Running Chick

Hellooooholycow it’s been a long time since I’ve updated.  Jeesh, I’m a slacker. Well, let’s get on with the update to bring you up to speed.

You probably remember that I had some weird ankle issue in August that sidelined me for a month. Well, I made it through that fine, started running again and then a month later I noticed that the top of my right foot was bothering me. It started as a slight ache, then turned into a more pronounced ache, then turned into a bona fied pain. I was seriously starting to worry that I had a stress fracture, so I went to my doctor and got me some x-rays.

But they didn’t show anything (typical of stress fractures, they said), so my doctor figured it was some ligament thing and told me to limit my runs to 2-3 miles and ice before & after.  I did that for a few runs but it was clear that what I really needed to do was stop running because my foot was not feeling any better. So, I’ve been laying low since Thanksgiving day, which was my last run. In the meantime, I’ve been riding my trainer three times/week and doing weights/yoga for the rest of the week. My plan is to keep with the trainer rides for the rest of December than start running again in January. If my foot cooperates, half marathon training will also start in January.

Last month, we welcomed a new addition to the household. A kitten!

Pippen was four months and four pounds when we adopted him. Today, he’s five months and six pounds.

After having adult cats for such a long time, I was seriously doubting the sanity in adopting a rambunctious, curious little kitten. Holy cow my house is not kitten-proof.

He races around the house like mad, knocks over everything that isn’t nailed down then crashes hard.

He’s quite the handful, but he’s such a cutie that it’s hard to stay mad at him for long. Plus, he’s super snuggly so he’s extra hard to stay mad at.

Well, until next time which hopefully will be counted in days and not months.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve had enough of this schizophrenic weather we’ve been having. Tuesday, I was out running in a t-shirt and shorts. Yesterday it started to rain, then snow, and today it looks like this:

Since my cupboards are bare, I get to clean this mess off my car and go to the grocery store so we don’t die of starvation.

Scout had been enjoying daily romps on the deck. Now all she can do is stand in the doorway and sniff.

She is not pleased.

Anyway, after ten days off from running and a lot of cross training on the bike trainer, I hit the road again on Tuesday with high hopes. Unfortunately, as is typical with me, I overdid it with the weights the night before and my hamstrings and calves were in high revolt.  I got a very, very slow two miles done and walked the last mile back to my house. That was the day it was almost 70 degrees out, so I had a very pleasant walk home and became one with my ice packs.

I felt much better on Thursday and had an pain-free 3 mile run after work.

I was supposed to run 10 miles on Saturday, but I’m trying to cut back on my mileage while I’m working my way through the shin pain, so I decided five miles would be sufficient. Then I looked outside and saw what is typically knows as a “wintery mix” – an evil combination of freezing rain, ice pellets and snow. A sane person probably would have stayed inside, but I figured I should probably just get out there because you never know what sort of conditions you’re going to have on race day, especially in this neck of the woods, so off I went. I ended up being completely soaked from head to toe, but I did have pretty good run, and had the opportunity of break in these babies:

They’re called Brooks Ravenna and Brooks claims they’re mid way between a neutral shoe (for people who don’t have any pronation issues) and a stability shoe (for people who over-pronate – ankles roll inward).  I’ve been custom fitted by five different running stores and each time, I’ve been deemed either neutral or an over-pronator and I’ve never had the same analysis two times in a row.  So, I can only assume that I’m probably square in the middle of those two classes.  Neutral shoes don’t provide me with enough support and stability shoes give me too much support, so after much reading, I decided on the Ravennas. Plus, they were only like $4, can’t beat that! Before you start emailing me for the coupon code, I got a gift card from Josh for Christmas and then found a 10% off coupon online.  Since they were last year’s model, they were on also super sale. I do loves a bargain.

Well, alrighty, that’s the report for this week. Looking at the week ahead, the plan is to keep on icing, stretching, drugging and massaging and build my mileage back up to normal. Go me.

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.