Nine Days

Nine days.  NINE days.  NINE DAYS?!?!  

(This is the story of a girl…  Get it?  No?  Shame on you.)

OMG I HOPE I’M READY.

First of all, I know it’s been ages since I’ve posted.  I was SO good about posting at least once a week but recently I just haven’t felt like doing it.  But, I’m back!

The past 2 weeks of running hasn’t been great by any means.  Last week my knees were sore during my shorter runs on Thursday and Friday.  Friday at the lake was cold and windy and painful.  I barely even remember it, honestly, which I consider a good thing because it was that bad.  Last week was, by far, the worst week I’ve had since we started training in October.  It was probably as painful as the first 2-3 weeks were for me!  Ugh.

Friday night was, of course, New Year’s Eve.  SO FUN!  Suz & I went to the Montelucia with my coworker Marisa & her superfun boyfriend Leo.  Beth & Steve-o met us there, and then a bunch of Marisa’s “cougar-friends” (as she calls them).  We had a blast!  Cheers to 2011!  Saturday I ventured down to Queen Creek for a cookout at my friend’s dad’s house.  It was awesome.  I got schooled in Northern Argentinian culture, learned how to properly salsa dance, and simply just had a great day.

The next morning I had to get up early to head out for my long run since I had committed to watching football all day with the same people from the cookout.  I set out around 8am for what was supposed to be a 9-miler.  It was about 35 degrees when I left.  BRRRR!!!  I LIVE IN ARIZONA!!!  WHAT IS WITH THIS COLD WEATHER?!?!?!  (It’s finally warming up a little bit, though!  Phew!)  

The first 3 miles were awful.  Then the next 2.5 were almost just as bad.  I felt like I couldn’t get my mechanics together.  My hips didn’t feel like they were rotating right, my knees felt loose.  I was a mess.  I’m still not sure how I stuck it out for the 7.5 miles that I did manage to cover.  But, let me tell you, the last mile of that was pure hell.  I didn’t think I’d EVER get home.  And then, of course, as soon as I was inside and started to warm up a bit, I felt like “Oh, I could’ve totally run another 1.5 miles.”  Figures.

I was really upset with myself that I didn’t finish 9 miles that day.  I wish I could say that the battle that day was all mental, but that time it was actually more physical than it was mental.  I know that my body can do just about anything if I push myself hard enough.  But not that day…  I just simply could not push my body any further.  So I decided to be content with the 7.5 miles and not stress about it anymore.

This week has been a little easier.  We ran the Town Lake again on Tuesday and Thursday.  Tuesday my shins were hurting within the first few steps of the run, which was quite discouraging.  But somehow I pushed through and actually ran the entire way.  I thought maybe my shins were hurting because I wore my new-but-crappy running shoes, but when we went back Thursday, my shins were sore again even though I had on my old-but-perfect running shoes.  But while my shins were still sore, they weren’t nearly as painful as Tuesday.  For both runs, we paced right around a 10-minute mile, though.  Even though the runs felts like they were never-ending, we still maintained a good pace!  Wahoo!  Progress.

This run was a struggle though.  I think I’ve hit that dreaded runner’s “wall”.  I hated every.single.step. of my runs this week.  I felt like I was never getting around the lake, never getting back to the Beach Park, never getting back into my car.  UGH.  

So anticipating a 10-mile run tomorrow, and Race Day (gulp!) next week?!?!  Eeeeeekkkk!!!!

Looking ahead to Race Day, I’m nervous.  I can’t believe it’s so close!  But I’m also very excited to see how it pans out.  And there’s a part of me that just wants it all to be over!  But at the same time, I’m looking at FOUR more races just in this calendar year!  It’s highly unlikely that I’ll run all of them, but I’d like to say that I’ll do 1 or 2… depending on how next Sunday goes…

<Sigggghhhhh…>  Nine Days.

(Oh, and for those of you who didn’t get the Nine Days reference earlier:  http://lyricsondemand.com/onehitwonders/storyofagirllyrics.html