Coffee, saying good-bye to a friend, and running...

This morning, I couldn't pick up my coffee cup. I didn't sleep well last night, either. Something in the right shoulder/neck/upper right quadrant area of my body was off enough that when I rolled over in bed, the pain woke me up. I'm a right-side sleeper, generally, and trying to sleep on my back was hard. And then I got up this morning, and I could get my coffee cup about four inches from my mouth, but not all the way there because of a pull in my neck. Haven't had this kind of soreness in quite some time. What on earth?

A few weeks ago, a close family friend passed away. She was in hospice care when my mom called to    tell me that it wouldn't be long. Our friend and I had fallen out of touch. But I imagine it's like many friendships--people weave their way in and out of life. At the point that my mother called, our friend was not really in my life. And I didn't get to talk to her before she died. By the time I was ready to make the call, she was already gone. 

So yesterday, when I headed out on the bike, I found myself in conversation with my friend. And by the time our conversation ended, it was 45 minutes later, and I had ridden really hard without noticing...until last night when I was laying in bed and kept having weird, stiff pains in my neck. And then there was the coffee cup this morning. Clearly, an excuse to skip a scheduled run--day 2 of the Galloway training program for Dopey.

(Spoiler, I didn't skip...) So I went and got my running shoes on. My neck was stiff enough that I couldn't really negotiate putting on my shirt and bra, so that was my first adventure. And I set out planning to walk as much as I wanted to. But then I started running. And I hit the hill pictured above, and it felt pretty darn good. Galloway calls for a couple of 45 minute runs during the week, so that's what I set out to do. Ran 4 minutes, walked 1 in the heat and humidity of this fine Indiana morning. And then came back home to another cup of coffee. This one, I could drink. 

The Dopey Challenge--Re-entry to the blogosphere

First Run Selfie

Happy Cross-Training Day Selfie (in an Oberon Jersey!)

Imagine my surprise when I signed on to my running blog this morning and realized it has been four years since I have posted. Fear not, I've been running for the last four years. I just haven't been writing much about it. No time like the present, though, to kick off a new round of entries with a cliche and everything! 

I have signed up for (and plunked down a good chunk of change for) the Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida taking place in January of 2018. I will be running a 5k on January 4, a 10K on January 5, a half marathon on January 6, and a full marathon on January 7.  Why? Bucket list, of course. But also because it just sounds badass and hard, and I like doing things that sound badass and hard. 

There are all kinds of logistics things running through my head as I write this first entry. I'm a teacher, and I'm supposed to be back in class on January 8. I'm not going to make it. But I'll be in class on the 9th! My best friend usually goes on these adventures with me, and I'm still trying to convince her to at least join me for the full (the Dopey Challenge closed pretty soon after registration opened). My mom has offered to come to Florida with me so that I'm not down there alone, and now I want to run around the parks with her, but that isn't in the race plan.

But the training plan really should be the focus of this first entry. So I'm using the Galloway training plan for right now. It started yesterday. And he lists the goal for the plan as something like, "To finish upright." That seems like a reasonable goal. But in September, I'll be switching to what I perceive to be a slightly more rigorous program--the Hal Higdon training plan.  Galloway sticks with a three-day per week training plan early on. It doesn't feel like enough given how much I have to get done between now and then (much getting in shape to happen), but I like it for the summer months of July and August so that I can get in some biking. I just finished up a Hal Higdon training program to run a marathon in April, and I was feeling pretty burnt out by the time I was done. Hoping that cross training will help me maintain some sanity.

On that note, I took a day 1 selfie for the run (look at that happy smile!). And a day 2 selfie for my first cross-training ride (look at that jersey!). I am a runner who loves a plan, and I've got the next several months of training runs mapped out.