one week away from 13.1

last week i ran 10 miles with the best running partner in the world, who i'll call lorena. sadly, for me (but lucky for her hubby!) she'll be gone next weekend when i'm running my first half marathon. but her hubby will be running his first ironman, so that's a much bigger deal, and, you know, they're married. sooo....

anyway, 10 miles last week was good. it was strangely hot and muggy, on a rainy october morning, so i did something i never thought i could around mile 7.5.... i took off my shirt. now, i'm not going to go running around in my sports bra all the time, it's still not how i roll, but i will say that loosing the shirt really gave me a second wind!

because lorena knew i had big plans for dancing my face off saturday night at julia's wedding, and she knew i was going to do so in high heals (which is almost as strange for me as running shirtless), she suggested i give my legs a little ice bath. we bought some ice (i still owe you $5 lorena!) and i went up to my bathroom. here goes nothing. filled up the tub with lukewarm water, poured in 10lbs of ice, squealed a little, but stuck it out for 10 min. i think the water should have been a little colder, but i think it helped.

then it was party time. and though i brought flip-flops to change into once i got my dance on, they stayed in my purse, while i kicked it in the high heals. who is this woman in my body?? so weird. still i had a blast.

till i woke up sunday morning, not with a hangover, but with the sorest left quad ever. i could barely walk down the stairs. i figured it would feel better monday, but no.

so what did i do?

i got a massage.

my first ever male-massage from some dude named byron with really big hands. it was a little weird at first. i had to bite the inside of my cheek for the first minute or two to keep from smiling or laughing, but big-hands-byron worked his magic, and i was much more mobile when i left. whew.

went to yoga tuesday, got my butt kicked, but still felt ok on the quad.

finally ran 5 miles thursday, and my quad was a-ok.

practiced yoga again today, and i think i'm set for another 10 miles tomorrow! then it's one short run next week, lots of rest, and BOOM, i'll be a half-marathoner on saturday! assuming i finish. that's my only real goal. would love to get as close to 2 hrs as possible, but finishing and having fun is much more important.

i'm pretty excited. i can't believe i have come to like, maybe even love, running. never say never.