Live blawrging: Running on the mind

Running is a remnant of my childhood that, like a Star Wars collection for the middle-aged fanatic, will follow me wherever I go. When I do it, I am often transported back to an original state of being a young immigrant in suburban America. I first joined the track team in high school, in a state of teen angst that you could only surpass in the height of the 1980s. Meanwhile, running's also a source of strength and power. Also, I tend to think in haphazard angles, like a shopper trying to find her way through the aisles at Costco.

you're always on my mind

as i start to run again, this blog is helping me feel like i'm part of a virtual track team, minus the loser feeling of coming in last amongst my peers. there's no dirty looks and silent begrudgement for bringing down the liver donation capacity of the human race, due to my fattiness. you're always on my mind, friends.

Ho-hum.

I haven’t posted lately because was afraid of dominating the discussion with not-so-interesting posts. Also, I took a small leave of absence to lick my wounds over my failure to run the Fleet Week Half-Marathon. My training had been going so well! But I learned a valuable lesson or two about travel and budgeting my time before race day. My sleep schedule was so screwed up I felt like hell by race time. I think it was the best decision for my body not to run, but I still feel like a quitter.

Since then, my foot is better than ever, I’ve had great runs, and I have increased my mileage. I’m shooting for about thirty miles a week (up from the seventeen to twenty-four I was tending toward over the summer and early fall), and I am taking my shorter runs up to five to seven miles each (lately, I have been running five miles almost everyday, which is up from doing three to five earlier this year) and my long runs up to twelve miles on the tow path (was running eight miles of the path in the spring and ten there this fall). I am struggling with a little bit of weight gain (maybe it’s muscle, yeah, which is some 18% denser than fat, but I mostly blame the Costco sheet cakes my mother has been buying and sharing). I am also adapting to the colder weather (last year I ran wholly on the treadmill while it was cold).

Today was the coldest run I’ve had in years- about 35 degrees when I left- with the wind chill cutting it to about 26. But my newly cobbled together winter gear did the trick (the running jacket I picked up at Target was fantastic- light, yet still kept the wind out. Its hood will be perfect when I need it- it zips right up to my chin!). I definitely need to spend a little money on some gloves or mittens that resist getting soggy. I got fed up and took mine off with a mile left to go, but that may not fly when it gets colder.

Today, Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” and then N.E.R.D.’s “She Wants to Move” (BPM 115) got me up the first hill. Not the most inspired choices, I admit, but they WORKED.

P.S. What do we think/do about honking? I used to get it only occasionally, but lately it has been at least twice every run. Maybe since there are fewer runners out there in the cold, I’m taking the honks that might have been distributed more evenly? I can’t tell if it’s menacing or supposed to be a compliment. Mostly it makes me worry my tights have split or that someone is about to run me over. For fun, honkers be damned, I am plotting to buy obnoxiously red track tights* (the shiny kind for under HS track uniforms) and wear those, if only because we don’t sell purple ones.

*image from insport.com

Leadership from behind

If the authors of this blog were to run together in real life, I'd be the leader that closes the pack. Like an exclamation point, we'd be a clump of runners, and then there would be me, separated and behind. I probably have more weight to lose, and perhaps the least likely to take up modern dance (or ballet) as an alternative sport. I'm the least likely, I bet, to go to the gym, or even to resist eating an entire set of Kit Kat candy bar, a cookie and a brownie in the course of a six-hour, sit-down, catered meeting.

And yet I believe that I can beat my speeds- through consistent practice, and by setting up social situations that will goad me into engaging in one of the simplest practices of physical fitness I can commit to and enjoy.

so behind

and sorely tempted to quit. I haven't even written a race report from Sept 14, let alone the one from my jubilant 2nd MCM.

Most of my motivation is lost. Laziness = weight gain + associated malaise. Sometimes I just don't care anymore.

How do you take care of the soles of your feet?

Just wondering if all you asphalt-pounding runners exfoliate the skin on the bottom of your feet. Are your soles calloused like the fingertips of a guitar player, or soft as the palm of a blue-blood who's never done dishes by hand?

Hey, I ran a mile today

Hi everyone:

I think it's great that people here run marathons. I like to think it rubbed off in a mild way because I ran a good 20-30 minutes this morning. I liked the crisp air that burned through my lungs. I could feel my body resisting after about 5 minutes of running. So I was grateful to have a buddy joining me, to keep me going.

The motivation was a badly angled photo of my growing chin line. I soon found myself making plans to meet up with people for weekend morning jogs. Saturday's run led me to a world of golden-flecked and burning red trees, hugging a lake that mirrored them and the clear blue sky. The view was worth millions of dollars.

I hope to restart my weekend run-blogs.

Tchus!