Hardest Easy Run EVER.

The lucky winners of the training books are K who will be getting the Marathon/Half Marathon Training Guide and Steph (aka Anonymous) who is getting the Non-Runner's Marathon Guide for Women. Steph, I am bringing your book to Vegas and K I will be contacting this you for an address this week.

I would be a fool to think I could hide the fact I took last week off from training due to the physical/emotional stress of moving, so I won't pretend I did anything related to training over the past 7 days. oops. Looks like I am taking these PR's really seriously...

I am officially temporarily relocated indefinitely (read: no job, living with parents). It is true that you love your parents (and that your parents love you) so much more easily as you get older. So far I still can not see why I was so afraid of moving back home for so long. The running is (potentially) great, I have someone to rip on The Bachelorette with, we take turns making dinner, and I get to relax with a glass of wine and good conversation every night. Why get married when I can just live it up with my mom?????

Speaking of potentially great running....

Today I tried to get back into the training plan with a 4 mile easy run, which ended out being the hardest 4 mile run I have run in a really long time. This training tragedy is brought to you by sloth and procrastination!

What made it so difficult? Instead of getting out the door by 7 am when the marine layer is still cool and thick, I got out around 10:30 am when the fires of Satan are sweeping across the land. No problem, I thought, I'll just plan a route around parks with water fountains, bring a bottle, and drink plenty of water. Can you suffer from hyponatremia on a 4 mile run? The answer to that question feels like "YES!!!" at this moment.

So after slothing around the house, not eating breakfast or doing anything to help this run be a good one, I took off. About mile 2 I learned the dotted line on map my run meant "dry river bed trail" and proceeded to run in the sand with full sun exposure. Not the nice sand by the water at the beach, but the ankle twisting shoe filling sand by the beach parking lot. I got lost and had to backtrack at least 3 times to find the trail that didn't dead end in a rattle snake death pit. I could see the rich people sitting in their air conditioned mansions looking down on the stupid girl running in death canyon and laughing as I kept getting lost, but I was still trying to be positive and kept running in the sand even though it was ridiculously hard. At mile 3 I had to stop regularly in the shade to cool off, I was already through about 24 ounces of water. By the end of a very hilly mile 4 I stopped because my chest was hurting and I felt dizzy, so I used the last half mile as a cool off and walked home.

I didn't bring the Garmin because I want my easy runs to be easy running: no paying attention to pace and just enjoying the miles. I have no idea what miserable pace I kept, and I am just happy to be alive. Upon my return I battled the potential hyponatremia with the saltiest thing I could find in the pantry: beef jerky, mini saltines, and easy cheese (cheese in a can). And a glass of chocolate milk. Within about 10 minutes the weird headache/pain behind my eyes has pretty much gone away and I don't feel like vomiting and passing out.

Next time I am going in the AM and bringing a camera so you can see the new sights!

Free Book Giveaway!!!!

So, as many of you know, I am moving. Part of this process is getting rid of stuff I don't need, which includes 2 books on marathon training for beginners. Which means free books for you.

The Books:

Don't click to look inside, I am "borrowing" the picture from Amazon.

The NonRunner's Marathon Guide for Women by Dawn Dais. This book is hilarious and is written by a young woman who is training to run a race for charity. She views herself as an unlikely runner and tells her tale while giving you training tips in a very comical way. The first book I read when I decided I was going to run a marathon. You'll love it.

The click to look inside arrow is point to the guy's shorts. Gross. 

Marathon and Half-Marathon The Beginners Guide complete 26 week training program by Marnie Caron and The Sports Medicine Council of British Columbia. This book is very informative and much more structured than the other book in the give away and has information on everything from  nutrition to information and also includes a very detailed training plan. Great for someone who has never ran or is really intimidated by running and wants solid information about how to be successful without feeling pressure to be a super fast runner.

I am a big believer in reading books and passing them on for other's to enjoy, so if you want either/both books leave a comment for me by Wednesday at midnight telling me why you want the book (I don't care if you make up an elaborate lie, just tell me something). I bought the books myself so there is no sponsorship or anything involved. No one is paying me to get rid of them, I am only motivated by the need to minimize the amount of junk I am hauling into storage until a job comes around, which means liquidating nearly all 400+ books in my collection. I'll figure out some way to choose a "winner" if more than one person wants one. The odds are in your favor since only 18 people read this blog. Heck, if you know someone who you think might want them, enter for them. Since it is a give away, I'll even ship the books to you if you or the person you want to have them are in the US. Sweet deal, no?