Janathon Day 9

So Days 7 & 8 were a bust.  Or, shall I say, rest days.  I'm considering myself out of the Janathon running, but I'm not throwing in the towel.

Day 9 saw me back at it.  The plan was for a Long Slow Run of 6 miles.  Since I was no where near ready for that distance, I went it with a plan of just doing what I could do.  After checking the weather (28* with a feels like temp of 18*), I decided to go with the dreadmill.  I plugged in the ipod, put it on shuffle, and hit the mill.  I ended up with a sort of interval thing going - run a 1/4 mile, walk a 1/4 mile.  About two miles in, I decided that I was pretty darn miserable - my right shin was hurting and I had a stitch (which seems to be a near constant running companion any more) - and would only do 4 miles.  As I hit the three mile mark, I bumped it up to a goal of 4.5 miles.  When I hit 4 miles, I decided I'd just go for 5 miles.  Whatever happened.  If I had to walk the last mile, so be it.  The goal was to be on my feet for 5 miles.  And I did it.  Wahoo!  It was my longest run since I started running again in 2009.  I am pretty darn proud of myself.

The thing about the dreadmill is that I tend to close my eyes while I'm on it.  Which I do not think is the greatest habit to get into.  As in, if I do a lot of dreadmill training for my half, I envision myself cruising down Hines Drive with my eyes closed.  And just so y'all know - I'm crazy clumsy.  This is a recipe for disaster.  hehe  The other thing about the dreadmill that I learned today, is that when I get tired, I get (way more) clumsy and super flaily.  As in, I kept hooking my earbud cord on my arm and yanking it.  It doesn't feel that great on the old ears to have the buds jostled like that.  As in, I found it increasingly difficult to stay in the middle of the belt.  It was sort of not that fun.  I feel like I look like Brad Pitt's character in Burn After Reading - when he's on the treadmill and running like a big old dork.  At least I am able to embarrass myself in the comfort of my own home.  hehehe

In other news, while I was on the dreadmill today, I started making note of various songs that shuffled thru the ipod.  I'm going to make  Martian Playlist.  I don't usually run with music - if anything, I have the sweet voice of Danny Dreyer coaxing me through my ChiRunning.  But during last Sunday's run, I listened to music and certain songs really perked me up.  I'm thinking I'm going to make a playlist for the Martian.  I'm sure times are going to get tough and I'll pop on the ipod to get through it.  Music has always been a huge part of my life, especially when times have been tough.  I think it could really be a useful tool during the race.

Countdown to Martian - 83 days