A Stitch in Time?

I had an "interesting" run Sunday morning. I suspect I'd strained some stomach/abdominal/intercostal/who the heck knows muscles the day before, because I found right from the start that breathing while running was painful - it felt like a constant stitch in the solar plexis immediately below the diaphragm. Taking a deep breath was almost impossible, limiting me to slightly less painful shallow breathing - not great when it's already super muggy.

It was a strange situation to be in - not even half a mile into the run and I was half tuning into the conversation while wondering how I was going to make it the whole way. I kept taking two fingers and digging them into the area directly below my ribcage. Fortunately, after a few miles it eased up somewhat. Breathing became a little easier, and the second half of the run was a lot more comfortable.

Thankfully I finished the 8 miles with my pride intact (good old British stiff upper lip). I even managed to explain some of the intricacies behind soccer's offside rules!!!

This morning I was supposed to meet a friend early for a downtown run, but I was the only one who showed up (note to self - check your emails before going to bed). That was actually a stroke of luck, as I could dial down the pace somewhat. While it felt much better than Sunday, and I had no real breathing problems, anything faster than an 8:30 pace was still uncomfortable. So I kept it around a 9 minute mile, and it ended up being a nice run over some rolling hills - there was even a slight breeze to ease the humidity slightly.

I'm leading a hilly trail run this evening, so I'll see how it goes there. To anyone in my trail group who's reading this - today is probably the best opportunity you're going to get to kick my a$$!!!

On the plus side, I've now run 5 days in a row (including two 4am wake-up calls). Still working on that "habit forming" thing, but it's a start.

I wonder if I can make it 6 tomorrow.