dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran 1.5 miles fast during the second half of the run this morning.  We kept the pace slow enough, but sped up quite a bit during the last quarter.

Ran alone in the evening today.  Total time for 10.1 miles was 1:09:44.  A faster pace than normal, but it didn't feel too hard.  My hips and legs are feeling much better now than they were last week.  I think that my back exercises are working to a certain degree.

I ran with Sasha this morning and finished 10.1 miles in 1:19:XX.  I ran all but about 1.5 miles of this run heel striking as I wanted to give my calves a break, and my plantar fascia is feeling better, so I didn't feel the need to forefoot strike.

I ran with Sasha this morning.  We ran 2 x 1.5 miles in 8:32 and 8:19.  It didn't feel too hard.  Total time for the run was 1:14:43.

Well, today ended up being a major adventure that I would have rather not gone on, but I came out of things ok (although my wife can't say the same thing) so I have nothing to complain about.  Kimia started complaining of stomach pain during the night and couldn't sleep from about 2 am until morning.  She felt a little better after she threw up, but still couldn't sleep.  So, I skipped my run in the morning in order to take care of the baby so that Kimia could try to rest (although she still didn't sleep) figuring that I could get my run done in the evening when Kimia was feeling better.  Well, she didn't get better and I had to leave work early in order to take her to the hospital with the end result being that she needed gallbladder surgery.  

I ended up running 7 miles in just under 54:00 while she was in surgery.  In order to run and be done by the time Kimia was out of surgery I ended up dropping off the baby at Sasha's house and ran in jeans, a polo shirt, a dress watch, and sandals (albeit close-toed).  The sandals ended up leaving blisters on some of my toes, and my feet were slightly sore, but otherwise I was none the worse for wear after a less than conventional run wearing shoes that provide no more padding than five fingers do.

When Kimia got out of surgery she was totally out of it, but the surgery went well.  We will see how long her recovery ends up taking. 

I slept on a super uncomfortable reclining chair in the hospital last night after Kimia got out of surgery, and I was woken up a ton of times because I was the main person on baby duty during the night, and the nurses were coming in and out constantly.  So, needless to say I was tired this morning.  The surgeon came in and told us today that even though the surgery went well, Kimia's bilirubin levels were so high that they needed to keep her for another night in order to make sure that a gall stone did not get stuck in the common bile duct.  As it was, Kimia's eyes were really jaundiced, and there was even a yellowish tint to her skin.  She could not hold any food down, and could barely move.  So, what is normally an outpatient procedure has already turned into a one night stay, with another night going on the books tonight.  Fun fun, another night sleeping in the hospital.

Anyhow, I was able to get a friend to come over and watch Kimia and the baby while I went out on a run.  I only ran 12 miles because of the lack of sleep and the stress from everything, and I was glad that I cut the run short today.  My feet were also still a little sore from yesterday's run sans normal shoes.  I finished 12 miles in 1:20:21, running a 1.5 mile stretch in 8:35 (about 5:44 pace) and then a 2.25 mile stretch in 12:46 (about 5:40 pace) both during the second half of my run.  After my run was finished I found out that one of the blisters from yesterday has turned into a nasty looking blood blister.  I am glad that it doesn't hurt, because it looks like it should.