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Reekly WE-Cap, Week 8

7 Mar

Part two of, who am I kidding? 

Number of miles ran: 15.5

Workout thought for Monday: My body feels like crap on a stick.  Why am I doing this?  Should I be ignoring this pain? This can’t be normal.  Thank God for my Laptop and my What’s Happening DVD. 

Workout thought for Tuesday: Talk to me just a little longer friend.  No seriously, in order to get myself through the torture, I had to call and make a friend of mine talk to me.  We had nothing at all to talk about, but even hearing her breath was better than thinking about running.  Damn, this sounds negative!

Workout thought for Wednesday: This should have been my strength training day, I did one plank and rolled on the ball for like 3 mins, and decided I just couldn’t do it.  I have no idea where my motivation is this week or why I am in so much pain but I just couldn’t push through it and thus, I decided I only deserve a PB&J sandwich for dinner that night.  Oh, and one adult beverage with a friend I hadn’t seen in forever.  

Workout thought for Thursday: The next day, I read a billion running websites, until I read one that said what I needed it to say; that it’s ok for me to skip a workout or two if I needed.  So I skipped today.  I figure if I made myself do it, I was going to have 3 runs that week that made me question everything there was to question about why I run.  I didn’t need the negativity, so I let my body rest and promised myself I would do my 8 miler this weekend.  Jesus, help me now!!!

Workout thought for Saturday: On Friday night, after stalking the group run site, I decided I didn’t want to run with the group.  Reason number one, they were doing a trail run and I was nervous about having my first 8 miler be on a new surface.  And two, because I saw not one person on the list that was running anywhere near my distance, and wasn’t going to run along in an unpaved trail.  So I set my alarm at 8:45 am planning to get out at 9am.  At 10:51, I was out the door.  Was that laughter I just heard?

The first two miles were difficult.  However, when I decided to focus on my posture and pick up my speed I had two miles of really kick ass running.  Averaged about a 9:10 pace and it felt GOOD!  I began to think, does my body just not like running at slower paces?  Are they harder on my body?  Why does it hurt so much to run slower?  And how does increasing my speed make it so much easier?  And most importantly, which running God do I need to screw to be able to gain the stamina to run more that three miles at that speed?

Around mile 5, I decided to try the new Clif Gel I bought at Whole Foods, because I was starting to tire and the PB and Crackers I had before the run, was starting to wear off.  First thought…it tastes like crap.  It’s like swallowing snot or some other bodily function I won’t mention.  The consistency is whackadocious and the taste is hideous.  Rasberry was more like Ras-butt.  Second thought, 2 miles later, damn, I have to poop. 

At 6 miles into the run, I realized two thing.  The Clif Gel did NOTHING for me.  And I am completely spent.  I passed the next couple of minutes talking myself out of stopping.  Would I fail if I stopped?  Would I be able to start back up again?  Do I have money for a cab?  Long story short, I didn’t stop, I got all the way to eight miles, walked for two minutes and took a break to stretch.  Then I started to walk the next half mile to my car.  BAD F&*KING IDEA!  My legs were stiff as boards, and my knees were on fire.  And to top it off, it was allllllllll UPHILL!  I have never really like the FML phrase, I find it self-pitying and whiny.  However, if I’ve ever had a moment where it fit perfectly, this would be it. 

When I finally got back to the car and finally home, I soaked in a tub for 35 minutes.  And today, I am STILL SORE.  FML!!!!

What’s on my I-Phone radio while running: I decided to go back to my roots and rock my Janet Jackson Pandora Station this week.  However, when I was soaking in the tub, I dialed up my Luther Vandross Pandora Station.  Pure heaven!

The song that saved my butt this week: My Loving (Never Gonna Get It) by En Vogue

Low moment: See Wednesday and Thursday ={

High Moment: I finished 8 miles and didn’t die!

End of the week thought: Serious business, I am contemplating pushing my half back.  I feel like I am NOT ready.  I know you guys tell me I can do it, and I do think I can but I am in so much pain and my body doesn’t seem to be getting used to it.  I keep icing and everything and I am still in pain.  I think my body is trying to tell me something…am I being too stubborn to listen? Or are my expectations of enjoying this process not realistic?  I guess the biggest thing is I need to get back to the place where running doesn’t feel like a really bad chore.  Like washing dirty dishes or cleaning the toilet or having sex with your partner when you really do have a headache.  Ughhhh!!!

Anywho, I am going to adjust my training schedule this week just to catch up.  This weekend calls for a 10k test run instead of a long run.  But since I only did 15 miles last week,  I am going to try my 9 miler this week.  And maybe do the 10k next week.  Wish me luck! and send PILLLLLLS!  STRONG ones!!!

An anonymous black girl who really wants to love to run again ={

Movin’ on up, out of cotton

7 Feb

So after a year of running, I felt it was time to get non-cotton running pants.  Yes, I know.  I am awful, Morgan was nice enough to shame me for it.  Thanks Morgan, I can always count on you to keep it real.  But in my defense, I have been told that cotton like all women that cotton is good.  It lets important parts of our bodies breathe and it’s not like I am wearing huge sweats (well unless I forgot to wash).  But I figure if I wanna be a part of the club, I need to dress the part. 

Soooo off to Marshall’s I went in search of the pants that would change my running life, make me 10 times faster, and make me leap tall buildings in a single bound.  I scored a $24 pair, seemed nice enough and when I put them on, I felt my life changing before my eyes.  Really!

On my next running day, I was so excited to wear them, I even put on a matching top and sprinting down the steps to the gym.  Ok, I didn’t actually sprint, I walked but very happily. 

The moment I began, I felt something I’ve never felt before.  I thought surely the pants are magical and it’s magic is tingling through my body.  Well, when the mist in my fantasy cleared, what really was happening was I was experiencing intense itching in my legs.  And even more annoying my pants were slowly sliding off of my ass.  That damned slick material.  I considered the two things that could have went wrong (“did I forgot to bathe today?”, “did I buy the wrong size?’)  However, I did bathe and was wearing the right size.  I couldn’t explain it but I spent the next 35 minutes scratching and tugging at my lower half and I really didn’t enjoy the experience at all. 

What am I missing?  Did I do something wrong?  Is the world mocking me for taking so long to buy real running pants?  Please tell me I am not the only one who has ever had this experience.

Reek-ly WE-cap, Week Three

31 Jan

This week was the first time since reuniting with my running love that I truly felt like a runner. From having a couple of good runs, to getting my very first toe blister, to buying new running clothes. This week, has been one of best thus far.

I won’t keep you guys waiting anymore, here it goes.

Number of miles ran: 14
Workout thought for Monday: wow, this isn’t half bad.

Workout thought for Tuesday: I pretty much kick a$$. Yes, I realize most people kick a$$ if they are only running 2 miles, but who are you to judge? Isn’t there something in Ms. McGlovers church-house bible about that? If you are lost about aforementioned joke, laugh anyway, then check out the previous post.

Workout thought for Thursday: this workout officially qualifies as a Fartlek….ouch!

Workout thought for Saturday: Treadmill running sucks kangaroo
butt…Part three! But I stuck it out and 5 miles and 52 minutes later, I did it. This was the longest I’ve EVER been on a treadmill. How’d it feel, see first line of this section.

What’s on my I-Phone radio
while running: Ok, this is random but I decided to listen to the Anita Baker Pandora station this week, and what I found is I actually allow myself to relax more on my easy runs when the music is calmer. However, I was dying trying to get through Saturday’s long run on that station. It lasted 2 minutes and I switched back to Ciara with the quickness.

My save-all song:
This week, anything Anita. Though she doesn’t play that often on the Anita Baker station. Go figure!

Low moment: skipping my strength workout yet again, and on a day I was snowed in with nothing else to do. Oh wait, except make homemade Cinnamon buns.

High Moment: I bought non-cotton (stop the snickering) running pants. I feel so official now.

End of the week thought: I can’t choose between “ok snow, stop it already!” and
“Megan McGlover for president!”

Hope all of your runs are going well!

An anonymous black girl who despises toe blisters!

End of the week humor

29 Jan

Ok, so I love snow, really.  It is everything that is adorable.  It’s light, it’s fluffy, and if you add corn syrup and koolaid, it’s downright tasty.  However, I have to admit it’s not on my favorites list when it’s accompanied by thunder, lightning, and a windchill that would make you smack Mother Nature’s mama.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I understand it is winter and these things happen.  You get a scarf and some gloves, and a face mask, and hand warmers, and Uggs, and work it out.  However, the problem is not the dropping beauty dust from the sky.  It is the rugged version of it that sits on the sidewalks and roads for weeks and weeks.  The gross brown stuff that eats through roads and dirties your newly washed car.  And most importantly, that makes running outdoors deathly.

So in order to avoid the risk of getting hit by a car, or a flying tree branch, I am stuck in my illustrious G(ym), where the most fun I can have is counting the number of dirt stains on the carpet.

I will admit that I would be much worse if I lived in a place where this wasn’t normal, like this poor lady here in ATL.  Apparently Atlantans don’t do COLD as seen in this video.  Bloggers meet Megan McGlover.  This lady is officially my new favorite person, and I’d actually watch the news if she was on it.

LOVE her! Hope you will too!


Happy cold A$$ running!

An anonymous black girl who despises snow banks

Reek-ly WE-cap, week two

24 Jan

Hello all!
This week was interesting to say the least. Don’t worry I got it all in, just very creatively and had to fight my way through it. Why is it that you can enjoy something most of the time and then some days the universe just decides it’s like the worst thing ever? And it’s just too much to ask for it to be enjoyable? Sigh…here ya go!

Number of miles ran: 13

Workout thought for Monday: I really don’t remember Monday, but I am sure it happened. Oh wait, yes! I was sick and very proud that I ran anyway. Yay for me running, eventhough snot was pouring down my face.

Workout thought for Tuesday: gosh, it feels like Wednesday. Translation: I skipped Tuesday’s run and decided to do it on Wednesday instead. Wednesdays thought…”I should have done this Tuesday”

Workout thought for Thursday: Fartleks still pretty funky.

Workout thought for Saturday: Treadmill running sucks kangaroo butt…Part two! But making my friend chat with me over the phone while doing it…priceless and VERY effective! I wonder if they’ll let me use my phone during the race?!?

What’s on my I-Phone radio while running: Ciara Pandora Radio Station

My save-all song: Ciara’s 1,2,step.

Low moment: Tummy ache during Wednesday’s run with my daughter, begat lots of tummy bubbles. Begat my daughter threatening to stop working out with me EVER again. Ps, I have no idea why I just used the word “begat”…twice!

High Moment: I was able to do the last two workouts without ruining my new hairdo, which by the just goes to show you how crazy the black girl hair excuse really is.

End of the week thought: In the words of the slaves that made it through the underground railroad…”Thank the lord I finally made it through.” Actually I don’t know if they said that, but it seems highly probable.

And in celebration of MLKs birthday this week, I have a joke. Shoutout to my friend Jeffrey from FB.

Q. Why do black people have nightmares?

A. Because the last one that had a dream was killed.

Hope all of your runs are going well!

An anonymous black girl who despises nothing at the moment, but give me a sec.

Reek-ly WE-cap

16 Jan

I know the name sucks, but I find it hard to be cleaver and creative on the longest teaching day in hell.  So Reekly Wecap, is what you get.  At least it’s different. 

Number of miles ran: 13

Workout thought for Monday: Easy Peasy

Workout thought for Tuesday: Easy Peasy times two

Workout thought for Thursday: Funky Fartleks

Workout thought for Saturday: Treadmill running sucks kangaroo butt!

What’s on my I-Phone radio while running: Get Into the Groove by Madonna Pandora Radio Station

My save-all song:  MJ’s Thriller

Low moment: I have two. 

One is having to alternate running for my Fartleks.  My legs were screaming. 

And the second is skipping my strengthening workout on Wednesday.  There is no excuse, I just didn’t want to do it.  However, while I was in rehearsal, I did a 90 second plank.  That MUST count for something!

High Moment:  Two again…

One, surviving 4 miles on a treadmill.  Just call me Hamster butt.

Second best moment, having my daughter on the treadmill beside me on Thursday’s run.  She walked two miles…I’m proud!

End of the week thought: Thank you booty for working with me this week.  My booty takes a licking and keeps on ticking! (wait, that sounds inappropriate!)

 

Looking forward to week two!

Hope all of your runs are going well!

An anonymous black girl who despises a lot of things but is coming to realize running doesn’t  make the list anymore =P

My dirty little secret

10 Jan

This announcement is very blah.  I’m sad!  But mostly, I’m just friggin tired.  Long A$$ Sunday.  I love my job but Sundays suck for me.  And I know since this is “Da lord’s” day, that is kind of blasphemous and all.  But damn it, it’s true.  SIGH!!!  Here it goes…

OK, wait! I gotta do this right…Let me get excited.  I feel I need motivation.  ummmmm, let me think…

I have officially started, three weeks ago with a base training plan, preparing for my first half marathon.  I know I should have mentioned it earlier, but I needed to feel I could do it before I put it out in the universe because  I don’t like making goals and not achieving them.  Today, I feel iffy, but mostly I feel I will kick ass come April.  Today’s mood swing is because, you know that severe soreness I was in three days ago?  Well, maybe taking a day off was not the best idea.  The very next day, I pulled a butt muscle in class.  After surveying my body, it feels like it might be the piriformis muscle, which sucks but I have decided I am going to still start training. 

After my prior injury (being in an arm brace for 10 weeks from October-December) and having doctors poke and prod me only to find out if they had left me the hell alone I would have been fine, I refuse to go back there.  When I am not running which I plan to take easy (translation: meeting the training requirements while not killing myself)  I will be RICE-ing and being very good to my butt.  My poor butt is VERY excited about the thought of being rubbed and pampered for the next few weeks, so I know it will work with me. 

Anyway, I am feeling good about the decision and if I get crazy about my speed, or lack thereof, can one of you send me a virtual pop upside the head?  This really is about reaching the goal of finishing and enjoying the process.  So I have to slow down and enjoy.  And be ok taking a little longer. 

For those that want to know, I am running the inaugural 13.1 NYC half marathon.  I figure it’s a good excuse to get out of DC for a little but doesn’t take me away from work too much.  (I know, I know, I am a workaholic. My family tells me every day). 

My official training plan

This will be my running bible for the next couple of months.  There are a couple of concerns I have about it.  Like, lack of rest days, but truthfully with my schedule I don’t get any REAL rest days anyway.  My body is physically challenged consistently.  The other I guess is ok because I haven’t found many plans that do this, but the top mileage is 10 miles.  I have to run 13.1.  What if 10 is a cinch, but my body decides 11.5 is it’s max?!?!  I wouldn’t know that until the race and that would be awful timing!

Nervous, scared, excited, intimidated, apprehensive, you name it, I’m feeling it.  But mostly, I am proud of myself for setting the goal and can’t wait to achieve it!

So…now that you know, does anyone have any tips, words of advice on running, training, expectations, and butt pains?  I need all I can get!

An anonymous black girl who despises random butt pains

2010 in review:Just call me WOW!

2 Jan

Soooooooo, I am really excited about reaching the first year anniversary of my blog and running adventure. 

And, today, I got this email from WordPress with all my blog stats.  In the words of the illustrious Kim Zolciak “Shut the FRONT DOOR!”  Apparently, I’ve been rated a ”WOW.”  Seeing as how I’ve never been rated a “WOW”, I had to share.

Shout outs to Morgan at Caution:Redhead Running and Lindsay at Chasing the Kenyans for helping a sista out.  You guys are two of my running she-ros.  Thanks to you both, and the rest of my blog buddies, Ber, Becelisa, Keyalus, and others, for making me feel welcome in the Running blog community. 

With that said, an announcement is coming this week…It’s pretty exciting, so it needs a very exciting post to match.   So I’ll get right on that ASAP.

Take care and Happy new year to all!

xoxo

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 7,800 times in 2010. That’s about 19 full 747s. Crazy!!!

In 2010, there were 81 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 89 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 81mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week. Kind of sad about this, I wanted to hit 100 posts in a year.  But OK.

The busiest day of the year was February 18th with 250 views. The most popular post that day was About Me (or as close to it as you will get)I don’t know what the hell happened that day, but I’m flattered!

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were cautionredheadrunning.blogspot.com, WordPress Dashboard, chasingthekenyans.com, twitter.com, and blogger.comLove you two for this!

Some visitors came searching, mostly for black girls run, addicted to running, couch to 5k, run.blackgirl.run, and black girl run. What?! no inappropriate searches? How anti-climactic?

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

About Me (or as close to it as you will get) January 2010

2

Signs I am becoming addicted to running March 2010
8 comments

3

LOST March 2010
3 comments

4

My mind is telling me yes, but my body, my body, is telling me NO!!! June 2010
5 comments

5

Another edition of “Gotta love my readers” for your reading pleasure May 2010
4 comments

Happy New Year Run

1 Jan

I am smiling from ear to ear after my first run outdoors in over 3 months.

For the stat junkie in me.

Total miles: 4

Total time: 47:25 mins

Mile one: 12:30 min/mi.

Mile two: 12:oo min/mi.

Mile three: 11:37 min/mi.

Mile four: 11:18 min/mi.

The best part about this run was I covered so many different course types in that short distance.  Started out with a stroll through my neighborhood.  About a mile and a half on a track. Short trail run.  And scenic mile in rock creek park.  To top it off it was a cloudy 51 degrees, which is PERFECT running weather for me.   And I only came across 5 dogs, one unleashed.  Well, two, if you count the 3-year-old holding the leash of her very big and powerful dog.  Love how responsible that pet owner and parent was, and also love that God gave me the look known as the “black girl stare”, that interprets to “You’ve gotta be F%^king kidding me?” in every ethnicity.  Mom quickly took said leash and pulled to the side so her curious dog would stop heading towards me.

I would be a liar if I didn’t admit, my knees are annoyed right now and that I struggled my butt off for longer than I should have.  But at the end of the day, I can not have expectations of running the way I was earlier this year.  I am slower now, and more out of shape, and that is ok.  My blog was dedicated to learning to NOT DESPISE running, not to be a fast paced runner.  So I am taking every run as a success. 

However, this was not a success. 

The massive failure known as my concentrated crotch sweat. I promise this is sweat and nothing else ={

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

An anonymous black girl with the very sore knees and sweaty crotch ={

Confucius says…

30 Dec

He who eats sub sandwich an hour before running, will puke.

You learn something new everyday

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