The Long Run

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January 31, 2005

A Tale of Two Runs

This is going to have to be quick since I am absolutely exhausted from today. I hardly slept last night and woke up extra early this morning to do my first run of the day. Then, to top it all off, we had 15% of the staff out today, so all of us who were at work had to pick up the slack.

This mornings run would have been really nice, if I had gone out of the house yesterday. I had my route all planned out so that I could be on autopilot. I rolled out of bed, put on my clothes, put in the contacts, brushed my teeth and was out the door. Yesterday's snow was not plowed, resulting in 2 inches of ice on the development streets. My brain was working enough to grab a flashlight before going out the door since Dad's headlamp needs batteries. I had to go to plan B to get off the icy streets. Since I have a propensity towards falling, running on ice in the dark was just not a good idea. I felt good enough, albeit still asleep. The run ended up being about 27 minutes, maybe 3.75 miles.

This evening we could not run on the track. J left a message for me when I was at work that he could not make it tonight since he had to work overtime. He left detailed instructions as to what the workout was supposed to be: 4 parkway loops, hardly a difference in pace from the pick-up to the recovery. Rumor has it that one loop of the parkway is 0.9 miles, but it seemed shorter and faster than that. I The problem with running on the parkway is dodging cars, although it is cleared and fairly well lit. It is not that bad when there is no other option. My four loops were 5:07, 5:06, 4:54, and 4:54. On the fourth loop I had to go way out of the way to avoid an oncoming car. With a longer warm up and slightly shorter warm down, I think that it worked out to about 8.5 to 9 miles. That brought me to about 13 miles for the day, which is longer than practically any run I've done thus far this year.

Mom is supposed to start her chemo on Wednesday. She isn't sure which course of treatment she is going to get yet because she is participating in a national clinical trial. She says that she is not necessarily looking forward to it, but she wants to start it since the sooner she gets started the sooner she is done with it. She went for bloodwork and to have her port flushed today. She also went to the surgeon for another follow-up to see how the tumor site is healing up. She is coming along and for the most part her spirits are good.

Posted by Blondie at 8:55 PM | Comments (1)

January 30, 2005

More of the Fluffy White Stuff

This morning I awoke to the sounds of cars on wet pavement. You know, that splishy sound of wheels when the road has lots of moisture on it? Anyhow, I looked outside not knowing what to expect to see other than white since last weekend's snow is not going anywhere anytime soon. It was white, of course. So I turned on the TV to hear about the snow that had been falling and, lo and behold, when I put on my glasses I could see that it was indeed snowing outside.

Not really wanting to go out in the snow, and feeling lazy, I putzed around some. I read some of the Sunday paper, watched some TV, and entertained thoughts of not running until well into the afternoon. Finally, something lit a match under my ass and I got moving. The news anchors kept talking about how slippery it was outside since it was more of a freezing rain falling than a snow. This was somewhat concerning since I do have a tendency to fall. The temperature was also a "balmy" 30 degrees. It is really quite pathetic when someone who is always freezing can say that 30 degrees actually feels warm.

The prediction was for about an inch of snow. I can vouch that we received more than that. The best footing, as usual, was in the parts of the roads that were not driven over. The footing was actually deceiving; the areas that appeared to be the best were the areas that were the least smooth, parts where the snow had melted and refrozen in the curbs. These parts looked innocent and fluffy, but after a turned ankle, running towards the middle of the road seemed like it was safer. Once again, my legs felt pretty darned good after Saturday's long run. This may be deceiving as well, since both today and last Sunday were done in fresh snow. Sunday is supposed to be the day to run off road, but with all of the snow that we have gotten the past two weekends, it has not been possible. Maybe I can rationalize it: running on snow is softer than running on the roads?

Once again I skipped the striders at the end of the run. I've really been slacking on these the past two weeks. I just do not see the point of doing drills/accelerations on a road that is snow covered and rivety. The chance of falling and twisting something just outweighs the benefits in my mind. After the fall that basically wiped out last fall, I do not want to risk it again. That ankle took twelve weeks to finally feel right and I do not want to suffer with another mediocre season based on just trying to do the little extra.

I have not really done anything at all today. I rode the stationary bike in the basement for an hour while reading. I'll do core exercises tonight while watching TV (that is if my stomach is not too sore from the intense session I did last night). I still have to put away all of the laundry that I've been doing. Tonight is going to require being in bed very early, as I need to be out the door and running around 5:20. I certainly hope that the roads are relatively clear for this run. It only needs to be 25 to 30 minutes, but I am concerned about it. It is not that I am a bad morning person, but my body does not run particularly well at such an early hour. We shall see...

Posted by Blondie at 4:50 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2005

Pretty Darn Uncomfortable

I have to admit that I laughed at the comments posted on my last entry. One of the reasons that I frequently list how much clothing I have on is that so many of the other bloggers seem to have a completly different internal thermometer than I do. A girl who I used to work with swore up and down that the reason I was so cold was because of my running, but if she met all of y'all, she'd have to change her mind on that theory. Wearing so many clothes is kind of like weight training, it probably adds about five pounds to my body weight. That way when I race in a bra top and shorts I feel so light! The definition of the guy who I am kind of sort of casually dating may even be too much of a definition. I'm not too sure about where I want it to go. I do the terrible thing on occasion that if I see it is him calling and I don't feel up to talking I don't answer. That is probably not a good sign of where the possiblilty of a relationship is heading.

OK, onto the running related stuff...Yesterday was a day completely off. No running, no cross-training, nada. After Thursday night taking so much effort, I decided that taking the day off was in my best interest. The only form of working out was some ab work and stretching out on the foam roller. This was quite helpful in loosening up those darn tight hip flexors. Massaging my right foot in the plantar and the big toe has been helping the tingling sensation that I have been getting for the past two weeks or so. Today there is a bit of a blood blister on that foot, but the other stuff does not hurt.

When I woke up this morning the news said that it was about ten degrees out with wind chills well below zero. Let me tell ya: it felt a whole heck of a lot colder out. Two pairs of tights, four layers on top (but warmer layers than Thursday night), two pairs of gloves, mittens, and two hats did not make me feel warm. I enjoyed the company on the run and felt much better than I did last week, but in general, it was not a pleasant experience. At about the five mile mark, I turned around to say something to J and he just burst out laughing at me. I had grown a beard of ice! Of course, he had icicles growing out of his goatee, so he wasn't looking that hot himself. He was yelling at us that we should have been running about a minute and a half slower than our goal 10K pace, I had to turn around and tell him that unlike himself, I was right on where I should have been. Nothing like putting a man in his place.

J was not planning on going as far as M, A, R, K, M, and myself, so he turned back earlier. Our plan was to go for about 90 minutes. We decided to go by time on our out and back course. There is another course that we could have done that includes a kind of spooky hill road and running back along a pretty major road. The thought of trucks driving by at 50 miles per hour and the gusts of wind associated with that did not sound too appealing, so we just went out and back. The way out is pretty downhill, hence the way back is pretty uphill. One section is three hills that grow steeper, not a fun experience on the way back in on a long run. Anyhow, we turned around at about 47 minutes (at a landmark, not by time). When we ran by a creek, M said that he thought he would last about 30 seconds in it before his heart stopped beating, my reply was that it was about 29 seconds longer than I would last, but he was saying that I would not even be able to make it in without my heart stopping. I am happy to say that I felt pretty strong on the hills coming in. K and I kind of got away from the rest of the group on the third of the series of hills. This week was a much stronger feeling than last week. On the final section of the run, my contact lenses were freezing to my eyes. My eyelashes had icicles on them. This was the final straw in my decision that this run just was not comfortable. My eyes still hurt from the freezing. When we got back, we were all laughing about how much frost we had on our clothes. None of us can remember having a stretch quite this bitter for this long recently. We figured out that our run was just about 13 miles. K and I finished in 91 minutes, actually 90 and change, but I ran around to hit 91. This meant that we came back up the hills quite a bit faster than the way down.

I headed over to the gym after the run. I got on an elliptical for 35 minutes. My right toe had hardly any numbness after the run and by picking my feet up off the pedals it was not too much of a concern on the elliptical. I did it really, really easy since I did my "long" run before. I got off and then rode the bike for 45 minutes while reading Paula's book. I stretched pretty well since I could feel tightness setting in. Then I got to lifting. I did two exercises each for chest, triceps, and biceps and one for back. I want to feel sore tomorrow. Sometime this afternoon I'll do core exercises while watching TV.

Right now my dad is being an absolute sweetheart and washing my car. Well, he's washing all of the cars, but mine is in there. He has to move them into the garage to do it since the water is freezing on the cars. I'm doing laundry since wearing five layers at a time makes it add up really fast. My mom and I have to hit the grocery store and the gift shop after the car is clean.

Monday is day one of the attempted doubles. Tomorrow is going to be very easy so that I can get up well before the sun comes out. J said just get all of the stuff out the night before, roll out of bed, go slow, and then get going for the rest of the day. My dad has a headlamp that I want to borrow, but the moon might be lighting my way!

Posted by Blondie at 1:25 PM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2005

A Minute a Day

This evening as we were starting on our warm-up for the "workout", one of the guys noticed that it was still a bit light out. We're on the upswing now...the days are getting longer. We figured that we are gaining about a minute of daylight per day now. Not that it really mattered. As J stated, you don't notice that it is staying light longer when you're freezing your ass off, the main goals are to stay warm and to stay upright. With the windchill it was well below zero. The worst part was, today was a very sunny day and it just did not get warm. They are calling for record lows overnight tonight. The high today came at midnight, it just kept getting colder all day long.

Needless to say, tonight's run was pretty pathetic. The track is still covered in snow, and most likely will be for quite some time. Parts of the warm up loop were not all that safe, so we had to cut a little bit of it off. Anyhow, we regrouped and decided to do our Monday night loop. Honestly, I was not in the mood to do anything fast; my hip flexors were tight and it was really difficult to breathe. The final decision was that we would each take turns throwing in a surge that was 20 to 40 seconds long. Since there were only four of us it should not have been too bad, but some people had a hard time understanding how long 20 to 40 seconds is. Some of these surges were a good 2 minutes long and for some reason the guys seemed to push them much harder tonight than they ususally do. Maybe I was just more tired than the guys since I actually ran outside in the snow and ice. After that, we each lead a 5 to 10 second surge which were not as bad. After we finished the loop, we turned around and did the warm-down loop. In all, our total was somewhere over eight miles and less than 9 miles.

All of the guys decided that they are tougher than they thought when they heard how much clothing I wore. Two pairs of fleece-lined pants, five tops (including a Gore-Tex Windstopper top) and two hats. I can't wait for my new Gore items to come. As much as I hate to part with that much money, I have to look at it as an investment. It is my health afterall, I don't want to end up with frostbite or hypothermia.

Well, that's all for the day. Got to read all the other blogs and call the guy who I guess I'm sort of kind of casually dating before CSI comes on. Tomorrow I have to pick up a thank you gift for my dad since he's been driving me to work every morning.

Posted by Blondie at 7:50 PM | Comments (3)

January 26, 2005

The Big Thaw

This afternoon's high of 40 caused quite a bit of melting action today. Tomorrow will probably be quite the dangerous mess since the projected overnight low is 14 with a high of 20 for tomorrow. There should be lots of icing overnight. Dad was quite concerned about black ice when he was driving me into work this morning. The roads looked like they might be wet, but since the temperature was only 34 it could have been black ice.

Today was another day of suffering as once again I got next to no sleep. I fell asleep nice and early as planned, but the phone rang once at 10:58 and woke me up for the night. If I don't get sleep tonight, the rest of the week will not be pretty. Dad was a little bit early picking me up from work, so I got to rest for an extra ten minutes this afternoon before heading out on my run.

Because of all the melting, about 95% of the roads were completely clear this afternoon. It felt so strange to be able to stride naturally. I think I figured out what has made my hip flexors so tight for the past few days. The sliding backwards on slush has tightened them up. Extra work on the foam roller should help with that. The toe was not too much of a problem today either. It does not seem to bother me as much when I am running faster, which is probably why it does not really bother me on speed nights.

After running I headed to the gym for a bit of crosstraining. L was supposed to give me Paula Radcliffe's book to borrow today, so I had to make it over there this afternoon. I did the elliptical for 20 minutes, but my legs were way too tired to stay on it any longer. I did the bike for 35 minutes and got started on Paula's book. After that I did some push-ups and dips and some really light weight work.

I have to thank my dad about a thousand times because he has volunteered to take me to work for the rest of the week. He is a car man and does not want me to park somewhere that puts my car at risk for being hit or having an icicle fall on to it. He is so not a morning person and he has to get up early enough to get me into school by 7:00...he never gets up before 7:30 unless he absolutely has to for something. He is just way to good to be true!!

Posted by Blondie at 7:38 PM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2005

A Very Long Day

Do you ever have those days that seem to go on forever? Today was one of those days for me. I think that it started with the fact that I did not sleep last night. Seriously, I thought about getting up and showering/getting ready for work at 2:30 because it seemed like a better idea than tossing and turning. Tossing and turning won out, since there is not a thing to do at that time of day. After I got out of the shower, my dad knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted a ride to work because there probably would not be any parking. My school is not a "mainstream" school, is in the city in a leased building, and does not have a parking lot. I turned him down because he could not get me home since my mom was scheduled for surgery at the same time as I can leave work.

Dad was right, parking was a mess at work. The school is not in the best part of the city and I had to park further away from the building than I would like when it is still dark. As the snow started to melt some, some of the snow on the building fell off the building onto one of the school vans and shattered the windshield. I was very happy to be parked far away when I saw that happen. I think that I am going to take my dad up on a ride tomorrow.

The afternoon dragged on at work, probably since I was so exhausted. I got home and took a longer nap than I should have before I went out to run, but I knew that I would be absolutely miserable if I didn't get some sleep. It was downright balmy out considering the recent weather. I "only" had to wear one pair of tights, a long sleeve, a fleece, windbreaker, hat, and gloves. The roads were a mix of completely clear, snow covered, slushy, and snow packed. I have to say that the worst roads were the unpacked snow roads, it was almost like running on sand at the beach. Since it was getting dark by the time I was finishing I altered the finish of the course to be safer. Another concern in the dusk was the poor footing, which is what I deserve for taking such a long time to get started. In all, I ended up with right around 9 miles. It feels like more because of the extra work involved in running on the poor footing. The mental energy that gets put into thinking about each and every step is draining as well.

I got home and checked on my mom. She had surgery to remove the drain and to insert a port for her chemo. She was groggy, cold, and hungry. Dad had gone to pick up her prescription, close up the office, and pick up some dinner. I changed into dry clothes and went over to the gym. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical, with some tingling in my toes. I have noticed that it is much more difficult immediately after running than it is when several hours pass in between. I always do the same level, but right after running it feels about fifty times harder. It was getting late, but I wanted to get a lifting session in, so I quickly did some lifting. I'm going to try lifting two days in a row, doing different exercises for a while to see if it is more productive.

I still have to clean up the kitchen from my dinner and do some core exercises. I'm still on quite the roll with the veggies. I did miss one day, but that is it. I've been eating lots of vegetable soup and adding more veggies to it so it is more like a stew. I have noticed that I am much better about eating vegetables when I have days off from work and much worse about drinking water on those days.

OK, I have to get going so I can get to bed at a decent hour tonight!!

Posted by Blondie at 7:56 PM | Comments (1)

January 24, 2005

Getting Nothing Done

I was one very lucky individual today since I had a snow day. Snow days are like a double edged sword; I love to have the day off, but I know that it has to be made up in June. As much as I don't want to go to work in June, it is so much easier when the end is in sight. In January and February, having a snow day is like having a bonus vacation day.

Even though I had the day off from work, I got absolutely nothing accomplished today. My plan was to run in the late morning, to avoid traffic and hopefully have some warmer temperatures. I headed out the door to run around 10:30. There was not a whole lot of traffic, most most of the drivers I encountered gave me really dirty looks. The main roads were not that bad, but the further into the developments I got, the worse the roads were. There were a couple of spots where I think there were water main breaks because there was quite a bit of ice. J and I had discussed possibly trying to do some pick-ups in the run, if the roads were not too bad. I tried to do one, but my hip flexors were so tight from shuffling along yesterday that it was not a possiblilty. I got in 8 miles, but it feels like a lot more than that.

The rest of the day seemed to be quite a waste. I looked around at buying some Gore apparel on-line. I think I've picked out what I want to get. I hate to part with so much money, but being warm and not getting frostbite is probably worth the investment. I made a trip to the grocery store and picked up some soup and a loaf of bread. After that, I went to the gym. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical. I tried Alison's suggestion to pick my feet up off the pedals so that my toes didn't get numb. It seemed to work some. After that I did the stationary bike for half an hour. I was going to do some push-ups, but I just wanted to go home. It started to snow when I was in the grocery store, and I just hate to drive in the snow. Well, I don't mind it because I am willing to slow down, the aggressive drivers who do not slow down bother me. It seems to have pretty much stopped snowing again. Maybe the weather gods will look down on me and give me another snow day! I won't even check until at least after 8:00 tonight.

Posted by Blondie at 7:23 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2005

Double Yay!!!

GO EAGLES!!!! 27-10 NFC Champs!! Jacksonville here we come!!! It's been a long time coming. I'm so proud of our Eagles fans, they behaved themselves so well both during the game and in post-game celebrations.

We also have a snow day tomorrow. Beth, all of my friends who have "real" jobs make fun of me for complaining about lack of vacation time, etc. They remind me that I get a week at Christmas, a week at Easter, a long weekend for pretty much every national holiday, AND ten weeks during the summer. But, then they say that they would never want to work the hours that I do, or deal with the things I deal with at school.

That guy wants to go out tonight, but there is no way on earth I'm going out tonight. I'm not even all that sure that I want to pursue anything with him. He is very persistant and comes on very strong. He seems to have different views on many things than I do. There are enough other things going on in my life that adding a relationship is not one of the smartest ideas. I need someone who understands my training and my goals, they come as part of the package. Most guys do not understand the package. Well, I'm going to call him back and tell him that tonight is a no-go.

Posted by Blondie at 8:21 PM | Comments (0)

"Dedicated Runner"

Yes, more than one person told me that is what I am. This morning brought no more snow, but lots of blowing/gusting winds. The wind coupled with bitter cold temperatures resulted in some pretty nasty conditions. The snow was blowing all over the place. I believe that we were pretty lucky because we got the dry, powdery snow instead of the wet heavy snow. When the snow got on me it didn't feel as wet and cold as it could have. All the folks who were out shoveling/plowing/snow-blowing looked at me like I was absolutely nuts. A guy who our family knows quite well told me that I am certifiably nuts when he saw me run past his house this morning.

Due to the weather conditions this morning, I was not sure what I was going to do today. See, the Eagles play in their fourth consecutive NFC Championship game this afternoon, so I can't miss it. They've gotten to win it sometime, it's been 24 years! The Falcons are a dome team AND there is a ton of snow at the Linc. They've been clearing it out all day yesterday and today so the fans can't throw snowballs. Anyhow, I wasn't sure if the gym would be open (it is, 12-6) and the idea of running on the treadmill was not too appealing. It also is not a good idea, as I have a tendency to play "treadmill games", i.e., see how fast I can run on the darned thing. Not the best idea for what is supposed to be a really easy day.

I finally decided that I would do my very short course, a total of four miles. When I got to the turnaround point, I decided that I was out and might as well continue on. The footing was pretty terrible and it was really windy. I may have run an eight minute mile at some point, but it is pretty doubtful. I did my abbreviated 7 mile course, it comes to about 6.8, but it felt harder than that. Running in snow takes so much out of me, it felt more like a 16 miler by the end. The only time that the wind was really at my back was on some of the worst footing; I could just see the wind picking me up, flipping me over, and me landing on my head.

I may have fixed the problem that I was having with my toe. I relaced my shoes so that the laces do not go through the top holes. This took the pressure off of the spot that starts the numbness. It seemed to work, but as Becky stated, the cold makes the injuries seem to go away. The cold is one of the reasons that I don't take ice baths in the winter, the run is like one big ice bath!

Keep your fingers crossed for a snow day tomorrow. All of the major snowstorms seem to come on weekends. The least we can get for a foot of snow is a day off from school. I honestly can't see them being able to get the buses out of the bus yard. Downtown is probably a mess on the narrow streets. A day off would make me one very happy little dedicated runner!

It's almost time for kick-off. GO EAGLES!!!!!

Posted by Blondie at 2:39 PM | Comments (2)

January 22, 2005

In the Nick of Time

The snow has started. Although waking up very early for Saturday morning runs, it can have benefits. In the summer we avoid the heat. In the winter, we usually end up finishing before the snow starts. Sometimes it helps us to avoid heavy winds and sometimes the heavy rains, but those are not definites. Today we managed to outrun the snow.

It was cold when I woke up at 6:10 this morning. The first thing I was doing was trying to see out the window (with no glasses or contacts) to see if the snow had started yet. When you're blind, this is not that effective of a way to check the weather. I turned on the TV and the time and temperature at the bottom of the screen said 7 degrees. Brrr.... So it took about twenty minutes to get dressed. Two pairs of lined tights, a turtleneck, another long sleeved shirt, a Gore-Tex pullover. Then I packed up my bag to head over to the gym if it wasn't too bad out. Dry clothes to work out in and dry clothes to wear home. Then I grabbed the rest of what I would wear to run, another long sleeved shirt and my heavy running jacket. I put on my hat and decided that my head would not be warm enough with just one hat, so I put a thin hat on under my heavier hat. I put on my ski parka to drive over to the high school and grabbed my gloves. Once I got there, I put on two pairs of gloves and socks over the gloves to act like mittens. Hey, I'd much rather have to take something off than be freezing my buns off. I felt like a big marshmallow when we started to run, it was really hard to move. I think that I had on close to ten pounds worth of clothing, an incentive to not gain weight...it's harder to run!

We took the "back roads" this morning. My plan had been to run about 90 minutes. The course we ran has some monstrous hills on it. Running up was hard, but running down was even harder. Early on it felt like toes would shatter from the extra force of landing. The idea had been to run easy, but apparently we were running pretty fast. I could not really tell because I was so cold and it was so hard to breathe. My voice is raspy now, probably from all of the cold air that I was breathing. M charges up every single hill, which was pretty annoying since this course was so hilly. A and I would catch up to him after he surged and then maintain the pace so it would get really fast. Anyhow, we finished the course in just under 82 minutes and all of us decided that was enough for the day considering the weather and the course. I have to find my log book from 2003 since that is the last time that I ran the course we did this morning.

The toe thing started to act up a little bit around 55 minutes. It was tolerable for a while, but in the last mile or so it was worse. We think that it sounds like a nerve issue. I know that work shoes irritate it, but that should not be much of a problem since I have on Merrells now and won't wear dress shoes tomorrow either. Right now it looks like there will be no dress shoes for quite some time.

It wasn't snowing when we got back. The weather was on the radio as I was leaving and they said that it was 10 degrees. I made sure that I dried my hair when I got to the gym. It was absolutely packed, all of the machines were occupied. I got on a bike and read the June or July issue of Runner's World since there weren't any trashy gossip magazines floating around. I rode for an hour. At about 35 minutes it did start to snow. Even though I lifted yesterday, I did some different exercises and lighter weights. My arms are going to be sore tomorrow. By the end of my routine they were getting sore, like the way they did when I swam in college.

Driving home was an adventure. I had to clean off my car. By the time I finished that and got in it could have been cleared off again. It took about four times as long as usual to get home. I stayed in second gear most of the drive home because the roads were so messy. The snow is coming down really hard and fast now. They said that it is going to be snowing at a rate of 1 to 2 inches an hour all day long. I don't think that there will be any running outdoors for me tomorrow. I may have to suck it up on the treadmill in the basement. At least that will limit how long I run, I can't take it for much more than 30 minutes.

When we were kids we used to always bake bread when it snowed. It was the only time when we would have enough time to let it rise. I wish I could today, but none of the breads that I've improvised with wheat flour have turned out really well. If any of you have good recipes for homemade bread using whole wheat flour, please pass them on!!

I hope that everyone else who is getting slammed with weather today is safe.

Posted by Blondie at 1:38 PM | Comments (2)

January 21, 2005

Some Whine (and Cheese)

OK, I'm going to whine and complain about the weather some more. They are forecasting 10 to 15 inches of snow here now. Most of the snow is supposed to fall tomorrow, with a little bit on Sunday. It isn't supposed to start until late morning, so at least I should be able to get my long run in on Saturday morning. The department of transportation usually is not too good about clearing of the roads around here. I do realize that those of you in New England are used to this kind of snow. We haven't had a major snowstorm since President's Day weekend in 2003. My superstitions tell me that I had a great year after that snowstorm, so maybe it is a good omen for me. Treadmill running is not my forte, I just can not do it to save my life. I just go outside and plug away at it, so I can't run too fast-maybe it makes me stronger or lets me rest. The easy days have to be very easy when there is two feet of snow on the ground.

So today, after work I went to the mall and bought new dress boots and a new sweater. After my little shopping excursion, I went to the gym. My right foot was a little bit on the sore side since I wore my "bad" shoes to work and the mall. I managed 45 minutes on the elliptical machine without reading. I was actually watching ESPN coverage of the football games this weekend, since the Eagles are playing. Both of my feet were falling asleep while I was on it. I think that it could be because I'm up on my toes more? After that I did some lifting that I haven't gotten around to all week.

The weather is about to come on soon. I'm supposed to go to the mid-Atlantic USATF banquet tomorrow, but if it is snowing hard I'm not going to make the trip. The drive up would not be too bad, but the drive back could be very dangerous. Although it is all highway driving, it is slightly downhill the entire way.

Keep your fingers crossed that the snow is late and gives me a snow day on Monday!

Posted by Blondie at 6:15 PM | Comments (3)

January 20, 2005

Practically a Heat Wave

Given the recent weather, today was almost warm enough to be considered hot. Of course, it is not going to last more than just today. Tomorrow is supposed to have highs barely out of the twenties again. It was at least 30 degrees when I left the house to go to the track tonight. After several days of low twenties, it felt quite a bit warmer. Now I do understand that not everyone is as adversely affected by cold as myself, but the past few days should be cold by anyone's standards.

No dice on the day off from school today. Not even a late start. Most of the roads really were not all that bad. The Department of Transportation actually did a decent job of clearing the roads for once. We're supposed to get slammed with snow this weekend. They are calling for about 6 inches of snow by 4 in the afternoon on Saturday. I don't mind being snowed in for the Eagles game on Sunday, but I really want the day off from school on Monday.

Tonight's workout was supposed to be 24 minutes at marathon pace on the track. The track was absolutely covered with snow, so the planned workout was a no-go. Instead we did our usual warm-up and then did our Monday night loop backwards. It is quite a bit more difficult backwards than forwards. We did about 2.75 miles give or take at a steady state/marathon pace. I did that section in about 18 minutes. Some areas were a little bit icy, or at least icy looking. One of my biggest fears is falling on ice. The last time I fell on the ice I banged my head pretty hard, so now I am absolutely petrified of falling down and getting a concussion. We warmed down for another 19 minutes, giving us a total of somewhere between 8 and 9 miles for the night. My Zoom Milers are starting to grow on me as I wear them more. Tonight there wasn't any of the numbness in the right big toe, but that could have been because my feet were so cold that I just didn't feel anything in general.

Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to the gym to do some light cross-training and to lift. I haven't gotten to lift any day this week. Saturday is usually a lifting day, but I have a banquet to go to for lunch that is about an hour away, so there won't be much time after my long run to lift.

Posted by Blondie at 8:01 PM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2005

First Appearance of the White Stuff

The forecast today called for some snow later in the afternoon and overnight. They were calling for a maximum of an inch. Around 11:00, I looked out the window at work and saw that it was snowing. It has tapered off some, but it is still snowing at this point. On top of that, we already had at least an inch when I left school at 3:00. Our region does not handle snow particularly well. I don't think that any of the roads were plowed; the major roads were relatively clear, primarily from heavy traffic. It's supposed to get really cold overnight and then up into the mid-30s tomorrow. This all adds up to what could be a very ugly morning commute on Thursday.

No nap this afternoon in the interest of safety. Getting in before it started to get dark was imperative. The roads were slippery enough that throwing darkness into the mix was not a smart idea. Obviously, speed was not a factor today-staying upright was the main concern. I laced up my new adidas Supernova Cushions and layered up. It was significantly warmer than yesterday due to the humidity in the air. The wind had also died down quite a bit. So I went out and did my 7 mile course. I took every corner so slowly because I was so afraid of wiping out. I also tried to run in the fresh snow that had not been driven on since it was not as slippery. I don't know if I was limping or running more flat-footed than usual, but my footsteps sounded clunkier than usual.

Today was exponentially more enjoyable than yesterday. A woman who was out walking her dog said that she could not believe that I was out running in this kind of weather. For the most part, the snow was not that heavy. It was coming down much harder and heavier for about a ten minute section towards the end of the run.

I got home, grabbed a quick shower, and headed out to pick up my new training shoes. I actually needed a bigger size than usual. Even when I size up from my casual shoes, I only wear a 6.5. I needed a 7 in my new Wave Riders!!!!

The area under my big toe on the right foot is acting up again. I was getting the numb toe sensation today while I was running. I think that I can attribute it to wearing pointy-toed heels at work. It didn't bother me all weekend when I had on comfy shoes. I'll try the comfy shoe thing tomorrow for work and see if it helps.

Well, I'm going to check to see if there are any school closings or late openings listed online for tomorrow yet!

Posted by Blondie at 7:39 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2005

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Well, today I feel guilty about complaining that it was cold out yesterday. Last night pales in comparison to what today was like. Now I do realize that I have run in colder temperatures, but I do not know how I ever did. The unusually warm weather in the first half of January and the end of December makes this feel about a million times colder. It was 15 degrees outside this afternoon with a biting wind that made the wind chill well below zero. A sane person would have run inside on a treadmill or taken the day off, but no, not me. I went outside and did my longer mid-week run like a complete and total idiot.

There, it is out in the open now. Several motorists gave me looks of, "What on earth are you doing running outside". I did see one guy on a bike, now he is crazy. I also saw one other runner, whom I do know, and said to him that we must be nuts. The watch stayed at home this afternoon since it is impossible for me to run a decent pace (or at least what I consider to be a decent pace) when it is this cold. I had to stop once because I felt like there was a rock stuck in the bottom of my shoe. There wasn't, but the shoe was squeaking-lucky for me, the new shoes are in! A second stop was required about two and a half miles from home because I could not feel my face anymore. I was trying to run with my hands covering my face so that I could warm it up, but I had to slow down so much as to not lose my balance that I decided just to stop and warm up. I did manage eight miles, but I don't think that I could have gone any further since the cold was affecting me so much.

I went to the gym with the intentions of doing the elliptical, riding the bike and lifting. All that got accomplished was riding the bike for an hour. I talked with L the entire hour that I was on the bike that made it much more enjoyable. By the time I was done on the bike it was after 7:00 and I was hungry. The weight area was still crowded, so I can do it tomorrow when I have some more time. I'll do core exercises when we watch the Cold Case that we taped on Sunday night.

Posted by Blondie at 8:06 PM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2005

Five Brave Souls

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, only five of us were brave enough to suffer in the cold temperatures tonight. The high today was only 25 degrees, but when I left for the track it was about 20 degrees and with the wind chill it was around 5 degrees. As the weatherman stated, since the first half of January was so warm, this cold feels even colder to us.

Even with many layers on tonight, my hands and feet were still freezing. After the warm-up, J gave me another pair of mittens to put on since I said that I could not feel my fingers. There really was not anything that could be done about the numb toes. We did our usual January-Monday night workout of the four mile loop with pick-ups. Since there were only five of us, we pretty much stuck together, taking turns on who lead the pick-up. Early on J said to us, "take what you can get, it's better than not doing anything tonight". I did not even bother turning my watch on, there was no point in timing a rather easy effort workout, I was just happy to get out and do something.

This morning I was going to try my first double, but I slept later than plannend and had too much on my agenda for the day. I went to buy my two new pairs of training shoes, but only came away with one. The Wave Rider 8 is expected to come in any day, so my name was added to the special order list. The Rider is so popular that it has it's own list! I did get a pair of adidas Supernova Cushion. I've never worn them before, but they should suffice for my clunker shoes (the shoes that get worn on easy runs). Then I had a few errands to run before going to the movies with my mom. We saw Meet the Fokkers and really enjoyed it. Then we made a quickie trip to Trader Joe's to pick up some necessities.

Now I need to make something hot to drink to try to warm up from the inside out!

Posted by Blondie at 7:52 PM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2005

Better Night than Expected

Last night was quite a bit more fun that I expected it to be. I was sort of not looking forward to this wedding. The bride is a girl who I went to high school with, did not see for all of college and grad school, but then ran into when she moved back to the area two years ago. S and I were both single, or you could say that we were each other's dates. We were almost late for the wedding. We pulled up in front of the church about a minute before the wedding was supposed to start and ran in. We were the last guests to be seated by the ushers. As soon as we were sitting down they started the seating of the mothers. That was the first bit of excitement for the evening.

The directions from the church to the reception were not very well written, even for those of us who are local. Half of the bridal party got lost, as well as the parents of the groom. The hall was nice enough to extend the reception for an hour due to the problems. S and I were concerned that we were the only single women at the reception, making us the only ones to go out and try to catch the boquet. We decided that if it was only the two of us, we would ham it up and make a really big deal about it. Lucky for us, there were other single young women who really wanted to catch that darned thing. B tossed that thing and it almost hit the wall, and a guy caught it. If either S or I stuck our hand in the air, we would have caught it. B tossed it again and those girls were practically fighting over it. S and I left about an hour before the reception ended since we were both tired. She also had to get up early and drive out to central PA to visit her grandmother whose health is failing.

Due to the reception running so late, we did not eat until late last night. Because of that, I did not sleep particularly well. My stomach was not too happy this morning when I got out of bed. J has suggested that I run off roads on Sundays because that is really the only day that I can get my entire run in during daylight. I got myself dressed and drove over to a small park to run. I ran pretty much every trail and loop around the park forwards and backwards. Most of the ground was semi-frozen, probably not too much softer than going on the roads. I ran for 51 minutes, but did not feel so great for the early parts. I was supposed to do some striders this morning, but I just wanted to get home and in the shower.

This afternoon I finised my laundry and watched the Eagles game. After that I went over to the gym and did 35 minutes on the elliptical. Tomorrow I'm going to see Meet the Fockers with my mother and maybe my aunt. Buying two new pairs of training shoes is also on my agenda. It is amazing how quickly days off can get filled.

Posted by Blondie at 7:15 PM | Comments (0)

Better Night than Expected

Last night was quite a bit more fun that I expected it to be. I was sort of not looking forward to this wedding. The bride is a girl who I went to high school with, did not see for all of college and grad school, but then ran into when she moved back to the area two years ago. S and I were both single, or you could say that we were each other's dates. We were almost late for the wedding. We pulled up in front of the church about a minute before the wedding was supposed to start and ran in. We were the last guests to be seated by the ushers. As soon as we were sitting down they started the seating of the mothers. That was the first bit of excitement for the evening.

The directions from the church to the reception were not very well written, even for those of us who are local. Half of the bridal party got lost, as well as the parents of the groom. The hall was nice enough to extend the reception for an hour due to the problems. S and I were concerned that we were the only single women at the reception, making us the only ones to go out and try to catch the boquet. We decided that if it was only the two of us, we would ham it up and make a really big deal about it. Lucky for us, there were other single young women who really wanted to catch that darned thing. B tossed that thing and it almost hit the wall, and a guy caught it. If either S or I stuck our hand in the air, we would have caught it. B tossed it again and those girls were practically fighting over it. S and I left about an hour before the reception ended since we were both tired. She also had to get up early and drive out to central PA to visit her grandmother whose health is failing.

Due to the reception running so late, we did not eat until late last night. Because of that, I did not sleep particularly well. My stomach was not too happy this morning when I got out of bed. J has suggested that I run off roads on Sundays because that is really the only day that I can get my entire run in during daylight. I got myself dressed and drove over to a small park to run. I ran pretty much every trail and loop around the park forwards and backwards. Most of the ground was semi-frozen, probably not too much softer than going on the roads. I ran for 51 minutes, but did not feel so great for the early parts. I was supposed to do some striders this morning, but I just wanted to get home and in the shower.

This afternoon I finised my laundry and watched the Eagles game. After that I went over to the gym and did 35 minutes on the elliptical. Tomorrow I'm going to see Meet the Fockers with my mother and maybe my aunt. Buying two new pairs of training shoes is also on my agenda. It is amazing how quickly days off can get filled.

Posted by Blondie at 7:15 PM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2005

Definitely January

After two weeks of unusal January weather, winter showed its face today. Two days ago, it was nearly 70 degrees out. Yesterday a front came through bringing heavy rain and dropping temperatures. This morning it was 26 degrees when I woke up to get ready for the 7 AM long run. Even though it has been on the warm side, I have been on the chilled side most of the time. This morning I was freezing!

Getting in bed really early last night was a great help in feeling better. Only getting four hours of sleep on Thursday night was not a good idea. Then having some serious problems going to work (more about that later) left me absolutely, positively wiped out. As always, once I got moving I was feeling pretty decent.

Today I think that I ended up with just the right amount of clothing on (for me). I was chilly early on, but pretty comfortable for most of the run. My plan/goal was to run for 80 minutes this morning. Our local stud showed up...whenever she runs with us, the pace is ridiculous. The group I was with was her and four other guys. One of the guys surges up every hill and then backs off, which I find a little bit annoying. We encountered a few icy patches, but nothing too bad. There are quite a few tough hills on this course, about two and a half miles of trail, and finally in the last three miles a very long and steep hill. Two months ago when we ran this course, we finished in 77 minutes and change on a day that was much warmer and not nearly as windy. We got back in just over 78 minutes, so we were definitely hauling this morning. There was a section that we had to back off the pace since someone had to take a potty break and let him catch up again. At first I was thinking that I was running really slowly, but when we finished and I saw the time, I realized how fast the pace was this morning. I jogged around the parking lot to hit 80 minutes on the nose.

I have a difficult time getting used to the cold weather. It takes my body quite a bit of effot to stay warm, so having energy to run fast in the cold is difficult for me. I know others whose bodies freak out on days like Thursday. For me, warm weather is not too difficult to get used to running in.

After the run I went to the gym and rode the bike for 60 minutes and lifted. For the first 20 minutes that I was on the bike my fingernails were still purple from being so cold while running. Lifting was pretty decent, the crowds are starting to taper off which is nice.

Today requires lots of laundry and cleaning before getting ready to go to a wedding this evening. I need to paint my toenails and if time is available, my fingernails. The toes are a definite, no one wants to look at my misshapen toe nails!

Yesterday I ran out of gas when driving to work. I knew that I needed to buy gas, but thought that I had enough to make it to work and stop at the cheap station on the way home. As I was getting on the Interstate, I realized that I was no longer in control of the car. It was pouring rain and I was on the entrance ramp with nowhere to go. I put the car in neutral and coasted on the highway into the shoulder. Then I called my parents to help me and called work to let them know I was going to be late and something was wrong with my car. All of the lights on the control panel had come on and I thought that something had happened with all of the water from the rain. My poor father came out and had to tow me in the pouring rain. He and I had a little tiff, but I explained that the light came on when I was coming home from the track and there was no place to buy gas at midnight. I was scared to death since I was sitting on the highway in the pouring down rain with trucks blowing by me at 75 miles per hour. Thankfully, everything ended up being OK. The lesson learned is when my gas light is on, I need to get fuel ASAP!

Posted by Blondie at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2005

Shorts in January!

Yesterday was one of the most bizarre days of January that I have ever experienced. I do not ever remember it being so warm in this area in January. It was nearly 70 degrees yesterday. Not one time in my life have I ever run outside in January wearing shorts. Of course, it poured rain today and the temperature has dropped dramatically, but yesterday was unbelievably warm.

Last night's workout is being blamed on the weather. Really, the weather made me do it wrong. The workout was the same as last Thursday, which was to do 20 minutes on the track at "realistic marathon pace". My workout buddy was here this week, so I had somebody to run with. We were supposed to be aiming for just under 7:00 pace, but that was not to be. We went through the first mile in 6:25. Making a conscious effort to slow down during the second mile resulted in a 6:40. Trying to maintain on the third mile, we ran a 6:30. Hey, nice weather, might as well take advantage of it while we can!

C was leading the warm-down. It was ridiculously fast. Faster than we did the workout. Finally we slowed down. After the warm-down, we were all hanging out talking about how hard it was to believe that we could stand around after a workout in January, wearing shorts, and not be freezing.

Our usual post workout watering hole was forced out of it's location and we have not found a definite replacement. We went to a bar and hung out for a while. Then we went to another bar where I ran into the guy who I went out with a few times, but have not called due to being busy. That ended up in staying out way too late for a work night. It was a good night, but no dinner :( Stupid me.

No running today. Tomorrow is a longer run. I'm shooting for about 80 minutes, but I'm not sure if my body is going to tolerate it right now. My left shin has a huge knot in it from not stretching last night. I've been trying to work it out and ice it out. It feels much better now than it did earlier in the day.

Posted by Blondie at 3:24 PM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2005

Come out, Come out, Wherever you are

Will the sun please make a guest appearance someday soon? Seriously, the last time it made an appearance in these parts was last Friday. I think. In any case, I am going through some serious withdrawl. It isn't like I'm a sun worshipper, in fact I pretty much shun the sun. My pale skin does not react well to the sun. The lack of sunlight has caused a dread of going out to run. There is nothing appealing about foggy, cool, raining days. This is not the kind of weather that screams out "Come outside and run!!". I would almost rather it be cold and sunny. The weatherman has said that cold temperatures are coming this weekend and will be staying around for a while. Maybe the sun will come with the cold.

This morning I woke up and my feet did not hurt at all. As I got dressed and put on a skirt, I pulled out a pair of boots and then thought better of it. I put on a pair of orthopedic looking shoes. They are much more comfortable than high heeled boots. It helped through the day. At one point, that big toe area was starting to feel irritated, but then it cracked and felt much better again.

This afternoon resulted in being absolutely exhausted. I crawled in bed to take a nap. Although it was only half an hour and I woke up twice during it, I thought that it was night and I had gone to bed until the morning. My guess is that I'm still recovering from not getting enough sleep last week.

This afternoon was a better run than yesterday was. Yesterday I felt a little bit more fluid, today was sort of restricted feeling. My range of motion felt kind of tight, so I need to work on my hip pointers tonight on the foam roller. I did 7 miles, but really had to use the bathroom again. After that I felt so much better. I finished the run in 47:17, which is much more respectable than what I did yesterday. I know that I lost fitness when I took some down time, but it will come back soon enough.

Like last week, I did not feel like leaving the house again. The weather is not exactly the kind that makes me want to do anything. I also am running low on gas and am trying to not spend money this week after so much shopping last weekend. Instead I went down to the basement and read while I rode the stationary bike. I ended up on it for an hour because I lost track of time while reading.

Finally, veggies are 12 for 12!

Posted by Blondie at 7:12 PM | Comments (1)

January 11, 2005

Big Thank You to the DPCC

DPCC is the country club that I run by every day that I run from home. The big thank you is for keeping the port-o-pot out this far into the winter. It is not like they have all that many golfers out in December and January, so keeping it out and stocked requires a major thank you! I believe that I frequent this bathroom at least once a week, including today. It is never a good sign when it feels like it is time to go about 200 meters into the run.

So today was just like just about every other day that we have had recently: cool, damp, dreary. It wasn't all that bad while I was out running. Translation: it wasn't raining. I really thought that I was running pretty fast. Today was the first time that something other than a workout or long run has been timed since sometime in November. Today was a big wake-up call, I have not been running as fast as I think. Today was also the start of doing a longer run in the middle of the week. This run will gradually get longer as the spring goes on. Nothing like starting more than one thing at a time. In all I did about 8 miles, but I'm pretty sure that the course is longer than that, in about 57 minutes. The zipper on the right leg of my pants kept coming undone which was driving me nuts. Those pants went right into the trash can when I got back. Usually I'll donate my old running clothes to charity, but these are probably broken. In reality doing a training run at 7:10 pace isn't that bad, especially considering I'm just getting back into the swing of things.

Afterwards, I went to the gym. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. The balls of both feet were going numb this time. I cracked the part of my foot that was being irksome while I was at work today and that made it feel so much better. After the elliptical was 20 minutes on the stationary bike. I can not wait until January is over and the New Year's resolutioners start to fade out since the whole place was mobbed. I did a quick lifting session that I thought about scrapping since it was so crowded. I decided to lift a little bit more weight and do less reps today. I think that I'll be more sore tomorrow from doing that.

Finally, veggies are 11 for 11! Squash, zucchini, and tomatoes tonight. I've been eating them since we got the fresh stuff at the farmer's market and I don't want it to get moldy.

Posted by Blondie at 7:56 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2005

What's up with this weather?

Not that there is much complaining, other than about it being wet. Today was yet another unseasonably warm day here in the mid-Atlantic. They are actually calling for highs in the mid-60s later on this week. Of course, my internal temperature registers anything under about 65 as being cold! My big fear right now is that in two weeks it is going to be seasonable and I will be freezing.

Tonight's workout was the same as last Monday night. We did our 2.5 mile warm-up and then headed over to do our loop. We threw in about 8 or 9 surges of varying length. I think that we did our surges in the same places as last week, mainly because they made sense and were familiar. We did the 4.3 mile course in 27:42, so we were moving at a pretty good clip. R was able to stay with us better since we were more conservative early on this week. We waited for M some on the last stretch where it is pretty dark and spooky at night. After the stragglers came in we turned around and did the warm down loop, a total of about 9 miles for the evening.

That spot on my right foot is still sore. I think that it may be correlated with the numbness I was having earlier last week in my big toe. Right now I have a package of frozen peas on it. Speaking of veggies: squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and corn (not really a veggies, but some people throw it in there).

I need to finish my Internet stuff so that I can watch The Bachelorette tonight to see Josh Cox on it. Eleven o'clock is way past my bedtime, so I probably only see the early part of the show.

Posted by Blondie at 7:53 PM | Comments (0)

January 9, 2005

Lazy Sunday

Today was a lazy day. Not as lazy as it could have been, but it was pretty darn lazy. After going to bed early last night, I mean early for a Saturday night, I slept in. Last night my mom and I were watching Ocean's Eleven and I could not keep my eyes open at 9:30, so I got in bed to read for a few minutes before going to sleep. This morning I did not wake up until almost 9:30. The only time I woke up was when I had to pee in the middle of the night. Let me tell ya, I was still groggy at 10:30 when I could muster enough energy to head out the door to run.

Here's a question, can it be called bonking if you never feel good in the first place? I had a headache most of last night from not really eating enough during the day. That headache was still present this morning when I got out of bed. I never felt good this morning while running, but I never felt really bad either. There just was not a whole lot of energy, bounce, or life in the legs. It was cool and damp, but not raining! I was wearing a pair of old shoes since my Mizunos were still wet and my Asics seem to hurt my big toe on my right foot. There is a suspicious bruise there that appeared one day after I wore them. The spot bothers me more when I have on certain pairs of work shoes, with pointier toes. I wear the worst non-running shoes: pointy toes and high heels.

This afternoon didn't have much productive activity. Lots of just sitting around doing nothing. Finally I dragged myself over to the gym to do 35 minutes really easy on the elliptical. Pretty soon these cross-training ventures are going to be ending. On Thursday night, J brought up something that I had been toying around with, but didn't think he would agree to for me. He wants me to start running on Monday and Thursday mornings before work. Now I need to find someone who is willing to get up and do an easy half hour run with me on those mornings. The idea of running by myself at 5:00 AM is not all that appealing. With those extra miles and the required extra sleep, some of the cross-training is going to have to go out the window.

We had a good time wig shopping yesterday. We went to a local farmer's market that is supposed to be the place to go to buy wigs. He has a special room for cancer patients where he keeps all of the good wigs. M found a wig that she wants for herself. He was not going to let us in the special room since he can't really get mom in a wig until her hair is gone, but she was about to cry so he let us in. The selection he has is amazing. He told her to come back once her hair is staring to fall out and her head is shaved. My mom has an unusually big head. Both of her siblings do as well. One of her brothers had to have his helmet specially made when he was in the Army because none of the helmets would fit his head. Thankfully, I did not get the size of her head, I have a peanut head!

While we were there, we picked up some fresh veggies: zucchini, squash, and tomatoes. Friday night I had green beans, zucchini, squash, and corn (although corn is more of a starch, with all those other veggies I'll throw it in). Yesterday was the same for dinner and spinach at lunch. Today had spinach at lunch, not sure yet for dinner, probably the fresh squash and zucchini.

Now I need to catch up on what everyone else is up to, most importantly to see if Liz's marathon results are posted yet!

Posted by Blondie at 5:59 PM | Comments (0)

January 8, 2005

Gross out...AGAIN

So Friday is my day off from running. What do the weather gods bless us with? Sunny skies, not too much wind, generally pleasant weather. Saturday morning is long run time. What does the weather do? It is cool and rainy, yuck! I should mention that it did start to rain around 8:45 last night, but we are most definitely stuck in a wet weather pattern.

Yesterday there was no form of exercise whatsoever, except for some serious shopping. Yes, shopping is a form of crosstraining. Immediately after school, I went to see if there was anything to wear to the wedding next weekend. No such luck on that front, but I did find some other things that I was looking for on sale. See, lugging two coats and various other items around the mall and bumping into a former training partner is a bit of a workout. Then a trip to Trader Joe's is definitely a form of exercise. Carrying all of those veggies and a gallon of milk around is some kind of weight training. After dinner I went to the other mall and finally bought the skirt that I've been looking at since October to wear to this wedding.

This morning there were about 15 of us who seriously need to have our heads examined. Who in their right mind would get out of bed at 6:00 on a Saturday morning when it is 35 degrees and raining out? So we're all die-hards. Hey, there are much worse addictions to have. This week, we broke up into more groups since a few guys wanted to run closer to two hours, a few guys wanted to run exactly 60 minutes, and there was a crew that was running at a more relaxed pace. I was with two of the same people from last weekend and another girl. We did pretty much the same thing as we did on New Year's Day, running through the grounds of the historic estate and golf course next door. It is a truly beautiful run that I especially enjoy doing when the long runs are not supposed to be all that long. We did alter the route a bit since one of the hills from last week was really muddy. My shoes were soaked about 200 meters into the run, nothing like a long run with wet socks! We did go a little bit faster than last weekend. When we got back to the school, I ran down the road for another 5 minutes or so and turned around to come back. My plan was to run for 70-75 minutes, but I ended up at 76 minutes, probably close to 11 miles since we were hauling coming back in.

Then came the usual Saturday morning trip to the gym. 45 minutes on the stationary bike and some lifting. My toes were feeling numb after about 40 minutes on the bike and I was thristy, hungry, and grumpy-time to get going.

Jen, clean bathrooms are the apple of my eye. This port-o-pot is very clean considering it is not a "real" bathroom. There is a gas station on our long run course, at the turn around point, that is the cleanest gas station bathroom I have ever encountered. I remember which ones are clean on my routes so that I know where to stop if needed. Bridget, it is so funny that you mentioned the Wave Riders. I absolutely ADORE those shoes. Right now I have a pair of Riders, Asics Cumulus, and the Miler in my rotation. Our local running store does not carry the Precision...I liked the original adidas Rotterdam and the original Brooks Burn for lightweight training shoes. I need to get new shoes, but I am waiting until the 17th because I have the day off from work and the Rider 8 isn't in quite yet. As far as racing shoes, I struggle. My feet are tiny, like women's 6.5 tiny. All racing shoes need to be special ordered for me. I liked the Hyperion Racer, but they were worn out, so we ordered the T3 for me in the same size. It's bigger and I just don't like it nearly as much. It really stinks since they need to get ordered just for me and if I don't like them I'm stuck with them.

Mom had a tough day on Thursday, but had a pretty good day yesterday. She finds that she gets tired pretty easily and did a lot yesterday, especially compared to what she has been doing. The same lady cuts both of our hair and she gave me lots of information plus her home phone number so that mom can call her and ask questions. B said that she would even come to our house to shave her head if my mom isn't comfortable seeing other people when it comes to that time. We are going to look at wigs this afternoon with one of her best friends. M and my mom met in the obstetrian's office when M was pregnant with her son and my mom was pregnant with me. M is a really fun woman to be around, she definitely does not act her age at all.

Posted by Blondie at 11:29 AM | Comments (2)

January 6, 2005

Day Two of Blech

Yet another rainy, damp, cool, dreary day. That bright yellow thing in the sky has not been seen in these parts for several days. It may make a guest appearance for a little while tomorrow as the forecast is calling for partly cloudy and partly sunny. Of course, that is the day off from running, so the weather would improve for it!

This afternoon I had a haircut before the workout. It figures that I would get my haircut and then run, so nobody can see it while it still looks cute from the stylist doing it! It was starting to get bushy on me. When it gets to the point that it almost makes a ponytail it is getting to be too long.

I'd like to thank everyone for their encouraging comments about the workout that was on tap for tonight. I have absolutely no plans to run a marathon this year. The last one that I did was such a horrendous experience that I would not like to repeat it again until I feel good and ready for it (read a few more years). The workout went very well, albeit not how it was supposed to go. The school put all eight of the barriers up on the track, so we had to run all the way out in lane 4 for the entire lap. We aren't sure exactly how much this adds on to each lap, but our guess is 3-4 seconds per lap, or 12-16 seconds per mile. I was supposed to hit each mile just under 7:00, but with the barriers up it should have been closer to 7:15. So I went through the first mile in 6:59. Ok, not too fast, relax a little, don't push through it. Two miles, 13:51, a 6:52 mile. Relax, relax, don't work on pushing, just maintain. Finished the 11th lap in 18:59, kept going to finish the 20 minute section, but decided just to finish the full mile. Three mile time, 20:45, a 6:54. I did pull back a little bit of the effort after hitting the 20 minute point. I was running by myself, which I'm not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. 20:45 sounds so slow for 3 miles, but it was quite a bit over 3 miles since it was all the way out in lane 4. Also this is not supposed to be a true track workout. I have to be very happy with the effort. I'm not sure if I like my Zoom Milers. They've only been worn three or four times. I got them so cheap that it doesn't matter if they don't make it through an entire season. I may need to invest in another pair of lightweight trainers to wear on the track.

Day 6 of veggies completed. Green beans and peppers. So much water that I had to make potty breaks just about every hour at work. I really am not all that good, just trying to make an effort to improve slightly. Last year's resolution was to improve on water and floss every day. I was good about the water, but I'm trying to get even better about it. I flossed just about every day last year and don't mind it all that much anymore!

Posted by Blondie at 7:59 PM | Comments (2)

January 5, 2005

Blech...

describes the conditions today. It wasn't all that cold out, even given my tendency towards being a popsicle at all times. It just was not weather that would make anyone want to go outside to run (or do anything for that matter). It rained off and on all day, very heavily at times. The sun did not peek out at all during the day. It was not warm, but for some reason I didn't find it all that cold either.

I contemplated skipping my ritual of taking a nap this afternoon so that I could go to the 5:00 Spinning class, but the nap won out. It was just so gross out that once I got home I decided that I was not going to venture out again. My run this afternoon was about a gazillion times better than yesterday. My legs did not feel like there was a fifty pound weight attached to each one. The stomach was acting up some, but a quick stop in the port-o-pot around the halfway mark solved that situation. I must thank the folks at the country club for keeping the port-o-pot out this late in the year. As far as portable toilets go, this one is great. It is actually pretty clean and always has at least one roll of toilet paper in it at all times. Back to the run...it was drizzly while I was out. It was also getting awfully dark since there was no sunlight during the day. Once I was back at the house, I did my striders and drills like a good girl should. As long as they get done at least twice a week I'll be happy.

Once back home, I wanted to get some of the lactic acid out of my legs, but not go to the gym. We have a stationary bike in the basement, so I got on dry clothes and rode the bike for 40 minutes while reading. Tomorrow night is a "track workout". The schedule calls for 20 minutes at marathon pace. This should be awfully interesting since I have not run a marathon in over two years, never ran a good one, and am significantly faster than the last time one was attempted. It should actually be a relatively easy workout, since goal marathon pace isn't all that much faster than what most of my training is. We're thinking realistically-something right around 3 hour pace.

Still on the veggie roll...tonight served up lots of green beans. Another part of the diet that is being improved on this year is water consumption. I always get at least 2 full Nalgene bottles in my body during the day. This year I have been trying for 3 full bottles. This means spending lots of time in the ladies room at work, but it's all for a good cause.

Posted by Blondie at 7:05 PM | Comments (4)

January 4, 2005

Braving the Resolutioners

This blogger was a very bad girl last night. Bed time should really be around 9:30 or 10:00 on school (work) nights. 11:00 or so is just too late and I know it. Of course, a call to the college roomie took precedence as well as a chat with mama. Finally, at least 10 pages of reading is a prerequisite before going to bed. All of this on top of waking up at 5:15, about 15 minutes before the alarm is set to go off, resulted in one very tired person today. Along with the fact that last week included getting at least nine hours of sleep per night, I was barely in a vertical position by the end of the day today. The traditional afternoon nap did not do much to help matters.

While running this afternoon, I felt like death warmed over due to being so tired. The calves were still on the sore side, but that was not what was the problem. The problem was there was just no energy to put one leg in front of the other. Close to the six mile point, on my way home, the toes on my right foot were going numb. I'm not sure what brought this on, I wasn't wearing new shoes or socks. I was able to slog through 7 miles, but could not cajole myself to do the striders I was supposed to do. They can always be done tomorrow.

Afterwards was a trip to the gym. The facility was closed on Saturday and was more crowded than it usually is on Sunday. I never go on Mondays when I'm going to the track, which is a good thing since that night is the most crowded night of the week. Tuesday is not much better, every machine was being used. I did about 20 minutes on the elliptical with the hopes that my legs would come back to life, no such luck. Then I climbed on the stationary bike for another 20 minutes just to flush out the last of the lactic acid left in my legs. I did a quick lifting session as the weight area was beginning to clear out.

Now for two quick updates. First, mom went to the oncologist today. She has opted for chemo since it makes a large difference in her chances for a relapse. They told her she was stage 2A, but would have been stage 1 if it had not spread into that sentinel node. She just wants to treat it as aggressively as possible because she does not want to take any chances that it is festering in her somewhere. Secondly, I have made it four for four with eating more veggies this year-more spinach for dinner tonight!

Posted by Blondie at 7:50 PM | Comments (1)

January 3, 2005

Tight Calves

My calves were unusually tight today. So much so that it was noticable just walking around at work. They were really tight first thing in the morning so it can not be attributed to wearing heels, which I even did some during my vacation. I believe that I can pinpoint the tightness to one of two things: some of the strider/drills I did yesterday or the elliptical machine I was using in the afternoon. The elliptical was one of those incline style elliptical trainers, not the one with the moving arm pieces. Whatever the culprit, some serious foam rolling will be done this evening to alleviate the feeling.

Tonight was the first "workout" of the year. This is really the base-building phase for us, so the workout was kind of unstructured. We did the warm-up and then jogged over to the start of a loop that we have laid out for the purpose of snow or the inability to get on the track. The goal was to run at about a regular pace and throw in 8-10 100 meter or so accelerations. One of the guys who is trying to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman and I were running together. A few of our early accelerations were significantly longer than 100 meters. At one point we realized that our recovery was absurdly fast, so we backed off. A little bit past halfway we have to cross a four lane road and another one of the triathletes who just started to train with us caught up to us. We backed off the pace a bit so that he didn't fall off too badly. I am adamant that nobody runs alone in the dark-I wouldn't want anyone to leave me alone in the dark, so I won't leave someone else alone in the dark. I try to treat the other people I run with the way I would like to be treated. We finished the 4.3 mile loop in 27 and change. Then we headed off on the warm down for a total of about 9 miles for the day.

It was unusally warm for January-of course I still had on long pants and long sleeves even though it was 55 degrees out. Before we left, a woman who we all know is crazy ran by us-in shorts and a tank top. J kept telling me that I would be hot, but I was comfortable. My body temperature must be really low or I just like to be really warm.

This afternoon I had the 4:00 news on before heading over to the track. They were doing all of the reports on the tsunami and were then discussing a local teacher and her husband were survivors of the disaster. I looked up and saw the woman who was the head coach of my college swim team my senior year in college. The name was not familiar since she has gotten married since, but she looks and talks exactly the same. They didn't make a reservation and did not get the room until they arrived at the resort. They wanted a room that faced the water but it was not available. None of the people in rooms facing the water survived, so it was fate that the rooms were not available. She said that she went back to work today beacause she had to keep her life as real and normal as she possibly can.

Posted by Blondie at 8:00 PM | Comments (2)

January 2, 2005

Last Day of Leisure

Today is the final day of leisure for quite some time. Tomorrow it is back to the dreadful job. Today is a day that I have been dreading for an entire week. A second resolution for the new year is to find a new job. This job that makes me so unhappy is not good for me. My health and outlook suffer so much as a result of the work environment and co-workers. My happiness would even be worth a pay cut, although with my itty-bitty paycheck a pay cut is nearly impossible. The bad news is that recently the local classified ads have been about two pages, mainly sales-type jobs. Enough moaning and groaning, I just need to make the best out of a very bad situation. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

This morning was a fairly decent run. I may have run too fast for what Sunday is supposed to be. Later on in the season the days take on more meaning. In the "off-season", or down time, all of my days are about equal in effort. I ran seven miles, completely untimed. I also did four striders, well more like drills, that were about 75 meters each. The temperature was supposed to be about 42 when I went out, but I swear that it was a lot colder. I had on two long sleeve shirts, baggy running pants, a vest, and gloves and I was absolutely freezing. Around halfway I ended up running into the wind for the rest of the run. I was shivering by the time I got back to the house.

This afternoon I went shopping, unsucessfully, for an outfit to wear to this wedding. There are twelve shopping days left to find something to wear. There is a dress that I already own, but I wore it to another wedding and that couple is divorced now, so it has bad karma on it. After that trip it was off to the gym for half an hour on the ellipitical. I'll do core exercises while I watch my shows on TV tonight.

Posted by Blondie at 7:58 PM | Comments (0)

January 1, 2005

Great Start to the New Year

OK, so I act a lot like an old lady at times. There was no staying up until midnight to ring in the New Year. After my short shopping trip for me and running wedding errands with my friend B and her fiancee yesterday, I had great plans to head accross the street around 10:30 until midnight. Well, after dinner and some relaxing on the couch, my body decided that it was tired and rest is more important. Into the pj's around 8:30 and into bed around 9:15 to read some. Sound asleep by 11:00. Oh well, I felt great all day today whilst others who were living it up last night had splitting headaches all day!

So this morning for the 7 AM "long" run there were only five of us. J and his brother who both swore up and down that they would be there were no-shows. It was unbelievably mild for January 1. I was still chilly, but that is the norm unless it is over 75 degrees out. Our plan was to run for about an hour, which is why long was in quotation marks. As far as I am concerned, I call my longest run of the week my long run, even if it isn't all that long. Depending on the time of year and what the current goals and objectives are, long can be as short as an hour or as long as my body is willing to go.

We lost C about 20 minutes into the run. He was the only one of the group that had rung in the new year last night and needed to purge some. We ran through a historic garden/estate that was previously owned by a very wealthy family. The grounds are absolutely beautiful and quite hilly. One of the guys was having some trouble keeping up with us at one point and told us to go on, but we told him that we would wait for him because he was tired, not hung over (he got sympathy!). There was hardly anyone else out. We saw one cyclist and no other runners or walkers. When we got back to the school, we'd been running for 67 minutes, so M and I ran around the back of the school to hit 70 minutes. We ended close to 71 and if I'd known we were so close, I would have gone a few more seconds because an even number is much nicer for my obsessive personality. I think that it was about 10 miles since we were moving at a good clip. In all, it was a very nice way to get the new year started on the right foot.

Now that it is a new year, I need to start making some goals to work towards. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to run a local half marathon. The only reason to run this race is to have local bragging rights. The course isn't all that fast, there isn't really good competition, it's usually cold and windy, and the course isn't all that pretty either. After that I'll do Broad Street with the goal of getting as close to 60:00 as possible. In the fall, I know that I'll be doing a half marathon the third weekend in September, but I'm not sure which one. I'll either do PDR which I've done for the past several years and absolutely love, or I'll do the women's half marathon championships in Des Moines. I still have a qualifying time and it is a great experience, but it will mean travelling and taking some time off from work. Other than these races, there will be some low-key, fun races and I'll find some others to focus on. One of the nice things about being on marathon sabbatical is that I can focus on many races. My primary goal is to learn how to fuel while I run.

This afternoon S and I helped B make wedding favors. If I never see a purple M & M again I will be very happy. It was nice to get to see some people today. B's mom and dad were drunk and passed out watching TV while we were being crafty. Her fiancee kept offering to go to the craft store, presumably to get away from the drunk future in-laws.

As today is New Year's Day and we are supposed to make resolutions, I am going to put mine in writing. It is something that I have been making an effort to do for the past few years and have been making slow progress. My resolution is to improve my eating habits. Mainly to eat more green (veggies) and less white (white bread, white rice, etc). I hope that everyone had a very happy, and importantly, safe New Year's.

Posted by Blondie at 5:11 PM | Comments (0)