Smack!!

Well, it is safe to say that we have hit our first wall (thus the "Smack!"). Maybe it is just our bodies' way of saying, "Don't get too confident with this whole running thing, because I can and WILL shut down on you if I feel like it."
It happened yesterday. We had a mere 4 miles to run and we were not too concerned about that, given we had ran 5 on Saturday without too many problems. We decided to go run it at Old Settler's, since it was a pretty easy run (minus all the dogs). We took off with no problems, then about a mile, mile and a half in, we both felt like we were going to die. And not in the usual way, where you just chalk it up to the fact that you are actually running and keep going until you feel ok again. More like we HAD to stop or we might collapse and roll into the cactus strategically placed on the side of the trail. So we decided to take a short walk break and pick it back up like usual. We started running again after 30 seconds or a minute or so, but about 5 minutes later, it happened again. We were attempting to play the question game, and I couldn't even give my answer because I was concentrating too hard on breathing (=not dying). So we slowed down again, and picked it back up. After doing this a couple more times, we just decided to walk for a little bit. It was at this point that I noticed that my HANDS WERE SWELLING. What the?? That had never happened to me before, and it's not like we were running 20 miles or anything. So anyone who reads this and knows what that means, feel free to leave me a comment. I am thinking maybe it was because I didn't eat much for breakfast or lunch...like a blood sugar issue or something. Help me out, nurse Kristi!

Anyway, so we walked/ran until we finished our 4 miles, even though we were pretty discouraged. I figure this is just a part of it, but I'm going to have to figure this hand swelling thing out...so weird.

The good news is that, not only is it a rest day, it's also Bachelor-Blizzard Monday!! Can't wait!