Week 2, Day 11 (revisited)

I know I'm better than before
I will not be reconstructed
Just wanna stay right here
On the sunny side of the street

It’s supposed to rain today, but so far? No rain! And now that it’s warming up, I can get down to the track earlier. Not early enough, apparently. Right after I started the warm up walk, a man passed me from out of nowhere, scaring the mess out of me. It was pushing sixty out there and the guy was wearing jeans, work boots, a black sweatshirt and battered leather utility gloves.

Shit, I thought. I always knew I was going to die on this track.

I slowed down to let him pass me. You know, so I could keep an eye on him. Once I got to the other side of the track, a woman showed up with her Golden Retriever. Safety in numbers, folks. With three of us on the track, nobody’s killing anybody without having a pesky witness to intercept.

I had my pocketknife with me, so that helped, too.

Incidentally, this is the same Golden Retriever I met on the track last year, only back then he was a little bitty puppy. They grow so fast!

Anyway. It was 59°F when I got down to the track. Nice and sunny, a little bit of wind. Absolutely scrumptious running weather. So you’d think I’d have a good run, right? Meh. It was okay. I felt really, really heavy again, but I’ll be getting my period next week (sorry, guys) so maybe that had something to do with it.

I felt really good the entire run, though right around the fourth interval, I started to feel a little haggard. I woke up this morning feeling like I was coming down with a cold, but it was probably just allergies. A lot of it was mental, too. I had a lot on my mind, thinking about everything I need to do today, and I just felt really overwhelmed.

The weird thing is, it felt hard and easy at the same time. Towards the end of the last few intervals, I kept thinking, Is it over yet?? but at the same time, I felt like ... I don’t know how to describe it. I felt like I was running. Not just plodding along, but full-on running.

Weird.

Anyway, thank gad for good weather. And for hockey! Oh my gaaahd, last night’s Red Wings game was awesome. (Franzen’s a KILLER!) They shamed Colorado with their own lawn. I’m hoping they end up playing Dallas in the Western Conference finals. Why? Because I have an irrational, all-consuming hatred for all things Dallas. It started with the Cowboys and now includes the Stars (with the exception of Richards and Holmqvist). To be fair to the Cowboys, I don’t hate them nearly as much as I hate Greenbay.

Food-wise:

I’m ashamed to say, I had a bowl of Cocoa Crispies for breakfast. The shame doesn’t stop there, though. I bought the cereal because I wanted the Indiana Jones Adventure Spoon. Don’t judge me.

For lunch I’m planning on a chick’n wrap with lettuce tomatoes and salsa. Why not throw in a big salad as well? Dinner’s up in the air, but I might make lasagna this weekend. I got some Teese burnin’ a hole in my fridge! I’m also going to try my hand at some maple pecan bread. It’s a test recipe for a cookbook, so I’ll have to try one tiny little slice. The rest I can pawn off on my unsuspecting family.

See you again on Sunday.

(Tank says hi.)

Week 2, Day 2 (revisited)

It’s 53° and (mostly) sunny out today: TRACK! I conquered Day 2. Okay. I can’t lie to you. It kicked my ass. Tried to, at least. I did my 20 minutes of aerobics and my ab workout, grabbed a handful of almonds and raisins which I ate outside while I walked Tank around the yard, then headed down to the track. There was another woman already there (walking leisurely), decked out entirely in black. Black down jacket, black pants, black knit hat pulled down around her ears, and I’m thinking, It’s almost 60° out here. What’s with Nanook of the North?

Anyway, I ignored her and got down to business. I felt really good going into it, but when I got to the third run, my asthma flared up and I had to take a pull off the old lung sucker. Felt like I was gonna die. I pushed through the fourth run, and by the fifth run I was feeling pretty damn good. When the sixth run came up, I breathed a sigh of relief. More like a pant, but whatever.

Stretched a little, came back home, stretched a lot more and here I sit. I took a quick shower and now it’s time for lunch. For breakfast this morning, I had a smoothie. For lunch I’ll probably have a boca burger on wheat bread and a big salad. Dinner is up in the air.

I got myself a new cloth tape measure so I can keep accurate track of my weight loss/measurements. I’ve noticed something, though. I find I’m becoming more flexible. I’m able to stretch farther than before. It’s cool. I feel so bendy.

I feel like I should have more to say, but I don't. Guess I'll go make some toffee or something.

Thanks for nothing.

I went to Cool Running last night to go over my running stats only to find that this wonderfully glorious orgasmically awesome upgrade they've been going on about has taken effect and it. is. HIDEOUS.

All of my running information is gone. Granted, it wasn't several years worth like some people's, but it was still valuable to me, and I counted on Cool Running's easy running log to track my progress. It's all gone. Now I've got to log in to active.com. But! I can't access any of my information until Monday. And! It's no longer exclusively running. Now I've got to sort through piles of tennis, baseball, Lifestyle Vehicles, singles, travel, golf, etc.

All I want, see? Is a website...about RUNNING. I want it all in one package. You know, kind of like Cool Running used to be before they sold out and became ad whores?

I'm incredibly pissed off. Can you tell?

I'm shopping for a new website, so if anyone's got suggestions, let me hear 'em. JUST RUNNING, please. I could give two shits about golf. Oh, and you've got to log in every fecking time you click to another part of the site. HOW IS THIS AN UPGRADE!?

Very very very very very very very very very very very UNHAPPY.

Blowin' in the wind

Okay, so I’m totally being a big baby about running today. There are high wind warnings everywhere.

A Wind Advisory Is Issued When Sustained Winds Are Forecast To Be 31 To 39 Mph OR Gusts Will Range Between 45 And 57 Mph. Winds Of These Magnitudes May Cause Minor Property Damage Without Extra Precautions. Motorists In High Profile Vehicles Should Use Caution Until The Winds Subside.

Right now, it is cloudy (and really, really windy) but no rain. It’d be the perfect time to run, but ... I’m scared.

I’m not really sweating it since I can always run Friday and Sunday. That really kind of works out for the best, since Saturday is World Toy Camera Day, and I plan to be out most of the day, “shooting” with my sister. Friday I have a birthday party to go to, but hopefully I can find the time to run beforehand. I’ve got a lot to do today, anyway. My mom’s rides fell through, so I’ve got to drop her off at her Thursday thing, and then I’ve got to drive all the way into Tualatin to pick up Lady’s ashes. Then I’ve got to drop them off at my sister’s house and drive all the way back to the other side of the world to pick my mom up. Then I've got to drive all the way back to my sister's house tonight so we can watch Supernatural together.

So why am I still in my pajamas?

I was looking forward to running today because I got new workout pants! I went to Goodwill last night to buy a bigger water bowl for Tank and a tray for Freddie’s food (she’s mostly toothless and spits kibble everywhere). I ended up buying two pair of jeans (before that I had an old pair of khakis and a pair of green pants. And nothing else.), too. The workout pants have pockets, so now I don’t have to shove my keys and puffers in my bra when I run.

The other reason I’m posting is because my friend Jan was wondering how I got my mileage calculation thing that I post sometimes:

20.0 miles
Time: 11h 38m 00s
Avg. Pace: 34:54/mile

Well, when you register at Cool Running, you can keep track of your runs. You can also edit the start page to your liking. My start page has: my running log, local weather, daily run, and featured races.

This is what the running log looks like when I open it up to log a run, and this is what it looks like as I’m entering the information. As you can see, there are three options for Location. I have no idea what short or long loops are, so I just click on “track.” For Stats I put “one mile,” but I have no idea if that’s how far I’m running. I’m too lazy and/or stupid to gauge it, so my information is probably completely and utterly wrong. I have no idea how many laps I run, and at any rate, the track is much smaller than regular tracks, so maybe four times around isn’t a mile. Corinne said it was, and she went to school there, so perhaps I should take her word for it.

I hope that wasn’t too terribly confusing.

Stupid wind. I washed my “new” clothes as soon as I got home last night. At least I can thank the wind for drying them so quickly.

Intermediate 5k Program

I have a friends only blahhhg blog (still hate that word) on livejournal, and I’m a (n00b) member of the Couch 2 5k community. Someone just posted about this intermediate 5k program at Cool Running. Hmmm. This pleases me. I haven’t read through the whole thing yet, but a glance at the schedule has me confused as hell.



Since I’m only on Week 2 of the Couch to 5k program, I’m not too concerned with the details right now. And since I’m an idiot, I keep chuckling when I come across the word “fartlek.”

I’m hoping the rain will hold off for a bit so I can run tomorrow. Yeah, I’m being a big baby about running in the rain. Shut up!

Fartlek.

Heh.