Last Place Runner

It was cold the morning of the Frosty 5K on Dec. 5, which you’d think could go without saying. But I’ve had to turn on the air in the house all week! But more on that later.

On Jan. 1, I ran a commitment 5K and then Justin and I pretty much immediately got into the car and drove almost 4 hours to my parents’ house. I have never been so sore in all my life as I was the day after that. I had to go out and buy a foam roller. I guess after running a few miles and then sitting for so long in the car, I just got really tight. I was miserable, but after I got rehydrated and spent some time with the foam roller, I felt a lot better. And I hadn’t had anything like that happen since.

Until the Frosty 5K. Like I said, it was cold, but not miserably cold. Just cold like it should be in December. After the race, I came home and showered and then Justin and I spent the day running errands and shopping. I felt pretty good until we got in the car to head home and I said my legs felt like lead.

As the afternoon and evening wore on, though, I knew I was starting to feel like I’d felt after the race in January. So I started drinking tons of water and getting my BCAAs, stretching, and I even finally took a soak in warm water and Epsom salts.

I was trying to tell Justin how I was feeling, because I wasn’t sore. I ached. “Like the flu,” I said. And then he said that maybe I was getting sick after being in a big crowd at the race and with “all those snot rockets.” And I had to laugh because the last full mile was a mine field of spit on the road.

Because I’ve only ever felt that bad after a cold run — and I admit I didn’t bother to stretch or to drink as much water because I didn’t feel thirsty — I think I’ve learned my lesson about stretching after a cold run. I don’t know if anyone else has had that happen? But it’s the only thing I can think of. And I know better than to not get enough water. Just because I don’t feel thirsty doesn’t mean I don’t need it.

So before bed on Saturday night, I took four Advocare Nighttime Recovery and I felt much better on Sunday. I had a little soreness in my glutes, so I took another round Sunday night and was good as new for my week of half-marathon training.

I did all my training runs during the week, except Friday. Friday was my office party and I helped out with that, so it was one of the really rare instances that I just couldn’t get my run in.

And the training group met for the first time yesterday morning. They take 250 people for the 15-week program, but this year it filled up in 48 hours. So the organizers decided to open it to 50 more people. They told us yesterday that there are 100 people on the waiting list, too. That’s a lot of people wanting to run!

Yesterday’s group run was just a mile, but it was hot and humid! I’d left the house at 6:20 yesterday morning wearing a light jacket, and it was sweaty by the time I took it off when I got out of the car.

So there were 300 runners, 40 volunteers, a handful of coaches, a physical therapist, a massage therapist and city employees at the group meeting yesterday. It was kind of amazing. I kept looking around at all those people and wondering who would become my friend.

I didn’t have to think about it too long because once we went out to run, a volunteer named Alisha ran with me. Knowing how I get about “my” volunteer, I’m not going to want to give her up next week. I’ll need her to make sure I don’t quit!

I made up Friday’s half mile (plus some) this morning with Lauren and my new friend Elizabeth, who lives just a couple of blocks over from me and has already said she’s not going to let me slack off on my running. It was supposed to be a rest day, but I rested on Friday.

We ran a mile, slow and low, and finished just in time for me to get home before it started absolutely pouring rain.

I haven’t done a durn thing since I got home. I haven’t even taken a shower yet, I just put on clean pajamas.

So here’s the recap of my week.