That's all, folks!

This "Road Runner" is retiring from running for good now. My body has decided for me that running-for-fitness, and I, don't mix well. I will cherish the time I did have to run.

My mission now will be to find suitable alternatives to running that will challenge me in the same way that running did.

I'm not sure what I will do now with this Blog. Change the name and make it a Fitness Blog? A Fitness and Nutrition Blog? Start an entirely new Blog? I'll let you know when I decide. In the meantime, farewell to all my fine-feathered friends, my fellow Road/Beach/Trail/Wherever Runners. Run your hearts out and make me proud as I cheer you on from the sidelines. :-)

Two steps back, one step... forward?

I'm not sure if running the two days in a row was too much for my body or what, but it seems like ever since then, I've had nothing but trouble.

I have done some runs, but nothing like what I was doing before, and am now a whole week behind in my training schedule. Something has happened to my passion for running again, too, and I have even been seriously contemplating quitting running altogether and doing something different. Why? Because my "getting older" body is starting to show signs of not liking this running thing after all. Either that, or this is just a hiccup that I will eventually get over.

My plan is to give it one more week ~ this week ~ before deciding whether or not to switch to a different form of exercise, something that I know I will equally love. This week I will attempt to repeat last week's 3-3-3 and see how I do.

Two new additions to our family; 5 miles in two days

A week ago we brought home two new babies, one male calico kitten and one female calico kitten, named by my daughter, "Morris," and "Rosa." It has been a wonderful fit for our little family. I have to admit to being a little nervous about how my five year old daughter would do with seven week old kittens (who are now nine weeks), but she has surprised me by doing okay. As okay as can be expected with a five year old, that is.

It is a wonderful thing to be greeted by two little cutie pies every morning as they come out from their nighttime sleeping hideout and come scurrying up to me to "hug" my legs, or stand on their hind legs and beg for me to pick them up. They're smart little boogers, too. Rosa has figured out that, refrigerator door open means soft cat food or cat milk, so she jumps up on the refrigerator door and appears to be trying to open it up. Which makes her look pretty smart, until, of course, she lands in her water dish and runs off jerking her paws out to the side.

And there is nothing like a warm, soft, purring ball of fur curled up on your neck or in your lap. Or on your shoulder, perched there and nibbling on your ear, watching everything you're doing, like Morris did with my husband this morning. Priceless.

There are advantages to having two kittens versus one, too. They keep each other company while we're gone, and keep each other occupied a lot. Plus, you get double the cuteness, and double balls of fur in your lap. Of course, when they're feeling particularly mischievous, then it's double trouble.

On to the boring subject of my running. :-) Last night (at 8:00pm, no less) I ran 3 miles, then this morning I ran 2 miles to make up for only running about 1.6 miles on Wednesday, so that I could still get my mileage in for the week. My legs felt stiff and heavy during yesterday's run, and last night when I went to bed, I had some pain just to the left of my tailbone and down into my left leg. I wonder if running through the mall with my daughter yesterday afternoon might have contributed to that. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it was a muscle spasm deep within the muscle there. Massaging and stretching and doing my version of a shortcut to "foam rolling" didn't help, so finally I took some ibuprofen and after about twenty minutes, relief. This morning I woke up early and the pain was gone, and my legs felt good, so my 2 mile run went well, save a little bit of stiffness. I took it nice and easy to make sure I wasn't overdoing it, since I don't usually run two days in a row, and it's also the first time I've run 5 miles in two days.

This morning has been a lazy, playful kitten-filled Saturday morning for the most part, then this afternoon we plan to get in a matinee, maybe Madagascar 3, then tonight we're going to see my 12-year old niece perform in her end of the school year dance performance. Should be a fun day. My next run will be on Monday. It will be a 3-3-3 week, three runs of three miles each. The week after that will be a 4-3-4, followed by a 5-3-4. I cannot believe I am going to be running 5 miles, then a couple of weeks after that, 6 miles. It wasn't that long ago that it was hard for me to imagine running 3 miles without stopping.

A Thunderstorm Run

I didn't get to run this morning because of storms in the area, but tonight all was calm when I headed out to run. It was almost dark, so I took my tiny flashlight in my pocket in case I needed it on the way back.

As I was doing my warm-up walk, it started to rain very lightly, but I didn't think much of it. I figured maybe it would just be a light rain, no big deal. I felt really good tonight once I started running, and was bookin' it. I was trying not to run too fast, since the Smartcoach training program wants me to run at a slow pace, though a little faster than previously. I couldn't seem to help myself, though. I just felt so good.

The rain began to get harder and harder, however. At first I figured, okay, I can deal with this. This is fun, running in the rain, getting soaked. I was actually looking forward to the rest of the run, despite having to finally take my glasses off and put them in my pocket, and having to constantly wipe the rain out of my eyes. No worries about getting too hot and sweaty! The rain made it nice and cool.

Running without my glasses in the rain was interesting, though. My vision is something like 20/250 without glasses. Yah. Good thing the majority of my run involves very little traffic. LOL. As it was, I was having fun figuring out where the deep puddles were so I could try and avoid them. I tried not to let the fact that my socks, shoes and clothes were getting wetter by the minute bother me. Though it was hard to ignore my sopping wet running bra that was, um, making things feel kinda weird in there. Haha. But I was willing to tough it out.

Then the thunder and lightening came. Ugh.

Time to turn around. And I was only a little under a mile into my run. At least I would be getting a total of about 1.75 miles if I ran all the way back.

On the way back, it got worse. Harder rain, and more lightening, this time it lit up the sky. Time to call my husband, since I was still about a mile away from my house (a mile doesn't seem like a lot unless your dodging lightening bolts, lol). I knew it would take him awhile to get to me because he had to get my 5-year old daughter ready and load her up in the van, so I just kept running, and I'm pretty sure I picked up my pace.

Then the wind came. Now the rain was coming at me sideways, like pellets. But I refused to stop running, so I just gritted my teeth, put my arm up to protect my face, and kept going, prayed it wasn't the beginning of a hail storm.

As I ran past the McDonald's where I figured my husband would be waiting by that time in the parking lot, I didn't see him, and the lightening had let up, though the hard rain had not, so I continued to run. I picked up my pace even more to see if I could make it to the long dirt road that leads to our house before my husband got to the end of it to pull out onto the highway, because I had told him I would meet him at the McDonald's, so he might not have seen me on the sidewalk in the pouring down rain.

And I made it! I turned and kept running down the dirt road, where I usually do my cool-down walk, and still no husband. I finally had to stop and walk at that point, though, because the puddles were just too deep there. Then I saw headlights. Phew.

I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to finish my run, but I can always try again tomorrow morning. At least now I can say I ran in my first thunderstorm. Ha.

4 miles!

I did it. My first 4 miles, and without stopping. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! Felt so good.

My pace was a bit slower, 12:02, instead of my usual 11-something, but my legs were pretty stiff today. Exertion-wise, I could have run faster, but my legs just wouldn't cooperate. In fact, when I was nearing 3 miles, my legs were getting so stiff that I had to literally force my legs to keep running.

I used music this time. I don't have an i-pod or MP3 player yet, so I just played the music that's on my phone. So there I was, running down the road with music blaring from my pocket. It was the first time I ran with music, and I think I'm going to make it a regular habit now. It gave me something to focus on besides running, and made the time go by so much faster. Not to mention giving me that little 'umph' now and then. :-)

1.75 on Wed; a GREAT 3 on Fri; and a flip-flop run on Sat

It wasn't until Wednesday that the weather from the tropical storm improved enough for me to run. It was an especially tough run that day, too, and I was only able to run 1.75 miles. Friday, however, was a different story altogether. For the first time, running 3 miles felt...well, almost easy! I hope it's because I'm finally getting stronger and not just because it happened to be cloudy with a light rain that day, making the heat more bearable.

I can't tell you how good it felt to not want to stop and walk at any point during the 3 miles. In fact, I was tempted to sprint the last mile, but made myself hold back.

Then Saturday, I felt so energetic. I drove out to my brother's house to park so we could walk to the beach from there, but instead of walking, I jogged. In my flip-flops, no less. While pushing my 56-lb daughter in a 10-lb Graco stroller (at least, it feels like it weighs 10 lbs. LOL). My leg muscles felt a little tight after running in my flip flops, but after a few minutes, I was fine. I had a blast swimming and playing with my daughter in the tidal pool that had formed on the beach, and, thanks to neglecting my back with the sunscreen spray, wound up with a nice sunburn to prove it. Thank the dear Lord for aloe.

Tomorrow morning, or rather, several hours from now as it is after midnight, I will (for real this time) be running my first 4-miler. Let's hope I can get up early to do it, as it's supposed to be a scorcher tomorrow! Better get to bed.

oops.

I thought my first 4-mile run was this Monday, but when I looked at the training schedule again, I saw that it was next Monday (June 4). Ack. Well, this week will be my first week running 3 miles for all 3 days, at least.

I'm disappointed and relieved all at the same time. Just as well, though, as we have a tropical storm moving in tonight, and we're expecting a lot of rain through Tuesday. I'm hoping that tomorrow morning there might be enough of a break in the rain so that I can run 3 miles, as the worst of the winds should be gone by then. Maybe that will be a good motivator for me to not stop running for the entire 3 miles so I can get it done sooner and miss the rain.