Run Hard! or Hard Run!

Today, I would say both titles apply.
I'm sure that reading about my training can be uninteresting, but for me, it's reflective.

I don't recall ever having struggled as much as I did today. Not sure what the cause was, but it could've been one of four things: 1. Being exhausted from my first week back @ work & starting our run @ 7 a.m. 2. My fall @ work on the first day of school. 3. The AWFUL humidity that made breathing & moving extra difficult. 4. The 3 glasses of wine I drank last night. I'm going to assume it was the wine, but am sure all four contributed to the difficulty factor.

We had a 4 mile race today~the Fitness Mind Body Spirit race. It was sponsored by Fitness Magazine, which I subscribe to and love! The men's race began @ 8:30, the women's @ 9:30. Our training run began @ 7 a.m. 6 miles to start, then we ran the men's race, and I finished up with my 4 mile race. All in all, I covered 16 miles today.

The first 6, which are now my warm-up for the long runs, were incredibly difficult. I felt as though Binu was running faster than usual, and in the back of my mind I was saying that I wanted to kill him for it. In reality, it was the pain & exhaustion that I was trying to run through. The hills, that I've worked hard @ conquering and usually come easily to me, were more challenging than they've been in very long time. By the time we finished that part, I wanted to vomit! I partially wished that I had in hopes that I'd feel better. No such luck.

For the men's race, I couldn't keep up w/ Binu, so I let him go & ran @ my own pace...I just couldn't do it today. During the women's race, I ran much slower than usual...and while it mentally beat me up, the pain in my shin kept me from doing any more than I was. I'm guessing that Tuesday's fall @ work left me more injured than I'm willing to admit. After writing this, I'm going to do some research & hope that a few days off will help. With a marathon in a month, I really can't afford to be hurt for too long. I'm bummed right now. It'll be okay, though...one day @ a time.