Probably the Closest I Have Come to Death

Humidity 93%. What even IS THAT? I'll tell you what: it's death by percentage points. And that's the humidity when I got home...it had actually dropped throughout my run because when each of us dragged ourselves weakly to the finish, we were greeted with the information, "It was 100% humidity when we started out this morning!"

It was horrible.

7.5 miles in 1:25:58. The last 20 minutes were the longest of my life. I had to stare at the ground because if I looked up, I would vomit.

It was a Shelby Farms day. We parked under the Walnut Grove bridge and then ran the dirt path up to Farm Road, crossed into the park, ran the Chickasaw Trail, ran the trail around Patriot Lake, and then took the dirt path back to the bridge. The marathoners had to do that twice. As evidence of the struggles we were all having this morning, most of the marathoners passed me on the dirt road at the very end of my run. On a less saturated day, I wouldn't have even seen those people because they would have been halfway around the Chickasaw Trail again before I left Patriot Lake.

It has rained and rained and rained and rained and rained the past week and a half. And it's supposed to rain again today. And tomorrow, too. And the Chickasaw Trail will kill you on a good day when it's the only thing you're running. Today was the hardest goddamned run I have done in a long, long time.

There were two girls in front of me who are training for the marathon and they're new to running so they're on a schedule of running 5 minutes, walking 1, running 5, and so on. They were right ahead of me and I'd *almost* catch up while they walked...and then they'd run ahead...and then I'd *almost* catch up again...over...and over...and over...for an hour and twenty-six freaking minutes. And I usually run with another girl who's about at my pace but today she had to stop to walk (God do I not blame her) and so I was alone. Dripping wet. Unable to breathe. Caught in the mental torture of watching the people in front of me...

So, yeah. Running is awesome and everyone should do it.

I contemplated running last night...

...but it was raining. I believe it has rained at least once every day for the past week now. Or if I'm just making that up, then it's rained every day except one (that one being today...so far). We haven't seen the sun in days and days and days...

So no running yesterday. But yes cross-training. And Daily Show-watching. And, er, what else did I do last night? Obviously it was of little importance.

Today it was AGAIN a dripping 80% humidity, the threat of rain imminent, but onward I went.

I ate lunch with my mom today and I had fish and chips and a high-caloric beverage, the combination of which weighed down my run. But onward I went.

And by God I was in a fix trying to come up with a proper playlist for today's outing but ONWARD I WENT.

The only real question today was...two miles or three? Answer: two. In 21:45 (I was deep in thought at the one mile mark so I have no idea how that breaks down). I stayed at two in part because my knees (both) are starting to feel the burden of the increasing pressure I've put on them lately and in part because of the brick of fish from lunch resting in my gut.

Oh, yes, it'll be two bags of ice tonight, one on each leg. But maybe some crunches, too. I don't know. I don't want to get too wild, doing them two nights in a row...but for some reason I'm feeling reckless this evening...

UPDATE: It's raining. And I've crunched. So there you go.

What the frick, Daily Show?

Look, I have a system, alright? A schedule. I come home. I eat. I run. I get back in time to watch the previous night's Daily Show on Comedy Central at 7:00 pm. It's, like, this thing. That I do. Called a routine.

But oh. Oh oh. After a painful waiting period of three (3!) weeks whilst Jon Stewart and Co. took a merry late-summer break, they are back this week along with the announcement that from now on, the reruns will be shown at 6:00 pm.

Six pee-em! What am I supposed to do with SIX PM?

The only plausible benefit to this time shift is that it no longer pits The Daily Show against Countdown with Keith Olbermann, so no longer would I have to channel-surf during commercial breaks. Except OH WAIT, Comcast is evil and took MSNBC away from me and all other basic cable subscribers in the Memphis metropolitan area. Ergo, as of today, I have entered an era in which I am forced to watch all of my shows online. I mean, why even have a television?

(For NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, of course. And, sometimes, 18 Kids and Counting. Oh, and NOVA. And obvs I'll watch The Daily Show at 6:00 on the nights when I don't run...so really, there are many reasons to have a television.)

So there's that.

Also, I had all of these things that were going on this evening and I was being pulled in many directions, but then none of those things happened. And with this sudden freeing of my after-work hours, I could either stay home and watch The Daily Show or run. The part of me that feels an obligation to post on this blog chose to run. Go me.

I did 3 miles in 34:22. I tried to use the "lap" feature on my watch because I've never really understood what it is or why it's there but I thought maybe it would keep track of my lap times for me so I wouldn't have to remember each one as I crossed the mile marker. Whether or not this is the actual use of the lap feature, I still don't know. Despite my earnest button-punching this evening, I remain ignorant of how to use it, so I have no idea what my splits were.

The humidity was nice and oppressive tonight (80% according to Google). NOT an easy run. From about 1.25 miles on, there was nothing fun about it.

And...also of note...in the realm of personal achievement, I just added up my mileage and I've run just under 33 miles since I started this blog. That's...not as many as it feels like.

I was so tired yesterday...

...that I fell over.

I was doing alright until around noon or so, and then I started doing laundry, and by the time I was making up my bed, I was exhausted and hot and wanted to switch out of jeans and into some shorts. So I started pulling my jeans off and...BAM. I fell on the floor. This is not usual behavior for me! (Although I'm totally fine, aside from a bruised knee.)

So I didn't cross-train yesterday. But I did today! Kudos to me. I also solved the Beatles conundrum by ordering the box set from Amazon and resigning myself to a long wait. But hey, since I don't know when it'll come, it'll be a fun surprise. PROBLEM SOLVED.