Just call me the every-day marathon runner

If I had a dollar for every time one of the parents at school said to me, "That is so great that you run every day" or "I can't believe you run all the time," I would have a lot of dollars. Each time, I have to tell them that I run only twice a week (and sometimes not even that), which surprises most of them.

On a very good week, I will run and walk twice each, but that so rarely happens. The more likely scenario is I leave my car two or three times a week to walk or run, and if someone saw me exiting my car, they would not necessarily know which of those activities I am doing since I don't start running until I am out of the lot and down the driveway. Of course, I do run by probably a dozen or more cars of parents once I actually start running.

I also think it is funny that one of my friends is impressed because I "run marathons"; to her anything over a mile is pretty much a long-distance run, thus counting as a marathon in her eyes. And a woman at lunch today could not believe I manage to run four or five miles at times.

But back to this week, during which I ran about 4.5 miles on Monday and about 4 miles today, which was followed by eight minutes of running around the outside of the gym, including 20 steps (I counted). Hopefully, I can get an "official" step workout in, but my guess is I am done running for the week. On a positive note, I think I cut a minute of my time from Monday to today. On an indifferent note, I noticed that for some odd reason since the temps have turned cooler, I rarely exhale in a "blowing" sort of way. I pretty much pant.
No matter, I feel pretty good about my last few runs.

A pretty good workout week

I started my Labor Day with a run around Indiana County (particularly, my mom's neighborhood). I added an extra street or two, so I ended up running around 3.3 or 3.4 miles (my best guess, based on my time, which was around 35 minutes) at a fairly easy pace. I really like that run. The hills don't seem awful.

Wednesday, I ran around my neighborhood, visiting streets I had not been on since 2002, when we bought our house. One of the hills was an absolute killer, but it felt good to complete it, even slowly. I am guessing I ran about 4.5 miles, again based on my time, which was around 45 minutes. Mostly I am glad that no one ran me over; a couple of times cars came pretty close, which I found surprising since I was running up the street (barely a hill) for quite some time. It was not as if I were darting across the street out of nowhere. This is why I no longer run while listening to music.

Today, I ran up and down the steps near my kid's school 20 times, with a break halfway between. I did that in about 17:30, but not sure how that compares to previous attempts. I did not feel as if I was running (well, jogging) as fast as I normally do, but I blame that on yesterday's run. When I completed the steps, I ran around the upper lot for about 12 minutes, ending with a sprint for the last 30 seconds. I hope that I did not correctly count my bpm; if so, when I finished my sprint, I was at 200, which might have put me close to a heart attack. But within a couple of minutes, I was down around 100, so I am guessing not.

Tomorrow, I will be subbing for the gym teacher, so I should get some jogging in during the kids' warm ups. All in all, I call this a good week. I feel (and felt) pretty good overall and I "mixed" it up a little.

I love a Monday run

Since I have pretty much decided I will be running only two days per week and not on consecutive days, I always try to run on Mondays. That way I have three other days during the week to get my second run in. I wish I knew if my various pains from last fall were caused by my running on consecutive days or by my running three days in one week. I am too wimpy, at least in winter, to add a third, non-consecutive day to test the theory. I don't want to mess up my groove.

I am happy to report that I ran twice last week, although my second run was for only a mile. I figure one mile is better than 0 miles! Yesterday I got a late start, so I managed about a mile and a half, maybe a little more. As pretty much always, I struggled up the hill, wondering how I would ever make it. It was made worse by knowing a guy I see and say hi to during my runs was right behind me. I could not run slowly and risk his thinking I was out of shape or something, so I was really huffing (as inconspicuously as possible, of course).

The temps were great, just above freezing, and no snow was falling. I did have to work to avoid puddles on the road; could not take the chance there was ice underneath. The only real downside of the run was avoiding getting run over by cars. Unfortunately, the road has not been completely cleared; each side is missing about a foot or more of road due to the snow. I notice drivers glaring at me as I run in the road. I would love to tell them to yell at the people who live on the street who have not shoveled the sidewalks in front of their houses. It would be dangerous and counterproductive for me to keep going back and forth between semi-cleared sidewalks and the road.

Ah, winter.

In the zone

I mentioned in another post how when I run, I would think about random things. But I realized that when I run now, I pretty much think of nothing.

My run begins up a rather steep hill. I am not sure if that is the best way to start a run, but I can say during the couple of minutes it takes me to get up what feels like a mountain, I am pretty much sucking wind and could not possible think of anything else. The next few minutes I am mostly trying to recover (i.e., stop gasping for air) while attempting to look like this is easy for me. The reason for the facade? I don't want the numerous parents who drive by me on their way to the school to think I am out of shape. Crazy, I know. I don't care if someone thinks my hair is too flat (it is) or that I dress like a poor college student (many dress better than I). But for the love of Pete, the thought of someone thinking I am struggling while running is almost unbearable.

But I digress. When I ran on Wednesday, I actually looked at the cars that passed me (something I pretty much never do), and at least five people waved to me. I am pretty sure they were all parents on their way to school; I recognized most of the cars. I wonder if these people normally wave to me, and I am just too much in the zone to notice (or too busy gasping for air while trying to look unfazed).

I am going to try to be more observant when I run next week and concentrate on more than not getting run over or tripping. But I am not going to lie: I will still continue to pretend like running up that hill is barely a strain.