Week after 20 km.

Thanks to the shoes, my achilles felt decent, but the blisters on my left foot put me through some serious torture. Monday i managed a very easy 30 minute run around Townlake with Matthew and Ashley. It was Ashley's first run since falling and slicing her leg open. We saw quite a few gazelles, but none seem to look like the race even had any effect. Tuesday, was circuit with 400m inbetween. It was good, just seemed to take longer than usual. Wednesday, i ran 45 minutes recovery in hilly areas. Thursday, we did 1000m repeats with 2 minute rest. We had a nice group going and ran a decent pace all the way through. I think it was about 3:45, 3:44, 3:35, 3:33, and 3:20. It sure was funny how everyone hammered the last one...felt like we were a bunch of silly kids re-living our competitive youth. Friday, i managed a 30 minute very easy run. I was wondering if running a long run the following day would be a good idea, or do i need to postpone it till Sunday? I have been running the longer runs on my own, and it is very boring, so i decided to push ahead and show up with the group on Saturday morning. Big mistake. Forgot to take advil, had a big steak for dinner and was extremely tired still from all the running this week. My hamstrings tightened up at every stop and it was very difficult to get going after stopping. I should've turned back, but somehow i thought a miracle will happen and take all the pain away. At about 9 or 10 miles i left the group. Found a nice clean motor repair place and used the bathroom. How embarassing. I was in there quite a while, just relaxing and washing my face. The guy must've thought i fell in or something. After that, i started jogging again....long story short, i managed to panhandle 50c, hopped on the metro and rode past a lot of runners (chuckling) and got dropped off somewhere around 8th street. More walking/jogging to the car. I made it though. Started at about 5:45 am, got in the car around 8:30 am. Not bad for an adventure around downtown. I did come to realize that i am the best judge of what i am physically capable of and i need to pay attention. I am also not a spring chicken who can bump up the mileage and do 2 long runs a week. Today, my body is reading....no running, get a good book, a good church and pray for recovery.