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| My new pair of Brooks Bedlam 3 in size "ocean liner" |
It was a step-back/recovery week for me, and it went very smoothly! I felt strong on all my runs, and while my calf does still get tight, I soak in the tub and use my massage gun every night to loosen it up. It amazed me to feel this great during the week after running a half-marathon. After my first one, I was quite beat up for a while!
Meanwhile, I had three realizations this week, for lack of a better word to describe them.
First: Sleep. I don't remember what my sleep was like before having kids, but I can tell you that since having them it's been terrible. When my boys were infants, I couldn't wait for them to stop waking up in the middle of the night for feeding and soothing. I would look forward to the blissfully uninterrupted nights of sleep that surely awaited me when they all grew into toddlerhood. (lolololol...)
Well, now they are teens and 'tweens, and I'm still waiting. I am the lightest sleeper on the planet, so if it isn't anxiety or hormones keeping me awake, it's the dogs snorting as they bury themselves in pillows or a drowsy man-child bumping his way to the bathroom across the hall.
Or... that's how it WAS until I started my marathon training. I don't so much as stir when my husband crawls into bed an hour after I do, and no way am I laying in bed awake at 2:30 am berating myself for something stupid I said in 2005. It feels next to a miracle! Good sleep is amazing, and how I missed it.
Second is rest. Related to sleep, obviously, but what I'm referring to here is rest during the day. I am one of those unfortunate people who feels compelled to finish my to-do list before I sit down, otherwise I feel guilty. But as a mom of four, a freelance resume writer, PTA president, and just simply a HUMAN, I have a never-ending to-do list.
However, it's become quite obvious that as my weekly mileage climbs higher, I perform so much better when I make a concerted effort to rest my body whenever I can. Instead of zipping around the house and doing one chore after another, I limit myself to the must-dos and then put my feet up on the couch. I actually try to see how low I can keep my step count instead of the reverse. While I feel guilty deciding to rest on my own (and yes, I realize how ridiculous that is), being TOLD to rest by professionals and seeing how much stronger my body is when I allow it time to recover makes it actually feel good! I'm sure there's a broader lesson here, but I'm not ready to go there.
And last but not least, shoe size. Coming in at a size 9, I am in the range where you see a cute pair of shoes on display and request a pair to try on, and then you look at it and go, "Oh... don't have quite the same look about them at this size, do they." I scrunched my nose and complied when I was told I'd need to order up a half-size in running shoes. But now – NOW! – I have discovered that I am one of those lucky people who need to go up a full size in running shoes. Coupled with the fact that I have to wear stability shoes with max cushioning (read: basically orthopedics), my running shoes now basically need their own zip code. I'm grateful for my healthy feet and the fancy shoes that allow me to run safely, but geez... do I have to let go of all of my vanity for this pursuit?
In other news, I called my 95-year-old Grandma today to wish her a happy Mother's Day. She asked how my marathon went. I told her the full marathon wasn't until July, to which she responded, "You aren't going to run all 15 miles, are you?" I told her it will actually be 26 miles. "Twenty six!" she exclaimed. "Without stopping?" I hope so, Grandma! She said she used to have to walk 3 miles to get to Sunday school, but these days she can't imagine having to do that. I don't know, I bet she'd still be out golfing the back nine if this pesky pandemic hadn't flared up. I can only aspire to be as badass as she is one day. I love you, Grandma!
Mileage for week 9: 24 miles
Total mileage: 178.6 miles
Days until marathon: 75 days
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