Halloween Part II

The scariest thing about my Halloween was the thought of running 14 miles, which was my intention Sunday morning.  I am a pretty calm person most of time and tend to do well in keeping nervousness at bay, even in situations that call for it.  Sunday morning was different.  I woke up feeling intimidated by 14 miles, which would be a PDR (personal distance record) for me if I could get it done.

In any case, I followed my usual pre-run routine.  I started off the day with a green monster smoothie (I was feeling the need to hydrate) and a PB and jelly on sandwich thin.

I actually also ate a half a Raspberry Chocolate Luna Bar for extra fuel and had some coffee and water too.  I packed up my running fuel, donned my gear, and headed out the door.

I got to the trail to meet Michelle and we started the run.  About a mile and a half in I realized that I'd forgotten my fuel (Luna Moons), and we decided to head back to the car for them.  I also had to pee since I'd had a smoothie, coffee, and water, so I quickly got that taken care of.

After my pit stop, we set back out on the trail and kept on trucking.  The first 5-6 miles weren't bad.  We were chatting a lot and it kept our mind off of the run.  

Around mile 6 or so I was feeling it though.  I started getting some discomfort in my lower back, which is not that uncommon for me on runs, but usually it's more towards the end of long runs (like the last 3 miles or so), not in the middle.  

I carried a bottle of Gatorade and water and continuously drank sips and popped Luna Moons, but the second half of the run SUCKED.  It was really labored and I felt really really tight.  During mile 8, I asked Michelle if she minded if I stopped to stretch, hoping that would help.  I stretched for about a minute and we started back up.  It may have helped a little, but I still felt pretty crappy.  

Around mile 10 we started discussing whether we were going to run the full 14 miles or not.  Michelle wasn't feeling good either.  We're like running twins or something because we always seem to have the same type of runs on the same days.  We either both feel great or both feel horrible.  We talked about maybe doing 13.1 miles instead of 14, which seemed like a good idea.  It would be more mileage than last week's 12, but less painful than 14, and I could still feel accomplished knowing I'd run a half marathon.  That became our new plan.  

At about 11.5, we reached the trail parking lot.  We decided to head out on the sidewalk instead of going back out on the trail to finish the run and break up the scenery.  Once on the sidewalk we were both bitching and moaning about the pain we in and again reevaluated the distance.  I honestly didn't know if I could make it to 13.1 at that point.  I mean, I could have done it, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near comfortable.  My back was killing me and my legs were exhausted.  We ended up going to the end of the block and turning back towards the parking lot to call it a day. 

Our final distance was 12.2 miles in 2 hours and 5 minutes.

I was pretty disappointed I didn't get to PDR, or even do a half marathon, but my body was begging me to stop and I just felt like I should listen.  Post run, I stretched a lot and got home and used my foam roller for a while.  I took a bath in the jetted tub and hoped my pain would go away, but I ended up being pretty sore and very tired for the rest of the day and still feel a lot of soreness today.  I'm kind of glad I didn't push it another mile or two, because I felt like I needed to listen to my body and give it some rest.  It's amazing how much better I felt during and after the same distance last weekend.  Crazy! 

For lunch, Greg wanted grilled cheese, so I made us grilled swiss cheese and tomato with a side of hummus and veggies.


I wanted a nap, but we had afternoon plans to go to our neighborhood Halloween festivities.  There was a cute parade with tons of kids in costumes.  We took our "kid" out in his costume and he was a hit as usual.

Clyde is so funny, he LOVES parades.  Last march when I took him to the Dog's Walk For Cancer he was the same way!  Anytime he's in a group parading down the street he's on cloud 9.

The parade ended at our neighborhood clubhouse and we had some treats and mingled with everyone.  At one point our friend Dean's mother asked to hold Clyde and walked off with him for a while!  We weren't sure we'd get him back!

Clyde seems to really like kids so far, which is great!  He always smiles and kisses them.  Especially yesterday since most kids had cake all over their hands!  Here he was with his friend Hailey (dressed as Minnie Mouse). 

After an hour or so we headed home to get the house ready for trick-or-treaters. 

I made us a cauldron (haha) of black bean soup, while Greg decorated the front of the house.  

We waited til THE DAY OF HALLOWEEN to decorate the house, but Greg did a great job.  We had purple lights, the smoke machine, and strobe lights going.

My black bean soup had:

1/2 diced onion

1 yellow pepper

1/2 roasted red pepper

 3 cups stock (veggie)

2 cans of black beans

1/4 cup tomato sauce

2 teaspoons chili power

a couple shakes of cumin

2 tablepoons of chipotle salsa (I love this stuff!)

I topped it with shredded cheddar and plain greek yogurt.


Here's our pumpkins.  Can you tell Greg's is a dachshund??

We had tons of trick-or-treaters and came close to running out of candy even though we had about 8 bags!  Our neighborhood is a prime spot.  Clyde pretty much freaked out every single time the doorbell rang, but we went out on the porch and greeted the kids there for a while so that helped. 
We called it a night around 9pm and turned off the lights.