Hanging in There!

It's been a little while since my last post! The past couple of weeks were a little tough for me because I have a small ankle injury. I haven't figured out if it's just from stress (running 10 miles), or if I may have twisted it a little on a weekday run or while playing tennis.

I was able to complete the 6-mile run on the 16th, although I did it on my own and not with the team. I took the Mt. Vernon Trail from Crystal City over the 14th Street Bridge to the Jefferson Memorial, looped it, and came back. (You can pretty much see my entire route on the picture below.)


(image from roadstothefuture.com)

Then last week, our Saturday mileage was supposed to increase to 12. However, my ankle continued to get worse, so I went to Saturday's run to discuss the injury with the coaches. I ran 4 miles on Saturday. It turns out that Jen, my DG running buddy, is also nursing an injury and will need to ramp back up like me. I'd never say I'm glad she's hurt, but I am glad that she probably will back off the mileage the next couple weeks at training, too!

This weekend we are supposed to run 8 miles on Saturday morning. I may try to do the full 8 and just turn around early if my ankle starts bothering me. Saturday is also Maryland's homecoming (GO TERPS!!), so I hopefully will keep my pace up and can get home, showered, and off to the tailgating without too much delay.



I am just over 75% of my fundraising goal and only have a few hundred dollars to go! (If you're reading this and you haven't donated... now's your chance to be a hero!)

Officially a "distance runner"!

Today was a day that I'd been looking forward to (okay, and also dreading a little bit) -- 10 miles day. In my opinion 10 miles is an "endurance distance", and running it makes me a "distance runner". I want to feel special, k?

Final result, 10 miles, with Jen, in just under 2 hours!

We ran on the Capital Crescent Trail, starting in Bethesda, MD, which I'd never been on before so it was a neat first time. The scenery is really great, especially as you get further south. (Picture to the left is from the Coalition for the CCT.)


Overall it was a good run, and I felt like my lungs could've handled another few miles. But my legs weren't in great shape, particularly my hips. I've already iced once today and plan to definitely do it again this evening. I feel very fortunate so far that I haven't suffered any injuries (KNOCK ON WOOD!! Yes, you reading this, do it too. Go ahead...... Okay, thank you). So hopefully with a little more practice and some more focused icing I'll be able to get my legs into the same shape I feel like the rest of me is in -- ready for 13.1 miles!

6 weeks to go. Next week we do 6 miles (relief!!), then bump up to 12 on the 23rd. I'm really looking forward to the actual race!