I get by with a little help from my friends

Saturday's run was 10 miles. The run sucked but I made it through it alright. ShortestAmiga let me try some of her energy gu stuff. This one had some protein so my stomach didn't have to try and handle just sugar. I think it worked pretty well. I tried it one day last week without running and I seemed to handle it well. So I was set, I had the gu-like stuff, I ate well, hydrated well (or so I thought). Everything was going fine until about mile 7. I got a foot cramp in my right foot. I swear all of my problems seems to be on the right side. Anyway, that lasted for about 1/2 mile. Finally I limped along enough that it went away. I took my second gel thingy and that helped also (or maybe it was all just in my mind). I wanted to believe it helped so maybe it did. Then I get to 8.5 and my watch freaks out starts beeping and decides my workout is finished. Now I did say I doing 10 miles not 8.5 right. Yeah well I should of listened to the watch and declared victory at 8.5. Anyway I tried to restart the watch but it was having no part in that. So I had to run/walk the next 1.5 miles unassisted. Not fun but I wasn't having any fun anyway so what's a little more. I managed to finish but it was ugly. The good news is that I recovered pretty quickly once I got some water and a little food in me.
I have noticed that the recoveries seem to be getting better. The running isn't but at least something is going right.

9 miles and glasses too

I have to wear glasses for at least the next week. Got something funky going on with my eye so my doctor isn't letting me wear my contacts until it heals. Which actually could be longer than a week. I refuse to believe that. So because of this I have to run with glasses. Well I get ahead of myself, first I had to get glasses. The last time I got glasses was about 10 years ago. Needless to say they weren't working so well. I now have glasses that actually work.
Today was 9 miler with the running group. I was a bit nervous since I have never run for long periods of time in glasses. But they didn't let me down. I had a few issues with the back of one ear but all in all it wasn't bad.
Today's run went well but it's time to bring out the body glide and think about food strategies. A small amount of chafing but around mile 7 I could tell I needed to eat something.
Food on the long runs is always a problem for me. My stomach can't handle products like GU. Besides the fact that I think they taste terrible, there is too much sugar. Me and too much sugar is really a bad thing. I'll just leave it at that. So I have a dilemma that I need to fix quickly. Next week is 10 miles.
The running during the week went well. The motivation of my "friend" helps. My long runs are always better when I run during the week.

How big is your person?

I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking about what people looked like at their 20 year high school reunions. The topic went to if you gained 2 lbs a year for 20 years that would be 40 lbs. Which when you think about it is quite a bit. So that got me to thinking. I have been out of high school for 30 years and I have gained a person. All be it a small person but still a person. That is a very shocking revelation. One that you think I would have made before I got to this point but I never thought about it that way. Think about it. I suggest you sit down first.
Now granted I was very thin in high school and if you take the number from the weight where I felt my best then it's not that bad. Yes this is my way of coping. Give me a break. You would justify it also if you had gain a whole person.

How can people run without music?

Last Sunday the training group ran 8 miles. Because of the hurricane both the Sat and Sun groups ran on Sunday. I got to see shortestamiga and nospinzone. They ran with the half group so they could run with Bob. This week's long run was interesting. I ran part of the distance with a woman from the Sunday group. She was struggling so I slowed down to run with her. After about three miles it was obvious that she was too injured to continue. I got her back to where we started and she stopped running. By this point I was so far behind everybody else I had the run the last 5 miles by myself. Normally I don't mind running alone. That's how I usually run. but that day I was without music and left all alone with my thoughts. I need some type of distraction on my runs. Either music or talking but something other than just my thoughts and my breathing. I made it but it wasn't my best effort. How can people do this for miles without music?

There may be bruising...

Did 7 miles of hills on Saturday. Got my hip worked on. You know you are in trouble when the therapist says there may be bruising. May my butt!!! I have the most awful bruise on my groin area that I have every seen. And it hurts! ALOT!!!!
Anyway, I made it through the torture and came out on the other side. The good news is the pain is gone and I was able to run with no problems or pain. YEAH!!!
My running group is getting bigger. This week I had 5 followers. That was cool and a little scary. We almost got lost but finally saw the street sign. It was hiding. Another group got lost and ended up running almost 8 miles because they had to backtrack.
I sat in the pool for about 30 minutes after the run to give my muscles a break. The cool water was very nice.
Next week 8 miles. I really have to do my short runs this week.

Why don't my shoulders look like that?

Ran some on the treadmill today. My hip didn't seem to bother me so maybe yesterday was just a fluke. I'll know for sure when I try to run tomorrow. For now I'm keeping the appointment.
Today was a good day, TBO and I met at the gym and worked out for about an hour. Including the 30 minutes I ran that ended up being a really good workout.
I am so jealous TBO's shoulders are sculpting really well and I still have grandma arms. I know there is the whole fat thing but still. No it's all good. She is my hero doing tris and training for a half marathon all at the same time.

So now what?

I'm finally in town for a few weeks so I can exercise like a normal person then I go and hurt myself or something. I was trying to run this morning and it just never worked out right. Something was happening with my hip. I could walk just fine but the pounding was causing alot of pain. I tried to pound through it thinking it would go away but it never did. So now I have to figure out what's going on with my hip. The bright side is I have an appointment on Friday so we will see. I will probably try to run again before then to see what happens.
On a personal note, the funeral went really well. It was standing room only. So the creepy thought I had was I wonder how many people would attend my funeral. I told you the thought was creepy. Just something to think about.