rain, rain, go away

The weather here has been strangely rainy -- as Wil said tonight, this is the first time since he moved here 3 years ago that Seattle has really lived up to its reputation as a rainy city.

But we managed to squeak in a run today -- 6 miles -- which is essentially our first run in two weeks. My hip just didn't feel right for a while, and we didn't run on our Disneyland trip (there's only so many times I want to run around Anaheim...). But I've been resting the hip pretty well, so I wanted to go out and try.

We woke up early; Wil got up and brought me breakfast in bed... but after eating it, I promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. We snoozed for, oh, 4 more hours... finally dragging ourselves up and out of the house after 11:00. Wil had a package to collect at the post office, so we decided to run an out and back on the BGT rather than our standard 6-mile loop.

I felt sluggish and a bit stiff, but eventually warmed up pretty well and felt okay. In fact, I felt great afterwards. Hours later, when we were standing at the Paramount waiting for Them Crooked Vultures to play, I realized that running had really put me in a good mood. I've been feeling extra sad at work -- anxious about getting things done and still using up my "use it or lose it" PTO, etc.

I came across this article the other day in the NYTimes -- basically saying that exercise helps make brains more resistant to stress. Clearly I shouldn't be letting exercise fall by the wayside when things get hectic.

kicks life cycle

Since I didn't run last night, I *did* at least pull out my running shoes, my old "backup" shoes, and the brand new pair in the box to have a look at them. The recent pair were way more scuffed and wornout that the backup pair. I realized that my recent pair had more miles on them than my backup shoes -- since the recent pair I started wearing 7 or 8 weeks before the marathon so I could break them in a bit. And I didn't actually replace them. Rather than downgrading the recent pair to "backup", I decided to retire the recent pair... and keep the backup shoes as backup.

Shifted the Nike+ sensor, shifted the Superfeet insoles, and they were ready to go. New kicks will get their first mileage on our trip to Disneyland!

creaky old lady, and two sorts of buddies

My right hip has been bothering me all week... so much so that I decided not to run again today. Packing my running gear (and have already plotted out a 10K...) for our anniversary weekend trip to Disneyland. I hope my hip holds up!

Also, today had a check-in meeting with my "insight buddy" -- Rob, from my weird "leadership academy" training at work a couple of months ago. I think we were supposed to meet to see how we were implementing the things we had learned, but we ended up talking about running. Apparently I have inspired him to take up running and he's up to doing 7 mile runs. So that was a nice thing at work amidst the crazy ick.

But even nicer was the Girls on the Run "Running Buddy" orientation call last night -- I'm really looking forward to meeting my running buddy on Tuesday afternoon!

jury duty

Spent the last two days in a windowless room surrounded by other fine citizens of King County who had actually responded to their jury summons. For some reason, sitting in that room and being slowly driven mad by the coughs and one-sided phone conversations and people who talk while they type and the occasional calls to join a jury panel -- well, for some reason it was exhausting.

When I got home today I just couldn't face it. So, here we are, SIXTY DAYS from the marathon, and I didn't run. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow.

What I will do tomorrow is transfer my Nike+ sensor to my new shoes, which, for some reason, has been beyond me for the past week. Baby steps, man.

long weekend runs

Saturday we were supposed to run 7 miles... but the morning was blustery and awful. so we headed to the gym. Weird standing and waiting for one of the 12 treadmills to open up... 10 of which were being used by people who were walking. But we only stood around for 7 or 8 minutes before, wonder of wonders, two treadmills opened up side by side.

I felt a bit stiff -- pain in my right knee and that strange "weakness" in my right hip. Just didn't feel right. Started to get nervous about the run on Sunday, and was feeling worse and worse, so I wrapped up my run at 2.48 miles. The shortest run I've done in a very long time.

So today, when we had a 14-mile run to do, I was a bit nervous. Would I be able to get through it? I also noticed that our usual 14-mile route may not be the best idea on a day when the Seahawks were playing at home. We weren't in too much of a hurry to get out the door, so I decided to plot out an alternate route -- down to the Burke Gilman Trail, then along the trail to 65th, and then "straight" back home along 65th, with a tiny detour around part of Green Lake.

I knew that there would be a hill when we first turned on to 65th. And I knew there would be a hill from Greenlake to Phinney. What I didn't know was that 65th is essentially all ups and downs. Oops. Let's just say I did more walking than expected... but perhaps got in more hill work than expected. :)


This simply doesn't reflect the hills...

All in all, 14 miles. Do I feel like I could get up and run a marathon tomorrow? Um, nope. But do I feel as if I could probably struggle through one in under 7 hours? Yes. So that's good then.

remember, remember, the 5th of November...

Stormy weather outside, Wil recovering from his earlier illness, and me on a treadmill at the gym watching the news trickle in from Fort Hood. Sad and strange day.

5 minutes warmup, 50 minutes of steady running, and 5 minues of cooldown for 5.55 miles. A bit of stiffness in my right hip -- I must have altered my stride to "protect" my knee (which felt fine today).

Too wet for any bonfire tonight. No toffee apples either. :(

Happy birthday, Adam Ant!

Had a surprisingly good treadmill run after work today -- the hardest part was finding parking near the gym. Went upstairs and found a good treadmill right away and then got to work. 5-minute warmup, 48-minute run, 5-minute cooldown. Got a little bored, as I always do, but kept myself amused by watching BBC World News with no sound and listening to Adam Ant, my all-time favorite artist.

Amusing tidbit from the "Ant Liberation Front", who bill themselves as "The largest, longest-running independent international organisation dedicated to fans of Adam Ant / Adam & the Ants." Apparently, Friday, November 6, is "Wear your Ant Shirt to Work Day." Bless. Oh, and if you need a shirt, I've got them. Just let me know.

The nice thing about the loooong runs is that the miles add up surprisingly speedily. November 3 and I'm already 25% of the way to my goal? Awesome!