Phonin' It In

That was the m.o. today. Just run and get 'er done. Unfortunately that kinda sucks for six miles. When you're checking your Garmin and it's only been three tenths of a mile, you know you're in trouble. Blork. Yet I persevered. Even if I passed the time trying to figure out if I was bored, miserable, tired, thirsty, or still sore from Saturday--the time passed. Then I finally had that glorious moment. That hallelujah that all runners know and love. That moment when misery turns to bliss and you remember "Oh yeah, that's why I do this!" Too bad it occurred at 5.75 miles. Ah well, that final quarter mile rocked. (And I didn't cheat today and cut the mileage short even though I REALLY wanted to.)


Today's Miles: 6
Total Miles: 452

Taper Madness--Take 1

Ode to my shoes I love so well,
Even if you kinda smell.
You’ve seen me through so many runs,
Yet you remain a virgin to the starting guns.
But your time will come, I now know,
When the starting mat will be your “Go.”

Today’s forecast was nothing but rain
And I should have turned to Sir Squeak again.
After all, that sort of weather gave him his name
And a prominent squeak’s now his grating game.
But I chose you anyway, over him,
Hoping your odds of now squeaking were slim.


Then I stepped in a puddle on mile three.
(Doh!) Still ,you were so kind to me.
Nary a blister on my sopping feet,
After twelve drenching miles, that’s pretty neat!
I owe you so much, you rascally shoes,
So munch on this exciting news:


Dear footwear friends, will you join me soon
In running the Big Kahuna-hoon?
It’ll be an adventure, I can promise that.
All I ask is you make it to the final mat
Where we don our rewards and hug loved-ones so
Then head to the kegger and get on with the show.


Okay, maybe you’re not cute party gear.
How ‘bout hangin’ in my closet for a year?
Sweet Asics Gel Nimbus ( in a discontinued hue)
The expiration date on our training is due.
Thanks for the run--metaphorically and not
I’ll do what I can to make sure you don’t rot.

Today's Miles: 12

Total Miles: 446

A crazy dry throat, a little air guitar...

and I found my Nirvana. Or Bruce Springsteen, as the case may be. (We all know I love me some "Born to Run.") I've had the worst cold this week--thank you, high schoolers, for all the germs--and running has been the last thing I've wanted to do. But the training must go, right? So it was on Tuesday when I headed out, feeling like I was at death's door, and gave myself full permission to run just as far as I could and be happy with whatever the resulting distance might be. Somewhere, somehow, the endorphins must have taken over because lo' and behold, around mile four, I found myself blissed out. Literally, I started playing air guitar while I was running! How scary is that?!? I must have been febrile. I'll take it though. It was a great run

The same thing happened again on Wednesday (minus the air guitar, thank God) and my "I'm just going to phone something in here, ummm, how about two miles?" turned into the full eight Hizzoner Higdon had scheduled.

Then I skipped yesterday's run. Shhhh.


This week's miles (so far): 13
Total Miles: 434

The Big Kahuna: Run and Done!

Like a groggy bear emerging from his wintry lair, I'm just getting up from my post-run nap. That's right. I haven't taken a nap since the Reagan years but today one was most certainly in order. I mean, how else do you aptly celebrate running twenty miles?!? That's right, chili beans. I did it. I ran the Big Kahuna. The longest run of my training program. And ya know what, it wasn't so bad. In fact, I'm gonna make y'all gag and roll your eyes when I tell ya that Running Partner and I actually considered asking the marathon coordinator, who happened to be on site for this organized training run, if we could just run our 26.2 today and get our medals.

Ahhhh, now for the glorious taper. This is when the true madness sets in, I hear. Hold on to your boot straps, it could be a wild ride.

Today's Miles: 20 (!)
Total Miles: 421

The PBI

Ha, you're probably thinking "That silly Runner Girl doesn't even know it's 'ITB' not 'PBI'!" But no, folks. PBI stands for Peanut Butter Incident. And we just had one in this hiz-ouse. Fortunately I'm totally anal, type A when it comes to preparing the night before my long runs, which is what I was just doing about five minutes ago. That's when I went to the pantry to retrieve my Jif Reduced Fat Crunchy Peanut Butter to set out for tomorrow morning when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a gaping whole in the designated peanut butter portion of our pantry! Gasp! Oh no, it can't be so! As I said, I'm totally anal, type A about this stuff and I just double checked yesterday to make sure we had some. Mouth agape, in a state of perplexity, I turned to Runner Boy who naively announced "Oh yeah, we finished that today. The kids and I have been housing on that stuff. It's pretty good. They looooove it." No doubt. These are the same wily runlets who down Power Bars and GU like there's no tomorrow. Thankfully, my totally anal, type A approach saved the day (or run) on this one and Runner Boy is remorsefully at the store right now replenishing my nutty stash.

By the way, I have been running this week. Just slacking on the blogging. Maybe because I didn't want to have to admit that I cheated on Tuesday's run and did three miles instead of five. At least they were fast, that counts for something right?

And, get this, we got a new cat this week and the runlets named him Miles. (Gee, are we running obsessed much?) Of course, they were probably tripping on GU at the time.

Oh yeah, tomorrow's run? Twenty miles. Wish me luck!

Today's (more like Tuesday's and Thursday's) Miles: 8
Total Miles: 401

It Was Golden, Johnny

What with multiple faculty meetings, tutoring sessions, and a David Byrne concert thrown into the mix this week, I decided to be prudent and do my longish mid-week run today and get it over with. Running Partner, amazing chica that she is, volunteered to rearrange her schedule as well and join me. Since we had ten miles on the menu--a fairly easy distance at this point but still one that takes some time--we chose to return to the old trail we used to run in the beginning of our training program. It was symbolic in a way to return to the site of our first-ever run together. And it was truly uplifting to note how far we've come in terms of our conditioning. As we crested the hill we used to dread, we looked at each other and said "Gee, that hill seems to have gotten a lot shorter!" (Well, we didn't actually say "gee" because we're not quite that dorky but it was somewhat similar I'm sure.)

The most amazing part of the run is that the sun started to set in our final two miles. Scary, yes, because we had on nary a speck of reflective gear, but amazing at the same time. We couldn't help but get all misty and note the symbolism of the sun setting on our run as we shared one of our last training runs together. It was beautiful.

Today's Miles: 10

Total Miles: 393

Fourteen and Feelin' Fine

I was totally not jazzed about today's run. Last night I went to bed at 8:30 because I've been so.frickin.tired all week. Then baby runlet woke me up at 5 a.m. and all I wanted to do was pull the covers over my head and stay in bed until lunchtime. Fortunately my running schedule has me on autopilot so I got up like a good soldier, filled my fuel belt, ate my GU, and headed out to meet Running Partner. I was literally mid-yawn when she pulled up to the curb.

We started nice and slow, just as the sun was coming up. Check that, the sun didn't actually appear until we finished the run. Thank you, cloud cover! At 98% humidity, the last thing you want to see is the sun. Who needs to add heat to that?!? So, I guess I mean we were just getting started as the sun should have been coming up. I'm sure it came up somehow, somewhere, but I sure didn't see it.

Oh, but I digress. My point today is that a run I was dreading turned out to be amazingly easy and uneventful. You'd think Running Partner and I wouldn't have much more to talk about anymore after all the hours we've logged side by side but somehow conversation never seems to lag. Today it helped that her Runner Boy was naughty, naughty this week and girlfriend had some venting to do! (Note to any men in the audience--if your wife calls you when you're at a strip club, take the time to step outside and answer the phone.) We also rescued a turtle and saw a ginormous dead frog. Hmmm, maybe it was kind of eventful after all.

Next week is the peak week of my training. Forty miles (total) on tap. Ack!



Today's Miles: 14
Total Miles: 383

Reunited and it feels so good...

One thing that really sucks about returning to work is that I now have to do all my midweek runs in the evening. This is no good for two reasons: 1)I'm already worn out before I even take my first step, and 2) I have to run by myself. A social creature like myself needs companionship. It's just plain cruel and inhumane to sentence me to such solitary exercise.

With that said, you can imagine my excitement when I arrived at the bus stop this afternoon to retrieve my oldest runlet and I saw Runner Neighbor decked out in tech gear. "Are you going for a run?" I asked with more excitement than I had hoped to reveal. "Yeah, I'm going out for six miles in about an hour," came her reply. I could not have been more euphoric if Santa Claus himself were standing there. BUT, wait 'til you hear this, I didn't just jump blindly at the opportunity. No, no, no. I only have five miles scheduled today and my darn tootin' legs are so tired that I'd actually rather run five miles by myself than add an extra mile and run with one of my best friends. So I said "Would you be willing to do five so I could go with you?" Thankfully she loves me, quirks and all, and agreed to shorten her run. It was glorious.



Today's Miles: 5
Total Miles: 369

The Show Must Go On

That's how I feel about running right now. Life doesn't stop for marathon training and marathon training doesn't stop for life. No matter how drained I am from maintaining my composure for eight hours while seventeen-year olds try to ferret curse words out of a word search, I still must run. ("Huge wood" was the best they got--I admit I had to pretend to write something on the board so they didn't see me laugh. Mature, no?) And, on the days that I weather the seventeen-year olds well, there's still the tutoring side gig with the boys in a group home at a local mental institution. I'll just let your imaginations run with that. Trust me, it's even more extreme. Still, I come home and run.

And so it is, with today's run accomplished, that I quickly update this blog so I can head out to the suburban ritual of consuming fruity, alcohol-laden drinks while gossiping and munching hor d'oeuvres--oops, I mean Bunko--and get on with life. (Y'all thought I was going to say "book club" back there, didn't ya?!?)

Today's (and yesterday's) Miles: 15
Total Miles: 364

Mascara, Mantras, and My Road ID

Apparently those are my three essentials when eighteen miles are on the menu. The Road ID is a no-brainer because, seriously, I might die of a heart attack on a run that long and someone has to be able to identify me after the criminals kidnap Running Partner.

As for the mascara, what's that saying? "Live fast, die young, and leave a good looking corpse." Gotta have the mascara on when the Road ID comes into play. I shudder to think what the EMT guys might say to each other without at least a little effort on my part. (You'd understand if you saw me at 5 a.m.)

Then, the mantras. I owe a big ol' smoocheroni to SuperCallieFragilistic for reminding me of this article when I sent out a desperate plea to all my running buds yesterday. I was beginning to question whether or not I had the mental fortitude to keep running for eighteen miles and was looking for all the help I could get.

Now for the report on today's run. I was trying to think of the perfect adjective to describe it and kept coming up blank. There were high points, low points, eventful moments, dull moments--but, overall, the whole was better than the sum of its parts. Oh sure, I could go on about the "BodyGlide stain" on my shirt that turned out to be blood, or the blisters the size of Texas between my toes. But why? Why focus on the negative that seems to come with any long run? I'd rather focus on the fact that I ran the entire time without stopping. I want to celebrate that I actually ran one of those miles at a 6:30 min/mile pace (we don't need to talk about why, just know it wasn't my GI issues for once!). And, I want to be proud that I get to go to our annual block party this afternoon, drink some beers, eat too much junk food, and brag about the fact that I ran eighteen miles today!

Today's Miles: 18
Total Miles: 349

It's Hard to Keep Up

And I'm not just talking about running. I knew life would probably get a little crazy when marathon training reached its peak but I wasn't quite prepared for the all-consuming reality. I feel like my life has become working and running--and not necessarily in that order. I actually ran home from work yesterday. I packed my running gear, wore my scary-short running skirt and "Hello, here I am" running tank to my faculty meeting, then hit the scorching city pavement for seven miles home. Uphill. Yeah, somehow there's no way to get home from the city without going uphill the whole way. And I had new Hopkins and Loyola students wandering around in lost packs to contend with. Fun, fun.

So that was yesterday. Today, a day when city schools closed early due to extreme heat mind you, I came home and cranked out three miles. I didn't wear my Garmin because to be frank I just couldn't handle the pressure.

Running Partner and I have eighteen miles on the schedule for Saturday. The same day Hurricane Hana is due to hit Baltimore apparently. Can anyone say Body Glide?


Today's (and yesterday's) Miles: 10
Total Miles: 331

Attitude is Everything

Runner Boy and I had a special Labor Day treat today. My parents came over to watch the runlets so we could run together for a change. Runner Boy is definitely improving as a running partner. That is, he's learning the rules:

1. You must talk and make conversation, at least most of the time--there are occasional exemptions for extreme hills and such
2. You must drop behind or run ahead when oncoming traffic approaches (rather than smush me to the curb)
3. Above all else, you must not complain. I don't need anyone's external bad vibes harshing my mellow, ya know?

Being the awesome spouse that I am, I let Runner Boy pick today's route; the only criteria I gave him was that it had to be at least eight miles. Quite giving of me, no? Therefore, is it in any way my fault that he picked a route that includes a mile and a half section of continuous intensely steep uphill?

Now me, I like some good hill work. Especially on a short eight-miler, I don't mind pushing it a little harder than usual. (Hey, did you notice that I just called eight miles short? Sick, eh?) Runner Boy, on the other hand, started cussing audibly about a quarter mile into the incline. Then he started groaning and it simply escalated from there. I don't remember what the precise final straw was that broke my forbearance but I believe it involved the invocation of God, Jesus, or some such deity. That's when I snapped. "Enough! Enough of your negativity!" I screamed silently, or not--details, details, who can keep track of it all? "I can't take it anymore! White flag! Keep your xi-poisoning words to yourself!" I think that last part was in my head. But I know this next part was out loud for sure "Repeat after me: I love me some hills! I love me some hills!" And repeat he did. And so we continued, all military boot camp-like, until we reached the summit. I think even the people washing their cars in driveways were inspired.


Today's Miles: 8
Total Miles: 321