No More Excuses

I had an early start this morning with a 3:45 a.m. wakeup call for a 6 a.m. flight to Michigan. I got a decent amount of sleep last night and slept as much as you can sleep on a plane, but I was still beat by afternoon. Regardless, it was a really great day. I broke my beer moratorium for two afternoon drinks with family and then headed over to Lake Michigan to plan my first open water swim. The water was surprisingly comfortable at around 60 degrees and the distance was easy to map with a hand held GPS. I am so excited about the swim. There is a good chance I will struggle, but it's my first opportunity to really get a sense of what I'm capable of. After tomorrow, I'll have no more excuses at the pool. I'll definitely have to stop taking so many breaks and push myself harder.

Deep in the back of my mind, I had been planning at least a short run this afternoon. Then the total exhaustion kicked in and the internal struggle began. Would I be too tired? Or would it give me energy? Maybe I could just rest and do a longer run after my swim tomorrow. Or maybe it would be better to run more tonight and have a light run tomorrow. The debate went on like this for an hour before I finally decided to do it.

It was a great run on rolling hills with a good amount of challenging inclines. My sister loaned me her Forerunner so I was obsessed with monitoring my pace. I slowed tremendously on the hills, but made up for it on the flats and gradual inclines. At 3.8 miles, my old friend plantar fasciitis paid me an unwanted visit. I quickly stretched my calf and walked for a minute or two and it thankfully subsided. I will be sure to pay a bit more attention to my stretching and icing over the next few days.

Training aside, today was also really special because I met my baby nephew Maddox for the first time. He was born in April, but since he lives in Wisconsin, this was our first introduction. Needless to say, he is amazing and it will be a lot of fun to spend the weekend with him. All in all, I cannot ask for more.

Sport - Running
Distance - 4.8 miles
Time - 41:21