About Me

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I'm an artist, convenience store general manager, Nine Inch Nails fan, and hopeless internet addict. And now I'm a marathoner! Blogged By Jaye is my general-purpose blog, and Fat to Finish Line is my running journal. Occasional foul language included on both sites.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

An update while I'm recovering from my own stupidity

So, it's been a while since my last update, but training is in full swing. I just finished week 7 of 18, so I'm just past 1/3 of the way through. Pre-pre-training didn't go exactly as planned and pre-training was even less consistent, but training has been mostly going well. We finished the process of buying our first house and moving all our things (thus the lack of training) just before my training plan started, and we have moved into a neighborhood that is great for running in. I found a route that is almost exactly a mile long and passes our house twice, so tracking distance is easy and I don't ever have to worry about not being able to find a bathroom or running out of water or whatever. And, most importantly, I don't feel creeped out running in this neighborhood. So it's far easier to find the motivation to get out and run when I can do it right outside my front door.

So that has all been going well. I got an awesome pair of Asics Gel-Noosas to run in this time around, I've discovered the joy of running skirts with pockets, and I'm already a far better runner than I was on race day two years ago. Also, I've started taking a Zumba class as part of my cross-training, which is both super fun and great for maintaining flexibility. 

However, I apparently didn't learn all the lessons from my mistakes last training cycle well enough. 

Sunday I had a 14-mile long run. Usually I try to get out running by around 8am. Ok, usually it's closer to 9. But this past weekend we had a big housewarming thing on Saturday, and I stayed up into the wee hours of Saturday morning finishing up a decorative paint job in the dining room, so I was in need of some real sleep Saturday night. I didn't strap on my running shoes and hit the road until past noon. 

Now, I'm usually really diligent about sunscreen. But Sunday was cool and overcast and even drizzly at times, and like an idiot I headed out without any on, thinking (though I absolutely know better) that since I was running close to home I could just stop and put some on if the sun came out or I started to feel like I needed it. 

The run went great. I even had the energy at the end to speed my pace up on the last two miles. I came home, showered, had guests over for our usual True Blood watching party, and felt fine (other than the expected muscle stiffness and being a tiny bit thirstier than usual after a run).  I didn't notice anything really wrong until we were getting ready for bed and Kourt pointed out that I had some serious lines where my tank top had been, which with my fair skin never means a tan. 

Sure enough, I was deep fried crispy. 

It was painful yesterday, and I felt seriously run down. But I don't usually run on Mondays anyway, so no biggie.  But today my shoulders were still red and warm and tender, and I was so tired this afternoon that when I got home from work I pulled into the garage, shut the garage door, rolled down my car window, took off my seatbelt, and then apparently fell asleep right there in the driver's seat for at least a half hour. So no run today, either.  I'm hoping I'll feel well enough tomorrow to run. I've been making such good progress and I feel like a lazy bum not running. But I know it's not a good idea until it's had some time to heal. 

And hopefully this will be the last time I ever leave the house for a long run without sunscreen, no matter what the weather. I really should know better by now.