My 'long run' yesterday ended up being just a bit too Christ-like for me. Not only was it on a Friday, and a fairly good one I guess, but when I wasn't able to head out until noon, and I intended it to take three hours... Well, maybe you've heard of this:
The Three Hours' Agony (also known as the Tre Ore, The Great Three Hours, or Three Hours' Devotion) is a Christian service held in many Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches on Good Friday from noon till 3 o'clock to commemorate the three hours of Christ's hanging at the cross.
Yeah, "I felt like I was a'gonna die!" (You have to say that in Roseanne Roseannadanna voice).
Of course I say all that mostly in jest. But I do not recommend running 15 miles in the middle of sunny, hot and humid August afternoon. It was a chore.
I intended to go out about 10 am, because I was scheduled to work until 8. However, my coworker had an emergency come up, and apparently my boss doesn't think he needs to do anything anymore since he will be leaving for a new job soon. So I had to work a little longer than usual.
Anyway, even though I thought I was going to have to call it quits several times, I made the 15 miles in 2 hours 53 minutes (11:32 pace), which included stopping halfway to change my clothes (I'll explain later). I also had to take SEVERAL walk breaks. Shoot, I couldn't even make it four miles before I needed to walk and take a drink!
The mental aspect seems the most difficult right now. It takes me so long to get started. On this day my left calf/achilles was sore, my right hip, and I simply dreaded the thought of running.
I managed to stay under an 11-minute pace thru the first 10 or so miles. Then I had to resort to walking a bit each mile afterward until the final one, which I did in exactly 10 minutes. So I was happy to finish strong, and happier still that I didn't feel too bad afterward. Even today I'm not overly sore. Sometimes I think I'm worse on days after I don't run.
I've also been trying to take after-run recovery a little more serious. I figure I should take half the time the run was to recover. So, yesterday, when I got done I changed out of my wet clothes and spent a good deal of time stretching. Then I lay on the floor with my legs up the wall for a good 20 minutes. After drinking as much water as I could, I soaked in an epson salt bath for another 20 minutes or so. Then a shower and shave and new set of clean clothes... and I was feeling fairly okay.
Oh, why did I change clothes halfway through? Well, maybe this is TMI, but last week I forgot my anti-chafe gel on my nipples, and I rubbed them raw. Now I don't know if they're infected or what, but every day since I've been using peroxide, neosporin, and this steroid cream we've had for ages. They look better, but now they itch like a mother! Anyway, so since I did a double loop of the route down Lower Huntington to Bluffton Road, through Foster (the long route), and back on the greenway and Lower Huntington, our house is almost exactly halfway. So I thought since I was going by, I may as well put a dry shirt on to help with the chafing. When I did that, I just decided to put on dry everything!
So, there ya go. I ran 15 miles yesterday and lived to tell about it. Barely. But I feel relatively good today (just got done mowing the lawn). I am not overly excited about doing 16 next Friday though. Maybe it will be bad (which would be good, right?). Meh, carry on.
***
Matthew 27:45-54
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
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