The Long Run

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March 31, 2005

So Far, So Good

So far, my mom is handling her new drugs much better than the previous drugs. We'll see tomorrow, through the first course two days after the treatment was the worst day. I'm holding my breath that tomorrow is a good day. Last night she was kidding around that she is a horse because she has not really had any pain after her surgery and has not really had any adverse reactions to chemo. Our joke is that people in our family do not feel pain.

At least somebody was having a good day today. My morning run was not all that bad, but it was not too good either. I woke up feeling very hungry, as I had been hungry all of last night. When I got to the turnaround I was feeling a little bit better, but still not very good. The cleaning guy, who we have nicknamed Mr. Clean was at our house this morning, so I felt guilty about getting in my shower right after he cleaned it. I wouldn't feel guilty, but he was still here when I got back, so I had to wait until he left. The rest of the day I did not do anything other than take an hourlong nap.

I went over to the track and pretty much knew that it was not going to be a good night. My stomach was feeling funny this afternoon and all of the signs were on the warm-up: the air bouncing in my stomach, the burping, the lightheaded feeling. It really was a shame since there was a good group of guys for me to run with there tonight. The workout was 4 x 1600 with an 800 jog. Things went from bad to worse during the intervals. By the end of the first interval, my stomach was feeling really bad. I had to bail in and out of the workout. During the warm down my stomach was getting worse. Right now I'm sipping on some ginger tea that is supposed to held aid in digestion.

I did end up with 10 miles tonight and 14 for the day. I did doubles three days this week and have a lot of miles (for me) so far. Tomorrow is a needed day off. Saturday is long in the rain. When I got back my mother so kindly informed me that the heaviest rain is supposed to fall right when I'm out running.

I do not want to dwell on the fact that I have not had a good track workout in a while. I know that when I get off my eating schedule that I maintain at school things do not always go well. My long runs have been going pretty well, and I do have some good track work under my belt. We all have bad days, and my stomach is so sensitive. I just hope that it feels better Saturday.

Posted by Blondie at 8:14 PM | Comments (1)

March 30, 2005

Spring has Sprung...

...at least for the time being. Today was an absolutely beautiful, perfect spring day. The sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and the temperatures were pleasant. With that being said, I don't think that it is going to last, but I will savor it as long as it is here.

This morning I had to take my mom down to the hospital for her treatment. Today was day one of the second half of her treatments, so six weeks from today she is done with her chemotherapy. We had to be there at 9:00, and since it is spring break, I had no intentions of waking up super early to run before taking her. This round of treatments take about five hours, after the bloodwork and seeing the doctor, so she didn't even get started on her actual treatment until about 11:00. I got to meet her oncologist and some of the nurses who were all very nice. It takes a certain kind of person to work in that field. Once she got started, I left the hospital and went on a short shopping trip.

I headed home and did something that I do not advise. I was pretty hungry since I only ate a small breakfast at the hospital. I know my body very well and know that I can run for about an hour when I am hungry and have a slight headache. I know what will happen to me if I try to eat something, even something light, immediately before going for a run. The first option is much better than the second option. I went over to the flat park to run off road again today. The two inches of rain that got dumped on us on Monday did not make for a pretty run. Going on grass was J's suggestion for today since I already have higher mileage this week than usual. I could hear the mud on the grassy parts. I did the same course as on Sunday, I thought that I was running slower, but when I finished I was about a minute faster.

When I got home, I was quite hungry, but so muddy that I needed to get in the shower ASAP. A quick shower, then finally some lunch. I was about halfway through lunch when I got a call to get ready to go and pick my mom up at the hospital. We didn't get home from the hospital until 4:15, so it was a very long day for us. The drugs that she is getting now are not supposed to give much nausea, more bone pain. The doctor told her to try Advil first, but she may need to take her painkillers tonight or tomorrow. She tolerated the stronger drugs pretty well, so we hope that she tolerates these as well. The countdown is on.

I dropped her off at home and went to the gym. You would think that since I have so much time during the day from not having to go to work that I would have tons of time to go to the gym, but I have not. I rode the bike for an hour and then lifted. It seems like I have not done as much today as every other day this week, but today was more like a normal day. My arms will probably be sore tomorrow because I have been slacking on the lifting the past few weeks.

I hope that everyone on the East Coast got to enjoy the beautiful weather today!

Posted by Blondie at 7:54 PM | Comments (0)

March 29, 2005

Racing Flats?

For the past year and a half I have been on a search for a pair of racing flats that I like. I had one pair, the Brooks Hyperion Racer, that I really liked and raced them to death. When they were discontinued, I had to special order a pair of the T3 racer. This pair just was not nearly as good as the predecessor. The sizing had changed, so although I ordered the same size, they are too big. I also own a pair of the Brooks Racer ST that I wear for longer races. These are in the right size, but they are so beefy that I do not want to wear them for any short races. My big problem is that my feet are so small that there are not may choices for me. Any shoe that I want needs to be special ordered. I went to the running store today to see what was available. Pretty much everything in my size was something too beefy for what I am looking for. The owner is going to see what he can find that will fit me. I was in there cursing my little feet. He was funny because he was saying that most women hate their big feet and I hate my small feet. The problem comes when I need to buy unisex shoes since most do not come in such small sizes.

This morning's tempo run sucked. I warmed up two and a half miles and decided that I was going to do the run on the track. I did not realize how windy it was, but about 125 meters of the track was running straight into a wall of 25 mile per hour wind. I went through the mile in over 6:40, both slower than it was supposed to be and harder because of the wind. When I saw this, I decided to get off of the track and go out onto the road. I did the same loop as last night and ran at a hard effort for another 20 minutes, so I did get in about four miles. I jogged the rest of the loop and ended up with about 8 miles.

I did the racing flat shopping, some grocery shopping (but forget the needed item) and some laundry this afternoon. Before heading out on my afternoon run with J, I had to go back to the grocery store to pick up potatoes for tonight's dinner. I made hamburgers for my parents and a veggie burger for myself and homemade french fries. My mom likes to have a "special" dinner the night before her treatments, so we had a nice grilled dinner tonight.

This afternoon I met up with J and ran very easy for 40 minutes, about 5 miles. It was so nice to run with somebody else. I don't mind running alone most of the time, but every now and then I need some social interaction. I've got to get going since my mom and I are going to Target tonight.

Posted by Blondie at 7:11 PM | Comments (1)

March 28, 2005

Just Under the Wire

Today I did what I love to do on days off from work: absolutely nothing! I know that it can be lazy, but every now and then I feel that I deserve a day of complete and total relaxation. I do need to do laundry, but today was not the day to attempt that feat. I hang my laundry outside and with the 2 plus inches of rain today, it would never have gotten dry.

I woke up a few times this morning, but did not really wake up until just before 9. I headed out the door for my morning run about ten minutes later. The rain had not really started at this point, it was only drizzling. My first thought was that the front had missed us and today was not going to be all that bad. I did my usual four mile out and back and was amazed at how much faster it is when I go later in the morning. Even though I had just dragged myself out of bed, it still felt easier.

About an hour after I got back from my morning run it started to pour. It poured all day. I talked to J around 2:00 and decided to abort tonight's track workout. I guess that it can't really be called aborting it because we decided to just bag it. I could go to the gym and hop on the treadmill, but that is not really a viable option. Considering the weather today, it was going to be crowded and they would kick me off after half an hour. Also, I pretty much refuse to run on a treadmill. We decided that I would try to do a four mile tempo run tomorrow morning and then do an easy run in the afternoon with him. If the weather cleared up, I could try to do the 600s, but sloshing around the track did not seem to be what I wanted to do.

I did head over to the track to see if anyone showed up. About two minutes into my drive over there, it started to thunder/lightning and pour again. I decided that I would keep on driving over since it could clear up. I guess that I'm the only one who is insane enough to think about running because nobody else arrived. I waited about ten minutes after the starting time and nobody was there, but it had stopped raining! I did the warm-up loop and came back to see if anybody else was crazy enough to come, but no dice. I decided to do the extended neighboorhood loop that we used to do. There were lots of big puddles and water streaming downhill, but it was not all that bad. If I hadn't done the extended loop, I would have gotten done before the rain started up again. During the last ten minutes or so, it started to rain pretty heavily again. About 200 meters from my car I saw a bright flash of lightning. Lucky for me I was practically back to safety. I got to my car as quickly as possible and got inside it. I think that I did about 8 miles. I didn't use my watch, but I was out for just under an hour. I may have started off kind of slowly but I definitely was moving at a decent clip by the time I finished.

Tomorrow I will be more productive.

Posted by Blondie at 8:02 PM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2005

Good Girl!

I'm really working hard to keep myself from catching whatever cold that is trying to bring me down. My throat is a bit on the sore side and I have some post nasal drip, but I'm trying to keep it to just those symptoms. I've been diligent about taking my vitamins, sucking on an extra vitamin C drop here and there, drinking fluids, and trying to eat a little bit better. I wish that I could rest more, but whenever I feel this kind of sick I have a very difficult time sleeping. In fact, I'm contemplating taking some kind of cough syrup tonight just so that I can get a good night of sleep. It would figure that I would come down with something during my week off from work. I should not complain though, since that means I can take days off to play when the weather gets nice soon.

Speaking of the weather, it is about to suck. On Friday's dinnertime news, the meterologist stated that we had gone over 70 hours without any sunlight. He was saying that it did not look like we would really see the sun again until Wednesday. Now we did have some sunlight early yesterday morning. Halfway through our run, I looked over to my right and said, "hey that thing isn't supposed to be out". It is supposed to start raining either later this afternoon or tonight and not stop until some time Tuesday night. Tomorrow is supposed to be "rain, heavy at times with a flood watch". The forecast is calling for one to two inches of rain. This morning when I went out to run it was just cool, damp, and cloudy.

After being "bad" yesterday, I was "good" today. Every other Sunday I am supposed to go to the flat park around here and run on grass. I've stated many times before that I am not comfortable running on grass and try to avoid it at all possible costs. I did go over today and sort of stayed off the roads. This park has a great deal of paved paths on the cross country course. I did the course forwards and backwards and ran the 1.2 mile track for a total of about 7 miles. It was definitely mucky and muddy due to all of the moistness we've had recently. I had to avoid the geese and horse droppings as well. My legs definitely felt yesterday's long run, but the softness of the surface did feel nice. I did turn my right ankle (the one that is the current bad ankle) once. Part of the reason I completely avoid running on grass/trails is my tendency to sprain ankles. I will suddenly have a swollen ankle one morning and not even be able to tell you where it came from. Since the fall when my left ankle nearly put me out of commission I have been doing exercises to strengthen the tendons in my ankles. I also did 6 striders, as I am supposed to do on every day that I don't do a workout.

Today I have cleaned up my room some since my work clothes from last week seemed to have taken over. I went through my old running shoes to donate to J's youth track team. I also got rid of some of the running clothes that I just do not like. Laundry is a high priority, since I am almost out of sports bras and tights. I did do a load of clothes that can go in the dryer. If it rains as hard as it is supposed to tomorrow, I'm going to hang wet laundry in the bathtub.

Hope everyone is having a happy Easter! We're eating in about an hour when my grandmother comes over. It's early for me, but my mom is insisting on eating at the same time as they eat at "the home".

Posted by Blondie at 3:52 PM | Comments (0)

March 26, 2005

Bad Girl

I was a very bad girl this morning. On Monday night, J and I were discussing the long run for today. We discussed how far I should go, et cetera. The schedule called for going out the "back roads". I tried to call him on his cell yesterday afternoon for a few reasons. One of the reasons was to let him know that I would not be able to help with the kids this morning because I'm really trying to nip this sore throat in the bud. One of the other reasons was to let him know that nobody was going to run the back way, they all planned on doing the out and back course. Little did I know, the battery in his cell phone was dead, so he never got my message.

To make a long story short, we did the out and back course. I really do not care which way we go, but I am not allowed to run the back roads without someone else because every intersection looks the same and I end up completely lost. We had a good sized group doing the full course: A, M, J, K, and A. A believes in running by a constant heartrate, he surges down the hills but can barely get up a hill. M on the other hand, can surge up a hill like nobody's business. This made for an interesting run. If you put the two of them together, you would have one awesome runner. We made it out to the turnaround in about 57:30. A and M wanted to use the bathroom, but K, J, and I wanted to keep going. A knew that he was not going to be able to run up the hills with the rest of us, so he just ran in on his own. As far as I am concerned, it was still pretty chilly this morning. It was about 40 degrees out, so I had on tights, long sleeves, a short sleeve and gloves. I could not believe how many of the folks I was running with had on shorts. I didn't start to get warm until about the last 2 and a half miles, so I think that I made the right choice. Back to the run...we ran into J and M on their bikes on our way back. Of course, J had to say something that we were not running the route that we were supposed to do. J and K pulled away from me some going up the hill. I have gotten stronger on this hill, but today I was not quite at my strongest. They were considerate and slowed down just a tad at the top of the hill, so I could catch up. In the last two miles, we ran into J's older brother and he joined us. Pretty much all conversation stopped a little bit before this since we were going at a pretty good clip. I got back from the 16 miles in 1:51 and felt pretty strong, so I went back out to hit 2 hours. I got in just a little bit over 17 miles.

I went to the gym instead of helping coach. Standing out in the chill and dampness was not a good idea because I am fighting off a low grade sore throat. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical. The woman next to me is about the same age of my mother, but she wants to be younger. She has bleach blonde hair, wears blue eyeshadow, and lots of spandex. She is one of those kinds of women. Anyhow, she started to talk to me and somehow the fact that I had already run 17 miles came out. She could not believe that I was doing anything after that. After the elliptical I did 35 minutes on the stationary bike. I got to read some magazines and a trashy novel. After my cross training, I lifted again. My arms are going to be very sore tomorrow since I have not been lifting as much as I had been. I lift so little weight that taking a week off puts me back at square one.

I have to get going so that I can buy some last minute groceries for tomorrow night's dinner. I am ahead of where I am on most Saturday's since I have showered. Seriously, I can be so lazy after my Saturday morning marathon workouts, and not even drag myself into the shower until about 5:00. I'm going to have to make like a tree and leave...

Posted by Blondie at 3:00 PM | Comments (0)

March 25, 2005

Tiring Morning

Last night I was quite upset that some of my favorite TV shows were not on. I could have possibly gone out for drinks with a few of the folks I train/hang out with, but my couch seemed to be a better option. In the long (and short for that matter) run, I know that I made the better decision. I seem to be fighting off a minor sore throat and do not need to do anything to make it worse. I was able to get to bed early to get ready for my busy morning.

We went to breakfast with my mother's friend, I, at Panera this morning. Mom was nice enough to treat all of us, but coffee and bagels are pretty cheap. She also bought me a bread bowl, so tonight is soup in a bread bowl for dinner. Yummy! We went to TJ Maxx and looked around; I found a cool, sexy dress on clearance for $22 with the original price tag of $175 on it. Mom and I were excited over the price, I was amazed that I can wear a size 2 and was concerned that it may be too big. Honestly, I do not think that I am all that thin, clothes are just cut really big. After that little trip, Mom and I went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few items. The Greek style yogurt that I love was back on the shelves, making today a great day. The cashier asked if I was happy that it was back and then told me that they are selling 18 cases of it a day!

After that little trip, we went over to the mall to pick out some new glasses for my mother. By the time we were done picking out frames, it was 11:40 and they would be done in about an hour. We decided to kill the hour in the mall. I did not find any spring clothing that really tickled my fancy, so I was pretty happy to not spend any money. Around 12:15, my mom was getting hungry and decided to go to Burger King to get a sandwich. We waited 15 minutes for a stupid burger. During that time, I realized that I was a little bit hungry, so I decided that I would get a soft pretzel when she was getting her glasses adjusted. Not only was my "lunch" tastier and cheaper (her opinion too), it did not take 15 minutes to get!

After all of this, we had to go to the grocery store. There was not too much that we needed to get, so it should have been a really short trip. I made sure to pick up some throat drops and Vitamin C drops to nip this throat thing in the bud. We ran into my aunt in the store and had a long conversation with her in the dairy aisle. We could have done that in the freezer aisle, it would have been the only colder part of the store. By the time we got home from the store, both of us were wiped out.

Needless to say, I am quite hungry and looking forward to making my dinner. I usually do not eat as poorly as I have today, but we are all allowed to have these kinds of days every now and then.

My body is thanking me for not doing any kind of exercise today. Tomorrow should be about 16 miles if I'm feeling up to it. The group is supposed to be going the hilly route, but most of the people who are planning on 16-20 are not going that way. Part of it is that they do not like to run the hard route when going long. I don't mind the hilly way, but I get very lost and most of the group will only be running about 80 minutes. I can always run with them and then add on to it on my own. Tonight I should go out and buy powdered Gatorade to start teaching myself how to fuel some during a run. Since my stomach is so sensitive, I am pretty sure that liquid is going to be the only way I can do it. My plan is to start with extremely watered down Gatorade until I can find a concentration that does not upset my stomach.

Well, I'm getting hungry and need to cut my bowl. I also want to catch up on everyone's blogs before dinner...

Posted by Blondie at 5:20 PM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2005

Easter Basket Update

After completely gorging myself on jelly beans last night, I nicely asked my mom to remove all Easter candy from the house. The original Easter plan was that she was giving me money to buy my own Easter candy with, which probably would have been none, but then when my brother came home last weekend, she bought us both candy. I think that she was upset that I asked her to get rid of all the candy, but I ate so much of it that I was sick to my stomach all of last night. I also think that if the jelly beans were still in the bag I would not be tempted to eat handfuls of them at a time. In conclusion, the candy is on its way out.

The aforementioned jelly beans were a bit of a problem during this morning's run. It was very dark as I headed out the door around 5 this morning. The wind from yesterday had died down, which made the run so much more pleasant. As I had noticed on Monday, the sun was starting to peek out as I was finishing. Other than the tummy problem, this morning was a pleasant run.

The work day seemed to be extra long today. By 1:00, I was ready to go. This coming week will be savored. Today was our "Friday", so we got to leave at 2:30, making it even better. I came home and took an extra long nap!

I really wish that I was feeling more recovered for tonight's workout because it is one of my favorites. The workout was 2000, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 all with a one lap jog between each. The goal was to aim for around 10 mile race pace (goal) and to drop it a little bit on each interval. Since I'd like to take a stab at getting under 60:00 at Broad Street, I was trying to run 6 minute pace. I hit the intervals more around 6:05-6:10 pace and was not feeling all that sharp. Usually I tear through this workout, but tonight it was not to be. M reminded me on my 400 that it has only been 10 days, just stay smooth. We did keep our recoveries a little bit on the quick side. Tomorrow will be a wonderful day off.

Speaking of tomorrow, my morning looks extremely busy...not the morning I had planned. My mom and I are going to Panera for breakfast with one of her friends. Then we're heading to Trader Joe's, Target, picking out new glasses for her, and to the grocery store. Although all of it should be enjoyable and good quality time, it is not nearly as laid back as I was hoping for.

Posted by Blondie at 8:14 PM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2005

Mid-Week Update

Tuesday was an insanely busy day. I never even turned the computer on. The staff meeting I was dreading was not bad at all. The administrator ran it, he is not the person who is causing the problems at work, per se. He just talked at us for 15-20 minutes and really did not say anything earth shattering. After that I had to drop my car off at the body shop and wait 15 minutes for my mom to pick me up there. As she was driving me home, I could barely keep my head up because I was so exhausted. When I got home, I tried to nap for about 15 minutes, but could not sleep since I knew how busy I would be for the rest of the day.

It was absolutely gorgeous outside yesterday. It was sunny, in the low 50s, with a light breeze. I took advantage of the weather and feeling pretty decent to run 9 miles. My legs felt good, not great, but good enough to do a longer run. In the last 2.5 miles I was having some potty trouble, but since that part of the run is completely in developments so there is no where to make a pitt stop. I got home, used the facilities, went back outside and did some striders. I was going to go to the gym, but since I had an appointment for a massage at 7:30, eating a real dinner seemed to be more important. I rode the basement bike for 35 minutes, took a quick shower and ate a quick dinner and headed off to the massage therapist's house. My legs were not all that tight, but I knew that getting them rubbed out was a good idea. Mentally, getting the race out of my legs helps in recovery. It was not all that painful, but it was not pleasant, either. I referred an ex-boyfriend to my massage therapist and we spent most of the hour talking about how badly he needed to be rubbed out. By the time I was driving home, all I wanted to do was get in bed, which I did as soon as I walked in the door.

I spent most of today absolutely starving as a result of eating such a small dinner last night. Work was work, the kids were absolutely nuts since tomorrow is the last day before break. Most of them have stated that they will not be in school tomorrow. Actually, a great number were trying to get suspended by the end of the day today so that they would not have to come to school on Thursday.

Today was a really nasty day. It rained heavily for most of the day. By the time I got out the door to run, the rain had pretty much stopped, but it had gotten very windy. I felt pretty good for about the first mile and a little bit, but then I turned into the wind. Whatever direction I was running in, the wind was in my face. I actually needed to stop to walk once because I was so exhausted from running straight into the wind for four miles. It was completely unavoidable. I made it through 7 miles, which was good enough for me.

I changed my clothes and went to the gym. I rode the bike for 35 minutes and then lifted. I have not lifted for almost two weeks, so it was more draining than usual. I was starving and grumpy by the time I was leaving.

I am mad that my mother got me an Easter Basket with candy that I like in it. I have been eating jelly beans like a mad woman for the past two days. She should know not to get me as many as she did, I think there must be at least two bags in my basket, along with the three bags in the dining room that she took for her aerobics class last night. I have no willpower when something is out in my face.

Posted by Blondie at 8:12 PM | Comments (2)

March 21, 2005

An Idea

As I was sitting here trying to think of a title, an idea crossed my mind. The thought I was having was that writing every day about how I have not recovered from my race that was over a week ago is prolonging my recovery. Instead of putting each run behind me, I re-living each one later on in the day. I think that it is only because I am slightly frustrated that I am thinking this way.

I must have eaten something that really did not agree with me last night. I barely slept and had some serious GI issues during my morning run. I felt like I was going to lose it on both ends. I could not get home fast enough to make me happy. My morning observation was that it is definitely getting light out earlier. The battery in my headlamp conked out about halfway through my run, but the sun was almost peeking out by the time I was finishing up.

This evening was my first attempted workout. All day at work I was having some GI problems and I thought that they were resolved by the time I got to the track, but I knew on the first interval that they were not resolved. We were supposed to switch to doing 600s tonight, but none of us really felt up to doing the faster intervals. We opted to do another week of 800s. I timed the first one, a 3:06, but if felt much harder. The second one was a 3:09 and I could tell that this was not going to be a workout that was going to go my way. At this point, we lapped J who is jogging his way back from injury who advised me to turn off the watch and just push and cruise. I managed to slog my way through all 6 800s. Again, I need to remember that it has only been 8 days since I seriously taxed my body. Recovery takes time. It is going to be my mantra for the next week.

Tomorrow is the dreaded staff meeting. The memo we received regarding this meeting stated, "wear construction boots, or other steel toed shoes, as many toes will be stepped on". Really makes me want to go. Hopefully, I'll feel better tomorrow so that I can run my frustrations out after the meeting.

Posted by Blondie at 8:11 PM | Comments (2)

March 20, 2005

Mother Nature Knows it is Spring

Alison was right. Today was a much better day than yesterday. Writing about it did make me feel much better. It was an opportunity to vent safely. We all have those days. I believe that it was an evil combination of lack of sleep, frustration, and feeling underappreciated. I think that the being so tired really caught up with me yesterday, since this morning my mom said that I looked really bad yesterday.

Last night I did not do anything. After dinner, we sat down and watched The Village. It was not scary at all. In fact, I just thought that it had an interesting story. I really wanted to watch it since the filming was done off of one of the roads that I run on during some of my Saturday morning runs. It was funny, because when it was being filmed, we knew something was going on over there, but we really did not know what. After the movie came out, it was big news around here.

I went to bed really early and then slept until about 8:30 this morning. I was still a little bit tired today. I truly believe that I was having a difficult time recovering since I had made such a big sleep defecit. I woke up to spring showers that have stuck around all day. The rain was never really heavy, but there was enough rain to make it pretty dreary. To put a positive spin on it, the rain is needed to help with the flowers that will be blooming soon enough.

My run this morning was better than any other run this week. I did not feel great by any means, but my stride was feeling closer to my natural stride. Again, I needed to remind myself that racing a half-marathon is stressful on the body and it takes time to recover. I did seven miles and then did 4 striders. The neighbors must think that I am crazy when I do striders and drills up and down our street. We have enough weird neighbors, that in my opinion, doing striders up and down the street is not all that crazy.

The rest of today involved doing errands that I would normally do on a Saturday. Due to being in bed most of the day yesterday, I got absolutely nothing accomplished. I got keys cut for a co-worker, finally bought a wedding gift and looked for Easter candy. I struck out on the candy, but I don't need the candy for anything other than being indulgent.

This week is a short week at work. Things are getting really bad, so bad that every day I contemplate packing up all of my belongings and never going back. There is a staff meeting on Tuesday that I really do not want to attend. Our administration does not really give us any support, most of the time everything any of us does is wrong. The administration constanty undermines the decisions of the staff and does so in front of the students. There are also certain individuals on the staff who think they know everything about everything, even when they do not. Tuesday is looking like a good day to be sick.

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

March 19, 2005

Grumpy

There is no getting around the fact that I am grumpy today. Today has been one doozie of a day. Knowing this, I apologize ahead of time if this entry sounds pretty bitchy.

Everything started last night when my brother came home from DC. According to my parents he is wonder-boy. Don't get me wrong, he has done his fair share of things that pissed them off. The main reason they think he is so wonderful is that he went to law school and followed into my father's footsteps in becoming an attorney. Since he does not live here, they fawn over him when he is here and I become chopped liver.

This morning was supposed to be a super-easy 80 minute run. There was a decent sized group doing about this distance, so we did our route through an old estate. Of course, C was running with us and decided that we would "go explore". I refuse to run with C when he decides to do this as the route is either extremely dangerous or we get lost. This time we got a little bit lost and had to backtrack. The pace was faster than my body was capable of this morning and C and a few others were making some snide remarks asking if I was OK, I even answered "not really" once to let them know I was not OK. As we were heading back in my stomach was feeling upset and I was starting to not feel OK. Eventually I sat down on the side of the road and started to cry. M and M who had been checking on me the entire run turned around and did not see me, so they turned around and found me in the middle of an emotional/mental/physical breakdown. Between feeling like crap, having my brother at home, and having Mom really struggling with her chemo it was just too much for me. They kept reminding me that I raced the half-marathon last weekend, therefore, was not recovered. M ran in it and so did T, but they both commented that they were simply running and there was a race going on around them. I did feel much better when they got me up and running and talking. They really did save my sanity today.

After the run I changed clothes and went across the street with a few of the men to grab a cup of coffee. They were eating breakfast, but I was not really hungry and had to get back to help coach. J had me with him teaching the kids how to do relay handoffs. This was really humorous, since I never did a blind handoff in my life. The 3rd and 4th graders didn't know any better. Although it seemed like a waste of time and that they did not get anything out of it, J swears they did. The 5th and 6th graders did a little bit better and we did not get to work at all with the 7th and 8th graders. I am the standby coach, used mainly on weekends since they have about 80 kids out for the team. I was probably supposed to take the kids out on their mile route, but I told J there was no way that I could run another step. I told him about the situation earlier in the day and that I was still beat.

I came home and ate some lunch, but my stomach started to feel awful. I bought some breath mints yesterday on my grocery trip that I can not consume. After having them last night I started to have some serious stomach issues. I had a few this afternoon and shortly later my stomach was blown out to about four times its normal size and I have some awful gas pain. I was feeling exhausted, so I tried to sleep on the couch, but my brother is really loud and kept asking my father questions and waking me up. Finally I crawled into bed and slept for about an hour. I was pretty lucky to find an empty house when I woke up. I went downstairs and rode the stationary bike for an hour. While I was on the bike I finished Lance Armstrong's book, It's Not About the Bike. Then I started to read a fluffy book that one of my gym friends gave me to read.

My mom and brother got home from whatever errands they were doing. Mom went to nap and P was bringing the groceries in. Everytime he came in the house, he slammed the door behind him. Before they got home, I turned on the computer so that I could do my blog entry and check my e-mail, but he came right in and got online instead. I made the mistake of telling my mom that I want him to go back home and she immediately defended him and talked about how wonderful and helpful he's been since he has been home. As if I have not been helpful for the past two months that he has not shown his face and gone to visit his girlfriend in California. Again, I am just not appreciated and not favored.

Sorry about the bitch session, but I really needed to vent. Tomorrow I plan to schedule a torture session for my legs. Tonight I may be a sadist and sit in a bathtub full of ice to try to revive my legs. Hopefully my stomach will settle down soon. Maybe I'll head out and buy a wedding gift for R and B since their wedding was two months ago...

Posted by Blondie at 5:57 PM | Comments (1)

March 18, 2005

Pampering Myself

Today I did not do any form of exercise whatsoever. I may stretch some tonight and do some core exercises, but that is all. My body has cried out to rest and it deserves it. My abs were super sore last night when I tried to do some core work, so I had to abbreviate the workout. My stomach is kind of upset today, so doing it may aggrevate an already touchy situation.

This afternoon I went and got my hair cut. My usual stylist was sick so they offered to reschedule or to see another stylist. I really like the girl who usually cuts my hair, but I was so desparate and my hair was so out of control that I decided to go to another stylist. I don't think that I really like what she did with my hair, but it will grow back.

After, I did a few errands, mostly picking up some groceries at Trader Joe's. I tried to visit my grandmother on the way home, but she was already at the dinner at the home and I didn't want to interrupt.

J and I have talked about massage. I've been going once a week, but he would like me to go every other week. I know that I probably should go that often because it does help quite a bit. I would probably be less beat up after each massage if I went more often. My therapist seems to get really really deep into the tissue, so it is very painful. I can not even think about running after a session, which is one of the reasons I don't go more often.

I am so happy that it is Friday. I have been exhausted all week and I am looking forward to going to bed early tonight. My day is going to be a little bit off tomorrow, but it should be fun. I am going to help coach a youth track team immediately after my longer run. I'm not sure when I'm going to get my lifting in, I may even take the week completely off from lifting before "normal training" resumes on Monday. I really can't wait to sleep late on Sunday and have a relaxing morning...

Posted by Blondie at 6:47 PM | Comments (18)

March 17, 2005

Spilled Coffee

You know that you are not going to have a very good day when the first thing that happens when you get into your office at work is that you spill your coffee all over your desk. I am lucky that my ghetto school does not give us computers (or even desk calendars for that matter), so nothing was ruined. A few pieces of paper were soaked, but they were all old news. It was just a great way to start my day off on the wrong foot. I can definitely tell that I need a vacation, which is coming soon. Next week is a four day week and then we have off the entire following week for spring break.

I snuck out of work about ten minutes early because I had to run down to the local American Cancer Society to pick up some daffodils that my school nurse had ordered for my mother. My supervisor had left at noon, so I left early. I can always rationalize it that, 1) it was sort of work related and 2) I am always ten minutes early for work. Mom wasn't home when I got here, so I put them in some water and then went down for my nap. When she got home, she thought they were from me, but I told her they were from the nurse. The nurse has never met my mother, but she really looks out for me and takes care of me. Her birthday is tomorrow and so I'm making a donation in her name to the local SPCA. This woman has four cats and two dogs at home and then feeds about 15 stray cats on the streets at work. She is also turning 70 and does not need anything at all.

Running tonight was much better than it has been for the past few days. I know that recovery does take time. I also realize that racing, not just running, a half marathon does take quite a bit out of me. Even having lots of longer runs in, running 13 miles at that fast of pace is quite traumatic to the body. Anyhow, tonight was supposed to be the last week of hills, but we only saw bad things happening if I tried to do hills tonight. I did the warm-up, then 8 of the straightaways that I did last week, but not nearly as fast. Then I did the warm down. I think it was about 8 miles total. My stomach was not agreeing with me, but other than that I was feeling a lot better. Last week I did the strides in 61-63 seconds, tonight was quite a bit easier, about 69-71 seconds.

Tomorrow is a much deserved day off from running. I have a haircut scheduled since my hair is out of control long. I can almost pull it back into a stubby ponytail. It just is not doing anything when I try to style it in the morning. I might also try to find out some more information about the half marathon on April 17. There is someone who really seems to want me to run it since he has mentioned it to me at least three times in the past three weeks. My brother is also coming home from DC tomorrow. I may have guilt-tripped him, but he has not been here since before New Year's and he should come back because I am taking all of the stress here.

Posted by Blondie at 8:11 PM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2005

Just Feeling Beat

This week I have just felt tired. I've been so beat. My body does not feel particularly sore, just really tired. I've been getting to bed at a decent hour, not as early as I might like, but not really late either. I have been waking up just before the alarm clock is set to go off. Lucky for me, this is a rest week and I do not need to do my morning run tomorrow. I've been coming home from work and napping for nearly an hour.

Today was a really terrible day at work. It was so bad that I question why I even stay at this job. Not only are there problems with the students and some of the other staff, there was something that happened outside of the school that makes me feel very unsafe.

Running was pretty dull this afternoon. It was cool again, since we are just not getting out of this below average slump. There has only been one day that was either average or above average so far this month. I felt tired again. When I felt really tired, I walked some. I figured it didn't help me any to slog through the run, I'm not gaining any fitness from it. When I got home I did four striders which felt better than the rest of my run. I also rode the stationary bike in the basement for half an hour.

I have to pay bills tonight and soak my blisters in warm Epsom salts to try to get all the gunk out of them. Hopefully I'll get to bed early tonight.

Posted by Blondie at 7:19 PM | Comments (1)

March 15, 2005

Staving Off Post-Race Letdown

Going into this race I made one of the big mistakes...I did not have something else picked out to follow it up with. Unless it is the end of the season, I like to have another race picked out in the future. I think that there are a few reasons that I do that. One of the reasons is that if the first race did not go well, there is something else to redeem myself with. Another reason is that after a big race there is a bit of a letdown. Kind of a, well that's done, what now? kind of feeling. Right now I don't have another race picked out. There is a half-marathon about 2 hours away that is new on April 17 that some people are trying to get me to run. It will be pancake flat, but there is not likely to be much competition. The other problem with that race is that it is only two weeks before the Broad Street Run, one of the races I have picked out to key in on this year. J and I were going to look at some of the race calendars either late this week or early next week to try to find some races for me to run. I have my sights set on a 10K PR and a 10 mile PR (which I plan to attack at BSR).

I would like to thank everyone for their encouraging comments on the race. I think that 10 miles/half-marathon are my best distances at this point in time. I know that place is always relative, when you run in a super-competitive field, last place is still awesome. It is nice to hear that people believe my goal time is achievable. This weekend was not the time to even think about shooting for it, possibly this fall.

Today I basically felt tired. I was almost falling asleep at 2:00 at work. I came home and napped for almost an hour and still felt sleepy afterward. I ran a very easy 7 miles without my watch. The only thing I can do if I push myself this week is get hurt. The blister under my right foot seemed to be infected this morning, but it didn't have any puss oozing from it after work. Maybe walking around all day got all the gunk out. I also rode the bike for 45 minutes at the gym today. The rest of the week will probably be similar to today.

On an unrelated note, my mom goes for chemo again today. I went to bed too early last night to know how much of a hard time she was having yesterday. She is really struggling with the fact that she feels so good now to know that she is going to feel like shit later on this week. Since I don't go out on Friday nights, I think that I may get some cheesy DVDs for us to watch to try to cheer her up.

Posted by Blondie at 7:55 PM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2005

Less Than a Week...

...Left of winter. Every time I saw or heard the weather today, the comment was that this is the last Monday of winter. That's right, spring officially rolls in on Sunday. We'll see if the weather gods bless us with spring-like weather from then on out.

I took today off from work, so I got to sleep in. Of course, I went to bed on the early side last night, so I only slept in until about 7:30. I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but it seems that every time I race hard I have a hard time sleeping. This was the case last night, I woke up several times and just could not get comfortable in my bed. Our personal days are use 'em or lose 'em, and since I had not used any yet, I took today as one. I lounged around watching Today and reading the paper. Eventually I decided that I would do a morning jog and rolled out for a very easy two miles around the neighborhood across the street. My legs felt a little bit on the stiff side, but not all that bad.

The rest of the day I did absolutely nothing but relax. I did some reading and just tried to take time for me. J called me to tell me that he couldn't make it up to the track tonight, but he still can't run. We discussed the game plan for this week. Everything is supposed to be easy and laid back. Nothing too hard or fast. He says he just does not see the point of working this week. I'm in shape and I'll get more out of recovering than trying to do something this week. I have had different recoveries from racing half-marathons before. It really seems to depend on what time of the season it is for me and what happens during the race. I have come back and been training within five or six days and I have been totally and completely wiped out for several weeks. It seems that if I race a half at the end of my racing season, it takes much more out of me than if it is at the start of the season.

This evening I was supposed to warm-up, do some striders on the track and then do a short warm-down. The group didn't feel like doing their workout, so we did our old Monday night loop. My legs felt decent again, especially considering what I put myself through yesterday. The only thing that is bothering me is the blisters on the balls of my feet. I've lanced them more than once, but they keep re-filling with blood-yuck. I guess that is what you get for wearing flats for the first time in about five months.

I have a bit of a headache and I'm pretty sleepy, so I'm going to quickly catch up and then get some sleep. The best part of this week is no morning runs! I get to sleep in until 5:40 every day!!

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

March 13, 2005

Didn't Achieve My Goal...

...but very satisfied, nontheless. Today was the half-marathon held every year in my hometown. My secret goal had nothing to do with what kind of time I wanted to run. Don't get me wrong, there was a range of times that would have made me very happy, but that was not the objective. My secret goal was to win this race. No woman from home has won this race in a number of years, and I wanted to be the one to do it. There are usually a few ringers in this race, since many people use it as a tune-up for Boston. There are people who drive two hours or more to run it. I guess that the course kind of lends itself towards Boston training.

I woke up about two hours before the race starts to get moving some. I packed up a few last minute clothes, just in case, since it is better to have too much than to not have enough. I made the short drive and then had to drive around the block a few times to find a parking spot. I wanted to be as close to the start/finish area as possible. Once there, I got out and walked around some. I hooked up with some of the guys who I train with and eventually went out on a short, easy warm-up to get the blood flowing. We warmed up for about ten minutes and then I went back to my car to get racing clothes on. I ended up racing in shorts, a long bra top, tube socks over my arms, a hat, gloves, and socks over the gloves(which were discarded after about two miles). The temperature at the start was about 35 degrees with light wind, but as it got warmer it got windier, so it was not the most pleasant racing conditions. I had on sunglasses which was a smart move since much of the race was into the sun.

I lined up near the front and saw A, who is a true stud runner. She claimed that she wanted to run 6:30s since she wasn't racing today. I hardly believed her, although she did have on training shoes. The first mile is very downhill, so even holding back it tends to be too fast. I went through the first mile in 6:05 but didn't panic since I knew that it would be fast. Right about now a woman who I didn't know passed me. I did start to freak out, but really tried to keep my wits about me. It is a long race and there is no reason to panic before the two mile mark. A few other women came close to me during this part of the race, but they fell back. Around the four mile mark, the course starts to climb out of the city. I felt really strong on the climb out of the city and did catch the unknown woman right around the seven mile mark. Just before I passed her, J and M were riding their bikes alongside me. J advised me to find someone to latch onto for the "wind tunnel" and to open up on the last 5K. I didn't find anyone to latch onto since at this point in the race I was mainly catching the men who had gone out too fast and were absolutely dying. Coming back down the "wind tunnel" I thought that I was putting some distance on the unknown woman, which J did confirm, but the furthest I could get away from her was about 15 to 20 seconds. I was a little bit disappointed because on the downhill back into the city I could not open up my stride and let loose. I think this was partly because of the cold and the wind, my legs were feeling a little bit tight. As J was riding by me leading into the 12 mile mark he kept telling me to go with the men who were pounding down the hills and that I'm an excellent downhill runner, to which I responded "no I'm not". The killer on this course is the finish. It is about a 2 minute steep uphill. After racing a somewhat hilly 13 miles already, there is this steep uphill right into the finish line. Even after having run this race several times and doing hill workouts, it kills me everytime. I was heading up and J kept looking back and checking where the woman was. He kept telling me, you kicked my butt doing those workouts, you can do this, she's gaining on you and I'm not shitting with you, you gotta go, ok she's not going to catch you make a surge for the light. During all of this, when he told me that I had to go, I told him "I have nothing left". Going up the hill, there was a strong burst of wind which nearly knocked me off my feet, so he knew that I wasn't kidding. I managed to hold on for second in 1:23:57.

I did run pretty even splits. I didn't look at my watch at all. There was a mat at the five mile mark, which I hit in 31:34. There was also a clock at the ten mile mark, which I went through in 64:20. When I looked at the results I saw who the unknown woman was. She is a consistent 2:47 marathoner, so I didn't feel all that bad that I wasn't shaking her, she is the real deal.

I warmed down for about 14 minutes and then got on some dry clothes to go to the awards, which had already started. I got a plaque, a sweatshirt for winning my age group and a $75 gift certificate to a new steakhouse in town. I think that the gift certificate was for being the first local runner, but I'm not too sure.

When I talked to J later today, I told him that I was very happy with how I ran today. I did not feel sharp, but that was not the key. This was my fastest time on this course by almost 3 minutes. You really can't compare this course to the Philly Distance Run. That race usually has ideal weather (50s, little wind), is virtually pancake flat, and has an awesome field. This race usually has lousy weather (cold and windy), is slightly hilly, and the field has some major gaps. He thought that my time today is at least equivalent to my PR from Philly. The times that would have made me happy today were anything in the 1:23-1:25 range. One day soon, I would like to take a crack at getting under 1:20, but I knew that today was not the day for that. Now I need to start thinking about the rest of my races for the spring.

After the race, my stomach was really upset almost all day. This is usually a sign of giving a very hard effort. I managed to drag myself out the door for a two mile walk-jog this afternoon so that I could stretch some. In all, I am very happy with how I did today, even if I did not achieve my secret goal.

Posted by Blondie at 6:01 PM | Comments (3)

March 12, 2005

Something Different for a Saturday

Usually Saturday involves getting up very early to do a long run. Today, I got to sleep in. I'm not sure the last time I did this. It felt really strange, in fact, today felt more like a Sunday than a Saturday.

Last night I went over to S's house and we watched Troy. It was OK, but not all that great. There were a few too many story lines going on to follow. The color of Brad Pitt's hair looked really unnatural as well. On a side note, we both decided that hot men should walk around half-naked in skirts more often :) We relaxed and each had a glass of wine to unwind from a long week. It was a really relaxing evening. It was drizzling on my way over and snowing on the way home! The forecast was calling for that, but it did not accumulate.

This morning I got to sleep until the late hour of 8:30. I waited a little while to head out the door on my easy shake out run. I think I ended up with about 5 miles total. I felt funny for about the first 5 minutes, then I got into a bit of a groove. I put on way too many clothes and had to take some off because I was too hot. I tried to go around the same time as race time to simulate the conidtions for tomorrow. If the weather is anything like today I should be in good shape. I did my morning out and back 4 mile course with a few extra loops on it to make it a little bit longer.

I did some errands today including buying tube socks to use as arm warmers tomorrow. I could splurge on the real thing, but these are cheaper and I can throw them out if I get warm. I have to pack my bag for tomorrow with lots of extra clothes to put on after. C is supposed to save me a green beer from the Hash House water stop for after the race, but that may not be such a good idea. Oh well, off to bed soon. I'll fill y'all in on the details tomorrow.

Posted by Blondie at 7:22 PM | Comments (2)

March 11, 2005

T-Minus two days

Race day is only two days away. I try to stay pretty level-headed about races. The thing that is making me the most nervous about this race is how long it has been since the last time I raced. I participated in a race last weekend, but only jogged it. The main thing I can say is that technically I did have a number on, but I did not have any form of race mentality whatsoever. I do have some goals for this race, but I don't know if I want to let everyone know what they are. The main goal is to run to the best of my ability on that particular day. Maybe on Sunday I'll share, but I'm not too sure yet.

I firmly believe that J is more excited about this weekend than I am. I have been getting daily phone calls from him about it. Today he called to see how last night's workout was and to talk about the forecast, AGAIN. His theory on why last night seemed so hard was that I was thinking that it would be an easy workout, when in reality it was not all that easy. The other thought was that I was running 5:20 pace, when the fastest I have been doing intervals is just under 6:00 pace. The second theory is the one that I am buying into.

This afternoon I took care of registering for the race. That is over and done with and out of the way. All I have to do is remember to bring my packet with me on Sunday morning. I also picked up a new pair of training shoes to replace the pair that has not been that great. As far as working out went, I did 45 minutes on the stationary bike followed by a little bit of light lifting. I ate my carb-loading meal tonight since my stomach can be funny if I eat that kind of stuff the night before. Tomorrow I'll stick to yogurt, bread, cereal, things that are easy to digest...and absolutely no veggies. I have been so good about eating veggies, but they can wreak havoc on my GI, so I'm not going to have any tomorrow, instead I doubled up today.

Tonight I'm off to my friend S's house to watch a movie and maybe have a glass of wine. Her grandmother passed away about two weeks ago and I have not seen her since it happened. Speaking of which, I ought to get going so that I at least have on matching sweats when I go over there...

Posted by Blondie at 7:18 PM | Comments (2)

March 10, 2005

Harder than Anticipated

Since I'm planning to race on Sunday, this week has been a bit of a cutback week. That meant that there would be no morning run for most of the week. There was a Monday morning run, but no morning run today. That also meant getting to sleep in until 5:40!

Tonight's workout was much harder than I thought it would be. J called me when I was at work to let me know that his back was acting up and he would not be able to make it. He and I had a long discussion about this weekend's race. We talked about the possible weather conditions and how I should not panic during it. We also talked about wardrobe considerations because the forecast looks so bad. I may have to play around with what I decide to wear. He says that he'll be out on the course if I want to get rid of anything during the race. Instead of doing hills tonight, I was supposed to run the flats really hard and then turn around and jog very slowly back. I was supposed to do 4-6 of these stride outs. They really were not striders since the straight was about 300 meters long. These were much harder than I thought they would be. I was hitting each one in about 60 seconds, which is much faster than I have run anything in a long time. I also wore the racing shoes that I plan to wear on Sunday. These shoes felt much better than my clunky trainers. In all, I ended up with about 7 1/2 miles tonight.

Tomorrow I have to go and register for the race on Sunday. Registration is being held at the local running store. While I'm there, I may invest in another pair of trainers. I really hate my adidas Supernova Cushion and they are carrying the Boston Classic again, which I have had very good luck with in the past.

I want to say that today was not a great day, it started off on a bad note, but it got much better as the day went on. Tomorrow is Friday and I took Monday off of work, so I have a long weekend to look forward to!

Posted by Blondie at 8:14 PM | Comments (0)

March 9, 2005

I Just Want Today To Be Over

Today has just sucked. Nothing was particularly bad, it was just one of those days that nothing was going the way I wanted it to go. This is going to be short, because I'm planning on reading everyone else's blogs and going to bed early since tomorrow has to be a better day. I also don't want to bitch and complain and moan and be miserable, so I'm gonna keep it short.

I went for a massage right after work. I contemplated running at the butt crack of dawn like I do the days I double, but sleeping seemed more important. I had wanted a light rubdown, but she did some pretty intense deep work. It is really amazing how much tightness builds up so quickly. It had been almost a month since my last massage, but did not feel nearly that long. Anyhow, my legs felt pretty beat by the time I got off the table. I headed over to the gym, changed and went out for a short run. My legs felt mushy and weak, so I was happy that it was a short easy run. I ran about 4 miles, went back and stretched and then lifted quickly. That's all for today. Tomorrow has got to be better.

Posted by Blondie at 7:59 PM | Comments (1)

March 8, 2005

The Return of Winter

Yesterday was just too good to be true. Warm, slightly breezy, spring-like conditions just could not stick around. Today was one of those plain awful weather days. It was warm and raining when I got up and headed to work this morning. By 11:00 it had started to snow. I think that the snow stopped around 1:00 and half an hour later my mom called me at work to tell me to be careful because people were coming into the office and telling them how icy the roads were even though they did not look bad. When I left work it was cold and W-I-N-D-Y.

I took a nap when I got home and then turned on the news to see the weather. It was not pretty at all for going out to run. It was about 25 degrees out with a relentless wind. I don't know the exact numbers, but the sustained winds were probably around 30 mph gusting over 50. It was nearly impossible to run into the wind and it was downright scary when it was at my back. When there was a crosswind, I was being blown out of the side of the road that I run on. I would have taken today off, but I probably will not really run tomorrow since I was able to schedule a light rubdown tomorrow afternoon.

I saw D while I was waiting to cross the major road. He asked me if I wanted a ride since the conditions were so bad. He told me to go slow and take my time, but there really was not any other option. I felt pretty decent considering last night's workout. The wind was probably good for me to back off. I was going to do my striders, but there was no point in trying to work on form when I could not even stay up because of the wind.

I went to the gym and rode the stationary bike for an hour. I stretched and then got the heck out of dodge. On the way home I stopped and bought 4 pound and 6 pound medicine balls. Now I just have to figure out things to do with the darn things.

Hopefully there is no wind tomorrow!

Posted by Blondie at 8:13 PM | Comments (0)

March 7, 2005

Pet Peeve

I simply do not understand this winter's weather. The supposed high yesterday was over 50, but it most definitely did not feel nearly that warm when I was outside hanging my laundry on the line. It was nearly 70 today, but quite windy. Tomorrow the high is supposed to come at midnight and then drop all day long into the low 30s with a chance of snow. The weather gods have not known what to do all winter, so they have been giving us a little bit of everything.

I'm starting to get good at my mornings. Once again, I was able to wake up just before the alarm went off. My ankle was much less sore than it has been, I'm taking this as a good sign! Going back to the weather, I had no idea what to put on because the temperatures on the TV just did not go together. The temperature in the corner with the time said something like 40, but the temperature on the map for our town said 32. I made the decision that because it was only a half hour run, I would rather be warm and push up my sleeves than freeze. I may have been on the warm side, but I probably would have worn the same outfit if I had to do it over again. This morning, after my run of course, I figured out how my headlamp works. I'd been having problems with the angle, it was more or less pointing straight down and I could not see in front of me. When I got home, I figured out how to change the angle of the lamp.

Today was payday, so we got to leave work early to take care of our checks. By the time I got home, I was exhausted and ready for my nap. I slept for about 40 minutes, which was much needed.

Once again, we had a small group at the track. This was pretty surprising since it was really warm. On the warm up I was still feeling pretty sluggish, until about the halfway point when my body decided it was ready to wake up again. The schedule tonight called for 6 x 800, but most people were rounding down since they have not been doing much speedwork. Since we have hardly been able to get on the track, J advised most people to take it easy. The problem when it starts to get nice out is that people from the community come and use the track as well. My pet peeve is people who walk on the inside lane and don't move out of the way when you're barrelling at them yelling "TRACK". This happened to me at least three times tonight. It only gets worse as it gets nicer out. Anyhow, I felt really strong during tonight's workout. The 800s were to be done kind of Yasso-style, with a "float" 400 jog (kind of like regular run pace). I would have liked the 800s to be a touch faster, but I was not running with anyone else. There was a pretty stiff wind on the backstretch, so I tried to make a game of staying relaxed the first time around and then really pushing it the second time. I ran my 800s in 3:01, 3:02 (out in lane 4 to get around the walkers), 3:00, 3:00, 3:01 (backed off because J told me to do 6), and 3:00. I was averaging around 7:15 pace for my 400 jogs, so I kept the pace up most of the time. We warmed down for 2 1/2 miles to give me 9 1/2 for the night. I considered going on the track for an 800 to make it an even ten, but this is a cutback week so I can race this weekend.

Does anyone have any good medicine ball exercises that I can incorporate into my training? I found some really cheap and was planning on picking up a 4 pounder and 6 pounder tomorrow, but I don't really know what to do with them. Any help is greatly appreciated...

Posted by Blondie at 8:08 PM | Comments (0)

March 6, 2005

Secret Wish

A few days ago, Alison wrote about how her dream house would have a washer and dryer in it. My secret wish is to never, ever have to do laundry again. It is the one household task that I absolutely hate. I don't mind bathrooms that much, cleaning the kitchen does not bother me, but do not ever make me have to do laundry. The down time involved in doing laundry kills me. I prefer to hang my laundry out on the clothesline, but even when things go in the dryer, they take twice as long as a cycle in the washer. I would wish for someone to do my laundry for me, but I am too picky about how it is done. Everything must be folded just so, and if something gets shrunk or ruined I am the only one to blame.

If it is not obvious after all of this ranting, today was laundry day. I could have gone a little bit longer, but I am running out of the running clothes that I actually like to wear. I probably did have another week's worth of clothes that could be used, but the weather was warm enough today that the clothes could hang out to dry. One of the factors that causes my laundry to pile up so much is that I do recycle the outer layers of clothing and when I actually do my wash, all of the clothes, even if only worn once get washed. Right now, I am finishing up and everything must get folded, which is an endeavor in and of itself.

Now that I've spent so much time bitching about doing laundry, I did run today. I participated in a race this morning. I woke up early and the weather was not all that bad. I sort of wished that I had decided to run in the real race (read: for money) this morning. After some thinking, I decided that my long run yesterday was more beneficial to my long-term goals for this year. I did a short warm up, most of it on the track that the high school this race started from uses. The top curve of the track is shaded, so that part was still covered in ice and snow, but I only wanted to warm up for about a mile and a half, so the run over to the track and the run back along with a few laps was plenty. The race was delayed because registration was bigger than they expected. J was there too, since he knows the guy who put this race together. We started together and ran the first mile together. It was funny because he's there saying "you know, there are people here taking this as a serious race". Well, duh, not everyone runs 16-19 miles the day before and does a race for fun. We went through the first mile in 7:32, which felt much slower than that. At that point, I just started to run my usual easy run pace and moved up quite a bit. I was picking off lots and lots of people, but kept telling myself, "this isn't a race, just have fun". That's exactly what I did. Every time I passed someone I knew, I would talk to them for a little while. When I passed M and one of her high school runners, she told me to go after 20 people. I kept telling her that I was only having fun and running easy. I think that I may have passed 20 people, but I most definitely was not racing. I ended up finishing the 4 mile course in 28:40 and was the fourth woman overall. I warmed down with a high school boy that one of my friend coaches. This guy takes all of his runs seriously, so the warm down was almost as fast as the race was. I ended up with 7 miles for the day and 69 for the week. This week is my highest mileage week in at least two years.

This week is a cut down week since I am racing a half marathon next Sunday. Tomorrow is a regular day and then the rest of the week gets scaled back some. Today I also won a $25 gift certificate to a local brewery and restaurant.

My laundry is calling...

Posted by Blondie at 6:47 PM | Comments (0)

March 5, 2005

Trying Something New for a Change

Actually, we didn't really try something new this morning. It was more like returning to the old days. Our group has a tendency to become reliant on the same old courses week after week. About two weeks ago, a few people started talking about doing this course that we have not done it at least 6 years. It may be closer to 10 years since anyone has done this course. I had heard stories about if you wanted to do a long run with some really bitching hills to do this loop. With my tendency to get lost, I knew that venturing off on my own to try it was not a good idea. I also do not have the desire to run a course with hills as tough as they said this course is. One of the men said this is one of those courses that separates the men from the boys. Hearing comments like that does not make it the course that I want to hurry up and run.

Early last week, M went out and supposedly measured this course. She called J and told him how long it was, and it was decided that this was the course that we were going to run this weekend. J was going to lie to some people to tell them it was shorter than it actually is so that they would be willing to try it. The thing about this course is, once you are out on it there is no turning back. Many of our courses have variations that you can use to shorten or lenghten to your suit your tastes. This course, once you actually get on the loop, there is no way to get back without finishing. There was also a joke that we thought A might go into convulsions since A is hooked on the out and back and may break down from the change in schedule.

I really do not remember too much about how pretty the course is, although everyone did comment on how pretty it is. When we started it was quite cold and my hands were really starting to get numb. I do remember that there were a series of really tough hills on the loop. One of the hills was long and gradual. It felt like it was never going to end and then we turned and had a nice gradual downhill to run. After that, we turned and there was a steep uphill. After that road we started to split off. At this point we could turn left and head back in or turn right and finish off doing the out and back by running out to the post office/conveince store area and then turning around. A and I were adding on, so we turned left. A was planning on at least 20 and my goal was 2 hours plus. While we were running to the turnaround we ran into G, who A knows very well, who is one of the best duathletes in the world. We ran with G to the turnaround, so the pace was not all that easy during this portion. We both had to use the facilities which made the run back in much more pleasant. I looked at my watch at the turnaround and saw that I had already been running for almost 78 minutes and had 8 miles left to run. To top it off, there is a section of pretty nasty hills on the way back and we were not running slowly in the first place. When A and I were on the nasty hills coming back in we kept complaining about the hills. A had run 15 minutes before we got started and was running really strong. We finished and I had run for 2:16, my longest run in about 2 years!

When we got back, J was kidding around that the course was quite a bit longer than what M had told him that she had driven. M had come up with 15 miles, probably about 15.6 or so from the high school. He said that they were out for 1:55 and were running about 7:20s or faster on the way back in. He was telling us that the run I did had to be close to 19. Since there was a large group of us on the first part of the run, there was a lot of conversation going on. When they were heading back M said to J that it was strange that I was so quiet today. He told her that this course was really hard for me because I am not a very strong hill runner and it takes a lot of concentration for me to do the hills. It's funny because when I was in high school, I thought I was a strong hill runner, but as I have gotten older I am weaker on hills. Compared to other high school girls I was strong on the hills, but compared to other people, I am pretty darn weak. Needless to say, I was pretty beat when we got back.

I did get myself to the gym after the run. I rode the bike for an hour, but by the end I was feeling pretty lousy. I lifted after that. I'm not sure why I try to lift after my Saturday long run. I can barely do anything. When I got home from the gym I looked so wiped out that my mom even asked me if there was something wrong because I looked so pale.

I didn't take any fluids in during the run. I know this is not the most intelligent thing to do, but it is really difficult for me to drink, especially when it is cold. My original plan was to try to mix a Gatorade or something to try fueling during the run. The problem I have when it is cold is that my body takes all of the energy it is using to run to keep my internal organs warm after I drink. When this happens I have a hard time moving because there is not much blood flow to my legs, it is all staying in my center to stay warm. I have had quite a bit of water now to replenish. I try to drink more the day before long runs so that I am very well hydrated.

I must say that I am happy with today's run. It was about 3 miles longer than my longest run in the past two years. For the most part I felt strong, even with the hills. This afternoon I have some errands to do and may walk to do them, since the shopping center is only a little bit over a mile away and the walk may help my legs and it is not all that cold out today.

Posted by Blondie at 1:36 PM | Comments (0)

March 4, 2005

Tough Morning

This morning was just one of those mornings. I woke up a few minutes before the alarm. That really was not all that bad. I don't mind it that much when it is only a few minutes, as this morning was three minutes before the alarm was set. In some ways that is nicer than being rudely interrupted with the annoying beeps of the alarm clock. The bathroom ritual didn't take any longer than usual and getting dressed didn't take that long either since I had my outfit for the day picked out ahead of time. Even the rest of the bathroom ritual (doing hair and brushing/flossing)didn't take that long. Yet, somehow, I lost about five minutes in the process of making coffee, breakfast, and packing lunch. I was in no rush and then all of a sudden I was running late. It was like a time warp during the preparations for leaving the house.

As far as working out goes, today was supposed to be my day off. I did go to the gym and ride the stationary bike for 45 minutes this afteroon, very easily. The only reason I even did this was to try to flush out some of last night's hills. My legs did not feel all that bad today, but I knew that getting them moving just a little bit would be greatly beneficial for tomorrow. The other motive for doing this was so that I would not take a nap when I got home from work. By not taking a nap, I have an easier time getting up at 6:15 to run tomorrow morning. Since I have about 18 on tap for tomorrow, a good night's rest is imperative tonight. This will be my longest run in over two years and this week will have the highest mileage I've done in a week in two years as well. You would think that I'm training for a marathon, but I'm not. Well, we'll see, things can change...

Posted by Blondie at 4:56 PM | Comments (0)

March 3, 2005

Wind, Hills, and Making a Decision

Last night I just did not get myself into bed early enough. The wind was absolutely howling and I got sucked into watching Lost. Add in the fact that I have not had to drag myself out of bed at a few minutes till five to get out the door around five, this morning was quite difficult for me. I got myself out of bed and going earlier than usual though. I took advantage of the mailbox that I usually run by to drop off a pick-me-up card for my mom to surprise her. The howling wind from last night and yesterday was still blowing strong this morning. I think that all of us who live on the eastern part of the country were suffering from the wind yesterday, since both Beth and Jessie wrote about how windy it was yesterday!

As I said earlier, I just did not sleep enough last night, so when I got home from work, I took almost an hour nap. My mom made me feel guilty because I didn't get to call her from work today. When I woke up from my nap, she was fast asleep and purring on the couch (she purrs because she does not snore).

We had a small group tonight for the workout. Thursday night usually draws a bigger group than Monday does. I have not been at one of our evening workouts in a week and a half since the weather has been bad and I've gotten out earlier to get the workout done. This was our fifth week of hills. The schedule called for five hills tonight. After last Thursday when I could hardly get up and down the hills, I was a little bit apprehensive about tonight. What a differnce a week makes. Not only was I running the hills faster, I felt really strong. I could have easily done a sixth hill tonight. Anyhow, I did the 5 plus miles of hills in 36:30.

Earlier in this week, I made the decision not to race this weekend. I did this race last year and really enjoyed it. I ran a PR and won quite a bit of money in it. I wanted to do it again, but with the weather the way it has been I decided that I did not want to drive two hours and run a race in very possibly terrible conditions. I would rather race the half-marathon next weekend. I feel that my conditioning is more on track to run a good half instead of a good 5-miler. I am planning to run long on Saturday and then participate in a race on Sunday. Participate, as in jog. One of the high school kids who trains with us in the summer is putting it on as a fundraiser and I'm doing it to support him. I plan to do a short warm up and warm down and go out to breakfast with others and do it purely as a social event.

Posted by Blondie at 8:08 PM | Comments (0)

March 2, 2005

The Real World Beckons

After five (and a half) days off related to snow, work beckoned today. Getting up in and of itself was no easy task and getting my behind into work was even more difficult. Our students are kind of like dogs that need to be trained, when they have more than two days out of training, it takes about three weeks to get them back to their trained state. Needless to say, the students were in rare form today. Not to be a party-pooper, but the two complete days off this week were not called for; we could have easily had an early dismissal before the snow came in on Monday and a late start yesterday so that the kids weren't out in rush hour.

I got home from work and talked to my mom some. She was really tired and kind of napping. She found out that her last day of chemo is going to be on my birthday, so we'll probably have a really big birthday/end of chemo celebration a few days after that, when she gets her energy back. She's doing a study and is part of the experimental group, so her treatment is a little bit longer than usual. It was a very hard decision for us to make, but she really feels that some women need to be willing to be in an experiment so that other women can have the best treatment possible. She also knows that the treatment she would have gotten in the first place had to be experimental at some point, and if no women were willing to try then she would not be able to have as good of treatment available to her now. I took a short nap after our talk. When the alarm went off, all I could think was "oh, fudgsicles!!" (that is exactly what I said when it went off).

I got dressed for the extremely windy weather. It was cold, but it would have been tolerable without the wind. The temperature was in the mid-30s, but with the wind it felt like it was in the single digits. When it gusted I could barely stay upright, much less move. There was no reason to even wear my watch because all it would do is discourage me since the time was not going to be what it normally would because of the wind. My legs felt very fresh, I don't know if it was because of the very easy run yesterday or if it was because I'm getting used to higher mileage. Anyhow, I felt a little bit guilty about yesterday being shorter than usual, so I ran 8 miles instead of my usual 7 today. Afterwards, I went on the gym and rode the bike for 40 minutes.

I did make homemade mac and cheese for my mom yesterday. On Monday I made whole wheat cinnamon swirl bread. When I have time I like to cook, but that is only really on weekends and snow days. Mom had some and said it was really good, but I think that is because she didn't have to cook it at all :)

Posted by Blondie at 7:25 PM | Comments (2)

March 1, 2005

'Nother Day Off

Yes, we had another snow day today. Those of you in New England or other places that are used to getting a great deal of snow would laugh at us cancelling school. Hey, we're in the Mid-Atlantic, we don't know how to deal with snow. Although I was exhausted last night, I stayed up to see if school was closed on the 11:00 news. No dice. When I woke up this morning, they were nowhere near my district, so I got into the shower. When I got out of the shower, they had just passed it, but I noticed that another local district that never closes was closed. I logged onto the computer, well I had to turn it on and let it boot first, and discovered that there was no school. Arrrgh...2 Tylenol PM let me get back to sleep. I'm not going to complain too much about it, but we could have had a late start today and an early dismissal yesterday. Hopefully this five day weekend will have me refreshed about going to work since my attitude recently has just plain sucked.

8:30 AM my cell is ringing and I am thinking that it is my alarm clock even though I know that I didn't set it when I went back to sleep. I answered it sounding awfully groggy and had J on the other end who could not believe that I was still in bed. Even though he told me yesterday to take today off, he said that I was going to meet him on his lunch to run. He knows me too well, I was going to do a longer run today since there was time.

We ran our river loop which is about 7 miles. It was very easy, he was making fun of me because he knows that I never run that easy. It was really nice to actually get to run with someone else. The only days I do seem to end up being race-like track workouts. That is more the other person's problem than mine, since I ave gotten to the point that this is what I am supposed to be doing and I'm not going to drop the pace by fifteen seconds just to beat you.

After the run I headed over to the gym. I felt guilty that I only ran 7 miles, so I did the ellipitcal machine for half an hour and then rode the bike for another half hour. After that I lifted some, but I had to get out of there since it was almost 3:00 and I'd only had some bread for breakfast before 9:00.

My ankle is feeling better, but the soreness seems to have migrated to the top right side of my right foot. It hurts pretty much where the laces tie on the top of the foot. I've been trying my best to ice it and not irritate it. My adidas trainers seem to bother it the most which is ironic since they were the shoes that hurt my ankle the least.

Gotta go, cooking mac and cheese for my mom to have on hand after here treatments. That is the only food she really wants, so I'm getting some ready for her to have after treatment tomorrow. I can be such a good daughter.

Posted by Blondie at 5:33 PM | Comments (1)