Behind Three

So.  I'm more behind on other stuff...Here's my last three runs:

Thursday, Oct. 20th:
I still don't really have the night running down.  It is better than not running.  Last night I ran the road for a bit; I had to take care of an up-the-street neighbor's kitty so I incorporated that into the run.  The headlamp still disorients me.  I realized that, even without the light, it is easy to follow our road.  It's especially nice since it was just repaved last summer.  Any time there were no cars, I'd turn off the light.  That was also weird; I felt like I wasn't moving forward at all.  That weird was a fun weird.

It didn't take long before I decided I didn't care that I had my road shoes on (really, really old road shoes); I headed into the fields.  Well, not 1/4 mile in, I let out a loud scream.  Some sort of winged creature took off right in front of me.  In the darkness, I felt like it was a pterodactyl.  More likely, it was a dove.  Adrenaline pumping, I picked up the pace and finished up with 3.6 miles.

Saturday, Oct. 22nd:
I planned on running 18-20 miles.  I hadn't planned on waking up with a pretty sore back.  The nerve was causing pain in my ankle, calf, and knee.  The spasmed muscle was painful in my right-side lower back.  I hoped it would loosen up.

I had just pulled into the parking lot (of course, at the Brad!)at 7:30am, when Jeremy came running in from the mountain side.  Yay!  I don't think I'd gotten to run with Jeremy since Mindy's 40-4-40.  We headed out for the connector.  All our chatter helped keep my mind off my back.

When we ran back into the parking lot, many of the TMs were finishing up their runs.  I had fun visiting, but soon was starting to get a chill and asked if anyone else was looking for more miles.  Blaine was up for a little more.  Then it dawned on me to ask the actual time cause I was meeting Mindy and Dora at 9:30.  Only 8 minutes...might as well just wait.

Great smile :D

Blaine stepping in front of Jeremy

The intended shot

Nate A, Four's cousin, George, and Four

Mindy and Dora arrived within seconds of each other, right on time.  We also picked up Steve T who was looking for just over 2 hours of running.  Mindy was thinking 10 miles, her longest since the post-40 LLL troubles.  Dora had the same mileage in mind.  We opted for the east side.  For the first few miles, Mindy and I caught up (I have been in SoA withdrawal) while Dora and Steve conversed.  Somewhere along the way, maybe with a pee break, the order of the runners got shuffled.  So I talked with Steve and Mindy with Dora for the last miles on the east side. Oh!  It was also fun to cross paths with TMs, Kate and Christine (with ? ...crap.  someone I'm sure I should know :( ) on their run.  Mindy was feeling her lack of miles.  My back was getting grumpier.  My calf was both burning and stabbing.  The lower back pain was starting to include the left side as well. I suggested that we head back to the parking lot and then reassess our plans.

Kate and Christine were in the lot when we arrived.  Steve decided to head out on the mountain.  Us girls chatted a bit while Kate massaged her sore pieces on the bumper of her Fit.  Mindy decided to join Kate on her remaining 2.5 miles.  Dora was going to stay with me for another 5 to bring my total to 20.  Dora and I went back out on the connector, again filling the air with non-stop chatter.  By the time we reached the quarry on Tyron Mountain, my back was more than grumpy.  The climbs were definitely more of a problem than the flats or even the downs (usually it's the downs that bother my back/pf, but this was a new issue).  Dora was very supportive and more than willing to walk when I needed to.  She told me about the Thera Bear that she had won at a seminar she'd attended the day before and offered it to me.  I may have made some attempt to turn it down, but, the back won out.  Smart back.  It ended up really making a difference.  Thankfully, that meant it was just muscular and not the disk.

Mindy and Kate were done when we got back.  Mindy was able to do her planned 10 after all.  I like how that works.  You think you're done, but you give yourself a chance, telling yourself you can drop if you need to; then you don't.  I was at 19.4.  I had no interest in getting in that extra 0.6 to bring it to 20.  I had no interest in anything but my shower.  I spent most of the rest of the day nuking Bradly Bear and getting warm bear hugs.  He even came to bed with me.

Sunday, Oct. 23rd:
Rick and I went to the Brad to get in 10 miles.  My back was stiff, but not painful.  We opted for running the east side.  I took any path that I felt like it, trying to avoid running a race course.  Of course, in order to get in any kind of miles, we had to include trails that races covered, but not in the same order and we included trails not in any Bradbury dirt series.

By the time we'd run 7 miles, by back felt like it did at the start of Saturday's run.  I was glad to finish without feeling any worse. We even got in a little extra mileage for 10.8 (and that was without the Island or O).  We drove Sam back to WPI almost immediately after showers.  I wore a Theracare wrap for the trip.  It worked, but not with as much love as the bear.