Author Archives: mohawkvalleygirl

First Post-Illness Run

Posted on April 12, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

As my week of being ill progressed, I watched in dismay as the days when I did NOT run added up. But the Boilermaker, I thought. What about the Boilermaker? I made up my mind I would run today (Saturday). An off week is only a minor setback! I can still train enough in time!

We had gotten up at five (couldn’t sleep), and it was twenty after six when I got out the door. My thermostat said 40 degrees. Usually I go shorts and short sleeves for 45 and above. I put on my leopard-spotted long johns and long-sleeved ARMY t-shirt and hoped I would not feel too warm as the run progressed. As I brushed my teeth I could hear the wind whistling in a way that made me expect to hear the theme music to The Wizard of Oz and figured I would not over-heat. I put on my toque instead of a headband and set out.

The sidewalks and roads were still wet from last night’s rain, but there weren’t too many puddles to avoid. I decided a 20 minute run would be good enough and I was not obligated to run any hills. I turned towards Main Street, thinking I would run up it and over to the path over what used to be a hydraulic canal. It was grey and gloomy out. The sun was up but not very high. One of my favorite things is to go running while it’s still dark out and have the sun come up while I run. But this was nice, too.

I admired the bare trees against the grey sky but hoped for leaves soon. Looking closely at some of the branches I could see buds. Come on, Spring! The temperature was not too bad. I felt I had dressed appropriately. Only my hands were cold, especially my fingers. Well, one must deal with these things. As I reached the end of the first stretch of path and started across German Street the wind was directly behind me, pushing me. I appreciated the psychological boost.

I was running very slowly. Breathing was not difficult. My legs began to complain. Well, there is just no pleasing my legs. All week they felt awful, because I was neither walking nor running. Now I start to run and they bitch at me. I ignored them an kept going. Grey, cloudy skies ahead of me. If I looked straight over my head I could see a little blue peeking through. That gave me hope.

After a while the wind became dead against me. No matter, I told myself. More effort burns more calories and will better build me up for the Boilermaker. I would just have to live with the cold hands. I had had the foresight to stuff a tissue into my sleeve. I pretty much used it up. Again, no matter. There were other tissues back home, which is the general direction I was headed by now.

I headed towards Meyers Park. When I first started running again after moving to Herkimer (I had many sedentary months here first), I made it a habit to always go through the park, either at the beginning or the end of my run. I stopped doing this every time as my run area expanded, but it’s always nice to go through the park. I again admired the bare trees while feeling a little wistful that they are still bare.

My legs were SO not happy with me. I was resolutely trying to ignore them when suddenly I felt something… different. Could that be a muscle? Was I developing a muscle? Yes, I could feel my thigh muscles working. That was kind of cool. They were quietly pumping along in a business-like fashion and the rest of my legs were just kind of going along. They were no longer complaining. I can’t say it was the “I can rock this” stage. More like a determined, “OK, let’s DO this.”

It soon became clear that I would go over my 20 minutes, although not by much. I didn’t feel too awful. This was going to be all right. The sun was all the way up now and I could see blue skies up ahead. No, really, I saw actual bits of blue in between the clouds. It wasn’t just my end of the run optimism.

When Tabby and I walked my cool-down, my legs felt even better. I felt so happy that I had gotten that first run under my belt. When one has a pause in one’s running for whatever reason, some say just getting started again is the hardest part. I expect to find out tomorrow if that is true or if continuing is just as hard. No matter. I intend to run regardless of difficulty. I’m a runner again.

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Lame at the End of the Tunnel

Posted on April 11, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had hoped not to have Lame Post Friday, after my week of illness and recovery. I was feeling much better earlier today. My stomach felt NOT sick. I did NOT have a headache. Oh, life was wonderful.

Of course it did NOT last. I didn’t even make it till lunch before I started to peter out. “I ran out of oopmh before I ran out of day,” I told a co-worker. Of course, that phenomenon often happens to the working stiff, convalescent or not. One perseveres and tries to get the work done regardless. I even did some writing during my lunch break, but it was not for the blog and it was definitely not finished. Still, it felt good to write.

Um, not that I have NOT been writing. I’ve been working on a letter to a friend. I’m often writing a letter to a friend or relative. At least it is putting words on paper. Still, it doesn’t help when I have to hit Publish on something or finally go a day without making a post (NEVER! NEVER! At least, NOT TODAY!). I have been fired with ambition to write lately but, alas, the ambition has not been accompanied by inspiration or even any ideas. So I write rambling letters or type in lame blog posts.

However, I say it again, one perseveres. At least I felt good for the morning. Perhaps tomorrow I will feel better for a longer period of time. Soon, dare I hope?, I will feel better for a whole day. At least I shall try to get my blog post written before I start feeling crappy again. As always, thank you for playing.

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Off to Break a Leg!

Posted on April 10, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

The decision has been made to act. I only wish the decision had been made to write my blog post earlier today. In my defense, I was writing a letter to a friend, which I believe is also an important thing to do.

I do want to express how happy I am that my husband Steven decided to audition. I hope he gets a part, but I feel sure we will have fun just going to auditions. We’ll see some friends from Ilion Little Theatre. We may make new friends at Players of Utica. I can write another blog post about the experience. I may even get an article for Mohawk Valley Living out of it. And it will be something fun and different to do on a Thursday evening.

“Instead of sitting around in our sweats, watching TV,” I said to him. “Of course, that’s fun, too,” I hastened to add. Time with my husband is always worthwhile. “We’ll step out of our comfort zone,” I clarified, realizing that is quite literal, because sweats and sitting around is extremely comfortable.

I have to admit, though, it isn’t too far out of our comfort zone. We don’t often venture to Utica after dark, but a friend is nicely driving us. We have never auditioned for Players of Utica, but we have auditioned many times for many plays, and even been cast in a few (full disclosure: Steven more than me). I daresay I am much more comfortable auditioning now than I was many years ago.

Further full disclosure: I am writing this on the fly while waiting for the friend to pick us up. Ah, Monday’s hypothetical critic pipes up and says, “You don’t have to tell us you’re writing on the fly! This post sucks!” Wow, I am writing in a hurry. That is the best insult I could think of for my hypothetical critic. Never mind. I’m off the break a leg!

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To Act or Not to Act?

Posted on April 9, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

More specifically, to audition or not to audition? I say audition. Steven is undecided.

The play in question is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Players of Utica. The idea of auditioning came up a few weeks ago, when we were dining with a couple of theatre friends prior to seeing The Psychic at Ilion Little Theatre. Of course, in the moment, we all said, “Yeah! Let’s audition! We’ll all go together! It’ll be great!”

A little time passes. Utica seems further away than it did from Ilion (well, I think it is a mile or so closer to Ilion than to Herkimer, but I suppose it depends on which road you take). We’ve never auditioned for Players of Utica, in fact, we don’t even know where they are. Oh, being in a play is so much time and work. We like to come home, put our sweats on and relax after work. We won’t audition.

A little more time passes. Our theatre friends contact us and say, “Hey, are we auditioning or what?” (or words to that effect). Suddenly we remember why we wanted to audition in the first place. WHAT SHOULD WE DO???

Full disclosure: Steven is the one who is more likely to get cast in this production, and he is the one I would really like to audition. After all, I was just in a play. I love to see Steven on stage. He is an excellent actor. However, I will go along and audition. I like to read for a part and, hey, you never know.

I think we will audition. I’m already planning to write a blog post about it.

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Too Sick to Type Anything Good

Posted on April 8, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I called in sick to work today, and I am taking a Bloggers’ Sick Day. On the one hand, you might think I would not have to. After all, I spent the day sleeping and trying to hydrate (a doctor told me the body can ride out many things if it just stays hydrated). One might think I would be feeling better enough to write something decent (wait a minute, would this be one of those hypothetical people we discussed yesterday? Never mind). It has often been observed, I can’t do anything about what other people think about me.

I am feeling marginally better. I woke up in the night with dreadful insomnia. After striving NOT to toss and turn for a couple of hours, my stomach started in. I’ll spare you a blow by blow of my sufferings, but it was bad. I am a HUGE baby when I am sick, and this was worse than my usual sinus, headache, light-headed things that I seem to spend so much time complaining about. One thing about intense nausea, when it finally goes away, I feel SO HAPPY! When the headache goes away, too, my life will be perfect.

Being sick makes for quite the boring day. Sleep felt good when I finally got some, but I couldn’t sleep all day. I read a little, but my head didn’t like that. I thought about turning on the TV but couldn’t quite make up my mind to (indecisiveness is often another symptom of these illnesses). I got on Facebook, but all I could think of was this other (terrible) job I had. A guy had called in sick, and the boss said, “But he was on Facebook this morning.” I was not even on Facebook at the time, but I remember thinking, “Oh, come on, to sit in front of the computer and maybe hit a few keys, you can do that with your head in your hands feeling awful. Getting stuff done at work, not so much.”

This morning, I wondered if any of my Facebook work friends would say, “She can’t be too sick; she was on Facebook.” So I made sure I posted how awful I was feeling. Then I felt guilty, because other people have far worse illnesses than mine (see above statement about me being a baby). Then I got off Facebook, because my head was hurting again.

My husband just looked over and said, “It sounds like you’re saying more than, ‘I’m taking a blogger’s sick day.'” Thus proving my point that you can type in dire circumstances. However, as the late, great Truman Capote once said, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”

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Hypothetically Blogging

Posted on April 7, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’ve got it! Monday Mental Meanderings. This is my new feature. It replaces Monday Middle-aged Musings, which I have mentioned I don’t particularly like. But who could dislike mental meanderings? Oh, I suppose somebody could. Well, that unpleasant hypothetical person does not have to read this.

Here’s a contradiction I just noticed about myself. I hate hypothetical questions yet I constantly have conversations with hypothetical critics. I say they are imaginary conversations (usually arguments) with people in my head (or is that conversations in my head with imaginary people?), but I’m pretty sure they are also hypothetical. Wait a minute. I was just about to embark on a diatribe against hypothetical questions when it occurred to me that I may have already published such a thing. A pause while I check.

A cursory check of past posts revealed nothing. So I continue. I hate hypothetical questions because they usually assume the impossible. “Your house is on fire. All family and pets are saved. You have time to go back and save one object. What do you save?” That’s RIDICULOUS! You don’t go back into a burning house and save one object! That’s asking for death! “Yeah,” says the questioner, “but if you could?”

“YOU CAN’T!!!” I repeat.

Then there’s my favorite (I can’t believe I never put this in a blog post before, but I don’t mind repeating myself): “If you could invite any three people, living or dead to dinner, who would you invite?” For God’s sake, I can’t invite three people who live in this town to dinner and count on them all being able to make it on the same night, never mind the Nobel prize winners or movie stars people usually answer this question with. However, my answer to the question is, “I would invite three dead people, because they wouldn’t eat too much. They also wouldn’t talk too much. It is a well-known fact that dead men tell no tales.”

BUT, one may argue, what if somebody asked you a hypothetical question that did NOT assume the impossible?

Waaaait a minute! Did a hypothetical person just ask me a hypothetical question? I just told you, Homey don’t play that!

Here is a non-hypothetical question: What does anybody think about Monday Mental Meanderings?

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Almost Perfect

Posted on April 6, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

I preface this post by saying that I have just had a lovely day. I had a fun visit with some of my family, ate a wonderful dinner, and now I am home relaxing with my husband and dog. It is the bra off, sweats on portion of the day. The only thing lacking in my day is to hit Publish on my blog post. Then my life will be perfect.

That is something I am fond of saying, “And then my life will be perfect.” I seem to think I coined the phrase one morning in the army. I was still an IET soldier (Initial Entry Trainee), when they made you do all kinds of ridiculous things. On this morning we had to be in Class B uniforms, standing outside in the cold for an interminable length of time. Class B meant skirt, pantyhose and pumps (although I could and later did wear comfy flat tie shoes with the skirt) (there are pants for female Class B as well; I don’t remember if they specifically told us to wear the skirts or if I just could not be bothered to keep my shirt, belt and fly straight on the pants).

Where was I? Ah yes, standing out in an unusually cold day (Monterrey, California was usually a pretty straight 70 degrees), with my toes becoming numb. Cadre was ignoring us but not dismissing us to class, and we were muttering to each other under our breath. I did not want to sound like a big fat whiner (I know, that’s what I pretty much am, but sometimes I don’t want to sound that way), so I said, “If I could take off my shoes and rub my feet for thirty seconds, my life would be perfect.”

Now I know, my life will never be PERFECT. But, really, doesn’t that sound much better than, “My toes are so cold I think I will cry”? So I know I will not have a perfect Sunday. Yet, I hope to avoid my usual Wrist to Forehead Sunday. For one reason, I feel somehow not right having a Wrist to Forehead Sunday on Easter. However, we all know I am rarely up to writing a real post on a Sunday. Also on the Wrist to Forehead side of the scale, holiday or not, I have to work tomorrow. I fight, fight, fight the urge to jump on the Monday Sucks, Everything Sucks bandwagon, but, well, let’s just say, Sunday is not always the thrill I am hoping for.

Back to the Life is Almost Perfect side of the scale, I see I am over 400 words. A more than respectable post! I shall soon hit Publish! Everything will be delightful (that is another favorite expression of mine).

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Come on, Spring!

Posted on April 5, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Technically, Saturday Running Commentary could come back today, but I don’t feel like writing about that run. I ran in place on the mini-tramp, because it was raining and snowing. I watched the rest of that silent movie The Monster that I was watching before (took me three runs to see the whole thing) (and I’m still not clear on who the titular monster was). It continued to precipitate on and off for the rest of the morning, with the wind whistling in an alarming fashion (I always worry somebody will come along and drop a house on me) (it happened to a sister of mine once; long story), so I drove to the post office instead of taking my usual walk with Tabby. This afternoon, however, the sun came out and I thought I would give it a try and perhaps write a Pedestrian Post.

I hid upstairs while I changed sneakers, so Tabby would not get too excited too soon. Of course that merely delayed the inevitable. She was jumping and barking long before I was done puttering around looking for hat, gloves and poop bags. At last we were on our way.

The sidewalks were almost completely bare and dry. I reminded myself to appreciate that and not repine over the dropping temperature. For heavens’ sake, it was in the 60s yesterday. Did it have to drop all the way into the 30s? I kept telling myself it was above freezing, resolutely refusing to speculate on what temperature the windchill was inducing. Tabby did not seem to notice anything but trotted along happily, stopping many times to sniff.

We headed down Bellinger Street toward Meyers Park, Tabby leading the way. I looked around, testing my theory that sunshine makes anything look better. I suppose it does, but I am tired of seeing brown grass and bare trees. Courage, I told myself. Things will grow eventually. At least a lot of the snow is melting. Of course, one effect of that is a lot of old dog poo is appearing. I tried to keep Tabby from sniffing it. “You know what poo smells like,” I tell her. Oh, I know, she probably smells a lot more variation that I do.

Every once in a while the wind would completely die out and I would feel warm sunshine. It never lasted long, but it gave me hope. However, soon the wind started whipping more coldly and my sinuses were not happy. I persevered, because Tabby was so obviously enjoying herself. Also, I must admit, the walk felt good on my legs. I do love to walk. I tried to concentrate on that and ignore the wind. It helps that I have a sweet, cute dog. I look at her trotting along and I feel better about everything.

As we approached home I saw some shoots coming out of the dirt at a neighbor’s house. Yes! Something growing! That makes three houses where I have observed signs of life. It was really not a bad walk, but I sure did appreciate a cup of hot tea when I got home.

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Not Lengthy, But Lame

Posted on April 4, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well, I made it to Lame Post Friday. I know, I’ve been pretty lame all week. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just feel brain dead and disinclined to do anything. It is uncomfortable for me and does not make for interesting reading for you. But I shall persevere and hope you will stick with me till things get better.

Lame Post Friday is traditionally my day for random observations and half-baked philosophy. First a word about half-baked philosophy. A Facebook friend of mine (not a good friend) insists on constantly making the observation that half-baked philosophy is gooey and doughy. It’s an EXPRESSION for Gods’ sake! You don’t need to bring up a disgusting mental image. But if we must view it as a metaphor, sometimes half-baked is crunchy, as in pasta or vegetables. Sometimes it is liable to break on impact, as in pottery. Sometimes it is just cold in the middle, as in any number of things you might bake. So there.

Enough about half-baked philosophy, how about some random observations? I saw an extremely happy dog bouncing about at the end of his leash this morning. I wanted so bad to roll down my window and call, “Look at that happy dog!” Sometimes people are happy to hear you say such things, sometimes not so much. I shan’t attempt any half-baked philosophy as to why that would be so.

My favorite observations of the week was some green shoots coming up in one neighbor’s lawn and some little purple flowers in another. It IS spring! Yay!

And that is what I have for today. Lame and short. I hope you’re all having a lovely Friday.

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I Triumph

Posted on April 3, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

Endorphins still elude me. In fact, I almost titled this post “Still No Endorphins.” However, I wanted to strike a more positive note, because my run was not without its rewards. Still, it took a while to get there. So this may be a lengthy post. We’ll see.

Today was a delightfully warm day, even warmer than one expects in early April, with highs of 60. I knew I would run. I knew I would wear shorts and a t-shirt to run. I hoped it would be a good run. By the time I got home and ready to run, I had my doubts. I must not get enough vitamins or something. Nevertheless, I set out.

I had started a little later than usual, because I had made a stop on the way home from work. I wondered if the delay could be why I was able to immediately cross German Street. This boded well for either of my plans. My first plan had been to run up to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) the back way. This is less steep but longer than the front way. Less overtly daunting but I believe equally challenging. As I felt tired and not motivated I thought I would do the hill by Valley Health and then on into the suburbs.

As I went out German, I was not enjoying the upgrade. I couldn’t run up to HCCC. I wasn’t even sure I could do the hill by Valley Health, but since I had crossed German I supposed I would. I went by the entrance to Brookfield Park. Oh, too steep too soon. I turned up — oh crap, I can’t remember the street’s name, but it is a residential street that leads to the back way up to HCCC. And it begins with an upslope. Ugh. This wasn’t fun. When was running going to get fun again?

As I pondered the unfunness of my run and regretted that my Running Commentary might be a litany of complaint, I wondered if I had jinxed myself. We’ve been talking about running at work, because some of us plan to run the Boilermaker. One co-worker expressed himself as NOT a runner; he thinks running is dumb. “I LOVE to run,” I informed him, more than once. Dammit, why wasn’t I loving it?

I had a few choices of where to run next. The first left would take me DOWNHILL and eventually back the way I came. The first right, a little further up, would take me into the residential area I refer to as the suburbs. The second left (opposite the first right, incidentally) would take me the back way to HCCC. I did NOT want to go that way. However, as I ran I was as usual narrating in my head, planning my blog post. Suddenly I felt that I could not write in my blog that I had wussed out. If I was going to write about this run, I was going uphill. I made the second left.

However, first I bargained thusly with myself: my run time is up to 32 minutes. I would run up the hill for half of that time, 16 minutes (in case you didn’t feel like doing the math). I probably wouldn’t make it to the top, but I would be going uphill for a good portion of my run. Oh dear, just look at that hill. This was the less steep way? Oh well, I wanted to be running up to HCCC as soon as possible.

I continued uphill, looking at my watch often and counting how many minutes till 16. “Just look at your feet and shuffle up that hill,” I told myself, echoing a long followed piece of running advice. I looked ahead at how far I had to go. I can’t say looking down was that much easier. I saw the stream to my left, bubbling busily downhill. Ah, downhill. Where gravity is my friend.

I suppose my title was kind of a spoiler and astute readers have already guessed I made it to the top. It got to a point where I knew I would, but that last little bit, where it goes steep again, was a bit of a struggle. My breathing got a little dicey. And then I was making another left. I was NOT going to turn around and run back the way I came! I was going down the front way! This was GREAT! Running was still not fun, but it was SO SATISFYING! Oh, I was bad ass.

Some students were hanging out in the dorm parking lot as I ran by. They were listening to music and tossing a frisbee. I wanted to call over and ask where the beer was. A little further up I saw three kids standing on the path, talking. They looked more approachable, although I did not, in fact, approach them.

“Those guys over there didn’t invite me to their party,” I called.

“Us neither!” a guy answered, as mystified as I was by the omission.

The euphoria I had experienced at the top of the hill was short-lived. The rest of my run home seemed to take a long time, and my body was not loving it. I suppose this is the kind of run I have to live through. I know it is the kind of run that occurs occasionally even when I have been running regularly for a long time. For now I can only look forward to when I can write a blog post about a run where I feel it is FUN. Maybe I’ll finally get some of them there endorphins.

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