Who have you encountered in your (running) life who has really stood out, and why?

Yesterday I asked 'Who in your running life has really stood out, and why?'. I suppose it's only fair if I'm the first to answer my own question.

One person who has been an amazing source of inspiration for me is Marathon Dude Bill. Bill is incredible. He runs fast, really fast. He runs a lot. But he also took the time to comment and encourage me, especially when I was a new runner-blogger and when I was a-struggling away with marathon training. He's always pushing himself to improve, even though he's already way faster than I can ever dream of becoming, which reminds me that I too can improve and that even though in comparison to Bill I am laughably slow I can still push myself. He's really nice about saying all these things to me, too! One time he even went for a run with me, though he didn't know it as he actually that day existed only in my head. So, thanks Bill, for everything!

Last night we went to see Beyonce and did not get home until late. Then we spent a little while looking through the cookbook so I can make something and blog and send it on to Tracy as promised. All of which added up to not going to bed until 1 or something. But since hanging out with screaming 12-year-olds does not count as a Juneathon activity this early in the month, away trotted I at 6:30 am for a getting-faster-but-still-laughably-slow 30 minutes (just over 2.5 miles) for Juneathon day 9.

Juneathons: 9/9 + 1 extra credit

Juneathon day 6: Sleeping in

This is going to be a really sad post because yesterday after my short little Couch to 5k jaunt (2.5 miles, 31 minutes at 5 min run/2.5 min walk) we went to the Polo in the Park and between yesterday being a whole 24 hours ago and the champagne, wine, and beer that was consumed yesterday, I can't actually remember much. But I did get out there, and I'm happy to report that I have made it 1/5 through Juneathon without having to resort to calling walking to the pub a Juneathon activity. I might start today though.

Juneathons: 6/6

Right, I remembered what this post was supposed to be about. Here's a question. How do you 'get things going' or keep them from getting going for a morning run? I really can't be hanging about the house waiting for my digestive tract to wake up before I run, but man was I struggling by the end of this run yesterday, and it was only 30 minutes. For a race, I can get up early, but on a regular day, not so much. Not even on a Saturday. Once I sit down to just hang out, I'm pretty likely to stay parked on the couch. Advice, anyone?

If Marshall Mathers can do it, I'm going to need a bigger wardrobe

The runner-twitterverse is all atwerp at the notion that Eminem runs two-a-days. Well it's Juneathon day 4 and tonight is the Crisis Square Mile Run but from what JogBlog said about last year I'm not convinced this will be a great run so I figure if Eminem can run twice a day I can do it once in a while. Unfortunately I had an early meeting at work so at 5:45 the alarm starts a-buzzing and I'm off by 6 for a really short couch-to-5k version 2 run. I've annoyingly found the park nearest my house to be closed in the mornings lately which seems stupid considering the sun is up at 5 these days and I'm generally not ready to do pushups in the park until 7 or so. But this route takes me past another park that I could swear I saw someone running in this morning, and I got close to there at the end of a 'walk' cycle so I stopped my watch and went over to the park in the hopes of getting in but of course the early morning was just causing hallucinations and this park is actually locked until 7:30 so I started my watch again and carried on running until I got to the part where the last 5 minute run was all that was left and I found myself on a path with grass on either sides so I used this spot to do pushups and situps but having had two beers last night I was dehydrated and that always gives me cramps so I felt like hell and knew I had to get going so I didn't do leglifts or stretching and then I carried on running but was still about a half-mile from my house when I finished the last 5 minutes and probably could have done another cycle except that I still have another run to do this afternoon so I let myself be lazy and just walk home.

And the walk home was not 100 pleasant because I do not have enough clothes to do Juneathon properly so I've been wearing clean ones to yoga (because other people are around me) and then the same ones again to run (when I'm by myself, I promise to wear clean ones to the run tonight) but I think I might have to do a little shopping because this is getting really bad. And I was thinking yesterday about how being a yoga instructor must be among the grossest jobs ever (maybe Mike Rowe should do a Dirty Jobs on this) because I don't 'perspire' so much as ooze sweat from every one of my pores all over my body while I'm doing yoga and I usually wear a sleeveless shirt and yet Brett and Jamie are nice enough to come over and adjust me anyway and don't even wipe their hands on their shirts afterwards (or if they do they wait until I can't see them, which is practically the same thing).

1.84 miles, 21:00. Juneathons: 4/4

ETA: Oh yeah, I forgot, I am counting this bad boy for National Running Day since it was still Wednesday in California, never mind Alaska and Hawaii, when I started.

Edited again to add a Juneathon count, clearly getting up this early does not do good things to my ability to string coherent thoughts together.

Juneathon day 2: In which we discuss being a rockstar

I went to a Counting Crows concert last night and was really tired this morning (even though I woke up 10 minutes before the alarm, my eyes just did not want to open until 10 past 6). This is the second time I've seen them in recent weeks, and we go to a lot of shows. You know how sometimes you can just tell when a performer is 'phoning it in'? And sometimes everything is just tight and they look like they're having a great time? But no matter what, the performers still go on every night and the crowd still cheers, because for most of them this is the only time they're going to see that performer for a while, and so this *is* their show.

I spent this morning's run thinking about this as it applies to my work life. No lie, I've been struggling a bit at work lately for reasons I will not go into on the public interwebs, but I had a great conversation with a colleague about coming to terms with the fact that we are the ones people's moods depend on at work. For the people around me, what I bring to work *is* their show. They applaud me every time they ask my advice about something. They cheer when they ask me to weigh in on client dilemmas. You get the picture.

It's the same with our running. It's not always easy to get out there, to train for our respective events, and the temptation is to sometimes run junk miles or skip a day. But we applaud one another by reading blogs, commenting, cheering each other on. Today, I'm going to applaud one rockstar I've never cheered for before, one runner who's blog I sometimes read (or at least I've put into my Google Reader list) but I've never commented to before. I challenge you to do the same.

2.52 miles, 30:07.
Juneathons: 2/2

Lazy London Saturday

Seeing as Meg is in New York this weekend I thought I'd laze about the house for a bit, but no, annoying morning person that I am I popped right up out of bed at 8 on a Saturday. Yesterday I managed to turn my alarm clock off at 6 so did not make it to yoga but still found myself awake at 7:30, just in time to make it to work on time, yay, so I guess being an annoying morning person isn't all bad.

Still, I took my sweet time getting out of the house and did not go for a run until well past 11. My couch-to-30-minute-5k training continues and today I got irritated with the 3 minute walk periods so after the first go-round decided to do 3 min/2 min instead of 1.5/1.5/3/3 min cycles. I finished at the library and went in to pick up my books that I'm reading for my non-work-writing&photography project. Walking home the weather was so nice I laid down in the grass in the park and just read for an hour or so before going the rest of the way home. But while I was walking past the church a really dodgy looking guy said "Well, hello there" to me and I was creeped out and also could think only of that Amanda Palmer song where she talks about wondering if catcalling women has ever worked and in my opinion no.

Then I came home and decided that what is needed is even more blogs in my google reader account seeing as how the 454 runner blog posts I haven't read yet is clearly not enough so I started checking out people listed in the JogBlog Juneathon Roll Call and discovered that some of them read me even though I don't read them (sorry, rectified now) and have added some new names to my blogs-I-try-to-read list and will now spend my exciting Saturday evening actually attempting to read some of them.

Oh yeah, and there was running too. 2.5 miles, 30 min of pathetic slowness.

Couch to 5k, week 3 begins

It's 6:30 pm. First day of Couch to 5k Week 3 (I skipped the last day of week 2 in order to keep semi-on-track with respect to the calender, I'm annoyingly anal that way) was 12 hours ago. I'm finally finding time to blog.

Anyway. Today was meant to be 2x[90s jog/90s walk/3min jog/3 min walk] but that only adds up to 18 minutes. So I made it 3x that plus one extra 90s jog/90s walk at the end for 30 minutes. Somehow I wound up being kind of slow. Actually, a lot of slow (2.39 miles, 12:34 pace, ugh). Which had been striking me as weird until I realised that I am back to even times of walking and running as opposed to less time walking than running as I was last week. Maybe I'll mix it up even further later this week.

I enjoy running first thing in the morning. For one thing, it's the way to ensure I get it done (see: 6:30 pm and still at work, taking a quick break to blog). For another, I generally feel happier all day and am much less likely to eat a tuna melt for lunch. BUT. I'm not really that awake at that time of the morning, and neither is anyone else, so people waiting at bus stops tend to wander all over the pavement (sidewalk) annoyingly in front of me. PEOPLE, the pavement is not yours to control, even at 6:30 in the morning. Please look behind you before stepping backwards, lest you push a runner into the street in front of a bus.

3 more days till Juneathon. Can I get credit for a few extra days if I exercise every day this week?

I signed up for the Silver Strand half marathon with my dad (DAD, DID YOU SIGN UP YET? I'M GOING TO BE MAD IF I FLY TO CALIFORNIA AND YOU DIDN'T ENTER THIS THING!) and am 90% sure I'm going to do the Aviemore half in the Scottish highlands in October beforehand so I can do Silver Strand at whatever pace makes my dad happy. Am I insane to think about a highlands half marathon in October? The route purports to be downhill (though I should probably plan on a fair amount of hill training this summer). Am I going to freeze? Anyone ever done this one? Or want to join me?

Hangovers do not make good running buddies

Oof, holy hangover, Batman. Meg and I went to see Spring Awakening yesterday afternoon (which was much less upbeat and much more tragic than we'd been led to believe by the friend who recommended it, and also seemed to have a few too many stories for the length of the show and yet was really really long) and then decided to head to our favourite restaurant here in London for 'a drink' which turned into a wine-fueled dinner and Wii extravaganza at home. So this morning, even though I was awake early (due to being an annoying morning person now) there was no way I was going to run before breakfast. We went to the Islington Farmer's Market and picked up supplies for a delicious breakfast which featured basil eggs, Perfect Salad [wild rocket with fresh garlic and parmesan], and pheasant & pear sausages. Mmmmmmm. Finally this afternoon I felt human again and went out for a (slow, pathetic) run in the beautiful sunshine and tried not to run over all the people on their way to the football. Then I got to the park and realised I'd lost the scrap of paper I'd written the hundred pushups/two hundred situps workout on so I had to guess and did 4 sets of 15 (for each) plus maxed out at 17 (pushups)/20 (situps).

Couch to 5K, moving into week 2

I'm on fire, I tell you. I'm getting around to starting week 2 of couch to 5k version 2. I tried a pair of running shorts (these, I think). I think the 5lbs I have left in The Fat Runner's weight loss challenge (I've made mine a 6 week challenge) will help these shorts fit a little better, but I was pleasantly surprised even today. A little riding up, but not too much chafing, though I certainly wouldn't try these on a longer run quite yet. They did the trick for 20 minutes, though. Also went to the park to do pushups and situps even though the rain last night meant the grass was wet and I have no hope of wearing those clothes again without washing them. I can definitely tell I'm getting stronger. Kind of a boring run, no one doing anything funny or extra fun music, but I'm pleased that I was up and running by 6:30.

Saturday nights and Sunday mornings

Yesterday was a scheduled run day but I stupidly let the wife talk me into breakfast before I went running...and then there was no running. Instead we went to the Guinness Premiership final (Leicester 10 London Irish 9) and drank too many beers (pints 6) but miraculously I was awake at 9 today anyway and went for a (very stiff) run in the pathetic Couch to 5K version 2 thing I'm doing, finishing week 1 of this and 100 pushups/200 situps, only 2 weeks after starting. But it's time to get going, otherwise JogBlog and everyone else will laugh at me when I can't run the 3.5 miles of the Crisis Square Mile run at the beginning of June and I'll feel silly for having asked if anyone wants to donate to help end homelessness. And now I'm going to take my annoying morning-person-self to the grocery so I can make ricotta pancakes and also spinach lasagne (I seem to have ricotta on the brain today).

Creating calmness at work through exercise

Today has been one of those days. Where every other minute seems to pull you in a different direction. And I won't lie, it's been incredibly stressful. But I also feel calmer than usual and I'm blaming it on running C25k v2, day 2 this morning.
Good things to remember:

• exercise creates endorphins, which make everything seem better
• when you've used up your nervous energy with a (however short) run, there's less left to obsess over all the minutiae of your day
• you generally get to work on time instead of lazing about in bed until it's time to already be gone before you get in the shower
• you eat more healthfully all day so that
• you don't feel guilty about going to a cheese-and-wine tasting (thanks Mom!) at night

I will say that I was sadly more sore than I should have been when I got going this morning and it took me a bit to get moving, and then overall I was slower than on Monday but whatever I don't care.

A slightly better run report

I'm not cool like JogBlog so I haven't got any fancy sunglasses to review but I nevertheless dutifully put on capris, decent bra, tank top, socks, shoes, and hat. I put my sunglasses on the brim of my hat while I get the Garmin and my iPod all ready. I go outside, wait (and wait, and wait) for the Garmin to find a signal after all these months of not running and finally get going. I do my 60 seconds on, 90 seconds off thing. The goal this time around on Couch to 5k is to end up being able to run a sub-30min 5k at the end of it, so I try to do approx 10-min-miles in the running bits, which actually turned out to be a bit faster but we'll see how that goes when the time extends. I do 10 minutes, am feeling good, contemplate adding an extra 5 minutes today, decide not to because I have been so slack lately and don't want to overdo it the first day out but agree with myself to do 20 min Mondays, 25 min Wednesdays, and 30 min Fridays this week and next while everything is building up, then re-evaluate, so I turn around. Still feeling good after another 10 minutes when I'm back at the park near my house. I go to do the test for 100 pushups and 200 situps, and DISCOVER MY SUNGLASSES STILL ON THE BRIM OF MY HAT. I am a moron, or else London isn't really sunny enough for sunglasses yet. At least I didn't lose them as I did a little Metallica-headbanging-running-thing.

I know you're supposed to train for distance, and the speed will come, but as I said part of my problem doing longer distances (which I enjoy) is that it takes so bloody long to train for them when you are as slow as I am. So I'm doing a short-distance training to get myself used to running this kind of recreational distance at a not-embarassing pace, then planning to up the distances according to an as-yet-undetermined (Hal Higdon? FIRST? your thoughts?) plan based on my success in this revamed C25k. The first time I did C25k, I counted my warmup walk and cooldown walk in my distances, so I can't compare given that I didn't do any warmup or cooldown bits on this run, but back then I did an overall 13-ish minute mile and way back when I started doing marathon training I did 3 miles, jogging (I think) the whole thing at a 12:39 pace, and today I did rather less than 2 miles at an 11:59 pace of walking more than I was running. So I'm off to a better start.

I'm on Twitter, as many of you are. My running-tweets are predictably listed under @RunFrom30. I have a personal one too of course but my RL friends probably don't want to know how many (girly-style) pushups I've done. That's what I have you guys for.

Finally, check out the TopHeavyRunner, another well-endowed lady with suggestions about good bras for large-breasted ladies. I'm planning to try some of the bras she's reviewed, and I hope she'll do the same for me.

Couch to 5K, Version 2

I've decided to do Couch to 5K again. I can run 3 miles/5k, but not so fast. And part of the reason my training for long races goes to shit is that it takes so long to go anywhere. So this time I'm doing it with the aim of having a sub-30-min 5k at the end of it. Which means continually increasing the time I can run at a sub-10-min-mile pace. I know, not so fast, still, but a big improvement over when I first started this program, and this blog. I'm also adding the 100 pushups and 200 situps programs.