I'm back....(i hope)

Awhile ago, a former student wanted to start a blog. But he was hesitant. As I was excitedly sharing all the benefits of blogging, my own personal blog was shared. (This is HUGE for me! These are just my own thoughts for just me, the audience of one) But the challenge was put down. I would start blogging again, if he would start his blog. For me that means that I must start running again. I am not sure how long I have not been running. I know that my last post on this blog was last year (too long!). But for a while, I would run once, then something would happen and I would stop. I tried to start again when school started. But with all the newness of school (new students, new schedule, new textbook), I felt that I was too busy/stressed. For about a month, I wanted to run, but I also did not want to leave my couch. Finally, I had enough! Anyway, I am not getting too excited. I have run only 3 times since Monday. But at least I am not sore, anymore. (Tuesday and Wednesday I was hobbling around, like I was 100 years old.) It is slow going. I am having trouble getting up the hills. I know it is all in my head: I am fine, then I see the hill and suddenly I am achy/winded. Today, I pushed past two stopping points. It is not much, but I started.....and I plan to run tomorrow.

reset run

I can't believe that I haven't run since Saturday......ugh!.....let's recap: Sunday (taking a break), Monday (tired), Tuesday (tired), Wed (also tired). Today was literally the first day that I didn't need to take a nap. Tuesday, I totally crashed for 2 hours and woke up as the sun was setting.

so that's why today was a reset run. I managed to eek out 3.5 miles running (although there was stretch of walking to get rid of a leg cramp. The last mile, my left foot was very asleep.....I really need to figure out why that happens.

I feel refreshed and ready to return to daily runs.

back to work

I know.....

and this happens EVERY SINGLE YEAR.....but I forget how exhausted I am at the start of the school.....

on the first day, we were with the kids, the entire day.....I was tired at 11 am, ready for a nap......and there were still 4 more hours.

In hindsight, I should have NOT scheduled runs for the first few days of school. I could barely keep my eyes open on the drive home. I was practically in tears, ready for bed at 6 pm.

Today (Saturday) I finally feel better. After a 2 hour nap, I was ready to go for a run. I was smiling as I ran up and down the hill. My legs were tired on the last mile, but it was a very good run.

the complete opposite

As the title suggests, today was different....shockingly so

back to school (aka teacher meetings) had me setting my alarm at 5:30 am, although I woke up at 4 am, completing my ab routine, and scrambling to get ready, all before 7 am (on summer vacation, this all would happen close to noon)....I arrived at school, nauseous because I took my vitamin without food (definitely a no, no)....in fact I was worried about upchuck (sorry) in the middle of chapel.

meetings and more meetings where instead of lounging in my comfy chair, I was sitting still listening to people, while inspiration, I was having trouble keeping still.

lunch at Asia Manoa was fab, but it meant I was completely full the rest of the day....like uncomfortably so

by the time I returned home (around 4:30 pm), I was completely exhausted....almost to tears at the thought of running. I tried to nap - no luck and as 5:30 pm approached, my mind was racing with excuse after excuse for not to run (I could give myself a hall pass, first day of work and all .......I could walk instead, still exercise.......exactly how far did I really need to run, anyway to count, block to Zippy's?)

I slowly put on my running gear (note to self: my favorite polka dotted sports bar is very visible thru my UnderArmor shirt)
I decided that I would walk, and if I felt like running I would run, but if I didn't, THAT IS OKAY.....at least I was outside.

I VERY slowly walked up the hill to the light with a grimace on my face (normal procedure).....as I crossed the street, I slowly (and I mean really slowly) started to run. I went slow, frightfully so. If someone was behind me, walking, odds were, they might pass. But the point is....THAT I KEPT ON RUNNING. Eventually I warmed up and ran (a bit) faster. On Mondays I always see lots of runners and I made a point to smile at everyone (even the attractive people)....33 minutes later, 3 miles and I have completed a run I didn't think was possible.

Wahoo!

silly me

of course, when I get totally psyched for a run....ready to head out into the cool evening for miles and miles of running....I bonk.

silly me for not hydrating...or having lunch, my fault

Today is my last day of summer vacation and I think I spent the entire day counting down. NOT FUN!

I had some good runs this week. I alternated between 3 miles (slight inclines) and 4 miles (with hill and 30 second light after 23 min). Running is now second nature. There is no gearing up for a run, like before. Where i'd flit around, slowly preparing myself for the torture. I'd dress. Then check my email. Then think about why I run (or really why it be okay not to run today). Then search for my ipod.....eventually head outside. Now, I run. Period.

Today's run was awful. I didn't complete any warm up - just started, after closing the gate. By the time I ran up the small incline (which is steep enough for calves to burn), I was tired and had to slow down. So I skipped the hill. UGH! I ran to the light, took a short break and began running again. Things were better on the flats (maybe the lesson is....when no food, make sure no hills). I did eek out 3 miles. But it certainty didn't feel good.

4 miles, baby!

yep! excellent run today - I felt like I could have kept on going and going and going.....

AND I started looking at my clothes, preparing for first day of school. I fit into all of my pants. wahoo!

food for the day:
breakfast: toast
lunch: 3/4 of a rice/bean burrito
dinner: about to have a wonderful steak salad. Yum!

Ciao

Happy Monday!

wow, I can't believe it has been a week since my last post. Let's catch up!

Last Monday I had to stay up to wait for the arrival of my college roommate, Keisha. As I wrote before, her plane was delayed by six hours and she didn't land until 12:45 am. Tough to stay awake, since I usually go to bed around 10, I had to put in the MOST boring movie to stay awake. I remember circling the airport 4X (because they really don't let you park, even late at night when there was only one flight arriving). Finally, we connected a little after 1 am. Keisha was starving and the only food place open is McD's. Sigh, I couldn't resist the fries (medium), but I didn't eat them all. We watched the movie SWAT (love that Colin Farrell and Jeremy Renner!) and had great fun catching up. It was almost like we were back in our little Central apartment at Duke, hanging out discussing the really important things like why the commercials are so silly. I think I laughed until I cried, several times.

So I am sure I could go into great detail about her stay.....I'll spare you all the boring details and just write the highlights

Tuesday: didn't motivate until 1 pm, went to mall to get some walking shoes (Keisha), late lunch at CPK, crazy full run around 5 pm, watched TV until bed.

Wednesday: didn't motivate until 3 pm (yes, I sense this is a theme, but to be honest I did have a grad school assignment due)....we went for a 2hr run/walk around Diamond Head and went to Whole Foods for dinner, also hit up Blockbuster for the Mechanic (better than expected) and Battle: LA (ummm, good, but wasn't into).

Thursday: up at the crack of dawn to run because heading to the Polynesian Cultural Center for a FULL day of culture. Running in the am was a great experience. It was cool and not many people out exercising (although lots on the road, heading for work). I felt great getting the run out of the way, but I seriously know there is NO WAY I can get up early in the mornings. PCC was awesome. We took the bus to Waikiki, got on the bus at the Sheraton, and met our tour guide Rome, from NZ. As a teacher, I find it incredibly interesting to watch somebody in their element as Rome clearly was. He entertained with stand up/information for about 2 hours. Hilarious! Once at the center we met our tour guide, Sara from Finland and proceeded to head to the different villages to learn. We played with sticks in Aotearoa, watched a guy climb a coconut tree in Samoa, learned hula in Hawaii, made music in Fuji, laughed at the drum performance in Tonga, and much much more. To be honest I was toast (tired) at about 2:30 pm. It was HOT and completely covered in sweat. We still had the canoe pageant, the luau, tram to the Mormon temple, and of course the show. To sum up, food was excellent. At the temple, the guide made sure to approach us to see if we had any questions and to make sure we knew how wonderful the Mormon church was. And finally the show was AMAZING! They wove the story of growing up into the the different islands and then the finale was the fire dancers. Fell asleep on the bus ride back. Didn't get home until 11 pm.

Ok that was more than the highlights, on to Friday

Friday: again didn't motivate until 1 pm. Keisha helped me move all the crap I had outside to the curb for trash pickup. We had lunch at a build your own burger place. Saw Rise of Planet of the Apes (not sure how I feel about this - definitely will be talking about animal testing in class this year). Run at 6:30, super fast broke into the 9 min mile. Dinner at the chinese food place down the block. Back to blockbuster for Resident Evil 4 (ugh! so bad and I actually like the RE series) and Leaves of Grass with Edward Norton (hmmmm, interesting EN was excellent, but movie went in all sorts of directions).

Saturday: up at the crack of dawn for the Farmer's market. Managed to grab the last two lettuce. Yum, breakfast burrito! Watched Something New with Sanaa Lantham (funny!). Nap on couch (forgot to take vitamin) and sadly took Keisha to the airport. Managed to run after completely cleaning the house. So sad that she left, I really had a great time, even if we didn't really do to much.

Sunday: grad school project (final one for this class), short run since I was having technical issues with recording the narration to my PowerPoint

which brings me to today. eek! one week left of summer vacation. I know I should feel happy that I get time off during the summer. Some people only get two weeks of vacation a year. And many schools are already back at school. But I am in a panic about returning to school. I feel like I worked alot, but with nothing to show....and classes begin next Thursday. 3 mile run today - was cruising until the end and with 5 minutes left, I was done.

Well, to sum up.....I am proud to say that I have still run EVERY DAY in Aug. I still have a mental game to get myself outside, but I have run.