Running 55 and Under!
Labor Day Weekend! Scenic 5 (Mile)! We did it! I know it’s been a week but I’ve had school. I’ll always have school…but for now this is about the race.
If you have been following along, I was running five miles fairly easily. In about an hour or less depending on traffic lights. (I said easy–not fast)
So I was pretty confident I could do under an hour, for sure, in the actual race. And I did! And thanks to my running partner, Wayne, I was able to aim for 55 minutes or less. And I got that! My official time was 54 minutes and 32 seconds. I consider that pretty good. I was ninth finisher in my age bracket. I made the top 10! (In my age bracket) (Oh and did I mention that there were only 17 total IN my age bracket…) HAHAHA. I don’t care! It still counts!! I was 304 out of 372. That’s pretty funny too! I was on page 8 of the results. Next year, I’m going for page 7. Oh yeah. High hopes! Small steps! Also, I almost threw up at the end. I really hate when that happens! When I crossed the finish line, I started dry heaving. I felt bad for the nice woman who was trying to give me my finishing medal. She’s reaching out, I’m dry heaving, she’s recoiling in horror…I got it together and was fine in a few. Luckily I never eat before I run. Lucky for all of us. That’s probably enough gross stuff.
Wayne did good too. First race for him, and he ran coming off of surgery and an ankle injury, and I still couldn’t beat him! I was actually slowing him down but he (kindly) said he was speeding me up! True. Thanks Wayney! He beat me by two minutes! He was on page 7!! Curses!!
Next year. There’s always next year. Here are some photos. Forgot the camera, but I always have my phone.
The line up to start.
Wayne. (In black)
Me. I have to laugh at this because my hair and leg makes me look like I'm just speeding across the line, robot-style, all 9o degree angles, but in a movie and in slow-mo, and really I was just trying not to be sick. Funny.
I didn’t really think it would turn out
The deer pictures. I have two, well, I have about a hundred pictures, that upon closer inspection on the big screen are composed of a lot of grass, trees, leaves, shrubs, weeds, and sky shots, with a small, blurry, deer-shaped smudge in the center, or off to the side, or at the bottom. Just your basic professional camera-phone, nature-photo photography. It’s mostly crap.
But this came out pretty good. I’ll only bore you with one, because the other one looks just like this except the deer might have tilted his/her head ever-so-slightly to the left. (Nope, actually, I change that thought—one below—one above, if that isn’t confusing enough) I notice the change in color too, now that I have it here. One seems darker and more natural. Almost the same shot, from the same distance, from the same spot on the trail. All I had to wait for in between was my phone to save the picture.
And all you thought you were getting was long, rambling stories about nothing and here it’s a (could be) college-level (generous) type discussion on the technical and and artistic capabilities of camera phone technology. I am sure I can make up any number of time-frame-exposure-light sentences for you to read and we can all feel extra smart during our day today!
But, it’s the usual, simple, at my favorite running trail, deers so close they are trying to jump on me! See past post for THAT exciting story! Even the babies are bigger than you want bumping into you!
Attempting a “quick” post. Yeah right.
Hopefully. Had school today. Told my joke. It was funny enough.
Maybe you want it? There’s a blonde on one side of a river, and another blonde on the opposite side of the river. The blonde on the right yells to the other blonde, “How did you get on the other side of the river??” And the other blonde yells back, “You’re already there!” Ha and Ha.
Lots of good ones were given! Didn’t buy any more books. Going to check online and buy the rest there. I have the main ones so its ok for now.
Driving home I find out I have to take my mom for her eye surgery at 6:30 am. Which means I need to be at her house by 5:30 am. Which means I have to leave my house at 4:45 am. Which means I get to see every spectacular shooting star and debris from the meteor shower at the most opportune time of all the viewing hours here in North America! Click here for the link. Just making lemonade out of my lemons! I actually think that meteors are pretty cool. Pray for good weather. No clouds or rain please!! I don’t want to be getting up just in the plain old dark!! I need entertainment!
After I got home I changed and did a quick (ha) five mile run around the neighborhood. My goal is less than one hour for the 5-mile race on Labor Day. I did one hour and 15 seconds, non-stop, except where I got stuck at lights going across a main road. (There was too much traffic for me to just run across) So based on today’s jog, I believe I can easily achieve my goal. I probably would have been under by about a minute or two save for the stoplights. Promising!!
That led me to a cool down walk where I found change (oh yeah!) Street Money next!
And that led me to coming into the house to do a quick weigh-in. Shouldn’t have done that! No good. Not losing. I know why. Too much crap. The days are ok, but dinner just sucks. Greasy spoon hot dogs, pizza, quesadillas and guac, ice cream, McDonald’s! It’s not enough to run and bike, I gotta eat healthy. And I have really fallen off the wagon. (I think my legs look really good now though. They feel solid and muscular and look good in shorts (all my opinion) but who else’s should really matter??) Anymodestway…
It also led me to here, the internet, where I wanted to post, but not really because I can never keep it short enough! As I opened the WordPress page there was a picture of delicious looking chocolate cake, right on the front! How terrible of them, and right at dinnertime when people are out there sweating and starving. Anyway, I click on it of course, and the site is full of good looking food and recipes and amazing photos and so I included it in my side bar. You can click here for the fast version. You know it has a complicated name. I listed it as Beautiful Food. Very elegant though. Again, makes mine look like the ramblings of a crazy out patient, but we can all have our space in the airwaves. I will be using it as my food porn because I have to cut it back down before the race. Dr. Ian I’m looking at you! And your Extreme Fat Smash. Just for the three weeks. Then BFL. Life on the hamster wheel!
Alright, one more bad dinner is on the way, so I better finish up. I haven’t forgotten all the other stuff, I’m just losing time. Let me end with a lite joke from class today for when you are feeling like life sucks and it can’t get any worse (it can always get worse). This is no reflection on me at this particular moment, things are stable, but you can see the relevance for the future:
The Toothbrush says, “Somedays I feel like I have the worst job in the whole world!”
“Ya, right.” says the Toilet Paper.
It’s Saturday night and ahm all alone…but I got a story to tell!!
Boos to the hoos…my babies are gone again (wahwahwah), and the BF is at his friends house playing cards or boozing it up and talking about the women or whatever else they be doing out there in the garage. Yes, the smokers gotta smoke, so last I heard, the party was outside. It was 90 f***ing degrees when he left so I don’t know how long the “outside” is going to seem fun-friendly.
Now, I love the heat…or at least I used to love the heat. But I guess as I get older, I just can’t take it. Sweating when I am sitting still isn’t really working for me anymore. So, even though I am against paying for electricity when it’s unneeded, I have the air on. My house becomes like an oven for some weird reason. I think it’s the windows we have. They don’t really let in air. The three brand new ones do (please see previous posts) but that was HOT air. I had to shut the house down. And now I am in the kitchen typing and catching up and when I go in the living room, it will feel like everyone else’s house (the ones that have a central air system–not a window unit like me) I’m not complaining though, because it gets to the bedroom so I’ll be able to sleep!
But that’s kind of boring and rambly so let me re-cap the day:
Pretty much nothing. Kids left last night, so I was kind of bummed out and not feeling especially happy or fun to be around (I would like to make this another official apology to the BF. I stink as a girlfriend.) Went to bed. Woke up. Drank coffee. Read some trash mags. Went to the running trail. Yes, I did. Yes, WE did. It was only 80° at the time of start, but after we were done, the car said 94°. Granted we were there longer than usual, we talked for awhile, then ran and biked. I did the whole thing, the BF did it twice, but I’m telling you it was slow and sweaty. I think we were on the trail 45-50 minutes or so, not good time, I fully admit, but I probably lost 5 pounds in sweat. It was so hot I felt like I could just seize up right on the trail. I had to walk for some of it which is better than passing out on it or near it; that grass, chock full of animal poo-poo, isn’t all that inviting.
Oh! and I completely forgot about the crazy thing that happened to me, first time ever, on foot! I even forgot to tell the BF! Just as we left each other at the ¼ mile mark, I was running along, listening to music, getting my breaths adjusted, passed another woman, when suddenly, in front of me, a baby deer jumps right into the path! And I mean RIGHT in front of me. I could have touched it if I hadn’t been so startled. I said, “Uuhh!” and stopped. And the deer stopped. Now we are standing there. (It was smaller, with even, brown fur and white spots. Nice and clear. I have never been that close to a deer to see it like this.) Then it jerked and leapt forward to the other side. But I heard more rustling, and next to me, on the right, where the first one came from, is another one! Another baby. It’s looking at me. I can tell it wants to go across, but it makes a quick turn around, kind of like the Scooby-Doo, back legs running but the body ain’t going, move and scrambles back into the brush where it came from. So I look back, and the woman that I passed saw it all, thank god, because I swear no one would believe me. I gave her a shrug and she kind of did that laughing-arm-waving-that-was-crazy-signal-thing and I kept running. But the heart attack those deer almost gave me kind of pinched my effort.
And then even crazier, I forgot! Until right now! It was so bleeping hot, the memory burned out and dripped onto the pavement. But it’s all true. It was like being in your car when one jumps in front of it—also happened to me—but the deer very elegantly and gracefully, managed to jump right on over missing my bumper by millimeters—except I had no car. I wonder if I had been going just a tiny bit faster would that deer have jumped right into me? Kind of bumped me right to the ground? Would it hurt? I don’t know. He sure didn’t know I was there until he saw me. Youngsters! Can’t trust them anywhere!
Anydeery, so that’s my exciting exercise tale for the day.
I also found a penny in the parking lot! Excitement all around! Check that post in a bit. We actually found quite a bit of change in the last few. All the updates coming up!
When last you heard from me, I was on my way to school…
…with high hopes for the rest of the evening. When suddenly…Tequila! (And that was TWO days ago.)
I did go to school. I got the “pre-heads-up” to the actual “heads-up” classes I have next week. Signed some paperwork. Got some questions answered. Payed for classes. Bought more books. Drove home excited as hell, but unaware of the complicated nature of what I am about to embark upon.
I have three books and a syllabus right now, and I have three more books to buy. Definitely the most I have needed so far. When I trained for EMT I was on an adrenaline rush for hours after every single class, for like 4-6 months. It was crazy. And I have that same crazy feeling just looking at these books. Two years and god knows how many hours are about to go into this program, but I am ready. I’m not sure my body can take the intensity. I had trouble sleeping before, but I guess that will just help me on the job! I talked so much on the phone to the BF just driving home from a pre-class class, that I, “low-battery-powered-off”, the cell phone. The damn thing drained out good. First time I talked to the cut-off. Even after I plugged it back in it wouldn’t turn on for a little while.
So I take a closer look at this new book. Calculating With Confidence. Drug calculations, measurements, math conversions…OMG, it looks hard. Drug labels, syringes, pills, liquids, fractions, decimals, cc. mL. mg. oz. You need: Aspirin gr 10 p.o. q4h p.r.n. for pain. You have: Drug label, that suddenly makes no sense whatsoever. And tell me how much, with how much diluent, time of day, route of administration, but don’t forget who you are giving it to, how much they weigh, what else they are taking; now mark it on the drawing, and don’t “F” it up because you could kill someone…. I’m paraphrasing…but that’s the idea. Once you take off the plastic shrink wrap, the front cover has a skull and crossbones on it. They don’t want you to see that until it’s too late. And you thought that the nurse handing you two Tylenol in the hospital after dinner didn’t require any skill. HA!
The amazing thing is, that in 2 months, that book is going to make perfect sense, and I’ll be calculating in my sleep (not literally), but for now…we better go to Pepe’s and think about the future.
So the guy that has been working there since he was a child, really, (I know, because we as a family, collectively have been going there for his whole life basically, I even remember a time when he was out in the parking lot trying to drive off in his older brothers car…he got in trouble for that…) anypepestoryway…this kid/adult now (Ricky? The name would not come to me, don’t judge, I’m approaching 40, but Mason and Stevie both agree, yes, on the name) made me a killer, and I mean KILLER margarita. I took 4 drinks and I was feeling the heat. By one third gone, I was TWO thirds gone. I wish I could say I was joking, because I was getting “altered” and fast. (My teeth were numb and I tried to walk out of the clear glass panel NEXT to the door, when I left the restaurant) I ate some chips and salsa and some shrimp cocktail on crackers and a tamale and a chili rellano but food was failing me fast, so I concentrated on finishing the medium margarita that, based on my morning calculations of how-long-it-takes-my-body-to-filter-out-the-alcohol (years of research have perfected this system) there must have been at least, 5 shots of tequila in my drink. I can say that with confidence because I was still slightly drunk at 7:30 in the morning. And I even tried to move the alcohol along with activity and oxygen before I fell into dreamy-drunky sleep the night before but sometimes you can’t keep a good buzz down, or up, or whatever. End of story.
I dragged myself up, took out the garbage, diluted my remaining blood level of tequila with coffee, and watched Regis & Kelly with Pat Tomasulo subbing for Regis (!!) I wrote it on the calendar! Busy schedule, yeah yeah, I’ll be working soon enough and you’ll miss these long, rambling posts. (More Pat Stuff)
The Pat Down. For your enjoyment. And since this is Chicago, we have 2 newspapers…here’s the Trib version. Ok, I think I’m done now.
Then I really pushed the limit with a five mile run. Five point one something something, to be exact. I ran the water bill to the Village Hall, which maps out at 5+ miles. MapMy Run.com. 30 minutes there. 34 minutes back. One hour, four minutes. I will take it. I ran on the sidewalks. Concrete, hard on the shins with lots of hills, (dang Park Forest doesn’t have a completely flat spot 10 steps in a row), and chock full of tripping hazards. Broken cement, uneven, crooked, weeds, rocks…I’m not sure what the village is doing all the time. It seems like they dig holes in random spots all around town just so there’s something for the kids to fall into. At any rate. I was done for the day. Kids got home about 3 ish and we ate ice cream and talked about all they did last week. Stevie made cupcakes! First time on her own and no crunchy ones from egg shells! (So far) So proud. Then dinner and a movie. (Burgers on the grill and Smokey and the Bandit from Netflix) unpack the bags, go to bed and poof! Here we are. Today.
I’m going to skip the run today, maybe go take a walk at the nature trail if I can get the kids out there. Mason has grass to finish and we are open. I have the pictures you have been waiting for…I didn’t forget, it’s just time and energy and getting them off the cell phone. I even have video! The kids wanted to play in the water, but we don’t have a pool. We have a hose. So they filled up larger, plastic, Tupperware bowls and put their faces in them or dumped them over their heads. They would swim in a wet sponge if they could. Then they played water-hose-jump-rope, which is actually pretty funny. So that’s coming too! And all that other stuff I said I had…Remember my theme: Everything is always two days ago!
Cupcakes!
Half with sprinkles, half without! Tasty!
Last post of the night…
Hold on, let me get a drink for this….
Ok. If you read this in any kind of dailyway, I pretty much list off my activities for the day. So, even though I had good intentions when I woke up this morning (early , so that I could watch the WGN Morning News—I even texted what kind of underwear Pat Tomasulo should wear to co-host his first Regis & Kelly Show on Tuesday—sad), basically I did nothing. The road to Hell…
Drank coffee. Bitched and moaned when I had to take the car to the brake shop, which we desperately needed. Grumped about having to go buy windows and stain and rocks for the house to make it look nicer. Hated the lunch I ate, even though I picked the place. Was bored at the Pet Store getting feeders for the cannibal Oscars (which are getting big–I’m going to do a before and after post when I sober up in the morning because I’ll never find the old pictures in this condition). Sat inside and played BeJeweled on the computer and Facebook while the BF cleaned off the roof, gutters and patio in the blazing midday sun. Perked up a little when we had to go get the car, brand new brakes—so nice!–only because I knew we had to go right past a liquor store! Yay! Happily walked around said liquor store picking up various drink items for tonight and tomorrow. Drove car home thinking about making delicious martini’s and laying across the couch like a lump. Sitting here, right now, drinking second martini and typing about the things that I won’t be finishing up tonight. Like…
The laundry.
The kids room. So close too! Got it painted and ready to re-build. Got proof too! See pics below! I was going to save them for the big before and after unveiling, but who am I kidding?? I might not even finish that room now until Sunday or Monday. HA. All I have to do is hang curtains and move the furniture back. Oh Cursed Vodka!!
Another thing I didn’t do was run. And I feel bad about that. It’s been 2 days; three when I wake up tomorrow. (I did paint for those two days—today was just pure lazy) It’s going to suck running around out there for 4 miles, maybe more, as punishment, with a hangover and reeking of booze sweat but I can’t get behind. I have a five mile race in one month and you saw those butt pictures. Eee-yew…did any one else just feel a chill?? Goosebumps. Or giant lumps (of fat in my pants—yuck). I’m not even telling you where those pictures are or linking it. Find it yourself.
What I am going to do though, is finish this up, post those pictures (the walls and windows really did turn out nice–good work SoberLisa!) and make some moves on my BF. (Too much information???)
Like Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, once said (and she totally rocks):
“One drink makes me want to go to bed.
Two drinks makes me want to go to YOUR bed.”
Goodnight, Chicagago!
Update. NOW it’s gonna rain…ratsafratsa…And the Final Warrior Dash post until next years event (or at least sign-up)
It’s like thunder, lightning…the way you love me is frightening…that’s from a song, but the storm is moving in. It’s like the weather was waiting for me to finish running today. “OK, Thunderheads, she’s done. She finally got her lazy butt up and around, send in the clouds and let her rip!” Bastard Atmospheric Conditions!
Anymuddyway…These are the final pictures from that damn little mud camera with the amazing ability to take blurry pictures of hot firefighters but somehow focus in with razor sharp acuity on my ginormous ass going over a wall. (If you wanna see the butt pictures–you gonna have to search the website–I put them in a separate post–Ha!)
Here they are. Thanks A & J!
Our kingdom for a wish…
Before the race. Strolling the course. Posing so bravely.
Ooooh! Fire! Hurry!
Scary! And actually it was a little bit...it was hot, high, and 7 in the morning. We have to jump over that???
The mud. Looks nice with no one in it. Kind of like a spa!
The start.
People running with us. I'm kind of hungry...
Imagine that running on the flat ground is the easiest thing you do all day!
The hills! Killer! Seemed easy until about the twentieth one!
The junkyard cars.
Cheesecake!
My favorite part! In the forest! The steep terrain and jagged rocks! I really did like this obstacle!
Climb over a spool. Walk the plank!
From the bottom...
...and from the top!
Look at that man! Just hops right over! Where are the girls?? You gotta go look...'cause they are not in this section!
In the tubes...a mere competitor...
...Out the other side...a WARRIOR!
Swampy. Our first taste of mud and what's to come!
The mud pit. Down and dirty and in it! We are there.
We are so over it!
Firefighters. Big Hoses. Water. Yes, please.
See you all next year!!
Every excuse in the book…
For why it took me a dismal 47 minutes to run around 3.7 miles.
1. The air temperature was 87 degrees at 3 pm.
2. There was no wind.
3. And no shade.
4. The sun was blazing down like hellfire.
5. I had a rock in my shoe.
6. And a cramp in my leg.
7. And a weird pain in my ankle going down to the bottom of my foot.
8. I have my period.
9. I have my period.
10. I just ran 5 miles yesterday.
11. The direction I ran has more of an uphill slope almost the entire way.
12. I still have a scorching sunburn on my chest from the weekend. (Sport bra was rubbing and causing blisters)
13. My earphones kept falling out.
14. Or pulling too tight at the neck. (Tucked in my shirt collar and thru the sleeve to my arm band)
15. Wispy hairs kept sticking to my face.
16. Sweat was dripping in my eyes.
I could probably keep going but it won’t change the fact that today’s run was made on sheer willpower alone. Seriously.
I had zero desire and zero strength to get around. At the one mile to-go mark (going backwards from the norm), I wanted to stop. And I don’t mean just stop running. I wanted to completely stop and lay down on the track. I was actually arguing with myself about NOT stopping. Telling myself, I could not just stop right there and I really couldn’t sit down much less LAY down on the trail. Besides the car was still a mile away, and how did I think I was going to get there?? I’m like, just go. Just keep going. Breathe in, count steps, count breaths, whatever…here comes a tree, here comes another tree, ¾, ½, ¼, here’s that garbage can, here’s that pink kid croc shoe that somebody must have lost yesterday, I can see the car, keep going, don’t throw up, here’s the port-a-potty, the parking lot, the car, you made it!
And now I am home again. Almost forgetting…that’s how it gets you! Exercise is only hard at the time. Otherwise it feels pretty good.
And since I’m feeling successful and numb, here’s those pics I mentioned earlier. See how I buried them way in here! You gotta be a fan to get the good stuff! Thanks Jay for taking such a flattering picture! And thanks Amanda for that concerned face while helping me over, making it look like I weigh 300 pounds! I love you guys! Ann Or Ex E Uh! Next year! (I posted them full-size for that extra added chuckle)
I'm much more flexible, and not THAT heavy, but I still couldn't have made it over myself. Next year. Little jog, little skip, up and over! Take that, horrible waterproof disposable low speed film camera (with unfair sharpness and clarity).
In my defense, my butt is not really THAT huge. It LOOKS huge, that is true. But it's the angle. The shorts. The other shorts. I am MUCH better looking in real life. And thinner. I swear!
Back to boring old me.
Dang Nabbit…I wish it would rain here already so I have an excuse for not leaving the house and running again…It’s getting to be 2 pm Chicago time and the storms I was promised this morning have yet to show up. Good Lord I might have to actually get up and go out!
Bugger, I’m tired and sore. I pushed it on through yesterday and ran five whole miles. Not a lot to some, I know, but I’m a novice here. Amateur athlete, with loose use of the term “athlete”. I have the Scenic 5 in September and this was my first run at that distance. (I’ve run farther before but that was way before, and not relevant to this time period in my life). It took a little over an hour. I guess that’s not too bad. I will be happy for the race if I complete it under one hour. That’s my goal. I felt really good running too. I thought I was going at a good pace, but when I got to the end of the trail I run, it’s only 3.6 miles, and I realized I would have to go past the car and keep running as if to do it twice, I got all psyched out and quivery. Then I felt heavy and hot and thought I should just stop. I don’t HAVE to run five miles this very minute. So, I kept going, sloppily, but I logged the miles. Then I was sore all night. Ate a very healthy dinner. Nothing extra. (But still didn’t lose any weight! In fact I gained a pound from last week! Tumor?? Too soon to tell.)
And if you come back later, I’ll share my last and final post about the Warrior Dash. My sister’s mud camera pictures came out pretty good and there are a couple of horrendous pictures of my giant ass going over the wall that I will be willing to post here strictly for the pure hilarity they provide. I wish I was exaggerating even a little. If you can’t laugh at yourself you can always laugh at me!
Anyway, I guess since the weather isn’t cooperating, I better get out there. I’m only doing the 3.6 today so it shouldn’t be too bad.
I have a music list to share also!! It has been a really long time since I posted one. I go in waves with stuff like that. I am currently out-of-love with my I-Pod and music in general. But I needed something to get my ass around that track. This is what I used. If you run at my pace (slow) it will play the exact amount of time you will need for a five mile run! I shuffle it and keep running….Let’s call it the, “5-Mile Shuffle“ Music List!
just shy of pretty 