Long Run Day

So...

I've decided - for the sake of my body - that I will only run every other day. The days in between I can do yoga, swim, play tennis, spin, whathaveyou, but I will not run. This change may not hold forever, but I want to see what happens. I reflect on my running history and what I've done and what's happened, etc, and it seems as if I've sustained a lot of overuse injuries. But why? I'm 25 years old, not 65! What about the people who log 20,30,40 + miles per week? Why can't I do that? The answer is I have no idea. Maybe I'll never know the answer. But I'm not them. They're not me! Maybe those people can't do Bikram or any other kind of yoga, or maybe they can't swim, and they wonder why. I love running, but running doesn't always love me back. In order to save my body so I can (hopefully) run the rest of my life, I've got to be careful.

Today was a running day. I had a piece of Great Harvest bread with some SunButter, and set out to run at least 5, but I would just see how I felt. I ran through Cherokee Park, up to Seneca, through Cherokee Gardens, and made a detour to my parents' house between mile 5 and 6. I stayed there for 20-30 minutes to stretch, chat, and get some water, and then I headed for home. At 6.5 miles I stopped my Garmin even though I was still 10 minutes from home and just walked. I averaged about 10:30/mile pace, which is exactly where I wanted to be, especially on a long run day.

The 10k is in two weeks!

Post run, I had a Green Monster:

2/3 cup milk
banana
2 cups spinach
protein powder
a heaping spoon of Nesquik powder
ice

Since then I've had a sandwich and a few snacks, but I am currently so hungry and thirsty that I could eat an entire pizza and drink a gallon of water.

My lovely, wonderful friend Steph loaned me a book titled The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without by Mollie Katzen. I bought some broccoli, butternut squash, and asparagus so I could try some of her recipes so stay tuned!