Running for two--or, mostly walking

Taking the day off.  I know I only "ran" three days last week, but my body is glad to have a break.  My quads don't actually feel that bad today, which is good because the stairs were kind of a nightmare this week.

 The best news of the last 24 hours:  I talked to my sister last night and she is randomly going to be in New York the weekend of the Trials!  I haven't seen her in more than a year.  She called me and said, "guess what, I'm going to New York."  I'm really, really excited to see her!  They are leaving for home the day of the Trials, but not until evening, so I'm going to drag her along with me to watch Paul run.  She isn't really a runner, but she's going to get a workout that day ;)  I just have to remember to tell her to bring running shoes.

Their hotel is about 2 miles from ours, so I'll be able to get a run in when I go to meet her, as long as she gives me a ride back (I don't think I'll be up to 4 miles by then).  It feels odd to me to even think about that.  I think running is already starting to be a habit for me.  I'm actually worried about what taking a day off will do to me.  I know I need it physically, but mentally I think it could potentially hurt me.

I just have to say that running is a lot more fun this time around than it has been when I've done it in the past.  I'll attribute it to 1.) the fact that I made the decision to do it purely for me this time, 2.) I found a really fun running partner (hopefully I'll have 2 pretty soon--marci, that means you), and 3.) the blog just makes it way more enjoyable.  I'm using the word fun to describe running.  That in itself is a major step in the right direction.
 

I decided that Paul was right about me having a self-deprecating sense of humor and Bethany was right about me being too hard on myself, so I changed the name of my blog.  I'm not saying that I don't think I'm slow, I'm just saying that I won't put the emphasis there anymore.  Having said that, on to today's run.

I walked to the Planet Walk, then ran 2 miles with Bethany.   We only stopped to walk twice during the whole two miles (well, three times if you count the 50 yards at the end, which I don't) and probably ran more than 1.5 miles out of the 2 (Bethany, oh wearer of the Garmin, please don't correct me if I'm wrong about that, I'm feeling pretty good about myself).  I wasn't really sore at all today, but some of my muscles were tight.  I'll have to get a good stretch in tonight.

The first hitch in my running plan.  It came so early, but I think I'll be able to overcome it since I have so many accountability partners.  You will hold me accountable, right?

 Well, the truth is that I wasn't running today, anyway, but I was supposed to "Walk for 2 miles with Hubby on a trail."  It counts as miles if it's on my running plan.  Things didn't work out that way, though.  I ended up having to work until 5:00 and Paul scheduled a run/workout with Cody and Logan, so I just decided to call it and actually get some housework done today.  Yes, this is my life.

On a related note, I've been talking about my running so much at work that I've inspired my co-worker Brian to start running again.  His dad has done SGM ten times and he's planning on doing it next year.  I told him he needs to join the blog.  If he does that's at least one direct recruit.  Sasha, do we earn commissions for that?

Duh-d-d-duh (that was supposed to be a trumpet fanfare...it didn't go as planned) I ran my first consecutive mile today!  That's not to say that I did it quickly, nor am I saying that it was easy.  It's done, though.  So, a little re-cap: I decided to run really slow, so that I could make sure to run the full mile without having to stop.  By about a quarter of a mile in, I was missing Bethany, because I'm not very internally motivated and I generally want to stop when it starts hurting.  I pushed through it, though, and, despite my heavy-breathing, I started to feel a little better once I committed to finishing.  Now here's the kicker.  It started hailing (yes, hailing) at just before the half mile mark.  The old me would have packed it in and called it a night, but the new motivated (read: accountable) me didn't want to quit just because of some stupid precipitation.  I'm not sure what the people passing me on the road thought of the slow girl running in the hail, but I also don't really care.  At about a quarter mile left I had to start chanting to myself, "It's only a quarter mile, you can totally run that far.  You could run a quarter mile in your sleep, etc."  When I realized I was going to have a lot left at the end of my run, I decided to pick up the pace and finished at (almost) a sprint.  I still didn't wear my watch today, but from the time before and after my run, I'm thinking it was a sub-12:00 mile, which is pretty good for me.  Moab, here I come!

Double the fun today running with Bethany and Marci.  I was telling Marci before our run that she was going to pretty much kill me and she did.  I'm pretty sure the pace was slow (I stopped to walk at one point and could keep up with them walking), but the company was good.

 2 miles on the Planet Walk.  I think my favorite part is the little bush-whacking section.  I'm  not sure why because it's actually kind of irritating, but in a fun, adventurous kind of way.  (By the way, for those of you who are familiar with the Planet Walk:  the bush-whacking section is the part of the trail that you run on if you run out towards the road instead of just across the railroad tracks and then come back down to meet the section of trail on the other side.)  I'm so glad that I have people to run with.  It makes it so much easier to get out there.  I bought an MP3 player this weekend so that when I am forced to run by myself I will have something to keep me company.

So, I think Sasha might be right, I might be turning into an actual runner.  I'm enjoying myself more right now than I have in a long time.  If I can cut back to eight hour days at work, then I'll probably have more energy to do it, too.
 

I was supposed to take today off, but since I took Tuesday, I thought I'd go out today.  I wish I hadn't.  I could not get moving.  I should have just stayed home and done some housework.  That would have been productive.

 On a brighter note, I decided to try out my new MP3 player.  I love it, except for the ear buds that come with it (they are made for Dumbo or something).  I have learned something from this, though, and that is that I need to make sure to pick the right music for running.  It was kind of irritating switching the song every time there was a slow one.  The good part was that it's really easy to switch songs.  On my player I can set up playlists, though, so I'll put together some good running songs.  It does have a stopwatch function, so I decided to try that out.  I shouldn't have.  Since I couldn't get motivated to run, I was extra slow.  I started with Paul at 10:18 pace and that felt pretty good, but I ended up doing about 14:30 pace with all the walking.  So sad.  Oh well, I did appreciate that I didn't have to wear a watch to see how slow I was.  I really don't like wearing one.

 Well, hopefully I'll feel more energetic tomorrow for my morning run with Bethany.  I'm going to chalk my sub-standard run today up to working too much, getting up earlier than usual, and not being especially motivated (since I didn't have to run today).  I usually have more energy on Saturdays, anyway.
 

2 miles with Bethany on the Planet Run.  We both realized when we got there that we had forgotten to invite Marci.  It wasn't on purpose, it just kind of happened.  Sorry, Marci.  We'll get more coordinated next time.

The run was pretty good, though, despite being down one partner.  I felt way more energetic this morning that I have in the last couple of days.  It was raining when I woke up and I think it will continue for the rest of the day (good luck Paul and Logan...15 in the rain is probably more than I could motivate myself to do).  I was glad to see we weren't the only psychos out there running in the rain, but I was also glad that it wasn't as crowded as usual on a Saturday morning.

I actually like running in inclement weather.  There's something about it that makes it feel more like an adventure than a regular run.  That isn't to say that I like running in the rain more than in beautiful 60 degree sunny weather, I just like both.  I especially like running in the snow, so I'm looking forward to winter for that reason.  There's just something about a light snowfall on a cool evening that makes a run feel peaceful and quiet.  But enough about weather.

We ran the first mile without stopping and then took a walk break.  My lungs were not cooperating much today, so I had to stop two more times during the second mile to walk.  I have a rib that pops out of place and I'm blaming the pain in my ribs on that, rather than my small lung capacity.  Luckily I go to the chiropractor in two weeks or so, so I'll get that straightened out again pretty soon.

So, here's something only slightly related to running: I found another reason to love running, especially running in the evening.  Every night feels like a Saturday night now because I come home from running, take a shower, then put on pajamas and stay in my pajamas for the rest of the night.  Pajamas are so much more comfortable than regular clothes and you can't change into pajamas if you run in the morning (well, some people do).  Anyway, just another reason to enjoy the whole running thing.  It's true, I'm hooked.