Day 89-90

10 mile out... XC meet... 10 miles back
9/3

I woke up at 6am to the sound of the annoying alarm that comes with my cell phone. The night before when I got home around 11 from the SBU race I packed a couple of breakfast bars and a shirt into a water backpack. I filled the water pack with some water and ice in the morning and slid my phone in next to the food. I made sure to use the bathroom because this would not be a good day to have to go while on the run. I had planned on using my ipod but I decided that I would like to enjoy the peacefulness of the run in the early morning, experience God's awesome creation. I somewhat regretted not bringing it later.
I threw my keys in my hiding spot (probably not the best of places to hide them.. but oh well. No, I won't tell you where!) strapped on the water pack and hit the road. I have never ran with a pack on before... In fact I hardly run with a shirt on let alone a pack, but I needed to have water with me on this trip, and a shirt for when I got to the meet. The pack's straps weren't very comfortable and were scratching right above my nipples, luckily it wasn't too bad or else I could have ended up with scabs. lol. But it was very useful to have the water with me.

It was such a peaceful run! Not very many cars out and I took Kearney street instead of I-44 so I was running along an "old country road". I got into a good rhythm and the 10 miles just flew by. Last year that there was a High School XC meet in Strafford I road my bike to watch my high school race. I used this route a couple more times to train for my Ironman and I remember a spot where I had to cross train tracks, and they were somewhere close to the beginning of the route. Somehow I had passed over them without realizing it and the rest of the run I was thinking when am I going to run over these tracks and they never showed up. As I was running I kept looking for the water tower because once I saw the water tower I knew I was about 2-3 miles away. As I was running a guy was parking his four-wheeler in his front yard and said goodmornin, how ya doin? I said, good. Then he asked me how far I was going, and I replied 10 miles. He then said, Good job, keep it up, and I said thanks. lol. I ran the first 10 miles in 1:12

As I arrived @ the school my high school was unloading the bus. It was great seeing everyone, and crazy how lots of them are growing up. I got to cheer on both Reeds Spring (my high school), and El Dorado Springs (the school in town where I work at camp Galilee) The junior high team ran first and coach had me keep an eye on this cute little kid b/c he was worried he might lose the path b/c he wasn't very fast. And sure enough he was walking a majority of the race, but I made sure he didnt get lost. I ran all over the course making sure I was able to cheer on everyone plenty of times! Junior high boys got 1st place, and high school boys got 2nd place with Eldo close behind. I wasn't able to get the girls results but they all did great too!

It was a very very hot morning and eventually it was time that I couldn't hang around anymore and needed to head home (i left around 11ish am). So i filled my pack with more water said my goodbyes and hit the road again. It started out kind of hard but I eventually got into a good groove which was very helpful (I have to comment on the fact that I spent about 5 minutes trying to find out how to properly spell which.. b/c all that came to my mind was witch...) It wasn't so much that I was tired (mentally or physically), it was more of the fact that it was so hot and I had no shade! the entire run home did not have a single patch of shade till i reached the last mile, and the water in my pack was at best... luke warm, not very refreshing.

I was at a bit of a "contradiction" (if thats what we can call it). The begining of the run was a straight path that went on for about 5-6 miles and was very tiresome b/c when I looked ahead all I saw was a long stretch of road and the sun was just barring down on me. So I was longing for the part of the run where it turned into the curvy run, however, that also meant hills. In the end... it was the heat that made the run so challenging. Not the fact I had raced the night before, or that it was 20 miles, no it was the heat! When I got home I drink lots of milk and stretched!!!! After I took a shower I passed out on the couch for an hour.

9/04
I big mistake I see lots of people do is to be inactive the day after a big workout. When you are sore from a hard workout you need to at least go for a short jog to get your muscles warm and stretch them out, it will actually help reduce the soreness. So I went out for about a 3-4 mile easy run and got a good stretch in.