Running Misadventures

The take home message of this morning that I am trying to focus on is that I totally rocked that 6 mile run. Especially considering the universe was being a big ball of negative energy.

So I woke up this morning with a shimmering crescent moon in my peripheral vision. This is a tell-take sign that I am going to get a migraine. So I get up, frantically look around my apartment for Excedrin Migraine, and pop two. Then I lay down, with a cold compress on my face. This cold compress happened to be a bag of already opened frozen corn, but it did the trick. After about 20 minutes, the crescent thing went away (for the most part), and I got my running stuff on and started my run. Now, I did not have my sunglasses on because they broke the other day. Correction: I picked them up, and one of the side pieces just fell off. Wah Wah. So I'm running without sunglasses on a really bright day which is great b/c what you want when you have a migraine is a lot of brightness. On the upside, it was 75 degrees which is really perfect weather. I'm serious. If it was 75 degrees year round, I'd be in heaven.

So I'm running, and it's going really well, except the crescent thing comes back. An awesome side effect of the crescent is that you kind of lose your peripheral vision. Which is really safe when you're running down a major street. But I keep going because I'm not letting the migraine win. Last summer I made my migraine go away through sheer willpower, so I'm trying that again. Fortunately I succeeded. Lizze: 1 Migraine: 0.

So I get to my turn around point, and I head back towards the apartment. On my way back, a man has started his leafblower. This is the part that kills me. He sees me coming, we make eye contact, and he moves so his leafblower so it is pointed at me as I run by. Thus dust and leaf particles bust into my eye socket and straight into my contact lens. But I keep going, tears streaming down my face, until I can't take it, and have to stop and remove my contact. I manage to clean it off (with my saliva), and put it back into my eye. Joy. I keep going. About 2 miles to go.

The next highlight of my run occurs about 5 minutes later. I get to an intersection as the Walk Sign comes on. I check around me to make sure no cars are turning, and I keep going. However, it is somewhat of a blind corner, and this un-helmeted bicyclist busts around the corner and almost hits me. She turns to scream at me, and I fight off the spontaneous wish that she fall and bust her head open. Pedestrians have the right of way. I just looked it up. Bicyclists have to yield to pedestrians. And seriously dude. It's basically a blind corner. She clearly had a better view of me than I did of her. And if any of my readers "identify as a bicyclist" and dispute my rantings, please contact me.

After this mishap, my run was more or less normal. My time was actually pretty good, so I was happy with that. You can see how on the whole it was a good run, but seriously. I'm a little concerned about going to work since with all the crap that has happened, I don't know if it's a good idea for me to leave the house again.

Bad Decisions

So it was 4th of July weekend, and Mike and I ended up going to St. Joseph for the annual Forres Avenue block party. This marks the first time that I've run in St. Joseph. On Friday I ran 3 miles, and I found a nice loop that I could do down by the water. The next morning was the 9am breakfast, and since it was early, and I had to put the cinnamon rolls in the oven.

Sooooo, one big breakfast + two hours later + 10 mile run = poor life choices! I also did not know what to do about a route, so I did the loop three times, and then added another mile on. I was minding my own business, and then suddenly I almost threw up. It was a pleasant experience.

The amusing thing to all this is that it feels a little early in my training to be running 10 miles. Then I recall that I have to get up to 20 in my training, and then the actual race is 26. But I got through the 10 ok, so I'll focus on that for now.

Texts From Last Week (inappropriate language to follow)

Captain Furious: Did you get my text? Off to Milwakee for Summer Fest to see Jon Bon Jovi with BACKSTAGE PASSES!
Me: No! That is insane! By the way, I am all signed up for the Marathon, and I have a training blog.
CF: F********k. You mean I actually have to do this?

Ah running.

Side note

The male counterpart to a Trixie is called a "Chad". Again, who names their kid Chad?

Sunblock?

So I went for my long run today which was 9 miles. Like my run last week, I ran down to the lakefront and ran along the running/biking trail down through Lincoln Park and back to Ravenswood. It was really warm this morning, but it was a really pretty day. There were tons of people running, biking, and rollerblading, many of whom were training for the Chicago Marathon. The AIDS Foundation of Chicago was out in full force training for Chicago, and they sang lots of cool cadences while they were running.

A scary thought entered my mind as I was running. I ran by this woman whose arms were the shady of cherries, either from sunburn or blood pumping. I suspect some combination of the two. My first though was, "Wow, that woman sure is red", then it occurred to me that I had no sunblock on, and there was a good chance I looked the same as she did. I looked down at my arms, and sure enough, they looked pretty red and angry. Fortunately when I got home, they returned to a relatively normal color, with only the hint of a farmer's tan.

Other than that, my run was uneventful. I maintained an ok pace, even managing to pass the 90 lb. trixie* running in front of me in her Forever 21 club top which was masquerading as a running shirt. She's not fooling anyone.

*Trixie-Social climbing, marriage-minded, money-hungry young ladies that seem to flock to the upwardly-mobile neighborhood of Lincoln Park. While the term originated in Chicago in the 1990's, the population clearly exists everywhere.

I need to get up earlier

So Mother Nature decided that instead of ramping up to the heat of summer, she'd go straight from the balmy 40 degree spring that we've been having to 90 degree summer.

Yesterday, I only had to run 3 miles, but when I got outside at 8am, I discovered it was already 80 degrees. This is the problem with living in the eastern part of this timezone. Because St. Joe is only 90 miles away, but it was 80 degrees at 9am. Which is still pretty terrible, but still. On top of that, I've been sick recently with some stupid summer cold or something. So in addition to the heat, I had a hoard of bacteria playing 'Bring in da' Noise, Bring in' da' Funk' on my immune system. After stumblings around and generally flailing, I finished the run, and I vowed to get up earlier on Wednesday to try to beat the heat.

Which brings us to today. I just finished my 5 mile run, and I did manage to get up half an hour earlier. I'd taken some DayQuil the night before, and I actually woke up feeling pretty good. My nose wasn't too stuffy, my throat wasn't sore, and I wasn't coughing too badly. So already this is the best morning in about 2 weeks. It was still super hot, but fortunately the sun was angled in such a way that half the street was in shade. There was even a small breeze. These two things made the run a lot easier. The brief moments spent in a non-shaded area were horrific. On my second leg of my journey (I do a there-and-back route), I ran past a bank that has one of those display things that show the time, date, temperature, etc. 91 degrees outside. I'm really happy I saw that on my way back because it meant I only had to run a little more before I take a shower in ice water. But on the whole, the run was pretty good. And who knows, maybe my pale-ass legs got some sun, but I'm not banking on it.

Monday, the real day of rest

Thank God I don't have to run on Mondays during my entire training schedule. With the insanity that is Monday, I don't think I'd be up to moving beyond my usual walk to and from the El.

Also, I want pie.