Category: running

October 2, 2001

This is beginning to be more than just a running journal. I hope that’s okay. I like to have records of my life, but I can only seem to keep track sporadically. For instance, my time in London is quite well documented, with a journal and long letters to my friend Ren, who gave them back to me when I got home. It was enough that I was able to recreate almost every day of the six months we lived there when I made a “book” for Kristina and Anne about it. So by the time I run the marathon, I should be able to recreate about 8 months of my life. Isn’t that weird?

So we went running at around 6:20 yesterday, only went once around the park. We ran most of it, but my lower back was hurting a little and I had a bit of a side stitch, so we walked about 1/4 of it. Both pains were on my right side, I think we do need to change direction next time. By the time we were done, it was 6:50 and getting dark. Which means that whenever the time changes in a few weeks (I hope it’s at least that long) it’ll be getting dark at 5:50, right when I’m getting home from work. Don’t know what I’m going to do about that. I don’t really want to run in the mornings, not yet, but I may not have any choice. Maybe if I just get to work a little earlier, then I can leave earlier. That might be better.

So today we’re going around the fly as well as the park, which should add a mile and a half, if we measured correctly. That’s the area of the park that goes by the river. It’s actually the parking lot for the riverfront plus the roads that connect it to the park. (I’m sure someone else could describe that better, but it’s the morning, so I’m not going to try.)

Kristina and I have started to do some weird things. Like last night we went to dinner at Denny’s and had real meals. I’m talking pot roast and chicken. It was weird. We’ve started using coupons a lot. We’re 65 year olds trapped in 26 year old bodies. Strange. Oh well. It was fun. Oh, and also, Kristina’s doing great with the patch, no complaints yesterday. I hope it’s always this easy for her.

October 1, 2001

Today Kristina quit smoking! I’m so proud of her! We went and bought a couple of boxes of patches for her, and she just called me to tell me how easy it is so far! Yay!

And this Saturday is our second 5K, the Race for the Cure. I’m excited. I don’t think I’ll beat my PR (tee hee) of 39:05, because we went out too fast on that one, and ended up dying at the end. It’s funny how that’s what all the books warn you against – going out too fast because you’ll die at the end – and it’s always the dumb runners who do that. And that was me. Guess going out and buying a ton of running books didn’t help all that much. ha ha. But this time, I know what our pace is, it’s 12:45 or so if we want to go any reasonable distance. And if we manage to do that for 3.1 miles, then great, we might beat our times, but we haven’t been able to run that far yet. Maybe the excitement of the race will do it? If we walk at all, I don’t think we’ll beat our times. Oh well, I’m not worried about it. I’d rather run a smarter race than a faster race.

So we didn’t run on Friday evening, we went out to eat instead (but we walked there! OK, it’s only a block away.) But we went on Saturday, in spite of our busy day, which is usually our excuse not to go on the weekends. We went to a craft fair in Mississippi, which was fun, then when we got home, went for a lap around the park. Ran a lot of it, but didn’t feel too good because our lunch was still sitting heavily in our stomachs.

Saturday night killed any chances for a run on Sunday, just getting out of bed was a feat. Oops. But we went to Anne’s mom’s house for a football party and I won $50 in the pool! Exciting!

Tonight we will go twice around the park. Yay!

Oh – forgot to mention, we went around the neighborhood a bit on Thursday evening, but Friends was on our mind (season premiere) more than running, so it was sort of half-hearted. Plus, Kristina still wasn’t feeling well, so we took it easy for her too.

Update (only 10 minutes after I wrote the above…): I just thought to myself, “wonder if anyone actually has looked at this page, besides Chris?” Yay! There are actually some entries in my guestbook! I forgot I’d even put a guestbook on the site! And so thanks to everyone who signed it (and sorry for the no-mention, Candace!!! When you do run with us, you’ll get a mention! 🙂 ) And also, to David: we do change direction every so often…thanks for the advice!

September 26, 2001

Yesterday, I went around the park twice. I’m beginning to think that if I could just stick to some sort of program, I’d do a lot better. But since I started running with Kristina, I wasn’t able to really stick to anything like that. But I can’t blame her, because yesterday I tried to do an 8.5 minute running, 1.5 minute walking, and I could only do it twice. I’m just not progressing as quickly as people who stick to a program. I really need to get us back on one. I want to be able to run 4 miles without stopping by the time I start my marathon training in January. Actually, further than that would be fantastic, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves!

I did okay yesterday, though. I ran probably 1.5 times around total, and walked the equivalent of half a time around, maybe a little more. So I probably ran 2.5 miles total and walked a mile or so. Not too bad, I don’t think.

I had planned on going to the Reily Center with Ren tonight, but I think I need to take a break. My hip started hurting again yesterday. On the other hand, I really want to cross train. And strength train on my legs! Actually, the reason I don’t want to do anything tonight is so I can sleep. Lately I’ve been unable to sleep, and I’m wondering if it’s the exercise at night. Don’t see why it would be, but if I go with Ren, it’ll be late – after 7, and that’s really too late for me, I think. We’ll see how I feel later.

September 25, 2001

Kristina’s not feeling well, so I went running by myself yesterday. It wasn’t so bad – it’s been a while since I’ve run alone that I wasn’t sure if it was going to be totally boring or what. I suppose it’s a good thing it wasn’t bad because I’ll certainly be doing those 12, 15, and 18 mile runs alone. Oh yeah, and Kristina’s ruled out a 10K, so that means anything over 5 miles will probably be just me. Fun! And since Daylight Savings Time will be ending soon, (or is it starting? I never understood that) I’ll have to do all my running during the week in the mornings. On the plus side, though, it’ll be cool enough to do my weekend runs in the afternoon instead of waiting until the sun goes down.

Anyway, about my run yesterday – I had a bit of a tough time pacing myself. It’s easier to slow down when you have someone next to you telling you to. I may have run too fast, which hopefully is why I could only run a mile at a time yesterday. I don’t want to think I’m backtracking, especially when the weather’s cooling down. However, when I went for my run yesterday, it wasn’t cool yet, so today might be the day!

One thing that sucked about yesterday’s run – my radio was broken, and I didn’t notice until I had gone too far to turn back, so I had to carry it the whole way. That was annoying. If I’m going to run alone, I need something to listen to. I feel like it’s okay to do that in the park, since it’s pretty safe there.

So in all, I ran around the park once plus about another half mile. Not too bad, and I ran most of it. Took about 27 minutes. The mile I ran was 12:30 or so. Tonight, if I can get out earlier than yesterday, I’m going to go around twice. And Wednesday, I might go to the gym with Ren. What to do, what to do – treadmill? Stationary bike? Strength training? Cross training? Too many choices!

September 24, 2001

Kristina and I went running on Friday afternoon, since Kettie wasn’t supposed to come in until 7:30. We did the usual neighborhood route, but we walked a lot of it. At least we did it, though. But then Kettie came in, and we all went to dinner, including Ren. It was a fun night – Kristina and I ended up at the Mayfair, but unfortunately, that ruined any plans of running on Saturday I may have harbored. But it was a fun weekend – we went to a shrimp festival in a town near Chalmette (we had a hard time finding it and drove through many bad neighborhoods on the way) which was at least different.

Best news of all – a cold front’s coming through tonight! Supposed to last for the rest of the week. Yay!

September 21, 2001

Didn’t go running on Wednesday as planned above, as I didn’t get off work until 6, and I was still sore from Tuesday. But we went yesterday, around the neighborhood since Kristina had a meeting at school at 6, and Friends was at 7. We went for the half hour between 6:30 and 7. Ran most of the way, certainly further than we ever have on this route. Kristina was feeling nauseous about 2/3 of the way through, so we walked the rest of the way home. We were out for just about half an hour. Not bad, but I’m feeling the need to go more than 30 minutes. Hopefully this weekend. It’s doubtful that I’ll be able to go today, as Kettie’s coming in too early to go. We’re going to Semolina’s for dinner. They’re donating their tips and salaries and part of the sales tonight to the Red Cross, I think, so that’ll be good. If I don’t run today, I’m definitely going tomorrow. And Sunday.

September 19, 2001

We did it again! We ran around the park without stopping. Woo! 1.77 miles this time, since we didn’t run up the parking lot to the car. Not bad at all, but my right hip was hurting a little bit for a lot of the time. Hmm. My knees are a little sore too. My muscles are definitely sore. Today we’re planning on going around twice, but walking one of those. Don’t want to overdo it!

September 18, 2001

What a two weeks it’s been. Yesterday was the first time I’ve run since Chris and I ran our virtual 5Ks, but surprisingly, I did better than ever. First though, a recap:

– Thursday, 6 Sept: Arrived in California that evening.

– Friday, 7 Sept: After I woke up and puttered around Evan and Jennifer’s apartment for a while, I walked to Old Town Pasadena. Just a street with lots of shops, some that we don’t have here, but nothing terribly exciting. I spent the morning looking for a particular bookstore, but didn’t find it, and then Evan and I had lunch (fish tacos – not nearly as bad as it sounds!) and then, after lunch, he dropped me back at his place so I could rest (I didn’t sleep well the night before). Later that afternoon, I walked to his office (and noticed for the first time that there are mountains very close to Pasadena!) and then we picked Jennifer up from work and headed to Los Angeles to the studios for Whose Line Is It Anyway? We thought we wouldn’t make it it, there’s only room for about 300 people, and our numbers were 302, 303, and 304. But we made it in and despite it lasting almost five hours, our hands being blistered from clapping, and our throats sore from laughing, it was fun. Just very tiring. After the show was completed (Halloween show! We’re in the front row!) we went to some diner that’s supposedly famous.

– Saturday, 8 Sept: Drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu, where we ate at a biker bar/seafood restaurant. I’m sure the bikers are more like rich actors than Hells Angel’s, but whatever. We didn’t see anyone famous there. Then we walked on the beach a little, then drove to Santa Monica. We had planned on going to the Getty that night, but we decided not to, and walked on the pier and ate at some Japanese soul food restaurant instead. We also drove around Hollywood, and I saw some of the “sights.” Finally, we drove around looking for some old ice cream shop that was on the radio that morning. We finally found it and got some ice cream.

– Sunday, 9 Sept: Jennifer had to work, so Evan and I went to Chinatown for dim sum (my first time – interesting to have barbecue for breakfast…hmmm) and then to the Getty. Nice museum, we didn’t have much time for it. My favorite part was definitely the garden. Beautiful. When we got back to Pasadena, Jennifer and I went and had tea at the Rose Tree Cottage. It was nice (if overpriced) but the best part was not the cucumber sandwiches, but the earthquake I felt! It wasn’t bad, it only lasted a few seconds, but it was a real jolt! Cool! Later we grilled steaks and mashed the organic potatoes we had purchased at an organic farm the day before.

– Monday, 10 Sept: Not much went on today, I made it to the bookshop I had been looking for on Friday and went to Target as well. We cooked again that night and I prepared to go home the next morning.

– Tuesday, 11 Sept through Friday, 14 Sept: Well, obviously I didn’t make it home on Tuesday. I finally made it home on Saturday afternoon after a long and wearying trip. But that’s ok. Spent most of my “vacation extension” watching tv, emailing friends, reading the news. What else could I do, really? Watched some movies. Walked for 2.5 hours one day around Pasadena, then later that evening went walking around the Rose Bowl with Jennifer.

Now, about last night….Kristina and I only had a limited amount of time before the Weakest Link came on, so we just started running as soon as we got onto the pathway at the park….and didn’t stop running until we went all the way around, and got back to the car! 1.8 miles! A new record! Afterwards, I felt fine, though my knees felt a bit wobbly and my hip got sore while I was running. I think that’s just because my back was sore from the trashcan game on Sunday (don’t ask.)

September 4, 2001

The long, lazy Labor Day weekend is over. Thank god. It was a little too long for me. I took Friday off work, and went to Baton Rouge on Thursday night, and the whole weekend, until I couldn’t take it anymore on Sunday, was spent seeing people, meeting up, and being afraid of missing someone (which I did do.) So Sunday, I decided to pack up and head back home to my apartment, where I could curl up with some books and read and watch TV until it was time to pick Kristina up on Monday night.

Running was somewhat put on the back burner this weekend, I only ran twice since Thursday. Mom and I went to dinner at Macaroni Grill on Friday night, and afterwards I was so full I went for a run around her street. I only went 4 times around, about 1.3 miles. I knew it was a bad idea to run on an extremely full stomach, but it really did make me feel somewhat better.

Saturday morning, Chris and I were going to go run around the lakes, and do a virtual 5K for the Runner’s World Beginner’s Forum. It was pouring and thundering, etc, so we decided to go to CC’s until 8 a.m. and then go to the gym and run on the treadmill. That was a first for me, running a distance on a treadmill. I ran the 3.1 miles in 39:49, which was 44 seconds slower than my Run for the Angels 5K. Still, all in all, I ran a lot more of it than I did the other 5K, albeit at an obviously slower pace. I felt like I did better this time.

I’d like to do a 5K in a few weeks, so we’ll see how much better I can do at another road race. I wanted to go running last night, but of course, it thunderstormed from 6-7 p.m., and by the time it stopped, it was too late to go.

I’ve been suffering from insomnia off and on, and am exhausted right now. So I don’t know if I’m going to run tonight or now. I’d like to say I will, I’d really like to, I just don’t know if I’m going to have the energy.

August 29, 2001

Yesterday, around 3 p.m., it started thunderstorming horribly, so a run after work was unfortunately out of the question. It was raining just hard enough to be yucky by the time I got home, though it wasn’t thundering or lightening anymore. So I decided to go this morning instead. It was nice! I hit the snooze button a few times, almost decided not to go, but then I figured it’d probably storm again this afternoon, and then I’d be screwed. So I got up, and went to the park at around 7.

Half of the park was closed off for resurfacing, so I just ran up to St. Charles and back down. But I really ran it! Both ways! When I got up to the St. Charles side, I walked a little, up to the sidewalk, and stretched, but then I ran back to the parking lot! I ran for at least 7-8 minutes each time, with maybe a 2 minute recovery, and I didn’t even feel all that bad. Had the park not been half closed, I probably would have gone around twice, but I really didn’t feel like going back and forth again.

Last night I had a really nice dream and I want to record it here, so I don’t forget it. It really has nothing to do with running. But anyway…I dreamed I was back at our old house (on Port Hudson, the house I grew up in and we moved out of when I was 17) in my parents’ bathroom, getting ready to take a bath (but I was still clothed.) I was the only one in the house, but then I heard a noise. I went out to investigate, and at the last minute, went into my parents’ closet to get something to defend myself with. Turns out, I grabbed one of my golf clubs that I got when I was little (the wood, as if it matters.) I don’t even know if I had my own wood when I was little, but I think I did. I went out into the kitchen, and there was Dad, bent over, putting papers in his briefcase or something like that. He was dressed like he was going to work, and there was someone else in the kitchen (some guy, don’t know who it was.) He stood up and I looked at him, and it wasn’t creepy or scary or anything, it was just normal. I looked him right in the eyes and he smiled and gave me a big hug. He was just as squashy as always, and it just felt so normal and nice. I can’t remember if he said anything to me. I feel like he felt proud of me for something. Maybe for quitting smoking, since that’s what probably killed him. Ironic then, that it was most likely a nicotine patch-induced dream. Ha ha!

Anyway, I woke up feeling good, like it was his way of visiting me and checking up on me, since I know I wouldn’t handle anything vaguely “supernatural” well at all.

Enough about dreams – might go running again this evening with Kristina. I won’t be able to go tomorrow since I’m going to Baton Rouge, so I should get it in now.

PS Whoever said running in the morning energizes you for the rest of the day was not talking about me. Hmmm.

August 28, 2001

Today is Jenny’s birthday. She is 29. Ack! I can’t believe she’s almost 30!

Last night, in lieu of going running (it was rainy all afternoon, but it stopped by the evening) we walked to Sav-a-Center. I wore my new Adidas Cairo ’01 shoes that I got in the mail yesterday from Road Runner Sports. Yay! Exciting! They’re motion control, but my other shoes are stability, so we’ll see if these are more appropriate. I would think so, but who knows. I’m no expert. They are pretty, and they were extremely cheap (something like 66% off!)

We only ran a little bit on the way to the store (wanted to test out the new shoes – so far so good) but we were so hungry there was no more running going on. Today is going to be a real running day, though. Maybe we can go further than 1.5 miles…who knows?

August 27, 2001

Ahhh, Monday. Fun weekend. Friday afternoon we went to the park, walked around twice. Ran about 1/4 of the way around at the end, though. At least it was something. But then we were too tired to go out so we just stayed home and watched Trainspotting.

Saturday, we went to the main library downtown, and I checked out some books. I had dreamt about going to the library the night before, so it seemed fitting. Then we went and ate lunch at TGI Friday’s in the Quarter. That seems like it should be very wrong, but whatever. I wasn’t feeling so hot, but after lunch, we went down to the French Market and Kristina bought some stuff – candles, a watch, and she had bought a t-shirt at Virgin earlier. I didn’t buy anything (because I’m currently broke) but after that we went and had coffee at CC’s. Then, we wandered back towards the Aquarium and went to the IMAX theatre and watched the Cyberworld 3-D movie. It was cool. I suppose the point of all this, is that we walked pretty far that day, so it wasn’t so important that we didn’t go running.

That night, Kristina, Jason, and I went to the pub in Algiers. That was fun. After that, we went to dba, then finally to the Avenue. It was a fun night, nothing terribly exciting, but fun. I really wanted to smoke, but of course, I didn’t. I think no matter how strong my cravings are, when it gets down to it, I really just don’t want to smoke. And if I can resist when I’ve been drinking, well…that’s some kind of willpower! It’s comforting, since Wednesday is my last day on the patch.

Sunday, we woke up late, and Kristina was very hungover. It’s amazing how not smoking can make you not hungover, because I drank almost as much as Kristina, but she smoked a pack and a half of cigarettes. So after lazing around the house, and giggling a lot (surely that must be good for something? abs?) we went to Rite-Aid and to LPK for dinner (thank god Kristina was too hungover to Somersize, or to care.)

That was pretty much it for the weekend. UKtoYou got two sales this weekend, seems like things are finally picking up. Yeah! I’m going to Baton Rouge after work on Thursday, and staying until Sunday or possibly Monday. Jenny’s coming into town on Saturday. Yippee.

Oh yeah, and the scale this morning read -7 lbs since I started running. Hmmmmm…