The weekly rundown....er stepback week!

So the past week was a rough one!

There was Saturday's Malachi race followed by the day long party.  Sunday awoke to drag my dog tired body on a long run with sis and completed 16.7 miles at a 8:30ish pace.  Monday, slept in and just came home and cleaned the house.  The legs felt so sore and tired that I decided and OFF day was in order and just hit the hay early after a nice long recovery pump session!

Tuesday, I thought I would get in one of my key runs but 2.5 miles in, my legs were aching and lately I would rather error on the cautious side so I hopped off the treadmill and got in a good upper body weight workout.  Evening was heading over to the husband's family as he was helping his dad with drywall.

Wednesday morning, I woke up early for a 1 hour good quality bike before meeting ESpeed to hit the pool.  She was struggling with a little trouble with her leg and I could not have been happier to have a swim buddy!  While I feel for her struggling with her injury, maybe this will work out to my advantage as she ended up joining my gym and now I think I will often have company on the swim which may prove to be HUGE for me! She has always been faster than me in the water so while she has not swam in awhile, she does not appear to have missed a beat.  Having her there keeps me honest and pushing through the sets and even this morning, she gave me a tip which may prove to be helpful!  Wednesday evening, we again went over to my husband's moms as his aunt was in town and it was the last night before my father in law was to have surgery.

Thursday was an absolute disaster.  I overslept my planned run and got up late to be driven to work by my husband.  He was coming downtown as his dad was having a rather serious open heart surgery that day at University Hospitals 4.5 miles down the road from my office.  We parked in my parking lot and he hopped on the bicycle to go to UH.  On my lunch break, I rushed to my car to go be with his family.  Now I think Cleveland ranks 3rd in terms of the St. Patricks Day festivities and being a gorgeous day the party-goers were out in full force.  The drive to UH was OK getting there (and thankfully surgery went well) but getting back was a disaster as the parade was just getting going.

My boss asked what kept me, thinking I was out taking in the parade but explained the situation and my boss said he was leaving early and for me to feel free to as well, which was nice.  The city was so loud with the parade and sirens, audible even up on our 24th floor.  So about 3:15, I grab all my bags and blast out the door walking as quick as I could with my cell in my front pants pocket.  Downtown was now in full madness and I power-walked the few blocks to my car trying to get out of dodge.  I drove down St. Clair as I could not cross the parade route to get to Chester (which was how I went earlier) and traffic was thick as the parade was just ending.  Next thing I know I crushed a pothole and sure as can be, got a flat tire.  CRAP!!!  So I go to grab my cell phone only to realize when I was power walking to my car, it must have fell out of my front pocket as it was a shallow pocket that I probably should not have put it in to begin with.  Oh and I am broke down at E30th and St Clair which is sort of ghetto....JUST GREAT!

So I do what any normal person would do and start running back.  Due to St. Pats, we had a casual day at the office so I am running in jeans, with my hair down, jewelry, big purple glasses and I am sure most would assume I was some drunk chick on this day.  Lots of strange looks and hollers as I ran the ~1.5miles back to my parking lot hoping the phone fell out as I threw my bags in the car.  No such luck. Not only is all this going on but all the people screaming "Happy St Patricks Day" was making me even more annoyed because I don't want to acknowledge them and everything is just making my mood worse.   So I walked back to the office, now just totally upset to call my husband (my poor husband who is already having a stressful day).  I called my sis first by accident which leads me to start crying and now call my husband telling him I need help and I am having a bad day which stressed him out fast as I never call up crying.  St. Husband says don't worry, he will meet me at the car.  So I run along back to my car and start pacing back and forth waiting for him, as I watch for the shady characters walking by.

The tire was ruined and I had just bought it back in August.  The husband got the tiny little donut on but this baby tire really did not like it over 45 mph.  We went back to the hospital and I made some calls on his phone trying to find tires and call about a phone (after calling my old number a million times).  It was all just so frustrating and I felt so terrible as we went into see his dad who was struggling with the respirator tube and just coming out of recovery and really the focus should have been on him.

Friday was more dealing with the fallout.  Husband took me to work in his truck and went back to the hospital and then over lunch, he went to go get my tire from the shop that had come in.  I actually went out for a run at lunch which I felt bad taking the time for (as I should have worked through lunch) but I just needed a vent with ESpeed.   My replacement phone came via UPS around 2 and I got it all synched up.  Finally I was back to normal but just wasted a ton of money and was just reeling from the stress of those days.  Then I had to leave work early as I still needed to get to the bmv to spend more money on license plates for my car and motorcycle.  Then I was supposed to have a houseful Saturday and pretty much had the whole house to clean Friday night.

Yet, Saturday, my birthday, ended up being a pretty darn good day!  I woke up early to head to east side cycling.  I had put together a very hard 2 hour workout for class and gave myself a good birthday spanking before hitting the pool.  It was a perfect way to start the day.  I opted to skip the run in favor of having lunch with my parents and sisters family in Ravenna.  It was nice, although A&W is not the healthiest meal!  Then I got my hair done for the first time in forever, so that was fun!  I hit the store before heading home home for a few last minute preparations.  I was in a super fabulous mood, loving the weather, listening to good music and was ready for the big party!

The turnout was awesome and I had WAAAAY too much fun resulting in going to bed early and feeling like a big pile of poooo on Sunday.  Boy, did I feel OLD on Sunday or maybe young like I was a hungover college student again!  BLAH!!!  I was sooo hungry so we went to lunch at the country restaurant in town and I had the very delicious country fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy.  Not sure if it was the food or the alcohol, but I tried to run with sis an hour later and MISERABLE does not even begin to describe how bad I felt.  I called it after suffering through 4.5 miles of the planned 18 mile run.  The drive home was equally rough!

Then to make matters worse, I never did get a nap in yesterday and could not get any rest last night.  I so would have slept in today (and I did skip my bike), but I got myself up to go swim (only because I had told ESpeed I would meet her) and surprisingly, I felt pretty good.  Then I snuck out at lunch thinking I would do an easy run with ESpeed.  Yet as we glanced down at the garmins, we realized we were running waayy  fast for my easy run so I opted to make it my PCR (Progress Calibration Run) in which I was supposed to increase my pace per mile throughout the run.  It ended up being a little fast but we were just feeling good and I needed a good run!  I LOVE IT WHEN THESE THINGS HAPPEN!


So hopefully I can get back on track this week.  I am a bit behind as my weeks generally start on Sundays, so now I already owe a long run!  I am seriously now in buckle down mode and ready to put in the work to get ready for the big spring events.  Now if only the 10 day forecast did not look so dismal!