squishy

Tuesday: Spinning

Wednesday: off

Thursday: Emotional break down when spin class was full. circuit workout.

Friday: off. not supposed to be this way, but necessary given thursdays episode.

Saturday: much better.

This morning i woke up at 8 to make it to 9 am spinning class. good thing i got a bike. and i got a good one, with the full handle, just like i like it.

crazy cathy was teaching today, and since she was slightly sick, she was a little less crazy than normal which made for a stellar spin class. she picked good music too- the theme was grammy winning songs from this year. these included lady gaga (who falls into the category of "i-hate-this-song-in-real-life-but-man-it's-good-to-spin-to) and the jai ho (aka tally ho) from slum dog millionaire. GREAT workout, super sweaty, and free sample cliff bars at the end. yay.

a little bit after spin, luna and i went running out at shelby farms. WELL- since it snowed last weekend and then rained this whole week, i had an idea it would be muddy..... but this was more than i bargained for.

That's my little piglets belly when we finished. The run started out across a field which was a little wet, but nothing bad. We ran through a bit of woods, and luna stepped on my shoe. I thought, UGH, luna, why did you have to get my shoe muddy. i also thought, "it's definitely not as muddy as i thought it would be." soon after these two thoughts crossed my mind, the mud kicked in. and when i say kicked, i mean, look at the end result of my kicks below:

this was probably one of the most emotionally frustrating runs i have ever taken. the trail was so muddy that i had to walk many, many parts of it. sometimes luna would miss the memo that i had to slow down and she would pull me and i would slip and i would be afraid that i was about to face plant into MUD. MUD, PEOPLE. MUD. so for the first 3 miles i tried really hard not to get too muddy. i would walk along the edges of the path. try to walk on branches. walk through the trees for a bit. oh- almost forgot- along the way, we met a nice black lab mutt named bolt. bolt loved luna and wanted to play very much. i chatted with bolt's dad for a while. he was a nice man and thought luna was very pretty and powerful. she is both.

anyway, around mile three-ish we hit this patch of mud and water. it was about 3 inches deep and there was no going around. SO i just plowed through. so did luna. at this point, it really didnt matter where i stepped because my shoes were soaking wet and my feet were squishy. super squishy. but ultra runners keep running through gross stuff.... yeah.

oh- almost forgot- a little after this point i just couldnt hold it any longer. i had to pee so bad..... hahahahahaha TMI? maybe, but its allll part of the training.

moving forward- around mile 4 i let luna run through the field without her leash. she had so much fun- she found some mini puddle-pond and jumped around in it while i laughed at her. needless to say, she got way more muddy.

to sum up the run- all the starting/stopping, walking/running really wore on my nerves. it seemed like every time i got going, i would run into some squishy mud part and have to walk again. i kept going though, and it was one of those important learning experiences. the frustrating first four-ish miles were made better by getting to watch luna go buck wild and be so happy when she wasnt on the leash. every run isnt just about the mileage you are adding up. it contributes to your mental toughness, which is the only thing that will get you through a marathon and an ultra.

in the end, this is what we both looked like after the run. muddy, tired, and happy.

ultra love.