epic!

This morning's run included an "up Brady Street hill" segment, so I didn't make my goal of also including a "run one of my miles in under 15 minutes" goal.  Oh well. 

I gotta say, this was one epic, bring on the braggin' run.  LOL 

First:  it was raining for the first 2 miles.  Any run including rain is more fun than any run that doesn't, cuz I just can't not feel like a rock star when I run in the rain.  It was 63 degrees and the wind was light, so the rain was nothing but sheer pleasure and added drama.  YAY!  

I did my first 2 miles more or less on flat surface, just snaking around downtown Davenport.  The reason for that strategy was mile 3 always seems to be my fastest, strongest section - so why not harness that for the giant hill?  It worked:  though I thought for sure I was going to toss my cookies most of the way up, the mile that included that hill got done in under 17 minutes.  So WOO HOO!  And 2 of my miles were under 16 minutes, so there's that.  (I understand that if YOU weren't the one out running, these details are probably boring and dumb, but they are endlessly fascinating for me!)

As I snaked through the neighborhood at the top of the hill, my plan got derailed y encountering some fine, upstanding individual in thugwear.  I saw him from far enough back that I crossed the street to go around him; still, he felt the need to shout to me, "Dat booty look FINE!" and while I'm sure he meant to be only complimentary (LOL) I worried that if I snaked around again, I'd encounter him again, and maybe the second time he'd think I was following him and end up saying some phrase like, "She was asking for it."  You gotta be smart.  So I changed my route to move directly away from where I supposed he was going.  I just snake around the neighborhoods so that I don't have to go too far away from home or cross excessively busy roads while getting in my 5 miles.  

Up at Locust and Main, I fell.  The few times I have fallen while running, it's never that slow-motion-I-wonder-if-I-can-catch-myself kind of fall.  It's like, I'm moving, and then I'm slamming into the sidewalk, and I didn't see it coming at all.  I really gotta learn to pick my feet up better because I'm sure I tripped just on a slight irregularity in the cracks of the sidewalk.  It was a strange fall - almost all of my weight landed, oddly enough, on one breast.  Um.  THAT HURTS.  I also skinned the heels of my hands and made my knees slightly sore, but really, the bulk of the pain was in that point of contact, and continues to hurt even now that I am home and showered and such.  

So, unlike most runs, there WAS walking in this run - I walked across the street, trying to shake out the worst of the pain.  And then I picked up and ran the rest of the way.  Thank GOD I was not actually injured in any way that affects the ability to move.  

Here are the heels of my hands.  I've decided to wear them in a bragging fashion rather than as some kind of hardship or reason to bitch.  I AM A ROCK STAR! WOO HOO!!  

lovely bruising

blood!  oh the horror!  LOL

Thus ends the story of Karen's Epic Run.  I'm thinking this is going to be one heck of a great week, if I've already squeezed this much adventure into Monday morning!