Treadmills

I don't know what it is about me. Is it just me? Why do I have such a hard time running on the treadmill? Yesterday it was after 7pm before I could get to the gym and I didn't have my Garmin on me, so I decided just to stay in the gym and stomp out 2 to 3 miles. I think I honestly have a mental block against treadmills. Every run I try is the hardest run I've ever done. Yesterday was no different. It took everything I had to make it to 2.75 miles. I never wanted to quit so bad in my life. My calves hurt and my arches were sore - I was miserable! I have no idea how to get around this. I feel like I do more harm to my legs when I'm on the treadmill and I'm definately much more sore the next day than when I run outside. When I run outside, my body is just peaceful. Nothing screams or yells and recovery is easy. It's supposed to rain for the next 3 days here, so what's a treadmill-hating girl supposed to do???

Monday Learn-Day

It's another back-to-the-grind Monday and work actually started out fairly productive. That is until my boss showed up and whisked us out to a 3 hour lunch. Now my belly is full and my concentration has pretty much gone down the drain (thanks to shrimp corndogs and tres leches bread pudding).

Anyways, onto the reason of the post - the things I learned from this weekend's activities:

• Since my running has continually increased, my alcohol tolerance level has decreased. Three (3!) stout beers will now leave me very tipsy.
• Dodgeball is insanely fun, addictive and highly competitive. I can't believe we stopped playing this game in elementary school. Everyone needs to get up off their computer right now and go chunk a ball at someone!
• After reading "Born to Run", I'm seriously tempted to try a trail race.
• Trying out new unpaved trails (with no roads or houses nearby) by yourself (especially if you're a girl with no cell phone) is prolly not a good idea. When I saw the tent pitched in the bushes, I turned around and ran back to civilization. (Ha, that's funny since I was pretty much exactly in the center of Houston!)
• Week 1 completed. Total mileage: 20.14. Note to myself? Don't wait to do the bulk of the miles the last day of the week (especially since you were supposed to be tapering for the half marathon next weekend). I just hope I didn't screw myself over.

Until next time! :)

It's Sunday!

That means the 1st week of 2010 is officially over tonight at midnight - and I finished my 20 miles about an hour ago. Yes, I kinda procrastinated on it, but damn it's cold here. I had planned on doing 10 miles yesterday and then a 2 miler today, but I just couldn't gather the courage to lace up my running shoes when it was 33 degrees outside. So, that left all the mileage to be completed today - and it was 34* at the start. Ugh, it was cold! Once I finished it had warmed up to 43*, but in my mind, that's not too much better. Otherwise though, it was a beautiful day.

I really hope it's not quite this cold next weekend. I'll be happy with 50*. I can't believe it's only 7 days till the Houston Half Marathon. I'm excited, but really nervous. I got my confirmation packet this week, and I'm in the 1st wave! I was in the 2nd wave when I ran this race 2 years ago and man it was crazy packed full of people to dodge around. I don't think I hit my goal pace until mile 3 or so, so I'm excited to see what I can do it I start out in front of all the 10 min/milers. I'll be taking it easy this week, to rest my legs for the big event, but there will be some small runs here and there.

I'm off in an hour to my first dodgeball/kickball/whiffleball game. I completely forgot about it until Hubby mentioned it after my run. Guess I shoulda planned that a little better, but it'll be fun anyway. I don't think I've played any of those games since 6th! Go Sacks n Racks! (Ha, I had no say-so in the team name, but I have to admit it's pretty funny!)

Morning: No

So I didn't stick with the plan. My alarm went off yesterday morning and I thought about getting up to run, but it was raining. Cold and rain are horrible together. I don't mind running in the rain when it's warm outside, but I wasn't about to be cold and wet. So I said "forget that" and went back to sleep. However, I did scrounge up the courage to put my feet on the treadmill yesterday afternoon. I wanted to run outside, but it was just too windy. I don't know if you know this, but I HATE the treadmill. I only got on because I'm trying to be really devoted and I knew I needed to get some mileage in. It was a really slow, hard start. Everytime I get on that thing it plays with my mind. Yesterday my calves started cramping and my left knee and quad were hurting. It took 2 miles just to warm up. I wanted to quit so bad, but I ran through it and managed to complete a little over 4 miles. Yay! That leaves less than 12 miles to run this weekend. No problem.

On another note, my beloved team lost last night. Colt really let me down and let every Longhorn fan in the world down by not being a man. He was selfish and cowardly. Anyway, so I might have had a little too much beer and sake to drown my sorrows away, but I did play some awesome hands in poker.

Morning: Maybe

Work has been really crazy this week. In fact, it's going to continue to be really crazy until the end of March. I'm usually really good about just sucking it up and taking it, but I have my resolutions to think of this year. I worked until 9pm last night, so that means I took the day off running. The plan was to get in a good run today, but alas, I'm still at work with a LOAD of stuff to do before going home.

So here's the new plan: Get up early in the morning and run before work.

Got it? Good! Because now that I've mentioned it on the world wide web, I'm accountable for it. Yep, accountable. And I know how much I hate saying one thing and doing another. Now I have to get up early and run. I'll hate myself if I don't and I'll never be able to show my face written word here again.

That's all.

Oh, wait, it's not. GO LONGHORNS!!!!! Beat the hell outta Bama!

(Bet ya can't tell where I went to college)

Case of the Mondays...

Arg! It's the first Monday of the year and I'm feeling very old today. I woke up this morning with what feels like an elephant laying on my chest, a pain in the muscle right behind my left knee and my still oh so annoying runny nose. Oy, I hate Mondays. I guess I should get used to them, cuz there's 51 left in this year and 234603453 left in my lifetime (plus or minus a few years).

But, today marks the beginning of the first week of the year and the start of my 20 miles per week resolution. Since the first 3 days were only part of a week and I did 9.5 miles, I think I'm pretty much on track so far.

And since weekends are always learning experiences, here are the things I learned this weekend:

• Drinking red wine all night is never a good idea if you plan to do anything the next day.
• Picking an orange up off the ground and peeling it while running will leave your hands sticky (and make you pretty annoyed at yourself for not realizing that before you do it).
• I actually do like winter. But only for the fact that I can run during the day and don't have to get up at the ass-crack of dawn to run before it gets too hot.

First Run of 2010

2010 is off to a great start! I was completely lazy and relaxed all day New Year's Day. I curled up with my Kindle and read 2 books. Running wasn't on the agenda, but I more than made up for it today. My resolutions are going great (come on, I have to be positive even though we are only 2 days in!);  I got up this morning, made a healthy breakfast and laced up my running shoes. I knew my target was 9-10 miles since my half marathon is in 2 weeks (eek!). The city finally finished construction on the last bridge to finish the bike trail through our neighborhood, so I figured I'd go check it out. With new Garmin calibrated and ready, I set off. I learned that it is exactly 3 miles to Target from my front door. I should really get a bike and start biking all my errands since everything is so close now. I'll have to put that on my birthday list. Maybe I can even bribe Hubby into biking alongside me when I run. I'll keep wishing for now. Anyways, the run felt great and it was such a beautiful day. I ran all the way to the 6th Ward and around that neighborhood and back. I felt like I was so far from home, but I guess I never realized how close it was. Amazing what you realize when you're on 2 feet instead of in your car. I'll definately have to start carrying a camera or my phone so I can take pictures of some of the cool stuff on my runs. Today I passed a house with an orange tree in their front yard, so I picked up one and peeled it. I had already done 5 miles or so, so I figured it could be my snack. I bit into it like an apple and was shocked how sour the thing was! I ended up tossing it in the gutter, but was left with sticky hands. Not such a good idea.

Total distance: 9.49 miles
Total Time: 1:37:23

My worn out legs (and my Christmas wreath that is about to be taken down)