Big Weekend

So, we had to bail on the weekend with the Agricola family. Big little VT Runner got sick half way down, so we had to turn around and head back to VT late Friday night. A four hour drive that brought us right back home. Bummer, but we ended up salvaging the weekend with some plans-free family time which is truly a luxury. Of course the kids ended up having strep, but that's another story....

On the running front, I had my biggest weekend probably ever. I got in a 5 miler on Saturday and a whopping 21 miler on Sunday. The long run was great ("great" as in "painful but at least I did it" sense, not as in "fun") because Mrs. VT Runner piled the kids in the car and cheered me on at four different points between miles 11 and 21. I even ran with Big Little VT Runner riding his bike alongside me from miles 19 to 20. One of the biggest hurdles to doing this run was knowing that I'd be spending over 3 hours of prime weekend family time alone on the road. That the entire family rallied and joined in was huge. Without them, I couldn't have done it.

I also had an iPod on me for the second 10.5 mile loop. Mrs. VT Runner downloaded a bunch of NPR content (this american life, morning edition, etc.) because I thought I'd need a distraction. I couldn't bring myself to actually use the thing, though. My thought was that since I wouldn't be using an iPod for the marathon, I shouldn't use one now even though I wanted to listen to the segments. I'm glad I didn't, but I was intrigued by the little battle I was having with myself over giving in to the indulgence of the iPod.

One other point about the run. All last week, my back gradually tightened to the point that I was seriously worried that something was wrong. It wasn't a tweak, just a progression of pain. I thought it might impact my ability to run until Mrs. VTB suggested that I stretch. Novel idea, I know. I did the downward dog pose, and it got right at my tightness. After about a half hour of stretching the hammies, my lower back pain was gone. Now, two days after a 21 mile run I am less stiff and pained than I was all last week. It's amazing what stretching will do. I'm now doing the downward dog and a few other hammy stretches a couple of times a day, and the back pain is gone. Are we really at the age where stretching is becoming mandatory? Yikes.