Worst Run Ever!!

Okay, yes, my penchant for exaggeration is strong, but MAN I had such a tough run this morning.  And it had nothing to do with my pace or how I felt.

But first, let’s backtrack to last night, because I do want to give some love to my dear sweet husband, Jason, who turned 40 yesterday.  Ha! Now he’s once again the same age as me! 😉  His birthday consisted of a baseball practice (DS#2), a baseball game (DS#1) and a hockey game (DS#1).  The hockey game lasted until after 8pm, but because I had promised he wouldn’t have to cook on his birthday, we went to dinner at a nice restaurant near the hockey rink.

I don’t talk too much about food on my blog, because I try not to let food rule my life, but last night was all about food.  I got there early with DS#2, and while I waited for Jason and DS#1 to arrive, I pulled out my iPad and cross-referenced the menu with the Weight Watchers app.  By the time they got there, I had my whole meal planned out—all 31 glorious points of it, lol! I had a piece of bread, a Caesar salad, baked potato with butter and sour cream, a glass of chardonnay (wine was half off! I was doing good just having one!), and my favorite thing ever—filet mignon!  Oh yeah, baby!  I love me some steak, and filet is the best. See, I don’t lie…

Doesn’t that look good?  (Well, unless you’re a vegetarian, in which case, I’m sorry.)  There was spinach on the plate for garnish, which I ate, because that made the meal totally healthy, right? 😉 The whole thing was swimming in a roasted shallot and red wine sauce…it was SO good.  No A-1 needed for that baby!

(Side note: how do you like that presentation? I’ve seen a few people use the “instagram” photo filter/manipulator, and I thought I’d give it a try.  I kinda like it…it really improves cell phone pictures, which in my opinion are typically crappy.)

DS#1 got a pizza, which he requested I also take a picture of.

Pizza margherita with tomato, basil, garlic, mozzarella, parmesan, and balsamic vinaigrette.  It actually looked quite good, but I didn’t even ask for a taste, because I was saving room (and points) for this:

That was the apple caramel pie, and it was pure heaven.  It was technically Jason’s “birthday dessert,” but I don’t think he would have ordered it at all if I hadn’t badgered him into it.  I saw it on the “specials” board when I walked in and knew I had to have it.  Apples are one of my all-time favorite things, especially in dessert.  I ended up eating one third of the pie and just a bite of ice cream, and Jason enjoyed the rest.  After it was over, I had DS#1 take a picture of us for posterity.

So, now that you’ve read all about last night’s dinner, it should come as no surprise to you that I felt really, really compelled to get up this morning and do my scheduled 2.25 mile run.  I knew I needed the activity points!!  Still, I knew it would be a tough sell at 5:40am, because we didn’t even get done with the hockey game until 8:20pm, and then we didn’t get home from dinner until almost 10:30pm!  I still had to help DS#1 correct his homework (homework at 10:30? hello, bad parenting…), so by the time I rolled into bed, it was nearly 11:30.

However, one of the main reasons I do this blog is because it gives me accountability, and I had just posted on Tuesday that I have a Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday run schedule, so I was worried about having to come here tonight and admit that I skipped the run.  Not to mention that I got to see my friend Tonia at the hockey game last night (our boys played each other!).  Tonia is one of my biggest cheerleaders, and she is very good about emailing me first thing in the morning on my run days and asking, “So did you get your run in?”  We talked about it at the game, and even she was skeptical that I would be able to get up for the run.  Well now I HAD to run, because I couldn’t disappoint Tonia!! 😉

I actually woke up at 5:20am this morning after having all kinds of unpleasant dreams in which I didn’t get up in time. I rolled over for 20 more minutes and then dragged my not-so-happy ass out of bed at 5:40am.  One good thing about my run this morning is that I would get to wear my entire new Under Armour outfit, since I’d traded in the too-small shirt yesterday.  I was looking forward to it, figuring it would keep me more comfortable temperature-wise, without being bulky.

I won’t bore you with my early struggles, which including losing my Garmin and being unable to figure out where to put my phone with the new compression UA gear.  I’ll just cut right to the chase and give you the real struggle that made me hate my run today:  the UA gear.  O. M. F. G. What a total and complete pain in the ass!!!!  When I first wore the pants on Tuesday, I was frustrated with how they kept sliding down.  No so far as to fall off me, but way too low for my comfort.  (I’m not a “low-rise” kind of girl.) Eventually, I got sick of pulling them up, so I just let it go.

But this morning, I found a new issue—the shirt! It would NOT stay down.  It kept riding up, to the point where it was way above my belly button. Between the shirt and the pants, I ended up with probably 4 or 5 inches of my belly bare in the area above and below my navel.  I’m sorry, but even after losing weight, this post-baby (x2) belly is not meant for baring unless it’s on the privacy of my deck while tanning! ARGH!  I was absolutely going crazy!!  I kept pulling down the damn shirt, trying to tuck it back into my pants, but it was just not working.  I was actually screaming in frustration as I was running. (Praying my neighbors weren’t watching/listening to me while having their morning coffee.)  I finally had to give up, because there was just nothing I could do, and I ran probably 1.25 miles with part of my belly exposed.  Talk about an awful feeling.  🙁

Here is my timing for the run.  It’s all over the board, because there were so many spots where I slowed down while trying to fix my shirt (in vain).

On the bright side, here are my splits:

Holy crap, look at that time!  I was busting my hump to get the run over and done with so I could go home and rip that UA gear off!!

I don’t know what I’m going to do.  I can’t take it back, and I can’t give it away—this was a very sweet Mother’s Day gift from my husband! But dear God, I can’t keep wearing it like this. 🙁  The only thing I can think of is to pin the shirt to my pants before I run.  But seriously, I know that’s now how it’s supposed to work!  If anyone has any suggestions on how to  make these “compression” garments stay put, I would love to hear it.  Perferably before my next run on Saturday morning, lol!

And now, I’m going to go to bed early, because I am one tired girl.  But wait, it gets better…I have tomorrow off!!  I’m volunteering with DS#1’s Lego Club in the afternoon, and since driving to work is such a PITA these days, I just took the whole day off.  Lest you think I’m going to be lazy all day, I do still have to get up at 6:20 to get them up and on the bus, and then, to fully complete my day off, I’m going to go get my first mammogram.  Try not to be too jealous of me, ha ha ha! 😉

Thanks for reading!!