Sooooo....

I did not do my run again today. I think I have a mental block that prevents me from wanting to engage in runs over 4 miles. Today I was determined not to let my excuses get the best of me. I laid out my running clothes before I went to bed nice and early last night. I woke up at 7 to tend to the fuzzy one (the dog), but I was so sleepy, so I convinced her to nap with me in the guest room before we went out for her morning stroll. That lasted all of 10 minutes until she saw someone who had the audacity to WALK PAST OUR HOUSE. There was no convincing her to rest after that atrocity. So, I went downstairs, ate my half a powerbar and drank my 8 oz of water and took her outside. We spent about 5 minutes in the back field so she could do her business, and then we went on a 20 minute walk. Great warm up for running, I thought to myself. I like to wait at least 45 minutes to let my powerbar digest, so I decided to rest on the couch for about 15 mins before I went to my run. Two hours later, I woke up. Whoops!

When I woke up, it had started raining, which I took as a sign from the universe that I really should go running. I suited up and headed out. I was hungry, and felt off, and 7 minutes into my run, my iPod died. I took that as a sign from the universe that I really shouldn't go running. So, I turned around and headed home because I suck. I did do my pilates tape when I got home. That counts, right?

Need encouragement

It is almost 10 pm in my world, and I have planned to to a seven mile run tomorrow morning. I am already making excuses. This does not bode well. Help!

A rainy, smelly run

Today I awoke with a slight hangover from the homemade wine my neighbour gifted me two nights ago. I had one glass the first night, and then the rest of the bottle last night. Oops. My number 1 rule is no running on a hangover because that would be terrible. It was, however, raining today, and we all know how much I love running in the rain. I vowed to go for a run at some point because I wasn't going to waste a perfectly good rainy day just cuz I was a little hungover. So, I grabbed a big cup o' water and began drinking to ease me out of my hangover state and into a running state. At about 5:30 pm, I decided the time was right. It was still raining, although only lightly, and it had been a safe 3 hours since I last ate. As I headed out, I noticed that the wind was blowing in the opposite direction than it usually does.  Usually the wind comes off of the Bay of Fundy, but today it was coming off of the land towards the bay, and boy did it smell like manure! At first I thought I had stepped in something, but after checking my shoes, I figured it must just be the manure smell wafting off the farms. Yum!

About halfway through my run, it started to rain really heavily, which was fun. But because I could smell manure so strongly, it kinda felt like I was eating manure flavored rain drops as they kept dripping in my mouth. I remedied this by closing my mouth and only opening it a smidge to breath out. Overall, a good run, though.

Distance: A bit less than 3 miles on pavement
Lessons learned: I still like running in the rain - even when the rain tastes like manure
Song that rocked my run: Several Girl Talk mashups

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad run

So, I finally cranked out my 6 mile run that was a week overdue, and let me tell you, it was the worst. I hated almost every second of it. But, I did it, and I am happy that I did.

I am also happy that I overcame the excuse monster. The excuse monster was definitely on my back this morning. First of all, I started late because I was trying to figure something out on a new computer program, and I accidentally wasted 45 minutes. Then I couldn't find my inhaler, then I couldn't find my watch. And then when I stepped outside at 9:30 am it was really freaking hot. And humid. Two of my least favorite things. Even with all of these prime excuses - I decided not to go 3 separate times - I went out and ran my stupid 6 miles.  I never did find my watch, so I had to make due with the timer on my iPod. I have been running 10/1 intervals, but that makes it hard to do math without an interval timer, so I switched to 9/1 intervals. After just one interval, however, I made the executive decision to change to 5/1 intervals, which soon became 4/1 intervals because the math was easier and because the run was terrible.

I spent the whole run bargaining with myself, "If I can make it one more interval, I will just quit and walk the rest of the way." Fortunately, I had walking because it takes too long, so after each 1 minute walking interval, I convinced myself to run again if only to get the damn 6 miles over with already. I don't think I have had such an unpleasant run in over a year. I can't even explain what was so bad about it. I just wasn't in the mood or something. Now that it is over, however, I can say that I am happy I went. And even happier that I overcame my excuses to go.

Shockingly, I even went on a 2 mile walk a couple of hours after my horrible run. Not sure what inspired that, but it was quite pleasant.

Distance: 6-ish miles on pavement and trails
Lessons learned: I can overcome my excuses.
Song that rocked my run: NONE. Nothing about this run rocked.

Team Hard Coretex takes on the Metro Triathlon

Meet the team, VC is up first with the 1500m swim, then KW with the 40K bike, and then my turn with a 10K run. We are all of the consensus that our individual legs are the easiest - which I think means we are a great team!!  Follow along for a semi-live blog of the event.

12:20am - VC and I return to her house to realize that she has left her swim stuff at her office. She headed off to retrieve it while I went to bed.

5:25am - my alarm goes off, and results in only minor confusion. A flurry of getting ready, making breakfast and otherwise prepping after 5 hours of sleep. 

6:02am - and, we're off! We've heard from KW and she's off too!

6:27am -we've arrived, parked right next to KW, and head with the masses  to the start.

6:45am - we've been body marked. I'm not feeling confident in the organization of this event. Its smaller than the Austin one, and there seem to be less rules. I have concerns that there ARE as many rules but they haven't told us. 

7:17am - swim briefing. VC is ready to go!!

7:32am - VC is off!! Team Hard Coretex  is officially racing!! KW and I think VC is totally crazy and awesome. GO TEAM!!  KW and I are off for the bathroom and to prep for the biking...

7:44am - VC has finished her first lap, of two! 

8:01am - first transition over. KW is off on the bike, with only minor problems with the timing chip. Sadly, she wants it on her wrist, but they need it on her ankle!! VC finished in an amazing 29 minutes. We're off to an excellent start!

8:20am - I feel ill-prepared and nervous. I've made my mental list of things I need to do to get ready. First of which is figure out how to tape my leg, because I'm finally admitting to some shin pain that should be dealt with. Thank goodness for the kinesio tape I got in my San Antonio Half Marathon bag!!

8:56am - VC is changed, I've affixed my runner number, and used kinesio tape for the first time! We're now sitting on a grassy knoll watching the elite men who have already finished the biking. Two words - eye candy. Also, they are so fast. So. Fast.

9:08am - VC and I have made it back to transition, and I ask her if I have time to go to the bathroom. KW has given us a 9:30 early geusstimate of her arrival, and VC knows I'm prone to pre-race anxiety, so she rolls her eyes and says "plenty!"

9:19am - KW has entered transition and realizes we are not aware of it. She yells "TEAM HARD CORETEX!" and I instantly panic. I'm not wearing my belt, my head phones are tangled, I don't have the gps on on the phone, and I havent taken my pre-racing endurolytes. ACK! While I rushed off before fully congratulating her, this was HUGE! She was so fast, and so early, I think she even surprised herself. A great, great, great, first cycling race for KW!

**Format change** This bit must be done by mile, and not minute!

Mile 1 - I started off looking like a real tri-athlete, I was fumbling to put myself together while on the move. I was discombobulated and unprepared, and I felt like I was on the brink of colossal failure; did I even have everything I needed with me?! It really was what a real triathlete must feel like, not a relay triathlete, who has all morning to prepare for a single event. During this mile I saw the lead runner heading the other way, about to finish up. I believe it is important that I mention I was on the course BEFORE the lead runner finished. This is how amazing my teammates were.

Mile 2 - I'm feeling awful. I think team events are particularly hard on me, because too early I start being angry at myself for letting everyone down. I mean, I had 4 miles to go and I was already mad at my performance. I had finally gotten into a bit of a groove, but I was already feeling tired and over-worked. Does not bode well

Mile 2.5 - I check my watch, and do some quick mental math. Holy Moses! I'm not even to 25 minutes yet. No wonder this is feeling challenging. Redoing some calculations, I believe my first mile was sub 10-minute (and included at least one walk break), which means I was mo-oo-oving (at least in YJP terms!)

Mile 3 - I slowed down some, but have still crossed this at 31 minutes. Which makes me feel better for feeling tired, but makes me feel like I may have used too much too soon to make a good time for the end.

Mile 4 - This was for sure my best mile. Not my fastest, but the best feeling. I was ale to stop thinking about things and just run. I was running on my toes this whole mile, and felt great. Why is it that I need a THREE mile warm-up before I stop criticizing myself and start enjoying the run?! It's ridiculous.

Mile 6 - Yes, I'm not sue what happened to mile 5 either, but rest assured that there was running, walking, and cytomax! When I passed the mile 6 sign, point two miles to go, I was concerned that I was dragging it. By this point, I'd let the entire race pass me by, hadn't I?! I managed to eek out passing ONE woman. I'm guessing she had already passed me, so I really didn't make up any ground. I rounded a corner where some finishers were walking back my way. They stopped to cheer me along, and it was exactly what I needed. I ran it on in, greeted by the cheers of VC and KW on my way!

In the end, not my best 10K time, but still a run to be proud of. I grabbed a finishers medal, a bottle of water, a banana, some strawberries, a piece of pizza, and some weird electrolight drink with special vitamins in the cap, and sat on the grass to stretch. We stuck around in admiration of the badass people who won awards. There was a 17 year old boy who did the tri, also the winners had sub-hour bike times and runs of like...35 minutes. amazing.

11:47 am - Team Hard CoreTex was also amazing, winning first place in the women's relay division. This is all credited to VC and KW's crazy badass-ness, keeping giving us a substantial lead to start off with. Even though I let most of the race pass me by, I guess I drew the line at the relay members, as they mostly stayed behind me.

12:25pm - We've returned to the cars, with our medals, wine, and gear only to find out that in the excitment of the morning, VC has left the lights on. But, this is no roadblock for Team Hard CoreTex - the three of us are quickly able to jump start the car and head on home!

1:46pm - We have returned to VC's house, Winner's Wine in the fridge, and are basically useless. I will now go stare at the wall for a bit, and then shower.

a delightful day with an awesome team!! Yippee!!
Song that rocked my run: Keep On Keepin' On by Jack Ingram

Oh, excuses, silly little things

I would like to say that I am getting better with the excuses. And I think I can say that. I am still making them, but they are less frequent and less convincing. On Monday I did not go to the beach as planned. It was raining, and I would have had to stand in the rain post-run to wait for D to get out of a meeting and then drive home all wet for 40 minutes. This sounded like a bad idea. So I didn't run on Monday. On Tuesday, I felt the whole, "I don't have time to run because I need to go to work" feeling, so I compromised. Instead of doing my 6 miles, I just did 3 and decided to postpone my long run until the weekend. So now I am a week behind. Hopefully being behind on my training plan will light a fire under my ass and keep me more motivated.

I was talking to a friend last night who is an avid runner, and we were discussing his fairly severe addiction to running. The thought of potentially not being able to run for a few weeks because of an injury made him rather distressed. I was almost jealous. I mean, I call myself a runaholic (at least on this blog), but I don't feel his intense desire to run. I feel like that makes my runaholism even more hardcore though. I mean, I am not that good at it, half the time I don't even like doing it or don't want to do it, but yet I keep doing it. (Maybe that should be our new tag line. "Running: We aren't good at it, we don't really like it, but we keep doing it.") That sounds like an addiction to me. That being said, I do long for running. I crave it when I am not doing it regularly. So why, then, do I make so many damn excuses not to do it. Hmmm, maybe I should become a psychologist so I can study this sort of ridiculous human behavior.

Back to my run on Tuesday, though. It was actually really good. I ran at the Waterfowl Park and although it was humid as hell, I still felt good while running. No wanting to die at all! I finally saw some fowl at the Waterfowl Park, but it was more scary than enjoyable. I was running along the trail when I came across a gaggle of about 12 Canadian geese that were blocking the path. As I approached them, I made lots of noise, clapping, yelling, and stomping my feet, but they just stared at me. When I got within about 10 feet of them, I realized that they weren't going anywhere, and I certainly was not going to run through the middle of a gaggle of geese. I have heard that Canadian geese can be vicious (or is that swans?) So, I just turned around and started running the other way. When I circled back around to that part of the trail about 30 minutes later, they were still there! In the exact same formation! Fortunately there is a bridge that crosses over through the middle of the park, so I was able to avoid them without having to run all the way back the way I came. Although if I had run back the way I came, I probably would have ended up running that 6 miles I was supposed to run. I guess the geese were trying to tell me something. Oh well.

Distance: 3.5 miles - mostly trails
Lessons learned: I really need a GPS watch to accurately track my run distances
Song that rocked my run: Rag and Bone by The White Stripes

Some Sackville Scenery

After my 5 mile run last week, chronicled here, I made D drive me around so I could get some pictures of my route. He is somewhat impatient and did not stop completely at a few of the places where I wanted to take pictures, so some are a little crooked and maybe a bit blurry.

You might notice how rural it is. Most of these pictures were taken along my own street.  

I am not gonna lie; this abandoned building freaks me out just a bit. (That reminds me, I need to get a picture of the cemetary that is a couple lots down.)

These are the cows that freaked the hell out of me on my run. By the time I went back to take the picture, they were much further from the fence.

Here are some horses, too. There are also sheep at another farm on my street, but I forgot to take their picture.

Some more farms:

And the lake:

God, I miss high rises.

Excuses, excuses

I am the queen of excuses, let me tell you. I have gotten worse about the excuses as the years go by. When I first began to run, I would pretty much run whenever and wherever. I did establish a routine for my longer runs, but for shorter runs, I just kinda did whatever.

Here is my routine for long runs:

Day before: Drink lots of water, don't eat anything greasy, no alcohol, lots of sleep
Day of: Half a power bar before the run with water, nothing else in my stomach, start early (8 am at the latest).

For my shorter runs, I would usually run after school or before work if I was working nights. Keeping in mind that I lived in Vancouver back then, so most of the time it was raining or cloudy and heat was not usually a problem. Moving to Texas made things a bit more difficult since I HATE THE HEAT. I especially hate running in the heat. In Texas, for 9 months out of the year, I was only physically capable of running before 8 am. So I became a little more rigid in the timing of my runs. If I wasn't up and out before 8, it was highly unlikely that I could convince myself to run. In addition to my heat restrictions, when I started training for the half marathon, I became afraid of longer distances. Like I would try to think of any reason I could to avoid those long runs (over 7 miles). Thankfully, I had both my running group and Jenni to be accountable to, so I usually was able to get out there and do it. I remember specifically, my first 10 mile run - also known as the BEST. RUN. EVER.- when it was thundering and raining. Before the run began, the run leader said we would not go if there was any lightning during our warm up. And boy did I ever wish for some lightning. In the end though, I went and it was awesome. I have many examples like this where I was trying to make excuses not to run, but once I started (or at least once I was finished) was so happy that I had gone through with it. You would think I would be able to use these past experiences to encourage myself to run when I don't want to. That is not the case.

Now that I am on my own over here in NB, I am finding that I make more and more excuses not to run, regardless of the length of the run.  They include the following.

I drank a beer last night.
I had two glasses of wine last night.
I slept in and don't have time because I really should be doing some unspecified work.
I didn't drink enough water yesterday.
I ate too many chips yesterday, and feel gross.
I am hungry.
It is too hot.
I do not feel well for some unspecified reason.
I can't run two days in a row.

I have also convinced myself that I MUST run first thing in the morning. If something is off in the morning and I don't run first thing, I assume that I cannot go until the next day.

It is getting ridiculous.

Today I slept in until 11! That never happens. Of course when I woke up, I immediately knew that my 6 mile run was not going to happen, especially with this heat wave we are having. Then I talked to Jenni and she was going to run in Texas at 9 am, which is crazy, so I figured that I could at least go for a short run. I was really hungry, but Jenni convinced me that I could just eat AFTER my short run. I got all ready to go, walked out the door and then D suggested we go grocery shopping because he was starving. I decided that since we were both hungry, it made sense not to run, so I went back in, changed, and left for grocery shopping.

In the meantime, Jenni was out having a tough run, and reassuring herself that at least I was suffering too.  When I got home and confessed to Jenni that I had not run, I felt like a total loser. I mean, there is no reason why D couldn't have waited 45 minutes for me to have a 30 minute run and a 15 minute shower. If I had suggested it, he would have totally agreed. I was just making excuses.

Jenni suggested that I just go for a run then. Well, of course, I couldn't go for a run then! It hadn't been 3 hours since I had last ate! There are rules!

But then I thought about it. I hadn't really eaten much, and it wasn't like I needed to run 6 miles, so why didn't I just go. I could always just quit if I got a cramp or got dizzy and nauseous (which is what usually happens if I don't wait 3 hours after eating to run). What a brilliant idea! I could just start, and if it sucked, I could stop. Thank you Jenni! Why had I never thought of that before?

So, I went out and did my run only 2 hours after eating lunch. And guess what? I survived! Even better, I liked it! I am going to try to remember this the next time I start making excuses.

I still didn't do my planned 6 mile run, but now I am thinking I will go do it on the trails at the beach on Monday since D has to go to Shediac for a meeting in the morning. What a brilliant idea!!

Distance: approx 2 miles on trails.
Lessons learned: I can just stop running if I feel shitty.
Song that rocked my run: Don't Stop by Brazillian Girls

The good, the bad, the unpretty: a confessional post.

1.) I checked outside at 10:30am and it wasn't that hot; I was terribly mistaken; 3 minutes into my run I was sweating so much that it was dripping down my face into my eyes and mouth.

2.) I went to bed early last night so that I could get up early and run; I went to bed early last night after drinking beers with friends from 4-8pm; Not only did I not run early, but I ran dehydrated.

3.) I ran 5 miles; I only continued the last mile because I was one mile from home; I kept the timer and gps running the entire time.

4.) I wore my Ragnar technical t-shirt and it made me happy; I should have worn a tank top; In one of the back neighborhoods I took my shirt off to wipe up all the sweat dripping off my face and then put it back on.

5.) Mueller park is beautiful to run in; I walked most of the "running" minutes in Mueller park; Two little kids and an old man passed me up.

6.) I was running with 24 oz of cytomax and water; I drank it all before mile 3; I was spitting like a maniac after mile 3.

7.) I went running despite my arms being very sore from boot camp; I hold my arms very high snd stiff when I run; My arms might be even more sore now!

8.) There were lots of friendly people out and about; Except for the few who were unfriendly; And that one guy who was holding a chain saw that was switched on and wasn't looking around the sidewalk he was on.

9.) I ran 5 miles (did I already say that); I'm running 6.5 in a week; Two of my friends are counting on me to not suck at it.

10.) I hit all my marks during the first mile and a half; I missed every one after that; The misses were much more significant than the hits.

Distance: 5.02 miles

Time: 65:02:29

Mad props to: The neighbors who were shamelessly watering their yard during water restrictions; Because I ran through the sprinklers; both ways!

Song that rocked my run: Womanizer, by Britney Spears.

aw, what the hell - I said it was confessional. Womanizer, by Britney Spears totally rocked my run (and does most runs). I run best when I'm angry, and I can easily find 5 minutes of Womanizer moments to power me through thanks to Brit and her song!!

run, thwarted.

Yesterday I realized that the Metro Tri is a week from Sunday. That's 9 days, if you count today. And celebrations of last week kept me from running, I began getting nervous. I laid out an intricate plan to LD yesterday.
Friday am - 4 miles
Sunday am - 6 miles
Monday am - boot camp
Tuesday am - boot camp
Wednesday am - 5 miles
Thursday am - bootcamp

See, the care that went in to that planning. It'll get me ready for a 10K in 9 days - and also for a nap! In fact, I think I need one just looking at that. I'll sleep on the plane on Friday for sure.

Turns out, I'm already behind schedule. Her Highness woke me up this morning at 4am whining. This is not a new development, and I believe it's an actual problem which I will explain elsewhere, but it was 4am and I was awake to feed my master. OH LORD. When I stood up, I could count the muscles in my butt. Because every last one of them hurt. When I reached up on the shelf to get Mia's food - I could also feel every single aching muscle in my arms and shoulders. There was no way I was going to make it 4 miles. I wasn't sure I would get myself back in to bed.

Luckily, for all involved, I did make it back to bed, and opted to sleep a little later. I woke up and tried (painfully) to stretch - and resorted to the Stick for a little muscle relief. My legs feel fine now, ohhh boy my arms and shoulders are screaming. I might be able to pull out a four mile run later this evening, especially if it rains! Otherwise, I'm behind before I've even begun.

i am the winner

Yesterday morning I got up at 5:15 am and got ready for boot camp, day2. I was tired. I had come home and gone to bed at about 1am, which was FAR too late for me, but with all my friends deciding to up and move out of the city, there is a lot of hanging out to be done. But, I was up and getting dressed - and off to meet the group at Auditorium Shores.

I want to back up a second and just recap my "running" for the internet. I'm not "a runner", or at least I don't feel like one. I'm not fast. I have to work hard to pull out an 11 minute mile. There I said it. I walk every 5 or 6 minutes. EVERY five or six minutes. And I long for those walk breaks. And sometimes I walk sooner (and longer). So, the image of "runners" in little shorts just cruising around all over creation - that's not me. I love to run, but that doesn't make me "good". I have, somehow, built up some distance endurance. So I'm no longer scared that I can't make the distance of a half marathon. And, I've overcome the soreness that lasted for TWO DAYS after my first half marathon. I can now return to normal the next day, or later that night. So, I'm definitely not the beginner I was. But when I hear people say things to me like, "it'll be easy for you, you're a runner" - I feel like I've tricked everyone. It's not easy for me.

Boot camp starts with a warm-up run. We were meeting at the South First Street water coolers, and our warm-up run was to head west on the trail to riverside, east on riverside back to the entrance to the First Street parking lot, and back to the coolers. A short little almost a mile loop. There are 9 of us in that group, and at least 3 of us all took off right at the same time, the other 6 not far behind at all. In the first minute of this run, I was ahead of the pack. I wasn't busting out a fast pace, although I have a horrible time pacing myself. As the run went on, instead of people catching up to me and passing me, my distance in front grew. When I returned to the water coolers the coach said to me, with a smile, "you're the winner" - and then she went back to discussing with the other coach some plans for the day.

It was when she said that that I realized the sad truth. I'd never won. I'd never even been first to finish a run, in any group, with anyone. Heck, all through Ragnar I'm not even sure I ever PASSED anyone - and we all know I was passed at least 10 times in one leg. So, as insignificant as it seems, finishing first out of a group of 9 during a 1-mile warm up run...

I was the winner.

Keeping on schedule

I have been surprising myself by actually sticking to the schedule as set out by Austin Fit. I did a few short 25 minute runs on the weekdays and then did the scheduled 5 miles on Saturday. I took a new route on Saturday, down one of the trails in my neighbourhood (can I spell like a Canadian here?). At first I was a little nervous because the beginning of the trail was really narrow and surrounded on both sides by trees. I almost turned back, but I kept on trucking and within a couple of minutes, it opened up to a wider trail with farms on both sides. I definitely felt safer, that was until I came within 2 feet of a cow. She was standing right at the edge of the trail. Behind a fence, but RIGHT THERE! I say that I love cows, and I collect pictures and figurines of them, but whenever I have been anywhere near a real cow I am terrified! This cow was HUGE. As were all of its nearby friends. Added to the cow terror was the fact that I was running head on into the strongest wind I have ever experienced on a run. I felt like I was in a wind tunnel. I think that added at least a half a mile to my journey since the wind kept pushing me back. It was hard, too!

While running, I was contemplating about the fact that most of my runs lately have felt un-good. I just can't seem to get into the groove where I forget about time and just wanna keep running. Or at least to a point where I am not looking at my watch every 45 seconds. I miss that. I want that. What I really need is Jenni to tell me stories while I run. That always makes my runs go nicely. Maybe in addition to the blog, Jenni needs to do a podcast that I can listen to while I run. Or maybe I should just find a really interesting podcast to listen to while I run. Hmmm. Will have to look into that.

6am non-run

Well, this past week has been bad running-wise. Between the never-ending birthday celebrations, related recoveries, and subsequent 4th of July, I found little time (or motivation) for running. But, I received an email offer the other day, that may be exactly what I need. The same place where my kickball team plays is offering a summer boot camp, and the price was reduced recently. I signed up yesterday and it starts tomorrow morning.

For one month, I'll be heading down to Town Lake at 6am 3 mornings a week. I don't really know what is in store, but I do know its likely to hurt. And, hopefully, get better. I also know that I'm currently keeping a food diary, which I need to EMAIL in to the head coaches. I'm unsure which to be more embarrassed about - the small amount of exercise that is bound to make me collapse or the frequency with which "cheese" will show up in my food diary.

Here goes nothing.

Oh, and I'll be running during this time too. Triathlon is only 13 days away!