A Break

So, I've sort of been taking a break from running the last few weeks. Don't get me wrong, I'm still exercising, but not running as much. Here's why:

Two weekends ago my family bought last minute tickets to San Francisco for the weekend. So, we rented a car (for super cheap, actually) and drove up to meet them. While there, we went to Alcatraz, Ghiradelli Square, the Wharf, Lombard Street, and the play Wicked. We also ate some really good Thai food, with Pumpkin Curry (YUM!).

Then, my mom came back to Fresno with us. She spent a week with us, mostly relaxing, reading, and napping while we slaved away at work (tough life for her, eh?) ;).  It wasn't all play, though, we went for a morning exercise walk together several times, and she helped me completely reorganize my kitchen so it is, now, a functional space. It's much more intuitive to use now, and I LOVE IT!

After she left on Saturday, we went to a friend's house for a movie marathon, then came home and quickly cleaned before we babysat some cute kiddos (three of them, ages 5, 2, and .5) from 5-10pm.

Sunday I had a great morning run. It was difficult, though, mostly because it was SO HOT outside. I started running about 8:30, and by then it was already in the 80s. Way too hot to run. That night we did homework, because our ox was in the mire, and then we were back to the grind on Monday.

This week has been busy, too, what with house preparations for the family coming into town this weekend.

But, today I finally went running again: 5 minute walk, 21 minute run, 5 minute walk, and it wasn't even hard. In fact, my knee pain was non-existant. The thing about this, too, is that I was having knee pain last Sunday when I ran outside in the heat. Then, based off a recommendation in Runner's World magazine, I started to lengthen my stride to its fullest. I dug deep, ran fast and hard, and stretched my stride out completely. I was FLYING. And, the best part was that my knee immediately stopped hurting.

So, today I ran faster on the treadmill. I kept the pace for the entirety of the 21 minutes.

WOOHOO!

The best news in all of this is that, despite my busyness, I haven't lost much of my fitness. I've only lost training time - a week and a half of it. But, hey, it was TOTALLY worth it, and I'd do it all again!

New Shoes + No Knee Pain = Renewal

It's been one of those weeks. I had a dream earlier this week that I flipped people off, which thing I have never done before in real life. I found it very satisfying. By the end of the week, I was thinking just how satisfying the dream actually was, and how I needed an outlet like it again.

I realized, when I felt this way, that I needed to go running. The last few weeks I haven't been very good about running regularly. I ran a couple times, casually, in Utah before the 5k, but with limited distance or limited running. Then I did a 5k, which went really well. You might have thought this would have motivated me. It didn't.

When I came back from the trip to Utah, I was exhausted and my schoolwork was at a peak. I had, and still have, so much to do that I was feeling discouraged about it all. I determined that I would sacrifice my running to catch up. I did, still, run twice that week back.

Then, this last week, I felt angry. I felt angry at my job, and the world in general, and at the work load that I was still carrying. I felt buried, like I would never catch up. And, I felt martyred because I wasn't even able to go running.

That's it! I thought, I'm going running anyway!

So, on Thursday I did. And, it went okay but it wasn't an amazing workout. Mostly, at the end, I felt frustrated that I wasn't where I was a few weeks ago, and angry that I hadn't been running. I felt discouraged and was beginning to wonder if all of this running wasn't just a waste of time.

What's more, after Thursday's run my right knee was killing me. This was concerning since I had run less than the 5k I'd run in Utah. Had I really lost so much of my training in so short a time??

Friday I went running again. I admit that, going in with the level of discouragement that I felt from the day before, plus the residual knee pain, I had already mentally determined it wouldn't be an amazing run. And, well, it wasn't. I ran/walked 5 minutes on and off for about 25 minutes. Then, I stopped, stretched, and went home.

I felt like I was failing, and sinking.

Friday night was a fantastic date night - farmer's market, amazing dinner at Hunan, and relaxing evening in. I was up late, so I took Saturday off from running. I slept in, I took a nap, I got some papers graded, I had some time with my book club ladies, and I recharged a bit. I only did stuff if, and when, I felt like it. It was lovely, and it changed my attitude.

By Saturday night I was sitting, reading through Runner's World again, and feeling like a proper runner. I began to see myself as successful. I even dreamt last night that I was trying out for the Olympics with a good chance at getting selected (hahaha). But, point is that even my subconscious was onboard again.

This morning, in an effort to defeat the knee pain, I decided it was time to do away with my old shoes and try on the new ones. If I still felt knee pain after today's run, I decided, I would go buy some different shoes and try to cross train more.

So, I strapped my new shoes on (or, at least my new version of the same-old Saucony shoes that I love), and went running. It was a beautiful, cool, breezy day. The streets were mostly empty. The sun was shining and keeping me warm, and I had a great, successful, energizing run. Afterwards, my knee didn't even complain once. It was lovely.

It also made me realize just how important patience and determination really are as I work toward this goal. It is so easy to get discouraged. It is so easy to come up with reasons not to do things. And, it is so easy to let my mind determine the quality of my running - even for the worse. Sometimes I really do have to be patient with my body, and maintain a determination that I will not defeat myself. Ever.

Hello, Speedy Hare, I'm a Tortoise

Yesterday - Sunday - was the first time I've run outside in a little over a week (or more). I decided to hit the road again because it was Sunday and I refuse to cause others to work on the Sabbath. So, no gym for me.

It was a pretty day outside, albeit hotter than I normally like when I'm running. I decided to run my regular route backwards (meaning I was running forwards, but I was taking the route the other way around from normal ending point to normal starting point). It went well except for two things:

1. I had to pee. This is not normally a problem, but for some reason I really had to use that bathroom, and I was a quarter through the run. There was NO WAY I was going to make it through the run sans bathroom. So, I had two options:

Option A: I could use the porta potty in a nearby field that had been there for who knows how long, and was last cleaned who knows when.

Option B: I could run back home and use my bathroom.

Obviously, I ran back home. Sorry, folks, porta potties scare me.

2. My Nike+ malfunctioned - AGAIN. Only, this time it was because I had paused it while I ran inside the house so that my potty time wouldn't count against me. Once back outside, I started running again and hit the "Resume" button. It said, "Workout Resuming," and then proceeded to play the requisite episode of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," from NPR (one of my favorite things to run to, incidentally). The problem was, the time didn't actually resume even though the music did. Instead, it decided to WAIT for several minutes and then play. I lost more than half a mile of my running because I didn't catch the error for that long. This made me REALLY mad because it means my stats on Nike+ are now not acurate, through no fault of my own. Grrr.

The run itself, though, went well. I pushed myself, enjoyed the weather, and felt really good about a Sunday morning run as part of my day of rest. I'm tempted, at least until the weather gets hot, to make this a regular activity. That may only be for a couple of weeks, though.

The only downside to the run was that I realized just how slow I run. It felt like I was running at a snail's pace, even though I knew I wasn't. This was made worse by the man who passed me a the beginning, and then HALFWAY around the loop, and he was WALKING. I've rarely felt so ashamed.

But, I just kept plodding along on the route despite my personal feelings of embarassment, and I kept reminding myself of the tortoise and the hare. Consistency is the key. After all, slow and steady does win the race, even if that means stopping for occassional potty breaks.