Mixed Emotions

I have mixed emotions today. I weighed myself last night and was displeased. I've never been this heavy, and I hate it. I also hate the negative feelings toward my body. So, rather than just bitch about it, I decided to sign up for one of the online calorie trackers (which is so much easier now that I have a smartphone!) and got my ass to the gym. I signed up for a 6pm BodyPump class, which kicked my butt, and before then I actually walked/ran 2 miles on the treadmill!! That's IN ADDITION to the class I'd signed up for, which is kind of a big deal for me. I'm feeling strong and good after the workout and positive steps forward towards getting in shape and losing weight, though the current state of my body has me feeling gross. Thus, mixed emotions. However, I'm now no longer dubious I can do the 5K in June. No problem.

I think that's about it for now ... didn't go to the running group on Saturday because I went out on Friday night. As of now, no Friday night plans for this week so hopefully I'll actually be good and go early Saturday morning.

Conquering my fear of the treadmill

Oops, I haven't written in awhile. Oh well.

This morning I conquered my fear of the treadmill!  Previously, I avoided the treadmill like the plague. I had visions of my uncoordinated self thumping along on the machine like a hippo trying to do the ballet before spectacularly flying off the back end and wiping out a whole section of unsuspecting gym-goers. However, I'd heard colorful reports of men exposing themselves to women on the trail, masturbating in front of them and others trying to abduct them, so I decided that rather to subject myself to any of those unpleasant fates it would be better to attempt the treadmill. I'd stick to the trail if I had someone to run with during these scheduled solo run days, but I don't, so here we are. I have to say, I broke more of a sweat during the 20 minutes I spent huffing and puffing on the treadmill than I do when I'm running with the group. I'm happy to report that as much as I resisted that machine, I found a lot of value in it for training. I can easily do the run/walk training, for example, since the clock's right there and I can push a buton and have to keep up with it rather than looking at my watch and figuring out when I started whatever portion I'm on. Maybe I'll walk a minute, jog a minute, run a minute, jog a minute, repeat. Who knew? (Don't answer that. I know many people know of the benefits of treadmills.)

I missed the Saturday run last week due to an excess of sangria the previous night with my lovely friend Erin. I wasn't hungover, just not willing to get out of bed.

I'm a little dubious about my ability to run 3.1 miles in 2 months. Maybe I can, particularly with this newfound treadmill doohickey. I signed up for a 10K (6.2 miles) in October. Since I signed up early I get a free jacket. Score! This race swag may actually have people mistake me for an active individual.

What else ... I replaced my bike last week. Mine got stolen in Denver and I've missed it. I rode (along those same creep-infested trails) to Lake Needwood last Friday. It was fun! I didn't see any creeps.

Team Self-Care

Yesterday was the Saturday morning run. Our pace group divided into the faster runners, the slower runners, and the run-walkers. I'm probably the fastest in the run-walkers (hey, progress, right?) and was running with this other woman, Sally, when we discovered that we were both social workers. Then we learned that the others in the group were either social workers or LCPCs (LCPC = Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor). Random. We're supposed to come up with a team name and I vote for Team Self-Care, since that's what we're doing and it elicits a giggle from anyone who has gone through social work school. We did the Matthew Henson trail and it was pretty. It's nice getting to know some of these parks in the area. I'm keeping mental notes of them for when I do my Thursday runs/after this program is over in the middle of June.

The solo Thursday run was pushed to Friday morning. Allergies got the better of me on Thursday and I ended up passing out for a few hours when I got home from work. Oh well - I still did the run, just not on the assigned day.

I started reading this crazy book, "Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner" by Dean Karnazes. Ultramarathons are anything past 26.2 miles, and at this point in the book he's running 200 miles by himself. It was supposed to be a relay and he did the whole thing himself. While I admire his discipline, passion and tenacity, I think I'll stick to my 5Ks in June, possible 10K in October, and Disney Princess Half Marathon in February, and I like the idea of doing a full one around my 30th birthday. A milestone birthday deserves a milestone achievement, I think. Maybe before then, depending on how all this goes. I turned 27 in November, so I've got about 2.5 years for the 26.2. I hear the Marine Corps one is a good one to run, and I think this year registration was maxed out in something like 5 hours. Crazy.

Progress!

I had my Tuesday night run with BWR last night and it went pretty well. There's a group of run-walkers that I'm running(/walking) with and thanks to my nifty new shoes and insoles, I'm no longer in massive knee pain! And thanks to that, I'm no longer the slowest! I mean, I'm like the 5th slowest, but I'm not the actual slowest. The nice thing about being a complete beginner is that I see improvement and progress almost immediately. Can't argue with that!

I'm really enjoying running outside among the flowers, but I am not enjoying allergy season. My adorable little spunky orange car has a yellow film on it. I'd wash it, but what's the point?

Oops

I slept through the BWR group run on Saturday. I'd set my alarm, but the volume was all the way down. Oops. I did a solo run on Sunday morning to make up for it. I went to the Aspen Hill park and picked up the Capitol Crescent trail there. The beginner pace groups were scheduled to move up to 15 minutes from 10, so I set a timer on my iPod to go off after 8 minutes and then turned back around. It's nice to see that I'm making some kind of progress. While I'm still walking for a good part of it, it's not as much as it was when I started. Here's hoping the progress continues! Also, no knee pain! Woohoo!

Good shoes!!

I took the new shoes/insoles for a spin around the block today and was pleasantly surprised - the only knee pain was residual from before and was substantially less than it had been! All in all, the store in Elkridge was definitely worth the trip out there. Here's hoping I can keep up with everyone tomorrow and that it doesn't rain too much ...

New car today! I'm impatiently waiting for work to end so I can go pick it up. :)

Road Runner Sports

At Tuesday's BWR session, the lead coach mentioned Road Runner Sports in Elkridge as a good place to get fitted for shoes. Since both Feet Fleet and RRS allow you to return shoes after you've run outside in them and I had a meeting in Glen Burnie this morning anyway, I decided to check them out during my lunch hour. They run a serious shoe-fitting operation there! You first get your feet measured, then you stand on this thing that figures out where you put the most pressure on your feet, then you run on a treadmill and your feet are videotaped, then they analyze that frame by frame, and THEN they potentially fit you for custom insoles. I was fitted for insoles since my feet do different things. It was interesting because they said the shoe I was in up til then was forcing my left leg to do things it wasn't built to do, which is probably why that knee (and only that knee) was hurting. I got the shoes and the insoles.

I was supposed to do a solo run today but didn't because I put a deposit down on my car!! I'm getting an orange Honda Fit and have named her Punkin. I'm picking her up tomorrow!! I feel a little bad for the Warrior, but I have to keep reminding myself that inanimate objects don't have feelings. Anyway, I've set my alarm for 6:45 so I can do a run tomorrow morning before work. I can bring ice with me to the office for my knees if necessary...