Again With The Running

The thing I like about blogs is that there is no pressure to cater to the needs and desires of your audience. That doesn't mean that I don't love you all very much in an intimate, highly sexualized way.

No. I DO care what you THINK. But today's post might show that I may be ignoring what you WANT.

No one really wants to read a post about running. Again. Do they? Generally people who read my blog respond best to pieces about my days in the band or how horrifically ugly I was in Junior High. Those things are fascinating, to be sure. I  mean, really, really interesting stuff.

But whatevs. S'my blog. And if I blog and no one reads it, I was still ugly in high school. Universal constants. I'm not sure what that even means.

Anyhoo, as I've mentioned, I am back into running regularly and it feels so great to be back on track. I'm back up to between 30 and 40 miles a week - seven months ago I was doing a couch-to-5K program and running 10K seemed like an impossible feat. But I stuck to it, and followed the plan even though I was gobsmacked at how much fitness I'd lost during my (basically two year) running hiatus.

The weight I'd gained is coming off much more slowly this time, but that's because I am eating way more than I was back in 2009 when I lost 30 pounds in 5 months. I've lost almost 10 in 7 months and I'm not in a hurry to lose the last 6-10 lbs. It will happen, slowly but surely.

The thing I'm experiencing this time around is what I imagine must be the mysterious "runner's high".

When I first started running, and reading everything I could about it, authors talked about the runner's high and how it was the best thing ever and dammit, I wanted a piece of that high, but it remained elusive. I figured I must not be running fast or long enough to get the feeling and concluded it was only for marathoners.

The problem was that I was expecting the wrong thing.

I figured runner's high was some kind of psychadelic, tie-dye, blissed out feeling. That instead of burning quads and chafing bra line I was experiencing, I'd be feeling like I was floating two feet above the path like a giant marshmallow on a pillow. Eating cookies. Throwing rose petals.

It turns out that, for me anyway, a runner's high is a mixture of a feeling of contentment, well being and high energy. I imagine it might be what being on cocaine is like, only not as angry, sandpapery or illegally. Coke heads who are also runners, am I right?

When I am running, I haven't forgotten how hard it is to be running. In fact I am almost always counting down the minutes I have left. I have little chants in my head. "Fifty-nine, that's just fine, It's easy to do, it's nothing to you". Ten more minutes you can do it, just ten more there's nothing to it").  But at the same time I am thinking "I'm pretty sure that today I will be able to clean the whole house, make cookies, cure cancer, organize a fundraiser to save all the animals in the world, wash and blow dry my hair and do 12 loads of laundry. Before lunch". I know in my rational mind that I won't get it all done, but while I'm running, I am so brain happy that I actually want to do all those things. Before lunch. Days that I run are generally what I would call "great days". Days I don't run are days that I don't run.

It's still hard to get started. Every time. "Ugh, I'll just do 20 minutes and then I can stop". And I usually end up going 70 minutes. By the 30 minute mark, I figure I could pretty much conquer Everest (North face).

I have found a couple running blogs that I've enjoyed, especially this one. The author is someone I totally want to be friends with because is a runner and she talks a lot about poop. She reminds me of a cartoon rubber band. Yes.

Now I know not everyone can take up running, and not everyone wants to take up running. But for anyone out there who IS thinking of taking up running, I say DO IT DO IT! Get fitted with decent running shoes.  Find a couch to 5K podcast and follow the program.  This is the program I started with.

I have a friend who says he'd consider taking up running once he gets to his goal weight (already lost 35 pounds!). In additions to the fact that running will get him to his goal weight 30% faster, there are other reasons for starting now. And this goes for me, too. Firstly,  improvements will never be so dramatic! And no matter how slow you are, or how often you have to slow down and walk, other runners will give you the thumbs up because, one,  they have been there, and, two, runners want everyone to be runners and are happy to see another weirdo come into the fold. When I started out (both times), I was surprised at how good a simple tip of the head in greeting from a fellow runner felt. It's like a Mason handshake or a secret wink: We're in the same idiot club. Nice to see you.

There will always be runners that are faster and fitter than you. And likely there will always be runners slower and more out of shape than you. The slower runners, more overweight runners are braver than you are. They get the most respect because all runners know that the beginners are in the hardest phase. The starting phase.

This post sounds a little pontificate-y doesn't it. But seeing as I am the boss of all of you, that's too bad. Now go for a run. You will not regret it.

Stuff And Such

Forgive me, Internet, for I have been lazy. It has been two months since my last blog.

I'd like to be able to tell you that my bloggish absence has been due to a round the world trip, or that I've adopted a baby and have been super busy wiping it's bum, or that I'm finishing up that novel I've been working on. None of the above.

Fact is, I am a lazy ass.

But I have been doing, I don't know, stuff, I guess.

So here's a quick run thru what I've been up to while you've all been super waiting time action party.

1. Took in a stray cat. Named him Wayne. Spent the equivalent of the GNP on fixing him up to make him presentable.



                             BEFORE: Infected eyes, super skinny, super bitey.

       

                                Scabby eyes,  swollen lip (someone is allergic     to fish. Really?).

Had to have his super impressive cat testicles removed. I'd never seen cat balls before. They're crazy!

                             Yes, those were cat balls at the beginning there. I know.



                             Now he's all perfect. Perfect eyes, normal mouth. Still bitey.

 He has a pink nose.

2. Did another walk for Farm Sanctuary. Again, my friends helped me to be the number one fund raiser for Toronto.

3. Continuing to volunteer for www.nutritionfacts.org. I have had to find a lot of images of turmeric. A lot. I'm thinking of suggesting to Dr. Greger (the guru of nutritionfacts.org) to change the name of his site to www.turmericfacts.org because there is a great deal of info on turmeric there. Apparently, it's good for you.

photo of turmeric by h-bomb/Flickr


4. Did a couch to 5k program to kick start myself back into running. Am currently running about 25-30 miles per week and feel so so so much better. I don't love running, but I love having finished running. My times are slower than they were a few years ago when I was running regularly. I'm saying it's due to aging. Right?

5. I continue to do laundry.


6. I have taken up eating mixed nuts. It's kind of a hobby, kind of a craft, you know. Just seeing where it takes me.

7.  I stubbed my toe really bad that time.

8. Discovered the joy of listening to podcasts while I run. These are some that I've listened to, and they really do make the time go faster.

          http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/

          http://www.philosophybites.com

          http://www.compassionatecook.com/category/media/podcast-media



9. I went for a latte with Ryan.

10. Just today I cleaned out my dishwasher's filter for the first time in 6.5 years. I think you're supposed to do it more often than that. It was basically a solid mass of goo made up of bits of paper, grape stems and apple stickers. I wish I'd taken a photo because it was really horrific and you probably want to see that, right? Sorry gang.

11. Have done some Christmas shopping. I'm sort of meh about Christmas these days. Once I see my mommy next week, though, all will be better.

I did some other stuff too.

But seriously, I have no idea what to blog about these days. So I give you scraps. So sorry. I love you. I love you like I loved that guy in the "67" t-shirt at Saints Roller Rink in Winnipeg, 1979 (Garden City Saints location). He never wanted to skate with me to "Sad Eyes". He had perfect hair. I think he smoked.

That is all.

Running

Currently, my legs feel like two cement cylinders, and not in a good way.
About a year and a half ago I took up running on a regular basis. It has been one of the hardest things I've done, but one of the most beneficial in a number of ways. I'd always wanted to be a runner, even when I was a kid. When I was in grade 7, I invited my friends over for breakfast and a run. My mom allowed this, bless her. We had some sort of breakfast, of which, I am sure, I ate too much, being a rotund bugger of a pre-teen. I'd seen actresses on TV jogging for fitness and I figured if they could do it, I could, too.
I had no idea.

I got about a half a block before I had to stop, lungs laughing and screaming at me at the same time. My friends, not the most forgiving of pals, ran ahead, disgusted by my ability to carbo load but not walk the walk, as it were. I was disappointed in myself and embarrassed.

In later years, in attempts to lose weight, I'd taken up running, but always injured myself and figured I was one of those people who just "couldn't run" because I had "bad knees" or I was somehow "misaligned". I was just going about it all the wrong way, going to fast, pushing through pain and wearing improper runners.

So in August of 2009 I began another attempt at weight loss Because my husband is a runner, I was encouraged to give it another shot. He motivated me and assured me that it would be worth the effort. I read up on how to start up jogging and started slowly this time, with proper footwear.

It was still really, really hard, but this time, down on the boardwalk where many people do their daily run in my area, I noticed that other people out running were having a hard time, too. They weren't all like the actresses on TV in the early 80's or like my skinny legged friends in school. No one looked thrilled to be out. No one looked like Bo Derek down at the beach. Even when people nodded in greeting to me, it was a grim faced acknowledgement that we were in a club that had great benefits, but a lengthy and arduous initiation process. There was even more silent commiseration in inclement weather. We were out in rain and snow and cold. We were an elite hard-assed league. Suffering, slogging and smug.

Eventually it did get easier. I ran my first 30 minutes without stopping within a couple weeks. And by the time month 4 had rolled around I was banging off sub 60 minute 10Ks with no problems. I had lost 30 pounds, too. In my first year, I ran just short of 1700 miles.

I am not one of those people who feels lousy if they don't run. I don't bounce out of bed in the morning and think, "Holy Crap, I get to  run for over an hour today". I whine and bitch and complain about it. Every. Single. Time. But if I don't do it, I feel like I'd be disappointing some fat 12 year old somewhere.