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More info on Bgirl’s Body

8 Mar

Hey All,

Thanks so much to all of you for your amazing votes of confidence and asking all the good questions.  I figured it’d be easier to answer in one swoop, so here it is…a quick rundown of what is going on and what I am doing about it.  I am trying to not visit the doctor because I have been x-rayed a bazillion times this year, and that’s just not healthy.  So if push come to shove, I will go but I just hate going there to only find that I need to rest.  Geez, doc thanks!

As someone who has studied group fitness, danced forever, and taught a bazillion classes, I usually can tell the difference between pain and soreness.  Currently, I am just extremely sore.  However, when I run, I feel dull aches on the outside of my right knee, and occasionally my left, but never at the same time.  Directly after running, my knees get extremely stiff and when I move them it feels like I shouldn’t be moving.  Hard to explain but it feels wrong.  When I run, I don’t feel like I am being super heavy on my feet but I don’t feel like I have any cushion and unless I’m running on mud it feels like pounding on my legs.  As a result, I notice myself not stretching my legs as much and have found that my hip-flexors are feeling tighter than normal. 

I have had my feet checked at a specialty footwear store a year ago, but it is quite possible I need new shoes already.  I’ll have to defer to you all on that.  I started to stop by the store on my way home today.  However, I think I’m going to try a different store, just in case the place I went to before led me astray.  And I figure I can take my shoes with me and ask them if they see any excessive wear.

I am prone to kidney stones and prior to running I was ordered by my doctor to drink 100 ounces of water per day.  I drink about 60, not because I am being stubborn, I just forget.  Damn it, it’s a lot of water. 

I don’t eat particularly healthy or bad.  I used to “forget” to eat but have gotten better now that I am running.  I get sooooo hungry that my stomach has learned to say “Bitch, feed me” when it wants to eat.  I am a pesca-turkey-tarian.  I don’t eat red meat, pork, or chicken.  But I do eat a lot of beans and nuts in addition to my pesca-turkey. 

I do not sleep enough simply because I have two jobs and about 120 people needing things from me every day.  I hate disappointing people, so I do all that I can to get people what they need.  As a result, I sleep very little and never have a chance to have sex.  (TMI, I realize but just saying…COBWEBS!)

Since, REST is not realistic, I try to remember to ICE and ELEVATE after the more painful runs.  The other day, I tried wearing my old knee brace but apparently my knees have grown since then and putting that thing on was like squeezing “big” Oprah in a size two pair of Seven jeans.  So I forego that torture. 

A couple of months ago a student brought me some glucosamine chondroitin, which seemed to help.  The only problem was it gave me so much gas, it was UNBELIEVABLE!  So I stopped. 

Outside of that, I don’t know what else I can do but I am trying to be patient with my body, positive about the experience, and confident that whatever happens, I will be ok knowing I did the best I could have.  

Thanks for writing, and reading, and supporting.  I will get through this and if I don’t, just think of all the funny stories you will have to read =P

Hope your runs are going better than mine!

bgirl875

Ahem…I suck!

28 Feb

Yep, I know. You were thinking it, you just never
wrote it. I got really busy BUT I still ran and
completed ALL my training, and I’m still alive (though
barely). I don’t want to spend the next 3 hours
catching up on the posts, so I’ll just give you a quick update
per week. Week Six-13.1miles Started crappy, ended well.
Basically I got up on Monday and decided I just couldn’t bring
myself to running, after the 6 miler on Sunday. So I
decided I would do it Tuesday, and on Wednesday, I would catch
up by doing a 2.5 mile easy run plus strength training. And I
did it, surprisingly. My shining accomplishment was spending
a total of 270 seconds in a plank. On the Saturday, instead
of having a long run, my training called for a 5k, but there was
not one race scheduled for that weekend. And there was a
“fire-weather” warning outside, so I decided to do my 5k on the
tread. This was pretty difficult to determine if I was going
as fast as I could, but either way, I completed it in 27:40.
According to my training
guidelines, this means I should be able to run the half
in less than 2:08 hours. Now, I’m not trying to be a Negative
Ne-Ne Nancy
Nelly but that would only happen if I switched my body
with that of “Speed Racers.” Also, I enjoy the
little things in life like walking and would like to be able to do
so after this race. S00000, I’m still keeping my goal at what
I think is reasonable. But I’ll keep that to myself to ensure
I won’t publicly fail. Week Seven-19 miles Now last week, I thought
that I had something going with this moving my Monday training to
Tuesday and coupling my Tuesday training with my strength
work. However, this week that plan sucked. By Saturday,
my legs were crazy on fire, and I was NOT prepared for Saturday’s
run of 7 miles, which is the “longest I’ve ever run.” Ps, you
might want to get used to that phrase because every long run I have
from here until the race, will be the “longest I’ve ever
run.” Anyway, I decided on Friday night in all my agony, that
unless I made some grandiose plan to run, it wasn’t going to
happen. So, at 1:30am I searched and searched until I found a
group of fellow runners with whom I could be accountable to with my
miles. So I headed out 7 hours later to meetup with 35
runners to head from George Washington Parkway to the National Mall
and back. After getting lost as I ALWAYS do in Virginia (I
hate driving in VA), I finally arrived with 1 minute to
spare. Immediately, two ladies walked up to me that looked
just as lost as I did and said “Are you new too?” and we
became running partners for the day. I found out quickly that
we had a moderately hilly route (just what my knees
needed…NOT!) and that their saying they ran about 10-11 min
miles, was a lie. Several thoughts went through my head
during that run. I’ll sum them up by saying I left it feeling
very unsure about whether I will be able to do a half marathon
EVER. Today my legs are in so much pain, my right knee
is in agony, and I want to throw a 3-year-old style
tantrum every time I think about having to run again
tomorrow. I don’t know if it was the change in schedule-run
Tue, Wed, Thurs, plus strength training, with only one rest day in
between. Or whether it was running the 7 and then
being convinced to do an additional mile back to the car by my new
buddy that really wanted to get 8.5 in that day. Or whether I
am just getting old. But I’m seriously doubting myself, and
it SUCKS SOOOOO BAD. I really need you
all to tell me everyone went through this their first time.
Or that when I wake up tomorrow, my knee will feel no pain
whatsoever. Or that there is a miracle cure that I can take
to make it all better. Ps, in my depress-ness, I ate a huge
chunk of Red Velvet cake, two cupcakes, two donuts, and an entire
Dairy Milk Cadbury bar this weekend. Which means that if I
don’t run tomorrow, I will have yet another dimple added to my ass
by Tuesday and my life will officially suck.
HELLLLLLLLP! An anonymous black girl who doesn’t like sucking
(I chuckled a little bit at that last line…it made me smile…but
now I am sad again…help!)

Reek-ly WE-cap, Week Five

14 Feb

“everybody here get it out of control, get your backs off the wall ’cause misdemeanor said so”. This song is stuck in my head from a crazy rehearsal with 49 kids. I am hoping by putting it in the universe, I will pass it on to someone else. I am sorry in advance =(

Anyway, here ya go.

Number of miles ran: 16

Workout thought for Monday: Suck you, Mondays, with a capital F! Clearly, I’m still stuck with the doggone Monday running blues.

Workout thought for Tuesday: Loving this 2 mile stuff. I could do this forever, or two miles, whichever comes first.

Workout thought for Wednesday: I decided the only way I will commit to my strength training on Wednesdays is to add an entry for Wednesday. And now that I’ve done that, I will start strength training on Wednesday of next week =P

Workout thought for Thursday: What the HILL? First hill workout on a treadmill. My legs hate me STILL! .25 mile increments at increasing slopes and speeds with a .10 speed walk in between (also on a slope). The sad part is I had to alternate walking during my breaks. The great part is I still averaged only half a minute off my goal pace. I’ll take it.

Workout thought for Saturday: Treadmill running sucks kangaroo butt…So after about 7 hours of deliberation, I went outside! I wish that I had a reality show so that you guys could be entertained by all the research one does to find an excuse to get out of the longest run she has EVER taken. I am sure you have been there but I figure a list wouldn’t hurt. So here is a day in the life of a lazy a$$ BG trying to get out of running.
1. Wake up at 9, 10, and 11 and check weather each times to see when it will be the warmest.
2. Put on running clothes during late morning errand to see if it will be TOO COLD to run.
3. Check the wind speed, for each hour from 11-5pm.
4. Google search to find some info about what constitutes a breezy versus really windy day, because I just CAN’T run when it is really windy.
5. Check sunset times for the day to determine if I can still run before it gets dark.
6. Google search tips on how to run safely outdoors.
7. Google search to find out if pepper spray works on rabid dogs, foxes, and bears, because we all know I am going to run into one, if not all of those.
8. Getting on the toilet three times to be sure I didn’t have to potty.

Finally at 4:15 (1:26 minutes before sunset) I head out alone in Rock Creek Park. It was a great run, 6 miles in 1:05 hours. Only 5 minutes over my “in my dreams” half marathon goal pace. The best part of the run was me developing a skit in my head of how I would play Dorothy getting caught up in the tornado that relocated her to the Wonderful World of Oz. This seems random, but not much because for 300 meters of my run the wind was so out of control, I literally saw the Wicked Witch pass me on her broom. Oh, the horror!

What’s on my I-Phone radio while running: Ciara Pandora Station again, baby, baby, uh!

The song that saved my butt this week: Lose my Breath by Destiny’s Child.

Low moment: 9am-4:14pm Saturday, see above.

High Moment: 4:15-5:20pm on Saturday, see above.

End of the week thought: I LOVE RUNNING OUTDOORS!!! And, apparently I did just need to wash my new running pants =P Thanks Morgan!

Hope all of your runs went well!

An anonymous black girl who is really sleepy AGAIN!

Reek-ly WE-Cap, Week Four

7 Feb

We interrupt this post to bring you the following message…

“Go Packers!” and with that I should follow-up with confessing I am not a Packers fan and football is not my cup of tea.  The only thing I watched during the Superbowl was the halftime show.  And I would say I watched commercials, but I  actually didn’t see any worth noting in the 8 mins or so I had my Tv tunedFox 5.   What I was able to catch on the net is the gossip about X-Tina singing The Star Spangled Remix.  I just don’t understand how peeps can mess up that song.  Like really?  Is that the first time you’ve ever sang it?  But what was most astonishing is when they panned the audience and it seems very few people were phased by it.  So maybe she wasn’t the only one that missed singing that in school like weekly.  If you didn’t catch it, check it out on You Tube.  I thought about posting it here, but instead I figured we all could use a non-botched version of the song, so Whitney, Pre-Bobby Brown crack stage, take it away!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program already in progress…

Number of miles ran: 12

Workout thought for Monday: Now I know why I never remember Monday’s run…It sucks so bad that my mind erases it in an effort to convince me to run again.  Not sure what was going on, but my feet were hurting like crazy and, all and all, it just sucked.  Might have had something to do with the fact that I didn’t get a chance to eat much today.  Gotta add to training schedule…eat on Mondays.

Workout thought for Tuesday: (blank)  I skipped it.  I know I am awful but I was performing and didn’t make it home in time to run without looking like the crazy lady who runs in the middle of the night.  I was going to do it Wednesday, but I chose to come home and sleep.  Gosh, am I now so old that performing warrants a 2 day recovery period?  Really?

Workout thought for Thursday: Back to funky Fartleks, but the speed intervals were longer (.25 miles) and the recovery intervals (.1 miles ) were shorter.  So I am putting it in the books as an improvement.   My feet felt  again!

Workout thought for Saturday: Treadmill running sucks kangaroo butt…Part Four!  (insert explicit language) why does the weather screw with me this way?  However, I found out that if I stick a towel under my portable DVD player, it will sit on top of the treadmill without skipping.  Sooooooo, I watched my “What’s Happening” DVD as I ran.  Did it make it easier, No!  But at least I avoided obsessing in the mirror about the size of my thighs. 

What’s on my I-Phone radio while running:  Ciara Pandora Station again.  Until Rihanna comes on.  I kind of just want her to go away. 

The song that saved my butt this week:  On Thursday, while doing Fartleks, I had the unfortunate experience of having back to back slow songs on Ciara.  Not bad slow songs but when you are in that last stretch, you really don’t need to hear “There goes my baby” by Usher.   So I fumbled through the screen to change station, and there it was, just what I needed to get me through…Thriller.  Thank you MJ!  You ARE always with me. 

Low moment: Skipping a 2 mile easy run.  Who does that?

High Moment: Running the last .25 stretch of my fartleks at 8 miles per hour.  And doing strength training afterwards.  I had to redeem myself from the aforementioned low moment.

End of the week thought:  Not my proudest week, but life goes on!

Hope all of your runs are going well!

An anonymous black girl who is really sleepy!

Eeek!!

7 Jan

It’s been a little over two weeks since I started running again, and today I am dying!!!

I’m running 4 days per week, between 3-4 miles each run. Running slower than my old pace, easy runs at between 5-5.2 miles. Faster paced between 5.7-6, though I can’t do that for more than half a mile. So sad at how slow I am currently ={

This week, I decided to teach “jazz turns” in my class, because it was less stressful than “jazz leaps”, or so I thought. I guess forgot that strengthening for turns includes holding your legs in place much longer than seems sane. And balancing on the balls of your feet for as long as your calves can stand. Then to top it off my other class is doing pliés, relevés, and sautés (translation: torture for already overworked legs). All I can say is “WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?!?”

Today, I went to teach my fourth class of the day, thinking the moving would provide a good warmup, and I’d forget about my legs long enough to do my 3 miles afterwards. But no such luck. I can’t even get out of my bed. I’m contemplating crawling around the house until I go to bed, but then again my glutes hurt as well.

Today was the first day since starting that I felt unsure if I could handle my new running schedule plus teaching 23 dance classes a week. I took today off because I needed to in order to be prepared for my longer run this Saturday. Three days this week is not bad. Just gotta kick ass Saturday! So, I’m writing a letter to the running fairy asking for his help (Im not being presumptuous. he told me, he was a he).

Dear Mr. Fairy,
I am determined. I took a break. Now I am back. Please give me the strength to have a kick ass run Saturday to make up for missing today. Also, if you could pass me on a little willpower to not eat another one of the cinnamon buns my daughter cooked tonight. I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
Anonymous BG

His response.

Dear ABG,
If you eat another cinnamon bun, you won’t have worry about running. You will be able to use your butt cheeks as wheels.

Happy running!
The running god formerly known as fairy!

The first 3.5 mile run since August

27 Dec

The stats! When: Christmas morning Where: My infamous G,
which was about 49 degrees still no heat! Why: Because I needed to
get rid of the overwhelming soreness in my legs from my first run
back (a couple of days before) What: 3.5 miles 35 minutes, not
including a 2 min warmup and 2 min cool down. Speed went up
and down but averaged somewhere around 5.5 miles per hour. I
think. What I felt before the run: Very stressed out and
lonely. It was xmas, I was at home alone. I was
annoyed. I didn’t like it. What I felt during the run:
Great. I actually kicked ass and realized that running in the
cold makes me run so much better. I could have gone at my
slower speed for at least 5 or 6 miles. I sped up in order to
make myself tired, so I had an excuse to stop. I had dinner
plans at a friends, I hadn’t seen in a while, and needed to get out
of the G and out of my depressing house. What I felt after the
run: Amazing. First time I’ve used running as
therapy. It made me feel 10 times better. Running
really is my boyfriend.

Oops, I did it again!

19 Aug

For all those inquiring minds that want to know, I DID complete Run Amuck last week in Quantico, Va. Yes, I conquered my fears. Yes, I ran the entire race, with the exception of an insanely steep downslope, which I’m sure no one could possible have run. And,Yes, I have a couple of scrapes and bruises to prove it.

Sooooooo, without further adieu…my race report!

Saturday, August 14th

4:15 am
My first thought: Why the hell is my alarm going off ? Oh crappppppp, race! Ughhhhhh!  Why did I decide to do this again?

5:02 am
My daughter and really close friend serenade me with Stevie’s version of Happy Birthday, complete with dance choreography! And they have made matching hats and shirts to wear to support me at my race, with the captions “Run (insert my nickname) Run.   But don’t get crazy!”
My reaction: I’m gonna need my friend to get on beat. And we are LATE!!

5:30am
Meet scary trainer and Love Eshe team to caravan to race site.
My inside voice: I’m the only black girl…AGAIN!  And White folks are realllllllly peppy in the morning.  It’s sort of scary.  Why are they so happy at thehairy butt crack of dawn?  I think I shall sit in my car with the windows rolled up, so they don’t infect me with their overwhelming perkiness. ”

5:50am
Mood music: Luther Vandross on Pandora.
Explanation: I’m tired!!  And need to go to sleep!

6:30am
Major annoyance: Frigging traffic! Sooooo annoying! But slightly happy because maybe we will miss it and then I can go back to sleep.

6:50am
Scariest image of life: Random marine holding shotgun just in case anything popped off.
My thought: Just give your ID and no one gets hurts!

7:00am
Finally made it. Check in and wait in line for port-a-potty.
Inside voice: ughhhhhhhhh, is there anyway these things could be less gross!? I hate portapotties, which I’m now calling ‘poo-pee-doo’s.’

7:30am
I’m off, in the wrong group!  I would never break the rules but my race buddies held me at gunpoint to start with them, and they were way too impatient to wait 3 minutes so we could ‘legally’ go in the same group.
Thought: WTF am I doing?  And I have the nerve to be wearing face stickers that read “Fear” “Me”.  Maybe I should stop and switch the order to make a truer statement.   (that’s “me fear” for my joke illiterate readers)

Random thoughts and exclamations that occurred somewhere between 7:30 and 8am-ish

  • Does the first mile really need to be all uphill?
  • Jumping jacks, smumping jacks, this is easy!
  • I haven’t seen a bale of hay that big in a while…wait, you mean I can’t just walk around it?
  • Stop saying it’s all downhill after this…that’s such a lie.
  • Ewwwwwwwww!! Mud!!!
  • Ouch! That barrier hurt my va-jay-jay.
  • I promise, Mr. Marine, I’m running as fast as possible!!
  • Not THAT hill! Is this safe?
  • Is that…yep! Buff guy vomiting in the corner! Poor baby!
  • I know you want to walk, but if you slow down on this hill you will slip and roll down it like Sonic the Hedgehog. So KEEP RUNNING!
  • Is this mud or quicksand?
  • Wait! I lost my shoe!
  • What do you mean crawl on the ground in mud? Butt down??? Ouch!!! There are rocks in this mud!
  • Motherf$&@er!
  • I think I’m bleeding!
  • Crunches, piece of cake!
  • Flutter Kicks.  Wait, did I do enough? I don’t know, I wasn’t counting. I’m pretty sure I did more than necessary, but these marines are yelling at everyone like crazy. I’m scared! I’ll just do it again! I don’t want the guard with the shotgun coming to get me if I didn’t do all of them.
  • Come on big buff guy? Don’t stop on me now? I need no excuses to stop!!!
  • F$&@! Mile 3, where are you?
  • I hear dead people!  No wait, that’s the people from track…am I almost done? Keep running!
  • Water!!!! Yes!!! Noooooo!! Eyes are burning now! Just cover eyes and keep moving!
  • I see my trainer! Yessssss! Almost there!
  • No! I can’t keep your pace! Stop encouraging me to go faster. Wait! I’m scared of you! Ok, I’ll sprint to the end!
  • Yesssssssssssssssss!!!
  • Done!!!

Last Thought: Ouch!!! My legs hurt like a MoFo!!!

My anticipated time was 50 mins (I thought the race was 4 miles) .  When I woke up that morning, I said I would be very happy if I completed it in 45 mins and I completed the course in 37:55 mins.  I was 42nd in my age category and finished in the top 1/3.  With that said, all of the pain, scrapes, and fear was well worth it.

What I realized is that while I am NOT a fast runner, I have gotten so much better at pacing and think at some point I will actually be able to conquer that half marathon.  Not anytime soon, but someday =}

Thanks, from the bottom of my heart, to all of you that encouraged me to do it, and to keep running, even when my laziness tells me to stop.  And most of all thanks to my awesome trainer,  friend, she-ro, and girl crush, Angel Stone, who came in first in her category and 2nd place in overall women’s completing the race in under 26 mins.  You inspire me to reach higher than I’d ever think possible and you Kick Butt!  Love ya, Ricky Bobby!

Now that dreaded dance camp is over, vacation is behind me, and I have a schedule that can handle it, I will be going back to running more consistently, as my body misses it soooooo much!  This also means I will be back to blogging more regularly…because I miss you guys too much!

Hope all your runs are going well.  Can’t wait to catch up!!!

Laters,

An anonymous black girl who is very pleased with herself!

Desperate times call for…

28 Jul

Camp is killing my accumulated muscles.  And the kids are encouraging me to eat AWFUL things.

My kids last week brought me cupcakes JUST because.  Who does that?  Such evil people they are.  Then at the end of the week, I was invited to get italian ice, which is basically cellulite in a cup garnished with sugary goodness.  And to top it off, they required that we get Outback Steakhouse prior to aforementioned cellulite in a cup.  I counted, I consumed 3 billion calories last week.

So on Saturday my bottom booty called and said it wants to rejoin the rest of my body again.  Poor bottom booty.  With it being 102 degrees outside and 95 in the G(ym) with the broken AC, I decided to go for the lesser of two evils and headed to Satan’s sauna.  I spent 45 minutes alternating cardio (dreaded treadmill at AVG 6.7 mph) with various  muscle fatiguing torture.  At the end of the workout, the treadmill was soaked with my sweat, so much so that I tripped and almost killed myself.  I was so heated (literally) that I went upstairs soaked crotch and all and complained like mad to the building manager for three weeks of the A/C being broken in the gym.  However, it was a great workout from which legs and arms are JUST recovering.

I plan to do those at last twice a week, three times when camp is on its alternate EASY teaching schedule.  I am hoping this will prepare me for the torture that is RUN AMUCK, in addition to appeasing my bottom booty!

Hope you guys are enjoying your runs, and running a few extra minutes in my honor, especially those of you in cooler climates (ie NO ONE!)

laters!

An anonymous black girl who despises a sweaty crotch

Way too long

19 Jul

Sooooooo you know how you realize that it’s been a while since you’ve done something and you really want to do it, but then you think it’s been so long that you don’t know what the hell to do, so you just wait expecting the perfect answer to appear and then it never does, and you keep waiting and one whole month passes.

Yep, that’s my excuse.  I am VERY ashamed…

But there is more.

For the record, I HAVE actually run since my last post a month ago, but not as much as I would have liked to run.  The truth is that every time I went out, one of my arms melted off and it took days for it to grow back.  Of course, since I prefer not to run with missing limbs, I HAD to wait.  Last time I headed out, I lost a nose and my right eyebrow, and figured I needed to reevaluate this whole summer running.

Anyone in DC knows, Satan has decided that hell was just WAY too far down for him and thus has relocated a few thousand feet up.  I hear that when he considered where “up here” to relocate, the lure of living near the first black president must have drawn him in, and as a result…I am LIVING IN HELL!  No kidding!  I actually pass Satan and his other little devils everyday on the beltway.  UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So I know you are like “well, what about your G(ym)?”.  Welllllll, have I got a story for you.  Two months ago we got all new managers in the office and since then, they spend their days attacking residents in the halls about paying rent (that’s not late) and avoiding the many reports they’ve received about the AC being broken in the G(ym).  When it’s 96 degrees (feels like 105) in DC, a small a$$ room with two big windows, and NO circulation becomes Satan’s sauna and I REFUSE to exercise near his hot-mess-ness.

Ok, last and probably most acceptable excuse, I’ve been teaching summer dance camp 35 hours each week, coupled with 5 additional hours of teaching adult classes.  And when I get home, getting out to run is NOT on the list of things I REALLY want or need to do.

So I have run about 6 days in the past month.  Yep, the running gods are calling me a BIG OL’ WUSS and honestly, I am ok with that.  However, my fanny is NOT!  Nor will my knees be when I have to do the “MUD RUN” in four weeks.  So I NEED your advice.  What type of cross-training can I do that will give me the cardio I need, but will allow me to save my knees for my 40 hours per week required dancing?

In exchange for this advice, I give you a funny, or two.  Haikus for YOU!

Sometimes I run and

sometimes I don’t, but who cares?

It’s hot than a bitch.

Ok, once you’ve composed yourself, another…

OK that was mean

I really do want to run

but it’s hot as sh!t.

(insert crowd roaring with laughter)

Ps, thanks for continuing to check in with me.  I WILL visit all of your pages and catch up.  I miss you guys WAYYYYYYYYYY too much!

laters,

An anonymous black girl who despises Satan’s decision to move to DC

Run Aborted

19 Jun

So do you guys remember a post I did a while ago about fears of running outdoors?  Well, apparently, someone in running heaven has decided I’ve reached that point in my journey where I MUST  face all of my running fears NOW!

Two weeks ago, I had my first near miss with a car.   UGHHHHHH!  DC DRIVERS!

And, today, as I’m running on vacation in Connecticut…incident NUMBER TWO!

When I left the house, my aunt made a joke to the effect of “don’t call me to come pick you up”.  I giggled and headed out.  Within the first half mile, I realize I forgot to bring my pepper spray.  I immediately got nervous because even though this is a really nice neighborhood, I haven’t seen ONE person running since arriving yesterday.  I take for granted how many people run in DC.  Because even though I DON’T really run alone, I know that if I did, there would be tons of people out there to make me feel safe.  Apparently Connecticans haven’t seen the running light.  So I felt kind of uneasy but decided to continue.  However, I only put one of my earphones as a precaution.

First thing noted…damn it, there are a LOT of hills in CT, which might explain why no one runs there.  Second, my leg has retreated back to that weird pain on the top of my foot, which I haven’t felt since I got off that dreaded treadmill.  Not sure why it’s starting to act up again…ugh.

I knew it’d be a quick run.  Literally, just needed to get out there to justify the cherry pie I was going to be eating for dessert.  Is that snickering, I hear?  Plus, I am a punk and yeah, not getting lost in an area I don’t know well.  So was thinking 2-3 miles at most.

Anywhooooooo…as I was heading back, about .5 miles from the house , I saw the HORROR…

OK, this isn’t EXACTLY what I saw…not even close.  More like…

but…times TWO, and without an owner in sight.  I considered if I could just run in place until the owner came out to get their big s$$ dogs!  Then, I considered if there was another route to get back to the house…but I thought, it’d be much worst to get lost (in the approaching dark) than to risk getting mauled by a pair of boxers.  So I decided to just stop running and cry call my aunt to come pick me up.

It’s 2 hours later, and they are still joking about it.  And if that wasn’t bad enough…it was discovered that the boxers were enclosed in an invisible fence.  So had I kept going I would have been safe.  Instead, I stopped short and sweated out the only workout clothes that I packed, for a 1.5 mile run waste of time.

Womp…womp…womp!

An anonymous black girl who despises unattended dogs, especially when they ruin my runs


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