9 miles and I survived

I hope everyone had a safe and good 4th of July (well, everyone in the US).  We went our friend's inlaws house, which we have done for 4 years now.  The kids (including the adult kids {the husbands}) set off their own fireworks and we have food and visit.  Since we've been going there for so long, it has gotten a lot more comfortable for me to be there and I enjoyed it a lot this year. 

 

Maddox was high up in that tree on the bottom.

We didn't get home until midnight or so.  Poor Chris had to get up and work, and poor me had to get up and run 9 miles.  It's been so warm here, so I've been doing morning runs (hate it, but it's cool) and with 9 miles I really didn't want to be out running in 75+ degree weather (I know, some places would be happy to run in 75 degrees, this western WA acclimated girl doesn't care for it).  So I set my alarm for 5:30am and was going to try to get out the door by 6 (I was also trying to avoid having to wake up Damian to watch Maddox).  However, I remembered that I have to eat and drink something before doing 9 miles, so I readjusted and decided to leave by 7am. 

I did it.  I ran 9 miles and survived.  =)  I knew I would survive, but honestly I was rather worried about making it through 9 miles.  It's been a little over a year since I've run that far and I wasn't sure if I could.  This training plan I am using for my marathon had me do 7 miles, then 5, then 9, I felt the jump from 7 to 9 was a lot, especially since it scaled me down last week, but I did it.  Not only did I do it, but I crushed the last mile, coming in with an 8.46 min/mile, my fastest mile for the whole 9 miles. 

At mile 7 I stopped to take a picture of the river (I really love running along the river, even if it's not very long) and shortly after that I started seeing sayings and stuff chalked onto the sidewalk.  I was running past them all thinking there must have been a fun run on the 4th when I thought "I need to stop and take a picture" and how appropriate that the first one I took said "You are Strong."  I felt I needed it.  Then at 7.5 miles I came up to "Run Happy" which is one of my favorite hashtags to use on Instagram, so of course I had to take a picture. 

I got home about 9am and both Damian and Maddox were still sleeping, so I was happy about that.  I took a shower and then decided to have a 3rd cup of coffee (I usually only drink 2, which I did before I ran) and roll my feet to (hopefully) prevent any pain. 

The rest of the day I was completely wiped out.  I was so tired.  I don't know if it was the 5 and a half hours of sleep, or the long run, or both, but I was exhausted.  I couldn't make myself do anything.  I laid around on the couch all day.  The kids across the street came and got Maddox to play for a little while and I took a short nap, even after that I could barely keep my eyes open.  When Maddox came home I decided to go lay in our little kiddie pool, but even that proved to be too exhausting, so instead I had some wine while Maddox played with the water. 

My pool boy. =)

I did cook dinner, so that is something, right?  ;-)  I ended up falling asleep on the couch (or nodding off) about 8pm., so I finally drug myself to bed at 8:30 and slept pretty good.  =)  I also managed to drink a lot of wine.  So I guess I accomplished a lot.  =)

Today I am feeling okay.  My feet aren't hurting more than normal fatigue from running farther than they are used to.  I can feel how tight my hips are, and it was getting really uncomfortable, so I decided to do a yoga pose that is supposed to help with that while I read a training online.  (very boring, by the way) 


This is "Happy Cow Pose" supposed to be very good for tight hips.

Next week is 10 miles . . . I should be okay, right?  ;-)