I decree that my next run will be awesome.

This is an Aspire Lumen running lamp.  It is mounted on a waist belt.  

It is quite possibly the most amazing thing ever invented.  It is LED, rechargeable, and incredibly bright.  I've used it from time to time to run in the mornings during Winter.

I only like to run in the morning. I've tried running in the afternoon, but after a day as a social worker in a children's psychiatric hospital, I just want to sit and stare.  A couple Autumns ago, I told Himself that I couldn't run outside, because it was getting too cold in the mornings.  Soon after, I had a brand new running jacket.  Then I told him it was too dark to run in the mornings.  Soon after, the Aspire light appeared.  It. Is. Amazing.

Himself does that frequently. He simply cannot abide me not being healthy. I, however, Am. Lazy.  I'm also somewhat agoraphobic when I'm under enough stress. And so, whenever I come up with some reason why I can't run, he will endeavor to discover whatever technology exists to overcome my self-imposed difficulty.

Anyway: the beauty of a waist mounted belt is that there's nothing on my head, which I hate...and it sits low enough to throw shadows.  Head-mounted lamps tend to wash out the trail and it's hard to see the relief I the terrain, much less roots and rocks.  A hand-held lamp or waist lamp eliminates that problem.

But anyway.  I'll be using it this weekend at the Hennepin 50k.  We are still trying to finish a marathon in every state, and for me this will be number 46. The Hennepin 50K starts at 5 pm at night.   I'm hoping to finish in 9 hours at my pace which will be hiking, mainly.  With some very cool lightweight Black Diamond poles.

...   This is the weather forecast.

So.  It's gonna be dark.

It's gonna be  wet.

It's gonna be awesome.

I decree.

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Week 1 of the reboot

Dear Diary,

Week 1 involved me returning to an old friend: The couch-to-5K-training plan.  In 2005, when I first started running, I printed it from a website, put it in a page protector, and took it with me to the gym, where I ran each workout on a treadmill.

Now, though, I'm rugged.  And fancy.  

Now I run it in my neighborhood, using my Apple Watch and my iPhone C25K Pro app.  I take each Wednesday off and do yoga, usually, or nothing.   I have a favorite route that has uphills and downhills and a few flats.  I'd love to show the profile, but sadly, my apple watch stopped giving me that, and I don't know how to get it back.  (Any ideas?) I may switch back to using my garmin because I do loves me some hill profiles.  Makes me feel all badass.

        

I'm assured by everyone who knows me that my progress will happen much faster this time than it did the first time.  Surprisingly, this seems to be true as my pace has already been dropping.

I did not track my eating this week.  (Bad girl! No biscuit!) Current weight: 184 lbs.  (EEK!) Although, I'm determined to focus on moving more, getting fit, and not staring at a number on a scale.  (But you know I will).

Best of all, a major pain in my ass who has endeavored to get me fired several times over the past few years left this week, for good.  As in, left the city and state.

I did not leave.  I'm still here.

I win, motherfucker.

I'm on my way.

This seemed like a good title for the post, not only because it's descriptive, but because the song "I'm on my way" by the Proclaimers is stuck in my head this morning. 

One of the good things to come out of my hospitalization in April was that I was paid for being in the hospital.  I had purchased one of those Aflac policies the year before, during open enrollment, thinking--what the fuck? I'm in my 50s.  I guess I should have one of these.  It not only covered the time I missed from work but some extra, too. So: new laptop, which means blogging is easier again.

I have a clean bill of health from the GI doc--Negative Cdif test, and all labs are normal.  The endo is still trying to normalize my thyroid; my TSH was 14 in the hospital, then went up over the next month, and now it's very slowly coming down after she doubled my medication.  The ENT has me on a nasal spray to control the rampant nose running that was causing the coughing that started all this mess.

My coworker abruptly quit in June and then dragged it out, long story, so that we couldn't hire anyone for 2 months, leaving me to do twice the work. Now I finally have a new coworker who is lightening fast with technology and knows children's services inside and out.  Seriously.  I show her something once and she gets it.  I've learned that I'm valued at work, and I'm grateful for a job that does what they can to make me happy.  My employer really puts a premium on self-care so that are flexible with my schedule.

I'm a strong hiker, but my running is blah.  I've started over with the same Couch-to-5K program that I used to start running back in 2005, but this time, I'm using the apple watch app.  Then I'll progress to 10K, and so on.  It's funny, because in 2005, I had the program printed on a piece of paper in a page protector.  How technology changes!

Starting September 1, each day, I do squats, lunges (ow), situps and pushups, the number depending on the day of the month.  I'll do that one more month and then switch it up, maybe to squat jumps and burpees.  Sweet baboo and I are doing 3 marathons this fall, which I may end up walking most of, but they'll give me states 46 (Illinois), 47 (Maryland), and 48 (New Jersey).
We're no longer excited about the 50 states.  We're all, "Let's just get this over with."  Our final states, which we'll do in 2019, will be North Carolina and Delaware.

I just did a 20 mile [run] hike in Oregon that was brutal.  The inaugural Old Cascadia course was at a 45 degree angle, either up or down.  Over 5000 feet of climbing in 20 miles.  It took me over 9 hours.

I just signed up for Black Canyon 50K.  It's an early season race in January that can be hot. I did the 20K back in 2015, I think.  Then I tried the 50K in 2017, and they had a freak multi-day rainstorm, there in southern Arizona (just north of Phoenix) that created unavoidable mud that sucked the shoes off my feet.  I timed out at the first aid station.  In 2018, around mile 19, I started seeing double and by the time I got checked out and rehydrated, I timed out again.  So 2019 will be my year. 
It better be. 
I hate Southern Arizona.  Like, really hate it. 
Seriously.  But I'm finishing this damned race.  I have several of their t-shirts, but the best one got accidentally left in a hotel room this year, and I want another one.

Just checking in.
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