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accomplished

Today was a day of big accomplishment. C and I woke up before 8, prepped and then painted the big wall in our living room. We did two coats of deep navy and then painted inside a shelving unit near the bathroom. I also painted one wall in my room a stormy grey and painted my desk a light grey. After all that, I went out to do my last long run. With the taper, I only had to do 8. It’s wonderful that I’ve now run 8 as my short runs, so doing it for the long run felt like a breeze. Speaking of breeze, it seemed to be against me the whole way, but it kept me nice and cool. I really love my new location because I get to run along the west side more. The running path there is amazing. After my run, C and I took down the painter’s tape and rearranged the furniture. And after allll that, I finished up my homemade Halloween costume and went out for the night. It was a fantastic and productive Saturday.

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ouch.

Put on the new orange laces that ING sent me. Love how neon they are. They remind me of Essie “Bright Tights.”

Saturday morning my schedule was to run 20 or 22 miles, depending upon how I was feeling. Niketown’s running group was doing a 16 mile run so I figured I could run there, run with them and then run back. On the run there old blisters got opened up and my feet were being sliced. The bandaids I had on kept coming off and I was worried I’d be in too much pain to run, but fortunately once we got going I was ok. They planned for us to do Queensboro Bridge repeats, we would run there from Niketown and do three laps (to Queens and back) and then run up the east side running path. The wind coming back to Manhattan was INSANE! There were points where it felt like we weren’t moving at all. Good practice for the big day though, especially since mile 15 of the race is going over the bridge to Manhattan. I felt great the whole time but noticed a dull pain on the outside of my left knee while we were on the downhill slopes of the bridge. We all stopped at a little playground under the bridge before heading to the east river running path and got some water. When we started up again the pain in my knee was crippling. After a few yards it felt better, but any time I had to pause at a light, it felt like someone was taking an axe to my knee. Not good. Definitely not good as we made our way back to Niketown and had to stop at lights at almost every avenue. I stretched with the group and then headed home. I tried to start running again and almost buckled over in pain. Really not good. I ended up cabbing it home and only got in 17 miles. 

I talked with my cousin M today, the physical therapist, and she gave me lots of great advice. She’s sending me some stretches tomorrow and suggested I see an orthopedist. Hopefully I can get an appointment this week or next and they’ll be able to help me out. She told me to keep up with the ice and Advil and that I have to take a break from running if it hurts too much. I’m really hoping this run will be the exception and everything else from here will get better. Will continue to update. 

Check out this article for Runner’s World tips for your long runs

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long run to the yacht club

I’m staying at my parents’ house for a long weekend so I had to map out a new route for my long run. From my house to the Yacht Club is about 12 miles. It’s one I have done before but previously had my father pick me up halfway back because I didn’t need to go the full distance. Because we had my cousin’s baby’s christening at 1, I got up fairly early, ate and headed out. I had new headphones that I picked up at TJ Maxx the night before so my music loving ears were much more comfortable. I did get a side stitch the minute I left the driveway. I can’t help but think about what would happen if I had one the morning of the marathon, so I had to just keep going. I paused for a few minutes at the Yacht Club to take a gel and then headed back. 

I didn’t take the above photo, I found it online, but that’s the view of Boston from the Hingham Yacht Club. I always felt so fortunate to grow up in a safe suburb but have incredibly easy access to the city. Another thing I love about Hingham is that everyone says good morning to each other out on runs or walks. I passed by at least 25 people on my long run and pretty much everyone smiled and said hello. I didn’t know a single one of them but it just felt right to say hi. So different than NYC.