Archive for February, 2008

A funny thing happened on Monday that I forgot to mention.

I go to my old beat-up Saturn which had been parked a block from my home for over a week. A few days prior there’d been a snowstorm, so I knew I’d have to scrape some snow off before I got moving. I also feared there’d be a ticket on it, since it’d been sitting on this strange block outta my site for so long and in Philly, there seem to be lots of ways to get a ticket.

I walk up to the car and see something sticking out on the hood and as I get closer, I find that someone had taken half the snow from one side of the hood and packed it into a large, tall snowball, and in the center of that, they’d stuck a single red rose.

I have no idea who did it or when, and though I’m sure it was a completely random event not meant for me personally, it filled me with joy anyway. What’s not to love about a home-made snow vase with a perfect (ok, it was a little tired) rose?

But back to our favorite subject: I was going to take this windy day off to let my quads catch up a bit after 3 days back on the road, then come out swinging tomorrow with some fartleks since I’ve got that 10K this weekend and want to remind my legs what it feels like to move.

Tomorrow, however, is going to be really cold (for me), a windchill of 17 which is colder than the day that got me sick, plus I still have some chest crap, so today appears the lesser of two evils. Not sure if I want to push fartleks on them in their tender state, though.

Guess I’ll just have to get dressed, step outside and see how I feel once I’m there. At least the sun is shining and I’m in a great mood. Blame it on the after effects of a random rose.

Afternoon Addition: Yay, 6 w/fartlek and Flo Is Back! Quads are happy, pace was happy, I’m happy. Next week should find me back in the rockin’ mileage. Up With People, teddy bears and rainbows! (must look up Bi-Polar…)

Sorry, I know it’s boring that for a zillion days I was sick and now I’m nattering on about getting back to normal, but it’s my reality right now. Can’t wait till it’s old news, myself.

You should know, friends, that yesterday I was faking a bit of joviality – I was actually pretty depressed after the run because throughout the whole thing, I had a little sidestitch and my legs were hurting. For someone who was averaging weekly miles in the mid-50s prior to getting sick, this was disheartening. Luckily, today was better.

I took it one more mile to 7, no sidestich and an improvement at 8:58/mile (yesterday I could only manage 9:23), but ouch…my legs. I actually woke up last night because I couldn’t get comfortable, my quads were letting me know they’d been on vacation and were objecting to having been put on the job again. But they’ll start behaving, I’ve threatened them with buckets of ice if they don’t shape up soon.

Meanwhile, in happy body news, my weight, which has been steady at 124 ever since starting to run, is now at 118. I figure 4 more pounds and I’ll be content and hopefully, will still have a bit of boob left. My bonus is that the 3 permanent lumps of cellulite that compose my right ass cheek are diminishing to near nothing. TMI? No way, you know you love the dirty details!

And just in case Nick thinks I might get carried away by the weight loss (because he’s afraid of that), I passed that scary skinny chick today. She’s one of those hardcore running freaks I see occasionally. I figure she’s older than me, but she could be younger because that’s what scary skinny does to you, makes you look hard & brittle. Ain’t no PRs worth that body type to me, so never fear, my love…I will keep some meat on the bone for you. I promise.

Speaking of, I’m off to the kitchen now to munch on my latest recovery food; salami. I overbought for that party of ours, and since we’re supposed to eat protein after a run, it’s my Official Recovery Food of Champions for the next few weeks. Of course, the sports nutritionists don’t mention anything about nitrates and fat globules, but that’s why salami is so damn satisfying. Bon appetite, folks.

Yay! I got out there today and didn’t die. I just did 6 easy and while the first 3 went pretty well, the last 3 were reminiscent of my starting days as I peppered each step with that internal lament, “oh, when will this end?” Even so, I managed an OK pace (what should be my easy pace anyway according to McMillan) so life is looking up.

I might even run a 10K next weekend with Matt and Joye, which I’d not even considered because I wanted to start my racing season with a bang and thought it too soon, but now that I’ve already fizzled by default, I figure I have nothing to lose, except a good time if I don’t do it. Besides, it’s smack dab in my neck of the woods, so what the hell?

Funny how getting sick takes the pressure off. I can legally suck now without too much embarrassment – cough cough.

OK, so enough boo-hoos, I’m getting excited now because it’s just about time to tackle the Great Outdoors again. Still have a lingering cough, so I’ve decided Sunday is the day, without question. It’s going to be a gorgeous sunny 42-degree day…I cannot wait!!

Thank you, my sweet friends who posted and kept my spirits up this last week and a half, it cheered me up considerably. I finally decided tonight to stop dwelling on the training I’ve missed and just be happy that I’m able to run at all, or even want to run, that in itself is enough of a profound life-change for this ex-couch potato, so I’ll be glass half-full from here on in.

Additionally, I will not freak out about the 5K in three weeks. Lara emailed me something very wise, she reminded me that not every race has to be a huge PR, some of them can be run for fun (a new concept for me, lol). And while I suspect it’s infinitely more fun to have a huge PR, I could handle a little one, too . Hopefully, I’ll have something new to show for my winter miles.

Lastly, I just posted on my Miles Team thread on the RW forum that in a way, this long break makes me feel like more of a runner, as I now know what it’s like to miss it and hunger for it. Here’s hoping this is the last break for a very long time and in the meantime, happy runs to all of you and here’s hoping you’re battling through this chilly month with some great miles and fun workouts. Love you guys!!

This has become surreal.  It’s been 9 long days since my last run and I’m still having deep chest coughing, so I don’t see me getting out for at least a couple more days.   I wonder if I should have gone to a doctor, but I guess it’s a little late now.  At least today I’ve got some voice back which is damn good, because I’ve got a 2-hour voiceover session tomorrow, a low-key one, thankfully, not one of those evil medical ones.

Meanwhile, I’m feeling sorry for myself and at odds with everything around me.  I don’t feel like doing anything, yet I’m bored senseless.  This would be the perfect time to design some new shirts (it’s been months and months!), but I don’t feel creative in the least.

Nick is in Las Vegas on a business trip, so I’m up to my own devices, which means watching reality show crap like back-to-back episodes of “Girls Next Door”, the show about Hugh Hefner and his three blonde girlfriends.  My favorite part is when he gives them something (he’s always giving them something) and he goes in for a kiss, you’ve never seen three girls try to avoid touching a pair of liver lips like his.  Can’t say I blame them.

Next on the schedule is Millionaire Matchmaker, where the star of the show, a “third-generation matchmaker” tries to hook up socially inept millionaires with gold-digging balloon-titted actresses.  It’s one of those feel-good shows because as poor as you are, you could never be as big a dick as anyone on it.

Beyond the garbage I’m visually ingesting, I had a freakout last night when I realized my first 5K of the season is in 3 weeks!  It’s going to take me a few runs just to get back where I was, not to mention the lost training time, so I’m pretty unhappy about the thought, because I had 4 sessions of speedwork planned and now I’ll be lucky to get in two.  Oh well, shit happens and this is mine.  At least it isn’t an injury, per se, so when this sick stuff finally goes, it’s gone.

And with that, it’s back to my place on the couch.  I just looked at the TV schedule and see my choices are rapidly dwindling.  Let’s see, what’s on at 10am?  Tyra, Maury, Rachel Ray…oh god, someone come shoot me, please.

I hardly know where to start, but because today is a huge milestone in my running life, I’ll begin with that.

One year ago today I bundled up in my new wind pants with pantyhose underneath, 2 longsleeve t-shirts, windbreaker, headband, gloves and spankin’ new running shoes to walk down to the park where I did this twice: 30 seconds walk, 30 seconds jog, 3 minutes walk, 3 minutes jog.

And that was the start of my love affair with running.

It’s exactly a year later and while I would love nothing better than to commemorate this powerful anniversary with a long, crazy run on what happens to be a freakishly warm day, I am instead sitting here in a nightgown at 4 in the afternoon, nursing the flu after having just bid farewell to the last of my weekend houseguests. And I am incredibly happy.

On the scale of life-affirming moments, my love for running was just about eclipsed this weekend when I looked around our apartment on Saturday night and saw our beautiful collection of friends from all different factions, deep in pockets of conversation and laughter and having a great time with each other.

I can’t tell you how lucky I felt during the night, as one-by-one, different friends approached me to say, “I love your friends, they’re so cool” to which I’d reply, “I know, you’re one of ‘em.” I swear, it happened at least 8 times.

So the party was a success beyond my hopes, everyone had a blast and even the bout of flu I’m dealing with has a silver-lining – I didn’t have much of an appetite all week so I’ve lost a few pounds which I wanted to do for racing anyway, so the gifts keep comin’.

I haven’t been sick like this in, well…ever, so I’m not going to hurry it, but I hope to get out for a run on Wednesday. In the meantime, I’m happy to remain housebound, contemplating friendship, a future of running and the joy that is my life.