Wednesday, October 29, 2014

WWU - 10 CRAZY Miles

We hit double digits with our mileage on Saturday's run - 10 miles!  For some people in our running club, this was the first time EVER that they'd be running 10 miles...for me, it's the first time since January.  It was a big run, to be sure, but I went into it trying not to think about the total miles we'd be running, and instead just tried to enjoy the run, the company, and the accomplishment.  You can't run 10 miles outdoors without some adventures, but I think what Amy and I dealt with on Saturday made it the most crazy run I've had in a long time...and of course I'm going to tell you all about it!

The first part of our run included an out-and-back through the park where the scary statues are, although we didn't run on that path (I'm not mean enough to route our runners there while it's dark, haha).  This is always fun because you get to see everyone coming and going, and spirits are always high in the first few miles.  We exited the park and decided to try running on the same-side sidewalk, which is a new part of a road-widening project that has finally been completed.  Amy and I got a short distance that direction, but then found that weeds were higher than our knees and were overgrowing the sidewalk from both sides, so we ended up turning around and doubling back to a good point where we could cross the road and run on the better sidewalk.

Shortly after we did that, we were in the middle of crossing a minor street when I could see that a car was turning left, coming toward us (there was no signal, and it was dark, but we did have lots of lights and reflective clothing on so we should have been visible).  I grabbed Amy's arm and we shrieked/ran for safety.   Just as we'd recovered from that adrenaline rush, we crossed the next minor street and a scary man turned the corner right behind us.  By this point, we were quite a bit behind all of our other runners, having done that double-back thing earlier.  Anyway, the man was probably just out for an early-morning walk, but he was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood obscuring his face (and it wasn't that cold, c'mon) - he was just a little too close to us, and although we were on a walk interval, Amy and I looked at each other and took off running.  A few minutes at a quick pace and we couldn't see him behind us anymore, so we relaxed and I took a GU, as we were past the 3 mile mark by then.

Our next heart-racing event happened nearly a mile later - as we ran by another brushy overgrown area on the sidewalk (seriously, city of Bryan - come mow this stuff!), we heard an animal (snake/rabbit/armadillo/???) rustling, right by our feet.  It happened again, and that was it - we both jumped off the sidewalk into the bike lane on the street...and ran a little faster to get away from whatever scary critter that was in the brush.

Finally, we got off that road and were onto our main running road.  We were headed toward another out-and-back point, so we got to see our runners again - fun times!  We hit the turn-around and started back - and shortly after, disaster happened.  The sidewalk has these STUPID decorative cobblestones set in at each spot where a road crosses, and you have to squeeze in to a smaller area on the sidewalk as you run, because you can't run over them.  Amy was a couple of steps ahead of me, and I saw her trip as she hit the cobblestones - she went down in slow motion, trying to catch herself, but we were on a downhill slant to begin with and her momentum was too great.  First one knee hit the street, then the other, then her forearm and hand - I was afraid her face was going to be next, but she managed to stop that from happening.  Did I mention she fell into the very busy road?  I could see cars coming, so I'm trying to grab her arm and help her up/pull her out of the road, and what was she doing?  Checking her (new) Garmin for scratches!  Ahh, gotta love a runner's priorities, and I would have felt the same way...NOT THE GARMIN!!!

We took a moment to assess her injuries and how she was feeling - both knees were scraped and a bit bloody, her running capris had a big hole torn in them, there was a little road rash on her arm, and her hand was already bruised (but she protected the Garmin).  We walked for a minute and she decided she felt OK to keep running - we were just past mile 5 at this point, and once we reached 6.5 miles, she could turn and go back to the park if she felt like it.  We ran along for a couple of minutes, when Amy remarked "I guess I can't have coffee" - took me a minute to get it, but she was referring to the label in her capris, which said they were perfect to go for a run and then to the coffee shop with impeccable ease...awww.  Ruining a favorite item of clothing on top of hurting yourself is just not fair.

Around mile 6 I broke into my M&M's - I'd felt my GU kick in about mile 4 (I took it just after mile 3) so I wanted to try and keep my energy up.  We reached the point where Amy was going to decide if she felt like turning toward the park, or continuing on to finish the 10 miles - she wanted to keep going, so we did.  She did really well until about mile 9, and then I alternated giving her nice encouragement with some harsher words that I knew would crack her up to keep her going.  It wasn't like she had much of a choice, really - at that point she could have sat on the curb and waited for me to run back to the park, get in my car, and drive back to get her; but with only a mile remaining, she might as well keep running.  We did see a parked police car near a park and I offered to get her a ride with the cops, but she declined.  I think it might have been fun, especially if they took her to the park with lights and siren going!

We finally finished our run.  While Amy was getting some much-deserved sympathy from our running buddies, I realized that I'd had some chafing going on during that run, which was starting to sting.  Left side of my waistband, part of my left arm - I forgot that while things don't normally chafe during a shorter run, all bets are off on a long run.  I guess I'll have to practically bathe in Body Glide before my next run.  Still, the nice thing is that I ran 10 miles and didn't quit, didn't feel like I couldn't do it, and didn't focus on the enormity of that many miles looming in front of me.  Plus, my legs felt pretty good afterward!  That was a sweet bonus.

Of course we went to Blue Baker, and had such a great time - I love hanging with my running peeps.  Amy iced her bruised knees:
Ziploc bags plus free ice from the drink machine makes for some nice ice packs!

And then, we went home for a shower and a nap.  The Aggies had a bye week, so no football game to watch - as our friend CC put it, "what will I fall asleep to this afternoon?"

Later in the afternoon, runger set in, so we went out for Mexican food:
 Casa Rod's enchilada dinner.  Plus, of course, chips and salsa.  Wearing my Houston "In Training" shirt with pride.

Massive amount of food, yes - I like to eat about half the enchiladas, some of the refried beans, and a little rice.  Then I take the leftover rice and enchiladas home...mix 'em together and heat 'em up another day for an awesome lunch. Double the treat!

Come to Mama!

A couple of months ago, I declared that when we hit 10 miles, we should have a special reward for that, in the form of a Cafe Eccell strawberry tart.  Why yes, I DO run for food!  So on Sunday, Jeff and I went out for a tart...and it was damn delicious.  It's going on my list for completing the Houston half marathon in January...yummmmmmmmm.

25 comments:

  1. Congrats on completing your ten miler w/o injury's to yourself. I hope Amy is doing fine by now I have tripped while jogging outside too it is NO fun. Your food looks yummy too!

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    1. I've fallen a couple of times and you are right - it's not fun at all.

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  2. OH MY GOODNESS.
    you KNOW Im a walker as Ive not have even THOUGHT about my garmin.
    Glad she was ok.

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  3. With all that action who could concentrate on how you were feeling about the mileage LOL! Glad you guys made it through - I bet poor Amy was actually more sore the next day and I hope she's feeling better by this week's run.

    Alllllllllll the food looks DELICIOUS. So delicious it's making me want to up my mileage ;)

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    1. She's really bruised - texted me a picture last night. :(

      Regarding the food, it's nice to be able to eat like that and not gain weight. Running a lot of miles does have its perks!

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  4. I laughed out loud that her only concern after falling was to check her Garmin! Glad she wasn't banged up too much and that you could keep her spirits up at the end.

    Love how positive this run was all the way around! :D

    And if we go out for Mexican food, I would be perfectly happy with the beans, rice, chips and salsa - nothing else! :D

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    1. Oh but the cheese enchiladas have your name written all over them!!!

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  5. Sorry about Amy's fall, but dang! that was a great distraction for you on how YOU were feeling towards the end of the run. Now if we start hearing about Amy falling too often on your runs…. :))

    That's a good picture of you at the Mexican restaurant. My first cheese enchilada ever was at a local restaurant when I first moved up here. I just had one recently, and they are still the same, still my favorite. Yumm!

    I really am so impressed with your long distance running!!

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    1. Let's hope Amy doesn't read your comment, or she'll never run with me again! ;)

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  6. Wow 10 Miles (16K in my world) is massive :-)
    Poor Amy I hope she is not too banged up. I really feel for her. The bruises and pain plus the loss of good running clothes. Gutting.
    My gps stopped working and with the layoff from running I didn't replace. Am googling them frantically now.
    Two runs down and my knee feels well achy. Hmmm. I'm off to my Physiotherapist friend today to beg some heel raises to see if that does the trick.

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    1. If you are in the market, I highly recommend the Garmin 220 - I love mine!

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    2. Nice one. I have not found anywhere that sells it here in New Zealand so any suggestions of good online retailers you used?

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    3. You could try Amazon, or I'll have a link to one in a post on Tuesday - I like the 220 without the heart rate monitor (because I'm not into those stats) - it retails for $249 USD.

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  7. I hope Amy isn't feeling really horrible today. Seems like spills always hurt the worst a couple days later!

    Man, I miss my long ride eats...

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  8. Nice that the Universe gave you so much else to think about so there wasn't time to fret over double digits! Too bad said Universe couldn't have been watching out more carefully for Amy, though. That tart looks aMAYzing - you earned it!

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    1. I know - it was good that there were so many other things to think about during that run, but not good that Amy was a casualty!

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  9. Owch on that fall. Poor Amy! I officially love the word "runger"!!!!

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  10. Is there anything better than sharing someone's first double digit run with them? Love.

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  11. What an adventure, this was sure a Halloween run for the both of you. Hope Amy is okay now and don't has injuries or wounds.

    That tart looks delicious and so well deserved.

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    1. She is really bruised up; I hope she feels like running on Saturday.

      And that tart was soooooo good!!

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  12. I hope Amy is recuperating quickly! It seemed like you were so focused on getting her through that you didn't focus on your own discomfort. :)

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  13. With Halloween craziness at school, I'm just now reading your post. Excellent recap! If I had been running by myself, I probably would have quit after the fall. I'm lucky to have a running buddy willing to harass me to the end.
    The bruising still hurts, but I'm going to try for 9 tomorrow. I ran easy on Tues, but my knees really hurt Thurs so I rested instead of running.

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