12 on 12

Believe it or not -- I actually got my butt outside yesterday to do my long run! Usually I have no motivation to do this and push it off until Sunday. This week I was motivated by three things: the fact that if I ran on Saturday instead of Sunday I would get a bonus point in my motivation plan for doing 5 workouts this week, the fact that I could have a super lazy day on Sunday with no plans if I ran on Saturday instead, and the fact that I could pig out on bad food with little guilt at the board game party I was hosting later that night. Besides that though, I really had a hard time wanting to get out there.

It was a rather uneventful run except for the fact that in the first six miles I had this immense urge to pee and was pretty sure the public bathrooms were closed. I realized this as I ran by the Boathouse and noticed a white piece of paper on the door (which I assumed said they were closed for the season). Not really sure what to do about this since I had a whole 12 miles to do. When I got to 72nd street, completing my first loop I figured I could run across the transverse to see if Bethesda Fountain bathrooms were open or wait until I finished the lower loop and cross to the Bethesda Fountain on the east side. I really didn't want to add on the extra .5 miles it would take to do this if I opted to go right then, but I felt like I didn't really have a choice. So I ran to the plaza only to find a big sign saying they were closed for the season and I should try the Boathouse. Grrrrrr. So I ran another .2 or so miles and once again noticed the sign. Freakout! But before a total meltdown I decided I should probably get closer and READ the sign before I assumed what it said. And lo and behold, it was only telling me to keep the door closed because the restrooms were heated. YES!

Now I had another dilemma. Do I do the lower loop? Backwards or forwards? I didn't think I could add on anything to my 12 miles because my legs were already feeling tired. And I HATE the lower loop. I will do anything to avoid it. So I ran back and forth on the transverse until I got to 7 miles. Crazy boring, I know, but better than that lower loop. I don't even know why I hate it that much. It's fairly flat compared to the rest of the park, it's definitely very scenic, and it is only 1.6 miles.

Anyway, this meant that I had miscalculated and at the end of my run I still had .21 miles to go. I know, I know, just skip it, right? But no, I didn't feel like I could say I ran 12 miles unless I actually did. So I ran down .1 miles across the transverse and .1 miles back (again avoiding the lower loop completely.)

Afterwards I felt SO SORE...like running a half marathon sore. This is kind of crazy since I was keeping kind of an easy pace (according to my watch 10:42, but that was wrong since I kind of forgot to stop the watch during the whole bathroom debaucle.)

At any rate, I feel like I'm totally in for it now. So I did what I have been avoiding for a month and a half...I signed up for my first post-pregnancy marathon: the Flying Pig.

It makes me nervous to think about committing to this, but here I am!

So Much for Sleeping In

So, Saturday night I really didn't get much sleep. But I STILL got up for my 12 miler at 7:30 so that Bill and I could go see the Chinese New Year Parade. Unfortunately, my legs were killing me. I really really debated whether or not to go and then realized that I shouldn't risk it, so I put my pajamas back on and went back to sleep.

So when I woke up again, my legs didn't hurt at all. I was puzzled until I realized that Benvy (our dog) was sleeping where my legs usually are. I guess my awkward position was what was making my legs hurt.

So I promised myself that I would do the 12 miles when I got back from the parade. I even wore my running shirt to the parade to make me more likely to do that when I got back.

But it was soooooooo windy and cold. I really did NOT feel like going back out. I even debated cutting it down to 6 miles and slacking.

But I ended up doing two full loops around Central Park, which comes out to 12.4 miles. It was crazy too. There was a torrential downpour of snow (can there be "torrential snow"?) and so much wind. It was really really crazy. And it was really hard to do the second loop when I really wanted to go home. The kicker was that it was sunny and just a little breezy this morning. Now, (9:50ish) I can hear the wind outside of my apartment because it is so crazy. I was wearing a tech shirt and a fleece AND a coat, two pairs of pants, gloves and my headband and as soon as I stopped I was FREEZING. That was unfortunate too, because I still had about a half mile to walk home.

Luckily, since Bill is so nice he met me at the taco truck (that parks up a block from us and makes tacos every night) and gave me his keys while he got tacos, once he saw how cold I was.

I am also really really sore. I feel like I ran 20 miles instead of 12.4. But despite all the wind and everything, I still logged a 2:08 run! That is a 10:19 pace for those windy miles!!! And that even counts all the times I had to wait at stop lights to cross. I have been logging about 11 minute miles on my long runs. Maybe now I know why my legs hurt so much!