Wine Cap of the Week

This week was pretty decent, all things considered. I ended up with 41.28 miles for the week, with a great 18 mile run on Saturday. I had trouble sleeping on Thursday night and ended up getting out of bed a little after 4 to go to the gym.

Thursday's run was tough and my foot started to hurt. I left LB and went flying over to the RunTex Annex to see if Pieter was there. I open the Annex door and don't say a word to anyone. Pieter is there and no one is waiting to see him...Gilbert looks at me and says, You don't look happy Red, what happened. I don't say a word and head to straight to Pieter. I hop up on the table and Pieter goes to work. He tries to calm me down by talking about that Jersey Shore show...ok, first of all, those people are not from NJ....Crack, twist, adjust, turn this way, turn that way, all the while Pieter keeps me talking. He knows me well enough know to know he has to distract me. Finally, I sit up. Ok, I say, how's the cuboid. Honestly, he says, it's not that bad. You did the right thing and came to me right away. The ankle was too tight and that was putting pressure on your cuboid. Gilbert comes over and gives me a high five and asks me how far I ran...it's all about the numbers (see earlier blog entry)

Saturday was a tough run, with hills following the first 15 miles. LB said, let's do one Wilke, it will be good. I honestly thought he was kidding so I went along with him and made the left turn to do Wilke. I hate Wilke. It's huge and I can hardly get up without wanting to rip my lungs out. I said to LB, you're kidding right? Well, he says in his understated manner, you can do it or be a wuss. Really? Ok, I head half way up and stop and let LB go. I know he won't stop; it's not part of his DNA. I turn off my Garmin and wait for him to come back down.

I'm not messing with my foot on a training run. I tell him. He says nothing at first. Then, in the LB fashion, changes the subject to let me know that the house at the top of the hill is for sale....for $850,000. If you lived here, he says, you could do Wilke every day. Hmm...I say. This is basically the, if you made it to the top of the hill, you would have discovered this too, but you didn't, you stopped and waited. I repeat some lame thing about my foot and continue on running. I think it's pretty damn good that I'm doing 18, let alone Wilke.

The night before we were at a 40th birthday party for a friend. My good friend, neighbor and lifetime chef for Thanksgiving, ROLANDO BENAVIDEZ is there with his lovely wife and my comadre, T. I try not to mention running or that I have to leave early, have to watch what I eat, have to not drink to much, need water....etc. Suddeenly, Rolando asks me, so, Guera (that's what he calls me...basically, white chic); whatcha running tomorrow? Ugh, here we go, down the slippery slope of the running schedule. I'm in the midst of the hard training, I say. Ok, how far? 18 I mumble...18, cabron. There we go, into the whole running conversation. I tried, but there it is. I like that he's calling my Eye Rollers the ER's! Anyway, T and my other very good friend, PM, are running together and I know I will see them out there.

After Saturday's run, A from SPI is in the Annex and adjusts me and works on my feet. She too thinks the cuboid is holding out ok, but that my shoes are shot. Oh Boy, the shoes, I know, it's a huge dilemma. I keep wearing the old ones since the new ones feel strange.

I LOVED that my good friends in DC -- my very good friend and fellow Jersey Girl and her husband are reading my blog and following along on this journey with me! Thanks L and J! Thanks to all my blog followers and my friends who are so supportive and, of course, my family...they are so proud of every long run, every accomplishment.

Valentine's Day...they got me a big red roller to roll out my muscles...Perfect!