Ohhhh, the many titles I could give this post...

'Hindsight is 20/20'...?
......as in will I look back and see what I SHOULD have done, but didn't?  Will I be kicking myself about those decisions?

'What will my story be?'....?
...as in what will MY injury story be? It seems most runners have a story about an injury they had and how they dealt with it (or didn't deal with and then the consequences they suffered) and how long it kept them out of the game...I really don't want that to be MY story!

'Read EVERYTHING, don't skip parts!'....?
...as in when reading about running injures online or in magazines, READ IT ALL, not just stuff that you think MIGHT apply to you...so when you deal with a little niggle or an 'off' spot, you have a better idea of what it was, how to treat it, and what to do to prevent it from happening (or happening again)

'Listen to your body, not your head'.....?
...as in what IS it about runners that make them think they can run thru things they shouldn't? Or press harder at a time they SHOULD be holding back? Then when they (we) get injured, they (I) start to pull away the runners fuzzy rainbow-colored veil and see the reality of what they are doing (this might go along well with title #1)!

*sigh*...well anyway, I got it done. Got what done, you ask?  Today's run....20 miles...

*gasp!'  TWENTY MILES!!!! 
I can gasp and swoon over that mileage now (and the first 10 miles, like 'woo hoo! I'm running 20 miles today!!!'....'YEE HAW! this feels GREAT! Of COURSE I can do another 10ish miles!....'Nothing's better than  long run!!'...
Oh naïve little Anna....

Let's back up a moment and go back to earlier this week...


Monday: 5mi run.....my arch on my right foot started to bug me.
Tuesday: elliptical/weights.... and my arch is still bugging me but not bad at all
Wednesday: TOTAL REST day.....decided to pass up on my 10 mile run ::tear::..I realized I needed to rest my foot more..wore shoes inside all day and that helped
Thursday: light elliptical/upper body weights...wore shoes again all day and did a lot of foot massaging, rolled it on a little rubber ball a lot and did a lot of calf/hamstring stretching. Also tried to stay off my feet more.
Friday: TOTAL rest day...wore shoes all day and did a lot of stretching again and rolled my arches on a frozen water bottle. Right arch felt great but my LEFT arch had a few 'off' moments this day..

So.  That brings us to today.


I really didn't know if I was going to run this morning. Prayed a LOT yesterday and last night. But I woke up this morning with NO pain so I opted to give it a try. I decided to drive over to the Lake this morning and park at one of the parking lots that's mid-way thru the 7 mile 'oval'. That way if I needed to ditch the run at any point, I wouldn't be super far from my car.
I took extra water in the car which was nice to fill up on the 2x I stopped at my car (MAN, its hard to get going again after that.  My car was a bad influence...'Get in-go home! You've already 7..you've already run 16! Take us home!'   
Car-0   Anna-1

Starting out at 7 a.m. ..... What am I in for?

*yes, I was the only one out there with a neck gaiter over my face at 30*. I am a WIMP when it comes to cold, people.

Gorgeous sky at mile 2!

I saw TEN deer out there the first few miles!!

See those gals waaaay back there in the background? Those are my super awesome running buddies, Megan and Kelli. I SO badly wanted to run with them but I knew my molasses pace would END if that happened and I NEEDED to keep it slow today....

This is what happens when you're so excited to see your friends. You forget the zoom is WAY out on your camera...good thing the camera loves Megan!! And my left eye.

I had stripped my jacket off at this point and put it in the car (and changed into a short sleeve over my base layer). this was at the start of mile 19. Getting ready for a distance PR.  What  you don't see here...I was tired. I was sore. And I was sore. Oh, and I was SOOOOORE!!!

This crane at mile 19.5 made me smile. I've NEVER seen a crane at Lake Z.

Finally finally FINALLY done!!!
20 miles....11:19 avg pace (lost 20 seconds in overall pace the last 4 miles or so. Lots of walking the last few miles.  If TWENTY miles was this hard, I'm going to need to CRAWL the last 6 during the race!!

Thank you Jesus for enabling my body to endure 20 miles of punishment! (actually 5, the first 15 were kind of ok!)  =)

Now here it is, almost 9:00 p.m.  I AM feeling better than I was at noon but I'm still pretty sore. My arches feels surprisingly good (but the bottoms of my feet are sore from 20 miles of giving the pavement a beat down), my knees are a bit achy...and I'm still walking a bit like Frankenstein (actually, I think he'd be more graceful than I) and my lower back has a weird thing goin' on.
There is a spot about 4" above my tail bone that is sore. For most of the day its only been sore to the touch (like a bruise), but the last hour I've been noticing it more, its only about 3" in diameter...any thoughts on that??  I did wear my hydration belt but I wear it about 3" or so lower than this spot.


Other than that I've been doing LOTS of stretching, massaging my legs, rolling my feet on a frozen water bottle and trying to take it easy (not too easy! That seems to make my legs more sore the next day, so I've tried to balance staying active and resting)...

Tomorrow the plan is an easy 15-20 min on the elliptical to flush out the legs!

ONLY 3 WEEKS UNTIL the BIG DAY!!!



When is your next race?
Marathon on May 5th!

What is your favorite distance in a training run?
10 miles!