OMG!!! Un-freaking-believable!!!

Ok, someone told me once that guys shouldn’t really be saying OMG because it a feminine expression, but today, I couldn’t help myself because after the run, I felt like saying “OH MY GOD!!!” It was an unbelievable day! Ok, enough of the over exuberance. To borrow a phrase from my friend Sophie’s hat: “Run Happy”, and today was one of those run happy days.

Slightly pulled groin muscle after yesterday’s weight training workout? Feeling pain on the left ankle after doing body weight squats? Had a cold all week and starting to cough? No problem! Let’s do 20 today! Why? I’ve lost weight in the past couple of weeks without running more or doing my other workouts any much harder. Maybe I’m eating better? I could have just done a 30 to 40 minute run today and be done with it. But nooooo… some crazy gene inside my body said, let’s see what we can do today. Will it be 10 miles which the half marathon trainers are doing? After all, I’m only signed up for the half marathon next month. Should I try to do the 16 again like I did six weeks ago? Well, maybe try 18 miles then.

My friend Linda and I planned to start at 6:30 a.m. and do the four minute run with one minute walk break again. We set out with me not entirely sure how many miles I wanted to do. She thought I was going for 18 miles but I remained non-committal. So we ran, we walked, we talked, we missed a turn and had to track back because we got distracted and ended up running more distance than we had to. We didn’t care if someone passed us or if we passed someone. It was just one step in front of the other through the streets of Long Beach. The time and the miles went by. We set a very conservative pace, very close to a shuffle most of the time. Not paying attention to the total cumulative time helps a lot, because you only have to concentrate four minutes at a time. So I didn’t really know how much time we had been running until we finished. We just ran for four minutes, walked one minute, got from Point A to Point B and that’s all it took. I needed some energy gels at about 14 and 18 miles when I felt my energy sagging, otherwise everything felt good. When I had my dizzy run a couple of weeks ago and had to cut my run short, I promised Linda that I was going to make it up to her one day and today I hope did. I’ve given up on the prospect of running another marathon because of my ankle problems, but if I can keep the status quo of my joints and not make them worse, there is still some hope that I may be able to run a marathon again one day. Being able to cover the distance we did today has given new life to my being able to run long distance again. That is the reason why I am so exuberant, happy and smiling widely not unlike the Joker in the Batman comics. How can you be not happy when you just finished running 21.18 miles (34.0859059 kilometers), not get any cramps, ankles not hurting too badly, and just barely 5 miles to do to finish a full marathon? Heck yeah! I dare you not to feel happy!

Postscript: Surprising herself, Linda said she ran the 21.18 miles faster than she did the 20 miles two weeks ago and she was even passing people at that time. So it was a good day for her and me. Thanks, Linda, for taking my ankles to where I never thought I could take them again.On my way home I was feeling famished and couldn’t decide what to eat. I settled for more super nachos like the one I had when I ran 16 miles a few weeks back because my body was craving for salt. While I was ordering it, I felt dizzy and had to go back to the car to drink my leftover Gatorade and water to rehydrate, plus more Gatorade when I got home. I feel better now J