One More in March

I was feeling very lame about my March running, so I decided to squeeze one more in.  Sadly, I'm feeling no better about it now.  I am on stay cation this week.  This time last year I did my Krapalu week, not doing that this year, but I decided that a yoga week would be really good for me.  So, I went to a new yoga studio where you get two weeks for $25 when you are a newbie.  Perfect!  It's in Davis Square, so the plan was to run to Davis, do the hour lunch yoga, and run home.

I did a slow run there.  I think that it takes me a little while to warm up, and when I start running I am running slower, then I pick up the pace in the middle.  It would be interesting to do some interval timing on a longer outdoor run to see if this is true.  I'm not sure how I would do that, I'd need a couple watches maybe?  I ran 1.7 miles to get there in 19 minutes, which is an 11 + minute mile.  I feel like the first 5-10 min are warm up, then I get faster.  Maybe I'm just kidding myself about that, though.  Anyhow, yoga was awesome.  I felt great at the end.  But not totally like running back.  I ran 5 minutes of the way back and then was like "Meh, it's a nice day out.  I've exercised.  24 minutes of running counts."  And I walked the rest of the way home.  A little lame, but it was a really nice walk.

I don't think I will follow this plan again because I did stop running just as I was in the groove of things.  And because I had to pay $1 to rent a mat (OK, that doesn't exactly break the bank.  But still!) And the mat was super slippery - I thought I was going to go from down dog to broken nose.  Also, there's this totally amazing bubble tea place in Davis now, can't get bubble tea and run.  It's kind of pricy, but if I'm not renting a mat....

French Fries

Total french fry failure on my run today.  I had been a total slacker for the last few weeks, though I have been climbing, yogaing, and getting in my fitbit steps.  Not to mention finishing the first quarter of classes (yay!).  But still.  I was going to go for a run yesterday, but I was so cranky and it was pouring out, I just couldn't deal.  So I decided I had to go today.

I had "Staff Meeting" at work today (I say that in quotes because it's just me and my boss and we didn't really have an agenda today, we were both sick of underachieving, over demanding students, so we sat and complained for 20 minutes.)  And, she had french fries which she demanded I eat.  They smelled so good, I couldn't help myself!

Bad move.  I got about a 1.6 miles into the run and cramps completely overtook me.  I was on the Charles, at the free parking section.  So, of course I was about as far from my car as possible, and I thought I would die.  I had gone up the short side of the river and was going to run back down the long side, but instead I walked over the Weeks Footbridge and back to my car.  Total distance was about 2.9 miles, but 1.3 walking.  Waaaa!  Next week I'm on Staycation, so hopefully I'll get in a good run then.

Like Spring!

Yesterday we broke the record for the most snow in one winter.  The old record represented more than a month and a half worth's of snow, of course.  Today it was in the upper 40's, the snow had melted from all the sidewalks, and it was practically spring-like.  I think I even saw some buds on the trees!

I was at work late (partly because yesterday was a big deadline and the kiddies are going nuts, I wanted to put them out of their misery and partly because I kinda overslept and got in late).  I really wanted to go for a run outside, and thought before dark would be better.  So, I decided on a route from my office.  It was actually pretty nice!  I went up the Southwest Corridor to BackBay, through Copley, down the center part of Commonwealth, past the Summershack (not a Boston Landmark, but it smelled really good), thru the plaza at the Christian Science Church, and then back to my building. It was almost exactly 3 miles, and I did it in 30 minutes and 55 seconds!  That's a 10 min 18 sec mile!!  I was very pleased :)

I had near perfect light timing, hardly had to stop at all.  Lots of people were out, but not so many that they were in my way.  I felt really good!  Of course, I was very happy to stop, and thought about taking the elevator up to my office after (I'm on the 4th floor) but then decided that would be beyond lame, so I walked.  Def will do that route again, and it would be easy to add a little more distance (or less.)

Losing :/

I was doing really well in my quest to beat my boss, but then WHAM, mega migraine on Sunday.  I call my poor sister who came and took me to the ER, this time the BI.  I believe I have had a pretty thorough tour of ER's now, and liked the BI.  Larger than Somerville, much smaller than The General, bed was reasonably comfortable.  And, they had copies of my medical records so they didn't waste time making me pee in a cup.  And, apparently when I go there my doctor calls me for a follow up.

Anyhow, end result is I did barely any steps between Sunday and Tuesday, and am now 30000 behind.  That may be hard to catch up on, unless she just sits still for 3 days.  In an effort to catch up I decided to hit the gym today.  I did a slow run, 5 mph for the first 15 min, then up to 5.5 mph for the second 15 min.  Only 2.8 miles at the end of 35 min, so I walked a little more to get 5K.  Stewart was on, really funny.  Can't wait to get back outside, thought.

You can't win all the time.  You can't win all the time....  Serious hike planning for this weekend.

First March Run

That's a little lame, it's already March 6!  Last weekend I went for a hike with this LL Bean Meet-up. It was someplace new, so that was cool.  Really big group, though.  And when we started the woman in front of me was telling this other person about her recent bladder surgery, and how hard it is on the body, even if it is orthoscopic.  That was my first clue that it was going to be a slow one....  Should have just gone to the gym, but it was so nice out!

There's still so much snow, it's hard to run outside.  The sidewalks aren't clear and the Boston drivers are crazy.  So, back to the gym.  My boss challenged me on the Steps program, and she's on vacation this week!  I should be a good employee and let her win, but I'm like obsessed with beating her.  And it's only day one of a 14 day challenge.

Anyhow, I did 30 min on the treadmill.  When I got there the treadmills were pretty full, and there was this woman running pretty fast on one of them, or so I thought.  There was a free one next to her, so I want over there, and then I realized that she was running the same pace that I do!  Hey!!  I did 20 min at 5.7 mph, then realized I could go faster, so for the last 10 min I did 5.8.  It felt good, or at least like I didn't want to die, and I wound up going 3.1 plus a little miles, so I felt good about it.  I think I'm getting my aerobic conditioning back.