Next time you want to fuel up for a quick run around something-or-other, don’t eat a handful of M&M-laden Chex Mix and then fall asleep on the couch for an hour. When you get up and head out the door, you’ll either fall off a curb, run into traffic, or find yourself going door-to-door in search of insulin. All in the same half-mile. It wasn’t pretty.
Author Archive for Aunt I. Hill
My first day of marathon training consisted of two glasses of wine and a 1/8 piece of chocolate cake, whist watching “The Biggest Loser.”
It’s a good thing I’m not running a marathon.
yet another load of sweaty laundry, I beg the question:
“How many times do you wear an article of running clothing before you wash it?”
The fact that it’s 20 degrees warmer this week may not seem like much to Antarctic rockhopper penguins, but is sure makes life a helluva lot easier for me. No spongy lungs, no bloody noses and I swear, I saw pavement today – real, live, pavement under that ice – whoo-eee! 5.5 miles on Wednesday, 6.5 miles on Friday and 4.5 today. I just may be on a roll (and I’m not just talkin’ about the one around my waist!)
I’m starting to get tired of this. Yes, I know it’s only the second week of January and I have to get outside sometime, but yesterday was disheartening. The path was a miasma of ice chunks and hidden pitfalls, there was a relentless headwind on my way out, my lungs felt like a couple of sponges, I ended up with a bloody nose from blowing it too much, every time a street crossed the path, some idiot was waiting to make a right turn, ugh! And this is from a gal that loves running in winter!!! It better be better this week, or someone’s gonna get it!
I’ll admit, I’ve had better runs than the Polar Dash, but surprise, surprise…my finishing time was the same as the Get in Gear last April. One hour, six minutes. Much better than I expected. Despite the FIVE hills (yes, I counted) and the ice, I did okay. My quads hurt today, which means I have not been running any hills since Sally’s last class. I guess that means I’ll have to find some of them around here and curse my way to stronger quads. Grrrrrrr….. I signed up for the Get in Gear this morning and am going to try and get my finish time down to an hour. How, I have no idea. But it sounds like a good goal. I’m just happy to have finished, and to spend today indoors. Thanks Sally and Lumpy and The Runner Formerly Known as SAG!!!
Didja ever have one of those runs where you leave the house feeling somewhat less-than-enthusiastic, and when you start running, your little legs go like Scooby Do or the Road Runner? For some reason (the crack you sprinkle on your cereal, the Red Bull for Happy Hour, I don’t know…) your adrenaline is such that you feel like you are flying down the sidewalk and everybody had better just get the heck out of your way or you’ll mow them down, dammit!
Well, I had one of those on Wednesday and I was thinking, “Golly, this is fun! I wish I could run like this every day! I’m so speedy!” Head down, arms pumping, mentally breaking the finish line tape in front of a roaring crowd. I get home 20 minutes before my usual time, then get on the computer to get my mileage, and realize, okay…I was doing a 10-minute mile. Huh.
I have to enter the world of running nerd-dom and get a reflective vest and one of those geeky headlamps. What’s a good headlamp that’s comfy and doesn’t bounce around too much?
So here I am, trying to find a new route for the winter (no park trails….it’s too dark and remote out there) so I decide to take a circuitous route around a couple of county roads with asphalt sidewalks/trails. No biggie, pretty safe, good weather, kinda creepy swampland nearby but I’m okay with it. I’m watching out for the bum hip and sometimes bum knee, so I figure a 4.5 miler is good.
I start out just fine, almost hit a dog because it’s so dark out there. I get about a half-mile from home and head into the ‘hood and of course take the wrong turn at one of the spaghetti-like streets near my house and end up getting lost for about 2 more miles. I run, I stop, I look for a street sign, I find many “Not a Thru Street” signs (what, can’t they spell in Shoreview?) and end up finally on a busy street that I hate running on, but at least I can find my way back to the water tower that is four blocks from my house. An hour and 15 minutes later, I get to the house…a little teed off, wth a sore knee. I had the route in my head, but once you get into Curly-Roadville, all is lost.
Can I borrow Little Ms. G? Does she come with a built-in GPS?
I don’t usually watch these so-called reality shows, but I seriously think Lumpy and Sally should try out for The Amazing Race. You’re zippy, camera-friendly, humorous, multi-lingual, world-travelers, athletic – what else could they want? (Beats being me and trying out for the Biggest Loser – HA! just kidding) I’ll check it out and see what you have to do. I’ll watch the animals while you guys win a million dollars.
