March 29th: Mind Over Matter

Week 2 of the Richter plan is complete. One week -- 5 runs -- to go until the taper.

The story of today's long is about pushing through when everything is working against you. I fought fatigue, a sore foot, bad weather, a cranky dog... There was nothing fun or interesting about my run this morning. This one was about the end result. And the end result was worth it.

Let's start with last night. Actually, let's start with all of last week. This five-runs-per-week schedule

This is actually Jackie's photo -- I'm stealing it.

is definitely taking its toll. I've been to bed before 10:00 more in the past two weeks than I have since junior high. And with my penultimate long coming up today, I really wanted to be sure I was rested, fueled, hydrated and ready to rock. One little thing: Carol was one of the stars of her school's fashion show last night, a fundraiser for the photo club. It was a lot of fun -- the kids were cute, they really worked hard to put on a good show, and the house was packed. However, it was warm in there with the crowd, and I couldn't resist donating a little bit of extra money by chowing down on some baked goodies. So instead of rest, fuel, hydration, etc., I got fatigue, dehydration and bad-for-me food. But, much like my adventure on Sunday night, this one was worth setting aside training concerns. And Carol was really something on the runway.

That was one half of the inadequate-rest equation. The other issue was today's forecast. As I type this, it's raining. The weathermen said the rain would probably start around 11:00 a.m., so I was looking to get up and out early. So much for sleeping in and logging a little extra rest. And more on the weathermen in a bit.

I got up around 6:30 so I could get out early and beat the rain. The dog normally sleeps with Carol, and on the weekends I can generally slip out the front door before she sees me in my running gear. But Carol slept at a friend's house after the fashion show, and Lily decided to stay downstairs all night. Which meant she saw me in the morning and knew what I was up to. So of course, I felt guilty and leashed her up. Mistake. She was a complete nudge, yanking at the leash from the moment I opened the front door. It didn't help matters when three little dogs came running up to her to try to scrap -- the owner kept apologizing, but those dogs would have gotten seriously hurt if Lily had gotten into them. After a bit more than a mile, I had to deposit her back at home -- she was just to hyper for me to deal with, and I didn't want to expend too much energy that early in the run.

Looking southwest over the Matawan Creek marsh.

I decided early on that since I was kind of tired, and there was a threat of rain, I'd keep it in the neighborhood today. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, except that it's the same old stuff I've run past dozens of times. I tried to get a few new shots -- here's one looking back over the marsh toward Cliffwood Beach.

I wound up doing a lot of loops and circling blocks to add in extra tenths wherever I could. I made it over to the Old Bridge part of Cliffwood Beach, but I never ventured out of the neighborhood at all. Given the distance, you can imagine how repetitive that got.

But not feelin' it soon moved well down on my list of concerns. Around mile 6 or 7, my foot started to hurt. It's a localized pain on the outside of the right foot. I've felt it before, but never really enough to register more than a raised eyebrow. However, today it really hurt. I tried adjusting my sock a couple of times, thinking maybe it was out of kilter. That helped a bit, but not entirely. By mile 12, I was concerned I was going to have to cut it short.


Terrible pic -- that's a still flag to show the lack of wind

And, right around mile 12 is when it started to rain. At first, it was just a light shower, which really didn't bother me much at all. The one saving grace: No wind to speak of. But it got steadier and steadier as the run progressed, and between that and the foot, as I headed back to the house to get a swig from my water bottle, I seriously entertained the idea of packing it in.

But I didn't. The main reason I didn't was that, aside from the foot, all systems were pretty much go. The early morning malaise was gone. (By the way, I am a convert and now swear by GU packets.) I had lots of energy, and the real gains in a long run don't come by stopping when you're still feeling good. So I gritted my teeth a bit and headed back out.

And an odd thing happened -- or maybe it's not so odd. The pain started bothering me less. I think this was definitely one of those instances where the mind overrides the body so that you can soldier on. So I soldiered on. I decided to stick really close to home: In case it got really bad -- or if the rain got really hard -- I could get back without too much issue. So that meant a lot more circling and looping and backtracking. But I was feeling much better -- yay!

I hit mile 16 back out on the waterfront walkway (where I'd already been a few times today), and there was another runner maybe 100 yards in front of me. It was kind of fun blowing past him, knowing that the odds are he was in like mile 2 of his planned 4. I was polite and all, and mentioned the rain when I passed him again after the turnaround. But yeah, there's a little bit of a competitive snob in me, and I like that feeling when I'm well into a run.

I should mention that at this point, the showers had turned to rain. It wasn't pouring, but it was steady. I was wet. My shirt was chafing because it was waterlogged. In the home stretch, I passed a friendly lady who'd just left her house with an umbrella. She said, "You're getting wet." I replied, "I'm already wet."

What was left was to achieve my distance. Hey, guess what? I did it. I cleared 20 miles! 20.27, according to MapMyRun. Woot! Double-woot!

I've mentioned this a couple of times before, but today's run really drives home the point: The runs where you're fighting it the whole time are actually the best ones. When you get to the other side, and you know that -- despite whatever challenge was in your face -- you hit your goal, it's just a great feeling of accomplishment. Hey -- it'd be awesome to run 20 miles in the most optimal of circumstances. But to get it done today? I'm just over the moon.

And for those keeping score at home: That's 48.3 miles for the week.

I'm still hoping to get to WOW tomorrow for some strength training. I was better on the hills today than I've been, but I could still use some core work. The Richter plan would put me back on the road on Monday; I'll have to monitor my foot a bit. Given that I've already hit the peak of the Higdon plan, I can probably afford to dial back to 4 runs this week if I need to. I'll just have to see how it feels. Right now, I'm going with RICE.

Total miles since starting the blog: 530.9