Dreams of a Sub-Three Half

Shh, don't tell, but my secret wish is for a sub-three hour half this Saturday.

It may remain a dream, at least for 2011.

Sunday Julie and I went out for a longish run.  It was kind of a toss up as to how far we were going to go; five miles, six miles, and seven miles had all been bandied about.  It would depend on the route we ran and how we felt.  For me, this was the first run post-marathon.

We intended to go torture ourselves on Terwilliger.  I only live a few minutes away so I was going to get to the meeting place first.  Imagine my surprise when confronted with this.

It was Run Like Hell!  Which I had not only completely forgotten was on Sunday but also that it would come that far up onto Barbur.*  They didn't look exactly like this when I saw them but they did look awfully rough.  That could be partly due to zombie costumes but I'm betting it was more to do with the fact that I saw them right about at mile eight after climbing up the long Barbur hill.  It was also just shy of two hours into the race, so I was likely seeing a lot of runners like me.

I texted Julie of the problem and to meet me at the nearby Freddy's where we decided they probably wouldn't let us bandit even a small part of the race course, so we headed off to Sellwood Park to run the Springwater Corridor Trail.  Where I really was not feeling it at all.  Still with the pinched nerve issue in the hip, and fresh twinges in the latest suspected stress fracture site.  The hip seems to sort itself out after about four or five miles and it was something I could run through this weekend (just didn't feel like putting myself through it for a training run).  The potential fracture site is a tad more worrisome.  I hadn't been having much of a problem with it for several days until I started to run.  It works itself out after a short while, but afterwards was (and still is) fairly sore.  My grand plan to do a few more races and to get a sub-three half before the end of the year may not materialize. 

Well, if that's the case then so be it.  It was a beautiful day to run on Sunday with a gorgeous view and great company.  And a couple of guys -- completely not together -- who were running with their arms mostly down by their sides, palms just over their thighs.  Who runs like that? 

Maybe they were leftover zombies.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

*True story:  At first I couldn't figure out what race would be coming that far up Barbur that I didn't know about.  So I'm searching my brain (BRAAAAINNNSSS), saying to myself "What the hell?"  And then it hits me -- it was Run Like Hell!