Dear Kristen,
I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that the new gear you purchased at the Nike Employee Store last week is NOT for running.  It is for "training."  (Silly me, I thought running was training.)  Like, strength training (I guess) and working out with your personal trainer.  Your new capris? Totally not for running.  Remember that time you tried to wear them as you ran? How by the end of the first block you were afraid bystanders were going to mistake you for a teenage boy who doesn't know how to pull up his pants?  Yeah...that isn't a good look when your "pants" look like this: 

They don't look like this on me. Nope. Not at all.

 

  It is a good thing that they're wildly comfortable, but stop fantasizing about wearing them all of the time.  They will start to smell and you will lose your friends.

Also, stop wearing your new sports bra while running.  It's chafing you.  On your neck.  You look like you have hickeys all the time.  You can wear your other bras, you know the ones that don't chafe?  If you continue down this line you'll be a chafed smelly person.  Do you want to be that person? I know you don't.  Just stop.

Thanks dear! I just don't want you to lose your friends. I really do have your best interests at heart.

Lots of love,
Kristen

P.S. Will you please, for the love of all you hold dear, PLEASE START YOGA AGAIN.

Rock and Roll?

The Portland Rock and Roll Half Marathon was today.  I really wish I had known about this event.  That's what I get for skimming my e-mail I guess....

Anyway, the route went right by my house.  A long stretch of the course took the runners up Hawthorne, which is a mere two blocks from Main.  I could see the runners if I just went out into the street.  It was pretty cool.  I felt bad for all those runners, I know how brutal that steady incline from the bridge can me.  (It made me cry and curse. I hate long slow hills.)  Chris and I got up early (well...actually not early at all....but SUNDAY!) this morning to watch the runners run.  And to see Tom play.  One of his bands (I don't remember the name) had a gig this morning on one of the stages along the course.  Yay!  Free motivation and fun music on a Sunday morning sound awesome to me. 

Watching the runners turned out to be quite the emotional experience.  I had tears in my eyes the whole time.  I wanted, with every fiber of my being, to be there with them.  I did. I wished running was as easy for me as it appeared to be for them.  Every time I saw a runner bolt toward the spectators and get a hug from their kid or a kiss from their spouse I seriously had to wipe away tears.  Oi.

I suppose all this is happening because running and I are not getting along at the moment.  I'm slogging through the runs, but it's about 3 miles before I start to feel like I'm not wearing concrete shoes.  Most of the battle is in my head, I'm sure, because once I've pushed through that wall the running feels better than it ever has.  Which is nice, but it has never taken this long to get there.  I guess our relationship is evolving, running and I are officially over the honeymoon stage.  I guess we're both starting to realize we're in it for the long haul.

Rock and Roll Half Marathon

catching up

I'm a people watcher.  I can guarantee that if we ever go to a public place together I will, at some point, lose track of our conversation because the happenings of other people will distract me.  I can't help it.  People are so strange.  So strange. 

Take, for example, the woman who was on the treadmill next to me this morning.  She was playing Draw Something.  While "running." (I maintain that you cannot run and operate a smartphone well enough to draw.  I can barely manage to skip songs when I'm running.  But then, maybe I'm just a sloppy runner.)  Then she answered a text message.  But when her phone rang? Nope, she curtly told the caller (yes, she answered the phone) that she was at the gym and 'couldn't talk.'  I felt like grabbing the phone and telling the caller just to text her instead.  But maybe she isn't that strange at all, maybe I don't understand the constant need to be plugged into my smartphone.  Actually I don't understand the draw of the smartphone because I don't have one.  I have a horrible phone made for tweens, but it was free and I am cheap and don't want to pay for a data plan. 

Cinco de Mayo 5K

Today's training with Alison was just what I needed. A dose of motivation. A very difficult work-out. A glimmer of respectable progress. Most of all I'm excited to see where I'll be in another two months.  Huzzah!

***
The 5K on Sunday did not go well.

PT: Session 14

I've been having trouble with motivation this past week.  Maybe it's the residual cold symptoms (ugh, still!) or the lazy routine that I've fallen into with all the "resting." Still, it's been hard to get up off the couch. Deciding to watch "How I Met Your Mother" wasn't a great idea either, it just makes it even harder to get up off the couch.

****

Chris and I are running a 5K on Sunday.  Truth be told, I'm a little nervous about it.  I know.  It's 3 miles. I know I can run 3 miles.  However, I have this little voice that tells me that my endurance isn't where it should be.  Plus, I'm running with Chris.  He's tall.  He's got legs that go up to my waist.  I take two and a half steps for every one step he takes.  I've run with him before, and he's literally run circles around me.  This does not usually sit well with me, as I'm slightly competitive.  Oh well, this will be good motivation to keep going during the race.

All of the books and articles I've read about distance running and training say that it's important to have a running group or a running buddy.  I always scoffed at the idea, preferring to go out and run with just my iPod.   I'm warming to the idea, because I like running with Jill and Chris...but there's still something about running with just my music.  Love it.

Today Jill and I did the Laurelhurst loop.  Except we did it backward, thinking that it would be easier to start with the big hill instead of finishing with it.  I totally forgot, when explaining about the big hill, that the route is totally geared to be mostly downhill for the last half.  Reversing the route meant that the first half was uphill, first with a really steep up hill section and then a gradual climb over a mile.  Oi. Oi vey.  It was not easy.  Oh well.  Immediately after the run I had to get to the gym to meet with Allison, where we started out the training session with jumping lunges.  Ha. Have you tried those?  They're not easy.  Add in the push up/rows and you have a very hard training session indeed.

Today's Workout

3.04 mile run through Laurelhurst Park

30 seconds jumping lunges

2x

15x bosu ball toe taps

15x bosu ball squat and curls

15x bosu ball tricep extensions. 

60 second bosu ball planks

10x old faithfulls (each side)

2x 

10x push-up and rows

downward dog stretches

glutes (10 straight, 10 front, 10 back)

15x leg extensions

15x fire hydrants

10x leg curls w/ 15 lb wts

8x side plank pulses (each side)