I’ve been a bad runner. It’s been pretty darn hot here and I deemed it too hot to run, but somehow it wasn’t too hot to go to Bikram Yoga and stand in a 100 degree room with someone yelling “Push! Lock your knee!” Yes, I know. I think I’m officially crazy. Class sucked and I felt really blah and lackluster the entire class. But once I got home and showered I was riding the post-yoga high. I felt brand new. By the way, post-Bikram showers are pretty much the best thing EVER. You’ll never feel cleaner.
I knew I had to make up for the lack of running, so this morning I dragged myself out of bed to go for a run. I’ve been doing this thing lately where when I know I’m going for a run in the morning, I wake up like an hour before my alarm. This is NOT intentional. In fact, it’s super annoying. I guess my body is excited at the idea of a run it just can’t wait? Today I had a reason to be excited- I was going to try out my NEW SHOES!!!!
Is it sad that I’m more excited when I get new running shoes than I am when I get new regular shoes?
These are the same Mizuno Wave Riders as my last pair, they just only had this color in my size. I tried on other shoes when I went to the store, but my feet know what they like. The Mizunos are so light it feels almost like I’m wearing nothing at all! Plus, I think these are pretty snazzy looking. They have this chameleon-like quality when you go in the sun and parts of the trim turn a scaly blue.
Another benefit to the black shoe- they contrast nicely with my pale white legs and make my legs look even paler.
Sexy.
By now, you might be asking, “Hey, Running Lisa, what do you do when you’re not running?” Good question. If you don’t know me, you should know one thing: I hate the gym. I think it’s a place of torture and I refuse to go there, but I still need to do my cross training. I prefer to torture myself in another way: Bikram Yoga. In case you don’t know, Bikram is a set of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises performed in a heated room. We’re talking over 100 degrees hot, plus humidity. Crazy, right? I started out several years ago with just regular old Vinyasa yoga. When I was living in California, I found a more intense class and I loved it. Then I moved to New York and I upped the intensity again with heated Vinyasa classes. I flirted with this for a while until I moved to Harlem. There’s a Bikram studio in my neighborhood and they had a 30 days for $30 special. I tried it and was hooked. I don’t know what it is about it that I love, but I’m pretty much addicted. Not only do I get a great stretch (and a great sweat) I’ve learned a lot about my body that can be applied to my running. Like how I have lots of muscles in my legs that I’m ACTUALLY supposed to use. Or like how your core ACTUALLY has a purpose. Who woulda thunk?
This time of year, I start to question my sanity. If you've never been in the city during the summer, it's HUMID and SMELLY. So not only is it hot in the hot room, it’s CRAZY HOT. Like so hot I ask myself "WHY AM I HERE?!?" I had one of those classes last night. I think I sweat out a small child. Recently I’ve taken to dreaming about ice cubes in class. I imagine myself completely covered in ice cubes up to my neck. This is how I know I’m really going crazy. But I still drag myself to class 3 to 4 times a week. It’s like the Yin to my running Yang. Plus, where else can you find lots of attractive sweaty guys in tiny little speedos?
This is Dandayamana-Dhanurasana, or bow pulling pose. It's one of my favorites. Can't you tell from the look on my face?
Ok. I think it’s official. I’m a morning runner now. Yesterday was so nice, I got home from work and decided to go for a run. The weather was nice, but after a day of work (and sugary snacks leftover from the meeting) I wasn’t feeling so great. I felt really heavy and slow. It was not fun.
You know what was fun? Well maybe not fun, but I was still super excited. I got new sports bras and some new running shorts!
Is it weird that this makes me SO excited?
I just get the cheap sports bras from Target and they work great. Never had any serious chafing or anything. Luckily, I don’t have too much up top, so I don’t need a special sports bra to keep them locked and loaded. I also got new shorts, because it’s crazy hot and just the thought of wearing even capris was making me sweat. They’re a little bit shorter than I would like them to be, but I don’t blame the shorts. I blame the powerful jiggle of my thighs. The jiggle seems to overtake the fabric, and the fabric is forced to retreat. I don’t really mind. I’m pretty used to walking around half naked and sweaty in yoga, so why can’t I run half naked and sweaty? If anyone has a problem with it, too bad. I have jiggly thighs. Get used to it.
OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOD...Do you know what Saturday was? The first training run of marathon season! YAY! Sure, I’m not running a marathon this year, but a lot of my DetermiNation buddies are, so that means I have a ton more friends to run with! We met up in Central Park early Saturday morning for introductions and the whole training spiel from Coach Ramon.
We all look super excited don’t we? Hey, it was early.
Saturday was a great day for a run. The weather was perfect. There was a nice breeze in the air. The sun was shining. Everything you could hope for. I love group runs because you find a whole group of people that run at your pace and you quickly become BFFs. Or at least BRFFs (best running friends forever).
So here’s the run recap: Since pretty much everyone else is training for the NYC marathon and that’s not until November, they started off slow, with one or two lower loops of the park. Since I’m supposed to be training for a half that is now less than 8 weeks away, I did three lower loops (total about 5.1 miles). The first two loops were super fun. I was meeting new people, chatting with old friends, and the running felt great. The last loop was a little more intense. There just so happened to be a race in the park at about the same time that I started my last loop so I was running alongside people that are much faster than I am. I know I’m not as fast as they are, but there’s something about running next to fast people that makes you go faster. My last loop was slightly under a 9 minute mile. Oops! Needless to say, I was pretty tired. Luckily there were bagels waiting for us back at the meeting spot. I slathered one with cream cheese and shoved it in my face, then went home for a nap. All in all, it was a good morning.
I’ve been doing an experiment this week. I’ve been doing shorter, faster runs, in an effort to regain some of my speed. So far, it’s working. Today I was a minute faster than I was at the beginning of the week. My legs feel great and I’m starting to get used to that “Oh my God, I think I’m going to die” feeling that happens when you run faster. It's made me realize I need to do my training runs better. If I ACTUALLY care about my time (and let’s face it, I do) then I need to run more, run harder, and push myself. Ugh. Those are not things that I look forward to.
You know what I am looking forward to? Tomorrow is the first group run of the season with DetermiNation! Remember these guys?
I get to run with them again! Except for Josh. He's just a supporter. Yippeeeeee!
What better way to round out my National Running Day celebrations than with the DetermiNation Marathon kick off party? For those of you that don’t know, DetermiNation is a group of athletes that runs to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I’ve been running with this group basically since I started running so I know how terrified all the new runners are at the thought of training AND fundraising. This year, I’m acting as a mentor to the runners to help answer all their questions about fundraising, group practices, etc. It was great to see so many new people so excited about running a marathon, and most of them for the first time. It made me a little nostalgic. Just a year ago, I was one of them, all giddy and nervous and wondering “Why the hell am I doing this?” Our first group practice is Saturday and I’m super excited to run with them again. I love running for a cause. It makes me feel like my own hard work, physical pain, and discomfort is for something greater than myself. It makes me almost want to run another marathon this year…almost. *SIGH* I’m going to save that for next year. Chicago 2012 better watch out.
Aren’t you SOOOOOO excited? Today is National Running Day! Despite a particularly brutal yoga class last night (I think I sweat out about 5 gallons of water), despite needing to get to work early today, and despite the fact that I kept waking up to check the time (not sure what that was about), I dragged myself out of bed and went for a run. What kind of runner would I be if I didn’t?
The run wasn’t anything remarkable. Short and sweet. I’m even fully recovered from chasing that old man. But one remarkable thing did happen- my time was faster. WHAT? ME? FASTER? I ran the same route yesterday and today finished about 15 seconds faster. Today I even stopped at a really confusing water fountain that took me a while to figure out how to use. (Side note here: Water was squirting out both ends. I had to use my thumb to stop it up so there was enough pressure to drink. This process involved squirting a stream of water directly into my eye. Super fun at 7am.) And even with all that, I was faster. Score one for Running Lisa!
To round out my National Running Day celebration, I’m going to the DetermiNation Fall Season training kick off party! Which basically means I get to hang out with all my running friends when we’re not all sweaty. Yay!
PS- Now for your reading pleasure
