The 4th 1/2

So my planned sick day last Monday didn't happen - I called in, but then had to work on a left-over issue with a coworker. So we were on the phone about 30 minutes on Monday morning, and I realized that the issue was going to take all day to resolve so I headed on into work anyway. I felt better once I got about 3 cups of coffee in me, but man, I was exhausted. All day Monday was spent getting the issue resolved, and I was so happy when the day finally ended.

We didn't do much on Mon or Tues nights. Then on Wed, I was hurrying down the steps into the subway after work to get home, and pulled the same calf muscle I had pulled a few weeks ago. I limped the entire way home, and then Blondie suggested a bar night - I agreed as I wasn't going to try and work out on Thurs, and also, WTF. When did I get old? When did my body start falling apart on me? So we headed over to our local bar and had a few drinks with everyone. We ended up doing a junk-food night for dinner that night, so after the bar, we headed up to the store and bought a ton of junk-food.

On Friday I got the news that my boss' boss officially shot down me going back to my old program. She was pretty "not happy" about it all - them approaching me, me saying yes, and just nipped it all in the bud. I'm relieved to be honest, glad I didn't say no but also glad someone else did. Friday night, I joined Blondie on our patio for more beers while relaxing the night away.

Saturday it was up and at 'em early - Blondie and I took the train down to Chelsea area, and got the race packets for Sunday. Afterwards we tooled around Chelsea for a bit, before heading back and getting lunch in our hood. We cleaned the apartment on Saturday afternoon, and then headed back to Penn Station to pick up my PA friend on Saturday night. It was bedtime early because...

I ran my 4th 1/2 marathon on Sunday. And by run, I mean "I'm going to run for a bit. Now I'm going to stop and walk for a long bit". My PA friend and I did the More Magazine/Fitness Half Marathon - it was all done in Central Park which was very cool. The race was 2.5 loops of the park, so I got to see a bunch of stuff I hadn't seen before, the most noticeable being "Cat Hill". Cat Hill is this hill on the east side of the park which has a statue of a cougar getting ready to pounce on one of the rocks to the side. If you aren't paying attention and catch it out of the corner of your eye, it almost looks lifelike.

So the race recap - SUCK BALLS. My leg felt okay when we started and I got over a mile into the race thinking "all right, feeling good". My breathing was good, my legs felt strong. And then we hit the hills - Central Park is rolling hills, and that's what the entire race was. Toss into that only training on the treadmill for the last 4 weeks, and not really doing a lot of hill training, and bam. I died. The worst part was as you were doing these hills, realizing you had to do them all again because of the 2.5 loops of the park. OMG. By mile 9, I was ready to DNF myself. My leg, which had felt great when I started, was in full on agony. My feet were killing me. I was coated (and I mean COATED) in sweat. But I managed to pull through, and finish. My time was 3:03 (28 minutes more than last year's half).

The half was notable for one reason - it killed any dreams I had about being a distance runner. I'll stick to my 5K distances, and that's it.

After the race, my friend and I cabbed it back to the apartment and got showered, before heading out for beers and lunch. We put her into a cab after lunch so that she could get to Penn Station and back home, and Blondie and I escaped onto our patio for more beers. My bar friends called late afternoon to come celebrate, so we joined them at another bar for more beers, before finally heading home late last night.

I feel okay today - it takes me awhile to get moving, but once I do, I'm moving okay. However, my ankle (the one I sprained at the beginning of February) is puffed up like you wouldn't believe, so I am going to call in today. It doesn't hurt but it's about 4 times the size of my normal ankle, so I'm going to elevate and ice it today.

This week will hopefully go fast. Tomorrow is my final launch of P1 of my program, so after tomorrow, it's over. A friend from work quit and her going away party is on Thurs. And then it's the weekend, and I'm going to relax and do nada.

Workouts were good last week:
Monday - Cardio Recovery disc
Tuesday - 1 hour on treadmill; 2 min walk, 2 min hill run x 30 mins; 2 min walk, 2 min fast run x 30 mins.
Wed - Core Cardio and Balance
Thurs/Fri - off days, my calf was a wreck both days
Saturday - P90X stretching disc
Sunday - 13.1 mile run/walk

--K