It's pouring in LA...

I took 2 days off after my 18 mile long run this past weekend.

After the 18 miles on Saturday, I went and hung out with the boy for the rest of the evening. Went to see some friends of his play music and had a good time drinking beer (I'm a beer drinker now? What? Who would've thought!)

Sunday, I felt surprisingly good. I was expecting to be very sore but I felt great all morning and afternoon. It wasn't 'til I came into work and sat on my stupid chair that I started to feel pain.

I took Monday off since it was pouring rain and I figured 2 days of rest would be good for my legs to recover.

It's supposed to rain pretty hard all week long so I don't really know how I'm going to get my weekly mileage in. Today, it poured all morning long. At around 2:30 it had stopped raining for a bit and the sun even came out so I figured I'd try to get a few miles in. I was hoping to do 6 miles at an easy pace but 3 blocks into my run it started raining again. I figured I'd brave the rain and just keep going but it was COLD. Brrrr...

So because it was too cold I began to push the pace and treat this as a short tempo run. About a mile into the run it really began to pour down and even though I felt badass for running in the rain, I was also beginning to feel tired from the quick pace and I was freezing!

On my way back I ran into the North Hollywood High track team kids running in the opposite direction. It brought back good memories which is why I always run this route. I always want to say hi and talk to them a little about how I used to run there a long time ago, but they'd probably think of me as an old goon and I'd feel like a pedophile haha...

So it's just a quick little smile and a quick hello and wave if it's the girls team. :)

Anyway, I felt pretty tired after the second mile (which clocked in at 7:58 on my Garmin). I had to stop and catch my breath twice which was disappointing but I figured my body just didn't feel ready for that quick pace yet. I also ate horribly this morning before the run because I thought I wouldn't get a chance to run because of all the rain. So mile 3 saw me running a slower pace with a stomach ache...ugh. Cheese sandwiches and ice cream are not good pre-run fuel!

So I got home and I was soaked...I need to invest in some rain gear. I jumped into a warm shower and felt better.

I'm now feeling a lot of pain running down from my left hip flexor to my ankle. I think it's probably because I did not warm up...I just started to go fast to get past the cold. Now my whole leg feels busted. My left hip flexor has been giving me problems the past few weeks but it usually is just when I'm sitting around at work for 10 hours. Tonight the pain was pretty intense and I took some pain tablets that I found at work. I probably need to do some core work and stretch! I've been horrible at stretching lately! I read some article on Runners World that said stretching isn't really necessary and since then I've gotten really lazy about it =/

So I'm hoping my leg feels better tomorrow. Not sure if I should take the day off or not. I guess it all depends on the weather and how my leg feels at this point.

I want to get a 20 miler in next weekend. We'll see what happens.