Happy (Almost) Mo(o)nday!

2

July 29, 2013 by Amy B

(Weird title to be explained later in this post)

I don’t think there’s a substitute for a good night’s sleep. Sure, there are those energy drinks/shots and I’ve tried them (only for extremely long drives in the car when I was required to be completely alert), but when the alarm goes off at 5AM, I can definitely tell if I’ve gotten my requisite shut-eye or not.

Fortunately, I went to be at a somewhat reasonable hour with the kids last night while Scott was trudging through his 15 mile effort (he runs on Sundays and the weather yesterday morning was completely shitty).

My legs, however, weren’t feeling as springy as I would have liked them to feel, which is why I never have terribly high expectations for the Monday morning run, especially if I’ve run long on the weekend.

I didn’t feel like running on the highway before dawn so I did a familiar neighborhood loop with an extra mile tacked on to make it four. When Garmin beeps at that one mile point, I do usually check it to see if I’m in the ballpark of my warmup pace. 9:56? I was fine with that. I tried to concentrate on my cadence and breathing to take my mind off of my not-so-awesome feeling legs. Judging by my splits (I usually do not check Garmin for the remainder of the run), I guess I started to loosen up. I did intentionally try to push it for the last mile, and when I saw that I’d hit 4 miles before the end point of my run, I sprinted the last quarter of a mile, just for the hell of it.

A sort of funny thing happened. Well, not really funny but kind of a “doh” moment. I decided to wear the bum wrap I’d worn on Saturday for my long run; it was in the 40s when I left the house and a bit chilly. Upon the start of my run I noticed that it was slipping low. Really low. Like plumber’s crack low. I hiked it up. I kept running. It keep moving. WTF? I’d worn this for two and a half hours and hadn’t had a problem. I knew I hadn’t lost an entire skirt size in two days.

Bum Wrap from Oiselle

It then dawned on me that not only was I wet from rain on Saturday, but that my hydration belt was probably holding the damn thing up during my run.

From Saturday. I still can’t believe this is how I intended to go out and run in JULY.

I tucked in my shirt, hoping it might provide the extra bulk to keep them up, which sort of worked, but it wasn’t ideal. After I’d gotten about a mile or so in, I started to sweat a little and that helped with the slippage. Damn, I’ve never been so happy to start sweating.

The rest of the run was fine – shorts stayed up and civilization was saved from an accidental mooning. However, I’m kind of bummed out, because I do think this is the right size for me. I can’t imagine going down to a small and having my lower half squeezed to death. But maybe it’s too big? Further tests might need to be performed. And if that’s the case, a stitch or two on the inside liner might need to be made so that I can keep wearing this, because I freaking love it.

Let us not discuss the state of my bathroom.

Post-run I walked the dogs for their morning constitution and spent a few minutes with the roller. Not that you need to see a photo of me rolling but I do like the orange/green color combo.

It was nice to see the sun, since we haven’t seen it for days and the weather feels more like fall than mid-summer.

I know they probably make extensions for these stretchy dog leashes but then I wouldn’t be able to hack together my own custom two-dog model, complete with a duct tape knob to keep the second leash from coming loose. We are all class here, baby.

All dog walkers should have one of these. It frees up your hands to carry the poop bag and snap self-portraits with your iPhone.

I never thought I’d have to pull the Lux out in July, but it does help ease the pain of running in 40 degree weather.

Waking up at 5AM might not always be a blast, but seeing the sun begin its ascent into the sky as I’m cooling down is always a nice way to begin the day.

The second (orange) leash is one that Newman chewed to hell shortly after I bought it (thanks).

Happy Monday, kids. Get out and run!