13 Down, 13 To Go.

Hey-O!

This was a loooong week, exercise-wise. =/

Monday: PT with Trav; good 50-minute conditioning run.

Tuesday: 45 minutes strength (full body circuit x 3); TKB. Count me exhausted.

Wednesday: not-as-good 30-minute conditioning run; soccer game

Thursday: 45 minutes strength; soccer game

Friday: god bless a day off!!

Ok, let me be clear to all those half-marathoners who go around saying they're running a "marathon" (here's looking at you, annoying TPI girls): they call it a HALF-marathon for a reason. It is half of what a marathoner runs. I say this because I ran half a marathon this morning, and I can't believe I am dumb enough to do it twice, one continuously right after the other.

I decided to run a modified Disneyland Half course because I can't run the actual one. =( Although, Snail's Pace is offering a spot plus a one-day park hopper ticket for $195. Um, that's an expensive race, no? I was disinclined to to acquiesce to their request.

Anyhoo, here's the route:

Ok this looked a lot bigger on my desktop...

It's technically 13.5 miles. I did the whole route, buuuuut I did not hit the start button on my watch hard enough to actually start it and realized it 0.5 miles in (at Disneyland Dr.) See, DUMB.

I felt pretty good until the 8th mile. I got the GI problem again (come ON with that!!!) so it was pretty uncomfortable. By 10th mile, my legs were moving pretty slowly and were verrry fatigued. It was molasses-city.

Also, here's a point worth noting: uh, the mile on Euclid between Ball and Katella is dodgy at best. I was scared for my life... and it was 8:00 am. So maybe I don't run over there anymore.

So I somehow managed to get to Harbor and Katella, and there I ran into a hotel and used the toilet. Sweet relief. I think it was affecting me more than I realized because as soon as I left that hotel, pistons were ON, kids. I booked it the last 1.5 miles. I made up most of that lag time. I felt SO good. My legs weren't as fatigued and I finished super-strong.

Finish time was [1:57:48], which doesn't include that 0.5 mile in the beginning. Which is fine because 1) that'll be my warm-up, and 2) I managed to do my half-marathon in under 2 hours, which was my goal! AWESOME. When I was done, I walked for 5 minutes, did some post-run drills, walked some more, ate a protein bar, and downed 32oz of Gatorade.

Unfortunate calamity #1: chafing. Turns out, my best sports bra and favorite shorts aren't as "best and favorite" after 10 miles. They totally chafed me. I wanted to take a pic but I thought a photo of my underboob might be inappropriate. Sorry all you men out there.

Unfortunate calamity #2: my streak of "no injuries" is fading into oblivion. I have a tight groin on my right leg. It pulls when I do the runner's lunge and run downhill. I think I need to take it easy this week and see if it finds it's way out on it's own. And my right IT band is giving me some grief. I bought a new foam roller though, so that should help a lot, as well as my kick-ass Tiger Tail (ahhh, my boyfriend the Tiger Tail... he massages all my knots out). Fingers crossed I have no major injury reports next post.

So, to sum up, I only have to run that entire route one more time and that's 26 miles and that's what I will be running in January. Plus 0.2 miles. (There's an "EEEK" moment).

Side note: HO-HO-HOLY CRAP IS IT HOT OUT HERE! This weather blows! I can't run in this!