Published by
Sally on
31 January, 2009, at
22:04, in
quotes.
“I see elegance and beauty in every female athlete. I don’t think being an athlete is unfeminine. I think of it as a kind of grace.” -Jackie Joyner-Kersey
“When I was growing up I wasn’t inspired to be a marathoner. It wasn’t even in a little girl’s vocabulary.” -Lorraine Moller
“I love buying running shoes. I don’t mean that I just enjoy the process of trying on new shoes. I mean I love buying running shoes.” – John Bingham (Yep, working at REI has it’s definite perks. I love the feeling of having the new shoes in the box, in my hand, going out the door. Pure satisfaction and anticipation…)
Ditto what Lumpy said about the conditions. Tried to take a photo of the coating of crud on my legs, but none turned out.
A brief summation of my running thoughts/commentary:
“I wonder if that dude feels bad getting crushed by a girl?”
“I’m not underdressed, you’re all overdressed.”
“Hey, at least this time I don’t have water coming in the top of the waterproof shoes!”
“Everybody in the whole cell block was dancing to the jailhouse rock…”
Well, we almost made it through January without a high temp above 32°F. But someone must have made a deal with Heat Miser, because this is too much.
Uhg. Can I just say UHG!
Okay, sure, the thaw was is nice. I got to break out my shorts and just wear a simple long sleeve tech tee. In the end, I was still a little overdressed. I had to wear my water-proof trail runners. Makes for a slightly heavier run on pavement. So I ran on the packed and un-plowed trail whenever possible. That was much better.
But this makes for a messy run. It is kinda like running on the wet part of a sandy beach. Clumpy wet sand and puddles. Clumpy wet snow/slush and cold puddles. Lot’s of puddles. DAWG was with me. She smells like wet dog. Lovely.
It is interesting how planning changes when the temps change. For instance, sub-freezing and we’re usually planning our runs so that the wind is at our backs. Today, I picked my route so that I would end running into the wind so I’d cool off at the point where I’m really hot and sweaty. It’s crazy. I know.
In the end, the GPS claims I did my 6 miles at 9:59’s. Hmmm…that can’t be right.
Our reckoning will happen tomorrow, when temperatures drop back down to normal and all this melted crap freezes. That is going to suck–like an open chest wound.
Published by
Toots on
31 January, 2009, at
15:06, in
events.
Ok, it’s official. There’s no turning back now. I’m in! See you May 31st!!! Ok…got to run now! 
I decided to stick with the novice marathon training plan (again!). It’s worked for me and I really don’t have time for much else. I’m going to try to change one thing though…my eating habits and overall fitness in general. I am going to try to loose a little weight. There. I said it. I hope I don’t end up eating my words – litterally!
I’m not planning on losing weight just for the sake of being skinny (that’s never going to happen….). I’m just tired of that midsection love handle I’ved developed - I really just want to get rid of it. Also, I think the extra weight I carry is contributing to my lower back pain. In general I just want a stronger core. I think my running speed might improve with a little less weight (or is that wishful thinking?).
BTW…I tried to register for the Minneapolis Marathon but their system was down and would not let me register. I will try again tomorrow and hopefully I will still be one of the first three Texans to register….
I’ll have more to post after this Sunday’s 10 miler. It’s so strange to me how much speed I can lose between events and/or training. I’ve run 3/5/3/3xhill and have felt so fracking slow on each run. 3 hills feel like nothing. I didn’t even break a sweat. Did I pick the wrong hill?!?!? Why don’t I remember how this works? Why am I so slow? 9:30 seems great…when you’ve never run faster than that!!!!
Yeah. Obsession. Here’s the lacking information. The stuff to fill in the holes. I have mad PMS and I have mad PMS every fracking month. I have to deal with depression every time I have to deal with PMS. I’ll be back to fast-ish in a week or so. Second “lost in my craziness” fact: I was not quite completely recovered this week when I started training for a marathon on a really tough training plan. My expectations for myself will always exceed normalcy. I’d like to believe that I can let myself slide, but I just can’t. It’s actually physically painful to me to slack. I hate this about myself. So, I’m working it out. I’m petting the dog. I’m reading a really great book about animals and people and I’m trying to spend as much time in natural light as possible. Aargh. I’m fighting for me and I’d like to think I’m winning.
*I’m doing Hal Higdon’s Advanced I.
I ran my 3 miler today. Turned out to be 2.5mi…BUT—when you do the math it’s more like: 
(mileage*ice-factor)^time spent in dentist’s chair=[miles actually run]
I think that solves to, um, 50Km. Maybe 1000Km 100Km…you do the math.
Continue reading ‘3mi of Powder on Glass’
Combine the following:
- Dark skies and running path
- Astigmatism induced blurry vision
- Suspended ice crystals in the air
- Beam of headlamp
Result: The blurry specks of distant lights slowly moving, like distant stars, while the icy crystals of my breath glint in the light of the head lamp and stream past me. Hyperspace…
Yeah, um, I wasn’t that fast. I was a bit more like a lumbering AT-AT on Hoth (hey, we live there 3-4 months out of the year, right?!).
It was a nice little 3 miler to kick off training. DAWG was with me and that put a small dent into her energy. I was overdressed, naturally, given that it was a balmy +7 °F.
Hmmm…maybe I’ll try the Kessel Run in a few weeks. I think I can make it in less than twelve parsecs!
…I have been (as mentioned elsewhere), but have come out for a minute to simply note the following:
- It became cooler in Phoenix as soon as y’all left. Literally.
- It has been almost as cool if not cooler in AZ than in TX. No joke.
- Rain (as in water falling from the sky) visited us earlier in the week.
I’m gonna crawl back under now but resurface in a bit to post more stuff later.
