Category Archives: running

Getting Through a Monday Run

The run you take after taking four days off is usually one that you just have to get through.  So I did.

It was an unseasonably warm day, warmer than I like to run in.  I reminded myself that it will be warmer yet in July and August, when I intend to keep running.  After all, I’m not ONLY going to run the Boilermaker 15K.   At least there was no debate over what to wear.  I further reflected that the temperature would warm my leg muscles up.

As I began to run, and as I continued to run, I felt as if I had no leg muscles.  No matter, as I usually say to myself in these situations.  The run had to be endured.  It would be endured.  I distracted myself with any little flowers I saw along the way.  There were a few, although yards are still brown.  A few people were out working on theirs.  I need to do that, too.  Others were out walking or sitting on their porches.  That’s what I wanted to do:  sit down.  I passed some kids on bikes.

“That’s what I need, a set of wheels,” I said.  They did not offer me a ride.

I saw a lot of dogs.  Most of them barked at me.  I like dogs.

By the time I finished my run I was exhausted.  I didn’t even stretch.  In keeping with my ambition to at last get my act together (under the heading “hope springs eternal”), I had put a load of laundry in the washer before I left on the run.  I could not face going down the basement stairs to put it in the drier.  Steven nicely did it for me.  I dragged myself upstairs, wishing I had one of those old lady shower seats.  The cool shower revived me somewhat.

Quite frankly, I feel less revived now.  However, my run is done, the laundry is in the drier, and my blog post is written.  I’ll call that a Monday win.

 

Slogging Toward My Goals

I finally went running this afternoon.  It’s only been two days, but it felt like longer.  I promised myself that after this week, I will run more often.  My promise alternated with feelings of “I never want to run again!”  You’ll have that on occasion.  The best thing to do, I’ve found, is to keep running as best you can.  Sometimes that’s what you have to do when you’re making a blog post, too.

It was one of those days I spent reminding myself that I was going to run after work.  I try to do this in hopes that I’ll just get home, get dressed and go before I have a chance to talk myself out of it.  It didn’t work.  I got home moaning that I did not want to run.  I got dressed for it and got out of the house anyways.  According to  my thermostat, the temperature was 46 degrees.  The last time I ran in 46 degree weather, I rethought my cut-off of 45 degrees for shorts and short-sleeves.  I went upstairs to put on leggings.  Then I got a hot flash and put on the knee-length shorts that were handily on the drying bars.  I kept on the extra large short-sleeved t-shirt I had been wearing all day.  A headband would cover my ears and/or absorb my forehead sweat.

Earlier today, I had occasion to ask if “slog” was really a word, as in, “I am just slogging through this day.”  My co-workers said it was.  I just now looked it up in my dictionary and, sure enough, it is.  So there I was slogging through my run.  That was OK, though, I told myself, it is all part of getting into shape.  I distracted myself by noticing some flowers in somebody’s lawn.  Very nice.  The first one’s I’ve seen this year.  Most of the snow and mud were gone from the sidewalk, so that was nice, too.  I kept going as best as I could.

I said to myself that each step was a step was bringing me closer to my goals.  Closer to my Boilermaker 15K goals.  Closer to my weight-loss goals.  Closer to the end of the run when I would have a nice glass of wine with my husband.  Hey, you take what motivation you can and, you should pardon the expression, run with it.

It was really not a bad run, for being kind of a slog.  I was happy with myself for doing it.  I’m also happy I got a blog post written.  Perhaps not as good of a blog post as others, but you’ll have that.  For a Wuss-out Wednesday, it’ll do.

 

A Lean, Mean Something or Other

Did anybody think I was so busy with theatrical murder that I was forgetting my Boilermaker ambitions?  Say it ain’t so!  Last week was not the best I’ve had (this is using a Sunday through Saturday week as opposed to a Monday through Sunday week, as some see it) (ooh, that could be a whole other blog post, where the week starts and ends, help me remember that, will you?).  However (are you still with me after those long parenthetical comments?), one can improve.  So I had a good run today, and now I’m going to write a Running Commentary post about it.

I waited to run till almost 11:30, because it was cold this morning.  It was not too cold to run, but I also wanted to hang out with my husband, go to the grocery store, maybe do the dishes…  Of course this would give me plenty of opportunity to talk myself out of running at all, but I managed to avoid that disaster.  As a matter of fact, it was easier to get myself to run than it was to do the dishes, and there weren’t that many dishes.  I was just not in the mood to do the dishes.

Once the dishes were done, though, and I took another Facebook break (that is what I do on Sundays: get a little bit done, look at Facebook, repeat), I got dressed and went.  It was 46 degrees, one degree above my cut-off for shorts and short sleeves, so I thought, Score!  I still put on a wide headband to cover my ears.  I placed my sweatshirt and water bottle in a handy spot for my cool-down walk and took off.

The first thing I did was to re-think my cut-off temperature for shorts and short sleeves.  That wind was cold!  But there was nothing to do but keep running and hope for a hot flash.  It was a sunny day with some clouds (I don’t want to say “partly cloudy” because it really did seem more sun than cloud).  When the sun came out fully and the wind died down, I felt some warmth.  The sidewalks were almost completely bare, so I appreciated that.

I wished my running time were long enough to run up the hill to Herkimer College (formerly HCCC) (pronounced H-triple-C).  I wanted to feel bad-ass, and it was such a bright day the view would have been awesome.  I tried to mentally calculate when I would be running long enough to make it up and back, but I couldn’t do the math.  I went up the hill by Valley Health instead.  That turned out to be challenging enough for me.  I was out of breath by the time I reached the top and turned left. As I noted the sidewalk still rising at a lesser angle, my in-head narration was interrupted by my realization that I did not know the name of the street I was on.  There was a street sign.  Exchange Avenue.  As I continued to run, I pondered what could be the difference between a street and an avenue and how they decide which gets named what.

My goal for the run was 31 minutes, that is, 10 percent longer than I ran last weekend.  My body vacillated between “I can rock this” and “Can we stop now?” I kept going for my full 31 minutes.  As I walked my cool-down, my legs felt wonderful, as if they would soon be capable of carrying me for miles. I told myself I was going to be in great shape for the Boilermaker 15K.  And if I continue to eat sensibly, running will help me attain my weight-loss goals.  I will be a mean, lean, not very fast running machine!

 

Not a Good Week, But a Not Bad Run

It has not been a good week for running.  Monday I was melancholy, Tuesday I had rehearsal, Wednesday we got our taxes done (more melancholy there, too, but never mind that), and that bring us to Non-Sequitur Thursday.  I am training for the Boilermaker 15K.  I was determined to run.

The weather report said we might be getting freezing rain or snow or some such stuff tonight, but nothing had started when I got home from work shortly after 3 p.m.  My thermostat said it was 45 degrees out.  That is my cut-off temperature for shorts and short sleeves.  I hesitated, though, because I can’t say I’m really back in shape yet, and it is just getting to 45 degrees.  I would have felt better at 46 degrees.  I compromised on leggings that came just below the knee and a short-sleeved t-shirt. A wide headband could cover my ears.  I put my sweatshirt and a bottle of water on the deck for my cool-down walk and set out.

A lot of the snow that Stella dumped on us has gone; the sidewalks were mostly bare and dry.  I could rock this.  I turned left onto German Street, to do my usual down Caroline, up Margaret, down Henry, up Bellinger route.  I was moving pretty slowly, but you’ll definitely have that after three days off.  The temperature was not bad at all.

Until the wind picked up, which it soon did.  No matter, I would just keep running till it warmed me up.  I find that works better for legs than for arms and hands, especially hands.  It was still no matter, because I was determined to keep running.  I concentrated on how much I appreciate bare, dry sidewalks.  I made nothing of the few puddles.  I ran through or around some remaining snow.

At one point, two little kids were playing in front of a house while their mother sat on the steps.  The little boy was drawing on the sidewalk with chalk.  The little girl was moving shovelfuls of show, annoying the boy by dropping some on his picture.

“I’ll try to step around your art,” I said.  I also had to dodge the little girl, who stepped right in front of me.  Luckily we did not collide and I ran on.

A little later, I passed a man and said hello.  He said, “Boilermaker?”

“I hope so,” I answered.

“Good for you!”

I ran on before I had time to say thanks.  I wondered why I said I hoped so instead of “Damn skippy” or “You bet!”  After all, I am pretty damn sure I will run the 15K and make it through the whole thing.  On the other hand, it cannot be denied that shit happens, and those who are too sure of themselves sometimes come to grief.   I kept running, realizing that this would help keep me from coming to grief on the Boilermaker.  This is me, getting into shape, I told myself.

It was quite pleasant when the wind was still, which was not often.  However, I managed to run for 29 minutes, equal to my last longest time.  And I see now that I have over 500 words, a longer blog post than I have managed lately.   I say not bad for Thursday of a melancholy week.

 

To Boil or Not to Boil?

I thought I would take this week’s Wrist to Forehead Sunday post to spend a little time dithering on the computer screen about the latest decision I am angsting over (I know, angsting is not a word, but I just can’t think of the word I want): Should I or should I not run the Boilermaker 15K?

I have looked at the calendar and I have enough time to build up my run time to where I like it to be.  In fact, I even have some wiggle room if I utilize my maxim of, “If you can run for one hour, you can run for two; just don’t stop.”  I want to start running again. It is a good idea to have a goal to work towards.  I can get a lot of good blog posts out of it.  It is a great Mohawk Valley thing to do. The Boilermaker falls right in the middle of my employer’s two week shut-down in July.

Those are the pros.

There are a hell of a lot of people running the Boilermaker.  I hate crowds.  Getting my runner’s packet is another fairly intimidating crowd scene for me.  I cannot be as lazy and irresponsible about taking car of myself on my vacation. (Oh, I know, that last one is probably a good thing, especially at my age.  As if YOU always do the right thing for your body!)  Transportation to and from the race is often a problem.

Those are a few of the cons.  I could probably think of more, but do I want to talk myself into this or out of it?

I asked the Magic 8 Ball I gave my husband Steven for his birthday, and it said I should. Of course that is not a quote. I asked multiple times, and although a couple of times it told me to ask later or said the answer was unclear, it never directly said not to.  No, I am not relying on a novelty toy for my answer.  I wasn’t even doing the thing of, “It’ll tell you what you really think, because you will be elated or disappointed by the answer.”  I just thought it would be fun.  You know how I like to get silly.

So now I shall open the floor to my lovely readers.  What do you think?

One other question:  When you saw the headline, did you think I was talking about hot dogs?  Hmmm… I could go for a hot dog.  Fried or grilled, though, not boiled.  Happy Sunday, folks.

 

Literally Running Lines

Do you like that title?  I thought of it while I was at work today.  I wanted to run, since I had taken two days off, and I need to work on my lines for Steel Magnolias (remember, that play I’m in at Ilion Little Theatre?).  Steven would be home and was willing to run them with me.  I decided to do both chores at once by running in place on the mini-tramp.

As I drove home, I regretted my plan, because it was unseasonably warm and the sidewalks looked not too bad.  However, I have lines to work on and a husband to spend time with.  I put on indoor running clothes and cleared off the tramp (it is such a handy place to put things!).  I set a bottle of water on the coffee table and got going.

As often happens when running on the mini-tramp, I felt I was moving faster than I do outside.  I really don’t enjoy the up/down motion of running in place as much as the low shuffle of running down the street.  I also like the changing scenery better than the television.  However, I was not supposed to be looking at the television; I was supposed to be thinking about my lines.

And I didn’t do too badly.   Some of the lines I had forgotten but remembered when Steven gave me the cue.  Some of the longer lines I did not know word for word.  But I feel pretty confident to go to rehearsal and not have my book in my hand.  For Act I Scene 1, at least.  Imagine my chagrin when I chatted with a fellow cast member via Facebook and found out we are doing Act II Scene 2.  Oh well, I have all day at work tomorrow to study that one some more.

As for my run, I ran in place for 28 minutes, six minutes more than I ran on Sunday.  Woohoo!  I only walked a three minute cool-down, because walking around the house just not as good as walking around the block.  I felt pretty pleased with myself for getting some exercise, and for giving myself something to write a blog post about, complete with headline.  Was it a great blog post?  Perhaps not, but I can’t worry about that now.  At least it wasn’t Wuss-out Wednesday.  Hope to see you all on Non-Sequitur Thursday.

 

Grey Run

I bet some of you thought I was never going to run again (while others of you are saying, “I never thought that!”).  I confess, I had my own doubts.  But today it was a choice between go running or eat something and I chose running!  I believe this demonstrates that there is indeed hope for me. (Full disclosure:  I ate something after the run.)

It was 40 degrees out, five degrees below my perhaps arbitrary border for running in shorts and short sleeves.  I found a pair of log johns that were only semi-dirty (I always feel so reduce-reuse-recycle when I wear something more than once before washing it) and pulled a long-sleeved running shirt out of my pile.  I was going to look for a ARMY t-shirt with a reflective decal in the back, but the sun was up and I was in a hurry.

Spunky wanted to go out when he saw me bustling about getting ready, so I took him for a short business meeting, then I was off.  Right away I thought, “Why oh why did I ever stop running?”  I also felt that the time not running had not wrought total havoc on my body.  Just a note:  I did not COMPLETELY stop running; let’s just say my habits have been  sporadic.  I turned right on German Street. Usually when I have not run in a while, I turn left, then go down Caroline Street, up Margaret, then down Henry.  That sounded boring to me.

It was grey and gloomy out.  I admired the bare trees against the sky, as I always do.  Perhaps I will venture out later with my Tablet and try to get a few pictures.  Soon it became apparent that my lack of running regularly had, naturally enough, had a negative impact on my body.  My legs were quite unhappy with me.  I sternly told myself that one must have the not so fun runs in order to get to the good stuff.  I tried to distract myself by deciding where to run.  Up Main Street and down the nice path?  I saw a man walking a dog in that direction and decided against it.  I do like to stop and pet a dog, but in the first place I did not know if that was a pettable dog and in the second place, I didn’t think it was a good idea for me to stop.

By the time I got to the end of German Street I had run almost ten minutes.  Oh dear, that doesn’t usually take me that long, does it?  Then again, what did that matter?  I set out to run a certain length of time; who cares how much ground I actually cover?  I thought a 20 minute run would be good.  I tried to feel happy about being halfway there.  It really wasn’t a horrible run.  Just kind of grey, meaning the sky and my mood.  Well, how much of life is in the grey area?  I’m thinking, a lot.

I looked at houses as I passed.  I saw one that still had red ribbons and wreaths on the porch.  As I ran I was narrating in my head that I went down this street, then that to the other, but that is more words than I feel like typing right now.  I ran by Herkimer’s Historic Four Corners.  There were poinsettias, red and gold foil, in the urns outside the Historical Society.  I made the sign of the cross as I ran by Herkimer Reformed Church.  I also noted the County Courthouse and 1834 Jail which make up the other two corners.

My run ended up being 22 minutes long.  I said good morning to three dog walkers as I walked around the block for my cool-down.  They were across the street from me, so I still didn’t get to pet a dog.  I petted my own dog when I got home.  I felt very happy that I ran again.  I hope to keep it up in the coming weeks.  I’ll probably write more blog posts about it.

 

Don We Now Our Running Apparel

I felt glorious as I got dressed to go running this morning.  Yes, “glorious” is the exact word that entered my head as I dug out the running clothes I have not had on since much earlier this month.  I was excited to go running, and hoped to write a Running Commentary blog post (we’ll see how that goes).

Yesterday we had terrible freezing rain.  I left the house very few times for specific reasons:  to help Steven scrape ice off his vehicle, to take my dog for a business meeting, and to decide NOT to scrape ice off my vehicle and drive anywhere.  I thought today was going to be better.  Listening to Jill Reale on WKTV News this morning, I found it was going to start out warm(ish) then get colder as we go on. Obviously there was no time to waste.

The sun was not all the way up when I started.  I donned my reflective vest, because I intended to run in the road, which had a decent shot at not being ice covered.  Really, as I started down my road, narrating in my head as I like to do, I thought, “I donned my reflective vest…”  Then I chuckled at myself for using an old timey word like that.  Then “Deck the Halls” played in my head for the rest of the run. It is not a bad tune to run to.  I thought of making up new words to it (another hobby of mine), but all I came up with was “heedless of the tacky pleather”  (you know, like “heedless of the wind and weather”) (I don’t expect everybody to know all the verses).

Fortunately there was not much traffic, since the side of the road had frozen and semi-frozen puddles.  The busiest street I ran on was German.  I ran all the way to the end, rounded the corner and ran down Church Street to Main.  Main Street in Herkimer is sometimes busy, sometimes not so much.  It was a busy moment, which was bad for me, since I had to cross the street to continue left-side-facing-traffic, which I am quite the stickler for.  Then I noticed that the sidewalk was almost completely clear.  Score!

I did not run all the way down Main, but cut through the little park by Basloe Library (open normal hours today, yay!), then crossed Pleasant Street.  This way I could go by the “Do Not Enter” sign on Bellinger Avenue.  I so enjoy entering where it says not to.  I crossed my own street to run up Henry.  I had thought to run a mere 20 minutes, because it had been so long since running last.  Then I thought, it didn’t matter if I ran too long and got achey legs, because my legs also ache from not running.  As I like to say, pick your pain.

I ended up running 23 minutes then walked 11 for my cool-down.  It was a wonderful run.  Every step felt good and the cool-down walk felt awesome!  I thought, “I have found the secret to happiness!”  I’m damned if I can remember why I stopped running.  I hope to not be so silly again.

 

Possibly a Pre-5K Run

I actually wrote part of a blog post while at work today (um, on a BREAK, not while working), but then I came home and went running, so I thought I would like to make a Running Commentary Post instead.

This Saturday, Dec. 10, is the Reindeer Run 5K, part of the Christmas in Little Falls festivities. I have been saying I am going to run it.  Maybe.  As I left work today, I said to my co-worker, “I guess I’d better go running today, if I think I’m going to run a 5K on Saturday.”

“If you’re going to run Saturday, what do you need to run today for?” he asked.  He was not serious.

As I left work, I was a little afraid the temperature would be borderline.  That is, should I wear leggings and long-sleeves or shorts and t-shirt?  When I took Spunky for a walk as soon as I got home, I got a dreadful hot flash.  They have been getting hotter, and they are not over in a flash.  They do not particularly bother me; I just ride them out.  However, it impaired my ability to judge the weather.

Getting back home, I noted that the thermostat said 42 degrees.  My rule for myself is shorts and short-sleeves for 45 degrees and warmer.  Still, 42 sounded pretty warm to me, and the hot flash wasn’t quitting.  Still, I had made up that rule for myself…

I put on leggings and long sleeves.  The leggings felt too tight, so I looked for a pair of fat old lady pants instead.  I had run in fat old lady pants recently and found it works pretty good.  Fat old lady pants, in case you did not know, are fairly loose-fitting, elastic-waist, poly-cotton blend.  The pair I found had pockets, which I liked.  It would be handier for my watch, for one reason.  The band is broken on my wrist-watch, so now I pin it to my pants and make it a waist-watch.

It didn’t feel too cold or two warm as I started down the sidewalk.  I had it in mind to run up the hill to Herkimer College, a challenging 40-minute run to make sure I was ready for the 5K.  I managed to cross German Street without too much problem and ran down the sidewalk, avoiding the occasional puddle.  I had set out at 3:40 (15:40, my watch said; I have military time) (um, not because I was in the army; it’s because I don’t want to screw up and set the alarm for p.m. instead of a.m.).  There was a lot of traffic.

Soon I was running up Lou Ambers Drive.  It seemed to take a long time to get to the steep part.  Cars whizzed by me, mostly not slowing down or getting over.  I couldn’t blame them for not getting over, because there was also a lot of traffic going in the other direction.  As I ran, a song I had been singing to Spunky kept playing in my head:

He’d a good dog named Spunky

His name is Spunky and he’s a good  dog.

The lyrics are not inspired, but it has a good rhythm to run to.  I remembered when I was in Army Basic Training, one of my buddies was on profile and did not run all through Basic, till the very end (“on profile” is a medical thing).  Then she had to run the two-mile PT (physical training) test.  She said she was going to sing Christmas carols to herself to keep going.  It worked for her, because she passed.  I decided to sing a few Christmas carols to myself today.  It was not the miracle I was hoping for as far as taking my mind off the hill.  But I made it to the top.

I could see down to Herkimer, which I had not been able to do the last couple of times I made that run.  It was overcast and grey, but I could see buildings. However, I could not linger and really look.  I kept running.

By the time I got back to the village and level ground, I realized I could rock this.  I thought about the 5K and pictured myself at the 2 mile mark encouraging my fellow runners by shouting, “We can rock this!”  Oh yeah, like anybody there will run as slowly as I do!

I made my 40 minutes and was pretty pleased with myself.  I must confess, I am not as pleased with my blog post, but you’ll have that.  I still haven’t quite made up my mind about the 5K.  I’ll let you know.  In the meantime, I will gather what satisfaction I can from the fact that I did not make a Wuss-out Wednesday post.

 

Rain, Not Lame, Run

Well, it is Friday, but I made a Friday Lame Post earlier this week, so I thought I would attempt a Running Commentary.  For one reason, it added to my motivation to run this morning.

I did not get out the door till about 7:30, but it was still pretty cold.  It had been raining in the night but seemed to have stopped.  My dog Spunky indicated that he wanted to go for a walk while I was bustling about getting ready, so I had a preview of the temperature.  Brr!  Spunky didn’t even make it to the end of the driveway.  Nevertheless, I had decided to run, I was going to run.

Another reason I wanted to run was that I could run by Ramar Liquor. No, not to buy booze!  (Not but what a glass of wine would taste pretty good right now, but I digress.)  Anyone who read yesterday’s post may remember that the business unfortunately burned down.  Does this make me a rubber-necking busybody or a concerned customer?  No matter, it was motivation to get out the door so I went.

Ramar’s is located on Caroline Street, which I often run on anyways.  I don’t usually run as far down as Ramar’s, but today I planned to.  It is only a block further from where I usually turn.  The sidewalks were wet but not slippery.  They were mostly bare with a few patches of snow.  Oh dear.  I did not want another wet sock run.  I went around snow and puddles as best I could.  The cold was not too dreadful.  Only my face was really uncomfortable.  My legs were pumping along with no problem, and my breathing wasn’t too bad either.

Caution tape surrounded the sad burned-out liquor store, but the sidewalk was not blocked off.  A few men were standing outside, including one I knew by sight as one of the owners.  As I ran by, I caught his eye and said good morning.

“I was so sorry to hear about this,”  I said.

“Thank you,” he answered.

I was glad I had been able to express some sympathy, although I suppose it didn’t really help much.  I still had the greater part of my run to get through, so of course I kept going.

It started to rain again.  First a few drops that I could pretend to myself were merely blowing off the trees, then a more steady rain.  However, it was not a downpour and I was able to keep going.  I did not feel too tired till almost the end of the run, so I felt pretty good about that.  I didn’t even mind the rain too much, although it did gather on my glasses and obscure my vision a bit.

I ended up running 30 minutes, which was perhaps less than I ought to have done (my last longest run was 38), especially considering I am hoping to run a 5K.  Then again, I can’t quite remember when and where the 5K is, so perhaps my ambitions are for naught.  In any case, I ran today.  I burned a few calories, enhanced my health, and wrote a (hopefully non-lame) blog post.  We’ll call that a win.  Happy Friday, everyone.