1 year to life: that was a GREAT run! and by great I mean totally craptastic.....literally

* consider this your warning, if you have a problem with bodily functions (that are totally normal by the way!), or have a brain still stuck in 3rd grade and you giggle every time someone says the word "poopie", then this isn't the blog for you.

Happy Wednesday and National Run Day everyone! Hope most of you were able to get out for a little jog of your own today, even if it was just to the mailbox, it still counts!

So I'm still following my "training" plan that I wrote up last week, and today was my long run (5.5-6 mi.) day. Unfortunately ALL day I thought I had an easy 3 miler....until I checked the plan and saw the long run on the docket. Once I realized that I kinda psyched myself out, thinking it was going to be really hard and I was going to be really slow. Now, these runs are only at training pace, which I want to keep at 8:30's-8:45's, and my race pace is about 7:45's-7:55's. Considering I've been a bit sluggish this week, and my yesterdays strength workout focused a little to much on my legs, I wasn't looking forward to 6 miles.

When I got home from work I did my best to get in a good mood, and drove to the start of my run. The plan was to go down a road that turns into gravel and run 3 out and 3 back. So I started out and was keeping about a 8:18 pace, well below where I needed to be, so I tried to slow it down. I was feeling good until about mile 1.5, and that's where the ish hit the fan. My stomach started cramping and got the unfortunate feeling of needing to go to the bathroom. Damn you I.B.S! I was at a point where the gravel could end and I could hop onto a bike path - so I did that, thinking the gravel roads were jumbling my stomach a little to much, and that pavement might be better. Well it was better on my ankles, but by the time I got to mile 2, I was thinking I might have to duck in the woods and do the business. I had to stop, I hate stopping, its such a bummer. I walked for about 45 seconds, and my stomach stopped cramping, so I though I was ok. I turned back and started up, no better, I literally was thisclose to either sharting in my pants or jumping in the woods, and no body likes a poopy diaper, so the woods were looking good, but everytime I spotted a good tree to squat behind, some biker or runner would pass me so I couldnt. I made it to mile 4 and stopped again, walked for 30 second and started again. I made it about a half a mile and stopped again. I had about .2 miles until I could get my car so I did my best to not lose it, and made it to my car, raced home and ran inside.

I was still totally bummed I didn't do the full 6, so after I relieved myself, I headed back out my door and did another 2.3 miles.

This was such a bummer of a run, but I'm proud of myself for getting it done, even if it wasn't all at one time. I also magically managed to keep a 8:40-8:45 pace the whole time (with the exception of when I had to stop), so I was still in the "training" range, I just wish my stomach wasn't such a giant turd.