Pregnancy Glamor Shots... in a Bog (plus a Weekly Recap)

Thursday workout: 10 miles with 8 tempo (9:30), Connects
Friday workout: 5 miles, easy, 10:38 average, Pace Gloves
Saturday workout: 8 miles, 2 outside in Connects, 6 on a treadmill, socks, 11:52 average
Sunday workout: 10 miles, 10:29 average, Pace Gloves

I may have slacked at blogging these past few days, but I certainly did not slack at running. I've got finals next week (HOW are finals at the end of April, UAA? Budget cuts? This is not normal. Spring Break was one month ago) so I've been a bit strapped for time. Come next Thursday, however, I'll be spewing all over your interblogs, so get ready!

Today's run was just delightful. And oh-so beautiful.

Kudos to anyone who can spot that beauty Flattop. Hint: it's the flat one.

I've been doing all of my runs in the same place since it's next to school/work and my beloved woodsy trails are covered in jagged sluce (snow-slush-ice. I just made that up. You're welcome), so I took the extra time the weekend afforded me to head over to the general vicinity of the Coastal Trail (which is also covered in sluce) and run in my pavement paradise. I spent most of my run in the airplane zoo I found last week and got way too excited about having to stop and yield to an airplane crossing the road (which, by the way, is a sight to behold. They have tiny tires and kind of flutter their way across the pavement).

Wasn't quick enough to catch the plane crossing.

I decided to fuel for this run even though I didn't really need it. I took a gross margarita shotblok (which, as I mentioned previously, I can hardly even look at these days) every couple of miles, as well as a Honey Stinger gel at mile 6. Last week my flavor was "golden." This week it was "chocolate." They taste identical. Huh? I think that fueling during a shorter run like this prevented me from the post-run panger (that's panic-hunger) I often experience. I was able to wait until after my shower to eat, as opposed to shoving food down my throat the second I got to the car. It was a nice feeling! [updated to add: I forgot I ate two pieces of pizza in addition to my usual breakfast. That may have more to do with it than fueling during the run...]

I spent the entire run head-singing this song. You've likely heard it. If I know it, it doesn't get any more mainstream/popular. But this song is peppy. It's slightly soulful. And the singer sounds exactly like Leona Lewis, who sang my Summer 2008 power song (Bleeding Love). Basically, it was written for me. I'd like to find "him" next to me someday ("him" referring, of course, to Taye Diggs).

I saw some strange sights on my run. Chief among them was a woman getting her pregnancy glamor photos taken. There's nothing wrong with commemorating that time you were pregnant, of course, but of all places in this beautiful town to take pictures, she chose to have them done in a gross, wet bog full of dead trees. Huh? Was this where your child was conceived, ma'am? Because I can't think of any other possible reason for choosing that locale. Also, she looked really depressed. And now that I've outlined that hypothetical situation, I'm feeling pretty depressed myself.

It looked like this, only uglier, because I sort of like this. Not for a pregnancy glamor shot, however.

I wore shorts today. And yesterday. And the day before that. And the one before that. You get the idea. Shorts season has officially arrived! No WAY I'm going back to tights. Tights are restrictive. Tights are dumb. And when you overheat like I do, tights do nothing but create a localized sauna of hot disgustingness. Everyone wins when Jeano wears shorts.

[side note: my real name is Jean (duh). I refer to myself as Jeano (in third person, no less!) because it helps me dissociate the real Jean, who would be mortified to be caught with a running blog, from Jeano, who's cool with it. Don't think about that too hard because it doesn't make sense. Suffice it to say that if this were Fight Club, Jean is Edward Norton and Jeano is Brad Pitt, only Jean's slightly less embarrassing than Jeano. This is my way of saying that if you feel ridiculous calling me Jeano, that's because it is indeed a ridiculous name. Jean's fine. Take your pick.]

It made me sad that so many people gave me judge-y (that's totally a word if I SAY it's a word, spell-check!) looks because of my attire. I mean, dudes, don't you know the rule? It's 52 degrees outside right now (in the sun-it still counts)! Somehow no one seems to have gotten the memo that down jackets and fur-lined boots are so last month. At this point, if you're wearing them, it's a fashion statement. A very ugly fashion statement at that. I'm going to chalk these nasty looks (and comments! There were comments!) up to jealousy. THEY haven't had a chance to develop that dark, tan strip of skin between shorts and compression socks like I have. Also, I haven't seen any other runners wearing shorts. Because I am always right, they are obviously over-dressing. I'm sweating just thinking about those tights.

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Somehow, today marks the end of week 11 of marathon training. Holy ship. That's a lot of weeks. Let's do a recap!

Monday: 7 miles, easy

Tuesday: 6 miles with 4 x 1200 (8:30 pace with 400m rest)

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: 10 miles with 8 tempo

Friday: 5 easy

Saturday: 8 easy

Sunday: 10 easy-but-less-easy-than-other-easy-days

Total: 46 miles

I'd like to point out that, while 46 miles is an extremely high number for me, if you measure the week from Saturday-Saturday and not Sunday-Sunday, my total was 51 miles (!). I know it doesn't "count," technically, but hot damn!

Those miles didn't come easy, that's for sure. This week was hard. Probably the hardest one yet. My recovery runs felt pretty awful, to be honest. I spent each and every one angrily composing a post entitled "The Day My Body Just Stopped Moving" in my head because I literally couldn't contemplate running the next day. But those crazy Hanson geniuses know their shit, because those easy runs left me recovered enough to bust out some pretty impressive harder efforts. Normally I'd stomp my foot and throw a fit about how I always have to be right (see above), but in this case I'm glad they outsmarted me. Today, in fact, my ten miles felt great! Which is good, because this coming week is going to be EVEN HARDER. Send help. And pizza. A huge, all-meat pizza.

Questions:

• Tell me about all your crazy tan lines.
• What jams are you listening to recently? I need some power songs. I'm so tired of my iPod music, which hasn't been updated in a billion years.
• Why do people wear so much clothing? What are you rocking on your runs these days?
• People familiar with school schedules, when does the semester at your local school end? Not for another month, right?