Lazy Run Turned Awesome

Workout: 3 very hungover miles on a track

I rarely regret going for a run, and today's 3 miles were no exception. I was feeling a bit... under the weather before the run, and convincing myself to run was a huge struggle. I compromised with myself, however (I'm so accommodating!), and decided I would wear my Merrells

because running in them is way easier than in my other shoes. Note to anyone interested in minimalist running: these are not really minimalist shoes. They're not bad compared to, say, these shoes, but the ground feel is pretty terrible and there's quite a bit of arch support. That said, I feel like I'm floating when I wear these because they make running so effortless.

I also decided I would run around the track near my apartment so I could zone out and run with my eyes closed. No, I'm not kidding; I shut my eyes for about ten steps and then opened them to make sure I was going in a straight line before shutting them again. Like I said, hungover and tired as balls.

Hungover! Tired! Balls!

As soon as I got outside, though, I could tell it was going to be a fast run. I kept it easy and didn't let myself get out of breath, but I felt like I had speed lines streaming out behind me. I checked my phone a few minutes later and saw I was running sub-9:00 miles and still felt like I was hardly working at all. A normal easy-run pace for me is around 10:00 or 10:15. It was awesome. My average pace ended up being 8:57. I didn't realize I would be that much faster in my Merrels. Makes it tempting to train in them more often, although then I'd lose all the speed benefits of training my Run Amocs (plus running in those is so much fun!). I'll probably end up racing in them, though. That would be an easy way to knock a few minutes off my time.

Running on a track is about as exciting as watching paint dry, but it wasn't too bad tonight. The apartments on one side of the track are so nice.

Every time I passed them I tried to think of how to find a guy who makes enough money to buy me one of those. Never mind the fact that I don't like New York all that much; those apartments are nice.

There was a soccer game going on, which was nice to watch, although as I mentioned, I spent much of the run with my eyes shut.

The three miles went by in a jiffy and I walked home as a sort of cool-down. Not that you really need a cool-down after a workout like that, but the weather was absolutely beautiful today and I wanted to enjoy it a bit longer. Plus, I knew I had calculus homework waiting for me at home, so I was not eager to get back. Little did I know (well, not really-I knew), I wasn't going to do calc when I got home. Instead I'm writing about my magnificent run. Homework can wait. The masses must know every intimate detail about my run! Speaking of readership, I have almost 100 views now. I'm pretty sure most of them are from some spam advertising website. I'll take it!

Royale on the LES has the best burgers I've ever tasted. A Royale with bleu cheese (emphasis on the bleeeeu) and bacon will make you piss yourself with joy.

Times are Tough

I should know by now that scheduling runs on Sunday is not a good idea. I'm not going to give it a try for another 6 hours or so. Maybe by then my alcohol-ravaged body will be able to get its sh-t together for 3 miles. Off to attempt to soak up any residual alcohol with greasy brunch food. These are trying times.

The biggest tragedy of last night: buying fries at 4:30 a.m., only to spill them all over the subway platform before getting to eat even a single one. Made up for it by killing a bag of salt and vinegar chips. Not a small bag.

Santacon Fail

Workout: 9 miles in Central Park

It's a glorious day, I have a computer charger again! Took long enough. Although now I don't have an excuse for doing my calculus homework. UGH. But that's what Sunday's for, right?

Anyway, I ran nine spectacular miles this morning in Central Park. Major Santacon fail, though. My friend told me it was in Central Park (pretty sure it was last year?), but the whole hour and a half I was there I didn't see a single Santa. Turns out it's down by the seaport? Meh. Even without the Santa clusterf-ck, it was a nice view. Weather was great today! I was too bundled up when I set off, but I took off my outer layer and was fine.

I did a loop around the driveway that goes around the whole park. Not sure what that's called... East/West Drive? Remember all that stuff I said about the North woods not being that hilly? Well, I still stand by that statement, although I will say that nine miles on those hills was kind of hard. I was also running at about a 9:45 pace, which is reasonably fast for me. Then I went to the Mac store!

Okay, need to cut this one short-I just decided to go see Twilight. Omg puke gross. But actually, I love Twilight. Not the movies, but whatever. I owned a life-size Edward Cullen senior year in college. Of course it ended up with a dart through its head and being ripped to pieces, but I paid $40 for that sucker. Anyway, I'm out of here.

To Santa Con, or Not to Santa Con?

Workout: 3.1 miles, 10 minutes tempo

Big shocker, I ran yesterday. On a treadmill again. It was delightful. I was the only person in the gym so belted out a bit of Beyonce, albeit very meekly (can you meekly belt? I can). I was slightly concerned that someone would walk in, and I am not the kind of person you would expect to belt when alone.

I started with a ten-minute warmup and then did a sort of tempo, although Hal Higdon's idea of a tempo run seems slightly different than what I've always done in the past. Reading it just now I realized I was supposed to gradually decrease my pace after hitting the peak. Oops. But for the pathetic ten-minute "tempo" part of my run, I started at 6.3 mph (9:30/mile) and increased my speed by .2 mph every 2 minutes. The last two minutes I was at 7.5 mph (8:00/mile). It felt surprisingly easy, probably because it was on a treadmill. I had the elevation at 1, though, which I've heard more closely mimics running outside. I did all of my kind-of speed work training for Annapolis running over the Williamsburg Bridge/north on First Ave, both of which are not flat, so maybe it has something to do with that. I'll take it.

I'm so happy to have a shower at my gym (and a gym at my work!). It's so nice to be able to shower there and then head off wherever I'm going. Like last night, destination: happy hour. I overdid it a bit, mostly because I was so thirsty and cider sounded so so good. Fortunately, today's a rest day. Carpe rest day.

Tomorrow I've got something like 9 miles on the docket, and I'm debating whether I should head over to Central Park to observe the ridiculousness that is Santa Con. On the one hand, it would be hilarious scenery (a big, drunken clusterf-ck Santa orgy), but on the other, there will be Santas (and likely vomit) everywhere, which may make it hard to run. But let's face it, I'll probably go check it out. Stay tuned.

Another Half

I signed up for a half marathon yesterday.

I’m paying $40 to run loops in Central Park, which makes perfect sense. I’m supposed to run 10 miles that day anyway and I’d like to race more so figured why not. I’d also like to see if I’m any faster. I probably won’t break 2 hours, but who knows? Crazier things have happened. Herman Cain, for example.

Yesterday I ran at the gym again. It really wasn’t that bad. I hate the treadmill, but it does have its uses. As long as I don’t have to be on it for more than 3 or 4 miles, I can deal with it. The main thing I like about it is being able to exactly control my speed. I was supposed to do 3 easy miles yesterday, but I’m trying to up my speed a bit and to do that, I can’t just do what feels easy to me. I need to be a bit uncomfortable, and if I do it enough, it will become comfortable. I just need to remind myself of that when I feel like stopping and launching myself off the back of the treadmill. Which, actually, would make for a pretty amusing video.

Anyway, I did 3 miles in my work’s gym during my lunch hour. 9:30 pace. Nothing notable happened, really, except that I was running next to a HWAB (hottie w/a body), and for about a mile we ran perfectly in sync. I’m pretty sure we’re dating now. But really, I don’t get how that happened. Remember when you were a kid and swinging in sync with a boy meant you were going to get married or something? Well, I reverted back to my 7-year-old self and tried to out-of-syncasize (that’s a phrase) myself. It didn’t work though. That’s how you know it’s true love. It was hot as hell in the gym, so I was a disgusting mess afterward. Fortunately for everyone everywhere, there are showers in the locker room.

The snow gods decided to spite me by sending a snowstorm through the Northeast and forgetting to stop in New York. Instead we got disgusting rain. It was a joy walking across the Central Park transverse and getting hit with a tidal wave each time a car passed.

A nice something that happened, though, was another HWAB offering me his umbrella. I don’t believe in umbrellas (too much of a hassle, always crashing into people’s heads, plus they blow inside-out all the time. Just get a raincoat, people), but I appreciated it nonetheless. I was listening to hot jams and felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around all ready to assume my best karate pose, but the guy was actually just trying to me a favor. I almost accepted, actually, but then I got all crazy and was wondering what exactly he was offering. Was I supposed to share it with him and exchange pleasantries until he got to the subway and I continued on? Did he want me to take it? Was he trying to rob me? I am always very suspicious of people’s motives, but sometimes people just want to be nice. Thanks, HWAB.

I have a 30-minute tempo run on the schedule for today, which I think I’ll have to do after work. There’s a university-wide holiday party starting at 3:00, though, so I’ll have to convince myself not to gorge on food and drink before running. It’s not really a fair battle, but I’ll do my best.

Crazytown, Treadmill Hills, and Christmas Trees

Workout: 3 miles on TM, .75 miles on a bitch of an uphill

I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone today. My day started in a tiny, claustrophobic space-age tube and ended with a crazy man falling on me. I also ran after work and on a treadmill, which was probably the weirdest thing of all.

I went to get an MRI as part of a research study I'm doing through work. It has something to do with facial recognition, although I'm not sure what. What I do know is that it required me to remain ridiculously still for almost two hours and look at cute, young babies and baby animals and old, fat people. Apparently staying totally still in a tube for two hours makes you tired. In order to keep me awake, the evil scientists made me push a button every time the series of photos repeated. Little did they know (actually, they probably knew-I'm not that smart), I had figured out that it repeated every fifteen photos so I was a total boss and got to zone out a bit. But the study didn't have anything to do with me pushing a button, that was just a very necessary way to keep me awake. Anyway, I walked out $80 richer but a million times more tired, and I never really got over it.

Since I was too busy curing cancer in the morning, I ran after work. I always used to run in the evening until summer (hell) came and it was 100 degrees after work, but I've only run in the afternoon a couple of times since then so was interested to see how it would go. Well, it sucked. Kind of. I was starving by the time 6:00 rolled around (I stayed late since I had come in late) and felt on the verge of passing out, but I hauled myself upstairs to the gym and busted out a few miles on the treadmill. I was going to run outside, but all day I had heard (what turned out to be flat-out b.s.) rumors about torrential downpours, flooding, the apocalypse... and since I work in a basement, I didn't think to go check it out for myself. Because you care to know, the weather was totally fine.

However, running on the treadmill did have the added bonus of allowing me to make hills for myself. As I mentioned last week, Central Park's hills don't impress me, and I really wanted to get my as- kicked by an incline.

Goal: accomplished. I didn't know what a steep hill on a treadmill was, so I set it for 10. Wow. I was a little embarrassed by my heavy breathing. I sounded like I have a pack-a-day habit. I did a .75 mile warm-up and then did 2 1/2 minutes on a 10 incline followed by 2 1/2 minutes at a 2 incline. I repeated this 3 times then cooled down with a mile. I felt really good after I finished, even though I still feel like my breathing hasn't slowed down entirely. After my jog I did a couple of lifty things and then hit the road.

On my way to the train, I was verbally assaulted by a woman who shrieked "WHAT THE F-CK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!" before storming off, which made me feel totally awesome. And on the train, there was a normal, respectable-looking dude in a suit and tie, but he was either a) crazy, b) drunk, or c) both. Probably both. And on acid. The open fly should have been a dead giveaway, but I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. My goodwill quickly faded when he started yelling about wanting to get to Flatbush and singing about being on the crazy train. He also kept yelling questions on me. I pulled the "I can't hear you even though you're three feet from me and I accidentally made eye contact with you not once, but twice, so you know I know you know I know you're there" move and was going to switch cars at the next stop when some drummer dudes got on. They started playing and this guy immediately got up and started dancing. I have to admit, I was amused. So was everyone else. It was great until we got to Union Square and the dude fell right on top of me. Then I was just pissed. Like I said, it must be a full moon. Or whatever.

Because I've more than fulfilled my whining quota, here are pictures of happy things: Christmas trees!

Christmas tree at work.

This is Gary, our Christmas tree.

Shadows make for nice pictures.

I love Christmas. Now if only the weather gods would bless New York with some snow. Get on it!

Williamsburg Bridge (DOMSDOMSDOMS)

Workout: 3 easy miles on the Williamsburg Bridge

HOLY DOMS my thighs hurt this morning from the 'roiding I did on Friday. No joke. Even poking them with my finger is agonizing. I still managed to make it out the door, though, and for that I'm feeling preeeetty good about myself right now.

Feeling good in the same outfit I seem to wear every day.

At least the shirt is right-side out this time.

I don't own a lot of long-sleeve running shirts.

My workout wasn't anything too interesting, 3 slow miles on the Williamsburg Bridge. Williamsburg is sorely lacking in pretty places to run, or maybe (and this is more likely) I just don't know where these pretty places are. Prospect Park isn't practical because it takes me 40 minutes to get there on the G, and running there is really ugly (you pretty much spend the whole time under an underpass or along the BQE-classy). The Bridge is less than a mile away from me so I decided to head over there, because who doesn't like running over bridges? Oh wait, people who feel like this. But it's cool, I didn't actually sh-t myself, and I am nowhere near as strong/awesome as Julie Moss. But you get the idea.

Bridge Ho! I ran on the bicycle path instead of the pedestrian

path because I like to be in people's way.

This picture looks really dumb with those bars covering the scenery, but it was pretty.

When I was done I hit up a coffee place nearby and got an insanely big coffee to accompany my yogurt-fruit-something cluster Special K.

Christmastime has officially arrived in my apartment. We snatched up this sucker for $40.

I know, $40 is a sh-t ton for a tree. But whatever, it's got a tepee on top. One of my roommates randomly had a bag of totally un-PC cowboy and indian (Native American) plastic toys to decorate the tree with. We didn't spring for the noble fir, but this one still smells pretty good when you break a branch in half. My roommate also bought one of those plug-in smelly dealios that reeks of cinnamon, so I pretty much want to sit in our living room until the end of time.

I hit 50 views! And more views are American than Russian, so that's nice. Don't get me wrong, I love Russia and Russians, but it's nice to know that people who actually speak my language are looking at the blog. Huge prize to the first person who comments! And by huge prize I mean kudi (plural). Who am I kidding, that will never happen. Starting a blog is weird. Most people seem to pretend they've had a blog all along and just dive right in. I choose to point out how awkward it is. To each their own!

Anyway, groceries, laundry, calculus homework call. Puke.

Slow Death via Sore Thighs (Yeah, this Title Sucks)

So, remember that time I was spouting about all that b.s. about minimalist running not using a lot of quads? Well, that was dumb. I can now verify that it, in fact, uses quite a bit of thigh muscle. My 8 miles was a bit difficult. Also, Prospect Park is hilly.

Things started out fine. I was all bundled up...

Too bundled up, in fact. Sh-t got hot real fast. I'm sure people were wondering who can possibly sweat so much in 40-degree heat. Hi friends, I'm Jean.

and hopped on the G towards Prospect Park. For the first time in ages, the train was pretty much empty.

Hi shoes!

Then I started running, and from the first step, sh-t hurt. I kind of panicked and started making excuses like "well, the training plan only says 6 miles" (although I'm doing longer long runs to make up for only running 5 days a week) and "I'll just do 3 today and run long tomorrow..." Generally when I play mind games like this, I give up. But after some back and forth, I turned on one of my favorite podcasts, Jordan, Jesse Go!, and suddenly realized my legs didn't feel so bad anymore. I wasn't roaring along, but I wasn't dragging as- either. I ended up finishing with a 10:03 average, which I was more than happy with. I even got to take some time to enjoy the scenery, like this confusing set-up:

I think they're being a little optimistic about the weather.

Also, they save people who fall through the ice with ladders? Weird.

And then just a nice fall scene:

In the end, it was a very satisfying run. It was a major confidence-booster, and didn't even feel that hard after I got over my "oh God, I hope nobody sees me faceplant when my legs give out" mindset. I'm also glad 8 miles doesn't seem like a big deal anymore. Since I switched to minimalism and had to start from square one mileage-wise, I built up to 8 miles again only a month and a half ago, and at the time it was pretty rough because my body wasn't totally ready to handle it. But today, everything felt fantastic and I felt strong the entire way. Good job, me! Way to be positive (for once)!

I got back to my apartment after some subway shenanigans (I didn't realize the Metropolitan-Grand stop was the same as the Lorimer stop so I jetted all the way to Nassau/Manhattan and walked home) and bought a sandwich at Hanna Foods, one of the best sandwich places I've been to, probably ever. They also give their sandwiches ridiculous names like Kanye Interrupt, Nightman Cometh (any "It's Always Sunny" fans out there?), Meet the F-ckers, and Beeyoch Cafe, which is hilarious, especially when someone meek wants to order a "¡Your Girlfriend's a Whore!" (upside down exclamation point necessary). I bought a "Who Killed Gertrude Stein," which was oozing with hot turkey, swiss, bacon, avocado, and some other things I probably forgot. If there is a heaven, it is Hanna Foods. Of course, I ate the entire thing in 3 minutes flat, which may not have been a great idea. But whatever, at least I'll die happy.

Off to Christmas-ize my life!

On the Hunt, Gettin' Ripped

Well, last night was boring. And exciting, in an "ew, mice are taking over our apartment" kinda way. Okay, so just gross. The apartment isn't actually infested, but there's a little shit who hasn't figured out we're going to crush him if he doesn't ptfo. We first saw this thing a few weeks ago, and immediately bought a bunch of space-age mice-catching devices. One of them emits high-frequency squeals which supposedly scare the mouse away. We bought two. Our landlord also got us a couple of seriously intense rat catchers that use electricity to kill the little bastard (or huge bastard-this trap is enormous). We also bought a couple of those traps that close on the mouse so you don't have to actually see it (I know, I know, many would argue that we should have to see it if we killed it. I don't have an answer to that-mice are gross).

Well, to our dismay, this mouse doesn't give a shit. We don't see him often, once a week or so, but he always comes darting out of some invisible crevice and sprints out into the middle of the floor like little kids do when they suddenly decide to flee from their parents, and then we scream and it runs back into another crevice. It appears to know our apartment quite intimately. Last night was particularly fun, mostly because one of my roommates saw it run into our coat closet so I went in, moved some things around, and when I moved my suitcase the as-hole suddenly darted out and ran over my foot! I sound like such a wimp, but seriously, I don't do mice, especially not in my own apartment. I screamed bloody murder and it ran off. We (I) looked for it after that but couldn't find it. Shit. Well, as Russell Crowe once said, "I will have my revenge, in this life or the next." Minus all the "husband to a murdered wife, father to a murdered son" part. I'm not that crazy. But this thing is going down.

Apart from that, my night was pretty much a bust. I've put a temporary moratorium on Friday-night spending since, as I've mentioned before, I have a spending problem. I also figure that since I do long runs on Saturday I shouldn't be drinking on Friday anyway. So for at least the next few weeks, I'll be that crazy mouse lady spending her Friday night stroking her paper doll's hair.

In addition to stroking my paper doll's hair, I decided to do something crazy and pump some iron. If 5 pounds counts as iron. A while ago, I was looking at some blogs and read about this workout created by Lauren at healthontherun. She's wicked fast, so I decided I too would be wicked fast if I started doing this workout. She uses 10 pound weights, but she is obviously a bajillion times stronger than I am, so I went for 5 pounds. Well, I should have realized just how much stronger she is, because I attempted to do 20 reps of each exercise and barely even completed a whole circuit. Jesus. Christ. I must have no thigh muscle whatsoever. I've noticed that minimalist running uses a ton of calf and some hamstring, but hardly any quad, at least compared to other activities. My legs felt like jelly after the first circuit, so there was no way I was doing a second. This is something I am determined to work on.

Determined!

It was a truly inspired idea on my part to do this the night before my long run. It's only 8 miles, and like I said, I don't feel like I use much thigh muscle when I run, but this could be interesting. I think I'm going to hit up Prospect Park since I seem to be in some bizarro world where I wake up at 8:30 on a Saturday so I have the time. 1:00 is a more typical Saturday wake-up time, so this is truly strange. Wait, no it's not, I'm just not hungover! Kind of a great feeling, actually. Off to the Park!

Running as My Commute

Meant to blog last night, but I still haven't bitten the bullet and bought a new computer charger so have only been able to get my battery fix every once in a while when my roommate isn't using hers. I realized I have a serious money spending problem so have tried to rein in the spending, but unfortunately I've only been successful at not buying important things (battery charger, food, a mattress, to name a few...). Anyway, my computer had something like a 6% charge last night and I was rocking a bit of a buzz so blogging didn't happen. Something insane and monumental that did happen? The express train moved faster than the local. This is serious news, folks. A cold day in Hell, if you will. I also pulled the as-hole move of shoving half my body between the closing doors, thereby preventing them from shutting. What can I say? Blame the buzz. I have to admit it gave me kind of a rush (my life is so interesting). And big black marks on my shirt.

Speaking of my shirt, it's new (spending problem). Those cheap discount websites are like crack. I never used to buy clothes, but ever since I discovered them I've been on an endless spending spree. It's embarrassing actually, since my roommates are always the people to receive the packages so know how much sh-t I'm buying. I feel like a spoiled brat. But no worries, I don't really have enough money to buy these things. This is the semi-ridiculous trippy shirt I bought a while ago and forgot about until I found the package sitting outside my room:


I actually really like it, except the fact that it's so long (why does everyone do that?! I'm mostly looking at you, Lululemon. Not everyone has 40-foot-long torsos). The gnome-tree tumor thing was designed back in the sixties (duh). There were a couple of other shirts with different designs that I really wanted, but times are tough and sometimes you just can't afford another $10 shirt. Also, this shirt claims to be 85% polyester and 15% something else with a techie name. I call bullsh-t. It feels suspiciously like cotton, although I have to admit that the sweat dried pretty quickly.

Anyway, my commute home was ridiculous. I was wearing the clothes I ran in that morning


plus a black skirt. There was a time when I cared about looking New York-y, but that time is long gone. Now I'm full-on weirdo all the time. It draws some looks, but at least I'm not in the Vibrams anymore! Those really set people off. Even my friends. Especially my friends.

I did my 30-minute tempo run yesterday morning along the usual route (up 1st Ave, basically), and it went well. It's pretty nice when two-thirds of your run consists of a warm-up/cool-down. It felt good to push it, but only for a mile or so because let's face it, I don't like pain. It didn't feel good to have no idea how far I went and what speed I was doing it at. My phone better get its act together for tomorrow's 8-miler, although I can already say it won't. Damn you, logic!

I'm over the moon (is that the right expression? I suck at idioms) about the decreasing temperature. Finally, after probably 6 months of frying in hellish Hell-weather from Hell, I feel comfortable being outside. No joke. Heat and humidity rank right up there with, well, dying, as things I hate the most. Give me a choice between 30 below and 80 and I'll choose the former every time. You think I'm kidding, but I don't kid about things this serious.

As it gets colder, however, I'm encountering kind of a unique problem, mainly my commute home. I love the cold, don't get me wrong, but I'm not superwoman (although maybe someday I'll change things up and try to rock this look). I won't always be able to walk to the subway in a tank top. At some point, I will feel cold. Very cold. But since I use my morning commute to do my run, I can only carry whatever fits in my tiny backpack,

I thought that arrow would be more obvious.

which tends to be my work clothes and not a warm and sensible jacket. I could bring a stash of jackets to work on Monday, a rest day, but I only own two jackets, one of which I have to wear home Monday. So I guess that leaves me with nothing. I'm so glad I could talk through this with myself. All you Russians from domar.ru, any suggestions? Any future readers? Does anyone else deal with this? There is about a .00001% chance of me doing my morning run and then commuting, so I need to find a way to make this work.

The super secret awesome Mike Birbiglia/Ira Glass movie I watched Wednesday night made it into Sundance! Congratulations to them!

Apparently one of my roommates has a mega-Christmas day planned tomorrow, so I need to start drumming up some festiveness. I'm wearing a green sweater today, so I guess that works.

-Jeano

I Wonder if Ira Glass Would Go Running With Me...

Okay, screw running talk, I just did the coolest thing ever. I saw Ira Glass. Ira Glass. My idol. No joke. I've been listening to This American Life for years and haven't missed an episode since I started. I can't get enough of it. It's accompanied me on many a run and kept me from going absolutely apeshit when the subway's broken or people won't move into the train (as in, it calms me down). It doesn't hurt that Ira has one of the greatest (dare I say, sexiest? Too old for that to be acceptable?) voices around. Which reminds me of a video I saw of him back in June. The best. And apparently he plays PlayStation, which makes him triply cool.

Anyway, to make a long story long, TAL tweeted about a mysterious event to take place in Brooklyn tonight and asked if anyone was interested in going. Interested in going?! Hell yeah I'm interested, I'd sell my kidneys to go! Do we even have more than one kidney? Doesn't matter, you can have my firstborn's too. And, mind you, I didn't even know Ira was going to be there. I was shocked when he walked to the front of the room and started talking, literally inches from me (yeah, we were sitting in the front-once a suck-up, always a suck-up). Of course I turned beet red and just sat there terrified he would make eye contact with me but secretly wishing he would make eye contact with me, see the brilliance in my face, and ask me to work for him. Never mind that I'd be terrible at that job. They could take me on as a charity case or something. Anything.

I can't say what we did in there since I signed a confidentiality agreement and am officially hot sh-t, but I can say it was awesome and I expect great things from the people involved. I also hope I get to do more cool stuff like that. That's the reason I was excited to live in New York, super cool hip events no one but me knows about, all day all night. Unfortunately I'm not cool and don't know where these things happen. But tonight's little bit of awesomeness will make me hesitate before insulting New York for a few weeks, or at least until the next time the express train runs slower than the local when I have to be somewhere (WHICH HAPPENED TONIGHT-why does this always happen to me?!?!?!).

Now that I've got my crazy stalker fangirl talk out of the way, let's talk about my run today! I didn't make it back to Central Park as I had hoped because I didn't think I'd have enough time. Instead I got off the L at 1st Ave and ran up 1st to my work, which I think is roughly 3 1/2 miles. I wish I could tell you specifically but no, my phone is still being a little bit-h. For whatever reason it just hasn't been able to pick up the signal the past couple of days. I wonder if I need to upgrade it or something... It was nice and chilly out, just the way I like it, and I felt like I was moving pretty well. I actually think that going up First is more of a grunt than most of the hills in CP-no, not as steep as the north woods or whatever they're called, but overall more strenuous then the rest of East Drive since it's a continuous uphill for multiple miles. I ran for about 31 minutes so definitely did at least 3 miles, and probably more like 3 1/2. Tomorrow's run calls for 30 minutes, so even if my phone is still being the worst, I can do the run properly. It makes me uneasy not knowing exactly how far I went. I always assume I've done less than I'm supposed to even when I run for way longer than it takes me to run that distance. It's a sort of neurosis. I took this gem in my work's bathroom afterward:

You're probably all like "Jean, take that shirt off, wash it,

you're disgusting-are you wearing it inside out?"

and I'd have to agree with you on all counts. I'm working on it.

Excited for my run tomorrow! I don't usually run three days in a row because I assume my body will break if I do, but I feel totally fine. Take that, formerly busted hips!

-Jeano

Thanksgiving, Mail-order Brides, and Someone Else's Giveaway

Christ, this blogging thing is harder than I thought. Or maybe it's just that it's been a few days since my last post and I don't feel like recounting my entire awesome Thanksgiving weekend. So what's a wannabe lazy blogger to do? Photos!

It all started with Mt. Rushmore. I mean, a Rushmore float. I kid you not, our bus driver very narrowly missed crashing into one of the floats heading for the Macy's Parade. We were held up for, no joke, 20 minutes while these guys went by. How very responsible of the billions of cops driving by to not warn people WITH A GREEN LIGHT it would be a good idea to stop. But I guess it was cool, in an "I've never watched the parade and don't understand its appeal at all" kind of way. At least my mom was excited about it.

After that, bus, bus, bus, bus. Our bus driver couldn't find South Station in Boston, which was actually pretty amusing. The guy drove around downtown for ages, and I was just about to ask him if he wanted directions when he managed to find it. He really chose the perfect career.

I should clearly be a professional photographer. I was so happy to see snow again! Snow's the sh-t. New York needs to up its snow game, that's for sure. I took this after a long night of bus riding.

Then, the Lewiston bus station and finally, the thriving metropolis of Leeds! Population M's family. We went to her grandparents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.

What an amazing view. Lucky assholes. And no, I didn't use a special hipster filter or anything, I took this through a screen because they have a screen porch. One of the most ingenious things East Coasters have come up with.

I took this and then realized it looked like an American flag. I'm so deep.

Yes, there was running! M and I managed to get a li'l jog in before we headed down to Boston.

This has nothing to do with me not knowing how to take a picture while running and everything to do with me being artistic.

GEESE. Apparently they're really territorial.

M running by my future home. At least, I wish. I don't think M thought it was quite as awesome as I did. Although I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up living in a yurt. This one, to be exact. An old, bitter but content harpy.

After that, we've pretty much got Boston fun times, boozing, eating, walking, boozing, and fun times followed by a hellish return trip back to New York on Sunday night. I was planning to run along the Charles while in Boston but was way too hung over to even consider that. I did have a chance to notice, though, that Bostonians are very active people. There seemed to be way more runners outside than in New York, although it may just be that Bostonites have more places they can run.

Today marked the beginning of my modified "spring training", which will take me through to January when I start my official marathon training. I was supposed to do 3 miles on hills. I accidentally did more like 4 1/2 because my phone was being a b-tch and I ran too far before heading towards work. I hit up Central Park, which rarely happens since I like to wake up as late as possible, but I figured I'd be able to find some hills there. The section I was running on didn't feel very hilly, though. I guess I'm just stronger than I was the last time I ran there. Although after running in Middlebury (aka "what's this flat ground you speak of?" Middlebury) during college it's hard to qualify any part of New York as hilly. I actually really liked being in the park, though. I think I'll head back tomorrow for another three miles.

In blog news, I seem to be a hit in Russia. And by hit, I mean I've had 10 page views from there. All from the website domar.ru? I hope I haven't been put up as a mail-order bride. I also hope I didn't just insult my entire Russian constituency. Whatever the case, спаси́бо прия́тель! I bet that was totally accurate.

I'm a sucker for free things, so I'm also mentioning a giveaway Skinny Runner is doing for Bic Bands. I've wanted some for ages and she said I get two entries if I mention it on my blog. Hopefully it doesn't matter whether you have any readers or not. All you Russians, go enter!

Finally, because I always like seeing pictures of people whose blogs I read, here's my mug:

M just put this up on fb so I thought I'd post it. This is a legally-acquired photo taken after the Annapolis half marathon (AK pride!). I would have kept the other dudettes in the photo but don't think they'd appreciate the possibility of being put up for sale on domar.ru.

Happy trails! Or pavement, or whatever.

Maine-Bound

Ran this morning. About 3.75 miles, mostly uphill to work. It felt pretty good, although my right calf muscle is somehow still sore. According to my phone, I finished at a 9:50 pace, but I was standing still for about a minute after I started it trying to get it into my backpack (I need a Garmin), and I got held up at quite a few stoplights. I'd say it was probably more like 9:30. Not bad! This whole minimalist thing has made me pretty slow, normally my runs are more like 10:30. Once I got to work I did a bit of strength training, although by "bit" I mean hardly anything. The weights at my work's gym are decades old and I have no idea how to use any of them. Give me a machine with everything set up and a picture of what I'm doing and I'll lift. Otherwise, I'll just sit there.

I'm going to spend the next couple of months before I start my official marathon training (January 22-mark it!) trying to build up a bit of speed. Again, "bit" does not mean much. I might try to go from a 10:30 average speed to more like a 9:45, for example. Fast stuff. I'm going to be using this plan from Hal Higdon to tide me over until the actual marathon training, although I'm only going to run 5 days a week and make my long runs slightly longer. I think. Then I'm going to use his "novice 2" 18-week marathon plan. I've already set all my google calendar reminders until the marathon! Nerd.

Heading off to Maine tonight. At 12:15 am. Somehow it's going to take us 6 hours to get to Boston, and then after an hour layover we'll leave for Lewiston and get there around 9:00 am. I still don't get the 6 hours to Boston thing. Whatever. Was debating whether I should try to stay up the whole time or pop a couple of sleeping pills and dream sweet dreams. It'll probably end up being a combination of both. I will be pissed if this weather messes anything up. It seems like it's fine, but I keep seeing all these headlines about another snowpocalypse. East coasters are wimps (yeah, I said it). Stay tuned! Actually, don't, I won't be blogging this weekend, I can tell you that much right now. Happy Thanksgiving!

I didn't end up wearing my new spandex. More practical, fewer stares.

Too Many Clothes, No Mattress

I BOUGHT NEW CLOTHES.

I'm ridiculous. For the longest time, I hated stores like Lululemon. I thought that only people who never actually worked out shopped there, and I thought it was more hardcore to run in a cotton t-shirt. Turns out I'm a huge idiot. The day I first tried on one of their shirts, I felt like I had found my soulmate (if that were legal, of course), and now there's no turning back. Seriously. I've pretty much abandoned all my other shirts, which is gross considering that until tonight I only had two Lulu (short for Lululemon?) shirts. The same shirt, actually. Two different colors. Because when I like something, I really like something. But it's that fabric, luon. It is heavenly. It's like I don't sweat when I wear them, and I'm a huge sweater. Huge. They were a godsend this summer in the revolting New York heat. Like, the only thing keeping me from packing up and moving back to Alaska. I hate hot weather. This is why New York and I don't always get along.

But I digress. I've been wanting to go back to the store for a while now to check out what the Lulu gods have been making me, so I went after hitting up my work's gym. I tried on a bunch of cute stuff, but all of their shirts are so long. I've got a short torso, but jesus. I managed to find a shirt on sale, though, which I like because it's (drumroll) luon, a bit baggy (I seem to sweat less when it hangs off me), and short enough. I also bought some kickass spandex shorts. A great purchase now that winter is coming (that's sarcasm!). I'm a huge fan-they've got a nice waist-band thing that makes me look like I don't have love handles.

I have a problem-here I am buying workout clothes, but I don't even have a mattress. I've been sleeping on the floor, monk-style. I wish I could say there was some noble reason for it, but there's not. I got rid of my last mattress when I moved and haven't bothered to get a new one yet. But who cares, I feel like I'm wrapped in heaven right now. And yes, I'm still wearing them. And I'll be wearing them tomorrow morning for my run. Well, maybe not the spandex. It is 46 degrees, after all. I'm not that crazy...

Pissed Off... and Holidays!

I'm kind of pissed off. It has to do with running so I'm writing about it here. I fully admit to being a back-of-the-middle-of-the-pack runner. I don't like telling people I'm doing a race because I know that, inevitably, they will ask me how it went. When they do this, I always smile and say "It was great!" Nothing more. Of course, that always leads to the follow-up question "What was your time?" Ugh. Double ugh.

This happened yesterday. Someone asked how the race was, and before I could even answer, he asked how fast I ran. I told him, and before I could add the usual "I'm not fast" bit, he said, "That's all? Oh." I think he was trying to make a joke, but seriously? Come on. The funny thing is, these comments often come from non-runners. This guy, for example, couldn't run more than 20 feet without collapsing. His dubious claim to fame is drinking every night, and he's not even good at that. I know this from experience. And when he so quickly insults my running ability and all the work I put into making the transition to minimalist running and building up my mileage again, I'll admit it, I want to punch him in the face. I'll be the first to make fun of myself, to call myself slow, whatever. But when it comes from someone like this douchebag, no f-cking way.

On a happier (and tastier!) note, I made an effort to cook last night. It was a sausage/pasta sort of thing. I got the recipe from this blogger. No, I didn't take a picture. Oops. But I was proud I even attempted the thing. My eating's gone to sh-t the past couple of months, mostly because I moved out of my old apartment at the end of September. I hadn't wanted to stock up on new food the weeks before moving out, then I was crashing on my friend's couch for two weeks, then we didn't have cooking things in our new place (pots/pans at my old place belonged to my roommate)... Then I just lost motivation to cook. During this time, Subway and omelets were my main staples. Not the worst food choices, and things I could probably go on eating until the zombie apocalypse, but after a few weeks at my new place I realized things needed to change. Unfortunately, my discovery of salt bagels threatens to derail this effort, but as last night shows, I'm trying! I even cooked up some broccoli and green beans to eat on the side. Green things are good for you. I used jalapeno chicken sausage from Trader Joe's in the pasta, and although it was delicious, I was awake for a solid hour and a half before falling asleep because it suddenly hit me that I might not have cooked it all the way through. Smart, Jean. But I woke up this morning without food streaming out of every orifice (great visual!), so I guess it was fine.

I'm planning to zone out on the stationary bike after work. I'm really only going because I want to take a shower-it's been a couple of days. Whatever motivates you, right? I think I'll head out for a wee jog tomorrow before leaving to Maine tomorrow night at 12:09 a.m. Yep. That should be fun. I won't forget my camera this time. Well, I'll at least try not to forget my camera. And to think, when I started this blog I was all, "This is great timing because I'm going so many places and will bring my camera everywhere and take pictures of everything and post it for everyone to see and I'll look so interesting!" Fail. I was really hoping to run in Maine, but plans changed so we'll be heading to Boston Friday morning so I'll have to settle for the Charles (#firstworldproblems). I'm determined to not only bring a camera, but also get over my embarrassment of taking pictures of myself and things so this blog will be more interesting. Thank god for having no readers!

Recapping, Capping, Ping, Etc.

Okay, Annapolis Half Marathon recap continuation...

We had been standing near the starting line for probably 25 minutes before the race started around 7:15. During that time, my toes had gone completely numb. The first mile or so I spent mostly hoping they'd warm up. I couldn't tell if the strange-feeling lumps in my shoes were toes or something else (what else? I have no idea. Boulders, maybe). It was seriously trippy. In the beginning, my friends and I ran together. One friend's training had been less than stellar (what a stud!), so she fell back after about a mile. My other friend is actually the person who first got me into running and who showed me that running more than a couple of miles is nowhere near as difficult as it sounds. Running with her is always a blast, so we stayed together for a while, but it became obvious she wanted to run a bit faster than I did, so I fell back some and focused on getting into the groove. I had given her my watch prior to the race, so I have no idea how fast I was going. I probably started a bit slow, but I'm actually really glad I did. In the past, I've always started out way too fast and tried to stick to a very specific pace the entire race, and that always blows up in my face. Always. My plan for this race was to run strong the entire time. In the end, I think I could have run a bit faster, but I definitely fulfilled my one and only goal for the race!

The first few miles of the race looped around the Naval Academy. I think we approached the Academy from every possible direction. My friend had given me what turned out to be a totally inaccurate description of the race course beforehand ("we're going to run along the water the whole time!"), and I was cursing her at this point because it looked like we were going to spend the entire race seeing how many different ways we could circle the Naval Academy. No offense to the Academy (well, a little offense), but that was not my idea of an interesting race. Pretty much the only thing of interest during this part of the race was a girl on a walk of shame-she looked like she was going to sh-t her pants when she saw 3,000 people running towards her. Just as I was considering sprinting ahead to find my friend and smack her on the back of the head for lying to me, our route switched up a little. We weaved through some neighborhoods and onto the main street in town, which was way cute.

Me running on way cute main street. Funny how the photographer so strategically cut out my face. I look like kind of ridiculous, I have to admit. My shirt says "Alaska" on it! I love it.

I had no impression whatsoever of Annapolis before visiting, and was pleasantly surprised at how cute it was. Stupidity admission: I had no idea it was along the water. Water makes any town/city infinitely more interesting. My friend told me after that during this part of the race, an obviously hungover hipster-type stuck her head out of her window and screamed "YOU'RE CRAZY!!" before ducking back inside. She may have had a point-this race started entirely too early for me.

After going through town, we went over some bridge. It was kind of steep, but I was feeling awesome so think I sped up a little. It was at this point that I caught my friend. We chatted for a few minutes before I continued ahead.

Chatting! Sorry, these pictures are cropped totally wrong.

The course continued along a few rolling hills on a highway before we started along a narrow wooded path for an out-and-back. I hate out-and-backs. For whatever reason, I usually lose all motivation on these things. Give me a loop anyday. We ended up doing 2-3 miles on this. It got pretty cramped since there were somany people running the race. It was kind of annoying and made it hard to pass people, which I was doing fairly frequently at this point. But it also made for some seriously cute running when I got stuck behind the cutest, tiniest little boy running the race. He was running in all-black spandex and looked like a total boss. He ended up beating me. While I was running I was wondering what I would do if it came down to the two of us on the final stretch; would I hold back and let him be all adorable and beat me, or would my inner bitch come out and force me to run him down? I'd like to say I'd let him win, but that's probably not true. Luckily it didn't come to that since he kicked my ass. I wonder if it's harmful running that much when you're so small? This kid looked like he was 6 or 7 years old, although I could be totally off.

My mind occupied by adorable little things, I suddenly realized I was probably nearing the last quarter of so of the race. I have no idea because, as I mentioned, there were no mile markers. Come on, Annapolis Half Marathon. I took it much better than most of the runners, who seemed to be yelling at anyone even remotely associated with the race. I probably would have joined them, but for the most part it fit in well with my race strategy. If I had known how far I had gone or how much I had left, I probably would have waged some enormous mental battle and collapsed in a heap in the middle of the road. I had no idea how far I'd gone until mile 10 when some guy yelled it at me. Actually, one guy yelled it, and then about 3 minutes later, someone else yelled the same thing. And then someone else. You see why it was confusing? I also heard someone say she was at 1:34 a couple of minutes after we may or may not have hit 10 miles, so of course I immediately wondered if I could possibly aim for sub-2:00. I knew that was ridiculously foolish since there was no way I was going to run the final 5k in 26:00, but it definitely sped me up a bit.

It was at this point that I turned on my music. Coincidentally (or maybe not-my running playlist is pathetic, only 10 songs or so), the songs that came up all seemed to have the word "running" in them. I'm sure the lyrics in no way helped me, but it kind of took my mind off the fact that I had sped up significantly. We had to go up the same bridge we had crossed earlier, and this time it was infinitely harder. I assumed the end of the race was just at the other side, but of course, once we got over to the other side someone yelled "Only .6 miles left!" Thanks. Asshole.

The last quarter mile felt like an all-out sprint, but it probably looked more like this guy. The song "fly" by Rihanna came on, and the lyrics sustained me until the finish....

Inner monologue:

"I came to win," (sure, I'm not actually anywhere close to winning, but I guess you could say I'm winning this race) "to fight," (I'm definitely fighting! This feels like shit) "to conquer, to thrive," (yeah, sure, that sounds like hippie bullshit, but I can dig it) "I came to win," (again with the winning-I think we established I'm winning this thing) "to survive," (yeah, I'm definitely trying to survive-am I going to puke? I think I'm going to puke. No, Jean, get ahold of yourself! You're almost done!) "to prosper, to thrive," (okay, this is getting to be too much-am I going to puke in front of the race photographers?) "to fly, to fly" (okay, holy shit, there's the finish, I hate this song. You're wearing a fanny-pack, but try to look cool for your finish photo!).

Omg puke.

Omg sleep.

And then it was over! I got my medal,

Medal!

leaned over, and tried not to throw up. The nausea went away pretty quickly, so I hobbled through the different places they were herding us and got out of the crowd to wait for my friends.

We were smart and didn't figure out a place to meet after the race, so I went and sat on a little hill by the porta-potties (great choice, Jean). I had been okay heat-wise during the race, but after a few minutes I thought I was going to die of hypothermia so I swallowed my pride and went and got one of those shiny blanket things. I think those things look ridiculous so had passed one up my first time through, but between dying and looking like a baked potato, I'll take the latter every time. It was actually pretty effective (dammit-they look ridiculous! They also give you sun blindness-that's a thing, right?), so I sat on my little hill for a while until I finally saw people I knew.

After the race, we showered, stuffed ourselves silly at Chick & Ruth's Delly (Man v. Food guy went there!), and passed out for a few hours. We were all walking around like gimps, which felt fantastic. I actually feel great except for the soreness in my calves. This is the first half where my skeleton hasn't felt on the verge of shattering post-race. A success for barefoot-ish running! That was the farthest I had ever run without highly-padded shoes, and I definitely felt better than my friends today. S, though, must be applauded for setting an insane distance record for herself. She had never run farther than 4 1/2 miles. Ever. Maybe not the greatest training strategy, but the fact that she finished, and in 2:41, is pretty amazing. Major props to her!

We took a bus back to New York Sunday morning, and once I got home I set out for 15 minutes of really easy running. I guess that's supposed to aid in recovery since it gets the blood moving. I don't know how much I believe that, but it sounds legit. My calves loosened up nicely while running, but they seized up after I got back. I have a feeling, though, that I'm going to kick recovery's ass and be up and running in no time. I have a marathon to train for! Someday I'll talk about that. But not now. Deal with it.

Full disclosure: I ate 3 bagels yesterday. But only two of them had cream cheese. One was a salt bagel. If my friends were asked to say the first thing that came to mind when they hear my name, they would say salt. No joke. Only recently did I realize a salt bagel's a thing. It's also the day I started eating at least one a week. Don't worry, my grandpa has low blood pressure and has to put salt on everything, so I'll probably have to as well. Right? Right?!?

Apology: I'm failing at the whole photo thing. Will try harder.

Annapolis Half Semi-Recap

2:04:05.

I'd black out my last name, but I don't know how to on a Mac.

Plus, I've got a kickass last name.

I'm no speedy McGee, but I am extremely happy with that time. Like, bowled over. Going into the race, my only goal was to try to stay around a 10:00 mile. Not only did I go quite a bit faster than that (9:28), I was very close to my half marathon PR, which I set two and a half years ago in regular shoes. I raced purely by feel, without a watch and (mostly) without music. And although I was pretty upset there were no mile markers (seriously? I get that this was the inaugural Annapolis Half Marathon, but considering how well it was run, this seems like a huge oversight), for much of the race that was a good thing. I ran completely by feel and because of that, I was able to run a strong, consistent race.

Let me start from the beginning. We had taken a bus to Washington, D.C. on Friday morning. We saw a few monuments (it was my friend's first time in D.C.) and went to the Smithsonian. Did anyone else know it's free to get in there?! Pretty awesome. We saw some African mammals, chowed down,

Thanks, homo neanderthalis!

and neanderthalized ourselves:

Here I am! A beauty, eh?

After we had had our fill, we hopped on a train to Annapolis and drove to some athletic center to pick up our bibs for the race the following day. We also got some pretty neat coats:

This is me post-race, wearing my goodies. I look like an idiot.

Hats have never been my friend.

And by neat, I mean ugly. They looked good on some people (probably 40% of the runners wore them for the race), but mine was big and baggy. And I'm not really a fan of mixing primary colors (in this case, yellow and red). I prefer more earthy tones (aka I'm boring).

After we picked up our stuff, we went next door to this place called Squisito's to eat pizza. "Squisito's" sounds like an American's vague idea of what Italian sounds like (although what do I know? It may actually be uber italian), but it has delicious pizza. Sinfully good. We bought a couple of pies and took them back to the place we were staying, and I absolutely wrecked like half of the chicken pesto pizza. It was so good. I was actually really concerned about my pre-race dinner since I have a knack for choosing the wrong thing and turning my insides to mush, but this turned out really well. I think pizza, which was also my pre-race breakfast, may be my go-to race fuel source from now on. I just have to keep it form becoming my go-to everything fuel source as well...

We went to bed reasonably early and woke up at the buttcrack of dawn to get to the start. It was freezing, and I was smart enough to have forgotten my running capris (or whatever you call those) back in New York. I had thrown a pair of old shorts into my bag "just in case," so ended up wearing those. To make up for the lack of leg coverage, I wore my compression sleeves. I was a sexy, sexy sight at that starting line. I'm sure everyone got a kick out of my shoes. My friend said it looked like I was heading to a dance recital. I like to think I looked more like an elf. Everyone loves elves! I got a few weird looks, but nothing too bad. People can be downright hostile towards the whole barefoot thing, so I was glad to have avoided that.

Like I said, it was freezing. The race started about fifteen minutes late, and while we were waiting my toes went totally numb. We were having a grand old time at the back of the pack (there were supposed to be corrals, but for whatever reason that didn't work out. Everyone was just hanging out in the Naval Academy's parking lot), and shortly before the race started I listened to a pump-up song. Heads-up: not a family-friendly song. And not usually something I would like, but the lyrics make me laugh. Kanye's ridiculous. Once I was sufficiently pumped, we dallied a bit longer until the mob finallly started moving. It was kind of weird, there was no opening announcement, welcome, or anything indicating the race was starting. Maybe we were just too far back to hear it.

I was planning to sum up the entire race in one post, but as I've mentioned before, brevity is not my forte. Buh-bye kids! Stay tuned for more!

I've got awesome screenshot skills.

Annapolis, and Other Ramblings

So about the blog name… I changed it. That name was plain sh-t, even for me. Very hard to say. New name is “Jogging Jeano.” The term “jogging” isn’t the most-loved by runners, but given my less-than-average speed, it’s probably an apt one. Plus it’s an alliteration! Jogging Jean was taken (I’ll have to creep on that blog later), so I added the o because people call me Jeano. Riveting story, I know. Anyway, I’ve told myself that the best way to establish yourself is by constantly changing your name and confusing people, so I think this is a good move.

Here’s my background photo:

Oh hey dad. He'd probably kill me if he knew this was online, he thinks people will be able to steal his credit card information/soul if they find a picture of him.

Probably should have included that in the last post.

Anyway, running. So I leave tomorrow morning on a Chinatown bus to D.C. and will leave to Annapolis shortly after, presumably on a bus. I left all the logistics to my friend just to make things extra exciting. The race is Saturday morning, which is nice because it leaves us plenty of time to explore D.C. (I mean, Annapolis), assuming we don’t die during the race.

Like I said, I’m not going for any world records, just trying to keep to 10:00 miles. That may change depending on how fast my friend wants to run. I’m generally a solo runner since none of my NYC friends run, but I discovered during a 9-miler a few weeks ago in Middlebury, VT (I was there for homecoming-I guess I’m one of those a-holes that won’t let college go) that running with someone else is waaaay more fun. Hungover and tired as I was, it was actually pretty fantastic. It helped that the friend I was running with is a beast and I didn’t want to look like a pansy in front of her. So I think I’m going to stick with my other friend for at least part of this race. I tend to get insanely competitive but also give up as soon as I feel tired, so it’ll be interesting to see which of those totally noncontradictory traits wins out. I ran my first half marathon 3 years ago in Middlebury, and that remains my best half to date. I can’t remember my time exactly, something like 2:03, but it’s the only race I haven’t walked any part of. Like I said, when I’m tired, I totally give up. I did the Middlebury half again this past spring, for which I had actually trained (like, kind of intensely, for 10 weeks) because I wanted to break 2 hours, but it was way hillier than New York and I totally crashed around mile 11. I finished around 2:04. I’m actually really excited about this one since I’m wearing a totally different kind of shoe and know I’m slower than I was, so I’ve put no pressure on myself to PR.

About shoes, I’m not exactly sure which ones I’m going to wear on Saturday. I would love to race in my Runamocs, but I need to figure out what kind of surface we’re going to be running on. If it’s all pavement, great, but if not, I could be in for a somewhat painful ride. I could probably look this up in 2 seconds, but I’m too lazy. If I don’t wear my Runamocs, I’ll wear my Merrell Pace Gloves. The Pace Glove is somewhat minimalist, but it has almost zero ground feel and there’s a significant lift beneath the arch I don’t like. But they would make me run faster.

I’ve also decided to run without a watch and with my iPod turned off. I’ll have it with me in case of an emergency (ie. my feet refuse to move one in front of the other), but my first half I didn’t have music and like I said, that’s the fastest I’ve run a half to date. Granted, I was cursing the race director the entire time since it was the first time I had ever run a significant distance without music and everyone else seemed to have ignored the “no iPod rule” (amateur hour) but this past weekend I did 11 miles, 10 without music, and it was actually a pretty enjoyable experience. I’ll let you (and by you, I mean me, my only reader) know how it goes.

Sh-t, not enough photos this post… I’ll have to build up my arsenal of running-related photos so I can recycle them again and again. I’ve realized my phone isn’t going to hack it, so I may try to venture out with a camera. I thought about racing with a camera this weekend, but that would be dumb-I’m slow enough already, I don’t need to slow myself down even more by taking pictures of everything (“Oh, a tree, I need to take a picture so I’ll remember it forever!”).

I’m going to try to tone down the cussing and use dashes when I do so this blog comes off less like that of a mean old hag and more like that of a happy but occasionally sarcastic 20-something runner-type. Yay for family-friendly (ish)!

-Jeano