Monday, November 16, 2009

Running with dogs...hhmmm.


So I took the dog for a walk last night. I decided I would try a little jog around my development. I haven't run/jogged since the race because of my hip so I wanted to start with a light jog. I've read in different magazines about the benefits of running with a dog. Many breeds are good running companions. I have a miniature pinscher. Minpins do not fall into the good running companion category.

My development is about 0.88 mile around. I let Ginger pee and then started off on a nice easy jog. Stop to pee. Jog. Stop to sniff mailbox, pee again. Jog. A leaf blew by, try to catch it. Do you see where this is going? (or not going actually). Another mailbox, pee. There are 55 houses in my development, that's a lot of mailboxes. She has to be empty by now. She is 15 pounds of muscle. When she throws on the brakes, she can actually pull me to a dead stop. She does not stay on one side and will frequently cross over in front of me. This landed me on my knees and her yelping when I tripped over her and got tangled in the leash. Caesar where are you?

I did get about .5 mile at one time. My hip did not hurt during the jog, still twinges when I sit and sleep on it. Hopefully I can get to the gym today (contractors working in my basement).

I've been looking at 5K Turkey Trots to do one. There are two coming up that are close to me. HOWEVER, I work 12 hour night shifts and both of these runs are the morning after a 12 hour shift. Don't know if I'm ready for that :) We'll see.
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Yeah! I got to gym. I was able to do 1/2 hour on the elliptical and run 1.5 miles at 4.0. No pain when running but a little twingy after.
Good news on the floor in the family room that's been on backorder from Lowe's forever. I had my basement contractor give me an estimate and the flooring place that he deals with has the same floor and can get it to us in less than a week. We are also SAVING $1000.00 woohoo!

2 comments:

  1. ha ha, I had to laugh at this.. my dog tries to stop too but I just pull the leash and he continues on. Good luck with your running.

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  2. WOW! Folloowed a link over here from Lisa (loved the blog title) and DUDE! we've got some things in common! RN (though I'm ER), 12 hour nights (for something like 12 years), work related back injuries (seriously, try some yoga. Best thing -- besides xanax! -- for my injury many years ago), love of gadgets (some days I think the GPS is the only thing that gets me out there), "runner" fanny pack (mine holds water as well as phone keys gels tp etc etc etc, what's a girl to do?), exercise induced asthma (take 2 puffs BEOFRE you run, struggled with postrun phlegm and wheeze for 2 years before figuring this out, you'd think an ERRN might know this, but noooo!), unathletic until taking up running . . . I'm just missing the 20 pounds and the kids! (and who am I kidding, I could TOTALLY lose 20 pounds, and plants are enough of a challenge for my nurturing side). Have a great time in becoming a runner . . . it DOES get easier . . .

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Getting ready for my very first run!

After I renigged on my promise to run the Broad Street 10 miler with my friend Chrissy D - I decided to make it up to her by running the Ben Franklin Bridge 10k. Did you read below where I NEVER ran before? She told me that if I cancelled on her again, she would drag me across the bridge by my hair. Okaay then.

I was in shape until a work injury side-lined me (a patient decided to herniate two discs in my neck and tear my shoulder in two places - thanks!) So kiss that bikini goodbye. Pain and inactivity followed. I found myself unable to sleep and in front of the pantry at 3am - everything screaming "eat me!" My day consisted of Percocet, Valium, Red Bull. Percocet for the pain, Valium for the muscle spasms, Red Bull so I could pretend to play mommy for my children. So, physical therapy, epidurals, steroid injections and 40 pounds later, I decided that getting ready for this run was going to help me get back into shape. (I decided against 3 surgeries at this time.)

I had already conquered the ellipticals at the gym. I could do them for an hour on level 6 and barely break a sweat. Surely I could run a measely 6.2 miles. I moved on to the treadmill. I couldn't even run .25 miles continuously. This was a lot harder than it looked.

The Ben Franklin Bridge is almost 3 miles back and forth and it went up, up, up!! and then down. The first time I crossed it (walking, mind you) on the pedestrian cross-walk, my calves were cursing me in three languages. What did I sign up for - who was I kidding?

I downloaded inspiring, fast beat music to keep me pumped up and ready (Britney, Buck Cherry's Crazy Bitch (yep that's me), Pink, PCD, etc.) I decided that I would go for distance and not speed. I discovered that I had exercise-induced asthma when I pushed a little too far (anything at that time was too far). Soon I was able to run a mile, then 2 - at once. I continued to "do" the bridge and even took my kids a couple of times. I had to find a better way to keep my iphone close. They didn't make an arm band that I liked so I found a "runner's belt" online and soon had it. I tried it out one day in the park. My 11 year old was with me and started laughing when I put my iphone in it. "Seriously mom, a fanny pack?" It is not a fanny pack, it is a belt. It stays still, doesn't ride up and I can put my keys in it too. So there!

The weight was slowly coming off. I decided to take a drastic measure - no alcohol at all for the month before the race (oh no, what was I thinking.) My goal was 20 pounds by race day. I continued to plod along on the treadmill. I was up to 5k with almost no problems. However, when I tried to run outside, my body rebelled. The park trail was 1.3 miles - however, it was not flat (but hey - either was the bridge). I was a wheezing, sweaty mess .4 miles into the "run." I was running faster than I was used to on the treadmill. (GPS is a wonderful thing - an app I downloaded on my iphone let me know my distance, speed, and even mapped my route - love the gadgets!)

Strep throat struck my son (11) and he generously shared it with me two weeks before the race. I bought new sneakers (Asics Nimbus Gel 11) and my shins and calves let me know it was not a good idea to change things two weeks before the run. So I went back to my Nike Lunar Glides and made everybody happy. My 16 year old decided he would like to try on the Swine Flu one week before the run. My throat was still bothering me from last week and my chest was tight. I was having some serious doubts if I would be able to finish this race. Not to mention Lysol toxicity from degerming the whole house.

I completed 5.5 miles on the treadmill on my birthday, 6 days before the Sunday race, and for the first time I thought I might be able to do it. It rained for the next two days, so I didn't run the bridge (think shuffle up and run down). I worked Friday night and had off on Halloween. Was I ready? I made my goal of losing 20 pounds two days before the run - yeah me! (20 more to go!)
P.S. Read posts bottom up :)

Ben Franklin Bridge

Ben Franklin Bridge

Kids on the Bridge

Kids on the Bridge