Half way there

Today was a tough day, but a good day at the same time. I had trouble going to sleep last night, then I ended up waking up at 3:30 in the morning. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I just laid there in bed until about 4:30 when my dog decided I'd been in bed long enough & that it was time to take him outside. It was so hard for me to resist the urge to just get back into bed & sleep for a few more hours. But I knew I couldn't do that. That would've been way too easy. So I got my butt in gear & got to the park just around 6:00 am. All us walkers & our coaches decided it was a better idea to get an extra early start on things because #1: it's getting hotter & hotter as the days go by & by starting early, we don't have to worry about being out there in the high heat of the day. And #2: since we're out there so much longer than the runners, we obviously finish much later than they do & often miss out on the clinics they have after practice. So today we started a whole 90 minutes earlier than the runners & for once, I wasn't the last person to get back to the starting area. It was great!

Now, the practice itself wasn't the best in the world for me. My bad streak this week continued. With my lack of good sleep, I didn't have nearly the energy I usually do for practice & had a bit of a tough time. I wasn't sure if I was actually going to be able to finish, but after about the 1st 4 miles of walking pretty much alone, one of my coaches walked the entire rest of the way with me, talking with me, encouraging me, & pushing me to go just a bit further. We actually ended up doing more & going further than everyone else, because at every opportunity we had, we did extra hills while most everyone else kept to the flat trail. (Lord knows I need the hill training, cuz Alaska isn't exactly flat!)

It was actually a fairly beautiful course. We started out at the park, walking almost an entire loop around the park, then out to the streets toward another park that ran parallel to a main road that led us straight through downtown Houston. (this is the exact spot we went through. On the way back, my coach & I ran down those stairs you see in the center of the picture towards the bottom.) Once we got into downtown, it was so cool. It was still pretty early & there was hardly a soul around. We pretty much had downtown to ourselves. The only other people around were the window washers at one of the hotels & a group of hotel workers walking to work. Every once in a while, a single car would come by, and we could smell fresh doughnuts being made at a bakery. Downtown really is beautiful. I love my city. :)

By the time we got to the George R. Brown convention center, we'd walked 7.7 miles. It was there that we turned around & made our way back to Memorial Park, the same way we came.

The last 2-3 miles were definitely the hardest. Since I didn't really have the energy to run at all today, my muscles were getting a bit over worked (it's a lot better to run every few minutes because it makes you use different muscles than when you walk, so you give those walking muscles a chance to rest) & my feet felt like they were turning to lead. But I eventually made it to the finish. We ended up doing 13 miles instead of 12 & it took me just over 4 hours to do it. I was exhausted & my feet hurt like a sonofabitch, but it still felt so good to know I could do it. I basically did a 1/2 marathon today, which is what I originally signed on to do. But now I'm thinking I may actually end up doing the full 26.2 miles. Hell, I still have almost 3 months more to go before the race & so far in the past 7 weeks, I've gone from barely being able to run 20 feet & walking 3 miles to being able to run 1/4 mile at a time & finish 13 miles!! That's quite an accomplishment for someone like me. Sure it's still hard & some days I just want to quit, but even on a so-called bad day like today, just knowing I can still do it keeps me going.

I figured I'd sleep about 5 hours afterwards today & that I'd barely be able to walk this evening, but I napped off & on for only about 3 hours & have almost no soreness at all in my muscles (good stretching afterwards, followed by an ice bath, then hot shower is key!). The only thing that is pretty much unbareable is the massive rash I have on my feet & ankles from walking thru all that damn pollin on the track & thru the city. I swear I have the most sensative skin on the planet! My feet feel like they are on fire & it's taking every ounce of my self control to not scratch. I will likely have to go see a Dr. about my allergies & hopefully get a Rx cream for the rash & maybe a different Rx pill (right now I'm taking Allegra) to control these outbreaks. I have to do something because right now, I can't even put on flip flops without them hurting my feet.

But other than that, I'm good. Next week we're starting at 5:30 am & are dropping back to 10 miles, so it should hopefully be easier. *crosses fingers*

I think my Benadryl is finally kicking in, so I should get to bed soon. (Wow... I'm such a rock star! Ready for bed by 10:30 on a Saturday night. WOOO!!!) Here's hoping next week goes better than this past week!