Running Chick

Since I'm a gimp, I have nothing newsworthy to report on the running front. But, I did get my hair did! Two hours in the chair and and way too much money later, here's my new color. Actually, colors because I think there's three different ones in there. I think my stylist did pretty well, considering that I give her no input whatsoever other than to tell her to make my hair not look like crap anymore. On the running front, my calf seems to be doing pretty well. I'm not sure if it wasn't as bad of an injury as I initially thought (although not being able to walk certainly had me assuming the worst), or maybe I just took care of it the right way for once (12 hours of continual icing and Ibuprofen, (and booze) followed by two days of light stretching), but in any event, it's feeling good enough to attempt a run on the treadmill tomorrow. I hope it doesn't fall off. That would be unpleasant.

I did 10 kick-ass miles this morning and for once it was not my ass that got kicked. My average pace was 9:55! Nine-freaking-fifty-freaking-five! I kept on looking at my watch and thinking it was wrong. My mile splits were (almost) all negative. Geez, what the hell! And then, because the Running Gods never seem to let me get too full of myself, they decided to gift me with a nasty little calf pull just to remind me that I pretty much suck at running. So now, after running 10 MILES AT 9:55, I’m looking at this bullshit.  Screw you Running Gods, now I remember why I’m agnostic.

Thank goodness I know an RN who can give me good medical advice.  RN Liz over at This Finngarian Mama has prescribed RICEDB: rest, ice, compression, elevation, drugs and booze. 

Best medical advice ever, I shall not let her down!

I did five wet and windy miles after work today at an easy 10:40 pace. I had a really slow first mile uphill (11:43 snort!) and into the wind which ate up a bunch of time. Whatever, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. It was only two years ago that an 11:43 mile was my normal pace. I don't even want to think about what my pace would have been if I had attempted that hill back then. Actually, I had all I could do to keep up my 11:43 pace on a flat surface so I'm pretty sure I would have never even attempted to run that hill back then. That's pretty funny.

So, those fancy insoles I got last week? I tried them out for the second time on Monday and I think I had them positioned incorrectly in my shoe because throughout the entire run, I felt like something was pressing into the outside edge of my left foot. I stopped once to make an adjustment, but I never did get it quite right. Consequently, my foot feels bruised in that area. It bothered me a little bit during my run today, and now it's feeling pretty angry. I've got my trusty ice pack on it at the moment, but I'm thinking that I might skip my 3 miler tomorrow if it's still really sore.

My cats. **sigh** They can be so endearingly annoying. I do all my stretching and yoga in the living room and just when I get down on the floor in a pose or stretch that I need to hold for 30 seconds or more, that's when they decide that it's time to play! Their actions range from meowing loudly in my ear (Simon), to chewing on my hair (Spencer), to stretching and rolling around next to me (Simon), to head butting me (Spencer). I don't think I've ever made it through a yoga or stretching session without taking a kitteh play break, since that's the only thing that seems to make them happy. See what I mean?