Running on Hard Mode...With Fantastic Eyeliner!

It is finished.                    

This week has been rough, running-wise. I've either got some sort of bug, or I'm having an "auto-immune thing." That's what I've started calling the "my glands are swollen, I feel like I'm getting sick, but no one around me is sick," stuff that I get frequently. Either way, I haven't felt awesome. I pushed through it on Monday and did three miles anyway, but the last couple of days, I've just stuck with walking at work. So today, I drug my hind end out of bed and told myself I could just walk. ... I'm so sneaky.

Nine times out of ten, once I start walking, it eventually turns into a run. I did end up walking for ten minutes before decided to see how running felt. I was able to finish out three miles and now at least my legs feel awesome.

I've been a bit hit and miss with my running lately. Averaging two to three three mile runs a week with a four miler on the weekends. While that's certainly nothing to sneeze at, I'm not really working towards anything right now, and I think I get more satisfaction when I have a goal, so I'm thinking about training for a 10k or maybe a half.

Random photos of family fun.

Since having S, and finally getting back to running the last year and a half, I've avoided doing more than six miles because of my weight. While it's been on a SLOW, but steady decline (then flattening out into unintentional maintenance mode the last six months), I'm not quite as light as I'd like to be before getting into the higher mileage. The reason for this is twofold (yup - twofold): one - the first time I tried to train for a half, I was a few pounds heavier than I am now, and once I got up to seven miles, my knees were NOT happy and that was before I had psoriatic arthritis.

The second reason is time/speed. I think, in the back of my mind I've been assuming that as I get lighter, my speed will pick back up to where it was - and let's face it, running long distances REALLY slow take a LONG time.


That being said, I think I'm going to search for a plan that incorporates some speed work with a longer run on the weekends. Brilliant, right? I know, I know, I should totally coach. :O)

Speaking of long run on the weekends, a couple of weeks ago I had some fun and did a test of the new Enduring Eyeliner I ordered. It's supposed to be practically bullet proof, so I decided to test it out on a long run. I put some on my eyes, of course, but also drew a smiley face on my forehead to see if it would stand up to all of the sweat.

The result? My eyes were perfect, not a smudge or smear. They even held up after a shower and a full day of activities, including yard work in the hot sun. I was impressed!

Unfortunately, the smiley face didn't make it. Apparently sweating profusely and then wiping at your forehead was too much, but I suppose that is fairly reasonable.

So, if you are looking for something that will stay on your EYES for a long run, let me know, and I can hook you up with the perfect eyeliner. If you're looking for a way to keep drawings on your sweaty forehead, sadly I cannot help you.

Hope everyone had an awesome run today, or has one in their near future.

Take care,

~Megan