I feel good!

This morning I drove to the Race for Pace in chilly temps, some gusts of wind, and a drizzle. Fortunately, the rain stopped about 30 minutes before the race started, and you could even almost make out the sun behind some clouds. But the wind did blow off and on.

I ended up wearing the Superman shirt and cape with a long-sleeved pink Under Armour shirt underneath (it clashed, but I figured the pink made it more Supergirlish). I wore navy leggins/tight-like capris with gray shorts with teal borders over the leggins. It was a look, let me tell you. I had a windbreaker on, but I decided just before the gun went off, that I did not need it, so I tied it around my waist.

This was the first 5k I had run with an iphone playing music. I think it helped. I was singing (mouthing the words) for first mile or so. Eventually that ended. I also started off smiling, because I felt good. Maybe it was the Superman shirt or cape...

My family was supposed to be waiting near the end of the race, just before the final (awful!) hill, but they actually got there just before the race started, so I got to see them during my first minute too. That was great. If they had not been on the other side of the road, I would have thrown them my windbreaker, since it was serving no purpose.

Throughout the race, I tried to run a little faster down the hills to try to make up for how slowly I run uphill. I am 95 percent sure I can walk up a hill faster than I can run, but I refuse to walk.

When I got to the halfway point, I checked the time and was shocked to see it was only 9:13 (the race started right on time at 9 a.m.). I knew there was no way I could ran back as fast, but at that moment, I was pretty sure I could run the race in 30 minutes, maybe less. That really helped propel me.

The final 1/2 mile (maybe even less than that, but I felt like a mile) was brutal, up the biggest hill. My family was not at the bottom, but I figured they were just close to the top.

Even though my pace was super slow, I saw that it was 9:25, so I figured surely I could make it up the hill in five minutes. Seeing my family within a minute or two helped, and I pushed as much as I could, considering I was running faster than I normally do during my weekly runs.

When I reached the top, I only had to run down the driveway, which is probably a couple hundred feet. I had almost nothing left to give, but I could see the clock at just over 28 minutes, so I ran (which was more like a fast jog).

I ended up finishing in about 29:21. I was smiling (and panting, and sweating, and could barely walk).

But I had a good race. I am really proud of myself.

And, almost best of all, I got a medal for first place in my group.

Yeah, SuperGirl. As a friend on Facebook said, it must have been the cape.

Did I say the Flash? I meant Superman(girl)

It turns out that Target sells Superman shirts with a small cape attached to the back. I found this in the men's department yesterday, so of course, I had to buy one. Just in case.

Here is this little gem.

When I ran this afternoon, which will be my final run before the race, I started off, as I typically do, feeling good. And, just as typical, within a couple of minutes, I wondered how I will ever run 30 minutes. During the first 10 minutes, I often wonder how I will hit 15 or 20 minutes.

Eventually, I got through it, and inevitably, I felt decent enough to make the 30 minutes (I am often propelled by a good song on the iPhone). I am guessing I ran about 2.8 miles. But I know I did run about 1.4 miles in just under 14 minutes, so I am satisfied with that. I am still somewhat disturbed by the fact that every time I run up this crazy steep hill in my neighborhood, that my heart rate hits 180 bpm. My heart rate has always gone high when I ran up hills. But 180 bpm in your 20s seems less scary than in your 40s.

In any event, I am still torn about what will happen next week at the race. Most of me just wants to wear that caped beauty and have fun. But a tiny part of me wants to see how I can really do.

I have six days to figure it out.

Getting ready for the Race for Pace

The Race for Pace is now less than two weeks away. I have been running once a week for the past month (I think!). When I ran a week ago, I timed myself at various points along the run, but I was not sure how far each point was, so that was kind of pointless. Well, I know the distance from my house to one point and back is about 1.4 miles. But I had timed myself from my house to that point and then back to my street (not quite to my house), and I kept going. I did that in 12 minutes. Which meant that I ran about 1.2 to 1.3 miles in 12 minutes. So not bad.

Yesterday, while at my mom's, I ran a route around her neighborhood and into a nearby one. I stopped my timer when I got back to her house, at just over 21:29 seconds. I ran around her cul-de-sac for another 10 minutes. Early that afternoon, I decided to drive the distance. It turns out I ran 2.1 miles. So I ran just over a 10:30 mile. Even better than last week. And, did I mention that it was about 45 degrees?!

Knowing that, a big part of me really wants to do the 5k in 33 minutes. If I am being really honest, I want to do it in just over 31 minutes. But not likely.

We will just have to wait and see.

Oh, and I have decided to go as the Flash. Sort of. I bought a red shirt, and I will put a lightening bolt on it. Should be fun/interesting. And ironic, because I am so not the Flash when it comes to running.

Actually (kind of) running again

The final line of my last blog post was this: Here's hoping I don't go too long before blogging again.

And I wrote my last post on May 17, 2014, which was over four months ago. Sigh.

Soon after I wrote that post, I must have been inspired to start running again. I wish I had kept better track of when I started and how often I did. But my best guess was right around four months ago, though I guess I could have started as late as June. I do know that by the time we went to OC MD the last week in June/first week in July, I had had a few runs under my belt, and I did manage to run twice while at the beach (once along the sand and actually into the ocean at some points).

About a month or so ago, I decided I want to try to run the Race for Pace, which was the last race I ran in, two years ago. Back then I think I was running about once per week, but don't recall. I do know that I was swimming and doing Zumba regularly. Now, I run two to four times per month. Yeah, not that good.

But I am running. And I think if I keep this up, I can run in that race and hopefully do it in around 35 minutes.I just checked my time two years, and I did it in under 28:55. The competitor in me is sad to read that, and I now want to run the race in around 30 or 31 minutes, but I just don't think I can realistically do it.

My best run since I started running again was around 20 minutes for two miles (I think I probably ran a little less than two miles). One would think I could translate that into a 31-minute 5k, but since that was my best (again, I think; I have not measured the distance of my runs over the the past two months), I have to be realistic. Even though the longest I have run is 30 minutes, and most of the time, I have been running about 25 minutes, I am optimistic that I can finish the race without having to walk. And most of me thinks that should be my goal. So in that respect, 35 won't be so bad. But if I don't walk, maybe I could do it in under 35.

Clearly I am just thinking out loud here.

Here is the other wildcard: This year, the Race for Pace is having a super hero theme. So I could totally forgo the competitor in myself and just have fun.

Wonder what I will do...

30 for 30 (my memory is crap)

I did not realize (or rather, I had forgotten) that I started blogging again in January. Here I thought I did it once or maybe twice and stopped. No, I blogged eight times that month. And then I stopped!

So how has my physical activity been going? Well, apparently since the end of January/when I stopped blogging, I dropped about half of the 8 to 10 pounds I had gained last fall. So I have been/am doing something right.

About 10 days ago, a friend challenged her Facebook friends to do 30 minutes of exercise daily for 30 days. Five days a week, I do, at a bare minimum, 25 minutes of exercise from my car to the bus, from the bus to the office, and the reverse. Most (but not all!) weekdays, I walk anywhere from 10 to 35 minutes with coworkers. The weekends are a mixed bag.

I accepted my friend's challenge, which meant I could not blow off a walk at work. Even harder. there would be no day (or two) of sitting around on the weekend.

So far, so good. Even on a bad (short walk day) at work, I make sure I get in just over 30 minutes. Most days, I do more. Today, we spent several hours walking around Phipps and around Oakland. I am tired!

This past Monday, I lifted reams of paper off and on for about an hour. I got in three sets of many arm exercises. I have tried to do wall push-ups a couple of days since I hate regular pushups so much. I do need to be more consistent about weight-lifting.

Last weekend, I danced with my kid for almost 30 minutes (and I lifted weights for the other time).

Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I am determined to keep it up.I may not lose all 8 to 10 pounds I gained this past fall, but if I can drop 6 to 8, I will be okay with that.

Here's hoping I don't go too long before blogging again.

I'm drinking a beer right now, and I am over 40.

That statement above is a big part of why even though I originally had dropped a few pounds, I have since gained them back and I am, more or less (okay, maybe less one pound) where I started.

I had that utterly stupefying sheets/blanket/comforter injury two weeks ago. And since then, my knee has mostly healed, but there are days it hurts too much to walk up and down the however many steps there are in my office building. I blame the poor healing on age.

I also blame the general difficultly in losing weight on age. In past attempts, when I was in my 20s and 30s, I could always drop a few pounds in a short period of time, and usually keep it off for a good chunk of time. Now it is nearly impossible to take the weight off. And when I did, well, it found me again.

I am back to larger portions and eating sweets, but not every day as I did before. I just got too bored, sad, whatever, to live that way. And we have had some good beverages around here lately. I used to average about one, maybe two, drinks a week. Now I have a drink about six nights a week. Just one drink, but when that drink is sometimes kahlua and cream, well... And Pittsburgh Popcorn Company is the devil, let me tell you.

And with the stupid frigid weather, who wanted to be outside?

This past week, I did take a lunchtime walk three times and then did the stairs two days. So I have not gone completely soft. But I have gotten lazy with the hand weights and squats. And I have done push-ups only a few times in the past week.

I am not giving up, just lowering my expectations and kind of feeling a little sorry for myself. But, still, I am eating better, I am moving some. So I have to focus on the positive.

A nightmare's setback

On Thursday night, after a particularly grueling, long work week, I was having a nightmare kind of early on into my sleep (I think it was around 12:15 a.m.). I recall thinking that I needed to be able to get out of my room before the door, which was really like an elevator, closed, as it was between floors and I would be trapped. Apparently, I tried to kick my way out, as when I woke up, my right knee was in quite a bit of pain. I was hoping, in my groggy state, that I might have just been dreaming about the pain. But, alas, when I woke up about six hours later, my knee still really hurt. And Mr. Bear, the little pink bear I have slept with since college, was halfway across the room. Not sure what that was about!

After explaining my limping to coworkers, I realized that I must have kicked really hard, and because I was underneath the covers, I must have twisted my knee. I might even have some broken blood vessels (or they could have been there before). Fortunately, the husband was not in bed at the time, or I am guessing I would have really hurt him.

In any event, this means my exercise has been and will probably continue to be a little limited for a few days. Fortunately, I lifted weights and did a bit of walking and stair climbing on Thursday. But Friday, I pretty much just hobbled up the stairs and back down at work (force of habit) once. I did walk to lunch, but it was slow going. Yesterday, I did a little walking, but only to get from my parked car to a swim meet and back. Today was just a bit of walking with errands.

I think tomorrow (or maybe tonight) I will at least try to do some arm weight. But anything involving my legs and bending is out. Oh, squats, I miss you. And push-ups, I will not miss you (but I did struggle through six this morning).

Hopefully I can get back on track soon. And I also hope I don't have any more crazy dreams like that!