It's all in a name...

Well, it’s official that I have (appropriately, I might add) changed my profile name to appear as dru “remind me why I’m doing this again” howard.  Now, it’s just a screen name, but to me “runs like the wind” was just not fitting.  In fact, in Salem this June, July, and August, I’m not sure I even remember what the wind feels like anymore, but I’m pretty sure if I did I wouldn’t be running like it. 

I could have changed it to “runs like the humidity” because I am familiar with that feeling lately and it’s slow, and sticky, and annoying, and well, you get the point.  But for now, I am what I am.

Shoe Update:

Shoes are working well.  My old blisters have healed (though I do have a new blister, however, I blame that on grabbing and wearing the wrong pair of socks the first day I ran in the new shoes) and my toes no longer hurt.  Time will tell if I can actually grow toenails back while wearing them, but for now, it appears as if they will not cause me to lose toenails even after my first long run in them this morning. 

Which brings me to the next topic – Today’s Long Run:

First, let me begin by saying that our 5am runs are really catching on.  There were actually 7, yes 7 of us running this morning and when we started there were only 3.  We are taking the streets of Salem by storm and I like it!  New runners and old runners and just socialization in general really do make running so much more fun. 

I blogged last week about how exhausted I was after my long run last Friday, but how I did it…yada, yada, yada.  Well, today was much different.  My run was mostly NOT enjoyable though I was never almost eaten alive by a vicious dog.  I did have to walk several intervals, and there were just so many challenges.  I told myself I would not dwell on it after this post, but I think it’s good to remind myself why I think I had this type of morning so I don’t do this again.

Here goes…things that, I believe, led to a crappy run (no pun intended…well, kind of intended).

1.    Extreme humidity at 5am. Bleh!

2.    Not eating – it turns out I ate my dinner at 4:30pm Thursday and then ate nothing else that night or this morning until after my run.

3.    Not consuming nearly enough water the day or hours before my run.  I ended up sitting in an unairconditioned barn for 4 hours the previous night, sweating excessively and not replenishing my fluids.

4.    Not enough sleep – got 5.5 hours compared to my usual 7-8 hours the night before.

5.    The annoyingly present and then all of a sudden super-urgent need to have a bathroom break (or code orange as we call it in the Salem Running Club) mid-run.  I would like to take the time to give a shout out to a.) Doug for spotting and securing the bathroom location and b.) the Hocker Oil/Gas+ attendant for letting me stop and use the facilities and then reminding me as I ran out the door that I had a LOT of people running around in circles waiting for me.

So, there you have it…the quick version of my frustrating run.

But there is always another day and I plan to run in the morning and attempt 8 miles next Friday so I will try to avoid setting myself up for what happened today.