Running Buddy

At our post-race celebration lunch on Saturday, lots of people started asking if Fred ran, since I'd been demonstrating my running prowess for weeks ;) His answer surprised me, sort of. I knew he hadn't run in a while (science calls!) but I had noooo idea that he could run a 5:40 mile in high school.

My weeks of joking that I could out-run (and now, out-pushup) him led to a huge *gulp*, especially when Fred agreed to go running with me Tuesday morning. Have I mentioned how much of a morning person he's not?! I actually made sure to get to bed early and set my alarm, picking him up at 6:45 for a 2 mile route I thought was way more flat than it was.

Guess I totally forgot about the extra hill that made the end of the run go \/\ , not the easy /-------\ I expected it to be. Do my little slashdot hills make sense? Anyway, my 2 mile course was a bit more of a kicker than I thought it would be, and when I had an empty tank going down the last hill, Fred finally broke away. 

It was only 70 outside, but I was drenched in sweat and stretched it out a lot afterwards. Even after a day spent running around a forest hunting for ticks in jeans (don't ask), and gladiator training that had lots of cross-fit added into it, my chugging water, stretching and smart eating led to a pain-free me today :) Well, except for the swelling on my hand from hitting it with a hammer while trying to get the rebar for the combat crawl in to the ground. The hammer was evil evil and had a meat tenderizing end to it and evil point on the other end so you had to watch your eyes AND your hands and I missed some times ;) 

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

The good, the bad, the muddy!

Sooo I have another 3 run stories for you today!

1- THE GOOD

Wednesday night's No-Bo run. It was a 2.5 mile loop that was a slight down hill for the first 1.5 miles...so of course that means an evil straight uphill for the last 1 mile, but I was super proud of my people and myself that we didn't quit! I even had enough to sprint it in :) I forget how long it took, but for as hilly as the course was, I remember being happy with the timing!

2- THE BAD

After Saturday's run (that's next!) I mapped out a 3 mile course, making sure I parked on the low ground. I thought it would just meander up the hill, then speed down it.

Except I was probably dehydrated.

And wearing black.

As it was rreeeally sunny.

And no shade on the uphill.

And the hill was the eeennntiiiirrreee 1.5 miles.

I started bargaining with myself- "run to the fire hydrant!...okay, see it flattens a bit, run to the next fire hydrant!...run until you get to 1 mile... run til you get to the next street! run to the shade!" and once I got up the hill, I took a song to walk, and meandered down the hill through campus back to my car.

Lesson learned? Run the first half of the course again... but halfway up the hill, throw a water bottle into the woods. Turn around at the top of the hill and grab water bottle when I need it on the way back down. Oh, and not running at 11am when the sun is beating down on you would be good. And not running on a dehydrated body after a race which leads me to...

3- THE MUDDY!

With a group I've been training with for a few months, we did a "5k" on Saturday morning. While I'll save the criticism I had for the race to the post I put on active.com , I did have a good time, thanks to the people I was with! (The race organizer did send out a "this was our first time, bear with us" e-mail this morning, but my main gripe was, and continues to be, no water on a 2.5 mile obstacle course on a sunny day in May.) I shall now tell the rest of the story in pictures :)

Our team (and one coach)

Mean faces!

8 ft wall

Getting hoisted over- I am not that white, I had underarmor, I swear!!!

I can tell you, my exact thought was"uh okay...how do I get down?!"

Out of the woods, more than half-way there!

The "mud"

"Valley of Tires"...uh sure...if you say so!

FINISH LINE!

After!

How I felt...Braiding by KR :)

Towards the beginning...when I still had tons of energy!

With Fred at the end :)

Here's to the next TV Timeout!

-Syd

Mystery Run

I went for a run today. I got a little bit lost, but thankfully, this man pointed me in the right direction.

There were lots of pretty gardens...

More statues...

A HUGE library...

And a nice gravel path. Oh, did I just give away the locale?!

I started (and ended) the run at THIS building, though!

That's right, Fred and I are on a random jaunt up to DC to see his family, and later, the Air and Space museum! Its not that far of a walk, and I've never been! I always come up here during major tourist times, so hopefully a random Saturday afternoon will be chill.

I also accidentally crashed a small 5k so that I could run ON to the mall and its gravel path. There were some random stages set up, so I ran to them, just to see, and behold! It was the set up for George Washington University's Commencement. 

Once I'd seen that, the rest of the area was pretty familiar (and ripe for running tomorrow!!!) so I headed back...and UP Capitol Hill. Yes, I finished my 3 mile and change run in under 30 minutes, including the times I stopped at crosswalks, took pictures, admired the view and ran up the evil hill. I read something yesterday that talked about how to attack hills, and they basically said DON'T attack. Keep your rate of turnover (how many steps you take in a certain time) the same, shorten the length of your steps, focus on getting up, look up and sort of tell the top "hey, I'm going to get to you and DO THIS!" It worked, oddly enough! I was huffing, puffing, sweating but darn proud of myself. 

Stretched out TONNNNs when I got back to keep the muscles in my legs happy and even and thus, keep the KNEES happy and even :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

April Injuries bring May Victories :)

Wahaha! It even RHYMES! 

Anyway...the almost 2 weeks off did what it needed to do. I didn't completely stop doing stuff- there was still Gladiator training , walking at NoBo, and a stern "why aren't you doing more arms/ab stuff?!" from the Army recruiter. Whoops...

But, thanks to a spontaneous trip to DC with Fred this weekend, I knew I wouldn't be running with the group on Saturday, so I said "to heck with the 14 day rehab!" and figured I'd let 13 be my lucky number- as I write this on Friday the 13th ;) But! I was super nervous to be running again. Would I be able to keep up with my group? Would I be able to handle the hills? Would anybody notice my cute new shorts?! Oh wait, that doesn't really matter... 24 minutes and 2 hilly miles later, I was sweating but smiling :)

I came home to ice the knees- front with corn, back with a legit ice pack- and haven't had much pain since! Thursday night, I also went to a great seminar with this lady and learned about the knee, the pains that result from running, treatment, and when you CAN'T run on them. OMG, I feel SO much better about the two different types of pain that I have, and way more excited that I know how to deal with them, that they're not eventually debilitating, and even when it feels like I want to cut off my leg to eliminate the pain, I know how to treat it. 

Fresh Haircut!

I might be a slight running nerd now :P

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd