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Don’t Run With Tweezers & Other Running Lessons

So my “Wheaties” day was on a Saturday. Sunday morning I was still flying high thinking about how strong I was and how far I could run without feeling the least bit tired. Yes, I am a real athlete I thought. My weight workout was chest and back. Knowing how hard I was able to push myself the previous day, I did so again. After the workout, I refueled with with some fat-free cottage cheese and blueberries. It was another beautiful and unseasonably warm day, so my husband and I decided to take advantage and go for another run. We drove to another part of the river trails for a leisurely run.

I was clad with all my gear (another blog post I do believe):  heart rate monitor, patellar knee band, matching top and bottoms (very important), and my hat to keep the sweat out of my eyes (actually more important than the outfit). We started at a slow pace, but I was winded almost immediately, and there was not an inkling of a hill to blame it on. My legs felt like lead weights, and I could feel my form falling apart. Looking at my watch, we’d only been running less than 10 minutes. So much for my Wheaties power from the day before. I trudged on though and made it for 3.75 miles.

When we got home, I started removing all of my gear. When I pulled off my cap, I heard a ping on the floor. Tweezers. Yes folks, I had run 3.75 miles with tweezers on my head. I had put them in my cap the previous day after removing a rose thorn from my finger. I had meant to take both cap and tweezers up with me but never did.

While I was completely ticked off at my efforts, and myself I had to laugh at myself as well. Then I started to think about everything I had done wrong to bring about the disastrous run. Learn from your mistakes – right? Ok, so I couldn’t blame it all on the tweezers, even though tweezers poking one in the head could be a perfectly logical explanation. The real problem was my training, or lack thereof. I had not been running consistently and it was foolish of me to think that I could just kick out two good running days in a row when it’d been a week since my previous run. Even seasoned runners often alternate days. So my lesson for the day was that it is OK to push yourself, but don't be overzealous. Safe training comes first, this includes removing tweezers from caps.

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