Now THAT's...

A really, really, really, really hard run.

Holy crap, that run was exhausting.

Guh.

This morning, before heading out to work (4-midnight shift this week), Leah and I had a 9 mile run with 4 miles at Lactate Threshold pace. Now, this wasn't our first time lactating. Just two weeks ago we ran eight miles with the middle four being run lactiously. And really, that wasn't so bad. Hell, it made us feel strong. Like bull.

This week however...

I think part of the problem was mental. We wanted to take Garmin with us on the run since, well, we were running and besides that it was a special run. The sky, however, was peeing all over the place and we were worried about getting the Garmin wet and ruining it. Is this a valid concern? Has anyone tested this? Hello? Anyway, we eventually decided after waffling three or four times that it was better to play it safe since we knew how upset we would be were the rain to ruin it. We did, however, take the iPods to give us that speedy rhythm.

We step out the door the final time after taking the Garmin back upstairs and, of course, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and a little angel is playing a trumpet right over our heads (which is weird because he usually plays the clarinet). Damn. Well, so be it, off we go.

We warmed up for 2.3 miles (Leah's headphones are bothering her and bouncing out of her tiny ears. She is getting annoyed with them) and then turned it up a notch for our LT miles. The plan was to run 7:45 miles for each of the four miles. The splits:

Mile one: 7:41 (*applause*)
Mile two: 8:02 (but wait! we had to cross the bridge at north avenue beach and we got stuck behind some beach-goers with coolers. And, what's this? Leah's iPod battery died. Now she's just running with bouncy headphones)
Mile three: 8:15 (aaaannd...there's the wind. For the second half of this mile the wind was howling in our faces. Right about this point I was sucking some serious wind. No pun intended.)
Mile four: 8:04 (still lots of wind, but at this point we just want to finish. Leah throws away the headphones. The crowd rejoices)

After finishing those four miles, I was declared legally dead. It was the most exhausting run of my life. Our pace was a bit slow, but I know my legs were topped off with a generous layer of lactic acid and felt like really gross jello, so mission accomplished. After take long, heaving breaths for a bit and walking, we managed to run a bit to the next water stop. I was ready to curl up into a little ball at this point, but Leah thought that might be a bad idea so we ran the last 2+ miles home and that ended up okay.

In the end, we were in the right zone for an LT run and so we have to be pretty happy about the run. It just would be nice if we had a bit left for the cool down. But, I think we were sort of mentally funky going into this and we also might be a bit tired out from running so many miles this last week.

No excuses, though. The miles are in and onward we move.

Later that day...

Hey, I actually got a chance to play softball! I played last year and it was really fun (I love softball despite not being great at it) but my schedule has been so crazy this summer that I've missed every game so far this season. However, with Leah being stuck working 4-midnight, I got to join the team for a practice. We did fielding practice and I got to hit some as well; it was great. I'm pretty decent in the outfield (although I throw very badly) and have the most speed on the team (see, this is why we do speedwork), so I can track most flyballs down assuming I don't misjudge them. I also played a bit of third and first, although I really think they might regret putting me at first. My insticts are...not so great.

I was a little wobbly in the batter's box, pulling off the ball a bit (I think I was dropping my shoulder), but I still managed some nice line drives.

Stay tuned for results from my first (and possibly last) game on Wednesday. I can't wait!