My Runs Would Suck Without You

"Because we belong together now
Forever united here somehow
Yeah you got a piece of me
And honestly
My "runs" would suck without you"
-My apologies to Kelly Clarkson

Road: 55 degrees. 4 miles; Splits: 9:17; 9:26; 9:27; 9:21; 37:31; 9:22 per mile pace.

Welcome new Followers Donekerking, Iron Mike, ajh, and Cynthia O'H.

Today's run sucked; or rather at times I was sucking wind. You, my 57 Followers, kept me running until the end. Our blogs unite us a runners, and what's very important for me is that writing this makes me accountable for what I do as a runner. My runs would suck without you.
That being said, I was fortunate enough to win a pair of Yurbuds™ from Christy at It Just Looks Like Slow Motion. Yurbuds™ are "custom sized earbud enhancers that increase comfort, don't fall out, and enhance sound quality. All of this is accomplished while allowing you to listen to your device at a lower volume." I must say that they're a BIG improvement over the loop over the ear earbuds I was using. The sound coming out of them is clear, and best of all since they're custom fitted they won't fall out of your ears. Here's my disclaimer. I am NOT receiving any compensation from Christy or Yurbuds™ to say this. Lets regress for a moment to this past Wednesday. I went to see "Finding Nemo" Nuno for my PT appointment. Funny thing was it just so happened that Lindsay, aka "Hot Chick" was at the receptionist's desk as I checked in. Since I was early for my appointment, she and I had a wonderful conversation about her and her co-workers favorite candy. Let me tell you, it was a "deep" conversation. I'm embarrassed to say that I have no idea what candy she likes. I was too busy having an interior freakout thinking that Hot Chick was actually talking to me. I do remember that her two co-workers like Skittles and Swedish Fish. I first went to Nemo/Nuno, who asked me how running went the day before. I told him first things first, and told him that I knew he had told Hot Chick that I said she is hot. He laughed, and I said that since he wasn't denying it, it must be true. Again, there was no denying it on his part. Great, so now Hot Chick knows I think she's hot, and probably that I call her Hot Chick. Anyhow, I told Nemo/Nuno I had some lingering pain, but thought it was good pain from having done my stretching before and after running. He had me lay on the PT torture table, and pushed, twisted and turned my legs all different ways and asked me how it felt. It truly felt like he was trying to rip my legs out of their sockets, but of course I responded "Fine" since nothing he did really hurt. He saved the best for last, meaning the groin area pain check. He started pressing around my groin area, and my laughing indicated to him that not only was I still giddy from talking to Hot Chick, but also wasn't feeling any pain. Nemo/Nuno then had me go to the gym, where he and ADHD Dave, the gym dude, showed me and had me do several exercises on the big blue ball. Speaking of blue balls, icing my groin area after running really does help. Sorry, I got sidetracked there. So as I started to do the blue ball exercises, I notice that Nemo/Nuno is not watching me do my exercises. Instead he's looking to his left. It just so happens that Hot Chick had gone into the pool to do aqua therapy. I loudly reminded him I was "over here," and that snapped him out of it. I did notice that he and ADHD Dave stood over by the pool area the entire half hour I was rolling around on the blue ball. If you've never experienced the thrill of exercising on an oversized ball, let me tell you it's a lot more difficult than you'd think it would be. I worked up more of a sweat than I do when I'm doing the 15 different stretches I also have to do. As far as PT, I now just have to go every Wednesday until the end of this month, and then see how I'm doing. Which brings me back to today's run. I planned on another 3 mile run, this time on the road. Nemo/Nuno told me to continue running 3 miles max. until I see him again next Wednesday. If I want, I can run faster, but not further. That means my 13.1 mile half marathon, which is in two weeks, has become even more difficult to train for. Nuno/Nemo still says I can run it, but yet can't run more than 3 miles right now?! I don't think he quite understands what's involved in running a half. So Yurbuds, my Garmin "Rachael," and I took off from my house, turned left, and headed up what's normally a challenging, but not- too-difficult hill. Today it felt like Mt. Everest. It was the "Hill from Hell." I made it to the top, but it sapped away some of my energy. So 4/10 of a mile into my run, I was already feeling sluggish. I wanted to quit. The left brain is a funny thing. Those of you who have read my blog for a while know that left brain is
* Logical
* Detail oriented
* Fact oriented
* Interprets words and language
* Mathematical and scientific
* Order and pattern perception
* Strategic

meaning that if you're running and feeling any type of pain or discomfort, then left brain starts freaking out and wants you to stop. Left brain will come up with lots of reasons for you to stop. However, the key to defeating left brain is by distracting it or tricking it. For example, listening to music through your cool Yurbuds will distract left brain, especially if you're singing along. Also, tricking left brain by telling it that you're only going to run a little further, say to the corner, or 2 miles instead of three works. Left brain likes to be fooled. So left brain and I agreed that since Hell Hill made us tired, we could take it easy and run slower, and we would worry about one mile at a time, and if we got too tired, or it hurt too much, then we would walk instead. Sucker! Sure, I slowed down, but at the end I had talked left brain into not only running three miles, but an extra mile because we were feeling better. Overall, I ran at a snail's pace for me, but I'm OK with that. I want to really push myself tomorrow and defy Nuno/Nemo even more by seeing how far and how long I can run on the Farmington Canal Trail. Left brain's really going to be upset with me tomorrow.