Big Uglies & Gooey Caramel Popcorn

I went for a run this morning, and it might have been the ugliest run I've ever been on.

I'm closing in on two weeks before the half marathon that I've been training for the last two months. The training plan I'm on has this week as the hardest week with the highest mileage and some tempo runs thrown in to boot. This morning called for a 6 mile run. The weather was perfect so I went outside. The weather was the only thing perfect. I was slow, way behind pace. My hip hurt. I was pretty unmotivated. Every mile was a battle.

This isn't the first time I've had an ugly run but the proximity of race has me a little freaked out. I'm really writing this in an attempt to discover the cause of the ugliness so as to avoid it in the future.

Reasons for the ugly:

1) Lack of sleep. I really haven't gotten enough for the last week. I normally need at least 7 hours per night. In the thick of training it should a little more. Last night I got about 5 hours. Solution: surf internet less, sleep more.

2) Garbage food. I had a fabulous time last night watching my team win their first round game in the NCAA tournament with a bunch of friend. Throughout the night I ate junk food galore. Solution: have at least an ounce of self control.

3) Incomplete recovery. Two nights ago I had a very hard workout. It was almost eight mile with most of it at or above my goal pace. Solution: there really isn't one. Our bodies get stronger and faster by being pushed a little past their limits and then recovering. I think I should have just been aware that I wasn't going to break any world records this morning and it wouldn't have been so depressing.

Tomorrow morning I embark on my longest training run; 12 miles. I guess we'll see if I learned anything from this morning or if ugly is here to stay.

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This is our good ol’ fashioned family recipe for gooey caramel popcorn. It’s best when it’s still warm but don’t burn your mouth off or anything.

Caramel Popcorn

Ingedients:
½ cup butter
1 cup corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 ½ gallons plain popcorn

In saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Stir well and bring to boil over medium heat. Stir in sweetened condense milk. Simmer stirring constantly, until mixture reaches soft ball stage (234 degrees). Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Pour over popcorn and mix until evenly coated. Wait for 5 minutes to cool then stuff your face until you go into a sugar coma.