Sunday, October 31, 2010

Dear Diary,

13. Thinking ahead to 2011, I think I want to do mostly 50k runs.  I've done a marathon or longer in AL, AZ, CA, ID, KY, MS, NM, NV, TX, and UT.  I'd like to add 3 or 4 more to that this year.

12. At the race I did Sunday, a woman I know, Tove, smoked me.  She's a cat-something cyclist, but has gotten much faster as a runner lately.  She started the 5k about 5 minutes after I started the 10K, and about mile 2.5 blew by me like I was standing still, running a 7:22 pace.  She's 60.  Sixty. SIXTY.  So just in case you have a friend who's all, I'm too old to do anything like that, well, there you go. 

11. I guess my season has come to an end.  Next year, my fantasy would be to run a marathon in about 5 hours. To do that, I would have to be able to bring my half marathon down closer to 2 hours.

GAWD that's so pathetic.  How sad am I, that my wildest (well, maybe not my wildest but certainly one of my wilder ones) fantasy includes running 26 miles in 5 hours?  Shouldn't one have more interesting fantasies than that?

9.  I am a bit nervous about my ankle.  It is huge, bruised and swollen even though it doesn't hurt and I've had several perfectly good runs on. But now as a result of it being that way, I'm nervous about trails again.

8.  I'm not training for anything above 50 miles for 2011.  I'll be too busy. Internship stuff.

7.  Earlier this week I was assessing a kid who has impulse control issues.  While walking him and his family to my office, the father said, "hey, do you ride a horse?" and then proceeded to insist that I was bowlegged even after his wife AND his son told him to shut up.
Are impulse control issues inherited?  I'll leave it to you to decide.
Meanwhile, I just said, calmly, "I had no idea I was bowlegged."  He kept on it, saying to his wife, "See?  See?  Look at her.  She walks on the outside of her feet and everything."

Am I now a bit self-conscious about this, despite his obvious frontal lobe deficits?  Oh, hell yes.

6.  Okay.  Men in tutus.  What is the fascination in wearing a tutu during a run if you're a guy?  I don't usually see women wearing ties, or cups, or loin clothes.  But I do see many more men dress up as women when it's time to dress up in costumes, than women seem to dress up as men.  Why is that?  Is it just me noticing it?  Penis envy, my ass.  I think something else is being envied here.

5.  This week I start my new training cycle.  I'm starting with week 5 of the 50-mile training plan from the Santa Clarita runners club.  What am I training for?  Well, nothing.  I just like the training plan.  NO, I'm not OCD.  It made me a better runner, I think, and helps keep my weight down.

4.  I found out I can eat lunch at work for $1.75 a day.  I'm not saying it's health food.   Just sayin' it's food.  For $1.75 I can pick out what I want and ask for seconds on the healthy stuff, while skipping the unhealthy stuff.  It's not fancy. It's not Whole Foods. It's edible.

3.  About a month ago Sweet Baboo and I were surprised when our gasoline card was declined while on a trip.  I tell you it is a joy to be utterly humiliated this way. 
Anyway. We found out someone had gotten my card number (I still had my card) and used it to charge exactly $100 worth of gas at two local gas stations in the worst part of town.  About six times.  And yes, we shred everything.  No idea how my number got out.  2010 has been the year of being victimized.

2.  I had a horrible run Wednesday, the first run of my new training cycle.  My legs were tired.  My lungs were asthmatic.  But it was beautiful out, and I'd rather be dragging my wheezing, tired ass through that fall day than just about anything else on earth.

1.  Sunday I dressed up for Halloween as a door that doesn't open, on a house with lights that are turned off.  I know, I know, I'm a terrible person.  But I just forgot, believe it or not, to get candy, and remember, I. Am Lazy.  So I turned out the lights and hid.

...

9 comments:

  1. #6--I think because women typically want to look cute and men don't mind so much looking silly.

    I used to look at other age groups to see if I had a chance of placing in any of them, and it got too depressing. There are way too many super fast people that could be my grandparents and could run circles around me. :)

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  2. I'm pretty sure you'll meet and exceed your 5 hour marathon goal. How's that for a challenge? (hey if I can do it, I know you can)-Just keep doing what you're doing.

    Maybe you should have your ankle checked out. I wish I had taken better care of my injured foot and maybe it wouldn't now be a chronic injury. Also, I highly recommend wearing the ASO ankle brace. I haven't had a sprain since I started wearing one, even on the gnarliest of trails. As for asthma, I use a steroid inhaler when it gets bad like that. There could be nasty stuff on all that dust you inhaled. One last piece of unsolicited advice- before you get too committed to your new training cycle, make sure you're rested and recovered a bit. You deserve it! :)

    Cynthia

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  3. Yeah, I'm 34 and my mom is 63. She keeps up,if not passes me, on most runs. I had a terrible half last Valentine's with a 2:18. She called to tell me about her race which she smoked at 1:57!
    I love your number 2. There's not a whole lot I'd rather be doing than running on a fall day.

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  4. My Father-in-law is 74 and did 87 miles of the Enchanted Circle Century (Red River, NM). He's a petite ol' man but is ALL muscle. I'm always amazed at his fitness level!

    I've never seen you walk bowlegged. Ask your friends, I'm sure they'd tell you if you were.

    No candy on Halloween? BS. ; ) I know you've been snacking on Candy Corn...and isn't there a Walgreens around the corner?

    You'll smoke 5 hours!

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  5. i had the lights on and a big bowl of candy ready and NO KIDS came to my house. So I think we canceled each other out somehow. :-)

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  6. I have not been snacking on candy corns. I have been snacking on mellocream pumpkins. They are utterly and completely different.

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  7. End of your season?! Does that mean you are not doing the marathon madness challenge?!

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  8. One of the things I always do after a race is count all the folks decades older than I who smoked my time. Which ultimately makes me think, "Maybe there's hope for me in 20 years."

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