I Have No Shame...

Summer just won't let go. Not that I'm complaining but normally in September, things cool down. We are nowhere near cool. I'm actually enjoying the continued daytime warm temperatures but it's still warmer than a runner likes. In spite of the unexpected warmth, I'm having some good runs. The foot is still fairly quiet.

I'm grateful for all of this. No matter what life throws at me, and it's been throwing a lot of stuff my way, running deflects a lot of the negative energy. My runs have felt smooth and my paces are steady. It's as if I'm running in a groove.

I had this weekly wrapup all prepared to publish. All I had to do was to complete today's long run. I figured I'd come home from the run, put in a little comment about how it went and hit publish. Easy peasy, right?

Well, we all know that saying about making plans, right?

Running: I am back to 4 days/week running and it feels good. This week I ran a total of 25 miles. Pacing is good. I finally committed to running the Panama City Beach half marathon in December. I'm really excited to run this one and spend the weekend with some of my running friends. I'm still considering a fall half.

About that Sunday morning run: I woke up to beautiful blue skies, temperatures in the 60s, and no wind. It was a runner's dream come true! I was looking forward to my planned 10 miler and decided to run on the bike path. My only hesitation was a relative lack of water and facilities. I planned to take a gel at the only water fountain on the path. Since this is an out and back route, the water would be at miles 3.5 and mile 7.5. The portapotty is located at mile 4.5. 

It was the perfect start to what should have been the perfect run. What could go wrong? Do you really want me to answer that question? You know I like to keep things real here on the blog, but my story is a little TMI, so if you want to skip ahead to the yoga pictures, I wouldn't blame you one bit. 

My run started out smoothly and I stopped a few times to snap pictures. The sunrise was spectacular. I settled into a nice 8:45m/m pace and felt like that was sustainable for 10 miles. About mile 2, I started to feel a little rumbling from down below. The feeling passed and I stopped to gel as planned at mile 3.5. Shortly after I resumed my run, the rumbling returned with some urgency. I willed myself to hold on until I reached that portapotty at mile 4.5. Grateful for all that glute strengthening Becky has me do, I squeezed those muscles tight with all the strength I could muster while running forward. I passed some dog walkers, who smiled at me. They had no clue of my internal struggle. Like a beacon in the night, I saw the yellow portapotty calling to me. The sign on the door said Drop Zone. Oh, the irony!

I picked up the lid and saw the seat was covered with sweat. Suppressing my disgust, I sat down to take care of business. I reached for the toilet paper and realized the dispenser was empty. Cursing the park district employees, I thought about what I was going to do. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I ripped the cardboard roll off the dispenser. I tore it in half and made do with what I had. There was another roll and I used that too. I hoped it would be enough. 

There was hand sanitizer in the dispenser but I didn't think that was going to be adequate to clean up my hands. Thankfully, the grass was wet with dew and I gave my hands a good cleaning. I headed back to the path, where I saw the dog walkers again. They smiled and nodded at me. Oh, if they only knew. Would a civilized person do these things?

With a new lightness in my step, the rest of the run was uneventful. In fact, I ran an average of 9 m/m for a total of 10.66 miles. Pretty sure all those stops slowed me down. But I kept myself entertained with thoughts about that potty stop for the rest of my run. Made a mental note to always carry wipes with me on a long run. Still, I'd call this run a success, for the most part. Wouldn't you?

Yoga: I had 2 classes at the studio. Megan's class opened up our hips and shoulders again and we worked again on Bird of Paradise. Does she realize I'm in a plank challenge? I was so open after our class that I went for upward facing plank for my photo.

On Wednesday, our sub was the studio owner's husband, who had us work on side planks. He talked about a master teacher who visited the studio the week before and mentioned "handstand tree pose". Always looking for fun variations, I made a mental note of that and of course had to try it after the class. Someday I will hold this pose away from the wall. Or the fence, as you see in the picture.

Cross training: I do love my coach. As I mentioned last week, I've been dealing with some forearm tendonitis. Instead of telling me to take time off, which I thought she'd do, she modified my training. No pull up prep for now. She had me do some lunges, some medicine ball work, and back extensions on the GHD. Then it was over to the boxes to do some modified dips.

Overall, I am reaping big time rewards from this upper body work. My yoga poses have become easier. When I was kicking up into that handstand on the fence, I took about 5 pictures but I never felt fatigued. And for the first time ever, I pulled up into wide legged headstand from wide legged forward fold.

Trust the process, indeed! Oh, and there were some dog walks this week, too.

How was your week? Any wins? Any TMI stories? Am I shameless? Will you ever come back to read my blog again? 

I'm linking up with Holly and Tricia for their Weekly Wrap as well as Angela and Ilka for the Sunday Fitness and Food LinkUp!