Running Chick

Time for half marathon training, that is. Hooray!

I’ve been laying low for the last few weeks in order to let my foot recover from whatever was bothering it. I still don’t know exactly, but I’m pretty certain it wasn’t a stress fracture. Maybe a ligament or tendon strain? Whatever it was has mostly passed and my flipper is feeling much better now. It’s still not back to 100%, but it’s close. In any event, before our run today, I taped it up using KT Tape, pulled my laces tight on the top & bottom only and kept the middle loose, and iced before I took off (on the advice of my doc) and iced when I got home.  I felt a few twinges during the run, mostly when I was on uneven surfaces where my foot moved around, but for the most part when I was on flat pavement, I couldn’t detect any discomfort.

Josh has decided to train for the same HM, so we’re using a 16-week Jeff Galloway program.  I think that’s a pretty decent program for a first-timer, and I like that the longest run is 14 miles instead of the usual 10 or 11 that I’ve seen in other programs.  After I ran my first HM and about died in the last three miles, I swore that I’d do longer than a ten for my longest run just so I’d be more prepared for what the mileage felt like. Everybody said that if you can run ten, the next three (point one) would be no big deal. LIES. It was a big deal and it sucked.

Our first run was a really easy three-miler. It was close to 50 today (yes, 50!) so the roads were wet, but mostly bare.  Josh ran in a just light t-shirt and shorts.  I wasn’t that brave, but I did shed my gloves about 5 minutes in. Great run, great day.  Winter is supposed to come back for a visit starting tomorrow, so Thursday’s run will be a little more interesting.

In other news, look who’s getting his big boy teef!

Disclaimer: YES I KNOW I took a picture of my kitten’s teeth. I’m a crazy cat lady who has no kids and I’m not ashamed. SO THERE.

He’s lost his bottom baby teeth, but his top razor sharp baby canines are still in there. The adult teeth are working their way down, so I imagine one of these days I’ll look in his mouth and they won’t be there anymore. *sniff*  They grow up so fast.*sniff*  I never found Spencer’s baby teeth, but I did find one of Simon’s that I kept so I’m hoping that I’ll find one of Pippen’s (see disclaimer above).

He’s growing by leaps and bounds but still has a ways to go to catch up to Scout. Mostly in girth, though, because Girlfriend is seriously rocking the pear shape.

He ventured into the snow for the fist time. Scout was smart and stayed inside. Actually, I’m pretty sure she just shoved him outside into the snow and when he turned around to see what happened, she pretended that she was looking at the birds flying around (there weren’t any).

They seem to be getting along pretty well. Aside from one incident with a dumped over garbage can, they spend most of their time looking like this:

And this:

Rough lives, I’m telling ya.

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.

Another week of summer gone by, another week closer to winter. Ha, just kidding. Not really.

I had another good running week, ending up with just over 19 miles total. Aside from a nasty between-the-toes blister caused by the 4” heels I wore to work one day, all is good. Josh has been doing great with the C25k program. His long run on Saturday was 20 minutes which he passed with flying colors. He’s blogging about his progress over at runningchunk.com, head over & check it out.

Remember when I got my Garmin Footpod?  I’ve been using it for right around a month, and I’d say that it’s just okay. I’m still seeing major dips in the data, which I thought was due to dying batteries, but I replaced them and it’s still happening. I’m not sure what could be causing the issue. I haven’t calibrated it, so perhaps that should be my next step.

This is what my eyes have looked like for the last week or so - red, weepy, itchy, puffy, burny (burney?). Damn ragweed pollen. I’ve been putting off going to the eye doctor’s but today a co-worked commented that my eyes looked painful (read: gross) so I suppose I should go.

Pictures of the week!

The Nara Trail has one section with plants to tall that they make a tunnel. I feel like I’m in the movie “Antz” every time I run through.

I’ve run past the St. Ignatius Loyola parish school many times, but never really bothered to stop and look around. It was opened in 1887 and closed in 1970. I didn’t venture inside, but it looks to be in pretty good shape, still.

Sunny day rainstorms always perplex me. Weather is so confusing.

Pilgrim River early on Saturday morning.

My and my exploding braid.

We bought some saffron that was so expensive that now I’m afraid to use it.

The Koop!

A portion of the Ham crew. There were 12 of us in total.

Net control station.

Transition area. The carpeted mats were used on the swim exit and they’re laying out in the sun to dry. Athlete wetsuits are hanging on the bike racks, which are empty because all the competitors were on the bike course. Did you spot the Great Dane? He was really friendly. And big.

The new dock at the Lac La Belle marina.

Finisher’s medals. 66 people started (which includes team members), 64 finished. I think there were a few DNFs because they missed the cut-offs, but they were allowed to finish anyway. The fastest person finished the 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run in 4:27:59.1. Sometimes after a good run, I think that I’m allowed to group myself in the same category as these folks, but after watching these awesome athletes compete, I’m reminded that I’m not even in the same stratosphere.

Sea planes from Duluth, MN manned by twin brothers.  They flew up here just to compete and shortly after they finished, off they went.

Finished.