Kristina was really tired when she got home (and her feet hurt) so I went running alone. Not for very long, we were both hungry and wanted to go to Louisiana Pizza Kitchen for dinner. I went around the neighborhood again, just zig-zagging along the streets. I only went for about 20 minutes, but it was pretty nice because the weather wasn’t bad at all – it was relatively cool (probably high 80s) and not very humid. I was still having a bit of trouble with endurance, though. I hope that it doesn’t mean that I won’t get better when it gets cooler. Hmmm.

Ren had the idea that we should get someone (not Gary, he’s a masochist) to drop us off somewhere sort of far away (5 miles or so) and then we have no choice but to get home. I think that’s a good idea. When Kristina and I were going to LPK, we discovered that Carrollton is only 3 miles from Louisiana. It seems so much further! I can’t believe it. That means if I ran from Milan to Carrollton and back, it’d only be about 5 miles! Sheesh. When I have to do the 18-20 mile training runs, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I guess the levee. I just hope I don’t have to run all the way to Kenner to get the miles in. Ugh.

I’m thinking of going to the kickoff meeting for the Team in Training next week. I don’t think I’d use them for this marathon, but I just want to find out what it’s all about – maybe do it in the future. Maybe the Dublin Marathon next year. Nice!

Went to the park after work yesterday. The sky was black so I thought I should go right after I got home instead of waiting until 6:30 or so, like I usually do. Leaving the apartment, it was misting, just a bit of a drizzle, but as I got halfway there, the sky (pardon the cliche) opened up. Poured. It was bad. But then, closer to the park, it wasn’t raining so bad, so I got out of the car, and started to walk. I was going to walk to the St. Charles side of the park, then run back down, but I only got to the first bend, probably only a quarter of a mile, if that, and it started to pour. I would have kept going (it felt great – cool rain! and a bit of wind – nice!) but my glasses were completely soaked. I could see better with them off, which is to say not at all, so I ended up turning around and going home. I was completely drenched. And I was out for a grand total of 5 minutes. Sigh.

But it was nice to go home and put on a flannel nightshirt. Cozy. I watched TV for a while and then went out with Anne and Jason. Looks like it’s going to rain like that again today. Hope not. Although I was contacted by a woman at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on Monday about the card Kristina and I sent in for information and they’re having a kick-off meeting tonight. I don’t know if it’s worth going, though, since I don’t want to use them to train for London, but I think I’ll do it for a future marathon. Maybe Dublin? That’d be cool.

BTW – I sent in my deposit for the marathon today! Now I’m committed! (Or should be) And Chris and Rebecca are going! Yay!

Well, it’s been a slow couple of days, running-wise. I ended up going to Baton Rouge on Saturday. I did manage to fix Dee’s treadmill, and went 1.5 miles on it. It’s so wobbly though on the thick carpet that I didn’t run much of it. The upside is, I did walk some “hills” which is a novelty for me.

Sunday was a non-running day – Kristina and I went to the Weakest Link auditions. We didn’t make it to the second round. It was more nerve-wracking than I thought it was going to be – we had to stand in front of 120 people and say our names, ages, occupation, and an interesting thing about ourselves. I couldn’t think of anything so I said “I read the encyclopedia when I was little” which got a tiny reaction, but obviously not enough for them. They did say that they’d be back in 6 months, so maybe we’ll have better luck then. At least we can practice next time.

Kristina went up to New York yesterday for an interview with a big fancy law firm, so I went running by myself. Not very far or for very long, but at least I got outside. I went for about 25 minutes, just around the neighborhood. I couldn’t get into it enough to run much, so I mostly walked. Better than nothing, I’m sure. There were some moving guys working in a van near my apartment. They said hello to me, and I said hello back, but then they started laughing at me. Not sure why, but it didn’t help my mood any. Hrmmph.

Chris isn’t sure now if he’ll be able to go to London with me. I hope he can. I really don’t want to be running for 5 hours or whatever by myself. I will go alone if I have to, though.

If it isn’t raining when I get home, I’m going to go to the park. Half of it’s closed right now, but Sarah said I should be able to run up and down the open half. That’ll be good. I miss the park.

Yesterday was just a short run. We had to fit it in between the Fresh Prince and Friends. So only half an hour. Since the park is still presumably closed (will have to check that out for sure later) we went a bit around the neighborhood. In all, we were only gone about 25 minutes (if that) and ran about 6 of it. I feel like I’m slipping out of the habit. Must get back into it.

It’s too bad we didn’t go further yesterday, the weather was nice. At one point, we felt a cool (!!) breeze! Well, not chilly or anything, but definitely not hot! Very exciting. But we didn’t have time, and my left shin has started to hurt again. By the time we got back to the apt, the pain was almost as bad as it was in the beginning! Perhaps I took too much time off. But I stretched for a long time and then iced it for a while, so it doesn’t feel so bad today.

I think what I really need to figure out now is how to lose weight. A lot of it. I’d like to go to a nutritionist, but I know I can’t afford that. I’d like to join a gym so I can get lots of cross-training in, but I definitely can’t afford that, either. What do I do? Do I just continue as I am and hope I lose 50 pounds in the next 6 months? Not likely. Even with the cooler weather, I’m just going to get injured if I run enough to lose that kind of weight. It’s a tough call…

BTW, Sportbrain is now officially out of business. Hrmmph.

Off to Baton Rouge this afternoon. Might see if I can fix Dee’s treadmill and run on that. Could be interesting.

We didn’t go running yesterday after all. I was in such a horrible mood, I just wanted to lay on the couch. So I did. Then I felt better (until I checked my bank balance online and discovered it was negative. But at least then I had a reason for feeling crappy.)

We decided to go running this morning, so we got up at 6:20 or so and were out the door by 6:35. It was warm, and humid, but not as bad as it has been in the evenings. Or not worse, at least. We walked the first few blocks (still waking up) and then ran, from about 3 blocks from Camp, and then up Camp past Louisiana a few blocks. It was awesome! I feel like I finally got a glimpse of the “runners high” that I’ve been waiting for. For about 5 or 6 blocks, my legs were moving, my arms were moving, I was breathing rhythmically and easily – it was great! I could have gone further, I think. I felt like I could have run miles like that (although, let’s be honest, I probably couldn’t have). But then I made the fatal mistake of telling Kristina how great I felt, which messed up my breathing enough to bring me down to Earth a little. And it sounded like she was struggling a little, or at least not breathing as easily as I was, so I suggested we stop, and we did.

We didn’t run too much more, maybe 5 or 6 more blocks after that, but overall it was a really good run. The last two times I ran in the morning, I got really tired near the middle of the day, and had to take a nap. Unfortunately, that won’t be possible today. But I should get used to this morning running, since that’s when I’ll have to do it in the fall and winter. (Not that I’m complaining – I can’t wait for that!)

Today I am very tired. Kristina and I didn’t get back from Texas until after 1 a.m., so I didn’t get enough sleep last night. It was a nice weekend, though, and I got to run in The Woodlands.

Saturday, I took Christian (Mike and Debbie’s 4 year old) to Target (woo! Target) and I got a singlet and running shorts of some sort of synthetic wicking material. Nice! Although when I got dressed to go running I felt sort of fraudulent, like I was wearing a uniform I shouldn’t be.

So Mike gave me the directions to go around a 3.4 mile loop, which I set off on. It was on concrete, though, which kind of worried me, but my leg doesn’t hurt today so I guess it was okay after all. I didn’t get lost, though for a while I thought I was. It was a nice trail, but I don’t think I was hydrated well enough (it was pretty hot and humid, not too terrible though) because I didn’t get very far before I was really thirsty. I didn’t even end up running much of it, but I kept going. When I started, I felt really good, and when I had been running for what felt like 10 minutes, I (foolishly) looked at my watch and noticed I had only been running for 4:30. Ugh. I kept running for 8 minutes, though. After that, I could only really run in about 1 minute increments. I think I definitely went out too fast. Too much. Near the end, I thought I was lost, I may have hallucinated, and I’m glad I got back to their house when I did. Plus, the sun was going down and I had told Mike if I wasn’t back in an hour to come looking for me. As it turns out, it took me about 45-50 minutes, which is pretty slow. Hmm.

Then, when I got inside, I jumped in the shower (after drinking some water, of course) and when I got out, I felt very dizzy and nauseous. Mike got me some Dr Pepper before I passed out (I really felt like I was going to!) but then I was okay after that. Debbie and I had eaten a late lunch at 3:30 or so, so I’m not sure why I felt like that (dehydrated, most likely). Scary. Must remember to hydrate better in the future!

All in all, it made me even more eager for the fall to get here. I’m hoping I will do much better once it gets cooler.

Too bad we didn’t go running last night. It really was nice weather, only a teeny bit humid, and according to my (no doubt incorrect) car thermometer, it was 78 degrees! But, I wanted to make sure I didn’t get sick (and I feel much better today) so we didn’t go. Hopefully I’ll get to Houston early enough to go for a run. Just a few times around their circle. We’ll see. (Do I always end my entries like that? I wonder what that says about me…hmmm…don’t want to know)

Yesterday was good! Of course, it stopped raining, and by the time we got to the park, around 7:30 pm, it was getting muggy. All of that rain just sitting in the air. Why it can’t just stay in the puddles is beyond me.

Anyway, we decided that we’d go twice around the park (a total of 3.54 miles) to try to figure out how long it’d take us to do the 5K (which is in 3.5 weeks now). So I started my watch after we had walked a bit, so I figure I timed about 3.25 miles. Which took us 45 minutes. So I guess it’ll take us around, oh, 43 minutes to do the actual 5K. Which is okay, because I looked at the results of last year’s race, and the last people finished in 59 minutes. We’d actually be near the back of the middle of the pack. If that makes sense. But then again, we still have a few weeks to get better, and I think the excitement of the race will help. Anyway, I don’t care. If we go too fast, we’ll have a hard time improving the next time around!

I think I may be coming down with a cold. Still. This morning I woke up and felt like my left tonsil (?) was swollen. Now it just feels like a bad post-nasal drip. Eww. So I may not go this afternoon. Or may just walk. On the other hand, it’s raining in a less-pleasant way today, so maybe I should just forget it. We’ll see.