Last night was my fourth Flying Irish, so for those of you keeping track, I will need an Irish joke in a little less than two weeks. To date, I have received no suggestions. Thanks.
I am a firm believer that it is healthy to eat 5 times a day. 3 meals, 2 snacks - roughly a couple hours apart, over the course of each day. I like it because you keep yourself from becoming overly hungry, and you end up eating less at meals. I was introduced to this sort of eating schedule by my former personal trainers. For me, it totally works. So long as I eat my five little meals a day, I tend to curb my late night food binges and over eating. So yesterday, having stayed at my office until it was time to go to the Flying Irish, I was in need of a snack – so I swung into the downtown Rite-Aid and purchased me some fan-tab-ulous jerky. I figured a little protein was a good bet, and aside from the over load of sodium, isn’t too god awful for you (at least by Rite Aid food standards). Upon arriving at Flying Irish, and spotting a friendly face, I offered some jerky to my vegetarian friend. In the words of Homer Simpson – “D’oh!” At least she laughed while answering, no thanks. After managing to pawn a little more of the jerky off to my non-veggie friends, it was time for the run.
You know it is going to be an interesting evening at the Flying Irish when the guy announcing the run for the night refers to it as “The River Run also known as ‘That Goddamn Run.’” Not only is “the river run” the longest of the 7 Flying Irish routes, but it is also the run selected for the night when the weather ends up being the nicest for that month. I am assuming this is to pay back all those jerks that only show up when it is sunny, and not, as it was last week, windy and rainy and generally crappy. In the end it kicks the poor schmucks like me (who decide on a crazy whim that running is going to be their new favorite hobby) squarely in the ass.
The first mile wasn’t so bad, since it is almost entirely downhill, through the always classy Spokane neighborhood of Pleasant valley …. *cough*…. Ok so it’s a little on the Ghetto side. But who complains about downhill? Me. Almost immediately my calves are hurting. I have been suffering from calf pain since this running journey began. Basically it just makes me HATE the first mile of every run. I know what you’re thinking… “Stretch Dumbass.” But I can’t truly stretch out until my muscles are warm and I do stretch what I can before. And currently I don’t have enough miles in me to run a mile before the real run just so I can stretch out. So like a dumbass I just suffer through.
You should always know that a run that is a loop will likely suck if the first mile is all down hill – trust me, with very few exceptions, you have to re-gain the altitude you lost. Its science. So with each step down, I hurt and I knew I was f*cked. This route is special in that it regains all the lost downhill in the second mile – with what feels like one section where it is a steep quarter mile up. *ugh* But I kept plodding along, sore calves and all, and accompanied by Sara, with my other girl friends Texie & Meredith close behind, we all reached the end of the run, somewhere between 3.7 and 4 miles. Aside from the required stops at traffic crossings, and shoe tying interlude, I managed to trot the whole way, fueled no doubt by my beef jerky snack.
Upon arriving back at O’ Doherty’s the pain in my calves, was overwhelmed by the rubbed raw feeling on my ankles. I had foolishly extra low ankle socks, with my fairly new shoes. Grrr. Despite feeling accomplish, and my little giddy runners high, my ankles burned all the way home.
Thursday is also our regular Girls night. Due to other scheduling conflicts, it ended up just being Sara, Texie and I. It was while applying Icy-Hot to my every tightening calves at girls night, I discovered what feels like a knot in each of my calves one the size of a mouse, the other slightly smaller. I spent the evening massaging and applying Icy-Hot – to the point where when I climbed into bed, Colin commented that I smelled like mint gum. For those of you who care, I also continued my application at work …and the area around my desk now bears the smell of a package of Dentyne Ice. And I love it. So here’s hoping that by my run tomorrow, the knots will haunt my calves no more! But since I love Icy-hot, I’ll probably just keep applying it anyways. J
Happy Running!
No comments:
Post a Comment