Chug-along-chica!

Well I think I've learned something about moderation. I felt ill all day yesterday after my run--weak, nauseated, and...more weak. I finally just went to bed early (8:30), hoping I would feel better today, and I do. I felt bad being so useless yesterday though, so I better not run any more Friday nights!

Today is June 1st. I am sure that date means nothing to most of you, unless it is your birthday or something, and if so, Happy Birthday. But to my slightly superstitious brain it is a day of dread. The 2 worst, most excruciatingly painful days of my life both happened to fall on a June 1st, so I always have a secret desire to crawl back in bed and cover my head with my blankets every time it rolls around. So far, so good.  Maybe it's not too late to just crawl back into bed...

3 miles this morning at 9:29 pace on ave. All I can say is THANK GOODNESS for early mornings. It is so much cooler.

I am pretty happy with my pace because I think this is the first time an easy run has had a pace below 9:30 without much effort.

I am sleepy today. Has anyone ever had a 3 year-old wake up at 3:30 AM and INSIST that it is morning? Guess we put him to bed too early last night.

This week I am going to try for 35-39 miles. I've had 3 weeks in a row of 30-32 miles. Time to step it up in sleep and miles.

PM 2 more miles at 9:37 pace, barefoot.  I am really feeling for all the fabulous runners on the blog who are struggling with injuries!  Get well soon, everyone.

5 Miles on the treadmill. I am exceedingly tired this week from very poor sleep. I don't think I will be increasing my miles this week, but hopefully I'll still break 30.

Has anyone ever heard of people's teeth never growing in? I took my son to the dentist and he said that a few of his grown up teeth just never developed and will never come up... What the heck?

4 miles outside at 9:31 pace on ave.

1.54 barefoot miles tonight at 9:30 pace on ave.

How's that for a boring entry? Better add something controversial: Why is it that man-sweat is so much stinkier than chica-sweat?  It IS true, and don't try to get politically correct on me.  It's true...to my everlasting dismay.  Again, no need to bring this post to James' attention.

4 miles outside at 9:31 pace on ave. I was soooo tired this morning. I've been having a little bit of insomia this week. And I miss Christine. She is out of town for most of the summer.

1.65  I ran barefoot with all 4 of my guys.  Sam ran a mile, then Joey ran .65.  It was fun and refreshing.  My little boys compulsively pick flowers (or flowering weeds) for me whenever we are outside.  I doubt that it endears us to the neighbors, but it melts my heart. 

8.7 Miles nice and early in the morning at 9:45 pace on average. Ahhhh. Nice and cool (for now!). I spent fully half the time thinking about my next half marathon--drooling for a glorious finish. It is pretty standard for me on a run to mostly think about having a good race sometime in the near future. I wonder if this is typical. What do you guys think about on your solo runs? How much time do you spend thinking about your next race?

PM Ha ha, I just ran .11 miles just to get me above the 30 mark. Very important. :) Phshaw, am I tired. I better go drink some gatorade and eat some jelly beans, I mean, sport beans.

I didn't handle my long run well yet again. I was so tired and lethargic today! I almost fainted, actually. I went over to my friend's house later in the morning to help her try to organize some stuff in here house--light lifting and such. Anyway after about 2 hours of doing stuff, I started to see spots and felt like I might pass out so I had to leave before we were finished. I ate, and nothing got better. I rested, and I didn't recover. Finally I drank about 24 oz. of gatorade and I was bounding around (not really, but at least able to do stuff) within 15 min. I don't know if it was the water or the electrolytes I needed. But one thing is certain: I am not as tough as Walter...not by a long shot. That guy is always running something like 18 miles, and then pouring 24 yards of concrete. Bleh.

I started out on the treadmill this morning because James was running outside. The stupid thing is that I can't remember how far I ran! It was either 1.35 or 2.35 miles. I don't know--I was just watching "The Count of Monte Cristo" until James got back. I'll assume the lower number just to make sure I don't short-change my training. Anyway, then I kicked off my shoes and ran 2.6 outside. It is a little bit strange to run on the ground after running on the treadmill. It almost feels like the ground is still moving. It's odd. My pace for the barefoot section was 8:59 on average, which is faster than usual. I think it is just because I was warmed up. It didn't seem like it was faster than I normally go. I hope that means I am getting faster! We'll see.

I still haven't decided which half marathon to try for 1:50 this fall. "When the runner is ready, the half marathon will appear" is kind of what I am thinking. I wish I could stay local, and yet avoid the crushing heat of the valley. Maybe there is some little half in Tuscon or Payson or something.

1.65 miles in the PM barefoot, with my little kids.  James kicked off his shoes for the run, too.  Then, of course, my kids BEGGED us to let them run without shoes, too.  So our whole family went running through the neighborhood barefooted.   We got lots of looks, and even some comments from people in cars.  "Doesn't that hurt?"  and so forth.  It was a fun run.  My kids did really well barefooted.  Zero complaints from my 5 year-old.  And my little squeaky wheel 7 year-old only whimpered twice when he stepped on a rock.

4.2 outside with the dog this morning. Around 9:44 pace, I think. (It got messed up with doggy stops.) Looking forward to playing with my kids and swimming today.

I am considering dropping my Saturday long runs. It is just too disruptive to my...I dunno, EVERYHING. These last 2 weeks I have not been functional all day on Saturday after my run. Will it give me the same benefit to run 6 days of 6 miles each as 5 miles on 5 days and then a 10 miler? Keep in mind that my goal race is a half marathon & that I usually break up my daily mileage into 2 runs. Any input?

1.45 on the treadmill at about 11 pace, then 3 more miles outside at 9:09 pace on average. Not sure why the treadmill seems harder at a slower pace. I do have it set to a slight incline (1), maybe that's the culprit.

1.75 barefoot with my family in the PM. 

4.35 Outside with the pooch. If I run with the boys this evening (which is my plan) I should come out at exactly 6 for the day. I have so little free time these days--I feel a little like a sponge that is being wrung out. It really makes the days fly by. Can it really be Thursday already? I must be getting old. Pretty soon I'll be saying that the last 20 years flew by in the blink of an eye.

1.65 this evening  at 9:17 pace on ave.  Most of it was at about 9:33 pace, but I did a fartlek at the end at about 7:00 pace.

1.7 miles on the treadmill around 9:45 pace, followed immediately by 2.85 outside at 9:07 pace on average.

I couldn't find any clean shorts today, so I snuck one of James' pairs and headed out. Add that the list of humiliations I am willing to suffer for consistent training (along with underarm chaffage) because they are so big on me I look ridiculously like a mushroom.

1 mile barefooted with my 7 year-old.  I had to run on the asphalt because the trash cans were all out on the sidewalk and I was pushing the double jogging stroller.   Running barefoot on asphalt in Mesa in the summer is...well, let's just call it uncomfortable.  So I put my shoes on to finish up with .65 with my 5 year-old. 

This morning our church group (ward) had a great activity. They had laid down all these humongous tarps overlapping each other to make a GIGANTIC slip'n'slide that went down a huge hill. They had a fire hose blasting water down it. It was SOOOOO much fun! 5 people could go down at once. James & the kids had a major blast, and I couldn't have enjoyed it more...unless possibly I could have done it without hurting myself. :)

I am all messed up! I was running and jumping all sprawled out in the air on each run, then, well, who knows what happened on the way down. I would turn and twist and scream. It was so great. But I did something to my left hip and now I'm limping. Dang it! My intuition is telling me to ice it. I may try shuffling (running) later. It is my left leg (for once!) and it feels weak. Every once in a while my knee buckles when I am limping around. What really hurts is to bring my leg forward. No can do. A lot of the discomfort (pain) seems more like referred pain than real pain. Probably this will go away really soon and everything will be peachy...I hope!

1 mile on the treadmill, barefooted.  Humph.  I didn't like it.  Taking it easy at around 11:00 pace. 

4 miles immediately after the treadmill around 10:30 pace.  My left leg felt pretty good, but bothered a little esp. on the little downhills. 
 

3.1 miles outside at 10:20 pace, followed immediately by 

2.9 miles on the treadmill at 10:30 pace.

James and I have to swap outside/inside running times so that one of us will always be here while our little kids sleep, so this is what I have to do if I want to get all my running done in the morning (unless I wake up at 4:00, but that is ABSOLUTELY NOT a suitable wake-up time in my book.  It's a better BEDTIME after reading a good book all night.  But there are bloggers who do it...Jon does it every day!  Jtshad too, I think.  Ouch!)
 

6 miles on the treadmill...slowly.  Eventful. (Groan...I do NOT want to tell you what happened.  I feel like such a dork!)  I was watching a movie and not paying very much attention to running, when suddenly I felt like someone grabbed my foot and pulled it HARD.  Actually I had drifted to the side and partially stepped off the moving belt.  So of course I did the logical thing and screamed and fell down.  In the process the big toe on my right foot somehow got folded back under itself for a second.  It is quite painful today (I am blogging this on Thurs.)  I am terrified that this may affect my ability to run this week. 

It is almost like I am subconsciously sabotaging myself by flinging myself off hills and treadmills.  This is absolutely ridiculous.  So I am going to get this off my chest and hopefully I can stop hurting myself.  1.)  I don't want to run a marathon right now.  2.) I don't want to run a hot half marathon, so I may wait longer than just this fall to run my next half  3.) I don't want people to judge the efficacy of the blog or anyone's running advice by watching me.  If you want to see if Sasha knows what he is talking about when it comes to running, look at how many miles he logs without ever getting injured, and how well his kids are doing.  *Phew*  Now I feel better--much less inclined to try "sudden death" training techniques.  :)

3 miles on the treadmill, slow. Absolutely no problem with the toe, which was slightly disconcerting. I probably should have run on Saturday...dang.

Hey, since I've decided this is my off season and I'm not feeling all that inclined to race, I've come up with a new goal to help keep me motivated.  I just checked back on the blog to see what my record is for most consecutive days of running since I started up running and blogging over a year ago.  It is 24 (Sundays don't count).  It was right after I humiliated myself at the Provo City Half, and right before my recent break-through 5K.  So here are the rules: must be at least 2 miles.   OK, I guess there's only one rule.  But anyway, let the games begin!  Today is day one.  Hopefully I will make it to day 25 and beyond!    

And in other news, I moped around the house in my pjs today until the day was half over because I was sulking that my parents left for home this morning.  We had such a nice visit with them!  If I were to design a heavenly life for me and I was completely in charge, my parents would live in our cul de sac, along with the rest of my siblings and several other dear friends. It would have to be a big cul de sac, I guess. There'd be several people from the blog there, too, and running buddies galore. And summers wouldn't be so dang hot...I could go on and on...

In other news, my little brother just got engaged!!! I am happy for him.

Day TWO of my longest string of running days ever... 

1.65 outside this morning. I got out a little late and I couldn't finish on the treadmill because one of my little guys woke up early.

2.35 on the treadmill tonight. Since I recently *ahem* fell off my treadmill, I actually hooked myself up with the little safety thing. It's supposed to stop the treadmill if I fall or whatever. But what actually ends up happening is that I inadvertently pull the string with my arms while running and it puts the mileage counter back at zero...so I have to start it up again and add up the fractions of how much I think I probably ran to see how much more I have to do. I did that FOUR times. No wonder I never use that darn thing. It would be nice if things that made us safer were also convenient (unlike carseats! But don't worry I still use them).

Day three

I never would've run today if it weren't for the challenge. I spent the day traveling to Chicago to meet my new sister-in-law. By the time we were all done visiting and I was finally back at the hotel it was 11 pm. So I dragged Laura with me to the gym (to make sure I wouldn't get abducted that late at night) and got in my compulsory 2 miles. Poor Laura! She sat there and fumed about the weird Chicagoans we had met that day--and there were many. It was quite an adventure. Have you ever had cab drivers argue over who gets to take you somewhere? It is most uncomfortable. A different cab driver got into a shouting argument with another commuter while we were in the car. Weird beyond measure.

Day four

Traveled back from Chicago. I know, a short trip! Got in late, dragged myself through 2 miles on the treadmill again.

Day 5

I am taking a rest week...I guess. I just don't seem to want to run, but running only 2 miles seems like nothing, and for that I am grateful.

Day 6 

Today is our anniversary--11 years! Love you James!

Day 7

5 easy miles this morning. I am amazed that I was able to get up at 5 ungodly o'clock to get it all done. Partly on treadmill. One mile with CACTUS spines all over my hand. Have you ever seen those red fruits that grow on cactus? I really wanted to see if the fruit was squishy, you know, like a peach? Curiosity is seldom rewarded, I am finding. One mile or so carrying dog...stuff in a baggy. Running is not a dignified sport.