I need a polling place and a port-a-potty.

Today is the biggest presidential primary in years but the closest I'll get to it was my morning run past Tanglewood Elementary, (one of the polling places in Fort Worth) because I stupidly did not register to vote at my new address once I moved. Because I moved from Dallas to Tarrant County, I could only vote at the precinct in my old address if I voted early. I didn't know that until I got to work Monday.
So, if your favorite Democrat loses by 1 vote in Texas today, blame me.
I ran with the regulars from Luke's Locker on University Drive this morning. Did the 7-mile tempo run and felt surprisingly okay, especially with the bad lower right leg I've been blogging about lately. It was a little sore after the run, but it didn't give me any problems.
No, today, I had other weird body flare-ups....
Like in my left arch. At the beginning of some runs, I'll get such a stabbing pain that I have to stop and stretch. So near the end of mile 1, I stopped, stretched my Achilles real good, and that was the end of that arch pain.
I had some weird cramps in my left inner thigh near mile 5. It felt like I hadn't even warmed up. It was like all of a sudden, my legs were in a deep freeze and couldn't warm up. I went from an 8-minute mile to an 8:45 just like that for about half a mile. I'm sure running in the 35-degree weather had a little something to do with it, but I've run in cold weather before and never had that happen. Weird.
The weirdest flare up was, well.... Let me say this.... I try to take care of all my bodily functions in the morning before I run because there have many times I've been stuck on a trail with no port-a-potty feeling like my insides were going to explode, if you know what I mean.
I thought I was okay this morning, but near the end of the run, I needed to go reallllllly bad. I mean really bad. And let's just say saddling up next to a tree would not have done the trick. Needless to say, I gritted my teeth, ran faster for a little while, and, thank God, the urge went away.
I hate when that happens.

Picture courtesy of Flickr