Before I tell you about my 14-miler today, lemme tell you about something that happened on Wednesday:
Poor Ethel! (My last car was a bright red Camry named Lucy. When we brought home this big ol’ Mom-mobile and parked it in the garage next to Lucy, it was sort of inevitable to name her Ethel.)
I was on my way to see a client, minding my own business and maybe singing along to One Direction when a car made a left turn on a red light directly in front of me. The singing turned into screaming, “NOOOOOOO!!” and then *crash* I slammed into the other car at 45 mph. Thankfully, Ethel gave up her front bumper for me and I’m actually fine. I’ve got a couple of real nice seatbelt burns on my butt and my collarbone, plus an airbag burn on my right hand, but nothing else. Even my back, neck, and shoulders seem to be doing okay. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to still want to and be able to run today!!
I recently re-arranged my training plan for like the fourth time because the race I was planning to run in November has disappeared from the internet. I emailed the race director about it, but haven’t heard back, so I assume it’s a non-event. Searching for another race this fall, I came upon this little beauty: The Rock’n River 50-Miler. As soon as I read the course description, I knew this was my race – it’s the American River 50-Miler (that UltraIronHubs ran and I paced in April) BACKWARDS! It’s downhill!! Well, net downhill. There are obviously still a ton of uphills, too. I’m mostly excited because at one time or another, I have run every single mile of this race already, so it’s all familiar ground, and that sounds like the perfect first 50.
Ahhh, but the race I had been planning to run was in November and this one is in October. Guess I’ll be piling on the mileage a little quicker than the training plan called for. Plus, we got Big Boy’s cross country schedule for this season and it looks like every single Saturday from now until Thanksgiving will be taken up with his running, so I moved my long run day to Friday. And that’s why I ran 14 miles today.
(I think that might be the longest intro to a blog post I’ve ever written)
I got up at my usual 4:30 am and dawdled got ready to go. Slowly. I was only a little nervous about running long so soon after the accident, but I really do feel good, so figured I should stay on track with my training. I have absolutely NO pace goals AT ALL for running 50 miles, so my long runs these days are pretty casual affairs. I still wear my Garmin, but I really never look at it except to figure out if I’m going to hit my mileage.
About three miles in, when all my joints had finally stopped creaking and groaning, I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. I’m always surprised by this feeling in the middle of a run because I go no fewer than three times before I leave my house and all business should really be taken care of. I ignored the feeling. Sometimes it just goes away. I hate to stop in the middle of a run – seriously, it’s way up there on my list of Annoying, Stupid Things – and I especially hate to use public restrooms. Call me crazy. I’m totally okay with porto-potties on race day, but the bathroom in McDonald’s freaks me the freak out. Blech!
Well, by Mile 7 it became quite clear that a stop was in my near future. I considered just peeing my pants, but decided against it because A.) I am 100% certain that I am not coordinated enough to run and pee at the same time, and B.) That’s disgusting. So I stopped, and yes I took a selfie in the mirror. Why not? I wasn’t in a hurry.
Of course I lavo-ed my manos and triple-checked for seat cover pieces stuck to my sweaty legs before taking this picture.
I haven’t run long in town for several weeks and it was actually a really nice change of scenery to run on all that flat asphalt. I pretty much zoned out and cranked up my music and just let my feet go. It was awesome.
The view from the highest spot in town, a railroad overcrossing I climbed twice for a total elevation gain of about 80 feet. Go Me!
Around Mile 11, I was getting a little tired, so I cranked up my music even more to get some energy going. At some point, I think I started singing out loud. I can only imagine what I must have looked like, a sweaty, scrawny middle-aged white girl rapping to a remix of Public Enemy’s Bring the Noise – “5-0 said FREEZE and I got numb/Can I tell em that I really never had a gun?” – complete with the whole yo-yo-yo hand movements. Yeah, boy-eeee.
I made it back home, happily tired, with just a little over 14 sweat-tastic miles on the books. I think I’m going to like getting my long run done before the weekend even begins.
What embarrassing things do you do during a run? Check all that apply:
- Pee on yourself, either intentionally or not.
- Sing out loud and/or bust out some dance moves.
- Take 18 increasingly dreadful selfies because you can’t see the little shutter thing closing and you think your stupid phone isn’t taking pictures.
Lisa says
I’m training for my first 50 too! Mine’s early November so nothing too crazy in mileage yet.
Good luck with your new race plan and I’ll be anxiously awaiting your updates as I post my own 🙂
Heather says
Nice run! Peeing on myself, yes. Singing and dancing, yes. Camera malfunctions, yes. All totally normal.
ajh says
Training for 50? VERY impressive! I stink at all selfies.
Tortuga_Runner says
I have almost fallen off a treadmill trying to bust a move while running.
Glad you’re Ok accidents are scary, scarier than McDonald’s bathrooms!
Sucks about your run disappearing. Good luck figuring that one out, I know Pacific Coast trail Runs closed it’s shop recently. Saw it on FB.
Good luck with training!
Alma says
oh my – glad you weren’t hurt in that crash. Running: singing & hand dancing out loud, YES! Tripping, YES!
ratherthecouch says
Yikes! Glad to hear you’re okay! That car looks like it took a beating! I know my runner’s high has kicked in when I start to sing and dance while running. You’re not the only one!
ratherthecouch says
Oh yeah, and a 50 mile race! OMG! Good luck!
Amber says
Haha….the mental image of “a sweaty, scrawny middle-aged white girl rapping to a remix of Public Enemy’s Bring the Noise” was the perfect start to my work week! hehe I’m glad that Ethel did her job to protect you!!
Lancer!! says
Good luck on your 50-miler! I just finished reading “Born to Run” (C. McDougall) and am entertaining the idea of running ultras in the future-future. Too bad about Ethel. Glad you’re still here to tell the tale. 🙂
Go Ultra-P!!
-L.
P.S. I’m sure that girl, “Sweaty Emily,” can give you pointers on how to pee your pants mid-run/marathon/triathlon/ultra. YMMV.