Wind and hills....but at least, no rain....

Saturday morning was "long-run" day with the Little Rock Marathon group, as usual, and this week was the Rhaling Rd. route. Last time I had run this route, we were only doing about 5 or 6 miles on the build-up. All I could think of was that massive hill... and on top of that, it was 80% chance of rain with muggy-warm temps.... As you can imagine, I was dreading that all week long. This week was 14 miles, as I told Cheryl and Kim "a half-marathon without the medal"...

I set out my stuff the night before...clothes, IT Band straps, rain jacket, etc....filled my bottles for my fuel belt...and went to bed, setting my alarm for 4:30. Cheryl wanted us to be at her house at 5:25 to give us plenty of time to get to LR and get a copy of the route. Well.....the next morning I hear this buzz and look at my phone to see that Kim had just texted me that she was on her way to Cheryl's house and that it was 5:13!!!!! I was like "Oh, sh**!" i couldn't believe that I had overslept and was actually supposed to be at her house in about 15 minutes....I texted Kim that I had just woken up and that I was scurrying around to get ready!! Kim said that she would "stall Cheryl"..I threw my clothes on, not even tying my shoes, and grabbed my stuff. Apparently, in all the rush, I forgot my Garmin, which I had wanted to use for the first time since getting it for Christmas...oh well...it was not meant to be that day! Apparently, Kim had been late too, although not as late as I...we jumped in the truck and headed to Little Rock. We got there shortly after 6, about 6:10 or 6:15 and Cheryl went to see if there were any routes left. Not near as many as usual were signed up to run.

We got all of our gear and headed out...stopping every few minutes at first...me to tie my shoe....and at mile 1, we all took off our rain jackets. When we first got to LR it poured for about 2 minutes or less, but when it started, we were like "oh, crap"...but then it quit completely. and Thank God! It never rained the whole time we ran and that was awesome! Overall, the run had its rough spots with the hills and wind. I hadn't done alot of hill work, so I was already anticipating my foot hurting. In reality, though, I had some general soreness in my hip flexors, but my foot did great! It was kind of like doing interval training with all those ups and downs, but I'm sure it was a good cardio workout. Cheryl had to stop once to use the restroom at Kroger. Kim and I wanted to, but we didn't want to take our gear off and have to put it all back on....and then it not fit right...blah, blah....we stopped for water along the way as well near the Pleasant Valley Country Club. It was almost gone because we started late...but we did have enough for each of us to fill up one water bottle or close to it...The last 2 miles was Rhaling Rd. and it was, as anticipated, TORTURE...I had to walk a few times for about 30 seconds at a time. Kim took off and Cheryl was behind me..we finally all caught up across from the meeting place. Cheryl was wishing she had her phone so she could call us and have us pick her up! Kim and I circled the parking lot to get our mileage and we headed to Tom's car to scratch off our names. He showed us the new training t-shirts and we each bought a small...They tend to run out of the smaller sizes first! We stretched and hopped in the car for our post-run tradition...STARBUCK'S!

We headed to the Starbuck's on HWY 10 to wait for the New Balance Store to open. I was planning on taking the insoles they made for me back, so they could be adjusted, but the store didn't open until 10:00. Cheryl ordered her fave drink, to which they informed her that the were out of the "Cinnamon dolche" in all of Central Arkansas....she was, of course, dismayed..I basically accosted Teena, the employee at the counter, asking her if I could have some of the Christmas decor after they take it down and she gave me the phone #, so I could check back later in the week...The New Balance Store was open by the time we left, and we were already 3rd in line to be assisted by the Podorthist on site. Kim ended up randomly buying a pair of her shoes on the spot as I waited. I told the guy that I have now been diagnosed with PF, so he took another imprint of my foot and told me that he would make the new ones out of cork or some substance that would have more "give"...During this whole saga, the associates noticed that we were all wearing Nike socks, called us "traitors"....and when we mentioned that we didn't have any New balance socks...they opened a 3-pack and gave us each a pair for free! They also gave me a pair of shoestrings for free!! My insoles should hopefully be ready in less than a week!

After leaving the New Balance Store, we went to Sports Authority, because I had a gift card to spend!! Usually Sports Authority, in general, sucks...but we actually found some cute pull-overs and I spent my gift card with $2 left to spare! I got a white and a black Alpine pullover and a Nike headband. We each took our turn at the massage chair on display...Kim and Cheryl were "ooooing" and "ahhhing" and I was like "owwww"...the neck rollers were a little lower on me than on the girls...as they pierced my shoulder blades, those two were just laughing at me!! Geez...the stuff I put up with...We made a quick stop at Barnes and Noble so that Cheryl could look for a daily planner, and somehow we were approached by this really wierd guy that was trying to tell us jokes....we spent the rest of the time there hiding from the guy once we got away...

All in all, it was a fun morning...I couldn't believe how great I felt...I know I won't always, but I was so excited my foot was doing so well and I didn't have to wear my IT Band straps the whole time!!