Fashion Crisis
What a balancing act it has been the last couple of weeks! Due to time constraints, while I've managed to keep to my scheduled runs, I've had to pull back on the yoga classes I was attempting to incorporate into my schedule during the work week. Thank goodness there's at least the one class on the Saturday that is much easier to fit into the schedule, but between the state of exhaustion at the close of work, and the difficulty getting the buses to work out so that I can make it to the class on time, I have missed a couple of the Tuesday classes. However, finding the time to sit and compose posts hasn't been working out at all. This all boils down to having to cover two runs in one post, rather than having managed to write a post for each (my original intent).
As it is, my second run of the season didn't offer all that much fodder for an in-depth post. I would have ended up rambling about how good it was, and how good I felt when I finished it. It would have made an excellent, uplifting post. I'm pretty sad that I didn't managed to squeeze it out in the nine days that elapsed before I did my third run of the season, because I think I would have cherished such a burst of optimism, recorded for posterity. To summarize the second run of the season, it was again just the half-distance, like my first run. I definitely felt ready at the end of it to extend it to the full course for the third run. I only managed to shave off a minute from the first run, but that brought my time under 50 minutes, which is about where I gained the confidence to extend the course in the first place. It felt like it was a good sign. It was certainly a good day, getting a lot done on my Friday off, and it was a day for me, for the most part, because after a great run, it was time to go to the hair salon. A trip there is a modest bit of pampering that always makes me feel good about myself. The bonus was that both my hair dresser and aesthetician were able to help me deal with some associated inconveniences of running (ie. how best to tie my not-very-long hair back a bit, and dealing with blisters on my feet).
Then a rough week at work passed, and it was time for another run. It was a nice Sunday morning when I headed out, and having watched the temperatures fluctuate as nature turns from Winter to Summer (rapidly where I live), I opted to wear shorts instead of full-length leggings for the first time this season. To clarify, I'm not a clothes-person. I don't spend my money on clothing, I don't have a great selection in my closet and drawers, and I don't have a lot of new stuff, ever. New clothing is a treat for me, or a souvenir from some event, or just when necessity dictates that I replace a section of stuff because it's just too old. I still have a full collection of all the t-shirts I ever got from various races back in high school, supplemented by the past two half-marathons I've run since moving here. I only wear them to train, and they are a great reminder of past triumphs while pounding along. I miss the trail-running I used to do--I used to abhor road-races. Having moved to an urban area, I'm now sticking to paved bicycle paths, parks and roads exclusively now. It hurts, but this tangent is besides the point, which is my third run of the season. Besides the nostalgic t-shirt which is required right now because it isn't quite sweltering Summer quite yet, I was wearing a shiny spandex jog bra underneath and a pair of shiny spandex bicycle shorts. This set is several years old at this point, and was originally bought to wear for gym workouts. So you can see, I'm not a connoisseur of the made-for-running-wear that would be so much better for what I'm trying to accomplish out there on the road.
The run itself was a really, really great run. I managed to attain the rough times (for the first "lap" and then the extension) that reassure me that I will make it through the half-marathon. It isn't quite the full 21km that the race on the 28th will be, but it's within a couple kilometers, so I know I'll have it in me come the big day. My training consists of building up a routine of once-a-week long runs that renders the race just another of the same runs, with more pomp and an audience. I'm passing over the same route as that course, though I'm going backwards, starting from the wrong end of the loop, and making several adjustments due to my inability to close down roads and intersections just for li'l ol' me. I had steady pacing, good breath control, and I didn't drop to a walk at all.
There was discomfort, however. I could tell I was getting blisters, again, and I mentally promised myself to buy some better socks this week. Unfortunately, while my shoes are a few years old, I don't want to be breaking in a new pair in the month before a race, so I've already promised my feet a new pair in time for my birthday in June, after the race is done. My hair was tied up properly thanks to my hair dresser's advice, and the t-shirt was protecting my arms from chafing against my jog bra (something that happened two years ago, in the previous half-marathon). However, I could feel my thighs chafing each other, and it occurred to me that my shorts were riding up pretty badly (not something I remember from past runs). But I figured that if I was actually hurting myself, I'd feel the pain of it. I tend to forget that there's a level of pain that I block out while running. So, it wasn't until I finished my course and began to walk to relax myself after the long run that I realized what I'd done to myself. My shorts had ridden up higher on one side than the other, and with the chafing they had managed to rub me raw where the elastic had ridden up to on that one side. I was shocked by what had happened, and I was very worried while I cleaned myself up that this would prevent me from being able to exercise when I wanted to schedule my next run, not to mention the possible torture of stretching the unhealed chafe marks in my yoga classes.
It's been most of a week now since that run, and it looks like it's already healing. I didn't go to the Tuesday yoga class, to rest it and let it heal. And I am going to spend some time this afternoon in a local running store, to treat myself (early) to a new set of running clothes (including several pairs of socks). And then it's back to the routine this weekend, first with yoga to stretch and test things out tomorrow, and then another attempt at the full course this Sunday morning.
As it is, my second run of the season didn't offer all that much fodder for an in-depth post. I would have ended up rambling about how good it was, and how good I felt when I finished it. It would have made an excellent, uplifting post. I'm pretty sad that I didn't managed to squeeze it out in the nine days that elapsed before I did my third run of the season, because I think I would have cherished such a burst of optimism, recorded for posterity. To summarize the second run of the season, it was again just the half-distance, like my first run. I definitely felt ready at the end of it to extend it to the full course for the third run. I only managed to shave off a minute from the first run, but that brought my time under 50 minutes, which is about where I gained the confidence to extend the course in the first place. It felt like it was a good sign. It was certainly a good day, getting a lot done on my Friday off, and it was a day for me, for the most part, because after a great run, it was time to go to the hair salon. A trip there is a modest bit of pampering that always makes me feel good about myself. The bonus was that both my hair dresser and aesthetician were able to help me deal with some associated inconveniences of running (ie. how best to tie my not-very-long hair back a bit, and dealing with blisters on my feet).
Then a rough week at work passed, and it was time for another run. It was a nice Sunday morning when I headed out, and having watched the temperatures fluctuate as nature turns from Winter to Summer (rapidly where I live), I opted to wear shorts instead of full-length leggings for the first time this season. To clarify, I'm not a clothes-person. I don't spend my money on clothing, I don't have a great selection in my closet and drawers, and I don't have a lot of new stuff, ever. New clothing is a treat for me, or a souvenir from some event, or just when necessity dictates that I replace a section of stuff because it's just too old. I still have a full collection of all the t-shirts I ever got from various races back in high school, supplemented by the past two half-marathons I've run since moving here. I only wear them to train, and they are a great reminder of past triumphs while pounding along. I miss the trail-running I used to do--I used to abhor road-races. Having moved to an urban area, I'm now sticking to paved bicycle paths, parks and roads exclusively now. It hurts, but this tangent is besides the point, which is my third run of the season. Besides the nostalgic t-shirt which is required right now because it isn't quite sweltering Summer quite yet, I was wearing a shiny spandex jog bra underneath and a pair of shiny spandex bicycle shorts. This set is several years old at this point, and was originally bought to wear for gym workouts. So you can see, I'm not a connoisseur of the made-for-running-wear that would be so much better for what I'm trying to accomplish out there on the road.
The run itself was a really, really great run. I managed to attain the rough times (for the first "lap" and then the extension) that reassure me that I will make it through the half-marathon. It isn't quite the full 21km that the race on the 28th will be, but it's within a couple kilometers, so I know I'll have it in me come the big day. My training consists of building up a routine of once-a-week long runs that renders the race just another of the same runs, with more pomp and an audience. I'm passing over the same route as that course, though I'm going backwards, starting from the wrong end of the loop, and making several adjustments due to my inability to close down roads and intersections just for li'l ol' me. I had steady pacing, good breath control, and I didn't drop to a walk at all.
There was discomfort, however. I could tell I was getting blisters, again, and I mentally promised myself to buy some better socks this week. Unfortunately, while my shoes are a few years old, I don't want to be breaking in a new pair in the month before a race, so I've already promised my feet a new pair in time for my birthday in June, after the race is done. My hair was tied up properly thanks to my hair dresser's advice, and the t-shirt was protecting my arms from chafing against my jog bra (something that happened two years ago, in the previous half-marathon). However, I could feel my thighs chafing each other, and it occurred to me that my shorts were riding up pretty badly (not something I remember from past runs). But I figured that if I was actually hurting myself, I'd feel the pain of it. I tend to forget that there's a level of pain that I block out while running. So, it wasn't until I finished my course and began to walk to relax myself after the long run that I realized what I'd done to myself. My shorts had ridden up higher on one side than the other, and with the chafing they had managed to rub me raw where the elastic had ridden up to on that one side. I was shocked by what had happened, and I was very worried while I cleaned myself up that this would prevent me from being able to exercise when I wanted to schedule my next run, not to mention the possible torture of stretching the unhealed chafe marks in my yoga classes.
It's been most of a week now since that run, and it looks like it's already healing. I didn't go to the Tuesday yoga class, to rest it and let it heal. And I am going to spend some time this afternoon in a local running store, to treat myself (early) to a new set of running clothes (including several pairs of socks). And then it's back to the routine this weekend, first with yoga to stretch and test things out tomorrow, and then another attempt at the full course this Sunday morning.