30+ Daily Run Challenge Day 365!!!

One muther-flubbin year people! I am so close to completing one year!

In my last post I mentioned that I won a contest for the Salinas Valley Half Marathon Race and training sessions. Since I had already registered, I had a race to give away. The only one who took me up on the offer was my brother. But the next day he was hemmin' and hawin' cause he doesn't want to "lose mass". He's bulking up. He's running it though, cause he already registered.

I kept the training program because the coach that runs it is really good. Besides, all my friends/family are lazy bastards. Okay, not totally true. Just kinda, relatively accurate. And I'm the one that won it dammit! I'm keeping it!

The first session was a "workshop" at the Y. So after work I headed straight over there and thought I was gonna be early. NOPE. There were promotion ceremonies all over the city and one was going on at the high school where I had intended to park. Finding parking at the Y is a nightmare and the school parking lot is only a block away. No parking available. I ended up parking about 3 blocks away, so still not too bad. Just made it with a couple of minutes to spare. But because of the parking situation, they started 30 minutes later -_-


The session was about what to expect, some shoe discussion and how/why to achieve our goals for the half. then we were informed of our first group long run that was to be at Monterey. It was to start near Fisherman's Wharf by London Bridge Pub. It's an area I'm really familiar with as I bicycled through it a LOT! Relatively flat with some nice long hills to climb.

After everyone had their questions answered we were supposed to go for a run. Umm, I didn't know about that last part. I was still in jeans. It's a good thing that I had already had my run earlier in the day. I went and thanked Stephanie, the race director of the SVHM (who also completed the Boston Marathon this year) for offering up the contest.

So . . . during this time, I've been almost excruciatingly sore. My hamstrings for the most part. It was like crossfit: day one all over again. It was because I started working out again, but with a 45 pound barbell included on my squats. You think, "45 pounds? No problem!"

It was a problem. But it's something I must include if I want to improve my distance running comfort. That Thursday and Friday were a bit painful for the runs even with a little warmup. It took about a quarter mile to get comfortable. Friday's single mile took me 11 minutes! I was dreading Saturday morning.

Saturday morning shows up and I am beat. I wanted to sleep in, but I had to get to Monterey still. That early on a Saturday and traffic isn't too bad for the most part . . . unless there's some event going on. Luckily, nothing crazy big. I had planned to stop by somewhere for coffee, but when I woke up again (yup, fell asleep again) I had just enough time for two of the three "S's" (no shave) and the drive. I was going to run coffee free. Sucks to be me. I got there at 5 til 8 found some decent parking. hobbled over to the group and waited . . . and waited . . . and waited.

The coach finally told us what landmarks to look for on the distances we wanted to run and gave us our pep talk and sent us on our way. I started out stiff and I got quite a few questions regarding my VFF Bikila LS's I was running with.

Now, it's been a while since I ran and talked. As a matter of fact, I was never EVER comfortable with it. I'd be gasping for breath trying to finish my thoughts. Sometimes I was able to verbalize said thoughts. Saturday was another matter entirely. I was holding a comfortable conversation as I was running. And I didn't even realize it until after I got home and mentally went through my run!

I was trying to convince others to drink the Kool-Aid and failing miserably. At least that's what I took away from it. There were several eyebrows raised when they saw me at the finish. Walking comfortably and actually sprinting the last few yards just for shitz'n'gigglez.

As usual though, the first four miles were great. The next two I was beginning to feel it and the last two I was fighting mentally. I was trying to relax and having to focus on that. My shoulders were getting tight and knotting up on me. It was hard, but I did it . . . again. Even with all those long hills, I felt good.

After I crossed the finish, the coach recommended that I take a dip in the "natures ice bath". I was skeptical, but it wouldn't hurt to try it out. It was fuggin' COLD! I stayed in for about 10 minutes because I quickly got used to it. I rushed into it once I got my feet in because if I didn't I wasn't going any deeper. I got up to my belly cause once you get to the nads, it's difficult to get any further.

I will now begin convincing people to start making their own ice baths. I have never felt better after a long run like that, EVER! That shit is awesome. Usually my knees would ache a bit after and other muscles and joints would be stiff. I was good the rest of the day AND the day after!

Ice baths = Post-Run awesomeness!

Tonight we have a fitness test. I'm pretty sure we'll be going through some warm-up before and then we'll have the test. It's just to see how fast one can run a mile. Based off that, you get an idea of what to expect from the training and what time you should see at the race.

So for DAY 365 of my Daily Run Challenge, I'm testing. What a way to finish a year. I'm still going to continue with this running-everyday thing though. I don't want to lose what I've gained.

Here's to many more miles!

GD

p.s.
too excited to check! run smiley :)