Daily Digest

I finally managed to get a run in today after some afternoon delay. As I wait for my gallbladder to be taken out, I'm often treated to some gut-wrenching (pardon the pun) stomachaches. Unfortunately today's hit me pretty hard in the early evening and, after a visit to my potential future workplace, I finally hit the treadmill at 9:40 pm.

My boyfriend and I like to do things together when we're separated, so I had promised him to run with him after work today as I'm trying to get him on the fitness bandwagon (and more importantly - the running bandwagon). I felt bad that I had to bail, so told him to go as far as he could and whatever he did, I would double it. Well of course, tonight was the night that he decided he was going to blow past any sort of PR on the treadmill, and fit in 2.28 miles. Amazing for him, dreadful for me. I don't mind doing a 4.6 mile run and now that I'm making gains in my endurance, I need at least a 4 mile run to feel like I've even worked out, but when I stepped on the treadmill, I was just not feeling tonight's run. I knew I had to do it though. My 3-day total of the week was all of 2 miles and there's no way I was going to hit my 13 mile goal this week (in a healthy injury-free way) without running tonight.

I hate doing anything more than 4 miles on the treadmill, but a lot of good-ish shows are on TV at 10 pm or later, so I actually was fairly entertained for the whole run. In total, I ran 4.7 miles (which included a 0.3 mi warmup and 0.2 mi cooldown). I'm debating now if I should keep warm ups and cooldowns separate from my runs. My time for 4.7 miles wasn't all that stellar (just shy of 50:00), but I also was walking at 4.0 mph for 0.5 of that whole run. So really, it was a 4.2 mile run and a 0.5 mile walk. I may have to throw that question up on the Runner's World forums. Add up a few 0.5 mile walks in a week, and I may only be doing 10 or 11 mpw as opposed to 13. Not a huge deal, but if a training plan is geared to a certain mileage, I want to make sure I'm not biting off more than I can chew. This is especially the case if the plan is for speed, though I guess I only have gains to make if I'm doing a 2:00 half marathon and that includes walking time!

Thoughts from tonight's run:

• Why are all the judges on America's Got Talent not American? Just saying.
• Need to cut toenails -- forgot how much it sucks when your nail is a little too long for the shoe on a long run.
• Hoping my orthotics fix the wonkiness in my feet. I started getting pain in my right foot, on the left side, between the ball and the arch, shooting a little into the toe. I hope this doesn't have to do with the supposed fracture I have that no one seems to be contacting me about.

Sweet! 6.7 miles down, 6.3 to go!