Weekend Update/What day is this?!

I seriously had to look at my calendar to see what day is today is. On Saturday morning, I woke up thinking it was Sunday. I am starting to become a complete mess, I swear I don't know what is going on these days. Fortunately, started to turn the corner from my crappy running with a few solid workouts.

Friday, day off. Didn't do much at night, did some light stretching, went out to Fast Eddie's for a short nightcap to meet up with some friends. Saturday, woke up kind of late (still can't get enough sleep!), Crystal texted me saying she wasn't feeling well and wasn't running, so instead of getting up I laid in bed FOREVER. Finally, peeled my lazy carcass out of bed, and moved down to the couch where I laid around for another hour watching movies. Around 1 p.m., realized if this long run wasn't getting done soon, it wasn't at all so changed and pushed myself out the door. Weather was GORGEOUS - sunny, in the 50's, trails were littered with people. First shorts run of the year, which was nice. Had trouble deciding which route I was going, ultimately decided on Troy, hoping all the snow/ice was melted at this point. Warmup mile felt good and relaxed, a lot faster than I wanted, but decided to not look at the watch much and go by feel. Blazed thru the first half of the run, turned around into a few miles uphill and picked it up to counter the 3-4 miles slight uphill. At this point, sun was killing me since I was getting super hot, and was counting the steps till I got to the water fountain at Drost Park, roughly 5 miles away from home. Got there, water fountain is shut off. @!*&#@!@*#@! Just wanted to get home at this point, and was getting really tired, so went faster than I should have and got home and drank water consecutively for a good 5 minutes. I'm not sure how I didn't pass out, I am quite positive I didn't come up for air during those 5 minutes. Total mileage: 16 miles - splits were: 7:35, 7:25, 7:24, 7:23, 7:25, 7:23, 7:22, 7:25, 7:24, 7:18, 7:17, 7:05, 7:07 (half marathon split was 1:36:12), 7:08, 7:07, 7:05.

Pretty awesome run, waaaay too fast, but definitely a confidence builder for me. Nice negative split, felt good throughout most of it. I struggled at the end a bit, but more from lack of hydration and crappy breakfast. So afterwards, went to go take my customary long shower - the type where you almost feel obligated to send money to Africa since you've used so much water. Anyways, the hot water starts coming out, and I started to scream in pain - stupidly, I forgot to use Body Glide on my long run, and completely chafed away the inner part of my legs. I have never had a more excruciatingly painful shower than that - it still hurts to walk, even today! Went to trivia night with some friends at night over in Richmond Heights - had a blast, we finished 4th out of 32 teams so very respectable. Sunday, woke up to ridiculous soreness (I.T. band, quads), and limped around all day. Since I had put in some ridiculous work on my long run, didn't feel overly guilty for skipping out on the 7 mile pace (got in good pace work on my long run). The all day rain didn't help, and just didn't want to mess with limping through a workout. So hit 40 miles last week, not too shabby, wanted more but was a solid week's work.

Monday, got in an easy run with the Big River Running group. Went to their South City store, and New Balance was out there doing wear tests on their shoes. I talked with one of the reps, and she gave me the NB 760, which wasn't too different from the 900 series I had run for years - just slightly heavier, for higher mileage purposes. The Monday Running groups that BRR does runs 3 different loops, and Pat, Crystal, and I opted for the middle loop which was roughly 4.3 miles. We ran to Francis Park, which is pretty much a huge rectangle and did a couple laps around there before heading back. Lots of people out, pretty awesome to have good participation - South City running community is definitely very strong. Shoes felt pretty good for the most part, but the arch felt a little high for me. Otherwise, a very good trainer, very comfortable, lots of cushioning, and I gave a good review on it. The run felt ok, I felt like crap but made it through. Still some lingering soreness, but could move ok. Afterwards, got a nice dinner at Buffalo Brewing Company, which is pretty close to downtown and Harriss Stowe University, off Olive. Great food, good beer, nice place to eat - will definitely be back.

Tonight, speedwork, 2 miles@race pace, 1 mile fast, 2 miles@race pace - the workout I circled on this schedule that is going to be tough. Think good thoughts for me!