That Was Hard!

And Pre-Law Boot Camp was pretty hard, too.

Glad both are over with!

I won't run late at night. I doubt anything would happen to me but, if it did, I'd get no sympathy.

"You were running where?! When?! What did you expect?"

Given my crazy schedule for the past week, that would leave 5:00am-6:30am as the running time slot.

Late evening appointments and problems sleeping - moving stress - nixed that time slot.

I hadn't run since last Thursday. My waistline, friends, and job were suffering as a result.

So, when Boot Camp ended early yesterday, I jumped on the opportunity to fit in a run before Pizza Tour with the Vivacious Redhead and Gorgeous at Tottono's in Coney Island.
Much needed. Must fit in extra pizza, you know!

Out the door I went at about a quarter to 3:00.

Did you know that Heat Advisories are put out especially for asthmatics?

And I'm an ashtmatic? WIth severe pollen allergies?

The loop of Central Park was a slow one! I couldn't get air in very well. But I'm still happy I went.

The Vivacious Redhead: "At least tell me you went out, realized how awful it was, and turned back around?!"

Me: "Um.........No?"

The Vivacious Redhead: Looks at me like I'm an idiot. Shakes her head and sighs.

But I went slowly!

Happy to get out there. But it was hard.

A Cold Constitutional

"Why go? You could always skip today, too......" The dreaded voice, often present but more strident in cold weather, cycled on repeat through my head yesterday as I taught classes.

I was tired. It was cold. And, really, it was supposed to be a lower-miles week.

All excuses.

"But I don't have gloves!" I thought as I was gearing up, despite a colleague warning me as to the chill. "Or a long-sleeved shirt!"

Squashing the dissent, I layered a couple of short-sleeved shirts under the jacket I left in my office and shivered out the door. At least I had a hat and thick socks.

Wanting to get the run in before another meeting and before I got too hungry - almost 4:00pm is a fair ways away from lunch, when you've left the house early enough for an 8:15am class.

First thing that happened, besides my hands and rear getting numb, was that I ran into the crowds at Columbus Circle. Stupid red-and-white shopping kiosks! Stupid tourists that likely pay my salary!

I can appreciate them without liking them, right?

A loop the hard way, then a resolute turning-around and going the other way, instead of running back at the turn-around conveniently located right at Columbus Circle. Sigh.

It got a lot warmer, actually. I didn't even need the gloves until the end, when the sun had been set for a while and the temperature dropped. The Time Warner sign said it was 31 degrees. I beg to differ!
Stopped to window-shop on the way back. Out of character and a mistake. Didn't find anything except crowds and what little I had sweated froze as the wind started blowing.

Don't know whether it's Central Park, or that my back has been bothering me and, likely, has tightened everything down the back of my legs, or both, but my butt and hamstrings really hurt by the end of this run. And I was going not-so-fast.

Hmmmmm.

Also an unwelcome twinge in my right quad. This weather causes everything to flare up!
A bit over 12 miles

The Pain in My Butt Makes My Knee Hurt Less

I love high heels.

Until I was about 22, the only time I didn't wear high heels was when I was waitressing or biking.

Then, I got old. Things started to hurt.

And then I added running. In Auburn, when I amped up my miles, I realized that my footwear really had to become boring and 'sensible'. I cried a bit.

But I also get illusions of invincibility. And I've still got some really cute shoes.

I also have really really steep stairs. Not a good combination with old knees and 4-inch heels, when you are going up and down the stairs repeatedly because you are having people over.

Great Thanksgiving. The brussels sprouts, vegetarian shepard's pie, mac 'n' cheese, etc. turned out well. Company was fabulous.

Shoes were a major mistake. Had to take off 3 days because of a shooting knee pain when going up or down stairs - and sometimes, even, when just walking.

I was a mess. Too much energy and not enough exercise makes me an unpredictable person. Likely in a bad way!

So, I gave myself until yesterday and then let myself try the knee out before going to a board meeting.

Lacing up my shoes as soon as possible after my last class, I raced out into the cold to do some solo evaluation. In Central Park.

Because, you know, there's no better 'easy run' than two loops of Central Park when you are used to Brooklyn.

Yeah. Right. At least I started out the hard way, to get it over with.

Or, I should say, the hard-er way. Neither was a picnic!

Even last year, when I'd grab a run between classes, I was never in Central Park after dark. The only time I'd be running in Manhattan without the benefit of some sun was commuting to or from work on the West Side, never in the park itself.

It was kind of creepy. Cool but creepy. I can see very little, period, when I'm running and can see even less without the benefit of el sol.

That might have been a little dangerous. Oops! Of course, I concentrated on looking intimidating. Not much of a stretch, of course. People meet me and think, "Wow! She is so intimidating! Look at those amazing color combinations! And that huge hair and squeaky voice!"

I resolved, in looking intimidating, that I would not speak.

Warm-up from my office, a clockwise loop and then a counter-clockwise loop, then a warm-down to near the office before walking the rest of the way. 1:50:42 total. Pretty slow but, then again, I wasn't pushing it. Wanted to make sure my knee didn't get tweaked.

Actually, the knee didn't hurt until the very end. My rear was too busy hurting. The change in my gait post-quad-injury plus the hills in Central Park did a good job in transferring the pain to my rear end from my knee.
Today, my hamstrings are tired! Those hills are no joke for a Brooklynite! More practice.......

Psychologically, it was hard for me, too. I hate doing loops! My inherently lazy self always thinks, "look, where you started is right there! One loop, two loops....It's all the same, right?"

Rainbow!

Racing to meet the Speedy Blonde, I was nervous!

I mean, after all, she is not called the Speedy Blonde for nothing! And I've been under the weather. Getting over there, it was like my taking three days off made me creakier. My calf still hurt, my back hurt and my hamstrings were killing me.

I chalked it up to too much time in bed and kept on racing to meet her. Don't you hate it when work gets in the way of your leisure activities?

While I felt a lot better, we were definitely under the weather during our run today. I can't help but secretly hope that it will be as warm as today, but without all that humidity, the day of the marathon. Think about waiting around in this weather! Oh, the gloriousness.

Despite the rain and my recovery, the run sped by! Both figuratively and literally! We weren't going super slow, I don't think, although I know my body is off ( thank heavens for me being able to keep up!) and I hadn't seen her in so long that we were gabbing the whole way. I miss running with her! Plus, I'd be so much faster if I ran with her all the time........

Anyway, I ran from work and met her at Columbus Circle, whereafter we did a loop of Central Park and then I ran with her to the transverse and back to work. About 8 1/2 miles.

It started pouring at the end of our run. Would usually have been terrible, given my newish shoes and cotton shirt but it was so warm it didn't really matter.

Plus, the rain with the lowering sun made the glimpses of sky between the skyscrapers and the trees pearlescent and eerie. And we saw a rainbow!

I need not to worry about hitting or not hitting my miles this week. Earlier in the week was definitely not a result of me being a hypochondriac. Better to rest up, I'm hoping, than to hit the number I need for the week.

I hope it's not a bad omen that I left my schedule last week at my parents' house.

Now, to figure out when and how much to run next week. That, and how not to freak out before the race, get sick before the race, or freak out during or after the race if I don't hit my goals.

Easy Peasy. It's not like I stress a lot over things......Do I?

Quick post. Back to real life.

Time Flies

When you are in a place that has no windows and no clocks!

I let posting get away from me when I was in Nevada. But, I am proud to say, I did get some runs in between the pool and hanging out with The Intellectual Rapier and Party Girl.

Note to those out there: bring a lot of water when you are running in Nevada. The first run I took, I left with the other two but set out on my own, going down a road that paralleled the Strip. Within a mile, my lips were parched and my mouth was dry. But I did not have a single bead of sweat on me. I managed about 5 1/2 before deciding that running between 10:30 and noon was NOT the best idea. It's really fun to see all the lights on the strip, though. Also got in some stair workouts, as you have to cross most of the roads via overhead bridges.

Seeing all the tourists - who were mainly Americans, as far as I could tell - made me realize anew how very unattractive we Americans are. If I never see another pair of too-tight cargo shorts, I will be very happy.

Next day, I went much earlier. Ran on the strip the whole time, marveling in the lights and come-ons even that early. The lights and the newness of it all made the run go by really quickly. Either that or the fact that I was semi-coherent, having slept about four (poor) hours the night before. Went about five that day.

No sleep plus vacation = really hard run when you get back to reality. Went with Ivy League out to Central Park on Friday. Started out counter-clockwise on 72nd for one full loop, then clock-wise for the 5-mile loop that cuts over on the 102nd street transverse. Then, counter-clockwise again for the 4-mile loop that cuts over on both transverses. I planned poorly for this run, mainly because I hadn't thought to ask how far we were going. No gu, no water bottles. Luckily, Ivy League had an extra gu that he gave to me. I'll bet he wished he hadn't when we got to the last loop. Even before the last loop, I was having a hard time. My breathing was fine but my legs were shot.
"If I make it to the end of the second loop, I'll just walk around and cool down while he does the last loop" I promised myself.

But, I had to take the train home with him and knew that he'd make fun of me the whole time if I gave up before the end of the run, so I crossed onto the 72nd street transverse for the last loop. One of the harder things I've done running. Psychologically, loops are my weakness. I'm kind of lazy, so I have a major temptation, even on the best of running days, to stop after I get to the finishing point of one loop. And yesterday was not one of my better running days.

Ivy League and I hit glycogen deficit at the same time, right before the 102nd street transverse. He had enough to keep going the same pace or slightly faster. I did not. I hobbled along until the very end, using my Ipod to help me out. My brain shut down a bit on the last part, leading to weird free associations not unlike when you are about to fall asleep. That's when I remembered that I never ate dinner Thursday night, not the smartest thing if you are going on at 15-mile run the next day!

Two lessons reinforced: 1. Avoid those guys (and they are almost always guys) who try to race you or pass you when they are clearly not going as fast as you. We had one for most of one of the loops and it was super annoying. We could hear him loudly stomping and breathing at a gasp right behind us. Better to just speed up a bit more, I think. 2. Have another song besides "Billy Jean" stuck in your head. It's probably my all-time favorite song but it doesn't give the right cadence for a run but you just cannot get it out of your brain! Plus, you want to shout 'ooh!' every so often, which seems a bit weird to other runners.

I had to catch up on crosswords on the plane ride back and on Friday afternoon. The earlier-in-the-week ones were kind of boring. Friday's, though, had a really funny clue. Was a joint tenant = did time. Hah!

Feeling like a Snowball in H@@@

After having too much delicious food and sunning myself in the gorgeous weather in both Kona and Oahu, I shook off my jet lag and decided to get back to business yesterday, both figuratively and literally. After sending off a paper, I met the speedy blonde for a loop of Central Park.

At 3:00pm. When it was over one hundred degrees outside. Maybe not the smartest move!

However, we had the park pretty much to ourselves, with the exception of the desperate bicycle taxis, offering us rides around the park. Plus, I hadn't seen the speedy blonde for a while and we both had races and plans to relate. So we chatted excitedly through the first few miles, not even feeling the heat so much. After the excitement wore off, the sun started coming through the asphalt and we faltered a bit. She suggested we cut the loop off at the transverse - a wise move, given the day. Aftervgetting through the transverse, I received the 'weenie of the day' award by suggesting that we walk for a bit. I was hyperventilating, likely due to both the heat and my excessive time off.

We finished, though. Which was great. And now we've got plans to go running again, which is also great. What a good person to run with.

Not so great: the cross-training I tried in Hawaii kind of backfired on me. Recumbent bikes are not a great idea for my knees, it turns out. Going to physical therapy again! Was up half the night because of weird leg pains.

Got to do the Sunday crossword on paper again. What a treat! I liked the theme of this one: took a second to figure out but was easy as pie once you did.

I've actually never understood why pie was considered easy. Making pie crust is a type of art form.

I'm going to call yesterday five miles. Artistic license.