Running Dinky

12 Nov

Until yesterday, I cannot remember the last time I did a long run by myself. No water support, no friends, no mapped out run. Just me, my little water bottle, and my memory to recall my route.

In training for the quickly approaching Orlando Half Marathon, I was scheduled to run seven miles on Saturday morning, but I woke up late and with a hankering for pumpkin pancakes. Rather than fret, I pushed my long run to Sunday and got started on some deliciousness.

Sunday morning I got a little bit later start than I preferred. I woke up around 8:30 AM, ate half of an apple with some peanut butter and sat down at my computer to map my run. I visited my old friend www.gmap-pedometer.com and stared at my screen. Since we recently moved to a new part of town, all of my old long run routes no longer worked so I had to think, which without coffee doesn’t happen easily.

I recalled a recent conversation I had with a new friend about the new Orlando Urban Trail. When they inaugurated the trail to the community with a free 5k, I was struggling with an injury and not running (or even walking much for that matter). Then with time I forgot about it. Since then, every time I’ve driven down Virginia and saw the crossing, I have said to myself, “Oh yeah… I want to run this trail!” And then I forget again.

This time I remembered to add the Dinky Line portion of the trail to my route. I looked at my route, tried my darndest to remember my turns and headed out the door around 9:30 AM.

I’m happy I remembered to apply sunscreen and grab my sunglasses before I left, because the first thing I noticed were the clear blue skies and the bright sun. I’m so used to running before the sun comes up or as it’s setting that I sometimes forget how frustrating running while looking straight into the sun can be.

On my way to the start of the Orlando Urban Trail, I noticed this:

I silently judge election candidates whose signs still clutter our streets.

Yep, I totally silently judged each of those candidates for leaving their signs up.

A mile later I arrived at the trail:

A map of the Orlando Urban Trail and how to get to nearby trails

I love any excuse to run over a bridge

You know you’re running in FL when you spot a gator on your runs

Crossing Virginia. Made a detour to the left to buy water at the 7-Eleven.

Learning about the Dinky Line

Behind Lake Highland Prep … Check out that Orlando skyline… Ha!

I’m not sure if I missed the other water fountains or what, but it wasn’t until I hit the Lake Highland Prep portion of the train until I noticed the first water fountain. Since I had already bought a bottle of water at the 7-Eleven on Virginia, I kept running.

I jumped off the trail shortly after and started to head back home around Lake Ivanhoe:

Ducks chillin’ on Lake Ivanhoe

A view of the Orlando skyline from Lake Ivanhoe

I used to live in the pink apartments off Lake Ivanhoe and that was my view walking the dogs in the AM. Not too shabby eh?

I had started my run doing 5:1 (run five minutes, walk one minute), but around mile five of my run the sun started to get to me and I started to take a few unplanned 30-second walk breaks when I thought I needed it. By mile six, I was doing more walking then running, but at this point I had to get home. I made a mental note to start my long runs by 6 AM. I’m pretty sure I’ve made this mental note before. Eh, what can I say? Sometimes I need to be reminded of things.

There’s a drugstore store near my house so I stopped in and grabbed one of these:

Chocolate milk is perfect for your post-run fuel.

The cashier asked me how far I had run and I told him seven miles, but the last mile had been more walking then running. He laughed and said that even six miles was six miles more than he ran. We chatted briefly about his days of running with the Army and how he had hated the bland food but it had been perfect for all that running. I laughed again, knowing how true that statement is. When he said he wanted to get back into running I told him that I had started by just running light post to light post and wished him luck. I left that drugstore feeling a little bit better about my run.

I came home and had myself a nice, long stretch while drinking my chocolate milk and trying to avoid Rex’s kisses. I tell you what, that pug has no respect for personal space. 🙂

I stretched. Rex tried to lick my face.

Overall, I loved running on the Orlando Urban Trail. It was nice to only have to keep your eyes peeled for oncoming cyclists, which I much prefer to oncoming cars. There were some nice views along the way (lakes, and gators and skylines, oh my) and my legs appreciated a break from either running slanted on the side of the street or running down a brick road. I will gladly run on this trail during daylight hours. However, I would not recommend running by yourself while the sun is down… too many nooks and crannies to disappear into.

Have you run on the Orlando Urban Trail? What did you think?

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Randomness

8 Nov

I didn’t wake up to run before work, so tonight I had to go on a 3-mile training run. After work I drove straight home, threw on my running clothes and headed out for three miles. If I ever stop to sit on the couch or walk the dogs, my chances of going for a run decrease by at least 50%.

I’ve found that when I run by myself, my thoughts wander into a array of random thoughts. Sometimes I go into deep thought. Other times not. Tonight was the later.

This is what tonight looked like in my brain:

Wow, this is a gorgeous night. I love running in this weather!

These shoes are really bright. There’s no way a car could ever hit me with these on. Unless they were blinded by my shoes. Then they might hit me.

What’s for dinner?

Did I just say good morning to that lady? Yes, I think I did. Maybe she thought I said something else. What sounds like good morning? Good horning? Good Maureen? That makes no sense. Why would I say those things? But then again, why did I say good morning at this hour?

Tacos would be good. Mmmm…

Crap, which road do I turn on? Is it this one? It feels right, but kinda wrong. Hmmm… I’ll just turn down it.

I hope Donnie wants tacos. Wait, what am I saying? Donnie always wants tacos. That boy is going to turn into a taco one day.

This doesn’t feel right. Did I go the wrong way?

I hate brick roads. What if I trip crossing the street and get run over by a car? I hope they see my neon shoes before they run me over.

I can’t wait for people to put Christmas lights up. My runs will be so pretty!

Whoa, this look familiar. Did I just run in a circle? Yes, yes I did. I knew that was the wrong turn!

I should’ve woken up early and ran. I could be at home sitting on the couch right now.

Where should we get tacos from?

What day is today? Is Grey’s Anatomy on tonight?

I remember when F*R*I*E*N*D*S used to be on Thursday nights. I love the episode where Phoebe runs like a kid. Best episode ever. I wonder if I could run like that. Knowing me, I would probably throw my back out.


GIFSoup

Wow, I’m almost home?

Be careful self. Don’t trip over sidewalk cracks. You can’t afford to lose your two front teeth right now. You would have to get married with two chicklets stuffed in the spaces. That would be sad. But I bet I could just smile for the pics with my mouth closed.

I’m home already?

I’m home already!

And much to my excitement, Donnie was fully supportive of my wanting tacos for dinner.

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Running is Fun

8 Nov

Trying to get in touch with my inner 5-year-old in preparation for tonight’s run…

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Running Solo

16 Oct

Runner Number Six

Photo Credit

Last night I tossed and turned well passed midnight, so when my alarm went off at 4:30 AM for my morning run I made a sleepy, but sound, decision: I would sleep in and run on my own after work.

This decision won me three much-needed extra hours of sleep and nine hours to talk myself out of running after work. As the day wore on, my legs got more and more sore from yesterday’s early AM Yoga Meltdown session and I started to tell myself that maybe just stretching after work would be good enough. My sister asked me to hang out and I came so close to saying yes. And I almost scratched the run to go to the grocery store and make a home cooked meal.

Instead, I came straight home, changed into my running spandex and walked right out my front door without even stopping to look at my sweet, fat pugs (whom I’m sure were giving me the stink eye for not walking them first). I walked down my driveway, took a deep breath and set out for three miles … all by myself.

Almost immediately I passed two neighbors who were combining several activities: drinking wine, walking and weight lifting. You see, they were walking with a dumbbell in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. When they saw me they started laughing and told me that I was doing it the right way. I laughed back and told them that I thought their way looked like a lot more fun. I ran on  with a smile on my face. I think I might try this workout tomorrow. 😉

My sore legs were heavy and my run was slow but it was a gorgeous night and being alone with my thoughts was splendid. Sometimes running solo isn’t such a bad thing… That is, when you can manage to not talk yourself out of it.

What do you do to avoid talking yourself out of a planned workout?

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I Wish

11 Oct

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Running Therapy

10 Oct

Combined with a very busy month and pains in my left heel that I think are the makings of plantar fasciitis, I hadn’t run in almost two weeks.

For a girl in the midst of a new job, planning a wedding and still getting adjusted in a new home, not running was becoming torturous. You see, I need running to deal with my stress. I need the pounding of the pavement to drown out my worries. And I most certainly need my running ladies to talk me off the bridal ledge. I need running.

So yesterday, me and my plantar fasciitis went for a 5:30 AM run with the ladies. We took an easy pace and ran four miles.  At first I struggled to keep up. I frowned thinking how out of shape I was with a half marathon just around the corner.

But then we began to talk about my recent woes, and suddenly my pace picked up. With every word I said, my feet landed with more determination. When I got angry, I got faster. And when I let a tear slip down my face with the sweat, the weight of the world seemed to melt off my shoulders.

Then the ladies gave me sweaty hugs. These are best accepted when you yourself are sweaty as well (which I was).

Let’s just hope my friends don’t start charging me by the hour. 🙂

As for my heel pain, I’ve been stretching my foot and calf daily to help relieve the pain in my heel and I’ve got my foot rolling on a frozen water bottle as I type. I need to run and I’m hoping my foot can get on board with me on this one.

If you’re wondering why I’m not doing the yoga (as I like to now call it), we can blame the new job for the late hours. I’m hoping that things will settle down soon and I’ll actually leave the office and make it to class when I say I’m going to. In the meantime, I just ordered the AM and PM Yoga dvd with Rodney Yee and I plan to put it into good use when it arrives this weekend.

How do you relieve stress?

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Why I Didn’t Run the 15k and Other Great Stories

3 Oct

On September 22nd I didn’t run the Miracle Miles 15k like I planned to. Instead I ran 8.7 miles with my running ladies and called it a  day. But please don’t worry… there are really good excuses reasons for this.

The main reason I didn’t run the race as planned is that I never signed up for it. Unless you’re a bandit runner, registering for a race is one of the most important steps in running a race. It’s right there next to showing up for a race, which I also did not do.

You may be wondering what I was doing that would cause me to be to busy to register for a race. Well… I was busy celebrating.

On September 7, 2012 my love asked me to marry him under the first oak tree on the southwest corner of the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York. It was, quite literally (I tend to overuse this statement, but certainly not on this occasion) the best day ever.

We took the pics above in a photo booth hours after we got engaged while waiting for our good friends to meet us for dinner. Can you tell we’re giddy? This photo was quite possibly the best $5 I ever spent.

The days and weeks that followed were crazy busy. We ran around town telling our local family members in person, while trying our best to catch the rest of our family on FaceTime. We called friends and broke the news. We celebrated. We began planning the day when we will stand before God, our families and those we love the most and vow to love each other for the rest of our lives.

And if that wasn’t a life changer… Literally minutes after I said “Yes!!” I received an offer on the job within my company that I had interviewed for. Did I happen to mention that September 7, 2012 was the best day ever?

I’m currently working long days to get up to speed with the new position and when I come home I’m lucky if I have the energy to walk the dogs and eat dinner. Our weekends are spent working on our new house and trying to figure out the whole wedding thing. To say I’m stressed and overwhelmed is a gross understatement.

My little sister sent me a text today that made me stop, smile and remember to breathe:

I watched a two hour testimonial on a holocaust survivor. And the only times she smiled was when she talked about her wedding day and her grandchildren. She wore a white blouse and had ten people at her wedding and they ate soup. Just a reminder that what’s important is you and Donnie and what makes you happy… the rest you will surely forget. 🙂

She’s right. I will forget the race I missed and the yoga classes I couldn’t make it out of work in time for. I will forget that my half marathon training schedule is all out of whack and I can’t seem to find the time to do laundry or dust and sweep. There are a lot of things I will forget, but you know what I won’t? How I felt on September 7th.

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Running Date

5 Sep

I’m a big fan of running dates. It allows you to catch up with a friend while burning calories and is typically much more economical than meeting your friends for dinner or happy hour drinks. And if you do decide to have a little indulgence afterwards, you can do so knowing you just worked for it!

On Saturday I met up with a friend I hadn’t seem in a while. We strategically parked our cars in between a French bakery and a coffee shop and said we would decide on where to get our post-run coffee afterwards. We like to have our options. 🙂

We ran just over three miles and there wasn’t a quiet moment in there. I guess you can say we had a lot to catch up on. When we got back to our cars, we decided on the French Bakery, Les Petits Pleasures.

I was super excited to try this place out. I’ve run by it several times on solo runs and it always looks yummy. Plus my foodie friend Rachelle has vouched for their “mmmm” factor.

We had so many options to choose from (fruit tarts, chocolate mousse, eclairs and more) but when I saw they had almond croissants, my mind was made up! My friend and I each got cappuccinos and settled down to split our almond croissant:

Almond croissant from Les Petits Pleasures… So. Good.

I’ve only recently discovered the joy that is the almond croissant and this one was absolutely amazing. And their cappuccino was perfectly made. I can’t wait to go back have another running date!

Afterwards we set off our separate ways, not feeling the least bit guilty about our indulgence and happy to have just spent some good ol’ sweaty time together.

Do you ever schedule running dates? Where are your favorite places to meet up?

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Never Let a Roll of the Dice Decide Your Fate

4 Sep

Magic eight.

Eight is the number that was rolled last Thursday morning as we sat at the foot of a small Florida hill (technically some might call it an “incline”). To my chagrin, we did not roll a snake eyes.

What were we doing with a pair of dice on one of our morning runs? We certainly weren’t playing any board games.

It seems that I cannot miss any morning runs, because when I do, I come back to hear preposterous ideas like “Hey, let’s let the roll of the dice decide how many hill repeats we should do on Thursday mornings!”

And then something even more preposterous happens like an eight is rolled. Magic eight. *Sigh*

So eight times up, and eight times down we went.

Here’s how the experience looked in my head:

  • Hill Repeat #1: Alright let’s do this.
  • Hill Repeat #2: Good God! We’re only on the second repeat? There’s no way I can do this!
  • Hill Repeat #3: Hey, whose idea was this?
  • Hill Repeat #4: Seriously, whose ideas was this??
  • Hill Repeat #5: That was only halfway?
  • Hill Repeat #6: Wait, what repeat are we on?
  • Hill Repeat #7: (cursing starts) @#%#$!
  • Hill Repeat #8: You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.

Here’s how the experience looked via my friend’s tracking device:

Count the peaks and weep with me: 8

Needless to say, I’m very sorry that I’m going to be on vacation this week and unable to join this Thursday’s AM run…

Do you ever play games to get you through your runs? 

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Fall 2012 Races

28 Aug

Since I’m just getting back into being a fully functioning, two-legged runner, I’m weary of committing myself to too many races this fall. I might sprinkle some more 5ks into the mix for fun, but here are my planned runs for the fall:

Miracle Miles 15k – September 22, 2012

I ran this race last year just after returning from a two-week stay in NYC. It was a brutally hot race (especially after running in cool NYC) and I made the mistake of not carrying a water bottle. I remember being so parched in between the water stations that I considered veering off course to get some water at my house. This year I’ll make sure to carry water and hydrate the days leading up to the race.

NOTE AFTER POST: I did not end up running the Miracle Miles 15k. For details read here.

Turkey Trot 5k – November 22, 2012

The Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot in 2007 was my first 5k ever. Donnie had convinced me that it would be a great way to start the holiday weekend. His pops and him had been running the race for several years as part of their holiday tradition. I finally agreed and am so glad I did… it really is a wonderful start to a day filled with food, friends and family! This year will be my fifth year running it in a row, and I hope to make pumpkin pancakes afterwards, like I did last year. I’m trying to convince my mom and my Sis to join in the fun. Wish me luck!

Orlando Half Marathon – December 1, 2012 

Last year I ran this race with a friend and had an absolute blast. I’m going to push myself a little harder this year, but look forward to running around the city without the road traffic. 🙂

I’m hoping for a healthy, happy racing season and will definitely continue to do yoga along with my training to help avoid injury.

What races do you have planned for the fall?

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