11 miles of lead

Thanks so much for all of your support! Everyone has been awesome about responding to my first half marathon last weekend. I feel so great about it and have had a very interesting recovery week.

After taking two full days off, I ran a really nice and easy 3 mile recovery on Wednesday.  I felt good, but still a little off, so I took it easy Thursday and Friday with just walking and easy stretching.

Since I took it pretty easy all week, I decided to run with my running group on Saturday morning. My intentions were to run 6 miles-3 miles out to the first water station and back. But then I met up with two wonderful ladies who were running at a good pace for me. The conversation was flowing and the next thing I knew, we ran 5.5 miles….out. Meaning, I had to run another 5.5 back.

What was I thinking?

I was OK until about mile 6. That’s when I realized I probably should have listened to my gut and turned around at mile 3. My legs felt like lead. I was trying to push myself but I couldn’t seem to go very fast. I must have been running at an 11 minute mile pace, but I couldn’t go any faster.

I spoke to a friend about it and she thinks I need to take time off completely – like 2 weeks or so. However, I’ve said I was going to give myself a break before and I always end back back on the pavement. I can’t help it. And now that the stress of training is finally over, I actually want to run again.

I can’t stick to schedules, so I am just going to take this week easy and see how I feel. Maybe I’ll throw in a couple of spin classes and a yoga class or something to change things up. It’s times like this where I really wish I had a bike!

PS my two new obsessions are watermelon

and homemade popcorn

Dennis makes it for me at least twice a week (since I somehow can’t keep from burning the pot)

What have you been craving?