One of those days

Friday's long run.. well. To the runner in me, was a big fat fail. I first had to fight myself to get up, got up, got ready and had my protein shake. Which was followed way too quickly by a run to the bathroom right when I was supposed to be leaving. After this I got myself the rest of the way together and headed out the door. It was pretty chilly but humid which is so strange but better than being hot. The sun wasn't out yet and I was so happy to not be dying from the start. Not too long after I was thinking how happy I was that I wasn't going to die of heat stroke, and I kid you not, my right butt cheek was drenched with water from my hydration belt. Thrilling, right? No. I continue to travel down my planned route and go through waves of feeling good and feeling half sick. I get across the river and at about 3.9 miles see Nate from Wags the Runner and quickly learn he is having an off day too. He was planning quite a high mileage jaunt with run walk intervals but gave in to walking... which I reassured him was probably best. I walk with him until mile 4 then took off to reach mile 6. I actually saw someone else I know and have babysat for in the past shortly before mile 6. 

After mile 6 I slowed down incredibly and took frequent walk breaks. I ran out of water, added an extra .75 to my planned mileage in attempt to find a water fountain on City Island (where our local baseball team plays and lots of activities occur) only to sadly realize it was only available in soda machines. Being money-less, I had to keep trucking best I could without. Well, I definitely didn't find a second wind or anything even close but did continue to run and walk whenever I needed. I wasn't trying to hurt myself or make myself sick so I just wanted to get back home. I did make it and ended at 13.1 oddly enough. 

via

So at the start of this post I sad for the runner in my this run was a FAIL. I set out for 12 miles or RUNNING and ended up with 6 miles of ok running and then 7.1 of run/walking as needed. In reality, to think of this run as a fail would be failing myself and not giving myself enough credit. Like I told Nate, at least we got out there and did what we did rather than not doing anything at all. 

via

These thoughts and sentiments were repeated back at me Friday night when I enjoyed a night of laughter, friends, smiles and lets not forget the wine, cheese, chocolate and other goodies. I started out only knowing the host and the lovely Adrienne and left feeling like I had known some of these ladies more than just the few hours we shared. You see, quite a few were also runners and one who has done 4 marathons and many half marathons told me "Not all your runs can be kick ass." So true. 

I will be hopefully getting two short and one long run in this week with some other cross training in between. Next week is the last before the big day!! Amazing how quickly race day gets here after signing up MONTHS ago. With that, I hope you all had great runs and/or races this weekend.

Did you race this weekend? Did you do any other fun fit activities? 

{edited: My whole point in mentioning my friend Adrienne is that she very sweetly complimented me on my blog. Adrienne is such a wonderful lady and is so giving, caring, and kind. Her kind words reminded me why I started to blog here in the first place- part to hold myself accountable and keep track of my fitness shenanigans and part to inspire and share ideas with others. Adrienne reminded me that this is truly the case and my words and posts do matter to others... so thanks to her!!!}