I Didn’t Sign Up for This

Guess who ran 14 miles today?

This girl.

Guess who had zero intention of running 14 miles today?

Uhhh…yeah.

Guess who tried a new route on her long run and TOTALLY missed the major turnoff?

Ummm…are we seeing a trend here?

But let’s back up.

I want to start by saying Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I celebrated by eating almost exclusively green food. No, really. It was totally by accident-and I clearly don’t have much in my fridge!

My first final today was at 8:30, so I started my day my making a spinach, egg white, and cheese scramble in my dorm room.

Then, I picked up a cappuccino on the way to the exam.

During dead and finals week, the cappuccinos have been prettier. It’s definitely a trade off though because it makes the milk foam pretty bitter!

I got to my exam super early to top off my studying.

My only comment about the exam is that 3 hour exams are very long and I get very thirsty. And the worst thing ever is getting stuck on a renal system and urine secretion problem during this time!

I was able to get out a bit early in time to eat lunch before my next exam. My lunch ended up greener than planned-I discovered this morning that my salsa was moldy!

Sweet potato, egg whites, and spinach. Plus a slice of marble cake to celebrate the end of my Bio class of the quarter! I spent SO much time studying for this exam the last few days!

After my Nutrition final, I made the decision to to Sunday’s long run. I was still feeling pretty good, and I wasn’t super excited by tonight’s Crossfit workout, so I figured, why not? I knew I’d need more fuel though! It was-you guessed it-more egg whites with spinach and cheese, plus a kiwi!

In theory, today’s run was 12 miles. I was super excited-I had an interesting new route mapped out! I even joked to my roommate about getting lost…and then guess who missed their turn…the road was a big smaller one that expected (which I found on the way back…). And I didn’t bother to check my maps on my phone until mile 7…when there was literally nowhere to go except back where I came from! I guess I could have still taken my turn on the way back, but I didn’t really need to do 16 miles today!

Want to know the crazy part though? Check out my half marathon split.

That’s only a couple of seconds off of my first half marathon-and I wasn’t really trying! And it’s crazy to think how bad I felt after that. I couldn’t move the next day. Immediately, my legs were in so much pain. The last mile was horrible. Granted, this time I did stop the clock to stretch/be really lost, but still! It’s amazing how far I’ve come since then! This is one reason why I may PR my half coming up without trying-I’ve just gotten so much faster! I’m not sure if I WANT to PR though-I really just want to enjoy the race more than anything else. 

I think today’s run is really a testament to the training. In last week’s 11 miler, I felt like I was dying the last few miles. Today? I wasn’t even pushing the pace until the last mile, and on the way back I was easily under 10:00. (It was uphill out, and slight downhill back). More amazing? I was under 10:00 on the 14th mile. I was planning on just waling it, which I did some, but mostly I decided that since I felt ok still, and it was faster, it was worth it to run it. 

To recover from my longer than expected run, I immediately put on my holiday appropriate socks.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that part of the reason I wanted to do my long run today was to wear these socks…

I definitely refueled well. I went to the local burger place, with full intention of getting a turkey or chicken burger, but this caught my eye and I decided I needed it NOW.

An egg salad wrap-and hey, it was green!

I also tried the Cherry Vanilla smoothie. When the nutritionist talked to my sorority, she highlighted this particular smoothie because tart cherry juice is supposed to aid in muscle recovery. The smoothie had vanilla greek yogurt, tart cherry juice, cherries, and strawberries. It was delicious!

This was the perfect post-run recovery meal! But boy oh boy am I ready for bed! 14 miles plus 2 finals?? I’m totally crazy!