The Bug Run

I remember now why I don’t like running in the evening. In the summertime there are these gnat clouds… I have no idea what they’re doing but they all swarm around. Since they’re so small it’s hard to see the cloud of gnats until you’re already in it. When you’re sweaty and moving fast (or slowly?) they stick to you like you’re one of those sticky flea traps.
Rachel and I went for a run last night and by the time we got back we were pretty much covered in gnats. They were all over but face and neck were the worst spots. Ugh, so gross. Just writing about it makes me itchy.

I’m looking forward to today. I have no concrete plans until later this evening and I have the whole day free. I’m not great at actually doing the things I’d like to do on my days off but I’m really hoping I can be non-lazy today and use all of my free time to do something productive. My dirty room and car would really like some attention. 

So far so good. Stadiums even though Rachel couldn’t come – lame but I’m proud of myself for going even without my workout buddy. Stretching and quick shower followed by my go to breakfast: oatmeal with chia seeds and ground flax seeds. Today I threw in some sliced almonds and dried currents too. I usually prefer the oatmeal with just the chia and flax but sometimes I get crazy and throw in other ingredients as well.

After breakfast I did P90X shoulders and arms and now I’m icing my shins and having a cup of coffee.

I promised everyone (including myself) that I would take it somewhat easy after my injury. I definitely don’t want to reinjure myself. That would suck. I’m being careful to stretch and warm up properly as well as stretch and cool down afterwards. I’m still getting shin splints though and I haven’t upped my mileage very much at all. I think shin splints are pretty normal for starting to exercise again though. I don’t know, do you back off as soon as you get shin splints or continue to stretch your calves and warm up your shins before exercising? I know shin splints can lead to stress fractures but I just feel like if I back off I’ll just get them again when I start exercising again.

After I get a few more chores done around the house I’m going to head to target for a shopping spree. I saw they had some really cute swimsuits for a pretty good deal. Not that Target bathing suits ever look good on me or that I need any more swimsuits… but I’m going anyways.

The computer I’m using currently doesn’t have any place to easily upload photos so I’ve been slacking on the self portraits but I’ll figure out a way to make those happen, cause I know that’s the real reason you’re all here ;)

…oh wait, it’s just me that likes taking pictures of myself

In the meantime: a couple random pictures from vacation

"Look Mom, no hands!"

Yes, I did legit carry the chair on my head all the way from our beach house to the shore

Me and my hot mama after my cousins wedding. Isn't she gorgeous? :) 

Any fun plans for today?

I'm going to give this another go

Sooo… it’s been about a month since I posted anything. I let the business of June take over… and honestly, when I’m not running I just feel like there’s nothing much to talk about. When I type that out I realize how silly that sounds, I mean, who wants to read about running all the time? I will do my best to switch things up ;)




I have some new things to talk about today though… well, sort of



I’m running again which is amazing and also not so amazing. I worked really hard during the 6 weeks I was not running to maintain my cardio capacity and continue to strengthen my legs. I generally did 4-6 miles daily on the elliptical. I had no idea if this would help me maintain my speed and distance but I did it anyway. Now I’m running again and I’ve definitely lost some speed. I’m running 1:00-1:30 minutes slower per mile and I feel really winded. I haven’t run more than 5 miles yet and I’m not sure what my limit is. I don’t want to push it though, it would be no fun to end up right back where I started with another stress fracture.



Since it’s really hot and humid in Florida and I seem to have lost the ability to wake up super early to get my run in while it’s at least a little cooler I haven’t done any running on my normal routes. I’ve run on the treadmill a bit but that’s not really a great indicator. I’ve never been good at running on a treadmill.



Last week I was on vacation and ran 5 miles on the beach two days in a row. The first day I wore my vibrums. After reading Born to Run I’ve been reinspired to give the vibrums another try – anything to stay running! Of course the following day I could hardly walk (anyone who has tried vibrums knows what I mean). My calves were really sore and cramping. So of course I got out and ran another 5 miles. Um, ouch! I wore my normal shoes this time. I was pleased with my running both of the days even though I was going slower than I had pre-injury. I still don’t think those runs were great indicators of where I’m really at though because I was running on soft sand with a lot of wind blowing against me. These could be excuses and I may really be a lot slower now, it’s just hard to tell exactly where I’m at.



The following day my calves were REALLY sore and crampy. So then I spent the entire day in the car. Perfect prescription for sore muscles… NOT. I stretched at every rest stop and walked but I don’t know how much that really helped. Every time I hopped out of the car I could hardly walk again.



Then I took a day off and the following day ran 5 miles – 2 on the treadmill, 3 later in the day at a nice slow recovery pace with Rachel. The day after that we did stadiums for the first time in forever. I had to stop multiple times to stretch my calves.



The soreness has continued to get better each day but I’m still feeling crampy today. I’m no professional but from what I’ve gathered it’s good to still move and use sore muscles. I may be overdoing things though.



Oh goodness, obviously my best at “switching it up” is not very good.



I could go on and talk about other things but then this post would get really long and you would probably want to stop reading it. Before I end this I do have one other topic I’d like to talk about briefly.



While I was on vacation I was determined to stay active and get in some good exercise. Unfortunately I was not entirely successful. Generally I wake up really early and get exercise in first thing. I think my wake up early ability is broken though . I just couldn’t seem to get myself out of bed early. Then I’d have breakfast with everyone and stay and chat for a long time and by the time that was done it just felt too late to do anything. All of my planned early runs in the gorgeous cool PA weather failed. I did a few P90X videos, took a few walks (my walking partner never wanted to walk) and did some other mini workouts everyday in my room but in general my activity decreased a lot. I don’t mind so much but honestly I have a hard time enjoying vacation when I just sit around and eat more than I usually do. So I wanted to know what you all do on vacation. Do you try to stay active and eat healthy or do you give yourself a total vacation? Being vegan makes it easier for me to stay healthy when I’m on vacation because I have a good excuse if something that is prepared is not healthy (loaded with cheese/butter – oh, sorry, I don’t eat dairy products). However, now my family tries to make foods that I can have. I really appreciate this, I know they do it because they love me and want to make me happy but often what they prepare is basically vegan junk food and I have to eat it. One meal, fine but when they make a huge dish then I have to eat it until it’s gone. Am I the only one who deals with this and am I crazy for wishing I could just bring/prepare my own foods while visiting relatives?

I'm still alive, promise

But my computer is dead.

And my sister has the camera.

Which means no bloggy blog for me.  The fact that I really have nothing new to tell you makes me realize I really have no life =/.

This week has flown by and for the most part I've done everything I planned to do.  I had a great week at work, although it got pretty crazy.  Since next Monday is a holiday I don't have any of my Monday classes which means this past Monday was our last day to practice.  Ah!  I love the day off but it makes me nervous that there is a whole week that they're not going to practice and then only a few more times that they'll get to practice the dance before the performance.

I feel like a horrible teacher saying this but I think all of the dances are as good as they're going to get.  That does not mean that they're perfect... at all.  No, I just mean that I feel like there's just no way that some of the things that are wrong with the dances are ever going to get fixed.  It's just impossible to get everyone to turn the same way as everyone else and for everyone to go at the exact right moment, etc.  So I'm not going to stress because there's really nothing I can do about it at this point.

My leg is starting to feel a lot better, I'm thinking a week, maybe a week and a half and I'll be back to my normal self.  I can't tell you how much I'm craving a run!  I've gotten a lot better with the elliptical and I even enjoy it but I just can't wait to get out on the open road again.

I'm looking forward to a full and exciting weekend.  Tomorrow after gym and subbing for a ballet class I'm heading off to the lake to go kayaking and sailing with Rachel and my brother Philip.  We'll probably picnic there and there's a good possibility we'll have dinner out somewhere.  This is all in celebration of my birthday on Thursday.  I'm not big into celebrating birthdays so I usually don't plan anything or ask for anything specifically.  I don't even tell people it's my birthday, I just don't like all the attention.  I'm really excited that I thought of something that I actually want to do on my birthday though.

What are your plans for the weekend?  Anything exciting? 

Where is the grass the greenest?

Hey guys, it's been awhile.

I've had an interesting couple of weeks.  Last you heard from me I had mentioned that I was having strange calf/shin pains.  Well those strange pains/tightness escalated pretty quickly and at the beginning of May my lower leg let me know that running on it was no longer an option.  I grudgingly decided that a week off was a good idea.  I assumed that after a week of completely resting I would be feeling much better and would be able to jump right back into running.  Unfortunately, by the end of the week I hadn't done any exercise and my leg was actually feeling worse.

After a lot of research I decided that what I was feeling must be a stress fracture.  Stress fractures take about 4-6 weeks of rest to heal.  Lets just say that facing the fact that I wouldn't be running for over a month was not something I wanted to accept.  I hate doctors and tend to avoid going at all costs, especially when it involves being there for hours on end or travelling from doctor to doctor which is what I would have to do to confirm the stress fracture.  I haven't gone yet but hopefully will make it in soon so I can either confirm or deny my self diagnosis.  In the meantime I'm "resting."

After my first week of rest I was really down.  I assume it was the lack of endorphins and the idea that I wouldn't be able to do what I love for a long time and that it was completely my fault that I was in the situation in the first place but I was just so bummed.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for.  A stress fracture is really pretty minor compared to some running injuries.

After a lot of thinking I decided that I was going to have a good attitude about the whole situation and take it as an opportunity to examine some things. 

I don't want to get into it too much but after years of struggling with an eating disorder running has really saved me.  I care much more about fueling my running than about staying thin or losing weight.  I know that running has been really good for me mentally, physically and emotionally.  However, I've allowed it to become an idol in my life.  I spend a lot of my time and energy thinking about running and trying to get better at running.  I usually tell myself that it's okay because it's such a positive alternative to where a lot of my energy and thoughts went before.  What I really want though is to spend as much time and energy getting to know the God who I claim to love.  I should be spending as much time talking to God, reading the bible and getting stronger spiritually as I devote to running.

So that's where I started.  This helped my attitude immensely. 

So where is the grass the greenest?  The grass is not always greener on the other side. It is greenest where you water it.

From there I talked to Rachel who works at a gym in town and she got me a free month membership.  Since then I've been spending a lot of time at the gym.  Me and the elliptical are getting to know each other pretty well although I certainly wouldn't call us friends.

 

It feels SOOOO good to sweat again

 

At the beginning of the week I could only make it through about 3 miles on the elliptical - I tell myself i can run for miles and miles on end so why can't I make it more than 3 on the elliptical.  I don't know but I'm working on in.

It IS kind of nice to be able to go whenever I want and not just be restricted to really early morning or evening.  I can go before work, after work, that awkward 45 minutes between jobs.

 

And I'm learning all sorts of new skills...

 

Like how to take pictures of myself in the mirror  

  

And how to balance the camera on the door for the automatic timer self pics

I miss running and I don't think that's going to change but I'm determined to make the best of this time off, strengthening my spiritual life and some hardcore cross training.  Best of all - I'm learning to rest before I'm forced to rest.  I love my body and I'm going to take care of it.

Food Baby

You know those days when you eat like you just ran 10 miles but really you only ran two?  Usually they end something like this...

But in all honesty, I'd pay money to look like this pregnant

Turns out when I posted an ad for "Running Partner" I should have specified LONG DISTANCE running partner.  After driving 30 minutes I ran for less than 20 for 2 measly, slow miles. 

Boooo - if it had just been me I would have done 6 and wouldn't have even had any travelling time.  Back to the drawing board.  Now how to let this guy down easily... without saying "Uh, you suck at running so I want to run by myself."  Okay, I don't mean that.  You'd think when I mentioned in the ad that I'm running 1000 miles this year that people would get that I run a lot and far. 

Oh well.

I had a much better time later at the park with my good friend "C"... he really does know how to smile I promise.  That juice must have tasted delicious, I couldn't get him to take a break to give me a good smile.

And after stuffing myself silly all day I finally decided I needed to do some damage control.  Arms and shoulders?  Yes. 

Still feel like I'm carrying food baby though.  If only cutting salt out of my diet was easy but it is the hardest thing I have ever tried to do (IE: It's so hard that I'm not really even trying).  When I was younger Playdoh was on my food pyramid.  A little embarrassing to admit, yes, but it explains why I have a salt addiction.

I had a cup of regular coffee about an hour ago in hopes of getting super crazy tonight and going out way past my bedtime for a girls night with some good friends of mine.  Now it's storming like crazy and all I want to do is go to sleep. 

I wonder how much they'll care if I go in above outfit and don't fix my hair or makeup...

I hate FL heat and humidity

I feel like there's been a theme to my last several posts: basically I am crazy. 

Guess what I did now?  I did something totally out of character for me... and posted an ad on craigslist.  I posted an ad for a running partner.  I was pretty surprised at the amount of responses I got.  After much facebook stalking and a lot of back and forth I have a few potential running partners.  Tomorrow the plan is to go running in the morning and then again in the evening to "test out" these new runners and see how it goes.  I'm pretty nervous - will I run too slow, will I be able to hold a decent conversation, will they be creepy, will it be super awkward?  The answer to that last one is probably yes because I make everything super awkward.  I hope I don't make other people feel as awkward and I feel like I'm making them feel.  Was that confusing? 

For safety sake we're running on roads that have a lot of traffic so if something fishy happens there will be people around to see me and save me (uh, I hope) and I'm bringing my phone with me in case I have to call for help.  I guess I should have some mace or something... I feel like there's a good chance I might scare off my running partners who seem pretty legit.  I'm just going to tell them I'm doing it all for my mom's sake.

I've been running more frequently than normal.  I change my mind all the time but for the time being I'm enjoying running more often but shorter distances

This is from a 6 miler on Saturday evening



I forgot to take a picture on Monday... but I ran 6 miles in the morning

6 miles again on Tuesday morning.  I ran a new route which was fun I guess but I'm grumpy because my runs have been SUCKING.  I'm not sure what it is but I want to stop every mile or so and can't push myself further.  I thought maybe I just needed to slow down, so I slowed down and I still feel like I need to stop.  I thought maybe it's cause I've been slacking on vitamins and haven't been doing my green monsters so I made sure to do that both Tuesday and Wednesday... but my Wednesday run sucked too.  Maybe it's the heat?

Really craptastic run on Wednesday evening.  Blah, I heat Florida heat and I hate Florida humidity.

And I should work on my posing...

I'm icing my shins, drinking iced decaf coffee getting ready for bed.  I slept in until 7 today and it was wonderful but I have to drive 30 minutes to get to the place I'm running tomorrow by 7 am so I better head to bed.  Here's hoping that my running partners are really as nice as they seem and things aren't as awkward as I'm imagining and that I don't regret posting that silly ad.

Have a good night! :)

Slacker

Yeah, so this is that Easter post I talked about... several days late.  What's new - I'm a total blog slacker.

This is going to read kind of like a race day post.  I can't help it.

I woke up at my normal time - 4:15AM, had coffee, wasn't hungry because who eats at 4:15 AM.  I did some core exercises because that always seems to help with balance the day of the performance.  I packed everything up for the dance (makeup, hair stuff, the clothes I was wearing) and everything for after the dance (read: normal clothes).  French twisted my hair, sprayed hair spray into my hair until it was rock hard, put on half of my face (er, makeup) and left at 6:30. 

I was supposed to be on stage ready to dance by 7:15 and I knew I was going to have to park way far away so I left a ton of time.

Everything went smoothly including the dance which you can see here

I start offstage and run on half way through.  I end up on the right of center. 

I'm starting to wonder why I had to write a whole post about Easter because I'm realizing that pretty much nothing exciting happened.  However, I have pictures!  That's why...

After church I went out to lunch with my dad, mom, little brother Philip and Rachel.  I convinced them to go with me to The Top (read: super indie/almost hippie, trendy eatery).  My dad was a little freaked out but seemed to warm up to the idea after tasting the vegan blueberry coffeecake french toast. 

I got to the restaurant about 15 minutes before everyone else

So of course self portraits ensued



This is a shot of the patio at the restaurant.  Sometime when it is definitely NOT really hot outside then I'll have to eat back there. 

I got the same thing I did last time

Falafel burger on a pretzel roll with sweet potato fries and fruit

And family bonding happened

Philip and my mom (check out creeper mc creep face in the background)

My dad and I

My favorite sister in the whole world.

Can I just say, Easter is no fun when there are no kids around to give Easter baskets to and have Easter egg hunts. 

How to make your neighbors think you're crazy

I just realized I haven't posted in about a week.  Oops! 

I completely forgot about blogs, I haven't even been reading any!  Why?  Cause I've been dancing for about 3 hours everyday.

I'm involved in a dance team at my church (what?!  Dance at church?  I know... we're heathens).  Maybe that sounds strange to you but at my church we believe in using all of your talents to honor God.

But now the Easter dance is done and I have my Thursdays back and don't have any last minute 3 hour practices on weekends to worry about either.  Yay!  I love dancing and I feel so guilty that I'm glad to be done because dance is really my first love but now all I really want to do is run and dancing is getting in the way of that.

This isn't a youtube video so I can't just insert it into the post.  The easter dance should be posted soon but all I've got now is the Christmas dance.  I start in the middle.

Christmas Dance

Despite my crazy week last week I still managed to get a lot done

What am I doing you ask?  Uh... good question.

Lesson learned: don't dance while you're waiting on the automatic picture timer

Before my run...

10 miles later and alllllll I want is something cold to drink.

After that I went to a new running store to try to solve some issues I've been having.  I wanted to know if all of my random injuries are because my shoes don't fit properly.  Good news, I guess, is that my shoes fit great and I have a very very neutral foot and that I have a midfoot strike (without even trying - awesome).  The guy who helped me did sell me some orthotics to put in my shoe that will apparently help my IT band problem (which I haven't actually had trouble with lately at all).

While I was there, in typical Sharon style I bought a ton of other things too.

Those magical shoe inserts that will take away my knee pain

"The Stick" which is actually not supposed to be used as a baseball bat.  This fun thing is basically like a portable foam roller.  My favorite part is that I can use it while I'm in bed.  I dislike the foam roller cause I actually have to get out of bed to use it.  I am obviously a walking contradiction - I love to run but I really really love to sit in my bed all day.

These super cute styling compression sleeves.  I'm regretting my choice of white cause now they're kind of grey.  I've only worn them twice...

They also talked me into ANOTHER shirt - just what I need...

And now: how to make your neighbors think you're crazy

Completely unmatching outfit, unbrushed hair, no make up, no bra, shins wrapped in ace bandages, no shoes:  Cleaning your car

They should know by now...

I finished up the week with two more 6 milers

Hey week:  Whatcha got?  I'm ready for it, bring it on.

I hope all of you had a great Easter weekend.  Hopefully I'll be back later today to catch up on some posting and tell you all about my Easter weekend.

In the meantime:  I recently "liked" Runner's World Magazine on facebook.  Recently they posted about running with allergies.  The second part of their post mentioned not re-wearing the same workout clothes.  Well, I don't have allergies so I don't have to worry about that at all but a lot of people posted about how re-wearing workout clothes is absolutely disgusting.  At this point I have so many workout clothes that I really should wear different ones just to get my moneys worth out of it but in general I don't think recycling clothes is that gross.  Am I crazy?  What does it matter if you're just going to sweat and get them dirty again anyways?

I want to know what you think!

Want to know how to make the baggers think you're crazy?

Tell them to put the groceries back into the cart without bagging them... what?  I forgot my reusable bags =/

A friend of mine has really got me going on sustainability and taking care of our earth.  I'm working hard to do my part and when I have the choice I try to steer away from one-use items.  Even items that can be recycled... it takes a lot of energy to recycle.  I don't mean it takes a lot of energy to put items in the recycling bin - that one is pretty easy.  I mean to actually recycle the item - crush it, melt it, whatever else they do (I am definitely not a recycling expert).

This means reusable bags (I know that's not weird, everyone does that now), bringing some kind of storage container when I go to restaurants so I don't have to get a take out box, not buying bottles of water... there are a million other things I could and should do but this is what I'm focusing on so far. 

In other news...

Last week I decided to look up shin splints.  I've been dealing with shin splints for the past several weeks.  Kind of strange since I didn't have any while training for the marathon...

I didn't think they were that big of a deal.  They're a really common injury and I thought you just ran through them, iced them and foam rolled.  Well... apparently what's actually happening is that your muscles are becoming detached from the shin bone.  Uhh, yeah, that doesn't sound too good. 

So I talked to a physical therapist friend of mine and she told me all kinds of fun stuff I could do to help with the shin splints.  Like a good little patient I've been following all of her instructions.

I iced

and iced

and iced some more

The worst part was when I took ice cubes and massaged my shins with them trying to break up scar tissue that apparently accumulates when you get shin splints

I also foam rolled my shins until I thought I was going to die - I have a really high pain tolerance and this was pretty intense.

Then before I go to bed I massage my shins with Icy Hot and wrap my legs with ace bandages in such a way the the muscle that has been pulling away from the shin will reattach.

This is actually really nice.  I fall asleep with a nice soothing, cooling feeling in my legs.  What is not so fun is pulling the self adhesive ace bandages off of my legs in the morning.  Now that is all kinds of burning torture but totally my fault for buying the self adhesive bandages in the first place.

With all of the craziness going down I haven't been out running for a whole week.  I'm feeling tons better and tomorrow I'm planning on a nice long run.

In the meantime I've been doing the usual: stadiums and weights.

Stadiums Monday

Stadiums Tuesday

Obviously super thrilled about stadiums two days in a row.  I was in a better mood by the time I got there.

Also really thrilled about my awkward pants.  I just don't understand why they're so much longer in the back...

And why I bought them in the first place

Legs & back - I love stretching, I love stretching... hmm, if I repeat it, will I believe it?  Pretty sure my shin splints are because I got lazy with stretching. 

Super creepy shot of pull ups.  For the record, I was trying to smile at the camera.  I promise I'm not possessed by demons.  I hope not anyway ;)

Shoulders, biceps, triceps

The best part about working out at home?

Your work out clothes don't even have to match a little

Someday when I point you'll actually be able to see my guns :)

Have you ever had shin splints?  Have any suggestions how to make them better quickly and how to prevent them in the first place?  

I've pretty much decided it's because I haven't been stretching as much and possibly because I ran too far too fast in new shoes but I'll take any tips you have! :) 

I need a new running partner

How the heck is it already Thursday?  These weeks are just flying by!

I've been having a really great week, well, mentally anyways.  All the kids I babysit have been so much fun this week and I've been babysitting the perfect amount - not too much, not too little.  Most of my ballet classes have been really well behaved this week.  Crossing my fingers that next week goes just as well as this week because it's Parent Observation Day in class... I'm not a fan, at all.

On top of all that, I'm just so excited to start weight training again and Rachel and I have been able to get out for stadiums twice this week (we haven't gone for awhile now...).  Running?  Eh, not so much.  Mentally, yes.  Physically - oh yeah... I had a cold.

On Tuesday I decided I was going to fit in a 10 miler before work.  I had sort of been struggling with some sort of cold but it was so mild and I was feeling pretty good so I didn't think it would be a problem.

3 miles later I felt like poop so I turned around and struggled the 3 miles back.  Lesson learned: just because you feel "mostly good" does not mean you will be feeling great 6 miles later. 

Success!  In my book that means finishing without puking ;)

...which is exactly what I felt like doing

I met some sheep at ballet class today:

Why yes, I do have the best job!



Yesterday was stadiums:

Followed several hours later with an intense (and hot, hence the no shirt thing) chest and back workout.  Can't say I've missed pullups

Ahh, yes, now I know why my chest hurt when I was trying to breathe while running today

And then, my favorite part of this whole story:

Yesterday Rachel begged me to go running with her today.  I don't get this chance very often so even though I had planned to run 10 miles by myself I agreed to go running with her.  I decided that I would run 5 miles with her and then after I dropped her off I would run another 5 by myself.

As I thought about it I actually decided that I was going to be pretty happy with this arrangement - I'd still have gone 10 miles but it would end up being a lot easier than if I ran those miles by myself.

The only downside was that I would have to wake up at O'dark thirty to drive all the way out to her apartment and then of course I would have to drive home too.

Well, I did it.  I woke up at 4:15 so I could have some coffee and *ahem* make sure I had used to bathroom before our run.  Oh, and foam roll.

I left the house at 6, and texted Rachel about 3 times before I started calling her.  I called 5 times and didn't manage to wake her up.  Well, since I was already at her apartment I decided I would just run my 5 miles alone first and then hopefully she would be awake by the time I got back.  I brought my phone with me so i could text/call her along the way.  I'm not sure how many texts I ended up sending, maybe 5?  The last one said "you're dead to me"

I also called another 5 times making that total 10.  I realize I could have just gone the last 5 miles by myself but by that time I was just mad that I had gone all that way for nothing.  She's not on my happy list today.

I just can't believe someone could sleep through that many phone calls.  I'm pretty convinced she just didn't want to pick up the phone and tell me she didn't feel like coming out.

This is my grumpy face at Rachel because she is lame ;)

Ooooon the bright side:  I ran a 7:12 for the first mile.  I can't wait to break 6 miles!

I have the whole day ahead of me and nothing to do.  I have a very good feeling finishing off those last 5 miles will not be part of the plan but lets hope something good comes from this day with nothing to do but sit in bed and watch Veronica Mars on netflix watch instantly.