Author: mrsartis

I had a ridiculous run this morning. It was very, very good. I didn’t sleep well last night, I was debating when I got up if I wanted to go this morning or this afternoon to attempt to get more sleep. I decided to go for it and just get it out of the way. And I’m so glad that I did.

Four miles was scheduled, so I planned to go down past the park, then up across the bridge, over to the cemetery and back. But when I start to head to the park there is a train stopped on the tracks, and thus I was derailed (ha!). So I think I’ll head up to Sykes Mountain Road and see how long that route is. But then I see this other road with a Dead End sign that does not appear to be a dead end. So I have to see where that goes. And it was a beautiful run–I love when I find bits of rural life in my town. We’re not exactly a booming metropolis, but we’re not a rural setting either, except for these random pockets through town. I ended up doing more than 4 miles, for sure. I’m not sure how many I really did (the map doesn’t have a ‘dead end’ sign or a big rock to tell me where I turned back). So I kept going until I saw the big rock marking the dead end. And then, like Forrest Gump, I shrugged, turned around and came back. It was lovely.

I desperately needed a good run. A run that was substantial. I had a horrible run on Wednesday morning. I have a LOT going on at work. I just got exactly what I needed this morning and it was wonderful.

Monday

• work 8:30-12:30
• run (2ish miles)
• clean up living room
• RE meeting postponed
• work 5-9:30

Tuesday

• breakfast, load car
• lift at gym (shower, change)
• writing for work at library/coffee shop (preferably library)
• laundry
• feed & supply for cat stuff
• stop in office
• Loser Tuesday–finale! finally!

…the last 3 pairs of shoes I’ve bought: (1) flip flops, (2) Vibram Sprints, (3) NB minimalist trail runners. I used to be a girly girl, at least when it came to shoes. I have a closet full of gorgeous heels that I never, ever wear. And while I haven’t been able to part with them yet, when I’m honest with myself I know that I’m not really going to wear most of them ever again, because (a) I have no place to wear them–I don’t really go ‘out’ anywhere that calls for them, I don’t need them for work, etc. and (b) they hurt after awhile and that interferes with my running. So I avoid them, even in situations where I ‘could’ wear them.

…my most recent clothing purchases? ALL RUNNING RELATED (w/ exception of the concert tee last night). I have plenty of clothes, I’m a creature of habit and wear the same things all the time anyway, and I can wear pretty much whatever I want to work. But now, when I go clothes shopping I gravitate towards things I can wear when I run. Interesting.

…the actual act of running has less to do with being a runner than your mentality. I’m slow. Some might call me a ‘jogger’ but we all know that speed has nothing to do with it. But what I’ve realized in the week since my first half marathon is that there are a lot of people who run, but not all of them love it. For them it is a means to an end, they hate it but they do it. Some of them might be pretty good at it, but they don’t do it because they want to. In my opinion, real runners are the people who love it. They are the people who can’t imagine their lives with out it, who genuinely miss it when they have are forced to take time off, and for many of us cross-training is something we do to help us run. I’m definitely one of the latter. I love running. I miss it when I ‘can’t’ do it. 

…I’m built for distance not speed. I’m slow as heck, but I can go for hours, and not only can I keep going for hours, but I’d rather go for hours. I get better as I go. I hate shorter runs because I don’t have enough time to hit my stride. I feel like I’m just getting warmed up when it’s time to stop. I will take 7 miles over 2 any day. I would rather run for 2 hours than 20 minutes. I’m getting faster, but I care more about running farther.

…I’m not interested in running a full marathon. I’m in love with the half. As soon as I finished I said to myself ‘when can I do this again?’. I was exhausted, but exhilarated. For me the half training is fun–it’s challenging, but I’m confident in my ability to do it. It’s not daunting to spend 3 hours on a Saturday morning knocking out a long run. But when I think about spending 6 hours on a Saturday running? That’s half of my day, and I’m not okay with that. It’s daunting. It doesn’t interest me. Someday, I might want to take that challenge on (particularly as I improve and get faster and it won’t take me half the day to do a long run) but right now I’m sticking with the half.

Back to cleaning. More later.

Wicked crazy-insane-awesome week. I’ll have to recap it later because I’ve got so freakin’ much to do today.

Things to tell you about:

• half marathon (though I already did that sort of)
• work
• running in vibrams
• ELVIS freakin’ COSTELLO!!

Things I need to do today:

• OWL plan for tomorrow
• put away clothes
• clean up living room
• look into plane tickets
• work at 5 pm
• write a real freakin’ post for Tumblr because it’s been kind of awhile…

Off to listen to some JM podcasts & sweet tunes while I clean up the joint. Lata!

First run post-half. 1.38 miles in the Vibrams. Felt good to get back out there. I still have another ‘recovery’ week before I start training for Half #2, but I’ll do some more short and sweet runs next week before launching back in. My goal is to use the Vibrams more for this training, and–ideally–run this half in the Vibrams. I ::heart:: them. I can’t wait to see how I feel tomorrow as I haven’t run in the Vibrams since I started running outside (I was a-skerred of hurting myself before the Pittsburgh half, I have some time before this one and it’s local so I feel safer using them this time around).

It’s good to be back.

I’m still recovering from the race, which this week means XT, then some short easy runs next week mixed with XT, then back to training for the next half. But this post resonated with me because I’m the same way and I think it’s important to know yourself, treat yourself well, and DO IT, even when it’s tough. Booyah.

runwrite:

Went for an afternoon run. 4.60 hellish miles. It’s funny because I felt the 10K race on Sunday was not easy, but easy if you know what I mean. But this was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad run. I’m glad it’s over and this particular run taught me a few things:

• I’m a morning runner. I just am.
• Fuel your body to run, don’t run to burn bad fuel.
• Never give up because you CAN run the distance, whatever the distance is.

runstaceyrun said: How do you feel? I feel almost 100% today. Yesterday was a different story.

I feel really good today. I was sore after. Hell, I was sore during. I started to hurt around mile 11. And yesterday I took ibuprofen on a regular schedule because I was still aching pretty bad and my knees were not happy with me. But today I feel better. Knees are back to normal. Butt aches a little, but other than that I’m good.

And I’m soooo much better now that I’m back with my big fuzzy monster cat. God I missed him.

Back at home in Vermont with my monster kitty sprawled out next to me purring. So much to do tonight to get ready for work again tomorrow, but enjoying the quiet moment while I can.

The weekend has been so whirlwind it’s still almost unbelievable to me what I accomplished–13.1 miles. I keep looking at the medal and thinking how surreal the whole thing was. I actually did it, and I can’t wait to do it again.

I laid out my training plan last night. Wrote it all down in my book, making the appropriate adjustments for races and travel plans (because I am not about to run 12 miles the morning of my best friend’s wedding. Nope. Not gonna happen. And it’s not going to happen the morning after either.) and I’m excited to get started after laying low this week and next. Yoga & cycling for some active recovery, a couple of short, easy runs to get back in the groove of training. The soreness is fading and I feel really, really good.

I should do something productive now. Perhaps more musings later.

Signed up for my second half marathon the evening after running my first. CHaD Hero Half Marathon, August 28th, 2011. Bring it!