Running with Pixie Dust

Today's run:

Half Marathon Training Week Seven, Day Three (7 mile run)

7.49 miles/1:38:30

My first seven mile run of all time has now been completed!  If I had any energy left, I would probably do a cheer.  Instead, I am channeling all of my energy into typing.  No, really.  I had to take a break from typing the word "channeling" to yawn because I didn't think I could type and yawn at the same time.  This is how exhausted running seven miles made me.

Overall, I'm very proud of myself... and thrilled that my mom is a very nice woman who will pick me up at the end of long runs so I don't have to run hills to get home.  But this was an incredibly challenging run.  Interestingly enough, I think it was actually more challenging for me mentally than physically.  Yes, my legs were heavy and tired, but it was my brain that really wanted to quit.  I actually did almost quit about halfway through.  But I kept telling myself that I was strong and that I could do this.  I thought of my bestie Chalene, who regularly reminds me to speak to myself in a positive voice.

It turns out I have a lot of negative voices in my head and very few positive ones.  So while there were several boisterous opinions about my failings bouncing around, there was just a very small voice saying, "It's okay, just keep running, you can do this."  It's amazing I heard it at all.  I am going to have to work on that - letting go of my negative voices.

Physically, the run wasn't too bad.  I am finding that the first few miles are actually a lot harder than the last few for me.  I think for the first two or three, my body just keeps saying, "Seriously?  We're doing this?  Are you sure you want to keep doing this?"  And so I drag my feet and question my abilities and worry and freak out about pacing.  But after that, my body resigns itself... "Well, damn, I guess you're not going to stop running.  All right.  I give up."  That being said, Lefty the Angry Hammy did make an appearance again today, presenting itself at around 2.5 miles, and never leaving.  Lefty is wearing out his welcome.  I came home and stretched for a while and sticked it, so I'm hoping that helps.  This week, I'm going to try using the Stick after every workout - normally I use it after running, and kind of only when I remember, so I'm going to add it into my post-Turbo routine as well and see how that goes.

Benefits of the run?  I got to meet a black and white kitty (and yes, I stopped my Garmin and my iPod just so I could pet a cat for a few minutes... I am desperate for cat love), saw the sun rise, saw several deer having a nice grassy breakfast, and... oh yeah, ate half a Snickers bar.  

I think that's the first Snickers I've had since last Halloween.  Not going to lie, I love me some Snickers, but it is kind of odd to be eating that at 5:45 in the morning.  I'm not sure how well it worked for me, either.  I crashed HARD during this run.  But that might also be a combination of factors - I left a half hour later than I did for my 6 mile run, so it was a little hotter, and I was rationing out the Cytomax, which left me very thirsty.  Note to self: BUY A CAMELBAK, FOOL.  Plus, I only got about 6 hours of sleep, and I was sore from yesterday's 20 minutes of Turbo followed by manic packing and zero stretching.  But boy did that Snickers get me out of bed... I was really having trouble getting up, and the second I thought of the Snickers bar, I jumped right out.  Proving that you can take the fat off of the girl, but you can't get it out of her head.  Or something like that.  I told you I was tired.

Sidenote: if you noticed that my mileage on dailymile (or my sidebar) and/or the number of cheeseburgers it says I earned on my sidebar went WAY up, it's because I finally took the time to update my dailymile account and add in several weeks of runs.  I can't believe I've run 144 miles this year... especially since I only really started running again in April.  That's 144 miles in a little over 4 months! I'm so proud I can hardly stand it.  So... I'll just go to bed instead.