Running on Empty

I finally understand why my coach always says he works out to the point of exhaustion when he's stressed over things he can't control. On Saturday morning, my grandma had what turns out to be one in a series of mini-strokes. Fortunately, she happened to be with my parents, because otherwise, I don't think she would have been honest about what was happening. They were all at the beach, and my parents talked her into returning home and at least agreeing to go to the doctor this morning, because she didn't want to go to the hospital. The doctor wasn't able to see her and she did end up in the hospital, but at least they're able to care for her now and make some decisions about her future health and care. Other than her speech, the stroke doesn't seem to be affecting her too much outwardly, which I'm hoping is a good thing. But it's been one of those "wait and see" situations all weekend, which has left me feeling totally helpless and very worried.

So with this and the fact I have to fly to San Francisco tomorrow morning for my company's annual meeting (either with or without my boss, who is also my dad, and might be staying home to help out my mom) weighing on my mind, I was itchy to get out and run yesterday. Since there's little I can be doing for my grandma, I've been trying to keep busy with whatever I can to keep my mind off of things. Running is great for that, because although it's a very solitary sport, which allows your mind to wander, you can also push yourself hard enough that you physically exhaust yourself and you're concentrating more on your body than anything else. Yesterday was mostly perfect running weather, because it was cool and cloudy, but it was deceptive, because it was also very humid. I set out for a 35-minute run, my short run for the week because I was doing two days back to back.

The first mile started out okay, but I could tell my body was feeling very heavy. That always seems to happen when I run back to back days, so it didn't worry me. It just made me feel extra tired. I pushed myself to go as fast as I could, though the humidity kept me at a slower pace than I would have liked. I just kept running though, and was grateful for the lack of sun. I made it to just over a mile and a half and turned around, and finally found my pace. Even though my body was struggling with the humidity, I was able to get up to a good speed (for me at least), and I was definitely tiring myself out.

As I neared my starting point, I realized that I was going to have extra time, since I'd turned around thirty seconds early to account for my usually slower second half. So I ended up running further than my starting point to finish at 35 minutes, and finished at 3.25 miles, which is a 10:46 pace - not bad!

I could definitely feel the run in my legs all day yesterday, especially whenever I was climbing up or down the stairs. My muscles are sore today, so I'm glad for the recovery day. I'm still not sure what I'm running this week, as I'm waiting to hear back from Coach J, who is busy with work and workouts that take up all of his free-time, but because of my trip, it looks like I'll only be able to run Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday. I'm sure I'll need the runs as a stress-reliever and in the meantime, please say a prayer for my grandma!