Journal
[Archive]
Day #285
I've always wanted to be brave enough to run by myself at night. I'm severely nocturnal and come alive once it gets dark. I've never been afraid of the nightime elements that I should be afraid of, like being attacked or mugged by some big man that could over power me. Oh no. What has prevented me from running during my favorite part of the day is my fear and innate magnetism to critters. Mice, dare I even type the word rats, possums, raccoons, moles, etc. I think because I am afraid of these things, they reveal themselves to me more often than most other ppl and it sucks. Well tonight I deviated from my original plan of running 5 miles on the treadmill. Got ready, went in the exercise room, but decided I'd like to take a drive first. Ended up @ the gym and got on the treadmill there. I normally track my miles, but today I decided to track my time instead. Did an hour and decided I wanted some fresh air. It wasn't dark quite yet-next thing I know I ended up @ the highschool. Right @ an hour of running there I was asked to move my jeep. As I ran over to it I slipped and sunk into a huge section of mudd. Now I'm a girly girl- I've just recently made peace with getting all sweaty from running but now I was not only drenched but totally filthy. The only option was to go home and shower, right? But it was nightime and I still wanted to run! Yeah I was dirty but the mudd was cool and not really that bad-pigs have been on to something for years!...made a mental note to get a mud bath at a spa sometime real soon. I'm headed toward my house and thought I'd run in my subdivision but quickly tossed that out because we have critters of a serious variety over there. Put it like this-one night my eyes saw what looked like a huge hyena but my logic told me it had to have been a wolf or coyote.Nevertheless a run in with any of the above is the last thing I need. So I parked the jeep and ran for another hour down Lindbergh which is a busy, decently lit street. It was 11pm, dark and cool; I was super sweaty, covered in mudd, and finally running at night by myself. Felt great! I could think so clearly, like I wondered why am I so hard on myself? I get so strict and regimented sometimes that my vision gets tunneled and I turn into this goal- achieving assassin when tonight I stuck to absolutely none of my plans and am having the most fun running than I've had since I began. Not to mention I did it for 3 hours yet time flew by. And its because I switched it up. I said screw the "plan" and just went off of how I felt at the moment. As I ran in the dark I came to realize exactly how much I call the shots..and that there is not one damn thing that I HAVE to do. I wondered to myself again, "Why have I always been so hard on me?" But my thoughts were interrupted by an overzealous guy whose intent was to get a sweaty, muddy girl's phone number. I laughed as he followed me for over a mile. Then I realized two things; 1) I can run and laugh at the same time now. Hot damn! 2) I think I shed a layer of my cocoon tonight and revealed more of my wings. It will make me a better business woman, and running led me to it.
July 7, 2010 Day#272
It's been 9 months since I first began jogging....can't believe that much time has passed! Today I did 4 miles in my subdivision...which has hills...and it was hot. Heat is no joke at all. I began to see mirages of water, like Ari on Entourage when he took the magic umm...veggie. Tripping out ain't cool so I made myself snap back to reality. But reality sucked worse than seeing things because unlike the visions of water, the humidity was real. You know you are struggling when you catch yourself saying "whew" out loud....my neighbor laughed at me and asked if I knew it was 98 degrees outside. I said yes...he laughed some more as he shook his head. Me, being the smart a___ I am, wanted to ask him if he knew that speaking to someone while they are running and you are chilling in the shade on your balcony drinking some type of fabulous beverage while I'm on the verge of heat stroke is HIGHLY annoying. But he's an older gentleman so I kept my sass to myself. He's lucky he lives on the steepest part of the hill though or I would've snatched that drink out of his hand, drank it, threw it back at him all while never missing a beat then I'd ask him "how ya like me now?". Kool Moe Dee would have been proud. For now he will just have to keep his pride because I barely made it home in this ____ heat, much less be able to show off AND make it home. One day....one day
Day #176- 11 miles@2hrs 23 min
I haven't written in a while (see News page- 3/30 entry) so here is a quick run down to catch you up. Back in mid-Jan I had gotten up to a 7 mi. run, then didn't run at all for 5 weeks. I eased back into it with 3 mile sprints which came surprisingly easy. I did that for about a week, then jumped back up to a 7 mile run. By Mar I was @ 9 miles...then it started. By it, I mean the seriously upset stomach (I will spare you the details) similar to what I experienced when I first ran the 7, but more intense and lasted longer. I started taking two day breaks instead of one, which made it somewhat tolerable, but now for the past couple weeks I have been dealing with an achy right knee and ankle. I've tried wrapping it, resting it, supplements, etc. I've been on a 2 day rest and I elevated them while I slept. Just finished 11 miles and its back to being achy and weak-feeling...and I'm limping, which ain't sexy. The marathon is in 12 days and I'm debating on whether I will be superwoman and tough it out, or be smart and not risk injury, which I feel is bound to happen if I keep at this. I've been training for this since Oct. so the prospect of not running it is really disappointing... but I also don't have health insurance and a cast is waaaay more unsexy than a limp. I'm not going to decide until the day before in hopes of finding something that will work. Please continue to email me with all your suggestions- as long as it doesn't involve fire or horse hooves I'll try it. The funniest one so far has been " how about not running it?". Simple enough, huh LOL! If only I were a simple woman......pray for me!
Day #88- One Hour 45 Min/7 miles!
I can't believe I ran (jogged) 7 miles today, and apparently my stomach can't, either. 30 min. later and I'm still fighting the urge to throw up. I always thought that if you can run a mile you can run 5; whether you jog one hour or two, its all the same thing, just more of it. And that sentiment is mainly true, except today I found out that running is a lot like money....more running = more problems. At the last 15 minutes I started to hyper-ventilate. It stabilized as long as I did yoga-type breathing so I kept going. Once I was done, I stepped off the treadmill and was really dizzy; I started dry-heaving and felt like I might poop in my pants. Let the record show that if my symptom of uncontrollable bowels does not completely, and I mean COMPLETELY go away by marathon time, then I will NOT be participating because that is where I simply draw the line....it ain't THAT damn serious. I talked to my cousin on the phone during the run but I couldn't share with her how I felt because she is a pharmacist and doesn't mess around- if I told her what was going on with me at 4:55pm then there would be an ambulance in my driveway at 4:58. Plus I reserve the right to have diarrhea in the comfort of my home. I was excited and wanted to share this milestone with someone so I called my grandma. Big mistake because she now wants to have me committed. She sees no point whatsoever in running mile after mile so she thinks that I have lost my mind. She didn't come right out and say this, but she was talking to me like you talk to your crazy pyromaniac cousin who just picked up some matches at the family reunion...real calm and steady-like because you don't want them to make any sudden movements. I deserved that, though because I shouldn't have jumped from 1hr runs to 1hr45 min.-hindsight that was a bit nutty being as I am a beginner. I should have kept my time increases gradual. My body feels like crap but my mind feels amazing. I am constantly in competition with myself because when I win, it's a high like no other. This is why it has always been easy for me to just say no because euphoria is my drug of choice :).
Day #81-Sprint
I looove spicy food. I buy cayenne pepper in large quantities and put it on EVERYTHING. I was hungry right before my fast sprint today but I didn't want to eat a full meal, so I ate some tortilla chips with some spiced-up salsa then jumped right on the treadmill. I was running full speed...started feeling weird then noticed that each step seemed to stir up some hot lava in my chest....and I was sweating like I was on trial. Before I knew it I was breathing fire like a dragon-I'm surprised I didn't burn the whole damn house down....heart burn baby burn! I dated a guy once who ate rolaids for breakfast, lunch and dinner-if he couldn't find any he would start panicking and I would crack up laughing at him. Now I see why he used to say "This $h*t ain't funny!!!!".
