Almost 15 Miles (I think...)

Today's run was both great and terrible.

First the great part:
At some point during the run (around mile 8) I got a genuine runner's high like I've never had before. I felt like I was floating and using energy that didn't belong to me. To be honest I thought maybe I hadn't eaten enough, and maybe this was a precursor to feeling awful. But no! The high continued for a while, and it was pretty great. I really could hardly even notice that I was running.

And the terrible:
I was a total wreck when this run was over. I could hardly bend my leg, and I hobbled down stairs like a 90 year old with a bad leg.

We did a 15K race (9.3 miles) in Central Park this morning. But since 9 miles isn't long enough for our long run days at this point, we had to add miles on to the race beforehand. I met Elizabeth in the park around 9am (felt like 8am since the time changed this morning) to do a 5-6 mile warm up before the race started at 10:15am.

There was also a 4 mile race that started at 9am, so we ran along side them until we got to their finish line where we veered off and continued running. This confused the hell out of the race officials who didn't understand why we weren't headed to the finish line! We kept running until we hit the start line for the 15K race (which was another mile down the road).

My problem leg started hurting me very early into the 4 mile run (maybe around 2 miles in). I'm trying to figure out what made bad today. In the past few weeks, I've been getting better. I've been doing the exercises and stretches that the physical therapist suggested, and it seems to be helping. I had been able to run about 4-5 miles pain free, and even then the pain wasn't too bad after. Sometimes it even went away as the run continued.

Not today! Now of course, there are too many variables to figure out what might have caused it.

1. It was really cold and windy this morning.
2. I didn't really have time to stretch much before the run.
3. I ate a very small breakfast, so I was hungry early on. Less hungry after the Gu.
4. I didn't run with the fuel belt, and there was no gatorade on the course - only water

I was able to run through it, but it certainly wasn't comfortable, even with taking the Advil at 7am. When I finished the race, I was limping a little. I stretched it out as much as I could, and I was looking forward to that ice bath (crazy, I know, but it really works).

Walking down the stairs at the subway was torture. It really wasn't fun.

As soon as I got home, I took another ice bath. It really is miraculous. I actually feel fine now. A little stiff, but NOTHING like before. No pain.

My physical therapist is on vacation this week, so I won't get to ask her about what went wrong. My health insurance is only going to pay for one more visit anyway, so we're trying to space them out. She's trying to fight with them, but I don't know if it will be successful.

We weren't running this race for time, but our time wasn't bad.

Distance: 9.3 Miles, 15.0 Kilometers
Date/Time: March 9, 2008, 10:15 am
Location: Central Park, NYC
Weather: 32 deg., 43% hum., W 14 mph
Finish Time: 1:31:56