Not much to say. Foot still hurting, not much improved, but not worse. Patience! (Okay, so I just wanted to write something…)

Oooh, I guess I can say that I’ve been making up my Christmas list. Yay! And yes, with the exception of a few CDs and (non-running-related) books, it’s all running stuff. First, I want a good sports watch with a 50 lap split timer thingy, and I found the perfect one – the Timex Rush VO2. It’s only $45, and it’s made for women (therefore it’s preeettttty) and it’s not overly complex. The Timex website is wonderful – I got to play with the watch and practice timing splits on the site! Fun! And it’s not too expensive, but compared to my $6 watch from Wal-mart that I’m using now, it’s a real luxury.

I’d also like a basic heart rate monitor, but the one I want tells you when you’re in your target range, and it’s a bit more expensive than I’d like. I wish Timex made one that was not too too expensive but also had the lap timer, but they’re all expensive. Then again, how many watch like devices do I want to wear? Plus, I suppose it’ll be around $100-$125 with both devices no matter what, whether they’re in one watch or two. Also, SportBrain is finally coming back (yay!!!) and they offer a heart rate monitor situation with that device, so maybe I’ll just use that. That way, I don’t have to wear a second watch. But…it won’t tell me anything useful while I’m actually exercising. Hmmm….we’ll have to see about that. I’m such a gadget-fiend. I don’t really need any of this, do I?

But…if anyone reading this has any advice or suggestions regarding the above products, please drop me a line!

Status of the foot: still not purple. Hurts when barefoot, not so much when I have shoes on. I think I’ll be able to do more next week. We shall see.

Status of my life: good. Mood is good, weather is gorgeous, wish I could run! But, I’m alive. I’ve been surrounded by illness (or news of) so much recently, it seems like. Notwithstanding the whole anthrax business, there’s Paula’s baby, and Anne’s dad, and okay, so that may not be a whole lot, but it’s more than normal. And last night, I started thinking about my dad, and for the first time in a long time, I cried. I miss him so much, you think you’re over it, but I guess you never really are. Maybe it was Anne’s dad that made me think of him. Well, isn’t that cheerful?

Oooh, I can say something about running! I’ve decided to run the half Mardi Gras Marathon, on February 17. It actually works out perfectly, it’s the weekend of my 14 mile run. I’m sure I can squeeze in the extra .9 miles warming up or cooling down or something. And Chris is going to run it with me! So he can get used to running at my snail’s pace. I’m excited. I’m paying for his entry as a birthday present, since the one I bought is stuck somewhere and I won’t be able to get it for him until Christmas. Can’t say any more, it might give it away!

My foot’s not purple! Wonder if that’s a good thing or if it doesn’t really mean anything? Actually, I wish it was, since Kristina laughs (rather cruelly, I think) at me whenever I ask her if it’s purple yet. Hmmph. I just want some drama! Ha ha. Well, it’s definitely feeling better today, so I’m not so worried. I can walk on it (but I suppose I shouldn’t) and it’s not too bad. And on Saturday, I was standing on my tippy toes trying to get something out of my closet and I felt something pop in my foot and a muscle on the side of my calf cramped. But my foot felt much better. So today, my calf is sore but my foot doesn’t hurt. Gary says I stretched a ligament or tendon (in a good way) so I’m not worried. Hopefully, it’ll be better by next week. Enough to go walking, at least, if not running? Hmmm.

This was a pretty busy weekend, so I didn’t have much time to rest, unfortunately. Anne came in Thursday night, then our friend John came in Saturday afternoon, and Anne’s friend Rebecca came in last night. And everyone stayed with us last night, so we have a full house right now. Saturday night we went to the French Quarter in our costumes and the Popeye’s box (don’t ask) we made for Anne’s sister Becky (in five minutes, for free) was a much bigger hit than mine and Kristina’s expensive, time-consuming teabags. Ah well. Typical.

So I guess for the next few days, this will be my “foot journal” rather than my running journal. Fun!

*#$%*&@! Oh, the pain! Today was our off day, but not that it matters. Even if we hadn’t scheduled it as such, today would have been an enforced rest day, just as the next week or two are going to be…

Last night, Kristina and I went out to eat dinner and as the hostess was walking us to our table, I did not notice a small step down to the section we were headed to. So I fell. Of course I fell! Not only did I fall down this little 3 inch step, I also fell off my 3 inch shoes. Not heels, just platform-y sandals. And twisted the crap out of my left foot. It’s always my left foot. When I fell off a curb in London, it was my left foot. When I totalled my car, the only casualty was my left foot. Sigh. (How many times can you say “my left foot” without thinking of that movie? Zero.)

It is now painful, very painful. Not purple yet, I still have that to look forward to (well, at least that’s dramatic) but I can’t put any weight on it. I have to hop to get around. Last night I took two Tylenol PM because the pain was so bad and I still didn’t sleep well. Gary (my friend Ren’s husband who’s a fourth year med student – they live downstairs) said it’s not broken, just bruised, thank God. Ren hurt her ankle in a bicycle accident a few weeks ago herself. Sigh.

At least this didn’t happen two months from now. And I learned a very very valuable lesson – I will not be wearing anything but the flattest shoes when I start the actual marathon training. I suppose this will be my time for strength training.

Ran at the park again today. Chilly today, at last. But with the humidity being as low as it was, I got pretty thirsty. You just can’t win! Well, give me cool weather any day. Plus I got to run in my new prescription sunglasses, which was exciting. I think those will be my running glasses. Let’s just hope I’ll need them for the marathon (i.e., it’s not raining…but cloudy would be okay, so I shouldn’t say that.) I think you could say we did a little fartleking today. (Can anyone really say that seriously, with a straight face?) Kristina is getting a bit frustrated with our lack of speed so we did a bit of running faster in spots. She didn’t really understand the point, but whenever I try to explain something to her, her eyes either glaze over or she gets defensive and argues with me (no matter how many books I’ve read it in.) It gets somewhat frustrating. But I feel like we’re getting stronger, as the 30 minutes is getting easier. Next week I’m going to suggest running for 32 minutes or something. And on Saturday, I’d like to run 45 minutes. On the levee, maybe.

Anne’s coming in today, we’re picking her up at the airport this afternoon (in the MardiGrasStore.com limo, yessireeee) and bringing her to a restaurant where she’s having dinner with her family. Her dad’s starting radiation treatments today, which may indicate that his cancer is treatable? Otherwise, what’s the point? Hopefully…

Also…if you haven’t checked out The Reluctant Runner website yet, you have to! Mike’s my male counterpart across the pond…training for the London Marathon, just starting out…(but already doing better than me. sigh!)

There’s nothing much to say about these early morning runs anymore. I mean, they’re getting easier, I think, or I’m getting used to waking up so early. Today it was pretty humid, which sucked. And Kristina and I took Tylenol PM last night to help us sleep so we both were pretty groggy when we got started, but we woke up about halfway through the run. I tell you, it’s not a bad way to start a run. That way, you’re only really awake for part of it, and the first half is only a blur. Ha ha. Don’t worry, we’re not going to become addicted to Tylenol PM.

I think we also went faster today because we hit our normal halfway point at 12 minutes, not 15, like we did on Monday. So we went a bit further today. It didn’t even seem harder! Nice. Before I went to work, I drove our route (which on Mondays and Wednesdays is the neighborhood route, plus a few extra blocks) and found that the running part was 2.4 miles. So that means our speed today was 4.8 miles per hour, which is a 12:30 mile. Yay! Improvement!

On a horrifically sad note, our friend Anne’s (who we lived in London with) dad was diagnosed yesterday with terminal cancer. Annie lives in New York City now, and is flying in tomorrow to be with her family and friends for a few days. Her dad is a really really sweet man (he helped me get out a speeding ticket – he is forever in my debt) and I am very sad about all this. Why do dads always have to die? Sigh. Anyway, obviously our trip to Houston is out of the question, but that’s okay. Houston will always be there.

This morning run business is getting easier and easier. Last night I went to bed at 10:00 or some strangely early hour (for me) and though I didn’t sleep very soundly (I seemed to wake up every 2 hours, like clockwork) I slept for long enough that I was well-rested. Now I’m not tired like I was yesterday, so this morning running thing might not be so bad after all.

Yesterday afternoon I felt downright lazy, seeing everyone running around and being outdoorsy. I forgot that I had already exercised, so that will take a bit of getting used to as well. It was a gorgeous afternoon, though. Sigh. How I wish New Orleans could always be like this. Well, maybe 5-10 degrees cooler. But the low humidity is beautiful!

We decided that on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, we would run at the park, since we don’t have to be up as early. We were supposed to run with Sarah, so we started at her house, but (surprise, surprise!*) she wasn’t there, so we went without her. There was some fog lingering in the grassy areas, and when we got to the golf-course side of the park, the sun was streaming through the trees looking rather fetching. We also went the opposite way that we usually do, which made the whole run just that much stranger. We had to go around once, then keep going for 5 more minutes, then turn around to make the entire 30 minutes. According to my (not entirely reliable) pedometer, we went 2.2 miles in 30 minutes, which is a 13:40 mile, approximately. I’m fine with that, I’m not surprised or anything, but Kristina’s getting a little antsy. She wants to go faster, which is fine, but I’m just not ready for that. But then she’s not training for anything, so it’s not surprising that her goals might consist of speed instead of endurance. Hmmm.

Anyway, the 30 minutes isn’t bad at all, we’re really getting used to it. I think in the next couple of weeks we’re going to have a few minutes to that, maybe 3-5 minutes a week? And longer on the weekends? Maybe 45 minutes to start with? I really do need to make up a training schedule for the weeks remaining until I start the marathon training. I have eight full weeks (not including this one) until then. Hmmmm. Will work on that.

Oooh – also, I think I’ve lost a couple more pounds. My scale sucks though, so I’m not entirely sure. I’ll pretend like it’s right. Ha ha!

*Sarah is always late. Always, always, always. You can set your watch by it. (Set it back at least 30 minutes.)

Today was the first time I’ve run since Wednesday. Ack! But I did run 4 times last week, so it’s not as if I’ve slacked or anything, really. Today was also the start of our new running schedule, which entails running in the morning. I don’t mind running in the morning, it’s just that I’m so tired for the rest of the day. But it is nice to get it out of the way so that our evenings aren’t completely taken up by running. I’m sure once I get into the new schedule, I’ll be fine. But on Mondays and Wednesdays, Kristina has class at 8:30, so we have to go at 6:30. At least on Tuesdays and Thursdays we can go at 7:15 or so. That’ll be better. I even had to come to work early today because I had nothing else to do. Well, it’ll just take some getting used to. And with the time changing this weekend coming up, we don’t really have much choice.

Anyway – about our run – we ran for 30 minutes, easily, no problem. So, really, it’s great! Perhaps I should be looking on the bright side – we do much better in the morning because we’re not already worn out from the day.

This coming weekend, we’re going to Houston. Can’t wait to run around Mike and Debbie’s neighborhood again. There’s a path around their neighborhood that I ran around last time I went but I wasn’t properly hydrated that time. This time, I have better endurance, the weather is cooler, and I know to bring water. And Kristina will be with me. Yay! Fun! And we’re going to a Halloween party. Last night I sewed our costumes. Well, part of them. I don’t feel like describing them now, so I’ll post pictures of them when I’m done.