Conspiracy theory

What didn't go wrong on today's run? A test of wills, that's for sure.

I got up late - after 10 - which I hadn't planned on. But I didn't go to sleep last night until 2 so the vicious cycle starts again. I was crabby and cranky when I woke up and I hated knowing that it would be after 1 pm by the time I got ready, did my run, and got home. My whole day was already shot and it hadn't even started yet.

I got going, slowly, and drove to OS for my run. I stopped at the Paperback Cafe to use the bathroom and saw a bunch of folks from CF having a late breakfast, so that was nice. I felt like I had to run since I clearly hadn't just been at CF like they all were but that was a good pressure.

I got going and I felt decent. It was around 32 degrees which is probably my favorite temp, to be honest. I still sweat, I still get hot, I still peel off layers, but I'm relatively comfortable. The only downside is cold wind. That's brutal. And I had a lot of that today. Really strong, cold wind coming off the water. I only saw a few other runners but they were all going in the opposite direction and I thought they were onto something I wasn't because the wind was at their back the whole time. Maybe next time I'll reverse my route and see if that makes a difference. But I'm not big on change so I probably won't.

Just when I was feeling warmed up and hitting a decent pace, I looked down and one of my sneakers was untied. That's such an amateur mistake but I was practically asleep still when I got dressed. So I stopped and tied it but I had to walk for a minute or so after because I get postural hypotension, especially if I've been doing something physical. So that pissed me off for no reason.

Everything was going sorta okay around the 4-mile mark, as well as it was going to go with that wind, so I did a gel because I was doing 8 miles. Honestly, I don't think I need it and I'm not going to bother for an 8-miler anymore. Today I did a vanilla one and while it was delicious it was caffeinated and I haven't done one of those in a long time. About 15 minutes later when I usually feel the extra boost of simple sugars kicking in, I started to feel the dreaded GI upset. Since this is a running blog I'm assuming any one who reads this is into running so when I say the "dreaded GI upset" I know everyone knows my pain. I thought I'd be okay though because I knew of a porta-potty not far from where I was. Except when I got there it was gone. I guess they take it away in the winter. Panic!!!! I knew there was a McDonald's about a mile away so I did everything I could to take my mind off my deteriorating physical state. Before I got to the McDonald's I noticed there were a lot of cars at one of the churches I pass and I decided that at that point I had no choice. I felt like God wouldn't mind. I certainly was thanking him when I went to pull the lobby door open and it wasn't locked.

After that, I felt much better except I had cooled down and I had that postural hypotension thing going on again so I had to walk before I could run but I made the most out of the last mile and a half.

8.08 miles. 9:53 overall pace. With all that was going against me today, I'll happily take that. I would have been happy to just finish, to be honest. I hope I don't have a repeat of today for a long time.

It was a good week: 24.79 miles. I think the NYC 1/2 is 9 weeks from today so I'll start alternating some 10s with 8s for my long run. If I manage to get my ass out of bed before 9 next week and I'm feeling okay, maybe I'll do it next week. No promises.