Been too long

Ok, so it’s been the LONGEST time since I last posted. I’m not gonna lie. I’m in a funk. Between feeling burnt out crispy with running, teaching 3 nights a week back to back (for 4+ hours), and the winter, it’s been tough. Just to give you a sense of what that means, here’s an exchange I had with Jen last night. I guess she and Jenny had a discussion about me during yesterday’s long run. I was in DC for the weekend so I did my long run earlier in the week (more on that in a bit).

Do you like how her offer of “taking me out” gets meet with immediate suspicion? Although, on the flipside, do you like how Jen downgraded the “taking you out” part to just all going out? Gotta love my friends, right? But seriously, it’s nice to know that people care enough to make sure I don’t go off the deep end.

I’m in DC for the weekend, really 36 hours for some English teacher conference planning (neeeeeerds, I know). Anyhow, I had the opportunity to meet Tracey last year at the same planning meeting and she was pregnant at the time, but we got to talking about running. We ACTUALLY got to run together this time since baby has since exited the womb and she’s back running. She just did a half marathon last month! Admittedly, she tried to duck me about running early Sunday morning, but I convinced her 🙂 AND, this makes her officially my first running buddy from traveling on the blog. Woohoo! So here we are at the mall. You may remember a similar (solo) picture from this run/trip last year.

And of course, we had to stop by and see the Obama’s. They had coffee ready for us.

And to top it all off for fabulousness, I got a free extra drink after the run! I was asking about the “flat white” drink at Starbucks (not my preferred caffeinated beverage vendor, but the only thing open in our neck of the woods). I’m not sure if they were being very generous or just confused, but I got both my almond milk cap and flat white! Extra caffeine is never a bad thing. Also, I tend to get “fancy” drinks only after a run. I’m all about the black coffee otherwise.

EDITED TO INCLUDE: Ha. I forgot. During our run I saw a black squirrel, and I commented to Tracey that we don’t see those in Illinois, and did they have them in Arizona. “Uh, is that like a groundhog?” So, no, they don’t have squirrels everywhere like the midwest. Furthermore, Tracey said “I run by javelinas and coyotes, is that like the same thing?” Um, no. Differences in running around the country!

Because I didn’t feel like finagling a 12+ mile run out of town when our time was so booked, I decided to do my long run Thursday. To try and shake things up, I decided to head out to the hills and trails of Waterfall Glen. There was a threatened fierce blizzard Wednesday night, but that didn’t really manifest. There WAS snow on the ground, though. You can see some of the path was less travelled than others. It was gorgeous and quiet. Really beautiful, and the sun started to come out. I’ve also been realizing that running in snow might help your form, but that’s another post.

The snow was powdery enough, and the trail was probably clear before the “storm,” so I decided against the Yak Trax and went with my trail shoes. I wish they were more water-resistant as my feet did get wet, but I definitely didn’t find myself missing the Trax. With the exception of some squishing around from the soft snow, I didn’t have much issue running in it. Of course, I also visited one of my favorite port-a-potties. Right around the halfway point 🙂

I also realized that I haven’t run much at Waterfall Glen in the winter. I’ve run it in the fall and early spring, but with all of the snow we’ve gotten the last couple of winters it’s been tricky trying to get any decent running there in February. With all of the foliage gone, though, I stopped around mile 5 because I noticed the foundations of an old building. I think usually there are at least some leaves covering easy viewing of it, even though it’s just a few feet from the path. I think it might be the remains of the Old Lincoln Park Nursery on this map? I did see another building ruin a bit further later on the run as well, so I’m not sure. Still, it was cool to see something that I’ve run by so many times before. Forcing myself to do hill work at Big Bertha? Not cool. But I was channeling my inner Patty Herrera (who’s obsessing about Boston’s hills) to get out there and do it.

I really did need that long run as a break from the routine, and my run with Tracey this morning. This face just about sums up how I’ve been feeling lately, both about running and life in general.

I thought about doing some very bloggery “Top 10 Things to Do to Shake Up Your Run,” but I’m a lazy blogger. So here’s a couple things, 1) Take a break. Cut yourself some slack and go do something else. 2) Try running somewhere new or WITH someone new. If you feel like you’re in a rut or routine, do something to shake it up.

There. I know. Life changing. But get out there and do something. Nobody’s making you run, so if it’s not fun, do something else. Just keep moving.

Words on the run

Running season really is ramping up because we had a big group for the long run Saturday, including the final long run with the lovely lady in the spring green tank towards the bottom left. I blogged about Erin and her daughter before. In the midst of all their health stuff, they are also moving across the country to Colorado to be closer to family. Erin is an awesome, positive, caring lady and will be definitely missed. It was also Julianne’s (black hat, center bottom) longest run in over a year. She was on my Ragnar team two years ago and was slated for this year, but she’s been sidelined with various injuries and has been slowly making her way back. Sadly, my selfie skills aren’t getting better as my face takes up a significant portion of the photo while poor Kirstin only got her forehead in (bottom right).

While it was a great run with folks, I was a bit pooped. We did a decent clip for a long run, and I was still sore from my various, over-ambitious plans last week. I ended up doing 13, though, cuz I’m a fool and can’t say no to more miles (I only had 12 on the plan). I have to say it’s fun running with a big group when the pace is pretty solid for everyone because you get to chit-chat with lots of different folks throughout the run.

My massage therapist/running coach friend Bill just posted about how to dry out your shoes. This spring has been ridiculously rainy, and considering there might be rain during this year’s Chicago Ragnar, I thought I’d repost what he wrote:

How to take care of wet running shoes:

(Do not ever put your shoes in the dryer. They will be ruined.)

1) Remove the shoe liner.
2) Stuff newspaper into the shoe, into the toe box. Do not over stuff.
3) Place shoes and liners in a well ventilated place in indirect sunlight.
4) Shoes will take a day or so to dry out.

And you’re back to running!

If indeed it does rain during Ragnar, I’m pretty sure that our van will not count as a “well ventilated place” unless we tie them to the roof of the car. Ha.

I came home from my long run to this. Cuz, you know, pink cats need some good stretching…Doesn’t look too happy about it.

Finally, I got to see an old high school friend who was in town for a poetry reading. Monica Ong Reed is an awesome visual artist, web designer, and writer (and all-around thoughtful, interesting, smart lady–and she runs!! woohoo!). She recently published her first book of poetry, Silent Anatomies. It’s hard to describe it adequately, but it’s visual poetry. There are some absolutely gorgeous pictures combined with words. To use an “academic” word (as my husband said), it’s truly multimodal. Here’s a quick blurb describing the book from her website, “Her collection of image-poems juxtaposes diagram and diary, bearing witness to underrepresented histories of the body. Created as an assemblage of poetry, archive, and medical ephemera, it unpacks silence not only as the absence of language, but also as historical erasure, the loss of cultural memory, reconstructed truths, and ghosted identities.”

Here’s the cover, and the picture is hyper-linked to her website. You can also order her book through Amazon. I’m excited to read it thoroughly, since I randomly will have bits of poetry float through my head when I run. I’m always looking for new lines. I usually get stuck on lines from Robert Frost on my trail runs 🙂

Monica and I obviously got the memo about stripes. Ignore my horrible posture in this picture. Ain’t she pretty?Finally, I really need to register for that last chance to BQ Marathon…for some reason, I’m holding back. Not sure why. But I plan on doing it before I skip town for Ragnar…

BTW, any ladies out there looking to run Ragnar in 3 days?! We are unexpectedly down a runner for the “fun” team. Excitement never ends with two teams!