Running for two--or, mostly walking

New York City. Woke up late this morning (thank you , Mike K, for letting us stay at your house) and hit the airport. Hobbled over to the the International Terminal after checking in because we were "running late" (apparently getting there 40 minutes before your flight counts as running late). Our first flight was at 8:50 a.m.and we finally arrived in New York at 5:00 p.m., so it's been a long day. I was so glad that I didn't have to drive to the hotel, though, because it was crazy madness and I don't do well driving in heavy traffic. Paul got a chiropractic adjustment when we finally got to the hotel (over an hour to go 7.5 miles) and ran half a mile on a treadmill in the hotel gym, but I watched TV instead. We're going to dinner tonight with my sister, Keri, and her fiancee, Michael. It's 7:30 here, but only 5:30 back home, so I might have trouble sleeping tonight. We'll see.

I guess I should say something running related. Paul thinks he has seen some running celebrities. Ryan Hall, Mbarak something, Culpepper's wife. Yeah, this is getting exciting. Stay tuned.

PM--dinner with my sister and her boyfriend at a little Italian restaurant called Pinocchio's.  The place was so small that there were probably only 10 tables, so we had to wait for somebody to leave before we had a table, which took about 20 minutes.  I've had longer waits than that in Logan, though, so I wasn't bothered.  My sister looks great.  She's lost 50 lbs. since I last saw her in January (I think I said before that it had been a year-and-a-half, but I forgot that I went out in January to see my other sister's baby).  Her "whatever", Michael, is really nice, but their relationship is kind of weird.  I think it works for them, but you can never tell for how long. 

New York City. Breakfast in the hotel restaurant. The restaurant is supposed to open at 6:30, but we got there after 7:00 and they still weren't open, so we went in and sat down anyway. I was supposed to get up before breakfast and hit the hotel gym, but it was hard enough getting up at 7:00 this morning, because that's 5:00 Utah time and half a day isn't long enough for me to adjust to the time. Nothing too interesting this morning. Paul is doing race-related stuff all day, so I'm going to go be a tourist with my sister. More later.

I spent most of the day walking around downtown. I took a taxi (my first) from our hotel to my sister's. They were at 47th St. and we decided we would just walk from there down to the pier to go see the Statue of Liberty. Well, when we got down around 10th St. we decided to pull out the old map and saw that, contrary to what we thought previously, after you get past the numbered streets there is another mile or so to the water. So, instead of walking the whole way, we hopped in another taxi and went down to the World Trade Center Memorial. It was kind of surreal. I mean, the place has so much emotional meaning, but it just looks like a construction site right now. We talked some about where we were when it happened and then moved on to conversations about stupid stuff we did as kids (our conversations always move in that direction). From there it is a pretty short walk down to the water and we were soon there. Guess what was there to greet us! A two-hour-long line. That kind of put a damper on things, since my sister had to leave for the airport in a few hours. We decided to just take the subway (my first time) and head back towards Times Square for some lunch. After lunch we did some souvenir shopping (you can't pass up the 7 for $10 t-shirts) and then it was time for them to head for the airport. I wished that I had more time with my sister, but I'll take whatever I can get.

After they left for the airport, I went back upstairs and Paul was there (after his race-prep day).  We relaxed for a bit, then tossed around what we should do for dinner, blah, blah, blah.  We're pretty much home-bodies, so we ended up ordering some delivery and hanging out in the hotel room.  Logan slept over with us so that he wouldn't have an hour subway ride in the morning before the race.  We all went to bed some time around 8:30 (6:30 in Utah), which was pretty amazing.  More tomorrow.

Paul and Logan left at about 5:10-5:15, I wasn't really awake enough to remember.  I just know that I did remember to have Paul reset the alarm so I wouldn't sleep in and miss the race.  I got up and caught the charter bus down to the finish line.  That's when I had the most drama that I did all weekend.  I got off the bus and realized when I saw everybody else's breakfast passes that I had the wrong one.  The security guards were doing a very good job of following orders and wouldn't let me in without the pass.  So, with all due embarrassment I started crying like a baby because I was missing possibly one of the biggest moments of my husband's running career.  Well, I decided that, despite the fact that I was hungry, I decided to give up on getting into the breakfast and just try to see some of the race, so I walked around to one of the general spectator entrances and just reserved myself to sitting with the average people.  I wouldn't be able to eat, but at least I would be able to see the race.  So, at that point I called Katey Fielding, Logan's wife, and told her that I couldn't get into the breakfast, but that I should probably meet her somewhere to give her the bracelet that she needed to get into the post-race finish area (different from the finish line).  Turns out Logan's mom wasn't going to be there for over an hour, so she let me use her pass to breakfast (which I proudly displayed for the security guards who were giving me a hard time) and then came back out to get her later.

The race itself was awesome.  Ryan Hall was amazing!  There was a good fight going on for second and third.  Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell ended up with those spots, but at various times Meb, Abdi, Dan Browne, and Khalid were contenders. I started crying when Ryan Hall was approaching the finish and he just started praising God.  It's awesome to me to see somebody who displays their faith so readily.  At the finish I heard some people talking about Ryan Shay having a heart attack, but only found out later that he actually died during the race.  It seemed so strange.  I felt really, really sad for his wife of three months.  Just imagine.  It broke my heart.

After the race we hopped back on the bus back to the hotel took showers and headed back down to the bus to go to the luncheon.  It was really, really tasty.  Then we popped into the Brooks party where we got awesome Hanson's shirts (it's a t-shirt with a picture of a singlet on it) and Hanson's playing cards.  We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Logan and Katey.  I know that I should have felt like doing something New York-y, but I was happy to just sit and chat for a while.  We ended up in Times Square again and ran into a guy who sold us tickets for a comedy club (Comic Strip Live, the one where Seinfeld did his thing at the beginning of his show).  We were all a little leery that it might get raunchy, but decided that at $10 apiece if we didn't like it we could just leave.  It ended up being pretty funny, so I was glad we went.  That pretty much wraps up Saturday.

Grrr.  I had this great post about how the restaurant at the hotel was understaffed, but the food was good, but I bumped a button and lost it.  That's what I get for using the laptop on the couch with lazy wrists.  Anyway, my favorite part about Sunday morning was seeing all the top guys hobbling down the stairs.

We had planned to see the Met, but decided that we didn't want to fight through NYC Marathon crowds and then miss our shuttle to the airport.  We ended up watching the marathon for a while (Paula Radcliffe is really tall) and grabbed some lunch.  My favorite part about this marathon was that people put their names on their shirts so you can cheer for them by name as they run by.  If I ever run a marathon, I'm definitely putting my name on my shirt.

That pretty much wraps up our NYC trip.  We got back to Logan at around 12:30 and I went directly to bed without unpacking (well, except for my toothbrush) because I had to wake up at 6:00 for work.

I felt really good Sunday, as far as knees and ankles go.  I guess all the walking that I did while there helped a lot.  So, despite the fact that I didn't follow my plan for the weekend, I still think it was beneficial.  We'll see how things are tomorrow. 

I didn't wake up until 6:20 a.m., but I made it to work on time.  I was super tired all day, but I didn't fall asleep at work or anything.  My knees and ankles were still feeling pretty good, but my shin was hurting because of my two-year-old shoes, so I decided that I need to get some new ones (or get my Birkenstocks fixed).

After work I went and bought groceries, then we hit the gym.  I tried to run there, but my knees weren't up for it (I was capable of running, which is an improvement, but at an even slower than usual pace).  I did the elliptical for 30 minutes, nothing special.  My ankle and knees were hurting on the walk home, but I'm going to attribute that to the five days I took off.  I'm still feeling a lot better and I'm going to try to run to the gym again when I go tomorrow.

So, only slightly related to running:  I've been thinking of changing my work schedule to one that would be less convenient in some ways, but much more convenient in others.  I am working 7-4 right now, which is kind of killing me.  I get up early, I work for 9 hours, I come home then hit the gym, I come back home and make dinner, then I blog, shower and collapse.  I have no energy or desire to do any of the other things that I need to do (namely, housework).  I'm thinking of changing my schedule to 7-11 and 1-5.  Then I would wake up early, go to work, hit the gym, go back to work, come home, make dinner, do some housework, then collapse.  I just don't have it in me to do anything after I go to the gym in the evening.  It's just something I'm throwing around.  I kind of think that working out while it's still light out would help with the whole energy thing, too.  I'll think about it some more and let you know what I decide. 

20 minutes on the elliptical, blah.  I wanted to do 30 minutes, but was feeling kind of fatigued, so I did some weights instead.  Paul went with me to the gym again and we tried to run, but I'm still running slower than I can walk.  It's pretty frustrating, but I am getting better, even if it is slowly.

 I talked to my manager about changing my schedule, as well as all of my co-workers, and everybody thought it would be fine.  I have to wait to change my schedule until my co-worker comes back from her knee surgery, though, so it's still nine hour days for me.  It's temporary, though, so I can handle it.

30 minutes on the elliptical after a pretty decent adjustment at the chiropractor.  I like to do the hill program because it varies.  I can't stand when things just stay the same.  I like the Planet Walk because there is varied scenery, whereas running through the neighborhood feels repetitive.

One of my co-workers tried to tell me that you can't get a very good workout on an elliptical.  I told him that my heart rate, which I kept between 160 and 180 today during my workout, said otherwise.  This from the guy who wants to run St. George next year and only runs on a treadmill and usually only 2 miles a day.  I mean, I'm running zero miles a day, but I'm not kidding myself into thinking I'm running a marathon next October.  I guess it's good to have goals, though, but I'll keep my goals realistic. 

20 minutes on the elliptical.  I wanted to do 30, but my legs were super tired after the beating I gave them yesterday.  My knees were feeling really good, so I would have ran to the gym if it wasn't dark outside.  I can do running by myself in the daylight, and I can do running with somebody else in the dark, but I don't do running by myself in the dark.  I think it's just something that I haven't quite lost from growing up in the suburbs of Detroit.  I know Logan is super safe and all, but I just don't feel comfortable.  I'm definitely going to run on Saturday, though, even though I know it will be really slow.  I'm not so worried about speed, so it doesn't matter.  For me it's just about getting out and doing it.

So tired today. I was supposed to do 30 minutes plus some weights, but I didn't have the energy. I slept really well last night, so I'm not sure why I'm so tired. I was struggling to keep my eyes open at work and then decided not to go to the gym. I told Paul that I would go if he made me, but warned him that when things stop being fun for me that is when I usually quit, so forcing me to go could be potentially hazardous. He didn't push the issue. Still planning on running tomorrow, though.

So, here's something unrelated: I work in the customer service department for ICON. We make treadmills. My supervisor gave my co-worker a project to work on and he couldn't sleep and has been on edge all week because of it. I mean, in the scope of the company, what my group does is important, but in the grand scheme of things my job is pretty meaningless, so I tend to not get too stressed out. I just go and do the best that I can, then I try to leave it at work (well, I leave everything except the stories at work...those I take home to share with Paul). I don't think that people really realize how negatively stress affects you. I told him to do some yoga, but I don't think he'll take my advice. He hasn't taken my advice about joining the blog, so why would he listen to me about this?

"Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows but only empties today of its strength."--C.H. Spurgeon 

Da-d-d-dah (fanfare)! Ran two miles today. Yeah! It was slow, as I predicted, but it felt really good. I mean, my calves were hurting pretty good by the last half mile, but I actually mean that I felt good spiritually during my run. I brought my friend Sara Groves with me and her music is really uplifting. I've decided that my workouts are more gratifying when I listen to Christian music than when I listen to whatever random thing comes up. I was actually smiling during my run and a couple of times closed my eyes while I was running to just praise God. Of course, I quickly realized that I was running with my eyes closed, so that didn't last long. I'm not fast, and my running would bring glory to anyone in and of itself, but if I mean for it to glorify God, then it will.

"To lift up the hands in prayer gives God glory, but a man with a dungfork in his hand, a woman with a slop pail, gives Him glory too.  He is so great that all things give Him glory if you mean they should." --Gerard Manley Hopkins

30 minutes on the elliptical.  I tried to run to the gym, but I ended up walking instead.  It wasn't really that I didn't have the energy (although I was pretty tired) or that my knees were hurting.  It was just that I didn't have the willpower to make myself run there.  Maybe tomorrow.

I did an experiment today to see what kind of workout I could get if I kept my heart rate under 140.  Well, if sweatiness is a good indicator of how good your workout is, mine was pretty good.  I definitely could have gone faster, but I felt pretty good at that heart rate/pace, so I'll say the experiment was a success. 

30 min on the elliptical. Didn't get my heart rate over 140 again today, but not because I wasn't trying to. I just had no energy. I don't know why I've been so tired lately, but I'm getting sick of it. Hopefully things will improve.

Ran to and from the gym today. 20 minutes on the elliptical. I wanted to do 30 minutes, but I was running late. It felt pretty good, but wasn't terribly exciting.

Had dinner with Bethany and Cody tonight. I'm so glad to have met them. Most of our friends who come to Logan leave after a couple of years, so we have to keep finding new people to be friends with. It's pretty easy for Paul, but I'm not very good at making friends. Anyway, the food was really good, the company was excellent (even though Paul was afraid of breaking Lily), and we had a really good time. Now if we can just get John and Marci back to Logan our circle of blog friends will be complete

I had planned to do 2 miles today, but I just got caught up with visiting with Paul's family. I love our nephew Brayden and had a great time playing with him and talking to Paul's sister and parents. I'll just run tomorrow. I had planned to take it off, but I'll get a run in before church.

I'm not really sure how far I ran today, but that seems right. It felt pretty good, except that I had a headwind for the second half of it. I basically just ran for a little while then turned around when I felt like it and went back. Pace was slow, but that just doesn't bother me. I'm a Penguin and I'm okay with that.

The church service was really good today. It really convicted me to find more ways to serve those in need. Pretty inspiring.

I met Paul's high school friend today, the original Dan Lewis (because we had another friend named Dan Lewis in Logan). He was really nice and they probably hadn't seen each other in several years. His wife, who is from the Philippines, was super nice, too. Can't wait to see what adventure tomorrow holds

No workout today, but I did watch the NCAA Division I Cross-Country Championships.  It was pretty cool.  I'd never been to a cross country race before, so it was an experience.  That's all.

I tried to run 2 miles today, but my arms and legs felt really heavy, so I mostly walked.  I had good God time, though, so it was worth it.  A dog bit me (a run-away, not a stray) and I tried to tell some people at the Food Pantry that there was a car with its lights on in the parking lot, but they didn't do anything about it.  I'm feeling less tired today than I have recently, but that might be because I've slept about 10 hours the last two nights.  I wish I could be on vacation every day.

Okay, so I got really lazy on my vacation.  I also learned something about my recent workouts, though, that could prove useful.  As far as the vacation went, we had a lot of really good food, Paul had five speaking engagements on Wednesday, I wish I had had more time with Paul's sister and brother-in-law and especially his nephew (who is awesome), and I really wish I had had more time than the two hours I had with my family in Detroit, but I'll take what I can get.

Now on to more relevant things.  Running at sea level was easier on the lungs, but it was harder for me for reasons that are unique to me and unique to my situation.  Having done nothing but the elliptical for the last 3 weeks or so my legs have definitely gotten stronger, but I have gotten lazy when it comes to running.  The elliptical is so easy on my body that I am now less able to take the pounding of running than I was before I got hurt.  It's totally a mental thing that I know I can work through, but it's frustrating to know that I am capable of doing more than I am allowing myself to do right now.

Having said that, I only did a mile today.  I had to force myself to run the whole way, but I did it.  I might have done a second mile, but I probably would have had trouble keeping myself from walking.  Besides being back at elevation and having this mental block, it was also only 30 degrees which my body isn't used to yet.  I can't say that I love winter and I'll probably be hitting the gym most of the next three months.

So, I have a plan to overcome this mental block that I'm experiencing.  I'm not sure if it'll work, but it's worth a try.  Since I'm changing my work schedule to have two hours in the afternoon free, and since my house is between my work and the gym, I plan to stop at home and run to the gym and back.  While at the gym I'll probably try to mix it up and do some elliptical and some treadmill.  I know that the treadmill isn't an exact substitution for running outside, but it's a closer approximation than the elliptical.  Then I'll still run on Saturdays, which has been the plan for a while now.  If I'm feeling really good and it's warm outside, I might even run occasionally during the week, but it mostly will depend on the weather.  Anyway, if anybody has any other advice for me, I'm all ears.

Well, my ellipto-laziness tried to kick in again today, but I told it where to go.  Ran to the gym, 30 min on the elliptical with about 6 1 minute segments at 7:30 pace (twice my normal elliptical pace), ran home.  It was pretty nice out and the gym wasn't very crowded (not that it's ever really crowded, there were just fewer people there) so I enjoyed my run and my workout a fair amount.  I really had to push myself not to stop and walk while I was running because my right shin was really hurting, but I pushed through it.  I have been having tight muscle problems (hammies and calves mostly) during my runs, so I have to stop and stretch in the middle of my runs.  Considering the distance I'm running that's pretty sad, but I never said I was strong.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that I said the opposite.

So, as far as my new schedule goes, I think I'm going to like it.  It was kind of hard to stay until 5:00 today, but it's only an hour later than I'm used to and I don't have to still fit my workout in after that, so I was able to walk the dog and make dinner before Paul got home (okay, so dinner is still on the stove, but that's an improvement).  Also, four hour shifts are much easier than nine hour shifts, so work flew by today.  I think this is going to work out well, but I'll keep you posted.

I did the treadmill for the first time ever today and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be (incidentally, I expected it to be like the elliptical, so when I first got on I was trying to push the belt faster and I couldn't figure out why it was so hard. Then I realized that you actually have to tell the treadmill how fast you want to go, rather than just settling into whatever pace feels good, which is kind of good for me). 40 min and I felt pretty good. I had to stop a few times to stretch my tight hammies, but other than that it went pretty well. I averaged around 14:00/mile pace, which I know is really slow, but I'm concentrating more on running without stopping right now than I am on speed. I know, though, that I am capable of running much faster than I am right now. I just don't have the motivation to do it. I'm just happy to be sticking with it, which isn't something that I usually do.

Oh, and because Bethany asked and I'm sure everybody is really concerned: Yes, I am still planning to run Moab in March. I haven't registered yet, but I will soon. When does registration end, again? My goal is to break an hour for the 5 miler. I'm not actually sure that I can at the rate that I'm going, but we'll see. My secondary goal is to run the whole way without walking, which I'm pretty sure I can do by March.

No snow today so I ran to and from the gym (well, ran to the gym and mostly walked home). Last night Paul told me I should do an experiment today, so I did and then modified it a little. Paul's experiment idea came from the fact that I know I am capable of running much faster than I am right now and I think he wanted to see if it was true. Anyway, he suggested I just set the treadmill to 10:00/mile pace and see how long I can go. I decided that it would be an interesting experiment, so I tried it.

Here's how it went. I started out at 10:00/mile pace and could tell after about two minutes that I would probably be able to maintain this pace for about five minutes and then I would be toast (for reasons I will explain below), so I asked myself this question: do you want to do that? Do you want to kill yourself in five minutes (possibly I could have gone longer, but there's no way of knowing) and then have nothing left to get you home and then hurt enough that you have to take a day off tomorrow? Or, would you rather go a little longer and have something left in the tank so that you can do it again tomorrow (and you can get home)?

Well, I decided on the latter, so this is the workout I ended up with: 2:30 at 10:00/mile pace then 1:00 brisk walk recovery x 4 for a total of 15:00. I probably could have gone to 20:00, but I decided against it. Why, you ask? 1. My leg strength leaves something to be desired, so my quads were hurting a little (which is a good thing because it means I actually worked them today). 2. The thing that was keeping me from running faster for a longer amount of time was not my leg strength, it was the fact that I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest (I really pushed myself to the limit as far as heart rate is concerned). My heart isn't used to pounding so hard and fast yet. 3. I was noticing that my gait is unbalanced (I kind of turn to the left when I step with my left foot), which kind of bothered me. After I stretched later I noticed that my left hip flexor was hurting a lot more than anything else. Not sure what to do about this.

Anyway, I know it isn't anything to write home about, but it felt good. I'll probably try to do something similar (hopefully better, faster, longer in the future) regularly, just so that I don't get lazy. It was fun, so why not?