P'shaw (she/they) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pshaw_raven) wrote2022-01-12 04:27 pm
pshaw_raven) wrote2022-01-12 04:27 pm
Entry tags:
We Come Running
My nearest neighbor, the one with all the pit bulls ... got rid of them.
Yes, you read that right. And it was a day of much personal rejoicing. She sold all three of the shitbeasts and I'm now happily back to my dog-free existence. More or less, there are still some on my running route, but on a daily basis I don't have her stupid fucking dogs in my yard, barking through the night, or dragging trash everywhere. So it's been a good couple of weeks to be me.
It's also been good to be me because I went to Disney World! I mean, I ran a whole bunch while I was there, too. But I saw a guy wearing a shirt during the marathon that said, "I RunDisney so I can EatDisney," and I was like, me too, brother. Me too.
This year's Dopey Challenge was my fifth. I went into it feeling a lot of anxiety because I'd spent much of my summer and fall focused on a fast half-marathon, then tried to cram a massive mileage increase into six weeks, and felt simultaneously over-trained and under-trained. I couldn't finish a twenty mile run to save my life. I was constantly tired, and I finally just dreaded lacing up and going out the door.
So I was happy when Fox found we were in the same starting group and suggested we run together, with the idea that we could keep it slow and save ourselves for the full marathon on Sunday. Good idea, Fox! And we did more or less that. The 5 and 10k both were done at an easy pace. So far so good.
Saturday's half was almost a disaster. I wasn't sure whether Fox was behind or in front after we got separated, but I was having a great run up until about mile 11.5 when ... my old calf injury woke up and said, "Hey lady, fuck you!" and I limped the remaining distance. My finish line photos are painful to look at. I'm trying not to cry - not only from the pain but because I'm now telling myself, "You've just fucked your marathon, you won't finish, you'll have wasted all this money on the challenge and won't make it, you suck, you stupid, out of shape, moronic fool." I hobbled around that afternoon trying to work it out, stretching, using my accupressure pad (a Christmas gift to myself - a Spoonk mat) and Sunday I woke up feeling stiff. Both calves kind of ached. Well, I can walk, and run slowly, so I'll just take it easy and make sure I don't get swept.
By mile 8 or so I was definitely feeling tired and grouchy - running is stupid. Fox and I caught up to each other just outside the Magic Kingdom and ran together for a while. The companionship was nice and we could bitch to each other, and keep each other's pace in check. After Animal Kingdom, Fox was feeling faded and I had started feeling pretty ... decent? So he said I should run on if I felt like it. And I did.
Holy shit, I felt good. Who feels good in mile twenty? WTF. I busted out some nine-minute miles there, and started hitting the stretch where Disney has set up aid stations every mile. So I'd run between them, walk while I drank water and Powerade and chewed energy gummies, then run again. My race photos from this part are crazy - I look deliriously happy. I'm exhausted but it must be endorphins now. I'm not even remotely going to PR this but at least I'm finishing strong. Fox came up about ten minutes behind me.
I've spent the past couple of days back home just resting, and will start doing some yoga and maybe taking long walks tomorrow. Time to start stretching those muscles out again.
As for me, I'm dead tired again and ready for bed, though it's a couple of hours out from "lights off." But I got used to turning in at seven pretty quickly, LOL. If I didn't think I'd wake up at three, I'd go now.
Yes, you read that right. And it was a day of much personal rejoicing. She sold all three of the shitbeasts and I'm now happily back to my dog-free existence. More or less, there are still some on my running route, but on a daily basis I don't have her stupid fucking dogs in my yard, barking through the night, or dragging trash everywhere. So it's been a good couple of weeks to be me.
It's also been good to be me because I went to Disney World! I mean, I ran a whole bunch while I was there, too. But I saw a guy wearing a shirt during the marathon that said, "I RunDisney so I can EatDisney," and I was like, me too, brother. Me too.
This year's Dopey Challenge was my fifth. I went into it feeling a lot of anxiety because I'd spent much of my summer and fall focused on a fast half-marathon, then tried to cram a massive mileage increase into six weeks, and felt simultaneously over-trained and under-trained. I couldn't finish a twenty mile run to save my life. I was constantly tired, and I finally just dreaded lacing up and going out the door.
So I was happy when Fox found we were in the same starting group and suggested we run together, with the idea that we could keep it slow and save ourselves for the full marathon on Sunday. Good idea, Fox! And we did more or less that. The 5 and 10k both were done at an easy pace. So far so good.
Saturday's half was almost a disaster. I wasn't sure whether Fox was behind or in front after we got separated, but I was having a great run up until about mile 11.5 when ... my old calf injury woke up and said, "Hey lady, fuck you!" and I limped the remaining distance. My finish line photos are painful to look at. I'm trying not to cry - not only from the pain but because I'm now telling myself, "You've just fucked your marathon, you won't finish, you'll have wasted all this money on the challenge and won't make it, you suck, you stupid, out of shape, moronic fool." I hobbled around that afternoon trying to work it out, stretching, using my accupressure pad (a Christmas gift to myself - a Spoonk mat) and Sunday I woke up feeling stiff. Both calves kind of ached. Well, I can walk, and run slowly, so I'll just take it easy and make sure I don't get swept.
By mile 8 or so I was definitely feeling tired and grouchy - running is stupid. Fox and I caught up to each other just outside the Magic Kingdom and ran together for a while. The companionship was nice and we could bitch to each other, and keep each other's pace in check. After Animal Kingdom, Fox was feeling faded and I had started feeling pretty ... decent? So he said I should run on if I felt like it. And I did.
Holy shit, I felt good. Who feels good in mile twenty? WTF. I busted out some nine-minute miles there, and started hitting the stretch where Disney has set up aid stations every mile. So I'd run between them, walk while I drank water and Powerade and chewed energy gummies, then run again. My race photos from this part are crazy - I look deliriously happy. I'm exhausted but it must be endorphins now. I'm not even remotely going to PR this but at least I'm finishing strong. Fox came up about ten minutes behind me.
I've spent the past couple of days back home just resting, and will start doing some yoga and maybe taking long walks tomorrow. Time to start stretching those muscles out again.
As for me, I'm dead tired again and ready for bed, though it's a couple of hours out from "lights off." But I got used to turning in at seven pretty quickly, LOL. If I didn't think I'd wake up at three, I'd go now.
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Whew, that's a lot of running!! I was aching & out of breath just reading about it!
How's your calf feeling now?
I completed 6 wks of PT for my pain. The original pain is gone but they couldn't get rid of everything. The substitute therapist I had for one session told me that was to be expected. It's likely I have scar tissue & what-have-you from my various surgeries & procedures as well as chronic issues I've had. They want me to quit running & see if over time it can be slowly added back in. As is I'm not running that much anyway :shrug: But I've definitely noticed it on the scale. I'm currently sitting at my heaviest. Not a great feeling. I'm not really sure what to do at this point.
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My calf was stiff, but after a couple of easy runs now that I'm home it feels okay again. I think taking that long downhill as hard as I did was what made the pain flair up. I don't really have many hills around here to practice on.
Did they say you could walk, rather than run? I'm obviously no PT or anything, but sometimes a good walk can help with things, and keep the scale from getting too high. My weight was pretty high when we got home, even with all the running, but it's dropped quickly in the past few days so it was likely just water weight. Whee.
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Of course, I'm also postmenopausal so that's another reason the weight is an issue.
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I had a similar revelation recently. Normally I spend the weeks leading up to a long race religiously doing yoga designed for hip opening - lots of yin yoga. It's meant to keep me from having IT band and pelvic joint pain after a half or full marathon, and I always have stiffness and soreness around my hips and upper thighs.
This time around I kept blowing it off and never did the normal hip opening yoga, but instead was doing more power yoga and stuff like arm balances. And I didn't have my normal hip pain. Sooooooo...
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Bummer though. Exercises & stretches that are supposed to be helpers, aren't :(
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Grats on your great run, even though your calf got grumpy. Are you going to share the photos that were taken?
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