Determined to run all the runs. Even the crazy 12.5 mile ones.

I did a sweaty 12.5 mile thing this morning.

Some things about this sweaty thing I did:

1) Since only the big blue wall is there to judge when I'm on the treadmill, the dress code for the run was sports bra and shorts only.  Oh, and sun visor for all the sun I encounter in my dark and smelly basement.

2) My right ankle has been slightly messed up for weeks, with it hurting to walk all day after a run (so of course I still run on it because I am a moron, you know).  Today I ran without my usual shoe inserts in and wouldn't you know it my ankle has been fine all day long.  Sometimes it's the little things, kids.

3) This run was surprisingly tough.  4 two-mile repeats didn't intimidate or scare me, but I was having a tough time getting through the repeats....it was like time slowed down to a crawl during each interval and my mind was screaming MY GOD WOMAN WHY AREN'T WE DONE YET ?!?

4) While tough, a moment of running clarity shone through my moments of running darkness.  As I was struggling through the third repeat staring at my shadow on the big blue wall, I really didn't think I was going to make it to the end of the workout.  I thought about quitting after that repeat, but then this thought blasted it's way through my mind:

"Tired of having bad marathons? Then you need to get this done."

You see, when I ran my first sub-two hour half marathon, the reason that feat was accomplished was because I grabbed a training plan and did every single run on it.  Every.  Single.  Damn.  Run.  Never skipped a workout or cut one short, and thus a half-marathon PR was born after trying for a solid year.  Even though I think this My Run Plan plan is kind of cray cray for having these long speed and tempo sessions during the week, I am determined to run all the runs on this plan and see how that pays off in terms of marathon time.

By the way, I managed to power through the third repeat and take down the fourth.  I did get to 12.5 miles, and felt incredibly accomplished once I stopped sweating all over myself.  I also managed to accomplish not falling asleep at my desk later in the day, too.  So much accomplishing today.

5) Despite the glow of all the accomplishing today, here's how I really felt once the run was done:

No prettied up Instagram-y pic here.

And here's some learnings to really tell you the post is done:

• Why yes, that is a brand new sports bra.  Thanks for noticing.
• Hubbs approves of all new sports bra purchases as long as I replace my old ones that stink to high heaven.
• In all seriousness, my brain is now all about doing all the runs on the training plan no matter what.  Even if my treadmill breaks down and I have to run in place next it--I'm that serious.
• And I am tired of bad marathons.  Let's get this done.

Tomorrow's workout: 7 easy peasy miles!

Day 3, Week 1: Welcome to my day...again.

My morning started with a little treadmilling because it was raining outside at 5 AM.  During this treadmill adventure, I made a very important decision: to never wear a shirt whilst running on the treadmill ever again.  I give this decision a hearty thumbs up.

Nevermind that it's 5 AM; I GOTS NO SHIRT

Look Ma NO SHIRT

This decision came out of the fact that the shirt I had on was sticking to me like a second skin as the sweat poured out of me.  It was making me rather angry until I came to the stunning revelation that I could take my shirt off because the only people that could see me shirtless were the cats who were wandering dangerously close to the treadmill, and they weren't even really people (cats are demons, you know.  Well, my cats are, anyway).  So off went the shirt and I went on with the run. 

Speaking of that run, it was supposed to be 10-11 miles.  But it was all "1.75 miles warm up" and 1.5 miles cool down" and "3 x 2 Miles" and then I was all "GEEZ RUN PLAN APP WHY SO MUCH WARM UP AND COOL DOWN" and finally I went "BUH I need to get to work some time today" and ended up doing a 1.5 mile warm-up and then 2 of those 2 x 2 miles.  Which was fine with my left butt, which really didn't care for 2 mile repeats at all by the end.  But it held itself together for this last treadmill picture:

And then I went off to work, where it was my school district's first day with students.  So I reasoned that it was technically my first day of school, too...or my 4,181st day of work, depending on how you look at it and how good at math you are.  In my eyes, both are worth celebrating with an incredibly stupid pic.

You know what else is worth celebrating?  The end of this post.  I promise something more coherent tomorrow when I'm not trying to keep my eyelids open as I type.

Tomorrow's workout: Some bike riding in the dark! (If it's not raining)