When the Party's Over

One of my old work friends described yesterday's storm this way, "The city looks like it had a tree confetti party that everyone was invited but nobody wanted." That's a good description of what I noted this morning doing the same run [(w5+r3)2+w5] I did yesterday.

Things I noted:

- without running into head winds, I managed to add a full tenth of a mile to my timed distance
- it may have been more if I wasn't dodging branches of all shapes and sizes on the roads and sidewalks
- the air was cool, crisp and clean
- DPW crews were out busily trying to clean up after yesterday's party Mother Nature threw for us
- there was a lot more traffic, as in there actually was traffic

To make it fair, I ran to the same sound track, Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown.

It's time to start progressing to earlier morning runs as school is back in session next week. That means 7:30 am around here is a crowded mess of traffic of people trying to get to all the different schools in my neighborhood. Not such a bad thing as lately I've been giving into the luxury of sleeping in a bit more and more.

Well it's off to a full day, including registering for class and picking up my textbooks. Time to peel off the running gear and get to daily running. So goodnight Irene, I'll see you in my dreams after I get through cleaning up confetti in my driveway left by yesterday's party.

I feel like such a bad ass right now

With the way the local news media folks are wringing their hands and speaking in dangerous but giddy tones, it can only mean one thing: the French Toast Alert level is elevated or higher. This time for Hurricane Irene.

At 6 am, I got up to pill the cat and there was nothing. The sun was peeking through, it was a bit windy and nothing. OK, so I turn on the news and I'm seeing images from yesterday, cut to news people telling everyone to stay home, images of an empty Times Square, more news people standing in storm winds and such on Long Island, back to the studio for more predictions of gloom and doom before the news people outside in Boston and on the Cape trying to pretend it's much worse than what's outside my window.

Seriously folks?

Through all the weather model maps showing tracking no one tells me what I need to know right now. So I tweet to @DavidWade: Where's the storm now? Can I get a 2 mile run in?

Nothing. Radio silence baby.

So I make the call as I recall a line from Zaphod Beeblebrox: "I get weirder things than you in my breakfast cereal."

I suit up and the rain comes. Seriously folks?! After hemming and hawing for a moment, after all, it's only a 21 minute walk/run scheduled today, I decide to go for it. I felt bad ass out there in my safety yellow BAA jacket and iphone enclosed in a baggie. It was rainy and windy with no one on the road. None of the usual Sunday morning runners, no traffic, nothing. Just me trotting along Green Day's "21st Century Breakdown" getting wet. I hit a head wind as I came around the back of the high school by the football field but for the most part, it was a rainy day run like most rainy day runs.

Except I feel bad ass because I can now officially say, "I ran through the leading edge of Hurricane Irene."

Now, when I'm hiding under the bed when the worst of the winds and rains come through at noon time with no baseball to distract, I may not feel so bold and brave. But at 7:30 am on a Sunday morning, I feel like bring it on baby!

I did 1.5 miles of (w5+r3)2+w5 in the leading edge of a hurricane and lived to tell the tale.

it's on... again

For the past year running and I have been in an on again/off again relationship. Today it is officially on again. I'm in week 2 of a walk to run program and I wasn't fully committed to week one to be honest so I wasn't sure how this would go. Then I made it out the door this morning in spite of my best efforts to stall.

Today was a (w5+r3)2+w5 day and I managed to get outside by 7 am. What shocked me was how easily three minutes came. No huffing and puffing and straining, just a good workout. It was a reminder of why I do this, early in the morning with the sun shining and the streets relatively empty (except the landscapers ogling my butt at one point as they drove past). It ended with the dust mop dog charging up the block for me to give him a belly rub and toss his little mini tennis ball a few times.

Yes, today running and I are a couple again. Hopefully this time it's for life.

Slow down

The Reel Big Fish song "Take it Easy" is stuck in my head right now. One of the reasons my ankle barked and told me to die a slow, miserable painful death on the fourth of July was because I got bored. Why take 12 weeks to do a walk to run when I'm ready to run NOW!

Yeah... I see how well that worked.

So here I am, happy the ankle is happy and taking it nice and slow. I'm in week two of the walk to run and spent a half hour on the treadmill this morning doing my (w15+r1)2+w5 nice and easy. I may not be able to run a half this year, but February isn't that far away and Hyannis may be a good one half to choose.

In the meantime, I'm going to listen to Reel Big Fish.

Just a reminder

I'm about to lace up my shoes for a short run but this morning, I remembered why I do this and thought I'd share about why I do this even though running can be a bit a high maintenance:

So go run already will ya... I am. :)

Wardrobe Malfunctions

Skirt Sports, Nicole DeBoom's company, is really on my shit list after today.

I get it, she's an athlete and thinks that every woman should have washboard abs of steel, but that ain't me babe. I have abs that resemble the Michelin man or the Pillsbury Doughboy. So after years of being told by her reps that I should buy this skirt or that and me tossing them into the back of the rotation pile - often left untouched - today one of her skirts came up. The very skirt I was assured would fit a woman of "my size."

Here's what happened on my mile run this morning, the waist band kept slipping down and down and down until it was under my belly. I spent the whole mile yanking the skirt up, tucking my shirt in, yanking up the skirt again... and again... and again.

I compare this to runningskirts.com's product and it's night and day. They get that women like me who want to run in a skirt shouldn't be humiliated at the same time and actually design the waist band to *gasp* sit on the waist! What a concept, a running skirt that fits.

In spite of the wardrobe malfunction, I shaved another 30 seconds off my mile to 14:30 before jumping in the pool and doing my PT exercises and a few laps. The peacefulness of the pool combined with the sun and the smell of the new mown grass and buzz of lawn mowers on the athletic fields help to erase the anger I initially felt.

I'm feeling stronger and I'm ready to take on the world... after I drop a couple of running skirts off at the goodwill box.

Everybody join in!

OK, the aqua jogging experiment became a lot more fun the other day when some of the older women in the pool decided to join me. I find myself a mentor of sorts because everyday I hit the pool, do my warm ups and then run in the pool for 20-30 minutes before cool down and some PT exercises.

Who knew?

Yesterday I did run a mile and shaved a minute off my time on Tuesday. The problem was I had a crazy schedule so I didn't have time to ice or elevate my ankle until much, much later in the day and by then I was limping a bit. Again, in one of those "that's weird" moments, walking was difficult but dancing along to music was not. Whatever works I guess.

Today things feel much better and I'll go back to the brace for a couple of days until things feel happy again. It was my own damn fault for not taking care of things properly at this stage of the game. I'll head back to the pool in the disgusting heat this afternoon and promise I'll do things right today.

Getting Ready to Run

Today I ran in the pool for a half hour. I like the odd scissor like motion running in the pool entails, but it's been over a week of my ankle feeling like it's fine. I've been doing my ankle exercises and such so tomorrow we'll take the puppy out for test.

The road the pool is on is a 1 mile loop. Tomorrow morning I'll go for a one mile test run and then dive into the pool for some recovery. If it goes well, then I'll try again Thursday. So think of me tomorrow morning and wish me good luck.

The times they are a changing

Swimming has been a good thing over the past week. I'm not as apologetic about aqua running these days and my ankle survived a full day of the Warped Tour's Mansfield stop.

But the changes will be to my blog itself. I may migrate the whole thing over to google sites, as google owns blogspot these days. I want web pages where I can add recipes and combine my neglected "What Pikas Eat" blog with this one. So expect to see changes here soon.

Something new...

I started swimming again last week. The season opened at the pool and I picked up a tag so I could start doing laps during adult swim.

Then I tweaked my ankle a bit running on Monday. I'm not surprised, but it is what it is and I don't want to lose any conditioning. So yesterday I tried running in the pool with little success. It was awkward and difficult. My inner loser rejoiced at my flailing attempts to push through the chest high water and maintain posture.

But the competitive DNF piece of me reared it's head and beat up the inner loser. I hit Marshalls this morning to pick up an aqua belt (on clearance, so it was half the price of the other day... SCORE!) and strapped it on. While it was still awkward, I managed to push back and forth through the water for half an hour. A couple of the old ladies that show up for adult swim told me about using aqua belts in the past when they were rehabbing from broken bones.

As I pushed through the water today, I realized that when I'm out running again without the resistance, the results should be pretty exciting.

Today the ankle feels stronger, I think my body is liking the no-impact work outs. Tomorrow I'm trying a twice a day: running in the water for the early morning adult swim and then going back at lunch time for some laps. I have a month-long pass for a local gym so I think I'll head over there Friday and start using the elliptical to continue to strengthen my ankle in a non-stressful way.

It feels good. There's something deep inside that is waking up. It won't be long before I'm back on the road stronger and faster than ever before.

Happy Fourth!

Today: Hingham 4th of July Road Race

Distance: 4.47 miles

Finish: 1:08:??

Yes I am enough of a nerd to think, "Hey, it's July fourth, I bet HBO w

ill be showing the complete John Adams

miniseries today. Let me see if 1776 is being shown too...." And yes, I am right on both counts. I was also right that I probably should have thought twice about doing a 4 mile race the day after running 4 miles.

I love this race. It's a mostly gradual down hill slope from the start at the Hingham Middle School to the finish under the big flag flying over Hingham Center. It's a friendly race. The annual parade rolls down the street a few hours later and people line the street. Often families set up unofficial water stops and stand with hoses for runners to run through. People play music, set out flags and cheer, cheer, cheer.

One of the sights along the way is a home owner who covers the front of his Colonial every year with the US flag. It's an amazing and inspirational sight shortly after the half way point as you make the turn from Main Street towards Hingham Center.

What isn't visible in the photo is the white chimney with black stripe rimming the top. In Revolutionary times, this was to show the home owners were Tories.

The first two miles went well. After a slow start (20 seconds before we even moved) I did a run 2/walk 2 pattern. I covered the first mile and half easily when my ankle began to bark at me.

I slowed down a bit from the 13 minute pace I was maintaining but quickly realized that running the rest of the race really wasn't in the cards for me today. I am not a DNF kinda gal, so I walked on.

I had the chance to observe the number of families around me. People with younger children being coached through by parents and family members. My favorite was a young girl running with an older brother. She was struggling so he started teasing her as only a brother could. He encouraged her, he scolded her and then, when she started whining a bit, he said, "Hey, you can run or I can throw this water in your face..." that triggered the "if you do, I'll tell mom!" threat. In the end, she ran and he didn't dose her but it was a wonderful set of moments to watch.

The most difficult part of walking was not the act of walking, it was hearing the Nike+ voice in my ear that kept calling the average pace. It continued to creep up until, just as I passed the four mile mark at the 1 hour point and it declared my 15 minute/mile pace.

After four and a quarter miles, the flag over the finish was clearly visible. I decided to jog to the finish, ankle willing. I was for a bit and I headed down the last stretch of road. I crossed at 1:08 and change.

In the end, I felt strong. In spite of the twinges in my ankle that required a bit of icing and rest. Tomorrow I will swim. A non-weight bearing exercise should further help things along and I'll test things out with a short run on Thursday.

Until then, I'll retreat into American history nerd mode watching patriotic miniseries and finally diving into "Plain, Honest Men: the Making of the American Constitution."

Alway Wear Sunscreen

w5 +(r2+w2 *12)+w5 = 4 miles

I lost a week of running for a simply stupid reason: I didn't wear sunscreen for an outdoor festival last Saturday because it looked like it was going to rain the whole day. The result was a painful sunburn and the discomfort of any weight on my shoulders. This meant no running bras were going to do and so running didn't happen for a week.

It reminds me of a quote Jimmy Buffett had about the international date line: "Damn, I do detest losing a day for no good reason at all. Back in my wilder periods I used to lose lots of days, sometimes weeks, but that was because of my own lack of discipline. Just to cross some imaginary line on the globe and be told that it is now Friday when a minute ago it was Thursday just doesn't seem fair, even if you eventually get it back."

I lost a week of running for no good reason. I went to CVS the other day and stocked up on spray on sport quality sunscreen so that it doesn't happen again.

But I'll take todays run. It was a bit more than I was probably ready for, but it felt good to get out and run.

What do people see?

2.5 miles in 36 minutes: w5+(r2/w2*7)+w5

I went out for a run this morning, only I went out about an hour later than I normally do. While the increased amount of traffic was clearly noticeable, so were some other things. For example, at one point I saw a small group of elementary school kids heading to school and realized some of them were "my" kids. While they were engrossed in whatever it was they were doing (most likely discussing tomorrow as the last day of school), it was one of those "I hope they don't recognize me moments."

Then I became aware of people in the increased traffic. What did they see when they saw me? Did they see a plus-sized woman struggling? How would they know that it took me a month to get back out on the road? How would they know the battles I've fought with my inner loser over that time period?

Did they see me and feel a bit guilty about their drive-through breakfast and promises to themselves to be better? Did they see me as inspiration to get to the gym later or maybe to eat a little healthier?

I think about the people I pass when I'm out. Mostly we give each other friendly nods and waves or brief words of encouragement. I know they get it, I can only hope the rest of the world does as well.

Eastham Rail Trail 5k

It has been a while. Life happened, as usual. First it was the race up to finals week - three 3 page papers in one week as well as studying for a stats and US History final. Then a cold and then... well, my mojo went out for a run one day and never came back.

This weekend was the Runango birthday virtual 5k, so I chose to do mine in Eastham, MA on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. I wasn't sure what to expect from myself, as I say, it's been a while and my goal was to run/walk a 15 minute mile. The trail itself is a paved rail bed for cyclists through the woods along the National Shore line on the outer side of the Cape.

The first mile was getting my bearings. I kept hoping to see the ocean, as I could smell it and knew it was nearby, only to find more trees and thickets to one side and motels and campgrounds on the other through the breaks in the trees. I ran for 3 minutes/walked for 3 minutes to see how my body would do, it held up well but it also was a bit much to maintain. Then it was run 2/walk 2 and I finished the first mile in 14:42.

The second mile was run 2/walk 2 the whole mile. Cyclist would pass with a nod and along this stretch I was passed by an deeply tanned runner wearing just his shorts, shoes and a fuel belt. As he jetted past, he yelled out, "You're doing great, keep up the good work." :) This was my fastest and most consistent mile and my split on this was 14:12.

The third mile, six weeks of lumpdom caught up with me. I was now down to run 1 minute/walk 1 minute.... damn I forgot to check the watch... I can make to the tree down there.... and other such segments. It was my slowest mile at 14:59, which is not surprising as I walked the last 5-6 minutes as a cool down.

My final time and distance was 46:20 for 3.11 miles.

It felt good to be out there. It was the first time out in my new Trance 10's, which felt great on my feet. I would have loved a beach run today, but so it goes. Maybe next time I'm down here for a weekend.

Lessons learned: I have more gas in the engine than I thought, just because Eastham is the narrowest part of the Cape doesn't mean you're on the ocean and I need to do more of this.

Happy Birthday Runango, I did your 5k and I feel the better for it.

Did I wake up in Seattle?

The past week and a half, it's been looking (and feeling) like Seattle out my window. While I haven't been running (which will hurt tomorrow when I have my 4.2 mile race), I have been riding my bike, walking and otherwise keeping myself active.

But this morning I was thinking about where is my motivation as I stared at my running clothes, still nicely laid out Saturday night, still sitting where I left them. I haven't even been motivated enough to pull them on in the morning. I know I can't entirely blame the weather, but it certainly is a factor.

Which brings me to something I know: you need to set goals to motivate yourself. It's a lot easier to suck it up and pull on the running tights and head out the door if you have a training schedule and definite goals in place.

"But... you have a race tomorrow! Isn't that a goal?"

Good thought, but no, not really. It's the first of a summer series where I go out before the race and then give my time to the timing guy so I can work the finish chutes at the end of the race. This tells me I need to find a race and get my ass in gear to train. Like, can I get it together enough to run a 10k on June 5th? What about the Tufts 10k in October? Too close... too far... just right? What's the right combo?

Perhaps I'll have a better sense after tomorrow. For today, I'm going to pretend that I'm living like I'm in Seattle. I'll find a hipster outfit to wear and trek down to the local Starbucks and drink coffee while typing all day. Running will have to wait.

No excuses

w5+((r4+w3)*3)+r5+w5= 2.5 miles

I blew off running the last two days because I've been writing. Yes, I took fingers to keyboard and have been busily creating characters for a 15k word novella.

And all 3k words I wrote to date stink a big one (as my 4th graders say).

So today when my gray, furry alarm clock woke me at 5:30 instead of 6 looking for food, I hauled my sorry butt out of bed, tossed on a running skirt and top, my shoes and headed out the door. It was a good run too.

The first good thing, I pushed myself a little. That first 4 minute run was tough. That watch watching, song counting sort of "can I make it?" sort of push through. I did and after that it got easier to the point where my last burst of running I was going for 5 minutes before I looked at the watch.

This week marks the beginning of Thursday night river races: good company, 2.6 low pressured miles, cheap beer and good grill food (or pizza, depending on the night) until the end of September. In fact, it's time to add a countdown timer for my first Thursday night race: the Blues Run on May 19 so this will be the last week of relying solely on time. Sunday marks the beginning of running for distances with intervals.

Progress, it's a good thing.

And now for something completely different...

I'm watching the Royal Wedding and the Bishop of London quoted one of my heroes: St. Catherine of Siena: "If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!"

She was an amazing woman, but I always remember Sr. Johnette (of Blessed Memory) telling us stories about Catherine when she subbed in our 7th grade room and, later, when she was my teacher in high school.

Catherine was middle class, the daughter of a dyer and poet. She had visions early on her life and chose to commit herself to Jesus. My two favorite stories of what an amazing woman she was were as follows:

- When there was a problem with church and the Pope took up residence in Avignon, France, she appeared and put him on a boat back to Rome. Every time the Pope would try to get off the boat, Catherine was there to put him right back and bring him "home" and restored the Papacy to Italy rather than allowing the French monarchy steal the church.

- She was given to visions and once, when cloistered in the Dominican convent where she was a member, she was tortured for 3 days by visions of the Devil. She stood fast and never wavered in her faith and, as a result, was "rewarded" with a vision of the sacred heart of Jesus. Her reaction was to ask him where he was for the three days previous when she needed him.

I figured any woman in the 1300's with a set like that was one of my heroes. She stood up to the Pope (and French authorities I'm sure) and to Jesus... that's one amazing woman. But Catherine's words are ones to live by. As you go forward, keep those words in your heart and set the world ablaze.

Thundering through Thursday

This morning's run started with another gift from Ms. Kitten. Yes, I had to wrap another mouse in a paper towel shroud and dump it back into what's quickly becoming a mass grave of mice behind the shed.

Ah nature!

I'm glad I got out when I did as I could feel the thunderheads building as I was out. Unlike the other day when it felt like running through a cloud, today felt like trying to outrun the storm you can see coming. I think about all my friends in areas where tornado klaxons and severe weather has been their reality for the past couple of weeks and pray they're OK out there.

I'm grateful Boston doesn't get tornados (although, occasionally a freak happens and touches down in the Worcester area). We get microbursts which are scary enough, but those are usually in July.

But I did run, or outrun (as the case may be) the building weather. In my last w5+(r3/w3*4)+r3+w5 segment, I made it through with no stops. At first my lungs were pretty tight between the pollen and heavy air, but I pushed through and it wasn't long until my breathing was able to find a rhythm that matched my feet and the music. My music was in shuffle mode and seems to have felt pretty Indy today - stuff from Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Thick as Thieves and Passion Pit... even Feist popped up in there among others. A nice change from my usual running stuff.

Ms. Kitten is now curled up in my office, content that she is doing her job and I'm content to head out the door after breakfast and a shower to do mine. My next run on Sunday will be switching off from r3/w3 to r4/w2 - building a better aerobic base. I can live with that.

One Misty Moisty Morning

Sometimes runners are surprised by what they find when they go out for a run. Today was one of those days.

It was supposed to be a r3/w3 morning running through a cloud, but then Johnny Kelley stopped me. I love running past this tribute to a Boston and running legend. In the spring as things begin to flower around it, it's even more of a tribute to the man and all he represents.

It's not unusual for people to use the statue as a place to stash necessities for long runs: bottles of sports drinks, snacks and such; but also people leave tributes behind as well. Silent, personal testimonies laying bare their soul to perfect strangers that may or may not notice.

This morning was such a morning where there were three testaments of Johnny's meaning in this world. The first was someone hung their BAA medals from the 114th running of the Boston Marathon (last year's 2o1o marathon) on Johnny.

The second was a tribute to a fallen loved one. His picture posted to the tree by the statue with flowers that had faded with the photo simply labeled with a name and his dates.

The third was an empty pair of running shoes next to the base of the statue:

So today I ran 2.5 miles in a fog with 3 minute intervals - 3 minutes running, 3 minutes walking - with one pause in the middle to be surprised, and touched, with a clear vision of why I do this.

Easy Peasy Track Assessment - Easter Edition

2.9 miles w5+r3+(w 1/4 mile+r 1/4 mile *3)+w3+r3+w5

Long formula for a short workout: I ran to the local HS track and ran 1/4 mile then walked 1/4 mile to get a sense of my current pacing. The surprise, I'm running an 11:30 mile. The not so surprising, I was walking closer to a 20 minute mile. Usually I walk faster but this morning the energy wasn't there to push the walking and the running, so I pushed the running.

Overall I'm doing a 13 minute mile - not bad considering it wasn't that long ago I ran a 13 minute mile.

The plan this week is to start increasing the running and backing off the running. I need to push my lungs a little and get past the usual sharp, pointy asthma stick my inner loser pokes me with when I let my guard down. I think I'll still run time instead of miles for another week until May 1. Then I need to train for races. In fact I signed up for the "Lets Run, Have Fun and Be Fit Series" this summer.

Yep, this year I'm running it and not working the timing chutes. I'll do t-shirts, registration, whatever... but this year I'm going to run the races. :) :) :)

But for now it's time to get out and enjoy the spring day. What are you waiting for? Get out there and enjoy the day.