No running yet, but...

I got my new Under Armour Coldgear, which is exciting, and I also have a list of races that I plan to participate in this year, so there are goals to work toward throughout 2013.  Here are my plans:

• April 21 - I'm signed up for one but don't know that I'll be ready for it.  We'll see... that's just over 3 months fro now.
• May 12 - For Women Only 5K, Ann Arbor - this is also Mother's Day so it will take some planning
• May 19 - Race for the Cure, Kalamazoo - benefitting the Susan G. Komen Foundation
• June 29 - Dirty Girl Mud Run, Detroit, benefitting the National Breast Cancer Foundation
• Aug 18 - Run Some Mora, Ann Arbor - benefitting the La Mora Health Clinic  in El Salvador
• Sept 14 - Big Mac Shoreline Scenic Bike Tour (I know it's not a run but it's 25, 50, 75 or 100 miles, then a ride over the Mackinaw Bridge the next day)
• Sept 20 - Chasing the Cure, Sturgis,  benefitting the Gynecologic Oncology Group in finding a cure for ovarian and uterine cancers
• Oct 12 - Fall Color Mackinaw Bridge Race, St. Ignace to Mackinaw City
• Oct 20 - Detroit Free Press/Talmar Bank International Half Marathon, Detroit and Windsor
• Nov 9 - Ann Arbor Turkey Trot, Ann Arbor (maybe)

Actual running will resume shortly.  I'm still working out a couple of things to be sure that I am ready to go.  I realize that I don't have any races planned in July, but have some really busy weekends and think I may be better off just doing my solo runs, rather than planning a structured race.  Of course, if something interesting presents itself, I may change my mind on that. 

That's about all that's going on here.  More news to come in a few days!

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.  

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.  

Oh! The distractions!

 
Wow! Talk about a difficult run... I knew I was in trouble when we pulled into the Metropark and I saw the sign indicating that there was a Classic Car show in the park today. I joked with my husband about the pancake breakfast that they were also having, but it was the steady flow of awesome cars cruising into the park that was going to get me! 


It was a fantastic morning! The temperature was a cool 64 degrees (17 C) and breezy. It was sunny, but I ran on a path that had a lot of trees so I was in and out of the sunshine. It felt wonderful and I think my speed improved a little. Still don't have my Nike+ sensor but I figured out what happened to it. It died right after I did my 5K and I think it had a heart attack! I mean, here we are consistently running a couple miles 3 or 4 times a week and then I up and run over 3 miles and also tack walking on to the front and back of the run. The sensor blew up!


I set off running and shortly after my warm up walk ran by the many classic cars displayed off to one side. But I ran BY them, not through them. So I planned the rest of my out-and-back run so that I would turn around and my cool down walk would start close to the car show and could walk through for my cool down. That worked great and I've included a few pictures of the distractions that I had to overcome. Ok... The corn dogs weren't really a distrction. Good thing I ate a hard boiled egg before I left the house!


Seriously, though, I did have an interesting realization when I ran by the car how the first time, and then again at the end of my run (I didn't plan quite as well as I thought and had to run into the area where they were displayed).  I was running with many people around. People who could obviously see me, because many of them said hello or waved at me. In the past, having that many people around would have made me terribly self-conscious - probably enough so that I would have slowed to a walk AND gone a different direction to be sure that no one saw me trying to run.  This was a huge breakthrough for me!  Whenever I have run - or done much of anything active like that - I been a closet exerciser.  I don't want people to see me exercise because I'm afraid that they are judging me and thinking that I'll never be able to finish.  That was different today.  Actually for a while now, but I just realized it today.  And it felt really great!  And maybe - just maybe - there was someone who saw me who thought "Hey, look at her.  She's a middle-aged woman and she's a new runner.  Maybe I could do that!"  Perhaps, by my having confidence in myself, I can inspire someone else!  I'll be out running again tomorrow morning. 

Wow! That really sucked!

I mean really! I had decided to not do my longer run, since I was going to the MetroPark, and was unsure of the distances from where I was starting. When we arrived John asked if I wanted mosquito spray but I declined the offer. I hate using that when I work out cuz I always feel like my skin absorbs more if the toxic stuff when I sweat. Besides I breathe harder and don't like inhaling it. Ironically, before I got done with my warm up walk I was headed back to the car. I wanted DEET and lots of it! The 100% kind.


Once again I spent more time walking than running. I had my protein shake this morning, but my diet has been totally crappy for the past three days. That must be the reason that I felt so sluggish. I probably could have actually run more than I did, but I wussed out and walked a lot. At one point I heard someone jogging up behind me and I was thinking "showoff!" when he passed me. It was an old man! Like twice my age!!! Okay, not twice, but I'll bet he was around 70! He got a ways ahead of me and I noticed that he slowed to a walk, but only for about 30 seconds. Showoff! Actually, I don't begrudge the fact that this man past me and was doing great. I aspire to be in that shape at his age, being that active. Hell, I hope I can be in that shape when I'm 50!


Oh... To top things off, my Nike+ sensor died. When my iPod couldn't detect it I checked to be sure I was wearing the correct shoes. Yep, they were definitely my running shoes. I kept waiting for it to pick up the sensor, but it never did. I have to say that I've gotten a much longer life from the sensor than I expected. I imagine that's mostly because, until 2 1/2 months ago it didn't really get the amount of use that it was designed for. I'll get a new one next week. Seems silly since I won't need it when I get my iPhone, but that's a few months off, and I really like using the Nike+ so I'll go ahead and get it.


Planning ahead:  I have decided that I will do a 5K run once weekly, on Wednesday. That way it's the same day each week, and it's during a run in my neighborhood where I have the course measured out. I won't do that the Wednesday before my races, but will inrease the distance a bit the week before that. Based on that I will be following C25K tomorrow, do 5K Wednesday, the C25K the rest of the week.  


Catch ya tomorrow!

What do runners do when they forget something?

Jog their memory!  Okay... quit groaning!  I didn't actually forget anything this morning, but thought I'd start out with a bad joke to pull you in - and now you're reading, aren't you?

Started a little later again this morning - 6am - but there were gorgeous pink streaks of cirrus clouds in the east!  Once again, I couldn't have asked for a better morning to head outside.  I stayed pretty close to the same pace as past few days and have now fully repeated this week of my training, so I'm going to move on tomorrow.  Next week will mark a pretty significant increase in the "running" portion of my program, which will be interesting.  Well, at least "interesting" is one word for it!  I can think of a couple others, as well.

Tomorrow's plan is to go to the MetroPark and I'll go one direction, on foot, while my hubby heads the other direction on his bike, and we'll meet up later.  Then we'll go to breakfast!   I will consider tomorrow's outing a sort of preview of the week to come, then will hopefully be able to move on to the next level a week from Monday.  Since I'll be moving faster for longer periods of time, I would imagine that a couple of PRs will be in there, too.  Currently I have my warm-up and cool-down walks as part of my routine on my Nike+, so I can just imagine the improvement I'll show when I stop doing that!  Adding 10 minutes of walking to the total doesn't help my pace at all!

Well, obviously, my time out was uneventful and I don't really have anything fascinating to tell you about, so I'll sign off here.  Stay tuned, though... Next week should bring some interesting tidbits.

Another one bites the dust!

So... I skipped out on my "run" yesterday.  I woke up when the alarm went off, but dozed back off and then, when I woke up again, I heard the guy on the radio say that it was 82 degrees out - or something like that.  I turned the radio down and went back to sleep.  And slept in.  A lot!  I  think I slept for a total of 14 hours!  That's like 3 night's worth of sleep for me! I must have needed it because I felt great when I woke up, despite the fact that I finally woke up and went in the bathroom and saw a poster for the 1988 Michael Keaton  movie, Beetle Juice, only to realize that it was my reflection.  Yikes!

This morning, I DID get up as soon as the alarm sounded, and headed out.  It was 77 degrees out and, I have to say, I didn't like it!  I really prefer temps in the 60s, especially for exercising, but since it's barely mid-July, I guess I should be prepared for several more weeks of hot "running" weather.

I was going to write today about speed-shuffling past a half-smoked cigarette during one of my longer "run" segments and considering taking a smoke break while I was out this morning.  No, I don't smoke - and don't promote it because it causes cancer! - but for a break at that particular moment, I considered pretending and sitting on the curb for a little rest.  Alas, I decided that even pretending to smoke was worse than overworking my legs, so I just kept going.  

But, instead of telling you about that, I'll get to my subject line for today's post.  One of the last songs that I heard while I was out was Queen's Another One Bites the Dust (not Weird Al's Another One Rides the Bus) and I was feeling particularly good - like I had gone a little faster than last week... maybe even had a personal record (PR) mile, and was thinking "Yes!  Another one did bite the dust!" Another "run" and, possibly, my last best-time for the mile.  I thought it was an appropriate song to wind down on, and I did, indeed, set a new PR for the mile.  In fact, I trimmed off 32 seconds from my last PR!  Mind you, my time isn't fast, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a significant improvement, and Paula Radcliffe congratulated me, once again.  Woo hoo!

Oops! Missed you!

No...  I didn't miss my "run" yesterday, but I did miss telling you about it.  Not that there was anything all that interesting about it.  Headed out at 5:55 am and it was a nice morning.  For the C25K week that I am on I do two shorter run/walk segments, alternating with two longer run/walk segments.  I have to say that, by the end of the longer runs (more like speed shuffling, for me), I was really grateful for the walk break!  Really!  

I felt great when I got done, though!  And I don't mean JUST the relief that I could stop and the feeling that I didn't have to do anything else the rest of the day!  I felt good, physically and emotionally.  Not only was I energized and awake, but I also felt really good that I have been sticking to my schedule and getting out when I said I would.  Since I started a little later than usual, by about 10 minutes, I saw more of my neighbors leaving for work, and didn't feel quite so uncomfortable about them seeing me.  Of course, I do speed up just a little when I see a car come around the corner or someone leaving their house to get in their car.  Don't want to look like I'm a slacker - then again, I'm out there "running" and they're not!  Besides, if I am going faster than usual, they will either think I'm doing really well, or they won't recognize me.

In August, I'm going to need to adjust my "running" schedule (I'll be able to leave the quotes off by then) because I signed up for a Bootcamp on MWF at 5:30 after work, but realized AFTER I signed up that it's 5:30 AM!  Yikes!  I'll be doing some running there, too, but will switch my runs to Tuesday, Thursday and a weekend day.  It will give me one less day of running, but I'll be adding the boot camp, so I think it will all even out.  And it's only for four weeks.

Run weather:  73 degrees, cloudy and humid at 5:55 am

Well... Wasn't THAT interesting!

Happy 4th of July!  It's a lovely day.  Slightly overcast and 70 degrees when I went out to "run" - actually the sun is out now, and it's going to warm up, but still a beautiful day.


So... we went to the Metro Park and I realized immediately that there were things that I had not considered!  I fully realized that the park isn't the nice flat route that my neighborhood is, so the slight hills were not unexpected.  The thing that I hadn't thought about is the fact that there is a BIG difference between running at the crack of dawn by my house, and at a public park when it is open to all visitors.  Not only were there other people out there that would SEE me trying to run, but there are also RUNNERS out there to compare me to!  Yikes!  In addition there were walkers and bicyclists, not to mention the people out fishing and grilling (yes, people were grilling at 8:00 am - and it smelled GOOD!) 


Add the challenge of comparing myself to other people who are clearly experienced park-exercisers to the fact that I was moving on to the next week of my program today, with longer running segments, and it made it a little harder to embrace.  To make matters worse, there was a guy walking his bike and I didn't even catch up to him while I was running before he got back on to coast down a hill.  Figures!


All in all, the "run" felt good and I feel even better.  First day of my running week and I already got my first one in and it's even a holiday!  Glad to have the rest of the day to just hang out and looking forward to a 4-day work week.  Next update comin' at you Wednesday.


Today's run weather: 70 degrees, low humidity, very slight breeze and overcast at 8:10 am!  Later - fireworks!

It's a most spectacular day!

Yes, It's perfect!


Today, I got up at 6:15, and since I still didn't get a Metro Park permit, decided to just go "run" in my neighborhood.  It was wonderful!  I felt great.  My pace was not as fast as Friday - which is funny, because I realized half-way through that I should have gone to the bathroom before I headed out and I would have thought that would make me run a little faster!  Regardless, there were amazing post-storm clouds in the sky as the sun was rising and it was about 70 degrees with a little breeze.  Music was great - starting out with Queen V and then Joan Jett.  I wore one of my favorite t-shirts that  says "Screw Cancer" on the front and while I was out there reflected on the fact that 4 years ago today I was in the hospital having a large abdominal tumor removed and learning that I had cancer!  I couldn't have felt better this morning!


Just like on workdays, I didn't see anybody else out at that time of morning.  Just me, the robins (who were joyfully chirping) a bunny in a neighbor's yard, and the cat that gives me the dirty looks when I use his street - and even he didn't seem so grumpy this morning (I hope that didn't have anything to do with the feathers that I saw not too far from where he was hanging out).  When I got done with my 2 miles, I went home and got Roxie, our 100 lb. mutt, and we walked for another mile.  Later, we went out for breakfast and drove the route for the Detroit Free Press 5K to see what it was like.


I am so appreciative of all that I have.  Now cancer-free, I have the most wonderful husband and family, amazing friends (many of whom I spent yesterday evening with while watching a mildly ferocious storm with the biggest hail I've ever seen) and still another day off on this long holiday weekend.  I couldn't ask for more!  Later today I'm off to buy my Metro Park pass so I can run there tomorrow morning, then go back to work for a short week.


Today's run weather: 70 degrees, pretty humid, slightly breezy, and beautiful at 6:15 am (on a Sunday!)

Wednesday What The...?

What an interesting time out running this morning!  First of all… I don’t know who has been playing with my iPod, and changing my playlist (Max!) but there was some mighty strange music that came up this morning.  Yes, I did get AC/DC, The Donnas, Nickleback, Alice Cooper and The Detroit Cobras, but intermixed was a lot of classical, Latin American dance music, some Irish drinking songs and a few Barry Manilow tunes.  Now, I like Barry as much as the next girl (maybe even a little more) but he’s never – NEVER – been on my workout playlist, much less my running tunes.  Barry, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry.  Weekend in New England just doesn’t cut it when I’m trying to stay motivated while running at 5:45 in the morning.  Despite its status as the very first 45 I ever bought, it just didn’t work out for me today.

Then, suddenly all of my neighbors have dogs that are out at that time of day?  Really?  And there wasn’t a person in sight.  Was I trapped in some kind of alternate universe where the dogs all take themselves for walks?  Do they clean up after themselves, too?  I was barked at by 3 yappy little dogs, then a larger moppish looking dog barked at me in a friendly sort of way, while it was wagging at me –  unlike the little dogs who were probably saying “run over here close enough to me and I’ll bite your calves until you bleed to death!"

The weather was wonderful.  Cool, clear, not humid or windy.  The “run” was less than stellar, but not horrible.  I don’t really expect stellar runs just yet, so it wasn’t a huge disappointment.   I would have liked to feel more comfortable while I was out, though.  I was still looking forward to the times when I could walk for a few minutes, and those few minutes came and went all too quickly.  All in all, it was better than Monday’s time out, and I shouldn’t complain.  Waiting for things to happen (like this “running thing” clicking and becoming a regular part of my life) is not a strong trait of mine – ask anyone!  In the immortal words of Veruca Salt “I want it now!”

On that note I’ll end today’s bloggery with a picture of something seen on my run.
 

C25K2-2 run environment: 66 degrees at 5:45 am – another beautiful morning!

Live person sighting on my run today!

After a brief hiatus last week, I'm back at it!  I had a lot going on and let my schedule interfere with my C25K program, and I shouldn't have - but I did, and now I'm back.  Also, while I was taking my little break, I ate stuff that I would have been much better off leaving alone, and my body certainly stressed that point this morning.

So, I decided to go back to the beginning of week 2 of the program, since I was at the end of that week, but hadn't done it in a week.  I was glad that I did, because I found it a little tough this morning.  Between the cramp in my gut and the cramp in my right calf, I wasn't having a really fun time while I was out.  It was, however, a lovely morning, and (at about 67 degrees) was perfect for going out for a run.

My pace was slower than usual because of the aforementioned cramping as well as a minute that I needed to stop and try to stretch out the crampy calf and another couple  minutes where I stopped to talk with a neighbor.  Yes, I saw a real live person (and her dog) this morning while I was out.  Very unusual for me to see anything besides the occasional moving car at a distance. More often than not, my neighborhood looks like a scene from "Night of the Comet" when I go out before 6:00 am.  There were, however, a gazillion red ants out working their teeny tiny little butts off very early today.  I'm supposing that ants must have butts of some sort that they were working off, because they sure were on the move.  I ran past sections of sidewalk where there were dozens of tiny ant hills and the concrete appeared to be moving with all the ants working together to bring death and destruction to the neighborhood.  As I ran through, I couldn't help but wonder if any would cling to my Nikes and crawl into my socks.  (Shudder)

While I was running, I was pretty much just waiting for my walk breaks to kick in.  While I was walking I was pretty much wishing that the run portions wouldn't be coming up quite so quickly.  I don't doubt that my pace was a bit slower than usual because this was my hardest day.  I blame it on too much time off from my program, and too much crap in my diet this last week!  Notice that I don't mention anything about blaming myself!  I just redid my calendar and am planning to run M-W-F and one day each weekend.  I am also walking for 30 minutes with co-workers on T & Th, so I'll be getting some walk/running, or walking 6 days a week.

I'm looking forward to a better run on Wednesday, when I'm not so tired and am eating a proper diet, so I'll fee a lot better for my run.  

C25K2-1 run environment:

68 degrees at 5:45 am, gorgeous!

What a perfect morning!

It was gorgeous out!  Perfect temperature.  Light breeze.  Not humid.  Wonderful at 5:45 am.  So as I set out, I took off a little faster than I have, and felt like I actually looked like I was running, rather than just walking fast. It felt great!

I saw very few cars on the move.  No one was out walking or even getting into their cars.  Aside from a few people driving, that I saw from a bit of a distance, I had the whole neighborhood to myself.  I saw a Jaguar at a house at the other side of the neighborhood - I've never seen that car there, before. I also never noticed that they have the hood ornament AND the hood nameplate just below it.  Wonder why they feel the need for both.  Might I not be sure that it's a Jaguar solely based on the big cat hood ornament that adorns the front of the car?  Anyway, I digress...  Obviously, I don't think about anything too heavy while I'll out scooting around the streets of Belleville.

I tried a different playlist today, which was a very nice change.  Kind of an "oldies appreciation" set this morning, with Cyndi Lauper, Joan Jett, The Donnas, U2, and a little bit of Partridge Family, among others.  Now that I got my Nike+ figured out, I realized that my C25K app didn't record my run last time, so it shows that I am one behind.  I think I'll just skip the next day on the iPod, which means that I'll be moving up to the next level on Wednesday when I go out.  It's definitely more running, so that's a little scary - and I'm kind of wishing that I hadn't looked at the deets until after I did it once.  Sometimes it's better to show myself that I can do it before I know exactly what it is that I'm doing.

Saw the sun coming up while I was cooling down so I thought I'd share that with you here.  See you on Wednesday!

C25K2-3 run environment:

68 degrees at 5:45 am, perfect morning for a "run"

Extra protein is good when you're running, right?

I hope so because I think I got some.  Well, technically, I'm not sure that bugs are really protein.  And, technically, I actually went to a bit of effort to spit it out, so I don't suppose that I swallowed much of it.  But if it would be helpful, while I'm out there, I guess I could get make like the (old) woman who swallowed the fly - but hopefully not die.  I don't think most of the bugs around here are poisonous.  Interestingly, just after the bug incident, I jogged around the corner and there was a woman, wearing scrubs, getting out of her car.  My first thought was that some proactive neighbor saw me running and yelled to her husband "Hey Floyd, that chubby woman from down the street is trying to run again.  Call the paramedics!"  As it turned out, she wasn't there for me at all, she lived there.  Oh well... I guess neighbors just don't look out for each other like they used to.

I got in more distance at a faster pace today, than I have so far.  I felt pretty good, and there was only once that I was feeling pretty relieved that it was time for me to walk for a minute.  When it was time to run again I was ready, so I feel like I am making definite progress.  I've decided to increase from 3 days a week to 4 days a week, in an effort to progress a little more solidly.  I am not looking to move up more quickly, just have one more "run" in when I do move up.  I keep wondering when I'll be able to call it a run (without the quotes)...  I think I've arbitrarily decided that I can do that on August 7!

C25K2-2 run environment:

68 degrees at 5:45 am, spitting (the weather AND me, as it turned out) and humid

I’m the fast girl your mother warned you about!

Um… NOT!  I started the next week of C25K this morning and felt amazing!  Amazingly SLOW, that is!  I went to bed early and got a solid 6 hours of sleep, but when I got up to run I felt sluggish and really wanted to stay in bed.  I figured that my little burst of activity would ignite my energy fire, but when I got back home, I still just wanted to crawl under the covers and go back to sleep.  I’m thinking that this may just mean that I require more than 6 hours of sleep each night, although going back to work, after a great  weekend, can be quite the energy zapper, so that might be part of it, as well.  To boost my energy for the rest of the day I got a triple espresso on the way to work and am getting ready to go get my 2^nd cup of office coffee (which tastes watery after my espresso), and I have a 5-Hour Energy for this afternoon.  If my heart explodes this noon when I am taking a walk with my co-workers, please don’t blame the guy at the coffee shop for not cutting me off after a couple of shots. Blaming my employer, with the watery coffee would be much more lucrative.

Finally figured out how to use my Nike+ in combination with my C25K app, which confirmed my lack of speed - in case I wasn’t already quite aware of it.  Despite my slowness, I really did feel good about this morning’s “run” and enjoyed my selection of music, which included The Dollyrots, The Knack (Jack Kevorkian’s attorney, Geoffrey Fieger’s, brother was the front man of that band – who’d-a thunk? ), Sammy Hagar (going to see him in a couple of months), Joan Jett, and several others that I can’t remember without looking at my iPod.  The highlight may have been about halfway through today’s program when Eye of the Tiger played.  That inspiring music, written at the request of Sylvester Stallone for Rocky III might have made me run ahead, arms victoriously in the air, if I hadn’t been lamenting the flight of stairs that I was climbing in my mind.  I concluded I don’t even like climbing imaginary stairs.

All said, I’m looking forward to Thursday run, and having more energy (and not having to run up any stairs – even imaginary ones)!

C25K2-1 run environment:

55 degrees at 5:45 am, with a light breeze

Seen on my run - nothing interesting

Well, got up early and was out the door at 5:45 am.  Pretty proud of myself, if I do say so out loud!  It rained hard in the night, so the roads were wet, but not bothersome, with the exception of needing to rout around a couple of large-ish puddles.  There were lots of worms squirming about, but I kept an eye out and didn't step on any.  I was actually pretty happy that they were all out at that time, because most of them had made their way back to the grass by the time I left for work - resulting in my NOT having to throw a bunch of them out of the driveway and into the yard so I could back my car out.  Yes, I move the worms on wet mornings so I don't run over them in the driveway.  I saw a couple of cars while I was out, and one guy arriving home said good morning" to be but, other than that not people, not domestic friends, no wildlife (except a few robins).  I didn't even see my muttonchopped buddy.

I have been cleverly carrying my house key on my shoelace and found the flaw in that this morning when I actually needed it to get back into the house.  I had to take one of my laces out to get my key.  Not as clever as I thought.  I'll be coming up with a different way to carry my house key so I don't have to take my shoe off.  I also got a new armband for my iPod, which worked great!  It's one by Marware and I'm very happy with it.

I took the longer route to fixing my playlist problem and created a new one with no artist on it twice and it's sorted by "album name" so the order isn't predictable.  Worked out very well and today's ecclectic span of run music was made up of:  AC/DC, Paul McCartney, Adam Ant, Bad Company, The Polyphonic Spree, Men Without Hats, The Cars, John Cougar, Men at Work and Motley Crue.

All that said, I feel great and the running portions of today's activity felt relatively easy.  My early run afforded me the time to eat breakfast at home and take my time getting ready for work.  It makes for a surprisingly leisurely morning, which I like a lot. 

I'll be back to report on my run this weekend (Sunday) but don't tell my femoris muscles.  I don't want to alarm them, but we're going to continue to get up early and do this until they stop complaining!  And then we're going to keep on going!

C25K1-2 run environment:

69 degrees at 5:45 am, no breeze to speak of.

Off and... well... walking!

Okay... here I go!  I headed out today for the first day of my "training" and it wasn't bad.  Mind you, I was only walking.  A little less than 4 miles an hour (I walked 1.8 miles in 30 minutes).  I encountered no interesting wildlife (or domesticated life, for that matter) unless you count the many, many worms that were lounging on the streets and sidewalks.  Yes, it was raining lightly - and sometimes not-so-lightly, which brings all the worms out, creating quite the obstacle course when you make an effort to not squish them.  It was also pretty windy and the times that I was walking into the wind were definitely a little harder!


I wasn't able to figure out how to get my Nike+ thingy to work with my iPod.  I got a new iPod Touch in December and haven't used the NIke+ with it yet, so I didn't know how to get it to start.  I'll have to do a little research before the next time I go out (tomorrow).


My walking companions today were a diverse brood:  Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Joan Jett (obviously), Sammy Hagar, The Revolting Cocks, Kelly Osbourne and Eminem.  We'll see who goes along with me tomorrow!


I have officially signed up for 2 5Ks!  Let's see if I can get through them without the humiliation of the last one I did.  The first one is 3 weeks from today, and NO... I'm not planning to run that one.  It's on University of Michigan's Dearborn campus and around the Henry Ford Estate.  I think it's a relatively small event, but I thought it would be a good one to walk (and run a little) to start out with.  In October I'm signed up for the 5K that is done alongside the Detroit Marathon.  I plan to run that one!  It's 6 months from today and that gives me time to get up to speed (pun intended).  


Tune in tomorrow to find out what happens next on Running With Michelle.


Today's Run Weather:
54 degrees, Humidity 91%, Wind 22-26 mph., Light Rain
(chance of snow tonight - boo)