YAY!

I'm a lurker, which everyone knows. But today I got a shout out from one whom I lurk.

See here. I'm "S". :)

Do you have any idea how cool that is? She and I don't even know each other. I've been reading her for a year and then last December I emailed her when I wasn't able to comment on her blog and asked her some questions. She posted the questions which led my running partner, SG, to email her asking for my email so we could run together. And the rest is history.

I'm so stoked. :)

Irishman over-Half Marathon

So today was the Irishman in honor of St. Patty's Day here in town. Normally the Irishman consists of a 5 mile, 5K, and 1 mile race. You run these and they give you your times for each and then an overall time at the end. You also get a finisher certificate and another t-shirt. The things I do for beer and t-shirts.

So Karen and Jen were coming down for the Irishman with me, Sarah was going to run the 5K and Joey was coming down for that too. So I opened up my home so we could meet up and walk to the starting lines. I live right in the middle of them so this seemed smart and economical on my part. We could walk there, warm up, and we wouldn't have to deal with parking.

Well, I'm about .8 of a mile from the starting line. We walked this road 5 times, plus another little stretch (.7) to the start of the mile. So another 4.7 miles on top of the 9.2 we already ran. That's 14 miles we covered today. And we were going to walk to the bar where the awards ceremony was happening but we were running late so we drove instead.

I wasn't ready for 14 miles today. OMG. That hurt. And I'm really tired. I was going to go see "Milk" tonight, but I think I'm going to stay home and rest on my couch instead.

Wow. It was an intense day but a lot of fun. I'm really glad Karen and Jen came down to run it with me. If I had had to do that alone, that would have really sucked.

Rough course

Today SG and I ventured to her running area. She usually starts around mile marker 7 and then runs a couple miles out and a couple back. That was fine. I was up for 4 today.

That was until we ran around the first bend and the path wasn't cleared hardly at all. Granted most of the main drifts were off to the side so there was at least a semi-path, but so much ice and at spots thick snow.

That just wore us both out. And as we're walking I'm realizing we haven't run since Wednesday, and Friday afternoon I ate Ritz bits with cheese and a bunch of Twizzlers, and I missed breakfast that morning. All these factors just wiped me out. So the run was a more than a little rough.

Tomorrow, thank God!, is a new day and a new month. We're going to run again in the morning since it's supposed to get windier and some big football game is going to be on.

And I need to be running every day this week. No more excuses! And to add to my focus, I signed up for Brooks Sweat365.com tracking thing. Should be good. I need some motivation. Brookings is coming up quicker than I realize.

Back on the streets

In the non-prostitute sort of way.

SG and I ran 2.5 tonight - our usual route, at our usual pace, with our usual walks. It was good, but I need to figure out someway to run more. We got back to the arch, and had maybe .25 mile left and I felt so great and ready to run more.

But it's dark out at 7pm and I didn't have my reflective shirt or any other protective gear (PPE as we call it). So I came home. But I really could have run some more.

So how to do this? I don't know. I'm very excited for the weekend. At least it's supposed to be nice this weekend. I'm thinking of running with the Heathens Sunday morning. I like church, but maybe I can do both. Nothing against SG but it might be fun to run with some other folks too.

Random thoughts today

You know there is something horribly wrong with you when you get out of the car to walk into work and you think, "Huh, it's kind of warm out this morning." Then you check the temp and see it's 1 degree out. Uh...

The 10-day forecast says it's going to be warmer after today, so I'd actually be okay if SG wanted to bail tonight. It's supposed to be 10 degrees, feel like 0, at the time we usually run. That's not bad, if there isn't any wind, but I have a feeling she'll bail. I'm okay with that. I have a lot of cleaning to do tonight - my apartment is a mess - and the next 10 days look really nice for running (with the possible exception of Thursday).

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Well, I talked with SG and she's okay with taking tonight off. Thank God for that. I feel like crap, so it's good I'm taking a day. Plus I just have a mess of a house and I really will feel better if I clean tonight. Tomorrow! Tomorrow I run!

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And I'm thinking I need to get a shoe dryer for this spring when I'm running in the rain. This would be a great investment.

SFARC

Well, I finally did it. I sent in my registration for the SF Area Running Club. K had recommended I do this when I first moved here two years ago, but I hesitated. I'm really not a fast runner and when Jacqueline would talk about her runs and lament when she was running so slow (at 9:30 min/miles) I just cringed. I would kill for a 9:30 mile.

But as SG and I started running together we talked about it and decided to join. She wisely paid the dues right at the beginning of the year. I finally got mine sent out this week and my confirmation email today.

I am excited. I'm hoping to get faster this year but I know I won't be as fast as Jacqueline for a long time. At least I'll have some sort of club to belong to. AND we get 15% off at the Runner's Block store, so that's a bonus. :)

I didn't run today. Flippin' cold and windy. Tomorrow I head out of town and back late on Monday, so Tuesday I'll get out again.

Fabulous Meme

Jill posted her 5 addictions today. In honor of her nose dive this weekend, which she did with grace and poise, I shall post my addictions:

1. Blogging. Duh. I have three blogs right now that I post on. I have 70 blogs I check every night and another 30 I check once a week because those writers don't update as often. I also have another dozen or so which are just running blogs that I check once a week or so as well.

2. Diet Coke with Splenda. I can drink other diet sodas, but Diet Coke with Splenda is my absolute favorite. Sadly it isn't sold in this part of the state, but happily Deaner is willing to pick it up when he's on the west side of the state for work. He's such a doll. I don't know what I'll do if he ever retires. I really think Diet Coke should have an online ordering system, but that's just me.

3. Lists. I love to make lists. I will make lists of what I need to do for the day. If I have already completed some tasks before making my list, I will put those tasks on the list so I can cross them off. I'm not good at prioritizing, but I do love to make the lists.

4. Baking. I love to bake cookies and pie. These are truly my two favorites and I do them well. I wish I could eat more of what I make. But then I'd balloon up and since I like to run, I can't do that.

5. Chicken. I eat chicken every day - either before or after. Meaning, I will eat eggs or chicken itself at least once a day if not twice and often three times. I love chicken. I once told my bosses to not worry about the bird flu because I would totally be one of the first to go. Of course then one of my bosses said I've probably built up an immunity and I'd be the only one who'd survive.

I know we're only supposed to write five, but here's one more because it is really close to the top and the purpose of this blog:
6. Running. Duh. My friends get annoyed I think about how much I talk about running - my races, my splits, my pacing, my diet, my training, my struggles. Man, if I were my friends I would hate me, but I love me and that's all that matters. :)