the human garbage disposal

it's been kind of a blah week on the running front. i didn't want to slip and give any additional free screen time to a certain chocolate manufacturer so i had to refrain from my regular running talk.

monday was my scheduled rest day and rest i did. i also fell off the nutritional wagon some more, if that's even possible since i've been eating garbage for awhile anyway. i didn't even track my calories in/burned for the first half of the week so i wouldn't have to know how bad i was doing. garbage in, garbage out they say, and i spent the latter half of the week dragging my derailed train back on the tracks. hopefully i'll be full steam ahead next monday with protein and veggies.
monday (2/23), day of rest

tuesday was a lovely day and j and i were able to run during lunch. we ran an easy 6 near work which is much nicer than the extra-hilly route near my house. we even got to inhale some of the toxic fumes from part of the road being repaved, what more could you want.
tuesday (2/24) lunch run: 6 miles, 52:32 (8:45 avg pace), avg hr (152)

on wednesday i was moody. i wanted to run but i didn't want to run. i ended up not running of course, because i suck. that made me more moody. i tried to think of something to do for lent (even though i'm not catholic, i just like to do it anyway) but i knew giving up chocolate was out of the question. i guess i didn't try too hard 'cause i never came up with anything. forgive me, baby Jesus.
wednesday (2/25), day of laziness

thursday i had planned to get up in the morning and run a few miles on the treadmill before work, and get in my regular run after work. of course i slept through my "run" alarm and didn't wake up until my "yay time for work" alarm. i did manage to get in a quick 3-miler during lunch though. i was mad at myself for being lazy on wednesday so i ran hard as punishment. let me tell you, trying to sprint for 3-miles after 6+ weeks of nothing but easy runs is hard. about half a mile into the run i remembered how not-awesome it feels to run hard. running easy is so less likely to bring about death and well, easy. i ended up running the first two miles hard and then pulled back and ran the last mile easy. yes, a three miler kicked my butt. whatever. i haven't done any speedwork since a tempo run on january 4th. cut me some slack (but not too much).
thursday (2/26) lunch run: 3.1 miles, 23:40 (7:38 avg pace), avg hr (182)

i also got in my "regular" run after work with j. once again, not really in the mood to run, but i made myself get out there. having company certainly helped, i probably would've talked myself into a seat on the couch otherwise. it was a hilly run, but much more enjoyable without the impending feeling of death.
thursday (2/26) pm run: 6.3 miles, 56:51 (9:01 avg pace), avg hr (161)

the rain came on friday, but at least it was an off-friday! we saw the forecast had a 45-minute window of "no rain" so j and i headed out to get in a few miles. of course, it started raining after about 5 minutes. it was a mostly-light rain so we stuck it out for 3 miles, and then i came back and finished my run on the lovely treadmill. not exactly a girl's best friend when i'm already struggling to make myself go run period.
friday (2/27) am run: 8 miles, 1:12:30 (9:03 avg pace), avg hr (172)

saturday i woke up to more rain... and it didn't quite look like it'd be over any time soon.

so... i got to hop back on the treadmill! yaay, two days in a row. thanks rain. i was planning on running 14 or so today but i really didn't think i'd last that long on the tm. from the beginning, i had to talk myself into running at least 20 minutes. luckily once i got there i was able talk myself into a few more minutes, a few more minutes after that, and before i knew it i was at 8 miles. talked myself into another mile, and i knew i needed my mileage to end in a .x3 to even out my 'lifetime' mileage, so i ran a few more steps to get .33 before i hopped off. over an hour on the tm = success in my book. my mileage will be lower than i'd like for the week with my extra day off and the rain but i think i can still live with it. (and it's still raining 8 hours later...)
saturday (2/28) am run: 9.33 miles, 1:22:07 (8:48 avg pace)

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february 2009 - more easy running. feel slow. no racing. losing motivation. ate too much chocolate, need to quit.

total mileage: 159.58
time spent running: 23:36:28
days off: 7 (6 scheduled rest/xt days; 1 day of laziness)
abs/yoga: 9 ab workouts/4 yoga sessions
avg resting hr: 50.76
avg max hr: 180.73

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gabrielle jennings

what were you doing when you were 10 years old?

i know i was active, playing soccer and church-league basketball, but i was by no means awesome (at sports). of course i am awesome in general.

meet gabrielle jennings. a ten-year old from louisiana.

she runs, and she runs fast.

this cutie ran an 11:58, 3200m in the recent louisiana state high school indoor championships at lsu. yep, 5th grade, running in the high school champs, and beating all the high school girls.

what's my 2-mile pr? oh right, a 12:32. and i thought that was a good time!

track and field videos on flotrack

her key to success? she runs about 2 1/2 miles most days and intervals every other week. guess i should cut back on my mileage!

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(wo)man vs. machine

runner's lounge is holding another giveaway, and this time it's for some sweet iron-on reflectors from see-me-run. thinking back on my own running-mishaps i thought i should definitely get in on this one.

you see, in the early spring of 2007, my right big toenail was causing me a bit of pain when i ran, and i went to see a podiatrist. unfortunately he had the attitude of most medical professionals in regards to running and did not find my other purplish-black toenail to be as cool as i thought it was. my right toenail was ingrown and i had to have ingrown toenail surgery. i had to wear an attractive black shoe-boot for about two weeks to alleviate any pressure on the area and to prevent what was left of my nail from being knocked loose by rubbing against a toe box. obviously i was also not supposed to run or perform ‘strenuous activity’ for two weeks. two weeks! for a toenail! you’d have to be crazy to think i’d stay out of my running shoes that long, especially for just a toenail.


toe box problem? solved. i didn’t want to ruin any of the shoes i was running in at the present time, so i took an older pair and cut the toe box off of the right shoe so that i could still run. (i don't remember why the heel was also cut away, but i presume it may have made it easier to slide my gimp toe in the shoe without jamming it against the sides along the way.) i also took a sock and cut the big toe tip off.


don’t ask me why i still hold onto both the cut up shoe and sock. sentimental reasons? maybe. or perhaps i'm planning for the inevitable, and the day when i may need to run in them again.

like most runners would do, i kind of heeded doc’s advice. i took one day off from running following the surgery. one day, fourteen days, it’s all the same. it’s just a freakin' toenail after all. my altered shoe and sock seemed to work fine and i was no longer having any pain.

about a week after the surgery, i was running with my friend katie on our normal route. we got to an intersection and stopped to wait for the traffic to clear. a four-door sedan was coming up from our left and turning right onto the road we were running on. don’t ask me where my eyes were looking. i thought the car had rolled on through the turn and i stepped off the sidewalk, into the back passenger side door of the car. (like i said, don’t ask where my brain or eyes were.) my arm hit the roof of the car and the right rear tire ran over my right foot as it turned and continued on it’s way. yeah, my newly-removed-ingrown-toenail-right foot that was exposed to the elements because of my brilliant idea to cut off the toebox and run anyway. katie was on my left and when she stepped off the sidewalk to run she was safely behind the car. we crossed the intersection, ran a few feet and she goes, wait, did that car just run over your foot? i was ever-so-slightly limping but i wasn’t in much pain. the skin on my toes had been rubbed off and that burned a little, but my toe/toenail felt ok. katie, in school at the time for nursing, forced me to turn around and walk/jog back to our cars (about 1.5 miles).

we got back to our cars and sat down to assess the situation. my toenail actually looked ok. the skin was pulled off, but there wasn’t much bleeding and the toenail still looked attached as far as i could tell. i dreaded having to call the podiatrist in the morning to tell him that not only did i not-listen to him, but i also managed to get my foot runover as well.

luckily, there was no ‘damage’ from the incident. no bones had been broken and the toenail was still clinging to my toe bed. i didn’t even get too bad of a lecture from the doc, must’ve been my cute and innocent face, right?

while i managed to get away without anything more than a scrape, the situation could have been a lot worse. i know this incident happened because i was not paying attention, and as runner’s we need to be even more alert to our surroundings than normal. i already do not run with music (just a personal preference) but when i know someone heading out for a run with an ipod i make sure to remind them to not crank up the volume too loud so they can hear the cars and people around them. i have become more and more attentive to my surroundings, especially on a run, and sometimes i get back to the house and can list off a few license plates and cars that i saw. so be safe running, whether in dawn, broad daylight, dusk, or the darkness of night. we are all behind the wheel at times ourselves and i know you are not always giving your full attention to the road then either ;-)

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