Running Chick

My mileage jumped up into the teens this week. It’s been since summer that I’ve hit those miles, thanks to my ankle and foot issues.

Monday was a regular old 4-miler out to campus and back. The snow statues were looking pretty good after Winter Carnival weekend. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get any pictures, through. I got a new phone a month or so ago and it’s a lot bigger than my iPhone and just barely fits in my waist pack. Inserting & removing it is a real pain in the rear so unless I see something that really makes me want to spend five minutes wrestling it in & out, it’s staying in. I should probably just upgrade to a bigger pack.

Wednesday was hills. Ah, hills. I used to have a love-hate relationship with them and did everything I could to avoid doing them, but now I’ve decided that I’m okay with them.  They make my legs stronger, they make my lungs stronger and they get me into shape fast.  Oh, they still suck and they hurt and sometimes most times I feel like I’m going to have an internal organ yard sale about 10 feet from the top, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives. And, as long as I toss an organ that I can live without (appendix, spleen, gall bladder, tonsil, kidney, etc.), it’s all good.

I went back and visited my same old hill-loop that I was able to do once before my legs started giving me trouble last year.  I was about 30 seconds/loop slower than I was last year, but last year I was about a month farther into training. Oh well, something to shoot for. I did the loop three times and then ran easy the bring my total to four for the day.

Saturday was my seven mile long run.  I felt really good for the majority of the run, but I did run low on energy for the last two miles. I’m experimenting with new pre-run breakfasts since my usual 1/2 bagel thin & almond butter isn’t doing anything but making me feel like I have a brick in my stomach for the first three miles. I’m trying Irish oatmeal with fruit now, and it worked so much better, but I didn’t eat enough. Next time, I’ll definitely double my amount. Also, like a big dummy, I left my gel on the counter and didn’t realize it until I reached in my pocket for it. Oops. I think I’d have been okay if I’d had that with me and taken it on schedule. Oh, and I didn’t take water with me either. Sheesh, now that I think about it, I really hosed up my fluid/nutrition. No wonder I was feeling low on energy.

Finally, to recap for this week – Monday, 4 @ 10:48; Wednesday, 4 @ 10:50; Saturday, 7 @ 10:57. I little bit slower than I’d like, but lots of room for improvement. Next week is a cut-back week. I think my total mileage will be around 10. Easy peasy.

So, have you ever had a battery explode five feet from you? That’s what happened to me on Saturday. Josh had replaced the battery in his shaver and it was charging in the kitchen on the butcher’s block I have next to the oven. I was standing a short distance away preparing chicken for dinner. Pippen was at my feet begging for food helping. All of a sudden I heard an extremely loud CRACK, debris went flying everywhere and the kitchen filled with acrid and probably toxic smoke.  The battery on the shaver, for whatever reason, exploded. My butcher block ended up with a powdery, black burn mark on it. Debris was everywhere – on the wall across the room, behind the refrigerator even farther across the room. The wall closest to the explosion even has some paint chipped off.  I didn’t get hit by anything that I know of, but my ears were ringing for quite some time that night. Poor Pippen, who was standing right next to me, took off and hid in the basement. It took me forever to find him and longer to convince him to come out. Once he did, I took him right upstairs into the bedroom and closed the door. He was shaking and so scared. It took him quite a while to calm down. Scout was better, but she was pretty upset just the same. Josh opened all the windows and doors and had fans pushing all the smoke outside and cleaned up the shrapnel. Unfortunately, because it got everywhere, today I ended up emptying the kitchen and mopping the floor and walls. Josh saved my butcher block by sanding & planing it down, so at least that looks as good as new. And I thought the most exciting thing on my schedule for this weekend was my long run.

Earlier in the winter, after the first snow, Josh and I went on a short run where we both took some pretty good diggers slipping on the ice. I landed on my left knee, which ended up swollen and bruised.  I’ve been wearing Yak Trax for the past few winters.  They work great if you’re totally on packed snow, but once you hit pavement, they’re really uncomfortable. So, I was looking for traction alternatives. I was thinking about getting another pair of Yak Trax-ish things, but meh, they’re so expensive.  This year, I decided to go the cheap route and shoot screws my shoes.

After a little bit of intertube research, I decided that for my current winter shoe (Brooks Cascadia), the best screw would be a hex head 3/8” sheet metal screw.  $2.99 for a box of 100. CHEAP.

I put 10 screws in each shoe, so my total cost per shoe is a whopping $0.30.  These thing work great. My footing feels secure on all sorts of winter terrain with zero slipping or sliding around, and when I do hit pavement it doesn’t feel any different than if I were running screwless.  They are noisy though, which I was self conscious about at first, but then I noticed that people heard me coming and got out of my way, so bonus for that.

After about 50 miles, I was starting to notice I was doing a little more sliding than usual. I took a look at my screws and what do you know, I wore the dang things right down to the nub. Ha!

Josh reloaded my shoes and now I’m good for another 50 miles.

Onward with this week’s running recap. This was a cut-back week, so my total weekly mileage was just under 10.  Tuesday & Thursday were uneventful, but Saturday was really unpleasant.  Cold and HOLY COW windy, which made it even colder.  I ended up having to wearing my face mask, but it made my glasses fog up, so I had to take them off.  Without the glasses, the wind made my eyes water and my tears froze on my eyelashes so I couldn’t see. So, off came the facemask but then I ended up with wind burned cheeks.  I was looking like a hot mess, so of course I had to stop and take a picture:

Some lady complimented me on the “cute shade of green” of my jacket. I was mostly going for the most obnoxious color I could find but score one for me for picking one that’s cute and practical.

Next week my mileage jumps up to 12-13 with a long run of 6.5. Hopefully next Saturday will not be as icky as this Saturday.

Check out Pippen, he’s getting so big!

He’s certainly looking less like a kitten and more like an adult cat now that he finally grew into his head & ears. He still has a ways go to before he grows into his feet and tail. Seriously, he has the longest tail I’ve ever seen on a cat. As big as he is, he can still wrap it entirely around him when he sits.

He has all his adult teeth finally and I was able to save one of his baby teeth. I actually ended up having to pull it out for him because we were playing and he snagged it on my shirt and it ended up sideways in his mouth. There was a lot of blood and it was gross, but he seemed rather unfazed by the whole thing and was back to playing about two minutes after it was all over. I was definitely more traumatized than he was.

He and Scout are sort of getting along. Sometimes they play, but he tends to play too rough and she’s not that sort of lady so she growls, hisses and swats at him and that’s the end of that. I did catch them sharing the tree a few weeks ago. I’m not sure Scout was so happy, but Pippen was thrilled.

There wasn’t much room for him except on the very edge, she has a very womanly figure. She stared/glared at him for quite a while, he just fell asleep. Typical male.

Then she started to fall out of the tree asleep.

And then she finally curled up all the way. Aww, they’re BFFS!

But not really. Notice how she’s still glaring at him while pretending to sleep.

That was the last time I’ve seen them share the tree.  Pippen has pretty much taken over the tree and Josh felt bad for her, so now she has her very own kitty shelf on the front windows.

Not spoiled or anything. Nope.

I had x-ray #2 on my foot the other week.

The pain was slowly returning the more I ran, and I was again worried about a stress fracture. Just like last time, the x-ray came back negative.  So, I got a one-way ticket to physical therapy.  After much poking, prodding and consulting, my PT had a hunch that a subluxated cuboid bone was the culprit.  After a couple of sessions where she manipulated it back into place, I’m now back in tip-top running form.  She did warn that it could shift again, so on my last session Josh came along and my PT showed him how to maneuver it back.  Aren’t I a big, fancy runner now to have my own personal PT.  Don’t be jealous.

Speaking of Josh, two weeks into our half marathon training program, he slipped in the parking lot at work and tore some muscles in his thigh & knee.  He’s been hobbling around for a week while his leg heals, but it’s been pretty slow going.  His knee swelled up like a watermelon then turned various shades of red and purple, and he still has tenderness when he bends it.  I’ve been continuing on with the program on my own and hopefully he’ll be back on track soon.

Speaking of running, check me out in my new high-visibility gear.

Ever since this happened, I’ve been paranoid about not being visible enough to traffic. Seriously paranoid. So I went out and bought the most obnoxious jacket and hat I could find. People would have to be blind not to see me now.  At least that’s my hope.

The students are in full-on statue building mode getting ready for Winter Carnival.  This log cabin was looking pretty good on two weeks ago, I’ll have to run though campus and see what it looks like this week.

Back to running. I’m currently on week 4 of my program. My long run last weekend was 5 miles, this week is a cut back week, and then starts the big climb into March.  My longest run for this program will be 14 miles and I’m already worried about it, especially since I just found out that I’m scheduled to be at a conference in Indianapolis that weekend. I’d better start doing some schedule flopping around or face doing all those miles on the treadmill. No Thank You.

In other news, Scout & Pippen have been training for the Olympics by practicing their synchronized eating.