i never got the chance to rant about the insanity of my saturday.  let’s just start on friday evening, when we stayed out way too late enjoying dinner and conversation with neighbors and i ended up having to stay up half the night to get the laundry done and presents wrapped.  saturday, we were up at the crack of dawn for a race in which hubby was participating and i was volunteering.  we left right after the awards, getting home close to noon, where it was a frantic race to get packed up to leave town.  quick bite to eat and we were on the road at 13:30 but three stops before leaving town meant we didn’t really get going until 14:00.  me, exhausted and unable to sleep in the car plus six hours of driving, plus another prolonged stop and one quick pickup before reaching our destination got us in around 21:30.  grabbed the suitcase, said a cursory “hi” to the fam, got changed, and hit the streets for my thank-God-i-did-my-long-run-thursday three miler.  happily, hubby went with me to keep me company on the dark streets at 22:00.  and it was a great run!  i PR’d my pace over that distance and was very happy about it.  unfortunately, it was also the first run i’ve ever done that ended in severe cramping.  i had told hubby when we finished, i wanted to walk back to the stop sign to cool down.  half way to the stop sign, my left quad started cramping, by the time we reached the stop sign and turned back to the house, my right calf was locked up, when we reached the house, it was all i could do to move my legs at all and they were screaming in horrendous pain.  i sobbingly asked hubby to run up and get my bathing suit while i dragged myself out to the pool and started removing shoes and zensas.  i changed into my suit, and sat down in the frigid pool for ten or fifteen minutes, stretching and flexing my legs in the icy water.  during this time, i decided that the cramping was most likely due to lack of nutrition and hydration as all i’d eaten all day was a chicken caesar salad at lunch time and hubby and i had shared my water on the drive.  when i got out of the pool, i was feeling a bit better.  i drank some sodium-filled chicken broth and was feeling much, much better.  apparently, i have to watch my electrolytes better when running.  lesson learned.  still, my run was an awesome 3.05 mi in 34:56 for an average pace of 11:27!

today’s run… not so awesome.  even after my day of rest yesterday, my legs were very unhappy about the demand upon them.  my calves felt very tight and i purposely set out at an easy pace.  even with the slow-down, i had to walk several times as my legs just weren’t having it.  sadly, i was also fighting the skies and they won.  with about three-quarters of a mile to go, the lightning started and the clouds opened up.  i dislike running in the rain.  and i really don’t like lightning in the mix.  i kept thinking about the heart-rate monitor around my chest turning into an instant defibrillator.  but, there was really no quick way to get home so i just finished out my run.  hubby must have gotten rained out on his bike ride and discovered that i was still out there because i met him in the car just down the street from the house.  i chose to keep going since i was already so wet and so close to the three mile mark.  so my goal was to keep an easy twelve minute pace.  i was at a 12:20 or so when the sky opened up and knocked it down to 12:12 thanks to mother nature’s unwelcome prodding.  my legs were really unhappy with the pace pick-up at the end.  oh well.