This is what a bad run looks like

So, I'm still training for the Pittsburgh marathon. The whole thing! As in 26.2 miles.

I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea when I signed up, but the Runner's World Quote of the Day today was something to the effect of "Running a marathon gives average runners the chance to be more than average." And I liked it! It's certainly true! I am a sllllow runner, I never ran in high school or growing up, I take lots of walking breaks and it's still hard for me, but dammit I'm out there and doing it.

Anyway, I am planning to do my last long training run off 22 miles this Thursday. Holy crap...22 miles?!? But, I've completed one 18 mile training run, and also a half marathon. (2:25:xx in absolutely wretched conditions...4 hours of sleep, legs were sore from gymnastics, and it was 20 degrees outside. Oh, and I got lost on the way back to my car and ended up walking another 3 to 4 miles to find the darn thing.) Anyway, after that, unfortunately I had to take the past two weeks off due to some strange but intense pain in the bottom of my foot. It feels better now (*knock on wood*) and I've done 2 short runs in the past week.

Today, I ran four miles and am taking tomorrow and Wednesday off. (For me, running every day or even every other day isn't really an option...just not how my body works.) Anyway, the point of this post is to list all the ways in which today's run sucked and how I can learn from it to help other runs (coughThursday22milercough) be better. Or you could also consider this your list of things NOT to do before a run:

1) Sleep only 6-7 hours a night for the week before. Especially when you know your body requires 9-10.

2) Unintentionally eat way too little food the day before. (Stupid work-related busyness.)

3) Wear clothing that you realized was too warm for conditions, thus allowing major dehydration by the end of said 4 miles. Hello swollen fingers. Not good.

4) This is totally TMI but I really needed to poop by the end. Uhh, yeah.

OK, got it. I'm going to REALLY try to sleep a lot this week! And obviously keep eating like I normally do (read: a lot). Yesterday really was just an off day but I was surprised by how much it affected me today.

And now, back to studying Algebra. If you're the praying type, please pray for me on Thursday. I'm honestly a little scared of the distance but I want to do this so badly.