not so elusive 9

Put myself to bed around 9:30pm, just to be awakened around 10:15pm by a thorn in my side.  No worries...got rid of "it".  One can only hope I got rid of "it" for good.  It wasn't pleasant, so I took some of my Melatonin to ensure the rest of the night would be smooth sailing sleepy time.  Of course this meant I did not get my early start (what is it with me and this whole early rise thing anyway?).  Oh well...a girl's gotta do with a girl's gotta do.

So, I got up later than I wanted, took my thyroid pill, took a bubble bath to unwind some more, played a little Mafia Wars on Facebook  (I'm on level 510, you know), ate my Better Oats Oat Fit oatmeal, got my grape Powerade Zero ready and made a really weird decision....I decided to run in the ol' neighborhood instead of at the park.  I've been running in the park since February with the exception of my night time running, so this was pretty wild and crazy for me.  Lately, I've been getting kinda annoyed with the soccer watchers - they are supposed to stay clear of the jogging path, but I find myself weaving in and out of them as if I were on an obstacle course.  Furthermore, I have noticed my pace gets a little wacky when I approach them because I get a rush of anxiety.  I know soccer season is coming to an end, so I won't be dealing with it much longer anyway, but I also thought that maybe a change from my routine would be good for me.

I ran my first 2 miles when I realized I left my heart monitor at home, so I ran into the house to get it, slammed a cup of water, and ran back out (leaving one bewildered blind dog howling and another angry crated dog whining).  I ran the next 3 miles when I realized that if I didn't find a bathroom stat there was gonna be a problem, so I made it back home, ran into the house, handled my business, downed my Powerade zero (yeah....all 32 oz - probably not the best plan cuz it felt very heavy in my stomach for quite a while), and then had the *pleasure* of hearing the agonizing stereo sound of my beasts as I ran down the street.  Then I finished the remaining 4 miles.  I'm not gonna lie...I thought about quitting at mile 7 and calling it a disappointing day...my thighs already felt it and I was a sweaty stinky mess.  Up until that moment, I had stayed clear of looking at my pace...I just concentrated on listening to the beeps of my watch which is programmed for 4 minute run / 1 minute walk intervals and so graciously lets me knows when it is time to do that 1 minute walk and when it is time to kick it back into gear.  I occasionally glanced at the mileage just so I would know how far I'd gone and how much further I still had to go, but other than that...I paid absolutely no attention to my pace because my intention was just to get the 9 miles done.   So, when I did see that I was averaging slightly above 14 minutes/mile, I was uber annoyed with myself.  I mean why didn't I just have someone push me in a shopping cart while sipping on a margarita?  I was, apparently, taking my dear sweet time.  Then I reeled my mean girl back in and remembered that it was like 90+ degrees with the heat index, still humid (though not as bad as it has been, thankfully) and that 9 miles is 2 1/2 more miles than I did the Saturday before and 2 miles more than I've done in a very, very long time.  In fact, it's the most I've done yet. The cool thing about having my very first half marathon on August 1st is that it is my very first half marathon...this is the one where I set my time and then I get a chance to beat it at the next one which will be over 2 1/2 months later when I'm all that much more experienced and trained.

I swear, sometimes I think I am my own worst enemy.

So, the elusive 9 miles no longer eludes me.  The plan is to do 9 miles for my long run next Saturday, as well, and to just keep trying to build my weekly mileage.