At the foothills

Finally getting the hang of getting out the door before 8am. It’s amazing the temperature difference a half hour can make. I only had a 35 minute run today but it’s the looming 110 minute tomorrow that I was thinking about. 18km/11 miles. This whole “half-marathon” idea is getting more and more real. I’m excited and nervous and just hoping I can push through it. Going to try driving out to a nearby trail because there just isn’t enough uninterrupted space to run that far around here. Also feeling ambitious enough to get up at 6 to get out early enough. Wish me luck and see you on the other side of tomorrow!

Week....?

Somebody turn down this heat already. And don't know what got into me today but took off in a sprint for my warm up. Spent the rest of this interval run trying to recover my pace. At least I made my full mileage, all 10km today. Sorry I haven't been posting too often. I've been a little consumed with another project lately. But my runs are on track and I'm slowly building the endurance I'm going to need come November. A lot of big stuff is currently hanging in the air for me, so just gotta keep moving.

Week 1: aka week 11 from 10k training

The week began with a breezy 8km run. I kept my pace and met my mileage. Now I know "easy" and "8k" sound like the ramblings of a mental patient, but after completing Polar's 10k Training Program, it was a distance I had done before and knew I could cover at a comfortable pace. The phenomena of expectation is a funny thing. I used to look at the idea of anything beyond my comfort zone of 5k as a dream. Now I know what to expect and how it feels to go the distance and it's good to know I can do it. That certainly helped get the ball rolling on this journey to 13.1 miles. If I had woken up that day thinking of trying to run a half marathon, I have my doubts I would have gotten out of bed. Even thinking that by the end of the week I was going to put more miles on my feet than on my car would have been intimidating. I didn't even think "Okay, just 8 kilometers and then you can make a great big smoothie with all the peanut butter you want". Instead, I thought about the route. I thought about the path around the sleepy golf course and through the quiet park that my run would take me on. Places that I'd run through before. Yes I know how far those distances are but it's nice to not have a big number staring you down. So that's lesson one, if a distance seems intimidating, just think about lefts and rights; think about landmarks not mile markers. Figure out your route for the distance you need and then forget about the numbers. Just know "Okay this is my long day route, my short day route, my hill route..." and so on.

The most notable run of the short week was a 30 minute run that I had been putting off all day. For whatever reason, I never got around to running that morning, never made it to the gym, and before I knew it the time was 8pm and it was now or never. The sun had just settled below the horizon but the reflective blanket of clouds would keep the light for another hour or so. I took my time getting ready, hoping the heat of the day would have time to dissipate and not smother me on this quick jog. Laced and wired up, I finally step outside, trot down the three flights and step out from under the awning to be greeted by thick, black clouds that still glowed by the dying sunset. A heavy rumble, like that of some unfathomable beast asserting it's territory, called down and rattled the windows behind me. The trees danced and bowed and shook about as the wind swept up to deliver the smell of not so far off rain. The sky thundered again, daring me to a test of speed. Who will be faster, a mortal or the Lightning Gods? I smirked and took off into the misty dusk air.

The rain quickly turned from a fine spray to heavy drops so I began to follow the cover of the trees marking the boundary of the course. I darted beneath the canopies until a very near crack of thunder reminded me of my elementary days living in Texas and being lectured on the dangers of lightning and proximity to trees. I quickly began to reevaluate my cleverness and charted a new path, weaving in and out of the hallways of the apartment buildings that pressed up along the edges of the golf course. I ran out of apartment hallways at about 10 minutes into my run and the rain had retreated long enough for me to cross the street and reach the shelter of a series of businesses. The connected overhangs that I used as relief from the sun most days now protected me from the threat of Zeus's bolt. Still I knew my return route would be less sufficient and the skies did not look like they had any intention of giving me safe passage. The clouds were gathering together, growing darker and towering higher and higher. The sound of electricity ripping through the air grew more agitated and frequent; apparently the Lightning Gods are sore losers. As I reached the end of the strip mall and met my turn around point, the wind began to kick up again, bringing rain that cooled my brow and sent sweat dripping into my eyes. It wasn't strong enough yet to saturate my clothes or flood the sidewalk and thus was not strong enough to make me give up the contest. As I bounded up a hill there was a sudden flash of light behind me followed by the crash of thunder. I shuddered forward with the shock from the lightning and doubled my pace without a thought to logic or scientific understanding of the speed of sound and light.

With 10 minutes left, I came around the other side of an office building to 500 meters of side walk and empty lot. I paused briefly to scan the exposed horizon; the sidewalk connects two tall multi-use buildings, with nothing on but dirt and wild, patchy grass on either side. On sunny days, this stretch is like running under a giant magnifying glass in the hands of some sadistic, immature ent. That night, however, there was no sun, no killing heat, but also hardly any rain and an uninterrupted, panoramic view of an angry, ominous sky that threatened with voltage and vengeance. Impressive displays of static electricity danced from cloud to cloud and mocked the conductivity of my puny, 75% water muscles. I gathered my energy, thought rubber thoughts, and sprinted across the stretch of deserted land, thunder practically nipping at my heels. I made it to the other side and under the building's overhang and out the other side to cross the street for the home run. And of course in this last five minutes the rain began to come down with impatiences. It gathered on the ground and began to seep onto the sidewalk. Cars began to turn on their wipers. The sweat that was already pouring from me was washed away before even having a chance to cool. I could see the final turn I had to make up ahead and as I came around I came full on into the wind, pushing me at the shoulders and chest and face. I pressed on as the coach voice on my iPod counted down "5 minutes... 4 minutes... 3 minutes". Lightning flashed and thunder shook soon after, warning of the proximity of the storm. "2 minutes... 1 minute," as I came into the neighborhood and as I reached my building the Nike coach announced that I had completed my run. And not a second to spare, soon as I shut the door, the skies finally opened and poured down. I had done it I had raced against the Lightning Gods and I had won.

Follow Me to the Women's Running Half Marathon

The Women's Running Half Marathon and 5/10k is a specatular event. The race takes place in late November in St. Petersburg, Florida, which might be one of the best times to be outside in Florida. It's unofficially an only women race and the sensations of pride, empowerment, and sorority float on the cold bay breeze. I ran last year as a 5k participant and had a ball. This year I will be running the full 13.1 miles around my old stomping grounds. Why did I choose this race to mark my first competitive attempt at distance running? Why try to run a half marathon at all?

Why the swag of course!

It's a pendant, it's a medal, it's a pedal! ...no wait that's not right.

Honestly I want to start traveling more for races. That is my goal with this blog. I want to travel the country, maybe even the world, to experience races all over in all their pomp and ceremony. I want to meet other runners and to encourage others to get out and be active. I want an excuse to make weekend get-a-ways to cities I've always wanted to see. I want to write about these races as the madness on foot that they are in a way that could only be accomplished by gonzo journalism. I certainly can't capture all of that in a 5k run. To drive an hour and a half across town to get on a plane to fly four or five hours on a red eye, check into a hotel in the host city, get up at five in the morning to get to the race site, spend the next hour dwaldling and stretching and muscling for position, then the two hour after party, an unforeseeable amount of time goofing off and exploring the city only to fly back to be back to reality on Monday, all that for only 30 minutes of running? It seems hardly justified. So I've decided to start working on longer distances and running them faster. I'm starting to get close to the top of my age group in most of the 5k's that I run and it suddenly pace and starting position seem like the matter.

I've tried out a couple of web based training programs and I am sticking with Polar. I like doing the heart rate based training because when I feel I'm finished and I need to slow down I can look down at that friendly little monitor and it tells me, "Keep it moving, this is only 75%," and when my power song pops up and I want to run all out during a rest interval it reminds me to hold back. I have noticed my pace has improved since I started wearing a heart rate monitor and I have been able to go further much quicker than with programs I've tried in the past. This week starts off where I left off with my 10k training, with a goal of three runs totaling at just under 20km for the week. Next week I have 4 runs at 28km and gradually building from there. The program includes rest weeks with lighter loads and heart rate targets with warm up and peak periods for each run. I'm very excited to see where this goal will take me and what the journey will be like. Stay tuned! Better yet, try to keep up!

Detox

It's spring, a time for cleansing and rebirth. The earth is awakening and coming back to life, arisening from the winter as often symbolized through ancient spring time customs and beliefs. One third of the year has already passed us, yes New Years was already four months ago, and it is time to take a moment to assess and ask ourselves.... When the hell did it get to be April? Seriously it finally dawned on me that my March 2nd birthday has come and gone and I have been 26 for a month. I feel like someone broke in and rearranged all my furniture. Where has all the time gone, when did time start moving so quick, have I done anything this year, and what exactly have I been doing?

Updating twitter, it turns out.

In a moment of epiphany, I realized how addicted I have become to my media. I find myself compulsively checking my email and social network for something new, even though I have several devices that will alert me if there is anything new. I check first thing in the morning and last thing at night. If I say "Oh, I'm only going to see if she wrote me back," I am guaranteed to find an interesting article that someone has posted, which inevitably leads to time being sucked away in massive chunks as I jump from link to link like a cyber Tarzan with ADHD.

Funny story, when you google "Cyber Tarzan", this is the first image hit.

It's gotten so bad that I find myself compulsively reaching for my phone as soon as I come to a full stop at red lights. It was quite distressing on my latest road trip to find that, despite wearing a bluetooth headset that would whisper in my ear to let me know if I have received an e-mail, call, or text, I still had to fight the urge to grab the device and look just to be sure. Have I become so sunk into the addiction that I no longer trust the devices that promised to free me from being glued to a glowing screen? Is my denial so bad that I question the infallibility of these gadgets whose combined value probably exceed that of my entire wardrobe? Do I truly believe that if there is not an app for that, then it is nothing? Apparently yes. It's gone beyond social media; I can't seem to turn off the tv, the radio, the xbox. I spend so much time scrolling my Netflix list just to pick out something to listen to in the background (which never works; I average one t-shirt folded per 10 minutes of playback). And I am by no means a "gamer" but when I spent an hour playing Kinect table tennis which caused me to almost throw out my shoulder and be late for a date I think it's time to start making some guidelines. My obsession isn't too bad, in fact when I have music or talk radio playing I find myself very productive and managing my time well. It's when the radio is off that I have trouble with racing thoughts, frequently derailed trains of thought, and losing chronological awareness. There is almost always a pair of headphones on my person; I am that girl that goes to the shops with the giant cans on her head.

So as with all addictions, it's time for an intervention. I need to break myself of habit and compulsion and develop a health relationship with media. I've spent so much time consuming other people's creativity that I have not taken the time to develop my own. That being said... how do I do it? After a grueling Google search (consisting of the first 4 links on the first page) I have found hardly any useful information. So instead I'm going to follow the "Quit Smoking" guidelines I keep sending to Andy and treat this just as seriously. I plan to take the next week or two to log my daily habits, be the Jane Goodall of me; keeping track of how and when I access media, why, and what I was feeling. My official detox date will be April 29, from that day it will be one solid week, cold turkey, to just the cellphone with data swiched off and radio without headphones. I will allow for 10 minutes for e-mail only in the mornings and in the evenings and I can watch the news from 6pm-7pm but that is to keep me up to date on the real world and also so I don't miss any bookings for work. Beyond that I'll be friggen Amish. I also plan to write about the experience, which means one tweet a day and at the end of the week I will post what I have compiled throughout the week. Who knows, I may even finish all the race reports I keep promising you! In the meantime I plan to continue the research into breaking obsessive and compulsive behaviour and what is a reasonable plan when I open the gates to the media stream once more.

Wish me luck and if you have any thoughts, suggestions, similar experiences, or references please leave me a comment!

No Excuses.

For the past week, a sinus infection has been kicking my butt. I feel awful, just dreadful. Death warmed over.

No seriously. I look like Richard Hammond.

It's pretty scary.

But yet, I soldier on. I slacked off this weekend because I was feeling sick and just plain didn't have time to run. I know, terrible. Today though, I was determined not to slacking off in my training. Come hell or high water, I was going to run. It may not be raining today but it feels like trying to suck air from water out there right now. I definitely felt that right at half way after coming up over the tallest hill on my route. And waiting till three in the afternoon was no help. The 24 hours of rain yesterday did nothing to cool things down. It didn't feel oppressive or midsummer, but I passed a woman, at the beginning of my cool down, she looked at me with such horror. Upon getting back to the apartment I saw why. My face was so flushed it looked painted red. I had tied a shoe too tight which had me crying for my Five Fingers for the first half, finally adjusted it but too late to prevent the blister on my arch. Which means I can guarantee we will be doing nothing but foot lock in aerial tonight and I will be bleeding by the end. Snot was pouring out of my nose by the end and once my breathing was controlled I felt very swimming, there was a lot of pressure in my head as the infection made it's last stand and pressed against everything. All I want to do is go lay down and play Portal until I fall asleep but I still have an hour and a half of climbing, spinning, dropping, and hanging from 15ft in the air. At this point I'm sure you're all asking the same question.

Why the hell would you do this to yourself?

Because I love it. Because it will get me to my goal. Because it's the only way I get to take an hour and not do anything for anyone else, be selfish and plug into my head phones and shut off the rest of the world and not feel one bit guilty for not doing something tangibly productive. Because as long as brave men and women are returning home from terrible lands, with limbs they've left behind, and get up and go for a run with their new limbs of plastic and aluminum, and still pass people, then I've got no excuse.

Because I can't let the excuses win. And don't you dare let them win either. When you don't think you have time for your workout, take an inventory of the your day. Find ways to shave some time to squeeze it it. There's almost always, guaranteed, 30 minutes of wasted time. The internet does a good job of that. I have a bad problem with getting on my computer to check one quick thing and then next thing I know I've lost 3 hours of my life reading articles about working out, instead of actually working out. How many of us watch a show simply because it's on between two good shows? That's the perfect time to throw in a quick cardio burst. Don't be afraid to power walk in your pjs. When you walk your dog, actually walk! But most importantly, don't let excuses get in your way. I have let myself down too many times because I didn't go for a run, broke my workout routine, and never progressed. I always had a reason, I was tired or not feeling 100% or I ran out of time (before my show came on) but really what it all comes down to is that I was just letting lazy win. So next time ask yourself, do I really need to see another miserable 30 minutes of "Mad Love" or should I go for a walk?

Lake Eola Run

It took me three laps of Lake Eola to realize there was no free parking. Shows me better than to trust the Internet. After stopping in a grocery store, paying three dollars for a one dollar drink to obtain change, and one more lap of the park before I found a spot by this time I was already ten minutes late for the meet up time that I had set. And of course I was the last to arrive. I spotted the group right away. There was Jorge, a friend from work who insists his name is pronounced "George" Chris, who I had met through my boyfriend; and Brian, who I knew through my father and who had brought Lytle, a friend from work. Somehow these four people, who had never met, had never even spoken online, whose only connection to each other was me, managed to figure out they were all waiting around on that very same person.

"Finally!" Jorge exclaimed as I ran up to them. Brian joined in "Yeah, way to be late to your own party!"

"Hey there's a reason I have parties at my house. Can't be late to your own living room." I bent over to tie my shoes and quickly stretch out as we made our game plan. One lap all together around the path tracing just outside the boundaries of the park. The sun hung just high enough in the sky to keep us warm, and the wind was just swift enough to keep us cool. There was not a cloud in the sky but the ample trees and the tall buildings that surround Lake Eola park were enough to give plenty of shade throughout the course. This azure gem at the center of Orlando's buzzing downtown was the absolute perfect setting for the first run of the Orlando Run and Glug Club.

Okay maybe club is a little too serious of a word but Alcoholic Athletes Facebook Group just doesn't have the same ring to it. But that's what we are. As it stands right now the club consists of my friends and a few of their friends, we get together once a week, run, and cool down at the nearest bar. No we're not hashers, not that there's anything wrong with that...

As tradition would have it, my iPod crashed the moment we started running. What is the point of running if you don't have the data to prove you have done it? But there was no turning back now. The narrow sidewalk and varying paces quickly formed the pack. The experienced runners, Lytle and Brian, took the front and Chris and Jorge, the beginners, brought up the rear. I ended up falling to the middle and somehow managed to hold a conversation between the front and the back. We stuck together and held a solid pace for the first lap. The park was alive with activities all around; people everywhere, though it never felt crowded. The population at the lake was incredibly diverse, made up of families, young couples, other runners, and even a large group of hipsters feeding the homeless. I'm not sure if one man had been homeless or a hipster but he felt the need to cheer us on as we ran past. At one point a young college student, of Asian descent, claimed a spot on the scenic pier to start playing bagpipes. I'm not sure why he had a tip case set out but our pace time always improved when we ran past.

As we came around to the last turn before the Amphitheater, Brian suggested a quick interval to finish out the lap. Feeling good still, we were all in. As we rounded the corner, Brian, Lytle,and Jorge all quickened their stride. Chris, however, double his pace and soon took the lead. Having held back the whole lap, I couldn't resist the urge to showboat. I broke out into a burst sprint, quickly over taking the whole group to come up even with the Chris.

"Oh so you want to go real fast, huh?"

"Uuuugghh no!" he moaned as I comfortably doubled the distance between us.

He later explained that, in his infinite genius, he planned to get far enough ahead of us that when it was time to slow down again he'd have plenty of time to recover as we caught up. This, of course, did nothing but leave him to strain for the second lap. Despite our pace evening out and the group reformed by the time it was time to start the second lap. We kept together for a while but fatigue was starting to show in the novices. Brian and Lytle went on at their pace and I proceeded to quite literally run circles around the boys. The rest of the run we kept up a mildly strenuous pace with slight intervals. It's amazing how much further you can go when you break up a distance into small chunks. 3 miles is a ridiculous amount to run, but five minutes at a hard pace and then five to catch your breath then repeat and you suddenly forget how many times you passed that game of hackey sack. It helped that we were never passed by the speed twins. Okay so maybe a 5-6min km isn't break neck but it can be a morale killer when you're first starting.

Suddenly we where coming up on the last leg of the last lap. Once last rest interval for the boys before putting it all out to cross the finish line. I decided to get in a little extra mileage by cutting back and on to the inner path that winded around the lake then meeting back with them at the last corner. I was quite surprised to see they were ahead of me when I merged back to the sidewalk. I wasn't far behind, coming up on them quick and we regrouped right as we rounded the corner. "Show your stuff, boys!" I shouted over my shoulder as I sprinted past them. The amphitheater was coming up quick and I still had some left in me. Brian and Lytle waved as I darted past; I was determined to make it to the end of the street and surely I was half way. That wall hit about half way past half way, however, and I felt all the energy drop out of my legs. My pace slowed and it felt like a struggle to not just turn around right there. Oh I'll be damned if I'm going to give up in front of all this traffic. I found one last pocket of energy and made it to the end, slapped the light pole as I turned around and trudged back exhausted.

I reached the group and did the best I could to pretend that that was totally what I meant to do. A quick headciunt to check we were all alive and then we made our way to the Relax Grill, an open air bar and grill tucked right along the shore. I'll tell you a pitcher of Stella never tasted so good. As we chatted, Jorge checked the data from his nifty GPS app and informed us that we did three point nine miles! These beginners doubted they'd be able to do much more than one mile and here we sit, alive and well, with almost four miles on our shoes! Just goes to show, no excuses just go.