Addiction

My plan was to run the Mercedes Marathon on February 13.  Not for time.  It was meant to be purely for fun.  Birmingham has hills that make New Orleanians cry, but my good friend lives there and they have pretty sweet medals:

You could totally glue this on the hood of your car...

That was the plan, anyway.  But this winter has been frought with obstacles to running and runs that used to be a piece of cake are kicking my a-- more challenging than normal.  Sunday, I ran a local 30K as a slow long run and my calves didn't appreciate the effort.

So running Mercedes would be suicide.  It's a really stupid idea.  Really dumb.  But... uh... um... I might do it anyway.  Drinking beer with friends at the finish should drown the pain, right?  As long as I walk all the hills?  (And the slight inclines?)

Kinda sounds like a meth addict who can't get enough.  I guess there are worse addictions than running...

ad·dic·tion

 noun \ə-ˈdik-shən, a-\

1

: the quality or state of being addicted <addiction to reading>

2

: compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance [or activity?] (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful.

Long Run Fail

I didn't make it out to run today, which means that I won't get my long run in this week.  This will probably be the first long run I've missed in 2 years.  I'm halfway through eight 12 hour shifts in nine days and tomorrow I switch to nights again so my circadian rhythm is all out of whack.

When I first started running marathons, I was given the (I believe) sage advice that you can miss runs here and there but don't skip the long runs.  That's what gets you in trouble.  So I didn't.  No matter how tired or rainy or late or early, I always squeezed them in.  But today... Today, after sleeping 12 hours I awoke to find myself still exhausted.  I changed into my running clothes to head out for the run, and then changed immediately back into pajamas.

So I'm living life on the wild side.  Being spontaneous.  And I skipped my long run.

What did you do today?

Growing Pains

You know those runs when you hit your distance goal and stop immediately, even when you have a couple blocks left to get home?  Um, yeah.  That would be me today.

The last few months have been crazy.  I've spent less than a week at home since November and have driven & flown thousands of miles around the country for interviews.  I managed to cram a couple runs and walks into my schedule while in Seattle (ouch! hills!) but that was about it.  Now I keep switching night & day shifts while working in the ER and it's messing me up.  Luckily I had yesterday & today off, along with tomorrow.  (Not that I'm counting, but I'll be done with ER in precisely 10.5 days.)  Taking full advantage of the time off I ran 9 miles at pace yesterday & 19 miles today.

How did that go?  Um... You know those runs when you hit your distance goal and stop immediately?  (Did I already ask that?)  I definitely hit 19.00 miles and walked the last few blocks.  And ran into a couple friends on the run & made a point to stop and say hello.  And ask how they're doing.  And chat about the weather.  But other than that, it was awesome.

There's something about being stressed & squeezing a run into your hectic day.  Nothing can compare.  How's your running going?

ps.  You know if you google "zen runner," this is what you get?

Awesome.  Now that's some zen.

Tired

1000 miles closer.  CIM is palpable at this point, only 2.5 days away.  I just arrived in Elko, NV after another long day of driving.  I checked the forecast for the weekend in Sacramento which predicts rain for most, if not all, of the race.  Bummer.  Still hoping to hit a PR, but 46 degree rain is not what I would have chosen.  Honestly, right now I'm too tired to think about it and I can't do anything about it anyway.  It'll be easier to stay positive tomorrow after a good night's sleep.