5 Miles Baby!

Yesterday I accomplished a big goal of mine that quite honestly I never thought would actually ever happen.  I ran for 5 miles!!!  For me personally this is huge.  I knew it was going to be a good running day because I still felt great at 2.5 miles so I thought my goal of 3.5 miles that day would be easy and could probably push to 4.  When I got to 4 I figured why not go to 4.25?  As I was almost at that distance I flirted with the idea of 5 miles but thought I should just try for 4.5 instead.  At 4.35 my knee started to hurt a little but not so much that I couldn’t keep going.  I finally just decided that I would push to 5.  I mean, I’ve always wanted to and why not let that be the day right?  So, I keep going and at 4.65 my knee starts to really throb and I begin thinking, “What if my legs give out from under me while I’m running?  Maybe I should stop.”  “NO!  If your legs give out at least you will go out running as far as you can without quitting.  If you just stop you’ll always wonder if you could have really run the whole thing.”  “Hmm, good point self.  Carry on.”

At 4.75 my knee is killing me but for heaven’s sake I’m almost there.  “What if by pushing my knee to keep going I damage it permanately?  What if I’m never able to walk again once I get off this treadmill?”  “Well, if that’s the case then at least the last thing your legs did was accomplish one of your goals.”  “Well, what if..” “Shut up already!  Geez, for the love! You have .07 miles to run you’ll be fine for crying out loud you big pansy.”

As I finished I was really surprised that I wasn’t even breathing heavy and aside from my left knee hurting, I felt great.  I mean really good – happy and energetic.  I thought of Legally Blonde when Reese Witherspoon’s character said, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t. ”  I don’t know about happy people not shooting their husbands but I was definitely feeling happy.

When I first started focusing on running about three months ago I could barely finish one mile and I would be breathing so heavy afterward you would think I was about to hypervenilate.  I don’t know all the technical mumbjo jumbo for the asthma I have but it seems to kick into high gear when I get active.  I know I had severe medical problems when I was born but neither one of my parents ever tried to keep me from playing sports or joining any type of teams.  So I just struggled through it not knowing any better.  I played basketball one year and volleyball the next just to see if I could.  I stuck with track for 6 years running sprints and was actually pretty good and for 11 summers I played softball.  I guess it was my own way of giving asthma the finger.

I never thought running anything longer than 400 yards was ever going to be possible but a few months ago I thought “Why not?  According to the doctors you’re not even supposed to be able to walk and look at how active you’ve been.  Stop telling yourself that you can’t and just do it.”  So I did.  Sure my knee is still a little sore today but I’ll get over it.

Do I think I’ll run another 5 miles today?  Heck no!  Do I think I’ll run it again this week?  Not likely.  But it doesn’t matter if I ever do it again because I did it once and honestly, that’s good enough for me.

Fashion Friday

Not really a fashion Friday more like another random blog entry but I like the sound of ‘Fashion Friday’.  Sounds like I might be sheik, into the know with couture.  But if you’ve been reading this blog for a while you then you should know better.  Matter of fact I probably just misused that word.  However I did just buy a new jacket a few weeks ago.  I had a gift certificate and the jacket was the only thing in the store I liked.  Plus the only other ones I have are either full on winter coats that make me look like the Michelin man or are sweatshirt hoodies.  So without further ado here’s a picture of the jacket:

So my first thought when I put on the jacket was “Wowzer I look good!  (and check out my mad glamour shot skills! HA!!) This is like a more feminine biker jacket.  Now I just need a bike.  Hmm, there are some bonafide hotties that live a few apartments down from me that have bikes (mischievous thoughts brewing in my head).”  But then I remembered that I’ve never been on a motorcycle and would most likely fall off so maybe I should start with a ten speed.  The more I look at the jacket the more I see a modern take off the infamous Beat It jacket or when zipped up completely I have a strange urge to say “Houston we have a problem”.  Only thing missing is the space helmet and the American flag patched on.

Now that I’m looking at the picture I’ll make mention of the shirt I’m wearing.  That little gem was $10 at Target.  Man I love that store!  It says ‘Ireland ’88 Rugby Championship’.  It means nothing but I like it.  Actually I dated a guy that played Rugby and come to think of it, I think he went over and played in Ireland.  Not in 1988 of course but still.  Crap, I think the shirt is now tainted.

This afternoon I’m going with a friend hiking and to take pictures.  I guess she discovered some new trails we want to check out before the weather gets too bad and the fall colors disappear.  I’m glad about this because 1) it means I have plans 2) it gets me outside taking pictures and 3) it means I have a legitimate excuse to not go running and not feel guilty about it.  The past couple of days I managed to kick it up a notch to 4 miles and I’m more than happy to take a day off.  I also started back up doing crunches.  I hate those!  And so far, my body isn’t a fan either.  I have to bribe myself with a treat to get me through them.  Yesterday it was with pumpkin cheesecake.  I really have no intention of following through with my self-bribes but if it works on getting me through the crunches then I’m happy.  I seem to get distracted at night and forget about the treat so all is well.  Imagine, if I can keep this up if I have kids I’ll be able to get them to do what I want, then distract them so I don’t have to follow through with whatever I bribe them with.  I will be a genius.

Cripes it’s a week into November already!  Where has the time gone?  Back in January I made a goal to read 50 books this year.  And you know what?  I’m about 10 books behind.  I can’t seem to catch up try as I may.  But I still have about 8 weeks left so I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet.  But holy moly, that’s 18 books in 8 weeks.  Dr. Suess counts right?  Ok, well I have a window of time here at work with nothing to do so I think I’ll log off wordpress and pick up my book.

My Knees Need You

Attention runners, athletic gurus, doctors, and anyone with common sense.  You all know that I’ve been running consistantly for the past couple of months, increasing the distance little by little.  Well, for the past few weeks I’ve noticed my knees getting kind of sore once I reach a couple miles into the run and then for about 3 minutes or so after I finish I’m convinced they’re plotting my death.  What is the deal???  I have no other problems with my knees during the day or night once these few minutes are over.  None.  No popping, soreness, creaking, or whatever.  So am I experiencing some sort of  vitamin deficiency?  Need more calcium?  Is the top of my body too heavy for my knees to hold up while running?  I’m only 29 so I can’t imagine that it’s old age yet.  Is it just growing pains (whatever that means)?  Will they get over it on their own with time?  Or should I be concerned that they may slowly be turning into powdered chalk?  I’m rather found of them so I would be quite put out if this were to happen.  Not running is not an option.  So I’m petitioning all of you if you have any experience with this and what you did for it.  My knees thank you in advance.