The ridiculousness of it all

Lots of things have happened between yesterday and today. This morning is where the ridiculousness occurred, but I'll begin with last night's events because, well, they came first.

I got home after the gym last night to not one, not two, but FOUR packages!

I knew that at least two of them were supplies for my etsy endeavor, but the other two were a mystery. And I like surprises!

I'm so excited that now I can run at the park with my SPIbelt and not have to leave anything in my car and hope that no one will break in and steal it (when you drive a Jeep Wrangler with a soft top, "breaking in" isn't exactly a difficult task). I'm even more excited about my Nathan Quickdraw Plus.  Now on my runs I won't have to consider knocking on strangers' doors and begging for some water. I went with the blue one, for strategic reasons. Mainly because I'm cheap. I ordered it off Amazon and the blue was the cheapest one that I could get free shipping on. The true test of my cheapness is in the fact that there was a purple option and I didn't choose it because it was like a dollar more expensive and I'd have had to pay shipping. Same with the SPIbelt.

Truth be told, if I were rich I'd own one in every color.

And also, just a side note, but does "runs" remind anyone else of diarrhea? No? Just me?

Onto the ridiculousness of this morning. I have been trying to cut down on caffeine to see if maybe it will help with the dizzies. I've been having a small cup of regular coffee in the morning and that's all the caffeine for the day. If I have a second cup or coffee after lunch, it's decaf. So this morning I poured my cup of regular coffee, fixed it up to make it delicious (sorry, Alyssa, no black coffee for me), and per our usual routine, Pippi and I went up to watch FRIENDS for 20 minutes before I got in the shower.

I set my mug down on my nightstand, reached for the remote, and knocked the entire mug of coffee onto the carpet. THE. ENTIRE. MUG! I didn't even get a sip! As per usual, I closed my eyes and shook my head at my idiot-osity. What else can you really do once the stupid thing is done? I then cleaned it up and took it as a sign that I shouldn't pour myself more.

I decided to check out the news before turning on FRIENDS and the story they were discussing was about a kid who died from playing video games. No, I'm not kidding. He sat still for so damn long, he got a blood clot and died. From playing a video game. I bet his parents are proud.

On my way to work, I stopped at Harris Teeter for lunch and snack items for the day. This was my total:

For crying out loud!

One time I was at a restaurant and the lady in front of me ended up with this total and she decided to buy something else to ward off Lucifer. I wasn't that desperate.

On a lighter note, today I am wearing opaque tights for the first time ever, with a tunic top...also for the first time. I'm feeling somewhat stylish, which doesn't happen often. I worry, however, that it's a bit scandalous. Tights aren't pants and I'm not sure that I'm wearing them legally since the shirt is a shirt and not a dress. You be the judge

Yes, I took the picture in the bathroom at
work and I'm holding the stall door closed
so it doesn't swing back and hit me. Classy.

Today is my last day or running before my rest day tomorrow, and I can't wait. I'm taking a vacation day tomorrow and sleeping in. I've been so tired this week, that I'm practically ecstatic about it.

Also yesterday I was reminded of when I was at the beach over the fourth of July week and I ran two miles straight a couple of times, without stopping to walk. Amanda was running, too, and her pace is slower than mine (and probably much more consistent). I was aware that she was behind me and so I was probably keeping a pretty regular, much better pace, than when I run alone. This told me two things: I wish she would run with me more (she hasn't ran with me since) and also, I know that I CAN keep a consistent pace and I CAN run at least two miles without walking. I feel like a bunch of doors have opened up. Lame? Probably. But it made me feel more confident.

Are you superstitious about things like the number 666?

What do you do when you've done something stupid that you can't take back?

Cutting myself a break

 
Yesterday while I was running/walking/dying, I had an epiphany. I'm probably being too hard on myself with this whole running thing. In my head, I should be where the seasoned runners are at: running sub-9-minute miles consistently and being able to go for 10+ miles.

The truth of the matter is that I've really been running, consistently, since....uhh...last week?! I ran a couple of 5ks last October, which I trained about eight weeks for (they were on back-to-back weekends) and that was the last time I ran until very recently. I've dabbled in it over the years, but never consistently and mainly on the treadmill, which automatically keeps you on pace.

We're cheating.

While I was out yesterday in the 95-degree heat running in my neighborhood, I realized that I started out running at a sub-8-minute pace and tried to slow it down. I think in my head, the faster I run, the quicker it'll be over. Yeah, it doesn't work like that. The plan was to try to do 3:1 running:walking intervals, which meant I needed to keep a steady pace way slower than 8 minutes! I was also trying to breath, which is difficult for me when it's so hot out, humidity or not.

No matter what I did, my pace kept getting too fast. I think the next time I run outside, my goal will be to just keep a steady pace and not focus on distance as much. I really need to get this down. Also, I realized there's no way I'm going to improve by running when it's so hot out. Until the temperature gets at least down into the 80's, I'm making the treadmill my friend. I figured since it wasn't as humid yesterday, I'd be ok. I was wrong. And I'm sick of beating myself up over it.

After Monday's post about how Saturday's training run was such an epic fail, the general consensus of the comments was that I'm not giving myself enough credit and I need to lighten up! Hearing that from a friend of mine who has run marathons makes me feel better. (Thanks Kelli!) Also, I've been told that the air quality is pretty bad right now, so I'm not the one to blame for feeling so awful on Saturday. (I just did some searching and there's a place on weather.com where you can check the air quality of the area you live in. If only I had known!)

Currently the area I live in is orange.

I have a long way to go to catch up with you half-marathoners and marathoners, but that's ok. The longest race I've ran was THREE MILES! (Well, 3.1 to be exact). I can't expect for it to happen overnight. I can wish it would, but that's just not realistic.


So now I have some questions for you:

What do you do to help keep a steady pace?

How long did it take you to go from 5k to half marathon (or full marathon)?

The proof

That picture there is living proof of what happens when I get "hangry".
(hangry: A state of anger and irritability resulting from being hungry)

This was taken during my Myrtle Beach, SC beach trip over the Fourth of July week. My family wanted to go to a seafood restaurant, which, DUH, we were at the beach, so let's go!

So we got in our cars and headed out. Since there were eight of us, my sister-in-law and I had to drive separately. Within maybe five miles of our beach cottage, there is a strip of tons of seafood restaurants so I figured that's where we were going. But then...we got on the highway. I looked at Amanda and asked, sarcastically, "are we going to another state for dinner?" I was kidding, naturally.

We were both pretty hangry at this point and hoping the restaurant was right around the corner. But we kept driving and driving and driving...45 minutes later I was ready to rip my own hand off and eat it. And then, what did we see out of our window?

No, I am not kidding. Would I kid about something like food? NO! We looked at each other and just started cracking up. It was a "laugh to keep from crying" moment. I thought maybe I was delirious from hunger, but Amanda saw it too, so I was 99% sure we did actually drive to another state to eat seafood.

When we finally got to the place, the restaurant was packed and my stepmom came outside with a beeper thing and said, "it's a 45-minute wait". The fact that she had the beeper, which told us she had committed to waiting even longer for food, triggered the laughing again. This time I think it was from delirium. I think Amanda actually grabbed my arm to keep me from hurting someone.

It was at this moment that I pulled out my camera and walked over to that crawfish thing on the other end of the parking lot and had Amanda take that picture. I don't know why. It made sense at the time. This is why you can't take me out anywhere without making sure I'm well-fed. I do stupid things...even more stupid than things I do when my blood sugar is at a "nice Emily" level.

Amanda and I then found a random bench (that I wish I had taken a picture of. When I say random, I mean random), and started guessing what all the people who walked or drove by were saying and/or thinking. FOR 45 MINUTES! I guess the silver lining to the situation is that we're easily amused. Thank goodness for that!

Oh and the food was...okay. They brought out hushpuppies even before our drinks. Those hushpuppies were the most delicious thing I've ever eaten in my whole entire life!

Yes, they were the poo-shaped hushpuppies. I was so
hungry I didn't even mention it at the time.

Umm...hello. We want food, too!

Have you ever done something stupid when you were hangry?

It's a good thing the race isn't til December

Ooookay. Training weekend #1? EPIC FAIL!

I wanted to wake up Saturday morning around 6 to head out for my 4-mile run, one of which would be my timed mile for Kari's "Proof I didn't peak in high school" challenge. So, I went to bed Friday night at around 7pm. I was in a terrible mood (I had received a bill for my MRI for $720. Bastards. I don't have that kind of money!) and just wanted to hit the pillow.

So I roll over Saturday morning to check the clock and it's 8am. GAH! It's already almost 90 degrees out (and 1000% humidity, no doubt). So I decided to eat something small and just go for it. It was my first time using my Willy. It HAD to be a good run, right? Yeah, no amount of good thoughts was going to make this run a good one. I decided to run in my neighborhood, a route I've ran many times. I was getting dizzy at about half a mile and by mile 1.5 I just wanted to curl up in someone's lawn and die. I was pissed that I couldn't just go in someone's house and get some water. Seriously, it was the worst I've ever felt on a run. I'm so glad my handheld water bottle is on its way.

After walking the rest of the way home, (THE LONGEST WALK EVER), I couldn't get the ice and water into the cup fast enough and I was shaking and nauseous. I have no idea what that was all about. It was hot, but I've ran in the heat before! I then woke up Sunday morning feeling like I was run over by a bus. I don't know if I was dehydrated, or maybe something else was going on in my body, but wow. I hope that never happens again. Oh and my butt hurts. There's nothing quite like walking around rubbing your cheeks.

On a positive note, I ran my timed mile in 7:44! I headed out late Saturday, around 8pm. It was still hot out, but not sunny and it started raining halfway through the run, which made it a bit nicer.

Why 9009?

Ooohhhh  ;-)

So, I'm feeling a bit lot discouraged about training. I'm not quite ready to make my amends with running today, so I'm switching today to a cross-training day and I'll be doing a workout video. I haven't been giving my workout videos enough attention lately anyway.

I hope YOUR weekend training was more successful than mine!