See Diva Run

Love can make people do crazy things, especially the love of running. In fact, non-runners think just about everything we runners do is crazy. I followed up my 8 mile run Thursday with 2 3.5 mile runs Friday. I was planning to run Saturday, but I worked from midnight until 8:30 Saturday morning, then slept until 2:30 in the afternoon. I was still tired when I woke up, and decided to skip my run. I was still tired today, and slept in until after 9:00. When I woke up the sun was shining brightly, but the temperature was hovering around 30 degrees. I had a leisurely breakfast and a cup of tea, and hoped things would warm up a bit. The temperature was 33 when I headed out the door, but the sun was bright. I wore a long sleeved tech shirt, gloves and a hat, but opted not to wear a jacket. I chose a loop that has a half mile stretch where you have to run in the road because there is no shoulder. I was about 50 feet from the spot where the shoulder resumes when I had to run off the road to avoid a jeep that was speeding toward me. The ground was rough, and I tripped and went sliding across the rocks and gravel, ripping my favorite running pants. When I landed I felt a strange popping sensation in my hamstring. At first the pain in my hamstring was so intense, all I could do was lay there. Finally I rolled over and sat up. I sat there for quite a while, feeling depressed because I wanted to keep running. I finally got up and started limping toward home, which was nearly a mile away. After a few hundred feet, I started jogging slowly. It hurt, but so did walking. When I got home I found that a big chunk of my SOS scar was missing, but the hole wasn’t nearly as big as last time. I worked the sore places over with the stick, took 2 ibuprofen, and avoided sitting. A few hours later I was out running again. By then the temperature was up to 40 degrees. My hamstring wasn’t bothering me, but I was feeling a little anxious and ran slower than usual, finishing 3.5 miles at a 10:19 pace.

I went out for 3 more miles at sunset. I ran to the lake and ran down the dock to enjoy the sunset. I have enjoyed many sunsets on the dock, watching the geese drift gracefully across the surface of the lake. It’s funny how the sun sets every night, but we seldom take the time to enjoy it. Each time I watch a sunset from the dock, I swear that I will do it more often, but life always seems to get in the way. Eventually I got so cold that I had to run home to warm up. My leg feels fine except for the part that is missing. I feel wonderfully relaxed from the running, fresh air and beautiful sunset.

I ended up running more than 10 miles today, even though I spent much of the day working. I’m sure the neighbors think I’m crazy for going out so many times each day. They may be right, I may be crazy, but at least I get plenty of fresh air and exercise!

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 8:57 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.