Monday, February 27, 2012

Weekend Report: 14 miles and the Oscars

Saturday morning I woke up when my eyes opened up (i.e. 7:30 – ugh why can I never sleep in???) and got ready for my longest run in a while. Fourteen miles. Sounds like a lot. And is a lot. (Unless you’re one of my marathon-ing friends, in which case 14 is a piece of cake.)

But Saturday morning was no time for cake! I ate an English muffin, wired my ipod through my shirt, and was on the road by 8:45. I followed my 12-miler route from a couple weeks ago, but added a loop around the Tidal Basin to make it 14. The first 5-ish miles were going swimmingly, until I rounded the Capitol and was suddenly faced with the most brutal headwind I’ve ever run through in DC. It literally roared in my ears, drowning out my Radiolab podcast, making my eyes water, and whipping my pony-tail into a tangled mess. It was like running uphill, but on flats. There were whitecaps on the Tidal Basin. (The picture is pulled from the interwebs - it's warm but no cherry blossoms yet.) 


But unlike that horrendous bike ride, I didn’t let it get to me. I just cranked up my podcast’s volume, focused on one-foot-in-front-of-the-other, and looked forward to getting into the protected cover of Rock Creek Park. 

Four episodes (2 of The Moth and 2 Radiolabs) and 104 minutes after starting, I was done and feeling pretty pleased with myself.  I stretched, took a shower, and made some 2nd breakfast/brunch/lunch/FOOD-because-I-just-ran-14-miles. And then, all of a sudden, the tiredness HIT. I wasn’t just a little sore and achy and sleepy. No. This was like an I-don’t-even-know-what-to-do-with-myself kind of tired. I lounged on my couch for a bit until I couldn't take it anymore. Then I did what all normal people do mid-day on Saturdays – I got back in bed and went to sleep.  And then I got up and ate some more. And then I lounged on my couch for most of the afternoon.


The ridiculous part is that 14 miles isn’t even that impressive. I’ve run that far before. I’ve run further before. And the run itself felt fine – it was the afterwards that killed me.There will be a time, hopefully sooner rather than later, when a 14-mile jaunt will feel like a breezy walk in the park. But for me, for now, it was hard


I imagine other runners are familiar with this feeling I’m talking about? 


Anywho, what else to report in this Weekend Report? Saturday night my birthday celebrations continued. 6x6 and LOTR-Emily made me some of the most – no wait, the most – amazing madelines I’ve ever encountered.




Then on Sunday night I hosted an Oscars Party. I’ve never watched the Oscars before…not exactly sure how I’ve managed that…but it was really fun! Apparently I need need need to see Hugo. And The Artist. And The Help. Movie night anyone? 



My friends all brought contributions - our spread included queso, veggies and white bean Mediterranean dip, white chocolate peppermint rice krispie treats, caramel corn, and this Chocolate Banana Tart (go LLC - this was fantastic!). I want to thank the Academy for awarding me this opportunity to eat such delicious snacks and call them dinner...and hang on, I wrote a speech...and thank you to my friends for coming...and thank you to all of you for watching and reading...and no no! give me a couple more minutes...


And that, my dear readers, is that. Let's hope next weekend's run recovery is a bit better!