How I Sweat this Weekend: Eight Miles and Games with Friends

My official training for the National Half Marathon (or RNR USA or whatever they want to call it), the plan for which exists only in my head at the moment, began on Saturday with an eight mile run. I slept until after 9 and took my sweet time eating breakfast and lounging before finally walking out the door at 11. I was wearing this.

Awkwaaaard

I got outside and turned around immediately to change. You might think that on the 7th day of January, I would have been too cold in long sleeves and shorts but you'd be wrong. In fact, I was too warm. It was almost 65 degrees so I threw this on instead.

Even more awkward.

Then I left for good and set out on what would turn out to be a pretty annoying and crappy run. I won't get into all of the details but it went down pretty much like this:

1. Two speedy miles and it's all gravy.
2. Run up mass ave and it gets tough. 
3. Run downhill for half a mile and then uphill for another half. 
4. At mile 5 I get a massive stomach cramp that lasts, and slows me down for the last 3 miles.

I was not happy with this run but it's one that I can move on from. I am going to pretend it's not a sign for the upcoming training cycle. My splits weren't so bad even though I spent a lot of time running a 10+ minute mile during the cramping.

I got home and my sights were set exclusively on the chocolate milk, banana, and water I was consuming. I had dreams of ordering a pizza and passing out on the couch for hours. But I got a text from Ingrid that she and Erik (her brother, visiting) were organizing a 2pm frisbee game on the mall. Josh and I agreed to go. He would play and I would sit on the sidelines reading, cheering sleeping, and eating. 

My delicious lunch from Vace's

I packed my old running shoes in my backpack but told Josh to keep that a secret. I wanted them in case I decided to join in but I didn't want any peer pressure to run even an inch if I didn't feel like it. We picked up lunch and headed south, I on my bike and Josh on bikeshare (he popped a tube on his own last week).

Of course the first thing Erik, who I haven't seen in a month, says to me is Carrie! You're playing right? Yeah, we'll see... I sat eating my sandwich while the game started.

Pretty immediately, I had the urge to join in. So I did. We scored one point and then Rich destroyed the brand new, $20 frisbee with is mad defensive skills and the game was over.

About 5 more friends showed up and we informed them that there'd be no frisbee. We played soccer instead. It was intense and fun. Josh got taken out and kicked in his man parts and I ran as minimally as possible. It was a good time and, as always, I got all cheesy about the greatness of being able to spontaneously travel just a few miles to play under the great Washington Monument with my friends.

I feel like you can practically see the sweat crusted on my face. Yum.
Photo by Josh Bassett Photography

I did some other things Saturday like babysit and go out too late. But I didn't sweat again until our Sunday morning frisbee game. Having gone to sleep at 3 the night before, I didn't show up until almost noon and was surprised to see a huge match of 6 v 7. My legs were weirdly sore from the Saturday but I got some good sprinting in and contributed to two glorious victories.

Our frisbee field- behind the roads, through the trees.
And over the river and through the woods.

Having set the tone for a victorious Sunday, Josh and I headed to my parent's house to watch the Broncos play in their first playoff game since 2005. I have literally never truly cared about the NFL until this year, when Tim Tebow became the starting quarterback for Denver. Joyce was at the game, sitting in row 12 on the 40 yard line. We like to say that Timmy follows her wherever she goes. He was the quarterback on her high school football team and, a semester after she left for Gainesville, he followed her to be a star at the University of Florida. Then she moved to Boulder, CO and he flew his butt out to Denver to play for the Broncos. He obviously wants to be her friend for life. But yesterday, she followed him to the stadium and brought them great luck. The broncos won with an 80 yard first play in overtime. It was beautiful. I was happy to sit on a couch with my wine and watch them sweat. I had done enough of that myself in the past 36 hours.

And now, it's off to work. I promise you all that I'll have my half marathon training schedule written out and posted early this week. There will be a lot of bike riding in this training cycle. Not that I think any of you care that much- it's more of a promise to myself.

But, before I go, let me say Happy Birthday to one of my other best friends Nicole, who turned 25 yesterday!

I hope you all had great weekends! Did you run any crappy runs? Did you play or watch any exciting sports matches?