Eighteen Miler

Today’s long run was a mixed success. I got in at least eighteen miles, probably a little more because I had to detour around construction. When I already know my route, I don’t wear my GPS. Gadgets tend to make me focus on numbers, instead of just enjoying being out in the world. A lot of times I don’t even wear my watch! But unexpected detours become problematic without the GPS. I think today’s detour added as much as half a mile to my route, but I’ll call the whole run eighteen, since that was the original plan, and I know I ran at least that much.

The detour was kind of fun, since it took me past the police department’s stables. Like most women, I went through a pre-teen “horsey” phase, and they still always make me smile. I think the police department stables are the old Pin Oak stables, but I could be wrong. There’s an annual Pin Oak charity horse show that I attended once or twice with my mom back in my horsey days. She’s an extrovert and would always end up making friends with someone when we toured the area where the horses were stabled during the show. Those spontaneous friendships would result in me getting to ride one of the show horses (at a slow walk) around a parking lot. And of course, the show itself was always a lot more interesting for having specific horses to cheer for.

Anyway, I got to see the police horses today, and that was fun. The only other thing notable I saw today was a lot of broken eggs on the footbridge that takes me from the park by my apartment across Memorial Drive. I initially thought maybe some kids had been dropping eggs onto cars passing by underneath, but I could see no evidence of eggshells on the street below. They seemed to all be on the bridge, as if someone had had an egg fight there.

I felt strong throughout my run, and the biggest problem was just psychological. 18+ miles is a long way to go and takes a long time. It’s plenty of time to ponder and sort things out in your mind, but it’s also long enough to start wondering when this stupid run will be OVER, already!

At my last stop for water, about a mile and a half from home, I felt a suspicious twinge in my hip. It didn’t keep me from running the rest of the way home, but in the past when I’ve had one of these twinges, it would invariably become a serious problem within about three miles. So I was expecting to have a lot of problems with my hip once I was home, but oddly, it hasn’t been bothering me a bit. I’m not sure what to make of this. Should I treat it as a fluke, or as a San Antonio deal-breaker? I’ll have to give the matter some thought. At least the San Antonio Marathon isn’t known for filling up, so I’ve got time for a 20-miler in a couple weeks, and that ought to answer all my questions.

The weather forecasts are predicting rain, rain, rain, all day and night tomorrow. We’ll see how correct they are. It might turn out to be a good day for elliptical or a spin session.

Recent Workouts
Monday: laziness
Tuesday: 45 minutes elliptical
Wednesday: 6 mile run
Thursday: 40 minute Spinerval
Friday: official rest day
Saturday: 18+ mile run