Show Me Some SKINS

Wow! What a day and a long one too.  My morning started off extra early because I was confused on the time I needed to wake up.  The alarm wasn't set to go off till 4:45 yet I woke up at 3am and because I thought I only had 45 minutes before crawling out of bed, I couldn't fall back asleep.

For Christmas John bought me SKINS, the compression tights. At the Tucson Expo, John bought them for me so I knew I was getting them and still made him wrap them.  I pulled them on this morning and they fit really well.  I was excited to try them out on my long run of 20 miles.  John was going to run 10 miles with friends while an hour after the start of my run I was going to meet up with friends.  Running with friends is so very enjoyable and I wish I did it more.  When I met up with the friends I turned off the canal so I didn't know the true out and back distance and had to guestimate where I'd be at for mileage when I finally did turn back. A number of the runners in the group turned around and I and two male runners kept going.  And going. They were going to run a total of 10 miles yet tacked on an extra mile on the way out.    Finally after 12 miles into my run we turned and then they picked up the pace.  I quit talking and just focused on not slowing them down too much.

John bought a house in central Phoenix and there is a canal almost in the backyard.  It is a great place to run but I'm not familiar enough yet to know where I'm at in the route and how much further I have to run.  At each street crossing I would gaze at the street sign and sigh because I wasn't to my street yet, wasn't sure how much further;  I was tired and dragging.  My run ended up at almost 22 miles at a 9:13 avg pace and when I stopped, I almost fell over.

It was before 10am and my day was just starting.  The house John bought is being renovated (we haven't moved in yet) and we have spent many evenings, weekends and lunch hour doing stuff for the house.  Today we worked until after 7pm painting and doing other chores around the house and I was on my feet the whole time.  I never changed out of my SKINS but put pants on to keep them clean and protected.  My legs felt fantastic all day.  Although I took off the SKINS to eat dinner and hang out in front of the TV, I'm tempted to put them back on.  Since I'll be on my feet all day tomorrow, I may wear them tomorrow too.

I'm glad today's run went well for a number of reasons.

1. I was able to run 22 miles, run tired at the end and my IT band although felt, didn't flare up.
2. My run today puts me at 992.24 miles.  Only 7.76 miles over 4 days to complete 1000 miles.  Woo Hoo. 
3. I can enjoy Baileys guilt free.  I just tried this for the first time on the rocks and am now hooked.  This will probably be something that isn't allowed in the house except for special occasions because I'll have too much and too often.

Happy Running!