crazy – Slacker Runner

Week 24- Heat Wave

June 19, 2017June 18, 2017 Fallon @ Slacker Runner

It’s begun.

The work week was long and they are only going to get longer from here on out. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. The last big conversion/ merger I went through was 4 years ago and I ended up falling back to running 1x during the week and both weekend days because I was putting in so much overtime. Oddly enough, that’s also when I was the fastest but I am sure the 2 have no correlation. 😛 Difference is, last time we were the company doing the buying not so there wasn’t a huge learning curve for me- it was just a super busy time. This time, I’m looking at a Grand Canyon of things I don’t know and not knowing what I don’t know makes me uneasy. I am trying not to stress about it though.

Trying. I need to read more. For relaxation I mean. So I ordered some new books.

Monday- 2.5 miles First day back at work. Couple hundred emails, schedule overload, work ran late, and we were down 50% of our staff. By the end of the day I had zero desire to run after work. Zero. But I changed, laced up and headed for home town. I turned it into a game- could I keep my heart rate in the green zone? Yeah, no. But I tried. 😛

Tuesday- Rest I meant to do something productive workout wise but I didn’t. And something about the shoes I wore to work pissed off my right foot.

Wednesday- Rest Meeting #1 of meeting/ training polooza of the next month. The day started abnormally early and by day’s end I was just living in migraine city. I left my gym bag full of running gear at work and just went home.

Thursday- 4 miles It had been too long since I ran in work town so that was my plan. Success! Similar MO to Monday- try to stay in the green zone. Hell for the first 2 miles I had trouble getting into the green. I felt like I was working but I guess the temp in the 60’s and a downhill made things easier than I thought. Then there was the climb in mile 4 and my heart rate went right past green and into threshold. Grrrr. Once home I did 8 minutes with my kettle bell. Ouch.

Friday- Rest Seriously 8 minutes with a kettle bell should not kick my ass that much.

Saturday- 9 miles bike I admit I slept in. Then it was 106 and there was no way I was running in that. I stuck to the bike. Except I still haven’t replaced my fan so I was still ended up a sweaty mess.

Sunday- 7.3 miles Long run fail. I headed out around 8 to get in my planned long run of 10 miles but it was already too late. It was 80 when I started. It wasn’t bad in the beginning but it never got any better. I started to feel the warmth around mile 4. My mother was supposed to meet me around mile 5.5 and she was going to walk while I finished the rest. She drove past me before I even hit 5. I took a shorter route to her but I knew I wasn’t hitting 10. I decided to try for 8 but at 7.3 when I was running- not sure what I was doing could be called running- brought me past the car again, I said F* it. It was 90 degrees and it wasn’t even 10 yet. I had somehow gone through 38 oz’s of water in 7 miles and both my packs were empty. I was done.

13.8 miles run, 9 miles bike, 1 strength workout

Not exactly what I was hoping for this week but also not too shabby for a Slacker like me. Now if I can just drag myself out of bed earlier on the weekends.

How was your week?

What’s your weather like?

Hiking-Trails, Slacker

Sunday Summit- Reservoir Canyon

October 7, 2015October 7, 2015 Fallon @ Slacker Runner

A few weeks back I came across a challenge on Instagram called #PixonPeaks. Hike/run the specific peaks on the list, post it on Instagram and get a shirt. Ok, it’s a little more than that but it peaked my interest. And we runners like our shirts right?

Truthfully, I’ve been missing trails. I love trail running/ hiking but it’s been a long time. Summer heat kind of kills it and I like sleeping in. Plus, you know, rattlesnakes. Throw in a crazy schedule, training for a “goal” race and trails get ignored. Stress has been getting to me in a major way and I just wanted to get lost. I like to power hike up the mountains and then manage the fine line between running and falling down hill. It’s impossible to over think and stress about life when you are throwing yourself down a hill. 😜 Lots of fun and a great way to de-stress.

Sane runners taper 7 days before a goal half marathon but I never claimed to be normal. One of my mom’s tennis players is in a Geo class and they have to hike 10-15 miles a month outside of class so we picked her up along the way. The plan was to hike up to the top and run down, nice and easy. It should have been around 4 miles. I had never hiked Reservoir Canyon before but always wanted to. I am not sure why I thought it was going to be a walk in the park. I had heard that there was a swing along with a teepee and nice stone seating are at the top. How hard could that be? Plus I kept seeing pictures of some pink metal thing on Instagram and I wanted to find it.

The trail started off through a wooded area and crossed a river bed. Granted we’re in the middle of a crazy drought so there was no running water. But the bridge was cool. 😄 The trees were probably as close as we are going to get to fall, so that was nice. We only gained 200 ft in the first mile so how hard could it be? I should have checked the trail sites. The trail narrowed and started climbing. There were 2 sections that were so eroded that there was no trail- you had to jump to the next section. It was awesome. And we gained 1100+ ft in the next mile and change.

Luckily, the swing and the teepee were a nice distraction part way up. How the hell did they get all that metal up there? I was starting to wonder if I was even going to make it to the top. Indulging in a little swing time was pretty awesome.

But we weren’t at the top yet! I started power hiking to the top pausing for picture breaks along the way. 1/4 of a mile from the top I thought I heard my name being yelled. I paused, heard nothing. Started up again and there it was. I texted my mom and S to see if they were ok. No response. Well crap. So I turned around and jogged down to find them. Turns out they just wanted to make sure I was ok. They could have texted- grrr. And back up I went. The dirt was super loose and rocks and roots were all over the path. I made it to the top! Then made a wrong turn and headed down a utility path that appeared instead of the actual trail. Oops. Turn around. I eventually met up with my mom and S at the seating area. My Garmin only registered 2.25 miles up so I was feeling pretty good.

I still couldn’t find the pink thing. S spotted it off in the distance so we decided to go for it. It only looked about a 1/4 of a mile away and mostly flat. All lies. Little rollers all the way out, and I mean way. It was closer to 3/4 of a mile away. Oops- but we made it!.

We hung out a bit before heading back down. I was looking forward to opening up my pace on the way down. I love flying down a mountain. Remember those rocks and roots I mentioned? After I almost tumbled off the path for the fourth time in less than 1/2 a mile, I knew running wasn’t going to happen. Plus my head hurt each time I landed hard and let’s face it, everything was a hard landing. Guess I hit my head harder than I thought. I made it back to the swing and hung out there waiting for my mom and S. My legs were literally vibrating on their own. If I stopped moving – they started shaking. Truth- this trail kicked my ass and kept kicking. It was awesome. 😝

With the doubling back, making the wrong turn and adding the pink structure I was a little past the 4 mile mark. By the time we got back to the car, my Garmin registered 7 miles. Oops. And I was hungry, I hadn’t eaten breakfast. But it was awesome. Have I said that already? Supposedly there’s a waterfall somewhere but I never saw it. Something to look for next time!

Peak 1- Done! ✅

I was looking to get lost metaphorically not literally but it’s all good. Even if I foam rolled and cried on Monday. 😅

Do you get lost on trails? On purpose or not?

Do you like running down mountains? I love it and always think of that horse scene from Snowy River.

Ever done something you shouldn’t do close to race day?

Run!, Slacker

Call it Craos

June 11, 2015 Fallon @ Slacker Runner

Tomorrow is Friday!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Lately, I have been so tired and stressed, I have troubles putting words together. Or maybe it’s the blonde coming through, I don’t know. But I have made my co-workers laugh so then it’s ok right? The first moment was few weeks ago when I was trying say one of their names. Instead I stumbled over all 3 of them and somehow combined them all into “Renini”. 3 names into 1 just makes things easier right? Then since we have been borrowing people from other locations while we work on hiring, we have had people who are surprised by how quickly we can go from calm to crazy busy. I was trying to say welcome to the crazy but accidentally combined it with chaos. So craos. Hmm, that one kind of works- change approved. 🙂 But today was the real winner. I noticed that 2 of my coworkers were wearing similar skirts and looked nice. I said I felt left out since I missed the skirt memo as the 3 of them were wearing skirts and I was wearing pants. They all just stared at me for a moment or two. Not only was employee 3 wearing pants but I was wearing a dress! Wow.

I have lost my mind ... Thanks Pinterest.

After Sunday’s race, I was pumped to run this week. I packed my gym bag every night and took it to work. Monday went off track though. Not only did Monday show more crazy CA weather, I hurt myself. Home town hit 105 and work town only made it to 59. That’s a 46º difference. Now work may be 45 minutes away by car but it’s actually less than 30 miles. What the frak?! Ugh, I wasn’t sure where to run. I’ve been feeling some odd left foot pain since I tried the Inspires. It hasn’t gone away with the new Riders. It doesn’t happen all the time but I have been trying to figure it out. I wasn’t sure if the new shoes started/ contributed to it or not. I had also picked up some store-bought insoles for the boots I wear most frequently, so maybe that was part of it. Monday I had the bright idea to take the left one out…but not the right one. Maybe that aggravated what happened later or it was when I lifted a heavy bag I shouldn’t have been lifting. But by the end of the day, I felt like my neck and shoulders were tingling and there was a band of pressure on the back of my head at the top of my spine. I felt off, not quite dizzy but not normal. It was odd. Between that and the heat, I decided to rest instead. Which worked out since my mother needed a ride from tennis practice as her car died on Sunday. 😦Tuesday turned into another rest day as I woke up feeling like I had pinched or pulled something in my neck. Grrr. Wednesday it felt a little better so I was hoping for a short easy run. Cue the crazy weather again. Work town was sunny but with high humidity. Then we find out that home town is under a thunder/ lightning storm warning and there was hail. Then the emergency broadcast system broke in and said that people in my home town should take cover. What?! It cleared up by the time I was off so I headed to run town hoping that the storm hadn’t moved south. The temp was nice in the low 70’s but the humidity level matched. Ugh. The air felt stale and stagnant. Kind of like the way the little remaining lake water looks. I struggled through 3.5 miles but was just glad to be out running. Today I took next week’s half day. I had been looking forward to running early but was feeling rough. I indulged in pizza last night for the first time in 3 weeks and my system was not happy with that many carbs. I decided to head home to rest a bit first. Arrived home to 94º. Don’t get me wrong, I love the warmth, I just haven’t adjusted yet. I decided to read some blogs as inspiration to get out the door, I fell asleep instead. Once I woke up, the last thing I wanted to do was run, but it’s become too easy to bail so I forced myself out the door. I knew it was going to be a slow, warm slog and I was ok with that. A little over 4 miles later and I was done. It was slow, it was rough but I was glad I had done it. 🙂

And now it sounds like the Army base up the road is playing war games and the house is shaking, so bring on more craos!! Also, I do realize that I have been freakishly tired lately and will be making a doctor’s appointment to see about that. But tomorrow is Friday, so woo hoo! I am picking up bagels on the way to thank everyone for their hard work, hopefully I don’t eat too many…that would be bad.

What do you think? Does Craos need an “h”?

How was your week? What’s your weather like?

Have any weekend plans?

Run!, Slacker

This is how we do

October 25, 2014October 25, 2014 Fallon @ Slacker Runner

My new boss recently told me how impressed she was by my dedication. I didn’t know what to say. Partially because I am socially awkward and partially because I don’t feel very dedicated these days. I have been hitting my 3 days of running but cutting back on speed and mileage has often left me feeling a little low. A little uninspired. Running’s always hard but sometimes it’s so hard you wonder what the hell you keep doing it for.

Running motivation quote gift for runner by JenniferDareDesigns, $10.00 — source

Why do we put ourselves through it? Why do we commit to the craziness? Some get up at the crack of dawn to get in a run. Others run at night in the dark. Runner’s run tired and injured and cranky and mad and sad and hungry. We run when it’s freezing cold outside, or when it feels like the side of the sun. Running in the rain can be fun until you fall on your ass. Running puts you at risk of crazies, inattentive drivers or animal attacks. You could run on a treadmill but sometimes you wind up feeling like a hamster on a wheel. Squeak, squeak.

And your body? Something usually aches. It could be a hip or a knee. Your ankle or crappy shins. Tight calves or hamstrings. Black toenails, no toenails, hide those feet! In my case, a crappy stomach. But we keep running. What person voluntarily chooses a sport that has a side effect called “runner’s trots”? I think we’re all slightly masochistic or just a little crazy. What does Einstein say about insanity?

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

Oh yeah, that. Lets not even talk about the mind games we play with ourselves. Even when I don’t want to run, I want to run. How does that even make sense?Work ran late every day this week and on Thursday I had little to no desire to run. I was looking for a reason not to. I wasn’t injured and my stomach felt average for me these days. I have been in a funk and just felt meh. I just wanted to veg in a chair and catch up on my DVR. I wasn’t even hungry and didn’t want to eat. Which is very, very rare for me. But I changed into my gear anyways. Drove back to town and decided to run the river path. Daylight was fading fast but I had zero desire to run on the treadmill. That is coming soon enough. I just wanted to get it over with, if darkness cut it shorter so be it.

Running has become a chore lately and it’s been awhile since I have had good run. There have been decent miles here and there but all runs were less than stellar. It’s a big reason why I am working on getting back out on the trails. I set out for Thursday’s run not expecting or hoping for much. My warm up was little shorter due to the twilight hour. I started running waiting for the cough that would come or the stomach cramp that joins on all runs these days. My run went something like this-

1/4 mile in – oh jumping Rottweiler please don’t jump that fence and attack me. Are you on a trampoline?! 1/2 mile in- may as well start running. 1 mile in- no huffing and puffing. 1.5 miles in-still no cramp. 2 miles in -breathing still easy, no wheezing and still no cramping. Hmmm, this is nice. The weather is the perfect temp right now, and the sky looks so pretty at dusk. Oh the streetlights are on, that’s kind of cool. Can I run all of mile 3? Haven’t done that in a while, let’s try. Yay, I’m still running and I feel good. Damn this darkness, I want to run more. I feel like I could keep going for miles. Breathing is still easy, sweet. 5K mark, time to cool down, kind of dark now, oh and some interesting looking, umm, kids smoking on that bench. Run is officially over.

And that is why I keep banging my head against a wall. Sometimes the stars align and you experience a glorious run. It wasn’t long and it wasn’t fast but that wasn’t the point. The point was how I felt during and after. It was kind of awesome. Running is work, but the reward is worth it.

Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Who’s with me?

Why do you keep running?

Any quirks you want to add to the list?

Have a great weekend!