Getting better at
shots. Vienna just had her 6 month ones and I only
sniffled for like 10 seconds.
:-)
SO YAY!
RANDOMS! This time, an ALL-Running randoms because of
just how insane this has become in my
life.
1)
Wow.
I ran a legit
half-marathon on Saturday in under 1:55 without
eating, training or even drinking water. In fact,
I went nearly 2 miles PAST the half-marathon to
15 miles and honestly? I could've kept going.
I was a little sore, sure, but wasn't winded.
Just kinda kept goin'. I'm tellin' you guys, no one
thinks I'm more full of shit than me right now. As I
type the sentences I keep saying in my
head: "that's not true I had to have water
at some point". I mean, yeah- at the end. Duh. But,
wasn't thirsty during the run and had didn't hydrate
before it. For whatever reason, I can run on empty.
2) By-pass a
marathon?
I wrote about
this last year but now that I'm hitting these kind of
distances? Running for hours? It's really blowin' my
mind. Doing a marathon seems kinda whimpy now.
I feel like I should try for an ultra (50
miles). Training for that without injury seems nearly
impossible, but it's clear that I have the mindset and
the uncanny ability to store energy reserves in my
fingernails or some shit. Most people do 5ks 10ks and
half marathons before they ever attempt a marathon...
could I be crazy enough to sign-up for a 50 miler
without ever running in a marathon?
3)
Time
That's actually
the real issue here: who the fuck can train for 50
miles? I've been running about an hour every other
day. I already feel guilty about that. The 15
miler took 2:15 and again, at some point when training
for a 50 miler you're doing 25-30 miles at a clip.
Yeah, I can't see me having 3-4 hours to blow a couple
times a week for... what exactly? To see if I can
do it? Uhm, I'm pretty sure I can do it. LOL. So
actually doing it, doesn't seem as challenging. Trying
to do something I don't think I can do? That's
more exciting.
4) The World in
Slow Motion
Other runners have
to be able to attest to this - there's something
fascinating about actually seeing what you usually
drive past. I don't go anywhere to run, I just
open my door and see where the pattern of lights take
me. I'm smack dab in the middle of a city so I'm at
the mercy of each intersection whether I go
straight or turn. It's kinda cool to see where
I end up. But even cooler? Is seeing all the
businesses and little buildings you miss even though
you've lived here for over a decade. It's what keeps
it from being boring...
5)
A NEW CITY!
Which of course
made running in Columbus the last week even cooler.
There's a goddamned bike trail that goes all the way
downtown!?!?! How cool is that?! Of course I ran
that! First time I ran 6.2, next time I did
8.5 and on Saturday the legendary 15 miles. Of course
my iPhone died at THIRTEEN.EIGHT GODDAMNIT so
I have no proof that I went the extra 1.2,
but whateva... I'll do it again. :-) What I may not do
again however is run in snow...
6)
LET IT SNOW!
How weird was it
to wake up last week and find that I had somehow gone
back in time to winter? I had uploaded the video of me
running in LA, and then there was a freak snowstorm
and, well, voila:
...but I'm a
runner now, so you just shake your head and keep
going. The trail in the woods looked absolutely
gorgeous. Like a giant painting. Everyone in Columbus
couldn't stop bitching but I have never been more
grateful to experience that beauty. I mean, just
seasons in general are a nice diversion. Rain, cool,
snow, fall, spring, sunny, overcast! So
fun.
7) Heel
Striking
I've run a little
bit here and there for my entire adult life in all
honesty. It's more about being cheap than a love of
running. In fact, until just this most recent turn at
it? I have HATED it. This was the video not even
a year ago:
What changed?
I stopped striking my heel. I did it almost
subconsciously because I kept getting a pain in
my left knee. And little by little I started
running on the balls of my feet. If I find a nice
patch of grass during a run, I may strike
mid-sole (basically the entirety of the foot, all at
once) but on concrete? Ball of my feet. And suddenly
my pain went away... I could seemingly go longer
and longer and longer without pain. I'd come back and
tell Talya: "I went 5k before I felt my
knee..." then it became 6k, 8k, 10k... pretty soon, it
didn't hurt the entire run. I was baffled. I went
online and ho-lee-shit, apparently this is some sort
of revolution taking over running the past 5 years.
There's even a shoe dedicated to it by a company
called "Newton". The idea being, you simply lean
forward on the balls of your feet, and gravity takes
over. It's how little kids run, it's how we're
supposed to run. So of course...
8)
NEWTONS
Thanks to some
unfortunate fellow on Craigslist who got the wrong
size (add 1/2 to 1 to your normal size for the right
fit) I got what is a
TWO HUNDRED DOLLAR FUCKING SHOE
for $89. Word. They have these little pegs at the
mid-foot that feels almost like stilts when you walk
on them, but when you run? It's a whole new world.
Kinda sucks about the whole "Greatest American
Hero" color scheme, but whatchoo gonna do.
Running shoes look like this. I'm almost used to it at
this point.
9) AND I
STILL CONTEND....
That it has
nothing to do with my weight loss. No one
wanted to hear that in Ohio and no one reading
probably wants to either, but running one hour, 2
times a week? Burns about 1300 calories for someone
with a normal metabolism who is 150 pounds. That
doesn't even allow me an extra 200 calories a day to
eat. I'm tellin' you folks, it's your diet. Physical
activity, unless you're doing over an hour a DAY, just
isn't going to help you as much as putting down the
food. I mean think about it, running a 5k
wouldn't even burn off a pack of pop tarts for me.
<shakes head> If you want to lose weight, take
in less calories first, second, third and fourth. If
the number you have to stay at to lose weight feels
too low? Throw in some exercise, but after killing
yourself a few times, if you're anything like me?
You're probably gonna chose to just eat less. All
physical activity should probably be recreational if
you're 30 or more pounds overweight anyway. That shit
will just destroy your knees/joints.
