I am located on Terra, third planet from the sun in a system on the inner edge of the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy approximately 27,000 light years from the galaxy’s center, where I am presently engaged in training for the Berlin marathon.
The events of the past few days are as follows:
Tuesday, July 12
The weather did not choose to cooperate with my plans for double digit miles. It was hot and sunny from at least 7am onward. I figured I would do the best I could for as long as I could and see what happened. I got outside at 6:30 in the morning and knew in rather short order that I wasn’t going to make it for the long haul. The sun was set to “high broil” and seemed focused squarely on my head. Sweat was rolling down every possible crevice after the first mile, and I was about to start in on my litany of gripes about summer running. “This is why I don’t run in the summer!” I said to myself. Then I realized: wait….it’s mid-July and I AM running. In fact, I’ve been running fairly consistently this entire year — all of winter, spring AND summer. So I guess then as of 2011, I do run in the summer. Maybe not long and maybe not well (yet) but I DO run in the summer! And that’s cool.
Therefore, no matter how bad the weather is or how short the distance must be, I have decided to be damn proud of the fact that a summer has come and has NOT found me sitting on the couch. I may not be running as long or as well as I’d like, but I AM running in the summer! Not bad for an old broad…
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Wednesday, July 13
Yesterday after my short (3.22 mile) run, I came home and had breakfast. I wanted to get in at least 2 hours of training so I decided to let the food settle, then go downstairs and do some step aerobics. There may not be much forward motion but step is a great workout for quads, hams and glutes. I did a 45 minute session total which was effective enough that I felt it today, and I liked that. I love the feel of DOMS in the morning!
Today’s a.m. weather was cool, grey and windy — almost autumnlike. I got on the bicycle around 7:00 and pedaled at a brisk pace for an hour around the neighborhood. There are some decent hills (for Illinois anyway) and so I managed to work up a bit of a sweat, especially when riding into the wind. I was tired and had to talk myself through the last half of the ride, but I pushed on by repeating “five more minutes” and then five more after that until the hour had elapsed.
The bike is suggested by many coaches as a good cross-training exercise for runners. It does work many of the same muscles in a non-impact fashion, but I believe my workout vids bring me to a greater state of cardiovascular fitness. There’s something about doing step or plyometrics while lifting light weights or reaching overhead (the way so many of the FIRM, Cathe Friedrich or Gilad workouts direct) that helps me get stronger. And climbing the 14-inch box on those old FIRM workouts cannot be denied as a stamina-builder.
Thurday’s forecast promised a perfect chance to try for big miles in the morning. I set the clock for 4:45 a.m. and hoped to have a good two hours to run before heading back home to prepare for the workday. I always need an hour to get completely awake, so I planned to run from 6 to 8ish. It’s a great idea to geta minimum of eight hours sleep the night before but getting to bed early is never easy for me!
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Thursday, July 14 — Bastille Day
On this day in 1789, Parisians stormed the Bastille seeking to gain ammunition and gunpowder for the Revolution. 222 years later, I stormed the subdivisions and blasted the crap out of my recent inability to rack up some distance.
The weather was great, I actually got out of bed at 5:00 and was out of the house by 6:15. I did ten miles of run/walk intervals and it was AWESOME! I even had energy for a full day’s work at the office afterward. Love it, love it, love it!
Right now, not even a trip to outer space could be better than this.
Boldly running where I've never gone before 
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