I thought I wasn't going to get to run today...

...because the alternator went out in my car.

Wow! Now that I think of it, I've had a long day!

I just had to confirm with R that all the stuff happened today and not yesterday. I'm not even kidding; I got confused there!

So, what happened? Well, yesterday when I went running, I had to go with my sister, because when I went to start my car, it wouldn't start. The lights on the dash were flashing a bit, the automatic part of the seat belt was going all back and forth and wonky and the car was making a weird clicking noise. Bah.

So, today, I get up, get dressed, go downstairs, and Dad says: "Got any plans today?" And I say: "Umm... no, I got a long run later... that's it..." and he says: "Good! You're going To Town with me to get an alternator!" and I say "Cool! Okay!"

Let me back up a bit. My dad broke his leg, so I'm going with him to carry things, because he can't carry things and use crutches at the same time.

In order to get to town, we have to take the van because the truck is a stick, which my dad can't drive, due to the clutch, of course. So, we have to, first, drop R off at work, drop my mom and all her stuff off at her job, and then go. Whew. So, we do that.

Another thing, by Town, we mean (out here in the sticks) the larger town abotu 50 miles away where everyone does their Big Grocery Shopping  and stuff like that, because there's hardly anything out here except for a slightly (but just enough) overpriced Ray's.

So we go to town, get the alternator and some coolant, grab some lunch (vegan tamale, Tias salsa picante chips, some soy milk... in other words, awesomeness), and go home. As we're about 30 miles from home, the gas thing dings and the computer thing says we're 24 miles to empty. Lovely. Dad says it's fine: he's driven it 30 miles when the thing has said 0 miles to empty.

So, we get to our hometown, get gas, pick up mom, head home.

Dad couldn't start working on the alternator right away - and I don't blame him - because it was 94 degrees out, but, to me, it felt like at least 99 or 100! We relaxed inside for a while, and Dad had to go check on something at his work, so he left. Meanwhile, it's nearly 3:00 pm.

Mom suggested I take a nap, because I look tired. She says she'll wake me up around 3:30. Turns out, I sleep until 4:00 That's what the heat will do!

So, the car, obviously, isn't fixed yet. But D comes home around 6:30 and says she'll take me and R running and we can pick up some stuff he left at one of the houses he works at. Cool!

So, long story not-so-short, I went running today! It was a semi-long run of 3.2 miles, which is actually an average distance for me, but I didn't want to push it, what with the nearly 2 long runs a week that have been going on... or at least will be going on this week. I may or may not go on the recovery run tomorrow. We'll see. Friday is always quite busy, and it might be nice to have a 2-day rest before the 9 miler on Sunday.

So, break down:

Warm up: Lunge Matrix (Except 5x4 instead of 5x5)
Mile1) 14:08
2) 13:40
3) 15:41
Last .2) ~3:00

And a couple more notes.

Since I got the Garmin, thanks to the graphs on the software that comes with it, I've been able to really see how much my heart rate fluctuates and stuff. It was doing it a lot, I mentioned that, I believe. I also mentioned I'm working on smoothing it out. It's getting quite smooth, actually!

Today, the heat made the last mile a little annoying. The heat was driving up my heart rate, just enough to make me have to walk more than I normally would have. I was feeling comfy around 175, but I know that's not optimal aerobic training, so I backed off. The funny thing is, I don't really feel the heat when I run. I'm focused too much on how I feel, what I'm doing, heart rate, and all that. I do notice that I'm drenched in sweat when I'm done, but other than that, nothing. And it was 88 degrees when I got done around 9:00 pm!

Eventful things on my run? A bull mastiff (?) puppy wanted to play with me as I was going up the first big hill. S/he was so cute! At first I was freaked out by the type it was; I thought at first it was a pit bull. But it just wanted to play and jump around and such. So cute!

Oh! And further down the hill, as I was going up, I look over the partition and there's another runner! I don't know who she was, but she was really going up that hill! Okay, I was keeping pace beside her pretty well and my heart rate was 165 at the time (I specifically checked), but I had to stop and walk just a touch, whereas she didn't. My legs were sore from all the running I've been doing. Haha. It feels so good to say (write) that!

But I think it's so encouraging to see other runners on your run. Don't you?

(also, sorry for the change between past/present up there in the story... it's late and I don't have the gumption to fix it... Even though I'm normally pretty good about that sort of thing...)