Not so cool

Well, this morning's weather wasn't terrible by any means...but, it wasn't the wonderfully nice 70-something degree weather we had earlier in the week! Today's schedule - 13 miles.

We began the run at the park and headed toward 610 on Memorial, but stayed on the right side of the road. From there, we followed Memorial to Chimney Rock past Woodway to Tanglewood. We ran on the nice soft Tanglewood path to San Felipe and did the "Rose Garden Run" back to the park.

I ran a majority of the run with Julie, who I think had slowed down the pace quite a bit because I usually fall behind her by the 1/2 way point...if not before (she be a can speed demon!). Julie is awesome because she always manages to maintain an interesting conversation the entire route. Our topics today varied from our kiddos to running paces to new cars among other things. I had a weird feeling in my stomach the entire run though and I will admit there were a few times I thought I was on the verge of getting sick. Luckily, it wasn't too bad...as long as I could try to think about something else until the feeling passed. I don't know what caused that, but I hope I don't experience it again! By the way, we discovered another "bat bridge" along the route on Chimney Rock...and I thought all the bats lived on Waugh!

Other than the minor stomach issues, the run went well. Toward the end, I had a major bonk. We were pretty close to the park (past Crestwood) and I started to get cramps in my shins. I took an early walk break, which just made things worse. It made it more difficult to start running again and those weird cramps never completely went away until I was finished.

I originally wanted to attempt a loop around the park after the run, but was pressed for time and ended up heading home to shower and go to Weight Watchers. When I arrived home, I realized that it would take me less time to get ready with the kiddo at my parents house. Since the stomach and shins were feeling better, I hopped on the treadmill with the intent of running for another 30 minutes (all the time I had to spare before I had to get showered, properly primped and out the door).

Oh my God! After exactly 24 minutes (approx 2 miles) my legs felt like they could not take another step. They felt incredibly exhausted! It's been awhile since they've felt this bad! I decided to cut the run short. My legs felt so bad that I decided an ice bath was in order. I grabbed the ice container from the fridge and started to fill the tub with cold water. Once there was a few inches of water in the tub, I climbed in and sat down. Then, I slowly began to add the ice. If you've done this before, you know that the first few minutes are crazy cold. However, you start to get used to it and it works wonders for sore muscles. If you've never done this before, I'm sure you think I'm completely crazy!

After about 15 minutes in the tub, I felt like I could walk again. I continued with my day, which consisted of going to WW and heading to the "cry-baby matinee" with my Mom and the kiddo, then heading to the new downtown Starbucks for a tall, non-fat, no-whip Mocha! I figured after having movie popcorn with butter, that I better stick to the lower fat version of my favorite drink. By the way, we saw "The Illusionist" which I highly recommend! I will see anything with Edward Norton. The cast also included Academy Award Nominee, Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel. The kiddo & I continued our girl's day by heading to Beck's Prime for dinner on the patio, a trip to the grocery store and a couple of fun-filled hours of coloring and playing. All in all, a great day!