pulled a muscle in my calf. 🙁  I had to go to the grocery store and then to Target after the clinic, and I was hobbling through both stores.  I was tired when I got home, too, so I decided that I would actually sleep in for the first time in many Saturdays before getting my run in.  I had a long-standing challenge I wanted to meet regarding my runs, and I knew that this morning would be the best day for me to attempt it.

Many months ago, when I first started running, one of the dads on DS#2’s fall/winter team from last year jokingly said to me, “You should run to my house to pick up your empty jam jars.”  (He coached DS#2’s team, and I always give coaches some of my jam at Christmas time.)  He lives three and a half miles from me, and when he first said it, I just laughed at him.  There was no way I was going to be able to run to his house, ever!

Now here it is, 3 1/2 months later, and I have regularly run farther than the distance to his house.  I’ve done a 10k for crying out loud! So I decided a few weeks ago, after he challenged me once again to run to his house, that I was going to do it.  However, I actually had 4.5 miles scheduled today, so I knew I’d have to take “the long way.”  The long way meant actually going into “town” and then coming around to his house from the opposite direction.  (Please note that the word “town” is in quotation marks because our town is really just a strip of houses and a couple of businesses out in the middle of nowhere. 😉 )

I didn’t get out of bed until 8am this morning (unheard of on a run day!), and it was almost 9:30 by the time I had my course mapped out.  A quick text to my friend confirmed that he was home.  I decided that since it was so late in the morning, I should actually take some water with me.  I really need to get a hydration belt, but for now, just holding a small bottle of water would have to do.

About 9:30am, I set off, going in the opposite direction from my usual runs. My calf started hurting at half a mile in.  In addition, my thighs were still sore from working my legs during strength training on Thursday.  Honestly, everything about this run seemed hard to me.  I  suspect that my late start contributed to  the challenges, as well.  I wanted to push myself, and I did at first, but by the time I got to a mile and a half, I really debated whether I could finish it.  But of course, there was the little issue of my friend waiting patiently at his house for me. 😛

As I got close to 2 miles, I realized I was not going to be able make it without a break.  So, at 1.9 miles, I slowed down to a walk.  I hated to do it, but I realized it was foolish of me to push myself to the point of failure, when a short walk could be all I needed.  I walked for 1/10th of a mile, and then I began to run again.  At that point, I thought for sure I could make it another 1.9 miles, and then I could walk again.

That thinking lasted about half a mile, when I realized I needed another walk break way sooner than 3.9 miles.  So I took one at 2.9 miles, then started running again at 3.  By this time, I was in town. It was kind of neat to know I had actually run into town–a year ago, I would have never thought that was possible.  On the other hand, running through town was kind of tough–no sidewalks, narrow shoulders, and lots of blind curves in just that short strip of civilization.  Yikes!

That section between mile 3 and 3.9 was hard. When I hit 3.6, I had to do everything imaginable to convince myself to wait until 3.9 before walking.  That third of a mile seemed to take forever!!  In that stretch, I saw my friend’s wife, who waved as she passed me in her van.  I smiled and waved, but boy, I sure wished she would have stopped and picked me up at that point! 😛

I was so happy to walk at 3.9, and I did walk pretty slowly at that point.  Eventually, though, I had to start running again, but at least I knew at that point it was only another half-mile.  I ran down the road, turned the corner a couple of times, and there was my friend (with his kids) waiting in his driveway for me.  I had to run past his house, then turn around to come back to get my mileage in,  but eventually I was finished.  He handed me a nice, cold bottle of water, and then I sat down on his porch to finally rest.  I made him sit down on the porch with me so his son could take our picture with my phone.

I was so proud of myself for running all the way to his house–four months ago, I would have never, ever thought I could to do it! 🙂 After I rested for about five minutes, he gave me my jam jars, as well as two free pairs of hockey skates his sons had outgrown (yay!), and then he drove me back to my house, where I checked out my stats:

I made a mistake part way through the run by pressing the “lap” button when I was trying to figure out how to clear the annoying “off course” notification (I wasn’t off course, damn it!). That’s why there’s a weird split in there. You can see that I was walking when I hit the lap button! Overall, though, I was really pleased with the run.  Despite the difficulty and the walking, it was still my best pace of any of my 4+ mile runs!!

I would like to say my day got better from there, but unfortunately, it did not.  For me to explain, first, you need to know I am a person who has had digestive issues all my life (inherited from my father–all my sisters have it).  My healthier eating has almost eliminated these problems, but I will admit that, like a lot of runners, a long run can mess with my digestive system for about an hour or so after the run.

Today, however, was different.  After I got home, I was sick, and I continued to be sick for hours afterwards. 🙁  My stomach hurt so bad, from the time I got home at 10:30am until about six that night.  I spent the remainder of the morning until about 1:30pm just laying on the couch in pain (when I wasn’t getting sick!).  I eventually went to lay down in my bed, where I slept for a few hours.  A total waste of a day!  Not to mention, I ate very little today, so a total waste of all those activity points I earned. I didn’t even use up all my daily points. 🙁   I’m hoping I feel better tomorrow–I promised my boys I would run with them this afternoon to help them “train” for their half-mile race in three weeks, but there was just no way I could do it.  I could hardly move. 🙁 So I promised them tomorrow.

At any rate, at least I was able to get my run in, but I am starting to think that maybe there was a reason why I felt so bad when I was doing it!  My calf still hurts, too, so I’m icing it and resting, and if it isn’t better by Monday, I will skip a run for the first time since I began running in April.  I hope that doesn’t happen!!

In more cheerful news, my friend Marcia from Minus One Hundred nominated me for a Sunshine Blogger award.  I really enjoy Marcia’s blog–she’s very real and very fun, and I love to read about her running journey, too! Although I am not really certain I can return the favor and therefore nominate other blogs for the same distinction (there are just too many blogs that I think are amazing, and I would have such a hard time choosing 🙁 ), I am really honored to have been mentioned.  Thanks, Marcia!!

Time for more rest and ice–thanks so much for reading!!