Saturday morning’s run was a success, but it left me blubbering quietly to myself in the car park afterwards. I had been told the run surface, through King’s Park (which is beautiful), was “a little sand, a little trail, a little bitumen”. This wasn’t a very strict definition and I turned up for a run on sandy tracks the whole way. It could be classified as “a little bit of sand” if you meant you didn’t sink up to your ankles in the stuff! It was sand all the way, except for crossing roads! Note to self – when I run with Bernadette Benson (Canadian ultra runner) be sure to assume her estimations of time, distance and terrain are “slightly” understated…at least that was the advice her boyfriend gave me while we trudged along at the back of the pack. I started out with them ok, and even thought they aren’t running too fast for me…but the further I went in the sand, the slower I became. I don’t like sand running at the best of times and if I have to I stick to the wet stuff next to the ocean where it’s compacted…this was dry and twisty and sinking and sliding about underfoot. I did learn a new trick though, that you run slightly flat-footed through sand, rather than lifting your heels as you would in a normal stride. That made me fell slightly better at the fact that I was struggling to even run!
After the first couple of kms, and worrying all the way that my physio would kill me if she knew I was running in soft sand, I did slow but managed to hang about 15-20m off the back of the group (of 4 others). After another km or so, the two guys hung back with me and let the other two women lead and gas bag from the front. I was happy that my leg was holding up, and just hoped it felt ok afterwards also. For an inner-city park, King’s Park is deceptively challenging, well it was for me. It might be a good idea to go weekly and build up my sand-running muscles! The “hanger back” turned into one person, GGuy and it turned out he remembered me from triathlon days, his name was familiar though I never knew him.
As we popped out of a wooded area and were vaguely near the car park where we started, I enquired how much further we would go and they pointed up a nice grassy gradual hill. It was about another 3km up there and back and I was about to keep going and my tendon twinged. I quickly opted out of the rest of the run and off they trotted into the distance. I’d stopped at a lovely spot, the Synergy Parkland. It was crisp and green and not a soul around. I dropped onto the grass and spent a good 20 minutes stretching and drinking what was left in my hydration pack. Checking the watch I’d managed 9.4km…much further than I’d though (or intended) to go, but as I was running on the “feel” of my leg, I was very happy. The tears came a little later, with the realization (as the group charged off to run another hour or so) that I had so far to go. I felt overwhelmed about the task ahead and wondered if I’d bitten off more than I could chew. Here I was struggling to run 10kms and was hoping to go 125km over mountains in only 4 months time! For a moment I felt like that task was beyond me, and I cried out of frustration. Stupid really, as I’d just run 10km on a gammy leg, that didn’t really complain much. By that afternoon I had shaken it off and was feeling angry enough to get back on task!
Today was to have been my fundraising BBQ at a local hardware store. With zero response from companies I contacted for sausages and bread, and the store saying I’d sell about 200 hotdogs over the day; I decided it wasn’t worth the effort, even if I went out and bought the meat and bread and drinks myself. I would’ve only made about $100 for a whole day’s work so I cancelled it. I am not good at asking for things (donations) at the best of times, and I didn’t enjoy writing the letters asking for meat, etc. So when they didn’t even bother to respond to turn me down, I couldn’t face calling and asking “Did you get my letter?” When I got home I mowed the lawn as penance for feeling sorry for myself and watered the lawns and gardens. The rest of the morning was spent with housework while checking into the Ironman Live website periodically to check on MGal’s progress. She was becoming IronWoman that day and I wanted to follow how she was going! Eventually we had to go out, she was somewhere mid-marathon at that point, and go to CBoy’s baseball game. It was their last, as it happened, as they lost and got knocked out of the finals for the season. That means Saturday afternoons have now become free! Small mercies!
With an early to bed on Saturday night, I was up early again on Sunday to get MGirl to her game for 8am. We took FD#1 along as the game was close to the beach and I wanted to take her down there after the game for a swim. The morning was lovely, the temperature only reached 27 on Sunday and we actively sought out the sun to warm up…that’s different from the weather we’ve been having. As the morning went on it got windier and windier which meant by the time the game finished at 11.30am the beach wouldn’t have been very nice, so we canned that idea and decided to sit and watch the state league play in the time slot after MGirl’s. I think this was the first time all summer we’d had time to sit and watch, so that was nice enough on its own.
The rest of the afternoon, while MGirl went to work, was spent in a tussle between caring about housework and fighting the urge to fall asleep on the couch. I managed a bit of both and woke after 5pm to the wonderful noise of CBoy feeding the dogs without being asked. The perfect end to a day!
Monday morning, a holiday, had been planned for a week. I was to ride my bike to the local café and meet a girlfriend that I hadn’t seen for some time, KGal, for breakfast. I was just about to get on my bike when I had a “rescue me” call from MGirl. As it was a public holiday the buses were running to a different schedule and she was trying to get to uni; a shame she had to go on a holiday when I had a day off!!! Poor her! Anyway, the next bus would get her to class very late and she wanted me to come and collect her from the train station and drop her there. Grrrr….although annoyed I did it, of course. Mother of the year me! I got to breakfast in plenty of time, just cranky it wasn’t on my bike! I had a nice catch up and can’t remember what I did for the rest of the day, so I can’t have worked too hard. It was a holiday after all.
Monday night was ultimate frisbee night with CBoy. This will turn into something convenient for me, as it is held at a good location for a run, even when the evenings get darker (which they will do soon) I can run with my new headlamp on. As it goes for 2 hours I can see myself getting a good solid run in on a Monday night, which will free up the morning for a bit of a sleep-in or taking FD#1 for a walk. I had a good stretch and was keen to see what the leg was going to do after my run on Saturday. I headed out and fudged guessing the distance a bit. Only wanting 7.5km I ended up doing 9.6km in 56 minutes, so I was really happy with that. I stopped because I got back to the field, not because my leg gave me grief. I had another good 30minute stretch as CBoy finished up. This was good, two runs in 3 days without much niggling at all.
Tuesday I rode into work on my bike to make up for the missed ride on Monday. There and back gave me 90 minutes of exercise at a gentle pace, and I really enjoyed it. I really have to try doing this at least once a week. I’ve written it into my program, just never got around to doing it lately. Wednesday was another run, from home in the morning this time. 7.2km and not a problem, even knocked a minute off the time I did that run last time. Yeah. Wednesday night was a busy one, with MGirl off doing her netball and baseball, and I took CBoy into the city for a drama excursion for school. Finally got home and into bed by 10pm and I was zonked. Zonked but a bit happier as the program is back on track this week…so far, so good.
This morning I was tired and opted out of the weights…I had a good stretch on the floor instead. I am off to the physio this evening for another session, and have a leg massage booked for Saturday at 12 noon. I hope this all continues in a positive vein!
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