"ANYTHING ELSE?"

I was thinking today's run would not need a blog post...thinking it'd just be a typical 3.5mi and nothing to write home about. Oh but it was. I've been a total Negative Nancy today and it's not going to stop now haha!

As I said before, I moved my run from yesterday to today because I knew the sidewalks would probably be more clear, AND it would be sunny which helps when it's extra cold out. Oh the sun was my enemy today my dear friends. The run started out better than usual because my knee didn't hurt. But around the 4th block, I had to start doing some fancy footwork because, what's that, oh yeah the sidewalks WEREN'T clear. This is downtown Milwaukee people, not like the forest trails! So trying to jump over one of the snowbanks blocking the intersection I needed to cross, I landed on my foot all weird which triggered the knee trouble again...like a sharp, but aching twinge. After a mile, I got so sick of trying to manage the walks and intersections, I just decided to run in the street which is a little awkward with downtown traffic. Meanwhile, I'm not sure if it's because of the cold or the awkward footing, but I felt so slow like I was running in lead. Well, before I knew it I WAS running in lead!! Ok no I wasn't, but basically the lakefront path that's on my route was not cleared, and it was too late to take a different way...so here I was, trampling through snow a foot deep...I think I was running on the grass part? I have no idea! So that went on for about a quarter mile...so only like a few minutes at least.

Switching directions now, I was running into the sun. So all I could see were blazingly shiny puddles. I couldn't escape them! I tried looking upwards or closing my eyes, but the terrain was far too uneven to "guess" what was next (sometimes when I'm running long paths that I've done a million times, I close my eyes to relax and it's very calming!). Back to the shiny puddles. So about five minutes of this, it hit...an ocular migraine. Oh how I loath these. They start in the middle of your vision as a sparkly mass, like if you accidentally looked at the sun or a bright reflection (AKA: A SHINY PUDDLE!), and then work their way out to the periphery of your vision. Here's a good photo of what it kinda looks like:


It's more sparkly than that though, and there are more jagged edges. And it's blinding. The whole mass is a giant blind spot, which clearly isn't any fun at all. Anyway, once the sparkly mass hits the edge and goes away (20 minutes), this is when the headache may or may not hit. Usually I don't get a debilitating migraine, thank goodness, but I do get a mild headache...it feels like I'm underwater...a general pressure.

The remainder of the run was just as frustrating as ever. I hit all the traffic lights, the snow and slop was everywhere, and people would NOT step aside. Finally I got so fed up, I shouldered this poor Asian girl standing in the middle of the sidewalk not paying attention. I said sorry. I was mostly just annoyed with the migraine because I know what the rest of my day will be like. It's not bad at all, so it doesn't warrant going home by any means, but the headache just sits there hovering in a very annoying way.

Well despite all that, I ended up going 3.65, at 9:40min miles and that's actually pretty impressive CONSIDERING all that hullaballoo! So I'll kick Negative Nancy outta here and get Kalm, Kool, and Kollected Katie back in the mix. I rewarded my trubs with a 60¢ Nature Valley granola bar from my work's vending machine, so I'm already feeling better :)