Not ambi-lookers

I begin today's blog with a scene from the action/comedy Zoolander about male models:

Matilda: I think Katinka wants to kill you
Derek: Good! I deserve to die if I cant even beat ha-suck-ass in a walk off
Matilda: Come on Derek the guy had to miraculousy pull underwear out off his butt just to beat you.
Derek: But all he had to do was turn left.
Matilda: What?
Derek: I'm not an Ambi-turner. I can't turn left.

Dear drivers,

I understand that you just want to turn right. And, because we live in America, in order to do that, you need to make sure that no one is coming from the left that might ram you if you turn out in front of them. Although you may not care what the left-bound traffic is doing, this does NOT mean that you do not need to look right. What if something were in the road? What if that thing happened to be a runner? What if that runner were ME?!?!!?

Thursday's run I almost got hit - twice. The first time was fine. They didn't see us and turned right in front of us. I think it scared the bejeesus out of them when they started turning and saw us 12 inches from the passenger side window.

The second time was not so fine. The girl came to a complete stop at the limit line - thumbs up for her for obeying the law. She then rolled forward. Being that she stopped at the limit line, I assumed that she saw us. Wrong. We proceeded into the intersection (in which we had a walk signal). She started into her turn. I leaped out of the way of her front bumper and, as I moved into her leftwardly gazing line of sight, I am pretty sure she peed her pants. She slammed on her brakes (as did everyone else in the intersection because I am pretty sure they all thought we were done for) and looked at me with a gaping mouth.

While we learned a lesson today - make sure to make eye contact with right turners - I think it is my duty to spread the word. When you are turning right, please take at least one glance to the right and make sure you aren't turning into a poor runner. Or worse - a car driving in the wrong lane. Let's all be ambi-lookers.

Functional runner

Yesterday, I went to work, came home around five, let my puppy out, visited with Mike, went upstairs, changed into running clothes, went out and ran 7 miles, came home, drank some water, made dinner, went to the mall, visited with our neighbors, watched some Olympics, took a shower, then went to bed.

What's interesting to me is that, minus the 7 mile run, that is a pretty typical evening for Mike and me for the past few years. And now, we have injected running into our lives. I feel like I have tricked myself into exercising. We get outside, we notice that the flowering plum trees are starting to bloom, we see that the construction on the hospital is coming along, we talk about our days, we have discussions about life, and we burn nearly 1000 calories :) Not that it's about weight loss, but is pretty cool that this "exercise" has become part of our routine.

Oh, and I can run 7 miles. Weird.

Treadmill

This morning I started a load of running laundry. I was hoping to come home at lunch to lay it out to dry - well, I had a meeting at 12:30 and that just didn't happen. So, when I got home today, I put all of the running clothes out on the drying rack. They won't be dry until tomorrow.

Now that load of laundry contained both pairs of my running pants, all of my long sleeve running shirts, and Mike's hat and gloves. Given that it was pouring outside, it probably would have made no difference if we had worn them wet, but instead, I opted for shorts and a tshirt - we decided to go over to the gym, skip the cold and rain, and run on the treadmills.

Three miles on a treadmill is my limit. It's less than 30 minutes. And when I am done, I am so ready to get off of that thing. Now John, our good friend that lives in Denver, is simultaneously training for this marathon with us. He is going to fly out to Portland on the Friday before the marathon and we will head down to Eugene together and run. Because John lives in Denver, he has been doing all of his training on a treadmill. ALL of it. He ran 13 miles on a treadmill last weekend. Plus he is doing his training at a significant elevation. Eugene is going to be cake for him.

Blech - I'm still thinking about 13 miles on a treadmill and it is still making me nauseous. Thank goodness for our running group.

"Cross Training"

I was awake at 6am this morning. This might have had something to do with the fact that I went to bed at 9pm last night (see previous post about 13.1 mile run). We didn't really have any plans for our Sunday, I figured that maybe we could get outside, enjoy the sun, and do some cross training. Being that it was so early, I got the idea to go on a hike at a super popular area before it got too busy. I found my Best Easy Day Hikes Portland, Oregon book and, given that we had already completed #1 (Hoyt Arboretum - awesome hike), we decided to do #2 - Lower Macleay Park to Pittock Mansion.

Holy beautiful hike batman. And it was a hike. 850 feet gain 3.8 miles out and back. Penny got to come and loved every second - especially all of the dogs on the path. It was nice to get our legs moving and to get some fresh air.

Half way

Yesterday I ran longer than I have ever run in my life. THIRTEEN POINT ONE MILES. That's right - a half marathon. Now, we were slated to run 13 this weekend, but there was no way in hell that I was going to run 13 miles and not say that I had run a half marathon. So Mike made sure that his GPS said 13.1 before we stopped. It was a great run and a great day to be running. Every time the sun hit my face, I felt like the running became easier. The last 2 miles or so were pretty tough. I had trouble feeling my legs and felt the only way I could control my pace was determined by how far I leaned forward. However, looking back on it, I think most of the challenge was mental. I was less tired this weekend than I was last weekend, but I was still pretty wiped out.

I would like to take a second to send a shout out to the best running partner in the world - Mike. Last week we decided that we should probably get water belts to take on our runs as they are getting pretty long and we should really be drinking more water. So, we headed over to REI and found a couple of belts in the clearance bin. Well, we decided on one that carries two bottles. You heard it right - we bought one belt with water for both of us to be carried by, you guessed it, Mike. We showed up at the Saturday morning and someone said to me, "wait, I thought you were going to get a water belt." I said, "I did." and pointed to my fantastic husband's waist. Dad, I think that you are to be blamed for me being as spoiled as I am (especially when it comes to being tough in the outdoors) so it's a darn good thing that I found someone that could carry that torch on for ya :)

Oh, and for the record, we ran 13.1 miles at a 10:04 pace for a grand total of 2 hours 12 minutes and 1 second. I feel like I don't even know who I am anymore.

I made it!

Last Thursday I didn't run because my IT band was a-painin'. Since then, I have run 12 miles, 3 miles, 6 miles, and 3 miles. My stretches are working great and I am back to feeling good.

I have been riding my bike to work the past few days (thanks to amazing pacific northwest weather) and it has been nice to get a bit of a different workout on my legs. Oh, and riding a bike in the sun always feels great.

Bathroom

About a mile into today's run I realized that I needed to pee. I had 5 more miles before I would be able to go. Let me just say that, when you have to go to the bathroom, you run really fast. Mike said that he thinks that I ran my last mile at nearly an 8 minute mile pace.

The six miles felt great. As I cool down and relax on the couch, I can feel my IT band tightening up. At yoga on Monday, Brant gave me some good stretches. I have been doing those pretty consistently and it has been feeling great.

Too Easy

When I started training in September, I was running 1.5 miles. I spent 8 weeks working up to 3 miles. I remember the first time I ran 3 miles in my training. On the last mile on the way home, Mike was trying to talk to me and I told him that I couldn't talk to him anymore - I needed to focus on keeping one foot in front of the other. It was tiring.

Tuesday was the 25th time I ran a 3 miler. It has become pretty darn easy. I come home for work and know that I need to work out for 30 minutes. I get my gear on, we head out, chat most of the way, and then are done. It is possibly the easiest time I have ever had running.

Oh, and the weather is amazing this week making the running even more enjoyable.

Put a fork in me

Today I ran longer than I have ever run in my life. TWELVE MILES. It was, simply, exhausting. However, afterward, besides being super tired, I felt great. My muscles felt fine, my joints didn't ache, and my leg wasn't bothering me at all.

Mike, on the other hand, was reaping the benefits from his Thursday run. While I was at home making dinner on Thursday, he went running for 3 miles without me. Now, I look at Mike as my training rock. He inspires me and encourages me every run. Well, come to find out, Mike needs me, too :) When he got home on Thursday, he showed me his GPS watch that said that he had averaged 7:15 minutes per mile (for around half of the run). Now, we typically run a 10 minute mile pace. Friday morning, and apparently Saturday, he felt the affects of running at a fast pace - he was pretty sore. Looks like he needs my slow butt after all :)

As for my leg, after my blog post, I was informed that my "injury" had to do with my IT band. Come to find out, my friend, Luke, has had similar issues as well as my neighbor and multiple people that I talked to today at the running group. I have a good set of stretches now as well as a foam roller to help with massaging it out. The great news is that I will be just fine.

Happy Birthday Mike! I think I am going to go nap now :)

Leg update

I woke up this morning (actually, I woke up a number of times last night thanks to a small dog that lives in our house) and walked down the stairs. No more pain. So, that's great news. I will continue to stretch throughout the day and am excited for the run tomorrow!

I'm listening...

We've been training since September. We have been pretty good about taking things slow, wearing the right shoes, following the training schedule, etc. Well, sometimes, when you begin running REALLY long distances, your body just says "no".

Today my body said, "no". I woke up this morning and was a little sore from last night's run which is pretty typical. I went into work and noticed that the soreness wasn't going away - specifically in my right hip. It just continued to ache all day. I closed my office door, laid on the floor, and stretched out my hip. When I got home, I described the pain to Mike and he made a bit of a diagnosis based on his past experience in physical therapy and training. In short, the tendon from my outer hip to my knee is pissed at me. This might have been triggered because we have started lifting and doing leg presses. But, in general, my muscles have developed faster than my tendons. And now, my tendon is letting me know.

So, Mike went for our Thursday 3 miler by himself (in the pouring rain - coincidence?) and I stayed home and made dinner. I spent the duration of Jeopardy on the floor stretching. I now have a heating pad on my hip. Two days of rest should be good. Fingers crossed I will be ready for a 12 mile (birthday) run on Saturday :)

And yes, mom, I am taking my vitamins :)

A Great Run

Some days I take my first step and it just feels good. No warm up is necessary. I am at a perfect pace. The run just feels natural. Wednesday was one of those days.

We ran a new route - a six miler. We ran along a trail that took us under the freeway and into a golf course neighborhood. Being that the neighborhood is easily accessible by trail and not-so-much by road, we had never driven by it, thus never really seen it before. What a great place! The homes were beautiful, the yards were immaculate, yet none of it was overdone. It was just pretty.

By the time we got home, I was in a great mood. Work has been pretty unbelievably lame lately, and I am so grateful for the joy that running (and a great running partner) brings into my life :)

Sun Run

Tuesday's run was done in a t-shirt and shorts. It was in the upper 50s and sunny. We ran pretty fast and it felt great.

On our way back, we saw a very odd sight - a unicyclist. Running along the sidewalk, we see a very tall figure coming towards us. As he got closer, we could see that it was an older man on a GIANT unicycle. The wheel must have been 4' in diameter and he was sitting very high in full bike gear and a helmet.

As they say, "keep Portland weird".

Hills

Running hills is not something I enjoy. When I encounter them on our weekly runs, I try to defeat them, using my arms, pushing through my legs, focusing on leaning forward. Then, after 30 seconds to a minute, I am done with the hill and can recover. It works pretty well.

Then there are hills like the one today. We met the running group in Portland and had 7 miles slated for the day. The plan was to follow the route for the Shamrock Run coming up in March. Now, I had heard it was uphill, but I had not seen the elevation profile. I was ready to attack those hills. We started out, ran through downtown which all seemed to be slightly uphill - totally manageable. And then we hit the HILL. I immediately started slowing down and falling back from the group. Mike slowed down with me and encouraged me to keep one foot in front of the other. I haven't wanted to walk that bad in a long time. We finally made it to the turn around at 3.5 miles. I was beat, but the pace group was still in sight. Overall, we climbed 450 feet. Mike told me that our average pace at the turn around was 10:55. I was pretty impressed with that.

The way down was glorious. It was a beautiful day and we could see all of Portland. I worked for that view and you had better believe that I enjoyed it :) My legs were DONE by the time we made it back to the car, but I felt pretty accomplished.

We will probably run that hill again as a workout before the race. Then, when race day comes, I will be ready!

Running in the rain

Living in Portland, you would think that we have to run in the rain a lot. Actually, we almost never run in the rain. We run on wet pavement a lot, but very rarely does the rain actually catch us while we're running. And when it does catch us, it is normally a very light drizzle.

Both Wednesday and Thursday runs were in the "rain" this week. I don't have a good running rain shell and I HATE wearing my rain coat when running because I get so hot and the sound of the swishing drives me nuts. Therefore, I normally get a little wet. However, when you can see raindrops bouncing off your fists as you swing your arms or hit your face as you run into the wind, you feel pretty badass :)

Wipe out

No, I didn't fall.

Our 5 mile run is one of my favorites. It seems really easy - like it is all downhill. I think it has to do with where the uphills are located and how steep they are that makes them hard to notice and easy to forget. However, this Wednesday, the 5 miler seemed harder than normal. My excuse: Lost. I was up until 11pm watching the 3 hour season premiere of Lost the night before so I only got 7 hours of sleep. I was tired.

We finished the run and I felt great. We came inside and I started feeling cold and nauseous. I drank some water and ate some dried fruit and nuts then went to take a shower. I warmed up and came back downstairs to sit on the couch. I did not feel good. Luckily Mike had made white rice and grilled chicken for dinner - perfect for an upset stomach. I ate what I could and pretty much passed out at 9.

Here's what I learned from this little experience: I need sleep and I need to work on eating right (I didn't really eat lunch Wednesday). Running 15+ miles a week requires that I take care of myself, apparently :)

Cheater!

If you have looked at Hal Higdon's training plan that I am using, you will see that after Tuesday and Thursday runs it says "+ strength". You will also notice that there is a day of cross training on the weekend. Well, I must confess, I have been cheating. I haven't done strength training at all and on the weekends, I might take Penny for a long walk or scrub my bathtub and call that cross training.

Tuesday's 3 miler made me realize that I need to stop cheating. I took me nearly 2 miles to warm up. If you figure I run Saturday morning, "cross train" on Sunday, and then rest on Monday, by Tuesday evening I am way out of it. At that point, I have essentially had 4 days of rest. So, after yesterday's run, we went into the gym and did some minimal, but at least it was something, strength training. Now I need to figure out how to trick myself into doing cross training on Sundays...