Oh my heck. Seriously. Worst run of, dare I say, my life? I don't know what unholy concoction of events (or lack there of ) combined forces against me today, all I know is that there is one AMAZING run out on my horizon. Opposition in all things, right? Started out well enough. Dragging butt after too few hours of sleep, bundling up for what I knew would be a VERY cold, dark, snowy run. 6:00AM departure from home with nothing in my stomach, but some water. This isn't unusual for me. I did pack a gu just in case I felt like I needed it - ha! Nothing but fresh footprints in a light dusting of snow and a downhill headwind (which made me excited to run home, because we NEVER get the downhill headwind!), I wasn't the first to put footprints in the snow, which surprised me, but it was nice to know I wasn't the only crazy out this morning. About mile 4 or 5 was when it started to hit the fan. Stomach just felt nauseated, crampy and blech. Didn't know if I should run to the bathroom or just barf. Figured I'd take the short loop around the lake that I'd planned then stop at the bakery and see what came of it. I was bonking hard and considered throwing back the gu, but my stomach was so upset I didn't want to risk throwing up. I've done enough of that during my pregnancies and I ABHOR throwing up (no, no chance I'm pregnant either - so don't go there!!) so I avoided the gu, besides no water to wash it down with would just make me gag. Got to the bakery and it as well as the public restroom Kelli showed me last week were closed. Oh thank Heaven for 7-11! A new one opened just last weekish about 3/4 mile up the road. Although I felt like I'd pushed as much as I could to just get here, I figured I had no choice, but to push ahead. After the stop (and a short warm-up -ahhhh!) I hit the road and felt a bit better. It didn't last long. By the time I'd gone just 1 mile more and gotten back to my water bottle I'd dropped on my way out (it was 75% frozen and I had to squeeze water through the ice at the top just to drink it.) I was done. I was at 10.10 miles - that was enough to hit my 40 for the week. I didn't want to go on. I only had 3 miles-ish to home, but was defeated and feeling worse every step. I got a drink (which made me gag and almost throw up) and someone passed me running. My pride renewed me. I will go on! At 10.28 miles I stopped, got out the phone and called Craig. I threw in the towel. Only one other time in my running career have I made the choice to call Craig and have him pick me up and not finish a run. I guess this would be a DNF for me. I told him I was sick and done and to come get me. That short call almost made me get frost bite on my fingers, because I didn't have my glove on - SO cold!! Hung up and decided to just run until I met him. If I walked I'd just get cold, besides, I had to even out my miles - can't leave it at 10.28 :) At 10.91 I had a flash back of SGM. No waring, just a nice heave from my stomach. Went to the side of the road and puked my guts out. Thankfully, I was on a busy road out here so everyone got to see the crazy lady that not only thinks it's okay to run a gazillion miles, but do it in the snow and the cold pay for her miscalculation and puke. Yeah, I'm sure they had a good nod thinking: "yup, that's why I don't run!" No inspiration coming from me today. I didn't want to wipe my mouth with my gloves, because I didn't know how much longer I'd be in the cold . Just a nice spitting game until I could muster enough to stand up without a big spit string. Running is pretty, isn't it? :) I took off running again - what else is a girl to do? Thankfully, I then spotted Craig! As I passed the front bumper of the car the garmin ticked to 11.00 - perfect. Couldn't have done it better if I'd tried. Told him he'd just missed the show, he was pretty upset about missing another puke session! Went home, showered and headed off to the ward Christmas party. All the food there just made things worse. Even the cinnamon rolls I'd spent hours making threatened my stomach with revenge if I even thought about putting them to my lips. I had some water and a few bites of fruit. Now, I have only 20 minutes until I can put baby down to bed, pick up my daughter and cross my fingers the older kids don't destroy the house while I sleep for one hour. That is all I have until I have to jet off to yet another commitment today. Maybe by 9:00 things will settle down. So, this was an epic fail, but all I can hope for is that somehow, my body realizes that this can make it stronger. One of those runs to put in the bank and hope to heaven that it was really worth it. When I get that good run, it will be worth it. The bright spot of the morning was that I got to see a SPECTACULAR sunrise, that I didn't mind stopping for a minute to take a picture and enjoy this morning. Maybe that is what made it all worth it!  The 'small' mountain you can see is the point of the mountain, you can't see Timp behind it, because I've got a crappy camera and it was enveloped in the clouds with just the peaks poking through. It really was beautiful!!! Glad I picked up my head enough that last mile to see and enjoy it.
AP: 9:17 splits: 8:57, 8:53, 9:17, 8:48 (last good mile), 9:00, 9:24, 9:15, 9:25, 9:25, 9:54, 9:44 (I really thought I was running about an 11:00mm pace!!).
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