Surviving

The miles will either build you up or tear you down. I don't know were I saw this little phrase, but for some reason it stuck with me. Two weeks ago, the miles were really building me up. I felt like I was getting stronger as the week wore on. Then this past week, something happened, and it seemed the miles were tearing me down. The week wasn't really bad now that I look back on it, but something was just off for most of my runs.

On Saturday I had a full day of bachelor party activities for my cousin who is getting married in a few weeks. That meant that I had to wake up extra early to fit in my 20 miler that I had planned. I had a rough time falling asleep and when I rolled over and saw 4:30 on the alarm clock, I really didn't feel like getting out of bed. Looking out the window into complete darkness and hearing the splashes of another steady rainfall certainly didn't do much for motivation either.

However, I also knew that if I didn't get out there, right now, there would be no running today. With 18 holes of golf starting at 9:30 and no break after that, this was my time to run. So I dragged myself out of bed and forced myself out the door. This was definitely a run of isolation. It was raining pretty good when I got out there and there was nobody out on the roads. While I felt a little sluggish for the first half of the run, something seemed to click in to place once I hit that halfway mark, and I finished the run feeling the best I've felt all week, which really isn't saying much. I didn't bring the Garmin with me again, because of the rain, but looking at the time when I left and finished I think I ran it somewhere in the 6:40-6:50 range. The one thing I kept thinking as I was running in the steady rainfall, is that at least golf will probably be cancelled. There's no way we can play in this mess (I'm not a big golfer really). Of course right as I got to my doorstep, the rain stopped and the sun started to peak through the clouds. Grrr...

I've never thought of golf as a physical activity. I always kind of chuckled when I would hear people talk about their 18 holes of "exercise" that they got in this morning. However, by about hole #13, I was spent. As I mentioned earlier, I'm not a very good golfer. Breaking 100 for 18 holes is quite an accomplishment for me. However, today I was ready to be done after 9 holes and those last few holes were just plain ugly. Well all 18 holes were pretty ugly, but those ones were REALLY ugly. Fatigue definitely was playing a part.

I somehow survived the full day of activities and got to bed very late on Saturday night (ok, Sunday morning). I was just too exhausted to do much of anything for most of the day, but finally got out for a slow 10 miler around 5PM with Ryan in the jogging stroller. This was the first time I've taken Ryan out for a solo run(he's been in the double stroller a few times), and he seemed to enjoy it. The bad news is that my favorite trail that I run on is pretty much washed out in several section which means that my tempo run loop is no longer available until it dries up. I need to find a new route.

So I survived the week, hit 100 miles again and actually just looking at the numbers, it doesn't look that bad. It sure didn't feel good though.

Mon: 10 miles w/7 @5:52 pace
Tues: 17 Miles @ 6:50 pace
WedAM: 10 Miles
WedPM: 7 Miles
ThursAM: 9 Miles 6:51 Pace
ThursPM: 6 Miles
FriAM: 9 Miles w 5 @ 5:45 Pace
FriPM: 7 Miles
Sat: 20 Miles
Sun: 10 Miles

Total: 105 Miles