Running Club

I did my first run with a running club today! Appropriately, I think, it was with Team Luna that runs from the Boston Athleta. I didn't buy anything, though! At first I was like, this is just like running by myself, because I was running by myself. But then this woman was running next to me, and we ran together for like two miles, which was cool. She runs faster than me I'm pretty sure. Of course I had forgotten my watch, so I have no idea how fast I ran, but I think it was a little faster than a ten minute mile, at least that's my story. When we finished, I noted that she was about five inches taller than me.

Anyhow, total distance was three miles, time was about thirty minutes. But then of course there were free Luna bars, so it was still calorie positive. Anyhow, everyone was friendly and it was a good experience, def have to try it again.

Spring Spring Spring!!!

Not to go on and on about this spring thing, but wow was it nice out today!  Like spring!  I cleaned a whole bunch of dead stuff out of my garden that I was too lazy to do anything with in the fall.  Actually, now that I think of it, it's all in the back of my car still.  That should smell nice tomorrow.

I was going to go for a "long run" today, but I was feeling a little yucky yesterday and didn't want to push it.  I kind of put off the running all day, almost until dark.  I had all these ideas about where I would go, but then I just did my little 5K at home.  It was ages since I had done it!  Of course, it had been so long, and I was fiddling with my iPod, and I missed a turn!  So I did a shorter loop, and then ran up to the end of my street and back in the end.  It wound up being 3.36 miles in 35 min and 47 sec, which is a 10 min 38 sec mile, so a little slow.  But given that I was feeling kind of yucky last night, it's good that I did it at all!

Spring, take 2

I don't want to jinx it, but I think spring is really on the way here now!  Today was sunny and beautiful (except for some of the day when it wasn't).  I got a little over excited and wore short sleeves and no jacket, but it wasn't that spring like.  But, I was able to go for an after work run on the Charles in my regular weight running tights.

It turns out that my new car really does have an alarm, because I set it off for the first time today when I got to the river!  I thought it was one of those "alarms" that's just a light blinking but nothing happens but nope, I have a real car alarm.  Does that make me a grown up?

I went to the easy-to-park area on the Charles, in Brighton by Harvard's athletic fields.  I ran to the third bridge and back, 3.5 miles.  At one point I was feeling a little crampy, but then it passed and everything was fine.  All and all, a good run!  Pretty fast for me, too, 34 min and 35 sec, which is less than a 10 minute mile!!  (9 min, 52 sec, so like my race pace).  I was feeling pretty good during the run, I hadn't eaten for a while, which I think always helps.  I did have the little bit of cramps, which got me mussing about how much I think about my bowels and the organs that must be jostling them around, and how I've never really spent that much time thinking about my internal organs before, and I really I was always good with that.  Which took up a surprising amount of the run.  At one point this kid wearing a Harvard t-shirt passed, running in the other direction, and he was moving so faaast!  Wow.

My newest idea is to run the Tufts 10K with Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  It would be nice to raise a little fundage for cancer research and patient support, and I would meet other runners so hopefully I would have someone to train with, and hang with at the race.  So, my readers (ie Kit), be ready for the donation request this summer :)

Ommmmm

I didn't run during the week, but that's because I went my yoga retreat and did all sorts of other exercise including yoga (of course), hiking, and well, more yoga.  And ate really amazing healthy food.  For years I've seen the Appalachian Trail where it crosses over the Mass Pike every time I go from Boston to Schenectady or Schenectady to Boston.  Well, Kripalu was like 20 miles away from the crossing.  So, I hiked the AT!  OK, 1.8 miles of it (I took a wrong turn and hiked a part of a snowmobile path as well, I'm not gonna lie), but it was hilly and there was a snow cover.  So, though I didn't run, I think I hiked about 6 miles that day (out and back on the snowmobile path, then out and back on the AT when I refound it).  And that's my excuse for not running.

Back at home today, and it's vile out, so I went to the gym.  Not the greatest run because I didn't feel like waiting the full hour and a half/two hours after eating to run.  It was a little slow d/t slight cramps.  I wound up going slightly less than 5K in 35 minutes, then I lifted weights for like 20 minutes.  The new machines are pretty cool, but they are still weight machines.  Yuck.

One thing that I did at Kripalu that was really amazing was take this cooking class.  The guy who taught it was the Executive Chef at the place, and he said that all of their recipes are like 5-8 ingredients (not counting salt, pepper, and oil, which apparently aren't ingredients, they just are)!  It really inspired me to try to make some more delicious foods.  I mean, how long can it take to mix 5-8 ingredients?  I also bought a juicer today to see if juicing would be a thing for me. I made some kale/apple/cucumber juice and I gotta say, it was pretty disgusting.  A good taste to start out, but then the after taste of dirt.  More work required.

Davis Square Cramps

I thought I had waited long enough after eating to run, but I got about 15 min into the run, and got a really really bad case of cramps.  I was actually thinking I would do a longer run, going to the bike path, through Davis, and then down the bike path a little further.  I figured I could go for a half hour out, turn around, and come back.  Only, in Davis the Evil Cramps got the better of me, and I had to walk.  I thought about lying down on the side of the road and letting them pass, but it was kind of cold and muddy, and a gal's gotta have some pride, so I just walked for about 2/3 of a mile until they finally stopped.  Then I jogged home.  Total running time was 30 min, total distance was 3.1 miles, but I walked for that big chunk of the distance, and then jogged much slower after, since I didn't want the cramps coming back.  I gotta do some google research on these cramps.  Maybe I'm dehydrated?

Tuesday I'm going on a 4 day yoga retreat in the Berkshires at Kripalu.  I'm pretty psyched about it, lots of yoga, snow shoeing (I think, or maybe hiking?), reading, eating crunchy people food, and being all zen.  Hopefully it won't be too much zen-ness for me.  Yelp reviews say that you have to buy your coffee at this cafe there, so I've already bought some Starbucks instant :)  So, I'm not going to return a total hippy chick.

First Day of Spring

Spring started today, and it was nice out! I actually left the window opened for The Cats when I went to work (a bit over optimistic on that one, but they like their bird watching weather sniffing time). It was warm and sunny out, and I thought a perfect run day. Only, when I actually got to the Charles, it turned out it was actually "warm" out, and it was really windy. So, it wound up being a kind of short run, 2.88 miles. I'm not quite sure how long it took, I think I stopped my watch at one point (waiting for a light, totally legit) and didn't start again. Anyhow, I guess it was about a half hour.

Official results from Sundays race are in. I ran a 9 min 51 sec mile! Even faster than I thought I had done. Go me :). I passed a lot of people during the race. I want to know where those people usually run, because for sure it's not on the Charles!

Ras na hEireann Year 2

I can't believe I just ran the Ras na hEireann a second time!  And, even more exciting, I finally broke the 10 min mile for a 5K race :)  And, it's not a totally flat race, there's even a hill at the end.  According to my watch I did it in 30 min and 40 sec, which is about about a 9 min 55 second mile.  So, not that I totally blew the 10 min mile out of the water, but I was pretty happy about it.  Now that I'm so much more experienced of a racer :) I knew a little more about the crowds, and pacing myself.  It was pretty crowded at the start again, but I still did the first mile in less than 10 min, and I think that's the hardest since it has a lot of uphill.  When I saw the 1 mile marker, and looked at my watch, that's when I knew I could do it!  I did a little pacing on the uphill parts, and ran a little faster on the downhill.  I got a little caught by slower (!) runners, but all and all a good run.  The last .25 mile is all down hill (after the biggest uphill though) and I was trying to sprint a little, but I couldn't that much.  So, I def used it all up.  

I'm thinking that my next run will be the Tufts 10K on Columbus Day weekend.  I mean, for sure I want to do that one, but I'm not sure about any more 5K's.  On the one hand it was nice to push myself a little here.  On the other hand, I've now done 4 5K's (not counting the Dirty Girl when I was sick) and I'm not sure if I need to keep doing them.  Maybe if I ever make some running friends I will think it's a good thing to do more of in the future....