Day 74 - Recovery Food, Not Fuel

Today's scheduled run: 5 miles

Today's completed run: 3 miles
Pace: 9:07 avg, on the treadmill

This is my third post in a row about food. It would be cool if I was a nutritionist or dietician and actually knew what I was talking about. Instead, I come to you only with my own empirical research, both good and bad. Yesterday, you may recall, was a day of good fueling and, consequently, excellent running. Today started off as a good fueling day, until some friends invited me for Mexican food after class. I knew it was a bad choice, but I literally cannot say no to Mexican food. (Well, that's obviously an exaggeration. The truth is, I choose to never say no to Mexican food and friends.)

Anyway, the nachos were just a bit too much to take with me for five miles tonight. In addition to stuffing my face, I had to hit up the treadmill because it was dark and raining by the time I was ready to run. I really despise the treadmill, so on top of feeling very full, my run was less than stellar, because I couldn't get out of my own head.

I'm doing Pilates with a friend tomorrow, as well as going with her to pick out her first legitimate pair of running shoes, i.e. shoes that she is fitted for by people who know what they are talking about. This is exciting! Then, Saturday holds 20 miles for me -- let's hope they aren't 20 burrito-laden miles. I promise I won't eat Mexican food until I finish.

Day 51 - Road Trippin'

Today's scheduled run: 4 miles

Today's completed run: 4 miles
Pace: 8:59 (avg.)

I squeaked out that sub-9:00 pace tonight, and it was a struggle. I think that may have been because I sat in a car all day driving back from NC with my dad. That might be an excuse, but I think it's a good one. :) We had a funny drive back, because we are hilarious; but you might only agree with that after hour three of eight.

80's night

Also funny are the treasures I found while sorting through a bunch of stuff at the house in North Carolina. These included many artifacts from high school and earlier.

So many questions...

Grossest find: my hospital bracelet from when I had stitches in my chin after a bike accident at age 9... with the stitches themselves! Yes, wrapped in gauze were the actual stitches. SO.GROSS.

Weirdest find: there are too many to name.

Memory lane finds: lots of books and stuffed animals, trophies from sports, notes from friends, a few college term papers, and pictures, of course.

On the left: an 80's night with some youth group girls in high school. So much makeup! | On the right: me, with EmG - I have no idea where we are, why there is a giant inflatable ice cream cone, or what I was thinking with the Princess Leia buns. I promise to not do those again if my hair grows back!

Day 48 - So long, 2011

Today's scheduled run: 14 miles

Today's completed run: 12 miles
Pace: ?

I thought today would have a terrible out-and-back of 14 miles for me. Instead, it had a terrible attempted 14 miles in... a gym. I know, I know. I'm crazy to try something like that, but it was super windy here in the mountains this morning. Like, the kind of wind where you actually blow off the mountain. As you can see above, I didn't complete the 14 miles. I wanted to, and I could have physically; but I couldn't get out of my own head, and I was so miserable at the gym. My legs felt great, but I caved at the end. Oh well. Next weekend...

It's almost 2012 here. We've been celebrating all night with lots of good food and fireworks that my dad smuggled across state lines from Tennessee to North Carolina. Okay - that's dramatic. He really just put them in the car and drove home, but I like the smuggling idea better. They were awesome; big and bright and loud - real fireworks!

 I'm off to watch the last few minutes prior to the ball dropping, then I plan to sleep forever, approximately.

Happy New Year!

Day 25 - Brrr

Today's scheduled run: 3 miles

Today's completed run: 3 miles
Pace: 8:15 (avg.; I was treadmillin' but switching speeds.)

Winter has finally arrived in Baltimore. We enjoyed 60-degree days through November, but I fear those have bitten the dust. Today's high is 46. That may sound warm to some of you; but for someone who breaks out the long underwear as soon as it hits 50, it's cold. I just wasn't made for cold weather. I should have considered this more when I signed up to run a marathon in March, meaning I would train most heavily in the dead of winter. Alas, I did not.

Nonetheless, I press on. I wanted to get my run in this morning in order to put less pressure on the rest of my day. It was a struggle to get out of bed, seeing as I had only gotten into it 5.5 hours before my alarm went off, but I did it. I headed over to the gym and pounded out my 3 miles. It was a good run, all in all. Nothing too exciting to write home about.

Tomorrow - a rest day. And then Saturday - 11 miles. The longest run of this training plan yet. I almost wrote "I'm excited!" but what I actually mean is "I hope I'll be excited after tomorrow's rest day!"

Until then...

Day 24 - Running All Day

Today's scheduled run: 6 miles

Today's completed run: 6 miles
Pace: 9:05 (consistently; I was treadmillin' again.)

In actuality, I feel like I ran about 15 miles today, as I started running as soon as my feet hit the floor this morning. P.S. 124 kept me on my toes, with a visiting presenter, a few crises, lots of paperwork, and my normal client load. I didn't actually get everything I needed done before I had to leave for a training, so I'll go in on Friday to see a few more kids and meet with another staff member. A few notable happenings:

1. An angry child put his foot (with a shoe, of course) right through the wall in the hallway.
2. One of my students said to me, "You sound like one of those white chicks that talks." Okay then...
3. Although I beat him twice at Connect4, I lost eight games of Tic-Tac-Toe... to a nine year old.
4. We might be getting some back-up social workers! This is wonderful news, because two part-time and one full-time are not enough for P.S. 124.

After a two-hour training I attended this afternoon, I headed through the rain to the gym. It sounds like it was some treacherous walk, so I'll confess -- the gym is a block and a half from the building where my training took place. ::sheepish grin::

I felt pretty strong during the run, and it went faster than I'd expected, which is always nice. I wanted to actually run close to the pace I'm aiming for (9:09), since this is supposed to be a pace run anyway, so the 6.6 mph on the treadmill was ideal. I rocked out to some Florence + the Machine, a favorite of mine lately, in case you couldn't tell. I also watched more of Planet Green. This time, they were airing a show on a new engine created by Airbus. This thing was gigantic and cost an absurd amount of money. It was actually very interesting.

On the screen next to that, which I watched during commercial breaks, was the show Right This Minute. I'd never seen it before, but it's my kind of show. Two of the features were especially notable: "Hiya! The Taekwondo Fighting Hand" and one in which a wife/mom serving in Afghanistan surprised her family by popping out of a box. One made me laugh, one made me cry -- I'll let you figure out which was which.

Although the TVs distract me from the boredom of treadmilling, I don't really like getting lost in them anymore. I used to enjoy that, but now I find they distract me from my stride and make me forget to breathe evenly. I look forward to this rain stopping soon, so I can get outside.

Until tomorrow...

Day 23 - 10 am Gym Call

Today's schedule run: 3 miles

Today's completed run: 3 miles
Pace: 8:35 (consistently; I was treadmillin'.)

I found another ideal time to go to the gym: 10 am on a weekday. I had my pick of whatever treadmill I wanted and a lot of free mat space to stretch. Love that.

Normally I'm in class from 9-12, but I had an exam this morning that took less than an hour to finish, so I was free for some gym time. I thought an even 7.0 pace on the treadmill seemed like a good goal, so I pushed the up arrow, put Florence + the Machine on repeat, and ran. Every now and then, I would glance up at the TVs in front of me. My choices were Rachel Ray's cooking show or a show on Green Planet that featured volcanoes, man-made avalanches, tribal hunters, and sky burials... All that in one show!

All in all, a good run. I step up my Wednesday mileage to 6 miles tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it. I only hope the weather in Baltimore isn't as yucky tomorrow as it is today!

To end on a nerdy note, I received two packages today, both of which contain reading I plan to get done over Christmas break.

- Inside box #1: four books from Ligonier (R.C. Sproul's ministry). I got the books plus shipping for just $23 on Black Friday.
- Inside box #2: six FREE resources from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Social workers can't turn down free resources... ever.

And, in case you did the bulk of your growing up in the 90's, like me, you'll be very excited to learn that Lisa Frank has a clothing line... for adults. Yup. I like the Rainbow French Terry Top, personally. Stylin'.

Until tomorrow...

Day 9 - Presbyterian on a Treadmill

Today's scheduled run: 3 miles

Today's completed run: 3.1 miles (a nice, even 5k)

The yucky side of fall -- rainy and cold -- has descended upon Baltimore, so I took to the treadmill once more. I felt good and figured I'd bump my 3 miles up to 3.1, just for fun. I kept a pretty steady 9:14 pace; I'm pleased with the run.

Rather than music, I tried a new form of "entertainment" today -- podcasts. I know people have been talking about podcasts for the last decade, but I never quite got on the bandwagon. Well, I'm on it now. Today, I listened to a Timothy Keller sermon, titled "Praying Our Tears." My only regret was that I couldn't take notes while running! It was an excellent sermon, just as I'd expected, and it kept me going. Of course, I'm an "mm-hmm"-er, so I'm sure people thought I'd lost it.

Here are a few things that really caught my attention:
- Religiosity tells us to stuff our tears (feelings), and secularism tells us to dump our tears. What are we really to do with our tears? Expect them, invest them, and pray them.
- Becoming a person of faith will cause you to weep more. [Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26 - "I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh."]
- Planted (invested) tears produce joy. [2 Corinthians 4:17 - "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.] The knowledge of this frees us to involve ourselves in the messiness of the world, as well as others' lives, because we can expect joy if we plant our tears.
- Keller notes that the psalms, a majority of which are laments, end with psalms (146-150) of pure praise. He quotes Eugene Peterson: "What the psalms are teaching us is that all true prayer pursued far enough will become praise. Any prayer, no matter how desperate its origin, no matter how angry and fearful the experience it traverses, will become praise. It does not always get there quickly. It does not always get their easily. In fact, the trip can take a lifetime! But the end is always praise. This is not to say that other kinds of prayer are inferior to praise, but that all prayer pursued far enough becomes praise. Don't rush it. Don't try to push it. It may take years, it may take decades before certain prayers arrive at the hallelujahs of Psalm 150. Not every prayer is capped off with praise. In fact most prayers, if the psalms are a true guide, are not. But prayer is always reaching toward praise, and if pursued far enough, will arrive there."

I'm certain I'll be listening to more of Keller's podcasts, as well as some TED Talks, to make the miles fly.

Day 4 - Encouragement = Speed

Today's scheduled run: 3 miles

Today's completed run: 3 miles (woot!)

Today was not quite as yucktastic weather-wise as yesterday, but it was blustery and cold. The forecast called for rain, and the skies looked ominous; so I took to the treadmill once more. Of course, as soon as I got on, the sun came out for a beautiful sunset. Alas... I completed my three miles at an average 8:38 pace, which was great, though not a speed I could have sustained for much longer than that. Still, it's good to get in some speed runs. Hal Higdon always says you won't race fast if you don't train fast.

Running tunes included the same three "top hits" stations I mentioned yesterday. Today's cool down song was "Sweet and Low" by Augustana.

EmBz and me, circa March 2010

The most notable part of this run was the phone call I got .35 miles in from my friend, EmBz, who lives in faraway Cleveland. Okay, it's not that far, but it sure feels like it sometimes. I told her I couldn't chat for too long, so she told me she just needed to say one thing before we hung up. That one thing was one of the best things anyone can say to a bald girl: You look really good without hair. She said it in more words than that, which made me blush and grin terribly; but you get the picture.  I was pleased that I didn't start crying. Instead, I was grinning; by the time the two-minute call was over, my jaw hurt. EmBz, you made me run fast today; and I love you for it and many other things. (Since she mentioned her sister had a part in it, too - here's your shout-out, KBz!)

I promise you that no matter how much confidence someone appears to have, they need to be encouraged. I think it's fair to say that most of us don't encourage people as much as we should, or even as much as we want to. The encouragement burns on our tongues, but we feel weird saying it, or we don't want to offend, or we don't want to sound condescending. In my experience, genuine encouragement very rarely does any of those things.

So, go. Go be encouraging. Tell someone what they are good at, or why you like them, or even how beautiful they are. You'll feel great; they'll feel great. Win-win.

Day 3 - Yucktastic Weather

Today's scheduled run: 5 miles

Today's completed run: 5 miles (woot!) [Note: my policy in life is to celebrate everything.]

Baltimore had some yucktastic weather today - rainy and cold with a mix of bleh. I don't mind running in the cold, and I don't mind running in a light rain, but I hate running in a cold rain. So, off the gym I went. As an aside: I'd planned to go to the gym this morning, so I set my alarm for 6. It went off accordingly, but I decided to stay in bed until 8. ::sheepish grin::

Running on the treadmill is hit-or-miss for me. Today was pretty good, and I completed the miles at an average 9:37 pace.
The best part: finishing.
The other best part: not having any shin pain. Hooray! My week of rest paid off, so far.
The slightly torturous part: the inordinate amount of Chick-Fil-A commercials that came on while I was running. Drool.

I consider surviving runs on the treadmill to be an art form, because it is so boring. I readily confess that I listen to terrible music, i.e. a lot of pop/Billboard hits. I also readily confess that I love it. I usually go back and forth on the iHeartRadio app between three stations, two local and one in NYC. They all play the same songs, but they are the ones that keep me running. Then, I cool down and stretch to music worth listening to. Tonight's choice for cool down was Christa Wells' "On the Mountain." It's good; real good.

Other survival tricks include scheduling my runs based on what's on TV (crime shows are the best, because the suspense keeps me running), and - my personal favorite - covering the treadmill screen with a towel so I'm not watching the seconds tick away.

Do you have any tricks for making treadmilling more bearable?

Post-run, my dad came over to Cafe Leslie for dinner. I know this isn't a food blog, but you must try this recipe for paprika chicken from Jenna over at EatLiveRun. It's so simple! I was feeling lazy, so we ate it over angel hair pasta, rather than with dumplings, and it was delicious.

That's all for today, but I'll leave you with a comical picture from P.S.124 (the city school where I am interning as a social worker).

 

That is the boys' bathroom across from my office. I followed my normal policy: Just don't ask.

Until tomorrow...