Running, Sick, and watching Boston

I rarely use my laptop except to quickly input my daily weigh-in in Excel, so I always forget to post actual posts.


Last Sunday (the 13th) I went for my first solo run on the bike path. I had planned on 5-5.5 miles, which turned into 6.22 (10K) in 1:15. Not a stellar run, but I had run 2 days during the prior week, so I am quickly having to learn that my runs are not going to be what they were in the fall because I had been only running once a week so my legs were always fresh and itching to go come Sunday. Sunday night I also tried Zumba for the 1st time. It was a 2 hour marathon charity event. I lasted 1:15. I did 25,000 steps that day!


I had a cough that had been bugging me, but I figured it was only allergies. Monday night I was up all night coughing, so I decided to work from home on Tuesday. I had hoped to run 4 miles on Tuesday, the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings. But it was raining and I was too sick to run. Wednesday morning I was in the fetal position and coughed weirdly and bruised my insides. I was excrutiating pain. I thought I had gotten a hernia. I was convinced I would never be able to run in the BAA 5K on Saturday. I had to leave work early it hurt so much. Thankfully I felt a lot better on Thursday.


I took Friday off since my daughter didn't have school on Good Friday. We did a ton to prepare for Easter since I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time on Saturday. I cooked up a good amount of pasta Friday night to "carbo load" for Saturday.


I woke up at 5:15 and met my friend at the subway at 6:30 for a 8:00 race. I hadn't been in Boston in so long - in a former life I worked there for 5 years and visited it extensively, but since having kids, not much at all.


I had never been to a race with 10,000 (well, in the end about 8,700) - the energy was amazing! I didn't have a lot of expectations of the race. I just wanted to take it all in. The fact that I would get to 'take a right on Hereford, left on Boylston' and cross the finish line (not the finish line of the 5K anymore) was going to be an experience.


Per usual, I started out too fast. Less than a 10:00 mile, which is insane for me. Mile 2 was 9:59, and mile 3 was 10:23. I knew once I hit Boylston that I was going to PR (I never, ever intended for that!) and that I wouldn't break 30 and I wouldn't catch up with my friend, so I did take it all in and finished with a PR of 32:13, around 90 seconds off my prior time.


I have another 5K this Sunday, so we'll see how I do!


After the race, we walked up Boylston, visited the Public Library where they had an exhibit about the bombings, then visited my first running Expo. Wow! I got some samples of Energy Bites, and Nun energy drink, some KT tape, and finally a billfold for all my bibs. I asked my husband for a metal hanger for our anniversary! I had wanted to go to a social media meetup, but we both needed to get home to get cracking on more Easter dinner prep. Plus my legs were started to tighten up.


I was in pain on Easter - I didn't sit down Saturday afternoon or Sunday until about 4. But today I got up and ran 4 miles in Memory of the 4 people who lost their lives last April. They were very, very slow miles.  I almost didn't get the last one in, but I did and it felt fantastic. Then I watched the Marathon all.day.long.


I have zero desire to do a Marathon. I am even questioning my desire to do a 1/2 Marathon. But my friend suggested doing to Disney Wine & Dine in November 2015, so I am all about that (in addition to doing one this fall)! Since I know I won't get to my WW goal by our 10 year anniversary, I can look towards hitting it by November 2015, 3 years after my "before" picture.


I don't think I will run anymore before the 5K on Sunday, and after that the real training for a 10K (and weight lifting) needs to begin!