Saturday morning I woke up and did level 2 of the Shred. So tough! I'm going to be on this level for a while until I can do the full amount of plank jacks, shoulder press/leg lift combos (Sha right!), and chair sits/V raises. Burns so good! Then Abbie and I loaded the puppy in the car so we could drive to Elko to watch Pete ride in a parade. Elko's a small town, and the parade wasn't very coordinated. We couldn't really find much about it online and it turns out it was about 2 blocks long (maybe I'm exaggerating). By the time we reached Elko, the parade was done and Pete had been dragged off to some random guy's front yard with his group. So we basically spent 1.5 hours of our beautiful Saturday in the car for nothing. With the dog.
We decided to stop at a park near my Mom's house (halfway between Elko and home) to let Cosmo run free in the fenced soccer field. He LOVED it. For like 5 minutes. Then he found the 1.5 feet of shadow from the fence on one side of the yard and just walked up and down that strip of grass. When we moved to a shady patch of grass under a tree, he looked so thankful. We hung out at the park for a bit (Bonus: the swings no longer sound like a dying animal when I'm on them!!), then headed home.
Saturday night we went out with my cousins and their friends for one last hurrah before they have to go home to Texas this Friday. We'll see them again on Wednesday, but Saturday was all about the adult beverages. It was SO much fun. Another great night on a hopping patio I'd budgeted my points enough that I was able to have two rum and diet cokes and still be one point under my daily points target (26). What does that equate to calorie-wise? Check this out: to convert points to calories, multiply the amount by 4, then add a zero to the end: 1040 calories. That's counting fruit and veggies as zero, mind you, so it's not nearly as low as it seems. You can reverse the equation (divide by 4, drop the last digit), to convert calories to points. Easy peasy!
Sunday morning I woke up early. I had 4 miles on my mind. Lying in bed, I'd worked out a route that would take me there. It was already in the low 80's, so I put on my shortest pair of running capris I own (I can't do shorts yet--my fat-girl thighs rub together too much), and a tank top. I chugged a bunch of water, then out I went. My goal was distance, not speed, so I told myself to ignore the pace my MapMyRun app called out. But that's easier said than done and I was shocked to hear 10:10. Oops! So much for taking it slow! The first two miles went very well. Then, I hit what Pete has affectionately termed "Shit Rag Hill." Sorry for the profanity, but that's what it's called. He nicknamed it when we were running up it this morning.
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| I tried to find a good shot of SR Hill. Does this show it:? In the picture, you can see the telephone poles at the top of the hill--that's how long and high it goes. |
It's a long, steep ascent, following a quad-shredding descent. On a normal day it sucks. Three miles into a very hot run, it killed me. As I started up it, I developed the mother of all side aches. WHY did I think that chugging water before the run was a good idea? Sucking in my stomach and breathing in to full capacity, my old standbys, had NO effect whatsoever. I slowed to a walk. The sun was beating down and there was not one spot of shade on this particular stretch of road. I was gasping and had dug my hand into my side so I could literally lift up my liver -- a trick I read about (your liver is a very heavy organ and the jostling of a run can cause strain on the connective ligaments, hence the ache). As I walked, I could feel the sun burning the skin on my back. This was bad news--I needed to get up this hill and into the shade ASAP. I tried running again, but pain shot along my right side. Oh my gosh, guys. It sucked. I just had to take it. Eventually I was able to run up the last part of the hill, round the corner, and run along the shade for a bit (felt so good). But by then I was toast. My right side was done for and continued to hurt all the way home. I only ran maybe a third of that last mile. So frustrating.
I'm doing it again. Sometime this week, probably tomorrow, I'm going on that same route and I'm GOING TO RUN FOUR MILES. I'm starting to think that I need to break down and invest in a water belt. I get too thirsty if I don't drink before my runs and too side-stitchy if I do. It'd probably be better to just take sips of water as I need them. I've been holding off because I think running belts are for people who run farther distances, but now I see it's silly to hold on to some arbitrary principle when a water belt could actually GET me to those farther distances.
Ugh, anyway. After my run, we went to church, and then Pete and I came home. I crashed in bed for a bit while Pete, Man of Unfailing Energy, took the chainsaw to a bunch of our trees. I woke up and wandered out in time to see him climb high up into one near our deck, then slice through a huge limb. So glad that's all I had to watch--chainsaws freak me out. I made a dash to Eric's for some lube, then tuned my bike. I'd been waiting for Pete to do it, but he's got a million other projects and I realized that I'm not some helpless girl. I cleaned every inch of my bike and spent about 30 minutes de-gunking the drive chain. Then I fiddled with the derailleur to see if I could get the gears to shift better. Well, it's working, but I've noticed that sometimes I have to shift up two gears to get the chain to slip onto the next cog. It's probably going to take more work, either from Pete or a professional. I couldn't test ride the bike after I finished because we didn't have a pump for the tires.
We went to my mom's house for dinner--steak and veggie kabobs with corn on the cob and then angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. Heaven. She let us steal her pump, so I'm thinking that tonight I'll fill those tires and try to get in a late ride. Pete, Abbie, and I are leaving for our friend's cabin this Wednesday and we have a ton of stuff to do before then. Pete and I are hoping to get as much as we can done tonight. But I bet I could squeeze in a ride when we come home from our errands. I'm going to try, at least!
Get the jogger belt for water. I hate to think of you out in this heat, no shade and no water. Still awesome that you got in quite a run on such a hot day. Hope your weekend at the cabin is loads of fun.
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