NYC Marathon Training Week 11

Miles: 23.64 Broken Teeth: 1

In theory, this week was a cut back – ‘ya know, less miles. Unfortunately for me, that is usually coupled with less motivation….add Back-to-School-Night, a husband out of town, and a broken tooth and you can see where I’m going. The running got turned down, but my life sure went to 11 this week.

My week started out ok, but the Hubster left on the first of his three weeks of traveling, just as I was reading an e-mail from my coach to buckle up for the hardest three weeks of the plan. Fucking awesome timing, right? The ‘leaving the kids alone at the house’ thing is new to me. I started doing some short runs in the neighborhood and leaving them alone last spring. The kids love it – I let them watch Minecraft videos the whole time I’m gone. And then can call or text me, since I run with my phone. I’m sure it is much more nerve-wracking for me than it is for them. Matilda is almost 8 — I think I was babysitting by the time I was 8 for crying out loud. But, sadly, the world is a different place now. I don’t know if I’m more worried that they will get into something they shouldn’t while alone (pretty sure that won’t happen, Minecraft makes iPod zombies out of them), or that someone will accuse me of free-range parenting. Can you believe I let my kids play on the playground without securing them in bubblewrap first? Crazy.

Running wise, it was a meh week. Monday and Tuesday went off without a hitch. Wednesday was a scramble to host Open House at my school and tote the kids around. And then….I was talking and eating lunch on Thursday when I got a weird pain in my mouth and thought, “When was the last time I went to the dentist? I feel like a have a cavity cropping up. Eww.”  Fast forward to one hour later when I toss a handful of trail mix into my mouth and think, “wow, some really stale nuts in here, and……….OOOOWWWW.” I probed with my tongue to discover that half of my back left molar was missing. Gone. Disappeared. Naturally, I freaked out.

After assuring myself that it really wasn’t as painful as it was freaky, I managed to get a hold of my dentist and schedule an appointment for 6 p.m. Great, except one problem: when was I going to get in my miles? I had six on the plan. No problem! I will go straight home after school dismissal – run 6 miles at 4 p.m….in South Florida…still in summer….then I will pick up the kids and tote them along to the dentist. Seriously. I actually thought this was a good idea.

It only took me about 2 miles into my run to realize how irritated a broken tooth will feel WHEN YOU ARE SUCKING WIND OVER IT QUICKLY AND REPEATEDLY. Having an icicle driven through my eyelid may have actually be preferred around mile three – which is when I stopped. Unfortunately, that put me a the farthest point away from my house in my six mile loop, which meant I now had to hoof it all the way back. Which I did, took a shower, got the kids, and made it to the dentist at 5:57 p.m. BAM.

Saturday’s long run was “only 9 miles”. I left later than I wanted, and paid for it in the heat, but damn it was nice to sleep later than 5 a.m. on a Saturday. I also received a friendly little reminder from the NYC Marathon folks that the race is in 50 days. Holy shit. This is actually happening. I’m getting excited. Hope you are, too.