12 Miles of Misery

I was so excited for this run. I had planned it perfectly as it was supposed to be unseasonly cool outside and I was ready to run the 12 miler. However, things never go quite as expected. I'm not really sure what is going on with my long runs lately but half of them have turned out pretty bad. I made it to mile 3 and I was thirsty. I think this is where I lost the groove. I stopped to take a drink of water quick and then kept on running. It felt like it was over 80 degrees when in fact it was only 77. The sun was hitting me just right that I was pouring sweat. Anyways, I trudged on and was doing okay up until about mile 5 when I had to incorporate walk breaks. I never had walk breaks when I was training last year. I felt like my body must be trying to convert me to Galloway and I was trying so hard to resist. I made it up past 6 miles for the turn around and my legs felt like lead weights. It was so hard to keep them moving. On top of that, I've been dealing with a bit of some throat/chest congestion in the past few months that I need to get checked out. I was having a harder time breathing than normal but I think that may be partially because my mind just wasn't in the run for some reason. I kept trying to throw all of these mantras through my head but none of them were sticking. The rest of my run consisted of running a mile, walking for a minute, running a mile, walking a minute. The last mile probably consisted of even more walking.

When I got back to the apartment, I was so exhausted. I just wanted to lay in the middle of the floor but I needed a shower bad because I was coated in salt. On the good news front--I had no knee pain. I do have this strange sore throat thing going on and nearly lost my voice after my long run. I think as a runner, I tend to notice these ailments more than I normally would because I am extra cautious about what might be inhibiting my run. Anyways, I am going to need to work harder so that these runs aren't so difficult!

In other news...I have a few sponsors for a raffle that I will be doing for the Children's Tumor Foundation and the NF Endurance Team. If you are around the area--I will raffling items from the Minnesota Twins and Rick Bronson's House of Comedy (at the Mall of America). All you have to do is sponsor me with a donation of $10 at the fundraising website on the left side of my blog. Each $10 will get you an entry into the drawing. So if you donate $20, you will get 2 entries...etc.

For those of you who are out of town, my cousin Marie will be doing some artwork. She is a beautiful artist and I will post some of her stuff as soon as I get some time. You will go into this raffle. Anyone who has already donated up until this point will be automatically entered.