Meltdown

We headed down to Ryan's parents on Saturday afternoon. It was pretty quiet at work, so I was able to leave early, which was great, and meant we had the chance to meet up with the family for an early (and yummy!) Mexican dinner. Sam was a good girl at dinner. She entertained us with her funny expressions and her adorable gummy smile. She loves eating out! There is so much to look at. Oh, look, a waiter! Oh, look, a lady to smile at! Oh, look, a Cheerio! Ah, to be so easily amused :-) However, after being so great all evening, we had a bit of a meltdown overnight. Sam does not particularly like sleeping in her pack n' play. And she is getting another cold. Yes, again. As for the sleeping, I guess it is like any of us. We sleep better in own homes, in our own beds. But Sam decided it would be fun to wake up (and therefore wake us up, as we were sleeping in the same room) at 11:00, 2:00, 4:00 and then 5:20. At 5:20, she was freaking out, hysterical. Not her typical wake-up. I tried to feed her. She didn't want it. I tried to rock her. No, that didn't work. We held her. We laid with her in our bed. She was just not having it. We turned the light on and she calmed down. But when we turned the light out soon after, she was hysterical yet again. So, nothing left to do but get up. She and I went out into the loft to play, and once we did that, she was her cheery self. Who knows what it was? A night terror?

Needless to say, this was not the best way to start the day, especially when we were planning to do a long run on the Stonecat course. The rest of the family was more than happy to watch Sam while we ran, and we were more than happy to leave her with them! We had an early breakfast with her, and then I nursed her and put her down for an extra early morning nap around 8:30. It's much earlier than she would normally nap, but having been up at 5:20, she fell easily to sleep, and slept for 2 hours while we were gone!

It was a beautiful morning. The cool air we'd been promised had finally come in over night, the sky was clear and there was a little breeze. Lovely! We drove over to the school by Willowdale Forest, and headed out onto the course. Although it was great to be out, running with Ryan on such a nice day, I was beyond exhausted. I could feel it the second we started moving. Also, my left knee was tight by the time we hit 2 miles. Hmmm. Not good. As we ran along, the aching would come and go, and I told Ryan that it felt different than the typical IT band pain I've had in the past. The whole knee hurt, but it wasn't acute in any particular spot. It seemed like it was being pulled? I don't know quite how to explain it. But I think it all boils down to three things: 1) I am not sleeping well, so I am not truly allowing my body to recover; 2) I am predisposed to IT band issues with my left leg; and 3) I am tight, tight, tight, and have not really been stretching or foamrolling as I should.

Anyway, despite the tiredness and the achiness, we had a great time, and I really enjoyed the running in the Forest. The course was a mix of carriage roads and single track. Luckily, I had printed out a course map, and Ryan was a good navigator, as a lot of the turns weren't marked. We took a few wrong turns here and there, and skipped a few minor pieces of single-track, but otherwise stayed on track. The woods were pretty, with lots of ferns beneath the hardwood and open sections of pine trees. The trails weaved between several swampy areas full of lily pads, and along a few fields. We scared up a big yellow striped snake sunning itself along the edge of one of the swampy areas, and saw a deer bounding towards the edge of one of the fields. A few mallards sat in the sun at the edge of the water. There were no major climbs, and no real steep up or downs, just a few bumps that all seemed runnable (we'll see if that holds true during the race!). It was easy to run pretty quickly along the wide, flat carriage roads, and the single track was a fun mix of twists and turns, without too many rocks and roots to contend with (at least compared to Bradbury!).

Around 10 miles, my knee was really aching. We were at a point where we could have cut off the last chunk and headed back to the car by going off-course, but I really wanted to at least run one loop and really get a feel for the whole course, so I told Ryan I was OK to continue on, although I was really starting to feel upset about how I was feeling. He kept saying it was OK, that it was just a training run, that I could take some time off if I needed to and still be fine. But it was not fine. As we hit the last straightaway back to the school, I totally lost it. I was so tired. My leg did not feel good. I felt like my body was failing me. And I was not happy. We hit 12.0 on the Garmin, and walked in the rest of the way. I was not in a good place, and Ryan was sweet to cut his last long run short to stay with me. I lay under one of the trees by the car for a while, staring up at the blue sky, and collected myself before we headed back home. I was really disappointed. In myself. In my body. I know it's just a run, but I had really been hoping for more. Hoping to feel good. To get in a good long run. And it just didn't happen. But, all that aside, it really was a nice run overall, and good to be out on the course to get a feel for it. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it together over the next week or so, and get back on track. I still have two months until the race, which should be enough time to sort things out and still get in some good running.

We went out for a short run this morning on the roads around Ryan's parents house. I wasn't going to waste a day off, and a beautifully cool one at that, not running! Besides, I wanted to see if the knee still hurt. And yes, yes it did. So we ran 2 miles and walked the last mile back home. It sucked. I spent a good amount of time of the foamroller tonight. And I will tomorrow, and the next day and the next. Maybe I'll get to sleep the next few nights too?!