24 Hours

I actually ran outside today! The weather was finally agreeable enough to warrant outdoor training, which is important anyway because training for a race 100% on a treadmill is probably not going to make you successful. There are just too many factors that exist in nature that a treadmill cannot simulate. Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate has become one of my favorite dark chocolates recently. I can’t put my chocolates in the freezer anymore because I share a fridge with 3 other girls and we don’t really share much of our foods since we all have such different tastes. So all of my chocolate has been eaten at room temperature this past week and it really does make a huge difference in the taste of it.

After some of said chocolate, I hit the pavement for 2.35 miles in 20:56 (8:54 pace). It really seemed to fly by. I probably could have run it faster, but I forced myself to walk for a minute because I’ve been getting such bad stitches this past week. I literally wake up and it feels like my stomach is just a balloon full of air and it’s extremely uncomfortable to run under those conditions. Oddly, my ankle is still sore, but while I run or do other activities it feels normal so I’m not really sure what’s going on there.

Old-fashioned oats made with Raspberry Zinger tea, mixed with cinnamon, chia seeds, and flaxseed meal, and topped with Grape Nuts, PB&Co. CRS, raspberry preserves (finally the last of it!), and almonds. You getting sick of me eating this combination yet? Mmm, green mug. I love the cool colors (greens, blues, purples) so much more than the warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows). So much more peaceful. I also enjoyed a Brazil Nut (for the selenium!)

I’ve been in pain all day (five out of the past six days, actually), and so called my doctor to see how my tests were coming along and found out that they’re actually being run by the Mayo Clinic and won’t be done until near the middle of next week. In the meantime I still have nothing for pain management and so arranged for an extra appointment on Tuesday to see what we can do about that. Because the pain set me back in how I planned to spend the day, I missed the bus and had to ask for a ride to class so that I wouldn’t miss it. Yes, I still went to class, and yes, I ride the bus home. All 60 minutes of it one-way.

After class and back home, I decided to test my stomach with something mild: Cascadian Farms Honey Nut O’s and USVAB. It seems to be not exacerbating the pain, at least, though that isn’t saying much. This is the longest that I’ve been in pain thus far. About 25 hours or so now. I’ve felt drained of energy all day because of this illness and have wanted nothing more than a nap for the past several hours. Alas, classes also have to take precedence. But, it looks like another early night for me; hopefully restful and tomorrow things will look up and I won’t have the same problems that I did today.