Honey Nut Cheerios + toast + lemonade = uncomfortable running

So I wasn't sure I was going to run tonight. Typically, I run as soon as I get home from work so that I can "cross it off my list", however, I was super tired when I got home and decided to do other things instead: practice piano (my last lesson is Tuesday. :( ), watch tv, talk on the phone. I had some Honey Nut Cheerios, toast and lemonade for dinner while watching "What Not To Wear" (as much as I hate to admit it, I always get emotional during the "reveal". But I digress). All of a sudden, I was inspired to get on the tread and go at it. Surprisingly my legs felt great - there was no pain anywhere. I don't remember the last time I ran and didn't have pain in my ankle or thigh or hip, etc. It would have been too good to be true if EVERYTHING had felt great during the run. So I was running along and all of a sudden felt like the Cheerios were trying to make a reappearance. Not interested. So I slowed down a bit and tried to breathe steadily. I started cramping up a bit and just felt generally uncomfortable. My digestive system was less than thrilled with my decision to hop on the tread within 30 minutes of eating. Live and learn. I started to feel better though and I ended up finishing 3 miles in 29:52, which I was pretty happy with. I just wanted to finish under 30.

I have to wonder how different my time would be (if at all) if I'd run the 3 miles outside instead of on the tread. Sometimes I feel like I'm capable of a faster pace but just go with the flow (while treading). For whatever reason, I'm a little too intimidated to run outside. It sounds ridiculous (even to me) but I just am not comfortable with it. It might help if I plotted out a route where I knew distance and landmarks and whatnot. I need to do that. Even though I just wrote that I think I'm holding back, I'm worried I will have no idea how to really pace myself on my own. Jesus God, I'm overanalyzing the hell out of this(Dave must be rubbing off on me). I just need to go outside and run. That's all there is to it. I'd really like to get some gadgets to help me along...like a Garmin and an iPod...hmmm. :)

Yesterday I rested. Wednesday I did 3 miles in 30:23. It went alright except for pain in my right hip area. Not cool. I'm feeling pretty good right now. I might go biking tomorrow and am still trying to figure out whether to do 6 or shoot for 7 on Sunday. I'll just play it by ear. Happy Friday!!!

I'm back on...

So I did run last night, yay! I did 3 miles: 10:19, 10:10, 9:57. They were NOT very comfortable miles - I probably should have slowed down a bit b/c unfortunately, 10's are still "fast" for me. I guess the important thing is that I did it though. My left achille's heel/calf were bothering me, which was something new and unusual. I made it through it though. I hope to have a repeat performance (but maybe without the pain) tonight when I get home. I might slow it down a bit though.

I forgot to mention this awesome sign we saw while driving through Alabama last week. It said Go to church or the Devil will get you. I was so pissed that I didn't have my camera out! Good stuff.

So this is really embarrassing but also really funny so I have to share.
A few days ago I was talking to my boy Kevin and we were discussing Pizza Hut's new Tuscani Pasta or whatever it's called. He mentioned that he really wants to try it because it looks so good. I told him it kinda creeps me out but I've heard that it's really great and is supposedly even better than pasta at italian restaurants...to which he replied:

K: That sounds a lot like the commercial
J: No, really, I swear I just had this conversation with someone. They said it was the best pasta they've had
K: Are you sure you're not confusing the commercial with reality?
J: No, I'm not. It was just the other day, they went there and had...the...pasta...and...LONG PAUSE................................Holy shit. Maybe it WAS the commercial! Oh jesus, this is ridiculous. I can't believe I just did that!

We had a good laugh about it and in fact, he just texted me a few minutes ago with "Remember when you confused the Pizza Hut Tuscani commercial with real life? That was hilarious". I really think I need to get my head checked. I would have put Benjamins on the fact that I actually had that exact conversation with someone. If that isn't effective marketing, I don't know what is.

Off the wagon

Well, this sucks. I feel like a huge piece of excrement for not running since...two Sundays ago. I knew this past week was going to be tough exercise-wise (say that 5 times fast) but had no idea I'd handle (or NOT handle, as it turned out) being on the road and training this poorly. I didn't do a damn thing. I take that back, I walked twice. Last Tuesday night after work Dave and I headed to Tallahassee to visit friends. We spent time just hanging out, shopping, eating, etc until Friday morning when we left for Nashville. We did the same thing in Nashville at Kim and Jeff's (but with a little more drinking involved) and then I left Sunday afternoon. Since I've been home I have done some cleaning, eating, and have been watching lots of tv (Veronica Mars, The L Word, Significant Others - HILARIOUS show...I can't believe it only lasted 2 short seasons on Bravo!) Despite my fear of cursing myself, I'm going to go ahead and say I'm going to run 3 miles tonight. I think I will feel A LOT better afterwards and hopefully it will reignite my excitement and dedication to this project. Right now I just feel kinda lost and lonely being home alone. There is a ton of stuff that I need to do since I'll be moving in 2 weeks (geez where did the time go?!) but I can't seem to get motivated to do anything at all - except eat and watch tv, of course.

In other news, when I weighed myself last week I had lost 2 pounds, which was super exciting since it's the first time the scale has budged in a few YEARS. No joke. But I'm sure I set everything straight with my bingeing, lazy ass behavior from last week. I wonder if any other lbs appeared with the other 2...I really hope not. I guess we'll see. UPDATE: My 2 little friends are back and brought 1/2 lb with them. Way to go, guys.

This sucks. I hope I have happier, more productive things to write about tomorrow. Oh, I just thought of something I have to look forward to: the new season of Workout starts tonight. Much as I hate to say it I friggin LOVE that show! Woo hoo!

7 miles*

When I run, I usually just sing and 'armdance' a bit (not in public, just on my treadmill at home), however, during yesterday's run it was as if a sassy, Tourette's Syndrome-having entity took over my body. NEVER have I ever spit out so many expletives during a run. It was HORRIBLE. Two things were infuriating: 1. The time and distance numbers were STUCK. I swear to God they were not moving. I was running along, thinking "I must've gone over a mile by now" and I looked down and it had only been .25 mile. Cue expletives. This went on for a few miles. 2. Everything HURT. In both legs. I was waiting for my legs to snap in half and fall off during the run. It was awful. Around mile 3.40, I turned a corner and felt 100% better. Oh, and I should also mention that on mile 1.6 I had to stop the treadmill to run upstairs because 1. my shorts kept falling down and 2. my thighs were chaffing. Sexy, I know. So anyway, (around mile 3.4) I felt a lot better for about a mile or so and then the old legs started to hurt again. It was really frustrating. I was wondering if I was even going to be able to make 5 miles...somehow I did. Between miles 4 and 5 I realized that I might as well shoot for 6 miles because it's only 4 more laps, right?! I was in desperate need of water so as soon as the 5 were up, I walked for about a minute while chugging water. Then I continued for the remainder of a mile to bring my run to a whopping 6 miles. Woo hoo, a new distance PR! And I walked for about 30 minutes earlier in the day and ran for about 11 minutes so all in all I "ran" about 7 miles yesterday. So what if they weren't all together?! It still counts as a 7 mile day, I reckon. Good stuff.

I think I just ran 3 on Friday...that sounds about right. While I was running Dave called my cell. Normally, I don't pick up the phone when I'm running but thought maybe it was something important. So I picked up.

J: hey
D: hey, what're you doing?
J: (out of breath) running
D: what?
J: RUN-(gasp,gasp)-NING
D: Oh. Ok. (this is where I thought he'd be like Ok, call me later. Not so much) Is there anything you need from Bass Pro?
J: what?! seriously? no, not that I can think of.
D: how about 30 feet of rope for $7?
J: for what?!
D: I just figured we could use it for camping or something.
J: ok, whatever you want. I don't really care...
He started saying something else and I just couldn't handle it. I told him I'd call him back. I love him tremendously but was in no mood to discuss $7 rope. On the last mile of my 3 (which is when he happened to call) I decided to shoot for a sub 10 min mile. My body wasn't pleased with that. It fought me the entire way. It was awful. Kinda disappointing but oh well.

He called back again a few minutes later.

J: you're killin me, Smalls
D: I'm sorry! I just found something you might like.
J: what's that?
D: a camelbak. maybe you could use it while running?
J: Aww, that's sweet. Thanks.

He's very thoughtful. Does anyone use these for running? I don't normally see people using them but thought I can use it for biking or hiking. So I'm excited about it.

My left thigh is still bothering me. It has been doing so since last week. Funny thing is that it doesn't bother me too much when I'm running. Perhaps I should start running everywhere?! I've been reading up to try to figure out what the heck it is that is hurting so bad. It's on the outside and middle of my thigh. I haven't been able to find anything. It's difficult to describe. I wish it'd just go away!!

In other news, I Netflicked "Marathon Challenge"...it was at the top of my queue for like 2 weeks before they finally sent it because it had a very long wait. It was a Nova documentary about 13 sedentary people of various ages who trained for 9 months to do the Boston Marathon. It was good. Not quite what I expected though. It was heavy on the science, whereas I was looking for the emotional/motivational stuff. I did end up a bit teary-eyed at the end when 12 of the 13 completed the marathon. I was really happy for them. I can only imagine how emotional I will be when it's ME crossing the finish line. :) My story is basically like theirs...except I'm doing it in 8 months instead of 9...and I don't have coaches, doctors and running partners at my disposal...and I'm not running Boston. But the sedentary part matches up.

"Dunder Mifflin: Limitless paper...in a paperless world"

I sat on my bum watching reruns of The Office last night instead of running. I felt unproductive and upset with myself for not running but my entire left leg: hip to ankle, was really bothering me and I'm scared to death I'm going to train through it and hurt myself so badly that I bench myself for a few weeks. That is the LAST thing I want. I probably need to amp up my stretching; and by that I mean I need to start doing it. I stretch a little bit after a run but usually not before. A few times I've taken a minute or two to stretch after my warm up, but I don't know if that was even productive. I'd like to run tonight and try to do 6 miles as my long run this weekend. I guess we'll see.

Dave is in Ft Liquordale visiting family and quite frankly, it sucks being at home without him. I miss that little bugger. I've always been ok, if not happy, with my solitude but I've gotten so used to having him around that it just feels abnormal and as if something is missing with him being gone. :( Boo hoo. I guess at least I can watch C.S.I. without hearing him bitch about it and attempt to change the channel the minute I get up to walk into another room. Who hates C.S.I.? Seriously.

I did it

When I wrote "I don't care if it's 10 pm, I'm running dammit!" in yesterday's entry, I thought I'd put that in there just to sound like a hardass. I never thought I'd actually be home that late. It was a gross exaggeration - or so I thought. We had a fantastic time with the fam. We ate pizza, played a game...I think it's called Catchphrase, and ate dessert. The game got pretty heated but I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard during any sort of game playing. There were about 13 of us and we all sat in a circle and decided that teams would work out so that every other person was on the same team. The "gamepiece" was a handheld electronic gizmo that had different categories: food, entertainment, sports/games, etc. After selecting a category, you hit "start" and a word would pop up. You had to try to get your team to guess the word without saying the word (duh). Once your team got the word, you'd hit "next" and pass it to the next person. Oh, and there is a built in buzzer that beeps faster and faster as the time goes and eventually beeps loud and obnoxiously one last time to end the round. While this sounds simple, I had a little slip up when I was trying to get my partner (we did a sudden death round where if the buzzer went off while you were holding it, you were out) to guess "cool beans". It went something like this:

Jen: "Ok, not warm, but ___".
Cuz: "Cool"
Jen: "yes! awesome. Ok, uh uh uh FRIJOLES NEGROS" (Yeah, no, I'm not Spanish. I don't know a lot of Spanish. My English is usually pretty good but for the life of me this was the first thing that popped into my head. I have no clue why.)
Cuz: "what?" long pause..........."cool beans?"
Jen: laughing hysterically, "yes yes yes. ohmigod. good job!"

So we went on to the next round and everything was fine until one of my cousins got out because he said part of the phrase and someone was like "Well, wait a minute. Can you say the word in another language, because Jen busted out with some Spanish?!" Shit. That was pretty stupid. Somehow, I stayed in the game and the final round was between me and my former partner (who guessed cool beans). She ended up winning...I can't even remember what I was trying to get everyone to guess. Oh well. Anyway, it was really fun. I'd highly recommend it.

After that we had dessert: brownies, vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberry topping. Wow. I'm salivating right now just thinking about it. It was out of this world. We ended up leaving around 9:30 or so and had to stop by the store on the way home so we ended up getting back around 10. I had no intention of running because my stomach was killing me and I felt like if I even thought too much about running, that I might vomit or pass out. I figured maybe I'd lift weights or something. Well, we got home and then I started feeling guilty and thinking about the blog and what I'd written. After putting the groceries away and watching a few minutes of South Park I decided I was going to do a mile or two, just so I could say I ran. So I suited up and got on the tread. My legs felt pretty heavy and I wasn't feeling all that hot overall, but I had a feeling things would get a little better. I did my 5 min warm up and started running. It was really annoying to just run and stare at the closed mini blinds but I didn't have much of a choice. I think by this time it was 10:40 or so. After about a mile I decided that 2 miles just didn't SOUND like enough so I vowed to do 3. I don't know why but in my pea-brain there is a huge difference between running ONLY 2 miles and running 3. It's dumb but just go with it. My left thigh started to hurt, which was something new and not so exciting. In fact, it still hurts today. Not sure what that's about. That faded in and out while I was running. Also, (this is gross so skip ahead if you want) I've been having a problem the last few times I've run where I start burping and have to do creepy lamaze-esque breathing because I feel like if I just burp, I will throw up. Literally, I feel like I've been nanoseconds away from ralphing all over my treadmill in the middle of a run. It's really irritating and disgusting. A few times, I've even hopped off the tread to run to the bathroom and grab some rolaids. And it's not like I'm running my little heart out or anything. I'm doing comfortable paces. So I'm not sure what that's about but I hope it stops soon. And it's not like I eat a pizza and drink a 6 pack before every run or anything...my food intake varies (in terms of when/what I last ate and I try not to eat in the hour or so before I run) but that doesn't seem to matter. I still get burpy. Ugh.

So anyway, I managed to finish the 3 and was very proud that I pushed myself to do that when it would have been a lot more fun to see who got kicked off Top Chef. Yay for small victories.

April Fool

So I totally forgot yesterday was April Fool's Day, however, the April Fool's Fairy did not forget about me:

April Fool's! Your alcohol tolerance isn't what you thought it was!
April Fool's! You're going to pay for your 3 beer consumption the next day!
April Fool's! You won't have time/energy/coordination to work out!

Since yesterday was Dave's last day of work, we met several of his former coworkers (who are ALL awesome. He really lucked out in that dept) for drinks/food/goodbyes. It was a FANTASTIC time and I really thought I was being conservative with my consumption but I must have miscalculated somehow. I only had 3 Shock Tops (Bud's equivalent of a Blue Moon - although this place served them sans orange slice. What a ripoff) but I guess that's all my body needed to make me feel like crap last night and today. Not cute. I really did plan on working out last night after we got home...however I had also planned on NOT drinking. But how could I say no to people wanting to buy me drinks?! That's just rude.

I am hoping I will have the time to run tonight. I'm picking Dave up after work and we're going to my Gma's house so that he can say goodbye to my relatives and eat some pizza (score!). So even if we get home at 10pm, I'm running, dammit. In addition to feeling gross from the alcohol, I feel bad that I haven't run since Sunday. It's funny how it can put me in a bad mood when I haven't done anything physical in a few days. My body has gotten used to being active and oddly enough, it kinda likes it. Good stuff.