Tough Day

I was thinking that this post would be all about the cool things that have happened over the last week.  There was the epic ski day with Michael and our friends, the overnight that my kiddos had with their gparents, and the really cool 5000 meter swim (yes, straight).  There was also seeing all of my Inverness Masters buddies, an awesome 6 mile run, and a party with some neighbors we hadn't seen in awhile.  And, of course, Christmas Eve with my parents and Christmas Day at our house with my family.  I mean, really great stuff to write about!

But no.  I shall blog about the miserable run I had today.  It was supposed to be GREAT!  And I had been looking forward to it all week:  Tyler's Run.  A 17 mile out-and-back in a pretty scenic part of town with a little brunch action afterwards.  Now, I should have listened to my body yesterday.  When my tummy started to do flips and turns and backward somersaults, I should have listened.  And last night, when I couldn't sleep because the tummy wouldn't settle I knew that this could be bad for the run.  And when I got up this morning and had diahrea (tough, it's my blog I'll write about poop if I want), I should have just gone back to bed.  But that is just not what I do.  

So I braved the 6 degree weather (don't get me started on wind chill!), and met up with Tyler, Steve, Andrea, Barry and Laura.  The run actually started out pretty well - a nice easy pace, frozen eyelashes, and relative warmth.  This out-and-back essentially was uphill for 4 miles, and then downhill for 4 miles.  Turnaround and do it again.  And these were tough hills.  As we approached the BIG hill at 3.5 miles, for some reason I was with Steve.  And he gave me the signal to stay with him.   That was probably mistake #182 for me.  I kept with him though and felt OK.  It was only near the top and as we crested that I had the first indication that vomiting could be in my near future.  But we continued on and the nausea faded.  I actually felt great to the turnaround.  Now, I wasn't eating much because my body just thought that was silly but I was drinking a slushee from my water bottle so I thought I was OK.  

At the turnaround we picked up Christy, Rob and Keino and headed up the hill again.  I pushed this hill like I did the last big hill and it was OK, I hurt at the top, but recovered decently.  At mile 10.5 though it all went bad for me.  I was dizzy and really thought I was going to puke.  It passed.  I tried to take in a gel.  Another wave, then another, and then another after that.  I was reduced to walking a couple of minutes and trying to jog a couple of minutes.  My biggest worry now was staying warm:  it was probably only 20 degrees and a bit breezy, and my clothes were wet.  The group had dropped me by then and it was just a matter of getting back.  There were even a couple of times where I thought about taking a nap in the sun???!!!  I had my wits still with me though and knew that was probably a BAD idea.  Finally, finally I could see my finish point and got some words of encouragement from Andrea.  I had just walked/jogged 6 miles to the finish.  YIKES!

I managed to put down a bit of chicken noodle soup at brunch and got warm.  But I just needed to get home to the couch.  I took a nap, watched a movie with the girls, thought about eating, and then just took a shower instead.  I figure the appetite will come back at some point right? And I know that I consumed enough calories over Christmas in the form of (in no particular order) cinnamon rolls (best ever thanks PIC), ham, potatoes, cookies and chocolate that I will not waste away anytime soon.  HA!

It is not always butterflies and roses for my workouts and I can't wait for my next one.  More fun posts to come:)