During my last mile of running this weekend, I seriously considered knocking on every door I passed to ask for a glass of water. Clearly, I was not in the right state of mind. I was dehydrated.
This weekend I was house/dog sitting and was not in my normal environment that I typically am to prep for my early run with Jamie on the weekends. I had a bowl of oatmeal and nothing to drink. I left the house to drive to Jamie's and brought nothing that resembled liquid with me. I then get to Jamie's and only down a gulp-full of water with the Ibuprofen Jamie graciously offered me before we put our bodies through hell. I realized that I had consumed absolutely no liquid this morning as I hit mile 3, which was well into the forest preserve. How could I be so silly to not drink any water? Water is everything when running. I should know this more than anyone. I get overheated so quickly that I NEED to hydrate (and hydrate well) every time I run. Needless to say, I completed the run -- 8 miles! I have 8 mile legs! I was dying at the end, but Jamie had water for me when I arrived at her house which I loved.
In the future I need to remember that H2O is my friend and it will help me complete the run without the feeling of death on my trail.
Monday, May 11, 2009
music dependent
Jamie and I did our weekend run -- my first run in May! I drove to her place and then we drove to the forest preserve to do our run. We decided to do only 6 miles instead of the expected 7 since 3.5 miles would have been hard to measure with the poor marking system in the forest preserve. Really, we just wanted to get out of there and not run, but lets blame the system instead of ourselves.
I panicked right before we began because I realized my mp3 player was not charged. I thought to myself how did I drive ALL the way out here to the SUBURBS (no less) without checking that my little music friend was dead. Jamie offered to not run (always trying to get out of it), but I decided that we were out here -- we were going to run or at least try.
About 15 paces into the run, I was panicking. There is no way I was going to make it 6 miles without music. I started sweating (not that I wasn't already), but in a different way. In a way that I was having an out of body experience. I was realizing how ridiculously dependent I am on my music to run. As I saw Jamie get farther and farther away from me (as she tends to do with her 10:30 mile) I decided I was going to squeeze the last seconds out of my mp3 player. If I could only hear a little glimmer of "gotta gotta cut loose" I could maybe have a semi-decent start. I turned it on and the music had never sounded so good. All of a sudden, I realized I was at a mile and then 2 miles and by some higher power my music lasted the whole damn time. It was AMAZING and I ran the whole thing!
Note to myself: Always check the mp3 player before going out on a run because you are music dependent!
I panicked right before we began because I realized my mp3 player was not charged. I thought to myself how did I drive ALL the way out here to the SUBURBS (no less) without checking that my little music friend was dead. Jamie offered to not run (always trying to get out of it), but I decided that we were out here -- we were going to run or at least try.
About 15 paces into the run, I was panicking. There is no way I was going to make it 6 miles without music. I started sweating (not that I wasn't already), but in a different way. In a way that I was having an out of body experience. I was realizing how ridiculously dependent I am on my music to run. As I saw Jamie get farther and farther away from me (as she tends to do with her 10:30 mile) I decided I was going to squeeze the last seconds out of my mp3 player. If I could only hear a little glimmer of "gotta gotta cut loose" I could maybe have a semi-decent start. I turned it on and the music had never sounded so good. All of a sudden, I realized I was at a mile and then 2 miles and by some higher power my music lasted the whole damn time. It was AMAZING and I ran the whole thing!
Note to myself: Always check the mp3 player before going out on a run because you are music dependent!
Monday, May 4, 2009
a run on the lakefront
I decided to try out my running legs again this weekend after what seemed to be forever, but in reality was only two and half weeks. I rode my bike to the lake and then took off south on the lakefront path. It was the best run I had done in months! Although I was moving a bit slower than normal, I felt strong and comfortable up until the last 10 minutes of my 5 miles. The weather was so glorious and I sometimes forget that I need to change my running wardrobe according to the weather. I was definitely overheating by the end, but I finished in an hour so I was still pleased.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
new shoes
It was my first time in a Fleet Feet store and it was a great first experience. They use old running bibs as your 'waiting in line' numbers instead of the pull numbers that you grab at a deli. After waiting for about 30 minutes (and Ross getting multiple stares due to his intense medical pictures in his book that he was studying from), it was my turn. My shoe guy, Marcus, measured my feet and we found out that my right one is a half size bigger than my left, which wasn't new news to me. Marcus brought out their 'test shoes' that have no support at all and then asked me to run on a treadmill that they have set up in the store. While I was running, he videotaped my feet to see how I actually land on each foot with every step. We noticed that there was a definite roll inwards of both my feet when landing, so I would need a shoe with moderate support. I tried on three different shoes and I ran in each pair. I decided to go with the Asics since they felt the most natural to me while running. I am hoping to test them out for the first time tonight after work. Looking forward to it, as long as my knee holds up.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
1 mile = pain
My plan was to run 4 miles yesterday.
When it came down to it -- I ended up running only one and my knee was aching the whole time. I was meeting my friend Ang for dinner so I decided to run out near her place in a forest preserve. I parked my car, wrapped my knee, and headed out. Along the way I saw at least 7 cars with middle-aged men (who were alone) just sitting in their cars. It was a bit creepy. I also saw a deer, which was much less creepy. Ahh -- the beauty of running in a forest preserve and not east on 18th among the trash and broken asphalt.
Looking ahead: I am going to swim tomorrow for a low impact workout and I am considering not running the 6 miles this weekend, which would be incredibly disappointing, but might be worth it in the end.
When it came down to it -- I ended up running only one and my knee was aching the whole time. I was meeting my friend Ang for dinner so I decided to run out near her place in a forest preserve. I parked my car, wrapped my knee, and headed out. Along the way I saw at least 7 cars with middle-aged men (who were alone) just sitting in their cars. It was a bit creepy. I also saw a deer, which was much less creepy. Ahh -- the beauty of running in a forest preserve and not east on 18th among the trash and broken asphalt.
Looking ahead: I am going to swim tomorrow for a low impact workout and I am considering not running the 6 miles this weekend, which would be incredibly disappointing, but might be worth it in the end.
Monday, April 13, 2009
the knee that could
Our before shot:
just keep running, just keep running, just keep running running running...
This was my mantra for Saturday's run with James. I was feeling really good for the run before we left. I woke up early, had a great breakfast, and even got some reading in before we left. However, as soon as we started I knew it wasn't going to be good. We ran in the city again, however we got stopped by far less lights this time (the first half anyways) than last weekend.
I was keeping up with Jamie's pace for the first mile plus change, which is no easy venture. Jamie has been running incredible times lately -- a 10 minute mile is her average now. I am still just under 12, which I am completely happy with. Slow and steady wins the race is my motto. Once I hit mile 2, my knee was hurting and it was not about to let up. My right knee has been in the slightest amount of pain since the Shuffle -- some days it is fine, others not so much. I felt like the run back from the halfway point was less difficult than on the way there. Maybe it was because I knew I would be home soon. Although I did want to stop running and just walk the rest of the way at one point, but my knee and a little bit of willpower kept me going, so I struggled through and ran the damn 5 miles in pain. I was pretty proud of myself and my knee that I hung in there and fought it out.
Did I mention I was overheating starting in mile 2 as well? When I hit 2.5miles (Jackson and Michigan), I had to ditch my long sleeve shirt and run soccer mom style with the shirt tied around my waist. I was getting some crazy looks from tourists who were bundled up in their winter coat, gloves, and a scarf while I trotted by in a sleeveless shirt. It was 35 and sunny -- sleeveless is completely acceptable in Chicago!
I went to Target later that evening and bought myself a wrap bandage, which I shall be trying out later this week when I find time to run again.
Looking forward to: The CD with new tunes Jamie is burning me!
just keep running, just keep running, just keep running running running...This was my mantra for Saturday's run with James. I was feeling really good for the run before we left. I woke up early, had a great breakfast, and even got some reading in before we left. However, as soon as we started I knew it wasn't going to be good. We ran in the city again, however we got stopped by far less lights this time (the first half anyways) than last weekend.
I was keeping up with Jamie's pace for the first mile plus change, which is no easy venture. Jamie has been running incredible times lately -- a 10 minute mile is her average now. I am still just under 12, which I am completely happy with. Slow and steady wins the race is my motto. Once I hit mile 2, my knee was hurting and it was not about to let up. My right knee has been in the slightest amount of pain since the Shuffle -- some days it is fine, others not so much. I felt like the run back from the halfway point was less difficult than on the way there. Maybe it was because I knew I would be home soon. Although I did want to stop running and just walk the rest of the way at one point, but my knee and a little bit of willpower kept me going, so I struggled through and ran the damn 5 miles in pain. I was pretty proud of myself and my knee that I hung in there and fought it out.
Did I mention I was overheating starting in mile 2 as well? When I hit 2.5miles (Jackson and Michigan), I had to ditch my long sleeve shirt and run soccer mom style with the shirt tied around my waist. I was getting some crazy looks from tourists who were bundled up in their winter coat, gloves, and a scarf while I trotted by in a sleeveless shirt. It was 35 and sunny -- sleeveless is completely acceptable in Chicago!
I went to Target later that evening and bought myself a wrap bandage, which I shall be trying out later this week when I find time to run again.
Looking forward to: The CD with new tunes Jamie is burning me!
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