So on this balmy 40 degree day I ran 4 miles…down the driveway, out onto 96, to Kroger and back.  For some reason my iPod keeps dying after about 30 minutes, so I had to finish in silence, but that has its own appeal anyway. 

It was cool, but I got warmed up as I got going, and about a mile and a half into the run, I get that euphoric, can’t-stop-smiling, all’s right feeling.  I’m sure passing drivers wondered what I was smiling about…then my iPod shuffled onto Jim Gaffigan doing the Hot Pocket routine and I was downright laughing.  Made breathing a little harder but it was worth it.  Try that if you are struggling getting through your mileage:  download a comedy routine – Ellen, Dane Cook, you pick – and play it through your distance, especially if music doesn’t keep your attention.  I did that quite a bit when I trained for a marathon and had those 3 and 4 hour training runs.

Three unusual and interesting things happened over the course of the run:

  • I started the run with my cell phone in my hoodie kangaroo pouch.  About a mile into the run, I noticed it was missing..what a drag.  I did the full distance out, running against traffic, then turned around and headed back, crossing over to run with traffic at the point where I noticed the missing phone so I could search for it.  No luck all the way back to the house, so called hubby to ask him to begin continuously calling it as I got on my bike to retrace the route…about halfway down the drive, I heard and saw it – balanced precariously on a rock beside a large juicy puddle, vibrating its way to its death.  It was very visible; I jogged right past it.  Lesson learned.
  • When I got to the turnaround point, I went to do a U-turn across two lanes, and wanting to have my negative split time, I sort of shot through a gap in traffic with much more speed than my regular pace; somewhere in the turn and the speed, I tweaked my left calf, and it has left me with a limp for the rest of the day.  Don’t run again til next week since this week’s brick is swim/ride, so maybe that will help.  One of the perks of owning a massage therapy business is access to massage therapists….
  • While running the shoulder on the main road, I saw on the ground a blister pack of medication.  I picked it up…full pack, no damage, info printed on the back identified it as some kind of cold medicine/decongestant.   A mile further, I picked up another unopened pack (not the box, just the full, unused blister card) of a DIFFERENT kind of cold medication.  On the way back on the OTHER side of the road on the shoulder, yet another full pack of cold relief tablets.  Such a mystery.  This is middle Tennessee, we do have a meth problem in the state, and I know that cold medication is used for that…some connection?  Delivery truck accident?  Far too random.  I don’t guess I’ll ever know…

Today also included the obligatory strength training session, my favorite, and day one of week two was complete.  Have the pain in my left calf, but what’s training without something on your body asking for attention?

Thanks for reading…