What did I do?

I'm not sure what happened.

Saturday morning, I wore an old pair of running shoes around to do various chores and errands.  Saturday afternoon I decided to go run.  It was a mistake from the beginning mostly because the weather was bad.  The wind was howling and it looked like rain.  Did I ever mention how much I hate wind?  At least it wasn't hot wind!

There was no one out on the river path, which confirmed my belief that I was insane for trying, so I decided to not go as far as I would have liked.  During this whole time, I adjusted my shoe many times.  It seemed like my left shoe was tired entirely too tightly.  By the time I got home, my shoe was practically falling off my foot, but it still felt weird.  I looked, only to find a bruise on the top of my foot.  Quite odd that I hadn't felt it earlier since I was wearing the same shoes, only older.

I wore shoes that were open on top on Sunday.  I did the same on Monday.  Now here I am, early Tuesday morning thinking I should be able to just run outside and, well, run, but I walked around the block once and in my very loose running shoe, hobbled home.  It wasn't excruciating pain, but I knew I would be horribly uncomfortable if I continued.  I am a firm believer of taking it easier when something doesn't feel right in order to not make things worse down the road.

Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

I wish I could remember what I did.

Maybe this will get me to the pool today to get a swim in instead.

I was really looking forward to getting out there too.

One year later...

I just realized that it's been one year since my trail running accident.  This time last year I was limping along wondering if I would ever walk normally again, much less run since the healing process was going a lot slower than the ER doctor led me to believe.  Of course, if I had really thought about it, eight stitches is nothing to sneeze at, especially on an area that has as much pressure put on it as a knee, so I really should have been more patient

Here is the picture from a year ago....  (close your eyes if you are squeamish!)... BTW, it's taken me a year to actually *look* at this picture.  It was taken in the parking lot at the trail... before we went to the ER.  Husband was thinking ahead about documenting this for posterity!

Here is the same knee a year later....

Not a great picture, but it made me realize that it's not as bright red as it had been.  My sister made a comment back in the summer about the red factor and I do think it has gotten less red over the last six months!

Now, to get up the courage to trail run again.  I have been back to the trails where this happened, but only to hike with a friend.  I really need to go on a very short run there to gain back my confidence.  I just need to go through and pick up all the rocks off the trail first! ;)

Valentine's Day eating nightmare...

Caused by yours truly.  I have no self control.  None.

I woke up to go on my 4:30am run to find these left in the bathroom by my sweet husband who knows that I love chocolate covered cherries almost as much as life itself.  The Trader Joe's kind are excellent... as you can see from the picture... since they are half gone!  I also have those other TJ treats as well.  Thankfully they are still unopened!

I went to work... these cute bags are what kindergartners fill with cards and candy.  While they might not think I'm truly their Valentine, my name was on the list that was sent home, so all their moms made them write me a card.  Most of them had Hershey's kisses stuck to them.  This isn't everything.  There are some less cute bags not pictured. 

I went to Pilates.  Pilates should be safe.  Especially when I walked in there feeling slightly sick from the above mentioned candy.  No.  Wrong.  Ellen was feeling especially sweet, so she brought a whole basket of candy.  And made us take two since not that many people came.  Probably because they were home getting ready for their hot Valentine's dates instead of shoving down more candy.  I think Ellen was just giving me an reason to come back for more.

I really wish a serving size of those cherries was in the neighborhood of 42.  The fact that I had run a little extra yesterday morning probably didn't cancel out anything.  I would have had to run about six marathons for that to happen!

How did Valentine's Day become so much more dangerous for me than Halloween?

Run in the cold?

It got cold here last week.  Really cold.  I know 18ºF isn't very cold on the thermometer for most people, but for us desert rats it is!  In fact, most people around here have water pipes running on the outsides of their houses.  Last week that all changed when we got colder than it had been since 1933.  So many water pipes burst around here that every plumber's dream summer vacation is now funded.  The school I work at had rainy day schedule because the kids just don't have that kind of winter clothing.  The kids were so confused because it was bright and sunny outside.

I just couldn't force myself out the door for a 4:30am run.  I just don't own that many clothes.  And even if I did, what would I do with my face?  These are things I never had thought of before.  I can go as low as about 28ºF, but I think after that, I'm not sure how to act!

Husband and I jumped ship and went to La Jolla, CA instead.  It was actually a planned anniversary trip, but it came at exactly the right time.  So I made up all of those missed miles of not running in the dark and cold.  I decided that running in mild temps on a beach was much much better!

The jacket was a little much once we got going!

I really like how the picture of Husband turned out - the morning light was just beautiful!

After too much eating, sleeping, kayaking, whale watching, and most importantly, ice cream eating, we had to come back to reality... luckily it had warmed up a bit... the forecasted temp for today was 80ºF!

And I managed to get up again at the 4:30am mark and run on!

A look at January

About a month ago, I posted some pretty loft New Year's Resolutions.  Instead of forgetting about them, I'm trying to keep myself accountable for my actions this year.  How did I do?

*Ran 73.11 miles. That is 10 miles short of being able to complete my goal of 1000 miles in 2011.  I missed a couple of runs because of the terrible cold I had.  Hopefully I'll be able to make them up... maybe this summer when there is a little more flexibility in my schedule?

* Pilates.  Yes, went, but only 3 out of 5 possible times.  The other two... one was the terrible cold and the second was Son's soccer game.  Darn him for playing after school sports!  More like darn the school for scheduling games on Monday afternoons!

*Other forms of cross training.  Swam twice.  I had great plans for spin class, but, that just didn't make it to happening.  Sadly, instead of spinning I was sick (yes, we know already!!) and went to a couple of niece/nephew birthday dinners.  OK, I wasn't too sad about the birthday dinners because who doesn't like a party, but I still missed my intended spin.

How to fix my plan for February? 

* Don't get sick.  Seriously, this seemed to be my biggest downfall of the month.  Thankfully I don't get sick too often.  Knock on wood.

* Pilates is only offered at one time a week that I can attend.  The other is at 9:45am on Tuesdays.  There isn't really a lot of flexiblity in school sports schedules either.  I think there may only be one other Monday game though, so, it will probably work out OK.

* Spin.  I just have to quit making excuses and go do it.  I enjoy it once I get there, but am slightly intimidated to go.  Those people all just look so, um, fit.  And like they live their lives on spin bikes.  I know this is not true, but these are the times I still have all of my jr high insecurities creep back. 

How did January go for you?  Hopefully your goals are all getting accomplished!

My Smartphone is Running Apps!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I ended up with a smartphone at the end of last month.  This phone is much smarter than me... and does more than my first computer ever dreamed possible.  It actually runs faster than the family computer that we just replaced in August. 
I decided to see what was out there in the way of free running apps.  I don't have a thing against paying for some, but I was curious to see what you can get for free.  I found three in the top free apps that I decided to try.  First up was Runkeeper.  It was the first app I tried and I was pretty happy with the basic functions it offers.  It lets you log time, distance, and pace.  You can also log into their website to view your data.  There is a upgrade version that you can pay for, but I was thrilled to be able to track exactly how far I was going and not relying on the NikePlus iPod feature that seemed to lie more often than not!

Second I tried out iMapMyRun.  This is the only service I had heard of prior to my smartphone purchase.  A few local races here use MapMyRun as the mapping service for their race website.  My complaint with it is that for some reason, my computer hates to load their maps and always comes up with a "navigation cancelled" page.  I end up going to races not having a clue as to what the course is.  It also let you log the time, distance, and pace and had the bonus feature of looking at a map of where you have been.  I ran into the same problem looking at my map... "navigation cancelled".  If anyone knows what is causing this, I would be more than happy to listen!

Last up was an app called Runtastic.  It appears to be from Europe as I had to tell it I wanted everything in miles and not kilometers.  You also get the basic times, distance, and pace, but additionally are able to view your course map and make notes about how you felt on your run, what the weather was like, what surface you were running on, and what the temperature was.  There is also a countdown of 15 seconds before you start your run.  This is great for me as I can get my phone put in my pocket easily before my run starts.  You are then able to view all of this on their website, which, again threw me off because it is all in kilometers.  I like the fact that when you view your stats after running, it tells you what your pace for each mile was as well.  I can tell that I usually start off slow and get faster.  Maybe it's my normal 4:30am start time?  I guess I have to wake myself up! 

As you might have guessed, I decided to keep the Runtastic app on my phone.  It seems to give the most bang for my buck (or lack thereof since I didn't pay for it!). I was pretty happy with all the features it offers for free.  That and the map function works!

The one thing I have learned from all of these running apps is the need to manually turn on and off my GPS when I am not running, otherwise, the battery on my phone is sucked dry by 10am and I am scrambling to find my cord and an empty plug at work.  Runtastic reminds me that I need to enable the GPS before the run starts.  The other apps wanted to tell me this as my run was starting. 

I'm pretty happy with how this is working for my runs as really my ultimate goal for now is just to keep track of my mileage and pace.  All of the apps also mention calories burned, but I am trying to ignore that because I tend to use only to calculate how more many M&Ms brussel sprouts I can eat.  I noticed that all of these have paid upgrades and even "pro" versions which look like they make use of heart race monitors and such.  I probably should care about heart rate, but for me it's just one more thing that I don't want to mess with right now.  Or maybe I just don't understand why I should care.  I suppose that's why my name isn't Kara Goucher.

Run to Eat or Eat to Run?

It's no secret that I like to eat.  But, I think it's also no secret that I like to fit into my jeans.  And Daughter has also instilled in me the fear of large underwear.  She has told me that she never wants to be big because she didn't want to fold large underwear.  I had never thought of it that way, but, yeah, I don't want to have to fold large underwear either!  This is where meal planning and running come together.

Sorry for the sideways photo... Blogger is a bear sometimes!

I don't know if nutrition can be considered a hobby, but in a weird sort of way, I think it has become mine.  I get a basket of fruits and veggies every two weeks from Bountiful Baskets.  You can end up with lots of common foods in your basket, like apples and lettuce, or lots of odd things, like salad savoy or persimmons.  I consider it a challenge to figure out how to eat all of it. I'm paying for it, and think the nutritional variety is great, so I might as well get the full benefit out of it!  I bring home all the fruits and veggies and really can't wait to start cooking and preparing.  I'm not sure if my family is grateful for it... there have been a few failures... well, maybe more than a few, but I'm grateful that they are game to try some more.  Either that or they just don't want to make their own dinner!

I also feel that by trying to make good nutritional choices, my running performance will be enhanced.  Maybe I won't be as tired.  Or have enough energy to sprint that last half mile.  At the very least I won't feel like a bag of rocks is in my stomach while running.

On the flip side, because I eat all these fruits and veggies AND run, I feel justified in eating waaaaaay too many sweets.  My sweet tooth is a little out of control sometimes. Well, a lot of the time.  Like if there is anything mint chocolate around.  Or if I find a stray M&M on the floor.  Pathetic I know.  It's best just not to buy it in the first place and then I won't be tempted.  And run lots.  Because I think - wow - I just ran four miles... that's equal to around 400 calories... so, like four cookies?  Or a very large ice cream.  Self control is so very hard.

Do you run to eat or eat to run?  A little of both?