Frosty Toes

I recently bought new running shoes. Mizunos. I like 'em alright. Haven't been able to run in them very much because I've had to run in the pool (achilles decided it wanted a vacation). But there is a slight problem with these new shoes. See, it's winter in Logan now and although the coldest of temperatures have yet to arrive, my poor toes are freezing. The shoes are mostly mesh. I contemplated putting on another pair of socks on tomorrow, but then I don't think my shoes would fit quite right.  Perhaps I'll wait until warmer weather to buy another pair of these as my toes endure enough damage simply from the running (my toenails aren't the most lovely I've ever seen, but I do love them). They don't need any torture from the weather.

Long Time Runnin'

You could say I've been running a bit lately. I put off grading papers and ran for a couple of hours every day last week (and most days this week). Excluding, of course, Sunday, as I never run on those days. Both my body and mind (probably moreso my mind) need a break.  

At any rate, my other blog (lisap.fastrunningblog.com) keeps track of my training. I met a few guys who run here in Logan who persuaded me to join them in the blog, so we keep in touch through that and run together ever now and again

. I haven't been doing tons of blogging lately (just entering my workout in late at  night). Anyway, this side track pertinent, I promise. After 16 miles of mostly trail running with the boy

s last week, I posted my workout on the blog and received a comment back from michellel (michelle ....hmmm I don't actually know her last name, though I do know it starts with and L). She recommend that I put in just a few more miles. She would at any rate. She was right, I needed to, so just before sunset I pulled my running shoes on again and did something I've never done before. 

Keep away from me!

Well it's here. Again and who knows if it will leave for a few days or settle for months. But winter is here. I haven't run in the sleet yet, but I will after my next class. And again after the next. My students, I hope, won't mind my teaching in a beanie as I refuse to do my hair that many times a day.

Many of my friends were dismayed when I claimed that I was not ready for winter yet. They love skiing (or snowboarding) and so do I. BUT IT SNOWED UNTIL JUNE! Just four snow-free months isn't enough. It's not that I don't want snow: I can accept winter in the mountains. By all means, snow snow snow, but keep it in the mtns. My dad is going to hike/ski this weekend and I'm quite jealous, but a good friend is going through the temple for the first time, so I'm going with her. There will be more time for snow. Oh, will there be more time for snow.

Okay, so I feel like I've complained enough. I am excited to ski. I started composing this posting a while ago and since then October turned into November and winter has my permission to visit, but I still think it should stay in the mtns for a while. It's hard to get out and run in the cold. I still do it, but it's rough. Here area  few things that help:

1-Layers! They keep you warm but allow for shedding in case you actually warm up

2-Hats: I never ran in hats until I moved to Logan. It's a bit nippy up here sometimes. Ear wamers or whatever they're called sometimes do cover it. Ha- they don't cover...not as much material as a hat...ha. Ok. Lame, I know. I'm just trying to avoid grading papers.

3-Music/books to listen to. I don't generally run with music for hard workouts, but a friendly voice can help lure me outside when I really don't want to go.

4-Wait. If you can, run in the middle of the day. Not everyone can do this, but it helps to see the sun. 

5-Enjoy the crunching sound of running in fresh snow. I haven't had this opportunity yet. Hasn't stuck in town yet, but I do love the sound of running in snow. 

The LIttle Engine that Could

I haven't run with anyone in a long time.  Well, (sorry if this sounds conceited) I haven't run with anyone who could really "get the engine pumping." Now, I used that cliche on purpose. You see, I sometimes sound like a train when I run. But not having run with anyone who could make me work hard enough to wheeze a little, I forget that not everyone expects to hear a locomotive struggling to get out of my lungs when I try to either run fast or uphill. Anyway, the asthma was not too bad today. I remembered to take my inhaler before, so I just wheezed a bit as we slowly trucked up the mtn.  

I joined three guys who run a couple of times a week together. They're trying to make use of the bits of fall as winter keeps threatening to explode cold white stuff all over the trails, forcing them to either run in the city or don snowshoes. We ran up Leatham's Hollow and decided we gained 2700 feet of elevation in  six miles, many of which were flat-ish. So, it wasn't especially painful, but it was our easy day thus we didn't push hard. For that, I am grateful because I would not have glimpsed more than a few back-kicks if they were running hard. I just hope they didn't slow down for me on the way down. I don't care about eating a little dust sometimes. 

But, back to the asthma and the point of this week's blog. I just forgot that I'd have to explain the sound of my breath.  One of them asked if I was okay, just a few minutes into the run. He was probably regretting my tagging along with them and thinking I'd never make it up the mtn, even at the slow pace. I mumbled something and kept on running and I guess he didn't hear me because a  little later he asked again and I said, "Oh, it's just the asthma. That's normal. Not even very bad." "Ah," was probably the reply, but we soon got to the flatter section and I returned to quiet inhalation. But I think they began judging the steepness of the hills by my breath. "Oh, there she goes again. Must be getting steeper." I would have laughed or made a snide remark about me only sounding only like a toy train instead of the usual straining locomotive...but I didn't really have the breath for it.

I love running with people.

Best run ever?

I love running.

It took me longer to recover from this past marathon than my others. It was only a week off but I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be out in the sunshine, stretching my legs over miles of pavement. Ahhhhhh.....is there anything better? I venture to say no. At least not to the running-deprived runner.

My first run was only a few miles and it actually hurt a little, but after a hearty calf massage from my roommate, I was loose-y goose-y and happy on my next run. God bless my roommate for giving me back my running, the kind that feels almost effortless, even when I'm working hard, the kind of running that "hurts so good" and makes me tired but energized.

I'm headed to Lake Powell for a couple of days and will do my running in the lake. People who don't know me very well always think me crazy for wanting to run during a vacation. I say no better time or place to run. No better way to explore your surroundings. One of my favorite runs (which is saying a lot because I've been doing this for almost 20 years) was in Venice. My dad and I ran around the streets/sidewalks (they don't really have streets) and we saw people on their way to school or work, men unloading crates from a large boat to a dock warehouse, boats quietly shuttling people to and fro...It was so real. Real people doing real things in an unreal place. It was so human and alive in a different way than Venice at night is.

Like an 80-yr-old man

I recently sent the following two texts to my sister. "I can go up stairs without having to pull myself up with the banister." "I can go down stairs all by myself!" These were huge accomplishments. I still have yet to run without pain, but that text too will be sent.

Yes, yes...it's recovery time.

The St. George Marathon last saturday zapped me. Quite literally. I...couldn't stomach my goo (Clif Shots actually, and I generally quite like them). I forced down water and some gatorade, but in running 26.2 miles, it's nice to replace at least a few calories, especially when running against the wind the entire time.

It rained for the second time in the marathon's 32 years. The rain wasn't bad. It was nice to not run in the blistering heat, but that wind. Well, I finished and I'm actually just proud that I did. My very nice coach, Tom, later explained that it was dehydration that made my muscles seize up.  I collapsed just before mile 26 and then felt my legs would give way again with about 200 meters to go. I committed a sin and walked. Just before the finish line, I walked but I couldn't help it. I would have crawled to the end, but running, running felt impossible. 

Unfortunately the crowd did not agree with me and cheered louder. I couldn't see anything. Just that loud roar in my ears. I thought they were mad at me but I felt helpless to continue running. I looked behind me once, twice. I didn't want to lose my position to another girl. Someone passed me, a male voice said, "you're fine. just keep running."

I screamed and ran. I have never been in muscular pain like that. More than fatigue, fire and something else that I cannot describe, something that most athletes feel at some point in their competitive careers. 

I hobbled, like an eighty-year-old man who can't straighten his legs, passed the first time pad and collapsed at the far edge of the second. My gratitude goes out to those two nice Army reserve guys who helped me to the med tent, to the nurses who took my vitals and gave me water, and to my little sister who rushed to the med tent, to my older sister who couldn't (bum knee and tired 4 yr old daughter), to my mom who wandered for an hour to find the car with my dry clothes in it, and to my dad (still running at the point when I collapsed) who got me into running when I was 7.

This all sounds horrible. It was not. I ran my second best time (2:53) and finished one place better than last year (4th overall), so it really wasn't a bad race, per say. Just a tiring one. Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself.  I hurt during the marathon and for days after, but there is something in crossing that line...

This is why I call myself a novicexpert. I have been running for years, but still I am learning (learning to force that goo down, learning what my pace is or should be, and reinforcing my long-held conviction that despite the pain, I love running)

Novice Blogger, Indeed

Ahhh, the joys of tapering...time to clean the entire house, time to catch up on those pesky errands that seem to pile up faster than dirty laundry, time to...what do people who don't run do all day?

At the moment I am tapering for the St. George marathon, my fourth go-round with this particular race. It's my favorite--thirty-some-odd years ago, the organizers were thinking of me when they designed that course. I love, love, love that course, even though I have a hard enough time walking afterward that the night following my first St. George my little sister ran up and punched my arm and ran away laughing and saying, "Ha! You can't get me." But she was nice too, as we were at an outdoor theater that evening and I'd somehow lifted my feet five inches to rest them on the seat in front of me and couldn't get them down when a lady was going to sit in that seat. My little sister obliged and pulled my feet down for me.  Five bucks says she hits me again, though, just because she can.

The nice thing about tapering is that I definitely have plenty of energy for my workout. My legs feel great the whole time but those shorter runs are just not as satisfying as a nice hard, long run. Still, it is nice to know that come race day, my legs will be screaming to be let loose. I can't wait to barrel down those hills. Ah, mile 15 is lovely. The slope pulling me down, yellow sun to the left not quite hot but warming my skin, the right-hand turn and oh oh oh, the red rock view, the steeper slope, the freedom of just running.