Where's the toe ring?

Oh, yeah. This sounds like me. I guess marathoners aren't the only ones with black toenails.

Your Toes Should Be Black

A total rulebreaker (and heartbreaker), you're always a little punk rock. Your flirting style: Wacky and a bit shocking Your ideal guy: An accomplished artist, musician, or writer Stay away from: Preppy guys looking for a quick bad girl fling

What Color Should Your Toenails Be?

Slogging Through the Snow

The National Weather Service has been warning Lake Wobegon of a winter storm for this weekend. Initial speculation was for 10 inches, but it's toned down since then. We might still get 6 inches when it's all done, but the brunt of the storm will be south of us.

Because of the impending storm, I was skeptical of running this morning. There was an all-club's run from my old club, and I knew some people who were going to be running, so I went. The overnight accumulation wasn't too bad, crusty but not icy, and this morning's temp was 25F. The wind was another story though: 20 MPH, making for a wind-chill factor of 11.

I ran with AmyBee and Coach Gary, and later Coach Terry hooked up with us. I think Gary was happy to have someone else with a Y chromosone to run with. EVERYBODY is faster than me, but I had the watch that beeped the walking breaks. We ran 9 minutes, walked 1. At least that's what the watch was set for. I had a tough time running this morning--I even ate a gel after 35 minutes on the road--so the 9 and 1s were sometimes 8 and 2, or whenever I felt like walking!

We were shooting for 10K, but I wasn't sure if I would make it. However, when we reached the critical point where we could either turn around for a total of 5 miles, or keep going, we kept going. There were a couple of times when the wind was so strong it felt like we were going backwards, and when that happened, we walked.

So another 10K! And a sense of accomplishment. There were a surprisingly large number of people out. I suppose they wanted to get their exercise in before the glut of snow hits later today.

Someone put this tuxedoed fellow in their yard, no doubt as a statement to the Antarctic temperatures we've been experiencing. The deep freeze is finally behind us now. Temperatures today were in the low 40s. Yay! As I was running today, a gaggle of geese flew overhead. When the geese return, it is a sign of spring. Some people don't like them because they leave a big mess, but I enjoy seeing them. I especially like the babies, with their yellow-green down. Still waiting to see the first Robin, though. Then it will really be spring.

Today's run was uneventful, just an easy 4 miles through the neighborhood. Very pleasant. I normally run with the group on Monday and Wednesday nights, but since this wasn't a strength or speed run, I figured I'd run in the daylight. Wednesday I'll run with the group.

Last Saturday I ran with some women from my old running club. I hadn't seen them in a while and it was nice catching up with them, although they are still too fast for me. I was scheduled for 5 miles, but we ran 10K instead. That's the furthest I've run in two months!

Congratulations to AmyBee for completing an indoor triathlon on Sunday. She PR'd for this competition.

On the sugar-free front, I've lost 10 pounds and can fit into my size 8 pants. I still want to get down to a size 6, but this is a good start. It's been over two months now and it's gotten easier to stay away from the stuff. I read labels and can't believe how much hidden sugar is in the food I ate. At Trader Joe's, I discovered Larabars and Odwalla bars. They have the kind of label I like to see "Ingredients: almonds, dates." Isn't that great! No corn syrup, organic cane juice, palm kernal oil, etc. I eat them before a workout, because typically I don't get around to eating lunch first.

She's Got Soul

SD and I went to see the play Love, Janis this afternoon. It was about Janis Joplin and is inspired from letters she wrote to her family, from around 1966 until her death in 1970. One of the characters was Janis, who spoke out the letters to home and the other character was Janis Joplin, the singer. Singing Janis, played by Monica Heuser, sang many of the hit songs associated with Janis Joplin, accompanied by a live back-up band. It rocked!

Watching the actress belt out the songs transported me back to my youth. I had the album Cheap Thrills and I spent hours listening to it in my bedroom, playing the album on my cheap Sears monoraul record player. In the theatre today, I had one of those slap-the-forehead moments. The first time I heard George Gershwin's song, Summertime, was Janis Joplin's version of it. I've always like the song, but until this afternoon didn't realize that was the same song as the one from Porgy and Bess.

The play was a nice study of Janis Joplin and revealed her intellect and ambition, as well as her sensitivity. She was an outcast in high school, a mis-understood artist. A beatnik living in the little town of Port Arthur, Texas. College in Austin wasn't much better. She was voted "ugliest man on campus" by the fraternity boys. Jerks.

I can remember a debate in the popular culture about Janis Joplin, about her having "soul." Some people claimed a white girl couldn't have soul. You decide. Here's a clip from the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where Janis and Big Brother and the Holding Company performed for free. Their performance rocketed them to stardom. That's Mama Cass at the end mouthing, "Wow! Wow! That's really heavy."

Cold Nose, Warm Heart

Today was the Valentine's 5K at Lake Harriet. This is the third year in a row that I've run this race, and as usual I had a great time. I almost didn't run it, however, because this is what the temperature was at the time of the race:


That's minus 3; without the windchill. A couple of days ago, I sent out an e-mail to see who was running the race. Coach Gary replied that he was and where did I want to meet. Uh, I was just checking. We're in our millionth day of sub-zero weather and I wasn't sure how cold it would be and whether I was willing to run in it. I wanted to run, since it will be my last chance to run this race, but was hesitant. Since Gary committed, I went ahead and signed up.

You can't wear the shirt if you don't run the race and they give out a great red dry-wick shirt. I picked it up yesterday, then washed it and wore it as my base layer today. I had three layers on the bottom (light tights, winter tights, and wind pants) and four on top, which was one layer too many. My hands were toasty warm with the new mittens over the gloves.

Coach Gary was my marathon training coach and he got me over the finish line at the Twin's Cities Marathon. I am forever indebted to him for that; plus he's just an all-around great guy. We arranged to meet at the Pavillion and as soon as we saw each other, we headed to the warming tent. But first, we had to have our picture taken.


The race wasn't very crowded, but we lined up at the back. Gary commented that we have to pass at least some of these people. I told him to run ahead if I held him back, but we stayed together the whole time. It was fun talking with him and the time went fast. Not once did we complain about the weather! And we passed plenty of people. :-)

We crossed the finish line in 37:43. Not terribly speedy, but not bad for me. Actualy, I felt great! I ignored the whiner within and the weather. I finished with a sense of accomplishment, even if it was only a 5K.

At the finish, I saw a friend of mine. I had heard she was running, but didn't talk to her before the race. It turns out it was her first race ever. She gets extra credit for running her first race in sub-zero weather. Nat also was running the race with some of her friends, but I didn't see her.

We lined up for carbohydrates: there were the whole wheat rolls from Great Harvest Bakery that I like so much, and kefir. And for Valentine's Day, heart-shaped cookies. I passed on those, though since I'm still trying to get down to size 6. I've been sugar-free for 2 months now!

Thanks for your get-well wishes; I'm much better. Sorry I haven't been keeping up on your blogs; I plan to remedy that in the coming week. I'm been scrubbing my house all week, getting it ready for showings. I've had three showings this week and an open house tomorrow. The market seems to be picking up. Here's hoping.

I also figured out what was wrong with my blog--the picture was too big. The image was 600 pixels wide; I reduced it to 400 and my layout is fine now.

Today's Run Has Been Cancelled

Even hardy Minnesota runners have their limits. With temps in the -10 F range, and wind chills over 30 below, the coaches are begging us to stay inside:

Please don't prove how tough you are and attempt an outdoor workout. Most of you have finished multiple marathons so I know how tough you are! This is a safety issue and safety is always our first consideration.

There are some runners here (though not of the smarter sex), who try to prove their toughness by dressing unsuitably for the cold. I've seen guys wear shorts and no shirts in mid-winter races. Here's a tip guys: Women don't look at you and think, "What a man!" Just the opposite.

My coach claims that the foam in our running shoes actually freezes in sub-zero temps and offers no cushioning or support. And I know from personal experience that Clif Bloks become "cement blocks."

I haven't worked out all week, indoors or out. I have been sleeping alot, and watching a lot of movies. My friend's kids lent me Mary Poppins, and I watched it on Thursday for the first time since I was ten. I still enjoyed it.

My friend Kathy brought me all sorts of comfort food on Wednesday: applesauce, white bread, popsicles, frozen waffles, bananas, and jello. Usually I eat whole grains and avoid highly processed food. I haven't had jello since I was a kid, but she said that bland food was the best kind for my stomach right now. She also made some white rice with a little bit of broth. What really impressed me is that she bought all sugar-free and low-fat. It's been sustaining me all week, although my weight is down by 5 pounds since last Saturday. I know it will go up as I start eating again.

On another note, Sunday is Jessica's debut as a race director. Go give her some encouragement, if you haven't already.

One last thing. My layout blew up the other day after my last post. I didn't touch any of the code, but it's pretty messed up in IE. It displays fine in Firefox. If any of you have any suggestions on what I can do, I'd appreciate it.

Same Song, Different Beat

At the Turkey Trot 5K last November, I won a $10 gift certificate for a running store. It was about to expire, so last Friday I made a trek to the western suburbs to cash it in. I figured I could use it to buy a pair of mittens to wear over my gloves, like some of my running friends have.

I've never been to this store before and when I walked in was greeted by a friendly clerk. I told him what I was looking for and he had no idea what I was talking about. He tried to sell me something called a lobster claw, which is a mitten split in half. I said I'd look around some more.

As I hovered over the SmartWool display, a woman came over to help. I really have all the running clothes I need; I'm planning to move to California in a few months and won't have any need for much cold-weather gear. But I had this certificate, and I knew that colder temps were expected this week so I figured I'd buy a warmer shell.

I tried on lots of them, then settled for one that was on sale. It was still more than I was planning to spend, but with all the assistance I'd been getting I felt compelled to buy it. Yeah, I'm easy.

In the adjacent room were running shoes. I wandered in to get a closer look at one of the posters that was on the wall and when I turned around I saw the mittens I was looking for! I had been in the ski shop, the running shop was in the other room, with the shoes. OK. So now I have the mittens and the new top. Glad I saved $10. :-)

I washed the top that night and wore it Saturday morning for my run with the group. I signed up for a half-marathon training class, but I was the only one from that group to show up. My coach was there, but she was running with the marathon group. She gave me a map of the route and I was on my own.

The temperature that morning was 22 degrees, with 20 mph winds. But with my new duds, I was ready! I wore a thin long sleeve top from a past race, my new warm top, plus vest and jacket. I also wore wind pants over my leggings and, of course, my new mittens over my gloves. Wind--I scoff at you! Actually, I was overdressed and started to sweat. But it was too much hassle to unzip, since I was wearing mittens.

This was a new route for me, and it was nice to see something different. I ran on a trail, through a residential area. The roads were clear, although there was a little ice problem since the temperature on Friday was 40 degrees(!) and snow melted, then froze. On the way back I ran on a different trail, one that was limestone. I didn't encounter too many people along the way.

So another 5 miles in the cold. Not much different than last week's, except that I was alone. Since I didn't have my iPod, I was left to my thoughts. You know how you get a song in your head and it's all you can think about? This time it was Ravel's Bolero. So I used the drumbeat as my cadence.

EDIT: I'm trying to fix the layout so that it displays properly in IE7.