Monthly Archives: April 2014

My brain is too cold to come up with a title

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HOW IS IT STILL COLD?????

Ok. That’s over. Well. Not over. Because I think it might never be warm again. I probably say this every year on April 30. But good grief. I’m still running on a treadmill because it’s cold and though 42 is way way better than, say, 4, we’ve had some warmth here for a few days (I even had a sunroof open) before it was yanked away. And temperature is relative. So 42 is awful. Straight up. Still. I got my run in. And it was 84% great and 16% I-want-to-die-why-do-I-run-again? This would probably be a 94/6 if it was outside. But I guess I can give up on that. It probably would have been 77/23 if Ok Go’s “Here We Go Again” didn’t come on. That song has the perfect beat and the music video is with treadmills. Fitting for my run today. If only I had as much fun as they did.

I’m trying to stick to my training plan more closely than the last time around (oh, 2013 half marathon, you were such a bummer. Let’s never do that again mmk?). This means that yesterday I did squats and walking lunges and modified deadlifts and calf raises. I woke up this morning and was trying to figure out why my legs wouldn’t work. Then I remembered my work out yesterday. Damn. I stretched pre run, ran, and then went to stretch post run (following the program!) but when I sat on the floor to pull up my cool down stretch plan, I couldn’t sit with my legs outstretched in front of me. A day of running up and down to the 2nd floor office is going to be awesome. Just as awesome as swinging by Jennie’s before work and climbing two flights of stairs. The stairs aren’t all that awful (yes they are) but the worst WORST part is that the top stair is a solid 2-3 inches taller than ALL the other steps. So you finally get up there and your last step has to be GIANT. I think every time I’ve gone over there I’ve had to pause at the top of her steps to let my muscles unsieze. This morning I had to hold to the railing for fear of toppling back down them. In the pouring rain. The cold cold pouring rain

Yes. The weather again. Apparently I refuse to get over it. I’m wearing a fall/winter sweater and scarf in protest of the cold. I had been trying to wear bright springy things to bring on the warmth but that wasn’t working and I just give up. I’m glad because it was freezing inside the locker room at the gym and when I finally put my sweater on, feeling returned to my fingers. The cool temperature of the gym locker room is a double edged sword. It’s awesome from an exercise perspective. I already sweat into my eyes on a regular basis. No need for it to be warmer. And if I didn’t have the locker room to cool down in it would be a week before I could get in the shower and feel like I’m not going to be still sweating after. But coming out of the shower? So not awesome. It’s a race to see how quickly I can get clothes on. I trudged out of the gym and said a lot of swear words at the rain on the way to my car. And coffee.

As a deal with myself, any day I make it to the gym/run/workout in the morning, I can stop at Starbucks for a latte. It helps motivate and also keep my latte numbers down at a manageable level. My closest Starbucks is in a Target. I needed a couple things so I squeezed in 5 minutes of shopping. It seems Target got the memo that it’s still cold and cranked the heat up. By the time I rolled up to the Starbucks counter I was starting to sweat again. Influenced by this, I bought an iced coffee. I was happy about this decision until I got to the door to see that along with the cold, the skies had opened up and it was pouring. Then I wished for hot coffee. Well, really my warm bed and flannel jams. But I’m not sure my boss would be on board with that plan.

I guess I’m just going to sit here huddled in my office fleece and think about warm things. Anybody got a left over marathon space blanket they’re not using?

Hearts and sunshine.

Because if the sun doesn’t start shining Ima cut someone.

Ugh, my back. It’s a butthead. So is winter.

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Wow. Well. Yeah. I haven’t blogged in a while. It’s a confluence of things. But mostly I’m blaming winter. I become the worst kind of runner in winter. Meaning I don’t run. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned; the best way to be a runner is consistency. Case in point, I ran about 3 times in February and then showed up for a little 3 miler in my home city. The race was awesome and I bombed into the finish chute passing a woman to do it. (I also passed about 40 people running up a hill!) My Facebook post to my running group was all sunshine and rainbows and I was pumped for the next race in the series. Fast forward 48 hours and I’m getting ready in the morning. I shower, dry my hair (which involves bending over), and then putting on a little make-up. Suddenly and without warning my back seized and I was right back to where I was last summer. On the DL “until the pain went away”. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to heal faster.

I still went to the gym a couple times a week for the bike, but not nearly as much as I should have. And I basically hid under heated blankets. Because it just wouldn’t get warmer. But then 5 weeks had passed. And my back was feeling sort of ok. And a co-worker who is also coming back from an injury offered to go run at a 1:30min run 1 min walk interval. And I thought that sounded like a good way to restart running. So I said “sure!” And we ran. And then I waited. I could have probably gone running but some part of me wasn’t ready to get all gung ho back into yet. I think I was probably a little afraid that I’d get excited, go for a 2nd run in a week and then reinjure myself and be 76 kinds of sad and stir crazy. ESPECIALLY now that the sun is up after work, temperatures are rising, and there is green along the Charles instead of dirty white.

Fast forward a week and I’ve gone on two runs this week and one gym session. It should be 3 and 2, but let’s use baby steps, okay? Of course I got up on this Sunday morning, dog sitting for Charlotte, and headed out on my run along the Charles. And damn if it wasn’t gorgeous and soul soothing and hells yes, someone find me a manatee to hug perfect.

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I mean, the water was flowing (no ice!), I could run right down by the water (no ice!), the sun felt warm (Earth tilt!), crew teams were out (no ice!), and people were everywhere. Of course it’s early April so as I sit here 6 hours later my face is on fire with wind burn. And I was in long sleeves and a winter hat. But it was outside and not a pile of death. I’d like to say I’m someone who got out there all winter, but my half marathon sort of killed my running spirit and it was so brutally cold that I just couldn’t find the motivation. Continued amazing weather by the Charles is just the right kind of motivation.

I think I’m back and will be here to entertain you with tails from my trails (both concrete and dirt). I’m still trying to decide what kind of goals I want for myself. Right now it’s a 5 miler in May. After that, who knows. I’m moving in September. And then immediately leaving for Peru. And then going to a wedding in Kansas City. And then October. Do I really want to long run the day I get back from Peru? Or during the wedding weekend? I don’t know. But I have a while to decide. For now I’m going to enjoy lacing up and watching Spring burst out around the Charles and this fabulous city I call home! And also cheering for my beloved Sox (while mourning the loss of College Basketball [the Cyclones are basically the only reason I didn’t go completely bat shit crazy this winter])

Hearts and red tinged trees!!

 

PS If you’re not from a place where trees lose leaves, some time in early spring the buds on the trees start to appear and give the trees a red tint around the edges which is then followed by bright green baby leaves and then finally green leaves for daaaaaays!

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