Because I Care

I am seeing from my site meter that people are visiting my blog, only to find that I have not updated since their last visit. This post is to remedy this (for the time being).

So. Today I took Julia to have her braces put on. In order to understand the next bit of my post , you must be familiar with this:

Beyonce/Justin Timberlake SNL Skit

So. Julia is a little upset about how her speech is affected by her new braces. She had to have some barriers put on her back teeth to prevent her mouth from closing all the way, because her top teeth could knock the brackets off her bottom teeth without them.

So, she is talking with a little bit of a lisp, until she gets used to it.

On the way from the orthondontist, I asked her to say for me, "We're the dancers."

She said it.

It sounded just like Justin Timberlake in the skit.

We cracked up.

Then, while we were still laughing, I asked her to say, "Dance biscuits."

She did.

We cracked up again.

This calmed her down, and boosted her confidence to go to school with her new braces. If any stupid jerkbag made fun of her or laughed at her, at least she could say that she had laughed at it first.

Social crisis averted.

I am so fortunate to have such a cool daughter.

Really. Somebody Tell Me. Who *is* This Woman Doing All This Running?

Because it is certainly not the woman I used to be.

I made it. Ten miles. I can't believe it.

What I can't believe even more is that I finished in 2 hours and 5 minutes. That's an average of a 12:30 mile. Almost 5 mph.

I expected to be writing a humorous blog entry about how horrible and grueling the run was; but it turns out, if you train consistently and pace yourself, you actually start to become more fit, and can do more each time. Who knew?

I felt so great during the run. I had adrenaline pumping through my body like crazy, and I felt so strong and awesome. My coach, who was having some hamstring problems, ran with me for most of the second half, but he ended up having to walk at about mile 8 because his leg was getting too tight. He was very impressed with the pace I was keeping, considering at the beginning I was worried about even finishing! When I finished and saw my time, I was so pumped. I felt like Superwoman.

Then I got home and felt like I'd been hit by a truck. No; a jet. Once that adrenaline wears off, the fatigue sets in FAST.

The trainers recommend an ice bath for your legs when you start running in the double-digit mileage. I was prepared for this to be one of the most horrible experiences of my life. It is basically this: you run a tub of lukewarm water, enough to cover your legs while sitting, bundle your upper body up so you don't lower your entire body temp, sit in it, and dump two bags of ice in the tub. You sit in this for ten minutes and it is supposed to decrease inflammation in your muscles and joints. Then you take a warm shower and the blood vessels open up and the circulation in your legs is supposed to speed up the healing process.

The ice bath was not nearly as bad as I expected. It was actually kind of nice, because my leg muscles were on fire and very inflamed. I bundled up in my warm pink New York hoodie sweatshirt, brewed a cup of hot coffee, and settled in for the soak. It was COLD, and it wasn't really pleasant, but it did make my legs feel better, so it was totally worth it. I'm glad I did it.

All in all, a successful day, and a great run.

*groan*

Tonight, Brittnee put me through a very taxing lower-body strength and toning workout. It was a great workout; but afterwards, I had to run five miles.

Ouch.

I could not skip the run because on Saturday I have to run my longest distance ever, ten miles, and I feel like it is important that I follow the training schedule exactly this week to prepare.

My neck and back were already sore from being too tense while doing chest and triceps yesterday; now my hips, butt, thighs, knees, and calves are going to be sore and fatigued all day tomorrow.

And tomorrow is spin class.

Joy.

I am in need of one more glass of wine and a good night's sleep. I think I will make that happen right now.

Julia-ism on a Thursday

Julia: 'Cause that's how I roll; like a bowling ball. Smooth; but heavy.

Cool Visual

There is a site called Wordle that will create a visual rendering of what your blog is about; it's pretty cool. Here's mine:

I like it. I'm a little surprised that "Julia" isn't a bit more prominent, but I guess I do dwell on running a lot; that's appropriate, I suppose, considering the title of the blog...

Thanks to the Bloggess for the Wordle tip.

Somebody Please Talk Me Out of This

Whose big idea was it for me to train for a half marathon? That person needs to be slapped with a fish.

Oh. Right. It was my idea. Never mind.

Today the group ran eight miles. Eight. Miles. It sucked.

There is a famous running guru (and by guru I mean douchebag) who claims that there is no such thing as a bad run; there are only learning runs. Well, today I learned that sometimes you have a bad run. So, I guess in a way he's right.

My short runs had been rough all week; so I knew that today was going to be tough. Today, by mile three I was starting to feel fatigued. That is when I knew that it was going to be even worse than I had anticipated. One of the coaches ran with me to the turnaround at mile four, and that helped a lot. I ran most of the way up to mile 5; then it felt like I had been hit with a truckload of bricks. The walk breaks became frequent during the last three miles. I ended up finishing in 1:45.

My current condition: my right knee is inflamed and pops around a bit in the socket if I bend it too far; the bottoms of my feet hurt; the arch of my right foot doesn't feel quite right; my fingers are swelled up like sausages; and I stink so bad I could make Right Guard turn left.

And I have tons of stuff to do today. Oh, the joy.