I honestly couldn't tell you how many days it's been. C25K gave me some sass a few times, such as running the wrong day program, or refusing to list as completed a run I had just completed, so that makes it difficult to know what's what. I also had a couple of days where my body was just completely crapped out. Running is not fun when you feel like you're just dragging your carcass from Point A to Point B with no joy whatsoever. What's the deal with that? I have no idea.
Yesterday and today were pretty groovy, I'm on week 5 and it's definitely a big step up. I know I'm going to have to repeat today's run before I can move to the next step, just because I felt so barfy doing it.
What motivates you at this point? When things get barfy?
Two things give me life at this point;
The first is that I am now financially involved in this whole running nonsense. Money has been paid to enter the upcoming race (cool T-shirt and high-tech timing bib acquired) and I also upgraded my footwear to proper running shoes (aka "Sweet kicks!") and I've been told that all the fancy support and worth in those shoes will last for X number of miles (so let's make those miles count by running them, I suppose). I like my new shoes quite a lot; they are fast and very fetching. Because I was getting a promotional discount that day, I also bought running socks, which are apparently better than regular socks (also, ALL my regular socks have silly patterns on them).
Second, I am hugely inspired by two people, Ro-Ren (who introduced me to all these apps I use), and my runner friend (The Runner? I haven't decided if I should pseudonym my real-life friends here. Yes. I will. If you haven't got a public internet presence with a proper name, I'm going to assign you one here. Let's call this person... Runner 29. If I come up with a better name I'll edit this, but for the sake of things right now, Runner 29 it is).
Ro-ren just finished Warrior Dash, which comes with a cool hat and some crazy obstacle course, and watching her accomplish things makes me feel inspired to run more. She's so positive about her experiences and her leveling up, I love it!
Runner 29 is a proper runner, and encourages me to keep going, and is one of the folks who got me into the 5k next month. We went on a run today (each at our own pace) that I can't honestly say I would have done if left to my own devices (because I am a lazy bum, haha). Runner 29 is a lot faster than me, having done this for quite some time. He put in something like 9 miles to my 4 k and I thought "I want to be able to do that!" ....someday. I will be able to. Someday.
"This feels good. I feel really good!"
When you say that at the end, you know you're doing well.
Two more people from work have signed up for the same 5k, which is awesome. Hooray for friends running!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Running Day 5
Whoa-ho, today was an intense day!
Let's start with... Lederhosenlauf!
Today was the Lederhosenlauf (Lederhosen Run) 5K in St. Paul. I know someone who plays the accordion for singers & polka-dancers at the halfway mark, and needed some folks to get all gussied up and sing and dance the polka. I figured those were things I could do on a Saturday morning, so I got out my scissors and turned an old dress into a dirndl.
Let me say that I have never danced the polka before, and my German is APPALLING but with some well-applied gung-ho spirit, we sang and danced and cheered the runners, and then headed off for our 9:30 AM beer and brats. Because, Germany.
It was intimidating to see all these people running along at the halfway mark, some looking very tired indeed. I thought, "Oh crap, this is going to be difficult, isn't it?". Then a friend of mine trotted up, clearly having run AT LEAST 5K already, looking fresh as a daisy and ready to lope along for a good long while.
I was pretty much consumed with envy, which is one of the best motivators there is.
No, I should amend that. It's not so much envy as it is a desire to be like that person, and to embody their totally awesome traits and abilities. Sometimes I look at another person who is levels ahead of me in some skill and am struck with this kind of love and hero-worship, and I just think they are so cool and capable and I want to be like them to the extent that I start thinking about eating them and crawling inside their flesh and wearing it like a scary mask and gaining all their powers.
"Envy" is perhaps a less-creepy way of expressing that emotion.
At any rate, I came home all fired up, and worked in the garden until 5 pm, when I set off running (Week 4, Day 1). It was a stupid combination of going the difficult way around the block (up a long hill) and leveling up 1 week, which has longer run periods. I got caught by zombies at minute 25, trying to turn my jog into a sprint on the middle of the hill. At the end of the session I went so far that I ran out of block, and had to sort of run up and down the street just to use up time.
After cooling down and having a toilet, I suddenly felt really amazing, and this is where the day became even more bonkers, because I decided to go out AGAIN. Basically, RIGHT AWAY. I went the easy way around, and did Wk1D2 in order to catch a break, but it was still pretty difficult. I felt funky around minute 40, and zombies caught me again, twice.
But I saved a bunch of people who were trying to escape a fire and a zombie attack, so that's OK!
So far I'm averaging about 7.5 minutes per kilometer, which I guess is OK. It's been steady so I guess I can only get faster? I did 3.9k in 31 minutes on my first lap of the block. Apparently an "average" pace for a 27 year old woman is 11:47 (WHAT) so that's... my goal? That first lap has a pace of 12:47, so hey, that's pretty good for being on track.
Heigh-ho away I go, faria faria ho!
Let's start with... Lederhosenlauf!
Today was the Lederhosenlauf (Lederhosen Run) 5K in St. Paul. I know someone who plays the accordion for singers & polka-dancers at the halfway mark, and needed some folks to get all gussied up and sing and dance the polka. I figured those were things I could do on a Saturday morning, so I got out my scissors and turned an old dress into a dirndl.
Let me say that I have never danced the polka before, and my German is APPALLING but with some well-applied gung-ho spirit, we sang and danced and cheered the runners, and then headed off for our 9:30 AM beer and brats. Because, Germany.
It was intimidating to see all these people running along at the halfway mark, some looking very tired indeed. I thought, "Oh crap, this is going to be difficult, isn't it?". Then a friend of mine trotted up, clearly having run AT LEAST 5K already, looking fresh as a daisy and ready to lope along for a good long while.
I was pretty much consumed with envy, which is one of the best motivators there is.
No, I should amend that. It's not so much envy as it is a desire to be like that person, and to embody their totally awesome traits and abilities. Sometimes I look at another person who is levels ahead of me in some skill and am struck with this kind of love and hero-worship, and I just think they are so cool and capable and I want to be like them to the extent that I start thinking about eating them and crawling inside their flesh and wearing it like a scary mask and gaining all their powers.
"Envy" is perhaps a less-creepy way of expressing that emotion.
At any rate, I came home all fired up, and worked in the garden until 5 pm, when I set off running (Week 4, Day 1). It was a stupid combination of going the difficult way around the block (up a long hill) and leveling up 1 week, which has longer run periods. I got caught by zombies at minute 25, trying to turn my jog into a sprint on the middle of the hill. At the end of the session I went so far that I ran out of block, and had to sort of run up and down the street just to use up time.
After cooling down and having a toilet, I suddenly felt really amazing, and this is where the day became even more bonkers, because I decided to go out AGAIN. Basically, RIGHT AWAY. I went the easy way around, and did Wk1D2 in order to catch a break, but it was still pretty difficult. I felt funky around minute 40, and zombies caught me again, twice.
But I saved a bunch of people who were trying to escape a fire and a zombie attack, so that's OK!
So far I'm averaging about 7.5 minutes per kilometer, which I guess is OK. It's been steady so I guess I can only get faster? I did 3.9k in 31 minutes on my first lap of the block. Apparently an "average" pace for a 27 year old woman is 11:47 (WHAT) so that's... my goal? That first lap has a pace of 12:47, so hey, that's pretty good for being on track.
Heigh-ho away I go, faria faria ho!
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Running Day 4
Heeeeyyyyy I've been running for 4 days now! That's every other day, because I think that's how you're supposed to do it if you're a beginner? I don't know. C25K has it set up that way, so that's how I'm going.
I feel really good about running thus far, my route is only 3K. That's a good start! My neighbor told me about a certain tree that is 1.5 miles from our street-corner, so eventually running there and back would give me the 5K I need. It's nice to live in a place where we measure by the local scenery.
Zombies, Run! is still rocking my face off. I find myself responding to the questions and commands out loud. It took quite some time to get all the little options and things sorted out, but I think I have it all set up in such a way that really works for me. I also like that when the mission part of it comes up a little short, there is the township's radio broadcast to listen to, and it reminds me a bit of the Adam & Joe show.
It's not as scary as I thought it might be, though the actors do a good job of motivating you to run, run, RUN. The zombie voices are scary, but for some reason they don't show up during zombie chases? Or maybe I'm just hauling too much ass for them to be audible, hurr hurr hurr.
I feel really good about running thus far, my route is only 3K. That's a good start! My neighbor told me about a certain tree that is 1.5 miles from our street-corner, so eventually running there and back would give me the 5K I need. It's nice to live in a place where we measure by the local scenery.
Zombies, Run! is still rocking my face off. I find myself responding to the questions and commands out loud. It took quite some time to get all the little options and things sorted out, but I think I have it all set up in such a way that really works for me. I also like that when the mission part of it comes up a little short, there is the township's radio broadcast to listen to, and it reminds me a bit of the Adam & Joe show.
It's not as scary as I thought it might be, though the actors do a good job of motivating you to run, run, RUN. The zombie voices are scary, but for some reason they don't show up during zombie chases? Or maybe I'm just hauling too much ass for them to be audible, hurr hurr hurr.
Book Haul, LOC style
It's time for Book Haul, in other words, when you go to the library to return a bunch of stuff that is overdue, and wind up walking away with even more stuff, even though you have a pile of books at home in the "to-read" pile, and frankly, who are you even kidding?
Let's roll:
Alibi Man by Tami Hoag
I picked this up from the free library at work. And of course it is the one I will return first, on time, because it's a quick read. She's a former detective! With a troubled past! And an ex-lover! There is crime! And lies! And Russians! Etc. Etc. Etc.
It's pulpy and fun. I still don't know who the killer is.
The House of Yamazaki by Laurence Caillet, and Hope in a Jar by Kathy Peiss.
In case you care or anything, the LOC call numbers for these are TT955.Y35 (etc), and TT957.P45 (etc), and I found them while browsing the shelves for books about knitting, in the CRAFT section. Hope in a Jar makes a little sense, being shoehorned in with the fashion section, but House of Yamazaki is some sort of family history, focused on one woman, who was maybe a businesswoman of some sort, and also has a lot to do with geomancy and spiritualism? W/e, they both looked interesting, so I picked them up.
I reaaaaaaally don't understand the LOC system, but that's what makes browsing stacks so much fun...
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! by Fannie Flagg
Fannie Flagg wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, which I realize I have been through 3 copies at this point, and it makes me laugh every time. It's a diary-format novel with a really great pace and wit and good characters. I never got into Flagg's narrative novels, so we'll see about this one. It takes place in the 70's? but still has that quaint and weird characterization from Daisy Fay.
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