Tag Archives: running

A Pleasant Sunday Run

However much you may enjoy doing something, well, sometimes it’s just easier not to.  Add to the mix that the thing you enjoy is good for you and suddenly there are MANY reasons not to do it!  And I am beginning to see that all reasons against doing something, however compelling they may seem at the time, ultimately boil down to, it was easier not to.  All this by way of saying, I haven’t run since last Saturday (when I wrote a blog post about it).  I may sometime write a whole post about why we don’t do things that are good for us and that we enjoy, and perhaps an analysis of “it was easier not to” vs. “it seemed like a good idea at the time,” but for today, I will content myself with a run of the mill (see what I did there?) Running Commentary.

I was running with a bottle of water in my hand, because I had a couple of glasses of wine last night and wanted to be sure I stayed hydrated.  I must say I enjoy having a sip of water during a run.  My original plan had been to run away from Lou Ambers Drive and Herkimer College (previously known in this space as HCCC), because on my last run I had gone up that impressive hill.  However, I knew I would want to refill my bottle at the spring.  Oh, just run up the hill again, I told myself.

In general I don’t like to mention that I thought about doing something bad-ass when I ultimately decide not to do it.  Today, though, I err on the side of truth:  I thought about running up that hill but decided not to.  When I got to Brookfield Park (previously known in this space as The Unknown Park), I went into it, up a nice little hill.  We like little hills.  Why kill myself after taking a week and a day off, I reasoned.  This would be a pleasant run and still get me to the spring (Get Me to the Spring On Time, isn’t that a song?).

As I got into the park, I saw another runner up on a big hill on the other side of the athletic field.  I’ve run up there once before; it’s steep.  I’ll do it again, but not today.  The other runner was wearing a shirt the same color as mine, safety green, but he was not close enough for me to remark that we were twins.  A dog was with him and came a little towards me, looking interested.  I do like to pet a dog but it seemed we were not going to cross paths.  The other runner yelled to his dog to come.  I looked away and kept running, so as not to entice the animal.  Sometimes you just don’t get to pet a dog.

I ran on into the park, over the little bridge to the picnic area and down the path into the woods.  It is a very pleasant run, with the brook babbling on one side and a hill with trees rising up on the other.  When I was younger, I would have wanted to climb up to the ridge.  I’d still like to do that sometime, but today I was running.  Soon the ground sloped up again and I was coming out onto the back road to the college.

By judicious sipping, I made my water last till a block or so before the spring.  How I love real spring water.  I pretty much ran directly home from there, going past the house twice to make my run last 35 minutes, the same amount of time as my last run.  For the first time since last June, a nice little dog walked my cool-down with me.  My legs felt pretty terrific.  I realize I can’t go all week without running, but there is no point in worrying about what is past.  All I can do is try to do better next week.  Maybe I can write better blog posts as well.

 

Not a Bad Run, But Perhaps Bad-ass

Did you ever make up your mind to something bad-ass then partway to actually doing it, realize you are perhaps not quite bad-ass enough to do it.  There I was, running down German Street in Herkimer, NY, writing my blog post in my head about how I ran up to Herkimer College the front way (a rather impressive hill, for new readers, if any), and I thought Hmmmm…..

I did not run last weekend due to, oh never mind why, just don’t judge.  Then I only ran on, what was it, Monday?  Too lazy to reach for my running journal or see if I posted a Running Commentary about it (and I have menopausal brain fog and purely cannot remember) (oh yes, I remember now it was Monday. Take that menopause!).

Well, I was not going to write a blog post about how I did NOT run up that hill, so up that hill I went.  It really wasn’t too bad.  Following advice I got many years ago, I just looked at my feet and shuffled up that hill.  I did look up a few times, glancing both ahead and behind me.  Not too far up ahead, enough to feel proud of behind.  This was going to be no problem, or at least a not insurmountable problem.

One reason I had wanted to run up the hill was that earlier in the week a friend had posted a picture of the view on Facebook.  I wanted to see that view again myself.  Accordingly, I looked to the right as I got to the top of the hill.  Hmmm… a bit misty in the distance.  No matter, it was pretty enough and I can run that hill again.

I failed to mention my running attire earlier, but I was in shorts and a t-shirt.  I had wondered if that was quite right since it has been cool for June these last few days.  My hands were feeling pretty cold.  One thing that did not help was I was carrying a small bottle of water in one of them.  You see I was at a very fun party last night and was a trifle, shall we say, dehydrated this morning (again, don’t judge).  I was sipping water as I ran and planned to refill my bottle at the spring on the way back down.  Now I looked at the Herkimer College sign that flashed the date, time and temperature.  45 degrees.  That is my cut-off temperature for shorts and short sleeves, so I should be good.

I ran down the back way, which is a quiet, woodsy road.  Of course the main roads were pretty quiet at the time I was running.  I do love getting up and getting right on the road when possible.  I finished my water about four or five minutes before I passed the spring again.

I had run 31 minutes the weekend before last and 24 on Monday.  I thought it was not unreasonable to shoot for 33 today and I saw I was handily going to make that.  I was at 26 minutes when I got to the spring.  I stopped my watch while I refilled. Straight home would give me 33 minutes, or perhaps a bit more.  No matter.  I was bad-ass.  My legs felt pretty good, although they would not have minded stopping.  My breathing was a bit labored, but I felt I was getting sufficient oxygen.

On Church Street I encountered two neighborhood dogs and their owner.  I quickly ran to them.  For one reason, as regular readers know, I love to pet dogs.  For another I wanted to tell their person about our pending pooch.  I knew she would be pleased.  She said she hoped she would be out sometime when we are walking him.  No doubt we will encounter one another.

I had stopped my watch again while I petted and chatted. Now I turned it back on again.  I was a mere block away from my house, so I felt a little silly doing so, but why not run the last bit?  I ran past the house to make my total 35 minutes.  I went into the house for a sweatshirt before my cool-down walk, which felt wonderful (both the sweatshirt and the walk).  I have big plans to run tomorrow.  Up that hill again?  Up a different hill?  Maybe just a long run.  My plan is definitely to run!  Then later I will walk our new dog.  I’ll probably write a blog post about it.

 

I Made My Legs Do It

I said yesterday that today was going to be Monday Mental Meanderings. Then I came home and went running so I thought I might do a Monday Running Commentary.

It was quite warm at work today, and I was on my feet most of the day.  My legs were not the least bit happy about it.  I believe I have forgotten to mention that I did not go running Saturday or Sunday (don’t judge).  I knew it would be a good idea to run.  I rarely run on Monday, and there was that little devil on my shoulder saying, “Three days off isn’t so bad.  You can run on Tuesday, sure, you’ll run on Tuesday.”  The devil went on to list all the other things I really ought to do that I would no doubt be too tired to accomplish if I ran.  It got boring to listen to after a while so I started thinking about other things instead.

I had also thought it was going to rain this afternoon.  Um, no. It was beautiful when I left work.  Perhaps sunnier and warmer than I ideally like it, but these are not insurmountable difficulties.  My bunions promised rain tomorrow (they are usually a day ahead of the weather).  As I drove home, I said to myself, “But you love running!”  I did not expect to love this afternoon’s run, but I also knew that if I put off running I would hate the next run even more.  So I made up my mind to just go for a short run.  Twenty minutes, I told myself.  I would not ask myself for more than twenty minutes.

I added to my ambition by putting a load of laundry into the washer before I left for my run.  This was shaping up to be an unusual Monday.

The plodding run, however, felt depressingly familiar.  Shouldn’t I be able to rock this by now?  Oh, did my legs hurt!  They had been hurting all day.  Why was I being this glutton for punishment?  Just keep going, I told myself.  You have to build back up.

I followed a different route from any of my usual runs, although it was on the same sidewalks I usually run on. I just followed them in a different order.  As I ran, I considered my 20 minute plan.  I had been running 31 minutes for my longest run the weekend before last, then ran 20 minute runs during the week.  I thought I should probably run at least 22 minutes, to increase my weekday run by the recommended 10 percent.

It was, I think, 15 minutes into the run that I realized my legs had stopped hurting so.  They weren’t loving me, but they felt… I guess neutral about what I was making them do.  My breathing was labored but not too bad.  I still wasn’t rocking the run, but I figured I could last 22 minutes.

Just to make the post shorter than the run (the critic in my head is carping that it has gone on too long anyways), I ran for 24 minutes.  The breeze picked up as I walked my cool-down, for which I was extremely grateful.  Now my legs are hurting again, but they will just have to hurt.  I may run again tomorrow.

 

Remember Saturday Running Commentary?

You thought it would never return, didn’t you?  I confess to some doubts myself.  However, this morning I got out of bed, into running clothes and was on the road before 6 a.m. (with my weekday overtime rising hour, 5:30 is totally sleeping in).

It was cool out, which was a nice difference from my last couple of runs.  Oh, I felt good. I had gone to bed early last night after a mere two glasses of wine so was able to congratulate myself on my forethought. It was also delightful to run at at time when traffic was sparse.  I crossed German Street with no problem and headed toward Main.

I had the idea to run up Main and across to the beginning of the path over the hydraulic canal.  I’m not up to hills yet or I may have continued up Main where there is a pretty good one.  The path was more my speed this morning.  As I ran along it, I thought I must walk it one day soon so I can pause and read the plaques that tell its history.  Maybe when I get a dog.  The dog could sniff around while I read.  Dogs like to do that.

Crossing back over German to follow the path presented no problem, but I did not stay on the whole path as originally planned.  I got distracted by a dead end street I have run down before.  There is a little space at the end where pedestrians can sneak through to another street.  I went that way, for something different.

My run was going splendidly.  I could keep this up for DAYS!  I knew that wasn’t true, of course.  In fact, one is not supposed to increase one’s run time more than 10 percent per week.  But I was having fun.  Soon I found myself on the street that ended at the parking lot of the HARC building at the end of German.  Should I run there then back down German?  I looked at my watch and tried to calculate times. I could run back down German and make it a Dead End Run, running up and down all the dead end streets on the north side of German.  Good plan!

By the time I got to the HARC building I realized there was no way I could run up and down all the dead end streets in the amount of time I wanted to run.  That was OK. I would keep my eye on the time and run up some of them.  I got around the building and looked toward Route 28.  A big dump truck was coming.  That was OK; he was going straight, not down German.

Just before I crossed the street, I saw a penny and stopped to pick it up.  It might be a penny from Heaven!  Two steps into the street I realized a car had turned onto German and was stopped to let me cross the street.  Yikes!  I waved and yelled, “Sorry!” then darted across the street and kept going up Lake Street.  I had not intended to go up Lake, thinking it might make my run too long.  However, since the car had nicely allowed me to cross the street, I didn’t feel right going on the sidewalk in the same direction.  After all, if I had only wanted to run on German Street, why hadn’t I stayed on my own side and no bothered the car?

I almost never run on Lake Street so I enjoyed to look at the houses. They run the gamut from newly worked-on to seen better days.  I especially like to see the flowers.  The street seemed long, but I ran all the way to the end.  Well, not quite the end, because at the very end some branches hung down from a tree and blocked me.  But almost the end.  Back on German Street I realized I would probably run more than 10 percent longer than my last run.  I’m sure that is all right, especially considering that I am returning to running and not building myself up for the first time.

The run was 28 minutes.  I did not run past the house.  I felt SO GOOD as I walked my cool down.  Why in the world do I ever stop running?  It is so silly of me!  Anyways, now I think I have a new Saturday run. Every week I can add another dead end street.  Then when I’m in really good shape and feeling bad-ass, I can end with a run up the hill to Herkimer College (formerly known as HCCC).  That will be something to blog about!

 

I Run Again!

I felt quite discouraged and not a little down on myself for going from Tuesday to Tuesday without running.  I was determined to go running today.  I thought that sentence as I walked into work today, composing my blog post in advance, I suppose.  Then I worried that I would rebel.  You know how I hate being told what to do, even by myself.  I reminded myself all day that I LIKE to run. Furthermore, I did not write a blog post while on break, knowing that I would feel motivated to run and write a Running Commentary post. So here it is.

It has gotten quite warm in the Mohawk Valley.  My place of employment is a bit uncomfortable.  I don’t particularly like to run in the heat, but I can, I do, and today I did.

I also had to do laundry, so I would have clean pants and socks for work tomorrow.  I gathered the laundry (and almost called the whole thing off when I found clean pair of socks after all), then put on running clothes.  As soon as the laundry was in the machine, I got going.

And it was not fun.  When I ran Tuesday, I had first wrestled with the non-power mower and my overgrown front lawn.  Of course that run was difficult.  I naturally expected today’s run to be easier.  It turns out, not so much.  My legs felt like macaroni.  Oh dear!  I told myself to persevere.  I decided I did not have to run very long.  Tuesday I ran 16 minutes.  If I only did that, I would be satisfied.

Down German Street I ran, taking the opposite direction I had taken Tuesday.  Could I cross Main Street?  That is a busy street; I sometimes turn down it rather than cross.  Today I was able to cross.  I turned down the nice path over what used to be a hydraulic canal.  From there I went a block on Grey Street, then to another section of path.  I looked with envy at people’s porches.  It would be way nicer to sit on a  porch than plod down the sidewalk.  I probably looked ridiculous, shuffling along, huffing and puffing.

I had to remind myself several times that I could keep going just about as long as I decide to.  Eventually my legs started to feel a little less as if they were about to collapse under me.  I felt relieved about that.   I did not think they actually would collapse under me, but it was not pleasant for them to feel as if they might.

I ended up running for 21 minutes, by virtue of running past my house to the end of the street, then past my house again on the way back.  I like to run to a whole number, not, for example, 20 minutes 23 seconds.  It’s a thing with me.

As I stretched then went into the basement to put the laundry in the drier, a little voice in my head sang, “I ran! I ran!”  I felt pretty happy with myself.  Tomorrow I have an appointment to get a pedicure (at the Hot Spot Salon and Spa in Herkimer, NY), but I plan to run on Saturday.  Oh, I do like to run!

 

You’d Be Tired Too!

In case anybody was wondering, I have not been running since last Tuesday.  Excuses are tiresome, so I offer none.  I finally ran again today.  Sort of.

I had planned to run, but as the day wore on, my bunions kept telling me it was going to rain.  My bunions are usually a day ahead of events, so I suspect it will rain tomorrow.  Why is that a problem?  You see, Steven (my husband) plans to mow the lawn tomorrow.  It totally needs it.  He can’t do it tonight; he works too late.  I really, really wanted the front lawn mowed.  It was beginning to look like we were some skanky rental property (please note: I am NOT saying that ALL rental properties are skanky; some are delightfully maintained.  I’m saying our front lawn was starting to look like one of the skanky ones).

To run or to mow?  I’ve done both at least once.  I was in much better shape at the time, running faithfully.  I ran then thought, “Why waste the sweat?”  I got Steven to start the power mower for me and I mowed that damn lawn.

Ah yes, that is a point I should mention.  I am unable to start the power mower.  For me to mow without Steve, I would have to use the non-power mower (I can’t call it a push mower, because we push the power mower), which I purchased for just such a situation.

This is getting to be a long story, and not very interesting.  In my defense, I did mow AND run.  Sadly, I only mowed the front lawn and I only ran for 16 minutes.  In my defense, non-power mowers take a lot of effort.  I mowed first so I did not have much oomph left for running.  Now I am just about as tired as I usually am when I make a Tired Tuesday post.

So I’m afraid this is it for today.  It’s too bad, because I thought of some pretty amusing stuff while I was mowing and running.  If I can remember them, maybe I’ll include them in tomorrow’s blog post.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

More Tired than ‘Tude

My original plan for today was to write a Bad Attituesday post AND a movie commentary post (can’t really call what I write a review) while on breaks at work today.  Then I would type both posts in and not have to worry about a post tomorrow, when Steven and I have a program to attend at the Herkimer County Historical Society (preview of coming attractions).  My real plan was to avoid running again today while allowing time to do so tomorrow.

Why do I even bother making a plan?  It never works out for me.

I had no ideas for a Bad Attituesday post, so I tried my hand at the movie commentary  I wrote quite a bit on it, in spite of being somewhat mortified to realize I had not paid much attention to the movie in question.  It was running into some length and I had not finished.  Still, I did not despair.  I could come up with an ending, sure I could.  Something would come to me as I typed it in.

As the day progressed, I thought to myself, why not run?  Why not run in place on the mini-tramp for bouts of ten minutes or so, interspersing this with push-ups, crunches, flutter kicks, etc.?  What a great idea!  Especially if it rained, which was beginning to look possible.  I could still type in the movie post.  I didn’t have to do a Running Commentary two days in a row.

The rain held off, so I ended up running outdoors, taking a different path from yesterday and running for a whole minute longer.  I ran slow, even for me.  It did not feel as good as yesterday.  I persevered.  When I walked my cool-down, my legs felt sore, but it was the good sore of having just worked out.  I felt reasonably content, but still not inclined to write a Running Commentary.

Anyways, I had to cook supper first.  Well, not really “had to.”  Steven works till 6:30, so it would be quite acceptable to grab something easy and let him do the same.  This might even be preferable, because I don’t want to wait till 6:30 to eat and if I don’t Steven will have to reheat whatever I fixed.  But I really wanted to use some leftovers, I had what sounded like a pretty good plan to me, and I could always take any leftover leftovers for my lunch tomorrow.

I know, I know,  I could have just done a cooking post.  I could not have PLANNED to do a cooking post, since I was not sure till I was actually taking the cast iron frying pan out of the cupboard that I was going to cook.  But I can write that sort of thing on the fly.  I’ve done it before (I know, I’m doing it now, but this isn’t a “real” post, as you can tell).

Does the phrase Tired Tuesday mean anything to you?

Well, it means something to me.  It means I am leaving the — Good God — THREE pages of movie commentary untyped for now.  I shall look forward to finishing it.  In the meantime, I’m going to think of a silly title for this piece of foolishness, hit publish, and relax with my crochet and a true crime show on cable television.  Happy Tuesday, everyone.

 

Monday Running Commentary

I almost never run on a Monday.  Additionally, I have not be running at all in… weeks?  Surely not months.  Hm…..

Oh dear. I just looked in my Running Journal (YES, I keep multiple journals; don’t you?), and my last entry was March 17.  That does make it months!  I may have run since March 17 and not written it in the Running Journal.  That is quite possible.  It is equally possible, though, that I did not.

No matter.  The fact is, I ran today and I am going to write about it.

I had thought about running while I was at work.  I had also thought about going to the Herkimer County Humane Society and see if I could walk a dog.  An even more tempting thought was a hot shower and a glass of wine.  However, I knew the first two choices could potentially yield a blog post, so I confined my decision to those two.

Until I left work and felt too tired to do anything.  I went to The Medicine Shoppe in Ilion to pick up a prescription and took the opportunity to go into Ilion Wine and Spirits for a bottle of vino (just to add a brief shout-out to two local businesses).  As I drove out of Ilion I realized I was headed for my house, not the Humane Society.  So I’ll run, I told myself.  I don’t want to, I answered.  Look at this beautiful day,  I told myself.  You can’t waste it.

When I went in the house all I wanted to do was lie down.  I actually did lie down very briefly.  While in a prone position, I realized that I would never feel like running.  That got me on my feet and headed towards my running clothes.  No, it was not grim determination and discipline.  Merely, I acknowledged that I felt like crap and remembered that I could still go running under those conditions.

First I put in a load of laundry.  You see I can multi-task to a limited degree.

It was not as warm out as one would expect halfway through May, but it was sunny and, as I observed earlier, beautiful.  Sunshine does make everything look good.  My legs were immediately unhappy with me.  I told myself that it would probably suck worse before it felt better, and that made me feel a little bad-ass.  It helps to feel bad-ass during a run.  I only planned to run for twenty minutes.  I set a slow, shuffling pace, as I usually do.  I couldn’t even pretend in my head I ran like a gazelle.  No matter, I told myself.  Just keep going.

Soon I realized I was at the pace I could keep up for as long as I decide to.  Mind you, I’ve never tested this theory.  That is, I have never decided to keep going until I felt I could not keep going.  In my army life, I was often called upon to keep going further than I felt I could.  That was when I learned you can usually keep going further than you think you can.  I never collapsed, passed out or had anything dramatic happen on a run.  I often made horrible noises trying to breathe, but we needn’t get into that.  I’m talking about now not then.

Where was I?  Ah yes, shuffling along the sidewalks of Herkimer and having a not bad time about it.  My legs complained but not too much.  My breathing felt… not good but not actually labored.  I didn’t make any bad noises.  I ran for twenty-one minutes and felt pleased with myself. As I walked my cool-down, my legs seemed to have that soreness that means developing muscles. Score!  Maybe I can run again tomorrow.

 

What Was I Laughing At?

I ran on Sunday mostly because I thought it would make a good blog post. Then I didn’t write the blog post, and isn’t that typical of me?  Well, I will try to write about my run now rather than drag us all (further) down with another Tired Tuesday post.

On Sunday, local readers will recall, the weather sucked.  Unfortunately I did not realize this when I made up my mind to run.  I knew it was supposed to be cold but felt I could handle it.  I had to bring Steven to work, so I got dressed in my running clothes to do that.  Steven went out to brush off the vehicles, since it had snowed in the night.  When I went out to help him, I discovered it was still snowing.

At first I saw no reason to change my plans.  After all, what are a few flakes among friends (no, not itches and flakes; that could be dandruff).  By the time I was actually driving Steven to his place of employment, what had been a few flakes had turned into a wall of white.  Regular readers may remember my odd personality quirk that bad weather makes me laugh.  I cackled all the way to Steven’s work.

“I am totally going running in this,” I said.  “It will make a great blog post.”

I did briefly consider abandoning the notion and running in place indoors on my Mom’s mini-tramp (she said she doesn’t need it back).  But I was already dressed in my warmest running pants, and I had located my toque and mittens (they are actually my sister Diane’s mittens; she may want them back).  Anyways, the snow was likely to stop soon; you know what they say about the weather and waiting five minutes.  Making the bargain with myself that I would turn back if the sidewalks were slippery, I set out.

The sidewalks were not slippery.  The snow did not stop.  I was grateful for the mittens and the warm pants.  I only wished I had something protecting my face.  That got cold, and since I had the mittens on, I couldn’t even put my palms on my cheeks and do Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” which kind of helps, temporarily.  It was not until I finished my run and was walking my cool-down (the irony is not lost on me) that I realized the snow was actually accumulating on my face.  If I had a smart phone, I could have taken a selfie and wouldn’t that have added something to the blog.

The run itself was not that bad.  I have not been running much lately so I am trying to be better about it.  And maybe next time I can write a better blog post about it.  Happy Tuesday, everyone.

 

Whine, then Run, then Wine

As I was leaving work this afternoon, I said to my friend, “When I get home, should I go running or have a beer?”

“Go running,” she said.

I usually take the stairs down, but I got on the elevator with her to argue the point.  “Or I could have a glass of wine,”  I suggested.

“Go running,” she said.

“That sounds good,” a guy said.

“The run or the beer?” I said.

“The glass of wine,” he said.

“I’m going to take his advice,”  I told my friend.  “He is obviously much better at giving advice than you are.”

When I got home, I put on my running clothes and went running.  I thought that after I ran a beer or a glass of wine would be a fitting reward.  I thought of the headline as I was running.  In fact, I have been whining all day.  Don’t judge.

It was not a long run but it was also not a bad run. The temperature was warm with a pleasant breeze, perfect for my pace.  A few drops of rain fell while I was out there, but I did not let it deter me.  The sun came back out as I walked my cool-down. I can’t say my body particularly enjoyed the run, but as usual I was glad I had gone.

As you can see, I am not writing a full-blown Running Commentary post.  The fact is, I’m still not feeling 100 percent, and I have one more chore to take care of before I’m done for the day.  Hope to see you all on Lame Post Friday.

I still haven’t gotten my glass of wine yet.