Sometimes I Surprise Myself (Day 90)

Today has been a pretty exciting day. We spent the day setting up shop in our new office location downtown.  It was the first time I've seen the inside, and it is gorgeous and HUGE.  Everything is new.  Plus, I have my OWN OFFICE! I have never had my own office before, I've always had to share.  I had fun unpacking all my stuff and setting up.  Then, Mike came down to see everything and I gave him a tour of the building.

Our bosses bought a bunch of delicious pizzas for us to have for lunch. They must've had 20 pizzas, I'm not kidding.  Ok, I have weird habits with food.  When we have pizza at home, I take a few slices, scrape off the toppings and give the crust and bottom layer to the dog.  People who are not related to me and who do not love me may certainly find this weird, wasteful and annoying. LOL  I had to be discreet about doing it with my co-workers.  I had one slice of sausage and one pepperoni (just the toppings) and hold the carbs.  It was delish. This will become important later. haha.

Hmmm...but I was still hungry so when I was figuring out the parking ramp I'll be using while at work, I decided to get a grilled chicken salad.

It was a gorgeous day today (downtown, too!!! No lake wind and NO fog, two days in a row, I could NOT believe it!!!) and I enjoyed strolling around, getting used to the new location.  The long holiday weekend was stretching out ahead of me and I started thinking about when I was going to complete my long run for the week.  I started dreading it, thinking ughhhh I wish I could skip it... then I had another thought.  It's a beautiful day! I will do it tonight!  It was actually rather warm, around 75 - but suddenly this seemed like a great idea to me.

I finished up work around 5, went home and got changed for the run.  Mike picked Macy up for me, and I was planning to already be running before they got home - but I was stalling and dragging my feet and was still around when they arrived.  Poor Mike was running around trying to take care of Pips, grill steaks, wash dishes, etc. Yes, I do have a wonderful husband. I started to re-think the run, and told him "maybe I should do it another day..." I cannot even EXPRESS to you how much I DIDN'T want to do it.

While Mike went to change, Macy kept trying to crawl up the stairs. I was trying to put the gate up and she was getting mad, pulling on it and screeching - so I picked her up and she gave me several good kicks in the shins with the hard little shoes she was wearing.  It hurt a lot and I almost cried... not just because of the kicking but because I was feeling sorry for myself and didn't want to run!

When I put on my workout clothes, I looked in the mirror and thought, "my thighs look huge! Not fair! I work so hard!" I felt like crying.

Ok, so when I started off on the run I was in a terrible mood, it was hot, the sun was beating on me and I was REALLY doubting myself.  I started off just walking down the sidewalk, and praying in my head...asking God to help give me the strength to do the run.  I looked at my watch as I walked, thinking, "Ok I will start at 6:10." 6:10 came and went.  "Ok, 6:15." I kept walking.  I went by some creepy people drinking beer in the park and felt annoyed that they were looking at me, so I decided to wait until I walked by the park to start running.  I kept walking, thinking "YOU NEED TO START RUNNING! This is going to take FOREVER!"

I looked at my watch again.  Ok. 6:20.  That is your FINAL CUTOFF. You WILL start running at 6:20 and you will not stop because it hurts.

That's what I did. I started at 6:20, and at first it was HELL. I always get Braxton-Hicks when I start, and they don't hurt, and the doc says they're not harmful... but they are UNCOMFORTABLE. Yet I know they will go away shortly.  I felt like I was jogging SO SLOW but I told myself it didn't matter, as long as I kept going.  I told myself YOU WILL NOT STOP AND WALK. I also had MAJOR heartburn from the sausages I ate off that pizza. I thought it would work itself out after I ran a few miles, but noooo I had it for the ENTIRE 11 miles! Really gross burping and heartburn, thank God no one was around me! I couldn't believe it because I had eaten the pizza like 5 hours before!

I kept giving myself mental pep talks and didn't stop. I jogged all the way to my turn-around point, 5.5 miles.  I stopped for just a minute, turned around and headed back.  After another half-mile I came to the hotel I routinely use for the bathroom. Each time I do this I fully expect some staff member to come and yell at me, but they never do. LOL I would use the pregnancy excuse of course if they did.

I tried to hurry in the bathroom but ended up wasting about 8 minutes because I blew my nose really hard and got a bloody nose : ( Another annoying pregnancy side effect! Once that stopped gushing, I hurried up and got back on the road. And I DID NOT STOP until I reached my front door!

I finished 11 miles, my longest run so far this season and this pregnancy.  I may have mentioned this before, but even though I ran while pregnant with Macy, I didn't do ANY long runs.  I waited til she was born at the end of April to start the long runs for my half marathon training.  Anyway, I'm pretty amazed at what I've been able to do this time around, even though I am slow.  I was so glad to be done with the 11-miler and so glad I did it!  Once I got in the house, my mood had completely changed. Macy could've kicked me in the shins 1,000 times and I wouldn't have cared because I was flooded with endorphins!

Now I only have two more long runs before the race, and they will be 9 and 8 miles. I can now relax and enjoy the weekend!