In Which Injinji Does Not Love Or Appreciate Me.

Because,

if they did,

I would not have heard about this second-hand.

>Sigh< >Lust<

...

In Which I Feel Encouraged.

We interrupt this work day for a nootime run.

Sweet Baboo and I did a lunchtime run today - I had tried it Wednesday and couldn't believe how deconditioned my legs are for blacktop. By the time I got 1 mile into it they burned, and I felt like there were bricks tied to my feet. Know how sometimes when you're headed up a hill and your quads burn like crazy? My legs did that on Wednesday, from about hip to toes. Ow. Discouraging.

As a result I was reluctant to go back out. I haven't run on blacktop since September when my injury really barked at me and said "NO, I DON'T F'N THINK SO!!"

So today as noon approached I started coming up with all sorts of reasons, in my head, why I wasn't going to do this run. Of course, I had been stupid enough to mention my planned run to Baboo on the way in so that about 11:30 Baboo messaged me and asked me when I was going, because he thought he'd go too. What could I do? I can't say I'm too busy. Having your spouse/carpool partner/workout partner means they know. Oh, THEY KNOW. Baboo knows I'm neither so important or busy that I can't go for a run at lunch. All I've been doing these days is training and learning about how the brain functions.

Besides, I can't look Baboo in the eye and make my crazy excuses. I just can't do it; it's like lying. Baboo gets all uber-reasonable and says things like, "well, if you think that's what's best" and then he acts all trusting and reasonable until I want to scream STOP TORTURING ME WITH YOUR TRUSTFULNESS!! My threshold of guilt is too low and besides, I SUCK at lying, although not always to myself, so it's easier just to not go through that, y'know?

Stuck, I was....Running, I would.

SO we headed out, and of course I got the burning legs and it hurt like crazy but after about the first 3/4 mile we found this really cool open area that borders a city park right next to where we work. It's kind of hidden. It has a nice, wide path around it that is just sandy trail, and it's nearly a mile around. As usual, once I get my legs under me, I enjoyed my run.

Once I got into my 2nd mile, the burning S-L-O-W-L-Y went away. Very encouraging. We did about 3.25 miles, leaving ourselves time for a walk cool down and to change back into our "professional" clothes, or whatever suffices on Black Friday in which half the staff is on vacation.

Very happy I went on the run. Here's hoping the conditioning comes back fast! I've got about 6 weeks until the Ghost Town 38.5...no time to waste making excuses.

Training from here on out will probably consist of at least twice a week where I run at lunch and then an evening trail run, then a short trail run on Saturdays and a LSR on Sundays. Saturdays I'll spin, and I'd like to fit in a spin once during the week, if I can. We'll see. We found a master swim class that meets once a week in the evenings, too.

~~~

In Which I Are Grateful.

I'm grateful that it is raining outside; it's a nice, steady soaking rain that'll help the plants during the dry winter ahead.

I'll be grateful when it stops.

I'm grateful for keys that don't break off in locks.

I'm grateful for engines that start.

I'm grateful for light switches that, when flipped, bring light into the room.

I'm grateful for second chances.

And third.

And, well, fourth ones.

I'm grateful for my kids, and for the time I got to spend raising them, and the lessons I've learned from that.

I'm grateful that they're all pretty much independently living their own lives now.

I'm grateful for our cats.

Even Lily, the really noisy bossy one.

I'm grateful for my friends who may not always agree with me but continue to be my friends, nonetheless.

I'm grateful that, actually, off the top of my head, I can't think of any enemies.

I'm grateful for all the years that I got to spend knowing my mom and dad. I miss them. I've seen some pretty awful parenting and I'm grateful that I was raised by parents who taught me some pretty darned important stuff, like how to work hard, be smart, have fun, and love well.

I'm grateful for the Baboo family who is my family now.

I'm grateful for my feet.

Even the one with the big, black toenail.

I'm grateful for all the miles I've traveled on my feet.

I'm grateful for hills.

I'm grateful for flat, open spaces.

I'm grateful for my new career.

I'm grateful for my favorite carpool partner, who is the best of all partners in everything, ever.

I'm grateful for coffee.

And lovely, flavored coffee syrups.

I'm grateful for sweet.

I'm grateful for salty.

I'm grateful for all of it.

I'm just, well, grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

~~~

In which I'm not a big fat lazy butt. UPDATED

Okay, so I've just been running just a tiny bit for the past 2 or 3 months. Okay, well other than the Colorado Relay. oh, and the 50K I did a couple weeks later. Other than that, I mean. I just haven't been doing steady running. There aren't any trails around where I live now, and most of my evenings aren't free. So, mostly, I've been sitting around puttin on fat. Or losing muscle. Or something. All I know is my pants are tighter.

The past week or so I finally feel like my leg is healed. There is still actually a tender spot that I can poke with my finger on the front of my shin down near the foot, but when I walk, even in heels, I don't feel it any more.

So tomorrow morning, I'm going to get up and do a 5K run around the neighborhood streets. Hoping to find my ipod and head out on a training run, around my neighborhood. I've been putting this off because I'm worried that it will just hurt like hell. Again.

So, we'll see how things go.

================

Next day, 1:04 pm. Okay, so I didn't do the morning run, in the cold and dark. I did, however, do a noon run. I decided late before I went to bed that it made more sense to run in the daylight after it had warmed up a bit. I changed in my office and hobbled out on a run that was mostly blacktop, with some trail off to the side.

Msr. GarMEAN says that I ran 2.81 miles. I ran 1-1/2 loops around the 1500 meter blacktop track out front, and then out and down the boulevard and back on a blacktop path. It hurt like hell, too, but not necessarily because of any injury: it felt mostly like I have some very, very stiff legs. I walked a bit here and there, but what the hell, I did it. I got off my widening butt and did something to keep it from getting wider.

AND I answered my own question: can I work out at noon without being thoroughly whipped or (what's worse) disgusting and stinky for the rest of the day? Answer: yes, I can. I can work out and still be productive and avoid stuffing my face with impulse foods from the Canteen or the Exchange.

In other news, there is this guy at work, an older guy who I think is one of the building engineers, who is very nice. He walks by my office every morning and says, cheerily, SMILE!

At first it was charming, and I laughed. Sometimes I waved at him.

After hearing it every day, though, the charm started to wear off.

Now I've heard someone yell, SMILE!! appoximately 24 times at about 7:55 am every week day.

I think I may actually hate the man now.

...

Friday Fat Thoughts.

Weight: 168.
Mood: Sassy.
Music: Britney Spears, Circus, which has not been released yet. C'mon. Who do you think you're talkin' to? I'm the GeekGirl.

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...right after work, to join Sweet Baboo in Arizona. My plans for this weekend are simple: 1) Don't do an Ironman 2) Watch other people do an Ironman 3) Volunteer at IMAZ 4) Perhaps meet other bloggers.

On a slightly related note, I've been reading a research report on BMI. It all started when I was printing off charts to stick all over my desk area. I'm supposed to be searching medical records for people who meet a certain criteria to recruit them for a study, and one of the criteria is related to their BMI. I looked at this chart. THERE'S some good newss: According to this chart, I'm overweight with a BMI of 27.

Oh, LIKE I NEEDED TO READ THAT. Like I don't have enough issues with body stuff anyway that I struggle with, one day really liking myself and one day hating myself, one day starving myself and another day eating two lean cuisine entrees at lunch instead of one and then going and getting desert AND a candy bar mocha latte and yes, I know most us women, we do it to ourselves but I still blame men. All I've been feeling fat lately because I need new pants. I'm sitting a lot now and pants that you sit in require a certain amount of shall we say, "relaxed" fabric content.

But seriously, I can't be that unhealthy, right? I mean, how many pre-obese girls can run up a mountain (and crawl back down, but that's besides the point) or run 31 miles before sundown? I wear a 10/12 depending on the time of the year and how many times I've eaten Chinese food that month. Certainly, I'm bigger and slower than the tiny bird people I train with and hang out with but still, I hold my own.

So I looked, and I found this study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise [39(3):403-409]. Thought I'd share. What they did was look at BMI according to a height/weight chart, and then compared with skin fold test and the test where they dangle you in water, to see if the BMI chart was accurate in predicting fatness. The following was observed:

1) Athletes whose BMI classified them as overweight on the chart (over 25 bmi) were incorrectly classified as overweight 77% of the time (female) and 87% of the time (males).

2) Non-athletes, meanwhile, were incorrectly classified around 44% of the time for both groups.

Then I discovered Whitney Thompson. She apparently won "America's Next Top Model" which I've never seen. She's a size US12, or 10, or 14, depending on who you read. She's tall, but just look at those full thighs and healthy cheeks.

So there ya go.

Food for thought.

Think I'll go get a latte now.

...

Hrm. Misc stuff and Random thoughts.

Weight: 168.
Mood: Fat.
Music: Nora Jones.

I would really love, love, love to share all the cool things I've been doing and learning this week but it involves real people and real lives and their confidential medical and behavioral health history soooo, nope. Can't do that. The only thing that I can share is that I was doing some computer stuff this window flew up:

****************************************

THE FOLLOWING RECORD IS CONFIDENTIAL

AND IS PROTECTED BY SOME ACT AND LAW

SOMEWHERE AND YOUR ACTIVITIES WILL

BE LOGGED YOU MUST BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN

WHY YOU NEED TO ACCESS THIS RECORD AND

BE ABLE TO PROVE YOUR NEED TO DO SO.

DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE? Y/N

******************************************

oH, $HIT. So, I called the Dude Who Is Training me, and he explained that it was okay, and that it would generate a printout somewhere but go ahead, because my use is legitamate. Still. It freaked. me. out. I'm being LOGGED. Me and MY ACTIVITIES.

Oh, well, I can tell you that part of my job involves recruiting research subjects and I'm not allowed to approach them directly, but I can approach clinicians and ask them for help, which involves ingratiating myself to others to a degree that I'm actually pretty comfortable with.

So. Anyway.

Countdown to graduation for the youngest Mini-Baboo: 6 months left. We just paid lots of money to fix our 4-year old dishwasher and I can't prove it, but I'm sure Mini-baboo broke it. We only communicate by texting now. I worried, for a while, that he is lonely. I remember when I was 15 and my mom got her first full time job since I'd been born, and I hated coming home to an empty house. Or did i? Maybe it's just mom guilt making me remember that.

No, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I liked being alone in the house, raiding my mom's snack closet. (Mine is locked)

So, last week I texted back and forth with him, who I desperately want to graduate on time and get on with his life somewhere else, and it went something like this (I should explain first that Mini just got a cell phone a couple months ago and is still playing around with a feature that lets you put a "signature" in all your text messages):

Me: NO MORE TV OR INET ON SCHL NITES!

Him: WHAT? WHY? >HAVE NO REGRETS<

Me: YR GRADES SUCK FIX THEM

Him: OK. >HAVE NO REGRETS<

Me: & CLEAN KTCHN 2NITE

Him: OK >HAVE NO REGRETS<

This, then, is the meaningful communication that now exists between my youngest and me, but it's more communication than we used to have. I have to say it's handy to be able to call him and say, "Now, what was the only flavor of bagel that you'll eat for breakfast these days?" while at the grocery.

And, fix his grades he did. He'll do anything for Internet.

....

I got home last night and ate, and ate, and ate. I'm still trying to figure out how to do the workout thing. I'm starting to feel a lot like the zeftig WonderWoman I've seen on the Internet. I was worried that I would find myself unable to fit in decent workout, and indeed this has happened, and I'm freaking out because I'm afraid that by December I won't be able to fit through the doorway of our new house.

And I've decided to let my hair grow back out. Maybe to my shoulders. I'm sure that when I do let it grow out I'll be starkly reminded of why I cut it in the first place but all I can remember now is how handy it was to be able to tie it back while still damp and get on with my day.

That's it, I guess. Nothing exciting. Just ordinary, working mom stuff. Oh, and this Friday, I'll be flying to Arizona to volunteer and IMAZ and watch Baboo do his, uh, what is this. I think it's his 8th Ironman.

...

Be a no-cheat triathlete.

Interesting story about this picture, taken at Ironman Florida, here.
You may already be sick of this story, or if you're a beginner, you might not have heard about it yet.

Apparently this guy was DQed from IMFLA and banned from competing in USAT events for a year.

To read the post, click on the link.

Oh, how I've been tempted....times when I noticed nobody was manning the turnaround, or how many loops you ran was on the "honor" system. When you're as slow as I am, there are many, many times where the course is pretty much empty. I could just run across the street and head back, I've thought. Nobody would ever know I didn't finish this out-and-back part.

I've also noticed shortcuts when driving bike courses, and goodness knows I'm a terribly cyclist. I'm so slow, in fact, that I could probably cheat and still finish in the lowest 25% of the field.

But what good is it to "finish" something that know that you haven't followed the rules? Are there people actually feel entitled to being a "finisher" when they haven't competed following all the rules? I know that if I did it I'd be wracked with guilt. I have a low-guilt threshold. Triathlon is that important to me that I have to feel like I've finished it honestly and completely.

Does cheating diminish us? I think it does. How meaningful is it to finish a multisport endurance event if "anyone" can do it by wearing fins, or drafting on the bike? I'm not talking semantics, here, like walking in the water instead of swimming. I'm only talking about people who violate clearly published rules.

Just my two cents.

...