The Pavement Plunge and Fancy Pants

Saturday marked my first run in the double digits since March of last year.  

Saturday marked my friend Sarah's first run in the double digits ever.  

Saturday also marked my first time completely falling on my face and eating pavement during a road run.  

 It was a day of firsts.  

Don't get me wrong, I have done my fair share of tripping over a root while trail running, or tripped over the dog when running with her, but this time I was just running straight on a road when I tripped on myself.    It happened so quick I am not even sure HOW.  One second I was running... the next I was face down on the side of the road with a skinned knee, road rash hands, and a bruised ego.

Sort of like this kid... well.. maybe a little slower....

It must have been kharma because a few miles before my spill, Sarah stopped to take off her jacket and took a nice digger onto someones lawn (and I burst out laughing of course).  We blamed that one on vertigo.

My friend Sarah is training for the same half marathon I am, so we decided to try and do some of our long runs together.  Luckily for me, she is recovering from some kind of a stomach bug called the neurovirus and she took the week off so her pace was a little slower than usual. 

 (Girls crazy).  

I picked a 10 mile loop that took us from my house, up along the Connecticut River to Deep River Center, and back down to Essex (It starts to get really depressing when your runs are so long they cover more then one town).  

All in all the run was okay.   Not as great as last weeks 9 but not miserable.  Sarah experienced some stomach pains the last half of the run, and I started to experience some nasty arch pain in my left foot between miles 4 and 9.  The route was also really hill which put some extra strain on our run.  Despite the hills, our wipeouts, stomach pain and foot pain, we pushed through and finished our run. Like a Boss.

After having a less than great run, I decided to treat myself on a "diet cheat day" and try out the new Burger Bar Haywire in Westbrook, CT.  

Going anywhere on a Saturday night with a party of 7 is a huge mistake.  We waited about an hour to be sat, and another hour for our burgers.  Two hour wait for an impatient hungry girl who just ran 10 miles is bad news.  I moped, I pouted, I complained, and I nearly cried, until I was greated with this.

It was called the "Sunny Side"  and consisted of a patty with bacon, cheddar, a fried egg, onion straws and garlic mayo.  With a side of sweet potato and shoe string fries, I was suddenly a happy girl again. The burger was not amazing, but it was pretty darn good. 

After the running and the feasting, I went home and crawled into bed.  No Saturday night partying for this tired girl.  I woke up Sunday morning feeling a little sore from my run and my fall and a little defeated at how hard the last mile was.  When I get in sort of a funk  after a less than great run, I like to treat myself to some new running gear to get me excited to get back out there again.  

My biggest battle with running gear is pants.  Most of my pants fall down the entire run, or dont swick away moisture leaving a whole slew of other issues.  

I have heard people SWEAR by Lululemon, but couldn't bring myself to spend $130 on a pair of pants in the past.  For that price they better run the last mile for me.   After I stopped being cheap, I took an inventory of all of my favorite running gear and realized, the only pair I can even imagine running in right now are my $120 running capris form SoundRunner.  

There are times to be cheap, and there are times to splurge.  Once your runs hit the double digits and multiple town borders... its time to splurge.  

Because I have so many running tights (most of them suck) I decided to go with an actual pant.  After reading the review, I decided I needed these Lululemon Bold In The Cold Pants.

The pants priced at $118.00 and included free shipping (win!)  I was a little disapointed they didnt come in any fun neon colors, so I settled for the blue.  While I was on there I got really excited and intimidated by the prices, and also bought an ear warmer/headband thing in a pretty color.  I have been trying to run with my hat but my head starts to sweat causing super attractive sweaty ice crystals to form in my hair. 

I decided the pants and headband were not enough so I headed to Marshalls to do some damage in the fitness section.  I ended up buying a nice long sleeve running tee as well as a running tank (no more soaked sweaty monster at the gym) and an awesome running jacket that fell out of the 80s.  

Animal print AND neon pink?! What more could you want?

The pants have been shipped, and the new clothes have been worn.  Will give a review on my first time with Lulu when the pants arrive! Anyone have these or swear by Lululemon?\

I am going to start playing to lotto so I can one day own  this bad boy  

Happy Running!