Sunday, November 22, 2009

Wish I had that problem. : )

I've gotten my body (and brain) so used to being active that it's now kinda the norm for me. (So much so that I used Apples to Apples as an excuse to do sit ups last night.... laid on the floor and did "sit ups" to submit my card and to get replacement cards.) So this week has been really hard for me - I'm kinda underwater at work, so it's been stressful, other things have been going on that are stressful this week, I'm working a lot to try and not be underwater anymore, and then there are social obligations.... this left me with about 5 minutes a day to move or get exercise, which is not enough. Thereby, I got MORE stressed because I couldn't move. Vicious cycle. That brings me to today...

I wasn't going to be happy until I went for a good run, so I went out at 11:45 to go get lost (which I succeeded in). I've been borrowing a Garmin GPS watch from my friend, Adi, and it's AWESOME! No only does it let me feel more comfortable heading into the woods alone (because I get tell it to get me back to point A), but I can also just go out with a distance in mind and just go & explore without trying to "map a route" beforehand. So yeah, it was fun. I was aiming for something over 4 miles, I got to 4.3 and said "well why not keep going?" and did. In the end I got in a 4.91 mi. run and then called it quits because my knee was muttering at me. For anyone who doesn't know. I've got a weird left knee. I am guessing it goes back to being in a cast when I was 12 - I know I ended up with some muscle atrophy and many of the problems I have now can be traced to muscle imbalances... anyway, that's why I like Pseudo-barefooting in my VFFs - it forces me to pay attention to my body, there's no alternative. So when I run, I'm always aware of that knee. If it twinges, I change my stride ever so slightly until I am moving in a way that keeps it in a neutral state of awareness. I start to zone out, my form goes away, and then my knee usually brings me back to the task at hand. We're partners. : ) So anyway, I got to this point where my knee was not hurting, but it wouldn't stop making it's presence known no matter what I changed, so now it and I are back home and both happy. That's why it came out to 4.91 mi.

So anyway, back to the subject.... I wish I had that problem. At noon it was 55 degrees. I was in capris that are a super-light cotton, like light summer Pajama pants weight. I also started out in a cotton "wife-beater" tank top & a short sleeved shirt over it. After the first 1/2 mile, I was stripped down to my tank. then later, I was hot even in that. Meanwhile I passed people running in warm-up pants and sweatshirts... * sigh * I wish I had that 'problem' - i.e. still being cold while running - only for the reason that it would enable me to keep running over the summers. Oh well. I won't. I will always overheat. That's just the way my body is. Just like my thighs will always touch, no matter how small I am, without getting liposuction (don't worry, it's NOT on my to do list) and I'm OK with that. It just means I'll never ever be able to run in shorts (as evidenced by the mine-field of scabs due to abrasion that my inner thighs looked like after the Run Like Hell, when I WAS wearing shorts (and also ended up overheating).)

Oh, two last things:
1) is that I find the GPS watch cool because I can go back and check my times... I just find it interesting. Today came out, mile# & time: 1 - 9:03, 2 - 9:59, 3 - 13:23, 4 - 12:05, 5ish - 10:51. I find it interesting that after the third mile, I got faster again. Hmmm...
2) I came across a van parked on a side street that looked exactly like the A-Team van!!! Joy!


Have a good one all!

1 comment:

Karina said...

If you really want to wear shorts, a product called Glide is awesome! Prevents chafing. I used it when I did the marathon and during training and didn't once get chafing. Some folks use vaseline, though it breaks down after a lot of rubbing. I don't know if there's a more natural solution though!