Thursday, March 27, 2008

Great Gulf Trail...OR...Just Not Feeling It

On a scale of 1 to 10, today's run sucked.

Yesterday I must have eaten an angry dwarf because he was trying to get out of my large intestine all morning. Things were just a rumblin'. Not good times. And, I didn't sleep all that well last night. I was just not in the mood for a run. Plus, I was tight from yesterday's skate ski. All signs pointed to taking the day off.

I didn't. So the positive is that I actually pushed myself out the door. The problem is that the running options in Pinkham Notch are really limited right now. I took a chance that the Great Gulf Trail would be packed, and for the most part it was. But it was wicked soft. Really, really slow going. That happens to snow when it's 40° out. So, yeah, not the best choice. It was also sporadically postholey, which didn't help either. I struggled to boundary of the Great Gulf Wilderness at 1.6 miles and turned back. Well, to be truthful, I took about five steps past the sign, realized that things weren't going to get any better, and turned around. About two minutes later, I postholed and was on my face. Not good times. My YakTrax were also not up for the run as for some reason I couldn't get them to stay in place. This was another minor annoyance. Tired, gassy, slipping, falling, hungry...just all out of whack.

I made it back to the car and decided to run 2 more miles. The "schedule" called for 5 today, and I'm an idiot, so I headed out along Route 16. Running on Route 16 blows. The shoulder is wide, but that's the only positive. It was painful. Boring, yuk. I was able to move along at a more normal pace was I still wasn't feeling that great. In fact, I was starting to get a pain in my lower leg, just above my right ankle. Has the makings of an early shin splint. CRAP! I turned around at what I thought was about a mile—the return mile was of course both uphill and into the wind. By the time I finished, I was pretty defeated. What a sucky run. I called D and whined and moaned—much like I'm doing here. It was twice as fun for her to listen to as it is for you to read; trust me.

As the evening has gone on, I'm less concerned about how I felt because that just happens. The leg is a little worrisome, but I'll be sure to stretch it out good tomorrow, as I've already done tonight. I'm also going to move into my new shoes, which I hope will make a difference. I need to do a good inspection of my current shoes, but perhaps they are dead. I hope so. I'm really not to high on the idea of being injured. I've had a lot of practice, and it's not fun. Tomorrow is an off day, easy run on Saturday, probably ski easy on Sunday, and then we'll reassess the plan of 12 on Monday. Maybe I'll just sit inside and eat all day.

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