Mother nature, you always give us one good April "snow" shower, so let's just hope that was it. No more snow, please! It was slightly shocking waking up to a world of white this morning, we only had one tiny snow pile left. I have to admit, it is really pretty. The wet, heavy snow leads makes for a picturesque view. Don't you love the pond in our backyard too?
This weekend had 20 miles on tap for the Cellcom Training Plan, and the weather report was showing rain Saturday and Sunday. I decided it would be much more pleasant to run Friday night in 50's with a slight wind. I really felt great to start this run, until a mile in a train was stopped dead in my tracks. I tried to see if I could walk around and ended up hopping it. I was not about to change up my route I had mapped out. I haven't run by my house in a long time, it was nice to run old routes and it didn't feel so far. I snapped a pick at my turnaround spot about 6 miles out on the trail. I wanted to finish in the city as mentally to be able to go "1 more block" always pushes me.
In my excitement for heading out I forgot to eat shortly before I left, and it ended up dooming me. I pulled the plug at 15.5 miles when my calves cramped up so bad I could barely walk. I called my hubby to pick me up right as it was getting dark as I just did not want to push it since there is another 20 miler on schedule in two weeks. I walked at least until he picked me up and got in 16.35 miles overall and I am happy with that. I have noticed the last two weeks I have soreness in my inner hip. It's not a muscle soreness but a type of joint pain. I was in pain the whole night if I moved or slept with any weight on my left side. It slowly went away by Saturday afternoon but I am not really sure how to fix it. I am going to start taking Glucosamine and see if that helps at all. Anybody have any suggestions?
Saturday afternoon I volunteered as a Swim Instructor for our TRI 101 clinic, I was with the group of intermediate swimmers and we help guide them to be better swimmers with help from one of the YMCA masters swim coaches. It was so fun to be able to give back, since I took the clinic the prior year. So many people struggle with swimming and it is one of my favorite things to do. I would love to be a fish!
Sunday morning I woke up to volunteer for the Oshkosh Half Marathon, the Tri City Foxes were at the Mile 1 waterstop, so I figured it would be perfect to be there and then we would be done early and I could cheer on some friends. It was amazing that the rain disappeared, only some puddles for the runners to dodge. It was so fun to cheer everyone on and I saw more people than I expected. I managed to hit up 3 spots prior to the finish which I consider pretty awesome. I didn't know the area well but I remembered the course so I just tried to drive around the edges of it to make for quick travel times so I could make it back to the finish. It is also small enough that I still parked a block away from the finish after all of that. I love my runner and triathlon friends!!
Oh yeah, and I also had plenty of time to do a 1,000 piece puzzle this weekend. I am pretty sure that is a record even for me! I am a puzzle nerd.
The second TRI 101 swim clinic was from 3-5pm so I would have a chance to get a little pool time in. I again helped with the intermediate group swimmers and was excited to see some of the same people from the 1st clinic. They had improved so much by the end of this clinic I was beaming with happiness for them. I feel like swimming is the area where I can really help people as I feel confident in my abilities and knowledge of the sport. Swimming always makes me happy even when I feel like poo and it helped turn me around today. Thanks Teresa for the pic!
