45 Minutes, Made Better with Comedy

The longer my runs get, the more elaborate and mathematical my mental games to pass the time have to get. I count laps and see how fast I'm running. I try to run x number of laps during a song. I try to draft patterns in my head. ANYTHING to distract me and pass the time.

Thank the universe that Stephanie is as silly as I am, because by lap 22 last night, my brain was tired of entertaining me.

We often high five each other as we run if we're going in opposite directions, but last night, a spontaneous game of pass-by-surprise erupted. Stephanie ran like an Egyptian, did a creepy Thriller run, and shot me with an imaginary rifle. I ran backwards, saluted, and did cartwheels.
Before I knew it, another 14 minutes of running had gone by, and it had happened while I giggled (and sometimes cackled). At one point, I caught the older woman on the track with us smiling at our antics. I'm sure she thought we were crazy, but at least we're crazy happy and not crazy dangerous!

Thanks Stephanie!

5-miler cut a little short

Heather and Steve joined me. It was hot as hades. We ended at 4 miles.

Then got lunch at Mimi's. Bliss!

"Every scratch, every click, every heartbeat...

 ... every breath that I held for you... 45."

I am a long-time Elvis Costello fan, so every time I think about my current running time, that song pops into my head.

I believe I have now officially surpassed my old record of 43 minutes. I was scheduled to do 44 mins. this week, but figured I'd go ahead and bump up to 45. Go me!

Another 5-miler coming up tomorrow. I'll have company this time, which will make it le awesome.
Luck to me!

43 minute run: FAIL. 5 miler: demi-success.

OK, I have learned my lesson. I am not intended to run in the heat. The end.

Friday night, Stephanie and I went out to our old Peeler Road path to run. I was scheduled to do 43 minutes. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
I got to about 23 before my body flipped me the bird.
I felt kinda woozy, a little nauseated, and mostly just wilty.


The last time I felt like that was after Race for the Taste while Tricia and I were wandering around EPCOT sucking down boozy slushies and escargots. A little H2O fixed things -- I was just dehydrated. And the same was true on Friday. So, I walked back to the cars with Stephanie, and kind of whipped out of there in a hurry, stopped at a drive-thru on my way home for fluids and voila! Instantly better. Stupid heat.

So yesterday (Sunday) I was scheduled for 5 miles. Now, when I do my weekend distance runs, I can walk as much as I need to - I just need to cover X amount of ground. Thank goodness, because three songs into my run, I was gassing out. Luckily, having learned from Friday's less-than-stellar performance, I had water with me, but it sure went fast!


It took me a very pokey 75 minutes to go 5 measly miles. Oh, well! At least I did it.

Onward ho!

Yeti, we own you!

(Well, we hung out with you and all had a good time, anyway!)

This trip to WDW, while short, was spectacular. The room (which Brian's mother kindly booked for us using her Vacation Club points) had one of those views you never want to leave and amenities out the wazoo. The company was stellar. And the food. Dear god, the food.

But the real reason we were there was Expedition Everest Challenge. This is the third year for the challenge, but the first year it's been in June -- previous years, the race happened in late September. June is significantly hotter than September, in case you were wondering.

Packet pick-up was business as usual, with one really neat exception: the goody bags. The bag for the 1st year of Everest was fabulous, with tons of little freebies. Last year... less so. It was underwhelming, to say the least. This year, when I initially got my bag, I think I audibly groaned. It was decidedly anemic. But then - gasp - my delightful spouse found the motherload -- the freebie table! The event organizers had a table filled with boxes and boxes of free stuff so you could fill your own goody bag a la carte and not end up with stuff you'll never use. BRILLIANT! We won't even talk about how many Sharpies or packets of kinesiology tape I snagged.

We decided to all hang together for the race and take it fairly easy. I must admit, the relaxed pace was a relief -- my Achilles tendon has been grumpy lately. The obstacles were interspersed throughout the 5k this year instead of being a separate segment of the challenge. This was mostly cool (hay bales), but sometimes odd (army crawl RIGHT BEFORE the finish line). We got a little separated during the scavenger hunt, but it didn't take long for us to all convene at the end of the race with medals and snacks.

Then, there were rides to ride! River rapids! Yes! (Thrice.) Expedition Everest! Yes! (Twice, before my stomach threatened to evict the bacon cheeseburger I had foolishly wolfed down). By the time we left the park, it was 1am and we were that sort of happy tired that only happens at such events. I was so blissed out after our post-race champagne toast back at the hotel that I slept the sleep of angels.

Life, the universe, and everything.

42 minutes last night. Not my record, but getting quite close to it. (I think the record is 43, around this same time last year.)

As my runs have lengthened, I find I am constantly devising and playing mind games with myself to pass the time.

My new thing is to count songs. I can't look at my watch for the first five songs, then not again for four more songs, then three, etc.

Is it wrong that I am trying to trick myself?

Minor Derailment

Was in Florida visiting my dad this weekend, so I didn't get my scheduled 4 miler in. I had devised a little plan where I would run in his pool to fulfill the training plan for the week, but it rained, poured, and rained some more.

Oh, well!

Tonight, back to my regularly scheduled run!

Trail Comeraderie

Last night, on my third lap around the park, a guy who had been walking in the opposite direction from me (thus we kept passing each other twice per lap) started clapping as I ran past and said "Great run!"

We past each other a few more times, and every time, he'd yell out a short, encouraging word or two. When I finally finished and was walking up to the gym to get some water, I thought I'd throw some back and said "Good job!" (He had been walking those challenging hills at a good clip, and was drenched with sweat.) He returned the sentiment and we high-fived.

I don't know that stranger, but he made my workout.


Oh, and by the way:

41 minutes on those damn hills.
Woot!

I am a poor predictor of my run performance.

Last night when I got home from work, I over relaxed. I sat down on the couch while chatting with Brian, and before I knew it, I was supine. Our house is very hot (we are waiting to hear back as to when the AC guy can come check out the problem), so it's easy to melt into slug mode when you walk in.

I didn't really want to run. I didn't even want to change clothes. I finally did, and got into the car. Thank the universe Brian wanted to go for a walk while we ran, because I didn't want to drive, either. We got to the park and I told Brian I might fall asleep in the car while we waited for Stephanie. I was basically Count Grogula.

As Stephanie and I started our warm-up walk around the track, I mentioned that I was super sleepy and kind of dreading running. Nonetheless, I am trying very hard to stick to my training plan, so I was gonna give it a shot, and when it was time to start running, I did...

... and the 41 minutes FLEW by! I had a great run! I even toyed with my form a little to see if I could eek out a little more speed, better momentum, etc.

I give up - I have no idea how to be a good enough swami to know if I'm going to have a good run or not.
But I'm awfully glad I had a good one last night. :)

SOS 5k - 3's the Charm!

Saturday, Heather and I ran the SCAN Foundation's SOS 5k for the third year running. As you may recall, this was the first 5k we ever participated in back when we first started running -- we were only a few weeks into our C25k program when we signed up on a whim.

I remember feeling so incredibly accomplished crossing that first finish line. It was the first time I had really participated willingly in any athletic event with other people. And I loved it! Thus the many many more races to follow.

This third time out was a really good run, for a couple of reasons. First, Heather killed it, coming in at 33:27 - which I believe is a personal best for her. I followed shortly thereafter at 34:06, and I was pretty darn happy with that, since I have been getting slower and slower, it seems.

The other thing that made this a great run was that I never walked, which is a habit I've been getting into lately during 5ks that I'm none too thrilled about. I don't know how it is I can truck it around the hills at the park for almost 40 minutes, then struggle on a relatively flat course to run for 35, but it's been happening during races, ding dang it. So, there's a measure of personal triumph in having taken no walk breaks Saturday morning.

Now, let's see if I can handle tonight's challenge: 41 minutes straight. Wish me luck!