Three ways I know I'm a runner...

Well, okay four. My bracelet from Runner's Lounge tells me so. Woohoo! I got it on Monday and so I'm a happy lady.

Okay, no. While I was running before the ball game last night I decided I was a runner because:

1) I can blow a pretty good snot rocket in a strong headwind and not get any backsplatter (oops, sorry P, I hope you weren't eating your lunch just then.) Seriously, that's a talent and there's no way I'm stopping and ruining a PR to turn around with my back to the wind.

2) Instead of thinking that the town should plant more trees to prevent that nasty Dust Bowl from happening again, I think they should plant more trees so that same nasty headwind would quit slowing me down.

3) I have a list of clothes that I shouldn't wear on days that I run because they make me feel slower when I get to running. I'm not talking running gear. I have this pair of baggy jeans and every time I wear them the day of a run my run stinks. When I wear tighter clothes before the run I feel like my runs are better. Weird.

Anyway, had a great run last night. And my Sox won. Life is good.

Redsox Dancefest

How'd it get to be Wednesday already?

Okay, so you may not know it, but I'm a huge Red Sox fan. They may not be the idiots of 2004, but how can you resist such happy guys? Haha! Seriously, I'm a Sox fan from birth, so you can't hold it against me.

I tried to get this post and the video in the same box, but for some reason when I went to add text it then made the video not appear. So, we'll see if later I have two videos and I'll try to fix it.

Okay, the video is sort of a ploy to make my whining seems less whiny. Work has been stressing me out a ton this past week and a half and I've been exhausted. My sister M and I were discussing it the other day. It's so frustrating that when you get stressed out there are things that everyone does to cope, for me it's running. However, when you get stressed out the most important things to maintain your sanity often get kicked to the wayside. Again, for me it's running.

So many last minute emergencies have popped up recently. Have I ever mentioned I'm a lawyer? I'm a solo attorney in a small town and I have a very specialized practice. However, my biggest frustration is that most people don't come to me until it's almost too late for me to help them. GAH!!! That's been happening just about everyday. Seriously. Why do you wait until 4:45pm on a Friday to come tell me someone is in jail and you need my help ASAP, when the dude has been in jail for 6 days. Why didn't you come to me 6 days ago?!?!

So, at this point I've had to keep my runs short and my blogposts practically non-existent. I've been maintaining but it's starting to stress me because I need to be increasing.

Okay, enough of all this. I'm still trying to bask in the glow of the excitement of Game One of the World Series at Fenway Park tonight. Go Sox!!!

I love these guys!

5 dollars saved

It was raining the whole day yesterday and I almost broke down and went to the gym to use the treadmill. I had called and found out I could use the gym for $5.00 a day if I'm not a member. Happily when I left work the sky was clearing. I had checked the radar and found that there would be a bit of a break in the rain so I dashed home and got out there while I could. I was a bit pressed for time since I had a meeting to go to. I did my 5k circle (which I'm getting a little sick of, btw) and got back before the rain started again.

The run was great! It was about 60 degrees and perfect. It was a bit windy, but this is Kansas so I really need to expect the wind. (That makes me think of that line from Monty Python "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition." Okay, I'm a nerd.) I think that's a big factor of why I rarely use my ipod on my runs, there's so much wind in the ears (no, unfortunately not due to my speed) that it is kind of annoying to have both making so much rukus!

What was a pain though was that I've grown accustomed to running on the road for the asphalt, but yesterday there was so much water on the sides of the road I had to keep to the sidewalks. What a difference the concrete makes. Yuk!

On a whiny note, I've now read three BRFs who have their bracelets from Runners Lounge. I'm so sad since I don't have mine yet. Booo! I'm patient most of the time, but I'm excited to declare my runnerness in a cool blue rubber band. I know it's coming... I'll just have to stop waiting for it. It's like the watched pot that doesn't boil. *Sigh*

It's raining so that means we should talk about shoes

I talk about shoes a lot here! But, when I went to look at some shoes at the store downtown they had these MBTs and they were, well, funky. They are about the ugliest shoes I've seen, but they are meant to simulate walking barefoot on "natural terrrain" similar to a tribe in Africa who have strong legs because of so much walking on "natural terrain" (I sound like the informational video here!) I think they are strange looking, but I can't stop thinking about them and I can't figure out why. I may try a pair on, but they run about $250.00 here at the local store, so they will have to get added to my dream list should I like them. Has anyone tried these? I don't think they are really for running, but for everyday wear or walking they seem interesting...

Anyway, it's raining today. And, as usual here in Kansas, it's not just rain but lots of lightening as well. So much for my run today. I don't have a gym membership since I prefer to do my training outside, but I may just break down and get one so I can go use the treadmill. I may just see if I can pay for a day because I think if I had a full fledged membership I'd go to they gym and use the treadmill more than I should. But I want to run, so it's probably worth it.

Kick the Couch 5k

I ran the Kick the couch 5k yesterday and it was fun. Even though I didn't see the people I was running with, knowing there were people in over 6o countries running this weekend was pretty cool. 5k is the normal route I do around my house when I have my easy days, so it was like running on a normal day, but I decided to treat it like a race and try to do my best. So far the fastest I had run the route was 32:30 but I finished yesterday at 32:21! Woohoo!

Anyway, today I woke up with a cramp in my calf which freaked me out a bit. But after a walk it mellowed out. I've started to walk to work instead of drive. See, my work is only 1.4 miles from my house and I don't know why I usually drive. It's kind of like, until you decide to not be a bum any longer you'll keep on being a bum. I decided that walking to work is a good way to add some milage to the legs one way or another. Plus, it saves gas. Either way, I may as well be walking.

Toenails (no they're not black)

Has anyone else noticed that once you start running consistently your toenails grow like weeds? A side effect of running that I had not planned on. I mean really, I have to clip them like every five days whereas before it would be like every two weeks! Wierd.

Anyway, I was a pretty unhappy person last night when I got home from work for reasons that I won't go into. I am generally a pretty easygoing person and I rarely get mad (thank you Lord!) but last night I was so upset I felt like my heart was going to pound out of my chest! What do you do in a situation like that? You go for a run of course!

So I went out more to get stress gone than to put on miles. I did a short run but ended up doing it pretty quickly and felt like I wanted to keep going. But I had things that I had to deal with so I stopped. Oh man, the running helped so much! People ask why we run, and my answer for today is that it helps me feel less likely to explode.

On another note, when I checked out the Toronto Runner's blog yesterday he talked about the worldwide half marathon . It's scheduled for this weekend and it's basically a way to know that you are running a half with people from all over the world. As of yesterday there were over 1100 people registered. They also have a "kick the couch 5k" which I thought was pretty neat. I signed up to do that. It's free and you don't get a t-shirt, but I like the idea of a global race. Cool.

Oh, and can any of you blogspot people tell me how I can make the words the link? For example, how could I make it so that where it says "worldwide half marathon" would be the link to the site instead of putting the link in separately? I'm so not a technology person. I can do some things, but I haven't figured that out yet.

Update: Thanks Nancy and Marcy. Your advice on fixing the link worked. Thanks for helping me to be a bit more computer literate!