two posts in one day CAN YOU STAND IT!!

I forgot to mention that I also booked a hotel room for the marathon. Initially I was planning to stay with my stepsister and her boyfriend, but my stepmom and I were looking at the course map over the weekend and it turns out their love nest is five miles from the starting line. And then I realized that I would need to get to bed early the night before the race, and to get up early on race day, and that I need to have a dance party before I can leave for the race, and that all of these things will be annoying to everyone who is not me. (Not that I really understand why, who doesn't love a 5 am jam session to the likes of Pink and Ke$ha? THEIR LOSS, OBVIOUSLY)

So, booked. Officially hotelling it up here:



It's about 1.5 miles from the start which is perfect, I can use the walk as a warm-up/calm-down and theoretically not have to leave four hours before race time to make sure I can navigate transportation issues. I don't know anything about the hotel, at all; it was the only one I could find in the vicinity that still had even semi-reasonably priced rooms available for Saturday night. I am, however, excited that the building has a sign reading "tip top tap." I don't know what that means, but I am sure it has something to do with beer, which probably also means they have vodka. Obviously I will feel right at home.

PDR + Oh Bye Oh

I've sort of kicked my running apathy in the butt...sort of. That is to say, I went a bunch of times. None were terrible and one, a 5.83-mile run last Thursday, was great. But I still feel like my head is not super in it.

For example, last night I ran 7.38 miles, by far my longest training run this time around. I was proud of myself for killing it mileage-wise, as I had only gone out intending to do around six miles. And it felt fine until about the last mile, which is to be expected, but I was kind of bored the whole time and sort of just wishing it was over. When I finished I just kept thinking that for the marathon I'm going to have to run SO. MUCH. FARTHER than that, and I felt, for the first time, pretty intimidated. Obviously the remedy there is to keep signing up for races (10K is in 13 days!) and to keep training, but I'm not used to being intimidated by races so it's kind of annoying.

I also (TMI alert) really had to pee the entire time on this run which reminded me, randomly, that running in hot weather has that effect on me. It was gross last night, like 87 degrees with 70 percent humidity. I would suck at living somewhere truly hot. However, I am sure you will all be happy to hear that I ran in my brand-new, first-ever sweat-wicking tank top. This bad boy, from Target:



But in black because I am Johnny Cash-like; also because my running shorts are all ridiculous colors so black was the shade most likely to match all of them. The tank top is VERY snug and in my never-used-a-wicking-top-ness I figured that would mean I would be sweltering the entire time, but I am happy to report that it does, in fact, do what it's supposed to do. It was disgusting outside but I was dry and happy the entire time. DAMN YOU, RUNNING BLOGGERS.



I imagine I will still wear them, though. But it was nice to be relatively comfortable while running through the sauna. FINE YOU GUYS WIN.

I will also say that while I wish I wasn't in Wisconsin, one of the benefits of being marooned here while I'm marathon training is that there is nothing the Dairy State can throw at me, weather-wise, that I'm not used to. I spent my entire childhood running here, in every conceivable kind of weather, from blizzards to thunderstorms to disgusting wet humidity. Even though I hadn't done it in years, the second I stepped outside last night I knew I would be fine even with the heat. It actually occurred to me as I was trotting along that I had run some of those exact same streets before in those exact same conditions. It's equal parts mortifying/pathetic and comforting. Whatever, as long as it got me through those 7.38 miles, I'm going to say it's fine.

Lastly, Jim Tressel resigned from Ohio State yesterday. I went to the University of Michigan so this is filling me with ENDLESS AMOUNTS OF GLEE, mostly because the man was a sham of piety from the beginning. Rich Rodriguez sucked for sure, but at least he sucked out in the open. BOOYAH. On that note I leave you with this:


Source

Hail to the Victors!

doldrums

Y'all, I have been so UGH about running lately. Somehow, I magically took a week off (????), and ever since then it's just been impossible for me to get going.

I am legitimately unsure how this week off happened. I ran last Monday and it felt good and I enjoyed it, and then I had a bunch of work days where I was at the office late, but there was also that one day where I got done with work at 2, and I drove home on Friday thinking I couldn't wait to run, but then the world was going to end the next day so I just ate pizza instead, and then it was hot on the weekend, and UGH. I got up early and went before work Monday, but I sort of keep forgetting about that because it was FOREVER ago and it was before 8 am so it basically doesn't count. I planned to take yesterday off. I also planned to run again this morning, which didn't happen. I want to do 5 miles today, but am already doubting my ability to do so. I don't know why. Just doubting. I'm all in my head. It's annoying.



I have tried many things to undo this pattern. I registered for two more races, a 10K in two and a half weeks and a half-marathon in July. I bought new running shorts and a tank top, both of which are cute. And still! I remain bleh! I know this will go away eventually but I don't feel like I can wait around for it to magically get better. I get more frustrated and stressed the more I put off running, which makes me more incapable of running, which makes me more stressed and frustrated, it is a big annoying cycle of whine and stupid. I know the cure is to just shut up and go run, which is basically my plan, but you guys it's RAINING and kind of COLD and I am WHINY and WHAT DO I DOOOOOO.

So any advice you have is welcome. Otherwise I will just be over here beating myself up and watching the countdown to the 10K get smaller and smaller.


An accurate representation of the way I panic, except they're running so OBVIOUSLY NOT HOW I AM PANICKING CURRENTLY.

BLAAARGH! Also in less annoying news, this lady is having a giveaway, go over and enter immediately! And also comment on her cute wedding pictures. Happy anniversary Carrie! :)

her pirate name was LAZYBONES

Will I eat pizza and lay around instead of running today? YES, I THINK I WILL.

Epic fail of a training week, I only ran once. I am mortified sort of. Actually, not as mortified as I should/normally would be. I started working full-time again this week, normal 9-5 hours, except since I am a journalist my hours are never normal. I was at the office until 8 or 9 every night, mostly just sitting around waiting for my stories to be read/edited and cursing the perfect running weather outside. This whole training thing was massively easier when I was working part-time and from home some days. Sad first-world problem for sure.

Anyway the moral of the story is that I need to get better at making time for running and that probably means I am going to have to start running in the mornings before work, at least some of the time. That sucks because I'm not a great morning runner. I don't have a problem with getting up and out the door but it just never feels as good to me as running at night does. I think this is probably from eleventy billion years of after-school running practice, it's just ingrained in my legs. They don't know what to do with themselves at 6 am.

So that is my goal for next week. I am working my last day at my part-time job tomorrow (11-6, vomit) and that involves being on my feet all day so it's doubtful I'll turn out a super-great run (or a run at all) afterward. I'm going to do at least six miles Sunday and then go from there, but I figure it's better to laze it up when the marathon is still 4.5 months away than to do it a month or two from now. Whatever, there is pizza involved and I did not pay for it and that is all that matters right now.

I also registered for a 10K today, it's three weeks away so one way or another my butt will be back in gear ASAP.

Accessorizing

My browser (Firefox) saves descriptions of the recent pages I've used, so now every time I type in Blogger the "currently unavailable" shows up in the box and I'm all, "UGH AGAIN?!" And then I get here and it's fine. Thanks a lot, Firefox.

I finally had a good training run yesterday :) I did 5 miles in 43 minutes and felt fantastic, except for my hamstrings, which were still tight and sore from Saturday's race. I need to buy more ice packs so I can ice multiple areas of my person at one time rather than icing one, then throwing the pack back in the freezer so I can ice a different part later, only to forget about it because I am too busy watching Family Guy on Netflix.



I decided, though, that I really do need new shoes. I decided this after carefully examining the treads, or lack thereof, on the bottom of the soles, and also by the fact that my benign leg tumor is hurting all the time lately. I don't think new shoes will actually help the tumor pain - bitch just whines in protest whenever I start training for a long race, then stops hurting when I see a doctor about it - but maybe I am wrong. Who knows. Then to warm up for the trip to the running store I went online and bought a RoadID. This one:



But in yellow, because I prefer things in obnoxious colors if I have the option. I figured a RoadID was a good idea as I run alone 99 percent of the time and have a general tendency toward falling down and getting myself into ridiculous situations. It will also come in handy if I get lost on any other race courses and pass out from rage and hunger before authorities notice I am gone/find me. You will notice there is a space on the bottom to put an inspirational quote or saying. Here were the choices I considered:

"Don't move to Virginia" - helpful advice for the medical professionals who find me
"Little Kate is a star" - song lyric I love
"Vodka and cheese, stat" - easiest way for them to revive me

In the end I went with "Just one more mile!" Since I will be wearing this thing on every run and hopefully will not be dying/falling down on most of them, I thought it would make more sense to look at something optimistic and running-related rather than to, say, ponder my hatred of the Commonwealth or get a relatively slow song stuck in my head.

I was prompted to order my RoadID by an email from Active.com with a coupon in it. The discount code is pcLevi5 and will save you 10 percent on your purchase. It's good through June 5, and every $20 you spend on the site gets you an entry to win a trip to the Tour de France. So go shop and win a trip to Paris and feel free to invite me, I hear they like cheese and wine there. And if you get one, please tell me what you put in your "motivational saying" line. (And no, RoadID didn't pay me anything to plug them, I'm just liking the bracelets. Like running jewelry! Only not.)

Legend of Arlage 5K Race Recap, in which you begin to understand my blog's name

Precursor: I came home from this race all crabby and wrote a salty race review post. Then a few hours went by and I felt less crabby, and then late last night I got a wonderful email from the race organizer. So I am retooling my original post! I imagine that one will still pop in your Google Reader if you follow me there; if so, enjoy my rage! :) Also this post is REALLY long, consider yourself warned.

You know how I have, all along, been calling the Legend of Arlage spring run the fake 5K? I was perhaps more correct than I realized.

This race was tiny, which I pretty much figured it would be since I was always and forever the only participant registered on dailymile. When I picked up my race packet I asked how many people were running and the woman there told me 50, so I knew it would be small. This was the first year the Legend of Arlage race was being held, so in addition to being small it was super low-tech. There was no starting gun and no timing chips or bibs, just a guy with a stopwatch who would record our times after we ripped off the bottom part of our bibs and handed it to him. I don't actually mind the low-tech race, it fits with my lack of a Garmin and my love of cotton T-shirts (yes, I wore one in the race!), and since the field was small there wasn't really any variation between any of our starting times anyway.

The course was in Warner Park in Madison, which is a nice, big park with some ponds and a lot of trails. I ran some cross-country races there in high school, it's a great place to run.


View Larger Map

Being as this was a low-tech 5K, there was no race website and they hadn't provided us with any course maps, so all the runners were completely dependent on the course markings and the race organizers/volunteers to find our way during the race. The starting line and finishing line were the same, in one of the park's parking lots.

Before the race started, one of the race organizers gave us a brief and very vague overview of the course. There was both a 10K and a 5K, and the course split came just after the one-mile mark. To get there, he said, we were supposed to circle the parking lot, then cut back in and cross a bridge, which would take us to the one-mile mark. There would be cones to tell us where to go and also people on the course to answer any questions, he said. Then they lined us up, counted backwards from three and we were off.

It was a good day to run, weather-wise; it was cool and cloudy with just a little bit of wind. My strategy for this race was just to go out smart, try to hold myself back the first mile, to have negative splits if at all possible and to finish anywhere under 27 minutes. From the very beginning, I felt great. I was running smart, everything was clicking, and as we finished the parking lot loop and headed to the bridge, I was the second girl and was solidly in sixth place overall.

We circled the parking lots and then cut back in to cross the bridge. It should be noted that when we did this, we were within shouting distance from the race organizers. They could clearly see where we were and where we were going. As I said before the course was NOT clearly marked; there were some cones on the ground but they didn't really give any indication about where we were supposed to go, so I just followed the group of five in front of me (they were the people leading the race, I figured they knew what they were doing - duh).

We crossed the bridge, went on a running path that led to a residential street, and turned the corner to head back toward the park. We cut across a baseball field and then, ahead of me, the guy in first place abruptly stopped, turned to the people behind him, and pointed to something back toward the park. And then I started to realize that I'd been running for more than 10 minutes and still hadn't seen the first mile marker, and there was just NO WAY I was running at a 10-minute mile pace. I looked behind me, where I could see back for about a half-mile, and didn't see anyone there. And as we ran back into the park, it dawned on me that we had crossed the wrong bridge and gone the wrong way, effectively adding an extra mile on to our race course.

I was instantly annoyed about this because there were a handful of race officials who could clearly see us BOTH when we initially turned the wrong way AND when we came back into the park and went over the correct bridge. They said nothing to us either time; when I crossed back into the park I raised my arms and gave one of them a "help me" gesture and he just pointed to the right, toward the bridge I should have crossed in the beginning. Additionally, there were people milling around in the pavilion standing in the middle of both bridges - it would have been VERY easy for the organizers to shout to them to redirect us. So I feel pretty strongly that the race officials should have at least tried.

When we finally hit the two SORRY, THE ONE-mile mark my watch read 17:11. At this point I was really, really frustrated and I sort of considered my options. Dropping out was obviously one of them, but I am not a quitter and I felt like doing that would have been kind of stupid, even given the circumstances (and really, what would I have done, anyway? Walked the mile back to the starting line to gripe at the race people, then watched everyone else finish the race? Definitely would have been dumb). So basically my only option was to suck it up and keep going and hope that they'd make some sort of concession for the group of us who had run extra, but it was a bit of a mental struggle to keep going at that point because SERIOUSLY. There was no way to know at that point how much extra I had run, how fast I was going, etc. Basically, I just kept going because what else do you do? At least it could be a good training run.

The 5K/10K split came just after the first mile marker. Everyone in front of me that had also gone the wrong way split to do the 10K. I turned left to do the 5K, which officially made me the last-place 5K runner. That made me extra-pissed and gave me a bit of an adrenaline and speed boost because I was basically like, HELL NO, I AM NOT COMING IN LAST. My mom showed up on the course right around this time which was perfect, I got to vent a little to her and then she drove ahead and got out of the car so she could cheer me on in person. It was super great to see a friendly face there, even in such a tiny race, thanks for coming Mom! :)

I spent the rest of the run passing as many people as I could, had a pretty solid kick at the end and finished with a final time of 35:07. A woman I passed right near the end came up to me after and said, "Are you the first 10K runner?" (Ha! I wish, that would have been an amazing 10K time! Thanks for making my day, lady!)

"No,"I replied. "Just the first four-miler." (SADFACE, CUE THE VIOLINS.)

Right after I finished and handed my tab to the race organizer, I asked him if he had any idea how far I'd actually gone.

"Oh, you're one of the ones who did the extra? Nope, no idea," he said.

I stood there for a minute just waiting to see if he'd apologize or say anything else, which he didn't. Then I went and took some of the post-race goodies (bagels, cream cheese, bananas, muffins and homemade cookies), stretched and called Allison to vent because I knew she'd understand. I also talked to some of the other runners, and some 10K entrants who HADN'T gone the wrong way told me that even the marked course wasn't correct and that they ended up doing less than 6.2 miles (about a half mile less, was the guess).

There is, of course, no way to know for sure, but because I felt so good and all of the people ahead of me were running the 10K, I think there's a pretty good chance I would have won the 5K if this hadn't happened. I would have at least placed pretty well. That would have been, needless to say, really fun, since I am not fast enough anymore to really win "real" races. More importantly, I would have liked to see what my actual 5K time was. I'm sure I would have made my under-27 goal, but again, there's no way to know, since I have no idea what my first mile pace was.

I mapped the route out when I got home and it looks like I did 4.26 miles, give or take (it's a little hard to map things on trails in a park, particularly the part where we circled the parking lot). That's about an 8:14 pace which I'm pleased with. :)

Overall I was really disappointed. I understand this was their first year holding this race, but properly marking the course, or having enough people there to point you in the right direction, just isn't that difficult and frankly should be one of the top priorities, if not the first priority. But I was MOST upset because I felt like the people in charge of the race didn't care about what had happened, as they never came over to address the runners or say anything to us. But then late last night I got this wonderful, completely personal email from one of them:


Hello Kate~

Thank you so very much for running this morning in the 5K.... It sounds like the course was an issue and not marked at well as it should have been for runners?

I hope you didn't have too many issues with the course? We have you logged for time @35:08....NICE JOB!!!

I really apologize for the route not being fully marked. We were so concerned about making the route(s) with the exact mileage the last week with construction in the parking lot we focused more on changing that portion of the route. (The construction had the course change daily) We should have focused on the 10K route along the lake and having it marked properly....I am so sorry if it was confusing.

We will make sure next year we have a pacer and more volunteers on both courses and appropriate markings. We appreciate you hanging in there with us this year and hope it was not too much of a hassle?

Again, thank you very much for your donation to the National Alliance To End Homelessness. It is a great organization and you ran for an excellent cause! We greatly appreciate your participation and hope you will make it next year for the 2nd annual.

And just like that any lingering annoyance or RAGE went away. I am a super-forgiving person, I mostly just need to know that people care or have acknowledged situations that have upset me. I wrote her back just letting her know more in-depth what had happened, since she didn't seem to know the details, and that I was still happy to have made my donation to charity. I mentioned that I was disappointed for several reasons, including the fact that I was using the race as part of my marathon training and would have really liked to know my 5K time. I also told her I would be happy to run the race again as long as things were more organized, which is true - I like the small field and the course was great. And I made some really simple suggestions, including using signs with arrows instead of cones (and also made sure to point out that I know NOTHING about planning a race, at all, so if my suggestions seemed condescending, they weren't intended that way at all). She responded to that one with this:

NOT at all condescending! I really appreciate the feed back from you. As a seasoned runner I would have been really disappointed had i gone that far out of my way.

I am so sorry about messing up your training for the marathon.....Running that far out of your way your time is AWESOME! You should be happy with that time of 35:08 on 4.3 miles!! :)

Good luck on your marathon! My husband and I are doing one in Sonoma Valley this summer......we like to travel a few times a year to run a couple of marathons every year. It gives us a nice short vacation and an excuse to get away for a few days!

Thanks again for supporting our race! Let me know what marathon Kate so i can watch for your time and name!

Take Care~

So basically I have 99 percent forgiven them. The lingering 1 percent is only because COME ON I MIGHT HAVE WON. In short, I would encourage people in the Madison area to give this race a try next year - the post-race snacks are delish, it's a really fun course and it's a small and friendly field so you'll probably do well - but I would make SURE there is at least a course map available before doing so. I'm also chalking this up to a new experience. For all of my complete lack of direction and my tendency to do ridiculous and stupid things, I have never gotten lost in a race before. If only that had been on my bucket list!

One final note- my left hamstring continues to be a pain in the butt; it tightened up toward the end of the race. I'm not sure what to do about it anymore because I did a really good and really complete warm up beforehand, including stretching. It might be time for new shoes. Oh darn, an excuse to go to the running store.

Off to run race #1!

Dance party done, race bib on, ready to roll!



There are 50 runners total. Here's hoping I'm not last!

Blogger was down and I cried

Not really, but I go through a bit of a psych-up process before I post so when I get all ready and then the site is down I'm all deflated.

(I image-googled "deflated" to find a photo that would properly demonstrate my FEELINGS but the results were very disturbing. Google at your own risk.)

Anyway I will forge ahead, mostly because my work day today consists of calling all of Wisconsin's 72 counties and I can make about five of those calls before my brain starts to go to sleep and I need a break.

I am feeling kind of discouraged at the moment because for the past two or three weeks (aka 75 percent of my training time, since I have only been at this for a month or so) all of my runs have sucked. They have rotated between feeling okay (not good, just okay) and feeling awful. My run on Tuesday was the worst yet. I went out to do around 4 miles and since it was going to be my last training run before the 5K Saturday I wanted to run at a little under a 9-minute-mile pace. That went well for the first 1.5 miles and then I just hit a wall and wanted to die. TO DIE.


Source

I was running a new route that took me on what was technically a bike path but was actually a concrete strip running behind a bunch of stores and strip malls. About 2.5 miles of the run was on this thing so that was boring, and my legs felt really heavy and I couldn't breathe and it was HOT and HUMID and I just wanted to stop. I don't walk during runs ever, but this is the first time in a long time that I have actually wanted to. There was a moment about a mile from home where I had to pause to push the walk button to get across the street and I really enjoyed that pause. It was just awful.

Then last night I wanted to a super-easy 3.5 miles, just to get the bugs out before tomorrow's race. I ran on a treadmill in the ghetto fitness center in my apartment building because I just couldn't deal with the humidity again. I sped up consistently throughout the workout, starting at a 9:40 pace (which didn't feel good) and ending at an 8:54 pace (which also didn't feel good). Basically none of it feels good lately.

This is somewhat standard for me. When I go back to running after not running for awhile it feels good for about a week and then sucks for awhile before it gets better. But I can't remember it ever sucking for this long. I'm not going to stop running, obviously, because a) I am running a marathon in four and a half months and b) stopping will just mean I have to start again which will start the cycle over again. But it is hard to get jazzed to go out and run, or to increase my mileage, or to attempt speedwork when every run makes me feel like this:


Source

Also I am now thinking there's a solid chance tomorrow's 5K is going to suck extra since all running seems to lately, but I am not really focusing on it because whatever. I'm running it either way. I pick up my race packet tonight and am excited to see if there are any other runners or packets there or if this is really just going to be me, a guy with a starting gun and my mom on the sideline. Oh well.

In other news, just to prove to you that I was not lying about the size of my shorts:


I'm pointing just in case you can't see them on account of their tiny-ness.

They're from American Apparel which should explain why they're basically underwear. I don't know what possessed me to buy these initially but I will say I am loving them in the current sauna that is Wisconsin. I also wanted to reiterate my love of running in cotton shirts. I know the following photos will make most of you recoil in horror:




But I feel like when I'm all sweaty and gross it reflects the fact that I am working my ass off. I am not sure I would feel as accomplished if I was in high-tech fabric that was sucking all my sweat up. On really hot days, I prefer running in wifebeaters (that's what I'm wearing in my leg-baring photo up there); also cotton, so light I can't feel I'm wearing anything, 97 percent cheaper than every sweat-wicking running top in the world. I realize this makes me an anomaly in the running world for sure, but I spent all of high school (and the rest of my running career, which started when I was 13) training competitively in cotton shirts and it was always fine. I will probably invest in some serious-runner tops at some point soon, just because it is going to be humid and gross here all the time and because they are cute. Probably I will then be addicted and I will hate all of you because I will go broke buying sweat-wicking tank tops. But for now, cotton it is! Feel free to persuade me in the comments. To be clear I am very curious about the sweat-wicking tops and would like to hear what you guys think :)

And now back to my phone calls...

Source
I know Will. I know.

p.s.

It is apparently 84 degrees outside. I can't even. I am not sure I know how to run in temperatures higher than 60. I shouldn't be surprised because how it works in Wisconsin is this: it starts snowing in October, you will have two or three nice days in April, it will continue to snow until May and then one day BOOM it's summer. There is no spring here; until I moved to Maryland for grad school I was not really sure that spring was a season that actually existed (maybe it existed in New York but there weren't so many trees in Manhattan so it was hard to tell for sure).

Anyway, just wanted to drop in and let y'all know so you could look forward to the next post which will inevitably be about sweat running into my eyes. I'm wearing the tiniest shorts known to man and my cats puked on my running shoes right before I got home.



Obviously it's go time.

the mother of all workouts

As it turns out (this is really complicated so try to follow along), running more + blogging infrequently = MANY RUNS to write about in each entry. Like I want to update you on my last two runs but one of them was last week, and I can not really even remember what happened to me at lunchtime, so this is impossible. I think I ran 3.6 miles on Saturday. I think it sucked?

AH yes. It's coming back to me. I have been having a lot of random joint pain in my hands and it was freaking me out, and I don't have insurance at the moment so I got up early on Saturday and hoofed it over to the east side to see a free doctor. It was fine and I am fine; it turns out when you go from not sitting in front of a computer all day for five months to sitting in front of a computer all day for two weeks, your body gets mad. Anyway, after the clinic my dad took me to breakfast where I ate an omelet the size of my face. Five hours later I went running and realized about a block into it that I had apparently digested zero of that omelet because I spent the rest of my run burping it up. That was an attractive and uplifting story; let's just move on to the main event: Mother's Day.


Me and my mama at dinner after my grad school graduation in 2008.

Then I made her do the Miley face with me:


I love Miley, did I ever write about that here? I do, for real. Anyway, Mother's Day. So, I am the product of two very active and twitchy parents who are not particularly good at sitting still, ever. My dad has a tendency to get up and wander around looking at things when he is bored, my mom is fond of packing her days full of activities so that she doesn't have any down time at all, ever, EVER. My mom and I are also both broke and whiny about money so instead of doing a normal Mother's Day thing like, I don't even know, shopping? Pedicures? (Seriously, I lack any knowledge of what a normal mother/daughter activity would be.), we decided to bike over to the nature conservancy, then I would run and she would bike, then we would bike some more.

So that is what we did. Biked the three miles there. I ran 5.2 miles while she biked, and then we biked 10 more miles. It was sunny and hot and I smelled super great, and the run felt kind of crappy, it turned out that was because I did the entire 5.2 miles at an 8:30 pace. That, by the way, is SUPER slow when you are on a bike and my mom still stayed with me basically the entire time, which was great. (I had told her beforehand that I would probably run at about a 9-minute mile pace and that she was totally free to leave me and circle back if she wanted; about halfway through she said "I think you go faster when I bike with you!")

After our exercise extravaganza we got some breakfast. I had forgotten to bring a change of clothes to her house so I had to borrow things. My mom and I are not the same size or the same height so in addition to my smelling super great, I also looked super hot. After breakfast, we took the dog for an hour-long walk. Then my mom was all, what should we do now? And I was all, do whatever you want, woman, I'm exhausted. And then I came home and ate some pita chips and collapsed.

I neglected totally to ice or foam roll when I got home (on account of the exhaustion) so my legs are still a little bit hurty today. I am planning to run about 4 miles tonight anyway, and then a super-easy and slow run Thursday in preparation for the fake Legend of Arlage 5K on Saturday (yes, I am still the only dailymile participant). I can't decide what I want my goal time to be, I was thinking under 25 minutes but I feel like that'll leave me in a world of hurt. My real goal is just to try to not run like an idiot. The last 5K I ran was last June and I basically sprinted the first mile and then wanted to die the rest of the time. It paid off, sort of; I was 10th out of 80 women with a time of 25:39 and essentially zero training, but I feel like if I had tried to pace myself a little more I may have done even better. So that will be my REAL goal. I am not by nature a patient person or particularly good at holding back at much of anything, so this should be interesting at best.

5 Things on Friday

Because I don't think I can come up with 15 things, I am just not as interesting as this girl.

1. I ran 5.2 miles at an 8:46 pace on Wednesday and it didn't feel fast at all, just comfy. Perhaps my tempo run Monday just busted me through that plateau?

2. For the past week or so my left hamstring has been tightening up about two miles into every run. On Wednesday, it got super tight then started to hurt, a la an oncoming injury. I foam-rolled and stretched the hell out of it and it feels fine now, but I am concerned because it has felt fine after every other run too - it's just during that it tightens. I am basically refusing to be injured so I think I might have to start (UGH) warming up before I run. Do any of you do this? When I was doing physical therapy for my IT band my therapist gave me a set of warm-up exercises called dynamic flexibility. It involves a bunch of stretches you do while walking/moving around, most of the time you look super-cool like this:


O hai, just monopolizing the track with my bending over
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Dynamic flexibility helps a ton; I always feel looser and more comfortable in my running when I do it first but it's such a PAIN because it turns even a quick three-mile run into such a freaking PRODUCTION. Like I get changed and ready to go run and then I have to squat and flail all over my apartment for 15 minutes first, it's kind of exhausting. Factor in the icing/stretching/foam-rolling time after and even a short run takes an hour. Rage. But it's better than being injured and since I am just going to keep increasing my mileage from here, I guess I'll start doing it again. Somewhere in Virginia, Jeremy the physical therapist is cackling evilly right now from satisfaction, I just know it.



Do you like how he's all grainy because I made the photo bigger to fit my Charlie Sheen text? Me too. Take that Jeremy!

3. I had a job interview for the best. job. ever. yesterday. I have no idea if I will get it as I think it's a little above my experience level, but I feel like I kinda rocked the interview so I am feeling good regardless.

4. Then I found out I have to register my car in Wisconsin because Virginia (aka the Worst State Ever) is canceling my license because I am not living there anymore. I called the DMV and tried to explain that I am in a weird state of limbo but that I would prefer to just keep my Virginia residency until I know where I will be, but the DMV lady did not care. Obviously registering my car here is important SYMBOLICALLY as it means I am one step closer to dying here. F my life.



I do not miss Virginia (on account of it's the Worst State Ever), but I will miss my animal-friendly license plates. My pets will miss them too.


My popped collar indicates that I don't actually care at all about your license plates, I just want some sorority girls to party with.

5. I read an article in W Magazine about a "no poo" movement where people are eschewing the use of shampoo. Apparently your hair will clean itself if you leave it alone for 4-6 weeks. I am a big fan of not showering, but even I feel like this is excessive. And yet, I am still kinda tempted to try it, though I have to think the people who are doing this are not also training for a marathon; my head would start to reek after about three days. My sense is that that will not get me hired anywhere and it may also endanger the health of my freelance projects. Allegedly Prince Harry is a fan though.



So ostensibly his hair looks like that not from copious amounts of expensive hair product but because he doesn't wash it. Idk, but if he's smelly that baby doesn't seem to mind, though to be fair I am not sure I would either if I were in her position.

I hope you all have fabulous weekends! I am going to spend mine drinking with the boss, cursing Virginia while I pay extra to register my car here and cross-stitching. Just keeping alive my special blend of being simultaneously 80 and 12.

various exciting and life-changing notes

1. I didn't really feel like running last night so I was like, fine I will just do around 3 miles, and then I was like, WELL, MIGHT AS WELL MAKE IT A TEMPO RUN! My thought process makes no sense, even to me. Mostly I was just tired of seeing an above-9-minute pace on dailymile. Anyway, I ran 3.2 and my pace, which felt only a little uncomfortable, was 8:42. Happy! :)

2. I remain the only participant in the Legend of Arlage 5K. So either I'm going to win many things, or I am going to be running with super-elite runners who are flying under the radar and too busy being awesome to check into races on dailymile.


See you there, Lindsay!
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3. I figured out how to do Google Friend Connect or whatever, so I should be following you all publicly now. Still don't really know what that means; still using Google Reader to actually read everything. I am a master of technology.

4. This:


and also this:



are pleasing me this week.

5. Post White House Correspondents' Dinner, I have spent some time contemplating Donald Trump's hair. I don't get it. Can anyone explain it to me?


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I feel like it's a combover of some sort, but it seems to defy all laws of physics and gravity and hair products.

6. Sophie was just wondering if you had donated to my marathon yet.



She used to live in a box and now she doesn't, and would like you to consider donating money so that other homeless cats can know the joy of sitting in a box....inside a house!

The end. I am in a meeting and just got asked to email the notes I'm obviously typing to the boss when we're done. Hope he enjoys my Donald Trump musings and then makes a donation to PAWS.