Chug-along-chica!

I had to sleep in REALLY late to get my 8 hours of sleep.  I was up very late last night because I was all excited from that midnight race with Laura.  

So anyway, I was a major bum today and completely skipped my run.  No excuse at all. I think that sleeping late leads to less ambition all day long...or maybe it's just a coincidence. 

5.47 slow, boring miles on "Treadmills 'R' Usville." 

But I mopped my floor at the same time using my new irobot Scooba mopping robot!   Hooray for the modern age of technology!  This almost makes up for smog, in my book.  :)

I really had to drag myself out there tonight!  And I only did 2.  Not good.  *Sigh*  I am feeling a little bit of the post-Christmas, post-New Year's, post-vacation blues.  I need a well-placed kick in the pants, if any of you have your bloggee boots on...

Tonight my littlest guy turned 3!  I don't have any more babies--they are all growing up!   I'm not sure I like this pattern...  I try to persuade them to not eat their vegetables so they will stay little and not grow so fast, but that usually only produces a broccoli feeding frenzy.

5 on the treadmill.

I don't think I'm going to be able to run today!  Yesterday on my treadmill run my right leg started hurting.  It was a really dull ache at first, but eventually started to really hurt.  I think it is some kind of cramp or strain in the muscle on the front of my leg between the knee and ankle.  There is definitely tightness.   It hurts a little today even when I am not doing anything,  I feel it a little more when I walk, and well, I'm not even going to try running until it goes away.  Massage and heat feel good on it.

 Humph!
 

Night run with Christine.  Ave. Pace 9:54...watching for signs of strain on my lower leg really carefully.  I have my first half marathon ever in less than 2 weeks and I really don't want to be MIA! 

So my leg felt really good for 2 miles, but then I started to feel it a little.   Forgive me while I delve a little deeper than is interesting to read about (never stopped Charles Dickens!)...  Somewhere around 2 miles I first started to feel a twinge in my right hip.  At the time I really got the feeling that it was coming from my lower back.  After another .25 or so, I started to feel tension running down my leg--the whole leg, from my hip to the bottom of my foot.  Within another half mile the discomfort had kind of localized in my shin muscle.  So I had to slow down a lot that last mile for this thing, but I am filled with hope that the root of the problem can be fixed by my chiropractor.  I have twice had a hip pain that completely subsided after getting a really great adjustment by my chiro.  I'll go in tomorrow and hopefully come out all better!  At least that is MY plan!

I'll probably only run 3 again tomorrow even if I'm feeling good, but by the end of the week, I might do a 5 and a 6-8 miler.  One thing is certain...Painter's is going to kick my butt!!! Everybody needs a good butt kicking every once in a while, though.  It makes you feel alive!  Well, more like it makes you feel dead, so you can appreciate it when you finally come back to life a week or so later.

Nice run in the evening with Christine.  She was very sweet about letting me walk half a mile first to warm up, then run excruciatingly slow for 1.3 miles, then walk another .6 of a mile or so.  She really is a good friend.   Looking forward to getting out there again tonight.  I am so grateful for the good examples of people who have handled injuries so well and continued working out and blogging like Paul, Cody, Scott Zincone, Clay, & Sarah.  It's going to be a good day.

1.4 walking the dog.  Then 1.4 jogging sssslowly.  No pain other than a little bit of tightness in the hip/glut area.   Thanks to everyone for all the input on injuries and suggestions!  I think I am going to avoid a huge injury here.  Things are looking up!

3 miles outside at 12+ pace, at Sasha's request.  You all know how much I revere Sasha's advice.  Well I am grateful for his advice and that's a fact.  Felt really good.--another encouraging run.  My knee started to feel just a little weird around 2.2 miles so I walked a while and continued again.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to do 6-8 reeeeeeallly slow miles.  If it works out, I will plan on running the Painter's half as a training run.  If it turns out to be too much, I will plan on....going down to St. George, eating Steve Hoopers food, mooching free room and board off Logan's parents, giving Sasha flack in person, and ...you know what would be the BEST thing ever?  If I can't run the half, I would LOVE to pace somebody for the 5K.  The catch is that you must be slower than me.  I'm pretty sure I should be able to do at least 9 min. miles for a 5K, if needed.  But of course anything slower than that is just plain fabulous as well.

 Ug.  I am so tired from all the housework I did today.  I borrowed my friend's steam cleaning machine and basically steamed my whole house--refridgerator, oven, dining room chairs, grout, walls and base boards, window sill tracks (which was DISGUSTING because I never do it--were're talking about a desicated insect mosoleum here!).  In conclusion...zzzzzzzzzz

 

10 miles outside without fueling (which is a first). Very very easy pace. 1:59 for the whole run. Only the 4th time in my life I've ever put up double digits in one day. Don't know how some of you do this everyday... I can never think of anything interesting to say after these long runs--all the blood is in my legs. My mind is getting simplified by the mileage, I guess. :) .

Anyway, you all know what this run means,,,,

Painter's Half Marathon or BUST!!!

And long live the blog!

Looooong nap thanks to my wonderful hubby.  Thanks James!

Finally got my run in tonight.  Ran 3.1 with Christine, and another 2 alone.  Just under 11:00 pace, I believe.  Felt the knee just a titch at the end. 

Okay guys, I promised a discussion on prescription drug abuse, so here we go...

I personally know someone who struggled with addiction to strong painkillers that is very very dear to me. It is so tough, because it started off so legitamate. He hurt his back badly and needed the painkillers. It never really healed, but for the next 40 years of his life he was basically drugged. He was groggy and slept a lot during the day, then he ended up being up for most of the night. He talked about his pain constantly...CONSTANTLY. I think it was because he needed the pain as an excuse for not really living his life, and abusing pain killers. Although it is hard to say... I always feel bad because I don't know how much pain he was actually feeling. All I know is that when he went into an assisted living situation, and lost control of his pain meds (because the nurse administered them) he stopped talking about his pain all the time. He came out of the fog and became the pleasant, caring person he had always been on the inside. There's not much to say about this except that it is very sad, and was a huge waste of this person's life. Here are the points I think are worth debating:

1. Why are doctors so willing to prescribe addictive substances? Ritalin is just one example. (Oh boy, I just got someone really riled up, I can already tell.) Ritalin is a highly addictive stimulant! It is in the same category as PCP in terms of probability of addiction (I got that from a book on Ritalin use.) But all you have to do is go in and tell your Dr. that your kid is struggling in school and they will write out a prescription. Another example is cough syrup with codeine. Every time I've been to the Dr. for a germ-caused illness, the Dr. prescribes stuff like tylenol with codeine and/or cough syrup-for-druggies. I always tear them up. But lots of people think that if a Dr. gives you the RX, you have to fill it. Also, many times when I have been to the ER, there are a bunch of people in there just because they ran out of "meds". Painkillers, basically. I swear I could tell this one guys was just lying and had taken them all too soon, or else was hoarding them to get a high later. It was so easy! The Dr. didn't even examine him, he just wrote out the RX and the guy left, all happy. No accountability or checking on his story at all. Obviously Vicodin is extremely addictive, yet Drs. prescribe it left and right. Bleh. Well, that's a good start. I have lots of other stuff to say, but I will wait until I see what you guys have to say about this.

I am sucking on garlic today, as I woke up with a sore throat. I have my own evil theory as to how it discourages infection: basically making the germs so stinky that they don't want to reproduce.

I'd have to lie to say that I was able to finish my run today with Christine. I ran a more typical pace for me (~10:00) for about a mile, then I started having some pain in my knee, so I slowed down, however it didn't really help and actually hurt more and more as I went along so I just walked home.

Woof. I was up most of the night with a little one with a tummy ailment. I was extremely tired all day and mostly hung out in pajamas and cleaned up messes related to the ongoing tummy ailment.

My voice is gone--a little laryngitis going on. I "rested" my knee and logged zero miles. Dang it! It is so easy for me to feel like a failure when I don't get enough sleep. But really, in the whole scheme of things, this is all very small change. I will be fine! Thanks for all the encouraging remarks on my Tues. entry! I am constantly surprised by the number of caring and supportive people here.

GREAT JOB AT PAINTERS EVERYONE!

It's was really fun reading everyone's race report.  Although, I really should say that there was an extreme lack of picture-taking. Somebody better post some pictures, or there's gonna be another smackdown!

Speaking of smackdowns, the most important fitness related event that happened to me while resting my knee and getting over my cold was a phone call to Sasha. I had to tell him that I wasn't able to do Painters, and thus was in violation of our little agreement, wherein he was supposed to try to play a hymn on the piano without making any mistakes within 48 hours (which he did) and in return I would run the Painter's Half Marathon.  Geez! I really didn't think he was ready to do that! One thing you must all never doubt is Sasha's tenacity. Anyhow, I asked him if he could please think of some other way I could fulfill my side of the bargain. I gave him some lovely options, such as running a half down here in AZ, going up to St. George even though I wouldn't be running, hosting a pasta party for the Del Sol Relay team when they come down, etc. etc. But his choice was for me to simply to adhere to the "good conscience" diet (meaning don't eat anything that I believe to be unhealthy) until I break 2:00 in the half marathon.

And thus we see the extreme futility of trying to argue a point with Sasha. That guy will NEVER give up, and eventually he will win. I can't keep up the whole fire-breathing-debate thing forever, eventually apathy takes over. So tonight when my family was at Souper Salad, and they all went back and got some brownies, I went back and got a bowl of diced beets...It's okay, I like beets...a little. Almost like a brownie...

About my run tonight--it was fine, it was great! I've really missed running. No pain whatever. I did 2 miles outside at "injury pace," which is 1.5 min. slower than "easy pace." I think that I've figured out what the heck was going on with my knee, but it is convoluted, so you may want to tune out now--just leave me a comment like "Good job!" and move on. I think that my piriformis muscle is the main culprit. It attaches to the tailbone and controls how far out you hold your leg sideways (I think). So my chiropractor said my tailbone was was "out" and I know my piriformis was all bunched up like a rock in there. Someone recommended massage, and I'll tell you, I could NOT stand for that thing to be touched without yelping. So I think it was pulling my leg in a little too much and THAT is what was causing the pain in my knee and down my leg. I think that it altered my gait in such a way that my right leg was landing harder than usual. I don't think I actually had a real injury in my knee, but I do think that if I had continued to run on it like this I could've ended up with an injury in my knee or with shin splints. So I've been adjusted by the chiro, and I've had some massage--now I am going to make sure I do my 3 lower back exercises (which my chiro has been begging me to do for a long time, but I've been to lazy to do it) in order to hopefully keep my lower back in the right place, and I'm going to do my piriformis stretch before and after every run. Tomorrow I will hopefully run 3, 4 on Wed, 4 on Thurs. 5 on Friday, 6 on Saturday. Next week I'll try to do 5-6 miles most days unless something starts hurting again. Maybe a 10 miler that Saturday...

Look at this picture I just found. Who is that booking it back from the finish of the race? He he he.

3 miles outside at injury pace.  No problems to speak of.   I did my lower back exercises and my piriformis stretch before heading out.   

I'm exhausted, I hear the siren call of my pillow drawing me in.   Time to surrender.  ZZZZzzz.
 

4 miles with Christine outside in the freezing coldness.  Only 59 degrees.  (Sorry, that was low.)

I did my lower back exercises and my piriformis stretch.  Pace was about 1 min. a mile slower than easy pace.  No pain to speak of other than my shingles pain. 

Doh!  I have shingles.  I had this little tiny rash the size of a quarter, but it stings/burns over a rather big area.  So I finally went to the Dr. to see what the heck was up.  Anyone ever have this before?  How long does it last?  It is rather annoying.  Am I supposed to try and stay away from everyone?  I've been walking around with it for several days--hope nobody gets it from me.   I'm thinking of all this stuff I should have asked my Dr., but I had no presence of mind at the time.  I'm on an antiviral Rx now.  So hopefully it will help. 

PS I take back all that stuff about the evils of painkillers. 

I am starting to get pretty excited because my knee and hip are not causing problems. 4 at injury pace tonight, No issues to speak of...

Tomorrow 5, Sat. 6, I'm on my way out of the woods!

And I think the shingles are slightly, maybe, a little bit improved. The rash is bigger, but I think the pain is down a little bit, which is the real issue.

I had planned on running this evening, but when the time came, I could hardly keep my eyes open. I took it as a strong message that my body needed the sleep more than the run. I felt just a little bad about missing my run, but my shingles feel so much better today (Sat.) that I think it was the right thing to do.

*Groan* I had a significant bad, rotten thing happen today. Remember my sweet, psychotic dog Sparky? He attacked a little boy today and bit him! (Fortunately it did not break skin because of the boys jeans.) Sparky is very sweet to everyone in our family, but he is so protective that it is a problem. Whenever he meets a new person, he goes absolutely ballistic with barking like crazy and threatening to bite. I've been trying to introduce him to one new person every day to get him over this and taking him to PetsMart to get used to strangers. I really thought he was doing better... then today sweet little 7 year-old Ryan came over to play with Sam. He saw that we had a trampoline and ran and threw the door open. I was just starting to say "wait, I need to put the dog away..." when Sparky dashed in through the open door and started barking at the boy. Ryan got scared and ran away, and to my absolute shock and horror, Sparky pursued and bit his rear.  He's never done that before! So today one of my jobs is to get rid of Sparky. I will try to find someplace where he will be safe. There are so many little kids that come to my house between all the play mates and piano students. I just can not have a dog that bites! Ug. I feel guilty and sad, though. Could I have done something differently to prevent this?

Delicious night of sleep last night--feeling MUCH better.

4 miles outside at injury pace. 

What a nice run for me today!  Best run in several weeks, I think.  5 miles outside--3 with Christine, and then 2 more after she left. 10:04 pace on ave., which is easy pace for me.  I am a little relieved, because I thought that I might get "stuck" at injury pace.  I felt like I had to hold back a little.  That's always nice.   It was quite breezy, and at one point the wind was just blowing the tears out of my eyes.  All I could think was that it was so much nicer than having snow blasted into my eyes like Kory described in his run today.  Yech.  Well, that is why his times are going down, I guess.  Toughitude.

James and I have decided to give Sparky a second chance.  I am signing us up for obedience classes, I'm watching "The Dog Whisperer" (he he he), making sure he gets his run every day, and, well, the bottom line is that I need to be much more responsible.  It is my job to make sure he is secured EVERY time we have a friend over, or when I teach piano.   I've been reading dog obedience literature.  Did you know that playing tug-of-war with your pooch can encourage aggression?  That was Sparky's favorite game.  (Oops.)  Also, we must never let Sparky up on the furniture or let him beg scraps from the table. 

He he he. I had to put that .01 on there just to bug Monaflash. Well, fate smiles on me again! Just listen to how perfect this is...

I am supposed to be running about 6 or so miles a day, plus a long run every week. For some reason, my brain just freaks out at 6 a day because...well, it's a full hour of running for me. Sometimes I have had a hard time dragging myself out there for 6. An hour just sounds so much longer than 50 min. So anyway, my fabuloso running buddy Christine usually only wants to run 3 a day. So guess how far away from my house she lives? Exactly 1.5 miles--to the hundredth of a mile! So if I run to her house, run 3 miles with her, and then run back I get in my 6 for the day with a minimum of brain atrophy (or at least boredom). It also works nicely for pacing. Christine always wants to run just a little faster than I do, so I can warm up on the way to her house, run a little faster with her, and then cool down on the way home. Somebody up there likes me...and wants me to run, apparently. : )

1 HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUR and 1 minute for the run. Felt fine.

3 with Christine at 9:58 pace. I'm going to go run the other 2 right now in my neighborhood. I wanted to blog before it gets too late so I can avoid the whole "I'm so sleepy I can't kick myself off the computer" syndrome. Very virulent.

And I am going to do those 2 miles SLOW, because I am bushed today.

My hat is off to my amazing hubby who replaced a toilet with all his manly dexterous skills today. Girls like guys with skills...

Ho Boy... Here comes a true confession. So, some of you have been wondering about how my diet thing is going. (Diet is a four letter word!) I have (had) been doing so well! I've been eating tons of healthy stuff and basically just making substitutions for unhealthy stuff--molasses or stevia for sugar, potassium iodide for salt, smoothies (or beets?) for brownies etc. For over a week we have had a huge OPEN bag of M&Ms that my son used for a school project. This is probably a world record in self-restraint for me! Chocolate is on the endagered species list in my home. I generally don't have it in the house, but it I do, I eat it promptly. Anyway, I've lost a couple kilos and been feeling pretty proud of my diet.

HOWEVER, today I was in Darth Lybi mode almost all day--super grumpy. I found myself nibbling on a little bit of bologna at snack time. Then I had a whole bologna sandwich with swiss cheese. THEN I dove headfirst into that bag of M&M's with a peanut butter-laden knife in one hand like a deranged chocolate-devouring lunatic. That was my lunch. It got worse from there. I hope I don't turn bulimic before I get a chance to run the Striders half marathon in April. Ah! If I don't break 2:00 I will die.

But tomorrow is a new day--and you know what that means. It's back to buckwheat time, people! Wish me luck.