not a cheesy thankful post

yeah, yeah, it's the day before thanksgiving. i know a lot of people are posting about things they're thankful for, but not me. i go against the grain.

i didn't run, even though my alarm went off, and i could have... but i opted for an extra hour of sleep on what i'm sure will be a very stressful day (and weekend) for me.

i know, i should have hit the running trail. running helps me deal with stress... usually. not this time. this time, its different. i'm shaking, just thinking about this weekend. see? i'm not the biggest fan of holiday gatherings. so forced, so obligatory.

deep breath, and here we go.

my first pre-work run!

i enjoy rewarding myself with little rewards for little accomplishments, but today i lacked follow-through, so i re-assessed my goal.

i ran/walked the two-and-a-half-mile loop around our neighborhood. i told myself that the first time i did this in the morning before work, i would reward myself with a pumpkin cream cheese muffin and chai yea from starbucks. but i just felt too guilty. i wouldn't have burned close to as many calories as i would've consumed.

so my new reward is this: the first time i run the whole loop without walking, my reward is a chai tea. mmm... those are so good!

maybe i should think of the run as the reward in and of itself, out maybe the sunrise that comes at the end, but i just can't help it. i like my little rewards. what's life without a little treat now and then?

feelin' like a million bucks

i ran the two-and-a-half-mile loop yesterday and today. (you see, this weekend was my big, sorta-slow comeback to running.) anyway, i ran it twice, once yesterday and today, i put it in reverse. totally fun.

twilight? not even close to that much fun. nah, that movie sucked big time.

so i was thinking, i guess i should take tomorrow off, i don't want to overdo it too soon. but then, wait a sec. i should do a first long run of the week. yeah, sunday is a perfect day for a long run, and monday is the perfect day to sleep in... all the way to 5:00 a.m.

so there's this trail, that i've heard goes for kind of a long way through town. i've done parts of it before (the equine-only part, thank you very much), but i think i'm going to try for somewhere in the four-to-five mile range tomorrow. bumpin' up from 25 to around 50 minutes. too much?

what's your long-run length or time?

am i just being a slow poke ninny? should I bump up my mileage sooner, quicker? is chocolate milk on my grocery list? yes.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so...

FAIL: I haven't run since Monday night, and that was just a mile. One. One mile. Pahhh-thetic. Even though I've set my alarm for 5:00 or earlier every morning this week, I have FAILed to get my jiggly butt out of bed until somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45. And I leave the house between 6:00 and 6:15. Pahhh-thetic.

So tomorrow is "Thanksgiving" at work, meaning there will be tons of junk food (including the two Costco pumpkin pies I'm bringing), turkey (helloooo, nap-time!), ham, casseroles, all sorts of tempting stuff. All. Day. Long. My plan of attack? A preemptive strike. Start the morning with an around-the-neighborhood two-and-a-half mile loop. My crazy idea that I hope will motivate me tomorrow? Sleep in my running clothes. Might be just crazy enough to work. Plus, I have to shower tomorrow before work anyway. Plus, I'm going to set my cell phone alarm (my secondary), and put my phone on the bathroom counter.

And thus, I have lured myself out of bed at 4:45 a.m., an hour that any other normal human being would sleep through.

Day in the life

Woke up too late to run (if we're being honest, I woke up in plenty of time to run; I just preferred sleeping in).

Coffee, toast, lunch packed. Yadda yadda. I was out the door, and at work in 20 minutes.

And now I have a bazillion missed calls from not working at my desk all day.

Tonight, though... I'm planning to run the subdivision loop for the first time. At night. In the dark. But not in Lodi.

And maybe I will feed the dogs too, if I get around to it.

well, i ran...

not that it was any great distance our anything, but I got out there after a ten-hour day. my alarm is set for 5:00 tomorrow morning so I can run again after a good night of sleep. i hope to at least hit three miles every morning and two every afternoon... that's the goal for now, anyway.

ultimately, it would be great to work up to six miles every morning, with a couple of longer runs on the weekends. i'm not quite sure yet how i can do 13.1 miles in march, but i don't have to worry about that until i work my way up to at least 30 miles a week, every week.

yay (and boo) to turning 31.

my not-so-triumphant return

i'm back, but i wouldn't say i'm loving every minute of it. i think it's just one of those things, i will have to work my way back up to 5k, then 10k, and eventually i will be ready to run my very first half marathon in march 2012!!

my problem right now is all to do with my neck. if my neck doesn't feel good from the beginning of a run, there's just about no way for me to recover. it really is miserable.

so i haven't been ready to get in the number of miles i would like to do in a day yet, but i know i will work my way back up, so i'm not stressing about that yet.

tomorrow morning, bright and early, around 5am, my big plans are to don my brand new head lamp and run for at least a mike our two, before heading back home to prepare for another shortened and very insanely speedy work day. how do people get anything done in just eight hours?

hiatus countdown

we have moved. it's official. so, my running hiatus is due to end tomorrow morning, when I hit the park trail that starts right across the street from my new house! i'm even excited that it's supposed to rain! I can't wait to check out all of these new trails - and there are more than just a handful of miles of them in this town. pictures to come!