Maybe I will start running again.

We adopted Bailey, our crazy, bundle-of-energy, rat-bull terrier, 4.5 months ago. Fortunately, she has calmed down some since then. But walks are a different story. This dog wants to move during a walk. Sure, she stops to sniff and relieve herself once in awhile, but even those things are quick.

In the winter months, I started to run up and down my street with her. I did this a few times and never for more than a minute or two at a time because the cold and my being in not-great shape would not allow much more. But after awhile, and particularly when it was snowy or icy, I went back to just walking with her. 

Now that spring is (sort of) here, and because this dog does not know the meaning of a leisurely walk, I have started to run/jog with her again.

Two nights ago, during our (typically) 20- to 25-minute walk, I tried jogging for 3 or 4 minutes. Then I walked. And then I jogged another 3 or 4 minutes. Unfortunately, I did not stretch when I was done; I guess my brain was not "counting" that as a run. But other than slightly sore legs yesterday morning, I was fine. 

Yesterday early evening, I managed to jog/run for 5 and then for 6 more minutes, with not even 2 minutes in between. This even included two hills. I actually felt pretty good, and Bailey was panting, though I have no doubt she could have kept going. 

The problem with this potential plan is that I don't want to do this every day; even when I was a "runner," I kept it to three days a week. And during those five months I trained for the Race for Pace, I ran only once a week. Since I walked most days, and usually briskly, that was enough. Now I typically walk four and sometimes five days a week at work, plus six and sometimes seven more times with Bailey. I think my legs, especially, my knees might rebel! 

And the other downside is what happened when I started those brief jogs in the winter: Bailey expects to run, and she starts off full speed. It took me awhile to get it in her head we were just walking (which, with her, is really clipping).

I guess I will just have to see how it all plays out. But in the meantime, if anyone in the Burgh wants a running buddy, I have a dog you can borrow any time!

A lot of steps

Let me first start off by saying that when I weighed myself this morning, I was back up 1.5 pounds. But I won't let that discourage me too much. I want to get back in shape and eat better/less as much as I want to lose weight.

It is cold right now. I think hell may have frozen over or it might soon. This morning, I was parked even farther away from the bus, so I had about a four-minute walk. I got off at the closer stop, which meant about three or so minutes. Then it was up the steps to the building and up the 75 steps upstairs.

After lunch, some coworkers and I walked down the 75 steps to the first floor; walked up the over 250 stops to the 9th floor; did some lunges, squats, and wall push ups; walked down the over 250 steps to the first floor; and then back up the 75 steps to our floor. I might have pulled a muscle while doing some of the lunges, but fortunately felt better within an hour (ah, age).

I did not snack at work, which is what I was doing like crazy the last month or so of last year. I had a large portion of tortellini and an apple for lunch. And I did have one piece of dark chocolate during our hall walk. But that was it.

I had my usual walk down to the bus and then back to my car, in real-feel temps of around -10 or so. Then I had a reasonable dinner with just a few bites for seconds. 

I think today was quite successful. My kid, like most others, has no school tomorrow so not sure how much movement I will get. We shall see.

Doing okay

This week, I missed Zumba thanks to a funeral luncheon. I followed that up by missing my usual Wednesday afternoon swim because I wanted to see who was chosen as pope, live. So Thursday morning, even though I was not feeling it, I dragged myself to the pool for a good swim.

I swam for an hour straight, with no interruptions. I recently read that one can burn over 500 calories by swimming for an hour. It seems to be that one (I) should burn so much more than that. Anyway, I also did some water treading as well as some leg and arm exercises. All in all, a good workout.

Friday I did only a few laps, but I did manage to tread water for 15 minutes and then jog in the deep end (using a noodle) also for about 10 to 15 minutes. I also played with the kid to get in a good workout.

Yesterday we headed back to the pool, where I swam 20 laps and did some water treading, playing with the kid, and a few arm exercises.

I had high hopes to run today, but the weather is so crappy--freezing rain this morning and just rain now, though at 33 degrees, it is quite chilly.

Until next time...

Guess who ran this week?!

After more than four months, I finally ran a real run, on the road. We had another nice Monday; it was sunny and in the mid 40s, so I decided I had come up with enough excuses not to do it.

I was cold in the beginning. I started running at almost 4 p.m., so the sun was going down and hidden behind buildings for a good part of the run. The thin hoodie and thin long-sleeved tee underneath were almost enough to keep me warm, but my head and hands were definitely chilly. Fortunately, I was able to put my hood up and keep my hands in my sleeves. And, as I suspected, I was plenty warm about a mile into it.

The bottom of my left foot hurt a bit only a couple minutes into the run, but the pain was minor, and I hardly thought about it. My knees did not hurt at all, so victory!

This run was not exactly my usual run. Instead of running up the killer hill, I started more than halfway up that awful section. Then I ran the rest of the first mile. I ran back to where I started, but decided to keep going until the bottom of the hill/where I normally start. Then I ended where I actually did start. So, yes, I did cover the same distance, but it was "out of order" so posting my times will be a little pointless. Ultimately, it took me 20:24, which is two minutes slower than when I last ran. It did the first not-quite-one-mile in just over 10 minutes, but to be accurate, I would need to add at least a minute for the section of the hill I did not run until the end.

Regardless, I am not discouraged. I was 40 back then, and I can believe four months of age once you get in your 40s makes a difference. And even though I have been swimming and doing Zumba, it is not the same as running, so it is nearly impossible to not have a drop off after four months without running. Plus, it was cold. Running in 60 degrees is a lot different from running in 40 degrees. When I was in my late 30s, I loved running in 40-degree temps, but now I much prefer the 50s. To think that a few years ago I ran in temps in the mid 20s is almost laughable. I am pretty sure I won't hit the pavement unless it is above 30 degrees for the rest of my life and I may just stick to the 40s and above. But never say never. [Worth noting, it appears the last time I ran in temps below 30 was in February of 2011, when it was 29 degrees. I last ran in temps in the upper 20s and 30s regularly in 2010.]

Race for Pace

I completed the Race for Pace in 28:55.

If I would have run the race about three weeks ago, when I was working out like crazy, that time time might have been a little disappointing. But I have to keep telling myself over and over that I am 40. Unfortunately, saying it does not help me accept it all that much. Not that I am 40; I am cool with that. But that I am past my running prime. But proof of that was right before me: I ran into a former student whom I beat by about two and a half minutes when I ran the race two years. This year, he bested me by seven and a half minutes.

I know I should be focused on my finishing the race in under 30 minutes, which is great, considering I have been running about once a week. And I am absolutely proud of myself, particularly considering that I struggled a bit during my runs lately. I was not convinced I could do it in under 30 minutes. But I did it.

A few other notes:

It was cold, probably about 35-degrees at race time, but sunny. My running gear consisted of a long-sleeved t-shirt, a windbreaker, yoga pants, socks as gloves, and a flexible knee brace I used to wear at the beginning of this century when I ran several times a week. I unzipped the windbreaker during the last 2/3 of the mile, and maybe even took it off. The socks on my hands also came off about that time (I did not have gloves, but those babies worked great, even for nose-wiping purposes, as gross as that sounds, but it was cold).

I am happy to report that I was almost pain-free the entire time (the knee brace was a good call); even my feet hurt very little, though during the first mile, two of my toes were numb from the cold! I have this odd breathing pattern, which I tried to replicate when I was lying in bed, but couldn't. Regardless, it seems to work for me, and, almost as important, I am not wheezing and gasping as I seem to always notice some people do during these races.

I started off strong, kept a pretty steady pace, struggled a bit near the end up the last hill, but "kicked it in" as best as I could the last tenth of a mile. Having my friend Diane there cheering me on really helped. As I was struggling up the last hill, she made me laugh (or at least smile as I was out of breath) when she yelled, "Go, Faith! Don't embarrass me." 

During the last mile, a woman who I determined was somewhere near my age (which impressed me, because I am lousy at figuring out ages) passed me. I thought about pushing myself even more, in case she was going to be the difference between my getting third place and fourth place. But in the end, the last hill was too much for me, and I could not go any faster. I convinced myself to just keep going as I was so I could finish in under 30 minutes

When the time came for my age group awards, the person they announced for third place was that woman who passed me. I could not believe it! Oddly enough, when I checked my results online that evening, I was listed as being in third place in my age group. I emailed the race director about it, who just emailed me a bit ago saying she would look into it. I admit the competitor in me is disappointed to think they made a mistake that cost me getting my name mentioned and a medal, but the mature gal in me is going to keep telling myself this:

I am 40, I finished the race in under 29 minutes, and I am proud of this body!

But wait, it gets worse

For three days this week, I was pretty crazy with exercise. I basically crammed five days of working out into three. And I am suffering for it. My aching body.

After Monday's over-abundance of physical activity, I (comparatively) took it easy on Tuesday with an hour of Zumba. But Wednesday I went for another marathon of activity.

I stared off doing lunch duty. The school has three lunches, each lasting 40 minutes. As a monitor, I walk up and down the aisles making sure kids are doing what they are supposed to. After about 25 to 35 minutes, I walk the kids up a few steps and down a bunch more to go outside, where I again walk up and down the playground many times. Then we bring them back in and do it two more times. Although I cannot call that working out, it seems pretty reasonable to "count" it as exercise.

About an hour after I finished that, I went for a run. My stomach was probably a little too full to do it well, but I wanted to get that run in, since the weather was nice. Turns out the 60 degrees kind of felt too cold during the first mile; in fact, my ears actually briefly "burned" as they do in the winter. Crazy.

I don't have much to say about the run, other than I struggled a bit. But when I remind myself that I had already walked, ran steps, swam, did Zumba, stood on my feet for three hours for three mornings in row while subbing, and did a lunch duty within a 54-hour period, finishing the two miles is an accomplishment in itself. Let's go with that.

Mile 1: 10:57
Mile 2: 8:58

An hour later, I swam almost 15 laps and tread water for a bit.

I sort of took the day off today, other than a couple hours of standing while subbing and another two hours of lunch duty.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. But I am pretty sure my feet, thighs, and ankles wish it would be lying completely still. 

Stupid cold

Well, so much for my intentions of running and doing other types of exercise this week. My sore throat turned into a cold, which became progressively worse as the week went on. The only other bit of exercise I did was a 15-minute-round-trip walk in the chilly air Tuesday morning (hardly counts, to me anyway) and about 15 minutes on the stepper followed by about 10 on the treadmill on Wednesday. I was going at a low-to-medium intensity on both machines, but yet I felt as if I were running. The subsequent 10 minutes in the hot tub only made things worse. For that reason, I decided I would skip Zumba yesterday, plus the thought of blowing my nose once or twice during ever song did not seem appealing.

I can only hope that next week I will be back to "normal" and can at least get in a three or four days of exercise. I hate feeling lazy and the thought of becoming out of shape.

Yep, it's December!

Running won out over Zumba yesterday, surprisingly to me.

I "bribed" myself into running by telling myself that I could skip at least half of the first hill. I figured with 40-degree temps (though sunny skies), my lungs would appreciate staying right where they are and not exploding in the frigid (relatively speaking) temps.

I ran in my lined black pants that typically are used from December through March. I also ran with a thick hoodie over top of my Run Around the Square long-sleeved t-shirt. I opted against gloves and a hat, though the hoodie was up. I started off feeling pretty good, if not a tad cold. A little more than halfway into the first mile, however, I was actually warm and wishing I had worn a thinner hoodie. I did not seem to notice the pants. When I hit the top of the hill, I took off my hood, but after a minute or so decided it was probably smarter to keep it on with the cold temps and my sweaty head.

All in all, it was a pretty good run. I finished off the just-under-two mile jaunt with three or four laps around the outside of the gym, which also included a set of stairs. All told, I ran for about 25 minutes, so I probably ended up running about 2.5 miles.

Mile 0.8 (approximately): 9.36
Mile two: 8:30

As an aside, I ran with my mp3 player for the first time in ages. I keep the volume low so I could hear cars coming up behind me (I run on the road, close to the sidewalk, against traffic). The music was a nice change of pace, and I actually found myself speeding up when Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" came on. At one point, I was actually doing the air drums!

And on that note, see you soon, 40.

Running with my brothers

I cannot tell you the last time I ran with my brothers (one is older and the other is younger, the latter of whom I still refer to as my little brother even though he has about three inches on me). Probably has not even happened this century. In fact, I am not sure we have run together more than once or twice. But late this afternoon, while all of us are my mom's, we decided to take a short, medium-paced run around her neighborhood.

If I remember, I will drive around to see how far we actually ran; I am guessing it was around 1.5 miles, maybe 1.8. The hills were extra tough on me. So much so that for a couple of them I was not running with my brothers but rather running a hundred feet or so behind them. I actually felt as if I were in a 5k.

The temps were in low 50s according to the Indiana Gazette, but it felt more like the upper 40s. By the end of the run, my ears were burning. I'd like to blame my struggles on that, or just the massive amount of food I have consumed in the past couple of days. :-)

Still, I got out there. And I was able to enjoy (more or less) 15 or so minutes with just my brothers, something I so rarely do.

Sun, come back!

Because I was running late, I ran only about 1.8 miles on a sun-filled, warm (about 66 degrees!), but windy, afternoon this past Friday. I ran pretty quickly up the hill, thinking that I might be able to squeeze in the two miles in the 20 minutes I had. Of course that hill that left me pretty breathless, and it took me a few minutes to recover. Ultimately, I decided to cut it short; I just could not take a chance and risk getting back into the parking lot, neither cooled down nor stretched at the same time my kid was walking to my empty car.

Fortunately, I also swam 15 or so laps an hour later, so I did get a pretty good workout in. The very next day, the kid and I walked about a mile in 30-some degree temps. (C'mon, did we really need to lose over 30 degrees in under 24 hours?!)

And on Sunday, I swam about 25 laps, which I thought was the most ground (well, water) I had covered since I started swimming again. But then I realized I did that last weekend. I am now trying to swim three or four laps at a time instead of two, to try to increase my stamina. Hopefully, I can keep that up.

Unfortunately, I developed a slight cold Friday evening. Again. After only about a month and a half of being healthy. Grr.

I am still trying to exercise. And fortunately, I have felt better after I have done something physical. But I have a feeling I will neither swim nor run today. Just can't motivate myself.

Not as cold but rainy

I am happy to report I ran two miles again today. The temps were about 37 while I was running, and fortunately, there was not that crazy wind as there was last week when I ran. On the other hand, it was raining lightly but steadily the entire time, which was a bit annoying considering I did not have a windbreaker to keep dry.

Oddly enough, running up the first killer hill seemed more difficult than it was last week (which had marked over 60 days since I had last run up that hill). No idea why. But I did run a little faster today, so there is that.

Mile one: 10:10
Mile two: 8:29

I swam yesterday, completing about 15 laps. I decided running was the lesser of two evils today. It just made more sense to run in the rain, surrounded by gray skies, after that Steelers loss.

Back on the road again

I finally ran outside again yesterday, running my "usual" route. Even more important is that I ran at all, as it had been over 40 days since I had last done so (not counting jogging in the water one day last month).

The temps were about 29 degrees, and it was windy; in fact, several times during the run, snow flurries were blowing in my face. Probably not the best day to get back in the saddle, but after about 70 days since my last outdoor run, I figured if I was motivated, I should just go with it.

Before I took my first stride, I had pretty much decided to run about 10 to 15 minutes/to at least get one mile in, God willing. But after I ran up the killer hill, and it actually was not that bad, I figured I might as well run to the last uphill near the end of my first mile. I had about 25 minutes to run, so I reasoned that if it took 10 minutes to get to that point (it takes me around 7 or 8 minutes when I am in good running shape), I should have time to spare. When I reached the bottom of the hill, I saw that I had been running for about 8:30 or so, so I decided to throw caution to the wind (and fight the wind, in general!) and do the whole mile, which meant I would be doing the second mile back.

All in all, it was not that bad. I was cold; the thin shirt underneath a thick hoodie left me a little chilly during the first mile, but I was feeling okay during the second/last mile. I kept my hands in my sleeves the whole time, so I was not missing gloves too much.

My stats?
First mile completed in 10:23
Second mile completed in 8:37

Obviously this is nowhere close to my best time, but is pretty much where it was before I really started pushing myself and becoming what I consider "good." Taking the weather and the layoff from running into account, I am quite pleased. I had been concerned that when I finally ran outside again, I would only be able to complete one mile and that it would take me something like 12 minutes. But that did not happen, and I felt pretty good the whole time, which leads me to believe that swimming has done its job of keeping me in shape. I also have to consider that on Sunday, I swam 22 laps, and on Tuesday, I swam about 18 laps, so I definitely have worked my body out this week.

I am taking the day off!

Running around the pool

Well, technically, I was running in the pool. And I was actually jogging. But since I have not gone running for almost three weeks now, and that was just on the dreaded treadmill, I figured I needed to do something running-related.

So for about 20 minutes yesterday, I jogged in 3' to 4' of water. It was a decent workout; I certainly felt the water's resistance. And it was good to move pretty much nonstop for that length of time. The only snafu was my feet hurt a little, thanks to the not-so-smooth bottom. Not sure if running with water shoes would help, though.

I still have no idea when I am going to get back out there. I had an awful cold last week. Yesterday it was only about 20 degrees. And we are supposed to get some snow today. Maybe by the end of this week I can attempt at least a one mile run. I sure hope so.

In the meantime, I am going to try to keep up with the swimming. I still managed to get in about six laps (which I like to call 12, since I am going up and back) yesterday after my "jog," but as usual, they were not consecutive. At least I am moving!

The second verse is ALMOST the same as the first

Yesterday, I attempted another run on the treadmill. I loathe to admit this, but I am a little gun-shy about running outside with the snow, a little ice, and the cold temps (which have been around or close to 30 degrees, a temperature I had no problem with last winter). As I mentioned in previous posts, I have been swimming, which is a really good workout, so I am not so worried about staying in shape. But I am a little afraid that when I finally get back out there, I may end up struggling to complete two miles (maybe even one) and/or I will run at a pace well over 10 minutes.

But back to my treadmill run. I ran the first mile in just under 10 minutes, going at about a 6 mph pace. For the second mile, I would alternate between fast runs (anywhere between 6.3 mph and 7.5 mph, hitting above that once or twice) and a slower pace of 5 mph. Then I completed the last half mile at a pace of about 5 mph for the first three to five minutes minutes before walking the final few minutes at about 3 to 3.5 mph.

I felt as if this run went better than the previous treadmill attempts. I was never in doubt that I would run two miles, which is something I can't say about my prior times. However, I still found myself bored and wishing I were outside, where I would have trees, cars, people, houses, the road, etc. to look at. The 4 o'clock news on the TV is just not the same..

Hopefully, after Christmas I can get back on the horse.

Dear real December weather, please come back

This week was crazy cold. There was just no way I was going to run in temps in the teens. Wednesday was pretty decent, with temps in the lower 20s by earlier afternoon, but with the snow and ice still on the road, it was just not enough to motivate me to run outside. I did get a brisk, 20-minute walk in, so there is that.

So when I went to the pool on Friday, I knew that in addition to swimming my laps and jogging around the pool, I needed to get on that dreaded treadmill again. This time, I ran about 1.5 miles, and, once again, it was quite a chore.

I do not understand how people run on treadmills. It is sooooo boring. I simply cannot help myself from staring at the elapsed time, which seems to drag on and on, and wishing I had just completed my mile(s) already. I wanted to be done after one mile, which took me just under 10 minutes, but since my kid was in the exercise room with me watching the last few minutes of a Penguins of Madagascar Christmas special, I figured I might as well keep going.

Even though I have not been running, with the regular swimming I have been doing, I have managed to stay in pretty good shape. I will say that after running 1.5 miles and doing a set of various arm and leg exercises on some weight machines, swimming laps was quite challenging yesterday.

Can't we just have our regular December back?!

And speaking of the treadmill

Some time ago, I wrote about barefoot running, after I had happened upon an article in the Parade magazine. I never could bring myself to try it until yesterday, when I decided to jump on the treadmill for a quick run.

So how was it? After having run about a mile barefoot, I feel pretty confident in saying I won't be doing that any time soon. Or maybe ever. My feet really hurt by the time I had finished. But almost as important, I am not sure I did it "right." It seemed as if I was slamming my feet pretty hard on the treadmill, but maybe I normally do that and just don't notice. I recently read an article that stated barefoot runners come down on the front or balls of their feet, which I definitely did (and the balls of my feet are what hurt). But I have never really paid attention to how I usually run for comparison. I just know it did not feel "normal," whatever that is.

I also read an article about how a young woman got her toe caught in the treadmill and flew backwards off it, resulting in some stitches. Eek! Of course, you could get your shoelace caught as well.

I just hope it warms up soon so I can get back outside to run. It has been in the low 20s the past few days (was only 20 degrees today), with a windchill much lower. There is no way I am going to run in those conditions when I struggled with my run in 37-degree temps two weeks ago. In the meantime, I am going to try to run on the treadmill at least once a week and/or run in the pool.

 It is good to mix it up!

The dreaded treadmill

After last week's tough run in the cold, I could not will myself to do it again this week (welcome to the next three months in Pittsburgh!). But since I had been making such good progress running, I hated the thought of a layoff. So hello, treadmill, old friend!

For about three years now, Bally's has been trying to get me to come back. The $100 offer for a year's membership is pretty good, but I was hesitant to spend the money on something I would rarely use or stop using after a few months. The last one to two years I was a member at Bally's, I probably went four or five times. And my husband reminded me of this, saying instead of rejoining, I should just take a 100-dollar bill and burn it.

Then, about a month and a half ago, my mother-in-law generously bought us a family pool membership at a local hotel. My kid loves to swim (and pretty much has no other interests), so it seemed like a good idea. And I don't hate swimming (more just the bathing suit!), plus I figured the smaller exercise room would give me the chance to start lifting weights again or jump on a treadmill if I felt so inclined.

So I did yesterday. And IT WAS HARD! I could not believe how challenging running about 6 mph was, considering that pace was slower than my usual run mostly up hill. I did start on a 4.5 incline (no idea what that means exactly), and once I started getting into the 9-minute mile pace, I had to cut back the incline.

After running about 3/4 of a mile and being bored and willing the miles to add up, I decided to alternate between a fast (7 to 9 mph) pace for 15 to 30 seconds and a slower one (5 to 6.5 mph) for up to 60 seconds. As challenging as that was, it forced me to keep going and really pay attention to the time. No more boredom!

I was planning to run only two miles, knowing I was going to swim for 30 minutes after and I had already used the weight machines on my upper body. Unfortunately, all that frenetic running caused a wire on the treadmill to come loose, shutting the darned thing down after I had run about 1.75 miles. I tried to start it back up, but after a couple of minutes, I gave up and jumped on the older treadmill for a two-minute walk.

Because it is so darned cold (in the upper 20s and maybe 30 or 31), I am going to try the treadmill again next week. Hopefully that baby rights itself!

Like sucking on a giant ice cube

Today marked the first day of the cold-weather season. It won't officially be winter for almost a month, but the 37-degree temps were definitely not fall weather.

As I started up the killer hill, the cold air that rushed into my mouth seemed like the coldest air I had ever felt. I kind of wanted to blame it on the gum I was chewing, some "ice" flavor, but I am not kidding when I tell you I was actually picturing my mouth wrapped around a giant conical ice cube for a couple of minutes, for some odd reason.

I had noticed last week when I ran that I was breathing in and out through my mouth, kind of forcefully, whereas I think normally I try to sometimes breathe in through my nose and then exhale on more of a "blow," if that makes any sense. Well, with today's frigid air (at least to my mouth), the deeper mouth breathing was very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, after I crested the hill and started running on the flat street, my mouth no longer felt like Antarctica. I was cold for the first mile, for sure, and kept my hands inside my hoodie. But on the way back, I was actually a little bit warm and able to let my hands run free and not worry so much about breathing.

Nonetheless, the cold resulted in my completing my first mile in over 10 minutes (I forget exactly how much). I added some side streets to my second mile, which meant I ran almost 1.5 miles on the way back. And I finished up with a few more minutes of running, followed by three laps around the outside of the gym and up the steps.

I hope the mouth-ice cube thing is just a fluke because we have quite a few months of cold temps coming up. If not, I will just have to deal with it. But for now, I am looking forward to giving my feet and legs some time off from running.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I must think it is still winter

Twice, maybe three or four times, in the past few weeks, I have run in clothes that are better suited for temps that are 10 to 20 degrees cooler. Who in their right mind would run in a long-sleeved t-shirt when it is almost 70 degrees? Yep, that would be I. The black polyester pants that work well in 50-degree temps also were making me rue the day that I wore them (which was yesterday).

But it is more than just the recent memory of two feet of snow that keeps me pretty well covered. I am just not a fan of shorts. Particularly ones that I can run in. I like my legs just fine. When they are covered up. Hopefully I can get over that soon.

But this is Pittsburgh, so we should be fully prepared for several dozen more 40-degree days. Then those polyester pants and long sleeves won't be so bad.

tick, tick, tick

I discovered today that my cell phone, which acts as a watch so I can keep a pretty close gauge of my running time, has a stopwatch. The next time I run, which will hopefully be Thursday or Friday, I plan on using it.

According to the time on my cell phone (before I discovered the stopwatch), it took me about 10 minutes to run up the street and just about nine to run down the same street yesterday. Actually, it was probably a little under nine; I had to stop to tie my shoe as I was practically careening down the ending hill.

I would love to do that two-mile jaunt in 18 minutes; actually, 17 would make me feel really good. But considering it is still cold around here (about 28 at most when I ran on Monday), I am not beating myself up about it too much. Plus, I have to wonder if it is counterproductive that my run always begins up a hill, and a tough one at that. When you start out winded, it is hard to pick up steam.

But I also wonder if I should start increasing my distance, rather than worrying about how long it takes me to run my usual two miles. The fear of biting off more than I can chew keeps me from running any farther. After all, I have had relatively little pain in the last month, and I have not run much more than two miles at a time, most weeks only one time. Last year, I would run close to three miles during some of my runs, and I would often run on consecutive days.

I guess I just hate to mess with a (pretty) good thing.