Marathon

crane vs. bridge

Tales from the dumbshit files: So this is what I saw on the way to work yesterday. From the picture you might think that it’s just a truck doing road construction, but it is in fact the crane that slammed into and got stuck underneath the bridge yesterday morning. The official story is that the driver raised the crane arm earlier in the morning to check the hydraulics, then forgot to lower it before driving off. Apparently he was arrested at the scene for outstanding warrants. Congratulations to Colleen (Kim’s little sister) and her husband Jason on their brand new baby girl, Anna, born this morning. I still can’t believe that Colleen had a baby! She’s perpetually nine years old in my mind, squirting us with water guns. Damn, that makes me feel old. Today was a better day than yesterday. I did not injure myself in any way (but hey, the day’s not over yet!) and I ran 3 miles, which is double what I ran last night. My scrapes and scratches hurt like hell. I cleaned up with peroxide last night, and then decided (dumbshit move) to use a bit of rubbing alcohol for good measure. So I poured some onto my scraped-raw knee…. and almost fainted. Holy McFuck, did that ever hurt! Lack of protective skin + alcohol = Very Bad Idea.

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Marathon training updates

I’m really impressed with myself, in how far I’ve been able to come in such a short time, with my running. Last Thursday evening I ran about 3.3 miles (the equivalent of a 5K race!). Friday I felt all squishy so didn’t do much of anything. Saturday I tried to go out running alongside Doc riding his bike, but I was still feeling squishy so I got maybe 1/4 mile before I turned around and came right back home. I did about 20 minutes of yoga Saturday night instead. Sunday I did a little light swimmming, and ran about 1-1/2 miles around the park at home. There’s some pretty significant uphills in the park; it’s not easy. Monday I went over to the track at the junior high and did about 2 miles, split between running and walking. Tuesday I did about 2.5 miles, one of which was on the treadmill before I gave that up (it makes me dizzy and seems to take a reeeeally long time, compared to running a track or the neighborhood. A space-time continuum anomaly?) Tonight I ran 3 miles. I’m getting to where 3 miles is fairly comfortable. I think that consistency is the key. I need to do this every night, or at least most nights. I need to get to the point where 3 miles is easy — and soon.

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Quick updates

A couple of quick updates because I’m too tired to write snappy prose tonight. We took 2nd place at the video festival last week. It was somewhat of a surprise. Details to come, I promise! I’ll also post the movie here for you to download or view. I ran a 5K after work today. Not an actual race, but just 3.3 miles (approximately) around the indoor track. I felt really quite amazing, actually, and I could have run longer if I’d really tried. I would have been exhausted, but I could have found the strength to go maybe 4 miles. I think it is vastly easier for me to achieve those types of distances when I run with Yvonne, partly because I have someone interesting to talk to and take my mind off what I’m doing, but also because she is better than me and I feel like it’s a (good) challenge for me to keep up with her endurance. I am apparently incapable of properly operating the stopwatch/lap counter on my snazzy new iPod, and so I guess I’ll need to invest in a regular stopwatch or lap clicker or something of the sort. I wonder if a pair of Nikes and a nano would do the trick? I dreamed last night that I told Yvonne that I’d discovered a new way to really tighten up copy. You just inserted the word “And” at the beginning of every sentence, and voila! Fantastic copy, so easy to edit now! When I woke up, even in my half-asleep state, I thought to myself “Now what the fuck was THAT about?!”

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Wine, running, and winning

Last night we met Yvonne and Nate out for some wine and cheese after work. We’d all had crappy days, except for maybe Nate, so I was really glad to go somewhere and sit and talk and drink. We were supposed to go down to Jim’s apartment afterwards for an open house party that he and Bill were having, but we were just so tired that we decided to go home instead. I’m sorry I missed it. I’ve been running very consistently this week. I ran Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, and will go again tonight. The weather is getting hot to the point where I’m not sure I’m going to want to/be able to run outdoors for much longer. Yvonne thinks that if we get our “base” level at 3 miles then we’ll be fine. Right now I’ve been able to do 2.25 without much problem, so probably only another couple of weeks until I’m comfortable at 3. On Wednesday I had planned to go to the gym on campus and purchase a year’s membership. It used to be free, but they’ve completely remodeled the building and now they are charging monthly fees. Which is annoying because I’ve “belonged” to the gym for 11-1/2 years free of charge and I don’t want to have to start paying now; but on the other hand it’s only $10 per month, which is 1/3 of what a regular gym would charge, and it’s close and convenient and offers nearly all the same amenities as a “real” gym. Mid-afternoon on Wednesday I got a call from someone in the HR department, telling me that I’d won a drawing for filling out a wellness assessment online. I didn’t even know there was a drawing. I’d just done it in order to get a 10% […]

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A frog in my throat?

Living on a creek comes with some benefits (lots of big leafy trees, no neighbors in the back) and some downsides (mosquitoes, critters, flood potential). One of those elements is frogs. Normally I like frogs. They’re cute, they eat icky bugs, they stay out of my way. But tonight, for the love of god, they are MATING and they won’t SHUT THE FUCK UP. The drone is driving me CRAZY. If they were all croaking at different times I think it would sound like white noise and that would be OK. But they’ve got a whole freakin’ orchestrated chorus going on down there and are singing in UNISON. I don’t know why it’s getting on my nerves so much tonight! I usually like the sounds of nature. Tonight Yvonne and I did our first run together. It was a really short one, and we used the nice springy track, but it was over 90 degrees outside and the humidity was probably in the 80% range or better, and the air was really hazy and I just had the hardest time. I ran 1-1/2 miles and then had to slow to a walk for 4 more laps (which Brittney was kind enough to join us for). My airways were trying to close up on me, and I don’t have asthma or allergies. I think that maybe it was happening because I was trying to hold a conversation while running, and maybe also because of all the crap in the air and how hot it was outside. I had good energy and muscle strength and cardio endurance tonight, but I was afraid I was going to have an asthma attack if I didn’t slow down. Maybe I need to add “open airways” to my Holy Grail. I also wonder if my breathing […]

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More on running

Yesterday after work I did Day One of the “Get Your Fat Lazy Ass Out Of The House Spring Training Program,” which was a mere 1.5 mile run (which I ran all of, in a row, without stopping). I achieved the ultra rare Holy Grail of How I Feel Whilst Exercising, which may have been due to what I ate for lunch (baked beans, a little sausage, an orange, carrots) and how long it had been since I ate (4 to 4.5 hours). I may have explained this before, but let me talk about the Holy Grail for a minute. When I’m running, I usually have one of the following conditions as a strike against me: My muscles building up too much lactic acid and burning/tiring out too quickly My heart rate and breathing going too fast and making my chest and back hurt Just plain no energy. Some combination of the above 3 unfortunate conditions. The Holy Grail occurs when my cardio is good, my muscles are not tiring out, and I have enough energy. It’s rare, but last night was one of those nights. If I’d had the time I would have continued running for maybe 3 miles, but I really did have some place to be and I was late. I felt good while I was going, just a teeny bit tired at the end, and I felt GREAT about an hour after I got done… I guess it was the adrenaline or something still in my system. Also, I timed myself, and when I’m feeling good like that and when it’s not 100 degrees outside, apparently I can do a 10 minute mile. At least I can at first… who knows what I’ll slow down to after a few miles. After I got done, we went […]

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marathon training, day 3

Ran this afternoon, even though I really REALLY didn’t want to. It was over 100 degrees outside. I went my 3 mile route, and I think I ran nearly 2 miles of that. I had water but halfway through I had to quit drinking it because it was just sitting in my stomach making me feel nauseous and it was SO hot outside that I was afraid if I kept up that pace I might throw up or faint. So I mixed in some long walking stretches and kept crossing the street to walk wherever there was shade. I’ve got a LONG ways to go. It’s going to be fucking scalding outside for most of my training time before the marathon. I may have to figure out an alternative locale. I seriously thought about calling Yvonne and telling her that I wasn’t going to do it, because today it felt like there was NO WAY I will EVER be able to run 13 miles if I can’t even run 2 without feeling like I’m going to die. But I know that I’ve got nearly 8 months between now and the race. I’ll get better, and my debate with myself over quitting today is going to seem absolutely silly. On my return route, I walked past a woman sweeping her sidewalk. She appeared to be my age, maybe a little older. I smiled as I passed and said “Hi” to be friendly (which is totally against my nature… as an introvert, I am uncomfortable with strangers, but I had kind of a revelation that if I don’t start faking social norms I’m going to end up one of those cranky old people that nobody likes). Anyway, I said hello and she smiled really big and said “You are looking so GOOD, […]

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