I hate hills

I went out for a 3 miler today - easy peasy lemon squeezy right?  Except I turned left instead of right leaving the house to force myself to do some hills.

Yeah... not as bad as doing 3 miles at noon time during a heat wave but still not pleasant.

Fortunately the hills are only the first half of the run.  Once I hit the main drag they become manageable. But it's a big spike to start a run and it really pushes me.

To be honest, that first mile of hills I did at an "easy" pace and then upped it when I hit the main drag to a "race" pace.  I am hoping it won't be long before the "race" pace becomes my easy pace and I can pick it up just that much more.  I'll give it another few weeks before I try upping things.

Right now I'm a sweaty quivering mess about to hit the showers but damn, I feel good!


And hills suck.

I'm a Winner

Today was supposed to be a 5 mile run day.  We're in the midst of a heatwave and yesterday's 2 miles nearly killed me but hey, a training schedule is a training schedule so I laced up the shoes and left the house.

I ran a familiar route today, one that I know well enough to know all the landmarks and I got to the 2 mile point and thought about turning around.  I was hot and thirsty and done when the Aquabats song "Look at Me (I'm a Winner)" came up in my mix.  There's something about someone singing, "Someone told me you can't lose em' all... but when I nail gunned my hand to the wall, I started to wonder if that could be true...."

Yeah, running in the heat is sort of like nail gunning your hand to a wall: stupid and painful but survivable.

With a sigh I kept on to the next landmark instead of turning around.  So here I am, 5 hot, sweaty, slow miles are now in the books and I'm still on track with my training.

Look at me, I'm a winner.

Day two (sort of)

Yesterday was a scheduled 2-3 mile run.  I was going to run in the morning but said, "Hey, it's a Marsh Post night!" and thought I'd wait.

Yeah... not a good idea when it gets hot out.  So I blew it off but that meant having to get that run in this morning before it got hot out.  Which is all well and good but I had an appointment with my trainer at 8:30 and it was leg day.

The nice thing about my gym is it's near the running path where I started all this, so I figured I'd go for a couple of miles on the old path along the "back" loop.  It was lovely running in the shade along the river.  Because I choose the "recommended for you" option on Spotify, which started with the Dead and "Scarlet Begonias."  it then went to Phish, NRBQ and a lot of other jam and old school bands.

I ended up with 2.25 not bad for having blown off a run.

Let the Training Begin

This story started a number of months ago when I signed up for the BAA distance medley.  The email came through and I thought, "Hey, this link will never work on my iPad...."  
It worked.
It asked for my information and I typed it in and pressed "submit."
Then it asked about my estimated times and I pressed "submit."
Then it asked for my credit card and I pressed "submit."

Then it hit me - I never saw how much it was going to cost me.

Um....

OK now I'm in for $225 to run a 5k, 10k and half marathon.

The 5k was fabulous, the 10k ... well, not so much.  Last week I received the training plan for the half on October 9th.  This week calls for three 2-3 mile runs and 5 mile long run.  Today was the first 2-3 mile run.  I did 2.3 miles and it felt OK.  It wasn't a great run, it wasn't a bad run, it was an OK run and a good start.  I did a .25 run/.25 walk and felt strong.

My next run is on Thursday (2-3 miles), we'll see how it goes.

Blinded By The Light

I realized that I tend to post my sporadic running stuff on my writing blog, like yesterday's entry.  During today's run, I realized I need to stop doing that and put running stuff here and writing stuff there as part of being more disciplined and organized and yada yada yada.

The truth is today I got through my track run listening to one of my favorite Bruce Springsteen albums: Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ.  I was listening to the end of yesterday's nostalgia playlist when "Blinded By The Light" came on and I realized just how much I missed this album.  I will say this, I may not be a returning vet with PTSD after Vietnam, but the line "Hey gunnerman, that's quick sand it ain't mud..." in the song "Lost in the Flood," it captured just how I felt in that moment.

Because of road work in the neighborhood, I figured it was a good day to head to the track to get my four miles in.  Have I mentioned I hate tracks?  Not as much as treadmills but pretty damn close.  When I run I see things.  Sometimes it's the view from the river, small critters or even just other people.  The track is just round and round and round in a circle.  Today it was sticky and hot and empty as well.

But I did it.  I didn't push myself but I got in my four miles today.  Tomorrow is cross training day and Thursday is a rest day.  My next scheduled day is a short run on Friday.  It will be the day I try to up my running time as I'm growing comfortable with my run 1/4 mile/walk 1/4 mile.    We'll see what the weather is like on Friday.  One thing I do know, I'm glad to be getting back to running.  I missed it so much.

Let my imagination run away

I always let my imagination run away from and when it
comes back, it comes back with  cake! - Pinkie Pie

Last July or August, one of those times when it was wicked hot out there, I signed up for a 5k race in December.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  A chilly December race with lots of time to get ready would be easy as .... [pie, Sunday morning, whatever metaphor you would use].

Then, I promptly forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago when I got a reminder email about pick up details and things.

Damn!

I hadn't been running, I hadn't been training and it was freakin' cold outside.  What's a girl to do?  Further, the group I had signed up with were all doing this Santa zombie theme thing.

I don't do zombies.

Not only that, this is the last week of the semester and between a 1500 word article due on Monday, 2 pieces of directed writing, a positive discipline plan due on Monday and 3 lesson plans all due by Wednesday, when was I supposed to do this?

What's a girl to do but veg out in front of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."  For 30 minutes I watched a group of ponies wander around scary ruins of a castle for different reasons but the best character is the ever chaotic, ever clueless Pinkie Pie.  At the end when the serious ponies declare they shouldn't let their imaginations run away with them like that again, Pinkie replies, "I always let my imagination run away from me and when it comes back, it comes back with cake!"

Yes, there was my answer.  It was time to have the cake my imagination seemed to be bringing back.  I got there at 9 am for number pick up.  I got my swag (a sweet pint class and long sleeved tech shirt - you can never really have too many of them this time of year) and brought my number to the group's VIP tent area for someone who could use it.  I then set my Nike+ for 5k and took off through Central Square and ran my own 5k.

I hit my three goals: I had to run more than half of it, I had to run under a 14 min mile and I had to run in under 45 minutes.  I ran about 2.5 miles, 13:55 mile and in 44 minutes.  Done, done and done.  I feel great, I was done before 10 and home in time to start cranking on things before I have to leave for the TGIO party in Copley Square.

It fits in with my c210k plan and I'm pumped for week two of things.

It's all cake... and running... and imagination.... and (most of all) good.

Street lights and memories

Having pulled the trigger on the inaugural Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon, this morning meant following the couch to 10k I was looking at and going out for 2 miles.  (What?  It's at the beginning of June so I have 7 months to train....)  So by 6:15 I had laced up, donned running tights and layered up for the 34* temp and headed out the door and was... surprised.

Since developing plantar fasciitis last year, I have been scared to run.   Sure walking through the hills in Brookline with November Project (no longer mistaken for the band) and a couple of trial runs let me know that yes, it is OK, to run but the memory still lingers.  So this morning was surprising.

We're at that time of year when it's dark out at 6 in the morning, so unless I wear a miner's light when I run, I run the sidewalks of my community by street lights and memories of where the potholes are: Cross the street here because there will be a puddle over there after yesterday's rain; the utility doors on the ground will be slick and shiny; the curb cut by the high school should be covered in a wet, muddy goo like always....  You know, the sorts of things people who run know about their routes.

I had intended to walk the bulk of today's route but then muscle memory and Irish punk took over and wound together with the sidewalk hazard thoughts to keep me moving.  From the second my feet started moving, they moved along at a jog for 3/4's of a mile.  I walked to the one mile point and two things happened.  First, as I did a quick mechanics check (and yes Nini, my right ankle was barking through the compression socks so I will have to KT tape and do strength work), a rabbit hopped along with me for a bit.  Rabbits are always a sign that I'm on the right track for some odd reason... don't ask why because it's something that started a while back and then just became that sign.  Then Flogging Molly's "Devil's Dance Floor" came on which started my feet moving and I didn't stop until I got to my traditional walk to cool down spot a quarter mile from the house.

Two miles at a 15 minute pace... wow.  There are many people who think they walk faster, and they probably do, but given a half mile of that running was walking, I'm quite happy with that test run this morning.  Tomorrow will be walking and there will probably be a run Thursday and a "long" run of 3 miles on Sunday - which coincides with a 5k I forgot I signed up for in fever pitch of frenzy with the November Project/Boston Brunch Runner folks.

Today said, "I can do this" and, at least for today,  I believe I can.