SORE!

WOW, I feel like I have been in a long fight and lost!  I have never been this sore or tired after a race, not even Chicago.  Yesterday was so bad that after hobbling around the grocery store and eating lunch, I took a nap.  For those of you who know me, I have to be in BAD shape to take a nap mid day with it being gorgeous weather outside (50s in december, YES YES YES).  I even popped a few advil as well, and even that didn't touch the pain.  I am not sore like injury sore,  more just I used every muscle in my body for 10 miles sore.  My hubby at one point yesterday looked over at me hobbling around and wincing and asked, why do you do this to your self ? He is an on again off again runner, but never has raced, so he truly doesn't  understand.  Even though I am in pain, I am still smiling about how much fun that run was and planning on my next one.

The worst part probably? My toes.  Gross picture alert!  Don't scroll down if you don't want to see some gross toe photos!  You have been warned!



The first pic is from that day.  I had these huge blood blisters on both big toes from my feet getting wet and then rubbing for about 9 more miles.  The second pic is from last night.  I tried popping them and nothing came out, so I gave up. I don't see any running happening for a few days till these get better. I am talking with my trail nerd friends to figure out how to not have this happen again as they were pretty painful.  Any advice is welcome!  I plan on doing more of these runs for sure and would like less pain this next time if I can avoid it! I don't have issues with blisters or calluses during road races unless it is marathon or raining.

I have also had many questions about how I run with stella on those trails.  I noticed that in several of the pics of other canine pacers/runners that the dogs were loose. I was not comfortable enough to do that on my first race. I did NOT want her to be the cause of someone having a bad race.  Her being loose would be ideal, honestly.  Then her position wouldn't be hard for me to deal with at all.  She always pulls the first few miles of any race, and as with any race, even though I have her on a hands free leash, I ALWAYS pull her close till she calms down. I don't want anyone to hate me because of my dog.  As the race spreads out and I can comfortably let her go to her natural in front of me position, I will.  I sometimes leave races with her with horrible shoulder issues, because of those first few miles.  My right shoulder is pretty sore as I type this, but it was all worth it.  The biggest problem I had with this race was the fact that she wanted to go balls to the wall down EVERY hill, and I am a downhill running wuss. I have this big fear of falling down a hill and not stopping till I  have broken every bone.  She does not understand that mommy wants to go slow and even walk most of the time.  The few times there were no runners around, i did let her go so she could just go at her own pace and then leashed her back up at the bottom of the hill.  Otherwise, I have to just hold her close and verbal tell her to hold up.  Now going up hill, she is AMAZING!  She just puts all her weight into her harness and pulls me up.  Of course I am not letting her drag me, I am doing my part, but that extra pull up sure does help.  Plus, just having her there, even if I am having to manage her, is a big mental bonus.  If I were out on that trail without any music or podcasts, by myself as I was for the last few miles, I would have come unraveled and probably given up.  Plus, when we got to the really deep mud, she really pulled me through and out of it.  Then I would just laugh at how ridiculous we both looked covered in mud with big smiles on our faces.  Just as i smiled the whole race, so did she.  She appeared to LOVE every minute of it.  She LOVES running and I can't wait to do another one with her.  

Okay off to drink more water and take more advil :)  Happy monday y'all!