Running pic

Running pic
Yup, that's me!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Graduation Day


Monday was Graduation Day from physical therapy. I’m not really going to miss some of the exercises like the band of doom and the torture hoop, but I am going to miss my therapists – they were truly excellent and fun to hang around with. I did exchange contact info with the therapist who is a runner – we’re bound to run into each other at races and she’d be fun to do long runs with (although I suspect she’s faster than I am).  Hmm. I just Athlinks stalked her and it looks like over shorter distances I might be able to keep up but over the long haul forget it – she’d run me into the ground. 

Now to try and figure out if I’m just thinking crazytalk. I am realizing at this point that the Shamrock Shuffle is a mere 11 days away.  It’s not going to be a marquee race for me by any  stretch of the imagination – it’s too soon to really try to haul ass, plus the ass is bigger than it was last year so there’s more to haul.  But, the Ravenswood 5K is at the end of April.  Shorter distance, more training/dieting time. Fleet Feet and Mizuno are offering speedwork sessions during their regular Monday night fun runs for the 4 weeks leading up to the race.  I met the ‘coach’ last night and he seems to be easygoing and I think he’d make the speedwork as fun as possible because let’s face it - only freaks love speedwork and I am no freak. I’m wondering if speedwork would be a bad idea this soon – thoughts?  The leg feels awesome - I ran 5 miles on Monday with nary a twinge and I’m going to try for 6 tonight. And starting today I’m going to really watch what I put in my mouth.  I think I may even start tracking my points again – after all it was the ol’ Weight Watchers that got me down to fighting weight a couple of years ago. If I can knock off 5 or so lbs. it would probably make a noticeable difference. Step one should be to knock off the drinking.  Whenever I say that I always need to qualify it because as a stand alone statement it makes me sound like a big alky when in reality I’m just looking to quit the beer or glass of wine with dinner during the week – empty calories and I should probably be drinking more water anyway.

Over the weekend I met up with the race director for the Madison-Chicago Ragnar. We went to the afterparty for the Chicago 13.1 Half-Marathon to spread the word about the race and hand out some postcards. I think I showed initiative. Luckily runners like to talk about running and races and if they ran a half-marathon with a shitty course (seriously – it got the worst reviews from bloggers) in crappy weather, then they’re just crazy enough to run Ragnar. I also volunteered to staff a booth at the CARA Lakefront 10 for Ragnar. I have run this race in the past but this year it’s on my anniversary and I don’t want to be dead tired while at a fancy dinner with my husband. So instead of getting up at the crack of dawn to run 10 miles I’ll get up at the crack of dawn to help set up a tent and tables for Ragnar and then stand around potentially freezing my ass off. It’s probably a tie as to which would make me more tired, but volunteering will get me some crazy brownie points.

And lastly, I can’t wait!!! I was seeded (that’s apparently the fancy running term for ‘gifted’) for a pair of the upcoming Saucony Kinvara 4’s. I will admit to being a total shoe whore and have and do run in: Newtons, Brooks Pure, Adidas Boost, Nike Free and Saucony Kinvaras. But it’s my Kinvaras that get most of my mileage: I did my training and ran my marathon in Kinvaras and I even take my old pairs and have my husband outfit them with drywall screws for traction when I run the Cross Country Challenge trail race every year. I’m very excited to try out the latest version and it gives me a little tingle that I’ll get them before they hit the shelves of stores because who doesn’t like to be the cool kid with the hot new shoes?

Gotta run – literally – I’m headed to Chicks Night to see my buddies and try to keep up with them!

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