Friday, October 31, 2008

Thanks ABBA

After taking a day off to do lazy things like go to the doctor, the grocery store, and help put together a media center, I ran again today. My ankle was hurting (again) but I told it to suck it up and stop complaining. I usually feel much better after running for a few minutes. Today I bested myself again and ran for 25 minutes altogether. I was out for 32 minutes total. I drove my car around my neighborhood after I ran and was disappointed that I only ran for about 2.3 miles. Only 2.3 miles! What kind of person says things like that?

But the best part was that my overall course covered close to 3 miles which is practically my 5K! I don't think I'll have any problem meeting my goal of finishing in less than 45 minutes. My main goal is to run the entire time, which I'm working on. I notice that I even walk faster now. My warmup walk is getting shorter and shorter but I still walk the same length of street.

Today I'm thanking ABBA for my excellent run. Thanks for thinking up such clever, fun songs for me to run to.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

14 Hours Later...

Got up and ran this morning, 14 hours after the "big" run yesterday. Walked 2 minutes, ran 30 minutes and walked 2 minutes - 34 minutes total (I know, I know....you all can add... :-)...covered 2.88 miles. My legs are tired, tired, tired. Feel good about getting up and running, but I'm glad tomorrow has to be an "off day" because of work!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Afternoon run....and a cookie...

So I really didn't think I could run in the afternoons... Why? Well, I've always run in the morning, so that obviously is the only time I really can do so, right? Wrong! I was so disappointed about sleeping in today that I forced myself to get on the treadmill at Shelby's school. I was absolutely convinced though that the time of day, combined with the pasta lunch I had, would mean I'd end up just walking. Here's what happened:

-- I walked for two minutes
-- I ran for 33 minutes, with a one-minute walking break at about minute 24
-- Total time - 35 minutes exactly
-- I covered just about 3.2 miles
-- My butt and legs hurt!

I can't believe I ran about three miles - who am I? What happened to the "real" me, that prefers sleep and laziness to running?!!

How did I reward myself? With a chocolate chip cookie of course! Yum! :-)

Injured but Still Running

I've already sustained my first injury! It's not exciting at all, just an ankle sprain from a few years ago that has flared back up. I don't think my original sprain every healed properly as my ankle still swells from time to time if I stand for too long. My ankle was fine the first couple weeks when I was mostly walking or doing equal parts walking and running, but now that I've moved to mostly running it has been causing problems. Most days it is sore when I start running and then is swollen by the time I've finished. I've been using ice and taking Motrin, and I have an appointment to get it checked out in two weeks. I'm not sure what the doctor could really do, since it doesn't seem to be sprained again, just sore. I'm hoping once I run more it will get used to it! Here's me putting ice on my ankle.

Wait, what's that on my ice pack??
It's Cinderella!! Because that's the kind of serious, professional runner I am.

And to make myself feel a little bit better, I'll share that today was another improvement day for me. 22 minutes of straight running, with a little over 2 miles completed. Can you believe that "Claire" and "running 2 miles" are appearing in the same sentence together?? I can't, but I hope that it stays that way!

Slept in...

Not that it's big news, but I woke up at 2:30 am and didn't fall back to sleep until 5 am - so I didn't get up and run.... I wanted to post this though because I'm surprised in how totally disappointed I am! Wow - it's like I actually MISS running. Who am I?! :-)

The day is still ahead of me, so a run is possible --- if anyone is up for pushing me around a track or neighborhood today after about 3:30 PM, let me know - I'll see how far I can huff and puff while pushing Shelby in a non-jogging stroller! If not, I run tomorrow morning....sleep-deprived or not!

Monday, October 27, 2008

One Foot In Front Of The Other

I'm so excited to be one of the Girls Who Run!! Angela invited me to join in on chronicling our running experiences, so here goes....


I can't quite remember my official start date, but I got serious about running about 5 or 6 weeks ago. And by got serious, I mean that I started to huff and puff through my neighborhood for about 60 seconds at a time. I was inspired by a website I had found that touted a "Couch-to-5K Running Plan".
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
The first week sounds pathetic (60 seconds of jogging followed by 90 seconds of walking for 20 minutes total) but that was just what I needed to get started. And it was about all I could handle!

Now, several weeks later, I've noticed definite improvement. I can run for much longer stretches at a time and can handle running over a mile. To a seasoned runner, that probably sounds like a warm-up run, but for me, it's a big step!! Yesterday was my best total running time-20 minutes-although it wasn't all in one stretch. I have a long way to go for my 5K on December 5th.

And I'm putting this here to hold myself to it: someday I will run a Half Marathon!

My new website addiction

http://www.runnersworld.com

FUN!

A Monday Morning Update

So my big run around the neighborhood took place on Saturday morning instead of Friday, and ended up being one lap - 1.3 miles, completed in almost exactly 13 minutes. Too fast for three laps right now - pacing myself outside (off of a treadmill) is hard!! But, I felt cool because it was raining and I stuck with it - surely I'm a runner now! Of course, my "I'm a cool runner" feeling quickly faded when I got home and realized I was wearing one blue shoe and one green shoe....I guess that's what you get when you dress in the dark!

Sunday....I rested....and ate all day!


Monday morning - better! I walked for two minutes on the treadmill, ran 2 miles without stopping (took me 21 minutes and 30 seconds) and then walked for a couple of minutes to complete 2.1 miles (or was it 2.2? I don't remember...) in 25 minutes. I could have gone longer with the running I think, but I was bored. Need a TV in front of the treadmill in a big way.... The funny thing is that I didn't really feel like running, but got dressed and so on, and then... "Hmmm...I guess I'm going to run, since I'm already on the treadmill..." Starting to feel like a habit! I'm going to lift weights today too, just because I'm in the mood....

Tuesday is my off day because of my work schedule....so back to running on Wednesday!

Friday, October 24, 2008

The Last Six Weeks

Running, running, running....well, more like walking very fast. But still, getting up at 5:30 am and running on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and running later on Sundays, has been a real accomplishment. Maybe its not about how fast I run right now, but just about running at all! A 5K quickly approaches though (December 20!), so I need a plan....and part of this plan is this blog. I intend to post progress, and frustrations no doubt, regularly...............

Today is Friday, October 24 - I'm going to try my first run away from the treadmill today. My neighborhood is 1.3 miles total, so I plan to run it twice. WIll post how it goes....