WORST. RUN. EVER...... so far

Did I mention the amazing marathon I did a few weeks ago? It was everything I wanted! Yippee! I was high on running and everything was rainbows and unicorns. My next long run was going to be 20 miles and I was ready to get going. Expecting a magical run I was extremely surprised by

 

WORST. RUN. EVER!!!!

 
I’ve had awful runs. We all have. But this was on a whole new level of suck-o.

There were multiple fails that made up the worst run I’ve ever had. Let me tell you about them.

1)      I didn’t respect the effort I put into the marathon I ran the week before. You see, I had the marathon built into my training as a “training run”. I would tell people “oh it’s just a training run” and I wasn’t wound up like I would be at a goal race. I upped my heart rate monitor by about 7 beats, but stayed in that range for the entire race. And even though I was tired I felt GREAT for the race. BUT, I put in quite the effort. And I had just run a 20 mile long run the Saturday before. I really should have taken the week as a cutback week, but I didn’t do that. I thought I would push through with one more big mileage week and THEN have a cutback week. The only reason I wanted to do that was because it fit into my schedule better. No thoughts as to what my ACTUAL BODY may want…. Oops.

2)      I go to a chiropractor regularly. Typically I have an appointment set up for right after a big race to straighten me out after the extra effort. But, since I had convinced myself that this was “just a training run” (see mistake #1), I was also not concerned that my next chiropractor appointment was for ten days after the marathon. My lower back was bothering me quite a bit after the race, but I figured I would wait. Turns out macho-ing through the pain didn’t do me any favors.

3)      I didn’t do the simple math of sweat pouring off your face=more electrolytes needed. Pretty self-explanatory.

 So there I was. I started off the run with high hopes that were quickly disturbed by lower back pain. Ouch, should have gotten that adjustment. I thought to myself, oh well just get through it. I also noticed that my legs were just kind of dead, but you know, maybe they should be? I do run a lot. They can’t always be fresh as a daisy.

At about mile nine the wheels started to COMPLETELY fall off the wagon. It started with a bit of a side stich. Those are fairly common for me, so I had an electrolyte pill and kept going. The slight stitch turned into full body cramps before I knew it. Awful. I can’t take a lot of electrolyte pills at once because they don’t get along well with my tummy. So, by the time I realized I was in electrolyte hell, it was a bit too late. Oops. I started taking an electrolyte pill every 10-20 minutes to try to get things under control, but the cramping was so bad I was having trouble breathing. Super fun you say? Why no, no it was not any fun at all. At this point I was just walking in the woods trying not to cry. I had never been so grateful to pick a route that had my car reasonably close to me.

I got to a park bench and sat for a minute to catch my breath and gather my thoughts. And I emailed my husband:

How do I know this run sucks? I'm not even done and I'm takings Facebook break. Cutting it Down to 15. I’m about two miles away from the car and just needed to whine. But I'm ok.

He said I was smart for cutting the run short. Here’s what I had to say in response:

Nah there was a lot of not smart going on. I'm just smart enough to call it quits before I have to call the EMTs. Done now. Thank GOD!

SOOOOOoooo…. That sucked. Sometimes a run just sucks even though you go into it thinking it will be a bucket of awesome. The trick is, trying to learn from it (see 1-3 above). I’m just grateful it was a training run. Worst run ever guarantees the best race ever, right? RIGHT?