Girl In Motion

I like those little milestones you get when you’re a runner; first this, first that, most this and that, though some of them are totally arbitrary and useless (like my “first 9 consecutive days” the other day). Some of them, I wouldn’t even consider except that the Beginners Forum at RW has all these great ways to commemorate stuff.

First, there are the Dailies (also found in other running forums across the net) where you post your mileage each day. It’s big fun to read what everyone’s up to, plus it’s great to have a public accounting of the miles you put in along with any other fun thing you want to mention.

Then there’s the Miles Game, where you’re part of a team and each week, you post your team name and mileage for the week. These get tallied up and again, are impressively motivational, even more so than the Dailies, because you don’t want to let your team down, which puts a whole ‘nuther element in there.

There are other Games, too, one having to do with yearly mileage, but I don’t really care about my yearly totals, since I think in terms of “weekly mileage” more than anything. Maybe in a couple more years I’ll care about yearly mileage because I’ll have something to judge a new year against, but right now, I just look at the number with amusement, as more of a “hmmm…interesting.”

On that note, today is the last day of January, and there’s yet another regular thread for January Monthly Totals where you cough up this month’s mileage accumulation. Like the yearly totals, I don’t care so much for Monthlies, not that I think anything negative about them, I just don’t pay attention until those threads come up. So with my uncaring attitude, I’m uncaringly proud to say that this is my first month over 200 miles - 201.13, to be exact. Cute.

And now I’m looking at tomorrow’s weather, wondering what I’ll end up doing since I bagged yesterday for high winds, tomorrow looks like high winds plus 90% chance of heavy rains. Pooh. I might try to do hills - after all, I did buy that Asics Storm Jacket so I wouldn’t have an excuse to skip for weather. On the other hand, I may just sit on my fat ass and eat bonbons since it’s all up to me anyway.

I’ll let you know tomorrow…same bat channel, same bat time (give or take a few hours ).

We got back from the city late last night, after an entirely satisfying visit to my old stomping ground.

My friend Ridgely manages a restaurant at the Seaport, so Nick and I had a gab-filled lunch with her and my old pal Julie. Then later in the day, we went to Simon’s apartment where I also used to live (Simon and I being roommates for so many years of my NYC life). We hung out awhile and then grabbed a falafel on St. Marks before the show. Then on to Kathy Griffin whom I adore (”Where are my gays?”…screams and applause…”OK, where are my women?”…screams and applause…”Where are my straight men?”…straight men noises and applause…”Sorry, I have nothing for you here tonight”), and to finish the evening, we went to a chocolate restaurant (chocolate pizza, anyone?) for dessert, before driving home.

I was assured, as I always am when I return to NYC, that my quality of life is infinitely better for having moved away and as we drove out of the city I said to Nick for the 3rd time that day, “I’m SO glad I don’t live here anymore.” And when we got home and I slipped into the sheets, it was with a superior sigh of contentment that however I ended up in Philly (because it’s been a circuitous path leading me here) must have been Kismet, but I am ever so humbled to call it home.

Yesterday’s voiceover jobs went exceptionally well, though I am a little horse from the medical one - I don’t talk much in life, much less for a solid 4-hour stretch. In comparison, the commercial was a breeze and took about 10 minutes, plus it was a comedy character (my forte) so it was a great capper to the day.

I just came back from a tempo run, 8-miles w/4 tempo, getting it in before Nick and I head up to NYC, because tomorrow the winds are supposed to be 26mph all day, and though I can take colder temperatures, I have no love for wind. So it’ll likely be another rest day for me. Even so, with yesterday and tomorrow off, I still have about 44 planned for the week, so it won’t really be a huge dent as far as cutback weeks go, but I’ll leave it open for now, playing it by ear.

Can’t wait for our city jaunt today. I lived in Manhattan for 15 years, so I have some very close friends I’m meeting for lunch and catch-up, then later we’ll see my bestest buddy Simon for dinner and then Kathy Griffin at Madison Square Garden (Simon got us tickets as a thank-you for something that didn’t deserve a gift, much less tickets to anything).

So I’m all happy. Hope you guys and gals are, too, with whatever you’re doing today. Run some joyous miles and do something nice for yourself, because symmetry is good and you deserve a happy day, too.

Today was a small first for me, the first time running 9 consecutive days - and with some good mileage, to boot (54.1 miles in the last 7 days). May I just say that with every step I took in the beaming sun today, I was thankful for my bones, muscles, joints, lungs, eyes, ears, all of it, for working the way they’re supposed to. At my age especially, I don’t take any of this for granted.

Tomorrow will be a rest day due to another medical voiceover job from hell, followed by a fun commercial voiceover at another studio (pretty rare to have 2 jobs in one day), so I won’t get a chance to run. Then Tuesday I’m off to NYC for the day and evening, so probably won’t run either, unless I go out really early, but I’m due for a cutback so no sweat it if I don’t.

And that’s my thrilling Sunday post…hey, they can’t all be excitement personified.

Last night, Lara and I drove up to Warrington, PA to see Spirit of the Marathon with a few of my fab forum friends: Matt and his wife Marianne, Joye and Hester. We met at the luxurious culinary hot-spot, Ruby Tuesday’s and talked about running, running, a little non-running, and more running. Brains were picked, mucho laughs were had and it was a blast and a half. I gotta say, I still can’t believe what wonderful friends I’ve made from something so seemingly impersonal as an internet forum.

As for the movie…I absolutely loved it. The production values were surprisingly fantastic - camera work, editing, soundtrack, story, everything was gripping and had me tearing up from the get-go. I was disappointed to learn that we should have stayed to the bitter end beyond the credits, because there were outtakes we missed from leaving too soon. That’ll teach me to disrespect the credit roll, bad girl!

If you didn’t go last night, you have another chance on February 21st, so get thee to a movie theater next month, because this is one super dollop of inspiration for anyone with a pair of running shoes in their closet.

Afternoon addition (or is that the Afternoon Edition? )
Don’t know whether it was the movie last night or the intervals yesterday, but I just got back from a really wonderful 7@8:33 that felt so easy, even with the wind that attempted to whup my ass, but couldn’t. Just had to share, lol.

Remember how I’ve said a couple times that I’m so happy to be training for a 10-mile goal race instead of a Half,  because I can start doing shorter intervals instead of those miles I hate so much? So why is it, do you think, that I went ahead and did 3 x mile today? Because I like to stick needles in my eyes.

Actually, it was to check my fitness level and to confirm that I picked the right starting point for SmartCoach. See, you have to put in a race time for SmartCoach and even with my easy running these last couple months, my fitness has improved, so I’m happy to say, 23:30 doesn’t cut it anymore. Instead, I’m basing it on a 23:00 5K and to coin Goldilocks, “this one feels juuuuust right”. My tempos are actually faster than specified (in line with a 22:30 5K) but those evil intervals are right on, so I’ll stick with the 23:00 basis.

So yay, 3 x mile on my almost-flat park path, with a 7:33, 7:30 and 7:36. All is right with the world and now I can go back to hillwork and start shorter intervals, like I keep threatening to do.

And now, it’s time for a shower and then later, a drive with Lara to meet some forum friends in a little town north of here for a screening of Spirit Of The Marathon. What a fine reward for those nasty long intervals, dontcha think?

What’s a gal to do? When I started this blog, I had it in my mind to fill it with observational running stuff, more along the lines of humorous essay writing. I’ve enjoyed doing that, but I end up with quite long entries and it’s not something I can sustain on a day-to-day basis.

Looking around at other running blogs, I wonder if I should change the format to more of a daily running diary. Guess I’ll just play it by ear, but if any of you guys and gals have a preference, leave me a comment to let me know.

And on that note, I’ll make this one follow the latter style…

Just returned from a beautiful 9-miler on a stunningly sunny, but windy day. Kept a comfortable 8:44 pace with negative splits (always a good sign since my last mile is uphill).

Also, I apparently have a new construction worker boyfriend, though my main construction BF is still on the job and says something whenever I see him, this new guy I passed today yelled out to me, “how many miles you run a day…30?” I answered, “a bunch” but I must say, 30 sounds so much better. So yeah, I went 30 today.

Hemmed and hawed today before getting out the door - my usual M.O. this winter.

In the summer, I’d set the alarm to get up at 6:30 or 7:00 so it’d be bearable by the time I got out the door, but now I have the whole day to figure out the “best” time to go for my run. Today it was, “do I go out before the rain/snow hits or will the extra warmth of a later-in-the-day temperature make up for it?”

Weighing slightly on me was that today called for a tempo run and I didn’t want to get discouraged by wind slowing me down, so I also told myself I could do hills instead if it was too windy. Happily, Nick decided to go for a bike ride, motivating me out the door sooner rather than later, and I went for the tempo. Glad I did…

Six miles total w/4 tempo @ 7:49. Felt strong! I have good feelings about this training cycle, it’s going to be a rockin’ one.

Goofy day. Went to a gym for the first time since the 80s. My friend, Lara, gave me a 7-day pass to her gym and since today was windy and cold, it was the perfect time to try it out.

On the way there, I had a brush with anti-greatness; I saw Danny Bonaduce. He and a pretty girl crossed the street in front of my car as I was stopped at a stop sign. They were looking at historic stuff along the block. I had him in my sights long enough to call Nick and tell him, “I can see Danny Bonaduce in my rear view mirror.” He thought I was nuts. Anyway, seeing him ranks up there with the time I waited tables on Tiny Tim, or saw Liberace in concert or Pia Zadora belting her guts out at Radio City Music Hall. Something about loony-tune pop icons, they’re so invigorating and life-affirming. Sigh.

So I was all ramped up by the time I got to the gym. They gave me the little tour and then I made my way to the treadmills. Having recently read a forumite’s post of joining a gym where she mentioned the treadmills have personal TVs now (how Jetsons!), I was uber excited to enjoy this bit of luxury for myself. Two seconds later, I’m all, “Wow, I’m running and I’m watching TV! This is cool!” then about a minute later, when I’m feeling quite unsteady and disgusted with myself for watching Inside Weekend Edition because running is one time in my life where I can assure myself I’m NOT ingesting crap, I turn off the TV. Three minutes have gone by.

Then I innocently start playing with things that hang off the treadmill, this thing that looks like a blood pressure thing, and I see there’s a slot for heartrate, so this thing must read my heartrate, but…wtf? why am I stopping, what did I do? Then I press the Pause/reset button one two many times, so the treadmill goes back to zero, instantly negating the half mile I miserably completed.

Because I am miserable. I am just standing in one place, running. I can’t keep my eye away from the Distance readout, as if watching it will turn the numbers faster. Finally I get a respite - some crazy guy hops on two treadmills down from mine. He must be carrying lead in his sneakers, because each footstep is punctuated with Bam! Bam! Bam! Which would be OK, if he didn’t start singing aloud with his ipod. And not proper words and tune, just random guttural notes that sounded like a seal being slaughtered.

Thankfully, half way through the hour, my friend Lara meets me and steps on the treadmill between me and the seal, which seems to calm him down. And for the next ½ hour, Lara and I chat while I stare woefully at the distance readout some more, wanting it to please, just be over. I end up doing some tempo miles so I can finish faster.

Now I’m home and feeling great that I got some miles in on this cold day, thanks to Lara - my only runner friend (non forum related, that is), the one who just about held my hand at my first 5K, and ran with me when I was slower than dirt. Thank you, Lara, for helping me to see that fancy little TVs do not make the run, and thank you for getting between me and the dying seal. Love you, girl.

Tennis Balls. I’m sitting on one right now and I feel fine. Or rather, my ass cheek does. I think I had a piriformis thing this week so I did some stretches and went tennis ball shopping yesterday. I read that sitting on one is a great way to give yourself a deep massage, and it works! I didn’t feel a thing on today’s 12.

I’m still kicking myself for buying Wilson balls instead of generic ones, though.  Did I think a no-name brand would implode against my butt cheek? Damn right, I did.