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!!!!
New goal?
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!
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. 😦
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!
About as fall as we get
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.
As I had to work yesterday, I ended up getting off early on Friday. However this was not planned and as such I was unprepared. As I was driving past the lake path, I was cursing my lack of foresight, because I totally could have gone for a run. But all I had in my car was my old pair of Inspire’s and my belt and earphones. Think I could run in old shoes and a dress? I might have received some interesting stares. I also knew that being it was Friday I would lose the eagerness to run by the time I got home. And I did. So I ran errands and caught up on some reading instead. Slacker!
Driving to work on Saturday, the weather was perfect for a run. As evidenced by the numerous people that I saw running on the sides of the highway. My Saturday commute takes me along 2 rural highways, both with wide paved shoulders. There were quite a few people taking advantage of that that morning. I was so jealous. Even though rationally I knew that even if I didn’t have to work, I would probably be sleeping in instead, I was still jealous. Runner’s logic, right? It was interesting to see how some people were just running in shorts and shirts and others looked like they were wearing a parka. It was a lovely crisp 45 degrees. 🙂 Ha! I had the heater in my car cranked up. The fog never stays gone for long though and rolled in by 11:30 so I got to drive home in the fog, oh boy!
I did make it to the track for a good run though. I did 4 miles with an average pace of 10:07. Usually my track times are a little faster than this, but I was brilliant and ate a large lunch about an hour before running. I had been craving a hot dog as I hadn’t had one in almost a year. After yesterday, it will probably be another year before I want another hot dog. It was super yummy but it did not make my run fun at all. On the plus side, I still love my new shoes!
This weekend was the Harvest Marathon in my home town. It is actually the combo of what in previous years was 2 races: the Harvest Marathon and the Wine Vine Run. I had participated in both events in the 5K in years past. I really wanted to run the half marathon this year but since it was so close to the City to the Sea half marathon I was planning on extremely late registration. I figured I would to see how I felt. I felt great but my pocket book did not. It came down to shoes or the race and shoes won. Plus my left foot has been making itself known to me. It still doesn’t hurt, but something is not right. 😦
However, I did participate in a way. The race works as a fundraiser for the local high school’s athletic department. My mother is head tennis coach there and all sports teams had to volunteer. So I was up at 5AM to head out and help her and the team work a water table. We had station #4 which was at mile 8.7 of the marathon. The half marathoners had a different course. We had the table up and ready to go by 7:00. We had people to hand out water, a guy for traffic control and 2 athletic trainers. We were ready to go but the race started at 7. We had 40 minutes until we would see the first runner and it was so cold. 😦 I went and sat in my car until 7:35. So very social of me.
Mother and me 🙂 So damn cold!!!
The first runner came through around 7:50. Woo hoo!!! The first 5 people were men, then finally the first girl! Actually I think she was another blogger that I just started following but not sure. This was a hometown race so the marathon only had around 60 people registered, so there was a fair amount of time between people running by. I was surprised by how much the runners were drinking though. I have worked aid stations before and people always sipped and then threw the cups. These runners were guzzling water down. We started to think that we were going to run out of cups, most runners were taking 3 each! Also half of them walked the cups to the trash bag on the opposite side of the street, even when we said they could just toss it and we would pick up after. Also we were not a station that provided Gatorade but so many people wanted it. I felt horrible every time we said that we didn’t have it!
The runners and the course 🙂
In between the first pack and the second, the boys decided to play with branches they found on the side of the road. Really? I could see the runners coming so I told them to put the sticks down, that we didn’t need to have the approaching runners think we were going to pull a Tonya Harding on them. Every single teenager just stared at me. They had no idea what I was talking about. Am I really that old?!?!
Good group but man I feel old now 🙂
The last runner passed at around 9:00 and we were done! We packed up our stuff and headed out.
While I felt lazy that I did not run the half marathon this morning, I was also not inspired to run a marathon. They all looked so damn tired when they ran through and they still had 17 miles to go. Do I like that at mile 8 when I run half’s? No wonder people think runners are slightly crazy. Still it was rewarding to work the other side this morning and it’s probably not the last time I will do it. I may even put this race on the schedule for next year, but I may try for Nike in SF instead. 🙂
I did make it to the track like planned on Sunday. Headed out around 10:00 hoping to avoid the heat. My legs felt tired before I even started so I set Mr. Nike for a timed run of 45 minutes. Figured that sounded like a good amount of time for the day and I would just do as many laps as I could at a steady pace. By the end of my 45 minutes I had done a little over 4.5 miles. I maintained pace and by mile 3, my legs felt a little better. So I walked a short cool down and stretched out. I have no idea what the football players use this thing for, but I love stretching with it-
What the heck is this?
After my run, I headed home for a lazy day of eating way too much. Seriously, I ran a half marathon not Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim. But I still gave myself license to eat way too much last week. The amount of times I ate pizza was just ridiculous. Amazingly tasty but ridiculous. Plus for work, we are having a candy crush October. I have most of the treats for the crew in my drawer and have been snacking on them way too much. Bad!!! They are not for me!!! Plus my skin has decided to tell me that it is not happy with the unending string of junk food either. Ugh.
Yep, that’s true
Yesterday I was pumped to get in a run after work at the lake. I figured with the looming time change, this would be one of my last chances. Getting out of work was a little delayed due a waiting for a big announcement that was supposed to come down the pipeline. There’s always a moment when your stomach sinks hearing that but no need, it’s all good. We’re expanding!! That was a good thing to hear! But it did put me a little behind schedule. I changed and started the drive towards the lake path. The sun was behind the hill a little more than I planned when I got there but I still set out for a good run.
What was not cool was the creepy guy walking two dogs that was totally weirding me out. Granted it could have been the border collie he was walking that was giving me the willies. I love all dogs but not border collies, sketchy devils. But the way he kept looking back and staring, not cool. It may have even been someone behind that he was staring at but, ew. I passed him quickly and tried to settle into a decent pace. My legs did not like me so much last night. I felt like I was mincing my steps. I kept looking down at my form and it felt ok, but my legs were off. I just felt funky. Clocked mile 1 at 10:25, ok then. The sun was even lower but I pushed on for another lap. My legs still felt funny. 😦
Coming through the park section of the path again, I swear I saw creepy guy sitting on a bench staring at the path. But without the dogs… ummm what?! I wasn’t sure if I was more skeeved out by him or the fact that there may be a border collie on the loose. They’re the reason I carry pepper spray. Yeah I was done. I finished the lap coming in at just under 2.5 miles. I stretched really quick and jumped in my car to leave. Best way to get a negative split? Run from something creepy.
Creepy!!!!!
The bottom of my left foot felt funny today. Not painful, just kind of odd. I had no problems at volleyball though, so who knows. We won!!!!! Well, 1 of the 2 matches, but woo hoo! Both matches went to 3 games and now I feel a little bruised but it was fun. Could have done without the second team of the night deciding to intentionally aim everything at me but I said bring it 🙂 Not sure what I did to them but oh well, women can be so bitchy. (myself included). They were pretty vocal about it too. Maybe the fact that we took the first game spooked them, there are the first place team right now.
Now I am relaxing in the Comfy Chair, watching The Biggest Loser and eating potato chips. Wait, what? Oops. Why does this show make me want to snack? 😦
Anyone else have any sketchy encounters while running?
A little email alert told me that City to the Sea photos were ready. Yikes!!! I was really hoping for a good one this time 😦 Below is the least scary one, well, they were all pretty bad. And what is with my damn ponytail?! It is bouncing around like a dang cheerleader in every picture.
This morning, when I checked Facebook, I saw a familiar sight. Run The Edge had posted the following picture-
That’s my race! That is the same girl and the poster I was talking about during the race. That was the halfway point, leading up to the overpass, the bridge in the background. Not sure how it got to their attention, but woo hoo for a little local shout out! And if you have never checked out their site, you should! I am currently reading their book, too.
Didn’t get in a run today 😦 but enjoyed lots of yummy homemade Beef Stroganoff and birthday cake with the family. Happy birthday brother! Have to figure out how to run that off tomorrow!!
Slacker Runner 