floods – Slacker Runner

For a person who chose the word Challenge as a guiding principle for the year, January is doing a great job of laughing at me. I’m chalking it up to job stress and hoping that learning way or the other in the next week or so will help some of the stress go away. Maybe, hopefully…oh who knows.

In other news, it is still dumping buckets here in CA. Which would be awesome if I could stay at home under a blanket with my cats all day. But I can’t so yeah. I miss my night runs, who knew I would ever say that?? My boss and I were supposed to attend a Chamber function after work on Friday night but the storms and wind were so bad that we both agreed it was smarted to just go home. Somehow there was a break in the weather that lasted right until I got off the freeway in home town- best idea ever!

I had troubles keeping my blood sugar regulated this week as well. If you’ve been following this blog since the beginning (if you have, thank you!) you know I had this problem a few years ago. It’s been a long time since I bottomed out like that so that was fun. It happened Thursday and Friday…what gives?! Last week ended up being more Slacker-ish then I would have liked.

Monday- Rest– Haha, I wasn’t this sore after my marathon. This is what happens when you run 13.1 miles under trained. 😛

Tuesday- 4.5 miles I had a vacation day from work so I was able to enjoy a longer run in the middle of the afternoon. I really do love those. My shins were a little sore but I ran it off within a mile or two. I enjoyed being back on the river path for the first time in months. Come on spring and time change, where are you??

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- Rest. Yeah, that wasn’t planned but that’s what happened. I actually did some pushups and a plank all of those days but I am not sure those count. I packed my bag and while it actually left my car but I never changed into my running gear. Grrr.

Saturday- 7.65 miles Reality moment run. We had a break from the rain but it was still cold so I thought an afternoon long run sounded good. I planned 8 miles where I left my house, ran across town, ending at the high school and hitching a ride with my mother at the end of tennis practice. I don’t know where I went wrong. I swear I left my house with plenty of time. I felt like I was running a steady pace, the bridge mile faster like always. I was stopped at traffic lights but it didn’t seem like an inordinate amount of time. I did get distracted on the river trail. Water!!!! In all the time I’ve been running that path, there has never been water in the river let alone moving water; I had to stop and admire it for a moment. Or 2. Climbing the last big hill I got a text message from my mom asking where I was. Then I saw the time. What the hell?!! Not only was I not going to get in a leisurely 8 miles, I was still well over a 1.5 miles from the school and would have to haul ass just to get there and still be late. So I tried. I did…but there was no haul in my legs. I literally felt like I was running with a stick up my butt. TMI? I don’t know if it was because I was cold and my legs felt frozen, maybe I was tired, whatever, I could not move faster. With 1/2 miles to go I get another text. “Where are you”. Again my response is trying. Her answer is “meet us in front”. Oh great, so now I get to share my red face, huffing, out of breath, out of shape self who didn’t hit 8 miles with her AND whichever tennis players needed a ride home. Oh boy. 😞 They caught me at the streetlight. Yeah, reality check moment.

Sunday- Rest I woke to the power being out. Yay. I was hesitant to run because I wasn’t sure my water heater was 100% gas and the idea of cold run followed by a cold shower followed by a cold house… yeah, umm no. So I ran some errands then took a nap. I kept pushing my run back hoping the power would come back on. Then PG&E called and said that it wouldn’t be back on until Monday. What?!? So then it was hitting the store to find flashlights and ice for the freezer while wishing that I hadn’t gone food shopping on Saturday. Not that I buy much but still. All this to get close to my house to find the traffic lights back on…ummmm? So, power was back! I guess it could have been worse- my neighbors rented a hotel room and had just left to check in when the power came back.

Miles 12.1 Ouch, that’s sad. That’s like one good long run. That said, I am on track with the mileage target I set for January so I feel decent with starting training for Livermore and Santa Barbara Wine Country on the 30th. Also hopefully by then the rain will calm down and I may have an answer on the job front, fingers crossed. If low numbers get me through January while I face all its other Challenges, so be it.

How was your week?

Anyone else totally unprepared for power outages?

I’ve been a little radio silent this week which is odd because I can’t shut my brain up or calm the hell down.

I don’t know if it’s the rain, the longer commute now that my usual road is closed, the fact that I have a race this weekend that I woefully under trained for, or that we were supposed to learn more about the merger this week. Whatever it is, I have been freaking out all week. Giant ball of stress over here.

The extra drive might not be so bad if wasn’t for the rain. The rain is ridiculous. One way means I have to go 15 miles further south before turning back north to get to work via another highway. You know the rain is intense when everyone is voluntarily driving 30 where they usually do 80 with no honking horns or tailgating. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve hydroplaned. So I took another way on Wednesday. Still longer and how I would get to work on Saturdays. Yeah, no. I can’t do that road in the dark. Something about knowing there’s a 2000 ft drop to my right just freaks me out, throw in rain and fog and I don’t think I could grip the steering wheel any tighter. I realize this is nuts as my normal commute is through a canyon prone to landslides on one side with a steep drop on the other but I’ve driven that road for the last 4 years.

This rain is intense. We’ve lost 2 more roads- they’ve washed away. New verdict is my road won’t re-open until mid February. 😢 I need to get over this driving stress soon.

Thursday I actually googled the differences between the symptoms of panic attacks and heart attacks. Hypochondriac, much? I’ve been freaking out at the oddest times. Feeling like my pulse is racing and oddly nauseous. What is wrong with me?!?!?!? I keep checking my heart rate on my Fitbit constantly. There were other reasons I looked it up let’s just leave it at that.

Finally, I had enough and with a break in the weather, I bolted and ran. For 35 blissful minutes, my brain was calm. All I could think about was not falling on my face in the dark- dodge the branches. Well that and how loud I was huffing and puffing at the end of a little 3 miler. I just told myself it was because mile 3 gains 100+ feet. Let me lie to myself ok?