Conversations With Strangers

Yesterday, I ran some more. It was a really sucky run, too. You know the kind: everything hurts, you don't feel great, the sun is so freaking bright that it's burning your retinas (that might just be in Arizona) and all you want to do is turn around and shuffle back to your car.

But I didn't do that. I toughed it out for 4.6 miles. About 2 miles into my run I crossed paths with and older gentleman coming from the opposite direction. He waved me to a stop and we had the following conversation:

Old Dude: Does this trail lead to Tatum? (Tatum is a road)

Me: Yes, it does. You're about 2 miles away.

Old Dude: I'm training for the PF Chang's Marathon.

Me: Me too! Well, I'm only doing the half.

Old Dude: Oh. Yeah. I'm just doing the half. But I've done 27 marathons in my lifetime.

Me: Wow. I've only done one.

Old Dude: Don't worry, one day you'll do a marathon.

Me: I've actually done a marathon, but only one.

Old Dude: Don't worry, you'll do one someday. Thanks for stopping to talk with me!

And with that, he happily jogged off.

So that adds 4.6 miles on Day 5 of Janathon for a total of 14.79 miles.

I can count 4.75 miles as six, right?

Yesterday, I got up at the crack of dawn to go run. I originally planned on running 6, but my heart just wasn't in it. I'm fairly certain that this in no way had anything to do with the 3 glasses of wine I had consumed the night before.

Early January mornings in Arizona remind me that I am not capable of living anywhere colder. Yes, the summers are hideous. But I can't stand it when it is cold. I would really prefer that the weather be 65-75 year round. Is that so much to ask?

Anyway, I met up with my newbie runner friends that are walk/running the 10K during Princess weekend. I planned to run 3 miles out and turn around and catch up with them but ended up turning around at 2 miles. I did run up ahead a few times, but I only ended up with a total of 4.75 miles. C'est la vie.

Nature. I hear people like that stuff.

Afterward, I hate about 10,000 calories at breakfast. I'm not sure why I'm not losing weight. Hmmm..

I don't have much to offer you in this post, so here is a pic of 2 of the adorable foster kittens we have at the barn right now.

I die.

Day 4 of Janathon: 4.75 miles for a total of 10.19 miles.

Making The Time- Day 3 of Janathon

This whole running (or walking) every day thing is hard. I'm glad I signed up for Janathon this year because I'm getting a taste of what it means to be someone that is serious about working out. I've heard of people that work out like a fiend and make some time no matter what. I just don't happen to be one of those people.

This may or may not be me.

I ride my horse before work most mornings and then work all day. If I'm going to run, I pretty much need to do it after work. If I have any other plans, it gets tough to fit in working out.

Since I had a really long day yesterday that I knew was going to end with happy hour, I had to find another way to get some sort of work out in. I wore my 2012 NYCM tech shirt under my sweater at work and at lunch time, I went out and ran up and down the little mountain behind our office.

The mountain may be small, but it's really steep. It took me more than half an hour to do a little over 2 miles. My legs certainly got a work out, though.



Yes, the sun is super bright here in AZ.

 

I figure that every little bit helps and doing hill repeats in jeans on my lunch break still got my heart rate up. Day 3's workout? Check!

 

Day 3 of Janathon: 2.24 miles for a total of 5.44 miles

 





Walking Off The Food Baby

I always have a hard time starting my New Year's resolutions on New Year's Day because in my eyes, that's still a holiday and I'm going to use that as an excuse to eat crap and drink. Usually, though, I'm ready to go by January 2nd.

Since I challenged myself to Janathon this year, I actually did force myself to go out and run 4 miles last night. Today was a little harder because my aunt called me at work and convinced me to go eat Greek food with her after work. Who am I to turn that down? I love Greek food.

Get in my belly!

The moment I agreed to have dinner, I knew that running afterward was out of the question. So I did what any serious Janathoner would do: I drove home and before even going into my house, I walked 1.2 miles around my neighborhood... in my jeans while having a gossip fest via text with one of my blogging besties.

I don't know if texting while walking off a food baby counts as a work out, but I do know that I wouldn't have done anything at all without scary Janathon looming over my head, so I'm counting it.

Day 2 of Janathon: 1.2 miles for a total of 5.2 miles.

Apologizing In Advance, but Janathon is here!

For the last couple of years, I've thought about doing Janathon. It's pretty simple: run or exercise every day, then blog about it within 24 hours. Since I'm trying to play catch up on my very lofty goal of 1000 miles before the 2014 New York City Marathon, maybe this will help me out.

I know lots of people are posting about New Year's resolutions and such, but I always have a hard time starting resolutions on January 1st. For me, it's still a holiday. We get the day off of work and there's usually a decent amount of champagne consumed the night before. Resolutions really should start on January 2nd, in my opinion. I consider it a win that I've managed not to be hung over for the last 2 New Year's Eves. Win for Jaime!

Annnnyway... I was (semi) determined not to completely fuck up the first day of Janathon, but there were some obstacles.

First, we had mimosas at lunch today. Apparently, last night wasn't enough. We had to continue consuming champagne today as well. I was still determined not to miss my first run (or walk) of the challenge, so I told myself we could enjoy our mimosas, then I could take a nap in the afternoon and be ready to go... even if I just went out and walked a mile.

Then I got home and cocooned myself on the couch and slept waaaaay longer than I was planning. My kitties had the same idea and planted themselves on top on me for the afternoon.

They didn't want me to get up, either.

So around 6:30, I made a deal with myself. I was craving Pei Wei (if your city does not have Pei Wei, I feel very sad for you). I was craving it like some sort of addict. I promised myself that if I went out and ran 3 miles, I could have it, even though A.) I have no control when I eat Pei Wei and would most likely eat way too much and B.) it's New Year's and shouldn't I be eating things like salad?

Well, I'm happy to report that not only did I run 3 miles, I actually pushed myself to do 4. And by the time I was done, it was 8PM and I decided to use a little will power and keep myself from racing over to Pei Wei when I was done.

I had a gluten free brownie left over from last night instead. Because that's what athletes do, right? All I know is the total calories in that brownie were way less than the chicken Pad Thai I originally planned on scarfing.

Happy New Year everyone! 2014 is the year of the horse and what could be better for this horse lover than that?

First ride of 2014

Day 1 of Janathon: 4 miles

Marching To The Beat Of My Own Drum While Keeping Up With The Joneses

I'm always feeling torn about the reality of blogging and what it means to me. I'm equal parts March To The Beat Of My Own Drum and Keeping Up With The Joneses. And yes, I had to Google the proper form of Joneses. (I also originally wrote "marching to the tune of my own drummer". Good thing I Googled that, too, or we could add idiot to my list.)

My blog started off as a running blog, recapping all of my races. Then I started added other random things. Then it got more random. Then I tried to direct myself back to running and fitness. Then I got bored with myself. I mean, seriously. How many times can I tell you about the miles I've run or didn't run or what I ate for dinner, which isn't gourmet or photo worthy. But others do it and they do it successfully, so what do I know?

I suppose the point of a healthy living/fitness/running blog is to inspire others and/or chronicle one's journey to meeting some sort of goal, be it weight loss or marathon training or any number of things in between.

Here's some honest truths about myself that are lacking in the motivational department:

1. I like watching TV. I like watching TV more than I like running or exercising of any kind. Don't get me wrong, I don't sit around all day doing nothing. I'm a single woman that works to pay a mortgage and an expensive horse addiction. I ride almost every day before work and then I work a regular job like anyone else. When I leave my office, I do not want to run. I want to make a beeline for my couch and plant my ass there and guzzle down some wine. (I don't always guzzle wine, but I want to.) Besides, I just discovered The Blacklist, and seriously, if you are not watching that show, you should drop everything you are doing and watch all of the episodes thus far. You will thank me, I promise.

(Source)
Am I even allowed to post this image? Do I have to source it?
Someone help me before I get myself sued!

2. I keep losing the same 10 pounds over and over and over. I initially lost 20 pounds in my first year of running and have since gained and lost 10 of those like a zillion times. That's lame, I can admit it. And annoying. And here's where I have trouble calling myself a healthy living blogger. Mainly because I'm not all that healthy. I eat weird things and usually way too much of it. It would help if I ran more, but I don't really like running. Should we talk more about The Blacklist?

3. I have a really hard time censoring myself. I love Disney races and I love dropping the F bomb. These things do not mix well, right? I find myself constantly censoring what I want to say because Disney tends to bring out the wholesome bunch and my rD inspired posts and recaps tend to bring the most page hits (although I can name several run Disney besties with just as foul mouths as mine, right Team Freedom?) but shouldn't I just write what I want to write and say fuck it? Whew! That felt good. We'll see how that pans out.

4. I'm torn between my Keeping Up With The Joneses side and Marching To A Different Drum side. I see lots of bloggers getting sponsored for things and getting products to try and I immediately think, Hey! I wanna do that, too! But then what do you do when you hate a product? Is it worth it? Do I even want to do that? Do I want to start my blog entries stating it is a sponsored post? Also see number 3. Sponsors probably don't want you to review a post by using profanity. Unfortunately, that's my favorite way to communicate. Also, I'm good with conveying messages via a healthy dose of sarcasm.

Although, I would totally review this unicorn hat.
Because it is awesome.

So there you have it. I haven't given up on running or blogging or anything like that. I still like racing. And to race, you must run at least a little. (Although through an anecdotal personal experiment, I can confidently report that it is possible to finish half marathons on very little training.) I really don't want to be one of those bloggers that never improves, but I'm human and I already have an extremely time consuming sport. So it is what it is.

And just to be oppositional to all that I just wrote, I'm signing up for Janathon. I keep threatening saying I'm going to sign up every year, and then never do. At least it will give me something to write about and force me to exercise every single day in January. All of you dedicated runners should check it out. It's running and blogging! Who wants to join me?

Also, I decided to sign up for Rock 'n' Roll Arizona in 3 weeks. And I've only 3 run 39 miles in 2 months. That should go swimmingly! But the medal is pretty cool.

Headphones! And they finally did away with the plain neck ribbons.

More importantly, who else is watching The Blacklist? Let's discuss.