Double Duty Weekend

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Days Run: 132 Nancy's 2014 Mileage: 632 Elly's 2014 Mileage: 288.3 Money Found For Food Bank: $40.97

As of this morning's run, I am finally convinced I need to quit underestimating my treadmill runs. Because I can control the speed (even to the point of going slower than I would outside) and because I don't have hills (because I'm not jacking around with the incline ... because I don't want to ...), I always feel like the treadmill run is sufficient but isn't doing too much other than letting me log the miles. Some people would call those 'junk' miles. I've never gone quite that far; I am doing something after all!

Anyway, after looking at the calendar for the upcoming week and realizing I scheduled runs on days that don't make sense, I decided to take two of the 3-mile runs and combine them into one long one for today. I made it a double duty weekend, if you will. My legs felt more than okay all day yesterday, so I didn't think it would over-tax them. After all, it was just a slow-poke (for real) treadmill run, right?

Yeah, my legs had something to say to that at about the 1.5 mile mark this morning. The language they used to communicate how they felt about a 6-miler immediately after a 7 was foul, though, so we won't go there. Given how they were feeling and with 4.5 miles to go, though, I did question the brilliance of my morning plan. But, I decided the pros way outweighed the cons and that I could just suck it up and deal with it.

So, even though I had total control over what I was going to do, I did not have control over what loomed ...

I could only hope I could outrun it. Spoiler alert: It never rained. Oh, it looked like it the entire time, but it never did. And, once I was at the end of my route, I thought, "Hey, I outran it." Then I thought, "Wait. You can't outrun something that never happened ... right?" And, then, all of my I-rock-the-Casbah delusions of grandeur went right out the window. ... But, can they actually go out the window if there is no window?

See what running does to me?

I was most definitely treated like a rock star today, though. It first happened when I was at the 2-mile mark, and a friend of mine drove past honking furiously while waving out her window. And, I know she wasn't just being friendly; she was cheering me on. Then, she passed me coming from the other direction a couple of miles down the road, but she didn't pass before stopping her car in the middle of the road to honk, wave and give a big shout of, "Go, girl, GO!" That was a perfectly timed shout out, too, as it was today's 4th mile but the weekend's 10th, and my legs felt like they'd just run all 10 in a row. Following the cheers, I was reenergized to wrap this sucker up and find my biggest fan at the end of the road ready to pour on the rock star status!

Had my crazed-by-humidity hair not been
in a ponytail, I would have nailed the 80s
rock star look with my headband. Just sayin'.

The next two days brings about rest from running while the schedule is jammed full! It all works out just fine, though (tell it to my legs ...). Start your week off just the way you want and need -- surrounding yourself by people who treat you like the rock star you are helps, by the way! -- and, I'll check in on tomorrow's Rest Day!