I ain't trippin

CHECK MY PREVIOUS BLOG FOR SOME DAMN GOOD NEWS!!


Well a Saturday came and went without my feet so much as touching my running shoes. It was Jamie’s birthday weekend on August 23rd and my brother Trevor and his wife Rachel came down from the Bay to go to a Dave Matthews Band concert with us in San Diego. The weekend was a blast, and we gave Jamie the full birthday treatment. Thanks guys for heading down; it meant a lot to us!

From Monday on we put ourselves in a serious training mode; 18 miles was on the horizon and we had to ready our bodies for it. Constant hydration and daily stretching were a must; we made a consorted effort to hit the z’s early, but only managed to do so the night before the run. The team also started a new mid-week workout called speed intervals. Basically we run at about 85% of our max speed for a timed interval and then rest for a period of time and then repeat. Repeating this five times put us halfway through our workout and the remainder was wrapped up with a two mile run.

The morning of the big run Jamie and I were up before the sky even cracked a shade of blue. We each downed water and a protein-berry-oatmeal-almond milk-banana-peanut butter smoothie (I know it sounds kinda weird, but it gets me going and keeps me going). We charge out the door into the dark morning sky ready to take on what would be our second longest run in training. The morning air was thick with remnants of a southern tropical storm, but retained the cool temperatures of a typical Southern California morning. We stretched our reluctant legs, and were off pounding the trail before sunrise.

We were doing three loops today; one 8 mile loop and two 5 mile loops. At about halfway through the first loop I found myself running in a small group of runners. This was a bit unusual for me because I typically run alone, but I figured this would be good practice for race day (when I plan to run with Jamie and my mentor Paul). Our pace was a bit slower then I was accustomed to, but I acclimated to it and focused on my form. The loops went by pretty uneventfully until the final loop.

We were pushing through the last miles of our run and fatigue was beginning to set in for me. We were on a stretch of concrete bike path when just in front of us two people walking opposite directions stopped and allowed their dogs to stretch their retractable leashes across the entire length of the path to sniff each other out. As soon as I saw this it seemed too late for me and I yelled out “excuse me!” I got no reaction from them as they condoned their dogs’ indulgence in each other. It seemed like a split second before I was upon their trip line of leashes and having to take evasive maneuvers; I darted off the path hitting one of the ladies pretty hard and shredding through the grass. Luckily I caught my footing pretty well and was able to continue running uninjured.

After this bit of excitement it was back at it. We had about two miles left and they were clocking in as the toughest yet. I found myself convincing my legs that this was a cool down run, and that it was just an easy jog in. My legs fell for this sham and before I knew it the pain and fatigue were subsiding and I was devouring the last mile.

I finished out the run with fellow teammate Debbie, and we were the first to cross the finish line. Our time was not the best, but we were glad to be done. Jamie did awsome today and finished not too long after us… WAY TO ROCK IT BABY!! We hung around for some breakfast and then took off for our post run recovery.

Try and keep up with me.