Never Enough T-Shirts

I usually don't run on Sundays and I didn't actually think today would be any different. I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon and when I woke up, I just wanted to go for a run! I headed out at 6pm and with a full bladder, because David was in the bathroom (we only have one... I think they have it better in the barracks!)  I was losing daylight and needed to get far enough away from the house before it got dark so that I wouldn't feel guilty about not wearing my reflective belt, so rather than wait for my turn in the bathroom, I decided to run the 5k route and use the bathroom at the gym along the way. 

There is another 5k (same course) this Saturday and I hope I do as well as or better than I did last time. I've run up that last hill several times since then, 3 times in just the last week, so maybe it won't be so daunting on Saturday! Today I looked at my watch and noted that running the hill (at the beginning of my run since I started at my house instead of the gym where the 5k starts) only takes 3 and a half minutes. I like knowing things like that so I can encourage myself during the actual 5k. I also do this at theme parks... I am terrified of roller coasters and whenever I do manage to be convinced to try one (which is not often!) I time the coaster while I wait in line and when I get on, I close my eyes, scream and say, "It's only 68 seconds" over and over until it stops.

Anyway, I still have one clean long sleeved shirt, so there's no excuse for me to skip running tomorrow!

 Edited to Add: The other day Marion mentioned the "Mileage Board" on her blog entry and I was curious so I clicked it. There are lots of things on this site I haven't clicked yet! Just now I clicked Mileage Board and I see the big benefit to being in this time zone (other than knowing the future ;) ) I've got the highest mileage so far this week, with a whopping 3 miles! I got a head start!

Today's run was kind of "blah". I can't put my finger on why, but I just didn't feel very well. At first I felt slow and the air didn't feel like it was going in right. About 4 miles in I had a cramp in my stomach/under my ribcage.  Also, it felt super-hot. I guess it's already time to put away my long sleeved shirts. (I won't put them too far away, though, as we should be in the midwest in a few more weeks...I have a feeling I'll need them there!) I had to make a choice when it was time to start heading the direction of home--turn at a stop sign or keep going and turn at the stop light--and I chose stop light because I thought I might be cutting the mileage short if I turned at the sign. That was a really dumb choice, because it was lunch time and since I was running on the main road of base, there was tons of traffic. There were cars turning out of or into just about every single side road and parking lot entrance, so I had to slow down and stop a lot to assess whether a driver was going to see me and let me go, see me and go anyway, or not see me at all. It turns out that the route was more than a half-mile longer than I wanted (so I had a cool down walk home) and I probably could've just gone with the less trafficky route and still gotten my entire run in.

 That was one big complaint, but I really am glad that I got out and did it! Oh, I did take into consideration the idea of not wearing clean clothes on every run. That "conversation" was going on on Leslie's blog, I think?? I wore the same hat that I wore yesterday, and had my dirty shorts in my hand, but opted for a clean pair at the last minute! ;) I heard my neighbors outside and didn't want to gross them out while I chatted with them until my Garmin picked up signal!

My Wednesday treadmill workout again today...I'm getting better and better at it! I might change it up soon, but this week, I wanted to do thinks a lot like I did the last week before the 5k run on Saturday.

1 mile jog up (literally!) to the gym. Hopped on the treadmill, chose a 25 minute podcast to listen to on my iPod, and started my 3 miles at 8:00 pace. I tend to stare at the distance screen on the treadmill, which is not very good for my morale, so since the podcast I was listening to was an interview, I tried to only look at the distance display when the interviewers asked a question.

When I got to 2.5 miles, I sped up to 7:47 pace for a quarter mile and 7:30 for the last quarter mile. Then I slowed down to between 8:45 and 9:45 for 3 miles of cooling down on the treadmill while I listened to another podcast and caught some of Dr. Oz on Oprah. I was extremely irritated by the headphones not staying in my ears. I need the other kind that don't go in your ears because they just don't stay put once my ears start sweating. Actually, I'm not sure if ears really sweat or if it's just other sweat that runs in there or what. Whatever, it's gross!

Ran back to the house for a total of 8 miles.

On my way home, someone shouted out "Rebecca!" and I waved...then they said, "Get back here!" and I looked around and saw a little girl running across the yard...and felt a little silly for waving.

Good thing I had entered this run the last time I did it a few weeks ago. My Garmin kept losing signal (between all the beeping in and out, it lost an entire mile!) The whole time I thought it was a 6 mile run, but I see it was just 5. Oh well. I ran the hilly habu trail and then up the big hill that will be the end of the 5k on Saturday. There was a huge line of cars waiting to get off base, and running through their exhaust for about 3/4 mile was not fun. I did see someone I knew and waved at her and then I had fun switching up my "get up the hill" game...normally I count sets of 6 bushes, today I got to "just get to the red car" and then "get to the car with its lights on", etc.

I decided to do 2 laps around the track instead of just 1 so that I could take some time to walk down the hill to my house. During my 2nd lap, I had to take a 3 minute Star Spangled Banner Break. It was 5:00. I got really irritated at one guy who did NOT stop when retreat started. He finished his lap and then stopped. I don't care who you are or what kind of workout you're in the middle of... if you're on a military base and it's 5:00, the national anthem is going to play and you need to stop for it and be respectful for 3 minutes of your day. It happens every day at the same time, so it's not like he couldn't have planned his workout accordingly. When I left the house at 4:18, I knew that I would have to stop for the anthems at some point. It is my pet peeve when people don't stop when the anthems play... I always tell my students when we say the Pledge of Allegiance that that's our chance to say "thank you" and "I hope you're safe" to all the moms and dads, brothers and sisters and cousins and uncles and grandpas etc. who are away from their families and maybe in danger and we might not be able to say it in person, but it probably makes them feel good to know that every morning at school (and every 5:00 during retreat) we stop and think good thoughts for them.  Maybe I should've done another lap to catch up with that guy once retreat was over and given him my 2nd grade teacher speech.

I felt like I did this run faster than last time... I know the first mile was faster, then the Garmin started getting cranky. My special reward for doing so well...pizza!! Yum!

I really need to start paying attention to that little "periodically hit save as draft" advice up there. Take 2:

What a morning! It was so cold & really windy (the wind woke me up at 4:30 and is still rattling the windows!) that I decided not to go to the gym where the 5k starts as early as I normally would. I didn't want to stand around too long in the cold.

  I got there at 7:56. The run was supposed to start at 8, and they usually are 5-10 minutes behind schedule. But not today! I was still at the sign-in table when I heard the start at 7:57. I finished my name, rank & signature and ran toward the starting line. When I passed the clock at the finish line, I was already 40 seconds behind, so I made sure to start my watch when I got to the starting line so at least I'd know my time at the end. My Garmin gave me the low batteries warning on my way there (I really thought I just fully charged it 4 miles ago!) so I turned it off because I knew I would be annoyed by all the beeping. Good thing I never learned how to tell the actual time on my Garmin so I always wear my regular good ol' Timex on my other hand!

  I ran past the walkers & started to catch up to the crowd. I felt like I was playing catch-up the whole time! I found my friends Grace and Paul and they said, "We were wondering where you were!" I had given Grace a hard time the other day when she said she was thinking about skipping...can you imagine if I hadn't shown up!? I knew my friend Veronica was out there too, and had to catch up with her. I started playing the "moving landmarks" game: "Catch up with the orange stripes...good job. Now pass the white hat...okay. Black shorts...check. Red shirt..." etc. until finally I caught up with Veronica. It was at the part of the course that passes by my backyard, and I saw her looking toward my house (later she said she was thinking maybe I decided to go out and cheer instead)...I popped up right next to her and said, "I'm here! I was just late!" She said, "I'm sure you'll make up for it....good luck!" and I kept going. Barely kept going that is! Right past my house was the windiest part of the run, and running right into the wind it felt like I was on a treadmill...moving fast but going nowhere! I was actually thankful to turn the corner and start running up the big hill! I thought that the hill would really get me, mostly since I had been running pretty fast to catch up with the group, but it felt surprisingly good. Now, I won't get all crazy and say I wasn't wishing it were over, but I didn't start wishing that until I was already past the first brown sign...usually that feeling starts way before the sign. When the ground leveled out, I saw a girl in a long sleeved brown shirt and I decided I wanted to catch her. For some reason I thought to myself, "What if she's the 3rd place girl and you finish right behind her?" I thought that would be kind of upsetting, to come from very last place and at least 40 seconds late and miss having my name on the board in the gym by just a few seconds. So I decided to really push myself and get around her. I also passed our friend SMSgt H. without even realizing it...he was all bundled up and I didn't recognize him until he said hello. As I crossed the finish line, I heard someone say, "We've got our 2nd female here. In the blue shirt." And I almost fell over in shock when I realized that I was wearing a blue shirt...maybe they were talking about me! Sure enough, the lady handed me a laminated "2"!  That was a nice addition since the last run...usually you just have to stand there all breathless and tell & spell your name. My time on the sheet was 23:52 and the lady asked me if that was right. I said, "Well, not according to my watch, but it's okay."

My watch time was 22:56! I think that's about 28 seconds better than last month on the same course.  Maybe there's some merit to my "arrive over 40 seconds late" strategy...or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm actually running more than once or twice a week!

This will be my last Risner Fitness Center 5k (I said that in December too, but I'm almost sure we're really moving this month!) and I'm glad to leave on a happy note!