Running? Huh?

Someone told me last night they haven't noticed any Facebook or blog posts about running lately. Wait. What? I'm supposed to be running? Holy crap! Ok, ok, I've been running. Sort of. I'm not running as much as I should be if I really want to do a 50K in a month. In fact, I'm doing about half of what I should be.

I'm sure I can come up with a ton of good excuses, but the fact is, I freaking hate the heat. I've had enough of it. I am soooooo done with heat and humidity. My clothes stick to me and my thighs rub together and sweat is running down my legs and pooling in my shoes. All I can think about is how much I'm sweating. I'm a miserable soggy mess by the time I hit 4 miles.

Enough of the whining. I'm trying to do better! Last week was great during the week and I was all excited for my weekend of running. Then it started raining. And raining and raining and raining! Rain is good since we are in a severe drought, but come on! Couldn't it rain on a Wednesday or something? I know there are dedicated people out there that would run anyway. I'm not one of those people. I'm a fair weather runner. This makes it sort of hard to achieve my goals, so I am trying to improve.

Saturday morning I think I'm having Rick drop me off in Independence and I'm going to run home around the lake to avoid the highway. Rick has a softball tournament and won't be home to come pick me up if I get tired and want to quit. No excuses!!* If I text or call any of you and ask you to come pick me up, don't do it! Unless I've been attacked by a snake or dog or baby chicken or something. Only in a real emergency can I have the option of quitting. However, if you would like to bring me a donut or pancakes or pie or anything, I will gladly take a break to eat. Or drink. I'm not picky! Oh, and if you want to run part of that with me I would be happy to have the company!

*I reserve the right to move my run to Sunday if the weather is horrible. We are supposed to get tons of rain Friday and it isn't supposed to cool off overnight Friday either. Plus, the humidity will be about 5000%.

If any of you have my cell phone number, feel free to text me Saturday morning so I will keep running! I need encouragement! If you don't have my cell phone number and want it so that you can send me encouraging texts, I will gladly provide it if you inbox me on Facebook. If you aren't on my Facebook I'm probably not friendly enough with you to give you my cell number. Or maybe I am. I need lots of kind words :)

Happy Running!!

~Mel

Long time no blog!

I've been slacking. Not only on my blog, but on my running. Life got crazy with baseball season and all of the exercising and I just got completely worn out. I was exhausted. I decided to take a week off. I'm so so so glad I did! I needed it. When I tried to come back my knee hurt so I took another couple of days. I ran one day and then the next time I was supposed to run it was freaking hot. 82 degrees at 5 am. No thanks. I did run on Saturday though, albeit less than I planned. Long story, but I got a little over 9 miles in and that made me happy. Besides one 3 miler it was my only run in 2 weeks, so 9 miles isn't atrocious. 5.5 of them were on the trail and I loved every minute of that. Well, there were a few minutes in the middle that I had tummy troubles that I didn't love it. I will leave the details out. You're welcome :) The plan was to run again Sunday, but I was really sore. Wimp, party of 1! Your table is ready!

This week I am back in the saddle though. Monday night I ran the bleachers at the football stadium in Indy. It was almost 100 degrees and I had just finished swimming so I didn't do it for very long. I did it though! Tuesday morning I hit the trail again for around 4 miles. My watch was being unfriendly so I don't know exactly. It was fun though.

My fun sort of came to a screeching halt this morning though. It was a biking day and it ended up being quite the experience.  I was riding my bike and was about 3.5 miles south of town. I turned to head home and there were two coyotes in the road. I've never seen coyotes when I was running or biking, but there are tons around here. I wasn't in the least bit concerned. They will normally run away if they see people but these didn't. A truck came up behind me and they finally ran. One ran off into the woods as is typical but the other didn't. It kept running. It ran alongside the truck for a long time. I stopped being able to see it so I assumed it ran off into the woods. A bit later, maybe 30 seconds, I hear a thump and realize the coyote had been hit by the truck. This happens all the time in this area. However, the truck didn't even put on it's brakes! I'm thinking "OMG. Someone just killed an animal and didn't even slow down!" I don't want someone to have a car accident or something to avoid hitting an animal, but I expect them to take reasonable measures to miss it.

After driving about half a mile the truck turned around and came back. The lady stopped and I realized I knew her. She said "that wasn't your dog was it? It was a coyote?" I assured her it was a coyote. I was assuming still that she hit it on accident and wanted to make sure she hadn't killed my dog. Oh no! She told me she hit it on purpose! She said that it was acting strange (it kind of was) and that she was afraid it would attack me so she killed it! She said it kept going back towards me and she was scared it would hurt me. I was speechless. She was all shaky and upset but really felt like she had no other choice than to kill it to save me. I told her thanks for looking out for me, because that's really what she was doing. She may have been misguided, but she truly was trying to help.

I've been thinking about it all day and have decided to be thankful that someone was looking out for me. I've always thought that if I were stranded somewhere and needed help I would be able to find some. I guess this kind of confirmed for me that people around here care about each other. I really really wish it hadn't happened, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it. At first I felt like it was my fault that an animal was killed but it wasn't.

I hope the rest of the week is without crazy experiences!

Mel

Embracing the Suck

Sometimes running sucks. Sometimes it's the most miserable thing I can imagine doing. Sometimes when I'm running I think this will be my last run ever because I'm horrible at it and it's not fun very often. Why would I keep doing it? There are times that running is painful and sometimes it makes me sick. Sometimes it has me on the side of the road puking (remember the peach rings?) and wondering if I will make it home without calling for a ride.

I'm learning from those runs though. I'm learning that I can keep going even when I want nothing more than to stop. Really horrible runs teach me so much more than the good ones do. Every once in a while I have a run where all of the stars align and I run along grinning like an idiot and thinking I could go on forever. More often I have runs that go just fine, nothing out of the ordinary. Then there are the bad ones. It is during those bad ones that you learn something. I was discussing this with someone the other day and I decided everyone needs some suck when it comes to running. It's going to happen eventually and often happens during a race. Quite often something happens during a race that causes a setback. If you never have to overcome an obstacle in training how do you overcome one racing?

I mentioned puking on the side of the road. After doing that I had a lot of people tell me that would be a deal breaker for them. They would quit running and couldn't imagine how I went on. Really, in the grand scheme of how umcomfortable running can be that's not a big deal. I felt better after I was done. I wasn't going to quit running because of it. There was a time I would have. Not so much now. Last Saturday during my long run I started having stomach cramps. I needed to go to the bathroom. Problem? I was 5 miles from town on the highway in the middle of nowhere. I was headed to my mom's house so I called her. She came and picked me up. There have been times where that happened and I gave up. I would quit running. I'm really trying to run no matter what though and stop making excuses. After I did what I had to do (I know, tmi) I got back out there and ran more. I didn't end up going quite as far as I planned, but the important thing is that I didn't stop at 6 miles (it took her long enough to get there that I ran another mile). I went another 3.6 miles for a total of 9.6. My original goal was 11, so not far off.

In September I have every intention of finishing my 50K. I know there will be times that I don't want to or don't think I can keep going. I've been on that trail. I imagine it will happen several times. If I don't learn to push through the misery while training how can I do it during a race? Therefore, I've decided to embrace the suck. I'm still not going to like it when a run is horrible, but I vow that unless it is dangerous in some way to go on I'm going to keep going. I will persevere through miserable conditions so that on race day when all I want to do is curl up in a ball and die I will keep moving forward. I am going to become a stronger runner and stop quitting when the going gets tough. Most of the time anyway. I suspect I will still abandon runs early on occasion. I will still complain loudly when things aren't going my way. I still might not finish the 50K. I'm not going to give up without a fight though.

And for all of you that are right now wondering why I keep running if it is miserable, well, it isn't always. Most of the time it's very enjoyable.

Cross training update: I'm still doing it. I'm kicking some cross training booty as a matter of fact.

Happy Running!

~Mel

What Was I Thinking??!!

I did something crazy today. Really crazy. I signed up for the Flatrock 50K. That is 50 kilometeres. 31 miles. A really really really long run. I'm not sure what got into my head. Eric, the RD, must somehow put crack into his emails. It transmits through the computer or something. I got an email from him saying if I signed up by July 15 some of the money would go to a charity and if I finish I get a belt buckle. Who cares if I have a belt buckle? I MIGHT DIE! Hey Eric, if I drop dead at the finish line will you give the buckle to my husband? Thanks.

I am not prepared for a race like this. No way, no how. Can I be by the end of September? Maybe. It is quite likely that I will come in last place. I'm ok with that. I just want to finish. I think people say that a lot and they don't really mean it. I've said it before without meaning it. I mean it this time though. It will be a huge victory to just finish this race.

For those unfamiliar with this race, here is the website. Be sure to look at the pictures! It's stupid hard. I'm not sure why they call it Flatrock as none of the rocks are flat. You may remember that I did the 25K there last year and was very happy to have done it. If you don't remember, here is my post about it. While it is extremely challenging, it is also rewarding.

I have 3 months and 2 days to go from running a maximum of 12 miles to 31. Easy peasy, right? I can do this! Maybe. Or not. I guess we'll see!

Over the next three months be sure to ask how my training is going. If I'm not running enough maybe it will shame me into it.

Happy Running!!

~Mel

Running For Breakfast!

Friday I decided to run to my Dad's house for my long run of the week. He lives 9.5 miles away (not to be confused with the Dad who lives in Wyoming. I will never run to his house). Not far really, but the danger is that I have to run on a highway. It isn't really a busy highway, especially early on a Saturday morning. However, once I cross into Elk County it gets scary. There is no shoulder on the road. Luckily, you can see a long way in every direction, so you know a car is coming in plenty of time to get off the road. I have done this twice now and have discovered that people are less friendly when they pass runners on the highway than they are on country roads. Perhaps because they thing I shouldn't be running there? Well, they are probably right. I did it anyway. I'm such a rebel.

Anyway, the breakfast part. On Friday night I saw my Dad at a baseball game and asked what the chances were of him fixing me breakfast when I got to his house. He told me he didn't really have anything but could fry me some potatoes out of his garden. Yummy! I can't remember the last time I had fried potatoes. Probably because they are terrible for you, but I don't really care after I run. I'll eat anything. When I got there I could smell breakfast as I ran up to the house. I can't think of a better way to end a run. He ended up making potatoes, scrambled eggs and toast. Also, as it turns out, even at 32 I'm not too old to have my dad fix me a glass of chocolate milk. Who knew? Mostly because I've been teasing my dad about cell phones and all the things they can be used for, I took a picture of my breakfast.

I took a few other pics along the way that I thought would be fun to share. This pump in the road is how we always gave directions to our house when I was growing up. The only thing is is good for is being a landmark. I think you can get water out of it but it's not drinkable.

One room schoolhouse. It was still used for voting not very long ago. I don't remember when they stopped using it. My sister got married here.

Nothing excting about this, but I ran past several corn fields. This is a terrible picture but the corn is taller than me. In a few weeks it will be stinky and I won't want to run past it anymore.

I actually had a really great run. The sun was at my back for most of it. The last mile and a half were almost completely in the shade. There is a really really really big hill at the end that sucks, but I get to run back down it and my dad lives almost to the bottom, so I end my run on a nice downhill.

I'm not really sure how this happened, but when Rick came to pick me up he got breakfast too. Why is it that I had to run there for breakfast and he got to drive? Doesn't really seem fair.

I think next week I will run to my Mom's house, which is another mile and a half past my Dad's on the same road. I wonder if she will fix me breakfast?

Happy Running!

~Mel

Cross Training

I really like running and nothing else. There. I said it. I pretty much hate exercise. I enjoy walking with friends but don't have the opportunity as much as I would like to. No one in Elk City really walks so if I walk with someone in Independence I have to try to match it up with another trip to town or something. It's hard. But, other than that I dislike exercising. I've tried so many things and stick with them for a few weeks before I'm bored or just remember that I hate anything but running or whatever. Excuses. Mostly I'm one of the laziest people you will ever meet. Don't believe me? I'm sitting in my recliner right now. I paid my oldest son 50 cents to go get my slippers so I wouldn't have to get up. In my defense I'm currently icing so it's hard to get up, but again, excuses. I'm lazy.

I'm getting better though! At the cross training thing, not the laziness. I think I will probably always be lazy. At least as long as I have people like Ryan around who enable me. However, I've been inspired by Jason, aka WyWaterboy from the running forum I'm on. He's a cross training machine. And his running is improving dramatically! I've decided he's onto something. While healing from knee surgery he had to do other stuff to keep his fitness level up so he did. I think I probably would have just given up. He had just started running when he became injured. I'm constantly impressed by his dedication to running and cross training. Basically, I want to be him when I grow up. Except he has a lot of kids. I DO NOT want a lot of kids, tyvm.

In March I started doing a Boot Camp workout that I've done before. It's a good workout. actually, a series of workouts. You can pick which part of the body you want to work. Really, it's great. Except I hate it. The problem is likely that at best I do it two days per week so I never really get any better at it. I'm actually proud that I stuck with doing it for so long. The last couple of weeks have been bad though. I've been skipping workouts and have started making excuses again. A bunch of people I know are doing 30 Day Shred so I decided to do that. I got the dvd today and did day 1!! It was tough, but I finished! My goal is to do this 5 days per week. No way would it happen 7 days. Lets be realistic.

I also got a bike!! Over the winter I tried biking but mostly hated it. I think it was because I was doing it when I couldn't run. Since I couldn't run biking just made me more cranky. However, I decided to get one. Mostly because Rick has been wanting one and I thought maybe it was something we could do together. Soo, I got a super cute purple bike. The best thing about it being purple is that maybe Ryan won't try to ride it. I've ridden several times since I got it and it's really fun! Plus, you can ride during the hottest part of the day and it's way cooler than running. Also, Ryan bikes with me every time and we have a good time together.

Right now my goal is to run 4 days per week, do 30DS 5 times and bike at least two times.

So far this week:
Run: 1 time for a total of  3.4 miles
Bike: 2 times for a total of 10 miles (hey, I'm just starting and my partner is 11. Give me time)
30DS: 1 time. I will only do 3 days this week since I started Wednesday.

I will try to update once a week or so on my cross training so that I feel a little more obligated to actually do it. Saturday afternoon I will be back with my total miles for the week running and biking and the number of times I did 30DS.

And for the record, I have no desire to do triathlons. Not gonna happen. The biking is happening to help my running.

Happy Running!! (and biking and shredding)

~Mel

P.S. I have to give a shout out to my friend Jennifer. She walks all the time. I get totally bored if I walk by myself so I don't. Unlike me, she doesn't make excuses. She walks no matter how hot it is or how busy she is. I'm so impressed! Plus, she's really nice. Way nicer than me. I'm not really sure why she hangs out with me, but I'm lucky she does.

10 miles and a 5K race

On Saturday my plan was to run 10 miles. I knew I could do that as I had run 11 the week before. On Thursday I was on a website looking at races and realized there was a 5K race in Bartlesville also. I wanted to do it as I haven't done a race since November. Ryan loves 5K races and has been running with me a bit so it seemed like a good idea. The problem is that I didn't want to sacrifice my long run to do a 5K. Hence, the decision to do both. I knew if I was too tired or sore I could walk most or even all of it. I was mostly doing it for fun and to give Ryan the opportunity to race. I signed us up!

Saturday morning came and it was chilly! I decided I didn't need to leave at 5:30 because as cool as it was the sun shining on me wouldn't really matter. Ha! I was wrong. I didn't leave until almost 6:30. It was cool at first and I wore my arm warmers. I took them off at mile 3 and still wasn't too hot. It was really humid though and the sun was sooo bright. By mile 4 I was really soaked in sweat. I had the bright idea of fueling the run with peach rings. I love peach rings, they are full of sugar, where's the bad? I've heard of people who use gummy bears, so I thought I was good to go. I was wrong. They made my stomach hurt really bad. I was also sweating a ton without replacing any electrolytes, only drinking water. Needless to say by 5 miles I wasn't in great shape. So at 7:30 am I called my husband and begged him to bring me a powerade and a GU. I can't believe I did that. I now feel really selfish and mean. Being the really amazing guy he is, he did it. I won't say he did it with a smile or anything, but he did it. It took him a bit to get dressed and get out to where I was. When he arrived I was puking on the side of the road. That's right. Puking. Remember how I said the peach rings were a bad idea? Yeah. It was fun. When he got there I was at the top of a really big really curvy hill (Sweeny hill for locals). He couldn't stop safely so he drove to the bottom and stopped in a little drive. I drank some powerade and ate a gel and he left.

By that time I only had 2.8 miles to go. Thankfully they were pretty flat. The route I did was different than I have done before. I mapped it on mapmyrun.com and saw that it was mostly a gradual uphill to get to Sweeny Hill where I would go down rapidly. Since it was so gradual I thought I would be fine. I was wrong. It was pretty tough. So, let me repeat. 7 miles mostly uphill, lack of real fuel, sun really shining, upset stomache and high humidity. The makings of a great run, right? Well, the first 4 miles were really fun! After that, all I can really say is I finished.

If that were the end of my day things would have been great. Unfortunately, I still had a 5K to run. Did I mention the heat yet? Well, it was 85 at the start. Also, sun shining brightly. Right up to the time we started I considered just baking out. Ok, I considered it for the first mile too. This race had major hills! Surprisingly, I ran a lotx of them. Ok, I was moving so slow I don't know if you could really call it running. Shuffling maybe.

The most exciting news is that Ryan got 1st place in his age group! There were only 2 in his age group, but he blew the other person away. In fact, he placed 19 our of 49 males of all ages. Quite impressive for an 11 year old. Here is a pic of him with his medal.

Amusingly, I came in 5 out of 9 in my age group. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers were slower than my normal 5K ttime. I know it was the heat, but if I hadn't run 10 miles that morning I would have had a real shot at an age group award! I came in at about the halfway point for women and overall. Not bad. According to the clock I ran it in 38:59. I know, I know. Slow. Even for me! My Garmin said I was at 5K about a tenth of a mile before the finish line. According to it I finished in 37:34. I think I'm going with the watch!

Some more pics:
Ryan at the start

Me at the start

Ryan finishing

Me finishing

Me with my watermelon at the end

Ryan with his watermelon

After the race we went to Dinks BBQ in Bartlesville. Yummy yummy! I ate so much. It was amazing.

This week will be a light week! I ran 24.75 miles last week, which is really too much at this point. I am definitely not running until Wednesday, maybe a little longer.