65 minute run at around 11:00 am, 80°, sunny
Route:
I woke up late for my long run today after a long night out with some old friends, capped off by a 3:00 am Mexican combo plate run. When my alarm rang at 7:00 am, my body vetoed the running vote and I went back to bed. When I did get up around 10:30, I hit the road as quick as I could after a semi-serious rehydration effort.
My planned route was to take me almost as far west as Kedzie and as far south as Belmont, but the run got into my head a bit. By the time I got to my western limit—Whipple Street, since I’d rather run on the quiet neighborhood streets instead of busy ones—I was only 2 miles into the run and my right hip was starting to bother me. I could tell that my stride was lazy and I was landing too hard on my right foot, causing some pressure and pain in my hip. And so I started second-guessing myself. Here is a sample of my inner dialogue:
Me: Should I just bag it in for the day?
Me: No that’s dumb, you’re fine, and you’re gonna be running a lot farther than this in October, dummy.
Me: But an injury now is gonna make October so much more difficult, I’ll just shorten my route—I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.
Me: Yes you do: if you can’t manage to run the first few miles without getting scared like a baby that you’re gonna hurt your poor little hip bone, then you’re a whiner, which is loathsome to everyone.
Me: But my hip is, like, pretty important in running and I don’t wanna interfere with my training schedule. I’ll just train hard and smart and do a longer run next week.
Me: What a wussy!
Me: Shut up, this is rational!
Me: You shut up, and stop crying!
Me: No you shut up and stop bullying me!
Me: Keep running or I’ll give you a titty twister! I'm totally serious!
Me: Don’t! Stop it! What the heck!? Owwwwww!
And so on and so forth as I kept running. I walked a lot as I thought it out and tried to really get a sense of how my hip was feeling. Finally, about when I hit Irving Park, I decided I’d turn east at Addison and take it a little easy today, hopefully not embarrassingly so. I didn’t want to give myself any more titty twisters.
So I kept running and tried to focus on really strengthen my posture and stride, and I started feeling better. My intervals seemed to go by quicker. And while I could feel my hip straining, it wasn’t really hurting. Before I knew it, and thanks to a steady stream of Cubs fans walking down Addison to the Cubs Yankees game as a distraction, I had passed my planned turn to the north and instead ran through the crowds at Wrigley and up under the Red Line home.
So in all, I went a full 7 miles and less than half a mile under my initial, ambitious 7.7 mile planned route.
What did I learn from all this:
1.) Don’t drink a bunch of beers the night before a long run, if you can absolutely help it.
2.) 3:00 am Mexican food, while delicious, also probably isn’t worth it.
3.) The miles WILL get to you, even before they happen. Find your rhythm, shut out the chatter, and try to avoid giving yourself purple nurples in public.
Next run: Monday 5 miles
