Running in High Heels

Do men have any idea how lucky they are? Take shoes, for example. Since I became a "runner" I will only wear three pairs of shoes: running shoes, flip flops, and cowboy boots. Anything else, and my feet scream in protest. It's a drag, too, because there are alot of cute shoes out there, but not on my feet. All men's shoes are basically the same, however. Loafer, tie, slipon, sandal... it really doesn't matter the style because they are all fairly comfortable.

Every so often, I have to go somewhere where my aforementioned shoe styles would either be inappropriate or look ridiculous. Yesterday was one of those occasions. We were invited to the Bat Mitzvah of a close friend's daughter. In the morning, at synagogue, I wore pointy-toed slingbacks, which were oh-so-cute with my stylish BCBG pantsuit. Men do not know the meaning of foot pain until they have squeezed their toes into a pair of pointy-toed shoes! All morning long I debated whether I would even be capable of running my scheduled 5 miles (I did). But, my real concern was for the BAT MITZVAH PARTY that night.

I had to look hot for the party, right??? Out came the cute yellow sandals that made my legs look long and lean with my really adorable black dress and yellow belt. All evening I wondered how I was going to run 20 miles the next morning. It would be a true test of what the legs and feet were capable of withstanding.

So, how'd I do?

Great! 20 miles; 3:37:44. 10:53 avg. pace.

Like 2 weeks ago, I ran 6 miles then met a friend along the trail who ran 10 with me. I ran the final 4 back to my car alone. Along the way, we saw the most enormous vultures, about 5 of them, just hanging out in a huge tree. One of them had its wings spread. The wingspan on those birds is incredible! I bet it's measured in feet. Times like this, I think I should invest in one of those cute new Kodak cameras. You know... the one that comes in PINK. (click)

Confidence

Today was a gym + run day. First the gym part:

Squats on bosu. 1 set body weight X 20; 1 set holding 4 lb ball X 20
Push-ups on bar 4 sets X 15 SS Military pull-ups 4 sets X 10 (hate those)
Hops on riser 4 sets X 15 SS Rebounder (4 lb ball)
Deadlifts (5 bl DB) 4 sets X 20 SS Bent over rows (5 bl DB) 4 sets X 20
Stretch

After that, I drove to another gym with better treadmills for my run. (It was raining and I'm a little wimpy).

5 recovery miles on the treadmill. About 50 minutes. Thinking about what my son said (If you want to run 9 minute miles, then you have to run some 9 minute miles) I cranked the treadmill up to 9:01/mm for the last mile. Trust me, this is very difficult after spending an hour at the gym and running 4 miles already. Close to the end, my mantra (spoken outloud) was "Come on!" Who cares what anyone at the gym thinks? I get the prize for sweat.

I'm feeling quite confident right now.

I'm also thinking about possible Fall marathon options. I'm in the New York lottery but I don't think I'll get in. But, if I happen to register on May 9 for the Marine Corps marathon then I'll probably get into New York for sure, because I'll have just paid for Marine Corps. Also, I'd like to run the Philadelphia Marathon, but I may have a conflict with Freddie's school musical. Then again, it might be fun to do a girl trip to San Francisco and run the Nike Marathon. I wonder if they are nice to nonTNT runners there? And, just to confuse the issue, I got a brochure in the mail a couple of days ago for the Detroit Marathon. I could even drive there. . .

Boobs

Ladies,

What is the obsession with BOOBS? Can someone please tell me when a woman's breasts became an accessory for us to flaunt? I only bring this up because on tonight's American Idol, which was the Idol Gives Back episode, designed, like the Jerry Lewis Telethon, to make us feel a whole lot of guilt and then donate a whole lot of money to help poor, starving, AIDS and malaria afflicted children in the U.S. and Africa, Paula -- immediately following a video of her visiting a Boys and Girls Club -- stood onstage with Ryan Secrest wearing a dress that, well, featured a pair of the largest, roundest, firmest set of knockers that I have ever seen! Honestly, I could not even concentrate on anything else at the moment. Frankly, I gasped! And my ten year old daughter knew exactly what shocked me so much! It's a sad state of affairs, when my children who are aged 16 and under can tell when a woman's breasts are fake even though they have had no experience with the real thing since they were weaned.

Now, my own breasts are small. They used to be bigger, but I bore three children and spent a total of 5 full years breast feeding them. Now they are nothing more than a shell of their former selves. I would consider augmentation, but I am afraid I would wind up looking like some plastic surgeon's fantasy.

Last week Don Imus, thankfully, lost his radio show because of his rude and boorish behavior. How dare he call a team of highly intelligent, female basketball players "hos"?? But, why must we women "enhance" our breasts so as to look like the cover shot of an X-rated DVD?

To quote my daughter: "Don't they know that kids are watching?"

800 X 10 Repeats. Phew!!!

This is a milestone. The first time I completed 800 X 10 repeats. I did it on the treadmill, which I'm not sure counts the same as a track, but I finished. I had some doubts after the first one, but I thought about Sarajane who said she never quit what she starts. In the words of my son's tae kwon do coach: QUITTERS NEVER WIN. WINNERS NEVER QUIT. I'M NOT A QUITTER. I'M A WINNER. Gosh, I knew that would come in handy some day!

I have converted these times from the trinewbies treadmill conversion chart. The treadmill was set at 1% grade the whole time. All intervals were .25 mile or 3:75.
Warmup: 1.25 miles (easy)
1. 4:22
2 4:22
3 4:22
4 4:22
5 4:22
6 4:16
7 4:16
8 4:16
9 4:09 (ok, I thought I'd get macho here)
10 4:16
Cooldown: 1/2 mile. That's all I could do. My legs felt like jelly and I was starving. In all, I covered about 8.5 miles, but I'm not exactly sure. I had to dismount for 2 quick pit stops and lost track of distance. When I'm not wearing my Garmin, I tend to lose track of all but the most basic information. I can count to 10, but that's about it.

I was feeling kind of slow the first 5, so I came up with a plan that I would do the next three at 8:32 pace and the last two at 8:18. After all, my oldest son claims that if I want to run a 4 hour marathon, I should at least try to run a 9:00/ mile. He does have a point. I could feel that I was pushing it too hard for 800s on the 9th one. Maybe 400s but I didn't want to kill myself. McMillan's calculator (nice to look after the fact, huh?) indicates that I should be doing my 800s between 4:18-4:30 so I am right in there. It also claims I could run a marathon in 4:34:02 but that remains to be seen. I'll take 4:40 this go round.

_____________________
8 more miles in the Shines. They felt great, but I notice I have a blister on the back of my left heel. My orthotics don't fit snuggly enough in the shoe.

Almost There

12 miles this morning. I ran with a friend. I think I run a little faster on my own, but I enjoyed the company. My back is a little achey. I think my body is quite aware that it is almost time to taper. This is my last big week and then it's TAPERTIME!

Today's run was very hilly, but yesterday's was flat as a pancake. Why did I choose to save the biggest hills for the long run? I don't know. The Pig is hilly, but Cleveland is flat. I guess I'll be prepared for both extremes.

Here is the elevation. As you can see, I really do love pain as I saved the biggest climb for last:

WTD: 30.3

MTD: 123.08

YTD: 439.36

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

8 miles. Beautiful weather. I ran down by the river while Sarah was at ballet. I love that I have something to do besides sit and wait for her.

I discovered that the podcast for Fresh Air is now free. I loaded a couple episodes on my ipod and got to listen to the Wikipedia guy and some comedians being interviewed by Terri Gross. On the way back, Donna Summer's Greatest Hits! Whoo! Hoo! MacArthur Park!

Anyway, I always manage to start out fast on this route. I feel good, but it always catches up to me. I almost puked at 3 miles, so I slowed it down. No worries. I wore my smooch skirt and a cute pink long bra that I bought from RRS I was feeling sexy, fit, and athletic. Ok, with my hair in pigtails, I was still feeling alot like Mary Hartman too, but a hot Mary Hartman. I finished in 1:19; average pace 9:49. I'll take it.


Mile 1: 9:27
Mile 2: 9:04
Mile 3: 10:00
Mile 4: 10:15
Mile 5: 10:46
Mile 6: 9:49
Mile 7: 10:15
Mile 8: 9:59

____________________

8 more miles in the Shines. Today they felt good. My lower right calf and achilles are a little sore, but I really can't attribute this to the shoes. 13 miles shoe total

Wait -- No Weight

Today I did one hour of kick-ass strength training and I never touched a weight. This workout's a keeper.

Spiderman stretch (5 each side)
Split squat (5 each side)
Front squat (body weight only; arms extended front) 30 X 3
Push ups (uni- ext. arm front-lateral) 10 each side X 3
Reverse Pikes on Bosu 10 X 3
Uni-Split squat (back foot on bench) 5 each side X 3
Russian twist (5) SS Victories (10) X 2

Stretch

I will continue to work on strength, flexibility, and core until the marathon but I won't be using the weights anymore. I am also going to forgo anymore "explosive" plyometric exercises, including running the stairs. I've got a bunch of articles to read regarding continuing to work on these things throughout tapering vs. discontinuing and I will read them while I'm having my hair colored. I'll report the findings in my next post.

_______________

This is a little out of sync, but I want to include it here as part of my training:
Yesterday I did hill repeats:

5 miles. 2.50 warmup. 8 hill repeats. 1 mile cooldown.

The hill I where I run repeats is .10 miles. It's also pretty steep (ok, not Rocky Mountain steep). I was fairly consistant to the end:

1:10
1:15
1:12
1:17
1:13
1:17
1:20
1:19

This will probably be the last time I run hills before Cleveland. I'm starting to feel a little beat up.

Sometimes Slow is as Fast as it Gets

5 Miles. 52:57 minutes. I felt sluggish and ungainly. I willed myself to finish the 5. For some reason, I am not enjoying the increase from 4 miles to 5 miles on the weekday runs. I know my body is feeling the effects of 7 days with no rest. Yesterday's workout, even without running, was pretty brutal. I've decided to take Thursday off from running (I'll still go to the gym and lift) and Friday will be a rest day. I'm having my hair colored on Thursday anyway, so it's good timing. Hate to waste a good haircut/color with sweat right away.


Here's some intersting news: I am a shoe tester. I have worn Pearl Izumi Floats for about two years now. In fact, I think I'm on like my 7th pair or something. Anyway, I recently went into Fleet Feet to buy a new pair (and get my free Brooks Flying Pig/Fleet Feet shirt) and they didn't have my size. Not only that, they told me they were going to stop carrying them. This bummed me out, because I like this shoe. But, I told them I'd just buy it online then. When I talked to the owner, he suggested that I test one of the new Pearl Izumi styles. Well, I like the Float, but I'm willing to test something else if it doesn't cost me anything! Actually, I thought I would be testing the new Float, but when I went in the store today to buy some gels, they said... "oh, you're Natalie W --- hang on a minute." And they came out with some shoes for me!! They are not Floats, but they are Shines. How exciting! New FREE running shoes! I put them on right away and ran my 5 miles in them. See, now I really have to diligently keep track. I now have two pair of running shoes with 5 miles on them, so I can do a good comparison. These are supposed to be lighter, but they look even funkier than the Floats as you can see. My feet also felt hot today and heavy, but it was pretty warm by the time I finally got out to run. I usually get it done in the morning, but today I didn't finish until 4:30 and it must have been close to 70 degrees by then.

Here is a photo of the "Shines" that I am testing:


And here is a picture of the "Floats" that I currently wear:



I'm wondering when I should lay off the strength/plyo training in preparation for my Marathon? Is 4 weeks out too soon? How about 2 weeks?


Thanks for reading and word to the wise: If you are going to have a wax (ladies), make sure you run BEFORE and not AFTER. Ouch!

Iron? Who Needs It?

I DO!

Today's 20 miles was the first long run I've ever finished feeling GOOD! I still can't get over it! I've been on the iron supplement (Slow Fe) for about 2 weeks now. I thought it would take much longer to see any effect, but I guess most people who take iron supplements aren't training for marathons.

Because of my past history of really konking out at the end of long runs, I have been dreading today's 20 all week. It's been like a dark cloud over my head. I had my husband drive me 20 miles away to the bike trail so that I would be sure to be as far away from our house as possible. I did an out and back route along the Little Miami River. A friend who is training for a half-marathon met me at my 6 mile point and joined me for the next 10 (5 out, 5 back). When we were done with that, I only had 4 to go straight back.

I kept saying to myself "I can't believe how good I feel!" I brought 4 powergels with me, but only used two of them. My goal was to finish in under 4 hours (running time), preferably 3:45. I met my goal and finished in 3:43:45 (Garmin/Motion Based time). Interesting that Motion Based says I ran 20.81 miles and Garmin Training Center puts it at 20.25. I don't know why the discrepency but, hey, who cares?

WTD: 43.81
YTD: 409.06

Just Following the Schedule

5 miles this morning. I really felt yesterday's workout. Yes people, there is a reason Fridays are rest days. I ran down by the river. Since my last run down there in early March, the name of the road has changed from Eastern Ave. to Riverside Drive. Well, well! Aren't we becoming gentrified!? Apparently, and to my benefit, Fleet Feet and Team in Training had held Flying Pig training runs this morning (much earlier than I got up) and left their goodies down on Riverside Dr. I came by and helped myself to some blue gatorade just when I was thinking to myself, "Man, I could really use a boost!" I hope I'm as lucky tomorrow for my 20. A friend of mine may be joining me for miles 5-15 so that will break it up nicely for me.

This morning's statistics:

Weather: coldish, rainy, headwind on the way back.
Mile 1 9:46
Mile 2 9:25
Mile 3 9:53
Mile 4 10:22
Mile 5 10:10

*Sigh* I am trying to make these marathon pace runs. I'm having a hard time holding these "shorter" runs to my marathon pace, which I believe should be anywhere between 10:30-11:00. I guess I'm just too enthusiastic!

Little Victories

When I started running in earnest, four years ago, every mile I ran was an accomplishment. I remember bragging to my family when we sat down to dinner:

"Hey, guess what? I ran 3 miles today!"

Or,

"I went running in the snow today!"

or, even,

"I ran 5 miles before 9 AM this morning!"

The family would cheer, or humor me with praises of my accomplishments. Back then, just getting out the door and doing a run, no matter the length, meant that I had really done something worthwhile -- for myself -- that day. It took me away from the ordinariness of my minivan life. I had become a characture of a suburban mom: schlepping the kids, PTO president, volunteer. Running gave me the sense of exhilaration that had been missing from my days. Just finishing a run was enough.

Then I started racing. I became a slave to training schedules. I learned about speedwork, hillwork, fartleks. Anerobic and Aerobic workouts. A 3 mile workout became "only 3 miles". The distance I ran grew farther. I ran and finished two marathons. Along the way, I tried races of different distances: 5k, 10k, 15K, Half-Marathon, triathlon.

I bought a watch. Then I bought a heartrate monitor. Now I am the proud owner of a Garmin 305. The information it gives me is infinite and relentless. Now, I am all about how fast I am. It has become harder and harder to find that sense of accomplishment on my daily runs. The runs are now planned both as to pace and to distance.

Today's run was difficult. I ran 8 miles yesterday and it included 8X800 repeats so it was a tough run. The schedule for today said 5 miles and I wanted to make it a recovery run. My legs were still tired from yesterday. The day didn't start out well, and it wasn't looking good for the run. My husband's car had a flat tire so he traded cars with me. That meant that I had to deal with the flat. I cancelled my workout and took care of the tire, but the kids, who are on Spring Break, have a full schedule. Plus, it's still cold here with some gusting winds. I knew I had to do this run but I was beginning to think it was going to be on the treadmill.

Around 1:00 I realized I could squeeze it in if I went out the door NOW. But I was cold. My tights didn't seem to be enough. I pulled on a pair of windbreaker sweatpants on top of the tights and wore a jacket on top of everything else I had on top. I resembled an Eskimo.

I hate recovery runs. They are slow. A slow run takes a long time. I felt like a snail. I was a snail making swish, swish sounds with every footfall because of all the nylon I was wearing. Jess said in her blog that recovery runs feel like "a massage for the legs." I kept waiting for the massage feeling. I waited. I ran. I swished. It never happened.

At the 2.5 mile point I came to a fork. If I went left, I would go home the back way. That was my plan, but I realized it would leave me well short of 5 miles. If I went right, it would take me back through the neighborhood and would be boring. But I could stretch it out to 5. I turned right. I won the first mental challange.

At 4 miles I realized that I would still be short. Should I turn left and run down the most boring, flat, treeless cul-de-sac of the course so that I could assure myself another .4 miles? I did it. I turned left. I stretched it out. I made it to 5 miles. It took 59:35.

I realized as I ran, that now I could no longer sustain my self with simply running. I had to occasionally overcome adversity in the run itself. I've said before, but it's true, that often I am my only obstacle. Is it true that running is 90% mental and 10% physical? I can't answer that because today, the physical was as difficult as the mental. But, I'm happy with the outcome of the mental aspect of this run. I made the choices to turn right and left. I stretched a run to 5 miles when I was ready to go home at 2.5. That was my accomplishment today.

Oh, yes, splits. Well, it was a recovery run after all. It's supposed to be slow:

Mile 1 11:27
Mile 2 11:18
Mile 3 11:45
Mile 4 11:46
Mile 5 12:03

Torture. Every one.

Faith

I woke up to a downpour and it hasn't really stopped. I've been paying close attention to the weather this week, because I'm scheduled to run 20 miles on Sunday. I decided with today's rain, I would take it inside to the treadmill for my track workout.

On the menu: 8X800 repeats with new shoes. Here's how it played out:

2 miles slow warmup. Treadmill set at 2%; 10:54/mile. As I was running, I realized that if I ran my whole marathon at this pace, I'd finish well under 5 hours.

Treadmill set at 1% grade:
6X800 at 8:34/mile (4:17) with .25 intervals
2X800 at 8:49/mile (4: 25) with .25 intervals

.5 mile cooldown. 88 minutes to finish the whole thing.

If you didn't like Hanson, you'd be happy to hear that today's workout was heavy with Led Zeppelin, but the song that got me through the last 800... the one where I was ready to hang it up.... quit early... was Faith by George Michael. How perfect. A song called Faith comes on just when I'm ready to give up.
__________
I'm feeling nervous and unconfident just as I always do the weeks I have to run 20 miles. It's like it is a constant presence, looming in the distance. A big question mark. Will I be able to do it? I'm planning on going to the bike trail where I'll have to run 10 miles out and 10 miles back. It takes out the guesswork and I will have no choice but to finish. There's no other way back to my car and no one can come get me. It sounds ominous, but it's heavily travelled. I've only heard of one woman being attacked on the trail. Maybe I should bring a whistle. I just don't trust myself on any route that goes near my house after last weekend.

What Goes Down Must Come Up

I actually did workout this morning. I did 1 hour of strength training. Here is today's routine:
Pull-ups (60) – 9,7
Sled Uni-press (explosive) (20) – 3 sets x15-15
Cable Squat-Uni (10) – 3 sets x 15
Push-Ups (Bosu) – 3 sets x 15
Pushdowns(Rope)(15) – 20,17,8
Db Curl (10) – 3 sets of 20
Uni Standing Military press (10) – 3 sets x 10-10


After the weights, I ran for 5 miles. It is a strange course; I wish there was a better one, but I run directly from the gym. If I would come home, chances are I wouldn't do the run, so I'm stuck with the surrounding neighborhoods.


Believe it or not, the loop is basically 2.5 miles downhill and then 2.5 miles uphill. It sounds like an out and back only an idiot would attempt, but no... it's an actual loop. Check out the pictures if you don't believe me!


All in all, it was a pretty good run. The sun was glorious and the temperature was perfect. I shed both the hat and mittens within the first mile! Yeah! Spring is coming back. A really great song came on the ipod at almost the 1/2 way point... the point where I am farthest away from the start and the shortest distance back is uphill. mmmbop by Hanson. What a happy song to run to on a sunny, springtime morning! Ok, maybe not a "great" song in the worldwide catalogue of great songs, but a great running song for a sunny day.

Splits? Oh, yeah:
Mile 1: 9:49
Mile 2: 9:39
Mile 3: 9:29
Mile 4: 10:46 Starting to climb mountains here.
Mile 5: 10:21 Still climbing. Levels off at the very end.
Total Time: 50:08

Do You Need Iron to Pump Iron?

I had a complete physical last week. It's been about 3 years since the last. It turns out that I have iron deficiency anemia. In fact, I had this 3 years ago, but this time my doctor recommended I take an iron supplement. (I wonder why she didn't recommend this last time?)

It comes as no big surprise to me. I used to be a regular blood donor, but having been turned down the last 5 or 6 times due to my blood drop not sinking in the iron test, I was expecting this result. Coincidently, I started running regularly about 4 years ago.

What I wonder is, how does (has) this effected my training? I don't know how long I have to be on the iron supplements to see any real effect -- probably not in the next 6 weeks -- but when I train for a fall marathon it will be interesting to see how this effects my endurance. I do seem to really lose steam towards the end of the long runs, which is a huge frustration to me. When I read about other people finishing their long runs and feeling like they could have gone further, well, I can't even imagine it.

Pete Pfitzinger's website has an interesting article regarding the runner's need for iron. Even The Flying Pig Marathon includes the need for adequate iron in the top 10 tips for running a marathon. I'm continuing to watch what I eat and have added a new supplement to the handful that I already take.

Failure

Failure.

Between the cold weather and Passover, it was almost fated to happen. I'm just happy it happened today, during a stepback week, rather than next week when I'm scheduled to run 20.
I mapped out 13 miles. It was a good course. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. I didn't have to run the loops I dreaded and got to come home via the "shortcut." I was kind of excited, actually.

Maybe I dressed in too many layers... under armour, long sleeve tech, windbreaker, hat, mittens. I alternated between being to hot and freezing. I was also having a hard time keeping up a running pace. "Walk" just kept popping into my head and I obeyed. At some point, I got the idea in my head that I would just stop home to take a few things off.

The kids were certainly surprised when I walked inside.

"I thought you weren't going to be home until 1:00!"

When I stripped off the layers, they were drenched. I would have to change clothes entirely. That is when I decided the warm shower was really what I needed.

Don't ever underestimate the value of loading your body on a regular basis with complex carbohydrates. I haven't had any since Tuesday. I knew going into today's run that I was lucky it was only 13, because from a nutritional standpoint, I've been starving my body given the training I subject it to. Passover is not a holiday for runners.

Here is how this run died:

Mile 1: 10:28
Mile 2: 10:17
Mile 3: 10:45
Mile 4: 12:10
Mile 5: 12:11

I guess the real question is did I turn my step back week into a set back? Only next week will tell.

WTD: 31.15 MTD: 48.07 YTD: 365.25

Improvement

Today, I went to the gym for my 5 mile run and did 5 X 800 repeats on the treadmill. I warmed up for a mile at a 10:40 pace (treadmill on 1% grade) and did the repeats at 8:40 with 1/4 mile rest in between. Because of time constraints, my cooldown was only 1/2 mile. I felt great at the end. I could have done more. I finished the 5 miles in exactly 50 minutes.

Out of curiosity, I went back through my training journal and found the following post from December 2006:

"I went to bed last night determined to wake up early and run 5 miles. I haven't finished a run successfully all week and if I didn't do it early this morning, it wasn't going to happen at all. I'm having my hair colored at 11 this morning and I'm not going to run after it and waste all that money!

I stressed and planned the run all night, finally deciding to just start out slow and stay slow and steady throughout. My aim was to maintain 11 minute miles and try not to go over. My quads and hamstrings are still sore from Tuesday's workout and Wednesday's hill repeats. I wanted to finish this run feeling strong. I ended up doing 5.5 miles in 58.31 minutes. My Garmin wasn't charged this morning so I used the Timex Ironman and didn't stop the watch when I stopped to stretch at 1 mile and fooled around with the ipod another time. With 1 mile to go, I felt pretty good and decided to throw in some fartleks. It really felt good to go fast those few intervals and I was wishing it was a speed that I could actually maintain."

Thank goodness for training journals! I feel like I am improving, but here is the actual proof. My very own positive feedback -- from myself!

Enough!

Enough of this "recovery" bullshit!

5 miles. Is that too much too ask? To get in the mood, I loaded "Apache" by the Sugar Hill Gang on my ipod. I wanted to run 5 miles at 10k pace. Instead, I ran 5 miles at 10k effort and Half-Marathon pace. I'm still breathing through my mouth. And impatient.

On the bright side, it's the best I've run since my Half on 3/25.

9:40
10:00
10:03
10:14
9:44

Sub. 50 minutes for 5.

"Apache" didn't cue up until I was finished. The last song to play was "Pray" by M.C. Hammer. Fitting. It did get me my fastest lap though. :)

18

I kept telling myself that 18 is chai; Life. But I felt like shit.

Last night, I finally took some action. I refilled the Nasonex, closed all the windows, and turned on the A/C. I feel like a loser for doing it, it's so gorgeous outside. But, nature's beauty is killing me.

This morning I stuck a Breathe Right strip on my nose (attractive, I know), crammed my inhaler in my amphipod belt and left for my 18 miler. It was sunny and beautiful. There was a nice spring breeze blowing that nasty pollen and fallen blossoms all over the place. I tried not to stop, because stopping just encouraged coughing spells. Despite the Breathe Right strip, I did the majority of my breathing through my mouth. When I stopped for the bathroom at mile 9, my breathing was noticably labored.

I saved This American Life for the last 5 miles. Ok, maybe that was a mistake because it was a funny episode and all that laughing and running just fired up the coughing even more.

Despite my best efforts, my 18 was a mere 17.58. Perhaps I should do more than just mentally calculate the distance in my head. Still, it's impressive that I was mentally that close to 18. It took me 3:27 to do it. My average pace was 11:49.

Anyway, off to the grocery to pick up some Matzah Meal and Matzah Cake Meal so I can start a week of cooking and baking while still listening to complaints of "There's nothing to eat around here!" and "Why do we have to keep Passover" and "I hate to bring matzah to school for lunch."

Shut up kids and eat your fruits and vegetables!

WTD: 32.58 (Skipped Saturday's 8 and shortend Wednesday's 8 to 5)
March: 136.82
YTD: 333.86