16K - H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

I survived. You know those days when nothing goes your way? I was having one of those kinda days for my run. My first bit of bad luck was Hubs injured his back pretty badly yesterday working out...he was doing pushups, got up and his neck felt stiff. By the end of yesterday, he couldn't turn his neck so this morning I scooted him off to my chiropractor. This of course meant that my running partner was out of commission and I'd have to run on my own. Wah. I really enjoy our runs together so I was kind of bummed.

I got dressed, and I suppose because the last few weeks we were running at 6am I thought it was going to be chilly. Today I started my run around 8:45am, totally overdressed - I had on capri tights, a short sleeved techical shirt and a light vest. Within the first 2K I was boiling hot and getting dehydrated fast as I could feel a headache coming on. I kept going and got to around 6K and thought eff this crap, I'm going to go home and run on the treadmill for the remaining 10K. Then I felt guilty...road running and the treadmill are completely different. I'm just ripping myself off and this is good practice for the last few kilometres of the marathon when I likely will feel the same way. I kept thinking mind over matter so put my big girl panties on and went home, got changed into a singlet and the dreaded spandex running shorts and started out again.

I don't think I've run a more difficult 10K. I started to get a blister on my left foot, and I was walking a lot which I never do on our runs. I've never felt that drained before! I suppose this is maybe a small taste of what "hitting the wall" might be like. It was like every cell in my body was sapped. I'd even had a few Gu Chomps which didn't seem to help. I kept thinking that the marathon is almost three times what I ran today so hopefully on the big day I don't have an off day like I did today!

I felt pretty down after the run but thought hey....the good thing is that I didn't quit, and my knee felt good with no achiness or twinges, so that was great. Always gotta look for the silver lining, right?