Category: Run!

A picnic and a challenge

We’re almost halfway through the week, woo hoo!

Sunday was bright and sunny and on the schedule was the company picnic. I really like lazy Sundays but I don’t get one for awhile beginning with this picnic. I always seem to be one of the first people to show up anywhere. I even tried to be late. I left later than planned and even got stuck at a take-your-life-in-your-hands stop sign turning onto a highway. I was still on time. I always feel awkward at these kind of things, I am not the best at mingling. Case in point- a slideshow of pictures from the event was released today- in one pic, you can see me standing by myself with my arms crossed. I eventually did get to mingling. The weather was great, the food (BBQ) was good. There was a bounce house-slide thing, volleyball courts, some bean bag toss thing and lots of chairs and cabana type things, oh and a tug of war. Am I not great with the descriptions? I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in a while and met some new ones. Tug of war was interesting to watch. I also took part in a volleyball game against the executives. Not that I did much, I don’t think the ball ever came my way. Truthfully, I was ok with that because during the warm up games, my left foot managed to find a rock. Which left a nice hole in my left foot. The paranoid runner in me was kind of freaking out, I have a half in 2 weeks!Speaking of a runner, when I first got to the picnic, one of the greeters asked me how many miles I was running or had run that day. When did I become that person? I admit that I am still surprised when people call me that, I still feel like a slacker. 🙂 The picnic went til 3 but I left at 2. Between Saturday’s long run and a few hours on the beach, I had had way too much sun. Before leaving my house I plastered on sunblock but I still ended up red. I took more pictures but my phone was having issues and didn’t save them, boo.

Monday I came up with every excuse to avoid a run. Work had been stressful, I had a headache, my foot still hurt from the day before, yada yada yada. But I knew the main reason was because of Saturday. I told myself to stop being such a sissy and made myself go to the lake path. Why the path? Because I knew there would be dogs there. Let’s rip off the band-aid before my imagination can make things even worse. My foot really did hurt so I took it easy, only 3 miles. My mom called while I was warming up and apparently I sounded a little freaked out. The first dogs I saw were Chihuahua size, ok I got this. An off lease German Shepherd- not so cool. Oh look a pit bull, but on a leash, another Chihuahua, and a Pomeranian. The pep talk I was giving myself in my head was all over the place. I was not exactly relaxed but I was dealing. I rounded a corner and there was a Great Dane. He looked friendly but his sheer size had me skittish. 3 miles was enough pushing it for that night. I did it! Still not happy around dogs but run done!

Ever play tug of war at work? How about slicing your foot and trying to run?

What are you doing this weekend? Looking forward to it?

Facing Fears-some old, some new

Saturday was a little rougher than I had hoped for. I faced a long run I was afraid of as well as a fear I thought I was past.

I was really nervous, more like freaking out, about this week’s long run. I had never actually completed 12 consecutive miles outside of a race before. My previous longest training day was 11.5 miles that was split into a 7 mile run followed later by a 4.5 mile run/ walk. Something about 12 just seemed so far and impossible. I had a headache Friday evening and it was lingering Saturday morning. I checked the weather and it was only predicted to be in the 80’s so I figured I would run then and get a little more rest. I had a route mapped out of 3 loops of 3.8 miles. I would add one last hill to that last loop to bring myself to 12 miles.

I was already thinking about calling it at 10 when I set out, did I really need 12? I did my first loop and since I felt tired I decided to do the extra hill then instead of last. Even though that got that hill out of the way, somehow it really screwed up my mileage, I lost a mile. I figured it out around mile 9, I didn’t have enough road left to hit 12, so I looped another street to add it back in. As I was running up one hill for the third time, I realized why I may hate long runs so much. My long runs are usually loops of hills- I’ve been doing hill repeats in disguise and never figured it out! Hello, blonde runner over here. This run had an elevation gain of 920. By mile 9.5 I was done. I stopped at the middle school and doused myself and my visor in water at the fountains. I walked the last 2.5 miles but I did it!! 12 miles done! This fear was mostly overcome.

I honestly thought I was over my fear of dogs. I had been bit before as a teen but the worst was when I had just started running. I want to say it’s been more than 4 years since I was attacked by 2 border collies while running. Ok, let’s be honest, I was walking. It was near the top of a street that I had probably walked 100 times by then; I had never even noticed the 2 dogs in that yard until that night. The standard Poodle who stood guard at the second to last house at the top, sure, we had had conversations before. I first noticed the dogs on my way up the street, they were in the front yard and their barks sounded less than friendly but I didn’t think much of it. There were kids playing in a nearby yard and a woman gardening. I went all up the end of the road and turned around like always. On my return trip, both dogs rushed out of the yard and ran my way growling and barking. I froze because running away makes it worse right? Plus I thought they were just going to be noisy and not actually do anything. Wrong- one got around behind me and bit me. On the ass, nice. I was in shock. By now the owner was running out for the dogs and the woman gardening had come closer to observe. The owner informed me that he had just removed their shock collars to give them a bath. Umm, what? By now I had determined I was bleeding so we exchanged numbers and I started the trek back to my car, it was about a mile away. About a block later, the shock wore off and I burst into to tears and started shaking. I had 2 puncture wounds and a gnarly, scary bruise. I later found out that I was not the first person the dogs had attacked. It hurt to run for weeks after- you know you need to lose weight when your butt hurts because it jiggles while running. I started carrying pepper spray on my runs and I still have not gone all the way up that street since that day.

I was afraid of all dogs for a while. I was once rushed by a yellow lab who just wanted to have fun and I freaked out. But over the years, I thought it had eased. There are dogs in the office all the time, ranging from Chihuahua’s to Pits to Dobermans to Bouvier’s. I had come across a loose pit bull on a run once and been ok about it, I told her she was pretty and we went our separate ways. Like I said I was over it. Until Saturday. I was finishing my long run and had just turned up my driveway. When I day driveway I mean street, but there are only 7 houses on the street and with the exception of 2 houses, the rest of us have been here for 10+ years. All the houses have some land so while we don’t all know each others names we know what is usual behavior. One house I call the Victorian has 2 Bouvier’s. Ever seen one? They look like bears, gentle nice bears, but huge all the same. One of the Bouvier’s passed away a year or so ago because I have only seen the gray one. Saturday, there was a gray one and a white one, I still didn’t think much of it because it’s my driveway for crying out loud. I was just passing the first house when I heard them bark. I looked up from pausing my Nike+ app to see them tearing out of their driveway my way, the white one in the lead. Once again I stood still, I had a water bottle in one hand and had been screwing with my phone in the other so I couldn’t even grab my pepper spray. I should have thrown the water bottle but wasn’t thinking that clearly. The white one looked possessed, it looked like it wanted me for dinner, the grey on was just along for the ride. The owner was now yelling, trying to call them back. It got within three inches of my waist before listening to the owner. Crisis over right? Nope. It got about 10 feet away and decided it didn’t want to listen the guy anymore. It turned around and came back at me growling and snarling. Screw standing still, I started backpedaling as fast as I could go. By now the owner was running and finally managed to grab the white one’s collar. As soon as the white one was contained, the gray one was perfectly behaved. He apologized but I was having troubles stringing words together to make a sentence. I finally just bolted up the driveway. I lost it just past his house, again sobbing and shaking. I was shaking so badly I couldn’t get my gate open. I had to stand there for a few minutes before I could get it unlocked.

The one dog I am not afraid of right now- Zoey

So yeah, still not over it. And now I am afraid to go back down my driveway. What am I going to do when that customer brings her 2 Bouvier’s into the office? What about the dogs that are always at the lake path? Even just typing this kind of freaked me out again. One step forward, two steps back.

But I did my 12 miles! Sorry this was so long, thanks for sticking it out!

Anyone else ever had a scary run in?

How was your weekend?

Tell me something fun!

Shaking it Off

Yeah, I went there, sorry. 🙂 I actually did not like this song the first time I heard it and now I think I’m obsessed. I got through my last few runs with Theory of a Deadman and Rise Against and the last few days have been Taylor Swift on repeat. I feel like I am all over the place this week and it shows even more than usual in my music. I may have played this on repeat tonight while driving from work town to run town. There may have been a tiny bit of car dancing involved, but there are no witnesses.

The last two weeks have felt a little scattered. I’ve been a little stressed by work, a little stressed by my stomach and just life in general. How do people with kids do it? After an unplanned rest day on Tuesday and a planned one on Wednesday, my feet were feeling itchy to run. Because I had a business mixer to go to after work tonight, NikeC and I moved back gym night. I wasn’t sure what time I could get there and didn’t want to make her wait. I figured I would try to get in a quick 3 miles after the mixer if possible. I just hadn’t figured out how I would change yet. 4:45 rolls around and I just didn’t think I had the mental capacity for a mixer plus my stomach just hated me today. I was just tired, and I wanted to run. I felt mentally tired and I just wanted a few miles to quiet my head. I needed to run it off. After a discussion with a few people, we decide to bypass the mixer and attend next month’s. I was relieved and looking forward to running, I was thinking of now trying for 5-6 miles.

It was a happy thought for about 2 minutes. At 4 minutes to closing, I happened to be looking at the door as IT walked in. What the frak? If they drove all the way out, it was not going to be a quick visit. Ok, reassess, I had to stay but I would still run it would just be a little later. I changed into my clothes anyways and then just waited. I got cold, so I put my blazer back on. Running shorts and a blazer- the new business casual?

It was hard to be productive since the systems were taken down. I caught up on some blogs on my phone, checked twitter, and posted some randomness to Instagram. Then I was over that. So I got some Clorox wipes and started cleaning. I finally headed out around 6:45. Even though it’s summer, I am not a fan of running at dusk. Just seems like too much room for error there. And of course, I was wearing dark running clothes because I had really wanted to wear the new shorts that came in the mail yesterday. Flowers! But a visibility fail.I got to run town a little after 7. Just as I parked, my mom called and asked if I wanted to do a late dinner. No! I was running. I walked a half mile warm up before running. Between dusk and my stomach I only got in 2 miles but they were kind of awesome. They weren’t the fastest or the best and my ankle kind of hurt but I was just glad to be running. It was a good little reset. And tomorrow is Friday!!

Ever had one of those days or weeks where you just needed to run it out?

Do you wanna rock a blazer and shorts now? Haha.

What are you doing this weekend?

Running in Circles

Monday was a big day at work for a few reasons and by the end I was looking forward to a nice, easy recovery run after work. I chose the lake path again, partly due to the flatness after the previous day’s 10 and I because I thought it would be a good place to test out my new shoes. They fit great in the store but I had to go up a 1/2 size. When I wore them for the puppy walk on Saturday night, they felt too big, especially going downhill. Ruh-ro. This time out I paired them with my Pro Compression Trainer Low socks (love by the way) as they are a little thicker than my other socks. So much better!

My mother met me at the lake and we set out. I was feeling tired and my leg was not appreciating the heels that I had worn all day, so I wasn’t expecting much. After a 10 minute warm up walk, I broke away to run, not sure I was going to 3 laps or 4. I think the Sayonara’s had my legs a little confused. They forgot it was supposed to be an easy day. I averaged a 9:35 pace for the next 3 miles with forced walk breaks in each mile because I knew I should be running slower. 4.25 miles in total for the day. I felt pretty good in the shoes, but then it’s only been 8 miles. I was trying to pay extra attention to my form since I knew they were a lighter weight than I was used to, it did get a little sloppy towards the end. I will have to work on that next time. 🙂

Today was D-Day otherwise known as doctor day. After waiting so long, I was kind of afraid something was going to push it back again. I skedaddled out of work at 1:45 because I was afraid of any traffic issues. Of course, there were none so I ended spending some time in the parking lot. 🙂 For the first time, my mother joined me at the appointment. I just wanted a better answer so I was all for anything that might make him listen more. We were there for 2 hours, granted part of that was waiting in the waiting room. I was prepared for him to want to order tests, I was prepared for different medication; I was not prepared for was for him to admit that he needs another opinion. Umm, aren’t you the specialist? So I have a bunch of blood work I need to do followed by 2 new heavy duty antibiotics and then a histamine blocker? They are also working on a referral for a doc down in LA. Boo.

One of the antibiotics he initially wanted to prescribe dictated no strenuous exercise because it could damage your tendons. I guess I had my “hell no” face on because before I could say anything (or freak out) my mother spoke up. She implied that I could get really bitchy without running -haha- true story! He switched medications so I am still ok to run. It just means that once again I am going into a half marathon while on antibiotics. After getting out of the appointment I was just felt drained, and after 3 days of running/ walking I turned the evening into a rest day.

This week might end up with fewer running days but I am trying not to stress on it. I start class tomorrow and am trying to figure out how to do a business mixer and the gym on Thursday. I need to do my long run on Saturday because the company picnic (or beach day) is Sunday. This school thing is really throwing me off- when am I ever going to do business internationally anyways?

How about you guys? Ever wanted to snap at a doctor?

What company picnics? Yay, nay or never had one?

How has your week been?

Success… of a Sort

My last half kind of kicked my ass both mentally and physically. 13 miles of sand aggravated some shin splints I thought were mostly behind me. My confidence took a beating as well. This led to my change in thinking during July and for the most part it helped. My most recent attempts at long runs have kicked me around a bit, too. Today, I finally completed the 10miler I attempted twice last weekend. However, it was Ugly. However before we get there, let’s look back.

Thursday turned into a rest day instead of gym night, I was feeling a little under the weather. Earlier in the week, I had made a smart ass comment about something happening on Friday. I said that if all the stars aligned in the right way, I would buy everyone lunch. Granted, at the time, I thought there was no way. That being said, I followed through when I was proved wrong.

Saturday was a day spent shopping. I may have spent a little more than planned, but it was fun. 🙂 And when did my impulse purchases become running shoes?

After getting home, I took my family to a local steak house for dinner, where we I might have eaten too much. I followed dinner with a late evening stroll with my mom and the puppy. Had to test out the new shoes, right?

My stomach did not thank me for yesterday’s indulgence, so this morning got off to a rough start. I did manage to get out the door for my long run by 9 though. My mother wanted to meet at the track and do some laps. After I was going to help her change out a tennis net. I ran 8 on the track a few weeks ago and did not want to again. I mapped out a route that was 7 miles across town to the school and planned to finish the last 3 miles on the track. The downside was that I had to run across the main bridge in town. I hate running across the bridge, I feel like I am on display, it’s so noisy and just seems so long. In comparison to big cities I am sure that our bridge is tiny, but I think it may be the biggest in the county. Not sure if that’s more indicative of the bridge or the county though, hmmm.

Right from the get-go, I knew it was going to be rough. I had a shortcut option to cut 2 miles off before the school if I felt ill but I did not want to take it. After my warm up mile, I decided to test out the run/walk feature on my Garmin. Once I figured out how to do that I set it for 8:30 run and 1:00 walk. I was foolishly hoping that it would help the run seem a little easier. It did keep miles 2, 3, 5, 6 around 10:30 pace which was pretty cool for a long run. Mile 4 was my fastest at 9:29- the bridge mile- I just wanted it done. I hit 4 traffic lights in the last half of 4 and beginning of 5; I paused my Garmin at each one but let the Nike App run. I was curious to see how long they took. All in all they added 5 minutes to my time.

I completely ran out of gas by the end of mile 6. Since I was on a path and not the street, I had put in both headphones for a pick me up. Bad idea- a cyclist came up on my left and I never heard him. I felt his presence more so I took out a headphone as I turned my head, oops. I was hugging the far right of the path, so he had plenty of space. We chatted a bit, I apologized for the headphone gaffe (I swear I only ever use one!) but that I was in such misery I was hoping it would distract me. He agreed that it was a rough morning and already too warm. My pace slid off from there. Miles 7-10 all clocked in the 11’s. Even on the track. I have never run that slow on the track but I was just spent. I even thought about calling it at 8 and heading back out later to another 2 but I really wanted the run done all in one. I was so glad when I was done. I stretched some and then headed off to help my mother. Or try, turns out the replacement net was worse off than the old one, the replacement had been donated. 😦

We followed that up with some yummy Chipotle for lunch, have I mentioned we have a Chipotle now?! I also learned that you should never go to the grocery store after a long run. I wanted to buy everything!!! Luckily I wanted to buy all the fruits and vegetables but still there’s only so much food a person can eat. I didn’t look at my splits for a few hours because the run just felt so rough to me. Turns out my overall pace was pretty much near where I had wanted to be for a long run, the run just felt the total opposite of easy. It makes me a little nervous for the 12 miler I need to do next weekend.

How was your weekend?

Every make a statement you didn’t think you’d have to follow through on?

Ever go to the grocery store after a long run?

Any long run tips?