Category: Slacker

Running on Empty (almost)

Friday was rough but I made it through most of the day at work. After leaving work, I decided since those 4 days off hadn’t helped me feel better so why not try a little walk? I walk/ crawled 3 miles with my mom. That way if my stupid idea backfired, I’d have help nearby. See? Not so stupid. I know I wasn’t feeling well but man she walks fast! I had troubles keeping up. At our race next Saturday, I said I would go her pace. At this rate, I may have to run just to keep up with her walking pace!

Saturday was work and not so bad. It was a little busier than usual but that just made the day go by quicker. After work, I wandered around a few antique stores before heading to the gym with my mom. I still wasn’t feeling the greatest so I was just putting along on the treadmill when I glanced over to mom. This was only her third time at the gym so I was checking how she was doing. I thought I read the damn thing wrong; she had the incline at level 15!! I looked at her and said what the hell?! Her response was that she was training for next weekend’s race. I was like, its Valencia Peak, not Everest and we’re not even going all the way up! See what I mean? She’s going to leave me in the dust!

So with Fridays’ slow miles and then Saturdays, I managed to make my goal for Week 1 of Pile on the Miles. Granted it was a small goal to begin with but I did it!!!

One of the reasons that I put in a few miles on Friday, maybe when I shouldn’t have, is because I have a race tomorrow! And could I have signed up for a nice, quick 5K? Nope, instead it is an 8 mile run for Operation Run. Operation Run is a charity event that that Operation Surf puts on Veterans Day. I was interested in it last year but didn’t sign up, so I made sure to this year. After the past week, not sure how it will go, but it’s for an awesome cause. Check this out-

Today, I just relaxed (slept in!) and took care of some chores. I now have a clean car and freshly cleaned bathroom and closet. Though I maybe used a little too much bleach in the bathroom, I am feeling a little loopy. 🙂 I also helped my mother with a chair purchase. She now has a new “comfy chair”. Can’t wait to hear what the pops will say when he sees it.

My gear is ready for tomorrow and I am in my comfy chair, sadly or awesomely, watching Battleship for the umpteenth time. I have no idea why I like this movie so much, even I know it’s cheesy. But at least the soundtrack is helping pump me up for tomorrow!

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend!

For anyone lucky enough to run the Disney Wine & Dine, I’m jealous!

Anyone else running a Veteran’s Day race?

A little unplanned rest?

So, yeah, this week has been a total mess. If my goal was to be as much of a Slacker as possible, I have succeeded. However, since that was not my goal, big fail!!!!! I have not run since Sunday. Yikes!! I swear I have this kneejerk reaction to challenges, it’s like I try to fail. It has happened twice now with both the plank challenge and the pushup challenge. As I posted before, I set myself a challenge for miles in November and the first week isn’t looking so pretty.

Monday I did not run as I was getting ready for the trip the next day. I did take my running gear with me on Tuesday, hopeful that I could get in a few miles around the area while the girls were playing their tennis match. First sign against this was the tall locked gates and fences prohibiting us from actually getting on campus, let alone to the tennis courts. Once we finally were let in, it was around the 3^rd comment from another coach there that we had to make sure to look out for “unsavories”, which made me think, umm maybe not. I sat in the van for a bit and worked on school work instead and sure enough, some kids tried a stunt until they noticed me still in it. Seriously? That was an exhausting day without running though, so maybe that was a good thing.

ok, this should have been the first clue

As for Wednesday, that was just pure Slacker-ness. I should have taken my gear with me and changed at work and then driven straight to the gym. But I did not. No, I drove all the way home with the intention of changing and then heading out. Well the road to Slacker-ness is paved with good intentions, right? Yep, day 3 with no run. 😦 Tonight was school and with the time change, I can no longer run before class. The road is too narrow to run in the dark. Ugh!!!!

A little pre- dinner road trip photo op.

I have been feeling a little under the weather the past two days but didn’t think much of it. That changed tonight when I became so ill in the class that the teacher stopped class to ask if I was ok. That was then followed by them trying to find me a ride home. The campus is about 30 miles away. Talk about embarrassing. I drove myself home but did leave early. Plans of trying to run tomorrow before work have now been scrapped. This time may be for a good reason but I feel like I have become the excuse queen this week.

I have work tomorrow and Saturday, so at this point I think I will just call this an unplanned rest week. It means I will more than likely not make the miles goal that I set for this week for the Pile on the Miles challenge. 😦 But hopefully some rest, planned or not, will just help me step it up next week and after. As for now, I am resting in my chair watching Glee.

Hope everyone else is having a good week!

Any races this weekend?

Come on now!

This may actually be my 15^th attempt at trying to post this damn thing. I tried numerous times last night and then again on my lunch today. No luck. WordPress and I have been having a tense conversation, mostly one sided, by me, with some very colorful language.

As Monday’s go, today was actually pretty good. Got most everything squared away from last week’s mess, plus the computers were up and running. I was sad to see just how dark it was tonight when leaving work. No run tonight, busy getting ready for a long day tomorrow. Driving to Upland with the tennis team. Wish me luck, I’ll need it.

Happy Monday!!!

And now for the original post-

This Saturday I did not have to work, so yay! I had the intention to run some errands, go phone shopping with my mom, and get in a good run in the afternoon.

The errands were tedious, lunch was yummy, and the phone store was hilarious. My mother had a droid which she loved and then hated with a passion. She was ready for a new one and kept asking my opinion. I have had an iPhone for years and knew nothing about droids, so I couldn’t really help her. She claimed she hated iPhones but couldn’t tell me why. So she did her research online and decided that she wanted the new Moto X (I think). The phone store was slammed, I was very surprised by how freaking busy they were. We talked to the representative there for a while before my mom said she would buy the Moto. The salesperson replied that they did not have any and it would have to be ordered. Uh oh. The thing about my family is they have no patience. When they want something they want it yesterday. My mother thought for about 45 seconds, looked at the sales rep and said “I’ll buy an iPhone.” I cracked up laughing.

So my mother was the brand new owner of an iPhone, I spent the afternoon helping her set it up and download all the apps she may use or need. Then she and I went for a run/walk. I have talked her into doing the Spooner’s Cove 5 mile with me. Her first race!!! She was tired so we walked together sometimes and sometimes I ran ahead and then doubled back. I don’t know why, but I loved hills yesterday. I saw an incline and thought I have to run that. All in all it was a good 4.5 miles. Also I took a few fall themed pictures-

The plan of attack for today was to hit the track for some speed work. I was thinking a mile warmup, 3 miles of speed work, and a mile cool down. However the headache that greeted me this morning derailed that. I still headed to the track hoping that running would ease it back. Mile 1- no such luck. Mile 2- still ouch. Finshing mile 3, I still felt like crap but figured I would complete 4 miles with trying some sprints for the last mile. Apparently I should sprint with a headache more often, my last mile came in at 8:47. And I was done. I stretched out and headed home to some cleaning and laundry.

I also had the New York marathon on in the background while doing chores. That was a crazy amount of people!!! And some very impressive running. I don’t know if I want to run in a race that big or if it kind of scares me. 🙂

As for the November challenge, I chose to sign up for Pile on the Miles over at Run Eat Repeat. I was torn between this one and The no excuses challenge at Running Bug. I was also tempted by one I read about called No-Run-vember. Got to admit that sounded tempting! But I was good and chose to run instead. 🙂 So 2 3 days in and 8 miles in, I can do this!!!!

And now tomorrow is Monday and fingers crossed, the network and computers will be working again. Also that it doesn’t take too long to fix the mess left after Friday.

I hope everyone who ran or raced had an awesome weekend!

A Fresh Start

Seriously, where did November come from? Slow down!!!

It’s been almost 3 weeks since my half marathon and they have been 3 busy, erratic and lethargic weeks. I have had some trouble mustering up motivation lately. I have completed my 3 runs per week like planned but they have not exactly been quality runs. Not to mention that my eating habits have taken a nosedive. Enough is enough.

Today is the bright shiny start of a new month and the end of my lethargy. (Fingers crossed) As today is Friday and work is usually crazier, I did not plan to run just to eat a hell of a lot better than I have been. Mission semi accomplished. It’s a good thing I planned on running tomorrow and not today as I would have had to cancel and that would have just made me cranky.

Last minute pirate…that’s fairy tale right?

Yesterday ( Halloween!), we dressed up and had a potluck and that was the great part of the day. However at 3:30 the network crashed and we lost all internet connectivity. Well crap. We left as usual hoping that it would be fixed by this morning. No such luck. We ran the entire day with no computers. About the only thing the computers could do without the network was tell us the time. And we lost our phones. I think I put more minutes on my cell phone today calling other locations than I have in the last 3 months. Poor phone. So, yeah, work ran over today, I didn’t even get home until almost 8. 😦

I think that part of my ennui was that I really wanted to find another half marathon to do before the end of the year, but couldn’t find one that fit with my schedule or budget. Also with the time change coming, in years past I have always become a much bigger Slacker in November and December. This year I want to be better than previous years, I am hoping that this blog will help keep me accountable! Call me out if I get too lazy!!!!

I have been looking at various running challenges for November and I may do one. I will post when I make up my mind. I want to look more in depth tonight and tomorrow before I decide. I will post when I make up my mind. As for races, Spooner’s Cove 5 mile Trail Run, here I come!!!! C and I are also looking at a 10K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning 🙂

So here’s to be being a little less of a Slacker going forward!

I hope everyone had an amazing Halloween!

Anyone else DVR’ing the New York marathon like me this weekend? I know, I’m a big nerd!

Bad Math

Happy All Hallows Eve Eve?

I started to feel icky Sunday evening and Monday morning was no better. I had to drag myself out of bed in order to get ready for work. I still packed all my running gear though. I was so lying to myself!!! It was overcast and wet while I drove to work, but no rain. 5 hours later, the skies opened up and dumped; rain!!!!!! Nowhere near enough to affect the drought but it was awesome to see. I was also surprised at how quickly the street outside flooded. An added bonus was that I finally decided to not run. I figured rain plus feeling crappy did not make a good combo. So I drove home, made it to the comfy chair and crashed.

Tuesday morning, I was just as tired. I was not feeling like an evening of volleyball. However I knew we were down 2 players so I dragged myself there. I always wear shorts and knee socks to play volleyball, but this night, I figured I would try capris and maybe stay a little warmer. Never again! I don’t care how damn cold it is, I am wearing my shorts. My kneepads were pulling down my pants, and my pants were trying to take my damn underwear with them. I was terrified I was going to flash some poor person. Add the constant pant pulling up and my lack of enthusiasm, being down 2 people and it did not make for a good night. We lost both games. I just wanted to sleep. 😦

ilovetorun.org | RUNNING CAN BE GIVEN

With the time change coming on Sunday, I know that I will be unable to run outside after work next week. The roads are too narrow in the town where I work, and the lake park has just a few too many transients to feel safe running in the dark. So it will be the start of treadmill evenings for me. Boo!!!! Today I was still tired and cranky but I hit the lake path after work for a very short 2.5 miles. It had been a few days since I had run so I aimed for short and sweet. As it was, I made it back to my car in full twilight. I may have done another lap had it been lighter. My legs felt tired and stiff but the run felt good. It was colder than I planned, my ears were freezing!

I headed home so I could put some things together for tomorrow’s Halloween costume and potluck. I am finishing my evening by watching Nova’s Marathon Challenge. Hoping for some motivation to fight this lethargic-ness I have been feeling.

Anyone have any plans for Halloween?