An Up/Down Halloween

What a day! Prepare yourself for another post full of random things...

First of all, today was Halloween, so I decided to be awesome and dress up at work. Our theme this year is Harry Potter and the girls were only allowed to wear Harry-Potter-themed costumes to school, so we teachers did the same.

Can you guess who i am? People have about a 50% success rate so far at figuring it out.

Also, can we just talk about how awesome Laura looks as Professor Trelawney? Seriously.

After lunch, I went to see Lydia the trainer. She took a look at my leg and said there was some annoyance and inflammation going on that probably had to do with the fact that I'm striding correctly now (which is good, she says!), and I'm just going to have to play it by ear to figure out what to do about it.

So then, after school, I went to the Rose Bowl - sensing a theme? - with this lovely lady.

This is Becca. She likes exercise and heat. We are very different.

Unfortunately for me (though happily for Becca), it was 80 degrees today. EIGHTY DEGREES. It's almost November, guys. ALMOST NOVEMBER. 

Dear Earth,

It's almost November. In fact, it will be November in 3 hours. It's time to cool down. Like a lot. Let's get to that, shall we? I'd be down for some 40s and 50s, but I'd accept 60s too. Pleeeeeeease?

                                                                                                             Thanks a ton. Love, Colleen.

Even though we don't agree on heat or exercise, Becca and I had a lot to talk about as we made our way around the Bowl. Turns out she moved her 3 years ago and it took her about 2 of those to really feel at tome - makes me feel a lot better about not feeling completely settled yet. I'm also really psyched about getting to know her better and run with her more as time goes on. She's pretty cool. And maybe her enjoyment of exercise will rub off on me somehow if I spend enough time with her...

And now, the sad news. As Lydia suggested, I tried running and seeing how it went. We made it about halfway around, running pretty slowly because I had some pain, and I decided I needed to take a walking break. After a third of a mile, we started running yet - or I suppose tried to start running would be more accurate. I barely took 2 steps before I had to stop again because it hurt so much.

This is how I feel about my leg situation.

We walked the rest of the way and then I hobbled around my house getting ready to go home for the weekend. A few hours later, it has stopped hurting and I can walk normally again, but I'm not sure what that means for running in my near future. I'm supposed to do 5 miles on Saturday. We shall see how that goes...

Send good anti-imflammatory thoughts my way, wouldja? I seem to have this habit of getting hurt (or sick) as soon as I'm somewhat motivated to exercise. And I'm trying so hard to be motivated to be good and train! So yeah, good anti-inflammatory thoughts. Thanks!

Until next time, y'all.

***UPDATE***

Lydia the trainer has strongly advised me to do no more running until she sees me on Monday. Sooo yeah. Guess I'm on break for a few days. Stay tuned...

Yoga Yesterday & Already a Fail

Only day three of the training, and I'm already trying to remind myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

Get it? Ahahaha.

I made that joke to myself on accident while I was running my first half marathon. Couldn't help doing it again...

Anywhos, yesterday I went to yoga at Yoga House in Pasadena after work. One of the yoga instructors at my mom's gym suggested it way back in April and I bought a starter series of 5 classes. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble finding a teacher I liked - which was not a problem I expected to have - so after not going all summer I decided going to a class would be a good way to end the first day of school, plus I could finish my series and find a new place to try. But then I LOVED the lady who did it! So now I *try* to go Tuesdays and Fridays at 4 (though, to be honest, I haven't ever made it both days in a week), and while I'm definitely still early on in my yoga career, I like it a lot. Especially the nap at the end. (I think it's technically called 'savasana').

A challenge I'm going to encounter, however, is that Carrie is leaving for a 3-week retreat in India this weekend. I feel like I probably shouldn't just not do yoga for 3 weeks, especially since it's part of my lovely training schedule (courtesy of Other Colleen), but now that I've had a bunch of teachers I didn't jive with, I'm a lot more picky about it. We shall see what I decide to do about that...

Speaking of my training schedule, Other Colleen (as mentioned in previous posts) has graciously decided to make me one, though I think she vastly overestimates my motivation and running abilities.

This is actually a picture from before our St Patrick's Day party senior year,

but I imagine she had this look of concentration as she put my schedule together as well.

This week, I'm supposed to go to yoga twice and run four times for a total of 14 miles. I've done it so far - halfway!! - but I'm also going back to my parents' house this weekend so the yoga on Friday might be a challenge.

                        Monday    Tuesday    Wednesday    Thursday    Friday    Saturday    Sunday    Total Miles

10/28/2013       3 miles        Yoga         3 miles          3 miles        Yoga       5 miles       REST           14

I also had a sharp pain near my left calf during part of my run today, so I'm going to go see the trainer tomorrow (one of the perks of working at a high school where we have athletes!) to see if she can make anything of it. I'm hoping it was just a random thing today and doesn't set me back any.

Besides the pain, though, today's run was pretty good. The roomie and I went on our way home from work and ran pretty fast (for us... or at least for me) - we're estimating a 10-minute-mile pace. But that's where the fail comes in. I decided on Monday that I was going to map and time all of my runs during training so I'd have a record of my amazing improvement in the next 3 months. And then today I had my watch on, all ready to time, and I forgot to hit "start" once we started running.

Whomp Whomp.

Sound effects courtesy of this pretty lady ^^^ the lovely Catherine Wisniewski (soon-to-be-Sullivan).

She's great. I like her a lot.

So already I've failed at my mission. And now we'll never know exactly how my training went. My sincerest apologies. I know you all are very disappointed about this. I promise I will remember to time myself tomorrow, when I do my first run with Becca & Nadia (yes, the one who talked me into the second half marathon).

Speaking of running with people, if you ever want to be my running buddy, I'm in the market for as many as I can get. I'll be doing shorter runs M-W-Th and a long one on Saturday, so definitely contact me if you want in!

That's all for now. Stay tuned to find out what Lydia has to say about my leg.

*CLIFFHANGER*

And So It Begins....

Today, I officially began half marathon training.

I don't have my official schedule yet, but I was told my my official schedule maker that I was to start with 3 miles today.

So I went to this place after work, a place where I will be spending a significant amount of time in the coming months.

The Rose Bowl, along with adjacent golf course and parking lots, provide a nice 3.1 mile loop,

popular for runners and walkers of all kinds in Pasadena.

I usually don't listen to music when I run because (a) it's a pain to carry my phone or ipod and I don't have one of those fancy runner arm carrier things and (b) I don't want to get to a point where I can't run without music. My preference is to run with another person so I can pretend that my exercise is actually a social event (I like to trick myself a lot when running, but I'll tell you more about that later).

For example, when I did my first half marathon, I ran with this pretty lady 3-4 times per week. 

It's why we became friends.

But alas, I had no running buddy today because my roommate (see below) forgot her shoes, so I had to entertain myself with my own thoughts.

That's my roommate and me at a Dodger game.

And yes, that does get us up to 2 Dodger pictures in 2 posts.

I must say, I'm pretty amazed at how many very different thoughts I was able to have in 34 minutes and 44 seconds. I started off being simultaneous grateful that it was finally somewhat chilly in Pasadena so I could go running without dying and skeptical that I'd ever be able to keep running the whole way around (I did, in case you were wondering). Sometimes I thought about how my right leg was hurting or how funny it was to watch the little kid picking up the branches as his mom told him not to. Other times I thought about what to do in class next week or how nice it is to live near mountains. Still other times I wondered how hard it will be to figure out how to run distances that aren't multiples of 3 miles or how I'll work in my training over Christmas break when I'm visiting people.

But there was one thing my mind kept returning to, and that's actually where I need some input from all of you.

I decided on one of my pre-training runs last week -- one of the ones I really didn't want to go on -- that I would get through training without a buddy by offering up each of my training runs for someone. Every time I wanted to stop running because of how hot I was or how tired or how miserable, I would think of that person, remember that I was running for him or her and not for myself, and that would get me through. But also it would be a prayer for them.

Sooooooo my request is that you help me put together a list to add to my schedule. If you want me to offer up a run for you, or for someone you know, or for a particular intention you have, please respond in the comments, or email me, or text me, or send me a facebook message -- however you want to do it.

And if you're wondering whether you should, the answer is YES. You'll be helping me, and you'll be helping you. It's a win-win. There's no reason not to.

I look forward to hearing from you and praying for you!

Let me help you help me help you.

And to close, here's what I imagine to be a stereotypical blogging thing: a picture of my dinner. Because I know you were all dying to know what I ate when I got home. This is it.

It may not be a very good picture. But it was delicious. So there.

Why Am I Doing This Again?

So, once upon a time, I lived with another girl named Colleen.

This is a photo from 5 years ago, when we first became roommates.

I'm a little disturbed that I couldn't find a more recent one...

I don't like calling people my name so I christened her "Other Colleen" - and Other Colleen likes running. A lot.

She has her own blog - CSmith Run - which tells of her journey toward the Chicago Marathon and, if I'm not mistaken, will continue talking about running. Because she really loves running.

I have run a 5k, a 10k, and one half marathon in my life thus far...

Jackie & me at the Color Run (5k) at Dodger Stadium in February of 2013.

No pic of the Salmon Chase 10k in South Bend in September of 2010,

but I did it with this lovely lady: the unforgettable Kalene Morris.

Christina, Steph, Lorraine, Galli, & me,

ready to run the Holy Half in South Bend in April of 2011.

... and reading Other Colleen's blog inspired me to sign up for another half marathon. So I did. Two actually. Which I'm starting to think was a terrible mistake...

Anywho, the main problem here is that I don't love running as much as Other Colleen, so I decided I would follow her lead and write a blog to hold myself accountable for training. I figure if I have to write about my runs and people might be reading, I will feel more like I actually have to go on my runs.

So that's the plan.

This blog is (a) a shameless rip-off of Other Colleen's blog, (b) a way for me to hold myself accountable to actually train for my half, and (c) an opportunity for you to train for a half marathon vicariously through my struggles and, hopefully, triumphs.

So let's do it. Hope you enjoy!