Now. Now I am a runner.

I am going to go out on a pretty sturdy limb here and assume that most every runner out there at one time in their young running career hesitated to call themselves a "runner." I'm guilty of that. Someone will say, "Oh, you are a runner." No. No I am a person who runs. Big difference. For some reason I could never say "Yeah, I'm a runner." I felt like a phoney. I have only been doing this running thing since January, but in that time I've run a few races (including a half-marathon), subscribed to Runner's World, started a blog about running, gotten up at 4 am to run, and logged around 300 miles, and registered to run a full marathon. I have even started to like running WITHOUT my iPod. Yet, I still was hesitant to call myself a runner.

I also would guess that all those runners out there had that moment, that event, that one particular run that pushed them from the "person who runs" category, into the "runner" category. Maybe a 5k, their first long training run, overcoming exhaustion on a bad short run, something like that.

I dropped 120 clams on some new kicks this morning. I am a runner.


I was so giddy when I walked into the running store today. To the point that I was stupidly giddy. I walked in the door, the sales guy asked if he could help and I said (or maybe yelled), "I'm here for new shoes. Saucony, please." I even brought in my old shoes so that he could better assess that I had completely worn them out and that it was indeed, time for new shoes. He watched me walk and told me I had an extremely neutral foot. I tried on two pairs, ran around the parking lot in them (I was wearing a long skirt at the time - I'm sure I looked smooth), and let the guy do all kinds of feeling around the see where my toes were in the giant shoes. One very interesting thing that I learned today is that my left foot is a little bit longer than my right foot. These shoes are also a full size bigger than my old shoes. I always read to size-up for running shoes, but these seem huge. I could have saved $30 bucks and gotten a different pair, but the ones that I did get are rated for 100 more miles of wear than the other pair. And I have been waiting for these shoes for a while, so I went with the more expensive set. In blue.

I will take them for their first official run tomorrow morning. Because I am a runner.

Overheard on campus

Yesterday I was walking to the dining hall when I heard this amusing snippet of a conversation between two boys.

Boy 1: Dude, this is going to suck.
Boy 2: It's going to be worse than Pokemon Club was.
Boy 1: Whatever. We had like 20 people in Pokemon Club. It was awesome.

I got 3 in on the treadmill yesterday - 9:30ish pace. It was actually a nice run, even for a treadmill. It reminded me of when I started training for the half-marathon - maybe the nostalgia factor made yesterday a good run.

Saturday 5k

I ran around part of that reservoir this morning. Had I done the 10k, I would have run around the whole thing. But I was on the rim of the reservoir for about 2 miles.

I made the Hubs get up at 5:45 this morning so that we could leave at 6:00 to head to the race site. It was crazy-hot when we walked out the door, and I immediately regretted my decision to run a 5K. But Hubs would have killed me if I told him that I had made him get up for nothing. And the dog was going with us, so he was super excited by this point. He would have never calmed down if we just tried to go back to bed.

The drive was much shorter than I thought it would be, so we were at the race site and I was registered by 6:40. But there was plenty going on to keep the dog occupied, so time passed quickly.

Small race, maybe 150 people. The first mile was NOT good. But once I got up the hill and onto the rim of the reservoir (read: flat), it was all good. There was this eight year old girl that was in front of me that I could never catch up with. I'm not very fast. She put more distance between us when I walked a few steps at the water station. Then she finally ran out of steam and I was gaining on her! She was walking, and I was going to pass her! I totally think she (eight years old, don't forget that part) was messing with me, because she just started back up and left me in the dust. It was kind of amusing though.

My finish time was 30:23. I am mad that I didn't realize how close I was to that time, or I would have pushed to try to get under 30:00. I wore my watch, I just didn't use it. Smooth.

I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!

Or maybe all the people around me are taking the crazy pills. Whatever it is, it is very frustrating.

The Reverend Run*

*With sincere apologies to Rev

I think I have read all the "I've Signed Up for a Marathon - Now What??" books, along with the topic umbrella "Runner's Universe Book of What's Up with Your Sleek New Runner's Body" publications. Yet I still cruise the running section of the bookstore for a new book. Maybe one will reveal to me the super-secret runner's handshake - or do I learn that after I get my marathon finisher's medal?

I picked up Running the Spiritual Path, by Roger Joslin. I've always been a somewhat spiritual person. Born and raised in the Presbyterian Church, and I still manage to go to several services throughout the year (and not just on Christmas and Easter). It's a somehow casual, but serious at the same time, relationship that I have with my faith and I feel very happy and secure with it, but I still ponder quite a bit about what else is out there. Like I kind of picture God, Buddah, insert-your-own-diety all "up there" together kind of laughing that we are always fighting about them down here. I believe in a singular God for myself, but at the same time I feel kind of arrogant to be like "Hey, I'm worshiping the right guy. The rest of you are all wrong." I also think it is arrogant to believe that in this whole entire universe we here on earth are the only life forms. So maybe that is kind of the same thing.

OKAY, back to the book. I have only scanned it thus far, but I saw some points that I really like. It is kind of a "how to" manual as far as meditation (prayer) while running. I haven't been on a run by myself lately, so I haven't gotten to try it out yet. I would have a hard time talking to my running buddies and God at the same time. Plus it would seem weird to me somehow to try to be that deep whilst on a treadmill. So maybe if God would drop the temperature here a few degrees so that I could run outside without dehydrating after 52 seconds, he and I could have some serious conversations!

Most of this post is just me thinking out loud. If you are a lurker and want to get into some big theological debate, just go elsewhere, because I won't debate back. Thanks.

You take the good, You take the bad

You take them both and there you have
The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life.

Laurel commented that I was like Mrs. Garrett from the Facts of Life. That made my day.

I really do have a good post in the works, and all about running. But I have been slammed here at the FSBPS - new students are moving in tomorrow and I have a metric shit-ton of paperwork to do before they get here. I guess I am really earning my keep.

The only other news is that I have finally gotten to some sort of running regularity (read: I've run 3 times in one week). It's nice to be back to that. Three miles on Tuesday (11:00 pace) and then 3.2 this morning (10:30 pace).

Slightly more interesting stuff to follow.

Greatest Love of All...

Cue Whitney Houston (in her pre-crack, children-are-our-future days)

Only one meeting today (yay!), and then a jumpin' "Casino Night" this evening. Aside from the fact that there will be an open bar at tonight's event, the last week has been kind of like my first week at college. If it were a no-booze event tonight and we were forced to smuggle in our hooch in airplane bottles tucked in our bras, it would be exactly like my first week at college.

As the hubs and I are living in a residence hall, I will serve as a dorm staff/parent. So I have some advisees. I get to be pretty much a parent for 8 of these young ladies. I will be on speed dial for their parents at home, and I will be having lots of chats with their teachers, coaches etc. Last night I got my list of girls, along with a questionnaire (filled out by mom or dad) about each girl. It is a very interesting read and I was honestly kind of surprised how many different backgrounds are represented. I have the stereotypical over-privileged prep-school kid, the complete scholarship kid, the never left home, the has ADD, and the "brushes teeth every day" (yes, a parent actually listed that as one of her daughter's personal habits). I am actually really excited about this part of the job. It will be hard, but I think we can do some fun stuff as a group (dinner at my apartment next week - I hope they like my dog). Maybe it is the similarity to my time working at Girl Scout Camp (one of the top four "times" of my 29 years on the planet), although this will be much more intense.

I have a date in the cardio room tomorrow morning for the treadmill with my running buddy/neighbor. I will be shooting for around 35 minutes.

And if you are singing that Whitney Houston song for the rest of the day because of today's blog title, you're welcome.

I missed the target, but I hit the tree

For the second day in a row, I stayed in bed when the alarm went off.

But I did get to the gym this afternoon for some time on the treadmill. I used to love running on the treadmill, while I had a fear (for lack of a better term) of running outside. My how times have changed! The treadmill was boring, but I watched some History Channel while I was running, so it was tolerable.

3 miles, 11:00 pace. A bit slower than usual, but not bad considering how little I have run in the last three weeks. And my right knee and hip were hurting around mile 1, but that faded out about a half mile later.

Tonight is another new faculty meet, eat, n' greet event. We are going to be very good at this kind of thing by the end of next week.

My running clothes are all laid out, ready to go bright and early tomorrow morning. They actually have been out since this time last night, as I never got up to run this morning. I am going to be in meetings all day, and it is hotter than ten hells here during the day, so it is 6 am or never.

Tonight the Hubs and I had a dinner at the headmaster's fancy house, here on the campus of the fancy school. Dinner was beautifully (and yummily) catered, and we awkwardly mingled with other new members of the faculty. We did find a couple who used to work at a rival school to our alma mater/former employer, so we spent a good half-hour talking smack about other schools (and employees of those schools) in that particular athletic conference. Good times...

I have been on a pretty wicked sugar bender for the last three weeks, so I decided last night that I had to break that cycle. I had a SALAD for lunch today. I don't eat veggies, so this was HUGE. I did have a hefty serving of Sticky Toffee Pudding ice cream later in the day, but I have avoided it for the rest of the evening. And I only had two little pecan pie things at dinner. Baby steps. I mean, if I stop cold turkey, who knows what kind of detox my body will go into!

I am official, part deux

I'm late in recognizing this, but I found out that I have been tagged as a Rockin' Girl Blogger! And not once, but twice! First by RunMomma and then by Leana. This is certainly a proud day in my early blog career. RunMomma just finished the Bix 7 last week - congratulations to her, and I am honored to be listed as one of her "peeps." Leana is a kooky Canuck who has a slight obsession with running skirts. She is getting ready for eleventy-billion races, and one of them is Disney (the half AND the full - that's what I mean by kooky).

I am supposed to tag 5 other Rockin' Girls, but I don't read that many blogs, so I will have to keep an eye out for who to tag. I may tag people over the next month. For now though, I will say that Laurel is definitely a Rockin' Girl Blogger. One reason why she rocks so much is that she is training for her first full marathon. She is in Miami. It is August. Congratulations to her on her 20 miler this past weekend. That's 20 miles. In Miami. In August.

I am official! (part 1)

The lake was great, as I mentioned in my previous post. I did go for a run on Saturday morning at the local high school track with my cousin (in-law). I only did two miles, but my pace was around 9:30, and I didn't feel too horrible, considering it was my first run in two full weeks.

On Thursday (at the aforementioned "internet cafe") I finally registered for Disney! No turning back now - the hubs would be un-thrilled at the thought of me not running after we forked out the $105 registration fee. As I knew it would, registering for the marathon has gotten me a twitter to really get started on training. I was so excited that I read Runner's World cover-to-cover by the pool that afternoon!

We have returned home to record heat and humidity - the heat index every day this week is forecast to be well above 100. I know that anyone who is reading this from warmer climes is probably snickering at my melty-ness, but that kind of heat will send me to the treadmill. I might try to get a super-early morning run in, although I would place any bets on the treadmill workout.

Part Two of "I am official" will be posted later today. :)

Home and more to follow later

Ahhh, it feels SO good to be home. Vacation was wonderful, but we are both happy to be home in the new place. We still have a fair amount of stuff to unpack, but things are definitely livable. I realized that I have been tagged not once, but TWICE, so I will get to all that later today :)

And I am finally officially registered for Disney! Yay!