There is only one thing good about this run, its over and I got in all 22. Now I'll list the bad things. First, it felt like I had ankle weights on the entire run. I've felt like that all week but this run was the worst. I don't know what the problem is but I'm taking a few days off. I was going to take them off anyway because of a very busy schedule but now there is a reason besides that schedule. Second, my feet ached. It is probably related to reason number one. Everything below my calves ached after mile 4 or so as if it was already on mile 20. What is the deal? Third, mile 9 or 10 I started to have stomach issues. I didn't want gel or chews. I did have some apple slices stashed on the trail at about 13 that I ate and those helped a little but I still didn't feel well. Forth was the wind. My planned route was to park at the bridge and run north up the point of the mountain an back to my car. This would give me a rest stop at mile 10 where I could stash water, etc. Then I had another stash on the trail 4 miles south near my house. So instead of running 6 miles out from my car and back to make up the remaining 12 I ran further south and back so I would finish my 22 at my house. If I was running north past my house with 4 to go until my car I might just stop at 18 and call it quits. Ending 22 at my house removed that temptation. So, back to the wind. I run 13 miles south and 9 miles north. More miles into the wind just plain sucks. Fifth, the storm. So for most of this run while I was fighting the wind I thought that at least the last 4 miles would be with the wind even though the 9 with was less than the 13 against. Wrong! Thursday night's storm started coming in shortly after I turned back to the north. And of course it was a north wind. THE DANG WIND CHANGED DIRECTION. I WAS RUNNING AGAINST THE WIND AGAIN. And not just wind but either cold bullet fast rain drops or soft hail, either way it stung. I couldn't even run straight because the wind kept blowing me around and the last two miles was a down pour. I was soaked. However, the storm did give me an extra boost of adrenaline. Before the storm I was barely moving along at a shuffle then the storm brought me out of that stupor. I picked up the effort just to try and get out of the storm. I was also yelling and cursing the storm. I won't quote what was said (or yelled at the top of my lungs) because it isn't appropriate for this blog. It's funny though, because of that wicked wind all that effort didn't increase my pace at all. I still had a shuffle pace even though my effort was fueled by motivation and rage. Number six is that I just plain felt crappy when I was done. I was afraid to eat when I got home because I was sure it was going to come back up, so I went to bed. It was around 9:30 or so. I was also shivering. I wasn't cold from the storm, my body was just messed up. I don't know what the medical reason for it was but I needed some sleep. I woke up around 12:30 feeling much better, but hungry and thirsty. So I got up and had milk, cereal, ibuprofen, and ice cream. I went back to bed and slept again till 8. A good 10 hours sleep does wonders. And now back to the one good thing. I finished. Its over. There is something satisfying (and probably masochistic) about pushing your body to its limits and then pushing it some more. I felt like shasdf;kjt after this run but I was upbeat with a smile on my face because I finished it in spite of all the obstacles. | 