onepinkfuzzy

Yowza. I bonked today. Hard. I don't know the last time I actually bonked. This was more than just being hot, or being hurt. This was a true wall. At mile 10, no less - way early!

The run started warm, in the 80s (F). I watched some hardy souls picking up trash in the dry river bed. It was strange to see trucks on the river path! I bet the ones on foot were jealous of the guy on the horse. I made it through the first 2.6 miles, from home then looping around the "popsicle" part before slingshot-ing my way up the out-and-back portion of my route.

I was already hot, and I should have been dousing myself with water. But I just wanted to make it to the shadier section of trail before getting all wet. I don't really like to be wet, as much as I envy those of you who live in places where it actually rains.

There were giant green lizards, small scorpion-like lizards, every lizard you could ever imagine along the trail this morning. My three-year-old son loves dinosaurs, so of course, my brain immediately placed me in a prehistoric jungle, too fun! Dodging the dinosaurs. Oh yeah, and dodging all the unfriendly walkers and runners. Usually they are so friendly, but this morning - no one looked at me, no one waved, no one smiled. Even with me waving, smiling and saying good morning! Geez, people, it's only 90 degrees. Not like it's over 100. You could still spare me a smile and runner's wave! At least the cyclists were happy today (usually they are the unfriendly ones on this path). Not even the Team-in-Trainers smiled or waved - very strange.

I kept up a decent pace, but there are not mile markers, so I didn't keep track of individual miles. I wished I could have, because, well, I'm getting there, I'll let the story unfold. Anyway, kept a decent pace and felt hot, but okay. Mentally I was still present, still felt confident and was still glad I was moving, even though I was suffocating.

I started feeling the slide around mile 7. I knew I was starting to go, so I tried to slow down. I also starting getting myself a little wetter, hoping there was enough breeze to cool me down. There wasn't. I started glissading down the steep slope of the bonk. Going, going, wheeee! Gone.

By mile 10, I was walking. Walking! After the great few weeks I've had! I amused myself by thinking about how much more miserable Rob must have felt on his recent bonk - he didn't feel bad until he was at least as far into his run as my total run today, and he still had so much farther to go! (See, Rob, your bonk was good for something! :) )

I passed a group of cyclists resting, and told them, "I'm jealous of your bikes. It looks so fast and windy!" A few minutes later, they passed me and said, "Yes, but you get to stay in the shade longer!"

I was exhausted, and of all things, my right ITB hurt. Now, y'all remember I'm sure, about how I injured my ITB at the Pemberton 50k. How despondent I was that I couldn't run. Do you remember which leg it was? I'll tell you - it was my LEFT leg. My LEFT. Not my RIGHT. Argh.

I decided I was doing the right thing. I have 10.5 up on Mt. Lemmon scheduled for tomorrow, to help me in my qwest for my first 40-mile week. That will have about 2400 vertical feet of elevation gain, and I don't want to hurt myself before I make it to S&S! (I'll spare you the promotion this time.) So I comforted myself knowing it was still a good workout because I was in the heat, and miles are miles, even if they are slow. I just ignore the voice in my head that says, "if you train long, slow miles, you'll race long, slow miles" and keep on trudging.

With less than a mile to go, I felt okay enough to jog a little. Then I made it to the major intersection about .3 from our home. The intersection with Starbucks on the northwest corner. Oooh, Starbucks. Heck, my pace was already totally shot, and I truly love having a non-fat mocha as my post-run refreshment, and there was no way I was going to go home and then get back in the car and drive to Starbucks (I had a dip in the cold, cold pool planned!). Plus, maybe getting Johnny and Ash treats would help them forget that I was so late.

So instead of crossing east, I crossed north, and went to Starbucks. Yummy! I can't tell you how refreshing it was to walk the .4 home from Starbucks with an iced mocha in each hand. Mmmmm, heaven.

I wish I knew what my early pace was, because with all my get-wet breaks at the water fountains, my one bathroom break, the bonk and my trip to Starbucks (yes, I counted waiting for my mochas as part of my time), I averaged 13:53/mile for 12.6 miles.

I have been STARVING since the run. I can't eat enough. I even ate low-fat macaroni-and-cheese for the first time since I was diagnosed with gallbadder disease. I made it as low-fat as possible, and then just portioned out a little serving for myself. It was exactly what my body needed, so I went back to the fridge, pulled out the leftovers, and scarfed them down. No, I didn't eat the whole box. Just about 2/3. Yes, I should be okay for my run tomorrow. No, that probably won't set my gallbladder off. I should eat apples and salad for dinner, though. Just in case.

Okay, another post with no mention of this really exciting side effect of ultra running that I teased you with last week. No, I probably won't post it tomorrow, because I'll be posting about my mountain run. Hopefully I'll get to it on Monday. The more I write about how I want to write about it, the closer I'll get to actually drafting it.