November 5 - November 11 Total Mileage: 40.01 (the .01 was just for spite)
40 miles this week. This was the longest week in the program, and it definitely felt like it. I made the very stupid mistake of trying to change shoes this week (in an attempt to avoid buying a new pair). I think the experiment failed. I ran in the flat soled KSO's. I thought that I had been hit by a train after my 10 mile run. All of the muscles in my feet and lower legs hurt. They pinched both of my little and big toes (turning the big toenail on my right foot a nice shade of purple...please do not fall off in the next month).
I got a migraine on Thursday and had it through Saturday night. Both kids have colds, which in turn, means that I have one too. I was looking forward for the last really really long run and seeing if I could beat my last time. In short, it did not happen. I swicthed back to the blue bikilas and headed out. I felt good for the first mile, then the wheels pretty much came off. I had a side stitch (which has been showing up the last week or so) during mile two. It felt like someone punched me in the chest and ribs as hard as they could. On mile three I hopped onto the track at the high school figuring that it may take some pressure off my legs. Boy was I wrong. It was just soft enough that it made my ankles and feet work harder than normal. I ran until I hit 12 miles, then caught the street and headed toward old Roseville. I was coming back up Washington and approached a tunnel, issue being that there are no pedestrians in the tunnel and the traffic was moving well over the 45 mph speed limit. Rather than take my life into my own hands, I had to improvise.
Off to my right I saw a little trail that would lead me up to the railroad track that went over the tunnel. I figured that once I got to the top, I could come back down the other side. So I went through the weeds that were armpit high, hopped the barb wire fence, and ran along side the tracks. I saw a bike trail about 50 yards ahead, but to get there I had to run on rocks, large, pointy, stabby rocks. After many obscenities, I made it back down to the bike trail and was on my way.
I was way off my pace, and every muscle in my legs hurt. I burned through 36 ounces of electrolytes and 3 gels by mile 17 (Washington and Blue Oaks, not much farther to go). Then I realized that there is no sidewalk on Blue Oaks for nearly a mile and a half. I ran on a grass / sand hybrid just off the roadway until the sidewalk started again. Mile 18 and 19 were painful and I was barely running now. I imagine that I looked like one of those speed walkers in the Olympics (you know, the guys that shake it like a Polaroid picture while they walk). I finished roughly 13 minutes off my pace from before. I'm still cramping up 7 hours after my run, and I am trying my hardest not to second guess this whole thing. I hope that tapering for a few weeks, and the adrenaline of race day will get me through.
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