Aborted 20

I had my second 20 miler scheduled for this past weekend. It was supposed to be on Sunday, but since I was flying all day to China (I'm in Hong Kong now), I took Friday off and adjusted my schedule to get it in then. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

After running a half marathon the weekend before, my body revolted a little bit. I had GI issues on Monday to the point that I left work early, and my stomach felt tight and off all week. I'm almost positive that the discomfort was from dehydration because it wasn't flu-like, food related or much like anything I've had before. By the time Thursday night came around, I was feeling better, but still didn't have 100% of my appetite and wasn't eating very well. My pre-run dinner that night was a bowl of cereal at about 8:30.

When I woke up Friday morning, my head was not in the game, so I grabbed the iPod that I didn't use on my last long run and headed out the door. The first half mile of this route is downhill, which is usually a great way to start, but not that day. My body felt uncoordinated (like Agricola's did earlier in the week) and I couldn't get into the run mentally. After about 20 minutes, I opted for the iPod, figuring that some NPR talk that Mrs. VTRunner downloaded might distract me. I have literally never run with music or anything in my ears, so that I plugged in for this run tells a lot about my mindset.

I managed to go about 3 miles before calling it quits at the playground where Mrs. VTRunner was scheduled to be for a mommy running club. (This running club is a great idea btw. About 10 moms get together at the park and go out for a run in two groups. The first group runs while the other watches the kids, and vice versa. Awesome idea.) The playground is on my route and right at the start of a 2 mile hill. I stopped because I just did not want to do the run, and my body was not into it either. I was probably still slightly dehydrated, didn't have the right food in me, and therefore had no motivation to run. And if you don't want to run the 20 miles on some level, it is not going to happen. It was a strange experience to get over the hurdles of getting out the door only to stop 3 miles in, but I realized that the run was not meant to be that day. I'm bummed, but I feel like the decision was made for me by my body and the issues I had earlier in the week. I was out of gas and no matter how hard I tried to jam on the pedal, I wasn't going anywhere.

I also realized that I am absolutely NOT into any kind of music/iPod distractions while running. I'm not against it for others, but I couldn't concentrate at all. It's not what running is to me.

So, now I'm heading to China. Look for a few treadmill posts over the next couple of days. Too hot and muggy (and poluted) to run outside.

Later boys. Go Pats! Go Sox! (I can't believe I missed their clincher!)