Sometimes you're the windshield, Sometimes you're the bug....

Sunday was my day for an 8 mile long run. I have been slowly moving the mileage of my long runs up and beginning to move into marathon training mode. MCM is now less than 27 weeks away. Time to be building my base. Shirley is helping me plan a good training program to aim me toward a 5 hour marathon.

Saturday was a fun day. My daughter had a great time with her friends celebrating her birthday with a bowling party. A few of us adults joined in the fun and rented a lane to bowl a few games. Unlike Susan, I am not (nor have I ever been) an accomplished bowler. I rent my shoes and hope to find a ball that is light enough for my weak arms to roll but with finger holes bigger than a 10 year olds....I ended up with a decent fitting 10 pounder. I bowled three games - the first I scored a 99. The second was something like 82. By the third frame of the third game I had bowled 4 gutters. The guys offered to put the rails up for me but I declined. I managed to pick up the pace a bit with a couple of strikes and a spare to bring my final score to 100. At least I got to 100 (you must realize I bowl about 3 times a year and my career high bowling game is around 135).

The real significance of the bowling was not my dismal scores. It was the muscles in my legs (and arm) that were exercised that normally are not stressed. So when I got up on Sunday morning for my run, my left shin muscles were sore. I am guessing this is from having the left leg support my entire body weight as I bend my left knee and lean down to bowl while my right leg flails awkwardly behind and to the left of me.

Add to the bowling factor that I had not gotten a decent night's sleep for most of last week. Even after sleeping 8 hours on Sat night, I felt pretty tired when I rolled out of bed around 9 am (yep, to bed late again and sleeping in). But, it was time to run and I figured I would wake up after I got going.

Well.....I didn't really "wake" up during the run. I felt tired the entire time. My heart rate rose early in the run and by the end of the first mile I was running anaerobically (for me that is over 162 bpm), in spite of trying to take it easy. By the time I got out on the road (around 9:40am) the sun was well up and it was pretty warm.

So Sunday, I was the bug...feeling kind of smushed as I ran. I thought about cutting the run short, but I was determined to finish the 8 or so miles if I had to walk it (and I had to walk more than I wanted to). The results:

Mile 1: 11:12
Mile 2: 11:44
Mile 3: 12:13
Mile 4: 12:42
Mile 5: 12:58
Mile 6: 12:32
Mile 7: 13:07
Last .88: 12:01

7.88 miles in 1:38:34, average pace 12:30, avg heart rate 166 bpm

I was tired and sun baked (thank goodness for Bull Frog). As soon as I got home, I showered and it was off to go fishing. Needless to say by the time I got home again, I had my fill of sun. Now don't get me wrong. I live in the "sunshine state" and I love the sun - but 4-5 hours in a stretch is a bit much for me to be in it. And I still felt kind of tired. However, this was nothing a nap couldn't cure. So I took a Sunday afternoon snoozer.

Today was my running rest day. Tomorrow a 4 miler before work. So off to bed I go :-)