NOLA Week 7: Old Houses and Half-Ninjas.

Distance: 18.01 miles
Time: 3hrs 19 mins 08 secs
Route: Base Trail (Museum - Capehart Housing - Museum)
Number of Ninjas: 1/2

I had a choice to make regarding this run. Either run in cold weather or run in blizzardy/icy cold weather. I like to think of myself as having a smidge of common sense, so I moved the run to this morning instead of tomorrow. Whether or not these conditions will even happen remains to be seen, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. :)

I got up early and headed out. It was cold this morning, but I figure if the weather is 30 degrees on race day, I will have a bunch of practice under my belt. I actually warmed up a lot more quickly than usual. I was feeling pretty good by the time I hit the East Gate. I did my loops at ALS and still felt really good. I was about a mile from Cullen Park when it almost happened. My right ankle rolled and had I not been wide awake it would have most likely been a full ninja. I heard the nice crunchy sound in the ankle and ended up doing a couple of hops on my left foot in order to keep myself from falling. It was probably the smart thing to do. I stopped and walked it out for about a quarter of a mile. My ankle was hurting pretty good when I tried to run on it, so I decided to walk a little more. I reached the park, debated on calling it a run and decided that I wouldn't quit. Even if I had to walk the whole MFing thing, I was going to finish it. I did a run/walk routine until the top of the hill by the shoppette and by then the ankle went numb, so I went back to running.

When I reached the Capehart Housing area, it was eerily quiet. The houses are slated for demolition, so it is completely empty and very desolate. They have fenced off the side roads and the houses, so I had to do the main loop through the housing (which was perfect, since halfway through was my turn around spot). I always love walking/running by these kind of places. When we lived in Texas, they were demolishing old houses. We used to take walks through them and even walked through a few places. So much life has been lived in these old houses. Many different families have come and gone...oh the stories these houses could tell! I'm sure some are haunted, but they just fascinate me so much.

The second half of the run was pretty uneventful. I shot another Gu when I hit the park again, but I've realized that I probably should have brought another one. By the time I hit the flightline, my legs were really tired and I was ready to be done. I was still good to go mentally (aside from the various expletives that would escape every now and then), but my body was just tired. I was very happy to hit the static displays and finally the museum. I looked down at the time and was very surprised to see that I had PR'd. The fastest I had previously run 18 miles was in 3:38 and I was running with Sparky in Sacramento. She's quite a bit faster than me and she helped push me on that one. I think maybe I was channeling her a bit today. :)

A good run, half-ninja and old houses to boot. I thought a lot about my sisters today, two in particular that are having some rough times. I'm sending a lot of good juju, since I can't send myself. :) Week 7 is done and it's time to just keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other.