My mom died a little over a week ago. She had been sick for quite some time; but as prepared as you think you can be, you can never be ready. My dad is heart broken, as they would have been married 42 years this October. She was only 65; I never expected to have to bury my mother at such a young age.
I had been traveling from my home on the Western Slope to the Front Range of Colorado to visit her and my dad. While I want to say I kept up with my regimen while I was there, I failed miserably. I did take my new bicycle* up there this last time, but only got on it once for a total of 19 miles. I ran three times up there as well, but with everything going on. . .well, to quote a country song, "My give a damn's busted."
I got home on Thursday and realized the race I wanted to enter was yesterday. I could sign up online through midnight and still get the early registration rate. I had decided not to enter the race, given the overall exhaustion of the last two weeks. I hadn't even gone out for a run in 10 days! But, M talked me into it and I signed up via active.com. I needed to get in a training run anyway.
Now, just two weeks ago I went for a 5 mile jog and was able to go the whole distance without stopping. I had finally pushed through that mental block and knew if I could just get through the first two miles, I was golden. I guess when you don't run for 10 days those mental demons come back with a vengeance. Nothing seemed to go right yesterday; people were cranky for trivial reasons in line to get their race numbers. The race started 10 minutes late because of a flooded spot on the course. No matter how slow I went, once my heart rate went up I couldn't get it to come back down. I struggled the last half of the race and ended up finishing last. I guess I was so far behind everyone else that when I made it to the finish they were already handing out the awards for both races (there was a 5K and a 5 mile, which is the one I did). Now I know what you're thinking, I finished and that is the important thing. While this is true, I thought I had made some progress against those mental demons telling me to walk instead of run. I also realized yesterday (hopefully not too late) I really need to do some hip work to strengthen those joints. Finally, I think I may need new running shoes. I've had mine for a year now and estimated they have about 250-300 miles on them. It doesn't sound like much, but I felt a thin spot under the ball of my foot that gave me another indicator its time for new shoes. I believe there is a local running store in my town, so I will head over there next week.
I hope to get back into the swing of things with training and the blog this week. There are four weeks to go until Tri Glenwood. God help me now.
*Yes, I bought a new road bike. I will post about her later in the week (and yes, it's a girl).
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