Running Chick

I wrapped up the fifth week of my training plan with a seven mile run this morning that was about as sucky as they get. I don’t know what was wrong with me, my head just couldn’t get in the game.  It could have had something to do with nearly being run over by some asshole in a Maroon Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck on his way to the transfer station. That dumbass cut the corner on his turn toward the transfer station from Gundlach Road and was probably watching the giant semi tractor maneuvering around in the transfer station driveway instead of being on the lookout for anything else, such as the girl decked out head to toe in high-visibility running gear. I took a giant leap to the right to avoid him and let out a string of expletives  and hand gestures that would have made a bystander blush. I came very close to going back to the transfer station to yell at him, but figured it wasn’t worth my time. Then it got me thinking that if I were to take a picture of his license plate and go to the police station with a complaint, would they go to talk to him about it? I should ask.

The rest of my run was thankfully uneventful, aside from the nuclear meltdown that was going on in my head. I am well skilled at running through physical pain (although I’m pretty sure that’s not something to brag about), but I am the worst at being able to ignore the negative thoughts running through my head telling me that it too far, it’s too hard, I’m a bad runner, bla bla bla. So I end up stopping, mad at myself for caving in and telling myself to suck it up and get moving.  In the last three miles, I stopped six times, three of those times were between 5.5 and 6.0 miles. I was pretty disgusted with myself, but on the bright side, I had a pretty decent run, finishing in 1:09. In case you’re wondering, I do stop my watch when I stop with meltdown issues. I figure why add insult to injury and end up with a shitty split.

My previous runs this week, along with today’s were 3 miles @ 9:46, 3 miles @  9:42 and 7 miles @ 9:59.

I have a easy 3 miler to do tomorrow, which will bring me up to a total of 16 miles this week. Last week I ended with 13 miles @ 9:52. I should have done 16, but the weather was so sucky on Sunday I decided to do a trainer ride instead.

In other news, I made some banana bread this afternoon and just as I was about to press the shutter button, somebody stuck their face in the frame, ruining my perfect shot. Bad kitty.

Oh, and somebody else got a fancy new musical instrument.

Any guesses? Bonus points if you can guess the brand of my shoes in the background.

Another trip to the vet, another $150+ spent. It seems like every time I make a trip to the vet's office, I end up spending anywhere from $150-$200. This time it was Simon, who has been sneezing up a storm the last two weeks. When he blew yellow/green snot all over himself the other day, I figured it was time to call the doc.

The appointment evolved from just a ear, nose, throat check to a T4 (thyroid) and kidney recheck. Those two tests plus the lab handling fee was $100. Add on $32 for the antibiotic injection, $23 for the anti-inflammatory injection and $40 for the exam, and we're sitting close to $200. But wait! I get a $17.50 multi-injection discount! That brings my total for the day to around $177. Monthly, I spend close to $150 between Simon's thyroid medicine and Spencer's special kidney food and his arthritis medicine.

My cats never really cost me all that much during their early years, so I think they're making up for it in their old age!

Shoes!

Last week while we were in Appleton, I got re-fitted for new shoes. I tested out a bunch of different shoes, probably 8 in total - Nike, New Balance, Adidas, Saucony, Brooks - and ended up with the Brooks Ghost 3. So far I'm really liking them. They're comfortable and responsive with some nice cushioining in the heel and forefoot. The only thing that I didn't like was that my high arches didn't feel like they were being supported enough in the stock insoles. No biggie, I slipped in some arch supporting insoles and all is well.

I've been primarily sticking to pavement, but tonight I decided to take the G3's for a spin on the Tech Trails. Let's just say that they're not really that great of a trail shoe (duh). They did the job, but I was doing a lot more slipping and sliding around on the leaf covered, muddy trails than I would have expected. Oh well, it was just what I needed to get my new oh-so-white shoes looking like respectable running shoes.

It's pretty clear that when I'm not running, I'm not blogging!

The last time I did any running was back on April 9th. I did 4.5-ish miles on the Tech Trails and could barely walk the next day due to knee\inner thigh pain. So, I just decided to stop.

At first I thought I might have pes anserine bursitis, but my symptoms didn't quite fit the profile. Finally, after much scouring of the internets, I landed on a sartorious muscle strain. I found this great link which listed all the typical symptoms of a sartorius strain, but I forgot to bookmark the link (dummy) and now I can't find the darn thing. In any event, after reading the article, I was pretty convinced that's what I had.

I finally got my insoles back with an additional adjustment to my arch.  It’s 1/4”, but it looks a lot bigger.  I’ve been wearing them regularly in my old running shoes but I haven’t done any running in them yet. My plan is to take the rest of April off and then pick up my half marathon training plan again in May in the hopes of doing the Appleton HM in September.

In the meantime, I've been having fun crashing my new bike! Fortunately, since all my crashes seem to happen when I get tangled up in loose sand, my landings have been on soft ground. Unfortunately, my legs look like somebody took a baseball bat to them. Hawt!

Josh and I broke out the cruisers a few weeks ago and we've been bopping all over Calumet with them. It’s funny, we get lots of compliments on them but most people refer to them as "old timey bikes" or "antique bikes" rather than cruisers.