A post in several parts

Part 1: What NOT to do...
Run Week 3; Day 1 on Wednesday.
Run Week 3; Day 2 on Monday. After spending the weekend drinking beer and eating cheese and s'mores (but not together, that'd be GROSS) in Wisconsin. Oh, and 20 minutes after downing left-over Pad Thai.



Result? Yeowch. I made it through, but not without some serious huffing and puffing. And I'm pretty sure some geriatric dude with a walker passed me. Whatever. He's probably hopped up on Ensure.

Part 2: What to buy...
I refuse to wear shorts in public. Refuse. For the sake of humanity. (Exceptions given if it's 90+ degrees and I'm on my bike. But certainly not when I'm running. So I've been wearing my trusty cropped work out pants. They're fine, but they lack pockets. Which presented some logistical challenges for iPods and keys.

Last week I picked up some awesome fall/winter running pants from REI. They're totally comfortable and have hidden pockets. They also have the added bonus of making my ass look scrumptious.


And today, I snagged some just-below-the-knee cropped yoga pants from Old Navy. (I'd show you a link, but their Web site hates me.) The best part, outside of the $15 price tag, and comfy stretchy fabric, is the big deep pockets. Pockets and not shorts? Score.

Part 3 ... Ouch.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to stretch the arch of your foot? I feel like the bottom of my feet go on strike sometimes when running. Suggestions welcomed!

Part 4 ... Music.
Sad and humiliating as it is to admit, I have a new power song. Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight."



Judge me and you die.

Week 3, baby

It's 64 degrees. Breezy. The leaves are changing. Basically, a kick ass evening for a one. I'm gonna OWN this week three work out!

GRRRRR. Bring it!

In which my iPod fails.

Over on my other blog, I've written about my completely inability to be alone with my thoughts. It's among the many, many reasons why I decided to use a podcast while training for this, so I know when to run, when to walk, and get to listen in between without looking at my watch every 10 seconds to see that I still had much farther to run.

My plan was kicking ass until about midway through tonight's run when the iPod battery crapped out. (Incidently, it stopped right as the crazy old homeless man was screaming at me, something about being fat, I think. Sigh.)

So, since I had no watch, I have no idea if I ran longer than I was supposed to or less than I should have. I tried to count my 90 seconds of running and my two minutes of walking, but I think my head defaulted to counting either my breaths or my footsteps. Oh well.

Shit happens, right? And I still got a workout.

How's it going in your world, Shawn??

I'm sorry. Is that a cold breeze from hell?

I was expecting this run to be horrible. A heaving, wheezing, barfing kind of bad.

The last day I ran was Saturday. Which, if you're counting, was FIVE days ago. And it wasn't lovely. Then, thanks to a combination of crazy work, crazy wallowing, and the need to drink beer because of said work and said wallowing, I just haven't gotten around to running this week.

But after a midday meltdown related to a SNAFU with the power company, I knew I could use the chance to run. So I walked outside, decided there were too many mosquitoes and then promptly turned around and tried to go into my building's fitness room. But fate apparently didn't want that to happen, since the treadmill was having some kind of electrical seizure (note a trend with me and power today) so I said screw it (ok, I said another word that sounds like duck), braved the bugs and went outside.

This week's run was more challenging that the first week. It called for 90 seconds of running and 2 minutes of walking. Repeat six times.

And there's the thing. The big, crazy, miraculous, hallelujah sorta thing: I had fun. And I wasn't dying.

I know. WTF? Right? Me. The girl who hates running. Who's always hated running. Enjoyed herself? It was warm, but not too warm. Humid, but not too humid. And you know what, running for 90 seconds isn't very hard. And I felt great doing it. I made sure to stretch before. And after. And while I'm sure my skin tastes like a salt like right now (which probably explains why the Mutt Dog won't stop licking me) I feel really good.

This can only mean one thing. There's a cold front headed our way from hell.

Bugs are protein, right?

Note to self: running at dusk, along a big-ass stretch of grass, trees and wildflowers even in early fall weather means gnats. Swarms of them. Thousands of them. Crunching. Through. My. Teeth.

(phhht. phhht. gag. gulp. )

Also, those assholes BITE!

Outside of my up-close-and-personal encounter with the invading gnat army, today's run was actually pretty nice. Maybe it's because at 65 degrees the weather is perfect. Maybe it's because I've actually been eating right. Maybe it's because I stretched before I ran and tried to spend time doing it afterward. (Although, walking down the stairs to take the pup on her before-bed-walk wasn't the most fun thing ever.) Maybe it's because I told myself to actually try to run, instead of doing my patented Slow Girl Shuffle(TM). But, I felt pretty good tonight. I tried to push myself during the run portion. And managed to catch my breath with time to spare on the walking segment.

Ever the optimist, Shawn tried to convince me it was because the training is working. I don't think it's possible after just two runs. I'm pretty sure I was just trying to get the hell away from the bugs.

But hey, whatever works, right?