Long and Slow Distance run…12 miles to be exact.

As they say:  “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it!”

And it wasn’t easy!

I always seem to struggle with What is the weather going to do? and Where should I run for a good 12 miles? And of course, Will my foot hurt worse? and Will my ankle be more stiff?

I thought running was supposed to be enjoyable!!

And it is when the weather is nice & I have no pain. Unfortunately, this half marathon training period has not gone as hoped.

So the positive is that the half marathon will be so much more fun!!!  I can’t wait!!

I want to run here!

not here…

Of course, it was cloudy & cold and windy…like every LSD I have done this winter. The forecast was for snow showers. Fun fun.

So to mix things up, I wanted do run the route that I used when I was training for my other half marathons (running from my house into town and back I did not discover the bike trails until Nov 2011.) 

When I got up it was in the 20’s, the teens with the wind chill and snowing!  My hubby convinced that it would be too dangerous to run in the road with the snow so I drove to the Corning bike trail.

Though the snow wasn’t sticking to the roads, it was sticking to the trail and it was snow-covered and very slippery.

So Plan B: back to Delmar and run in the roads.

not too thrilled with this weather

I ran on the roads for 3 miles and turned around.

pretty dreary – the road was wet but clear of snow

I usually run shorter distances in these neighborhoods so this run took me to roads I had never been on.

saw farms

who knew?

After 6 miles, I was half done but felt totally done.  I stopped at my car for water & fuel and then headed out for 6 more.  This time I ran in the other direction for 3 miles before turning around.

I must say that the first 6 miles were painless but now my right foot started to hurt.  As always, it was bearable and the pain would come and go.  But at mile 9 (my turn around point), my ankle started to hurt… a lot.  It hurt in the front and was getting stiff so it was hard to run without limping.  Yes, I should have walked at this point but somehow I made my way back to my car.

12 painful slow miles done!!! It took me 2:26:xx and the 2nd half was a lot slower than the first.

This long run made me wonder whether I was capable of doing a half marathon.  Was I in lala land about my ankle???  Could I really run long races ever again??

I went home, took ibuprofen and iced it… it was still sore.

To take my mind off of it, I went to the movies with my running friend Mary (she is running the same half).  She tried to boost my confidence.  And she did.  If my ankle hurts, I’ll rest until the half and then the for the race, I will walk as much of it as I have to. I will get that medal!!

we saw it because we love French movies but it was SOOO depressing!

On a shopping note – look what I picked up yesterday:

…I was supposedly stopping at Hannaford’s to buy dinner!  They came in handy today (a change from my GU)  I liked the cliff shots gel but the powerbar  energy busts made me nauseous.

and a new shirt…it was on sale at Olympia Sports & I had a coupon…at least I didn’t buy another pair of running shoes

Happy Running! Did you do LSD this weekend?