Liz Trains for a Marathon: Matter over Mind would be nice

Today, I did this route. As you can see, it's not the "Minnehaha Parkway to the Lakes and back" route any normal human being would have preferred. But it got the job done. MnDot (or whoever) finally took my advice and actually made it clear that no one should be underneath 35W at Minnehaha Parkway. It's really clear, disappointingly clear now. So clear that you can't fake not knowing and going through anyway.

My stomach and I got along much better this week than the last couple of weeks. I think part of the problem is the Gu Gels freak out my entire GI tract. (Raspberry is the best flavor I've found BTW.) It doesn't create *ahem* problems, but I just don't want to run when my body feels that way. Today I tried bringing a granola type bar with me too. That seemed to work really well. I could actually eat that while I was running in little bites and it wasn't so sugary. Also, Gatorade is disgusting. I don't remember it being that bad.

I'm also able to identify more of the abrasions I'm getting on my skin from running. I still have one on my belly button from my Fuel belt and waste line of my pants all coming together in the same place. The one I originally thought was from a sleeveless shirt under my arm was actually the armband that holds my iPod. How'd I find that out? It changes sides when I change the armband.

Today's run was good because for the most part my stomach wasn't trying to kill me. My body actually performed well overall. I wasn't even in a ton of pain when I got home and was able to run up some hills at the end which I've never been able to do at that distance.

My brain, on the other hand, totally freaked out around mile 14 and wanted to be done. It's much harder for my body to fight my brain than the other way around. So it was really hard to make my body keep running. I think part of it is that I always run that same route (only partly because Heather put the fear of god into me about Pike Island) and my body knows when it wants to be done and how much is left. I'm hoping Amsterdam will be new and interesting enough to distract me for much longer. Or maybe I'll teach my body to overcome my mind in the next few weeks. Or maybe both. We'll see.