Hot and Cold

One day it's in the upper 60's and then two days later it is in the 30's. One day running feels effortless the next 10 my legs feel like they are made of lead. Hot and Cold.. that pretty much describes my life lately!

Last Wednesday night I went back to Buns n Abs class after not going for almost 3 months. It has taken me a full week to recover. From Wednesday until Sunday I was just absolutely miserable and the pain definately had an impact on my Saturday long run.
Saturday morning Cheryl, Tammy and I went to Maumelle to run with the Little Rock Marathon training group. This was my first time back since the week before the Little Rock Marathon last year.
Cheryl got us signed in and got the printout for the 16 mile route. We were a little late and it was from a distance but I still got to hear the infamous "good morning crackheads" from Tom the leader of the LRMTG.
When I was driving to Cheryl's house it was 65 degrees, by the time we got to Maumelle it was in the lower 50's and by the time we finished it was in the lower 40's with 20 mph winds.
Michele had overselpt but drove to Maumelle anyway and met us about 3 miles into our run. It actually worked out great because she did not need to be running 16 miles and there was a perfect place for her to park.
It was great to run with Cheryl again and also Tammy. We all had our issues and after the first few miles we were kind of strung out so we didnt' actually run together the whole time but we were never too far apart.
My legs were absolutely screaming at me the entire run and then the last couple of miles my feet joined in. I still feel like it was a pretty good run although painful I felt like my endurance was ok.
After the run we took Michele back to her car and then we all met up at Starbucks.. the very best part of the run!!!
After we said goodbye to Cheryl and Tammy Michele and I headed to Sporty Runner in Conway. Love that place and love the owner Linda!! The only thing I don't love are the new shoes I bought :( Ever since Asics changed the Kenyano 13's I have been struggling to find a new shoe. Saturday probably wasnt' the best day for shoe shopping considering how sore my legs and feet were but you know how it is hindsight is 20/20.... so I tried on several pairs of shoes and chose the New Balance 1224, they felt really good on my feet and they were so cute in all their pinkness.

Bailey and I were meeting Sunday morning at my house to run and I could not wait to wear my new shoes. I was still really sore, I know i sound like a broken record, and it was freezing cold about 26 degrees, it was a pretty good run until my stomach acted up at mile 4 but still over all a good run. Bailey had to get to the gym so I went into the house used the bathroom and then Arland and I went out for part 2. I ran 5.25 miles with Bailey and Arland and I ran 2.75.
After our run I made us a nice breakfast and we just chilled out until time to get ready for Cruiser Trash Pickup. Trash pick up was great, we had 25 Cruisers so that really makes it go by quickly. Brenda, Debbie B. and I were on the same side of the road so we got to chat quite a bit. Afterwards I went to Michele's house and she made us coffee and I stayed and chatted while Arland and James were off on their bike ride.

Sunday night or maybe early Monday morning as I was stretching in the bed I felt a little bit of tenderness in my left shin. I don't normally feel shin pain so I was a bit perplexed and then the next day my shin felt tender to the touch. I was telling Michele about it and she thought maybe it was from Trash Pickup and that sounded reasonable so I didn't worry about it too much... until I read Tammy's blog (she bought the exact same pair of shoes on Saturday) and saw that she was having some shin pain after trying out her new shoes.

Monday night Brenda, Jane, Michele, Karen and I met for a run. It was a very nice night I think in the middle 50's and just a light wind. I wore my new shoes and right from the start my shin was hurting so Michele and I ran back to her house and I borrowed her shin brace. The brace helped but I was pretty miserable the whole run, my shin hurt my quads still hurt etc. BUT although it was painful it was a pretty speedy run... well speedy for me. WE had a 9:40 avg pace for 6 miles and that included having to walk a few times because of my stomach :(

Tuesday I wore the shin brace all day and it helped a lot! Tuesday afternoon was the kid's running club. It was cold again, I guess the mid 30's but sunny so Jackie split the kids into 2 groups and 1/2 went outside while the other half played with hula hoops inside. When it was our turn to go outside Kylie did NOT want to go but I didn't give her a choice. I told her we would just walk but luckily I was able to talk her into some running. I was supposed to run with Jane Tuesday evening but poor thing she has been having sinus issues for a week or so now and last night they had travelled down into her throat so no running for her. It worked out good though I was at Kylie's house and she had been begging me not to leave and Vonda and Livia were cooking something that smelled delicious so I was happy to not run. I also think I probably needed a rest day anyway. OH I almost forgot Jane and I met at 5:00am Tuesday morning at the Community Center and did a great upper body workout! So funny that even though I'm sore from the workout I forget about it and think I didn't do anything on Tuesday just because I didnt' run.

I was planning on going back to Buns n Abs tonight but Jane felt up to running so I decided to run instead another deciding factor was the weather... it was warm again, mid 50's although a little windy but we have another cold front coming in and tomorrow I think the temps are going to be in the 20's. It was a good run.. poor Jane she sounded terrible and a couple of times she would need to slow down to catch her breath but she did really great! She really wasn't feeling good though so we cut our route short and headed back to our cars.. we had a little over 3 miles in and then we walked the cul d sac and ended up with 3.5 miles. At first I was going to be good with that but then decided I would go ahead and at least get 4 miles. I took off on our .5 mile route but instead of turning left back to the car I kept going straight and decided I would get 5 miles. I actually ended up with 5.5 and they were great!! It was good for me to run by myself, I am a little too dependant on all of my running partners and I was happy to see that my last 2 miles were a 9:24 avg pace :)

Tonight I ran in my Asics's and I am convinced it is the New Balance 1224's that are causing my shin pain :(
That is a $100+ dollars down the drain :(