old people

So on my long run last weekend, I was really hurtin around mile 5.5 or so. In other words, too early to be tired on a long run! I vowed to stop and stretch at the turnback point. There, an older gent on a walk came up to me and asked "how much?" While I may have looked like a sporty prostitute (I was sweaty?), I assumed he meant mileage and I answered "only seven today." Only seven. For whatever reason I feel like the whole world is running marathons and seven miles is a puny weekday run right at the beginning of everyone's training cycle. He replied, "that's great! Are you training for a marathon?" (see!!) I answered, "No, the Summerfest Half in July." He nodded and delved into a tale about how he ran the first Lakefront Marathon back in 1981. He said he was in his 50s when he did it, so this guy had to have 80-something! He said that he had felt amazing at mile 20 and then it just crashed and burned from there and he barely crossed the finish. At the end of the story, he got pretty whistful and said he wished he could still run. I just nodded along, iterated how amazing it was that he ran a marathon, but should said, "hey, you're out here walking!" My grandpa's 85 and pretty active himself, but I'm positive these two men are a rare breed amongst the octogenarians out there! In any case, my present came back to me and I realized that I can be tired at mile 5.5 but no complaining about it missy because right in front of me stands my future. No, not any time soon, God forbid, but eventually. And I'll be out taking an early morning walk being passed by PYTs training for a marathon. I hope I'll be as sweet as this gentleman and ask "how much?"

My eight mile run today was filled with rain and wind rather than inspirational elderly people. Not as fun. And it was tough, so I really could've used an old guy's praises! But I'll have to rely on myself once in awhile I suppose.

Idiot

Remember a few days ago when I waxed poetic about all the fun healthy food we can eat? Well literally hours later I was as sick as a dog (are dogs known for their illnesses?) with some sort of digestive toxin running rampant through my body. What on God's Green Earth did I eat NOW? If you've been following me for the past couple years (...aaaaand my whole life) I get stomach flu/food poisoning a lot, like at least twice a year, if not more. Everyone's got their 'thing' and mine is bacteria. Colds and flues and stomach bugs are lurking around every corner and there's nothing I can do about it...no matter how healthy I eat and drink. In any case, after this happened so SOON after that blog post, I feel like a huge idiot and had to share. My boyfriend even razzed me about it. He eats several pounds of sugar a day and rarely gets sick. Although I think he's currently feelin' what I was feelin' so it must've been bad. So here I am today taking a risk with my first "real meal" since Monday of turkey and pepper jack on wheat, carrot sticks, apple sauce, (and some kettle chips, don't tell anyone).

For whatever reason over lunch here, I skimmed back in my blog for race posts. Maybe it's because my favorite runner Claire is tackling her first MARATHON tomorrow and I can practically feel her tumbling emotions from way up here in Menomonee Falls! She's put her time and miles in and no matter what happens, she's going to have a blast at this thing!! And that thought made me ponder races in a new way. We all know races are fun; the competition, the people, the fun snacks afterward...all good stuff. But races are seriously the cherry on top of the sundae, particularly for people who really train for something, whether it be finishing a long ass distance or getting a new PR time. It's the reward for all your hard work. My POINT is that I dare say race day excitement is something you have to EARN! I'm looking forward to earning that excitement again. And Claire, grab onto every detail you can tomorrow...you've earned the crap out of it! ;)

Good food!

So my diet has just been really random for awhile now...somewhere in between really awful and ok. I've gotten into the habit of just saying yes to anything. Do I HAVE to grab a mediocre workplace cupcake? MUST I dump a handful of shredded cheese into my mouth? Am I REALLY hungry when I continue to shovel fries into my fryhole? I'm making it sound worse than it is, but what I really miss are ways to incorporate unique (to me) HEALTHY foods into my menus. Enter two sites that I've recently found; two places I need to use more often: Cooking with Quinoa and No Meat Athlete. [The latter I discovered via J&M's blog!] As I've gushed to pretty much anyone who knows me, quinoa pretty much kicks ass when it comes replacing the same-old, same-old brown, or God-forbid, white rice. It's particularly great when you're cutting meat out of your diet because it's jam-packed with protein.

"But I don't wanna cut meat out of my diet!" That's fine...I had a turkey taco tonight! But yesterday I had black beans, pineapple, red cabbage, spinach, and onion topped with soy sauce/pineapple juice/smoked paprika over brown rice (I'm bringing it back IN after my quinoa rampage last month!) My point is that I've found that when I make vegetarian-centric meals, I feel a lot more adventurous. Meat's expensive too, and I'm a cheap bastard. If you're looking for a place to start, I'm sure at LEAST one of these sounds delicious!!

With my resurgence of running, I've noticed that I'm just not as *there* whilst exercising. "I shouldn't be this tired" I say to myself. So I just don't think I fuel properly before/after...protein, electrolytes, etc. Well, last night I made my own protein bars...the syrup doesn't make it THE healthiest thing in the world at about a TB per bar, so here's No Meat Athlete's version. Definitely going to try it next.

For the past two weeks, running HAS been getting easier. Well not "easier" per se, but less daunting. When I first started and tried SO HARD to eek out a 3miler, I thought: HOW in the HELL am I going to run a half marathon. I don't wanna :( Today I ran 4 and it felt great! Tough, but great! Baby steps ;)