What do you do on a run when your body doesn't want to cooperate and every little hill feels like a challenge? You just have to laugh and have as much silly fun as possible.
This morning, Sharon and I headed out to Germantown Rd with the goal of running 21 miles on Wildwood. I had originally wanted to do at least 25 and Sharon less than 20. But we compromised on 21, and believe me, for today that was enough. I don't know what it was, but we were both dogging it today. Maybe it was the relative heat and humidity. I think it was already in the 50's when we started at 7:30. Hard to believe that just 3 weeks ago we were running in tights and gloves in the cold rain at Hagg. Even after a few miles of warm-up we couldn't shake the kinks out and were already feeling tired on the hills.
Then Sharon got one of those stabbing side aches and we had to walk for a bit. In order to keep running, she had to grab her side tightly. If you keep pressure on the pain spot, it eventually gets better. But until it does, it's excruciating. And did I mention that we were the first on the trail? Which meant we were breaking all the spider webs. Actually, it was really Sharon doing the breaking, since she was the one in front. And she wasn't too happy about it either. So when we started running again and she was still battling her side ache, she decided to pick up a little stick to wave in front of her to break the webs. I couldn't help laughing at the sight of her swishing her wand with her left hand while she was leaning into and grabbing her side with her right hand. However, it all came back to me when I developed the stabbing side ache later on in the run. Mine, however, only reached a level three on the stabbing side ache pain scale we developed. Whereas Sharon's was at least a level seven.
We planned the run so that we had two different out and back sections, which meant we could use the car as an aid station after the first 11 miles. The second half of the run went much better and I think getting to re-fuel helped a lot. During this second part we were able to add to our list of innocent trail running comments that sound dirty. This is a G-rated blog and I get enough odd hits as it is. So I won't share any of the examples we came up with. But I'm sure you can come up with some on your own.
I think Sharon is on the verge of registering for McDonald Forest. I had told her earlier that I wasn't going to influence her decision. But today's run hit home that running long can be a lot easier, and a lot more fun, when shared with a friend. And after all was said and done, we still came in pretty much on pace.
P.S. Hard to believe, but my mileage for this week, 45.5, is my all time weekly high (by 1/2 mile). It think I see 50+ mile weeks in my not so distant future.
13 comments:
Congrats on the weekly mileage. Sounds like a fun, silly run indeed.
i don't think you were the first on the trail. i was there, headlamp and all at 5:45am
tom
Aw, come on ... just a few examples?
Nice work on the weekly mileage.
Sounds like Tom was up before the spiders!
Nice mileage for the week Sarah! I'm knocking on wood since I don't have a problem with side stiches. I think I've had one during a marathon. I changed up my breathing pattern, concentrated on form and posture, and it seemed to go away after just a half mile or so.
I need to get down to your area and run Wildwood. Sounds like a great area!
Cheers!
Silly runs are the best runs. Our run was pretty silly today too!
I am always the one to break those too! Good run, and yay for 50mpw soon!!!
Yup some days are better than others, some weekends are better than others. I'm glad you still came away with your mileage done. If you keep a running log maybe the clues are in there; less sleep, more stressful week, diet maybe. Who knows sometimes. 50+ mile weeks, whew getting up there.
You know, I'm coming around to the point of view that the skill of laughing and smiling is what separates the great runners from the ordinary ones. After seeing you and Sharon in action at Hagg, I'm convinced that by running together you'll take each other to greatness.
Yeah I'm sure 50 miles is just around the corner! Woohoo!
Hey no fair I'm still wearing tights, a hat and gloves over here = )
You’re cranking out the miles and having fun at the same time...superb! I always enjoy your stories from the trail sounds like a fun time out there breaking web!
lol being silly keeps us young! great Mileage Sarah!
All due respect to Sharon, I would have let you go first and break the webs. me and spiders don't have a good relationship. I might break a world record if I knew one was in my near vicinity!
Great job on your record-breaking week!
what a great way to look at the "pain"...
occassionally I will feel silly and funny when running gets hard. I think it's by body chemistry that turns crazy. or, it just gets into my head!
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