pop went the oranges

I found a training plan at runnersworld.com, unfortunately it recommends that I start training two weeks ago. So I'm going to be faking it from there.
I had a tough time deciding that I was going to try the intermediate program: I don't feel like a beginner necessarily, I mean, I've done this before so I have some idea what it is going to be like and how my body is going to take it, but I'm not in out-of-the-gates-like-a-flash-of-light shape, I pretty much hibernated this winter. So I am going to take the standard program and modify it, nothing significant, though I do need to reconcile the two weeks right out of the gate, which is a little annoying. I guess I should have started looking sooner.
I started out to do a nice 6 miler last night around 7. I waited as long as I could so that it would be cool, but my wardrobe choice left a little something to be desired (hello 100% cotton shirt) when combined with the heat and humidity levels. There was also the fact that I was otherwise occupied (my main motivation for the run was a cup cake) so I took the easy way out and did a 4.5 mile loop instead of the 3 miles out and 3 miles back I had planned on.
It was still good, a nice lite run like that (to quote the fantastic JLB) is never a bad idea. But there is always this feeling, when I deviate from the plan, that I owe something, that maybe I should go today and do that last mile and a half. I don't have the time today, so I guess I will try and talk someone into going with me on Friday morning...when I will be on Vacation! Oh yes. It will be nice.
It was a damned good cup cake though.
I am sorry to be the one to tell you, if you haven't heard, but Sleater-Kinney has announced their impending break-up. Oh Grrrrls, why?

the wet wet world

Went up to my folks early on Saturday again. Hung out with the fam, went for a nice 4-miler (complete with killer, take-your-shirt-off hill) around two and then went to a wedding. It was a nice wedding, a girl I have known since I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, a very good friend of my little sister's--she's about 4 years younger than I am, all dressed up in a big white dress, and moving to Georgia of all places. They got married at the foot of the local ski hill, in front of the ski wee shack, which was apparently only funny to me. I mean, come on people--there is a beautiful analogy to draw there, about their youth and the idea of ski wee as a place to learn...Anyway, the bride was beautiful, the cake was fantastic, and the ladies who danced (and danced, and danced) were fabulous.
So the time has come: the divine Ms. P is going to sign us up for the race, and I'm going to start looking at training plans for the steamtown. Now things begin in earnest.

its all about the food

I did a really nice six miler last night, and I didn't even notice the humidity until I stopped: then all I could hear around me was the buzz of air conditioners from nearby houses, and all I could feel was sweat pooling on my skin.
It was good though, its a nice sweep: up a medium grade hill, along a rounded bend that I always seem to forget about until I get there, and then past the local golf course. Last night I turned around at their second driveway and came back.
I really like out-and-back loops, because if I'd been feeling bad I could have turned it around at 1.5 and just done three, and if some miracle had happened and I was feeling like SuperGirl I could have kept going and done eight or ten miles.
I'm pretty psyched to get back to a place where I can do eight or ten miles at a kick without worrying too much about it. I'm going to talk to the divine Ms. P this weekend and see if we're really going to do the Steamtown in October. If thats the case then in the next two weeks I've got to find a training plan and get up to the point where I can start one without hurting myself!
Its all so exciting!
a couple of fun things: map my run or gmap my run (if you're a google fan: and I am) or even 'pod it (if you're down with the 'pod: I don't own one, but I can imagine there is a hell of a coolness factor going on there.)
ah, the march of technology, huh?
So I totally forgot to touch on the title of this: I keep reading books about food, and magazine articles about food, and if you ever get a chance to check out the mega coolness going on at polyface farms then you should, because they are revolutionaries (in the best ways possible!) Anyway, yeah, food: who made yours? Do you know? Its one of those things that I don't think about often enough. But I'm trying to change that. Yep. I went and joined a CSA (might have to scroll a little to get the proper definition).
K, thats it. Bases are covered.

le sigh

I didn't go running yesterday, I sore in all the usual places: hip joints, ankles, arms and lower stomach and decided to give in to it. But then because I didn't go running I didn't want to write in this thing--and I felt bad about it.
I wonder if I'm going about this wrong? Maybe I should just be writing about running regardless of whether or not I've run on a particular day, --I'm not sure.
Here is my thought for today though:
Stretching is an important part of running. Without it you get sore and cannot run. Not running sucks.
And thats all I have to say about that.

Anxiety

Majorly stormy as I was leaving work last night, which was exciting, but which I was worried would mean no running last night--however, it cleared off and so I did possibly the coolest thing I've done since I moved here (and yes, this is pathetic): I took my laundry to the laundromat and then went to the high school track that is nearby and did 20 minutes of intervals (run long jog short, whoo). It was excellently awesome.
This morning I got up and did hill repeats for 20 minutes--though I didn't go all the way to the top of the hill as there was a tree down about 1/4 of the way from the top, so I did back-and-forth up the section of the hill about eight times and then went home for breakfast.
Again, awesome.
So far the running part of the week is very very good, but the work part is anxiety producing: now (due to a human resources gaff) they want me to sign a new contract--I got it yesterday and they say they want it back today. It says on the letter that I've got 10 days to give it back, and honestly I'd wait longer than that if I could, because I've applied for another job and I'm planning to take it if I get it and the money is even halfway decent.
Which of course makes me feel all kinds of guilty for wanting another job as well as annoyed that I've worked this long without a contract (not that I should have--thats the HR gaff) and now they want it ASAP.
Ugh.

the heat

At my folks this weekend (in honor of father's day) J came down and we ran from there down to the river. Once we got there though we decided that wet feet were too high a price to pay for cooling off, so we ran back and then drove to a local (lake) beach. It was a nice little run, a little over two miles, its one I used to do in High School on a fairly regular basis. There were a few new houses and several old houses that were for sale. So strange to think of that place changing.
This morning it was near 70 by 6am. y-u-c-k. I went out and did two miles early this morning and once I stopped I poured sweat. Summer has finally hit. Time to start drinking the water.
Dehydration is one of the scariest things I've ever experienced. I went to visit an old boyfriend in Vail, Co. once and got altitude sickness--one of the awesomer things about being at 8950 ft above sea level is how easy it is to get drunk if you aren't used to it. One of the worst things about it: you need to drink water constantly to stay on top of the hangover the next day or you'll pee blood.
So I try to be pretty good about hydration: I've had enough times where I was hung over and running too far (ugh.) Or hiking and thought "gee, am I getting a yeast infection or something?" and it turns out that no, I'm not, what I am getting is dehydrated. y-u-c-k: yuck. So, lesson of the day: drink up!

jazzed

I did three miles last night around five thirty, right before it rained. It was fantastic. The light was so dramatic--the pink edges and dark middles of the clouds and the way the light slants at that time of day. I felt like I could keep going when I hit the middle of my loop, but instead I turned back and made it home just before the rain started.
This morning I did a quick two, just out and back, since I was up early and it usually makes my day better(and I have a phone interview today! For a job I think I'd like way better than this one! Oh to hope...).
The air was cool and I started out in long-sleeves, a true luxury for this time of year. I couldn't decide, when I was leaving my house, whether I would regret more wearing shorts or wearing pants--at the last moment I remembered a pair of capris I bought for biking, and wore those. This is something I would only do at 5:30 am. Running in stretch capris sort of screams '80s fashion sense to me.
I read an article once about "jump-starting" your metabolism by running in the early morning (before eating) and then again in the evening (and not eating anything afterward) I've tried it a couple of times in the past, though never for any longer than about a week--when I run every day I tend to hurt myself more frequently.
I think I may try it next week. I could use a "jump start".

Old shoes, new aches

I love early mornings in the summer. Dew and that sense that it is going to get hot later in the day, so if you're going to go you've got to go now. Its a great time to run. When I'm finished I feel like I've really accomplished something, which comes in handy while I'm sitting in seemingly endless meetings later on in the day. This weekend I found an old pair of sneakers in the trunk of my car, and even though I know that I wore them to run my marathon last year, they didn't look so beat up. I took them out yesterday for a little jog-around, just to see.
Yep. They make my feet hurt. Its something I always wonder about: the 250-odd mile limit on a pair of shoes. But it turns out, in my case anyway, I think I will keep logging the miles on my calendar so I know when enough is enough and changing shoes accordingly.
I still remember my first pair of real, serious running shoes. They were Sacony-hand-me-downs from my cousin, the first spring I ran track. When I got them they were already a little worn around the toe box, and comfortable to wear without socks. I loved those shoes.
Halfway through the season I sprained my ankle at a practice and my Mom took me to see a doctor--he recommended new running shoes and always wearing socks. Ah, wisdom and youth, so often at odds.

gas n' go

I went running this morning--It got nice and cool last night after the rain and I slept really well until about 4:15 and then for some unknown reason I was jackrabbit awake--this has been happening a lot lately.

So at 5 I finally gave up the ghost and got out of bed (where I had been laying obsessing over a fight I'm in with my friend Lai, who I was supposed to see this weekend). So I got up and called Lai --and she actually answered (I was hoping for voicemail)--and I told her I'm not sleeping much so I thought it would be better if I didn't go (there is also the fact that I can't afford it--but thats another argument) she was mostly asleep so that was pretty much the extent of the conversation.

I've had bouts of insomnia before, the worst being associated with stress: learning to drive a car, breaking up with my first boyfriend, living in England (haha. no, really). I'm not really sure what has triggered this one though, I think it may be job-related actually: see, I applied for a new job, nearer to my family that I would really really love to get, but I haven't told anyone here about it because I like this job--most days its great--and I don't want to throw some shadow over it by saying I am looking around for something else. I haven't heard anything one way or another about it, and I think the suspense is literally keeping me up at night.

The run this morning was good, though. In the past my most tride-and-true weapon against insomnia has been totally and completely physically exhausting myself. If I can do that then I can override the hampster wheel of thought and get some much needed REM.

It was still cool out, so I wore a long-sleeve tshirt, which proved to be unneccessary since the humidity was enough to make me sweat like a stuck pig after awhile. I went for a nice 3 miler, which has been the default distance lately. I really need to switch that up. I'm supposed to go again this afternoon with RC but the forecast is for more thundershowers, so we'll see.

etiquette for runners

I went running yesterday with registrar chic from work--we've been trying to get a group together to go running for a couple of weeks, B and I managed it a couple of times before the semester ended, but once summer started we were supposed to be "serious" about it, and it hasn't happened for us even once yet.

But RC and I went yesterday, sans group, for about a mile. I was somehow expecting a little more, though it was muggy-hot and about to storm, so I didn't really mind the shortness too much, but I haven't been running like that in awhile.

This is going to be tough. I am all about the group running, and I haven't been running a whole lot but I've still kept it to the point where I'm doing 3-5 miles and not thinking its all that far. I let RC pick the route and distance (variety is awesome) but at the end of the run I wanted to speed up, have a nice 'kick' before I totally settled back, and then I realized I'm running with someone, and kicking the pants off them would be impolite. Etiquette, like your mom taught you, only for runners.

Anyhow, it was good to do, and we're going to try and start going a couple of times a week. I think it may mean going further on my own, on my own time, but that will be good for me too--I've gotten used to running by myself and it'll be nice to have the group act as a supplement rather than a replacement.