Made myself run 3 miles on the track Sunday afternoon, and demanded that the sandbags that have replaced my legs get a move on and do at least a 10-minute-mile pace. After the 8th lap, I gulped some water and tossed some more down my back. Even so I still managed 29:34, or a 9:55 pace. At 8:30 I hit the sack and actually slept!
At 3:45 a.m. Monday morning I was up and, by 4:15 a.m., out the door for a trip to Reagan National Airport. I had agreed to help caravan 10 Mennonite students and their co-leaders so they could catch a flight to Newfoundland. I took a one-hour nap in the afternoon and woke up still exhausted.
Supper didn't look good last night, but I knew I should make myself eat. As I pulled the lid off a chicken dish, the lid slipped and steam burned all four fingers on my right hand. It looks like I'll have two or three blisters, at least those places are more gray. Three fingers are burned down to the second knuckle. As I watched a movie about Steve Prefontaine and his ability to handle pain, I felt like a big sissy. Tears streamed down my face in spite of my hand being wrapped in an ice-encased cloth. Finally after two hours I went to the drugstore; the pharmacist suggested Bactine, but I couldn't keep my hand uncovered long enough to give the Bactine a chance to work. So I stuck my hand in a bowl of ice water. When that reached warm temperature, I tried the Bactine again. I could stand the pain by then, and then around 10:30 p.m., when the movie ended, I decided I might even be able to sleep. When I bumped it on the blankets, I'd awaken but otherwise it was okay.
Though running primarily involves the legs, runners still pump their arms. So I wondered how much that movement would hurt. I settled on a goal: see how I felt at the 3-mile-turn-around and go from there. My running buddy is still limited to cycling because of his calf pull, so he carried my water bottle on his bike and we took off. As I slogged along I realized that I am mostly just plain tired -- I ran 90 miles in May (a personal record), and 18 races so far this year. And I've added cycling and pool running to my exercise mix.
So I altered my goal a bit, opting just to run for fun, to see if I could remember how to do that. And at the 3-mile-turn-around point, with a breeze in my face, cooler temperatures and some shade from the trees, I opted to just keep going. . .
I was aware of my hand; it hurt when I pumped my arms, but it was bearable. I walked one hill, stopped three times to chug water and still managed a +5 mile run at 51:36. And that's my fastest time for this course.
2 comments:
Yep, I should think you'd be exhausted Sis! If I was a Dr. I'd prescribe more fun runs and leave the watch home!
You're SO right, Bro! Unfortunately, had my watch not shown such a dismal 5K, I'd have just kept punishing myself thinking I was just being lazy or something. Running has been much more fun this week -- intentionally so, I might add.
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