I missed it

Sometime at the end of February was my running anniversary.  I didn't even think of it this year.  I've been running for 5 years since February 26th.  I didn't even do anything special, just ran 3 miles.  Last year I did a whole recap of my running, but I just did a big recap of my 2016 running, and don't really feel like repeating the same post.  So if you want to read about my last 4 years of running here's last year's 4 year runiversary post and 2016's recap post, which we all know sucked. 

Last week's running was average, 18 miles.  I also did 2 weight workouts, and instead of cycle class I went for a walk with my sister.  We are walking Bloomsday in May, which is a 12k (7.45 miles) and since she has to train to get up that far in mileage she's already started.  The year that I walked with her, my first year doing it, I was surprised at how much different walking is than running.  By the end of the 7 and a half miles(ish) my feet hurt, and my hands were swollen.  Back then I figured that walking 7.45 miles would be easy because I could run more than that easily.  That's not true, it's not that I was overly tired or couldn't do it, but 7 and a half miles running takes me a little over an hour, 7 and a half miles walking takes almost twice that long, so essentially the same amount of walking as if I was running a half marathon. 

Although, the first time I walked Bloomsday I hadn't yet run a half marathon.  My longest run at that point was 11 miles, and I was running for 1 hour 47 min.  Our walking time was 2 hours and 16 min.  My longest half marathon (from this year) was 2 hours and 9 min, so walking Bloomsday took longer than 13.1 miles running.

Anyway, back to last week's running.  I ran 4 miles on Friday and 5 on Saturday.  I don't know how, or at least don't remember doing it, but at some point I entered a challenge on Mapmyrun, and I got a notification early last week that I earned $40 off a $100 purchase at UnderArmour.  I need a new gym bag because the zipper on the one I got for my birthday has completely died.  I decided to go look at gym bags on the UnderArmour website.  I got a bag, shorts (they're softball shorts, but I'm hoping they don't slide up between my thighs like all other shorts do, the reviews were good, with a couple mentioning that they don't slide), and a new sports bra.  With the $40, the shorts and the bra were free.  =)  And I got it all on Friday before my run.

Unfortunately the bag is gigantic, so I need to return it and get a smaller one.  I'm kinda bummed about that, but oh well. 

 

There was nothing exciting about my run on Saturday, just 5 miles.  I noticed on Instagram that a lot of the runners I follow always put their times and distance on their pictures, so I went looking for how to do that.  I found the Nike+ Run Club app, but it is another GPS tracking app.  I did download it (obviously, as you can see it from my pictures) but that means that I now have 2 tracking apps and my Garmin all monitoring my runs.  Nike and my Garmin are more accurate for distance.  Mapmyrun somehow always ends up a little ahead of my actual mileage, and it gets worse the longer the run is.  (My mapmyrun app said that I ran 26.71 miles for my full marathon 2 years ago, it really wasn't a half mile longer than 26.2 miles.)

Sunday was a beautiful day!  We haven't had much sun in rainy western Washington lately.  I heard that we've had 4 completely sunny days since October, so having the sun out was a big incentive for me to do something.  I did a bunch of yard work after grocery shopping and then forced myself to go running.  I didn't really want to, but I've gotten lazy and it was so nice, it would have been a shame to waste the weather.

I decided I was going to do another 5 miles but wanted to do a different route than my usual one.  I had an idea the week before of a route that I thought would be about 5 miles, but then ended up not doing it.  My visualized route would take me along the Skagit River, which I like to do, so I decided to try it out because it was so nice outside.  Well, it wasn't 5 miles, but ended up being over 6 miles, and I actually cut out a part of it which would have made it over 7 miles. 

When I started running I had an irritation in my knee.  Just a little "pop" like feeling, it wasn't bad, and it wasn't consistent, so I continued.  Then around mile 4 it started getting worse.  It was really bothering me.  I stopped several times to massage it and stretch it a little.  At that point I was the farthest away from home that I was going to get, and there was no point in turning around, that would have made it 8 miles, continuing the run was actually the closest beeline home (well, unless I was a bee and could fly over houses).  =)  So I continued, but I stopped and walked a few min several times. 

Well, that evening and Monday my knee felt awful.  I decided on Monday that I need to apply my lessons learned from my sprained ankle and rest my knee . . . and stretch my legs as I'm sure that's where the problem stems.  (My right leg has been really, really tight the last several months.)  This means I haven't run at all, or done any exercising, since Sunday.  I could continue to lift weights, but I'm so unmotivated by that I've been skipping it again.  And . . . if I'm honest . . . leg day is my favorite day, and I can't do that at the moment.

Yesterday and today my leg has been feeling almost completely back to normal, so I've been very tempted to go for a run.  Tuesday is, after all, my "I always run" day.  I ended up going out for drinks with a friend after work last night, so that was probably a good thing because I didn't go home and feel like I should go run. 

I have more to say, but this is getting long, so I will type another post on another day.  =)  Not that I care much, but 2 days from today is my "blogiversary," the day I started my blog 5 years ago.