An Unintentional DNS

Remember that trail race I recently signed up for? Run From the Taxman? Apparently, I put the race on the calendar for the wrong Saturday. I thought the race was taking place on the 20th, but it was last Saturday the 13th. When I saw one of my trail friends sharing her results on Facebook last Saturday, I had the strangest feeling of disbelief come over me. How could this have happened? That I mixed up the date on such an important event really bothered me and the unease was hard to shake.

This whole week was unsettling and it wasn't just the DNS that threw me off. I was home all week to care for Cocoa. She wouldn't leave my side the whole time. She also wouldn't eat or drink for the first couple of days. She was on quite a few medications when I brought her home and I wondered if they were causing her nausea. They also gave her a nausea medication but it didn't seem to make a difference. On Tuesday, I removed the fentanyl patch, thinking maybe that was causing some side effects. That helped a lot--she started behaving more like herself, wanting to chase her ball, and eventually eating more food.

Meanwhile, I tackled a lot of little household projects that needed to be done. Like washing the baseboards and the china cabinet. Organizing the closets. Gathering items for Goodwill. The interesting thing, at least to me, is that when you don't clean your own house (I have a cleaning lady every month), you don't notice what isn't being cleaned--until it becomes really gross. It felt good to get that stuff done! I also pulled weeds and old plants in my perennial garden and am trying to decide what I want to plant there.

Weekly Rundown:

Sunday: rest--pick up Cocoa

Monday: trail run 9.2 miles

Tuesday: CrossFit

Wednesday: run 5.2 miles

Thursday: CrossFit

Friday: run 6.2 miles

Saturday: rest

After consulting Accuweather on Monday morning, I moved my workouts around. The beautiful weather we had on Sunday continued into Monday, and I swapped CF for a trail run. I set out with a plan to do about 6 miles, but ended up with over 9! First stop, the piney woods where the deer hang out. I crashed a deer party early Monday morning, with about 20 of them congregating. Some took off running when I approached, but a group of 6 held back and let me approach. A few of the deer were curious and approached me! Not wanting to scare them, I waited for them to move on and when they did, I continued on my way. 

The trails were much less muddy than last week. I did slip into the creek once on one of my many creek crossings. Other than that, this run was uneventful and really enjoyable! It almost made up for missing my race. Almost.

On Tuesday, I went to CrossFit. After an extended warmup, we tackled the MetCon (no strength work in this WOD): 

I was excited to get back on the rope but became frustrated when I struggled with the climbs. I couldn't get my footing which limited my ability to pull myself up. I had already planned to do only one full climb and 2 partial, which was a good plan. I went lighter than I should have on the front squats and cleans, and those were no problem for me. After class, I spoke with SJ and we are going to get together to break down those rope climbs. 

The wind was blowing on Wednesday--what to do? Where to run? I drove to the library that borders the bike path to avoid the section that runs through an open field. I wanted to access the section with some tree cover, with the hopes that it might mitigate the wind. It was a good idea but didn't work out that way. I ran out into the wind, but on my return, I had the wind behind me. It was so strong that it pushed me forward! Since I had given up on getting any kind of quality run done, I stopped at a park to work on handstands. The run completely sapped my energy. Cocoa and I spent some quality time together on the couch while I recovered!

Thursday's WOD was a fun one! For the strength portion, coach put 12 minutes on the clock and we worked through bandbell walks--kettlebells hanging from a PVC pipe via a resistance band that we overhead press while walking one lap, 100m empty sled push while running, and 8-10 ring swings, focusing on technique. I did 4 rounds of this. For the MetCon, we did a chipper 40-30-20-10-5 of wallballs alternating with 5-4-3-2-1 ring muscle-ups. Between each activity, we had to do 2 laps of shuttle runs. I don't have RMUs, so I did low ring turnovers. I finished in 11:45. 

I woke up early on Friday but not quite early enough to see the sunrise. I had a quick cup of coffee and zipped over to the retention pond when I saw the giant orange sun on the horizon. Do you think the police would have accepted my excuse for speeding? I also wanted to beat the wind, which was predicted to pick up as the morning went on. Just like last Friday, I had a surprisingly speedy run--I wasn't expecting it, but I went with it. My last mile was my fastest at 9:07. It felt great!

Next week it's back to my normal routine, including work. Cocoa will get her stitches out on Wednesday and then we can get rid of the cone. We're trying to figure out how to live with a dog who can't hear and that will be a work in progress. We didn't realize that we've already been using hand signals to get her to come and sit, and that has helped a lot. 

I'm still trying to decide if I want to find another race, and if so, which one. I'm really enjoying just running, but it is nice to have something to train for. While cleaning out the closets, I found my old Timex Ironman watch--which I used to run with in the days before Garmin. It reminded me of how running used to be as simple as lacing up my shoes and heading out the door. I love letting my running shoes take me for a ride. Maybe that will be enough for now. We'll see.

How was your week? Have you ever mixed up the dates for a race and missed it? Have you been battling the wind this week? Do you feel that you have to race to be a runner?

 I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown.