Mixed bag

Today was the big 15-miler. Let's just say it wasn't as triumphant as my 20K on Monday. I honestly don't even know what my pace was because I had to make a pitstop at Krauzer's to buy some Gatorade and use their bathroom (a first, fortunately, on a long run). That was at least 8 minutes right there. I didn't bother to stop my running app because I figured if I had to make pitstops during the marathon NYC certainly isn't going to stop the clock for me for my pace to be better. Now that I'm doing the serious distances I have to take all that comes with it, the good and the bad.

I did my run in Branford. My aunt called me on Thursday to see if I could housesit for the night and be there for her 2 teenagers. I won't say babysit because I hardly see them, they're teenagers, but it's just to be there in case they need anything. I always JUMP at these chances because she has an amazing home on the water. I told her that I should pay her for staying there -- I use her pool, her hot tub, and listen to the waves at night when I go to sleep. It's such a beautiful place to be.

The problem with doing my run in Branford, even though it was good to have a change of scenery, is that I don't know the town well enough to easily plot out a 15-mile run. So I went on mapmyrun.com and did a search for 15 miles in Branford and a route popped up that I thought I could do. So last night, while I was waiting for the girls to come home, I drove the route making little notes on my taped-up, pieced together map I printed out. An obvious problem with that is that things look different in the daytime. Also, I should pay more attention to where I drop my Gatorade bottles. I spent more than a few minutes bushwhacking today trying to find the bottles I placed (and, in once case, threw out the window into the woods -- no surprise I never found that one, hence the stop at Krauzer's). After I got home I studied the map with my notes and hoped for the best that I wouldn't get very lost. I even wrote a cheat sheet on my arm with all the road names. Good thing it didn't sweat off before I was done!

I didn't sleep well. I was really preoccupied with the run. When I woke up I didn't have the dry heaves like I usually do, I just plain didn't want to do it at all. I know my pace for the first 3 miles was pretty much where I usually am but after that it totally slipped away from me with all the times I had to take out my map, find a Gatorade, and the stop at Krauzer's. I also did more walking today than I ever have before on a long run. In the last 5 days I've run 40 miles (with 4 more miles to go tomorrow). I think that might have something to do with it. Next week, thankfully, cuts back to something more manageable. If this was the 2003-2004 version of me I'd be all over myself for a lousy run. Today, I am kinder to myself. A bad long run is the one you don't do, that's my new attitude. I did it. Miles are miles. I've had bad runs before and come back and had phenomenal ones. It happens.

The day vastly improved after that though. I went for a 75-minute sports massage. As soon as my aunt asked me to come down I immediately called a spa in Branford that I like and they were able to get me in today. It. Was. Amazing. The woman is finishing up her degree in exercise science and used to be a long-distance runner. She knew exactly what my beaten-up body needed. It's funny, I've been trying to make a massage appointment for weeks. I didn't really care for the guy I saw a few times earlier in the summer so I called 2 new places and apparently the economy is so good that they're turning away people because neither of them ever called me back. That's just fine because I have found the right therapist for me and when I left I set up 4 more appointments before the marathon. She tried to stretch me out but I was super tight. One stretch, the proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation one (I learn new stuff all the time from exercise professionals!), had me seeing stars when she first did it but eventually I could feel my whole hip/quad area loosen up and that's where I always have problems. The woman knew her stuff.

After that, I went back to my aunt's and swam and sat by the water on this gorgeous, gorgeous day. No matter how challenging the run was and the week in general any day that has this going on is a pretty awesome day.