Ugly Toes

I've got some unfinished blog entries to publish; I'd meant to start blogging again but haven't felt like I have much to say. As evident by my BTT tracker on the side, I have been running again. I started running the week of Thanksgiving, and have built my way up to 5 miles a day and ran 8 for my "long run" this week.

I only ran 4 days this week, instead of the 5 I planned. Following my BIL, husband and MIL, I got sick Friday. I felt kind of off that morning, but still pressed on through my 8 mile run. I came back from running, and went to lay down for awhile and didn't really eat anything for several hours. I felt pretty bad by the time I tried to go to sleep, and became actually ill around 2 AM. I then had the joy of throwing up every hour after that until 8, when I fell asleep for 2 hours. We drove back as planned yesterday, which wasn't very fun but if I'm going to feel crappy I'd rather it be in my own bed and house.

I feel a bit better today, but my stomach is still a little off. I had hoped to run this morning, to run my first 30 mpw in 2 months and reach a new yearly mileage PR (missed by less than a mile!), but I think that this point it's not going to be happening. I suppose I could always go out and "run in the new year" but I think we're planning on sleeping through that this year.

So anyway ... I've been running 5 days a week and sometimes walking with Molly on the 6th day. She's gone with me on almost all of my runs since I started back up. She wasn't with me on Friday, but her longest run is 7 miles now. I'm still not sure how much she actually likes running. Her tail curls up while we're out, which is usually a sign that she's happy. And she gets really excited when she sees me in my running clothes, and she's very well behaved right before we go. But then while we're running ... sometimes it's almost like she gets too excited, and she starts bouncing and jumping and it's really bad when she does that as we're trying to cross the street.

It was really awful last Friday, because it had been raining overnight and she started jumping and sliding around in the mud. I got so frustrated with her that I almost started crying. Which, as I said to the Engineer, was pretty good proof that I was hormonal. I kind of miss being on the pill, what with the even level of hormones it provided. I've been off since September, and it's been interesting I guess. My first cycle was 38 days and the second was 57 days. I am pretty surprised by that second one; I'd thought it would've been a more normal length since I'm a little heavier post-marathon and since I didn't run for most of November. It'll be interesting to see what happens now that my weekly mileage is approaching 30+ mpw (and the weight goes away, I hope).

This is the time of year that everyone starts setting their goals for next year, but I'm not really able to set concrete goals since so much of next year is up in the air for me. I'm still looking towards Boston, with Pfitz's 12 week program starting at the end of January. As soon as this plague passes by, I should be on track to be able to start on that. That's pretty much the only race I've got targeted, although I'm thinking of running the March Madness 1/2 in IL. (I was supposed to run it 2 years ago, but close to 2 feet of snow trapped me in MN). I'll probably run my usual local races (although most likely not the Fetzer 20K because it's the same weekend as Boston, which I'm mad about), and I might give the Med-City 1/2 another try because not only are they having an actual certified half (instead of the relay) but they've changed the course and it looks pretty interesting. Most likely no fall marathon since almost all of them require registering so early and I'd prefer to be pregnant this fall anyway. Did y'all hear that Chicago is charging $110 next year? That's insane to me - that's more than Boston!

Almost forgot the other thing I was going to blog about! I have been running so incredibly SLOW lately that it's hard to believe that I ran a 3:36 marathon 2 months ago and will be toeing the line at Boston in 4 months. I know some of it's the cold and dark ... but still, running in the 9:30-9:50 range doesn't seem right, considering. It's just kind of amazing how quickly "fitness" can disappear, since I've also been feeling kind of fatigued while running those slow miles. But last week I decided to actually make a little effort instead of just plodding along and my average pace for my last 3 runs was around 8:30 which is a lot more tolerable to me. And I didn't feel that much different, so I guess that's a sign I need to space out less!