Plagued by the plague - or a really, REALLY bad cold.

Yes, I've been sick for the last 7 days now.  Late in the afternoon, after my 5K last Sunday I detected a sore throat.  The next morning I felt pretty lousy, and had a doctor's appointment, where they said my temperature was close to 100.  By Monday evening, it was closer to 103, where it stayed for a couple of days.  I missed a lot of work - and I missed a lot of workouts!  Today I finally felt enough energy to, at least, take a walk.  It was nice to get out in the cool sunshine of fall in Michigan.  I used a new app to record my (very leisurely) walk called iRunner and it was pretty cool.  I think you can glean a lot of information from it, especially if you upgrade to the paid app, and it seems quite easy to use.  It also partners with the program that ACS uses for their training, which will come in handy later.

Since my walk way a leisurely one (3.4 miles in 1:04) I had time to enjoy the scenery a bit more than usual.  Peak color is nearly gone now, but the MetroPark was still really pretty.  Lots of leaves crunching underfoot - at least I'm assuming so... My head and ears are still so blocked that my hearing is really bad right now (for example I can't hear the microwave or the car beeper telling me when I un/lock it).  I saw lots of people out walking, riding and running.  It really was a beautiful day and I was glad to see so many people out taking advantage of it.  I've included a couple of pictures from my walk here.


In addition to the nice scenery, I saw some very interesting bugs along the way.  One may have been a Katydid of some kind.  It didn't look quite right.  I saw a couple of magnificent beetles.  I don't have a clue what they were.  Several abandoned wasp nest were along the path, on the ground.  A few wooly looking worms were crossing the path rather pokily.  Also, I saw what looked like a smooth, curvy stick, but upon closer inspection, it was a little striped snake - only about a foot long.   He seemed to be enjoying the sunshine next to the path, but my leering must have made him uncomfortable because he suddenly slipped through the grass and into the brush.  Here I was, looking at this snake, thinking to myself "Oh, look, a little snake sunning himself" and I have no idea why it startled me so much when he moved.  I literally jumped back from him, like I thought he wasn't real or something.  Funny how our brains work.


So that was today's walk.  No running for a week now, and I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing this week.  I slept in today, and right now it's not even 7:00 pm yet and I'm already looking forward to bed time, so my energy level is really low.  

To Do: Run first 5K... Check!

Well, I finished my 5K today and it was awesome!  It was in the low 50s, which is perfect for me, and it was spitting rain, off-and-on, which isn't so perfect, but wasn't that bad.  I wasn't fast - I knew I wouldn't be.  I ran some and walked some, but running with 1993 other people is vastly different than running by myself in my neighborhood or in the MetroPark!


Out of 1994 people, I came in at 1507, so certainly not in the very back of the pack.  Out of 134 women in my division, I was 101st, so, again, not at the very back. I did the race in just under 49 minutes (the first-place woman was 22 years old and did it in 16:58!!!)

One thing I learned is that it's difficult to drink from a paper cup while you are running!  Now I know why I see runners squeeze the cup so it creates a spout.  When I do my next 5K, in 2 weeks, I hope to come in a little faster.  The weather is difficult to predict at the end of October, so I don't know what I'll be in for, there.  I'll pretty much be happy if it's not raining.  Or really windy.  Or sleeting.  Or... It's Michigan so I know that if there's anything I can count on, it's NOT the weather!


All in all, I was happy with my performance.  I got a hug (and a kiss) from Paws after the race, which was pretty cool.  I got a hug and a kiss from John, too, which always makes me happy.  In other sports news:  Paws is, unfortunately, now on winter break, since the Tigers lost last night's playoff game.  That's a bummer.   And our Lions lost their first game of the season this afternoon, just block away from where I finished my run.  Not the best weekend in professional Michigan sports.  Also, U of M lost to MSU in the big college football battle.  I'm happy to cheer for MSU when they're playing someone else, but when they're up agains UM...  Oh well.  Go Blue. Go Honolulu Blue and Silver - and go Me!

My first non-post-run entry!

I did not run yesterday.  I slept in before work, instead, and they we had things to do after work and I got home much too late to run.  I did not walk today... I slept in again, and then went to the race expo for tomorrow's run.  That's okay! I feel like I'm ready and am excited to go tomorrow and finish my first 5K. As actor David James Elliott said, "Every time I go out there, I win.  Every time I finish the task that I've set before myself, I win again."


I also did something really exciting yesterday!  I signed up for next year's half-marathon through the American Cancer Society DetermiNation program.  I have said here that I was planning to do that, but I was thrilled when I actually got to register for it.  I was the first  registrant - probably because most people are thinking about this weekend's race, not the one in 365 days. I will be running my first half-marathon on Sunday, October 14, 2012.  If you'd like to read more about DetermiNation you can go to my personal page, here.  


I will be fundraising in may different ways to reach my goal for next year's race, but if anyone is inclined to donate to the ACS in support of my run tomorrow, gifts to my DetermiNation fund, at the link above, would be most welcome and appreciated.


I'll write tomorrow to report on my very first 5K.  Here I go!

GREAT run this morning!

Yea!  I went out about 5:45 and it was kind of foggy, in the mid-upper 50s and it was perfect!  I spent a little more time than usual in the morning (before work) and got a further run in.  I felt really good doing it, and even better when I got done.  Ridiculously invigorated and ready to tackle the day - and it needed some tackling!

Tomorrow, I'll do a slightly shorter run and then Saturday I'm still planning to walk for an hour        and I'll be good to go at  7:25, when the gun fires in Detroit (it's okay... this gun is supposed to be fired in the middle of this crowd of people).  My plan is to do a little more walking during the first mile, so I can run the last 2 miles of the race.  I know for any runner, my little 5K seems like a morning stroll, but it's a big accomplishment for me, and I'm totally geeked about it!

There were a number of distractions during this morning's run!  First, I was rounding a dark corker and an opossum darted out from under some bushes at me - well, as much as an opossum can dash.  As soon as he realized that he was coming toward me, rather than away from me, he turned and scurried through 3 yards.  He finally found shelter in another bush that I was, obviously, not going to dive under to get him.  

Even scarier than the opossum... a school bus full of kids!  I never see the buses, and usually just forget that they are out there picking the kids up in the morning, but my timing today was just so that I ran by 2 of them.  I see all the kids on Halloween and know that they are unpredictable and not trustworthy, so I try to stay as far away as possible.  Can't believe I had to run right by them today.  

Finally, I found out that I can register for next year's half-marathon tomorrow, which is really exciting.  On the American Cancer Society's web site, I looked at the DetermiNation page this morning and they posted the registration, so I can commit to the race, and start getting my things in order, and begin fundraising!  This is the most exciting thing that's happened to me in a while (unless you count this morning's flu shot), so I am really stoked and that's really going to help during this weekend's race.

More tomorrow...

Well, that was different!

I just got home from my first nighttime run.  It was just in my neighborhood, where I run all the time, early in the morning while it's still dark.  I knew that this would be a little different... different traffic and people out, etc.  I only saw one person outside, talking on his cell.  I passed him twice near the park and he kept moving away from me like he was worried that I might trot by and mug him, or something.  I also saw a couple of cars heading in or out of the neighborhood, not quite as many as I usually see in the morning.  


The run was good.  My pace was improved, I think, and I went about 2.5 miles.  Somehow my Nike+ didn't get turned on, as I thought, so my run didn't get recorded.  Since the sun had gone down (being 10:15 pm, and all) it was nice an cool - just 61 degrees.  Not a lot of humidity and a very slight breeze.  It was a pleasant run and I felt really good - although I really should go a little longer.


Some of our neighbors really decorate for Halloween.  Orange lights, pumpkins, ghosts and cobwebs...  In fact, I ran through some cobwebs that went from a low-hanging branch to someone's car and it felt like the real deal.  It even had a lifelike spider in it and a few bugs caught up in the web.  I was also taken back to 1976... I remember seeing the advertisements for The Omen on television.  I never saw the movie, but the commercials scared the bejesus out of me, with vicious, wild looking dogs all over the place.  They made me think of hyenas or jackals back then, when I was 10! There aren't any jackals or hyenas in my neighborhood, that I know of.  There are, however, coyotes that frequent the large field in back of the houses across the street from us.  I could hear them yapping back and forth and it kind of freaked me out.  Maybe it made me run a little faster!


Just one week until my first 5K and then 3 more in the next month.  That might just qualify me as "a runner" now.

I can do this!

Seen on my run today

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. Which one sounds better? Today's run didn't go all that well, so I'm not quite sure where my "can do" attitude is coming from just now, but we'll go along with it. Today I did a combination of walking and running and went a little over 2.6 miles at a slightly faster pace than last week. It was kind of hot out - upper 70s. Very sunny for about half of my run, and lots of bugs.  Small bugs that kept getting in my mouth and in my eyes.  The ones that get in my mouth I can spit out, but the little ones that get in my eyes are a little harder to deal with.  


I suppose the "can do"  may come from the fact that everything I see about the Detroit Marathon, Relay, Half Marathon and 5K says in big letters YOU CAN DO THIS! If you see it enough you start to believe it?  Actually, I know that I can do it, but I'm concerned about the beginning of the race.  I'm worried that I'm going to start out with 2,499 other 5Kers and my brain will start telling me that I'm not very good, and I'm going to fail and that I really can't do this - at least not without doing so poorly that I will be defeated and humiliated.  I have been working hard to squash those feelings up to this point, but I also know that I haven't worked as hard as I could have and I question whether I'm prepared.  


Now, if I had signed up for the marathon, or the half-marathon... well, I could NOT do that, but the 5K?  I've done that before in my training, I can slow down to a walk if I need to, and it's a nice, fairly flat route.  No reason for me to be worried that I can't do it.  Plus, it starts at 7 25 am, so it will be nice and cool out, and I'll line up toward the back of the group and try NOT to compare myself to other runners.  Oh, and I got my race bib number yesterday!  I am runner 25259!  That's pretty exciting!  


I'll be out and running again tomorrow and will report in then.  I'll want to get 3 runs in next week, but will walk on Saturday so I'm rested and ready to go Sunday morning.  

What an awesome morning!

I wish I could have gotten a picture of what the sky was like when I went out to run this morning at 5:55!  it was chilly out and wonderfully clear. I think I could see every star in the sky.  It was gorgeous and, despite my somewhat icy fingers, it was a fantastic temperature.


The run, itself, felt really good.  I sped things up from Sunday's run, which was great.  I didn't go as far, because I had to get ready for work.  My legs are sore from Sunday, but running made them feel better and then I had a good stretch afterward. I only ran 2 miles this morning, and took a quick - 3 minute - walk break in the middle.  I could tell that I was moving along at a faster clip than usual, while I was running and, oddly, I never quite got to that "Crap! What am I doing out here? What makes me think I'm ever really going to be a runner?" feeling that I sometimes get.  Starting out with sore legs, on my second run, after 3 weeks of inactivity seems like the perfect time for those feelings to crop up, so I think I'm making progress, despite that.  Looking forward to my Detroit Free Press and Talmer Bank 5K in 12 days!  Then the Run of the Dead, two weeks later.


When I first went out, I was walking for a few minutes to warm up my muscles, and was only about 6 houses away from my own, and this little white dog ran up to me barking feverishly!  Yes, it was a small dog, but it really startled me with it's sudden yappiness, dashing toward me in the dark.  There were no lights on in, or around, the house, but I finally did see that there was a woman attached to the other end of the leash - it's a good thing that I didn't trip over her dog.  She looked kind of grumpy!


Well, tomorrow I have a Zumba class, so I won't be running again until Thursday.  Check back then to see how it goes (and I might even tell you a little about Zumba).  Laters!

Wake me up when September ends...

Oh, wait!  It ended already. So much for that Green Day song, huh!  I'm not sure what happened, but I was sick a couple of times and my schedule was out of whack for a week, but I didn't run for THREE!  This does NOT bode well for the 5K that I'm doing in just 2 weeks, does it?

I went to the MetroPark today and went 3.33 miles. I was slow.  Very slow!  I ran the first mile and then walked for a while, ran another half mile and then walked some more.  All in all, I did run about half of it, which isn't too bad, given my lack of running in September.  I wasn't thrilled with my performance, but wasn't totally disgusted by it, either.  I'll really be cracking this week and next, planning to run 4 times each week.  

I was at the park much later than usual, since it's now much cooler out.  It was 60 degrees, which was wonderful.  It was pretty windy, which did add a bit of challenge to the running AND the walking portions.  There are a LOT of people at the park at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday!  Lots of people walking their dogs, walking their kids, riding their bikes... One guy had a radio attached to his bike so he didn't have to miss the Lions vs. Cowboys game, AND shared it with everyone he rode past.  The Lions won, by the way.  Pretty awesome game.  In fact it was a great weekend in Michigan sports.  Michigan, MIchigan State, the Lions and the Tigers all won their games this weekend.  Yay!

But, I digress...  Many people were out enjoying the park today and it was a beautiful day for it!  I was on a route with just a few hills, about the same amount of shade as not, and the weather and temperature were lovely.  I couldn't have asked for a better day to jump back into my running routine.  Now, I'm trying to decide what I'll do the rest of this week.  Follow some part of C25K?  Run 3 miles each day, alternating running and walking?  Run up to 3 miles each day, running as much as I can, but walking when I have to?  I just don't know!  I'll do a little research tonight to find out what is recommended, and I'll let you know what I settled on when I check in tomorrow or Tuesday.  Until then... stay hydrated, my friends!