3, 3.5

Three on tready yesterday and three and a half on the elliptical this morning. All good. I do have some kind of hurt going on my right foot, it happened for the first time during the 11 mile, so I don't know what that is about, but hopefully it won't bother me too much.

Because I am doing this, people. This is happening.

Against the odds, a good one

Today, I really didn't want to go.  I had a somewhat grumpy day at work, as most of them are these days.  I stopped at McDonalds to get dinner, which I am loathe to do but I gave in and got myself a cheeseburger and a McFlurry and decided I just won't go tonight.  Its a helluva lot easier to give in to this demand for fast food than go home and cook a meal and convince people to eat it. 

I got home and was immediately accosted by a starving orange cat, an overly excited dog, and even a bunny who put his little paws up begging for my immediate attention.  The girl immediately griped that the house stinks and demanded to be taken to the gym.  The boy demanded his McDonalds and disappeared into his room.  I searched for my divorce decree, as I need the original in order to change my name back, and was frustrated to find that I don't think I have an original, or if I do I can't tell it apart from any of the copies I have.  Goddammit. 

I finally changed my clothes and ate my cold cheeseburger.  But, I changed into running clothes, which is always key, because that way I have the INTENT if not at least the OPTION of running.  Changing into the flojo is outright admitting I'm not going. 

I took the girl to the gym and decided to just run from there, that way I don't have to go home, go run, then drive back and pick her up.  All that time is wasted anyway.  So, I take off, no phone, no watch, just my ipod.  I did glance at the clock and knew I left at about 7:40 (yes thats PM folks, its not only dark but cold, so I'm facing two primary obstacles head on here).  I decided to run up this hill that is normally the end part of my 6 mile route.  I was still good and grumpy and just figured I'm going to effing walk if I want to.  I grumpily started jogging up that damn hill, the one I always swear I'd never be able to run up when I'm on my way down.  But I jogged up it, all 1.5 miles of it, and I felt ok.  I decided I'd keep going, and I went to where I figured was 2.5 or 3 miles, then turned around, still feeling pretty decent.  Remember, its dark AND cold, two variables that work to my advantage in long runs (stay with me here).  I got back down and looked at my watch and it was 8:41.  Because I don't have Mari's fancy technology to be slave to, I then drove my route and found it was 5 miles round trip, so that's darn good given the hills.  Both K and I commented that having run in the Denver altitude was incredibly beneficial for running back home.  If I keep that pace in Vegas, I will finish in 2:36ish, which would be great. 

I have still not found satisfactory cool matching hats for us all to wear, so that's a quandry that needs to be solved this week.

My sista rocks

We went for a "long" in denver today. She did 11 mi while I pooped out at 4.25. So, we shall see how next weekend goes. I am hopeful that my running in this godawful altitude will help.

11

And I think I am ready for this stupid thing, or at least as ready as I am going to get. I did the eleven in 2:22:35, according to the Garmin, which would leave me 37 minutes to do the last 2.1 miles and get it in under three hours. I think I can do that. I hope I can do that.

It was a good run, we went down to city park and ran around the lake, so it was nice and flat. It was pretty cold, but not too windy, and overall I feel pretty good other than my feet being a bit sore. My hip is kind of sore, but certainly not the worst it has ever been, so I think I am good to go!

The tradition continues

My tradition of running every Thanksgiving continues, even though I had to get up at the ungodly hour of 730am on turkey day to fly to Denver. K and I did a 4 mi route when we got in (running 2 mi downhill and walking the uphill home). And while dinner was absolutely fabulous as prepared by my blista sista, the ravenous appetite made it even more so.

I also did the same route this morning with a little more running on the way home.

thankful

as disturbing the prospect that i am in some odd way addicted to exercise is, i am thankful this morning that i do not appear to be addicted to any one particular activity. i can walk, run, elliptical, bike, treadmill, swim and all are perfectly acceptable ways to get my fix. so, that's healthy, right?

i walked three miles today. it was lovely and brisk, both the weather and the pace at 40 degrees and 14:30/mile.

I like this one

I get this quote of the day from Runner's World, and this one I really liked.

You don't love running when you first start because it hurts. Your legs hurt, your lungs hurt. But once you make the decision and start to move forward, you become a different person. It's not about having to hit your goal weight to start feeling good again. Ben Davis, Founder of bendoeslife.com

Turkey and Stuff

I have done okay this week. Three tready miles on Monday, four elliptical miles yesterday and three outside miles today. I plan to take a rest day tomorrow and then try desperately to do twelve on Saturday. I certainly feel better about this week than last week, I can tell you that. And either way, this thing is getting done, all I can do is my best.

Anyways, happy t-day and all that.

Thankful I went

Cause lemme tell ya it was dicey. I got out at 730 tonight just before I turned into a pumpkin. Which is good cause I had pumpkin pie today at lunch, along with copious amounts of other food, for my dept potluck. And, I had more pie after my run. I did 3 mi and I walked probably half of it but the victory this night is in going and having earned my pie.

Letter to myself for the next time I get this stupid idea in my head

Dear Marianne,

I am writing to you just before your third half marathon. You are NOT having a good time. You are routinely exacerbating a hip injury by continuing to run long distances. All the fun has been sapped out of your exercise, because it has become an awful obligation due to this upcoming race, on which you have already spent hundreds of dollars and therefore cannot, in good conscience, back out of.

I am writing you because you seem to forget about this each and every time you sign up for one of these half marathons. You need reminding.

And so here I am, future you, begging you to read this prior to signing up for any more half marathons! If you want a challenge, go for it. Set a new PR on the 5K and the 10K. Sign up for as many of those as you want! Try to run faster, try to do longer run intervals, try to make it so hills are not the death of your soul, run a half marathon distance on the elliptical at your local gym, but do NOT, please god do NOT, sign up for another half marathon thinking it will be a fun challenge! THEY SUCK. They hurt your body (which, let's face it, was just not meant for this kind of running) and they take the fun out of running. So just stop, okay? Just stop.

Sincerely,

Marianne

Eh

So I did a somewhat hungover 3 yesterday, since I had my annual girls Christmas dinner on Fri at which a couple glasses of wine is mandatory. The good news is I can say "hungover 3" cause 3 miles is a pretty good run in the grand scheme of things right? Under normal circumstances? Today I just couldn't manage to get myself psyched up for a long run. There were dishes to do, household maintenance, kids to tote, writing to do, and the baking of delicious baked goods to bring to Denver for Thanksgiving. Ultimately I decided a shorter run was better than giving up on the whole idea, so this evening I did 3.5 and felt fairly good. None of this speaks well for the half marathon coming up in exactly two weeks and copious amounts of food to be eaten between now and then but . . .

Shit on this stupid week!

I hate this week. I did 2 miles on the tready on Wednesday after slacking off on Tuesday, and my fucking hip was hurting so bad that I could not do more. I then did three on the elliptical Thursday and did not do anything yesterday. I tried to go out just now and do my 11 mile long, but tried a new route that had too many hills and I gave up. Did 3.3 mostly walking. I fucking hate the hills! I just need some goddamn flat ground to run on! Is that really too much to ask for? Apparently, it is.

Godammit!

I am going to city park tomorrow to give it another go.

My damn hotel has cookies!!!!

Such a blessing and a curse.  Lovely to walk in and be welcomed by a warm delicious free treat, but rather shitty to be in your face when you have to hit the hotel gym.  I am in lovely Coeur D'Alene, Idaho this evening (I have to figure out what's the deal with that name) where it's 28 degrees out and yes, I forgot my coat.  We don't use such things in Phoenix!!  The good news is I did make it to said gym before I could be waylaid by aforementioned cookies.  I did four miles in 50:20, so 12:35 min miles.  I also did my usual 2 and 1 inclines on the first two miles, so I'm ok with that.  Hell, I'm ok with it regardless.  I forgot to mention I did 3.5 outside at home last night also, so decent week so far. 

List of things I forgot on this trip that I know of so far:
winter coat
suit jacket
socks
blackberry charger
pajamas

No dice

Me: damn, I was gonna go running tonight
He: you can still go
Me: (aghast) its 730!
He: so you can't run in the morning, or at night
Me: or when its cold, or hot. Right.

10

I had a rather awful 10 today. If I could have given up at mile eight, I would have, but I had to get back to my car, so I couldn't (which is something to be said for out and back routes, if you ask me). Time was 2:10:20, 13:02 per mile. Now, this is still on pace for an under three hour finish, so it's all good, but it was still sort of disappointment. I had to start walking through run intervals around mile seven, and once you start doing that, it is only too easy to keep doing it. This I know.

But I had some technical difficulties. I need to get a holder for another water bottle, which I will do this week. I did the whole run with a 20 oz bottle of gatorade, which was simply not smart. I also decided to take along some energy chews that had expired back in March. I thought they would just be a bit chewy. But I couldn't eat them at all, they were hard as little rocks. So, too little nutrition, too little fluid which apparently equals a terrible last two miles.

I also think I might be overtraining a bit. I need three rest days, not two if I am going to be doing these long runs and one of them simply MUST be the day before the long run. I was really regretting my elliptical efforts yesterday, my legs were simply more tired than they should have been if I am going to attempt to run for two hours.

Anyways, lessons learned. On the positive side, I am learning to spit really well (I've had some pretty awful incidents with spitting in the past, and how come girls are never taught how to spit? that's what I want to know goddammit), and while the same pair of jeans was still on the trail as last week, the underwear was gone.

When you love one another, only good rain comes down

That's Trevor Hall. I did 3.5 just slow and easy this morn, in the aftermath of a lovely rain.

I've been particularly haunted by the events revealed at Penn State this week. How does a man walk in on the rape of a 10-12 year old boy, his little hands on the wall, lock eyes with victim and rapist, and then leave?? And then how does that mans father advise him to leave the building immediately? And wait until the next day to report it, not to the police for the crime that was perpetrated on a young boy, but to the head coach?

I wish I knew that boy is ok. But nobody knows because not a single man involved in the reporting and so called investigation thought to find out who he was and whether or not he was ok, or how long he had endured this treatment at the hands of a monster.

But I digress, this is a running blog. These were the thoughts I couldn't get out of my head this morning as I jogged, and this is the song that brought me a little peace. It gave me hope that forgiveness and wholeness can be found even with this kind of evil in the world.

When your heart is troubled by feelin
You must remember there's a way to spark healin
Lovin one another is the only thing real.

Elliptical

Did four on the elliptical today. I always forget how much I like that machine until I go on it again. It is just so nice and easy on your body, you feel like you can just go forever. And it did get me to wondering just how far I could go.... could I do a half marathon on the elliptical? How fast could I do that? I'm thinking that might be a winter challenge, when I'll be doing lots of gym time. Plus, I told my PT I was going to take a break from running after this half, which he seemed to think was a good idea (although who cares what he thinks, he's not the boss of me!), but if I had some kind of cool challenge, that might make going to the gym a bit easier to bear. I did my strength training as well, I've been pretty good about it, if I do say so myself. Only a couple of days of slacking on that.

Shortfalls and little sins

Stayin tall but runnin thin. I'm wearin thin. - the Decemberists

So yeah I did 8 today. Probaby not a good idea given the week I've had and I'm feelin it now. I just don't think morning runs are my thing. I have to wake up first, ya know? I started out planning to do 6 and figured if I was up to it I would try to do 8 since I'm out there so long anyway. And I felt ok, figured I could power walk the last 2 and that's what I did. I specifically and deliberately didn't time myself as I didn't want that pressure. I was on the trail of the pink mafia the whole way too, there were these little pink stickers and feathers. I hate shit like "don't be a chump. Check for lumps!" Which is what today seemed to be about. Or the cutsie "feel your boobies!". Ugh.

In case I should ever forget what support sounds like

skinny sister (after detailing the stressors preventing her from running, which were many and varied): "so anyway, yes, you might very well kick my ass, but you'll deserve it because you have worked harder."

did three on tready again today.

Kate gosslein is doing it

She's running the vegas half folks. Yeah so who cares, I agree. If I see her I will trip her, although I'm sure her skinny ass will be way ahead of me. I've had a bad week ok? Mon I woke up with a UTI and went to doctor and didn't go. Tues I drug my ass to gym and did a single grand mile on the tready. And yes I walked most of that mile but at least I went!!! THEN Wed I had to go back to the doctor because the antibiotics they gave me weren't working.  Yesterday and today things were so bad at work it was all I could do to drag my ass home to the couch to hide under a blanket. So there dammit.

3

i'm trying to decide if i am going to do 10 after work tomorrow or put it off until saturday.

did three on the tready today.

sandy, what the hell? i'm going to be kicking your ass in this thing if you aren't careful... you can't get your ass kicked by the fat sister!! get it together, woman!

2.3

I meant to go three, but around two miles I started to feel kind of yucky, which was the reason I didn't go yesterday at all. Some kind of nausea, my stomach just isn't feeling well. Plus, it was 25 freakin' degrees outside. Jaysus.

Time was 28:15, 12:18/mile and it will just have to do for today.

When its bad, it ain't bad enough

That's some badass INXS for you on this lovely Sunday evening. So, a moratorium was declared on the moratorium on Friday drinking, plus we had a football game to get to, so Saturday run was off. Today I entertained thoughts of 8 whilst driving back from Tucson, but by the time I got home all I could think about was a nap. I decided I'd just go tomorrow, but then thought how difficult it will be tomorrow to get my mojo back after taking 3 days off. So, it was by far the most difficult time I've had getting my ass out there but I decided I'd do just 2 miles and walk the whole damn way if I felt like it. But after I started I figured I'd give 3.5 a shot. I had to make a pit stop at the park on my way home, which I will attribute to Dads delicious ground almond and flaxseed pancakes, but then I ran the rest of the way home.

So, I can do 3.5 with relative ease, and a decent 6 with some effort. But what does this say about my personal best goal in exactly 4 weeks?!? Not lookin good folks.

So knock me down, tear me up

This wind is killing my soul.

Since it's not really an option for me to take a rest day on a weekend, I decided to do a "recovery" run, since I'm always reading about people doing that after a long run. I don't really know what it means, but I just reversed my intervals and did 2W/1R. I did three miles. It was windy and miserable and now I have to go to my strength exercises and put chapstick all over my face.

Stats for the Week:

Total miles: 22.5

9 Mile Underwear Run

I did nine miles today. It was overall fairly miserable. It was windy, but the time has passed that I can just refuse to go because of a little wind, since I have no idea if the next day I am going to be buried in snow, so if I can go I have to go. So, the first five miles were windy which was miserable.

Then, on my way back, I passed by a pair of men's jeans AND UNDERWEAR! Now, keep in mind, this was the second time I had passed this area on the trail, I was on my way back..... and I feel certain that I would have noticed a pair of tighty whities on the trail on my way there if there were any tighty whities to see. This means that in the hour since I had been there last, someone had lost both their pants and their underwear and this person was presumably somewhere near the trail. So, I spent the last four miles feeling a bit nervous and turning down my Ipod, trying to make sure that if there was some creepy flasher about that I would see him before he saw me. While I am confident that I could kick a flasher's ass, even while in the middle of a miserable run, I felt I would rather not.

Anyways, so about a half mile from the underwear, I feel okay enough to have my Ipod on again, and I hear a man's voice behind me... and because I was kind of nervous about the whole underwear thing, I naturally let out a shriek and jump about a mile and the guy goes "sorry, sorry, that is exactly what I was trying NOT to do" and I was all "it's okay, really it's okay" and I wanted to tell him that I usually don't act like such a ninny, but I was feeling a bit nervous on the trail today due to the pants and underwear lying a half mile back, but he was kind of a fast runner and he was already way too far ahead of me before I could gasp the words out.

Anyways, so my time was okay, 1:54:51, 12:46/mile, but it wasn't great. But the run wasn't great, so it's okay. My legs just felt really heavy and the first five miles felt like they were all uphill because I was running into the wind. Also, it was pretty cold, and the sun never did come out for longer than a minute or two.

Chilly

Did a very chilly three outside. It was 42 degrees when I started out, and rather breezy. But it was a good run, I did 3.5R/1W intervals, and felt pretty good, although my lungs were more burn-y than usual, whether from the cold or the longer run interval, I don't know. But anyways, time was 36:56, 12:14/mile. I was slowed down also by having to jump/tiptoe/walk through many ice spots, and also there is this one busy street I have to cross when doing this particular route, and today I had to actually stop and wait for a bit.

Blue eyes, you're the secret I keep

That's the Cary Brothers, awesome song. Tonight I did my 3.5 mi route at an easy pace, probly 12 or 12:30 and it felt pretty good. I was contemplating how well this is all goong when it occurred to me that I only have 4 weeks left until this damn race!!!

"Its so sublime when the stars are aligned
But you don't know the greatness you are
Cause Blue eyes, you and destiny sing
And I just wanna be the one."

2 for tha show

And before work this morning!! My body was all like "what the FUCK?!" And I was all like "Shut it, Beatch! We're doing this!". And my body was all like "I do what I want!". So I walked the last half mile.

Walk and Three

Did a couple of miles walking on the treadmill yesterday, even though it was supposed to be a rest day. I just didn't feel like resting, so I compromised. I enjoyed myself, I always forget how much I love a good walk until I do it again.

Then today I did three outside, a very good and happy run. It was dark and cold out when I started, but it was okay. Time was 36:38, 12:10 per mile according to the Garmin, but I think that is because my actual distance was 3.01, that must account for the extra seconds.