Thursday, July 3, 2008

The 10-Miler that Whooped Me

Run Distance: 10 Miles Run Time: 1 Hr 45 Min

So once upon a time there was this girl named Rachel. She decided to set out on 4 straight runs in one week when normally her schedule calls for a rest/cross training day in between. On the third day, she was ready to run 10 miles. It was absolutely gorgeous outside with a nice beautiful breeze. She could smell barbecue, flowers, a strange odor of coffee, and many other beautiful summer smells as she journeyed on her 10 mile trail run through the towns of Hopkins and St. Louis Park. Her pace was steady at about 9:30 for the first 5 miles and started to decline to around 9:40-9:55 during the last 5 miles. She had put music on her I-Pod the night before and was excited to get her run in with music. The music was really helping her keep up pace and she felt like she could conquer the world. The last 2 miles became a little tough as she ended up stopping at 2 stoplights and throwing off her rhythm but she was bound and determined to reach her final destination. Everything was going great...until the instant she stepped in her doorway and had to stop running. She was immediately struck with exhaustion. Despite the need to relax, she did some stretches and hit the shower to get rid of her stinkiness. While in the shower, she realized that her chest was burning and peered down to figure out why. She had read alot about this "chestal chafing" from the sports bra but had neglected to ever believe that it could happen to her. Now she was looking down at two red marks on her chest that were stinging from the water. After showering, she decided to lay on the couch and watch tv for awhile before bed. She felt like it would take a crane to move her feeble body from that location. Eventually it was time for bed but for some reason her mind didn't want to sleep. All night long her body was tossing and turning because she couldn't get into a deep enough sleep. And now tonight she has another 6 miles to run...oh how will she make it???

4 comments:

Chris said...

OMG, Rachel, you are an animal. Take a break! Give your body some time to rest! Killer run though...

Oh, you have been tagged. Check my blog...

Irish Cream said...

AHH! Okay, your post just brought back vivid memories . . . during a 6-mile run last week, I wore one of my crappy cheap sports bras, thinking, "It's just six miles!" Then I played a soccer game in the same sports bra immediately thereafter. Then I got home and went to take a shower, and realized I HAD THE OUTLINE OF A SPORTS BRA ETCHED INTO MY SKIN!!! Ha, it was ridiculous. Why are those things SO evil?!

Anyway, I agree with Chris--you are totally an animal!! Just make sure you don't get too tired and/or run down! That can be very difficult to recover from! Keep up the great work :)

Anonymous said...

Great job Rachel!!! Looks like you are doing great what seemed like a really hard training week! Keep it up, only 6 more miles to go!

*jen* said...

OUCH! Great job on the 10 miles. You're kicking butt!