What Motivates You

July 1st: 8:30am wakeup. It felt great to sleep in. Laid in bed. Finally up to make breakfast. Big ole 3 egg omelette with onions, tomato, peppers and mushrooms. Mozzarella cheese and ketchup. Made Kimber a tomato and mozzarella omelette AT THE SAME TIME. Yeah, I'm that talented. Goupil back from his run and said it was mad hot out. That let me know I wouldn't be running until the evening. Gave me a chance to hydrate and fuel up.

Kimber and I swung by TJ Maxx/Homegoods for some solid shopping. I picked up a real diesel cheese grater, a set of bathroom rugs/mats, and a clearance pack of cream soda (only 3 instead of 4). The cashier was overly friendly and asking about the cream soda. He was like, "You want one with 4 instead of 3?" and "So what does cream soda taste like?" I responded with "clearance" and "cream soda." Whatever.

Stopped off at GNC to pick up more protein powder. It was the same guy from last time that tried having me buy the "better protein" aka the more expensive one. He dished out his salesman pitch about what kind of protein powder I wanted. Are you looking to gain weight or maintain weight? What are you using it for? I responded with all the answers to the questions he was gonna ask. Basically stating that I know what I want and you can't convince me otherwise. He left me alone. I think he remembered me. Kimber grabbed some as well. We got the gold card deal of 20% off and that was off the sale price. Sweet.

Next stop was Target. I bought some anti-itch lotion for my poison ivy (I might have wiped with poison ivy leaves last week when I was on a pit stop during a run), light bulbs (a pack of 5 energy savers), and some hand soap (a small dispenser of black raspberry and vanilla, I know it's girly).

Quick stop at Starbucks because Kimber needed another coffee for the ride home back to NH. She got me a strawberry banana whey protein smoothie. Mmmm. Back to the apartment to relax and help Kimber pack up her bags. I changed up for my long run. Tortilla for a snack. Now it's 5:15pm. A long goodbye and back inside to warm up for a 15 miler.

I headed out the door at 5:45pm. Oh shiznit! THe trials start at 7pm. I know the 1500m finals aren't until 7:23ish. I have less time that I hoped. It got me cruising from the start to make it back. Originally (the first 5 miles) I didn't think I was gonna make it back. I got into a rhythm and clipped off the pace mile at a time. 15.25 miles (95:46). 6:17 pace overall. I started hitting my overall pace at around 5 miles. My last 10 in 60:56. Felt good and ending my last 2 miles in 5:52 pace. Felt smooth and relaxed. It was hot out and I spaced out my one Bee Stinger fuel into 3 servings (4 miles, 8 miles, and 11 miles).

Back to the apartment with only a couple minutes to spare. It's funny that watching less than 4 minutes of television can motivate you to run faster. Freezer pop to cool the body's temperature. Protein shake for immediate recovery. Olympic trials. Foam roll. Shower eventually. No dinner. I know terrible. I have food, but the heat makes me lose my appetite. And I'm lazy sometimes. Bed at a decent hour for a morning run shakeout with Goupil.