92 days

     I think I have a disorder. I get so thirsty that it feels I've been sucking on kitty litter during the whole run. I was so desperate for water during my run this morning that I contemplated drinking from a puddle or jacking a homeless man's water jug while he was asleep on the bench. I would've even put up with a little diarrhea in result of drinking nasty water if it weren't for my big plans of playing with my cats all day.
     But for real - how do people train in this weather? It is just so friggin hot out it's miserable. Some runners carry a bottle of water but other people have a sort of water belt thing they strap around their waste. It looks handy but somewhat dorky. It kind of reminds me of a back brace that provides proper lumbar support during your heavy lifting sessions at Home Depot. Whatever it is - I was determined to get it.
     In Tampa there's a cool running store where they have a built in track to test out running shoes on and they even have cameras set up on treadmills to test what the best running shoe would be for you. I ended up finding a whole bunch of different water belts. After I tried on a couple I settled on a "fuel belt" made by Nathans. 

It felt really snug and comfortable around my waste and it didn't seem to slide up and down when I ran in place. It has a velcro belt rather than a clip belt which is nice. The velcro front prevents it from slipping compared to a plastic clip. It costs about $50 and it has a nifty spot to stick my iphone in too. The guy at the register said he uses his for his long runs and it's amazing. He throws the back bottles in the freezer before his runs that way the bottles are still nice and cold towards the end of a long run. I'm very excited to try it out. I love getting new toys and running clothes - they make me more excited to go running. I hope this water belt thing allows me to run for longer than 20 minutes at a time - or at least it will help me "want" to run more than 20 minutes.

     

97 days

It's been one week so far of training for the Women's Running half marathon and I'm feelin lean and strong...strrrong like bull. 

Actually not quite - my so called "runs" have been primarily glorified fast walking sessions. I'm that poor soul you see trudging down the road hunched over and panting. I'd like to blame a lot of it on the heat - because none of this can me my fault. Even my boyfriend, Charlie, says the Florida sun makes it unbearable to run in. He says "it feels like you are being chased by a pitbull in a convection oven". I’d have to agree, you try so hard to keep running because if you stop - you may have a stroke. 

     This was the case on Saturday when I went for a nice jog. I got distracted watching the food network and I didn't make it out for my 2 mile run until noon. As everyone knows, noon is the hottest part of the day but that didn't matter to me. I thought I could run circles around this town I was feelin so good.     

Yeah, I didn't make it 10 minutes. I became delirious and I ended up stumbling around a neighborhood somewhere in South Tampa. I thought that my solid 10 minute walk/jog was good enough and I was ready to join my cat for an afternoon snooze on the couch. During the blurry jog home I remember being stopped by a high school football player dressed in his green and yellow jersey. I instantly thought “oh shit he wants something”. He either wanted to club me over the head and steal my ipod or he was selling some sort of magazine subscription. I wasn't falling for any of his afternoon scams so I thought up a plan - operation "crazy eyes".

    He flagged me down from across the street and started walking my way. This kid wasn't getting anything from me, doesn't he know there is a universal law stating that you don't stop runners to chit chat or hit them up for cash? This poor kid didn’t realize he was the one walking into a sketchy situation. I instantly greeted him with the “crazy eyes". For those who don’t practice the crazy eyes often it’s when your eyes get really big and wild and to put it quite frankly – you look just bat shit crazy.

     So sure enough he started asking for a donation but trailed off once I unleashed the crazy eyes on him. I didn't slow up my already slow jog and I just kept going. I'd recommend this tactic to anyone who comes across a solicitor - the crazy eyes works like a charm and can get you out of an awkward situation.

101 days

     Over the past couple of "rest" days I have been able to recruit a couple of my friends to join the excruciating fun. My local running/cycling enthusiast Carol has plans to run the half marathon and my best friend, Chelsea, from Maine may be flying down to join too. Chelsea and I have been running buddies since middle school. Actually, we did more walking than any sort of physical running - but there was still a bond formed over the idea of running. So i'm banking on these two ladies going through this with me. We seem to be all at the stage of "oh shit, now I actually have to run".
     My second day of running was not pleasant. Charlie and I had to take our fat cat to the vet before work - so I woke up early to get the 2 mile run over with. I was hoping that it would be fairly cool outside since it was 7 in the morning but I was extremely disapointed. It felt like an fat man's armpit outside. About 5 minutes into the run I wanted to die. I was so sweaty and hot I became the grumpiest runner on Bayshore. This lasted for a bit until a soldier from Macdill airforce base passed me in his full military garb. My mood went from grumpy to an extreme state of selfloathing. He was haulin ass down bayshore with everything on including his little helmet and backpack filled with rocks or whatever.
     The main point that I'm trying to make is that I am out of shape. I'm not too badly out of shape - I can still manage to shuffle down the street and make it back to my apartment without collapsing - but I'm not at that stage of fitness to be skippin next to my comrade on our next morning run.

     ***For those who were distracted by my earlier mention of us bringing our cat (Manchego) to the vet - he's been cured. He's still extremely fat, stupid, and lazy - but he no longer suffers from an ear infection, ear mites, round worm, or tape worm. Manchego is now at the level of well being that I strive to be at by the end of all this***

Day 1 - 104 Days To Go

     Today is day 1 of training for the Women's Running Half Marathon on Nov. 21st. I've been thinking about doing a marathon or triathlon or any type of 'on' for awhile now. I decided to finally just start training. I have about 15 weeks till race day and I've almost quit 3 times so far.

     The whole point of this blog is to keep me sane and motivated. I don't want this whole adventure to end up like my half knit scarf or my dying herb garden. The content of my blog will primarily be made up of my workouts and whatever else that motivates me to go (i.e. fun facts about cats). 

   

     On day 1 I ran two miles. The whole plan was to come home from work - roughly around 7ish - and start the first day off running strong. After realizing it doesn't take all night to run 2 miles, I decide to putter around in the grocery store day dreaming about the beans and rice I was going to make for dinner tonight. By the time I got home and got my act together it was almost 9pm. Unfortunately, I had to kick off day 1 running after the sun had set. It's funny how when you are running in the dark you assume that everyone else is a serial killer and is secretly plotting your kidnapping. My scheduled slow paced 2 mile run turned into a slightly panicked and suspicious scuttle up and down the streets of Tampa.

     It's ok though - tomorrow is a new day and a "rest day" according to my training module. This gives me some extra time to catch up on the sock i'm trying to knit before winter.