I’m a day or so late on this post thanks to last week being the end of the school year (this picture sums up my boys’ feelings about that) and Memorial Day weekend…but better late than never, right? And I promise I did run, so we might as well dig in to the details.

Four little boys jumping in the air.

Thanks to all of you who chimed in about the soreness in my right hamstring; your advice is appreciated so, so much. I was a little anxious to see how that sore spot would fare especially since I had my 10-miler to tackle. I decided to ice, ice (baby) every chance I could. Or rather, when I remembered to do so. I have a cute owl rice bag a friend made me long ago that I popped into the freezer and I rested my leg on it after every run and also in the afternoons (when Cam naps and I’m sitting at my laptop catching up on blogging tasks – perfect time for icing!).

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I think it made a huge difference! That and a lot of stretching. I felt twinges of discomfort every once in a while during the first mile or so of every run but after that, it was nothing like the pain of the last couple weeks. So that was a huge relief.

Monday: I ran three miles and as scatterbrained as it sounds, even though that was only a week ago, I can’t remember if I did it in the early morning. Or was it mid-morning with the double jogger? No, I’d remember that horror. I think it was early morning. Wow, I think I’m losing my mind. Clearly it was uneventful enough to not warrant a significant memory.

Tuesday: I had thought about some type of cross-training workout but I decided to rest today because I was still figuring out how that ol’ hamstring would feel. Good choice, I think.

Wednesday: Ran five miles at 5:45 a.m. I was surprised at how pleasant this run was. Not easy by any means – maybe it was just the audiobook I was listening too (thanks for all of your suggestions!) but I didn’t feel like dying at the end. Another reason may be that I tried to run a little slower (which is funny because I am far from being a fast runner on normal conditions) this week to see if that would help my leg feel better. Slow = less painful.

Thursday: Even though my leg felt better this week, it was a bit achy after Wednesday’s five miles so early this morning I rode my back to a track and met a friend; we walked briskly for a few miles and then I ran one or two laps at the end and rode my bike home. It felt good.

Friday: This was supposed to be a rest day but I remembered we had company coming to stay with us Friday night and the probability of me waking up Saturday morning at 5 a.m. to run my looming 10 miles was slim (I’m a late night chatter when old friends come to town, what can I say?) so late Thursday night I decided to get up at 5 a.m. today and get my long run in.

The good news: it was a beautiful morning…

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…and considering the longest I’ve run so far has been 8 miles, it could have been a lot worse. I took it slow and steady and other than one blasted hill that honestly felt like Mt. Everest and forced me to walk halfway up it’s mountainous ascent, I plodded along. I made a conscious effort to stop and stretch halfway through and that helped me (mentally and physically).

The thing that made me cry: my sweet friend, Deb, who recently had a baby knew I was running my 10 miles that morning and said she’d meet me for the last mile. Running has made me totally emotional because I started bawling when I saw her coming my direction. I was on mile 9. I was so tired. And it was the pick-me-up I needed. Then (then!) as we were jogging that last stretch, I saw a figure in the distance and realized it was my husband, Brian. He didn’t know I was meeting Deb and had used the Find my Friend app to track my progress and he ran from our house to meet me that last stretch, too (which is more of an act of love than I can express because he really does not enjoy running). Insert more tears. So the three of us jogged the last mile/mile and a half or so together. I’m not sure I would have had the mental stamina to get through if it weren’t for those two angels.

The bad: I was very, very, very sore. As in, walked like an old grandma (no offense to you cute 90-year olds out there) all day Friday and Saturday. I stretched like crazy before, during and after but it didn’t counteract the soreness. I know, I know – some of you will say MEL, GET OVER IT AND DO THE ICE BATH but I haven’t gotten brave enough to sit in a tub of ice yet (can you blame me?) plus it was the last day of school and I had about 20 minutes to get cleaned up before I had to be up there with my two littles to serve ice cream, watch a 5th grade graduation assembly and stuff like that. No time for ice baths (phew!). Surprisingly my hamstring issue didn’t really bother me during the run or after (thanks to all that icing maybe?) it was more just general agony everywhere else. You know, cause running 10 miles isn’t exactly something I do every Mon, Wed and Fri.

The stinky: I was so stinky and sweaty. That is all.

Overall: I have to admit I was pretty darn proud of myself for getting through the longest run I’ve done in over 12 years. TEN MILES! It kind of boggles my mind. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t fast, but it was still 10 miles. It reiterated to me the same thing I’ve thought a million times since I started training for this thing in February. If I can do this, anyone can do this.

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Saturday: mostly a rest day (if you count working on finishing the chicken coop, taking care of our new bovine charges, gardening and cleaning the house resting)

Two small brown cows.

This Week

-Monday: run 3 miles
-Tuesday: rest, cross-train or yoga, not sure which or what or how long yet
-Wednesday: run 4 miles (if I’m feeling good, I might go a little farther, maybe 5?)
-Thursday: run 3 miles
-Friday: rest day or yoga/stretching (still working on keeping that hamstring happy)
-Saturday: run 10 miles (again – yikes – breathe slowly – still scared); high likelihood I might do this again Friday morning since we have company staying overnight just like last week

With my five kids now out of school, I’m more determined than ever to get my runs in before the household wakes up and demands my every waking minute and for my shorter runs during the week, I’m hoping to prod my two oldest boys out of bed to go with me to get them moving along for their upcoming 10K.

One Note

I can’t believe the Utah Valley Half Marathon is creeping up! It’s less than three weeks away and I’m excited and nervous. I know many of you are running this same race and I can’t wait to meet all of you! I’m working out the details for after the race but as it stands, we’ll have a little designated meeting area near the finish line. I’ll keep you posted on exactly where it will be. I know we’ll all be finishing at different times so if you speedy runners promise to wait for me, I’ll wait for every last one of you. Deal? I think I need to be wearing a shirt that says something like this so if you blaze by me, toss me some of your gatorade, will ya?
A pink sign that says run now cookies later.