18 Miles.... You Win Again.

For both rounds of marathon training I have struggled with my 18 milers.  20 miles?  Great.  22 miles?  Awesome.  18 miles?  100% shit show.  When I woke up Saturday morning, I had wanted to wait until the wind chill was in the double digits.  Finally at 2pm, I said screw it and headed out in the balmy 9 degree temps.  Luckily for me, there was a sheet of ice covering my entire running path.  Yay!

After mile 1, I resigned to the fact that this would be a slow run, and opted to not pay attention to my garmin for much of the run.  I was wearing my yaktrax, which helped with my footing, but still gave the impression of two steps forward, and one step back while running.  Gah.  Through the first GU break (4.5 miles) I was having a jolly good time.  I had planned to run a nine mile out and back to get my mileage for the day.  Unfortunately at 7.5 miles I realized that the rest of the trail was under construction, so I'd have to tack miles on to the end of the run.

Since I'm 100% loco runner, this messed with my brain big time.  When you run the same trail over and over and over and over again, you get used to knowing exactly how far you are from being done.  Having to add 3 miles to this automatic total suckkkkkked.  At mile 9 I went to take GU #2 only to realize that some dumb dumb hadn't zipper her coat pocket and had lost her favorite blueberry pomegranite roctane.  I continued to pout and scour the trail for it's shiny blue wrapper.

I was approximately 100 yards from my initial GU point when I saw something shiny out of the corner of my eye.  Praise Jesus alleluiah!  I am saved!!  Seriously... I don't know if I've ever been this happy on a run.  I kept on with my run going an alternate route to tack on the remaining 3 miles, only to realize the trail was closed THAT WAY TOO.  alskfjalsjdflajslkfjlkajsdlfkjlkasdjflasdflakjdsflkajsdf

Fine.  I'll do a mile lap around my apartment.  Whatever.  Just get this run d-o-n-e!  I ditched my yaktrax on the apartment lawn (ie:  snow mountain) and continued around the block.  Foreshadowing:  big mistake.  At approximately 17.3 miles, I ran by a pet shop with some huge dog bellowing out a barking rant.  When I moved to get off of the sheet of ice that sprung up on me and on to a mound of snow, I completely lost my footing and flew through the air landing really hard on my elbow and right hip.  Immediately upon hitting the ground I stopped my garmin (tell me that isn't a reflexive action....) and cursed at the dog to shut the eff up.  Oops.

I hobbled the remaining .7 miles home, pouting.  When I got home I felt sicky sick.  Oftentimes after a long run I feel really pukey and this time was bad.  I curled up in the fetal position on the couch in my still sweaty and stinky clothes and called KK.  And of course he didn't answer so I pouted 100x harder.  Moments away from crying he called me back and said he had a gift for me.   Well technically 2 gifts.  Well actually thousands of gifts...... and I perked right up.  Someone had replenished my starburst jelly bean stash!!!!!!!!!!  :) :) :)  Eventually the promise of candy was enough for me to pry myself off the couch and in to the shower.

Oh and for the record, I can run at least 21 miles in the time it took me to run 18.  If it's not spring by the time my 20 miler rolls around, I'm going to kill winter.  Seriously.  I hope they let me blog from prison.

And in lighter news, check out my haul from the library this weekend.  Yes I am a homebody, why do you ask?  ;)  Quick poll:  How many of these will get read/watched before their impending deadline?  Answer to come.

ICE!

Good new kiddos!  I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, although it may seem that way since I haven't blogged since the 13th.  Oooopsies. The night before my half marathon we went to the ICE! show at the Gaylord Texan.  I've never been to an ice show, but it was pretty cool.  Also, I felt pretty B.A. when everyone was shivering inside (the temps are kept in the single digits if I remember correctly) and in my head I was thinking, "I've done long runs in this weather!"  :p

The line for the show took for.ev.er.  Definitely not what you want to be doing the night before you're attempting to PR in a race, but oh well.  I decided to snap some pics of my cutie nephew Harrison.  The decorations were so pretty.  Definitely made me want to invest in some high quality decorations for my place.  Maybe next year!

Harrison and my brother.  They look so much alike it's actually kind of creepy.

When we finally got to the front of the line, they were handing out huge blue parkas to wear.  They were pretty darn stylish.

Harrison really liked the ice sculptures.  He had this face on for the majority of the tour.

Harrison and his mom posing in front of one of the sculptures.

I pretty much wanted to check in to the hotel.  It was the most beautiful winter wonderland.

When we first arrived in the hotel, I spotted this gorgeous tree that I knew I needed to take a picture in front of.  Constructing one of my own is definitely on the list for next year. :p

Yes he's a cutie.  I know.  :)