Sixteen.

I ran 16 miles on Saturday.  Six.  Teen.  Do you know how far that is?  Until you’ve covered that distance by foot, you don’t REALLY know.

At least I finally wizened up and took my training to the shaded, relatively flat American Tobacco Trail.  What a difference that made!  I felt so much better after 16 miles on the ATT than I did after 14 miles in Heather’s neighborhood.  Granted, the weather was much better since this Saturday was more cloudy than sunny and not nearly as hot and humid, but I know the change in terrain made a huge difference as well.

So my lungs were good and my quads felt good and I was feeling really optimistic about the run.  I reached 6 miles (Loved those mile markers along the trail; when you don’t have a satellite watch, you have to keep track the old-fashioned way.) in 53:30 so I had a good pace going and I hit 8 miles, a.k.a. my turnaround point, before I knew it.

I was still feeling strong at 11 miles.  But somewhere between 11 and 12 miles, the ITBS issue in my right knee that I dealt with during and after my first half-marathon flared up.  At that point, it was mind over matter.  It hurt to run (at a 10-minute per mile pace), but it was still going to hurt to walk and it would take me that much longer to get back to my car.  So I toughed it out and slowly but eagerly counted down each half-mile marker until I got back to where I started, two-and-a-half hours on the dot after I started.   For the record, that’s almost 10 minutes less than what I finished the 14 miles in.

When I got home, I iced my knee (Instagram proof over on the right) while I refueled, first with a chocolate green monster smoothie and then with a Coke Zero.  I sat on the couch long enough to watch a show, then I knew it would be better for me to move around so I tackled a few chores before a shower and a nap.

As of this writing, my knees feel pretty good.  I’ve stretched and used my foam roller and even went to spinning Sunday afternoon.  We’ll see how things go after my short run Tuesday morning.  Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?

Other than the long run, I spent a little time in the kitchen using up some frozen shredded zucchini by baking it into semi-healthy bread and mini muffins.  The problem is that they tasted healthy so I covered them in a cinnamon glaze.  They were much better after that little addition.

I had better luck with our dinner, Creamy Southwest Pasta with Spicy Yogurt Sauce.  No, that’s not my picture.  I wish!

 {via}

This stuff was yummy and had some heat, which the McHusband and I really enjoyed.  I added shrimp so we’d have some extra protein, and I used Rotel diced tomatoes with green chiles instead of fresh tomatoes.  This was very easy to put together and for a pasta with a creamy sauce, it was quite light tasting.  Sometimes I feel like I crave pasta, a great comfort food, only when it’s cool or cold outside, which NC in August most definitely is NOT.

One more note about our weekend.  I put out my new garden flag.

I saw it at Hallmark on Friday, and I couldn’t resist.

Perfect, right?  I mentioned to Vickie that I’d gotten it and she said she’d seen it at that Hallmark (the store is by her office) and considered getting it for me.  So it wasn’t a totally frivolous purchase, it was something that I was meant to bring home and display.

Welcome back to the work week.  Nothing we can but accept that another one has started and mosey on through it until next weekend’s upon us.