Never say die

Wish I would’ve ran today. I’m trying to cut more calories so maybe I can lose a pound or two in the next few weeks…

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 06/30/2008
• Time: 22:13:56
• Total Time: 00:45:00.00
• Calories: 200

So that was awesome. It took two pit stops for water, two Gu gels, 2 cumulative minutes of walking, and an hour and 30 minutes to do it, but I did it!

And now it’s time for ice, ice, ice! My knees are going to kill me for that. Fortunately I wore a brace on my worse knee, so it should be better than it would’ve been at least…

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/29/2008
• Time: 08:47:45
• Total Time: 1:29:40.00
• Calories: 970
• Distance: 10 miles
• Average Pace: 8:58.12/mile

It’s great when the right song comes on the radio just before you head off on a run. Wonderwall by Oasis came on, so I turned it up on the radio and opened my car door while I stretched. And… I sang along. Fortunately there were no people around to be audience to the atrocity that is my voice.

Well, today I started off what was going to be a semi-long run. Instead, I started off on sidewalk, got sidetracked on a bike path, and when that stopped, I just kept going… right into a big field of knee-high thistles and weeds. From there, it was much slower going, and I lost my “trail” a few times, until I suddenly ended up on a bike path that I normally run on. It was strange… I had no idea where I was, and then suddenly, viola! There was my old familiar path.

From there, I got the random idea to run to an old friend’s house, because she just joined my cross country team. So I stopped by her house, just to say hi, and ended up staying and talking 2 hours. So 2 hours later, after talking and eating some of her homemade brownies, I went and finished my run. Haha. Strange day. It was really relaxed, though.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/28/2008
• Time: 14:04:53
• Total Time: 00:40:00.00
• Calories: 480
• Distance: 4.75 miles
• Average Pace: 8:25.62/mile

I’m going to brave the air outside again today. I can actually see sunlight through my window right now, and it’s not tinted red. It’s beautiful…

I feel like someone in a sci-fi movie, after the earth has been taken over by some odd phenomenon that turned the sky grey, the moon orange, and the sun red, and all of a sudden it’s all over and I can see the sky again.

Well the sky’s still grey, and I’m not a big fan of sci-fi movies… at all.

So… I’m just going to go run now.

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 06/28/2008
• Time: 09:19:39
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00
• Calories: 100

Time for cutting calories and upping my training. Too bad this smoke’s so bad. I’m hitting the treadmill tomorrow morning.

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 06/27/2008
• Time: 23:32:37
• Total Time: 00:35:00.00
• Calories: 100

This smoke sucks! Ugg. It actually makes it look as if it might be nice and cool outside, and then BAM! It slaps you in the faces with the humidity and allergies.

For all you not in California, just to fill you in, there are well over 800 fires throughout the state, and the smoke is filling up the valleys like milk in a bowl. It’s so bad, I can’t see for a mile where I live for all the smoke. It’s like being in a thick fog throughout the day, from morning to night, without the fresh coolness of a fog. It’s thick, muggy, smelly, and burns the eyes and lungs. Here in California, our sun is red, our moon is orange, and our sky is grey, grey, grey.

I haven’t really felt it until this morning. I woke up early, because I know the morning is when it is the least bad. So there I was, out running in a cloud of smoke at 6:30am, hardly able to breathe once I hit mile 3. I’d planned on 7 miles, but dang… This crap takes it outta ya. I don’t like running on the treadmill, but it looks like I’m going to have to get over that until God sends us a mighty powerful rain and wind to clear all this out.

And you know what blows my mind? Yesterday I saw a woman sitting in her car, smoking. You haven’t had enough yet, lady? I think by now we’ve all developed lung cancer!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/27/2008
• Time: 07:04:21
• Total Time: 00:26:46.00
• Calories: 300
• Distance: 3.11 miles
• Average Pace: 8:37.24/mile

On the elliptical trainer

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 06/26/2008
• Total Time: 00:20:00.00
• Calories: 200

There is nothing worse than having knee pain.

Except having knee pain when you’re not supposed to anymore, and knowing exactly what’s causing the pain: the exact same thing that caused the pain years ago, before surgery.

Ugg. Makes me want to just break down bawling. It’s not the pain. It’s the idea that I screwed up. It’s the idea that this probably could have been avoided, but I wanted to see how far I could go. It’s the idea that I will probably never be able to go as faras I want. It’s the idea that I could very possibly end my athletic career with one little mistake.

It’s just this constant battle with my body… I’m not even old enough to drink. Why the hell can’t I run?

For someone who is so used to always being able to work to get whatever I want, this is one thing that it seems impossible for me to fix.  And that’s is crushing.

I just want to run.

My knees were feeling better today. Whoo! And my coach got me ice after practice, which helped a ton. There are some days when my knees hurt so bad I just want to sit down and cry. I don’t want to have surgery again… I really don’t. I want to run, and not hurt. Ugg.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/24/2008
• Time: 14:02:02
• Total Time: 00:26:00.00
• Calories: 280
• Distance: 3.17 miles
• Average Pace: 8:12.48/mile

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 06/24/2008
• Time: 13:59:40
• Total Time: 00:18:00.00
• Calories: 125