Tag Archives: running

Thunky Run on Tired Tuesday

Posted on May 3, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I think a Running Commentary post is good on a Tired Tuesday.  At least it gives me a good excuse for being tired.  I definitely planned on running today but was not sure if I would run outside or inside on the mini-tramp.  One minute it was pouring rain, the next minute the sun came out.  I reminded myself of one of my favorite sayings, “I ain’t sugar; I won’t melt.”  As I walked out of my place of employment with my friend Karl, I pointed at the bi-polar sky.

“Look at that, dark clouds over there, bright sunshine over there.”

“Run in that direction,” he advised.

As I got ready to head out the door, I could hear rain on the tin roof of the back porch but could not tell if it was still raining or just blowing off the trees.  When I left the house, it was not raining.  I checked the sky, trying to decide which direction to run in. As I reached German Street, neither direction looked threatening.  Even the road was bare for the moment, so I darted across.  Now what did I do that for, I asked myself. I was just going to have to cross back later, and now I felt obligated to run one of the hills on that side of the street.

I headed towards Main Street, considering my options.  I could, rather that going up the hill on Main, cut over and run on the nice little path over what used to be the Hydraulic Canal.  I started up Main, thinking to do just that.  Then right when it was time for me to cross the street to cut over to the path, a car was coming.  You know how I hate to backtrack.  I said to myself, “Do you want to challenge yourself or not?”  I did not answer but by this time I could see the hill and it really did not look too bad.  Up I went.

And it wasn’t fun.  However, once I start up a hill, I usually make it to the top, and today was no exception.  I thought the rest of the run would probably be easier and congratulated myself on meeting a challenge.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  I plodded along, feeling heavier and older with each step.

The point is, I kept plodding.  I had not completely decided how long I intended to run for, but I went farther than the minimum I had in mind.  It was in the last quarter of the run that I started to feel not too bad.  This is how it is, I told myself.  Every run sucks until it doesn’t suck any more.  I was at that point tired enough that the thought struck me as profound.  I see now that it isn’t, but it is closely aligned to a thought that has often given me comfort:  Sometimes you just have to feel that way until you don’t feel that way any more.

So on this run, I felt old, tired and thunky.  And then I felt not too bad.  During my cool-down walk, I got rained on.  Then I felt wet and cold.  However, as I predicted in the first paragraph, I didn’t melt.  Now I feel pleased that I ran and moderately pleased with my blog post about it.  Now I’m wondering what I can possibly come up with for Wuss-out Wednesday.

 

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Long Run, Long Post

Posted on April 30, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

There was a moment on this morning’s run when I did not feel that I was rocking it, yet I suspected I was.  Later on, when I had finished my run and was about to begin my cool-down walk, I felt an impulse to yell, “Yes!  I am Bad! Ass!”  Of course I did not.  It would be the wrong thing to do in a residential neighborhood prior to eight o’clock on a Sunday morning.

I had not run for two days and when I got out of bed this morning, I felt the desire to make it three.  After a cup of coffee I felt a little better about things.  The temperature was 45 degrees, my cut-off temperature for shorts and short sleeves which, as regular readers may recall, I have been thinking about re-thinking but I never feel like doing that much thinking.  So I dithered a little before getting dressed, but eventually got into shorts and short sleeves.  After all, it was supposed to be a long run.  I would have plenty of time to get warmed up.

My run was further delayed by a plumbing problem.  While the toilet was filling it began to make a hideous, loud pounding noise.  Steven turned off the water and got on the phone with our plumber.  I did not know how long the water would remain off so thought it best not to get all sweaty and stinky right away.  I got myself a half slice of the pizza we had sent out for last night and awaited events.

Our plumber, it turned out, is visiting family in New Jersey and won’t return till Tuesday.  However, when Steven described the problem, he said as long as the noise stopped when the bowl was filled, nothing terrible would happen and he would take a look at it on Tuesday. That’s in a nutshell.  I would probably get it wrong if I tried to repeat the whole thing and, anyways, this is Sunday Running Commentary, not a Plumbing Post.

So I decided to run without waiting for the pizza to digest.  I’m always pretty good about waiting an hour or two after eating, but now that I think about it, that’s what they always told us about swimming, not running.  I didn’t know what would happen for running but decided to find out.

I had it in my head to run up to Herkimer College, but as soon as I started running I knew I didn’t feel like doing that.  I was cold, especially my hands.  I was tired.  I was afraid this would not be an especially fun run.  However, I did not feel as utterly incapable of continuing as I had felt on Thursday, so I counted my blessings and headed towards the college.  Before I got to Lou Ambers Drive, I thought of running up the back road to the college.  Not as steep but longer.  That would work.

As I ran through a residential area, I saw my neighbors delivering papers and said good morning.  The wife told me to run a couple of miles for her.

“I will!”  I had no idea how many miles, if any, I would actually run that day, but I wanted to be obliging.

“All right!”

It wasn’t much fun running up the hill, but I tried to appreciate the woods on either side of me.  The little stream to my left laughed at  me as usual.”Look at me, going downhill,” it seemed to say.  “Look how easy this is and how much fun I’m having!  This is the way to go!”  But it was a weird image in my head.  Was the stream talking to me or was it all the little molecules of water talking in unison?  That’s the trouble with anthropomorphizing some things. Anyways, I thought, who wants to go in only one direction?  Wouldn’t you like to decide where to go?  And I thought there might be a profound point to make about how people often want to go in the more difficult direction and have to figure out ways to do it. Man vs. nature, and all that sort of thing.  I was having too much trouble running to come any good conclusions on these thoughts, but these are the things that go through my head sometimes.

At one point I looked ahead and saw how pretty the road looked, curving around to an unknown destination.  I will have to go back with my tablet and get a picture to share with you.  I thought how one might not know where the road went after the curve, so it would make an evocative picture.  However, I knew that once I got around that curve I would be almost at the top of the hill, so I was encouraged.

At last I was there.  Puff, puff.  Running is certainly an effort at times.  I wondered if it was the pizza weighing me down.  However, I did not feel sick to my stomach, so I counted my blessings and kept going.  When the road began to slope down, I felt very happy.  Now all I had to do was move my feet and let gravity take me along.  Then the downgrade got too steep to be really enjoyable.  I leaned back and tried not to jounce myself too much.  I thought of a story my husband Steve tells about how he was running down a hill as a boy and got out of control fast.  That did not happen to me today.

As usual, I calculated in my head a few times if I ran X today, then increased it by 10 percent each week, where would I be at the end of June?  I figure in pretty good shape for the Boilermaker 15K in July.  It was towards the bottom of the hill that I experienced the thought that I was rocking the run while not feeling that I was.  I was soon extremely tired but managed to keep going.

Eventually an odd thing happened.  I still did not feel I was rocking it, but my legs felt pretty good.  They felt supple, warmed up and, well, like legs that were capable of running for a damn long time.  My breathing was a bit labored, but my legs were all, “We cool.”

Now I see I have gone on for over 1,000 words.  I haven’t done a Running Commentary that long in a while!  And how appropriate, since this was my longest run in 2017. Boilermaker, here I come!

 

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I Interrupt my Coffee for a Friday Lame Post

Posted on April 28, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Can I make a post at 4:30 in the morning on Lame Post Friday?  Apparently I can, because here I am, typing.  Will it be any good?  Oh, who cares on Lame Post Friday?  I’ll just keep typing.

I left out one good part of my run yesterday.  Towards the end, I heard a horn beep and I recognized the car and occupant!

Now, I am famous for not recognizing folks who beep at me.  In fact, many years ago when I lived in Potsdam, I completely stopped looking up when I heard a beep.  This is because I was a young, fairly shapely female and it seemed every beep came from, as I put it at the time, “some asshole in a pick-up truck with a baseball hat yelling, ‘Hey, Babe!'”

Oh, don’t start hating at me!  There is nothing wrong with driving a pick-up truck or wearing a baseball hat.  Personally, I miss driving a pick-up truck, and I know many very pleasant people who invariably wear a baseball hat.  This was in the late 1980’s.  I’m just repeating what happened and what I said about it at the time.  These days, I usually look.  I haven’t gotten a “Hey, Babe!” in years.  The last thing that got yelled at me was, “Hey, Grandma!”  I laughed at that.

Getting back to today’s good story, when I looked up yesterday, I immediately recognized the delivery car for the Medicine Shoppe, driven by my friend Rick.  We waved at each other.  Yay, I love Rick!  I love The Medicine Shoppe, too, so you see I have gotten a in shout-out to a local business.  Pretty good for 4:30 in the morning.  I’m going back to drinking coffee now.

 

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Sue Me on Sunday

Posted on April 24, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was going to write about last night’s theatrical triumph at the murder mystery Who Shot JS?.  I even had a title picked out, “We Killed Off Jack.”  Oh well, maybe not the best title, and perhaps I would have come up with something better.  If I would have written that post.  Logging on to WordPress, I thought perhaps I should look forward not back, and write about the audition I just had for The Tempest for LiFT Theatre Company of Little Falls.  I didn’t do very well but feel I may get a part anyways.  Additionally, I ran this morning, so a Sunday Running Commentary is well within the scope of possibility.

But here I sit, typing in a common or garden Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.

I just can’t help it: I am hard-wired to take Sundays off.  I am not exactly programmed to work as hard as I ought the rest of the days, either, but let’s take our week 1/7th at a time, as God intended (I use that expression a lot, “as God intended,” although I do not really purport to understand the mental workings of the Almighty).

The nice thing is, for the rest of the week, I have no place I have to be until Friday.  Go to work, come home.  Run.  Do laundry.  Clean the house.  Make blog posts.  Simple, right?  Well, I still feel I need to take it a little easy on myself on Sunday.  Sue me.  In the meantime, I am over 200 words.  I am in the bra off, pajama bottoms on, wine sipping, crocheting, TV watching portion of the day.  Time to stop typing and get on with the crocheting and TV watching.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

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A Triumph, Or Do I Flatter Myself?

Posted on April 23, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Is it as much of a triumph if, on the way to your goal, you inwardly grumbled and fussed and wished yourself elsewhere?  Or does that make it more of a triumph, that you overcame your own resistance and fought the enemy that was you?

Another philosophical question:  does it matter much if I do another post about running so soon?

The questions in the first paragraph occurred to me in the middle of this morning’s run.  I made it up the hill to Herkimer College (formerly referred to as HCCC), the first time I have done so in a while.  Even getting on the road was something of a triumph, because my first thought on getting out of bed was, “Thank God I ran yesterday when I didn’t want to, because now it won’t be so bad if I don’t run again till tomorrow.”  A cup of coffee helped me change my mind.

It was 46 degrees, according to my thermostat, one degree over my limit for shorts and short sleeves.  I had been going to rethink that rule, but I could not be bothered with thinking this morning.  I found stuff to wear and got out the door.  I soon lamented my cold hands but comforted myself with the thought that I would not try to write anything for a while after the run.

I had told Steven I might run up to HCCC, but I wouldn’t guarantee it.  As a friend of mine said once, “I don’t make plans, promises or excuses.”  I could have expounded for a while on that excellent rule, but I only would have been stalling my run, so I did not.  Instead I ran toward German Street  and turned myself in the direction of the college.  I could not see any alternative to running up that hill.  I had to do it sooner or later, I thought.  The longer I put it off, the worse it would be.  I realize that, logically speaking, that is not strictly true (do I really need both those adverbs in that sentence?  I do tend to overdo it with the adverbs).  If I kept increasing my run time, and kept running other hills (of which there are not that many in Herkimer), it would get easier not harder to run up one particular hill.  But as I said earlier, I could not be bothered with a lot of thinking this morning.

Besides, I wanted to feel bad-ass.

Going up that hill was not fun.  Looking ahead didn’t help.  Looking down at my feet didn’t help.  Looking back at how far I came helped a little bit, since I didn’t do that till I was more than half-way up.  I tried to distract myself by looking at the green on the bushes and some of the trees to the left and right of me.  I do like to see the green.  I did not see any deer or other critters.  A couple of cars went by, also headed up the hill, but I did not try to hitch a ride.  They probably would not have stopped in any case.

At last, at last, I was at the top!  I wanted to put my arms over my head and make fists, although there was nobody nearby to sing, “We Are the Champions”  (regular readers may recall that at the end of a difficult run, I enjoy to walk around with my fists in the air while somebody sings, “We Are the Champions,” if I can get anybody to do so).   I just kept running normally, though, looking forward to the downhill part of my run.

I upped my time by the recommended 10 percent, so I felt pretty pleased about that.  Then I had a hot flash while I was stretching, so a cool shower felt really good.  I used good-smelling soap and lotion (white gardenia, my favorite), so I could feel pretty. Even us bad-ass runners like to feel pretty sometimes. I meant to make my Running Commentary post soon after my run, and perhaps include more of my observations and philosophical thoughts.  Then again, I’ve approaching 700 words.  That is pretty long for me. And I have a murder mystery to get ready for.  Happy Saturday, everyone.

 

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Lame Me! I Guess.

Posted on April 22, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have mentioned this before but I repeat it now for reasons which will become obvious:  in one of the Georgette Heyer Regency Romances I adore, the heroine, during a time of great stress and exertion, has a glass of wine with dinner and feels “fresh as a nosegay.”  I feel sure it will be obvious to even new readers that I am currently sipping a glass of wine in hopes of experiencing a similar rejuvenation.  It seems to be working, which I can only suppose is placebo effect, which I do not scorn.

I got the bottle at Ilion Wine and Spirits.  I had stopped in to The Medicine Shoppe to pick up a prescription, and the two businesses are located very close to each other.  Additionally, I wanted to support Ilion Wine and Spirits, because they are a supporter of Ilion Little Theatre AND they are a sponsor of Who Shot JS? the murder mystery benefit for Herkimer County Historical Society.

This was not my only stop before going home.  I also had to go get certain feminine supplies, a couple of props for the murder mystery, and milk.  I thought with all this running around, it would be OK to not go running.

And then I went running.  Yay, me!  I guess.  It was not a great run or even a particularly good run, but it was a run.  On my cool-down walk, I met up with the doggy Mama of a couple of neighborhood dogs, and we walked a block or so together.  I had not talked to her in a while, so I told her about the sad passing of Spunky.  She shared with me the equally sad news that Nicky, another of my doggy friends, had died over the winter.  I was devastated.  I love Nicky!  I pretty sure I have mentioned stopping to pet him while running.

So now I am trying to finish my Friday Lame Post before Steven gets home.  Thank goodness for Lame Post Friday when I am so tired!  The nosegay effect only lasted for the first couple of paragraphs.  No matter.  I am over 350 words and my self-imposed word-count for a respectable post is 200.  Once again, Yay me!  I guess.

 

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No Thunder, No Horror, Two Dogs

Posted on April 21, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

My intention was to run and make a Running Commentary post.  I did run.  I ran for 30 minutes. Now I am just too damn tired to write about it.  Well, maybe I can manage a paragraph or two.

The weather report this morning called for scattered rain with occasional thunderstorms this afternoon.  I was not concerned about that.  I figured I could run in place on the mini-tramp.  While I ran, I would watch  the silent movie, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring John Barrymore. I just finished reading a biography of John Barrymore, and I have that movie in one of my DVD horror collections.  Doesn’t that sound awesome?  Watching an old horror movie with a thunderstorm going on outside.  That would rock!

AAAaaand, no thunderstorm.  Not even any rain.  It was, in fact, pretty good weather to run outdoors.  It was warm enough for shorts and short sleeves, and cloudy enough not to be too hot.  I actually prefer running outdoors to running on the mini-tramp, even with something good on TV.  I did not even have to talk myself into it (or avoid talking myself out of it).  I had gone two days without running and did not want to make it three.  I even have it in my head to see how many days in a row I can run, starting today.  I’ll let you know how that works out.

So I ran and it did not go too badly.  It went slowly, or rather I went slowly.  I petted two dogs, both being walked by the same person.  They were beautiful animals, a red retriever (that’s not right; what is the red kind called?) and a German shepherd (this is really going to bug me, what are those red retrievers called?) (Wait a minute!  They’re not retrievers at all: they are Irish Setters!) (what a moron I am!).

Incidentally, still working on having my act together, I had a load of laundry in the washer while I ran.  I feel I should just mention, however, that the room I was determined to clean up a little at a time now is looking beautiful, thanks to the efforts of my husband, Steven and not to my meager exertions.

Speaking of meager exertions, I see I am over 350 words on this blog post.  My real Running Commentary posts tend to run longer than than, but I don’t think we can call this a Running Commentary.  However, I believe we can call it a blog post, and I declare that not too bad for a Non-Sequitur Thursday.

 

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Trying to Get My Act Together

Posted on April 18, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I managed to go running again today.  That’s two Mondays in a row, and I don’t usually run on a Monday.  Oh dear.  I don’t usually write good blog posts on Monday either.  Well, I’m here and I’m typing.  I’m sure I can come up with something.

Full disclosure:  I typed in that paragraph and then just sat here.

All day I kept reminding myself that I intended to run, hoping to internalize the message and not talk myself out of it later.  I did not run yesterday and may not have time to run tomorrow.  Naturally at the end of the day, I wanted to talk myself out of it.  However, when I got home, I got into my running clothes without further discussion with myself.  As part of my ongoing quest to get my act together, I put a load of laundry in the washer before I set out.

It was neither a bad nor a good run.  I ran slowly.  My legs did not feel too bad.  I had to concentrate on taking deep breaths, but I did not have a Vocal Chord Dysfunction episode (which sound a lot worse than it is, both talking about it and when I actually have an episode).  I felt happy that I had run, especially while I walked around the block for my cool-down.

After stretching, I put the clothes from the washer into the drier.  Then I went upstairs and spent exactly ten minutes cleaning the second bedroom before taking my shower.  Remember my ongoing quest to get my act together?  That was part of it: to spend ten minutes a day cleaning.  I’m hoping that some days I get into the rhythm and spend more than ten minutes, but on a Monday after a run, I thought ten minutes was pretty good.

And now I see that I’ve got over 300 words at a blog post.  Maybe my act is more together than I think it is!  Let’s concentrate on that, and not on the embarrassing fact that I have reached my mid-50’s and still don’t have my act together.

 

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At Last! A Saturday Running Commentary!

Posted on April 16, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

So I went for a really good run earlier, determined that I could make a Running Commentary post out of it.  And here I sit, jumping back and forth between Facebook and a blank “Add New Post” page.  How dreadful of me.  Maybe if I ate something.

There, I just had a half a tuna fish sandwich on toast.  It was pretty good.  How about a new feature I’ll call Stream of Consciousness Saturday?  Perhaps next Saturday.  Today I’ll tell you about my run.

I thought it was going to be rainy today but it has not started yet.  The temperature was over 50 degrees, so I happily dressed in shorts and short sleeves.  I’m a little dehydrated today, so I ran carrying a small bottle of water.  That isn’t really recommended, so I hear, but, as we all know, I do not always do the right thing.  As soon as I left the house, though, I knew that going for a run was definitely the right thing to do.  It was gorgeous out!  The sun was bright, there was just the right amount of a gentle breeze.  These were excellent running conditions.

I crossed German Street and headed towards the college.  Earlier this week I had thought I would run up the hill to Herkimer College, whether I was ready for it or not.  Before I reached that intimidating hill, though, I decided not to do anything so drastic.  I would turn into Brookfield Park (I think that’s what it is called; I have previously referred to it as the Unknown Park, because it is not clearly labelled).  That would give me a bit of a hill, some pleasant off-road time, and let me out partway up the back way to the college, somewhat near the spring, where I intended to re-fill my bottle once I had emptied it.

Up the hill into the park I went.  It was challenging enough.  I intend to start running more often starting, well, starting yesterday.  Running two days in a row is a good start, I think.  I ran slowly.  I uncapped the bottle and took a sip mid-stride.  This would work.  When I crossed the little bridge into the picnic area, I saw a family climbing on the hill.  That would be a fun place to explore!  They had a cute little white dog who was clearly enjoying the expedition very much.  I did not run close enough to them to call out a greeting, and soon I was on the path into the woods.

I do love to run a nature trail.  When I am up to really long runs, I will run up to the college and run the real nature trail they have on campus.  Or maybe I can talk Steven into driving up there and walking it with me one day soon.  That would make a delightful blog post.

It did not take long to come to the end of the trail and be back out on the road.  I stayed parallel to German Street and ran past Lou Ambers Drive, where the spring is.  Here was another not too bad hill that would take me near Valley Health.  I was nearing the end of my bottle, as I had been periodically taking sips.  Excellent!  I tried to ignore the tantalizing smells as I ran by Salvatore’s.  Maybe dinner there one day next week…

As I ran, I really enjoyed the warm temperature.  My legs felt supple and strong.  My breathing was not bad.  I got tired, especially towards the end, but it was a pretty good run.  As usual, I spent some time doing the math in my head: If I run x minutes this week, then add 10 percent each week…  I was going to be in fine shape for the Boilermaker 15K.

And perhaps I will be in fine shape to continue being a blogger.  I perceive that I did manage to make a Running Commentary post.  I hope you are all having a delightful Saturday.

 

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Getting Through a Monday Run

Posted on April 11, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

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.

 

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