08/05/11: Dehydration anyone??

Holy smokes!!!!

My legs were still pretty sore from my attempt at a run (on the treadmill Tuesday morning), so instead of running again on Thursday, I waited another day.

(yes, I can learn!)

I sent Mot a text Friday afternoon and told him that I wanted to go run a little at Standing Bear Lake. He could take Sam for a swim while I was out running. So, when I got home, both him and Sam were ready to go.

Sam's a sucker for a good swim in the lake, makes her little black lab heart go pitter patter.....and Mot loves to see all the time he's spent training and working her come to life.

We drove into the parking lot...picked a spot that wasn't too steep down to the lake. Mot is still recovering from multiple stress fractures to his spine - an injury he suffered at work (he's a fireman/paramedic). They took off with throwing dummies in hand, while I took off down the trail.

Things actually felt good for a little while, probably the first mile. The second mile was brutal. My legs were screaming....but whether I was walking or running, it didn't change much....and I was 1.5 miles from the truck....so I had to keep going.

After two miles, the legs actually started to quiet down a little....but really, it was only because my lower abs were screaming louder. I'm not quite sure how to describe the "sensation" without scaring off all the dudes reading this.

Oh heck, we all know the human body is the most annoying machine around...right?

By the time I was .25 miles from the Jeep, I had to actually stop running, stop walking, and sit on the trail.

Sit. Right there in the middle of the trail.

Holy cow!!!

I had this hit me a couple of times last summer as well, so I wasn't as freaked out this time around. Dehydration cramps. They actually, at least to me, feel like monthly cramps. No lie.

How completely uncool is that????

Well anyway, I eventually stood back up and just muscled through it back to the car. What else could I do? :-)

On the way home I hit a whole new stage of this whole "recovering from a running injury" journey I'm on. I've done depression, I've done the tears....now I'm mad.

Really, really mad.

No, not about the dehydration. I mean, yes, I was mad at myself for not drinking as much as I should be, but that's easily fixable.

Nope, on the way home I got to thinking about how much my legs hurt. I've done everything I've been told. I've seen all kinds of professionals. And a three mile run had my legs throbbing.

I ran a half marathon this spring, and got a PR. Yet now, anything more than 3 miles seems like the impossible dream.

I can hear the people I've talked to over the last year. The ones that say "why do you keep doing it? why don't you just stop? maybe you should try something else. maybe running isn't for you."

I have a 10K in Sept, a half in Sept and a half (that was supposed to be a full) in October.

I think, if I miss those, I won't be able to keep the "I think I can, I think I can" attitude going.

That idea, more than anything, is what scares me most.
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3 miles, 11:42 overall average pace (including sitting on the trail), 342 calories