Geometry Fail

This morning, the alarm went off at 6am, and I hit the snooze button about 6 times. (Everyone does that, right?)  I had had a hard night’s sleep, partly because we had some horrible news regarding DS#2’s hockey team. It seems that I can’t cut a break regarding either of my boys’ hockey teams this year. 🙁  BUT, no dwelling!  Move on and find the positive, that’s my motto.

Still, the sad news did make it tough to sleep, and made for some unpleasant dreams.  The other reason I had a difficult time sleeping was my hip.  I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it in the last few posts, but my right hip has been hurting me since my 5 mile run last Saturday. 🙁 I don’t know what I did, but it’s making it tough to run.  I have an hour commute right now due to the construction, and the last few days have found me getting out of my car like an old woman, clutching my hip and groaning.  Kind of embarrassing, actually…

But, despite all that, when I finally dragged my ass out of bed this morning, I determined that I would run five miles, just like last week.  Since I’m only training to be faster (to have a good run for my anchor leg of the marathon relay in October), I felt that five miles was a good “long run” to do once per week.  I decided to take a bottle of water with me on this run, because it was pretty warm (67 degrees when I stared), and quite humid.

I finally got on the road at 7:30am, and the minute I started out, my hip hurt.  I actually stopped about 50 feet into the run and stood there for a minute, trying to decide what to do.  After a few seconds, I decided I would do the run, but I would do it slowly, and walk when I needed to.

From that point, I ran slowly until about 1.8 miles, when I decided I wanted to try to get a picture of both the sunrise over the soybean fields AND an ultralight that happened to be in the neighborhood.  At that point, I stopped to take the two pictures, and then I walked. Because I was using my phone, the pictures sucked, and neither are worthy of showing here. I walked for a short distance after that, just because I was so hot.

When I got started again, I got to the 2.5 mile mark and then decided I would walk again when I hit the next road.  In my head, I determined that it should be only half a mile more. But as my Garmin got closer to that 3 mile mark, I realized the road was still a long way off. Suddenly, realization hit me full force.  I even swore. 😛

It’s kind of complicated, but let me summarize it here:  everyone knows you add the sides of a rectangle to get its perimeter.  In my (sleep-deprived) mind, 1+2+1+2 = 5.  In real life, 1+2+1+2=6.  Thus, I had to run six miles instead of five.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this until I was almost at mile 3, and my choices were to either continue or turn-around, but either choice meant I’d go six miles. (Okay, a third choice was to call my husband to come get me, but that is beyond “last resort” and thus, not an option unless I was passed out on the road.)

Because of my miscalcuation, plus the heat, I decided I would allow myself as many walk breaks as I physically needed, which amounted to a total of four: besides the initial one.  I walked at about 3 miles, then 4 miles, then 4.5 miles.  I did manage the last 1.5 miles without walking, though it was admittedly pretty slow.  The whole run, in fact, was pretty slow for me.  No sub-11 overall pace today!

Nothing to write home about, but considering my boneheaded miscalculation, all my aches, and the heat, I won’t complain.  I’m just proud of myself for not calling my husband, lol!

After my six mile run, I barely had time to jump into the pool before I had to rush out to help with DS#1’s team car wash.  We had a good location and were able to pay for about half of one tournament with our proceeds.  My boys and I had a fun time advertising the car wash on the road.

My husband, meanwhile, dutifully washed cars, lol. 😉  The boys helped him. I felt my skills were better used in the marketing end of the business. (Note that I am called “that loud readhead” for a reason. 😉 )

We have done a car wash for the last three years (the prior two years were for DS#1’s prior team).  DS#1 took a few pictures of me today, and I was struck by the difference between last year’s picture and this year’s.

I am amazed at what a difference that 30 pounds I’ve lost has made! (Although, actually, it’s probably closer to 35 now that I think of it.)  But the picture that really made my eyes open was the one my sister took of me washing her car.

That is clearly a posed shot, but it was her idea, since she wanted to post a picture on Facebook of her little sister washing her car.  But still…I can’t deny that I love this picture because it makes me  look really good (and thin!).  😉

Speaking of pictures designed to make me look good…tomorrow (hopefully), I am going to make a post in which I need the help of any readers who are interested.  I have decided to enter a contest, and I need some help choosing some pictures to enter.  The pictures were taken today (by my husband, lol!), and I hope to have them ready to display tomorrow.  I’m really nervous about this, but I have had enough encouragement to enter this contest that I know I need to do it.  And I’m hoping some of my blog’s readers will help me decide which pictures to use–because it’s impossible for me to choose a decent picture of myself!!

More about all that tomorrow.  In the meantime, thank you so much for reading!