Stair Repeats and Blondie Bars

What’s worse than being stuck at home with a puking kid for two days?  Being stuck at home with a puking kid for two days and making the bad decision to bake.  Because when you’re stuck in a house  with just one other person most of the time, who happens to be managing only Gatorade and saltines, you find yourself eating the entire pan of Trader Joe’s Blondie Bars.  Ugh.

After 2 days of that, I was in serious need of a run.  Especially since my calves were still ridiculously tight from another bad choice I made earlier in the week.  On Monday, I went to boxing.  Then I decided to go for a run at the mud pit called Castlewood State Park.  Now, I love to run in the mud, but I only managed about 3 miles because the mud was more like clay that was clinging to my shoes making it feel like I was running with cinderblocks strapped to my feet.  So, I gave up that idea and decided to run the stairs.  I didn’t just run them once, or twice.  Not even 5 times.  I ran the Castlewood stairs 10 times.  Yeah, that’s right, I said TEN.  I’m not sure what got into me, maybe it was Kanye singing “N-now that that don’t kill me, can only make me stronger”.  Or maybe it was my determination to do even better this year on Leg 19 of the Smoky Mountain Relay in April (5.5 miles over a 2,500 foot incline on gravel in the pitch dark-Bring it!)  Whatever it was, it seemed like a good idea the first time up the stairs.  But by round 7, I couldn’t even really feel my legs.  By the time I got back to my car in the parking lot, my quads were shaking and I had a hard time removing my Cascadia’s from my feet.

I always say its two days after a tough workout that the pain is the worst.  So, here we are, it’s Wednesday, and my calves are on fire. I’m hydrated.  I tried foam rolling.  That was only minimally helpful.  I knew I needed to go for a run to stretch it out.  But after sitting around watching TV and eating Blondie Bars for 30some hours, I was severely lacking motivation and energy to get off the bar stool my butt had become glued to.  I needed to tap into another source.  Question: What is in perpetual motion and has the energy of a puppy on steroids?  Answer: My 7 year old.  So, after I picked the older kids up from school, I said, “Hey Ethan, you wanna go for a run around the lake with me?”  He said, yeah, sure, but could I wait 10 minutes for him to get ready.  Uh, yeah, cause I’m gonna need at least that long to get motivated to do this.  It’s only 1.25 miles around the little lake we live on.  It really shouldn’t be this challenging. I figured we’d go around twice, maybe three times.  So, we got ready, we went around the lake once, plus a little more, for a total of 1.59 miles.  We didn’t even run the whole thing because E kept getting a side cramp and needing to walk it off.  I don’t think either one of us broke a sweat.  I’m not sure I burned more than 15 calories.  And my calves are still killing me.

So, what’s the moral of this story?  I have absolutely no idea.  I guess it’s don’t run stairs repeats at Castlewood when you’re going to be stuck at home eating Blondie Bars for two days.

Man I can’t wait to get out there and log some miles tomorrow.  But I think I might stay away from hills for another day or so.  And I foresee see a big salad in my future.

Ethan and I after his first 5k in November 2012

Ethan and I after his first 5k in November 2012

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