As I mentioned in my last post, my friend Toddra and I were scheduled to meet up at 6:30am and run 11 miles on Saturday. We decided to meet at the same place we did the last time, Huroc Park in Flat Rock, and run another out-and-back into Oakwoods and Willow Metroparks via the connector path. I was up at 5:30am, had a banana, and headed out.
Unfortunately, it was warmer and more humid than our previous run of 10 miles. It was 63 degrees and humid—quite a bit different from the chilly 52 degrees I’d experienced the morning before!
But, we were there to run, and run we did. Toddra was feeling much better than the previous week, and she kept up a pretty good pace for the first few miles. I don’t know if it was the humidity or having done intervals the day before, but unfortunately, I wasn’t quite up to snuff for this particular run. After about 3 miles, I could feel myself getting really tired. But I kept going, which is a lot easier to do when you have someone with you!
With it being more humid, there was quite a bit of fog and mist around, and it made for some beautiful views in the Metroparks. I stopped for a picture at about 4 miles, and then, right before we turned around at mile 5.5, I stopped to take another one.
Once we turned around, I felt a little better in knowing that we were past the halfway point, but 5.5 miles still seemed like a long way! Right after we hit 7 miles, Toddra and I agreed to walk again. I can’t remember which one of us suggested it, but I was all for it, either way! 😉 We walked for longer than normal this time, and then we powered through another two and a half. At that point, we were talking about being a bit tired, and we agreed to stop and walk one last time before pushing through to the end. We discussed that just seemed right to walk at this “bend” in the path, the same place we’d stopped the previous week on our 10-miler. Ha ha, the memory of that little break right at that spot was pretty strong, obviously!
After that, we had a short run and then a slight uphill, which I remembered from last time and really disliked. :p I faltered a bit going up, but Toddra gave me some encouragement, and I got through. By then we were only about half a mile to the end, and without the incline to hold me back, I was ready to bust out that final sprint. Toddra, on the other hand, wasn’t quite so enthusiastic, and this time, it was me encouraging her to finish strong as we prepared to cross the bridge over the river.
Our watches were reading just a few seconds off, with hers beeping the mile mark about 7-10 seconds after mine. As we crossed the bridge, she panted out, “Whoever’s watch stops first, that’s when we stop!” But because I am anal and I wanted to make sure she got her full 11 miles in, I called back, “No! We stop with yours!! ” She groaned loudly but agreed. Those last few seconds between my watch beeping and hers going on seemed like an eternity, but it provided us with a chuckle at the very end, and when we finally heard hers beep, we were so happy!
We took a post-run pic to send to our friend Ann. (Ann is starting to recover from her ankle injury, but she decided to run 8 around her neighborhood to make sure she’d be okay if something went wrong. )
When I looked at the picture, I told Toddra that she has a beautiful smile, and she replied, “No, it’s just that my smile is wider in our post-run pics because I’m so happy to be done!” Ha!
On my way home, I was thinking about how different it is to run “with company.” I’ve been a solo runner pretty much my whole running career, usually by necessity due to my schedule. Even if I have the opportunity, I have usually shied away from running with anyone, just because I’m so slow, I always feel like I’m holding people back. But these last several weeks of running with Ann and Toddra have really helped me realize how much more enjoyable it is to run with people. I don’t know how I would have gotten through that 11-miler without Toddra there to help me through those tough parts, and at the same time, helping her finish strong helped me feel better about our run. It’s funny how one run can really “run” the gamut of emotions and abilities!
At home, I rode my bike with JJ while he did his training run. (He’s training for the Scrumpy Skeedaddle 5k in October.) He was originally going to run 1.5, but right before he started, he asked me if he could just run 1 mile really fast. I told him it would be fine, and although he started out slow, he really killed it in the last half mile.
When he was done, he had his first-ever sub-10 mile!!
He was so exhausted, but so proud of himself. When I went to take a picture of the watch, he threw himself on the ground underneath and said, “Here, this will make for an even better picture.”
Ha ha ha! My kid is such a character. 😉
I spent the rest of the weekend doing what I’m always doing this time of year.
Processing tomatoes. It’s so much work! I actually processed 100 pounds this weekend, for a total of 180 pounds so far. Sadly, most of those have NOT been from my garden. I’ve purchased 3 bushels at a local farm market, which has accounted for 135 pounds of the tomatoes so far. My garden just isn’t producing as much or as quickly as I’d hoped, but I still need tomatoes!
Because I ran 11 miles on Saturday, I of course made sure to have a post-run treat. Jamie ran 3.5 miles of his own (after a week of football and hockey!), so I let him help me choose. We ended up making a Chocolate Peanut Butter Marble cake.
It was very point-heavy, although I did try to lighten it up by adding less sugar and just a bit less milk. While it was good, it wasn’t great (though the peanut butter glaze sure did taste good!!). The cake was rather dry, though, so either I shouldn’t have messed with the ingredient ratio, or it just wasn’t a very good recipe. We might try it again. We’ll see! After all that work, I was too tired to have it on Saturday, and then I actually didn’t have much on Sunday because it was so dry. At least it saved me on points!
When the weekend was all said and done, I hopped on the scale Monday morning…
That’s up .2 from last week. Argh. I know it’s essentially just staying the same, but what it means is that I’m still above 125—for the 13th week in a row! For a girl who was able to stay under 120 successfully for NINETEEN MONTHS…that’s just a bitter pill to swallow. :/
But I’m gonna get there, dammit. I WILL get below 125. If I can get back to 120, I will be thrilled, but right now, I just want to be below 125. It’s killing me!!!!!!
So, back at it this week…I’m going to continue with the increased points (29 per day instead of 26), cutting back on fruit, trying to eat more protein, and doing the Insanity workout twice a week. Yesterday’s session turned out to be a “recovery” session, which didn’t provide much of a workout (but did succeed in showing me just how completely lacking in balance I am). We’ll see what the next one brings!
That’s it for now…thanks so much for reading!
I didn’t notice how humid it was on Saturday until the end of my run. By then I was just done! Way to get yours done!
Nice work JJ and Jamie on their runs! I can’t imagine skating, playing football, and then running. Yikes!
I was surprised at how humid it was on Saturday, too! Good for you and getting yours done, too!
See you soon!
Keep these running and weight posts going! You have no idea how much you are encouraging me! Belle
Thank you, Belle!! You have no idea how much I needed to hear that today. 🙂 Also, I adore your name, because it reminds me of my favorite princess! 😀