Dec 18 - p

FIT:

I miss the good old days of narrative posts. You get so much more out of them. It's like reliving the run. Now that I have internet, I think I may go back to the daily reports, vs. the log-style I was forced to use w/o internet.

Yesterday's run... eh. 3.2 mi in 27:17. I went on the treadmill @ 2 degrees (b/c Running Well suggested that this mimics the difficulty of running with normal wind resistance and erratic terrain better... good book, btw). I went at a 8:30 pace, but I still didn't last more than 3.2 mi. So sad.

Another Running Well trick I tried was focusing on not "sitting in the bucket" (tilting the pelvis forward). I think I probably do this a lot. When I used to pass Spelman @ the beginning of my runs back on campus, I'd look at my reflection in the glass doors to see what I look like. I lean forward a lot, very noticeably. Looks intense, but not good form. And to lean for 16 miles is kinda crazy - maybe in sprints (and even then, it should just be the beginning). The tilt can signify a tight IT band or overactive hamstrings (not sure what that means... I think my hammys are overly shortened, and I guess that's the same thing as overactive, b/c it's stuck in a contracted position).

As I said, the run didn't last. I tried the more hip swing trick (my own trick - don't try it at home w/o consulting someone who actually knows stuff), but it didn't seem to help much. My ankle wasn't doing great either. I was thirsty b/c of much salt today. Sucked on a Margarita Shot Blok while I ran - got sickeningly sweet/tiring, and I would've spit it out if I had somewhere to do it while continuing to run.

Wore 1225's - 3rd time overall, 2nd time w/ arches. Btw, bought new arches - same company Sof Sol, but this time, the Stability version vs. the Arch support version. Didn't know Stab existed, ow wd've tried that first. Body got tired quickly muscularly. Had longer days @ work and less sleep this week, which probably contributed. You need fresh muscles to absorb the impact, so it's better to be fresh.

Didn't foam roll for the first time in 5 days. Too sore afterwards (probably thinking "then you shd especially roll!) but I didn't want to endure that. Legs sore the next day too - hasn't been sore in a long time - maybe the 2 degrees did it.

Craving an oily, omega-3-filled farm-raised salmon right now. So good. But it's 2:39am and not happening. Also in nutrition news, I've been drinking less water lately b/c my Nalgene is now used for defrosting my car and isn't around. When it's sitting there on my kitchen counter, it reminds me to drink more, and b/c it's so big (vs. a mug), I chug a lot at a time - like a mugful, and not think anything of it.


FAITH:

I'm afraid that my butt won't ever get better. Am I constantly re-tearing w/e's wrong and making it scar up again? These days, it's no longer my joints that are the limiting factor but the muscle or w/e. My runs end b/f they even start.

2 Cor 12 > " ⁷To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

So hard. He pleaded for it to be taken away, but God had other plans.

Luke 18 > ¹Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ²He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

⁴"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

That's about getting justice, though, if not on earth then in heaven. I guess with fully functional bodies it's the same thing, though - if not on earth then in heaven.

I feel like the penguin who wished for wings to work.