Busy Weekend! Long Run on Saturday and 10K on Sunday!

Pretty crazy weekend for me. I ran my longest run of the year yesterday, 1 hour and 15 minutes, roughly 10 miles, including the infamous 800' descent/ascent down into Sycamore Canyon that takes a toll on one's body.  Then I went to the gym for a famous 20 minute workout. Did some grocery shopping with my 4 year old at Trader Joes.  Then off to my 7 year old's school for 6 hours of hard labor helping out with the annual carnival.

I was beat. Sore, tired, done. Bathed the kids, read them books. Finally to bed at 11:30 p.m.

This morning I could barely drag myself out of bed. My bladder was awake at 6 a.m. but my body was still asleep. So back to bed.

I generally like to sign up for races ahead of time. Cheaper, easier and less stress on race day morning. But I had not done so for today's 17th Annual Senior Concerns Love Run 5K/10K in Westlake Village. Not exactly sure why other than procrastination and the fact that I've done zero focused training this year. Zero.

But the Love Run is a great local race that helps local seniors programs, so my intention was to go and support the race. And since my training has been so lackadaisical (I love that word...and that's the first time I've actually typed it), my plan was to run the 5K at 8 a.m. as that would be a good "speed" workout for me.

Finally awake, kind of, at 7:15 a.m. Immediately realized that I don't really have enough time to get up, dress, register and run the 5K. So, with blurry eyes, I opted to go anyway and run the 10K, which started at 8:50 a.m.

My body was dragging. My quads were slightly sore from yesterday's run. My upper body was sore from lugging equipment around at the carnival. So my built in excuses were there! My goal was to run anything under 40 minutes given where I'm at physically and training-wise. Last year's Love Run time was 38:30, so I figured I could do it.

Well, I succeeded! My finishing time was 39:12 and I did not overexert myself to get there. I wasn't breathing very hard at the end of the race. It was my stiff, sore thighs that stood in the way of a faster performance.

Mission accomplished. A nice, steady "tempo" run the day after a solid longish run effort.

Now I'm full on sore. Could have also used a nap today but Boy Scout activities prevented that from happening. Better get to bed...