Sunday, September 9, 2007

scenery

Eddie doesn't share my passion for a good, sweaty run, but he is willing to wake up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning to watch Maren, so I went for my fourteen-miler with Brandon this week. Brandon Flowers, that is. We (Eddie and I, not Brandon and I) are going to see The Killers on Saturday, so I'm getting myself pumped by listening to their music. Actually, I'm just too tired by the time Friday night rolls around to download myself any new tunes. And I just spent $20 downloading both of the High School Musical cds for Annie, so I can't go too crazy at the iTunes store for myself right now. Kids, I tell ya, they bleed you dry.

Tunes aside, I've decided that running in my subdivision sucks all of the life out of me, so I started running in another subdivision a couple of miles south of my house. There are two loops, each slightly longer than 3 miles, so they're perfect for any run that's a multiple of three. They're also on a golf course (so prettier) with better people watching (I see 50 or so runners on these loops, opposed to the 5 I'd probably see in my own neighborhood in the same amount of time), so I feel a greater sense of cameraderie. And some of the people are very, very funny.

Every week I see an elderly Asian woman. She's tiny and walks like she probably had bound feet. She often wears a shirt, white with huge read letters, that reads "Don't People Pimp." I'm guessing that she doesn't speak a word of English, or at least not enough to understand what "pimp" means (I'm not sure even I understand what "don't people pimp" means). Or else she just has a great sense of humor because it cracks me up every time I see her wearing that shirt.

Yesterday I happened to start my run at about the same time as a group of walkers set out. I chatted with them a little bit, and learned that they were doing seven miles, which is impressive. They all had flash-in-the-dark lights and belts full of water and looked very well prepared for their endeavor. They sort of naturally fell into three groups-- a fast group, a medium group, and a slow group. At the very back of the slowest group were three people, all quite obese, who were passing between them a huge Sam's Club bag of trail mix. I know I probably sound like a jerk when I say this, but as much as I think it's great for cardiovascular fitness to get out and walk seven miles (and it is a big accomplishment), if you're walking that distance to lose weight, freely consuming peanuts and chocolate while you're working out probably isn't the greatest way to do it.

All I know is that even a fourteen-miler feels great. I must be totally sadistic because I find it a great stress reliever, and other than being so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open for the rest of the day (and being treated like a salt lick by Maren as soon as I walk in the door of the house), it makes me wish that every day could be Saturday.

10 comments:

chloe said...

And this is why we would be friends...you refer to band members as personal friends and you still go to concerts as a "married with children". I love it!

Courtney said...

This post was hysterical. I can easily picture both the bound foot Asian woman and the ladies at the back of the group based on your descriptions!

Anonymous said...

I have a baby the same age as you do. I also have 2 older children in school. I'm a lawyer during the day. I want to exercise again. I used to before I was pregnant. Do you have any ideas on how I could get back into it? It seems so daunting. I'm so tired all the time, I drink a gallon of coffee, it seems like running (making me tired) would go against all I'm working for (trying to stay awake all day). There is also the time thing. You know what I mean. I have two kids in sports and activities, plus PTO and my own organizations. I already get up at 6:30 and it's hard. I go to bed at 10:00 because I'm exhausted. What do you suggest? I know once I start again I will enjoy it, it's just the first couple weeks...agony.

Shelah said...

Hi Anonymous-

You are SO busy. When I had two little ones and was working, my workouts definitely suffered. If I were in your shoes and really wanted to get back into it, I'd try to see if there was a way to either work out at home before getting the kids up (if you have a treadill or something) or else hit the gym quickly either after taking the kids to day care or before picking the kids up at the end of the day. Maybe you could do it on your lunch hour? Or take a stroller to your kids' sports practices and push the baby around while you wait? My 5 year-old has ballet for an hour once a week, and last week I took her over to ballet, drove home, ran a quick four miles, and then drove back to pick her up. It took almost exactly an hour and it sure beat sitting in the waiting room at the ballet studio, reading old dance magazines. I know that at the YMCA where I'm a member, they have childwatch through the evenings too, so working parents could take their kids to childwatch after dinner. If you live close to your kids' elementary school, you could even walk over and back to your PTO meetings. You might also see if the town you live in has a fitness group that meets on weekends (the group I was describing in this post is sort of like that-- they meet for long walks on Saturday mornings) I think it's hard to fit in working out no matter what, but it can be done.

Running energizes me, and I feel like I have a lot more energy on the days when I do a normal workout than on the days when I skip my workouts (the days when I run 14 miles are a whole other story), so maybe you'll feel more energetic if you're working out? Whatever you choose, don't beat yourself up over it. Fitness is a great goal, but it really sounds like you've got a lot on your plate right now. Even working out two or three days a week can be really beneficial. I also think that running is the best drug ever. It's definitely my mood-enhancing substance of choice. But when I'm just getting back into it after a break, it definitely doesn't feel that way to me. If you can figure out a way to squeeze it into your schedule and work yourself back up to your former level of fitness, you probably won't even need to psych yourself up to find time to run because you'll be dependent on it to get you through the day!

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Shelah. You've gave me some good ideas. Especially working out while the kids are at their sports. (I have a jogging stroller). They have hour and a half practices at a time.

I am unusual in that the kids aren't in day care, my husband stays home during the day and I use my lunch hour to eat and nurse the baby. :) After I wean her, lunch would be a great time to hit the gym.

Thanks!

BTW- I don't know if you ever saw this but I posted awhile back on your "what book to read" posting about the author Isabel Allende. If you haven't read her yet, I think you'd enjoy it. Just make sure to start at the beginning of the series, and not in the middle.

Lucy said...

Very funny. The trail mix, I mean.

Way to go on the fourteen miles. From reading blogs, it seems like I need to be training for a marathon or having a baby. I think the trail mix ladies need to start a blog so I can say, "me too!"

BAK said...

Hi Shelah, I linked over to your blog for the first time from Lucy's blog and saw that you were posting about RUNNING so I had to search and find out why you are running 14 miles. To my delight, I discovered you are training for your first marathon! I am excited for you. My hubby and I did one a few years ago, and there is nothing like it in the world. I hope that your training continues to go well. What marathon are you running? Happy trails (and trail mix!) to you!

Shelah said...

Anonymous--

I read Daughter of Fortune and really liked it. I should find the name of the series and read it. I love Isabel Allende.

Shelah said...

Becky--

Thanks for checking me out! I'm running the Kingwood Texas marathon on New Year's Day. It's a really small one, so no one has heard of it. It only has 350 runners, which imo, is perfect for a first-timer. I was debating between the one in Kingwood and the one in Houston on Jan 13th, but I'd rather not be dragging my sorry butt across the finish line in front of like 20,000 other racers, lol. This way will be far less embarrassing!

BAK said...

Don't worry about being embarrassed - no matter what, you will have accomplished such a wonderful thing! We SO did not train the way we should have, since both me and dh were trying to train, and we had jobs, a two year old to take care of, etc. So we got to race day with our longest run being (i'm so embarrassed to say this) 15 miles! We promptly placed ourselves in the 5 hour running group on marathon day; I think we lost them at our first potty stop. We ended up finishing in 5:45. It isn't anything to make it into the record books with, but we hey, we finished it.

I am so impressed that you are already to 14 milers and you still have 3 months. It sounds like you will be very ready to conquer 26.2. My best advice (not that you asked!) ;) is this: if problems happens during your training, just push through it. We were both wishy-washy the week before because of injuries, but someone told me "You will always have an excuse not to do something. Just decide that you are going to do it, and do it." It was the best advice ever.

Keep us all posted!