My rubbing bunny is back.

This morning, I met Lena for an easy three-mile run. I'm not sure how this happened, but our last run together was almost three months ago. Am I a bad running buddy? Probably.

Fortunately, the weather behaved this morning. It was in the mid-60's and not too unbearably humid when Lena met me on my porch at 7am. I'm hoping that our terrible spell of stifling humidity and heat has come to an end...just in time for my friends to visit me from Virginia (Wednesday) and call me a weenie for complaining about the weather all the time.

The run with Lena went really well. We were able to do some catching up, which kept us at a nice conversational pace. I didn't have to stop at all, and I didn't feel like I was dying. Recently, any run that doesn't make me feel like death is one worth celebrating. Here are our splits:

• Mile 1 - 10:42
• Mile 2 - 10:20
• Mile 3 - 10:21
• 0.03-mile nubbin - 0:18

I'm hoping that Lena and I can get back in the habit of running together because I forgot how much fun it is to have running company. (Speedwork sessions don't count.) Plus, with Lena pushing 6', I think we make a pretty awesome-looking pair.

To celebrate a great run, I bought a new Nike tank top, which I will christen sometime this week by drenching it with my sweat. Do you like how I left tag on?

More eating, more running.

Last night, [Runner] Jessica came over for a night of cultural education, which involved the preparation of a summer dinner and a viewing of High School Musical.

Though we live in the Midwest, I broiled some salmon and made a tomato salsa for the top. I'm basically afraid of the broiler because it involves an upside-down open flame. Fortunately, no catastrophic conflagrations engulfed the apartment last night.


In addition to the salmon and salsa, we had two salads. Jessica made a delicious, non-melon-infested fruit salad (the best kind!), and I copied the French in making a grated carrot salad:


After dinner, I made monkey bread for the first time, which is basically the easiest "baking" on earth. Jessica did the honors of shaking the crap out of the cut-up refrigerator biscuits:


Then there was a slight baking fail. The monkey bread didn't turn out quite as circular as I had hoped.


Also, Jessica left us with this ridiculously pink fruit pie in the fridge. She's like my personal dessert fairy, leaving tasty treats in her path:


This morning, I did another pace run (or really, just a steady run). It was in the mid-70's and sunny, but there was a nice breeze to keep me cool. Fortunately, I was able to pick up the pace a bit more than recently, though regrettably, my average page is, as always, 9:43 min/mile. Here are my splits:

• Mile 1 - 10:41
• Mile 2 - 9:45
• Mile 3 - 9:31
• Mile 4 - 9:35
• Mile 5 - 9:05
• 0.01-mile nubbin - 0:07
• Total - 48:47

Off to shower and relax before work. Bye.

Sausage fest+Mica

Last night, Dan and Brian invited me and the boyfriend over for a delicious, homemade (!!!) barbecue dinner. This was great timing because ever since the Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Bar-B-Que" episode, I had been intensely craving barbecue and taking it out on the boyfriend. ("Let's get barbecue NOW!")

Instead of boring you with a play-by-play recap of all the barbecue delicious-ness that I shamelessly stuffed into my mouth, here are pictures from the evening:

Pulled pork barbecue:


Baked pinto beans, made in Le Creuset cookware:


Jalapeño cornbread, authentically baked in an iron skillet:


New friend Brian with all Dan's handiwork assembled on a plate:


Afterwards, Dan made crêpes:


And there were some technical difficulties involved in opening the real Vermont maple syrup:


Later, Brian taught Dan how to play backgammon:


And the boyfriend and Dan showed off their sexy tan lines:


This morning, fueled on carbs and barbecued pork, I went for a six-mile "long" run. (It's cut-back week in the Higdon program.) It was cooler today, so I ran a best faster than I have been recently. Unfortunately, it was still sunny, and I had to make several stops in the second half of the run. Here are my splits:

• Mile 1 - 10:08
• Mile 2 - 9:42
• Mile 3 - 9:38
• Mile 4 - 9:54
• Mile 5 - 9:29
• Mile 6 - 9:27

I'm disappointed with how my marathon training is going thus far. It feels like none of my runs, especially the all-important long runs, are going very well. Most likely, my body just doesn't like running in the summer sun and heat, but it makes me feel weak and out of shape. Boo.

After cooling off some, we headed to the local Farmer's Market on the Square. Feeling like I needed to patronize local farms, I picked up some tomatoes and pumpkin butter. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at purchasing produce on a whim, so I didn't take advantage of all the nice fruits and vegetables. Maybe once I stop being so OCD...

I'm pretty sure that I want one of these for the apartment. (Notice the local musician/mountain man in the background.):


I also got really excited about the Toffee Castle:


Finally, the boyfriend and I are having a debate as to the color of his shorts. I say that they are gray. He says that they are blue. What say you, blog readers?

It's warm and uneventful.

Yesterday, I skipped my morning run for some weather- and sleep-related reason. Fortunately, [Runner] Jessica convinced me to come to the gym with her in the afternoon. Since I had to bump my long run into this week (Monday), I will have higher mileage than usual and will break the 10% increase rule. Thus, I decided to only run three miles, instead of the slated five from this week of Hal Higdon's Intermediate Program. I got really sweaty. It was gross.

After I finished running, I walked one mile. Jessica was still hauling ass on the treadmill next to me, so I used the foam roller for awhile and looked like a fool in the process. I've determined that running on adjacent treadmills might be the best way for me and Jessica to "run together" since we are not really very close in pace.

Later, [French department] Jessica, Sean, Dan, and new friend Brian came over for a little while. We were going to watch a movie, but we ended up sitting around and eating an ungodly amount of oatmeal-Craisin cookies that Dan made.

The flash makes them look dry and ugly, but they were delicious.



This morning, I ran three very slow miles in the heat and sun. I carried my hand-held water bottle filled with ice cubes, which clunked around for the first two miles, making everyone in the vicinity aware of my approach. Here are my splits, which were miraculously negative today:

• Mile 1 - 10:44
• Mile 2 - 9:39
• Mile 3 - 9:26
• 0.01-mile nubbin - 0:03

We finally finished up a three-day heat advisory, but it's still stupid hot and humid. Now that my daily run is out of the way, I don't plan on leaving the apartment. And that's probably a good plan because I have a shit-ton of Latin to get through. Salve!

Add that shit to a resume.

Last week, I was asked to write for a local online magazine, Smile Politely, proving that blogging opens doors for even impetuous misanthropes like myself. Here is my first article about Taste of Champaign. Enjoy...or don't read it.

This morning, it was quite humid and sticky when I left the apartment at 8am. My legs, particularly my hamstrings, were a bit sore from yesterday's long run. It was really a struggle to get through a short three-mile run, and by the time I was done, I was quite sweaty. Here are my splits:

• Mile 1 - 10:45
• Mile 2 - 9:45
• Mile 3 - 9:49

Eh, not too bad, though I did have to stop a few times and convince my legs that they could keep going.

Also, I meant to post a picture post-long run yesterday with my hand held water bottle. Basically, I was channeling my inner Nike model, minus the sinewy and muscular thighs.


And here is a picture of my first attempt at pound cake. It turned out pretty well. In fact, I'm going to eat some now.

Mother Nature still hates me.

On Saturday morning, I did a five-mile "pace" run, though my pace isn't very good right now. To run a 4:30 marathon, I need to maintain a pace of 10:18/mile. Unfortunately, the summer heat and humidity is making that a more difficult goal than I had anticipated. Here are my splits from Saturday:

• Mile 1 - 9:50
• Mile 2 - 9:44
• Mile 3 - 9:42
• Mile 4 - 9:39
• Mile 5 - 9:53

Yes, I am below 10:00 pace, but I'd like to have a bit more wiggle room because I know those last miles of the marathon (or maybe the entire thing) will be a struggle.

After work on Saturday, I met up with Sean, Jessica, and Chris from the French department as well as Runner Jessica for a trip to Taste of Champaign.

Jessica, Sean and Chris.

There is not much to report from that event. It was quite sticky and crowded, but I had a nice time people watching and seeing all the food and craft vendors. I ended up eating some not-very-spicy "firecracker" chicken from the Thai place down the street.

Me and some weirdo we picked up in the park.

For dessert, I had a Schwan's fudge stick AND vanilla custard from a local place called Junior's. Hey, I run a lot (a lot-ish), so I can eat two desserts. Look, Jessica and I even ran in place:

On Sunday, I didn't do a long run because the radar was predicting fiery storms of hell-fire and wrath. (Actually, large thunderstorms.) In the end, there was no storm, so I skipped the run for nothing. Lame.

While I was sitting around, not running, I called Dad to wish him a happy father's day. He was also kind enough to advise me on which ant poison worked the best because ants have invaded the apartment. Aww, dads are the best!

This morning, I got out the door by 6:20 for a make-up nine-mile "long" run. (I can't believe that I ran 13.1, and I definitely can't believe I'm going to run 26.2!) Here are my splits, which aren't so good:

• Mile 1 - 10:47
• Mile 2 - 10:25
• Mile 3 - 10:09
• Mile 4 - 10:14
• Mile 5 - 10:06
• Mile 6 - 9:55
• Mile 7 - 9:59
• Mile 8 - 10:06
• Mile 9 - 9:54
• 0.08-mile nubbin - 0:45
• Total - 1:32:24
• Average Page - 10:10

Considering that it was already in the 70's and quite humid when I got out the door, I don't consider that a total failure of a run.

I also got to try out a handheld water bottle for the first time. (I'm trying to decide if I like a belt or handheld better.) Much to my surprise, the handheld bottle wasn't too much of a problem. I filled it with ice cubes before I left, which melted down into a manageable amount of water to lug around (about half the bottle). My Garmin beeps every mile, so I use that as a signal to take a sip of water and switch hands. I don't want to become one of those weirdos with one beefy and one puny arm, after all.

Mother Nature decided to play a dirty trick on me this morning. About three miles in, I noticed that the sky looked foreboding in the direction in which I was headed. Nevertheless, I had checked the radar before I left, and there hadn't been any signs of thunderstorms. I forged ahead and ran under a frighteningly dark sky, waiting at any moment to hear a clap of thunder and be smitten by Zeus' lightning bolts.

Around Mile 5, as I made the turn to head back north towards home, I heard a rumble of thunder. Immediately, the sky opened up, and I was instantly soaked by the torrential downpour. At this point, there were more rumbles of thunder and some lightning, so I headed into a pretty residential area. I was fully prepared to bang on someone's door and scream for sanctuary from Mother Nature's wrath, but fortunately, it didn't come to that. Eventually (Um...20 minutes later), the rain stopped, and I was left running in humidity that felt like cotton batting.

When I got home, the boyfriend told me that a big storm had appeared on the radar after I left the apartment. Thanks, Mother Nature. You're a real bitch sometimes.

More scary weather.

Yesterday, there were not one, but two severe thunderstorms. During the first one, I saw shingles fly off our roof, and a tree managed to split in half and hit a car down the street:



During the second storm, we had a tornado warning (right in the middle of dinner)! Unfortunately, the weather radio failed to go off in time. Dan called to tell us that the campus alert system had just sent out an emergency warning about a tornado expected to hit campus. I grabbed my phone, camera, and the weather radio, and we ran outside and into the basement of the building next door. (We don't have a basement in our building, and we're on the second floor.)

Five minutes later, after the storm had mostly passed, the weather radio announced that there was a tornado warning. Thanks for nothing, radio.

Deeming it safe to go outside, we wandered around looking at the damage:


The first storm hit right as Taste of Champaign was about to start. They closed the park and canceled the event for the evening:


This poor tree got decapitated:


The sky was still quite dark, but at least the sirens weren't going off:


In short, yesterday, I tempted fate and lived to tell the tale. Working at the running store seems so mundane now...

You can eat pizza anytime.

This morning at 5am, I again awoke to the sound of our weather radio announcing meteorological doom (a tornado warning to the west of us). After stumbling blindly out of bed, I realized that I didn't have any batteries in the radio in the event of a power outage. I managed to fumble in the semi-darkness for batteries in a box under the kitchen sink, which turned out to be completely dead. Eventually, I found some more in the TV stand. Per usual, the boyfriend seemed dead to the world, so I took up "Morning Weather Shift" on the couch, ready to throw on acceptable clothes and run to the basement of the building next door, should the tornado sirens go off. After 45 minutes of tangible weather fear, the storm passed, and I went back to bed.

When I finally got out for a run several hours later, it was sunny and humid with temperatures hovering around 75º. My legs weren't sore, but they still felt pretty dead from yesterday's failed speed workout. I managed to make up the difference in mileage from yesterday plus today's schedule three mile run, but it certainly wasn't easy. I had to stop a lot and rest/breathe/drip sweat all over the place. Not counting all the times that I stopped, I covered 4.5 miles in 43:30. Not too shabby, I suppose. (I'd give you my splits, but Garmin Connect is down for the evening.)

Later, I made pizza dough for the first time. The process was incredibly easy, given that I made my fancy stand mixer do all the kneading. I was seriously pleased as punch to find that after an hour of resting in a covered bowl, the dough had doubled in size and was ready to be punched down. I ended up splitting up the dough into two mini-pizzas for dinner. Guess which one was mine:

Pepperoni.

Baby spinach and mushrooms.

Fortunately, we are fans of thick crust in this apartment. Overall, I'd say the pizza experiment went quite well. At least, it was much better than February's epic cupcake disaster.

After dinner, we went for frozen custard to combat the hot summer mugginess.


I managed to look particularly Asian:


Tomorrow is Taste of Champaign where local food vendors and merchants come showcase their foodstuffs and handmade wares. I'm especially excited about the 2-lb turkey legs at one of the booths! (Not really, but I imagine it would be fun to eat one and get in touch with my inner cave woman.)

The mile that killed me.

Yesterday, I did a mid-week run of five miles. My Garmin wasn't charged, so I used my regular Nike sport watch. (No splits, sorry!) In 49:45, I estimate that I covered about 5.1 miles, which is at least under 10:00 pace. I'll take what I can get right now.

Today, I went to weekly speedwork session for the last "short, fast" workout: 8 x 400. It was a sadistic workout, wherein we ran the first 400 at hard effort and all subsequent 400's were handicapped races. Given that I was the slowest person there, it was pretty depressing that I had the biggest handicap.

I managed to get through the first 400 in 1:35, which is faster than I ran two weeks ago. This determined that I would start several seconds before everyone else in the second 400. The idea was for all participants to come in at more or less the same time, which didn't work in practice. I managed to hold off everyone in the second 400, finishing in 1:29. After that, things went downhill. My next two splits were 1:39 and 1:47.

At this point, my legs were shot, and I was feeling nauseous, so I decided to stop mid-way through the workout. I probably could have run another mile, but definitely not at any sort of speedy pace. I was also not up for the repeated mental beating of being passed by multiple people, multiple times.

I'm a little disappointed that I was unable to finish the workout. Mostly, I'm worried that I will let myself quit a workout in the future, so I will do my best to stick it out. That said, I was light-headed and felt short of breath for a long time after I stopped today. It probably didn't help that it was sunny and hot today. Oh, and other biological factors were not in my favor...

In positive news, my dad will be pleased to read that I managed to put on my big girl pants and install the window air conditioning unit all by myself. It was getting too hot to leave the windows open, so I pulled out my fancy toolkit, put on my thinking cap, and followed the instructions to the best of my ability. In the end, the window frame didn't allow me to screw or drill the brackets in place. Hopefully, the unit will stay put without falling out and knocking a hole through the porch roof. At least we have cool airflow now!

In even better news, Dan returned from his family trip the Magic Kingdom, bearing stories of Disney's marketing genius and an extremely thoughtful gift:

It's a Mickey spoon rest!

On that note, it is time for bed!

I'm boring right now.

I did a "long" run yesterday, thus marking the end of my first week of marathon training for Chicago. I'm planning on loosely following Hal Higdon's Intermediate I training program, though I've had to rearrange the mid-week runs to accommodate speed work sessions on Wednesday nights.

Yesterday was humid and sunny, so my splits suffered. I also started feeling pretty dry-mouthed and dehydrated around Mile 5, so I should probably route my runs around sources of water or figure out how to carry water with me. I'd show you my splits, but the Garmin website decided to eat itself tonight and won't pull them up. Lame.

Today was the first official start of Summer Session II classes, so I began my independent study of second semester Latin with a bang. Actually, I ended up reviewing Latin 101 material for five hours by doing leftover exercises from last semester. It was a joy, especially since my office is -10ºF. In fact, I can't even go to my office for the next few days because they're knocking it down or installing fire code things or something.

I have either been retaining a lot of water lately or steadily gaining weight. Either way, the number on the scale is creeping up, and I'm starting to feel pudgy in the wrong places. This is upsetting.

Alright, I'm off to bed. I'll think of something more interesting to post later.

48 Hours in haikus.

"Girls Night at Liz's Apartment"

We ate tasty snacks.
Liz served us pink daiquiris.
Guinness is her dog.

(That is Jessica, not Liz. Whoops.)


"Saturday morning pace run."

Sunny and hot run.
Running got hard at Mile 4.
Not 10-minute pace.


"Dinner at Sushi Avenue"

Korean for me.
Japanese for the boyfriend.
Soondoboo jigae:

"Shopping at Am-Ko"

Help! I can't read this!
What does all this writing say?!?
Noodles and soy sauce?

I am scared of the Midwest.

Last night, a very large and tempestuous storm system passed right over the apartment. Mother Nature decided that she hadn't been paying enough attention to me and my weather fears, so she sent down loud thunderclaps and scary streaks of lightning across the Midwestern sky.

Naturally, the boyfriend slept through all of this. Granted, he's not very afraid of weather disasters, given that his mother majored in meteorology.

Meanwhile, I followed my own version of storm preparedness protocol:

• I locked the apartment door.
• I timidly peeked through our mini-blinds at the neighboring church parking lot.
• I shut all the windows in the apartment.
• I turned on the weather radio, just to make sure it was working.
• I tried to convince myself that it was just "angels going bowling in heaven" or something like that...
  
• I ate some peanut butter out of the jar. (I was scared...and hungry!)
  

The storm raged for quite some time. The weather radio wasn't going off at its usual every minute frequency, so I was worried that it was somehow malfunctioning and would fail to alert us of a tornado about to demolish the apartment. I was too afraid to turn on my computer to check the weather in case lightning hit the house, so I ended up watching the weather updates on the television until I fell asleep an hour or so later. Meanwhile, I was also afraid of a lightning bolt coming through the television and electrocuting me. Because that was obviously a realistic concern...

Here's how I greeted the boyfriend this morning:

Boyfriend: Hullo.
Me: YOU SLEPT THROUGH THE STORM LAST NIGHT AND LEFT ME ALONE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE WEREN'T GOING TO BE HIT BY A TORNADO!

(I should probably mention that even on sunny days, if I hear a car accelerate too loudly, I worry that it's the sound of an approaching tornado.)

In non-crazy news, I ran a three-mile recovery this morning. It was pretty unpleasant as only 14 hours had passed since yesterday's speed session. Here are my disappointing (but negative) splits:

• Mile 1 - 10:48
• Mile 2 - 10:19
• Mile 3 - 9:42

I also bought a foam roller at the running store. Though we have little room to roll out knots in our legs, I feel pretty hardcore. Plus, in the event of massive Midwestern flooding, I'm pretty sure that it will double as a personal flotation device. Yippee!

The boyfriend and I met up with Sean and Jessica (from the French department, not to be confused with Runner Jessica). Per usual, we looked like a group of high schoolers, amidst the 20-, 30-, and 40- somethings at the bar. I probably didn't help this image by refraining from drinks and ordering a giant slice of cake instead:


I think this cake was called "Chocolate Stout Cake", but I'd like to put forward a motion to rename it "Chocolate Sahara Cake" because it was dry.

The garnish was a kind of raspberry jam, complete with seeds. It kind of looked like that gross, semi-digested bird poo that sticks to your windshield:


Okay, I'm off to bed. A day off from running tomorrow, yippee!

Hideous food I've made in the past 24 hours.

I haven't posted food pictures in awhile, namely because this isn't really a food blog. Also, I haven't eaten anything very interesting recently. Last night, I tried a recipe by Joan Benoit Samuelson out of the New York City Marathon Cookbook for enchilada casserole. It got the seal of approval from the boyfriend, though I'm pretty sure he would eat bricks, so long as they weren't covered in nuts or cilantro. I thought it was pretty tasty, but unfortunately, it was hideous:


As you can see from the above guacamole, I bought some fresh avocados this week. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to use them all, so the last one went into avocado quick bread today. The batter, though delicious, was an unfortunate shade of putrid green:


And the final product was some kind bloated, brown-green monstrosity, bulging in the middle of my silicone loaf pan:


Fortunately, looks are deceiving. It tastes more or less like any other quick bread, though it did bake for significantly longer (an hour and a half). Yay for encephalitic quick breads! Hooray!

The boyfriend joined me, Jessica, and Jessica's running buddy Matt O. for speedwork session tonight. We did some kind of ladder workout, so we ran 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m, and 200m with increasingly fast paces. My times were approximately as follows:

• 1600m - 8:06
• 1200m - 6:12
• 800m - 4:04
• 400m - 1:45
• 200m - 0:47

I don't think those times are anything to sniff at, but I was consistently the second-to-last person to finish every time. (Except for the times that the older lady didn't run, in which case, I was dead last.) Oh well, it was 85 degrees and ridonculously sunny. Overall, it was a pretty entertaining way to spend time with Jessica and the boyfriend (and Matt O., who is silent). I take it as a good sign that I don't get so intimidated that I cry.

Hello to new commenters Emily and Willa. I'm glad everyone continues to find me funny. If only humor were allowed in dissertations...

Off to bed. I'll probably be sore tomorrow.

Edit: The local foodblog Champaign-Taste is hosting a contest to win a $5 giftcard to our new tart frozen yogurt place. Ignoring the fact that I think CocoMero is over-priced, I do love a good haiku contest. (Plus, I admittedly find the yogurt pretty tasty.) Here's my submission, though I doubt I'll win:

"Buckets of fro-yo.
With toppings out the wa-zoo.
'Oh boy!' said fatties."

(Un)Tying the knot.

This morning's five-mile run saw the formation of a large and irritating knot in my left quad. I've tried self massage, stretching, and using The Stick but to no avail. In fact, I probably did more damage with The Stick. Poop flakes! I'm hoping that this stupid knot works itself out tomorrow because now that my hamstrings have finally forgiven me from last week's 10x400 workout, I'm headed back to the track for another masochistic speedwork session. (Jessica, are you going?)

Anyway, here are my splits from this morning's run. My Garmin kept telling me that I was running over 10:00 pace, which freaked me out a bit. I was pleasantly surprised with the final numbers:

• Mile 1 - 10:12
• Mile 2 - 9:39
• Mile 3 - 9:29
• Mile 4 - 9:34 (Stupid knot! I hate you!)
  
• Mile 5 - 9:09

On a random note, the office window is open, and I swear that some unpleasant smell (à la poop or mildew) is wafting in. Gross.

Dan and I went to a Thai restaurant for lunch. He's going out of town tomorrow for a week-long family vacation at DisneyWorld. It sounds pretty epic, and I'm sure he will come home with lots of stories of his Lebanese family navigating the intricacies of the Magic Kingdom.

Among other things, I made cucumber salad for dinner. The cucumber was enormous and, as always, creepily phallic. Obviously, I hit the boyfriend with it:

It's hot in my apartment.

It's starting to get warm in my apartment. Too bad I don't know how to install the window air conditioning unit. My dad is convinced that between the two of us, the boyfriend and I will be able to decipher the instructions and properly install the monstrous box of cool air in the window without killing ourselves. I am not so sure, especially given that when I tried to uninstall the A.C. unit that came in the apartment, it very nearly dragged me out of the window. Does anyone have tips for installing an A.C. window unit?

I worked at the running store today. Nothing of interest happened, except that I got to talk to a coworker's son, who is three. He was very amused with the Stick and kept rolling everything in sight, including:

• His mom and dad (in various awkward positions)
• The chair
• My shoes
• My chest-al region (I nipped that one in the bud immediately.)

He also asked me something perplexing in that way that toddlers don't make any sense to me. From what I could make out, he asked me, "Do you ever get hurt at home?" which was completely out of the blue. Oh children...how I understand you so very little.

Check out this shirt I got for the boyfriend. It was on sale at Threadless. He's sad that none of his Physics grad school friends will understand it. That's what he gets for picking a department full of science nerds, unlike the chic and hip French department.


Like I said, it's hot in here, so I am uninspired to post or take pictures of what I am doing or eating. Therefore, I leave you with this video we made a couple days ago. It's 51 seconds long. As always, I am dismayed to hear that my voice on camera makes me sound like a drunken banshee...or something like that.

Sub-par weekend runs.

Yesterday, I went out for a Half Marathon training group reunion run and brunch. We only covered 3.75 miles during the run, which was fine by me because it was getting sunny and hot already. Plus, my hamstrings were still protesting movement. Here are my splits:

• Mile 1 - 9:02
• Mile 2 - 9:36
• Mile 3 - 9:30
• 0.75-mile nubbin - 7:02

It was fun to catch up with people at the brunch. Though I am sad that I woke up at 6am that morning to bake banana muffins and only one was eaten by the time I left. :(

I also made my triumphant return to the running store yesterday. Nothing to report except the smell of new running shoes. Mmmmm...synthetic materials...

Today, I attempted to do an eight-mile "long" run, but my body rebelled in many ways. Around Mile 5, I started getting a side cramp, and my hamstrings started tightening up. By Mile 6, I was pausing to stretch and take breathers. Finally, I realized that I was pretty dehydrated and went into Jimmy John's for a cup of water. I managed to cover the last miles home, but by that point, the water was giving me a side cramp. All in all, it was a disappointing run considering that I start training for Chicago this week. Here are my splits, which don't reflect the numerous times that I stopped and felt guilty about it:

• Mile 1 - 10:28
• Mile 2 - 10:11
• Mile 3 - 9:44
• Mile 4 - 9:37 [Dead skunk! Stinky!]
  
• Mile 5 - 9:53
• Mile 6 - 9:50
• Mile 7 - 10:02
• Mile 8 - 10:01

I also worked at the running store today. Fortunately, the monotony of over-pronators was broken up by my most darling Running Buddy, Lena, who is finally allowed to start running again. I fitted her in some Asics 2130's because 1) they were on sale and 2) we have to wear the same kind of shoe. It's a rule. Lena has moved apartments, so she is now just a few blocks away from me. I anticipate fun times with my new neighbor/running buddy!

Finally, I leave you with a question. Does anyone get weird callouses and/or dry, cracked skin in any of the following places? I do, and it's ugly and painful.

Everybody hurts sometimes.

Right now, I hurt a lot. My right hamstring is still tight and protests motion on occasion. My shins are tight and sore. Oh, and though I took the day off from running, I tried to stretch out a bit by going on a two-mile walk to campus from the apartment.

Yesterday, I put air in my road bike tires. I do not have a sexy, new road bike. I have a creaky, electric blue, French-made Peugeot bicycle of indeterminate age. Nevertheless, I have no aspirations of being Lance Armstrong, so I think my bike is pretty freakin' cool, especially since it was free. A friend of the family found it in the basement of a house he was renovating, my dad knew it was the right size for me, and my uncle fixed it up. Also, it has ram's horn handlebars, which I think make me look pretty freakin' sweet. What can I say? I'm a sucker for trying to be a hipster. A hipster wearing Nike Tempo Track shorts and a purple helmet...I'll take a picture some time.

I rode my sweet hipster bike to the gym, where I met Dan for a strength training workout. Dan's a very good personal trainer because though my form looked like crap and I could barely get through one full set of anything, he said lots of encouraging things like "You're doing great! Awesome job!"

There isn't much to report about the weight training session, other than the fact that Dan insisted we work out in the weight training dungeon of the gym. This is the part of the gym where estrogen is low and testosterone is high. I was one of two females, and the other woman was definitely doing beefy squats with dumbbells in the corner. Amid the unnecessary grunting and puffing of my fellow exercisers, I tried the lying down chest press. Here's how it went:

Dan: Lie down and try this one. Don't look so scared.
Me: Ow. I can't do it. [Pushes against levers in a futile attempt to lift them]
Dan: Yes, you can. Don't worry, the left one sticks.
Me: No. Ow. My left shoulder feels funny. [Attempts three lifts.]
Dan: GREAT JOB!!!!
Me: I can't do anymore. Boo. I fail. I have to stop. [Klunk!]
Dan: Really?!?
Me: Yes. Geez, that was hard. How much weight did you put on it?!?
Dan: Um, none. We can't take any away.

Workout FAIL.

The rest of the afternoon was spent running errands, talking on the phone, and trying to get my life in order. After dinner, I went over to Jessica's to help her bake a monstrous, multi-flavored, 3-tiered cake of awesomeness. I really didn't help at all. Instead, I watched Jessica bake, ate leftover batter, talked about blogs and running, and shook the cat toy at Java, who was not amused:


Despite my distracting babble and incessant shaking of the cat toy, Jessica produced two beautiful 9" lemon cakes (not pictured) as well as this gargantuan 12" chocolate layer, complete with geographic fault lines:


Up early tomorrow to bake for a Half Marathon training group running reunion and brunch. Night!

P.S. Sorry to disappoint everyone (except TFH), I did not buy the massive pudding in a can. I like chocolate pudding, but I am extremely vain and like not being enormous even more.

As you may know, I like chocolate pudding.

Dan took us to Sam's Club tonight. (Actually, we drove him, but his membership made the trip possible.) I'm not quite sure what that expression on my face is, but the bags under my eyes tell me that I need to get more sleep.

I ran this morning in hopes that my legs would loosen up some. My right hamstring was/is pretty tight and sore, but after three miles, it felt better. It was a nice day for a run (mid-50's), and I tried to do an easy recovery jog. Here are my splits, which are pleasantly negative:

• Mile 1 - 10:24
• Mile 2 - 9:38
• Mile 3 - 9:22
  

My legs are now quite stiff and sore. My right hamstring is still tight, and thanks to speed-walking with [Runner] Jessica to the grocery store and back, my shins are tired (and also sore). Good thing tomorrow is an off-day.