I wrote on Friday about how I planned to get up real early on Saturday to get my 20 miler in, and I accomplished it. It was real strange being out on the road running in the dark again (note that it was 4:25am when I headed out), although there is a certain feeling of peacefulness when you run that early. There was absolutely no traffic, no people .. nothing but me and the road. After seeing the weather today, i’m happy I decided to keep with that plan, i’ll explain more in a bit. I kept on a running course that i’m familiar with, and finished the run pretty easily despite the fact that I shorted it by a half mile. It wasn’t terribly humid, although it was still hot .. I didn’t feel the need to stop for an extra water anywhere (although even if I did, I had nowhere to get water). Just the normal one gel, and my 28oz water that I carry with me.

The worst part about my long run this week is that I needed to carry all my apparatus with me, meaning I have abrasions all over my mid section from the devices on my belt. Its that time of year though where regardless of how much body-glide or vaseline I used, it is still an issue. Its nothing a little Neosporin can’t fix though ..

So as the title of this post states, I landed myself in the emergency room later on Saturday .. thankfully not due to a running injury though (and nothing that will affect my running). Its funny though that as a runner, whenever I injure myself, its all about whether it will affect my training, not the case here. I was working on my deck after having some contractors here last week, and ended up getting about a 1-inch wood splinter underneath the fingernail of my right thumb … OUCH! Yep, I tried and tried to dig the splinter out, but it was just in there too deep (all the way down to the base of my nail in fact) .. it hurt so bad… worst part is that I did it while on a lunch break of a project at work that I couldn’t stop. I had to live with it in there for almost 4 hours before going to the ER…

Thankfully the folks at Lehigh Valley Hospital (note that they’re sponsoring my first fall marathon in Septemeber) fixed me up and sent me on my way .. I kept the splinter as a souvenier, this picture shows how long it was in comparison to a nickel..

I didn’t let it get me down though, its in healing mode now .. still very sore, but in a few days it should be okay. And most importantly, I could still run.

Which leads me to this mornings run .. I intend to get 11 or 12 miles in, whatever I felt like getting in. Since I didn’t quite get 20 in yesterday, I decided to try and push it over 12 miles today. I’m glad that I decided to do my long run on Saturday since we had some serious thunderstorms and ran here in the Lehigh Valley overnight and into the morning, but unfortunately I got stuck in some steady rain and minor thunderstorms during my run. I didn’t mind it, since it didn’t actually start up until I was in mile 3 or so, I was always hot and sweaty, so it helped keep me cool.

One strange thing about running in the rain is that it seems that you forget about the normal struggles of a run. Its hard to explain, but all I could concentrate on was getting done and back home .. so my legs being sore, or being tired or hot didn’t even phase me. I was soaked, just absolutely soaked by the time I got home, so my gear is drying out now .. although I’m not sure my headphones survived the rain. They were acting kind of strange by the time I got home, but thankfully my electrical gear (pager, cell, mp3 player) were wrapped in plastic bags, so they didn’t seem to be affected..

As I always write though, that running in the rain isn’t always a bad thing because you NEVER know what your marathon weather is going to be. We marathoners always dream about the perfect conditions (minimal sunshine, low 50’s start) for race day, but in reality, it could be 40 degrees and a cold rain .. (possible in the late fall). It was a change of pace, I won’t complain I guess…

I wrapped up 66+ miles this week, the most i’ve done so far, with more miles expected this week .. we’re coming down to the final stretch now, so its time to bring it all together.