Mission Accomplished

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Days Run: 134 Nancy's 2014 Mileage: 643.7 Elly's 2014 Mileage: 292 Money Found For Food Bank: $43.26

Is everyone as excited that it's Friday as I am?!?! YAHOO!!! With my long run behind me, I am ready for some weekend fun!! But, before the weekend good stuff begins, let's see how this morning panned out!

So. The morning run. It's like this: It hurt! I'm not even going to pretend that it didn't. I think it's highly possible I strained my thigh muscles ascending a big hill on Wednesday like a beast. And, yesterday, I know I exacerbated any leg issues I already had. The good news is I've been running long enough to not only understand when there's injury and when I'm just sore and running won't actually hurt anything.

So, I took my Wednesday thought of pushing things up a notch seriously and didn't back down from the challenge of 8 miles in the thermal-blanket-thick humidity this morning. There are plenty of times I will accommodate feeling sore, but, with the Half coming down the pike, I wanted to push today a little harder than I actually felt like because I know the payoff is a good one.

That didn't mean I didn't take a two separate walk breaks for about 50 yards each, I'm just sayin'. I blame those on the drain of the humidity, though. And, while I know how to manage muscle issues, I do not hesitate to walk a stint and have extra water with me when it's this gross outside.

It was right at the end of Walk Break #2 that I saw this fella:

I've never seen one this color, so it totally caught my eye!! I caught his, too ... he scrambled like a maniac when I was approaching (calling attention to himself just the way he didn't want to), but he did stop to pose before running off. Yeah ... everyone likes the camera no matter what they say ...

I wrapped up my jaunt in decent form and time, and I really couldn't ask for much more than that! The important things were to get it finished (a) safely, and (b) in a manner that inspires me to go out again and not bag this whole thing! I'd say: Mission accomplished!

I'm totally digging getting back to 4 days of running instead of 5 ... that will return, but I'm enjoying the current shake up! 'Makes the long runs not so encompassing! With that ... start your weekend off just the way you want, and I'll see you on tomorrow's Rest Day!