Mostly, dumbass. Sure,there are elements of badass in Sunday's run: running in pain for an hour and twenty minutes, finishing the run with 3 twenty second pickups despite the pain, heck,just finishing the run. And there were many good things about the run - I had my nutrition absolutely dialed in. Though my legs were KILLING me, I never bonked and didn't even crash very hard afterwards,which is typical of me after a long run. I usually come home famished, eat everything I can get my hands on and pass out on the couch (or at least try to pass out on the couch, its hard to sleep with a nineteen month old jumping on you and yelling "Mommy!"). On Sunday, I was certainly hungry but a protein smoothie and some graham crackers did the trick. I took a short nap but didn't feel like I would die without it. So, the day of, I felt much better than I had. Yesterday, though, every muscle below my waist was screaming in unison: "YOU ARE A DUMBASS!". Thus, the verdict.
My legs feel pretty good today - tired but not 'injured' which I was a little afraid of. Training for something like this - especially something that is just beyond what you can reasonably accomplish - is always a dance on the fine line between overtraining and pushing yourself, between injury and soreness, like I said before, between badass and dumbass. I still don't know if I can do this. I'm confident after Sunday's run that its going to hurt like hell. As of right now, though, I can continue to press forward. I didn't hurt myself - not permanently - and, Praise All of Creation, this is a recovery week. I'm taking today totally off (which I should have done instead of swimming yesterday - dumbass!) and running easy tomorrow and Friday with an easy spin on the trainer on Thursday. Sunday's run will be about 6 miles which should ( I emphasize should) feel pretty easy after 11.
In other, much more important, news, the charity I'm running for, Wine to Water, has set up an emergency fund for Haiti. As you probably know, clean water is paramount over there right now. If you can spare anything, please visit their site and click on "Haiti Emergency Fund". Or, visit Red Cross's website or Unicef - whatever you feel called to do. From what I can see, Red Cross and Unicef are providing emergency supplies for immediate relief and organizations like Wine to Water will move in for long term solutions. Both are needed so, please, do whatever you are comfortable with. Also, Soles4Souls is collecting shoes for the victims of the earthquake (think about all the broken glass and metal on the street and how many of the survivors you see on television barefoot) so, if you have any old running (or other) shoes,visit their site and find a drop off location. I'm pretty sure many running stores are participating.
Disasters like this remind us how important it is to reach out and help those most in need - this earthquake was made many times worse by the extreme poverty the Haitian people endure. With that in mind, I'm going to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep asking people to give what they can. You do the same.
1 comment:
There are ALWAYS going to be those days when the run is either so hard you don't know if you can do it or so painful you wonder if its worth it, but as long as the pain does not stop you cold and you recover well after, then I'd say you had a badass run! The countdown continues!
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