bodily functions (oh joy!)

I haven’t written in a while. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because it takes every ounce of motivation in my body to get myself out there to run. And that leaves no motivation to write! I’ve been dragging lately. I’ve come to the conclusion that heat, sun, and humidity (even just one of these) drags me down when I am running. Slows my pace A LOT. When you’re already a slower runner like me, being slowed down even further really sucks. Makes the time needed for those long runs monumental. I have to block out an extra hour for my long runs when it’s hot, sunny, and/or humid. That way I can walk if needed and run as slow as I want. Getting the mileage done ends up being much more important than the pace of those miles. I keep telling myself that marathon day should be cooler. “Should” being the operative word. Given the way training has gone this summer, I’ll be a goner if it’s a tough weather day.

Speaking of tough days, I had an interesting training run the other day. Stop reading here if you aren’t a fan of reading about bodily functions!! I had an 11 miler to do and felt great when I first headed out. I had not run in about a day and a half so maybe my body was ready to get moving. I had not done anything radically different that day in terms of food, drink, etc. But I did have a very small bout with diarrhea. However, I took Immodium and all seemed fine. Well, without warning, at mile 0.86 of my run, I became incredibly queasy. I knew I had to throw up, and my body wasn’t going to wait for anything. Luckily I was kind of in a wooded area so I stepped off the sidewalk and threw up. Nothing much came out except for spit. But I kept heaving. I wondered how I would make it the 0.86 mile back to my car if I was vomiting the whole time. Luckily that calmed down and I started to feel better on my way back. But one thing I noticed hurting was my gluteus area. No, I’m not talking about the muscles. I’m talking about chafing. Many long distance runners will know what I am talking about. I guess that bout of diarrhea was coming back to haunt me! Runners get chafed in all sorts of weird areas, and sometimes even Body Glide doesn’t help.

I made it back to my car and at this point my rear-end was on fire. The trip home was almost unbearable, but as soon as I got home I got out my trusty Desitin and found instant relief. (Yes, Desitin is a lotion for babies for diaper rash. It’s a long distance runner’s friend.) I was feeling much better at that point and decided I’d attempt to run again. I knew at that point that the 11 miles was out of the question, but I figured if I could make it up to 5 that would be good. I decided to run around the loop at my condo complex, which is about 1.5 miles around. I figured with 3 loops, combined with the previous run, I’d be at just over 5. I was able to make it and felt okay.

And just to let you know…I did complete the 11 mile run the next night (last night). Even though my pace was incredibly slow, I did it. Getting the mileage done is the key!