Week 20

Sunday

I woke up and felt a bit sick, so I decided it would be a good idea to rest. My stomach just was not good.

Monday

8-mile run today. I started around 6:00 a.m. It was still pretty dark out for the first half of the run.

Since I was alone, it was a bit scary in the dark. I wasn’t thinking about that when I left the house and didn’t bring a light, and the lights along the trail were out.

The sunrise was absolutely beautiful though. I didn’t see any creatures on this run, but after the sun came up, I was looking for things.

There was a puffed-up bird on the airport fence that was super cute and made me laugh. On this run, everything felt pretty good.

I did the run-two-miles, walk-two-minutes plan up until the 8th mile, where I took an extra break.

I experimented with a new sock that totally sucked — my feet hurt the whole run — but now I know.

It’s gotten cooler here; morning temps have dropped into the low 70s, so that’s helping a lot too.

Hopefully, these temperatures stay!

Tuesday

Hit up the gym this morning — chest and glute day. It was a doable workout for me, which was a welcome change.

I’m just using light weights and feeling good.

Wednesday

I got up and went for a walk this morning. There wasn’t a cloud to be seen, and the stars were bright.

Temperatures were really nice again too — while walking, I didn’t even sweat. Now that’s a big change!

Thursday

Hit up the gym today. We worked quads and calves.

I’m just hoping that’s okay for my long run, which is moved to Saturday.

Friday

Rest day.

Saturday

21-mile run today! I was excited because the temps have dropped, and I was super curious to see how I’d do.

I tried out a new run/walk ratio: run for two miles and walk for three minutes up to 12 miles, then switch to 7-minute runs and 3-minute walks until the finish.

My first 8 miles were awesome. Then my feet started to hurt, so I re-tied my shoes. After about a mile, nope — tied them too tight — re-tied them a bit looser. Okay, still hurting bad.

That little toe that always blisters… I’ve been using a blister prevention strip, which has been totally helping. It does get a bit uncomfortable sometimes, but it usually goes away.So I stopped, took my shoe off, and removed the thing — and it immediately felt better. I was so glad (and hopefully I wouldn’t get a blister later… I didn’t!).

I made it almost to 12 miles with the ratio I set up, but then my brain started to freak out — much earlier than I expected. I thought it would happen around mile 15 again, but nope, it was around 12 this time. I was in a lot of pain — my back, legs, and feet. I felt like my body was going to give up.

So I took a bit more of a walk to get the negative thoughts out of my head and re-center. And actually, from that point on, I was fine and had a lot of fun! Yes, it was hard, but after that freak-out, I never felt like I couldn’t do it.

I started doing the 7-minute run/3-minute walk until mile 18 and was feeling really good with that, so I ran until mile 19, then took a walk break, then ran again until mile 20 and took another.

For the last mile, I went back to the 7-minute pattern because I was tired. All of this was new, and I felt like I did great.

I had fun. I worked hard. I tackled new things. I worked through pain and emotions. I am sore — very much looking forward to resting tomorrow.

I did so good. I’m still slow, but my pace was faster for 21 than it was for 19. If I can keep this up, I’ll finish just in the nick of time.I’m feeling like I can do this.

Thoughts:

I am slow, and it’s okay.

Doing things you’ve never done before is hard — and rewarding.