RFE TR #41

Total Miles Trained For Elijah: 326.1

When my training schedule was reduced to three runs per week, due to my ankle, I thought "Oh how easy! I should never miss a run." Famous last words.

On Tuesday morning I woke at 5 AM and decided that it was just too COLD and rainy for me. Had I not spent the last 10+ days on Sudafed (which I am now calling the 'Fed) I wouldn't have worried with it. However, now that I am feeling tons better I do not want to chance getting sick again. So rain plus cold equals a no-go these days. And, obviously, I did not work up the gumption to go and face the dreadmill.

On the upside I thought "When I run on Thursday, my ankle will have had almost five days of rest. It should be great!" Well, not so much...

My ankle hurt just walking to the starting point - the church parking lot. Just walking! Aargh. I seriously contemplated going back home, but then I figured that I had taken the trouble to get up and get dressed for the 47 degree weather anyway... and what would I do at 5 AM? And I also thought that I better try to "work out the kinks" before Saturday's 22-miler with Annette. So I jogged around the parking lot a little bit and it felt fine. Walking hurt, jogging did not. Weird!

I chose to go west, because it is flatter than going east. I did an out-and-back, and I'm glad I did because I contemplated cutting it short, then convinced myself to just go out three miles (and HELLO I'll have to get home!) because anything less wasn't worth getting up for. Ha!

In hindsight, my splits were great. Considering I was supposed to be doing 12:15-12:25 miles, things went well. I did 12:05, 11:23, 10:58, 11:12, 11:57, 12:04. My average pace was 11:43. My hamstring hurt a bit, so it got Biofreeze, as did my ankle, after I showered. I now have an Ace bandage on my ankle to try to prevent swelling and to offer a bit of support. Oh the woes of trying to get to the starting line of a marathon!