Perfect!!!!!

Saturday was rough.

I was an idiot. As a result, I let people down. Including the lovely Chestershire Cat, who is in town for a very limited engagement.

But, for all that much of Saturday was self-imposed awfulness, Sunday more than made up for it.

A loop of the park with the Chestershire Cat and Baltimore, among others. The Vivacious Redhead's son almost made me lose my lunch going up the hill in Prospect Park. He is sooo fast!

I hadn't seen Baltimore for a while, either, so it was nice to catch up. The miles went by so fast.

The weather was sunny and blue and taffy-like.

The Speedy Blonde even came! Boy, that made me feel worse about missing the picnic the day before. She managed to get to the run even though she had to come from the Upper East Side on a Sunday!

Off to coffee after a short but satisfying run. Root Hill has a neat atmosphere. Off of 4th Avenue, it's a place the Vivacious Redhead and I always run by but never seem to stop at.

New places. Familiar faces. Yay.

Running back to Atlantic Center with the Speedy Blonde helped me put Saturday in perspective, something that really helped to make my day even sunnier than the sky.

Onto Atlantic, I ran back home, waxing a bit nostalgic about this part of Brookylyn, which used to be a staple on my runs but which hadn't felt my sneakers in many months.

Coffee, then Dressler to sit outside with Suave and two of his fabulous friends.

The number of people I ran into that I knew yesterday! 3 at last count. And I wasn't even in usual places.

Walking around Williamsburg. Flea market. Surf bar for a shaded tiki vacation experience.

New people. Smiles.

Bozu for dinner with Suave and a lovely ride home.

Ah. Perfect.

Makes me worried about today! It couldn't possibly compete!

Those Boys Tired Me Out!

Yes, the dynamic duo of Superman and LSE took me to task on Friday.

Progress! I was able to run home!

And I didn't feel as bad as last time I ran with both of them.

Of course, given that I felt as if I were on mile 21 of a marathon and hitting the wall, hard, last time we all ran together, that isn't much of an accomplishment.

We raced to Manhattan via Bedford and then the Williamsburg Bridge. Luckily for me, we were crossing it the easier way: Brooklyn to Manhattan. The incline is steeper but much shorter.

With a brief stop for me to take my inhaler - asthma attack due to the humidity and smog - we churned down into Manhattan.

The sun had already given me a cool-looking sunburn. My enormous forehead, as usual, sucked in rays like a black hole. My arm pinkened nicely around the thick strap of my Ipod holder. Hotness.

Superman wanted to run through Chinatown but I vetoed. I'm never sure of that route.

The rotting fish smell of Broome Street persuaded everyone of the wiseness of my countermand. Yegh.

NYC in the summer. Inhale the perfume.

GAG HACK

I was really pretty tired but we still had to get back. LSE bounded off in front as Superman and I dug in and pounded out the Manhattan Bridge.
The difference in temperature between the sun and the shade felt about 20 degrees.

And I had never seen so many people walking on the Manhattan Bridge! Do people actually use it during the day? Or during the week or something?

Trying to find a water fountain, Superman led us on a detour back up to Court Street. We didn't find water but we did find hills. Up Court Street and then down Union, only to face the hill to Grand Army yet again.

I hate that hill.

Ok. Strongly dislike. I'd hate it but it really tones my rear end.

Back home to semi-collapse.

Whew. A bit less than 13 miles......

Strapping On

My Backpack Again!

Yes, my beloved black, grey and pink backpack featured prominently in my run once again. Running to meet the Vivacious Redhead, I though, perhaps, I needed to take my inhaler. No, it was the beauty of the backpack!

I was just really out of breath. And, for its first re-outing, it was actually pretty light! Only one book.

I have no idea how I ran to work with it as heavy as I did. I must have been in shape or something.

Though, to be fair, I did weigh less! Maybe its the total, combined, weight that matters in these calculations, instead of merely the additional backpack weight. Any thoughts?

I huffed up to meet her. We then took a nice half (1/3?) turn around the outside of Prospect Park, turning to run around the Parade Grounds. Passing Marlboro again, we popped into the park for some pushups.
And lunges.
A few observations.
1. It must be the result of being an ex-smoker, but I can't hear, write or see the word "Marlboro" (or its various permutations) without having some sort of cigarette reaction. If I'm in the middle of a hard run or sprint, the reaction is often "Ugh!", or some flashback of smelling fresh/stale cigarette smoke. If I'm doing an easier run, or typing it, or something, I'll get a sudden longing for a Marlboro Medium. Marketing is scarily effective.
2. Lunges are evil torture devices. The Vivacious Redhead must have been furious at me to make me do these! They start burning while you are doing them! Of course, my muscles are likely just very weak.
3. When doing inclined pushups with a backpack, your abs get more of a workout than your arms. If I keep this up, I'll have a six-pack. Which you may or may not be able to see, depending on how much cheese I've eaten.

After our fitness break, we ran down Marlboro (see?! It happened again!) and past Cortelou to explore the neighborhood.

I love this neighborhood! If I lived there, I'd never move from Brooklyn! Wow!

Then, back to Cortelou for some delicious coffee by the same people that gave us Milk Bar.

A great way to kick off a grading extravaganza!

Like a Swarm of Bees

The pollen attacked, blowing sideways in the crosswind.

Visible to the naked eye, highlighting its deadly nature.

Into the eyes. Down the throat. Deep in the lungs.

Hack. Hack. (urp) Inhaler. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!

But Superman put up with my wheezing and attendant slowness.

And the first real day of !sun! made the run sooooo worthwhile.

We ran a slow figure-eight of the park, adding on a bit extra in the park at the end.

Conversation, between wheezes, made the hills seem smaller.

With the exception of the hill in Prospect Park by Prospect Park SW: I hadn't done that hill in a while.

I think it grew.

About 7 miles. The sun hurts my winter-cave-albino-ized eyes.

I need to get new sunglasses.
What a great problem to have!

You see, what had happened was.........

I got a little behind last week.

No, not in that sense, silly! In my blogging!

Monday - 10 miles with the Vivacious Redhead and Superman. Down to Coney Island and then on the boardwalk. Luckily, Superman is the size of three normal people, blocking much of the gale from me and the Vivacious Redhead by the beach.

REST!!!!!!!

Thursday - supposed to run about 10. Ran none. Took Suave to the hospital, instead. Poor Suave!
Lucky Suave! Morphine drip!

Friday - Ran 10 slow miles in Cambridge. Noticed that 1) I'm not used to the heat and humidity; 2) Partying the night before a solo run does not give one much motivation to go faster than an accelerated amble; 3) wearing a (now) too-short florescent orange running skirt is a great way to pick up numbers! The amount of responses I got was affirming. Too bad I was running past! Hah.

Saturday - got a horrible throat-swelling virus. Can still make money as a phone-sex operator with my voice. Happy that the swelling has now gone away and I can enjoy the husky voice (mainly) pain-free.

Sunday - ran with my little brother and my still-swollen throat up and down the Charles. Cold, humid weather. Great to see my brother. Kinda humbling how much faster he is than me, especially now. Used the conversation trick to make him talk almost the whole time. Still had problems keeping up. Ran to a nice brunch (which I couldn't really eat, as eating involves swallowing): 10.5 miles at about a 7:40 pace. Whew. Tiring!

Monday - braved my throat and the threatening conditions to have a spin around Prospect Park with LSE. So humid, clothes came off! Ran counter-clockwise around the park, adding on a run up Washington. He left me in the dust on the hill, of course. Got to hear a play-by-play of his Brooklyn Half, which kept me from dwelling on my deadened legs. About 7 miles.

Necessity makes me short-winded. You can all breathe a sigh of relief and gird up for the next post!

What's a Little Weather?

A Cloudlet!

HAHAHAHAHA

Seriously, though. This morning, I heard "poink.poink.poink.poink."

Not a good think to hear as you are contemplating your navel and getting up gumption to get out of bed!
Much less, strap on shoes. But, strap on shoes I did: my old ones, for the puddles.
And trudged out the door. Thankfully, my knee seemed ok: the day off really helped it, I think. My legs were still that weird combination of noodle and concrete from Friday.
"Here goes!" "Yeow!"
It got better for a while, then got worse. Blondie was supposed to meet us, so we waited for a while. Putting her down to a no-show, I shoved my cell phone back into my sports bra and got everyone to start moving.
One woman dropped back quickly, leaving me with LSE and Ft. Greene (a woman I had never met but who has been doing a lot of these Sunday runs). Oh, and the syrupy air. Swimming through some Karo today!
I was lucky my phone didn't short out, given that I actually had to push myself again. Not breathing so well and slow legs=lots of sweating and and interior monologue that consists of a lot of cursing.
Some conversation took the edge of of some of that, though. Why it's always better to run with others when you are tired!
LSE stayed near us when running the outside loop until the hill at Flatbush.
Then he accellerated. Hah. Small speck in the distance. Me huffing and puffing. Even smaller speck in the distance......
One thing that was really distracting during this entire run was, in fact, my cell phone! I had it stuffed in my bra. But the bra was old, I was sweating, and I also had my inhaler and my headphones in there. Constant adjustment! I do not recommend. Leave the cell phone at home!
After texting Blondie again, and getting no response, we headed into the park. Ft. Greene wanted to do some cool-down. She ran with us until Center Drive, then begged off.
That left LSE and me. And every time that happens, he tries to up the pace a bit. Sneakily. I felt for it at first. Then, my legs felt like they were going to give out.
And then there was the hill. I realized today that I haven't done the hill in Prospect Park for about 5 months!
Wow.
It didn't get smaller!
Running home, I realized I did about 10 miles. Not bad with slow legs!
Tommorrow, a run to Coney Island has been threatened. We will see!

Friday the 13th!

I loved Friday's puzzle. There was the blurb that started it. That was fun. Then, that led you into 1-across.

Superstitious (or superstitions - I don't have it in front of me right now)

The rest had interesting crosses and it was actually rather fun for a Friday!
In fact most of this week has been fun and easier than usual, including last Sunday's puzzle, with the opposites, like taped lives and the like.

I'm happy that I've had time for crosswords. Now for my magazine piles.......

Yow - Maybe not the smartest idea

Superman had agreed to run this Friday with me.
Great! A fantastic way to jump back into running. Plus, company is always appreciated.
Especially after feeling a bit tight from Thursday's run: running faster than you've let yourself for 5 months really makes you tired! Who would have known?!

Then, the news: Superman had invited LSE to join us.

"No testosterone fights!" I screamed to myself. And to them. They promised a long, slow run.

Hah.

I really should have known better.

We started at a fairly relaxed pace - for them - while running down Prospect Park West to Greenwood Cemetery. The weather was super humid and the allergies and asthma weren't good but it was sunny-ish and cool.
Off to Owl's Head. By this point, we had stopped for waters, thankfully, to carry with us.
And, by this point, LSE was already (unconsciously) trying to push the pace.
And, by this point, Superman was keeping up with him.
Which made us go faster than I had wanted.
"It's ok. I can still do this. I can always get on the subway."

Bay Ridge, besides being verdant and homey, is also quite reasonably priced for New York.
Why? Little subway access.
Yeah.
My subconsious had led me to stuff one GU in my sports bra. At least my subconscious realized the plight I might be in!
Tearing off the top with my teeth, I gulped down half of it while Superman used the bathroom at Owl's Head.
My first GU in over 5 months, too. I had forgotten how yucky they are!
Then, off to the promenade.
"We're just going a little way, right?"
"No! All the way to the Verizano!"
That couldn't be right. And I still don't know if we went down to the Verizano. We turned around at the first big bridge across the water, past the two pedestrian bridges back over Belk Parkway.
My knee, twinging at bit at the end of my Thursday run, started up again.
Uhoh.
Luckily, the pavement tilt helped on the way back down the promenade.
But I was already pretty done.
And we still had to get back!
The rest of the run back was rough. LSE kept surging forwards. Superman would sometimes go with him and sometimes hang back with me.
I kept trundling along, my muscles feeling like I was at mile 20 of the marathon.
At least, though they were much faster than me, they both felt the pain: at stoplights, we would all start walking.
But they kept stopping for me. That's worse than just leaving me!
I kept trundling, my knee aching a bit and my legs on fire, back up 5th Avenue.
Back up to Prospect Park West. Back near GAP.
Yes, near GAP. Superman and LSE stopped where Superman had to turn off.
I had to keep running because I couldn't stop.
Then, I rubber-walked to the Vivacious Redhead's house, where I imposed on her poor, sick, self, to get some water and some sympathy.
I got the water.
"You did what? Are you crazy?"
Yes. Apparently. Or with a really slow-rising learning curve.
Don't run long with Superman and LSE together! At least, not when I'm not in shape.
I had to miss my group run this morning to coddle my knee.
Sigh.
But I'm still back!
And I've discovered my new baseline. These are all good things.
I have no idea how far I ran. Anywhere from 14-17 miles.
Ouch.

Contemplating......

"So, what are your training plans, then, for the Fall? What marathon are you going to do? Marine Corps? Baltimore?"

"I don't have any."

"What?! You?"

I am contemplating potentially not running a marathon this year for the first time since I started running in 2005.

Notice, I can't even put the thought in definitive terms.

Because it would be shocking and strange.

But, maybe, not the worst thing in the world.

After all, it's not as if I'm in shape, mile-wise or other-wise, to do a solid marathon. Maybe I should wait until next year.

The other part of me says that I need a solid, predictable plan for running if I really am going to bounce back. That I will be lost without a specific goal. That I might quit running if I don't have that goal.

Still contemplating. Maybe there's a middle ground......

Welcome Back

to me.

I went on a celebratory and experimental run this morning. Celebratory because I can run (almost) without conditions now. Experimental because I'm pushing the time-frame a bit; because, earlier in the week, I had run a couple of times with some bad side effects; and because I haven't really tried to run instead of jog in ages.

The sky was icing-licious today: blue with whipped buttercream frosting. Yum. I went the mid-length way around the outside of the park: Up Eastern to GAP, then around and up Flatbush back to GAP, then back down Eastern Parkway.

Some observations:

The pavement is deplorable on Flabush, especially nearing Grand Army. It's always been bad but this winter really amped up the problems. Of course, no one actually lives on that part of Flatbush, so it's unlikely that they will fix it anytime soon.

It's been so long since I've pushed myself, it was hard to figure out how much pushing was ok. It's as if I've forgotten all the lessons I've taught myself over the years.

The extra weight really hurts the knees. By the time I finished, I was really having to ease into the stop at lights because my knees were threatening me.

It's not the best idea to eat a bunch of icing the day before you attempt your first semi-serious run in months.

It's great to be back trying to run again. Some people seem naturally even-keeled. Me, if I can't exercise, am a roller-coaster wreck. Not a pretty sight these past two weeks!

I can still pass at least some people. I was worried about that!

No speed records anytime soon but, if I'm lucky, maybe more than the 6.7 miles I did this morning!
Fingers crossed.

134

The scale read 134

134
134
134
And the nurse was being generous
134
134
134
Numbers not seen since 2007
134
134
134
134
I focused my attention on them all weekend.

Something I have control over?
Something I can change?
And those 16 pounds have outlived their usefulness.