great and awful and great all at once

That was hard. It was blazing hot with no shade at all. I had to take frequent walk breaks the last half of the course just to keep from overheating. My legs felt fine. I could've run much stronger, but it was so freaking hot.

I also had some lingering breathing problems from this week's sickness.

Needless to say my time was not great. In fact it was my slowest race ever of any distance. But I did it. After all the bullshit and injury and drama of the past five years in my body, I did it.

A friend found me close to the end and I ran the last bit with her, which really helped me to the finish line. It was not pretty.

I might be more proud of this than of the 50Ks. This was a huge step for me. Feels really good to be done.

I've done this at least 30 times

but I'm nervous for tomorrow's half. I've run 13 miles at least 30 times while training for marathons and more, but I haven't done it in nearly 5 years. I've been sick for a week (respiratory thing) and my whole body is achy and covered in mosquito bites, so I'm not quite at my best. And I've spent the last week on vacation biking between breweries and eating crap. So there's that.

But I'm going to do it, I'm going to do the best I can do tomorrow. I'm going to get that damn medal and add it to my dusty old collection and I'm going to probably cry at both the start and finish lines. This is a pretty big deal for me. I really want to run another marathon and this might be the year.

In an attempt to make that as easy as possible, I'm starting another Whole30 on Monday. Unless tomorrow really really sucks I plan to keep adding distance through the month, drop a few pounds, eliminate a bunch of the small aches and pains and work towards a November 26.2.

Playlist is ready to go. I keep reminding myself that I've done so much more so many times, and that it's ok to be slow. I'm expecting a time like I had my first few years - something in the 2:25 zone. And I'll be as proud of it as I was of my 2:03. I'm going to start with the 10:30 pace group and see how the day goes.

longest run since February 2010

I did 12 miles this morning. I ran about 4.5 around the neighborhood ending up at my gym, ran 6 on the treadmill (had a show I'd been saving to watch and this seemed like a good way to pass the time), then ran the 1.5 miles home from the gym.

Everything aches. I think I have a toenail that may not be long for the world. My stomach is messed up.

It's great to be back ;)

Rookie mistake - ugh

It's been so long since I ran regularly at the lakefront path that I forgot about the parking restrictions. AND GOT TOWED. I couldn't see the sign because the trees were very leafy and hid the sign, which was pretty far away anyhow. Awesome way to end a pretty decent 10 mile run this morning.

I suppose this inconvenience doesn't compare to the time I ran a 50k and had a flat tire. That really sucked. You don't have a lot of strength for tire-changing after running 31 miles.

Oh yeah. I ran 10+ miles this morning. I'm not sure exactly how much it was because it seems in my absence from running on the lakefront path they moved it. I ran the old way and wondered why there weren't any mile markers for what seemed like at least a mile, then on the way back saw that the path sign pointed down a different way - so I followed it and found the mile markers. I also ran part of the way home from the bus that I had to take home since I didn't have a car to drive home. Sigh. I'm slow. I walked some. I actually felt better at the end that at the start or middle and could've gone longer, but I'd passed the spot I parked and saw the lack of car, so wanted to get that figured out instead of tacking on another mile or two.

I had the bus ride home to cool down and stop beating myself up for stupidity. So I decided to stick to my plan and do this yoga routine that I love, and not ruin my whole day.

I've got 3.5 weeks til the half. I'll take it easy next week, then do a 10-12 miler the following week.

My ankle feels ok. It aches all the time and stiffens up if I sit for too long, but it doesn't really hurt or bother me while running, and doesn't seem to get worse when I run. I have some hip discomfort after running, but I'm icing and hoping doing more yoga helps.