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!)
Ahem…I suck!
28 FebReek-ly WE-Cap, Week Four
7 FebWe 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!
End of the week humor
29 JanOk, 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
The first 3.5 mile run since August
27 DecThe 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.
On the road to recovery…
17 JunI got up this morning, and fought my way out of bed and to the park to join my group run. I hadn’t seen my run dawgs in about 2 weeks and I was sure I was getting my butt kicked. As a result, I spent 25 minutes hoping it would thunderstorm. It NEVER did!
I won’t go into a long sordid story about how I was partnered with a newbie runner that fed me her dust for 3 miles straight, or how my obliques and lower abs felt like Satan was taking a smoke break on them. The short version is, it was difficult!!! I did a little over 3 miles in 28:45 minutes, then at the command of my body, switched to intervals for 1.5 miles (alternating sprints 150 meters/walk 100 meters) for a total miles 4.55 in 47 minutes/average pace 10:23.
I can live with that! I also went to Ballet tonight. Jeez!!! The preparation for this new job is KILLING my body. However, it’ll all make sense when I step in to teach my first class. Those students have NO idea what’s coming their way.
In other news, my favorite trainer, Miss Angel Stone AKA my girl crush, is having a great discussion on her blog, Fit and Hungry, about why African-American women don’t statistically exercise as much as their fairer skinned counter parts. The discussion has stemmed from an interview she did on the founders of BlackGirlsRun. It’s a cool post. So when you get a chance mosey on over there and chime in. Then come back here and play with me, Ok?!
Toddle-Loo (I don’t think I’ve ever wrote that out, and am sure it’s not spelled right, but you get the point! If not, it’s synonymous with Laters! )
An anonymous black girl who despises having abs that look much stronger than they really are ={
Near-death experience…twice!
7 JunSo this is not a joke, I was almost taken out during my run on Friday and I am just getting my nerves up to speak about it! Well, actually, I got my nerve back ten minutes later BUT I have just been working ALL weekend.
I’ve almost been hit by a car about 3 times in my life, so you’d think I’d be used to it by now. But not so much. Long story short: End of my run that was going super well. Actually finished 4 miles in 38 minutes, which in 75 degree weather is GREAT, at least for me. The last part of the run, the dreaded hill, was trying. So I put on my headphones just to take my mind off it. I realize that people say you shouldn’t listen to music so much that you aren’t aware of your surroundings, and I wasn’t. I am a big chicken and run pretty defensively. I always look around, head up, volume down enough to hear bikers calling out, or cars honking, or dogs coming behind me searching for lunch. And the crazy thing is I saw the dumb a$$hole. (more…)
Where in the World is BGirl875?
26 MayIt’s been exactly 12 days since my last post, and I have so much to tell you all.
First, even though you haven’t heard much from me, I HAVE been running. I’ve done a few morning runs with KT and my usual group runs, of which I am growing SUPER bored. I’m at the point where I just put my headphones on from the start in hopes that the same old route will feel different with a different soundtrack. But alas… (more…)
A Small Victory in the World of Bgirl875
14 MayBefore we start, some mood music. Please listen, then finish reading post.
Just had to share that in the event you are having an icky day. This song is proven to completely make you forget about it and put you in a great mode. That way, I won’t feel bad making you read a post on how absolutely great I feel today 
(more…)
Running with The Spawn
13 MayToday, I did something I thought I would never do. I convinced my teenage daughter to come running with me. Now, before we get all excited let me clarify a couple of things.
One, by “convinced” I actually mean “bribed” her to do it. She got an essay assignment from me for making a really poor decision last weekend that, in another household, would have probably resulted in at least one week of grounding or in Joe Jackson’s household, a good old fashioned A$$ whoopin’. But since my daughter is usually pretty well behaved (for a teen), I opted to reduce her sentence to an essay explaining better alternatives that she could have chosen in the situation that resulted in said punishment. I won’t go into that but I am convinced that once girls stop playing with dolls and start boy-gazing, they lose about 25% of their brain cells. Soooo annoying!
Anywho, (more…)
Another edition of “Gotta love my readers” for your reading pleasure
9 MayI’m being obsessive again, looking through my blogs search terms (things people searched for and were directed to my “innocent” little blog).
The first installment of this was a little crazy. This one is tamer and more on target. But still warranted a few laughs and “WTF’s?”.
So without further adieu……..
I’m a SITSTA SISTA
