Close To Meeting A Goal? Me?

At the risk of cursing myself for posting this, I'm going to do it anyway.

I think I just might reach my "30 miles in 30 days challenge" goal.

(ducks and covers to dodge downpour of goal-setting curses)

You know I don't do goals. Hate 'em. Hate 'em personally and hate 'em professionally. Hate 'em all around. But apparently the world is against me and wants me to set goals for myself. Personally, professionally, running-ly.

I think I took this particular goal on because it's worded as a challenge. "Hey, you ... big girl. Bet you can't run 30 miles in 30 days. You already failed at it once so there's no way you can do it now." Yes, I respond a bit differently to that kind of wording. A challenge.

Anyway, in this Spring challenge through MapMyRun.com, I only have 10 miles left to run in 8 days. I'll get 6 in this week, ideally (3 miles Tuesday, 3 miles Thursday). That leaves me in perfect position to do Five Mile Trail this weekend (4 miles) and knock that "challenge" out before the 8 days are up. (Caitlin, are you writing this down?)

Oooohhhhh boy! That looks like a schedule and a goal to me. Those two combined are sure to bring on a big plate of failure and disappointment. =(

So anyway, good run today. It's Cincinnati at the end of March, so naturally it snowed over night (after 70-degree temps earlier this week). Fortunately the ground was clear by lunch time and I knew Otto Armleder Park would be cleared. I bundled up but wished I didn't have so much on by halfway through my first lap (1 mile in). I did two laps (I think that's a first for me at that park), which is a total of 3.8 miles in 53 minutes. A little poky, but I don't care. At this point I'm just honing my 5:1 intervals in preparation for the long runs I have coming up.

Hopefully next time I post I'll have good news about this here goal/challenge I'm so close to accomplishing. Fingers crossed!

**********

Reminder: I'm accepting donations as a part of Team Fernside for the Flying Pig Marathon. Check out my blog entry about my fundraising efforts.

Current pledges: $130
Goal: $300

(and you know how much I hate to set goals)

I Love Juilfs In The Wintertime

Well folks, I don't have many positive things to say about running for the time between my last post and now. In fact, it's been pretty crappy. I'm hoping this is as low as it goes in the land of discouragement. It's cold. It's snowy. It's difficult to run outside, not enjoyable to run on the treadmill, and nearly impossible to get motivated to do any of that. All I want to do is curl up on my couch and watch movies; that's what winter is all about, right?

I clearly have some self-work to do and decisions to make about how to handle this winter issue for the next 2-3 months (!), and you may see posts about it. But for now, I'm going to share pictures of Juilfs from one of my past two runs there.

That's right! Running at a park! That's because the citizens of Anderson Township (formerly me) pay hefty property taxes so the running paths at their parks get shoveled and salted during snowy weather. Praise the citizens of Anderson Township.

I drove around to a few of my favorite outdoor running locations to see if any of them were cleared. Juilfs was my last stop, and lo and behold, it was clear and I was so happy. I drove home, geared up, and headed back to the park, home of my early days of running.

I actually did quite well on that run. I did two complete running laps, plus a few yards, including two runs up Beast Hill (check back to some of my April blogs if you need a refresher on Juilfs and Beast Hill).

I did it! I ran up that friggin' hill twice. I took the advice of one of my coworkers and just put my head down and ran. That was a little hard for me since I've been practicing keeping my head up and looking in front of me since I started this mess 10 months ago. But it worked and I'll be trying it again soon.

So, enough of that. Now for some pictures.

Not run-related, but as I was getting ready to go, someone insisted I stay at home.

She almost convinced me.

Halfway up Beast Hill, looking down the west side of the trail.

A little further up Beast Hill.

See the sledders? I almost asked if I could have a go.

Looking down the east side. Praise be to the clear paths!

Basketball and volleyball courts

More sledding and some wicked lighting!

After the run, I came home to make my carrot cake for someone else. Mmmm...

The end!

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Cincinnati

Hey all! Sorry for the delay on reporting my results. I'm experiencing home computer drama.

This will be a short update.

Exhibit A: Two different race paths. The official map differed slightly from the actual course. Please examine the following two links:
Course map

What we actually did

Exhibit B: My finish time was approximately 42:06. I say approximately because, despite electing to be a "competitive runner" during registration, there was no official timing device. Looking back, I can see how it might be impossible to chip time all 18,000 participants. That's like Cincinnati's Oktoberfest taking a jog at the same time. A lot of people. A lot of pink. I wore a blue long-sleeved tshirt. Oops!

I'm not thrilled with the time. If you use the official course map as a distance judge, my pace was nearly 14 minutes/mile. Boo! That number drops with the actual course map since it's a hair longer.

Exhibit C: The finish line was extremely anti-climactic. For non-survivors, there wasn't even a line to cross. They just ushered you off to the side. I know this run was for one very important cause, but couldn't they have put some kind of line on the ground? Meh.

I think that's all the exhibits I have. I'm in a bit of a running slump. I'm kind of discouraged at my lack of progress and the return of my leg pains. I ran yesterday evening, however, and returned to Week 4 of C25K; that went well. Whew. If it hadn't, there's a chance I would have pooped out on running for a while.

Okay, sorry for the poorly constructed post. I'm off to work!

Pink Ribbon Jitters

Tomorrow is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and I'm oddly nervous.

Lovingly borrowed from the RFC website.

I think I'm mostly intimidated by the huge number of participants. Plus I'm getting to the point that I expect something of myself in these runs. My goals have expanded beyond "I just want to finish on my feet." Now that I've officially been disappointed in my 5K results, I'm worried about failure. (The Anderson Run to Remember ... I forgot to share the results but they weren't awesome. I didn't go above a 14 minute per mile pace, but I didn't improve either.) Stupid expectations.

Despite my fear of not meeting my own expectations and not improving, I'm going to set a goal. My BigK 5K pace was about 13:40. I'd love to hit 13 minutes per mile or less. It's kind of a big jump, especially considering my recent runs haven't been great. (I'm officially blaming the new shoes.)

So, think of me tomorrow morning. Send me happy leg muscle thoughts. Hopefully it will be as nice out as they're forecasting. And yay for long downhill finish. Also, if you'd like to donate, here's the link again. My sole donor is is probably getting a little lonely on the scrolling honor roll. =)

My donation link: http://rfccin.convio.net/goto/moretoloverunning

I'll check in after the run!

I Need To See Your Socks

Ugh, I have just finished a terrible run. Terrible. I hate when those happen, so so much. And I know they happen and happen for the strangest of reasons or no reason at all. Heck, I'm one to encourage others by saying just that.

"Don't worry. Bad runs happen. Sometimes your body just doesn't want to function and there's nothing you can do about it."

I'm not so sure I believe myself anymore. I mean, I'm sure I'll believe myself after I get out of my slump and have a good run.

But for now, I feel disgusted and angry. I have both a list of issues and a list of things to blame. Let's begin, shall we?

Issues:

• My shin muscles attacked me. This after a conversation with one of my managers today about how impossible it is to run with bad shin splints. I got them bad today, too. It's been awhile since I've had "zombie legs" from shin cramps. (Zombie legs = can't use your shin muscles to lift your feet, as is required for walking and running.)
• The balls of my feet hurt. Ugh! It's like there are teensy pebbles or a piece of coarse sandpaper under my feet. Annoying
• Gross alert: My "post-nasal drip" (back of throat phlegm) was super profuse, thick, and gross. It was choking me. It's kind of hard to breathe through that stuff!
• My nose was burning. Did I discuss the post-workout sneezing issue with you all this spring? If not, it needs its own blog post. It's the strangest thing and it only seems to happen when it's not hot and humid. Great. Anyway, this phenomenon is often paired with burning nasal passages. Not comfortable. Exercise sneezes anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
  

Things to blame:

• New shoes. I love them, I do, but I'm still in the awful breaking-in phase. Have you ever had a smooth transition between new shoes and nice broken in shoes? If so, how did you pull that off? Anyway, I think I can blame the shoes for the shin splints.
• Socks. I just bought new socks and I'm convinced they're terrible. For years I've been a hard core Hanes athletic socks gal, but I just bought 3 pairs of Goldtoe something somethings at Target. I don't know--they looked athletic-y. I've varied from the classic Hanes before and the results were similar to the sandpaper sensation I experienced tonight. So, do socks matter? Why? What kind of socks do you run in? Why? I need to know. I'm in the market.
• Work shoes. I wore new work shoes yesterday and they were heels. They hurt the balls of my feet. THEN I had to pound up and down the stairs a bunch at work today and my feet hurt again. I hate shoes. You know, if everyone wore athletic shoes in a professional work environment, I'm pretty sure no one would look less professional because of it. Why can't this be a law? I'm confident that allowing athletic shoes in corporate dress codes would improve the cost of health care for that company. There, I said it. Prove me wrong.
  
• Holistic health. I bought a netti pot (squeeze bottle) thingy last week and have used it a few times. I'm now convinced it has robbed me of my body's natural ability to thin out my back-of-my-throat goop. Gross, yes, but it happens. I'm sorry. I've had this phlegm issue since I was a wee one in gym class. Stupid gym teachers.

So, that's my Negative Nelly post for now. Please offer any words of wisdom you may have. Especially about the socks.

The Eve Of The Apocalypse ... Or Boot Camp

Ah geesh! Here we are. It's the day before ...

dun dun DUUNNNN ...

The first day of boot camp!

Tomorrow I begin my month-long (20 days, to be exact) torture session, otherwise known as Cincinnati Adventure Boot Camp for Women. I report at 5:30 tomorrow morning. Pretty sure it's going to be raining. Awesome. Whine, whine, whine.

Okay, let me tell you the truth. I really was trying to avoid it, but I figure this blog is supposed to be helping with accountability, and by sharing this, I'm hoping you can help me with this.

[deep breath]

I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful to see what happens, to see if my body is really impacted by what I'm about to do. Will I actually get smaller?

Since the beginning of March this year, I've been focusing solely on cardio -- running to be exact. I haven't done any weight or strength training. I haven't exactly dieted either. I've paid very close attention to what I eat, and even spent a good deal of time as a vegetarian. The combination of my non-diet and my new exercise habits hasn't exactly produced the results I expected.

Actually, I've been working out regularly since March 2009 (half of the time included weights, etc.) and that hasn't yielded visible results in my eyes either. (Okay, my body has changed shape a little here and there, but no numbers have dropped off.) I'm interested to see how a closely-monitored, trainer-led daily workout will impact my physical well-being. And I'm hopeful.

Hope is dangerous. It leads to disappointment. This is why I don't set goals and I often don't share my hopefulness. Sharing leads to joint disappointment ... and sympathy. I don't like those things.

This next month promises to be a difficult one for me. I don't really like not having control over my schedule. Being essentially forced into an every-day workout is rather off-putting. What if I don't feel good one day? Or three days? With running, I make my own schedule and decide whether or not I feel up for a run. Most of the time with running, though, I've impressed myself by ignoring those days when I don't feel so good and just press through the workout anyway. So maybe I've built up some kind of mental endurance over icky days. Maybe. This month will surely test that.

One good thing about this month, though, is freed up evenings. I'm not going to completely avoid an evening run, but I certainly won't feel pressured to get one in over the next month of scorching hot evenings. I'll be active for a whole hour each morning, so an evening run will just be an added bonus. I'm not going to strain myself in the evenings either; if I decide to run, it may just be a Week 2 workout instead of Week 3. Or I'll just jog at my own pace.

Blah. I don't want to think about it. I can't believe it's tomorrow already. I can't believe I have to get up at 5 a.m. and drive 5-ish miles in the pre-dawn to workout. THEN I have to try to cool down enough to stop sweating so I can look like a normal human being at work all day. (This will be the biggest challenge of all, I think.)

On that sweaty note, I bid you all goodnight. Please check back soon for a boot camp update. I predict I'll feel good tomorrow evening, but will feel like Hell Tuesday evening. We shall see!