Mic check....

So… I’m back. And when I say I’m back, it should also be noted that I’m about to take it easy. Whiplash yet?!

Let me backtrack… when last we met, I believe I was still slaving away at the thesis, dating Fred, looking for a job and chilling on the running because North Carolina in the summer isn’t the best for avoiding heat. Now, the thesis is done, degree in hand, Fred… is still Fred but not mine, details on the latest version eventually, back to looking for a job, and yes, almost about to take a break from running because its already 60* at 7am nowadays.

I got back into running in September. Yeah, no clue why I got back into it when it was SEPTEMBER and still suuuper warm, but I knew I needed to get back into some sort of routine. Maybe there were even a few cooler days that gave me hope?! I stopped writing stuff down, so who knows. What I did discover was that I was faster! I hadn’t lost the “speed”, but I could go faster! I started back on KR’s 10k plan, and then got boy whiplash and thought that maybe I’d ratchet it up to a half marathon in…January?!

But FIRST! The roomie, the mom and I dressed up like fools for a Turkey Trot 8k on Thanksgiving Day. What better way to make sure you won’t gain as MUCH weight from the turkey and stuffing and pies than to rev up the metabolism before all the goodies?! I tried to rev up quickly for a couple of halfs in January, but shin splints, traveling for Christmas and the realization that apparently yes, at 25 is when your body decides it wants to break down led to 0 half marathons for January.

Except… you see… I’d done something crazy on Thanksgiving Day, darn post-race endorphins! But let’s keep this chronological! Having conquered my own 8k, I volunteered to mentor for Fleet Feet’s 8k Training group. Making it even more fun?! I knew I’d have someone to drag, I mean, keep my company twice a week. The roomie had gotten into running, starting with the couch to 5k plan and was ready to go be faster, stronger and generally more bad-ass!

So, with our first run a chilling 2 miles on a Tuesday evening in January, the roomie and I were off! We were both in the 11-13 minute/mile pace group. I started off being comfortable at the back, but as the weeks progressed, I sometimes had to be the mentor at the beginning of the pack. Those 11 minute miles got trimmed to 10:30s and shorter, while talking, and before I knew it, it was the last week of January which meant…

MY half marathon training started! On Thanksgiving Day, I’d signed up for the first NC Half Marathon at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. There were a few other races in that general time frame that I was considering. I figured late March would mean it would still be cool, maybe rainy, but warm enough to run without 50 million layers. The one I’d originally had my heart was soon ruled out. Never underestimate the power of bad word of mouth!

The roomie’s friends had heard that my “target race” was on a great course, but the people running it didn’t know what they were doing. Messed up logistics? Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for disaster at my first half. Plus, that was the race where KB got injured and was a hobbling fool for weeks afterwards. I started looking around and, having family near Charlotte, figured that driving 2 hours to go race was totally sane, so why not?!

I did the 8k with the training group, rocked it, but dear heavens, the HILLS around here! I realized I’d pushed myself more than I planned to or remembered when I went to go run the next day. It totally did not happen. I think I did 2 miles, and cried like a baby for the last mile. Always great walking into the house and explaining to your boyfriend that, despite being out for 25 minutes, you only went 2 miles and yes, your face is caked in snot and tears, Cosmo’s surefire way to attract men!

At this point, I had to juggle the Runner’s World half training plan I’d been following with what my body would physically allow me to do. I did most of my long runs, but my mid-week runs weren’t as long or as fast or inclusive of the speed work as I would hope or plan for. The two “perfect” examples were the 8 mile run that didn’t happen and the 10 miles of pure suck. The 8 mile was supposed to happen on a Thursday evening, about 2 weeks after the 8k. I’d run 2 miles on my shin splints the Sunday before and knew that if I could just get 5 minutes in, the pain would just be numbed and dull and I could power through.

Except… I couldn’t get out of my own head. This is a seeeerious problem for me, but that night, I just panicked, didn’t want to keep pushing through the pain, yelled at my training partner (aka dear sweet willing to mess up his workout schedule for me boyfriend) for always staying 2 steps ahead of me, not by my side, and other random thoughts just took over and I was DOA. I maybe did 2 miles? And that was it. Buried the thought of that run, shook it off, moved forward.

A trip to the beach that weekend threw a huge wrench in my 10 mile plans for that weekend, so I decided I was still on shin splint recovery rest, and had a much better and motivating 2 mile run with the bf and a dog that can actually run! (Yes, I still love Lucy, but the gremlin rebels at walks up hills, she can’t pace you for 2 miles!) There was still another weekend to do a 10 miler, so I marked on the calendar in Sharpie, planned out a challenging but scenic route, made sure the phone with music was charged and headed out! At 10 am... when it was really sunny…with plans to just get water/Gatorade at random gas stations and fountains along the way…and some darn evil hills…and a part with just the side of the road, no sidewalk…and one of the most stressing things that could happen to a girl less than 48 hours old … I did 10 miles.

Did. I didn’t run the whole way. Might not have run even half of it, but Huck (so bf has a nickname, its “Huck”…continue on) refused to let me turn around unless it was on the route. He let me walk some, took pictures of the snakes on the sidewalk near the arboretum, downed the world’s best Gatorade at mile 8, looked at me like a CRAZY person when someone that I knew (but didn’t explain to him that I knew) stopped to give us water, but most of all kept me moving and reminded me WHY I was doing this and that I was doing this for ME and HE was doing this for me, darnit! That’s love, ladies and gentleman.

They say awful training runs set you up for some pretty awesome races. You know, sort of like how awful dress rehearsals in band or for a play get out all the suck, so that all you have left when it counts is the awesomeness you have inside of you?! Well… today was awesome. There were signs that said “embrace the suck” but I didn’t, because there wasn’t any left. I’ve had some pretty awful days since the shin splints reared their ugly head, and not just because of running, but the kind of days where you have to consciously and deliberately remind yourself that its just a bad day in a good life, or an awful day in a flipping AMAZING life, focusing on the positive, working on the parts of your life that you CAN control. Today, I blocked it all out.

The butterflies grew noticeable as I was standing in line waiting to pee when it was 7:26 and the race was scheduled to start at 7:30 and I didn’t know exactly where to line up. Thank heavens for lightning delaying the start! Oh yeah, by the way, tooootally saw lightning driving into the speedway. Not scary at all! But, I peed like a champion speed demon, found Huck, and found my way to the start line, my pacing group and started the music, after taking a picture or 2, of course, and posting it to Facebook. Priorities!

There was a lot of “ok, run YOUR race, know YOUR goals, forget about the people around you, they didn’t train like you, their shins don’t hurt like yours, they might just be faster than you, this tank needs to last you longer than anything you’ve prepped for so its okay to be conservative now” running through my head for, oh, 2 miles?! I ran into people I knew at the first mile marker, had someone else talk to me shortly after that, and my mood was just ON!

The music was great, I ran into more spectators and runners that I knew, and at mile 6, picked up a running buddy. BJ was walking, but I told him to get back to running, he was almost through the worst parts! We ran into mile 10 together, when he peeled off for the bathrooms. He and I had the same goal pace, and were both super excited to not be crawling (yet…or do I?! keep reading!) and setting personal distance records with every step we took. Reason #918 I love running- you can make new friends mid-race and make 5 miles feel like a walk in the park.

Other highlights include:

    kid with the sign that said “slap sign for extra power boost”- I hit it twice!

    Running over US 29 on a pedestrian bridge that had some bounce to it. Later found out that a few years ago, one of those bridges collapsed! Seriously excited I didn’t know that before the race!

     I was on the 4^th mile when I saw the eventual winner, and he was in mile 9. Yeah…he did it in half my pace, but he didn’t look as happy as I did across the finish line and he probably didn’t get as many hugs as I did!

    I never. Stopped. Running. No walk breaks. NONE! I told myself to get to 10 miles, and once I got there, I pulled a mental switcheroo and said “enh, you only have a 5k left, no walking, suck it up!” and it worked! Personal pride, determination, not just to say “I didn’t walk” but also to just get this thing DONE with were amaaazing motivators!

     The course went around the NASCAR oval, then out around that track, around the dirt track and down and back over the drag strip, around the outside of the NASCAR track then, and this is the cool part, you ran through the tunnels to get onto the asphalt again. Something SUPER chilling about running through a tunnel, and then emerging to the light and lots more spectators and a finish line that, yes, is 2 miles away, but that you can at least SEE!

   

And last…but oh.my.goodness…not least. I smiled I ran across the line, and I cried for a second because I was done, I did it, in 2 hours and 27 minutes, without walking, and hey, here comes a super awesome medal. Seriously, this medal has cars that move and LED drag strip lights that do the countdown. I got my picture taken, grabbed food, found Huck, and just reveled in the glory that was my first completed half. Yeah, I said first. This might be a regular thing!

Every muscle in my legs is on fire, my upper abs even took a turn at being in pain, but the pride of what I did makes it all worth it. The medal is hanging on my door right now, but I need to find a place of honor to hang it in my room. Yeah, I’ve got my master’s, but right now, the accomplishment I’m the most proud of culminated with two and a half hours on a Sunday morning in Charlotte. Maybe it’s the post race endorphins, but dang they’re good and strong, and I wouldn’t trade my hobbling body for the world right now!

…pictures to come!

Here’s to the next TV timeout,

Syd

running hangover

 Races, and runs in general, should not give you hangovers, especially when there's zero alcohol involved. They should also not make the random cough/body aches you have a million times worse. And yet...

I was up at 6:15, out the door an hour later. Despite knowing what was ahead, I dared to eat breakfast. Sort of. Cinnamon toast and a scoop of pb. The toast was to make my stomach be temporarily happy. PB was to give me protein that would stick, literally!

Its also worth mentioning that it was 35 degrees outside and raining cats and dogs. Gotta love the fact that I was reading a news story about how Raleigh was in drought conditions, down 2 inches. We got it, EVERY LAST FLIPPIN' DROP, today. I'm confident in it. Okay, so maybe I drove away with a lot of it in my hair and clothes, but w/e.

You see, ladies and gentlemen, I signed up for the Krispy Kreme Challenge. Basic premise? Run 2.4 miles, mostly downhill, eat a dozen glazed Kripy Kremes at, conveniently, a Krispy Kreme shop, show off your empty box, then run back up the 2.4 mile hill. You're supposed to do it in under an hour. Oh, and DON'T PUKE!!!

Waiting for the starting line. This was about an hour into my time of standing in the cold rain?

NCSU's Bell Tower. Number of bells in it? 0

At the Krispy Kreme shop. First, and last, time there!

Smushing #s 6-9

Made it seem like I was only eating 1 at a time. Not 3. Maybe. Not really.

 Since we've already talked about how flippin' cold it was, since it was also rainy, my two survival strategies were conflicting. Generally, I like to layer to keep myself warm, but in rain like today's, the more you wear, the more that gets soaking wet and weighs you down and keeps you cold. 

With this in mind, I didn't wear gloves. The race started at 8:30, I finished at 9:47, and it wasn't until about 11- post hot shower, hot tea, and lots of blankets to snuggle under- that I regained total control of my hands. Well, sort of. They're still "creaky."

This is why all the picture of my hands seem a bit "awkward." Plus, the glaze was making the disgusting taste that it does after about donut #2 in my mouth. BLEGh.

There was a lot of biting, chewing, looking up, hoping the bites weren't going to get stuck in the esophagus, etc. It was quite hilarious watching people crying and struggling over the last few bites. One girl was pacing in between bites. Oh, how I sympathized with her!

Oh, and maybe I just grabbed a good box, or they really can crank the suckers out quickly, but the box I grabbed had nice, fresh donuts. I was actually very disappointed when I bit into them and they were light, fluffy, fresh! 

Curses...

I can honestly say, though, that I will never- NEVER- crave another glazed donut, so long as I live. 

I have been sitting here in the world's worst hangover all day. The only time I felt this bad was the morning of my 21st birthday- and yes, you can imagine the zaniness that happened before, especially since I can't remember! But at least after that night, I could drink water, take pain killers, eat the random food my stomach craved (ceaser salad and roast beef sandwich, both from Panera) and feel better. Today? Buh. Food and water were the ENEMY!!!

It took me 75 minutes, which usually is an awful pace for 4.8 miles, but I ATE A DOZEN DONUTS. I think those took me about 20 minutes? I wayyyy underestimated that! 

KB did it too, and she successfully finished in under an hour- 55 minutes, to be precise! Overall, she got 59th in the female "challenger" division. There were lots of "casual runners"- aka "I'll eat a few, then take the rest with me" crowd. I had a moment of smug satisfaction every time I passed those people on the way back. 

Can not! wait to be healthy and de-donut-ified and go for a run in nice weather, or indoor, and just enjoy it. For now?

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Weirdest Mantra to Date

I found myself today thinking "this is so dumb" over and over again as I went for my run. I guess I should explain a bit of the background... Knowing I was frustrated by the "too easy" and "too hard" plans for 10ks I'd found, KR made me a "Goldilocks" plan- just right ;) Her setup had it as a MWF, but since I ran Sunday, I decided I'd make the first Monday today. On the list? 3 miles, easy. KR knows my pace, so "easy" was 12 min miles, enough to be able to hold a conversation while going along. 

I went to my friend's house to let her dogs out. This is typical of how it went: The boy leading, saying "let's GO!" and the girl mozeying, taking her time sniffing the sidewalk. Girls, seriously!

Before I'd driven to the house, I looked up a good 1.5 mile route that I could do an out and back, as long as I was already outside and away from work. The doggy-mom and I have run together in her neighborhood before, too, so I had some ideas, and knew that for the most part, the area was very flat. Its around a golf course, so no evil hills there!

Again, I set my gps/phone to give me updates pretty frequently. I didn't want to overdo it, especially since I'd never run 3 miles without a walk break before. Even during my 5k, I took 2 walk breaks, but those hills were mean! The first update told me I was going 6.3 mph, so I slowed a bit. Next one said 6.1, but I literally couldn't slow myself down. The mechanics wouldn't do it. Every time the nice MyTracks lady came into my ears to tell me I was going at 10min mile pace, I kept thinking "this is so stupid" but I kept running :) 

Overall? 3 miles, no walk breaks, in 30 minutes. I would've made a mad dash to the end, but the phone started to yell at me for low battery right about then. My usual post-run stretch routine was broken up by grocery shopping and I want to apologize right now to all the people at the WalMart Supercenter who smelled me post run. I swear, I bought new deoderant today!

We'll see how I feel tomorrow :/

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

aaaand we're back!

Its past 2:30 and I'm waiting for a call I was supposed to get at 1, so I figured I'll kill time wisely without getting too into work in case I still get the call. Seriously confused, and yes, time zones were mentioned in the e-mails to arrange the call!

Anyway, the roomie, Lucy and I went to meet up with KB at the North Carolina Museum of Art today. Yes, going to an art museum sounds weird, but there's tons of trails around there. Hooray for hippy-dippy North Carolina planning :) It was SO beautiful today! I didn't make the roomie my official photographer again, but here's what the view from the living room is : 

Imagine that over sprawling hills, surrounded by a sculpture garden! I realize my mom will have NC envy as she reads this, but she'll be out here soon!

KB hadn't run in 2 weeks, I hadn't run in a week, so I just followed her pace. She always pushes me, and I know it, but I just try to keep up. With our recent slacking, running wise at least, we aimed to do a good solid mile, then walk and regain our breath- a nice easy re-introduction to running. As KB told me to keep up with her pace, something along the lines of "if you can do 12:02 for 3 miles, you can do just one 10:30 mile!" we talked a little, but that soon got to be just too hard. We turned around at the top of a little hill, and had to run back to the roomie... who was now running in the other direction! 

Once we caught our breath, KB told me she'd lied a little about the pace. Her Garmin fancy-watch actually had us doing 1.1 miles in 11 minutes which means 10 min miles :) I don't know how much longer I could've kept it up, but its a nice mental victory to know that I can! When the cold sets in this winter, I'll be sure to not fear the 6.0mph setting on the treadmills as much!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Desperation

I've dome some crazy impulse things in my life, but KR might have just helped me do one of the craziest...

http://www.ecrun.org/docs/131entryform.pdf

So let me backtrack... I went to the treadmill on Sunday, thinking I could cover the screen, and just go. It sort of worked. I pushed to just a mile, but that victorious 1.21 miles was still looming over me. KB realized in our runs that I suck after I quit to walk, but I tried to go again. Bleeeggghhh. I did check out my form a lot in the mirrors in front of and beside me. Hooray for leg muscles :) 

I can feel the leg muscles again today- calves and shins OMG! As KR and I were plotting our races, we realized that our plan A AND plan B were full :( Crap. Punting... KR jokingly suggested this weekend. Well, a joking suggestion got me into this mess, so why not have another one get me over this darned hump?! I am officially registered for my first 5k to run (I've done tons of Race for the Cures, but walked them all). So, with that in mind, I went out and took all the advice KR had gotten after she posted her little announcement on Facebook. I had the "you can do this!" mantra and mindset and stopped looking at my feet. I used to like the measurement of my progress, concrete square by concrete square, but just looking ahead helped me just be and go. I ran the longest I ever had without stopping- a full 1.78 miles. 

Like I said, my shins and calves are KILLING. I'll do yoga (yay internet videos!) tomorrow and Thursday, as well as finding a way to go 4 miles, a combo of running and walking, taking Lucy with me to TIRE HER OUT- GRRR- on Thursday. If I can get out of my head for 4 miles, I can do the 3.1 miles, pushing myself like none other, on Saturday.

Now accepting any and all ideas/tips! 

Here's to the next TV timeout :)

-Syd

Sunday Runday

Muwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I win :) 

My mind has officially taken control over my body and the mental block between knowing I can run a mile and actually RUNNING the mile has officially been broken :D My official feeling? Just look to the left ! And for the record- I know the guy in the background and the hand gesture is the NCSU Wolfpack sign, just with the mouth pointing at me, but yeah, this was a couple beers in (hooray for Big Boss ).

Anyway, my success came with the insight of both KR and KB. KB reminded me that it was just a matter of lung strength and mental toughness to really go the distance. KR agreed and said I should just go to a place where I had no landmarks, no way to tell time or distance, and just go. They both said I should just run until it hurt and I needed to stop, and see where I was.

While running lots of errands yesterday, I took a shortcut through an unfinished housing development and realized the plentiful sidewalks and even more plentiful asphalt with 0 houses would be perfect to just go and go. Hooray for housing boom and busts? There weren't lots of people or traffic, but man, the houses were beautifully landscaped! I will definitely be going back there, taking my camera, and hopefully just running freeeee! 

But yes, I just went listened to some good tunes with my iPod secure, keys secure, and a GPS tracker on my phone in my pocket. I wore black shorts and a black jacket, so I was uncomfortable fast, but blamed it on the black in the 1pm sun. I wandered around, running away from random bums (just one), towards things that looked interesting and gave me the chance to be on asphalt, not concrete sidewalks, and didn't look at my distance until .94 miles. I took my first walking break after a long hill at 1.21 miles, walked for only 2 houses worth of land, then wandered back. I could've gone longer, but once I saw my car, it was hard to turn away, what can I say? I sprinted (on Summer Music Ln, hee hee) to my car, but it didn't click the way my sprinting usually does. 

OH! The other things I tried were improving my form. From KB, I concentrated on keeping my hands lower, around my hips, not above my belly button. She'd talked about working on my breathing, too, but KR really suggested I try breathing through my nose. It definitely slowed me down, but I felt a million times less exhausted. 

Phew. That's a lot :) Off to get clean and keep being productive this Sunday! Lucy has been quiet... TOO quiet! Teaching the roomie to make yummy bread this afternoon :D

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

PS- GO BEARS! Stupid Panthers, making me miss out on da bears!

Torture at the hand of KB

Remember how I said I probably wasn't doing crosstraining yesterday? KB convinced me to do the craziest thing I'd done at the fair, and it was SUPER EXHAUSTING! I gained a new appreciation for all the water walking hamsters out there after 20 minutes doing something like this kid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IQcvXt59UE&feature=youtube_gdata . 

Both KB and I emerged, totally worn out! We battled each other into corners, flopped around, and generally enjoyed being 5. Both Fred and my mom are convinced I never aged past then, so it worked :)

I didn't end up eating anything deep fried, although we breathed in the smell of fried oreos, pb cups and churros. Ate a plain old gyro for dinner. I thought I'd get some roasted sweet corn, dipped in butter, but wasn't hungry at all! We stuck around to watch fireworks, then went home to rescue Lucy!

KB is stalking which caramel apple she's going to pick out, as Fred and Mr. Clean keep a watchful eye :)

The torture continued today as I went running with KB. She has a Garmin GPS watch, so I just tried to keep up with her! This week's plan, btw, is KICKING MY BUTT!!!! Increased running time each day this week is a big step up from the doting of the weeks prior. We did a 10min pace for 8 minutes, and when we got to the walk, I made the fatal mistake of actually stopping! My mental resolve was dunzo :( The 5 min walk was alright, but I was a weakling on the downhills of the 8 min run back. KB compromised and let me walk, with the promise that once we got on the street (we'd been on nice little trails) back down to her apartment complex, I had to SPRINT to the turn in. AGREED! I LOVE sprinting, except for the whole pain thing and wanting to just throw up when I'm done.

Insight, courtesy of KB, include: limit arm/hand movement and try to keep the hands towards, well, your jean zipper, except when sprinting ; a renewed focus on slow and steady breathing ; my weakness isn't from muscles/bones or cramping, but my lungs being out of shape ; DRINK WATER! EAT BANANAS! ; Maybe try doing a 9:5:7 or 10:5:6 run:walk:run breakdown since my resolve dies after walking. Its still early, so I welcome all feedback and am pretty excited about what could be :)

So excited to just do my 2 miles on Thursday before....FLYING TO TEXAS! It'll be my 35th state, even though I'll be on the ground for less than 24 hours. Might even wear my cowboy boots while I am on the ground :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Still not really "fall"...

HI!

I’ve been distracted with the writing (and research for it) that I get paid for, but I’ve still been keeping up the training ;) My Sunday run was kind of fun because I came home, sweaty, RED and just exhausted. Fred didn’t know what to do with me!  The running: walking ratio has gone from 1:1 to 2:1, so its getting a bit tougher :P  Sunday’s run was just the 2.6 mile route, but I did the full 3 mile route yesterday. I’d been doing the 5 min warmup as part of my route, but did it separately yesterday. Oh, and I’d left Lucy with Fred at home on Sunday and dragged- literally- her along yesterday. 

Lucy usually is a fickle eater, waiting until she’s ready to eat her breakfast or dinner, then burping to indicate its post-meal-snuggle time, always rummaging around the kitchen to see if we dropped something while making dinner (which was potatoes, greens and pork chops last night :D Super easy to feel like a stereotypical Southerner!) since she’s the perfect height to get under the cupboards. She might come visit the roomie and I when we eat around the TV, and after mealtimes in the dining room, she wants to see what all the big kids are up to at the table, so after the clinking of silverware has faded, she starts chirping up. In general though, Lucy doesn’t really beg, so we were surprised to see just how worn out she was last night after the 3 miles: she begged for more of the kibble she usually sniffs at for an hour or 2, and of course, picked up scraps that might have ended up on the kitchen floor :/

After the panting super hungry dog, I’ve decided no more Lucy on the runs! I really felt her pain yesterday. Up to now, I haven’t had much pain after an outing, but yesterday was a real challenge. Right after a run, if I didn’t stretch , I’d have some left leg shin splints. Yesterday, however, I felt it in both legs as I was going. KB and Mr. Clean told me on Monday night that you just have to run through them, so that’s what I did! I tried sprinting down one of the hills, but it’s a frickin’ long hill and after 2.5 miles, I didn’t have it in me! Came home, iced up and took a few ibproufen. By the way, a fried egg and cheese sandwich cures all :D

Super exciting story coming next week!

Here’s to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

A $150 run...

I was scared/excited to go out yesterday for SO many reasons!
1- I was going outside, no treadmill!
2- I'd have a companion in the form of the cute little monster :)
3- I was doing a 2.5 mile route, which will probably be my training route for a while.
4- Looking at the calender and training plan, I realized I could do my 5k before Thanksgiving, making logistics easier on everyone involved (especially since I don't know where I'll spend Thanksgiving. The two options now are either a) MUCH COLDER than NC or b) MUCH WARMER than NC)

but then...
a) I thought I'd eaten lunch soon enough ahead to let everything be settled but no no no, so I started feeling nauseous about 1/3 the way through
b) when I got home, wanting just to curl up and let the tummyache pass, I realized I'd dropped my car key and clicker, so now I couldn't get into the car where I'd locked my house keys, despite standing right outside the house!

No worries, Neighbor Gail to the rescue, but I thought I'd walk the 2.5 mile route again, maybe I'd find the keys?

No luck.

The roommie and I walked the route again this morning and with fresh eyes on me and new eyes on her, we couldn't find them :( I called all the apartment complexes along my route, and people with Nissans are missing keys, but the only Ford keys anybody had found had an extra keychain in them :/

KB's tip was to loop one of the millions of hair bands I have through the key and then slip it on my wrist. The roomie's suggestion (courtesy of Real Simple) was to take a binder clip, unhook one of the metal parts, slip your key on there, then reassemble the clip and attach it to your shorts or whatever works.

Lesson learned! At the Ford dealer in town now and getting a new clicker and key. Hooray for technology that demands my key and clicker are $150 to replace. breathing I have the $$ but it still sucks to have to shell out :P

Still feeling good, physically, even with the 7.5 miles I've walked/run the past 24 hours.

Here's to the next timeout!

-Syd

Happy OCTOBER

I waited to post until the NC State/ VT game was done yesterday. I did my 2 miles in 26 miles, with .3 mile warm up/cool downs, upped the running times from 90 seconds to 2 minute segments, so I took the pace a bit easier. Man, the time ticked by during the beginning of the game. As a State fan, it was a great beginning! Too bad the defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory :(

Might do yoga today for my crosstraining today. Haven't reallly decided- its between that or total body sculpt!

I got another chapter full of edits from my thesis, so that's where my writing must focus now :( NFL will entertain me today as I watch my faves in pink ;) There's something hilarious about ripped men in pads slamming into each other- in HOT PINK shoes and gloves so KB and the roommie are entertained.

HAPPY OCTOBER! North Carolina finally got the message that its supposed to be cold since its fall and going out to church this morning, I cursed a bit at the cold, until I remembered I'd been praying for it! A high of 60 for tomorrow? YES, PLEASE! My sweaters, turtlenecks and BOOTS have been waiting for me since April!

Here's to the next timeout!

-Syd

Rain Delay

24 hours ago, I thought I'd be working right now, having just done the 2nd workout on the Couch to 5k plan. When I got to the gym, I finally understood what my running friends mean when they complain about "tightness in the hip" and ew. Just getting started was the hugest step, I realized, so I started walking, started zoning out to SportsCenter and the first 10 minutes breezed by. To push myself, I kept amping up the speed on the treadmill and what had been a standard run speed Sunday was close to my fastest walking but it all felt good. The creaky joints wore down around the time ESPN dedicated itself to baseball and bleeeggghhh! It was all in my head, so I had to keep chugging along. The end push was at 11:00 pace.

While watching Monday Night Football (GO BEARS!)I'd told my friends KB and Mr. Clean that I was trying to run, you know, get myself some encouragement, advice, and potential running partners, so KB called yesterday afternoon and asked if I wanted to go running with her for this morning. First of all- what am I supposed to do on the 4 days not on the plan each week? Yoga? Bike? Or is it allowed to keep doing runs of some random pace/length/time those days? Anyway, KB and I were supposed to go running this morning at a county park but its raining soooo raincheck. Literally. Back to my original plan from 24 hours ago, and still feeling good :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd