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I Can Still Run!!!

And my cell phone saga continues, but that is another story!

I headed out for a run at 5:30 this morning with Sue. If you haven't picked up on it, I have a couple of friends I run with often; Sue is one of them. We are training for the CapCity half marathon together and we have plenty of time to joke around, share our stories and I have a tendency to make things uncomfortable from time to time because I am the queen of TMI. Anyway, there is a tendency to struggle with your mind while training for any endurance event. I have been keeping a collection of stories from the trail or my life that have come from or impacted my training. I figured you would all enjoy a little TMI too...

Chafing 

On Saturday morning Sue and I headed out with our running club for a leisurely ten mile run. One of the things I have learned with endurance sports is that the mind is the biggest enemy but one you can certainly conquer with the right attitude or company. Well on Saturday morning my head was starting to get the best of met. At about mile seven Sue told me my breathing had changed but I really didn't notice. Anyway, as I noticed myself drifting to the dark place I had to find a way to entertain the masses. Well I should say entertain myself! I started telling Sue about some challenges I have as a result of a surgery I had years ago and the discomfort I sometimes experience. Well the discomfort is chafing in an unmentionable area. All I have to say is OUCH!!!!!! I am a proud owner of Vaseline and for good reason!

The Effing Hill

Mantras are fairly popular with runners. We use them when going up hills, down hills, around corners or even
when on a flat straight away that is hard on that particular day. On one of our most frequented paths the very end of the run includes a nice little incline that is fairly insignificant but at the end of 10 mile (or even 2 miles) it looks like a big ole' fat mountain that needs to be attacked with reckless abandon; I also use my mantra that goes something like this... It's just an effing hill!!! In addition, my friend and I have this little game we play while going up the hill. It is a mind game that simply includes us choosing and landmark and then deciding we can make it a little farther so it goes something like this. Let's make it to that tree, now the speed bump, the manure hill, the blue shed, the gum wall, the stop sign, the curve, the brown sign, the fire hydrant and on and on... Oh and did I mention this hill is only two blocks, yet we divide it into about thirty short landmarks. So, one day we were running with another one of our good friends and we were fretting about the hill and we were only a mile into our run. Our good friend told us that we were being silly because the hill that I affectionately call "the effing hill" is really only a slope. All I could think was 'how dare he take away our badassedness by calling the effing hill a slope'!!! This is a learning moment for all readers. Don't mess with a runners mantra regardless how silly YOU think it is!!!

I Can't Expletive Breath

I went to meet Sue on the trail at the wonderful hour of 5:30 am. I forgot to bring my Garmin and this was also the last time I saw my cell phone. Anyway, we hit the trail and were running REALLY fast (again don't mess with a runner, if they say they are fast then they are fast) I found myself huffing and puffing and telling Sue I couldn't breath. She said, let's slow it down... our physical reaction felt like we actually sped it up. We kept running, I kept whining that I couldn't breath and we kept 'slowing down'. Well Sue had this bright idea of trying to change the subject so that I would quit focusing on my breathing, so what does she do? Points out all of the coyote eyes that were staring at us from the woods just waiting to feed on their next victim. Now I don't know about you but that certainly made me run faster and I finished the run saying I still can't effing breath!
*Side note, if we ran as fast as I think we did, we were running about 2 minutes faster per mile than our typical LSD run. 


The Twitch Doctor

I have been dealing with an interesting health issue lately that has me going crazy!!! Just ask my coworkers. I honestly couldn't believe that I have been complaining about the same thing for over six months. I found myself sitting in the Doctor's office last week thinking that this guy is going to think I am nuts! After all  the last few times I saw him I burst into hysterics when he told me I couldn't run! Now remember just a few short years ago I would have given him a hug if he told me that I had to sit on the couch eating bon bons while watching copious amounts of television. Well, he came into the room and asked me what brought me to his office. I looked at him and told him he is going to think I am crazy. I told him my issue and he started responding with a very kind "Well you know Sarah, the same thing happens to me when..." He laughed, I laughed! Finally I said "OK I guess I am crazy" and then he decided to look more closely. When he took a look he was shocked and said, Wow, that is not normal at all!!! I think you need to see a specialist! I chuckled and said, well at least I can still run...

Comments

  1. Thank God you can still run! That is what it is all about after all! I hope I don't see a hill like that when I get to Pig in May!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay for still being able to run!

    It's a hill because of the distance that slope lasts dang-it! From the bottom to the bus depot, it's 0.5 miles! I think the best hill mantra is "chugga-chugga-chugga", like a train. It works, I swear! :D

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