First World Runner

Oh yeah, that's The Oatmeal, himself. He was a good sport, and I wanted to tell him he's awesome, but I felt a little creepy doing that, so I ran along.

A day since completing the Beat The Blerch half marathon, I'm still in complete awe of what just happened.  Granted, this was my first official half marathon, I would still like to state that I was amazed at how well organized and smooth the event went. There were plenty of aid stations (obviously more than what I trained for, seeing as I trained for zero aid stations), the runners were all super laid back and happy, and seeing Matthew Inman persevere with the troops was poetic. 

I didn't partake in any of the aid stations, mostly because I didn't want to screw with my battle plan, but I did have plenty of cake at the end, which was delicious, might I add. I'm a baker, and I am very picky about any baked goods, if I do say so myself. It's not that I won't eat baked goods. I would anything that remotely resembles a pastry, but I am quick to judge them. The cake at the race was magnificent. Moist with just the right amount of heavenly frosting. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

About the course itself, I have to say I didn't even notice that the entire first half of the course was uphill until I turned around and noticed I was surely going downhill. I was very grateful to Mr Inman for thinking through this small detail that worked out so well for me, but I knew instantly at the turnaround that my time was probably going to be the best I will have in many a future race, simply because this race was probably the best thought out race, based on recounts of races I've read about.

Going into the race, I had this paranoid fear that something will go terribly wrong and some tragedy will happen. Well, it did, just not to me. Despite the overall cheerfulness of the participants, there was one man that we lost out there. Don't know his name, or the distance he was running, but apparently a quarter of a mile away from the finish line he collapsed and was not resuscitated. I saw the rescue squad pull in just as we were driving away. And so, my first race had a fatality. Please be safe out there, and remember to pay your cardiologist a visit before training for any event. 

Yesterday I ran 13.1 miles in preparation for this weekend's half marathon. It will be my first half marathon, and I'm quite excited about it. That being said, the last long run before the race took a huge toll on me. I didn't take a nap/rest after the run, and 24 hours later, I still feel a little broken. You can say I have learned the importance of naps.

I can't really say that there was anything very significant about the run, except that I was very tired towards the end, and I had frequent bouts of doubt. I doubted my physical abilities and stamina to safely complete the race. I know that this is a very subjective and intangible feeling, and it's almost certainly completely irrational. My husband was correct when he pointed out that I have yet to experience symptoms that could not be attributed to my hypochondria. Moreover, I have recovered nicely, if a little slowly, from each long run, so I guess that means that I just have to keep at it.

In fact, I would have to note that throughout my recent running career, "keeping at it" has been the toughest and most prominent lesson that I've learned. Never in my life have I so tenaciously worked at something, without any exterior motivators. When you're young, you pursue things because your parents make you, then you pursue goals to pay the bills, but now I'm pursuing this for no reason at all. No one is looking to benefit from me completing the half marathon this weekend, yet I've been investing in this vocation for just under a year now, and "keeping at it" has been a very long arch in my story. 

Activity date: 9/13/2014

Activity: 5 miles, low intensity with hills, good

Activity score (1-10 scale): 9

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with sweetened condensed milk (for the carbs)

Lunch: roasted beets and a Luna bar

Dinner: baked salmon with sautéed mushrooms, two early girl tomatoes

Supper: apple, peach, strawberries, chocolate covered almonds

Activity Retrospective: The run was pleasant, despite it being very warm. I intentionally left the water bottle in my car, because I wanted to experiment with running without water. Turns out, I'm not as dependent on my water bottle as I had previously thought. This is fantastic news, because it means I can probably pack less water in my hydration pack for the half marathon.

Next Steps: Run this next week in my old Brooks, because I want my legs to not be achy. I figure I'll return to the Nike's after the race, when I can properly christen them. Tomorrow's 13-miler I'm going to try to run with shot blox, because I want something that's lower in calories than the gels. This shouldn't be a problem, as I'm really just running 13 miles. Not a full marathon.

On that note, though, I'm thinking of running the San Diego full marathon next year! I'm scared that I won't be able to train in time for it, but I can always try and then take walk breaks. Would be really great to cross a full marathon off my bucket list!

Activity date: 9/11/2014

Activity: 5 miles, low intensity with hills, good

Activity score (1-10 scale): 9

Activity Retrospective: Actually happened yesterday, but didn't get around to documenting it. Tried a new trail, and it was nice. The only problem was I had to run on cement a little too much. Next time, I know where to turn to stay on the dirt.

Activity date: 9/10/2014

Activity: intervals (!!!), high/low intensity, good

Activity score (1-10 scale): 9

Breakfast: bran cereal

Lunch: butternut squash coconut curry, blueberries, navel orange

Post-run snack: chocolate covered almonds

Dinner: butternut squash coconut curry, ricotta cake

Activity Retrospective: This is my first time doing intervals following the plan outlined by Garmin and with the help of the heart rate monitor. Perhaps it's not such a great idea to start something new on a rest day the week before my first half marathon, but I was feeling antsy, so I decided to give it a shot anyways. The Garmin-guided interval set was intuitive, and I figured out that it would buzz at me if my heart rate was "out of the desired zone". Overall, I felt like I ran a short run, but I got a lot of bang for my buck.

Next Steps: After doing some superficial research, there are studies (such as this one) to support the effectiveness of interval training. I think I will include more of these in the future.

Activity date: 9/9/2014

Activity: 4 mile, low intensity, good

Activity score (1-10 scale): 9

Breakfast: Tofu with cocktail sauce

Post-run snack: chocolate covered strawberries, latte

Lunch: Butternut squash coconut curry with couscous

Dinner: kale salad with goat cheese and carrot ginger dressing

Activity Retrospective: Very nice calm run. It took a few minutes to rev the muscles, but once they did, the run was smooth.

My mom likes to talk about self-realization, in a theoretical, what-if sort of way. This can be a very interesting discussion, as long as one doesn't over-think it to the point where the topic cannibalizes in on itself. I relish the rare moments when I indulge in the rewarding conversation of "what am I meant to do in this life". One such conversation happened yesterday, and she mentioned some motivational speaker trying to infect his audience with an urgency for self-discovery by challenging them to imagine what they would do with their time if they had but 3 months left to live. While I completely grasp the absurdity of the exercise (starting with the unrealistic expectation of imagining such a circumstance and ending with the complete lack of relevance of what one would do if they had all the time in the world to what one would do in an average life), the first thought that popped into my head when I heard the question was, "I would run. By God, I would run all the time." 

The significance of the answer to me wasn't that I had realized I should run for the rest of my life (as the goal of the exercise would like to suggest), but that this had been the first time in my life where I had come up with an answer to such a question so quickly. Maybe running isn't what I'm "meant to do in this life", but it surely is something that I truly love to do. And that's big. 

Finding love in the day-to-day toils is a lesson that took me 25 years to learn. I had never before found pleasure in the rut. Realizing that I have finally found fulfillment in something that seemed so painful before, to me is some sort of step towards absolution. The proverbial "void" that runners seek is the meditation that monks talk about. It's a deeply religious experience, but in the sort of way that toiling in a monastery is. It's an exercise in confronting your limitations and experiencing yourself as a part of all of existence. 

It's another rest day!

At the end of Sunday's 11-mile run, I promised myself I'd be more loyal to my rest days this week. In keeping with that, today has been low-key, physically. I've, surprisingly, managed to stay within my calorie budget, and yet remain somewhat away from the edge of my sanity. Maybe that's because I've allowed myself to indulge in my cravings, all the while keeping nutrition in mind. I've been craving good chocolate for a few days, and I've been sneaking baking chocolate chips from the Costco bag. Today, however, I purchase a proper bag of chocolate covered almonds, and I'll just say this... they filled every corner of my soul with satisfaction. I'm absolutely convinced that Heaven has a room with nutty chocolate exhibits for those who've behaved especially well on this Earth. 

Later today, I finally made the coconut quinoa chocolate chip cookies from the Pinterest pin I've been eyeing all week. Again, nutrition was a factor. Even though you can't expect a cookie to act like a vegetable, the nonfat Greek yogurt, quinoa, and coconut oil made me feel better about consuming them. I've made my peace with this decision. The recipe was great. The cookies almost resembled muffin tops in texture, but that's not something that will keep me from eating any fewer than ten of them! Here's the recipe if you'd like to make them yourself.

So here we are, on the cusp of another weekend, which can only mean one thing! Another long run is coming up. At this point, I wouldn't say I'm worried so much about the actual run as I am about my routine for long run days. Do you ever get so comfortable with a routine that randomly you'll mess up every once in a while, because you trust your autopilot mode to do the job thoroughly. After all, you've done this a million times! Granted, autopilot doesn't mess up often, it only has to happen once for a minor kink in the routine to cause a minor tweak to the game plan. And we all know how fragile running game plans can be, especially for relatively new runners! It would be such a shame to develop a lousy injury that could have been prevented by hydrating properly... or being more patient with breakfast digestion... or remembering to bring a hat on a sunny day. 

I go to sleep like this:

But then I wake up like this:

Activity date: 9/4/2014

Activity: 5 mile, high intensity, good

Activity score (1-10 scale): 8

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, strawberries

Post-run snack: Kind bar, Luna bar, strawberries

Lunch: baked salmon, eggplant mushroom stir fry, Nutella milk (it's exactly what it sounds like)

Dinner: Pear, peaches, and (you guessed it!) more strawberries!

Activity Retrospective: First day with new Garmin watch went well. The watch worked like a champ, counting my cadence, speed, distance... Unfortunately, I decided to try a new trail. At midday. In the September Norcal heat. I was boiling by the end of my run. I had run out of water in my bottle, and I was only half confident that I had found my way back to the parking lot. Luckily I found some shade to walk off the muscles, and I ended up leaving with a pleasant feeling.

Next Steps: I really should explore that trail a little more. After trying a few of them around the wildlife preserve, I found one that could work well as a 5 miler. I will keep running it until I'm comfortable enough to venture on tangents.

Resting today, but I did manage to get 1.5 miles in, just to stretch those muscles. Got my Garmin Forerunner 220 in the mail today! I'm so excited to try out the heart rate monitor!

Do you ever have those months in your life when you're paranoid about your health? Despite being a runner, this still happens to me at least once every year. I'm always blind sighted by it, and I never realize I'm in the middle of such a spell until it's way too late to pretend that's not what's happening. The most recent obsession has been varicose veins, venous thrombosis, and the risk of pulmonary embolisms.  Of course, there is a chance that there is real danger around the corner, and I just don't see it yet, but often my paranoia is completely unprecedented, and the ailments I fantasize are all disconnected and unrelated. It's as if I'm playing Russian roulette with a medical encyclopedia.

Running, unsurprisingly, helps. When I run, I zone out, and all problems become irrelevant. I'm always amazed at how little I over-analyze when I run. Normally, over-thinking is such a common activity (that thing I said two weeks ago was so awkward... that time I was too demanding with my general contractor... how pathetic are my dreams of meaningfulness), it's such a relief when the "Crazy" fog lifts. When I see other runners on the road, I feel like they understand, and are possibly in the same boat. They all look relieved. Sometimes I imagine that some elusive epidemic is plaguing the entire human population, and the face of the runners I encounter is the face of a Vicodin pill taking a brief effect. That moment when your weariness and worldly tiredness rolls back and the world, just for a short moment, is freshly crisp. 

My least favorite part of the running ritual is the drive or walk home. My sweat dries up, and I feel like I've been dipped in a sea of salt. The yucky sensation of tasting that salty powder as I put my lips around my water bottle spout.

Activity date: 9/2/2014

Activity: 4 mile, medium-high intensity, good

Activity score (1-10 scale): 8

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, strawberries

Post-run snack: Kind bar

Lunch: baked salmon, eggplant mushroom stir fry 

PM snack: watermelon, strawberries, crackers

Dinner: baked salmon, eggplant mushroom stir fry, tomatoes, apple, pear, peach

Activity Retrospective: Today was interesting. I've been reading that it's easier to maintain proper running form if you increase your cadence, because it prevents you from over-extending your front leg which slows you down, because you end up breaking with your leg. My runkeeper app told me on Sunday that my cadence was about 160 steps/min. Today I tried to take more frequent steps, which resulted in 172 steps/min. It didn't come naturally, so I had to pay close attention to my steps. My legs were pretty tired after that, but I feel like it was easier to run faster that way. So overall, great experiment?

Sometimes I wonder how it is that I got into running. It's so unlike me to fall in love with something, and it happens so rarely. The only thing in my life that I feel similarly about is baking. I love baking, but I love to do it when I want, and only for other people. Running is for me. It's me and the road, and other people don't hurt, but they don't help. I hated running not one year ago, but that turned around almost overnight. Now I can't imagine a life without it. In fact, the pull is so strong, that rest days can be a little sad. Any time, really, that I'm not running, I'm a little sad. Imagine loving video games, but only being able to play them an hour every other day. Two hours on weekends. For some, this was a reality of their childhood home order, but with adulthood comes the freedom and responsibility to make one's own choices, however good or bad they might be. It's so disappointing that my body can't accommodate my wildly frequent impulse to run. 

Activity date: 8/31/2014

Activity: 11 mile, medium-low intensity, not so bad

Activity score (1-10 scale): 8

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, banana, toast

Post-run snack: Luna bar, Trader Joe's protein shake

Lunch: baked salmon, tomatoes

Dinner: two chicken drumsticks, baked eggplant, banana, two peaches, frozen yogurt

Activity Retrospective: The actual run was not so bad. Towards the end, I felt a pinch in my chest, but I still can't figure out what that was. I get these relatively often, but they're usually low profile and go away after a minute. This one lasted maybe 20 minutes at the end of my run. It was probably just a cramped diaphragm, but after mile 10, I just get very paranoid, and I have to keep telling myself to "trust the training plan". That's my mantra. After I finished the run, the pinch subsided altogether. 

I ran in my old shoes today, because yesterday's run really taxed my Achilles' tendons. Overall, I would say that phasing in the new shoes has added a variable to my training that I didn't account for, but on the bright side, it has extended the life of my "old shoes"!