15 mile run, lost a phone and any hope.

Saturday morning was the first glimpse of sun and warmth we had seen in a very long time.  I took advantage of the sunshine and temperatures in the 40's and 50's and planned for my long run on Saturday. 

I have been having some pretty tough long runs lately read about that here   and here, so I was determined to do everything in my power to make sure this one felt better than the 13 and 14 milers. 

For dinner Friday night I had fish with rice, potatoes, beans, and brussels sprouts.  I had lots of water, stretched, and went to bed early. Textbook  long run prep. 

Saturday morning I had a cup of coffee a glass of water, and an english muffin with peanut butter, nutella, and one banana while charging my garmin, reading my RW magazine and watching the morning news. 

I also used the trusty USTAF Route Tracker Site to plan my route before I left.  The plan was to run a 5 mile loop alone and then a 10 mile loop with Stacie and Olive.  I wore my compression socks (i missed you), tights, long sleeve shirt, sexy fanny pack, camel back, headband, and sunnies. 

The first five mile loop started up hill and was a little tough on the legs.  I said hi to my Cow friends on my normal airport loop and continued home to meet Stacie and Olive.  It was really nice to break up the run a little bit and have company for the last 10 miles.  

Olive was happy to be out in the sunshine running and per usual, made running look effortless. 

We ran a beautiful loop by the water in Old Saybrook with some pretty stunning views of Long Island Sound. 

Why didn't anyone tell me I looked like SUCH a dweeb with my shirt zipped all the way up and my running fanny pack?  I mean look at this new fashion trend I am setting.  

We didn't end up doing the 10 mile loop I planned but instead had to... improvise.  About 2 miles into our run, Stacie realized her phone had fallen out of her water belt.  We turned around, and traced our steps all the way back to the car.  We got to the car and stopped for a water break and to call the phone in hopes someone had it.

A really nice runner (pictured above)  picked up the phone and brought it on her run with her in hopes of finding the owner.  After a few miles of trying to find her, the phone was returned and all was well in the world.  This really nice runner found the phone in the middle of a busy road.  A very lucky and happy Stacie had her phone returned to her without a cover and without a scratch.  

We improvised our route and got in the full ten miles but let me tell you... it was not easy.    Thankfully the route was flat but with a lot of puddles, snow, and mud on the sidewalks.  We ran nice and slow, took lots of gu breaks (and photo breaks) but still I was hurting those last two miles.   The past few long runs I have had some seriously painful hip/knee/joint pain around mile 9.  (I later did some research and think this may be a hip flexor or IT band issue..)

I spent the last two miles cursing, and asking myself why I torture myself like this.  Why can't I just watch tv and drink mimosas like normal people do on their weekends.  Why do I force myself to run 15 miles when I can be sitting on my couch or at brunch with a bloody mary?

I had great weeks of 8:30 averages and awesome runs.  And then I had a few weeks where every run just felt long, slow and terrible. Sometimes running is really unfair like that.  You do your homework, eat right, stretch, drink lots of fluid, and it just doesn't work.

A little bit of a pity party was needed and then I got over myself and hit the interweb to find some more motivation and get my back on track.  Step one: was to look at training schedules,  google my hip pain, look into stretching routines, and  find and commit to a race to keep my eye on the prize.

Yes I Did! Stay tuned to find out which race and tweaking of my schedule!