Ups and Downs

So there’s a bat in my living room wall squeaking loudly (and it’s right behind the couch in the living room OF COURSE, so it’s making it very unnerving to engage in my favorite past time: television), so to distract myself from the high pitched spine-shattering noise of a bat who lost his way, I’m going to tell you all about my running in the past week (and I’m overdue anyways)

Last week was full of ups and downs. I thought I had a breakthrough, and then got defeated by going out of my comfort zone. But I’ll start from the beginning.

Wednesday (day after blizzard ‘11), 4 miles, dark, sidewalks ½ super plowed, ½ 13 inches of snow deep.
So starting around 6pm on Tuesday the wind came. Then the snow came. And then they didn’t stop until about 8am on Wednesday. Public schools were closed, Western Michigan University was closed, my gym was closed, Pfizer was closed, Stryker was closed. My office was open. The roads for me actually weren’t bad, besides taking 25 min to dig my car out, it was relatively easy getting to work, but then again NO ONE was on the road. After an EXTREMELY quiet day at work (doughnuts were brought in, and in that first bite of sweet doughy goodness, being at work suddenly wasn’t terrible, but then again I do gauge events in my life based on my ability to nap before or after, and food) I was actually really excited to go for a run. I wasn’t sure how the sidewalks would be, but I knew no one was going to be on the road since public safety urged people not to be on the road unless it was an emergency. I’m guessing most people took this as “watch tv, eat a lot of food, get drunk, and don’t leave your house.” Apparently the greater Kalamazoo area was only too happy to oblige (hell I would). So I suited up for my run, pumped myself up and headed out for my 4 mile run. Right off the bat (hey-o! Bat, get it!?) I encountered sidewalks that were shoveled, but were slick with a thin layer of ice. I am EXTREMELY ungraceful, so I immediately shortened my stride and barely lifted my feet off the ground. So imagine a slow shuffle-type movement, complete with arms way out to the sides, bracing for the imminent fall. Good news though, NO FALL! After I passed through the ice (oh, did I mention this was part of a 1/3 mile uphill? Well it was), the sidewalks ranged from fully shoveled where you could actually see the concrete to 0 shoveling from the snow…meaning impossible to even try to run through since the 13 inches would practically swallow my short legs whole. I don’t like running in the street during the winter months. The roads are already narrowed with the lack of shoulder because of the snow pushed to the side, and even if there is room, ever heard of a little thing called black ice?! A car tries to swerve slightly (although it’s always WAY more than it needs to be…I do the same though, I practically get into the next lane, even if it’s oncoming traffic) and BOOM, black ice, flattened runner. But tonight I saw about 8 cars the entire 36 minutes I was running, so hey, with those chances, why not. So when I encountered these unplowed stretches, I just jumped into the street, where it was COMPLETELY clear, and ran until I could see sidewalk again. I can’t tell you how fun it was. It was a run I’ve done a hundred times, but it gave it a new adventurous twist. And I think what made it even better was the fact that there were barely any people out (i.e. the 8 cars I saw). It was like I had my own icy and too-cold obstacle course. I now realize this is why—I’m guessing—people run in the morning. No one is out. But my love of naps extends into my love of sleeping in the morning as late as possible. So rarely do morning runs happen for me, but I’m guessing as the months get warmer, and my social life becomes more active during the week (how can you NOT go get a beer with friends at 5pm on a nice day after work!?), my tune may be changing. Stay tuned for details I suppose? All in all, it was a surprisingly fun run.

Thursday, 3 miles, dark, sidewalks same as Wednesday.
My previous night’s run really had me excited for tonight’s run. It is the first time in a long time I was excited to put on my running tights and 372 other items of clothing for my run. It was a quick 3 mile run. Unlike last night, there were more people out. This made sidewalk-street hopping a little difficult. What was different also was it was FREEZING outside. The 2 stoplights I encountered during my run were EXTREMELY noticeable, and this is just a 30 sec or so stop. As soon as I stopped moving, I could feel the cold seep into my sleeves and my nose! My poor nose! But besides the cold and the car dodging, it was a really encouraging run. I was actually excited to go in the first place, which I felt was a HUGE step in the right direction, especially when you think about ALL the running that goes into a marathon. At this point in the week, I was ready and excited for my long run: 7 miles.

Sunday, 4.5 miles, noon, no sidewalks. In Munster, Indiana.
Remember how great I felt and encouraged? Well, savor that, because it’s going right out the window (or whatever hole is in my apartment that keeps letting bats in). So I went down to Munster Indiana (home of the best beer ever, 3 Floyds) to visit my boyfriend John’s family, and their 3 dachshunds (you know, wiener dogs). Well Munster is right outside of Chicago, and they got hit by the blizzard worse than we did. Not keeping that piece of information in mind, I went to Map My Run to see if there were any existing 7 mile routes. Well, there weren’t, but I didn’t let that get me down. “I’ll create my own route! It’ll be like exploring a new world, a world where you can’t explain where you are with the aide of a pointed finger and a hand” (ooooh Michigan humor, I wonder if anyone outside out mitten-like state cares as much as we do). So I mapped out the prefect 7 mile run. It spanned 4 roads in a big square and I couldn’t wait to hit the road! This was Friday while I was still at work, this was also the point when John explained that 3 out of the 4 streets were MAJOR roads with heavy traffic. Major roads with heavy traffic that didn’t have their sidewalks plowed. AND YOU KNOW MY POLICY ON WINTER ROAD-RUNNING. So boom, wind out of sails. I have run a handful of times in Munster, so I’m not expert of the roads, but I thought I had a pretty good gauge of the distance and whatnot. Fast-forward to (Super Bowl) Sunday, noonish, and I’m lacing up my Nikes. I have a route I think will at least hit 6 miles, and hey, if I skimp it by a mile, what’s the big deal? I hit the road, and right from the beginning I’m COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone. Something that keeps my mind occupied during my runs is knowing down to the ½ mile where I’m at during my runs (I drop it to full mile markers after 5 miles). At this “seat of my pants” run I had no idea where I stood, and my Nike+ ipod chip hasn’t been calibrated in about 2 years, so it always adds on .8 to 2.4 extra miles to each of my runs‑yes, I’ve been too lazy to re-calibrate it—so that wasn’t an accurate telling of my mileage. What was nice is that since it was Super Bowl Sunday no one was out and I was able to run in the street since we all know the conditions of the sidewalks. Throughout the entire run I was SO distracted with not knowing how far I’d gone, I felt tried and out of breath the entire time. You know the saying “running is 20% physical and 80% mental” (or whatever numbers, I’ve heard 10 and 90, 40 and 60…blah blah), well, it’s SO true, at least for me. I HAVE to listen to music or a podcast during my runs or I’m SO distracted and end up getting really defeated. 45 min later I was finishing up the route I had put together, and I was coming back upon John’s family’s house. I didn’t even hit 5 miles. I was so discouraged; I didn’t dare keep running to add the mileage I intended.

To add injury to insult (you’ll understand the switch in just a moment), early this morning (the day after my 4.5 blunder Super Bowl run), I was leaving to head back to Kalamazoo and to work, I hurt myself. I was saying goodbye to John’s mom—who had just given me a tuber ware container of AWESOME leftover lasagna for my lunch at work—and had one foot out the door, and where that foot met the outside ground was ice. Thick, slick, slippery ice. My foot flew forward, I fell out of the doorway and onto the front step, flinging my things I had in my hands all over the ground. I landed right on my left knee, hard. And the worst part, the lid of the tuber ware came off and the lasagna went all over the driveway. THE LASAGNA HAD BEEN SOILED. John’s mom rushed out to see if I was ok, but I was only worried about my ruined lunch prospect. She went inside to get me another portion, and I finally picked myself off the ground and realized how much my knee hurt. As I was straightening it out I thought “well that’s great, I shattered my knee cap, I deserve to eat a pie, or at least a handful of chocolate chips.” It’s not broken

All in all I’m feeling more discouraged than normal, especially since I have a lot of early and late meetings this week, so I’ll have to talk myself out of after-work naps in order to get all the runs in I need. Sigh. It’s time to start getting serious. But hey, I have a cookbook called “The Athlete’s Palate” which has recipes by and for runners. I picked out a stew/soup type-situation to make this week, so you all can hear about my cooking and the results! Oh, and in all this typing, the bat has stopped screeching. $10 says it starts in about 20 min. Great, wonderful.