Category: Slacker

September- Catchup Style

And I disappeared again.

I was feeling ok post Santa Rosa and looking forward to running but I also knew I pushed it more than normal so I chose to the take the week after the race off. I headed out for a few miles on Labor Day which were slow and already hot but that was ok; I was stilling feeling the running buzz.

Then, I started to go downhill. A migraine was rolling in on Wednesday evening. I tried fighting it off on Thursday but lost the battle. I ended up spending all of Friday in bed, on Saturday I moved to the chair. I managed to go out on Sunday to get the essentials for the week but then it was home for a 3 hour nap on the floor. You know how you say you just want a day or 2 to lounge away and watch stupid TV? It’s not as cool as it sounds. I did watch a ridiculous amount of stupid movies though. So many. So very many. And the cat never left me.

A new week has begun, well is almost over, oops. I still haven’t run but I think I am on the upswing. Fingers crossed.

And I’ve cross trained!!! 3 times! I figured I wasn’t well enough to run yet but I could try at least some sort of exercise. Oh my god, squats, it hurt to walk for 2 days. Also, oddly my cat decides she has to be near me when I am swinging around weights. Why?

Then I tried to break my elbow on my front gate so that was fun. Still hurts. Then the next morning, I stumbled on the rocks and fell off the curb trying to open the gate. Seriously, just call me Calamity.

Also, my Timehop has reminded me that I apparently have a similar migraine every September. So what is it about September???

Breathe

Ahhh, Friday.

This week felt like it ran me over with a truck by Wednesday then on Thursday it backed up for another round. This was all work and it left me so drained. And a little cranky. I may have decompressed by laying on the ground watching the ceiling fan spin. 🤣🤣 Its surprisingly effective.

I’ve run next to nothing and I almost didn’t post but that felt odd for some reason. So, here’s a short “hey” and a beach shot from Sunday’s “long” run.

Happy Friday!!!

Processing…

My brain is like those last three dots.

Or you know when you ask your computer to do too much and you get the spinning blue wheel of useless?

The week started out good before Wednesday served up a left hook that I still haven’t fully processed. I’ve been a little overly emotional, napped a lot, ate more carbs than I should have and watched lots of repetitive TV. I do love Ridiculousness. Still don’t know how to deal though.

Back to Monday. With the day off work, of course I wanted to get in some miles. However, 15 minutes into my run, I knew it was a bad idea. I was too tired from all the miles over the weekend and my body was protesting… hard. So I called it with a short loop and headed for home. 1.67 miles for the day.

On Wednesday besides the sucker punch, I had an appointment with a speech therapist (long story) and after I needed a hard run. I was planning on running the lake path but when I pulled into the lot, there were just too many people. I was not feeling people. I was feeling like a hard, fast run with loud music blaring in my ears. Except I’m overweight, out of shape and forgot my headphones. Made it 3 miles.

By the time the weekend came, I was fried. I was torn between wanting to get lost (on purpose this time), eat a ton of food or sleep a lot. Napping and Lego’s won of all things.

I know this was a little all over the place and a little vague but that blue circle is still spinning…

Peace Out 2020

I really shouldn’t have said so many bad things about 2019. 2020 was just cackling in the background.

However, instead of digging into the dumpster fire that it was, lets talk about something else.
So, yes, last year went according to no plan but there were some things that didn’t suck.

I ran 2 IRL races. One local 8 miler in January with no medals or bibs or shirts so I kind of feel like I have nothing to show for it. Oh wait- a blog post here!

I ran half marathon #40 on March 1 in Napa. Yeah, not what I had hoped for half #40 but maybe indicative of the shi**storm that was coming. If you missed the sh*tshow- here’s a post!

Then the world went, well you know and my motivation took a huge nosedive. My first canceled race was in mid- March and it went downhill from there.

But moving on.

Work went cuckoo in April and then I received news that I was transferring offices in May. 3 times the size of my current one, so I guess I’m doing something right? I feel like I hit the ground running and haven’t stopped since.

Most of my canceled races transitioned to virtual, very few deferred or postponed. I also signed up for a few virtual challenges. However it took months for any semblance of motivation to come back. I’m still not sure it’s back but I am getting there. Maybe. That’s another post.

So…. yearly mileage. Yeah. I saw a number I haven’t seen since the first year or 2 when I was running. I ran 327 miles in 2020. Yay??

No, it’s not great but it is better than it could have been. When I say I was lazy outside of work- I was lazy. I am only now beginning to realize my stress level and my coping are not where they should be.

For a year with no miles, I may have the biggest medal haul yet-

Not sure how I feel about that. And some are not in this picture as I don’t feel I earned them. Something for 2021 right??

Oh- I did escape to the Grand Canyon and Sedona in the fall. First time as an adult and now I can’t wait to get back there.

Also, I have either optimistically or naively signed up for real race in 2021. Fingers crossed!

8 Days

2020 was not what any of us had expected. Instead of training and running my third marathon, I was a lazy layabout for most of the year when not at work. Oops.

So when my Santa Rosa medal and swag arrived in the mail in early December I was a little stumped. Oh yeah, I was supposed to run that. Huh. What do I do now? There was no way I could run or walk 26.2 miles in one day. Was I supposed to bury it a drawer? Save it for next year? Hmmmm.

Yes, hmmm. I couldn’t do 26 miles in a day but could I do it in a week? 7 days?

I know running that in a week is nothing like running a marathon in reality but also truth moment- I logged 33 miles in November. All of November. And November was a good month for me in 2020. 26.2 miles in a week was asking quite a lot of my body actually. But I was on PTO for a week so why not try it?

I even made a teeny tiny Google sheet to track my miles and times.

I notched just under 4 miles on Monday with that numb foot mess of my Hot Chocolate 5K. Great start to the plan right?

Tuesday, I dragged the old spin bike out of the back shed and down to the garage. Dropped it on my foot and managed a 20 minute ride after cleaning the hell out of the bike. Spiders, eek! But also, a ride doesn’t count.

Wednesday saw me turning in 4 miles that were actually ok. I read a something on Twitter that actually reframed my thought process a bit and it really helped. Shocking, I know.

Thursday, I hit up the lake path for the first time in months and ran 4 laps. That added another 4.62 miles to my total. Yes, I was being that precise. Everything helped. I was also ensuring to keep plenty of walking in my miles. I mean, let’s be real- both of my real marathons contained a lot of walking and I am not a complete idiot. I know how out of shape I am.

Which was made apparent Friday, when I was feeling pretty crappy and never made it out for my run. Crap.

Saturday saw a spendy trip to REI with my brother as well as hike up Three Bridges. Good god, I cannot keep up with him. Another 3.62 miles added on. And steep ones at that.

Sunday, I headed out for 4 and then 5. But then thought, well, I do need to run a 10K for the Holiday Running Festival so why not? It’s been a long time since I went for a run and then decided to add on miles. It was a good feeling. 10K done and around 6.5 miles added.

But, that was day 7 and I hadn’t hit 26.2 miles. Crap. Whatever, it’s 2020, who needs rules?

Monday was my last day of PTO and out I went for my last push. 3.45 miles that I pretty much crawled as yes, I was feeling it in my legs and I was tired. 26.45 miles in 8 consecutive days.

I know most people wouldn’t count it, hell a lot runners run 26 miles on their weekend runs- but this was a lot for me, right now. Both physically and mentally. I feel like I did something to earn that medal though.

I also may have found something I was missing out there during those miles. Haven’t felt that in a long, long while, so yes, I will hold this medal proudly.