Day 30, II: Rest Is The Only Option

Last night I dreamt about wheelchairs.

Today, I can barely walk. There is no muscle between my knees and my hips, none at all. I am hobbling and wobbling about like a 90 year old who just got off an all day horse ride. I am, A Mess.

FYI, In addition to the giant blister on my left foot, I have a teeny blister on the outside of my right pinkie toe. Somewhat oddly, I think those are the only two.

Also, oddly, my knees and ankles seem to be alright.

I massaged some Burt's Bees foot creme into the tootsies this evening and they feel much refreshed.

Somehow, tomorrow, I am going to run 6, walk 5, run 6, walk 5. Just as a reminder, I originally completed Day 29 and 31. Day 33 and 35 were fails, though, and I thought I should start back at the beginning of the Week of Fail. I think tomorrow should go okay, if my blisters and thighs hold up, because for quite awhile yesterday I had to fight the urge to start running again. That's right, I wanted to run. Not for time, or distance, but I just wanted to run.

Interestingly, after listening to the Scott Jurek interview, I looked up the book that is mentioned, Born to Run, and apparently that is a key point in the book - the idea of running for fun. The author actually says running is not a punishment for eating! I think eating is a reward for running, but I guess I'm still not getting his point! Hmm. I'm gonna have to go all Phoebe Buffay when I get to Day 33 and 35.

Day 29, Take 2: My First Blister

Hours after my trek, all I can think of is a line from one of my favorite movies, "Can't Hardly Wait," which goes something like, "I have no legs.....I HAVE NO LEGS!" I literally have no feeling in my legs. But we have a very, very, very long way to go before we get to that. Settle in.

Today I had reasons to spend the day in Columbia and it was supposed to be "cool." I hoped against hope that I would get to take in the 10K route. I dropped Husband off at work and tried to scope out a trail on the route that I wasn't clear on the location of. There is a small bridge out near the trail, and I have feared for sometime that this was going to pose a problem with me getting through my route. I drove all around the area and saw no trail. So I decided to go to the start/finish line, and walk the route backwards. I would be starting out on the MKT Trail at Flat Branch Park, looking for MU's Recreation Trail. I thought I would have better luck finding it where it connected to the MKT than just randomly picking it up in the middle of a construction zone. Worst case scenario, I would have to turn around and go back...I would still cover a lot of ground today.

Once I parked, I had a lot to do. I was packing sunglasses, ID, cash (in case a cab was needed), car key, 24 oz water bottle, phone, mp3 player, and pen (because I had a feeling there would be a lot to remember). Before I left the car, I put on sunblock. I meant to pack my ankle wrap. I wasn't going to wear it on my ankle, because it kind of hurts my foot, but I wanted it with me, so I was going to wrap my wrist or something. Oh, did I mention my outfit had no pockets whatsoever and I refuse to believe running with a backpack is effective?

I was a little leery of Flat Branch Park. I've never really checked it out, but for being right downtown, it's pretty secluded and I've heard there have been some bum incidents, so I was on alert as soon as I left the car. The first thing I spot are a pair of pants on the rocks by the creek, and a group of people downstream, in the creek, in those vests that the community service people wear. Love.Ly. At least, if there's a group of them, there has to be someone watching, and I can suffer walking past them. I think.

I finally got all my gear situated, stretched and set off at 9:44. Geesh. I had a lunch date at 12:30 and needed to at least change my clothes beforehand. I hope this works out. I spent the entire 5 minutes I was walking untangling my ear phone cords. So, I saw nearly nothing until I was under Providence. Except for the clean up crew. They were children. Clearly volunteers. Oops. Well, they scare me quite a bit, too, anyway.

So my alarm goes off to run. First time in 10 days, and I'm going for 9 minutes. My mp3 won't come on. Balls. Apparently the battery goes dead in 10 days. Noted. (Funny, too, since I was worried about having a full charge on my phone so I could use it for pictures.) Since I was already running and had all this crap in my hands anyway, I just left my headphones on. I turn onto the main part of the trail and here comes a guy on a bike, all grins. Wha? I thought you were supposed to be blatantly rude to runners!? Oh yeah. I'm in Columbia. What a difference a few miles make in how people treat each other. I encountered friendly person after friendly person all morning. It made the whole experience better.

I'm trudging along, really digging running on the gravel path, in the shade, on a lovely day - although I did get hot quite quickly. I had no real idea what to expect out of my performance. I was breathing hard, of course, and I realized I was probably going way too fast, so I slowed back. Since I had all my gear, it was harder than normal to check the time, but I finally gave in and checked in the 5th minute. Ooof. But I was over halfway and that was amazing. By the way, I saw absolutely nothing as I was running. I was only watching my footing for snakes, and plugging along. I saw no scenery, nothing. I had always wanted to walk (key word) this section of the MKT, and here I was blowing through, missing it all! Oh wait. I saw benches. Glorious, tempting, benches. There aren't benches along the sidewalks at home. Oh man, they look nice.

Holy cow. Is that Stadium Blvd up ahead? You've got to be kidding me that I just ran from Stewart/Providence to Stadium. You have GOT to be kidding. Too bad I'm about to pass out. And there's a bench just right before Stadium. Oh man. Goal: 9 minutes. No, goal: Stadium.. Noo, goal: BENCH! Yes, I am sitting down on the bench. I don't give a frak about anything, except the glory of sitting right now!! I sat for about, maybe, 10 seconds, and the alarm went off. I count this as a success. I popped up and kept going. I still wanted to time out the 5 minutes walk, so that I could get a normal stat report, even though I'd be going much further.

Now that I was walking, I could take some pictures to share, my goal all along, but not even thought of (nor possible) while running.





I could also take note of other runners. The ones that are making NO noise while breathing offend me. How in the world do they do it?! I took far too much joy in one guy who was all red-faced, and kinda leaning, face clearly in pain, panting like crazy (and he was like 18 and looked fit). Regardless, for everyone out there getting their exercise on, I was impressed and happy for them.

I came up on the MU trail way faster than I expected (10:11). It had a sign noting that it was closed ahead (we'll see..there has to be a way), and to watch out because the trail is rough today (what does THAT mean?!). Well, there weren't many people on this part of the trail (I think I saw 3)..that doesn't bode well, but I trek on. Husband's Best Friend is texting me info on the trail that is further leading me to believe that I am going to be turning back and re-tracing my steps. Oy.

While the MKT is totally in trees and rocks and streams, this trail has trees on one side (with a creek), and a big corn (?) field on the other side that is part of MU (In the picture, the trail is ahead, going across the picture, between the trees and field). The field has a giant electric fence around it. The sign states that it is to keep deer out. Mhm. And obnoxious trail people who want to cut across. I mean, I am sure there are deer around this area, but really??

So I'm walking along, on the right side of the trail, like a proper hiker, and here is the situation. I think I kicked some gravel in my left shoe. However all those lovely benches seem to have been illusions, because I haven't seen one in some time and there is no way I am sitting down on the ground to take my shoe off. I am looking at the ground, watching for snakes. I fear they will be hanging off the trees, so I'm not looking at the trees. If I don't see them, they aren't there. There is a lot of random nature-y bits on the trail, all of which could be a snake until I get close enough to confirm it isn't. Again, walking along, and there is a noise in the tall grasses, directly to the right of me. I jumped like a cartoon. I literally went from the position I was in, to the exact same position, 6 inches to the left. It was absurd. I'm sure I have a back injury from such a Matrix-ly absurd move. Um, so there are no people out here, why am I walking up against the side of the path with the wildlife?! I walked in the middle the rest of the route.



Here was an example of the bit more creepy section of the Rec Trail:
As I came up on civilization again, I came up on this bridge.

Here's a better picture of it!

And saw these ginormous wildflowers.

The rest of the route consisted of passing some giant extreme climbing contraption, which I believe is now being used for team building with, like, corporations. I'd rather be unemployed than go up on that death trap like the screamy happy idiots out there today. Then there were the elusive tennis courts...a reminder I could be at home watching my beloved Wimbledon instead of having walked 3 miles. Of course, at that point, I wasn't precisely sure how far I had walked. I thought the tennis courts, which were right by the bridge that's out, was about halfway in the 10K route, but I wasn't sure until I got home. I hoofed on past them, saw that indeed there was no clear way to get to the other side (to the first half of the 10K route), and turned it around. I needed to pick up the pace a bit to make sure I'd make it to lunch on time.

I was disappointed that I couldn't get to the other side, but two pluses: 1. I now got to go the second half of the route in the right direction so I could get a real feel for it. 2. I've already walked nearly every step of the first half of the route before. I have walked that route across MU's campus a trillion times. The parts I haven't walked (one small section), I have driven. This part that I walked today I have never been on. And I had no way to check out, except to get out there and check it out. So, essentially, I can visualize the whole route now, and that was my objective.

That being said, I was headed back (10:34) and was mildly concerned that I was on part of the half marathon route - it runs mostly the same route as the 10K, but loops off to make up the extra distance, and I thought it split somewhere along here. There was another trail on the other side of the corn, but I was fairly certain it was just an access road for the fields. And, what the crap!? There was a deer standing on said road. Figures, after my ranting on the fence. I tried to get a picture, but my phone isn't very fancy, and it's a big field. Anyway, here's a picture of the fence, field, and I promise, a deer.

Now that I'm home and better understand the routes, I was indeed on the correct trail. :)

This was a pretty dull route, so I tried some of my yoga walking and/or nature meditations. I wasn't very successful, because I was too worried about snakes. For the record, I stepped on a snake on the MKT once. In sandals.

At 10:57, I made it back to the MKT. By the way, I was writing these times down on the back of my hand, like a total maniac.

The pain in my thighs was less excruciating, thanks to the, uh, blistering pain around my left heel. My notorious right ankle was a little painful, too, but not as severe as it's been. I was again grateful I took a nice long break from running. At 11, I got back to a bench. It was tucked under some trees, even moreso than every other bench along the path, so you know I looked it over before I sat down. I didn't have much time, but I really needed to sit. As soon as I sat, my legs started tightening up and I thought it may have been a really bad idea. Anyway, I pulled my left shoe off, and my sock was, like, annihilated. I was hoping that it was just the rough sock irritating me, but I suspected it was worse. I didn't see any gravel in there. What I did see was a daddy long legs creeping up on me, so the shoe was on, and at 11:03 I was headed back down the path like a bat out of hell...stay tuned for more on that subject.

The low point of the trip was not the spider, but shortly after when I was walking under Stadium, and right in the middle, I got dripped on. Yes, 'water' dripping off Stadium, dripped on me. I may as well go help clean up the Gulf - I can't have anything more toxic hit me than what just did.

As the gear I was carrying was getting so heavy that I was considering pouring out the rest of my water, I started thinking seriously about finding an old stroller. Man, those mama runners have it together! They have something to lean on and they don't have to haul all this gear. Imagine how much faster they'd go if the stroller only had their supplies in it and not a baby!

Here's one of the views I had on my way back downtown. I wish I could walk here everyday. (Those are boulders on the sides of the trail, and a bridge up ahead.)

I heard a bike coming up behind me, so I stepped further to the side, but it never seemed to catch up. I finally turned around to see a parks and rec truck behind me. Ugh. Those who have had the pleasure of hearing about Husband's hike across IL know that he had a truck run him off the trail, and he ended up rolling down a hill in the process. I found a place to step off, they went by, and it took all my strength to keep from rolling off the edge of the trail. And that's without a pack, or a couple hundred miles behind me.

Another view that I missed when I was running. Flat Branch Creek:

Well, I was nearing the end of my trip - I was going under Providence. A nice, creepy, long tunnel. All of a sudden a bird comes flying toward me. Crap! And a second one is right behind it! They kind of hover at the top of the tunnel - are they BATS?! I look around, and there's no one else to help me out here. I stand still, and here come two more. They are just circling around, right in the middle of this tunnel, the top of which is about a foot above me. I decided to go back out of the tunnel the way I came. I've been attacked by a bird, and I wasn't interested in it happening again. And I certainly wasn't interested in a bat attacking me. Worst case, I could cross Providence at street level. I noted the time, 11:28, because I wasn't sure how much time this was going to eat up. I watched from the end of the tunnel, until they chased each other out the other side, then I hustled on through.

Since I was messing with my ear phones the first time through here, I didn't notice how nice this Flat Branch Park area was at all. It's quite beautiful, especially for the area of town it's in. There's a fountain for the kids to play in and this statue - the Marathoners!

I did notice at the start of the hike that it smelled like someone was grilling. I still smelled it on the way back, and it made me think of how great the Roots N Blues N BBQ Fest is going to smell. I realized, though, that it was Hardee's that I was smelling. I suspect the BBQ will be more impressive.

Well, I nearly made it back to the car without incident, but I must mention the two 30 or 40 year olds throwing rocks at the creek. They barely stopped long enough for me to get through and I was treated to some of their humor as I passed ("You know, if you put some calamine lotion on that rash you're having, it should really help out," says Hillbilly 1 to Hillbilly 2). I should've put my ear buds back in when I saw them. Ick.

Ah well, I made it back to the car at 11:35. I drove out to Husband's office to change for lunch...taking off the shoes and socks revealed a MASSIVE blister on the inside of my left heel/ankle area. Gross. And I still had a whole day of errands to get through, even though the lower half of my body was/is numb! I now, more than ever, think Husband is crazy for his long hikes.

Well, I present 3 sets of numbers. My overall stats on the side of the blog just have the Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 5 numbers.

Weather (Thanks to Husband for emailing me a current report after dropping him off): 73, Sunny, Breezy 6mph, 61% Humidity

Time: 9:45am; Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 97
Distance: 10.14K (6.3m)
Elevation: +396.5/-396.5/net 0 ft
5K/10K: 51:44/1:49:21 (well above my averages)

Time: Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 5
Distance: 2.11K (1.31m)
5K/10K: 48:15/1:41:59 (Identical to Day 19)

Time: Run 9
Distance: 1.2K (.75m)
5K/10K: 42:03/1:28:52 (Worst "just run" time so far.)

I think today was the first time my averages went up. :( At least I did it. And my 2010 averages went down just barely, but I'll take it.

Tomorrow's The Day: Day 29, Take 2

I took the dog out today and with the wind, it was downright pleasant out. I didn't realize the temp was going to be back in the low 80s today, or I wouldn't have had Husband wake me up at 5 (am!) to go to the gym, just so I could say, "No." However, per my previous schedule, Monday is usually a rest day anyway, and Day 29 originally fell on a Tuesday. It's going to be "cool" all week (according to the weather man, it's great jogging weather), so there we go. I'll start running again tomorrow. Oh, but I'm going to be spending the day running errands. Hmm. I guess we'll have to wait and see. My goal is a Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 5.

If We Played Tag, I'd Be "It" Forever

Saturday was spent at a local water park. I'm not sure that 4-5 hours at a water park is generally considered a workout, but I'm counting it. Lots of stairs, lots of paddling about in the wave pool. And today, Sunday, I am incredibly sore. I seem to have pretty successfully avoided a sunburn which is a pure and simple miracle - all the soreness is from hanging off a floatie tube in the deep end of the wave pool!

I'm working on getting back to running. I had an odd little ad pop up on facebook about this interview with Scott Jurek. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm hoping it helps get me going again. It's hard to relate to the ultramarathoners at this point, but he intrigues me, because he's a vegan. And everybody knows you can't get enough protein or iron to be a runner if you don't chow meat.

It's not really my plan, but at least my ankle should (hopefully) be better by the time I actually get going again. That probably should have been a priority even if it hasn't been.

Seeking S'more Motivation

Ugh. It's excruciatingly hot. At no point during the day is it advisable to run outside. I have contemplated going to the gym, but I vary my speed so much, and get so woozy, I'm certain I would hurt myself if I tried to run on a treadmill. There's the track, and that's where I would run if I were so motivated. Instead, I bought supplies for s'mores, and ate them until utter sickness. Now that I officially know s'mores eating is not my future profession, it's back to yoga. Today I mustered the strength for the Seated Twist. Whoopee.

Day 42: Relax

Big time rest day for me. So here's a quote:

“I never joined the army because at ease was never that easy to me. Seemed rather uptight still. I don't relax by parting my legs slightly and putting my hands behind my back. That does not equal ease. At ease was not being in the military. I am at ease, bro, because I am not in the military.”

Mitch Hedberg, comic, genius

Day 41: Or Whatever

I haven't decided what to do with my training plan just yet. Going back on the schedule to the last run 4 (Day 10? 15? 17?) doesn't appeal to me, but...I'm definitely going to have to go back far enough to where I open with a 5 minute walk. I need to go back to evening running, or get to the gym.

I think I'll take it back to Day 29: Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 5, and see what happens. That was the first day of week 5, and things started falling apart that week. I'm losing two weeks I desperately need to prepare for the RNBNBBQ10K, but I ran 6 total minutes yesterday. There's no point in worrying about running for an hour or two at this stage. I'll save my $40 and run it next year.

Anyway, took a wee weekend trip into the center of the sun, apparently. I brought my running gear, thinking it would be like home and if I just get up early enough, running would still be safe. However, I took the dog out about 20 feet into the yard at 8am, in shorts and a tee-shirt, and broke a sweat. A full-on sweat. Un. Acceptable.

I did manage to get in the Flow Series Earth workout this morning. Yay, for stretching. After 6 hours in the car yesterday, I needed that like I need air conditioning. (I did attempt to do Ganga White's car yoga - scroll down on the link - from the book I'm reading for teacher certification and I almost drove off the road.)

Day 40: I Quit

Wore the Under Armour. Liked the vent on the back of the shirt, the pants felt kinda heavy. I don't think my legs were any cooler or warmer than normal. They're black, hello?!

Ankle started hurting towards the end, hurts pretty bad now.

I realized on the run that when I tell myself I am running for people who can't, I'm actually creating a paradox that is likely to end the world, as I CAN NOT RUN! I physically do not have the lung capacity to do it. And mentally, I hate it. But, hey, I topped the distance of one single marathon finally. Idiots.

All times and distances approximate.

Time: 8am; Run 4, Walk 1, Run 1, Walk 4, Run 1, Walk 6 (-ish)
Weather: 72, Sunny, Wind 9mph, 79% Humidity, Feels like 74
Distance: 2.1K (1.31m)
Elevation: +28.8/-28.8/net 0 ft
5K/10K: 43:24/1:31:44 (best yet?!)

Run Time (very approximate): 6 mins
Distance: 1.22K (.76m)
5K/10K: 27:32/58:12 (By far the best, and most likely to be wrong)

The worst days always turn the best times. I hate that.

Day 39: Let's Twist Again

First off, big thanks go out to Husband (even though he refuses to read LeBlog) for getting me some running gear for my birthday yesterday: Under Armour pants and shirt. The tags say to use in extremely warm weather, which we are most certainly having currently. I almost put the pants on to go to the store today because it is sultry out there. The pants are long and black, and, you know, look spandexy. I was worried until I checked the tag to make sure they were indeed for the heat. Now I'm just bloody curious. I can't wait to see how they work. They're also compression pants - Husband swears by his compression shorts. All I know is that it is not an attractive look on me. The shirt is also for heat, and is white, which seems to make a whole lot more sense - and has ventilation in the back. I will be testing them out tomorrow, at the earliest possible hour.

Speaking of tomorrow, it is supposed to be a 15 minute run, 5 minute walk. I can fairly confidently state that will not be achieved, unless there's spare lungs tucked away in that shirt somewhere. I then have my normal 2 days off, with a return to running Tuesday, another run 15, walk 5. Again, fairly certain that won't be achieved.

So, officially, tomorrow will decide what I do next. Whatever I run tomorrow is the day I will go back to in my training plan and tweak from there as appropriate. Then again, my ankle is feeling betterish today and with my new gear I will "protect this house," so maybe I'll hit 15 and just keep moving on.

Per usual, I did not walk the 10K route as hoped. First, and most importantly, I didn't feel my ankle was strong enough to hoof 6 miles. It doesn't seem that bad until I think about the fact I'm pretty sure I haven't ever walked 6 miles, and my ankle is currently bum! Also, it turned out to already be 86 degrees at 9am when I was going to set out. Ick. Some other day. Like October 2nd, the way things are looking.

At any rate, it took me nearly all day, but I finally got up the motivation to do my yoga. Today it was Seated Twist, the workout for the lungs. 'Cause I need it. It's a pretty easy one, and easy enough on the ankles, and maybe one day I'll be able to run more than 10 steps without being out of air.

Day 38: 13 is not my lucky number

Well, I wanted so much for today. It's my 33rd birthday, and I wanted to be able to complete my 13 minute run, even though I'm all out of whack on my schedule. I wanted my ankle to be able to support me. I didn't want to spend the rest of my birthday waiting for an ortho consult in the er. 1 out of 3 ain't bad. (Wait, yes it is, and that's really more like 1/2 out of 3 anyway.)

OK, so I completed 11 minutes 2 days ago. I've kept my ankle wrapped, iced, elevated, and slathered in healing oils. It felt good last night, a little crackly this morning (it feels like it needs to crack). It's going to be hot today. I want to get this over with, so I can enjoy the rest of my day watching my favorite movies and relishing in a 13 minute run.

I had 2 muffins for breakfast, and a Dew, and waited a little while, then started getting ready. Husband thought I should run with the wrap on my ankle. The Internet thought I shouldn't run at all if I dared ask Madame Google, "Should I run with my ankle wrapped?" I thought I should carry scissors in case my shoe needed cut off at some point.

My objective was Run 13, Walk 5 today. I like the days where there's no opening walk, but I have been very lightly stepping on my right foot, so I was concerned about just taking off in a run. I set my alarm for 1 minute to start, so I could walk on my sausage looking wrapped foot jammed in my shoe. That gave me just about enough time to get off our uneven gravel alley where I tend to turn my ankle on a good day, so I suppose that worked out well. It went really fast though.

I start running and was IMMEDIATELY winded. I do not understand how I can be gasping for air 10 steps in. Of course, I had a long road ahead, so I kept on. I was panting like crazy. I tried all my tricks for getting air, and they would help briefly. I told myself this run was going to set the mood for the rest of my day, I had to keep going.

I checked the time in the 6th minute. Bloody hell. My legs felt great. My ankle..felt..ok. I definitely hit it a couple times and got a shot of pain, but it wasn't too bad. I was worried about the walk home, but I was ok for the run. But seriously, I can NOT breathe. I mean, there is no air flow. This cannot be the mental part people talk about - this is a physical inability.

I stopped. It was in the 7th minute. My time and run distance are going to be approximate today, due to utter lack of oxygen. Hey, I wasn't too dizzy, though - that seems to have pretty much gone away. As soon as I started walking, my ankle was throbbing. I was going to walk to the end of the block, so I could keep track of the distance, but it was the world's longest block, so I finally just took off.

I veered off the main road, and ran up the side street I prefer. I pretty much had my breath back after my approximately 2 minutes of walking, but I lost it again, quickly. Plus my ankle hurt, and I was just in overall misery. Screw it.

I started walking home. I might've given it a round 3, but my ankle was really hurting, and I thought I had pushed my luck enough. I walked home, in the sweltering sun, got my water, and ice, and didn't take my shoes off until I was situated in my chair (I turned the ac down before I left today!), because I had a feeling that once that shoe came off, I may not be walking again. I just iced that right ankle, inside and out. Somehow everything else feels fine, by comparison.

So...not how I wanted to start the year. I have got to reevaluate my training plan. I'm older, I get hurt easier, tired easier, don't heal as fast, but don't seem to be any wiser, because I don't have any plans to stop this asinine nonsense.

Weather: 82, SUNNY, Breezy 14 mph, 68% Humidity, Feels like 88
Time: 10am; Walk 1, Run ~7.5, Walk ~2, Run ~1.5, Walk ~6
Distance: 2.12K (1.32m)
Elevation: +44.2/-44.4/net -.2 ft
5K/10K: 45:29/1:36:08 (not great)

Run Time: 9 mins
Distance: 1.34K (.83m)
5K/10K: 37:19/1:18:53 (best by far..I probably really screwed up the time/distance)

Day 37: Rest

After keeping it wrapped, elevated, and occasionally iced since the run yesterday, my ankle does seem to be significantly better today, although still sore.

I decided to go ahead and do yoga today, even though my ankle isn't 100%. I stuck with the Lord of the Fishes workout, which isn't [too] hard on the legs. I did the workout with my ankle wrapped and tried to keep the pressure off as much as possible.

It was important to me to get the workout in today since I haven't done yoga since Friday, and I wanted to send Year 32 out on a good, bendy note. Plus, regular yoga practice is helping me keep my ankle elevated above my heart..

My "sponsor" sent me some herbal oils and treatments for my birthday. I'm already addicted to the eucalyptus and mint oil, "It's All Good." It promises relief from sore muscles, bad moods, and awfulness, amongst other things! I love the idea of herbal remedies so much, but haven't had enough experience to get them on my own. (Hmm, see how that circle doesn't end?) Anyway, I've been massaging it into my ankle and it feels wonderful.

Hopefully I will be up to a 13 minute run tomorrow. Friday, I once again am headed to Columbia and would love to trek the 10K route. I'm not sure I can do 13 minutes, then 6 miles on this ankle, though. We'll see what happens tomorrow, besides me turning another year older..

Day 36: The last time I run in the first 32 years of my life.

Last night, I worked on getting a wee more music on the mp3. Husband keeps most of his music at work, but there was a bit on his laptop. I tried to pick specific songs (we have quite different musical tastes), and feared it would clear out what I already had, but it put all of his on, and did indeed leave mine in place. I am clueless. I had to manually delete some stuff, but I left a lot of songs on I otherwise wouldn't have cared about. Should make for some more interesting run music. I do have an Everclear album on it now, which reminds me, I will shortly be in my favorite place on the earth, the City of Angels. I hope I get a chance to run while we're there.

I woke up this morning with a very sore right ankle. I suppose it wouldn't worry me so much if I wasn't up for a 2nd day in a row to run. And, it's a day full of frightful and random weather...again, I don't mind the rain, but I'm not running in a storm...Plus I can't take my newly populated mp3 in the rain! I have become quite dependant on the hour-by-hour forecast on the weather channel website, even though it's dreadfully inaccurate.

Just before I headed out, I glanced down at my right ankle and it seems visibly swollen. After getting moving today, it really only hurt when I touched it. Balls. I could really use a day off. I did notice there was one more set of eyelets in my shoes that I haven't been using, so I laced my right shoe up one more spot, hoping it would add support to my ankle.

I had had lunch and my stomach was a bit upset, so I was very concerned about what was going to happen today. I set out on the loop I've had the most success with, and got a stomach cramp while I was walking. And, now in addition to my ankle, my left knee suddenly isn't interested in bending. This is going to be a massive fail obviously.

Speaking of fail, let's recap where we're at:
Day 29: Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 5: Success
Day 31: Run 6, Walk 5, Run 6, Walk 5: Success
Day 33: Walk 5, Run 10, Walk 5: Fail (Ran 9)
Day 35: Walk 5, Run 11, Walk 5: Epic Fail (Ran slightly over 8)
Day 36: Walk 5, Run 11, Walk 5: Let's see what happens

Off I go, and the first song I get is by The Clash! Hells yes, this is refreshing in absolutely every way. Everything felt pretty good taking off, and I tried to focus today on my breathing since it suffered so much yesterday. I also was running into the wind, so that made it a bit harder to breathe anyway. I can't handle how hot I get, so fast - then when there's a breeze my skin is so cold - isn't this a sign of heat stroke? But it happens like a minute into my run, when the temp is in the 70s?? Can't be...At least that's what I told myself as I trudged along, trying to not only breathe, but breathe into the areas I have pain (crazy yoga hippie that I am, but it worked today).

I was pretty tired at the end of the road, definitely questioning why I do this (to add years to your life!), and I tossed my head back and couldn't believe how much that helped with my breathing. I immediately realized that's how I've seen runners on tv posture, but I thought the way I had been running was upright "enough." I think this new move, however douchey, is going to help a lot, especially when I can't take much more.

When I turned back for home, I had that gradual uphill that sucks so bad, and I decided to slow it waaay down. I knew I was going to need to get through 3 or 4 songs today and I was on #2, an Everclear song! (Granted that Clash song was like 5 minutes long, but I didn't realize that at the time.) OK, my goal is to get to the corner that has been my finish line. That should be close to my finish for today. I didn't think I was going to make it, and of course had to check the time. Less than 2 minutes to go. Well, I've already conquered my last two runs, so if I stop I can be happy with that.

I made it to the corner and checked the time again, still in the 9th minute. Balls. I felt relatively good, and had a bit of a downhill in this block, so I slowed way down (so I wouldn't have to go back uphill). I had been full-on wildly panting for several blocks, but I was confidant I could finish this thing. And I did. 11 minutes. I skipped right on over the 10 minutes goal from 2 runs ago, and made it, finally. Next run (in 2 days) is different: Run 13 mins, Walk 5. Interesting.

As I walked home, I noticed about a block from the house that my ankle was killing me. Uh oh. As I was getting my key out, standing on my steps, it was getting worse. Oh no. I got my water, ice, managed my socks into the hamper, then went back to the bathroom to get an ankle wrap. RICE therapy is definitely going to be needed today. I sat down at the computer without turning the fan on, but opted to be excruciatingly hot than to walk on it again.

So the ankle is iced, compressed, and elevated. It hurts like a paper cut to the eye, so we'll see what happens. (Speaking of an eye, I spent like the first two minutes of my run trying to get an eyelash or hair or something out of my eye. Distractions make the run go so much faster. And, speaking of, any suggestions for things to memorize while running - taking a cue from my fellow runner blogger who used this trick, too?)

Weather: 74, Mostly Sunny, Wind 7 mph, 85% Humidity, Feels like 76
Time: 2:30pm; Walk 5, Run 11, Walk 5
Distance: 2.51K (1.56m)
Elevation: +40.2/-40.2/net 0 ft
5K/10K: 44:13/1:33:27 (Best yet.)

Run Time: 11 minutes
Distance: 1.56K (.97m)
5K/10K: 38:42/1:21:49 (2nd best only to yesterday, where I didn't have an official "just run" time.)

Day 35: I wish it was Sunday...my I don't have to run day..

Actually, it could be any other Monday prior to today. This is my first running Monday. And it follows a Saturday fail day.

Let's get to it.

Saturday I was to run 10 minutes, and I failed. Today I was to walk 5, run 11, walk 5, and I was going for it. It was cloudy all morning, so I had breakfast, and lunch, and water. I thought this was all for the best as I tend to run better later in the day with food in my system. I also made sure I drank all my water yesterday so I was nicely hydrated. I walked downtown this morning, a brief, short walk for errands.

Anyway, off I go, normal route, and I come out of the alley and there is a tres suspicious figure walking along, headed the way I want to go. As he's walking quite slowly, I knew I would have to deal with him if I went my route, so I turned, greatly shortening my loop. OK, today I'll take my old loop, off the main route, requiring me to climb the big hill at the end of the road I've been avoiding like the plague. I've got to get back in the habit of the hills.

It was literally about 5 steps in and I was winded. Lovely. I was having issues with my phone, which gave me a lovely distraction. Also, my mom had just posted pictures of a giant snake on facebook before I left, so I had that on my mind. I did seem to have a fairly nice run going, perhaps due to my utter lack of thinking about the run.

I made it down the road, and headed for the hill, side cramp in full effect. I daresay I conquered that hill quite beautifully today - far better than my previous runs. I actually think I sped up going up it. I turned back towards home, and made it to the next turn off spot and stopped. Full on, hands on my knees, SIX minutes (1.39K) in. It was horrible. I was beat. Utterly defeated, sweltering hot, no breath, and more hills to deal with. I put my hands on my knees as soon as I hit the corner and just stood there, gasping. Clearly I had been running too fast. I started walking in circles, angrily, trying to decide what to do next.

I turned to run slightly uphill back to the main road I had started on. I was fairly certain I was still running too fast, but I set a goal for myself of the next street, which had been my finish line of late (of course my route was all out of whack today). I got there and it was only eight minutes (1.67K) in, but I was done.

I walked home, fully ashamed, ironically listening to Eminem's "Rock Bottom." (OK, maybe not that ironic, given my song selection, but it hadn't come up before!) I tried to be happy with myself for running. I tried to be happy that I made it eight minutes. I tried to look toward tomorrow - my first time I don't have a rest following a run, at all, another run 11 to make up for this catastrophe. I tried not to die of heat stroke.

I walked a sad, sad, 4 minutes home, got my water and my ice, left my nasty socks in the kitchen, and pondered the end of my running days. Iced right inside ankle and back/neck/shoulder area.. I could barely feel the ice I was so sweltering hot still.

Weather: 78, Partly Cloudy, Wind 8mph, 71% Humidity, 81 Heat Index (I beg to differ - it feels like 900 out there. Yes, 900.)
Time: 2:30pm; Walk 5, Run 8, Walk 4 (Shortest total time since Day 19, when I decided to make it a repeat of Day 12.)
Distance: 2.04K (1.27m)
Elevation: +21.2/-37.4/net -16.3 ft
5K/10K: 44:46/1:34:39 (SHUT UP WITH THESE TIMES! Second only to Day 31!!)

Run Time: ~8 minutes
Distance: 1.18K (.73m)
5K/10K: 38:03/1:20:27 (These are the best, but it was slightly more than 8 minutes running, so I'm not quite as excited here, since I can't nail it down.)

Day 34: Rest

I did nothing resembling a workout today.

Instead I share a quote from "A Confederacy of Dunces," my favorite book, evah (tied with "Pride and Prejudice"), written by the genius, John Kennedy Toole.

"Employers sense in me a denial of their values...They fear me. I suspect that they can see that I am forced to function in a century I loathe."

Day 33: My favorite number, not my favorite training day

It's Saturday, so I overslept. Argh. This officially ends here. It's too blazing hot to put off my runs.

My knee felt pretty good, so I felt safe in trying for the Walk 5, Run 10, Walk 5 today. I set off on my newly extended route, and immediately hit a brick wall. A brick wall that was flying in my face. Seriously. Our neighbors are knocking down their little brick shed and the guy was just swinging the sledgehammer when I came around the corner of our garage. I squeezed past his truck that was blocking the alley and set off again.

My right ankle felt a little tweaked, like maybe it needed to crack, but I kept on. Man, it was so hot today - if there wasn't a breeze I don't think I would've attempted this. I so wisely had half a Dew, a drink of water, and a protein bar before I left. I hate running in the morning. I think I may schedule my own 10K, which runs at 8pm.

Oh! Big news! I got new ear buds! I hated to spend the money, especially when I have all of 2 songs on my mp3, but I really do expend a lot of energy trying to keep the buds in my ears when I'm running. So I got some other cheapies, but that hook over my ear! Yay! (As it turned out, I think that gave me a nice distraction that I needed today and didn't have.)

It was seriously unbearably hot. And I was stuffy. So there was no breathing properly. I was winded immediately after starting running. For some reason today every chance I got, I managed to turn my ankle. I also finally got to do The Super Douche: You know, when the runner runs in place while waiting for traffic? Yep, I had nicely avoided that little move until today when I had to do it 4 or 5 times. I was very concerned about being able to finish today, but I kept telling myself how lucky I was that I got to do this, that I love it, and focused on my feet hitting the ground properly, raising my feet up, swinging my arms. I was hoping paying attention to my form would help my knee.

Ugh. Something was up ahead at the end of my street, where I turn around. A lot of people and commotion. We are having a festival this weekend and there was a 5K this morning. Please tell me that's not the finish line. Because surely I am not on the right route, and it's like an hour and a half after it started, and I really don't want to come panting up to the finish line. There were people everywhere. The main street was blocked off, so I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get to my turnaround point. As I got closer, I saw that I would be able to turn around and none of the people seemed to have their attention focused my way, so I was just gonna go for it. I had considered turning off, but I was pretty sure where my finish line would be on my regular loop and I really needed that today. (Turns out it was an art show at the end of the street.)

So I pulled The Super Douche again, and headed for home. I was absolutely dying. I was actually getting cold when the breeze would hit me, then immediately swelter when it died down. Miserable. I really didn't think I was going to make it. I checked the time, finally, and had less than two minutes. OK, only two minutes, you can do this. I was pretty sure I would finish at the end of the next block. I checked the time again and it was still in the 8th minute. Ugh! Come on! You made it 12 minutes last time! I absolutely had nothing left and I stopped, hands on knees. I checked the time and it just clicked over to 9 minutes. Son of a Drunk.

I pulled myself together and headed for home, tail between my legs. I have no idea what to do with my schedule now. Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 5 is what my schedule was last Saturday - do I want to repeat the whole week? I actually have a run day on Monday this week (usually I get two days rest after Saturday), and it's Walk 5, Run 11, Walk 5. Geesh. I really don't have time before the 10K to repeat a whole week (that was actually what I was trying to use to motivate myself when I was about to quit my run before I even got to the turnaround). Monday and Tuesday are both Run 11s - Maybe I try to run 10 on Monday, then run 11 on Tuesday? But Thursday brings a run 13! I would love opinions of those reading. I'm gonna open the comments up so anyone can post a comment, just for a couple days (leaving it open welcomes spam). Or email or facebook me. My thought right now is just to go balls to the wall on Monday and see if I can hit 11 minutes. If I can, we'll pretend today didn't happen. If I can't, I will be re-posting a paragraph quite similar to this one.

OK, back to my sad walk of shame home. There was a hellacious amount of noise coming down the road at me. I looked up (because, I was looking at my feet like someone had just beaten me), and I thought an old-timey car was coming, blaring it's annoying 1930s era horn. I thought I heard dogs barking, which would make sense, I was considering barking at this noisiness. Turns out it was like a mini-trolley/train, just loaded down with festival attendees. Thank Fortuna I had stopped running, because they would have seen the saddest, pantingist mess ever as they passed me. I dare say they would've heard me panting over the horn, which was making ALL that noise. (The dog barking sound was the chugga chugga of a train.) Ah. So the road being blocked off with RR crossing signs made slightly more sense now.

I turned up the alley to go home and my neighbor, who is 112 years old, was trying to make the tight turn to back his car into his garage. I thought he would let me get by him, because this was going to take a few attempts. Oh, no. I was all up in the yard and he was still trying to hit me. Could I seriously have had more opportunities for injury today?!

I was actually still a little winded when I got home, but that may've been from running around the neighbor. I grabbed the ice pack and applied directly to my ankles, which are killing me. My knee, not too bad, but still iced. My ankles, not happy with me at all.

I did not remotely enjoy updating my stats, as I sucked it hard today. Very disappointing. We're going to see the A-Team tonight, where I hear Bradley Cooper's abs make an appearance. Perhaps that will help ease the pain. I mean, be an inspiration to keep working out.

Weather: 83, Partly Cloudy, Wind 14mph, 79% Humidity, New! Heat Index 91
Time: 10:30am; Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 6
Distance: 2.23K (1.38m)
Elevation: +28.3/-29.2/net -.8 ft
5K/10K: 47:51/1:41:08 (worst since Day 22)

Run Time: 9 mins
Distance: 1.21K (.75m)
5K/10K: 41:40/1:28:05

Day 32: Rest with the Lord of the Fishes

My knee is better today, but still a bit sore, so I definitely wanted to avoid strain on it. No Revolved Triangles, no Warriors.

I flipped through some yoga workouts and found one of my favorites, "Lord of the Fishes." Part of the reason I love it is because it's an advanced workout and I have virtually no problems with it. ("Virtually," because it's a shoulder workout and that right shoulder can get tweaked so easily.) I also love it because when I showed Husband the "hard" pose, he made some comment regarding the unnaturalness of it all. It also features one of the very first yoga poses I started doing when I was a wee child, and it's still one of my absolute favorites.

Well, that's really it for today. I think I used all my words in yesterday's post. :) Tomorrow, Walk 5, Run 10, Walk 5, assuming my knee holds out!

Day 31: More Run, More Early Jazz: Why can't everyday be just like this?

A: Because I would die from the constant excruciating pain shooting out of my left knee. But I get ahead of myself.

Last night I had a sore throat, so I broke out some tea I've been wanting to try that is for sore throats. I don't like drugs, and I hate lists of side effects, so I was a bit traumatized to see that nearly a whole side of this box was dedicated to warnings. (It's a natural herbal tea!) Don't drink if you have gall stones, don't drink if you're allergic to daisies (!!), don't operate machinery or drive. Oy. Maybe my sore throat isn't that bad.

In spite of the fact that the Blackhawks game wasn't over and I was afraid the tea would make me comatose, I drank a cup during OT. The Native American herbs in the tea must've made me hallucinate because I would swear I was seeing guys in jerseys with a Native American on it hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup last night!!! During the post-game coverage, a former Blackhawk got weepy because he was so happy for the win, and happy to finally witness something his team couldn't accomplish for the fans, and I'm once again reminded that I'm running and not everyone can. Although I suspect a lot more of us want to kiss that trophy than run across a finish line, but that's not the point.

I was worried that the tea, the Mexican dinner, and the late night would adversely affect my attempt to run in the morning. But it was all worth it.

Due to the threat of severe weather, I set my alarm for the normal "go" time: 5:30. Barf, I hate it. I have read that you shouldn't do a lot of back stretches when you first wake up, because your discs, essentially, sponge up water all night, and you're at risk for injury if you do too much first thing. Obviously, I am interested in working out before work, and I'm interested in yoga, so this is something I have tried to research. Oddly, although it seems terribly important to a few people, there isn't a lot of info on it. What I have gathered is that you should allow about half an hour before stretching out your back. That's fine if you have to get dressed and drive to the gym before your yoga class, but I wanted to roll out of bed, stretch, and run (in my 'pajamas,' breaking my own rules, but I was still going to be up and dressed and in the world today, so I thought it was ok). And, if you love sleep like I do, that extra half hour is a bear.

Anyway, I don't remember hearing the alarm. I woke up at 6. Ugh. So, I dawdled around for half an hour, preset my phone alarms, whatever. Again, today was run 6, walk 5, run 6, walk 5. Last run was walk 5, run 9, walk 5. When I set my alarms, I set the run times for 9 minutes each. Holy crap. Thankfully, I'm neurotic, and always have to double-check my training plan to make sure I have the times right, despite blogging about it and thinking about it nonstop. So I reset that. Finally it was time to do stretches and leave.

I stuck with the same route I've been doing, but opened it up another block. I didn't check the time at all in the first run, but about 4-5 minutes in, I finally realized that this should be a breeze, because I ran 9 minutes two days ago. How can I not run 6 today!? I had been so focused on the total time going up by 3 minutes, I didn't notice that the individual times went down by 3 minutes. Easy. Well it would be easy if I weren't having side cramps on both sides. At any rate, I knocked out the first run, but then I had to do a couple quick calf stretches. They were both cramping up, especially the right one. I had only had a few gulps of Dew and a few gulps of water prior to the run.

When I turned towards home/the hill/the sun within a few moments of starting my second run, I was ecstatic that "Smile" (The Charlie Chaplain version) performed by Glee came on the mp3. I love that song, so much. Right after that? "You," by Atmosphere. Awesome. I figured my run should be done by the time that was over, so that was a good way to wrap up the run.

I wasn't for sure where I should be ending this run, however. I kept trying to figure it out, but nothing makes sense when I'm running. When I got close to my previous (9 minute run) finish line, I checked the time. Drat, less than two minutes still. I huffed and puffed through it. I was pretty beat down by the end of it all today. I had a hard time estimating how far to walk to get back at the right time, but I got it pretty close.

Since I woke up late, and it was trash day, and Husband still had to be at work, and I had to pack for a day in town without the car, I didn't get much chance to rest when I got home. My left knee was hurting, and I finally did get some ice on it, while I quickly entered my time and distance. Fairly unbelievably to me is that the distances for the two runs were exactly the same. Not that the paces felt different, I'm just surprised. Oh and I topped a Half-5K distance finally!

Today was Day 2 of the Blind Boone Ragtime Festival. My knee was hurting like mad. I tried everything I could think of, including holding my stainless steel water bottle on it. Mid-day, part of the festival was a tour of the Blind Boone home, which is under renovation. I was excited to go see it, but the walk there just about did my knee in. After the tour, I stopped for lunch and just nearly asked the waitress for a bag of ice. Although it never did storm today, I am so glad I didn't try to walk the 10K route, because I think some damage may have been done. It's so weird, because it wasn't hurting, significantly, and I have no idea what I did today that would make it hurt like this. Ugh.

In spite of the tremendous pain, this morning I was able to enjoy performances by Bob Ault, John Gill, Peter Lundberg, and Dave Majchrzak. Hearing "The Entertainer" performed on the piano and mandolin was simply amazing, and I also particularly enjoyed hearing "When You Wish Upon A Star" all Ragged up (I have no idea the proper lingo).

Peter Lundberg also gave a glorious seminar about coming to the US from Sweden in the 60's, to spend 99 days riding Greyhound around the country, hunting down Ragtime and Jazz history. Hilarious stories, and a great joy to listen to how a naive kid got to do dream-fulfilling things and meet people that were his idols.

Next up was a filmed version of a new play about Blind Boone's life that was AMAZING. I didn't hear about the play until after the performances, so I was shocked and exuberant to get to see it filmed. It was stunning. Afterwards, was the tour of the Boone home. All of that was the free portion of the day. I love this festival.

Since I wasn't going to hike the 10K, and I got so much out of the festival, for free, I went ahead and bought a ticket to the afternoon formal concert. As predicted yesterday, I would've done just as well to stick with the free portion! The concert was great, and the performers were awesome: Tom Brier, Richard Dowling, John Gill, Dave Majchrzak, Reginald Robinson (I love his "Freedom Dance"), Terry Waldo, Paul Asaro, Frederick Hodges, Adam Swanson, and Benjamin Anderson. I loved the opening piano duet/singing of "When the Saints Go Marching In." Again, the concert was amazing, but I love the informal morning sessions - largely the same performers, but they spend time talking and laughing with the audience.

I can't believe how much I learned in the day and a half I attended, and I can't wait to go back next year....but...much like the other Raggies never want to hear "The Entertainer" (which I love) again, I got quite my fill of "Kitten on the Keys" in the past two days. I think I heard it three times today..I'm not positive, but I do believe that's the Rag Dave Majchrzak performed in a tiger costume. Oh, and that was at the formal show. He can keep on doing what he do, but everyone else needs to give it a rest for awhile. (I do like it, but REALLY?!)

Tomorrow is a much needed rest, but god-of-the-runner's-knee willing, I'll be throwing down a walk 5, run 10, walk 5 on Saturday. (I did ice, a lot, when I got home tonight.)

Weather: 66, Sunny, No Wind, 90% Humidity
Time: 6:30am; Run 6, Walk 5, Run 6, Walk 5
Distance: 2.6K (1.61m)
Elevation: +37.5/-33.9/net +3.6 ft
5K/10K: 44:35/1:34:15 (Improved)

Run Time: 12 mins
Distance: 1.66K (1.04m)
5K/10K: 39:29/1:23:28 (Slightly worse than last time)

Day 30: Rest & Jazz

Today I went to the Blind Boone Ragtime Festival in Columbia. There ain't no moldy fig like a Raggie, baby, an old vaudeville theatre full of Capital-M Moldy Figs! I had hoped to be able to attend all the events (I had even had the two days approved for vacation), but given my lack of job, I decided it best to only attend the free portion of the festival. That's right - part of it is FREE. And, frankly, the free part seems way more awesome than the pay part.

I particularly enjoyed a sneak peak of a documentary on Ragtime that Reginald Robinson is filming, and a story he shared..Reginald looks to be in his late 30s, and he is a ragtime composer/performer/documentarian. So, clearly, when he is in the car, he is blaring Ragtime music. When he pulls up to a stop light, no matter where he is, no matter who is in the next car, he gets the crazy looks. He wants to bring the story of Ragtime to everyone, so that people will show it the respect that it deserves. He thinks that people should think it no crazier that he'd be blaring Ragtime than if he were listening to later jazz, or any other form of music. To complete the project, he's looking for help in the form of anyone who has any stories about Ragtime performers, or any pictures or other memorabilia of the era. With my large Raggie following, I'm sure someone can help?! Anyway, his email address is on that link to his website if you, or someone you know, would happen to be able to help.

In addition to Reginald, I got to see and hear Bob Ault, Tom Brier, and Frederick Hodges in a very informal showcase of their mad, mad skills. (There were others, but I didn't catch everybody's name.) I am definitely going back tomorrow. And next year. I love it. I. Love. Ragtime.

After the free events today, I drove part of the 10K route that I wasn't clear about. I'm actually less clear about it now, but I have confirmed that the pedestrian bridge at the top of the giant hill has both stairs and a ramp. Woohoo! I guess I'm going to have to contact someone about the route, or else just be surprised..

I wanted to walk/run the 10K route tomorrow after the free portion of the day ends, but severe weather is predicted, so I may actually pay to attend one of the formal events tomorrow, instead. My plan is to be up early enough to get my run in before we leave for Columbia, before it starts raining. It is easier for me to get up in the morning when I have a day full of awesome ahead of me...I've just found that running in the morning is harder for me and something tells me the huge Mexican dinner I had tonight isn't proper "carbo loading." Regardless, somehow, sometime, somewhere, tomorrow I will be adding three total minutes to my run time.

Day 29: I Love Watching The Race Predictor Get Smaller!

Last night, I finally got to watch The Princess and the Frog. I've had the blu-ray for awhile, because it's a hand drawn Disney movie set in New Orleans! There wasn't a chance I wouldn't love it. And I was so right on. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sadly, I must now spend more money and get the soundtrack (I didn't think about how much music Disney movies always have!), because it is FAN-TAS-TIC! I am having some serious NOLA withdrawals lately - even the cartoons make me want to go back!

I had to get up early this morning, but I didn't get up as early as I planned, argh! The weather forecast for today was bad, and I thought I may be able to get my run in after morning chores, before the storms. Since I lounged about all morning, I just got the dog out before it stormed. Rain I can handle, lightening and hail, I cannot. Luckily there was a mid-day break and I took my opportunity as soon as possible.

I didn't take my mp3 today because I feared a downpour mid-run and I really don't have a way to protect it, barring packing a plastic bag or something. The 10K doesn't really want you wearing earphones anyway (duh, there's going to be live music!), so I don't want to totally rely on it to help me pass the time.

It was kind of a mess out there today. Sticky air, slugs, and I kept slipping in mud that had washed over the sidewalks. If I fall in mud, this endeavor ends, right there.

Off I went, and as this was a repeat of Day 26, walk 5, run 9, walk 5, I knew exactly where the finish line was to be. Of course, I wanted to go farther than the previous run, but I also didn't want to run too fast. Considering I got a side cramp as soon as I started running, I knew I would be lucky to even make it to the finish line. I hadn't eaten anything, and had only had a couple gulps of water just before leaving (yeah, I had my morning Dew, of course), and I was actively hungry while I was running.

Today was a tough one. It seemed like the route had gotten quite longer during my two days rest, and I was having a hard time with my breath. Not terribly hard, but by the end, my lungs were burning a bit. Perhaps it's just that I could hear myself breathing again since I didn't have tunes to drown it out...

That giant pile of trash was still out by the curb today, and I noticed it is right at the top of the "uphill" that I have to conquer once I turn for home. There was no holding my breath today. I would have passed out, in the trash. Luckily, it was not as aromatic as all the trash on Day 24.

I was doing a lot of counting down the blocks till the end today.. When I was about a block from my previous finish line, I checked the time. I was in significant agony. The wind was blowing directly in my face - I haven't had any wind at all for several runs, so this was really hampering all efforts to keep moving forward/breathe. Even though I was in agony the entire run today, and I knew I had at least that block to go, I peeked. I hope the people in that area don't mind runners with Tourettes. I was in the 7th minute. I would've been happy, because that led me to believe I was going to make it farther today, if I actually thought I would survive till the finish line.

On I went until the alarm..I made it about 20 or 30 feet farther than last time. I'll take it. In two days, I have a run similar to Day 17: Take 1: FAIL/Take 2: Awesomeness. It's a run 6, walk 5, run 6, walk 5. So I'll be adding three total minutes to the run. That really does not appeal to me at all.

I did get home way too quickly, so I'll be opening my loop up some more. Eventually I'm going to have to conquer some more significant hills again, I suppose.

My right ear (yes, just the right one) was FREEZING when I finished. I would've looked lovely in a stocking cap today, as it was already like running in a full bathtub. I came in and iced my right ankle that's been a bit crackly, and my knees (they actually don't feel too bad today) and shoulders/neck for good measure.

Weather: 69, Cloudy, Wind 15 mph, 82% Humidity
Time: 11am; Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 5
Distance: 2.26K (1.41m)
Elevation: +30.7/-30.3/net .4 ft
5K/10K: 44:48/1:34:42

Run Time: 9 mins
Distance: 1.28K (.79m)
5K/10K: 39:13/1:22:53

Day 28: Rest & Go With The Flow

Oops. Someone should have spelled out for me that a rest day does not mean you stay in bed until 11:30!

At any rate, I got my yoga readings in, and decided to go ahead and do some yoga. I try to do it three times a week, although there's nothing wrong with doing it every day. If I tell myself to do it every day, though, I know I won't. Anyway, I really felt like doing it again today, so putting off a full day of rest, I popped in The Flow Series dvd "Earth." This is the easiest dvd of the Flow Series, but I still like it because you hold the poses significantly longer than in the Namaste workouts on FitTV. Therefore, the dvd is about 50 minutes long, and my workout attention span ends at about 20 minutes. So, I don't do these dvds very often, but I've been wanting to do a slower paced yoga workout and I really like the extra-long savasana pose...FitTV gives you about 4 seconds to get into arguably one of the most advanced poses.

Tomorrow brings another walk 5, run 9, walk 5.

Day 27: Glow and Tell

I recently took a couple of pictures of my running shoes to use as my profile picture. Did I mention I really kinda wish this blog was just about shoes? The one I chose for my profile, I really like. However, I feel you're missing out by not seeing the other picture, so I share it here. They. Are. Glowing!! After a month of running, in rain, mud, slugs, gravel, grass, they are still aglow! You can kind of see them glowing in the profile pic, but not like this.



In other news, I woke up with sore knees again today. Now that I'm more comfortable with running in general, I'm going to have to get back in the grass, I suppose. They aren't bad, especially now that I'm up and moving, but I don't want to do permanent damage. My right ankle is pretty sore, today, too.

I also got to my laundry this weekend. Oy. There is nothing about reaching into a full hamper of socks and tshirts I've been running in that I want to repeat, ever. I have four days of running next week (previously it has only been 3 per week), so I should be prepared.

I wrapped up today doing the seated twist Namaste workout. Definitely tight on the right side of my back and shoulder (previously injured shoulder) - I'm sure the yoga will help.

Today was a great week. I got all my yogas in, I got all my runs in (successfully), I ate breakfast 5 days, I started the Bhagavad Gita, and have kept up with my goals for catching up to the readalong on it, I've gotten a lot of reading in on another yoga book, I finished my Blind Boone book. I swear, this is the life I was meant for. Now, who's gonna finance it?!

"Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor." (Paul Hawken)

Day 26: Dear Running, Is That All You Got?

Ah yes, remember a mere two days ago when I said I would keep running Saturday mornings? What about all the other Saturdays when I said I don't get up early on Saturday mornings? Ah, well, I slept in a bit and assumed I would just wait and run tonight. I had to take a shower this morning (this whole unemployment thing is starting to take a toll on my personal care), even if it did mean turning around and running. When that was done, I sat down and checked the weather....the hour by hour actually said it was going to be cooler for a couple more hours, then get really hot, then storm. Uh, oh. Shoulda checked that before I took the shower after all.

Yet, I still wasn't ready to go. My fellow blogger/runner from the Netherlands was going for her final day in the program: 30 mins/5K. I had to check in and see how her run went and she made the 30 minutes! Inspiration received, I was ready to go.

I followed my Day 19 route, for my walk 5, run 9, walk 5 today, praying there wouldn't be a lot of people out, even though it was 11am. It's overcast already, so I was hoping people would stay inside.

Husband gave me a tip on the ear buds, so I didn't spend the whole run fiddling with them to keep them from popping out of my head like my brain had exploded out my ear. Yay! Again, when I say moldy fig, I mean, moooldy fig. Even the simplest things escape me.

It was plenty warm, but I took off nice and slow. My legs were stiff.. I had only had a Mt Dew and a couple swallows of water (my new peaches and cream oatmeal smelled so bad I almost hurled, so I skipped breakfast), and I was a little crampy just from walking. Some of that may be from the third eye, but I think it was my stellar morning diet.

My last couple of runs part of my focus has been on telling myself "I love this." "I'm doing something other people would give anything to do." And off of another runner's blog, something to the effect of, "I'm not going to be able to do this forever, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can." (I tried to go back and find the blog that was on, so credit and accurate quoting could be given, but to no avail. Apologies.) Anyway, I passed a car with RIP messages for a high school athlete that was killed this week, and I felt a wee more inspiration for getting to run today.

I took off nice and slow, mostly due to the stiffness and crampiness, and settled in for a nice long run. Just me and Eminem out on the streets today, thankfully.

One thing I do not like about this route is that past the halfway point is when I turn back towards home, and when I cross the main road to turn back, it starts going uphill. It clearly is not a severe uphill, but damn, it's hard to turn that corner, at that point, and have to trudge even slightly up. I continue to dread the big hill in the 10K, but more and more I realize I need to be fearing the pedestrian bridge at the top of the hill. I don't think there's a ramp up it, and if it's stairs I'm going to die. I'm going to again try to walk the 10K route next week. I seriously think curb cuts (the ramps on sidewalk corners) are there for runners like me, who can't pick up their feet halfway through their runs.

I seem to be able to forget about the agony of it all when I focus on how my feet are hitting the ground. I did well until about the 7 minute mark, when I ran past a giant pile of trash (held my breath, just in case), and was coming up on some walking teeny bopper girls. I was dismayed I wasn't at the 8 minute mark, but hey, it wasn't that long ago that four minutes was an insurmountable hurdle, so I kept chugging along. I checked again when I got closer to the girls, and it was STILL in the 7 minutes! Damn! So I decided I would have to cross the street, rather than try to get around them. When I got to the next intersection, I crossed the street and the alarm went off! The last minute breezed by and I made nine minutes!!!

I headed for home and got back about 1.5 minutes early. One of the neighbor kids, who I call CSI, spotted me, and after noting me walking back and forth in the alley past my house a couple of times, he had to ask what I was doing. Seriously, he's like 6. I would call him the how much does a human head weigh kid, except he's a crime fighter, and CSI is just easier to say when you're still a wee winded from a 9 minute run.

Iced the knees and neck (thanks again, third eye), and settled in for two lovely rest days until I repeat today's run. I think I need it as my right thigh is still hurting, enough that I'm squealing sometimes when I have to lift my leg. This can't be good. In related news, I think I had a dream about leg muscles last night. Not mine, just in general, surely due to the fact that I now have leg muscles in places that, until recently, I wasn't aware there were muscles..

Weather: 75, mostly cloudy, no wind, 79% humidity
Time: 11am; Walk 5, Run 9, Walk 5
Distance: 2.23K (1.39m)
Elevation: +35.8/-36.1 net -.3 ft
5K/10K: 45:27/1:36:05

I warned you. More data:

I've thought about keeping this info pretty much since I started keeping track of any info on Day 10. These are the stats for just the run portion. I may not have it every day, but since I am currently doing better at staying coherent at the end of the run, I can route the portion that is just the running section and get more numbers. I would need someone who got better than a C in Stat to tell me if this is a better or worse race time predictor...smaller amount of time to calculate from, but it's all run...

Time: 9 mins
Distance: 1.26K (.79m)
5K/10K: 39:53/1:24:19

Day 25: Yoga

Ahh, rest day. My knees were a wee sore today, so I avoided the Revolved Triangle, which sometimes makes me feel like I'm twisting my knee caps out of socket, and instead did the Third Eye Namaste workout. I'll be feeling that one tomorrow, but it's totally worth it.

Other than that little workout, I stayed pretty restful today. I have more books than ever on my already un-completable reading list, so I've been digging in and trying to get through some before I have to go back to the real world and get a job. :( Trust me, these yoga teacher books can be a workout all on their own..unless, I suppose, you're already well-versed in Sanskrit.

9 minutes tomorrow. Can't wait.

Day 24: A Note On Running Blogs & What I Still Have To Learn

Pre-Run Note: I've been reading other people's running blogs here and there. By and large, they make me laugh louder and harder than anything else I have read in a long time. One universal theme seems to be that these people are crazy. Like self-acknowledged that running makes them crazy. But, but, what about the stress-busting, mind-clearing, endorphin-releasing propaganda? That was a big part of what drove me down the road to this crazy trail full of oxygen-deprived lunatics. I actually feel more sane after an evening of flipping through these pages, and am now going to allow myself to start that excel spreadsheet that I've been dreaming about for awhile now...Expect more data, people, more data!!

I have to do laundry. I was looking for an acceptable shirt to wear for my run and I came to my old Nike Soccer shirt. I refuse to combine two things I hate so much, soccer and running, and show my face in public. So I broke in my sponsor's shirt.

It wasn't "so" hot today, but I still decided to wait until dusk to run again. If I go back to work, and if I'm honest with myself, I will be running at night. I may keep running Saturday mornings, so I don't get totally out of the habit of morning running, since that's when races will be. Anyway, all day I couldn't wait to run. I was adding a minute, walk 5, run 8, walk 5, and we all know by now how I fail hard when I get too excited. It's just that Day 22 was so awesome!

I did my stretches, noting exceptionally tight hammies, and set off, planning to follow Day 19's route.

Here is where I get to my lesson, or at least the light bulb moment that will lead me to research and learning....I mean, I noticed this as soon as I left my alley, but it hit me in the face when I started running. Memorial Day was Monday. That means everyone's trash day gets pushed back a day. Our trash day is Thursday. Today. So everyone put out their rancid, dead smelling trash this morning and let it soak in the sun all day, as it won't be picked up until tomorrow. Now, almost two hours after my run, the smell is still singed in my nose and throat. It most certainly threw off my pace and my attempt at calm, focused breathing. I ran like a bat out of hell, holding my breath, instead. My project is to learn where the boundaries of our trash route are, so I can get past it, fast, on the next holiday week. Oy, vey.

I have to say, though, there was something joyous in running past rancid trash, with a pink cupcake on my shirt, while listening to "My Name Is." That's right, friends, I have like 30 songs on the mp3 and half of them are Eminem, a sprinkling of Glee Show Choir tunes, and most of the rest is classical. I am an awesome mess.

At any rate, there were a lot of doucheys out today, as well as kids on bikes that don't know the rules of getting over when someone is coming towards them. Thankfully the one kid that came up behind me took the ditch instead of just plowing into the back of my legs. It was also the first time I had to deal with traffic getting in my way, but all obstacles were maneuvered through fine, if not throwing my pace off here and there.

Back to the doucheys...I decided not to circle back down the same road, as I have been the last few runs, and instead cut up onto my favorite, relatively quiet side street.

I was struggling a bit, and I was getting uncomfortably close to my hills/Rapist Corridor. I decided to check the time, because I thought I should be getting terribly close. I had less than 2 minutes left. OK, I think I can eek that out as far as the run, but where do I go to avoid the hills, the doucheys, and Rapist Corridor?! And WOW! That means I ran 6 minutes with virtually no struggle, in spite of being all over the place with my pace and breathing!

Sooo...I was in the last minute and I decided to take the downhill. I knew I wouldn't have enough time left that I would have to deal with the uphill, so this seemed like the absurdly easy way out. And yep, the alarm went off just a few steps downhill, I stopped, turned around, and started walking home. At that particular spot, the entrance to Rapist Corridor, I wasn't worried about how ridiculous I looked.

Even though I was running late, I had not had dinner yet. Shortly after I started my walk home, I got a severe cramp across the top of my stomach. It felt like a normal side cramp, but went halfway across. Ugh, thankfully it passed quickly. It did take me a little longer to catch my breath again tonight, and I was terribly dizzy as soon as I started walking.

I felt like I was kind of slamming into the pavement tonight, and my legs were a little rough when I got home, so I went ahead and iced both knees, and my left shin. Overall, though, I felt amazing. I added a minute without too much trouble, got my best race time predictor, and I kinda feel the addiction. I can't wait to run again in 2 days, when I'll add ANOTHER minute!

One other thing..my favorite thing about running is taking off my socks when I get home. Nasty. I need new socks because these all simply need burned.

Weather: 82, Partly Cloudy/Dusk, No Wind, 47% Humidity
Time: 8pm; Walk 5, Run 8, Walk 5
Distance: 2.11K (1.31m)
Elevation: +54.3 ft/-54 ft/net .3 ft
5K/10K: 45:43/1:36:37

Day 23: National Running Day On My Rest Day!

Apparently today is National Running Day. Sadly (?) I will not be participating as I am full-on resting today. My dog, however, has the runs, so maybe that will be my contribution.

Today marks 4 months till the RNBNBBQ10K, 3 months until I need to register. I'm taking a look at my training plan today to see if this is actually possible. My plan only preps you up to a 5K, or 30 mins of running time. It's a 10 week plan, and I am currently on Week 4, Day 2 (keeping in mind I had to repeat week 3).

The increases in running time go up about 2 minutes per week, but in weeks 9 and 10, you go up a total of 5 minutes each week. At that stage, there's no walking to warm up or cool down, you're simply going out for 20-25-30 minute runs.

Since I haven't really been able to find a 10K training plan, I'll extrapolate the 5K plan out to up the running time 5 minutes a week until I'm running for an hour straight (good fn gravy, that's not actually possible, is it?!)...This adds 6 weeks to the training plan (please, somebody correct me if my math is wrong, my mind is mushy from 5 weeks of lack of oxygen).

OK, so I still have 7 weeks on the 5K plan, 6 weeks to stretch it out to double the running time, and that leaves about 3.5 weeks before the actual race. Youch. Not a lot of time for training to improve my time. Considering my 10K race predictors are closer to the 2 hour mark, I may have to find another race to be my starter race. :( Granted, when I use the predictor calculator, I am including my walk time, but...something tells me there will likely be walking involved in the actual race, too...Ah, we'll see. I just wanted to get a handle on how my training would time out before the race.

By the way, according to one 10K Beginner training plan I found, by week 4, day 2, I should be at run 20 mins, walk 5, run 20, walk 5. Yeah, I think I'm working with a plan closer to my level of athletic prowess. And if it takes me 16 weeks to get to an hour, instead of 5 weeks like that plan, so be it.

I did my FitTV nemesis workout, Revolved Triangle, today. Meh. I don't want to force postures, but I really feel like I need to get Warrior III under control if I ever think I'm going to teach! I think I need to find other workouts that focus on it, so I can keep advancing. After doing it as well as possible, I turned everything off and and pulled into Lotus pose to sit and relax. Hey, I may not be able to do the Revolved Triangle, or Warrior III, or a 10K, but I love Lotus.

"Warrior pose battles inner weakness and wins focus. You see that there is no war within you. You're on your own side, and you are your own strength." (Terri Guillemets)

Day 22: I Got 99 Problems But A Run Ain't One

I didn't get to walk out the 10K route today. A lot of things did not go the way I wanted today, and I didn't feel well. Additionally, it was 90 degrees today and as I felt worse and worse, I was worried about my run.

I kept referring back to some of the best running advice I've received - essentially, don't think about it, just do it, because you're always going to feel awesome afterwards, so why bother debating it with yourself?

However, I had a bad headache, and my stomach is quite unsettled, and I'm falling-asleep-on-my-feet tired...I also got a blister from my Interview Shoes this morning...combined with the heat, I was genuinely concerned that I may not feel better after a run today.

Since I didn't get to run in Columbia, and then part of my day got sucked away, it became apparent I would have to run close to dusk again today to avoid as much heat as possible. I don't know, it was just a day where everywhere I looked I saw an excuse, some more valid than others. One thing about this training schedule, though, is that if I don't do a day, it really screws up the whole system, and that gives me more motivation than anything else. I don't want to have to repeat another week!

After my third or so nap today, and supper, I headed out at dusk, with storms breathing down my neck. I decided to re-do the route from Day 19, since it's another walk 5, run 7, walk 5 day. I shortened the opening walk by a block, so that I would be able to gauge about where my finish would be (I was so tired at the end of the run, I'm not exactly sure where I stopped on Day 19), and it would be closer to a 5 minute walk home.

It really felt like a long way down that main road, but I realized knowing where the finish was helped with today's run. 7 minutes is a long ways, no point in checking the time. I was breathing very well today, and I stayed focused on it. Since I could actually breathe through my nose, I made sure to do that, and did so most of the route. My breathing was very, very controlled, and I was ecstatic about it. I wasn't winded, I still thought I was keeping a pretty good pace, and except for a couple of very quick little twinges in my side, I was in no pain, not even from my blister!

I still felt lightheaded/dizzy, but I cannot believe how amazing it was to not be panting like a freak show for the run today. This is a really big deal for me. With the summer heat coming, I fear I'm going to end up running on the tiny track at our gym. I'd rather not have everyone in the entire gym be able to hear my breathing, but if I can repeat today, I'd be comfortable there.

I ran with my mp3 again today, and listened to Tchaikovsky for the entire run. I'm realizing that listening to the classics really is a good way for me to stay calm and keep a good pace.

Anyway, I only considered looking at the clock once, and that was early on, when I knew I was nowhere near the finish line, so I decided not to. I just kept going until the alarm went off. I felt AMAZING. I literally could have kept running, possibly for minutes longer. In spite of all the things that were hurting and bothering me, I had a perfect run - I. could. not. BELIEVE. how great I felt when the alarm went off. It took me no time to get my breath back, and I hustled on home. I was still too far away to make it exactly in 5 minutes, but it was closer.

My 5K/10K time predictor wasn't all that fantastic, but I have a lot more faith in being able to increase to 8 minutes running in two days. I'm also getting better and better with the breathing, and I'm more certain than ever that running at night, with classic music, is the way to go for me. I felt so good (this is probably a huge mistake), I didn't even ice when I got home.

On another note, back to Brother's 10K story, his coach told him something to the effect of, not to worry about the finish, but to relish in the fact he had done something that some 99% of people would never do. We weren't sure about that percentage, so I tried to do some research. It's hard to gauge how many people run in marathons (of any given distance), because there simply isn't a good way to gather all the data. However, the numbers I found online still hold that only 1-8% of the population run marathons. My competitive nature is kicking in. I don't care about winning one (duh), but I do care about doing something that 99% of people will never do.

Weather: 82, Cloudy/Dusk, No Wind, 71% Humidity
Time: 8pm, Walk 5, Run 7, Walk 6
Distance: 1.97K (1.23m)
Elevation: +30.1/-30.6/net -.6 ft
5K/10K: 49:14/1:44:04