If I Was A Dude ...

It’s runs like today’s that make me wish I was a guy. I had grand plans of tackling the 6-mile round trip at Lunken Airport this
morning. Then I woke up too late (at least in my mind) and decided to settle for the 4-mile out-and-back of the Five Mile Trail. And then I got lazy and decided on the nearly 2-mile loop at Otto Armelder Park. Good thing, too, because I pretty much had to pee from the start.

Sorry, I know, TMI. But, it’s a valid issue for runners. How do you handle peeing and other—um—bathroom related issues on long runs? If I was a guy, I totally could have taken advantage of the privacy and
wilderness of the path I ran today and watered some grass. Being a girl? Not so much.

So, I kept running in hopes that my profuse sweating would burn off the liquid in my system. Though, after today’s experience, I’m not so sure my bladder is in any way related to my sweat glands. Meh, food for thought.

So, what have I been up to over the last week while I was epically
failing to blog about running? Believe it or not, I was running! I
got all three of my runs in this week and they were relatively
successful. I say relatively because my run on Monday was less than stellar compared to last Saturday’s 5K. I gave the 3:1 (run 3 minutes, walk 1 minute, rinse, repeat) intervals another go at my tried-and-true Veterans Memorial park and clocked 2 miles in 27 minutes. Though I know they come out to be the same pace, how did I NOT run faster on flat ground, in dry weather, and for a shorter distance? And I didn’t shorten intervals like I did in the 5K. Why
can I not push myself?

I know, I know … the 5K was a race and therefore different, but I find it hard to believe that the “race mentality” had that much of an effect on me. I don’t think I let any sort of competitiveness affect
me on Saturday (“I’m going to catch her!” or “I can run faster than him.”) Could it have been the down hills that gave me a little extra push on the clock?

After the iffy results from Monday’s run, I decided to return to Couch to 5K. I think Mr. C25K missed me, and I’m pretty sure I missed him, too. There’s just something about his steadfast nature and encouraging words ... what a dream boat.

I started right back up at Week 4 (warm up 5:00, run 3:00, walk 1:30, run 5:00, walk 2:30, run 3:00, walk 1:30, run 5:00, cool down 5:00). Those 5-minute runs sure are challenging, but it feels really good to finish them. I know I’ve said it before, but I really think I need to stick with this program. I’m at a place now where I think I can push through the Weeks within 2 or 3 tries. I do still want to do long-ish runs on the weekends though, and C25K doesn’t cut it for those
puppies. When Mr. C25K says to cool down, I’m going to cool down and not keep going for a longer path.

In fact, I tried to fight that urge to stop on this morning’s run. After settling on the shorter running path at Armelder, I told myself
I’d do two laps (at about 1.8 miles each)—one with Mr.C25K and the second on my own. I busted through the first lap and tackled those 5-minute runs, but as I approached the end of the first lap, I started to second guess my decision to go around again. Plus, as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I really had to GO. I even got so far
as to start jogging—that lasted about 20 seconds. Needless to say, the second running lap didn’t happen. But I did go exploring a bit.

Armelder Park bumps up against the Little Miami River and there’s a canoe landing in the park. I wanted to see what it was all about and possibly sit and watch the river for a little bit. (I love, love, LOVE watching water and could honestly do it for hours. Weird, I know.) Too bad people were playing in the river with their dog and I didn’t want to be a creeper and watch. So, I hiked back up to the path, took a shortcut through the middle, and went back to my car, only clocking a whopping 0.7 mile little jaunt on my iMapMyRun app.

[By the way, have I talked about that app yet? It’s amazing. It uses GPS to track your running path and tell you 1) the distance you walked and 2) how long it took. If you enter all your stats on the website (mapmyrun.com), it’ll track your calories burned and such. You can also share your paths with others and search for paths others have taken and measured. It’s pretty amazing. Thanks to my co-worker, John, for introducing me to it!]

That’s all for today, folks. Rest assured that I will stay current on
my posts over the next week. I’m going to sit here and draft a few
now so I can’t use my sketchy Internet connection as an excuse. Check back for the much-awaited weight blog and a post about running playlists! Now, take advantage of this weather and get out there and RUN!!!


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