Feelin' Not So Frisky

So I blog about feeling great and what happens? I get the flu. Compliments of the two-year-old. Yesterday was the barfy day, which the little one joined me in. I don't recommend it as a bonding excercise. I'm still cleaning up the aftermath.

So today I've shipped her off to daycare and called in sick again. In the past two days I've eaten four crackers, drank a lot of water and a little grape juice. I'm headachy and lightheaded right now, but at least I think that the barfyness is overwith. I've been thinking about how I should eat something, but nothing sounds good yet. I want to run. But I know that would be stupid. Maybe I'll be able to go on a little trot later today, after I eat something.

I STILL want to do my 17k this Saturday. I'm still planning on it.

Feelin' Frisky

Today I only had about 45 minutes to run because hubby had to go into work. So I did a favorite long worn route of mine. The last ten mintues or so had me feeling very smooth, with a long stride and a ton of energy. I'll take this as a sign that I need to go longer on a regular basis. It seems that I'm only warmed up about 1/2 hour into my runs and then after that point I start to feel really good.

For that first sluggish 1/2 hour of my run I walked a couple of times. Honestly, I really didn't need to. I've gotta cut out the walking from my routine. Most of the time runners are told to put more walking into their training to give them some needed rest, but really in my case it's getting ridiculous. I'm just being lazy at this point. When I started back to running in earnest I really did need to walk a bit here and there - but that time is over now. Or it better be anyway.

Next run I will NOT allow myself to walk any part of it. No matter how painful it is. I know that when I push through that hill it feels so much better on the top and on the downside when I've run the whole way up. I have to work throught that lung burn and get to the other side. Only then will I perform as I hope to in races. Maybe I'll loose those few extra pounds too!

Good Running, Bad Weather

My running has felt good...when I can get out for it. We've been having some big storms around here lately. I don't go out and run in high winds. A few years back I was running in a storm when a very large branch from a tall wind whipped tree came crashing down right behind me. I decided that a day off of running is better than being flattened.

Last night I didn't even lay out my running clothes in anticipation of the nightmare storm that was coming. In hindsight I could've gotten out before the party started, but well, so what. I got my kids ready in time for daycare instead.

Work has been, well blah. If anyone wants a dependable, fun, creative, great copywriter please leave me a message. It's time to move on from my post here at the BIG BOX. I really want to be promoted...just not here. That's a problem, and that's why I know that it's time to go.

Well, tomorrow morning I'll sneak in a morning run. Come Hell or high water. It's the one thing I can count on to make me feel good.

Trail Fun!

Today I ran the 9k of the Pacifica Trail Runs. Very steep in parts. Very, very beautfiul terrain. This was a nice event. I just took it easy and came in in the middle of the pack somewhere. Next time I'll do a longer race and get more serious and go faster. But this was good training. It was sunny and cold out, a beautiful winter day coastside.

Run Report - Tuesday, Jan. 15th

Didn't run yesterday due to some achyness in my feet and ankles that told me to back off a bit. That hard hill run on Sunday made me feel a little creaky.

Did a small run - about 4 miles. Broke in the new shoes. It was so foggy I couldn't see more than 50 feet ahead. I feel all better now - no achyness.

My Weekend Runs
Saturday and Sunday 1-13 & 1-14

I ran and hour each day in the hills behind my house. Sunday was the more brutal of the hill running days. I was feeling kinda sore today so I took the day off. Tomorrow morning I'll do a moderate run on the flats with my new shooz!

New Shooz


So I've been using minimalist shoes for quite a while now, but now that I'm ramping up the mileage and intensity I thought I'd treat myself to something cushier. I had been happily running in the Asics Gel-Landreth and thought that maybe the Nimbus would be the ticket for my necessary road miles. (Not trail shoes - I have some still good trail shoes by New Balance and Nike).

So I went down to Ye Olde Running Shoestore and tried on a bunch. The Nimbus were heavenly. But I made the awful and fatal mistake of trying on the top top top of the line Asics "just for kicks." The Kinsei felt out of this world and made the Nimbus feel like cardboard. I was ruined. So I ended up getting Kinseis as an early b-day present from the hubby. He did have a store credit there so the bill ended up not being as bad as it could have been.

Am I ruined now? Will I have to get such gloriously cushy shoes forever now. Ugh.

Rumors of Ghosts

Running has been going well. I had a wonderful neighborhood run up in the hills over the weekend. I powered up and over the hills like I haven't done in years. My body is feeling much more like it used to, energetic. I feel like a filly wanting to kick out of my stall. I've been eating mostly a vegetarian diet and I haven't had any alcohol in a long while so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with the way I feel.

One of the neighbors on my weekend running route let me know that in the nearby wooded canyon there may be a mountain lion. Apparently another neighbor who walked his dog in there for years, and therefore knows what a bobcat footprint looks like has seen very large cat prints there that are NOT bobcat. It's both exciting and scary to think that one of those extraordinary creatures may be so close by. I just hope she doesn't get into trouble.

Karl the Great

I haven't run in a few days. First because of a cold, but then because of the loss of my beautiful buddy, Karl the cat. He was a majestic beast in his heyday, a great mouser and a real character. Big fluffy and gray, his hair was probably another element entirely - so we named it "foo". Karl foo got everywhere and clung to everything. He could be a total grouch and blame you for everything from the weather to the behavior of the other cats in the house. He loved catnip, raw meat of any kind and deep ear rubs. He hated rain, getting his belly tickled and being forced to stay indoors. He would bite and growl. He would also purr and cuddle. Karl was about 20 years old and will be missed by the entire neighborhood that he ruled for years. His mortal remains are at rest under our big orange tree, but I prefer to believe that his spirit is still hanging out on the deck in the sunshine, and following me around in the house.

Critter Sighting

On my Saturday morning run this past week I startled a beautiful, statuesque doe. I was on my return loop and deep in thought when she jumped out in front of me. I used to see deer quite often, now it's only every 6 months or so. It saddens me that there is so little wildlife around my area now.

I used to see California quail, bunnies and deer quite often in the upper neighborhoods where I live. I even ran with a pack of coyotes one morning years ago. Now I NEVER see quail, I've seen one bunny in the past year and have had only two deer sightings. I'd like to have my critters back!

Mission Accomplished


Well it was wasn't pretty but I did finish the entire 35k. Much to my horror I discovered about 10 miles in that a 35k is NOT 20 miles but 22. And those extra two miles were awful.

It was a series of unfortunate events. I had a great start and everything was fine until probably around mile 8 or so when we ran into a group of angry hornets. A couple lodged into my right sock (why???) and stung me. I swore, loudly and colorfully and hoped that my foot wouldn't swell up like a melon. The stings burned for the rest of the run and for a day or two after but the swelling was not too bad.

The worst thing was the tightening of all of my muscles around my hips at about mile 15 or so. But I persevered and finished in an ungodly slow time that I'm too embarrassed to share or write down, so i won't .

But this was a test run, to learn some new things about myself and my state of running. These are the things I learned -

1. Damn you're tough - My DH was shocked that I ran the whole thing, or umm at least covered the entire distance on my two feet.
2. Need more miles in training - Duh.
3. Need hill repeats and speed training - Already instituted in the training schedule.
4. My knees are fine - The leg with the metal parts had no problems whatsoever. My joints are healthy and can take it. Yay!
5. This was frickin' fun! - It's been forever since I've entered a race and this one was so much fun! I've signed up for another, shorter one by the same promoters in January. I hope to be faster, stronger and wiser by then and maybe be almost a contender again.

What will be, will be...


Gack! My 20 miler is this Saturday. Dammit, I think my longest run so far has been 7 miles. I'll still go for it. I'll probably get turned around at a checkpoint, which will save me from killing myself.

It's all good though. I get to be in the woods and run on a trail. Maybe I'll meet some nice new friends. I'm certainly not looking to beat anyone out or win anything. That won't be for a long while.

Sunday is M's 4th b-day. I don't have anything big planned. I'm sure that my mom is going to get a cake and we'll end up going over there for dinner. I've orded a bunch of cupcakes for her preschool class, so she'll have a little party with friends. I feel a little guilty that I didn't get a big birthday party together for her, but I just don't have the time to do that with work and all. I suppose that she's young enough and won't know the difference anyway. I hope.

Cruizin' Along

I've recovered from a cold that kept me off of the roads for a few days. It aggravated my asthma a bit, but I'm learning to control it with my new inhaler. I still get a little tightness in my left hip. Oddly it seems that more running, not less is helping to get rid of that tightness. And stretching doesn't seem to help it either. It makes it feel a little better for the moment, but I don't think that it solves the problem. I think as I run more my right leg gets stronger and the overcompensating that I do with my left leg abates.

Yesterday the director at my kids' daycare commented on how it looked like I lost weight. I haven't been weighing myself, but I do feel tighter and slimmer. I'll take that compliment! But that compliment is a little of a double edged sword. Does that mean I was fat before? Oh well. I was "fatter" I'm sure. I think unfortunately that swimming makes me hold more fat on my body. So I guess it's good that I've quit swimming. It's counterproductive to my running. And it's too expensive!

A picture from this spring of me and n.

Obstacles


I've had a lingering sore throat and achyness for days now. I thought I had kicked a cold before it really came on, but I guess this is how it's going to get me. I can't tell if I should try to resume running tomorrow or not.

Either way, if I run tomorrow or not I'm not going to let this obstacle get in my way. That big trail run is happening on December 1st, no matter what.

The other obstacles are plans that are dashed. I really hoped to get a new job with a certain dotcom company. It looked like such a good fit. They decided to stick with contractors for the time being because they are "getting by" with them. I know that the creative director and the recruiter weren't to happy with that company decision. At least I had some fans there.

I can't let this trip in the trail get me down though. There has to be something else out there.

Darkness




It was pitch dark when I left for my run this morning. Dark like the middle of the night with not a hint of dawn. And the thought of going out in the darkness is always awful to me when I hit the snooze on my alarm clock, but the actual running out there in the dark is kind of wonderful.

I have a little headlamp that attaches to my running hat, and a blinking blue light that I snap onto the back of my running hat. There! Now you will always recognize me out there on my runs. No one else has the blinking little blue light. It's great because drivers are used to seeing red lights and white/yellow lights, not blue, unless it's the police! So the little blue light always gets their attention.

As I headed off down the road I came to some very dark places in the road. It was quiet, and kind of creepy/unsettling. At just the moments that I'd get creeped out I'd remember my headlamp and swing it about to locate any gremlins hiding underneath parked cars or up in trees. Nothing is there, of course so I shake off that uneasy feeling. It's only me and the little night creatures out on the road at this time.

Plus it's not long until the inky blackness fades to a grey blue. And the sky lightens to cobalt. By this time I'm usually running through the tony section of town in-between multi-million dollar homes. I don't even hope to ever live here - they will always be out of reach, and anyway, if I had millions to spend on a house I'd buy one next to a trail that I could run on everyday.

Now there are more cars on the road. This is the drawback to the later parts of my run. I so like the quiet of the early part of my run - where I can cross normally super busy roads against the light with not a single car in sight. It makes me long for the solitude of the darkness.

By the time that I'm approaching home again dawn has broken and I've flicked off my headlamp. I feel accomplished. I've been out and about before most of the people that I see on the road were even awake. No matter what else happens today - at least I have this.

New Leaf

I'm set to run a 20 mile trail run on December 1st. This is my starting point for my training plan to run a 50 miler this next coming year and to eventually build to the Western States in a year or two.

I've decided to can swimming for a while at least. It's just too much to put swimming in with running. Being at the pool at 5am is just too stressful. At the pool I swim at we're expected to prepare the pool too (pull off the covers and set up the lane lines). This adds a lot of extra time and hassle to the work-out schedule. Plus a lot of angry emails from people who think that other people aren't doing their part. I don't need that stress either. And I feel that I get fitter with running anyway.

I've decided to get back into some yoga at home for stretching and to help equalize my leg muscles again. I'll have to do a little strength training too, especially for my right leg as it is noticeably weaker than my left due to the break I suffered back in 2000. I still must be compensating a bit.

Run Report - Today none - very sore and tight so I did morning Yoga.

Happy Trails to Me

Things are starting to get uncomfortable at the old work place. Not that there's anything actually wrong, I probably could just sit here for the next ten years. But that is just the problem - I'll be just sitting here.

I've discovered that I'm not good at dealing with change. and this is part of the problem. I'm willing to just sit here to avoid change, when I really should probably be scoping out a new gig. I've been finding excuses to stay and not try something new. Granted I have a lot on my plate with a young family and all - but maybe being complacent isn't the best for me or them.

My best friends all tell me that I could do better somewhere else. I guess it's time to find out if they are right.


run report - I'm going this evening after work to run the cobwebs out. I'm going to have to move my runs to back in the early morning again. I always get them in that way.

Dreams Take Flight

As I was driving past the airport this morning a Hawaiian Airlines was making the final turn on the tarmac to ready for take-off. I so wanted to be on that plane.

I need a vacation.

Thank you for not being an asshole!

Yay! For the first time in years I didn't hear through 'the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air' in the 'ole hood on July 4th. Thank you everyone for not being a dork and lighting off fireworks in our neighborhood thereby endangering all of us and our properties so that you can stare at noisy bright objects. I guess some folk grew a brain finally.

ORN: (obligatory run note) None today and probably none tomorrow. Not until this loverly summer cold is gone. I won't do what I did last time - try to run/swim through it. Only made it last twice as long. And I plunged into maddeningly disgusting depths of mucus production. Not worth it. BTW - NyQuil kicks ass.