I like to run.

I was perusing Twitter the other night and a friend of mine said she wanted to run a marathon before her knees gave out and was seeking people to train for one with her.

So, I shot my mouth off and said I'd do a half.  Seriously.

In reality I have been considering a half for a while.  It gives me something to train towards instead of just my 2-3 mile run a couple of times a week.  So, now I have incentive to get started.

The goal right now is tentatively the Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon, which is 179 days away.

I found a 'Couch to Half Marathon plan to use to train.  I figured it would be my best bet since my runs aren't usually super serious and are more sprints than endurance.

I did the first training run on Monday morning and tried to go from my intervals to straight running 3 miles.  It was not successful.  I ended up with a few walking breaks, but I've always followed the Jeff Galloway training guide so that's no surprise really.

I cross trained with some yoga this morning and will be back on the treadmill tomorrow morning.  It's a fun motivation and this schedule seems pretty easy to follow and fit in my yoga (I'll yoga and run same day) and some spin classes.

It's from Fitness Magazine.  We'll see how it goes!

All By Myself...

Are you a social worker outer?  Or a solo sweater?

I'm a little bit of both.

I love taking a yoga or ab class with my ladies (Holly, Leah, Sarah, Cheena and Kathleen FTW!)

But, I hate running with another person.    It's too much pressure.

I'm a slow, plodding runner.  I like to sing along to my running playlist and when that song from "Center Stage" comes on I do jazz hands while circling the track.

If someone was running with me they'd probably think I was having a seizure or running while drunk.  For the record, I never run drunk.  Vodka makes me dance.

Plus, I feel self conscious about the parts of me that jiggle and my slow place when I run with someone that is  A) taller and B) faster than me.

You'd think that'd be motivating for me, but it's really not.  It makes me shut down and get lots of 'leg cramps' and skip my runs.

I'm an ashamed runner.  When I'm running by myself I can pretend like I'm a gazelle running through east Tulsa.  Doing jazz hands to Jamiroquai.

Running Observations

I've been plugging along on my running training.  Roughly halfway through the Couch to 5k in 8 weeks.  It's much different than when I was running it on the treadmill. 

I will say that running outside is kind of my personal hell.  Specifically yesterday I was running in the wind and could not breathe while hauling my ass up the hill on the far side of my park.  It was not a positive boost for me.

So I'm keeping at it, not letting the wind keep me down.

There were some nice observations this week when I was in my running gear.  On 2 different days my aunt and mother respectively told Mems they didn't recognize me when they drove past me on my way to the track because they said I was so much smaller.  So that's a win.

This weekend I decided my poor feet needed a treat after all the running I'd been doing.  So me and my pals went to my fave salon Mai Tai Salon at 36th & Harvard.  They've been doing my nails since I was 17, in fact Mai did my mani/pedi the day of my Senior Prom.  I looked amazing.  So good Reese Stole My Look.

I was sitting in the massage chair with my feet soaking.  When Tai came over to start my pedi he said, oh you have the callouses and made me soak for 15 more minutes before he attempted to smooth my poor feet.

In the end my tootsies got pampered and I got some delightfully pretty purple nails to start the spring season.

Weight Watcher Month 4

This week was my the beginning of my 2nd trimester of Weight Watchers.  For the record I lost another 1.2 pounds.

That's despite having potatoes 4 times (never in french fry form) eating out twice, and drinking many vodkas and mimosas.  Usually that means a bad weigh in.  But I counterbalanced that by increasing my daily runs (well I increased my run intervals which meant I covered more distance).  So it all balanced out.

This week I have no meals out planned and I stocked up at the grocery store on healthy yummy options to cook.  As I posted yesterday when I decided to Cook With Seitan.

I'll be re-creating that meal one night this week... making a tofu scramble... and because of a twitter conversation with Tasha of Tasha Does Tulsa... I'll be making falafel at some point.

And I decided to issue a challenge to myself.  I want to double this week's weight loss to make it an even 20. 

2.4 pounds in a week.  I'm going to be a nazi about it.

Fat Ass Training

I'm on week 3 of Couch to 5k Training.  This is my second go round, but the 1st time I've done it outside.

As I mentioned in my post with a bit of Tulsa history... I run at the former home of Ma-Hu Mansion.

I was really excited and proud of myself last week when I bundled up after work and went for my run despite the cold temps and the rain.   I was feeling pretty cocky as I rounded the track for the 2nd time.  My hoodie was soaked, I had a baseball hat and hood on, my pants were wet and dragging on the ground... but I was plugging along.  The only runner on this gray and dreary evening. 

Then... out of nowhere this motherfucker in short shorts and a t-shirt passed me without a care in the world.  He was dressed like it was 80 degrees outside and I was dressed for a snow storm.  And he was breezing past me.  Asshole.

Other than that training is going well.  My IT band is on fire most of the time but I'm working on stretching it out and spreading out my runs.  I'm hoping a deep stretch class at Inner Peace Yoga this week will also help me walk less like a gimp.

5k A Month?

So I've been toying with this idea in my head... of doing a 5k a month.

I'm already signed up for the St. Pat's run in March.... so I'm thinking from March on doing one per month.

My ultimate goal is to do a 10k this year.  Probably for the Route 66, we'll see how the training goes.

Right now I'm still on intervals (run 3 walk 2) and I'm going for 45 minute runs about 3 times a week.

My ultimate goal is to get a 5k in under 45 minutes.  I'm a slow runner,  I blame my boobs.

Right now I'm up to 2.7 miles in the 45 minutes... I have one more week of the 3/2 intervals... then it's 3.30/90.

We'll see how long it takes me to get there.

Calling all runners...

So I've signed up for my next 5k and I'm plugging away in my training.

Then I started telling people I was running and putting a group together... well not so much a group but just a bunch of other people running the 5k with me.

I'm a slow runner and my goal is just to finish in 45 minutes or less... so my faster friends are going to run on their own pace. 

If you guys want to run one here's the info: St. Patty's Run

Let me know if you plan on running... we can do a Fat Ass group photo before hand.

I plan on wearing my green running tights and a sparkly green headband. 

You know I'll rock it.

The number game...

So let's talk numbers.

As you know on January 1st I started a cleanse (because I'm so the Tulsa answer to Gwyneth Paltrow) and I joined Weight Watchers.

The first week was awesome- I loved cooking and planning meals and felt great and I ended up losing 5.4 pounds.

Then last week was okay.  I got really busy at work, and while I did resist temptation I got a little lazy with my cooking. 

I picked up falafel dinner too often or ate a baked potato or sweet potatos for dinner too many nights in a row.  I also drank too much tea and not enough water.

So I have one more week on the cleanse and I'm going to rectify that... clean up the diet... and get back on the treadmill.

FOX23 finally launched in HD so my late night and weekends working are over... and I can focus again on getting superhot.

The Run Continues...

So since my marathon failure I've been running more.  I am a pansy ass so I went from the track by my house to the treadmill when it started getting cold.  But I'm still at it.  I downloaded a new 5k training podcast and started it over pushing myself to go a little faster.

I have to say, despite some residual knee pain I'm just as addicted to the sweat.  I literally feel myself getting antsy if I miss my morning run for some reason, like I'm jonesing for it.  Much better than my Mike & Ike addiction.

Here's some more running observations.  I like to think of myself as the Jack Handy of running thoughts.

-My ass is shrinking.  I was leaving for a party the other night in some skinny jeans and Mems told me I should back in because my ass looked great.  That's high praise from her.

-I may have been told that I'm almost like high school Katy again.  That only means appearance wise.  I have so much more world knowledge now, and know so many better curse words... plus my tolerance for vodka is much better.

-Award show/Pop specials are kind of awesome to watch while on the treadmill.  For instance the TV was on mute while I ran, but the VH1 Divas Salute the Troops special was on and first Kathy Griffin was on looking awesome in a tiny camo bikini... then Katy Perry dropped from the sky in a red and white bustier with sequined hot pants... and my reserve to power through the last of my intervals was strengthened.

- I get really sweaty.  Not like cute, red cheeked "glowing" bullshit.  I'm red faced, frizzy haired and drenched in sweat.  Admit it, you think that's hot don't you?

- The running is helping me get more daring with my clothing choices.  I wore leggings as pants.  That's almost as good as Conan wearing jeggings, but not quite.

-The best running music is Pink.  First her songs, even the ballads have a beat that's perfect for my speed, and 2nd she's in such awesome shape I just think about that when I feel like stopping.  Pink can kick anyone's ass so I can finish those fucking intervals.

- Coming in a close second is Eminem.  One- I have an inappropriate crush on him so it takes my mind off the running... and also I enjoy run-rapping.

Route 66 Marathon #fail

So as many of you know... I was training for the Route 66 Marathon, feeling good about my time and had even run a practice 5k without injury... so the morning of the actual run I was excited and anxious to get going.

I met up with my running buddies and headed to the race, a little tired from the Brad Paisley concert the night before... but super excited to finally hit the pavement.

Look at us... so hopeful... full of promise...
 
Then we started running and Adam and I took off and I ran a little faster than I normally do cause I let peer pressure impact my pace at races.  I'm lame like that.
 
After the first mile my calf started cramping... not a good thing.  We stopped to stretch out my leg and walked a bit to straighten out the kink, but it didn't work and I started walking funny because of the cramp... which then made my knee start hurting.. which made me feel like a gimp... and in the end I stopped.
 
I knew I couldn't run two more miles on a cramping calf or with a popping knee, so I turned around and made my way back to the starting line pissed off and whining to Mems on the phone about it.  But there will be other races.. and I'll keep at it. 
 
So the positive... some pics I posted after I got back to the start of the race.

Adam dancing to Lady Gaga on the speakers while he and Andy shot his story for the day.

A can of Four Loko tossed aside after a runner guzzled it along the route.

A little girl proudly holding her medal after finishing the 5k.

An attractive man in orange shorts bending over.

The same attractive man bending over from a different angle. 



Adam walking past an attractive man in shorts.

I was back on the treadmill again last night and my leg was okay... knee a little creaky but I did 2 miles and stretched out... will be back on in the morning to keep at it.  

One thing I know I need to work on is not trying to keep up with the pack on a race day... but to run at my own pace... even if it's a slow fucking pace.

Hopefully a winter of treadmill running will make that happen.

More Running Notes

In honor of tomorrow's Route 66 Marathon... here's some more notes from my runs last week.  Tomorrow Robyn, Adam and I will hit the starting line and do our best to finish without dying.

~Adding a mile to your daily run is more exhausting then you'd think.  I had to come home and lay in the floor about 10 minutes to stop feeling lightheaded and wheezy. 

~When you're struggling through an interval and see a bird of prey circling- run faster.

~Journey 'Don't Stop Believin' is the perfect final run song.  Especially when you sing while running, apologies to those nice people with the baby and the dog who had to listen.  Also apologies to Julie who hates all things Journey.

~Adding a mile to your run will also make your ass cramp in the last leg if you're like me.  This makes you run like a chicken.  A sweaty, singing chicken.

~When you're laying in the floor resting your dogs will lick the sweat off your forehead.  You'll be too tired to stop them.

~Lady Gaga songs are also fun to sing/scream while running.  But when you run on a Saturday afternoon there are much more people to hear you then at 6 in the morning on Wednesday.

~I actually timed myself this time and it broke down to about 12 minute miles... which is about 3 minutes faster than the last time I timed myself.  Go me. 

~When you're injured you'll find yourself missing your daily runs more than you thought was possible... Seriously  I was so much bitchier without my runs.  I'll be glad when my neck is all fixed.

Noted While Running

Some pants should be saved for the gym.  Especially my cute green running pants.  I wore them for my Monday morning run and mooned at least one house before finishing my run holding my pants up. 

The perfect Pandora station is essential for running.  I've discovered Pink, Katy Perry and Bon Jovi are the best.  This also leads to me running around the track by my house scream/singing about my Teenage Dreams and Skintight Jeans.

Sports Bras are an amazingly important part of running.  And I need a new one.

No matter how much I run my form is not getting better.  I still run like a 5 year old trying to get away from a bully.

Mems doesn't want me to arm myself.  One night she suggested buying me some mace to use on my dark early morning runs.  When I responded "That'd be fun!" She changed her mind.

The more I run the more I want to run.  I make myself only do it every other day because of a bum knee, but I was really disappointed when I woke up and saw the rain and lightning so I couldn't hit the park.  The treadmill just isn't the same.

I'm excited about the Route 66 5k.  I feel more confident about running it than I ever have and am really hoping to run my fastest 5k.  By the way my fastest 5k is probably everyone else's slowest 5k. I run slow and I don't care.  Suck it.

I can run farther now than I did.  I like to do intervals and the more mornings I drag myself to the park to do them... the longer my intervals are... I went from short sprints to long stretches running from park bench to park bench for my three laps. 

So... and this may be cause I'm in the running zone... but if the 5k goes well... I may need to start training to run a longer distance in the next run. 

But I reserve the right to deny ever having typed this.

New Running Plan...

So I've got like a month till the Route 66 Marathon and I need to be able to run 3.7 miles.  My goal is to not walk any of my leg like I have in previous years.

WIth that in mind I started a new method to get running ready.  I set my alarm for 30 minutes, load up my pandora iphone app and take off.

As soon as the first song starts I run as fast as I can, as long as I can... then walking till the next song starts.  Everytime the song changes I do the same thing, sprint as long and fast as I can then walk till the next song.

Repeat for 30 minutes.

This method took me around the track at Terrace park two and a half times and left me sweaty, red faced and pooped.  But it was totally worth it.  No my sprints weren't the fastest or longest, but I did them. 

I ran till my legs ached and my breathing was ragged and I've never felt more powerful.

Why I Run...

Sunday I was hauling ass trying to run around the track at LaFortune.  I've got about a month to get trained to run a 6k and it's not going well.  My workouts lately have consisted of the elliptical, walking my dogs and Body Pump.  I'm getting my sweat on, but it's not running. 

So I'm basically starting from scratch with my running and about half a mile into my run I'm seriously contemplating quitting the marathon relay team and just saying fuck it.  But I persevered and ran one mile, which is better than nothing... and it made me think about why I run. 

Remember a month or so ago my pal Emily wrote this blog for me about running:
Why Emily Runs

So here's my version.
I started running to lose weight, now I'm still a fat ass but I'm still running.  There's something about hitting the treadmill or track by my house with my ipod on and just taking off.  I don't run far or fast and when I'm on the treadmill I usually just jog for time.  Hell there's some days where I start running and can't make it more than 5 minutes and end up walking the rest of the way, but the days I get the right pace and just run and run are the reason in the end I'll keep lacing up the shoes.

I feel my legs propelling me along, I feel powerful and free.  I don't worry about my jiggling fat, my bouncy boobs are whatever insane to do list I'm worrying about that day. Running and sweating frees my mind, frees my spirit for that half hour or so that I'm out there.  I think about the muscles in my legs getting stronger, I think about my arms propelling me ahead... those days I run till my lungs burn and my knee aches. 

When I stop, sweaty and gross with wobbly legs, I feel empowered and strong.  It's like no matter what happened that day or will happen that day I feel like I've done something big and good for me and nothing can bring me down.

So with that in mind I did not quit the marathon relay team.  I came home and iced my knee and re-committed myself to it.  I'll be back on the treadmill two mornings a week... and out on the trail this Sunday.  I may not be a thin runner or a pretty runner... but I'll be out there running my ass off... one step at a time.

If you want to join my special brand of craziness here's some running advice from real runners.
So, you want to be a runner...

Jamming Out

I neglected to mention when I was at the park running with the dogs yesterday.  It became more than a run... it became my chance to pretend to be in Glee.

Ipod firmly encased in my cleavage (it really is the best place to store things), earphones in and a dog on each wrist I was trotting along when Katy Perry came on... specifically California Gurls.  I feel I should note now that I was listening to a "Quick Mix" on Pandora... and I have some strange stations to mix from-Eminem, Pink, Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty etc.  I like to think my Pandora quick mix can show just how schizophrenic I can be.

So Katy Perry is singing about melting popsicles and bikinis on top (those are seriously the only words I remember) and it's getting me pepped up and I'm picking up the pace... and I'm singing, loudly.  That's right, I was belting it out, and shimmying a little as I rounded a lap... when I saw a shadow passing me. 

If you live in my area you know that the weather was flipping gorgeous so just like me they were taking advantage of the park in our neighborhood.  So to my neighbors I am now that strange girl with the dogs who dances and sings while jogging at the park. 

Like did you ever see the episode of Friends where Pheobe ran with Rachel and embarrassed her?  That was me.  9 times out of 10 I'm a total Monica (Hi, I'm anal and co-dependent and I love to yell-find me a Chandler)... but in this case my Pheobe came out (well the running thing and I'm very bendy.)

Pheobe Runs

Surprising Myself

I'm not sure if you guys have noticed, but I haven't been running too much lately. I've mainly been working on my diet and doing Body Pump and walking. But I decided to sign up for a leg of the Route 66 Marathon with my peeps at work.

So now I have to run a 6k in about 10 weeks. I decided to guage my running readiness before Body Pump class. I had 20 minutes and hopped on the treadmill and just started running to see how my endurance held up. Surprisingly I ran the full 20 minutes with no pain and no stopping. Typically my knee starts to kill me and I have to alternate with walking.

So I'm chalking it up to Body Pump helping my knee by working the muscles around it more. Or I just overnight became a running fiend. As long as it makes me look better in jeans I don't really care.

Summer Lovin'

Dears I'm in love.

I realized it today as I ran the 2nd half of my five miles along the river tonight.

I'm in love with summer.

I know it will be hotter than hell soon, and I'll sweat and curse and wine later. But I'm loving spending time outside, eating fresh veggies and working up a sweat in the summer sun.

So for the next few weeks expect my blogs to be the ways I find to workout outside and skip the gym.

Monday Bella and I did a two mile walk on Riverside then tonight I went back with her and the kid sister and left them at a park and did 5 miles on my own.

Not only was the river and sunset beautiful to see, it wasn't too hot thanks to this morning's rain... and I had plenty of eye candy to enjoy while I trudged along.

Seriously ladies or men who are so inclined, throw on your running gear and grab some sunglasses and jog along the river. You'll see a variety of runners and bikers both with and without shirts who are sweaty and delightful.

Wear some lovely Jackie O glasses and you can ogle as much as you want unnoticed, at least that's what I did.

Flashing Passers by

My running pants have a tiny pocket in the back. It hits right about the small of my back.

I usually wear these pants to run on the treadmill so it's never been used. So when I decided to run Lafortune this morning I knew I'd actually used this pocket to hold my car key.

So around 8 this morning I locked up the car, cued my iphone up to my training podcast and zipped the Jetta key in my back pocket. Then I took off. I'd just finished my warm up walk and started to jog when I felt the king bouncing against my back.

Then as I picked up speed I felt the back of my pants start to slip from the key in my pocket. Of course, I happened to be running on the part of the Lafortune track that goes with traffic along Yale... so as I'm running my interval I'm frantically holding my pants up to avoid flashing my ass to all.

I mean while I fully admit to having a cute ass, I don't want the entirety of Tulsa to see it... so I stopped and took the key out of my pocket and went back to my usual hiding spot.

I dropped it in my sports bra... boobs are awesome for storing things.

Bathroom Humor

When I was getting ready to run my first 5k years ago, I had a co-worker who was a hardcore runner. She was training for a marathon, only ate organic and took running very seriously. Much more seriously than I did at the time.

I hardly trained for that 5k, ended up walking a large part of it and made a tragic mistake in her eyes: I stopped to pee in the middle of the run.

You see those few minutes I was in the porta-john shave valuable time off my final run time. My co-worker yelle at me when she heard me say I had to pee mid-run. Logically I looked at her and said what am I supposed to do when I have to pee?

Her answer: Wet your pants. She seriously advocated peeing your pants to save your final run time.

Me? I'm okay with an extra few minutes and dry pants.

Another fellow runner brought up another issue when it comes to running and heading to the bathroom.

That being the impact eating the wrong foods can have on you needing to sprint from the treadmill to the restroom or porta-john.

It's something that happens to most runners, sometimes just the act of running can lead to an intestinal horror experience. Haven't you ever noticed all the porta-johns at the end of a race track?

I read an article once that said runners experience this intestinal distress because your body is sending all the oxygen to your other muscles and neglecting your intestines.

For the friend and I discussing this occurrence it was different foods triggered the "Dumb and Dumber" moment halfway through a run. Greasy foods and dried fruit eaten hours before a run did us in.

Of course the plus side in this it'll make you run extra fast to get to the porta-johns at the end of the race... and you could shave some time off your final tally.