Regret.

So, on Saturday I ran 13.14 miles at West Creek -- which, for any of you who are not familiar with West Creek, is pretty damn hilly. I felt great until Mile 11 and then miles 11-13.14 felt pretty brutal. But, I was really proud of myself when I was finished. The .04 made it my longest run ever so I hit my own little PR. Now, herein lies the problem: the post-run celebration. That evening Derek and I had a poker party to go and that usually means a late night, lots of drinking and a smoky room. But I'm a soon-to-be Ironman now so I figured I would have a drink or two, play a few hands and go home early to rest my weary legs. Did that happen? No. The reality was that I had WAY too many drinks, was there until 3 am and smoked!(which I only do when I've had WAY too many drinks!) So, yesterday, I felt like I was run over by a truck. I think I was caught up in the excitement -- you see we have a pretty serious poker group in our neighborhood and we were playing tournament style with about 50 people -- primarily men. And, in true Tri-Girl style, I ended winning the entire tournament against all these guys (who think girls can't play poker) and taking home a nice cash purse of $180. So, really, I've now got 2/3 of my wetsuit paid for thanks to my night of drinking!! The only problem is the guilt I carry around for letting out the steam the way I did. Particularly the smoking. UGH! I don't even like the smell so it boggles my mind that I revert to my old 20 year old party ways when I have one too many. You'd think that I would know better by now. And, what makes it worse is that my disappointment in myself totally overshadows by PR run. Bummer. I know that summer parties and get togethers are going to tempt me into throwing caution to the wind. I will just have to remember my ultimate goal this year and try to do a much better job balancing the socializing and the training. Oh, well, at least I get my wetsuit out of my weekend of regret.