Poop-Glorious-Poop

That pretty much sums up my last 3 weekday runs.

After the 7-miler on Saturday, other than a little soreness, I was feeling pretty good. Until I started out on Tuesday's (what was meant to be Monday's) brief little 2-miler.

You know how you just have those days? You stub your toe getting out of bed, then you slip and fall in the shower, then you notice a massive pimple right between your eyes, then you burn your toast, then you get a speeding ticket because you're running late for work... and so on? Well, that was the day-to-day equivalent of Tuesday's little 2-miler. From the office, the first mile was all downhill, but it felt really hard. When I heard the Garmin beep, I figured out why. 11:30! That's why. Which meant that the second mile, the uphill mile, was all that much more gruesome. I couldn't wait to get this one done and in the books so I was thrilled when I finally stumbled back to the parking lot to find my car... which, of course, had no awaiting bottle of water. Stupid Tuesday.

Wednesdays are a little tricky in our house because we take Ini to Doggie Daycare (aka "school") on Wednesdays. So, this means we have a pretty strict schedule of when we need to leave the house to drop him off, as well as when we have to leave work to pick him up. Until this week, it was even more crazy in the afternoons because we had to rush up to Indian Hills (oh, I've run those hills before) to take him to Agility class. However, this Wednesday we didn't have agility, so I planned a sweet little point-to-point route from our office out to a point close to where Miah would be driving after picking Ini up from school. I was really excited to be running a new route. So excited, in fact, that I left the house without... my Garmin. I did not realize this until I was already at the office, however, so going back for it was not an option. Immediately, Garmin-less anxiety set in.

Ugh. I've done these runs before. You know... where you just run. And you have no idea of your pace or your distance or anything? How did I ever survive pre-Garmin?

In the end, it was a pretty awesome run. It was annoying to not have any idea how far I'd gone at any given point... And it was annoying not to have any idea how fast I was going. But I did the run, and I felt really good! I ended up finishing in about 52minutes, for 4 miles, which is right at a 13m/m pace. I guess my body is learning how to run roughly the same pace with or without my Garmin directing me. The most annoying thing has to be that there is no record whatsoever that I even did this run. Aside from what I've just written here... and still there's no proof! I could have totally made this up!

The best part of this run, anyway, was finishing right at the car. Miah and Ini were waiting for me with lemon-lime gatorade. What could be better?

And then came today, when I was forced to run in the pre-dawn hours because I'm flying out to TN this evening to visit my family. Again, today, another terrible slog. I'm blaming this one on lack of rest. It was just a mere 12 hours ago that I ran that glorious 4-miler, after all.

It's either the lack of rest or the fact that my head just wasn't right before I even started. I just didn't want to be running. There are lots of runs that I start with this exact attitude, but usually it wears off after the first mile or so. Not so today. Again... I can easily blame this on the lack of sleep.

What was supposed to be a measly 3-miler turned into a 2.3miler. I just didn't have it today.

The really excellent news in all this is that I've done all my weekday runs this week, and my foot still seems to be holding up pretty well. I got the word back from the doctor on Tuesday that I do NOT have a stress fracture, though she also offered no explanation as to what actually is wrong with me. So, at this point, I figure I'm going to just keep running on it until my body says otherwise.

I'm on the schedule for an 8-miler this Saturday, though, as I mentioned, I'll be vacationing this weekend in TN with my parents. Luckily, my tiny hometown (and I mean tiny) is having its annual 5k race this weekend, so I'll be out there (with approximately 20 other people) on Saturday morning.

Question: If I run 3 miles, then pause and register for the race, then run the 5k then continue on for an additional 2ish miles after... does that qualify as an 8-mile run? Does pausing in the middle make the run less meaningful?