Not a way to carb load

Wow, it's been exactly one month since I've run last!  I knew I have been busy and stress has been building, but I didn't realize THAT much time had passed.  oops, kinda puts a damper in the marathon training program.  This year has been full of so many changes.  I'm not trying to make excuses, just making observations.  This means I am fully carb loaded and ready to run, right?

So, I've been out of state for the past 4+ days at a conference, not sleeping regularly (<4 hrs/night, < 2 hrs at a time), not eating regularly or healthy (not staying hydrated, no planned meals, vending machine snacks, or not eating at all, coffee to stay awake/alert), wearing high heels, no running.  On the up side, the conference was split between 2 buildings so I was constantly walking back and forth between buildings.  Due to no meals associated with this conference, we did lots of walking to restaurants outside.  At the hotel each night I completed 50 sit ups, thinking I need to start working on my core and get some strength.

I got home this morning and came home and napped, woke up for lunch and went back to sleep again.  It's so good to be home!  As I was waking up I heard Bill and Rachael talking about going out for a run.  I was conscious, but my eyes wouldn't open.  I was physically beat!  I just knew I wanted to get off that couch and get moving!  I literally drug myself off my butt.

They talked about doing 3-5 miles.  Perfect.  That's exactly what I had in mind.  No one wanted to do an Ethanol Loop, but we ended up doing a backwards Ethanol Loop.  I usually hate running that backwards, but it was nice to do that today.  We got half way around and turned south.  Wow, the winds were strong.  Then we got to the end of the mile and turned back east into Jewell.  WOW That was windy!  Bill started to fade, but the wind really affects his runs.  It's hard for him to breathe in the wind.  Sidewinds affect his already bad knees.  :(  I seem to thrive in adverse conditions like that and really wanted to push through that.  Although I haven't been to the chiropractor for my out-of-alignment hips, it was a great run with no sleepy toes.

I was feeling so good at the end of the run I wanted to keep going.  We really sped up to have a strong finish.  Everyone kept up.  We averaged 50 seconds faster pace on mile 5 than mile 4.  Great way to finish a run!  It was a good confidence booster for me.


Temperature: 38 degrees
Weather:  sunny, light overcast, SSE 15 mph winds gusting to 31 mph
Motivation level: 4
Energy level: 9
Today's Quote: Running is cheaper than therapy.

today's mileage: 5 mile running

weekly mileage: 5 miles running

monthly mileage: 5 miles running; walking 21 miles

annual mileage: 62 miles running; 51 miles walking; 0 miles riding; 0 miles swimming

TOTAL mileage: 113 miles