charlatan psychic

Did not run 11 miles today. I completed 11 miles, but the last half was mostly walking. I started out really slow, like over my usual 12 minute mile. I knew in the first mile that it would not be a great run. I reached the turn around point, and made it maybe 1 mile before I just started getting slower and slower. There were a few points where it was all I could do to just keep walking. My body just wanted me to sit down. I've also been pretty tired this past week. And hungry. Like grazing-all-day hungry. J and I discussed my slump at lunch. This makes 2 weeks of slump. Maybe it's something I'm eating too much of, or not enough of. Maybe it's something else. Maybe a combo. Hard to say. I told him that I was thinking of doing the Weight Watchers thing, and maybe that would also help me balance my diet. I think I'm going to try it. I'm going to start fresh, at a time when J is home, so I can get used to eating healthy around him. Which means when he is gon...

I'm thinking of jumping on it. The Weight Watchers (WW) Bandwagon, that is. Two of my friends are currently using WW, and having good results. One is having amazing results. Two more friends are about to start it. I'm starting to wonder if I should give it a try. If you read this regularly, or have know me a while, you know that I previously lost weight following Sparkpeople.com. And then I gained it back. I haven't been able to get back down to that 160, but I have shaved off more inches since I started training for the half marathon. Dropped a pants size, and pretty sure I can fit into Grandma Shirley's black dress, if someone zips it up for me. Hard to zip. But I feel like I could be doing so much better. I know I don't eat well. I know I eat more than I should. I absolutely suck at tracking my food on sparkpeople anymore. I wonder if thinking of it in terms of points would make it easier for me to track and stick with it. I also need to start some streng...

I wanted to put my new bike pedals on the bike this weekend. By myself. But for the life of me, I could not get the current pedals to loosen at all. Even standing on the wrench didn't work. FAIL So this morning I got up early and headed out the door for week 2 of 10 miles. Second FAIL of the weekend. Calves started cramping. Now usually I can run the cramps out after a mile, but these just kept getting worse. It didn't happen. I walked home. Now let me give a little background. I'm slightly paranoid about injuring myself at this point. When I first started running 2 years ago, I sprained my right ankle. A few times. Once bad enough that the doc gave me a brace for it. I don't want to sprain that ankle again. It would take a few weeks and put me back in my training. So I walked home. I ate breakfast. I took a shower. Just waiting for J to get home from his leaders retreat. No clue what we're doing for dinner tonight. might just go out. oh, on a side note,...

Got my Conch pierced! Sounds dirty, but its just another ear piercing. It's the cartilage about midway up the side of my right ear, and in farther than a lobe piercing. Can you see the little silver ball in the middle of my ear? Can you see the kitty behind me on the couch? My friend got her conch pierced, too. On her left ear. She went first, and I was so excited I couldn't sit still.  It didn't hurt much to actually pierce it. Hurt for a little after that, just kinda sore. Feels pretty good right now! It's a banana bar in there, which makes it easy to twist so it doesn't get all stuck and scabby. Grossing you out yet? Chris, the piercer, said I can switch it out after 2 weeks. I'll probably wait closer to 4. Not sure what I'll put there. Maybe just a stud, maybe a hoop. Might get both so I can switch it up. I'm thinking I need a hoop and a jewel stud. That way I have options. Plain silver ball, hoop, or bling. 

I'm having one today. Woke up tired this morning. Had a hard time getting moving. But Remy needed to go outside, so I got up. Today is a run day, 4 miles. I went on my run. The first mile was hard, but I kept going. I think I was only about a quarter mile from done when I stopped. I was very out of breath. It took longer than usual to get my breathing under control. I'm still feeling rather tired and sluggish. I was sweatier than usual as well, but it's a little humid out. J was home early this morning, already showered and dressed when I got back from my run. So he cooked me breakfast while I showered. Egg sandwich. Very tasty. I drank a whole bottle (2 servings) of a Naked juice, too. I'm wearing my super comfy sundress today, simply because it's super comfy. I'm very tired, still. I'm actually thinking of a nap this morning, before I head over to the scentsy party. Because after the party, I have to hit the store to pick up stuff for the FRG meeting...

1 hour 52 minutes 30 seconds. Averaged about an 11:30 pace. I'm starting to find chafe spots after these long runs. Had one last week, on my hip, and only figured out today that it's right where my MP3 player sits on my hip. Might have to start putting that in a pocket on my new water belt. I had a couple chafe spots under my boobs from a bra that wasn't sitting right earlier this week. One of those is aggravated. I can put body glide on before my sports bra to help with that. And today I have some small red spots in my armpits. Not bad, but just starting to chafe. I also forgot to put deodorant on this morning, which might take care of that. I'm repeating this week of training, so next weekend is another 10 mile. I can work on fixing little problems like this. And try the e-gel I bought. Today I used the Chomps and a gel from Stinger and liked both. I bought a new Nathan water belt, but I'm using my Camelbak bottle in it because I can leave the spout open a...

Sometimes I feel this incredible urge to write. I may have written about this before. But it's back. I feel like I have all these ideas for amazing stories floating around in my head, but I can't seem to get them out. I've never been much of a prose writer. I could BS an essay like nothing in college, but a short story? That was hell. I used to write poetry. In high school it probably averaged around a poem every other day. Or more. But it was childish poetry. It was about the emotions a high schooler feels. My poetry started to mature in college. I could pump out a sonnet at breakfast for a friend's assignment that morning. But my poetry was still based on emotion. Usually darker emotions. Pain, sadness, loneliness. Those were my main inspirations. Then I met someone. I fell in love with him. I was happy with him. I still am happy with him. The pain and loneliness went away. No more inspiration. I have tried to write happy poems, but  they seem to fail me. I'...

Remy and I were doing good on our 4 miles this morning. He was behaving and we had a great pace going. As we ran past Pershing gate, a couple of stray pit bulls came up to us, one brown, one white. I always stop when a dog approaches us, in case it's owner is right behind trying to catch it. So we stopped. The dogs started sniffing each other. It was OK, and I was going to try to get them to follow us home so I could call animal control. But they started nipping at Remy and trying to push him around. Remy didn't like that. I didn't like that. It took a little, but I was able to smack both the bulls and they realized I wasn't backing down. Another runner came over to help, a mom pushing a double stroller stopped to help, and a third guy showed up as animal control pulled over. The first runner and I worked on wrangling the bulls over to the AC officer, and the mom held Remy for me. The white bull was smaller and I could grab his scruff and hold him. The brown one wou...

That's what I ran this morning. 4.5 miles out, then turned around and came back. It went better than last week's 8 mile. I didn't walk at all until the turn around. I finished at about 1 hour 50 minutes, which puts me at an average pace of 12 minutes per mile. I walked 3 times. It felt pretty good, but I really slowed down the last mile again. Next week is the 10 mile run on post. I'm going to go ahead and push for that. It's a Saturday run, so instead of my usual Wednesday and Friday runs I'm going to do Tuesday and Thursday. That way I have the day of rest before the long run. Then I think I will repeat the 10 mile week as a little reward. I also tried a Stinger Waffle before I ran. I think it made a big difference. I'm going to try their honey gels, too. J said their texture is more like honey (since that's about all it is) and not like the other energy gels. I tried a Gu gel at the Bataan and the texture of it completely grossed me out. ICK. T...

And not walking the dog this morning. I think I slept wrong on my neck. Woke up with a mild headache, but it's enough to bug me. And when the ticking of my watch gets on my nerves, it usually means I need to watch out for a migraine. So we aren't walking this morning. He does have a playdate this morning, though. I know I should walk him for exercise before the playdate, but I honestly don't want to leave my house yet. I will eat breakfast, drink some hot tea, and take a long shower. That usually helps the head rather well. Oh wait, brunchy foods at playdate. So I might eat a little something, but the tea is a definite. I'm glad it's finally Thursday. It's been a long, slow week. 

I was looking at my training schedule today, and the calendar. I somehow completely skipped a whole month when counting originally. Yeah, I will finish this training schedule one month before the half marathon. Ok, so I can work with this. It means I can repeat weeks easily when I get to the 10+ mile runs. It means I can run 13 miles a few times before the actual race. It means I have time to mess up. So yeah. I was getting nervous before, but not so nervous now. I have plenty of time. 

I biked and ran over the weekend. Saturday, J and I biked about 22 miles. Sunday, I ran 8 miles. The last mile seems to be my worst. At least with these new distances. I have to really focus on not walking, no matter how much I want to. I tell myself that it doesn't matter how slow I'm running, as long as I'm running. I still finished around where I wanted. My pace is averaging out to somewhere between an 11 and 12 minute mile. I even ran over a bridge, so I had some hill work in there. I'm going to try adding more hills to my routine. Most of my weekday runs from here out are 4 or 3 miles. I want to head over to McKelligan Canyon on some of those 4 mile days. The whole route is about 4 miles total, but it's all up and down. My coach/the hubs agrees this will help me out. Uphill helps build endurance, and downhill helps build speed. I'm not real worried about speed right now, but want help on endurance. Maybe if I can build endurance on my short runs (via ...