Running

Thoughts on Turkey Day

/ jane in training / 3 Comments

Los Angeles vs.:

That’s my finger in the left hand corner, not a demon presence. Thanks for worrying about me.

There’s really no contest.  At least, not for me.

Blue (thankfully) sunny skies, the smell of an unpolluted ocean, and clean, fresh air.  I stopped during my run this morning to take the photo above.  I’ll be moving here in about four weeks, and the visual landscape – a deer was trotting down the road as I made my way downtown – reminded me that I made the right decision.

However, my social circle will be shrinking down to almost nothing, so I’ll have to make some kind of attempt at meeting people so that I don’t become a social misfit.  Well, okay…so that I don’t increase my misfitness.  Or, I could go back to grunting as a means of communication.  Maybe I’ll meet a nice caveboy and live an uncomplicated life with him, not with words, but with a lot of colorful gestures.

My plan is for this move to be my in-between place, to take stock and plan my next step.  Think good thoughts for my sanity, as I will be *gulp* temporarily moving back in with my parents.

But, one thing at a time.

I still have to break up with work next week, which, once done, will make my leaving that much more real.

Run and Give Me 20

/ jane in training / 4 Comments

It was World Run Day today!

I celebrated by eating hot dogs and drinking Guinness!

No, not really…although if you knew me, you probably believed me.  I actually used today as a test run for the 5K I have on December 2nd on the Universal Studios backlot.  I ran two continuous miles!  After I put my beer down, I ran/walked the rest of the 1.1-ish miles.

A friend joined me at the last minute, and after the run, we were stretching at one of those exercise stations at the park.  Suddenly, a man’s voice bellowed:  “THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE!”  We turned around, and an older gentleman was looking at us.  Huh?  “THOSE PUSH UPS YOU DID!!”  At the exercise station, I had managed to do two very shaky push ups.  He proceeded to give us advice on walking with weights and strengthening our core first thing in the morning by lying on our backs in bed and holding our legs a few inches from the mattress.  Why we should do this upon first waking up didn’t make sense to me.  After all, my bladder is pretty full first thing in the morning, and straining to hold my core steady just didn’t sound like a very good idea.

“Are you a coach?”  I asked him.

He looked surprised.  Yes, he was.  A retired coach.

I gave him a knowing look that said, I’m psychic.  Hm, maybe this is why I attract strange men.  Anyways, he looked exactly like what you’d think a high school football coach would look like.  For some reason, this energized him, and he put his cup down in order to lie on the ground and demonstrate just what we needed to do.

“If I pass out, call 911.”  He told us, lifting his legs off the ground and counting inside his head.

“Is that water or alcohol?”  I laughed, leaning over to peer into his cup.

Beer.  Awkward.

I know, I know, I just made jokes about me and my Guinness, but I’m kind of proper in some ways, and straining your core while drinking beer really shouldn’t be done before 10am.

What?  Oh, yes…World Run Day.  I do realize that I tend to go off topic, but I wouldn’t have done so if Coach hadn’t shown up today.

I have three weeks to continue my training and will be adding hills to my routine.  I’m slowly realizing that my legs, sadly, will never be gracefully slim…the sooner I can accept that fact, the stronger I’ll be for it.

P.S. Coach didn’t pass out. We thanked him for his advice and left him to do our core work by eating like pigs.

The Training Continues

/ jane in training / 3 Comments

This blog was born with a post about my zest for writing and running.  At least, that’s how I choose to remember it.  And surprise, surprise…I’m still here!  Doing both!

When I don’t have time to run after work, I get up in the misty mornings and run before.  Mind you, I’m not saying it’s for everyone.  After all, I don’t really have full control of my limbs (or my bowels) that early in the morning, so impending disaster and embarrassment loom around every street corner.

My friend Neal (now he’ll have to keep reading my posts with this shout out) claims that the average person exercises for about 10-12 weeks before slowly losing their original zeal to get healthy.  At least, I think that’s what he said – I might have nodded off at some point during the conversation.  Anyways, what I heard was that if I didn’t make exercise a habit, I would soon enter LazyAssville after a few months, per my usual routine.

No, I say.  Not this time.  I am publicly declaring that I will keep up my routine and will, yes, eat humble pie if I don’t.  I also know that I can easily delete this post.  Ah, the power.

*I just realized that I can’t piss off Neal.  He’s my only subscriber and he kindly comments on my posts even when I’m certain he’d rather be reading about Einstein’s philosophies and dirty little habits.  Thanks, Neal. 

The Training Re-Begins

/ jane in training / 2 Comments

Breaking in my new shoes

No, I don’t think the photo above is proof of my run today, but you really think I’d post a photo of myself running?  I don’t think so.  I was a sweaty, red-faced, hot mess during and after my first attempt with this new training app:

I’m personally calling this my “Finding My Redemption”App

It’s one of those “Couch to 5K” programs titled “Get Running”, recommended to me by The Food Librarian (check out her blog – but I’m warning you…you’ll gain five, no ten pounds just looking at her website:  http://www.foodlibrarian.com).  The program is much kinder and gentler than my previous one, which I’m convinced was conceived by Bobby “Got Anger?” Knight (don’t worry, he doesn’t know where I live).

I actually made it through the whole training and when I got home, even tried out some new arm exercises using weights.  I think the exercises were touted as helping you acquire “sleek, sexy arms” and were probably designed by the same people whose exercises I tried the other day called “Fit in Your Skinny Jeans”.

Those marketing sons of bitches.

The Training Begins

/ jane in training / 1 Comment

I heard that you should have some kind of unifying theme when you start a blog.  So, upon hearing that advice, I froze, which usually happens when faced with an infinite number of choices: Paralysis indecisionatus.  I’m pretty sure that’s Latin for “spineless behavior of the brain”.

I didn’t want this blog to saddle me with a specific identity.   But if I have no theme…no clarity of purpose…well, maybe that is my theme.

The pressure to not suck at writing made me run away from my own blog, even before I had posted one word.  Believe me, I thought about just posting:  hi.  i’m here.  the end.  But I couldn’t even commit to five measly little words.

Months later, here I am again, convinced I’m going to delete everything I’ve just typed out.  Obviously, I haven’t yet, but I did come back and make some edits…yes, I’m one of those.  But seriously, the blog police aren’t going to pull me over for writing without a theme (will they?) and besides, who the hell is even going to read this?  I’m barely reading this myself.

Don’t think.  Stop procrastinating.  Just start typing.

I am going to train to run a 5K.

I’m very organized.  I had my feet, gait and balance analyzed at a local running store and I bought a new pair of Sauconys and socks that will prevent blisters.  I found an 8-week training program that seemed very reasonable for a yo-yo exerciser like myself.  I’ve run/walked a few other 5Ks in the last three years, so I’m not a total couch potato.  I can do this.

First day of training (yesterday): Run five minutes, walk one minute.  Do this five times.  I can do this.

I discovered that I couldn’t do it.  Not all of it.  I ran two cycles and started wheezing.  My nose started running.  My thighs suddenly filled with cement.  And then I was hit with terrible cramps.  No, not leg cramps.

I walked the rest of the way home, feeling defeated.  I realized that I needed to train before I started my real training and I didn’t have any extra days to add to my program.  It was the perfect chance to convince myself to stop this silly training.  My fallback position.

At some point, you/I/whomever has to say to themselves, no, I’m not going to quit.  I’m not going to stop myself before I even start.  I’m not going to give up on myself.  So what if I don’t run the entire 5K?  There are worse things to happen in this world than not meeting that particular goal.  More importantly, what I’m really trying to do is motivate myself to make exercise a habit.  I’ve never been able to do so.

As a matter of fact, I should make writing a habit, too.  I like it, even though I rarely make sense and am self-conscious about what I write and – oh.  I’m doing it again.

Stop your self-trash talk and go immediately to www.oprah.com (another pep talk – Oprah cares).