What a difference a mile makes

Today’s run was just one mile longer than the long run of two weeks ago, but whoa…that was one long mile. I even started an hour earlier, at 7:15 am, to beat the heat. The best part was stopping by a local swimming hole to soak my t-shirt and put it back on again.
I had at least two minor, and two more serious, moments of Almost Quitting, but I am just too close to race day to have enough slack to make it up. So onwards I trudged.

When I got home, I visited the wading pool for a few minutes. Wolfed down some greek yogurt and homemade mueslix. Showered. Then collapsed into bed for a couple of hours. I’ve been lolling about reading ever since.

I must confess, my lapse into chocolate heroin sauce last night might have had something to do with my low energy levels today – as a general rule, for the past several months I’ve even relatively little sugar, so a trip to the dark side really unhinged me. I slept terribly, as indeed, who wouldn’t, when stoned on sugar and dark chocolate and facing the prospect of getting up two hours early for a super-long run? I know, I know, woe is me.

I’d like to get to the point (not necessarily before this particular race) where running 12 or 14 miles is not quite so exhausting. I’m at a point where I feel like I could knock off six or eight miles on any given day with no problem, and not particularly feel it – and that’s how I’d like 12 to 14 miles to feel. It’s gonna take a lot more running to get to that point. Bring it on, I say.

In other news, Kevin’s home again (yay!) and he just showed me three baby watermelons out in the melon patch.

Exhibit A.

 

Exhibit B.

 

Exhibit C.

 

The cantaloupes haven’t made any babies yet but they are HUGE and awesome looking. Those are actually cantaloupe leaves in the Exhibit C picture – the watermelon leaves are the deeply lobed leaves in the (A) and (B) pictures.