Tired and Unmotivated

I'm not sure why some things make you want to run forever and others make you stop in your tracks. I have felt so tired and unwilling to make an effort to run since Thanksgiving and I'm not sure why. Well, I kind of know why, I just have a lot going on. But it's nothing that should keep me from running, the one thing that actually makes me feel better.

The funny thing is the last few times I've run have been great. My Turkey Trot was fun. We had perfect, cold fall weather and I actually got a PR for a 5k course (28:31).

Here are more pictures from The Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving weekend.

Anyway, I have been running, just not as much as I was a few weeks back. The weekend of Thanksgiving I was home at my parents and decided to take a few days off to let my legs heal. It seems as though I was having the beginnings of an IT band problem in my right leg. Pain in my hip flexor was ultimately making my knee feel weak and numb during my runs and causing extreme pain towards the end. I learned some new stretches which seem to have helped a bit and it hasn't been as bad as it was the week before Thanksgiving.

After Turkey Day I had two good runs during the week.
Tuesday - 3.22 miles / 31:08
Thursday - 4.58 miles / 47:32

Then my long run on Saturday was great. It was a 10 mile run and really humid, but for some reason it seemed really easy. Probably because I had taken it easy that week. Then Sunday I spent 2 hours sweating and lifting in the gym.

Last week I only ran once.
Monday - 3.22 / 30:40
It was a great run, and my best time for that loop. But then I took the rest of the week off before my big 12 mile run on Saturday which was a total mistake.

It started out ok. The weather was great and I had Tracy there to talk to me the whole time which was nice, but around mile 10 my hip and knee started acting up. I had a much harder time starting up the run again after walk breaks and it was way harder than I expected. Luckily, Tracy just kept talking and kept me distracted until I made it back safe and sound. It wasn't that I felt like I couldn't do it, it was just really hard at the end. I guess it was about time I had a crappy long run. Hopefully this week will be better.

So this week I have been trying to run and stretch more. So far,
Monday - 3.22 / 30:23
Wednesday - 3.22 30:29
Both great runs. Monday is my best time so far. I think today I would have beat it by a long shot but I had to stop for traffic for like 10-15 seconds towards the end. Oh well.

Tomorrow I am going to South Beach to run the Nike Run Hit Remix. A 5-mile run that has stages set up throughout the course with crazy-ass bands from the 90's playing. Young MC, Vanilla Ice, Coolio, Digital Underground and De La Soul are all performing! How awesome is it going to be to run my as Young MC is singing "Bust a Move"??!?! Oh, and the best part, Gerardo is the MC! That's right, RICO SUAVE BITCHES!!! I really can not contain my joy at the absurdity of it all.