Mid-week update

So, Saturday we did a 6 mile "long" run.  I'm tapering for San Diego (June 3!), so I'm not too worried about mileage at this point.  It was a pretty good run, nothing special.

Monday The Husband and I went for our second trail run.  This time we did 3 miles around dusk (it was just getting dark as we finished up).  It was a pretty good run, except it was pretty warm and the humidity increased throughout the time we were running.  There were also some black buzzy insects that kept following us and buzzing really close to our ears, which is annoying.  And, there is this flowering shrub/vine thing, apparently ubiquitous around these parts, that is in bloom and the smell is AWFUL.  I'm sure someone would probably like it, but it's too strong and cloying, and it dries out my throat.  I think I may be mildly allergic. :-/

The evil plant looks something like this:

Abelia chinensis, courtesy of Kurt Stueber, under Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 3.0

And can be found lining the trails and sidewalks in many areas, often right alongside the much nicer smelling honeysuckle plants.  The ones I'm seeing now aren't quite in full bloom like this, but they are already VERY fragrant.

As we were heading back to our car after the trail run we spotted a large snake.  It was dark in color, about 3' long, and 3" in diameter at the largest part.  Not sure what kind it was since it was getting dark (and, to be honest, I didn't want to get any closer!), but it was kind of creepy, haha.

Today I'm doing my first weight-lifting workout and then doing another brick.  Hope I can still move tomorrow!

Prophesy Fulfilled

I *knew* my luck was running out with excellent long runs, and this Saturday's scheduled 10 miler proved that was true.

Firstly, I didn't fuel properly.  Then, it was too humid, which made me have to stop and catch my breath, a LOT.  Also, for some reason my new Asics fitted shorts were riding up, causing me to have to pull them out of my nether regions repeatedly, despite the fact that they didn't do that at all on my 8-miler a few weeks ago.  Finally, the humidity was also causing sports bra chafage.  All of this plus my already sub-par attitude at the beginning of the run lead to me cutting my run short at only 4 miles.  I let The Husband continue on, since I didn't want to drag him down with me, and he got in almost 9 miles.

Sometimes I think we need runs like that to remind us that we're not invincible, and that not everything is going to go our way every time.  I can appreciate running for that reminder, LOL.

I also volunteered as a Sonic car hop from 8:30AM-6PM on Sunday, so that sort of made up for my shorter workout on Saturday.  I was so sore all over and TIRED by the time we were done.  I ran some mini Fartleks during my shift, especially during the Happy Hour rush from 2-4PM.  We earned a lot of money in tips to help fund cancer research, so I call it a job well-done!

I should probably go run a few miles tonight.  Luckily the weather has been pretty great in the evenings this week, so that should be some motivation to get out there!