Archive for the Running Category

Happy New Year (at the end of January)

January is practically over. Where has the month gone? I mean it seems like just yesterday I was complaining about how long it was taking to get to January 20. That is another post that I might eventually finish and publish. Aw, what the heck. That was my 1 year mark. 1 whole dang year sober.

I deliberately didn’t do a 2015 goals post. No sense in setting myself up for failure. That isn’t to say I don’t have any goals, but I know some of them aren’t going to happen until spring. Like running consistently. I did, however, run New Year’s Day morning. I did another run on my own and then did a run with Karyn like we used to do back in the day. You know, I knew I missed running with her, but I didn’t really realize how much I missed it until that run. And I got to see Molly again! It was a short visit, but it was so great to see her face to face again.

I’m back with the worship team at church. I had really missed playing and singing with them, and, well, it just seems like more fun now. Probably because I’m not so stressed out in general as I was for a while.

Jamie has her driver’s license and her Granny’s car, so I have a go-fer now. And she drives herself to her appointments. And takes Chad and James to theirs. And makes me carsick when I ride with her. So now she can get a J-O-B. So can James. And Chad.

I successfully completed my chiropractic treatment plan. Oh man. It is so nice to not wake up with a headache every single day. Granted, I woke up with one this morning, but I’ve been sick all week, and it’s not just my head that hurts. Anyway, I only have to go once a month now.

On the subject of fewer appointments, I have mentally and emotionally recovered enough that I only have to see my therapist every 3 weeks. She really pisses me off sometimes when she tells me what I don’t want to hear…or address. 😉

Speaking of addressing things, my diet. Ugh. It got bad over Christmas and subsequently so did the pain in my joints. And I got so glutened. So I will be cooking today in an effort to reduce the processed food I am ingesting. And saying no to candy, though I would like to know what I did with the Dove bar I bought last night that seems to have not made it from Lowes to my house.

Amber is pregnant again. That cat is such a ho.

Random Randomness of Random

I should just go ahead an announce a blog hiatus because every time I have ever done that I’ve been able to write. It’s not that I don’t have anything to write, it’s just organizing thoughts into something coherent. Of course, there will be no coherency in this post just because. 😉

I took off work Friday so I could take the hubster to court. Told him early in the week that I had the day off. Late Thursday night he informed me that he had another ride. Alrighty then. He nearly got arrested due to the county rescheduling and not letting anyone know but him. So he goes back in June and I will not be his transportation this time.

Since I had the day, I took care of some bidness at the insurance agent, and went to Chapel Hill to pick up my race packet for the Tar Hell 10 Miler.

I love how fancy it’s all personalized. More on the race later.

I was a little hungry and definitely thirsty, so I stopped in Pittsboro at Chatham Marketplace, and they had what I wanted. I decided to have some fun and sent my sponsor a text saying, “So I picked up a 6 pack for lunch…” I followed that up with this pic:

6-pack

After eating the second one, I sent Petra a text saying that I had just had a mouthgasm. Yes, it was that good.

About the 10 miler. I woke up at 4:30 am with abdominal cramps from hell. Same thing happened about a month ago. So rather than treating it as a stomach bug, I took some ibuprofen and the pain was gone around noon. I don’t know what is up with that crap, or the hot flash from hell that had me up from 2-3:30 this morning. My knee is hurt also so there was a valid(ish) reason for not racing other than the fact that I haven’t run in so long I don’t remember the last time I ran.

After the meds kicked in Saturday, the good idea fairy showed up and convinced me that since it was such a nice day it would be a great idea to wash and wax my car. I’m pretty sure running 10 miles would have been less painful. 4 hours, and I am still sore today. I got some good sleeps that night and didn’t wake up until 9 yesterday.

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Oh, and Amber hatched Easter Sunday:

2 are already spoken for, thank goodness. She had 4, but one didn’t make it.

Enjoy your Monday.

The sound of silence

I had a migraine for 6 days. Day 4 I finally took something which took care of it until late in day 5. I took something for it again day 6 which left me just as useless as I was with the headache, but I slept a lot. I still want to sleep a lot. It is probably mostly the migraine hangover. It just stands to reason that having a migraine for that long is going to produce a longer than one-day hangover. And yes, a migraine hangover is a lot like a drunk hangover except for the lack of headache and dehydration and nausea.

Anyway, I DNRed a race Saturday morning, and I called in sick to church Sunday. I also had an episode in Walmart Saturday afternoon where I first got dizzy and thought I would pass out resulting in Jamie asking me to please not die in the underwear section. Then my digestive system decided it needed to purge. #everybodypoops I made it home to explode though as I did not want to spend that amount of time blowing up Walmart’s bathroom. Thankfully when we made it home, the kids brought in all the groceries while I went to have some quality alone time on the throne. Of course, I had to put all the groceries away when I completed downloading, and I absolutely did not have the energy to do so. Nor did I have the energy to cook. But I did. And then crashed.

One again I have reached that point where I started a post days ago with a plan in mind where to go with it, but I have no idea what that was. So this will just go where it goes and will likely have nothing at all to do with the title.

I’ve taken a semi-break from social media over the past few days. Naturally when I go to take a break people tag me on Facebook. lol. It’s been ok though because one of my cousins posted a photo of her grandma/my aunt last night that triggered such good memories of Aunt Iris and her store. Not just for me as several folks commented about their memories of her sitting out front and waving at people that drove by. I had forgotten all about that. Probably because we rarely just drove by the store because Daddy went by there 2 or 3 times a week and I think did some banking for her since we always stopped by on the way to town for the weekly laundry/banking/grocery trips. As I commented, I can still feel her wood floor on my bare feet. Because that was the only store I was ever allowed in barefoot. And no, I didn’t like wearing shoes when I was a kid. #hillbilly

But anyway, I’ve taken some time to read and go to meetings and think about making phone calls. The phone calls are inevitable. :sigh: I feel better mentally than I have in several days. I went to an Al-Anon meeting last night with a different group than my home group. Since the hubby and I joined a small group at church that meets on one of my Al-Anon meeting nights, I need to replace that meeting even though that’s my favorite one of the week. Sitting in a different group, I got to hear different perspectives than my home group. That was a good thing! Not that I am going to switch home groups.

I went to the dentist yesterday for my 6 month cleaning. They always ask me first thing if I’ve been having any problems. Normally I don’t, but I’ve had an issue going on for a while that I’ve been trying to self treat to no avail. So I told the tech about it, and she did an xray. After the cleaning, the dentist came in and looked at the xray and confirmed what I thought. It’s an abscess. That’s the tooth that I broke on a Skittle when I was active duty (the last time I ate Skittles, btw), and also my second root canal due to an abscess a couple of years after that. I now am taking a round of antibiotics, and have a referral to an endodontist to treat that bad boy. Again. :sigh: Also, it has not hurt at all until she told me that it really was an abscess. It hurts now. WTH? :-/

All that said, I’m tired. And I’m tired of being tired. I’m also getting tired of “Mommy can we go _____” and “Mommy can you get ______” and “Mommy when are we going to _____”. Therefore, I’m going to have to have a little sit down with the kids and explain (again) how many hours I am gone working, and try to explain recovery to them. Also budget and debt. Again.

Making the most of it

I had to run a virtual 5k this weekend because my foot was broken the previous weekend. “Broken” is an exaggeration. It hurt like it was broken, but 1) I didn’t go to the doctor over it and 2) whatever I did to it happened at work while I was sitting at my desk. Saturday was just nasty windy, and so was yesterday morning. But after noon yesterday, the wind died down some, and the sun was out and I made myself go run. I tried every way I could think of to not do it and yet still count it, but I finally just texted Karyn and Molly “Tell me to run,” knowing they would give me that bit of motivation I needed to just go do it.

I hated every single step of that run.

But. I’m working on finding bright spots among the suck. As I approached the halfway point, I noticed a pond. I’ve run past that house countless times, but yesterday was the first time I noticed that pond behind it. I noticed the squirrels, which really isn’t unusual. I noticed the frogs croaking in the ditch on the way back, and noticed how once I got past them, they stopped. And, by the way, I love the sound of a bunch of croaking frogs. I stopped at a neighbor’s house and chatted with him for a minute (pausing the workout – lol), and learned he was a boxer when he was younger.

The actual running (and my time) sucked, but the rest of it didn’t.

I tried to get the dogs in the photo with me, but only Brownie would even remotely cooperate. I also ripped a hole in the butt of my running tights while trying to get the dogs in the shot. :-/ But it really was a beautiful day for a run. The race was the Stop Stroke Shuffle 5k. Enjoyed supporting Dani’s cause, and would not feel the donation wasted if I hadn’t run. Thank you Dani for the reason to get off my butt! 🙂

Sometimes running is just weird

Also, race recaps are hard for me. This is why I generally don’t do them. Ok, I do them, but not like most runners do recaps. Perhaps it is the self-diagnosed ADHD. Squirrel! 😉

Anywho, I misunderstood the dates for the Snowflake Shuffle 8k, and thought is was last weekend. Which wasn’t happening. No running happened last weekend. Actually, no running has happened since the Morrow Mountain 15k. Because injury (mild), sick, and polar vortexes. So I have done absolutely no runs towards the Winter Miles Challenge. And then Thursday I went home sick with some kind of plague that came on suddenly and had me in bed wishing for death. I got better.

So, when I saw that the 8k was through this weekend, I saw a glimmer of hope to actually do it. Oddly (for me) I woke up this morning ready to run. That almost never happens. But I got dressed, and got out there and did it. I told the hubster the route I was going to take stating “I am NOT running down to the Rocky River and back up that hill.” Yet when I got to my turn around point at the top of said hill, I said “What the heck,” and did it anyway. That made the turnaround just past the river bridge, and I decided to stop and take pictures. Because that’s how I roll. I didn’t even pause my watch during the photo shoot.

I didn’t quite run all the way back up that hill. I made it halfway and then walked and wheezed my way to the top. But I ran the rest of the 2 miles back except for after I called the hubster and then couldn’t get my phone back in its holder. And the run felt good. The whole way. Minimal knee pain. No back pain. It was as if I hadn’t just run for the first time in a month. Weird!

With less than a mile to go, I had a little meltdown. Every now and then I’ll have a running meltdown that has nothing to do with running. It always happens in front of someone’s house. It wasn’t bad enough to stop over, but still. It was “public.” But brief.

So race 2 is out of the way for the year.

And I intend to spend the rest of the day reading and drinking chai tea lattes.

“This was dumb!”

Remember when I said there might be a weekend post? 😉

The first race of 2014 is done. Karyn and I ran the Morrow Mountain 15K. Well, sort of. 3 mountain peaks: Sugarloaf, Hattaway, and Morrow Mountains. Many stops were made up the first mountain, and I rolled my ankle on the way down. 2 miles in, and I considered stopping. By halfway, I was sure I had broken a toe. But we powerwalked it out until I couldn’t do much more than just keep moving. Karyn wouldn’t leave me (even at the end when I told her to – lol), and so she heard me drop the f-bomb and repeatedly complain about needing to poop. #everybodypoops

Did I mention it was cold? Karyn wore 4 layers, and I just wore 3. I should have worn another layer, and I sure should have worn thicker gloves. I had the temp blocked, but Karyn said it was 14F when we started.

Did I mention this was a trail race? At the top of the first peak, I stopped for a minute, looked at Karyn and said “This was dumb!” She said that sounded exactly like Jamie. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. lol

Even had a downed tree across the 2nd loop.

I just kind of rolled over it. But the scenery was beautiful even if we did lose our sunshine, and I was afraid of tumbling down the mountains to my death. Or at least intense pain.

At the top of the last peak, Karyn told the guys at the aid station that I had rolled my ankle. They asked if I needed a ride down. During the last mile, I regretted turning down that ride. Anyway, we were still well ahead of the sweeper, and had just under 3 miles left of which they said was 90% downhill. That last mile was the longest ever. Karyn said it was at least 12 miles long. And it was about that time that another racer came up out of nowhere catching up with us. Kept trying to telepathically tell Karyn not to stop for me and not to let that woman beat us. When we finally got within sight of the finish line, I told Karyn out loud not to stop or slow down for me and to go finish. But she didn’t, and so we were the last 2 because I didn’t have anything left to push across the finish line before that other chick. And Karyn refused to leave me even that close. That’s a true friend because I know how competitive she is. 🙂

Yeah, I was dead last, but we were both 3rd in our age groups. Of course I would have been 2nd if it hadn’t been for that chick that beat us at the end. 😉

And what we never did last year, we did for this one. An after photo.

It took almost 3 and half hours. 3:27 and some change. When we got back to the car (and I am pretty sure they moved the parking lot about a mile away from where it was when we got there) and took our gloves off, our hands were all swollen and blue. I almost freaked out over that. Thank goodness I was too tired to freak out. lol. My right shin and calf started cramping in Troy, and I almost pulled over and had Karyn drive us back.

We both agree that was the hardest race ever! But, oh, man, it was fun! And I am so glad we got to run together again! I missed my running partner!

Happy 2014

I for one am glad 2013 is over. On the other hand, 2014 might not be better as I may or may not have a job come March when the contract ends. But, contracts come, and contracts go, and it’s not like I haven’t been through a contract end before. It is completely out of my hands, and far above my pay grade. Ok, not that far, but I’m not involved so it’s far enough. 😉

The year ended pretty craptastically. I won’t go into details, but suffice to say, I made my first ever Al-Anon call last night. I don’t make phone calls either. But as I was soaking in epsom salts last night (and finally getting warm), I started reading my Al-Anon literature because I hadn’t in a month and a half. And I kept hearing, “Read your literature. Keep coming back.” Being New Year’s Eve, I wasn’t sure if they would have a normal meeting last night, so I called someone from the group to find out. They were having a New Year’s Eve party with the AA group, and I opted not to go for that since it had started half an hour before I made the call. But, hey. I called someone.

As I lay on the bed reading and petting Tiger (because he forces you to pet him), I decided to start thinking about how I had felt the last 2 or 3 weeks. I started feeling like I had gotten it. The peace I was desperate for. Then reality hit again. So I spent much of New Year’s Eve reading my Al-Anon literature after making that phone call. I didn’t find peace per se, but I did relax some. And I started thinking up some goals.

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1. Read my Al-Anon literature daily.

For reasons I already alluded to.

2. Get a sponsor in Al-Anon.

I’ve been using Petra for this. But, I’m side-stepping the program that way since she isn’t in Al-Anon.

3. Read through the Bible.

This is pretty much a standard goal, and I haven’t completed it the last 2 years. I finished the 2012 read through well into 2013, and it will still be a little while before I finish the 2013 read through. I pick a different translation each year. Last year was the ESV, and this year will be the NRSV with Apocrypha. I’ve never read the Apocrypha growing up Baptist.

4. Run 14 races.

First race Saturday.

5. Finish Jamie’s scarf.

Surely I can do this in a year. 😉

6. Join a life group at church.

Because as much as I harp about accountability (at least in my head), I should have some within my church. 😉

7. Finish all the books I’ve started.

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That isn’t even all of them. There is one more hard copy book that Petra gave me to read, and there are at least 2 and maybe 3 Kindle/Nook books I have started and haven’t finished.

8. Do the Winter Miles Challenge 2014.

I’m only doing the beginner because I know me. Also, the longest race I plan on doing this year is a 10 miler.

This is pretty much the extent that I want to list out goals for the year. Note that I didn’t list pushups. 😉

2013 Race Recap #13in2013

Compiling this post made me so sad with all the photos of me & Karyn in the first half of the year. But at least I had 3 races at the end of the year with the Brick City Running Tribe. Then I have guilt because I don’t show up for Tuesday night runs in the winter. Not too much guilt though, and I’m not the only one. 😉 Oh, and I will get to run my first race of 2014 with Karyn.

FYI – this isn’t an indepth review of each race. It’s mainly a list with times and photos. 😉

1. 2/2/2013 6th Annual Anderson Creek Club 10k – 1:21:51

1-ACC-10K

It was so freaking cold. It didn’t get above freezing until after I had gotten Starbucks AFTER the race.

Run for Sherry (didn’t count this one with the races)

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This was a training run, and pretty sure it was the 9 miler where I limped home with a blister.

2. 2/23/2013 Miles for Missions 5k – 37:00

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It poured down rain the whole race. At least it was in the 40sF. 😉

3. 3/17/2013 – Tobacco Trail Half Marathon – 3:20:53

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Halfs. Where I run slower than walkers. lol.

4. 4/13/2013 – Rabbit Run 5k – 40:06:38

First run of the year without Karyn. She was in Charlotte running a half. I was sick. Again.

5. 4/28/2013 – Sanford FitnessFest 10k – 1:19:18

I came in dead last.

6. 5/18/2013 – The Ninja Challenge Obstacle 5K – 1:27:52

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I flat out skipped the last obstacle without attempting it.

7. 5/25/2013 – Someone Special Like Me 5k – 40:52

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Cold in May. Much like this past weekend where it was mid-70s right before Christmas.

8. 6/27/2013 – Esprit de She Cary, NC 5k – 39:27

It was so hot and so humid.

9. 7/28/2013 – Running Mad 2013 Summer Virtual Half Marathon – 3:14:18

I finished this strictly on technicality. By that I mean I combined 2 or 3 bad training runs to add up to 13.1 miles. The rules allowed it. Stop judging me. My life fell apart in July. 😉

10. 8/24/2013 – CARA Run for Their Lives 10k – 1:24:11

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I was much faster last year. See the last sentence of #9.

Ride Out Cancer Virtual 50k

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This wasn’t a run. Obviously. lol I did this instead of the trail marathon I signed up for, changed to a half, and then just didn’t do. Was probably another result of the last sentence of #9. But I enjoyed 31 miles of biking.

11. 11/9/2013 – Run to Reclaim 5k – 36:42

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This was unplanned, but Karyn talked me into doing this one while she did a 5k supporting orphans in Memphis. Our way of running together virtually. And it was a great race.

12. 11/16/2013 – The Dynamic Duel Canada vs USA Virtual 5k – 44:02 (3.4 mi)

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This was Molly’s doing. I miss running with her too. 🙁 And this 5k was 5.4 miles. Just because. 😉

13. 11/23/2013 – Gerome’s Victory 5k Run/Walk – 37:21

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This was my last race before I bought new shoes. I felt really good during this one until that hill by Roses.

14. 12/7/2013 – Reindeer Fun Run 12ks of Christmas – 1:41:08

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Cold & rainy, but I was not dead last even though they tore down the race as the last 3 of us were struggling in.

I am still waiting on 2 medals, but here is my 2013 bling rack. Karyn made me this to show off my bling and bibs. Once the remaining medals arrive, there will be a big photo with all the bibs. Because that’s how I roll. lol

Bling

2013 Goal Wrap up

At the beginning of the year I made a list of goals for 2013. Now that the year is almost up, I thought I would recap. Because I need a topic that can allow me to be a little ADHD. 😉

Goal 1: Learn to rest

This didn’t turn out the way I originally intended. Meaning, I really didn’t know what kind of rest I needed, just that I needed rest. It took me nearly the whole year to finally comprehend (actual meaning – surrender) how I needed to rest.

“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10a, ESV)

I was carrying burdens that weren’t mine to carry, some of which I have been carrying since I was a kid. Once I figured that out, and went through painful process of understanding what are my responsibilities and what belong to others that I have been taking on, it has been a lot easier to chill out. It took a lot of prayer, psalms, texts, therapy, Al-Anon meetings, and happy pills to get to this point. It is still a work in progress.

Goal 2: 13 races in 2013

This was met and exceeded! I did 14 races, and so signed up for 14 next year. I have a plan to do a race recap post sometime before the end of the year.

Goal 3: Crochet

I need a lot of practice yet with this one. However, I tried my hand at knitting and it is just so much easier for me than crochet. I finished a scarf for Chad, and have (twice) started a scarf for Jamie.

Goal 4: Pushups

Fail. I know there is still time to at least do one, but whatevs. I did a 30 day plank challenge in July, and barely managed that with all the drama.

Goal 5: Make my marriage and family priority

This has been both a win and an epic fail. I won’t go into great detail (though it’s mentioned in Goal 1 and I have blogged about it off and on), but it has absolutely been the biggest area of personal growth for me, and it was/is absolutely painful growth.

Goal 6: Journal every day

Yeah, no. I did ok, and then slacked of after a couple of months. But then I started blogging more and putting a lot of junk out on the blog that normally would be in a journal, so there’s that. 😉

Goal 7: Eat healthy

I have been on and off this wagon. Eh. Another ongoing work in progress.

Will I make another list of goals for 2014?

Maybe. If I do they will be more measurable. Like finishing Jamie’s scarf. 😉

Maniacal Monday #28

Let me start off with a confession. I didn’t run this weekend. I was going to Saturday, but I slept in, and then we had to go to Lowes, and then I had some Christmas prep to do which took well into Sunday. Plus, it was pretty stinking hot for the weekend before Christmas. Mid 70’s? Really? So I was like “I’ll run Sunday morning because it is supposed to rain and it won’t seem so hot.” Right. It didn’t rain until after 6pm. Whatevs. I start leave tomorrow, and will have the rest of the week to run/bike whenever. 😉

Christmas shows. So, I have several DVDs and one VHS of my favorite Christmas cartoons/claymations. Every year I take the time to watch all of them, though usually not in one big marathon viewing (not that there are that many), and I’ve just been doing one here and there. Last night I watched Frosty the Snowman. Like you care. lol. Anyway, so I am watching it, and the whole thing is just so ridiculously bad. I had to stop myself from voicing my irritation with the whole thing on social media. And then I had to watch The Year Without a Santa Claus to purge. As if that premise of a story is any better. 😉

I woke up with hives this morning. Fun times. I think I went to bed with them, but I didn’t realize the full scope of the itching until I got up this morning. :-/

Friday night I took both kids to A.C. Moore. It was supposed to just be Jamie and to only get yarn. $130 later… 😮 Chad started an “argument” with me on the way back. He was on the offensive, and I was trying to explain my position without being a jerk, but it was hard because I kept getting frustrated with myself for not being able to clearly articulate what I wanted to say. Meanwhile, Jamie was in the backseat laughing at the exchange which ended so ridiculously and abruptly with Jamie almost choking on her food from laughing so hard. She said later, “No one wins when Chad argues.” lol

Speaking of Lowes, we got paint Saturday as James wants to go ahead and paint the living room. Finally. I’ve been bemoaning those gray walls since we bought the place. He also told me how he wants to decorate the house, and essentially, the living room is going to become a “formal” dining room, and the den/family room will be the living room. Lots of work with that, but a lot of it will be finishing what was started in the den/family room.

Apparently Amber isn’t pregnant. And I think Tiger is the one in heat because he seems to be after her much more than she is bawling. Why haven’t I gotten them fixed yet? :sigh: Also, someone pooped in the floor instead of the litter box during the night. Pretty sure that was KitKat.

And finally, here is a little Snow Miser and Head Miser. Because they make that show. 🙂