Running Favorites and a Rough End

Happy Thursday!!!

Tonight’s run started and stayed pretty damn good right up to the end.  So before we get to that let’s do something fun!  I was tagged by Charissa to participate in a running survey/ questionnaire.  So here we go!

1) Location: Trail, Road, or Indoors?

Can I compromise and say dirt roads??  I run mostly on roads but love trails.   However I run a little crazy on trails and that probably wouldn’t be a good idea all the time.  🙂

2) Time of Day: Morning, Noon, or Evening?

Late afternoon to early evening.  It’s partly due to my work schedule and partly due the fact that I love sleep.   I am so not a morning person.  Even races can be rough.

3) Weather: Sunshine, Mild or Hot?

Warm!  Crazy, I know but once I adjust to it, I love high 70’s-low  80’s.  However for races I would prefer it to be in the 60’s.  But I know the way I see the seasons going, I will be running in 90-100 sooner than later.

4) Fuel: Before, After, and sometimes during?

Runner fail.   😦    I don’t fuel before morning runs and rarely during long runs.   I usually have something with me when I am doing more than 10 miles but I rarely ever use it.   My stomach makes those choices and I’ve learned to listen to it.   For runs over 6 miles, I run with Skratch instead of water and I take Gatorade for races.  It’s odd but it works for me.

5) Accessories: Music, Watch & More?

My Garmin is a must, I love tracking those numbers.  I also always have my phone, my inhaler and my pepper spray.   I always listen to music but only keep one ear bud in and keep the music low.   Man, that’s a lot of things.

6) Rewards: Food, Wine, or …?

Food!!!  I love food.   🙂  I celebrate most races with a good burger and fries.   We have a couple of great local burger places.  🙂

7) Type of run: Long, tempo, intervals, hill repeats, progression, or recovery/easy?

Progression.    Tempos and intervals always seem harder and stress me out.  I like how a progression can start pretty easy and pick it up along the way.

I nominate-

Slow but Steady-ish

Boring Broad Runs

Don’t Blink Just Run

Piper’s Run

Embrace the Neon

Single-tracked Mind They count for 2!

Everyone else!!!

Alrighty, back to today.  My stomach was a little asshat today but no worse than it has been off and on since this stupid “flare”.  Seriously, it’s almost been a year.   Ugh.   My training plan called for a 15 minute warm-up, 2×2 tempo miles with a 3 minute jog in between, followed by a 15 minute cool down.   I knew that was unlikely the way my stomach was feeling so I  was optimistically aiming for an easy 4.    It was in the low 80’s when I got to the lake and it felt awesome.  IMG_9846FullSizeRender (4)Somewhere along the line I decided to see what I could handle.  After a warm up mile, I threw in a mile at tempo pace.  Then to give my stomach a little break I walked .10 mile and then ran another tempo mile.  And repeat.   The miles felt comfortably hard and my stomach was cooperating.  I made sure to take a break between all 3 tempo miles just to keep it happy.   After a .75 mile cool down, I was at 5 miles and called it for the day.    I felt pretty good and was stoked about the times I hit for the 3 tempo miles.  I as on the back side of the lake so I figured I would walk back to my car the long way around.  I would stretch along the way and I wanted a few pictures because it just looked so pretty.  The ducks are coming and it was kind of fun running with them flying overhead.   I took a few then I was on my way.  IMG_9854 IMG_9850I didn’t get very far before I was hunched over trying not to scream.   I felt like someone had stabbed me in the left side.   I figured I could breathe through it- nope.  Tried to walk it out- I could barely stand up straight -walking was barely happening.  I sat on some playground equipment to wait it out but it didn’t help.    It took me more than 20 minutes to make it the 3/4 of a mile back to my car.   Once there I finally did let myself moan and curse out loud.    I also googled which side your appendix is on.  I knew it was the right but  it hurt so bad, I figured if I was wrong I was driving myself to the ER.   I wasn’t wrong.  So, what, the gas pains from hell?! Yeah, tmi, sorry.  Now I’ve had gas pains before but this was ridiculous.  I could barely walk, I was hunched over the whole walk back to my car.  But now, I feel better.  Not great but back to where I was before.    I don’t think it was the running that did it, I felt fine, I made sure to check in with myself.    I did go back to my old medication today, so maybe the switch didn’t go so well?   It figures it happens the day after I see my gastro but we have a whole new plan to start next week..so yay?

Happy Friday!!!

What are your running favorites?

Ever have the side ache from hell?

24 thoughts on “Running Favorites and a Rough End”

  2. Ohhhhh yay to the burger and fries!!! You like warm weather running … girl you are much better than I lol and I wish I had dirt roads to run on around here , they are definitely much better on the legs. Sooooo sorry about the pain you experienced I hope you are doing better today.

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  4. Ouch so sorry about the pain! Hope you’re feeling better!

    I also am so not a morning person. I do fine at races (must be the adrenaline), but I just don’t care to run in the morning. I always run slower and I feel rushed. I love to run in the evenings after work. I actually look forward to it.

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    1. Running in the evenings is a great way to end your day, if you had a stressful day at work you can just run it out. 🙂 I get the rushed feeling, I am usually running behind in the morning anyways, what would a run do to that time frame? For the most part, I am feeling better, thanks!

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  6. Mornings are rough…I can only muster up the energy for a morning run if it’s long run training or a race…and the long runs are ONLY because if I get up early I can run with other people. It’s much easier to do 12+ miles with company!
    That’s a really great run – especially on such a wonky stomach! I’ve had really bad gas pains before too. What usually helps is ginger ale! The bubbles and the ginger definitely have some healing powers there.

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    1. If I was meeting people for a long run I could probably pull that off, I just can’t find anyone to run with me. 😦 When I was a kid, I used to drink ginger ale when I wasn’t feeling well and it always helped. Maybe I should try that again! Thanks!

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  7. Aw man, that stinks you’re stomach has been giving you issues! 😦 Hope you feel better!!!
    I prefer running in the morning but my work schedule and commute force me to run more in the evenings.

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    2. Right? With my commute, if I wanted to run in the morning I would have to start my run between 4:30-5 and that would just be for a short run. Nope, sleep for me. Feeling a little better, thank you! I hope you kick that cold/ flu soon!

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  11. Dude, that’s not cool! What a way to end an otherwise awesome run 😦 I hope you’re able to solve whatever it was that did that, and that the new diet helps. When I injured my ribs a few weeks back it felt like I was getting shanked in the side and yeah, that wasn’t fun at all. Hope this doesn’t happen again!

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    1. Shanked actually seems like pretty accurate description! I thought I was used to all sorts of stomach pain but this was a whole other level. I hope the diet helps too but right now it just seems hard.

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