Long run partial fail.

I knew yesterday's long run wasn't going to be a great one. My right leg wasn't having it. So, I started out by walking and concentrating on my form (whoah. . .when was the last time I did that?!). Thank you, Chi Walking! Maybe I will finish reading you (as opposed to your brother, Chi Running) and properly apply your teachings whole heartedly and stop getting injured.

I decided I was going to walk the entire 8 miles, working on my form and also being able to get in the mileage without aggravating my hip too much. The day was absolutely gorgeous, too. Win win win, right? Wrong. Around mile 2, my glute wanted to let me know it existed and it wasn't having any of this physical activity either. After many stops for stretching and not being able to reach the pain (it was so high on my glute, it was almost my lower back. . how do you get to that without a foam roller in the middle of Central Park?!), I did something I don't think I've done in a long time: I listened to my body and cut my run short. What?! I know. Crazy thoughts. I decided getting through the miles in pain and possibly hurting myself more was not worth THREE DNFs. Wow, right?! Am I maturing as a runner? Who knows? But I do know I need a massage.

Anyway, moving back to the positive,  as I walked, I actually looked around the park and documented what I saw, which made it easier to forget that it was going to take me forever to finish and then later that I had a huge pain in my ass, literally. Please enjoy my photo documented 4 miles:

 Reminds me of the NOLA water meter love.

 Three trees in various stages of life.

 The Fred Lebow statue

 Statue I had never see before but walked past every time I went to th Bethesda terrace for practice.

Danger: [No] Thin Ice.

I match! 

(on one of the many stops to try and stretch my glute out)

Please ignore the runner's sock tan line. I also have one on my thigh from the Disney's marathon relay which took me 2 days to figure out I had it and why.

I was going to try another long run today, but I think I'm going to do lots of stretching and wait. 

Maybe tomorrow?

It felt like there was tons of racing going on in the blogosphere this weekend. What was your favorite part of your race/ long run?