Still tragic, but hoping to do better

Yes, I am still a pathetic excuse for a person with a running blog. I ran for the first time since last summer tonight. About four .15 mile straightaways (2 uphill, 2 down) running, walked four .09 mile stretches, a .45 mile warmup lap, and a .08 mile sprint at the end just for fun. My calves didn't hurt nearly as quickly, but they were starting to get a bit sore, so we stopped. My asthma is a brat, and probably a good bit of my probably in running for any significant amount of time it seems. Maybe that will come with time. I'd like to get a treadmill so I can't use the it's too hot/there's mosquitoes/it's too cold excuses that I like. However, an iPad looks like a way more fun purchase than a treadmill. >.<

I have a goal that I haven't quite committed to. I would like to run the 1st annual Race to Remember 5K Walk/Run for Mamie's Poppy Plates. They create memorial plates using babies footprints and/or handprints for babies born still or who die soon after birth. I've never experienced this, but it seems like as good of a reason to run as any. I just haven't committed to it yet by registering. It's on June 23, which Joseph says is a completely viable amount of time to get myself up to running a 5K if I can just stick with it. But it's going to get hot soon. And I hate the heat.

Pathetic Excuse For A Runner

So I ran yesterday for the first time in a while. I went and paid $3 to run on the treadmills at school (the gym is free when you're registered for classes that semester, but I didn't register for summer classes, so yeah). We were wondering if running on a treadmill wouldn't cause my calves to hurt less. Also, we have lately been having heat indexes of 105-110 degrees in my area, and I don't particularly want to go run around the block several times in that. I don't want to go outside in that, I don't do heat well. So I haven't been running. Also, previously, my calves have started hurting around .2 miles.

Well, we think we figured out what causes that. Courtesy of my dance training (land on the balls of your feet and stay there), I run like I dance. On the balls of my feet. And slightly turned out. I try the whole 'curve your foot' thing, and end up running like a duck (slapping my feet against the ground). But at least now we think we know what the problem is. It's just fixing it. I'm not sure how. I'm not sure how to make my feet roll more while running. So it's gonna be a work in progress. I'm trying to find a treadmill for sale, so maybe I can run on that at home. Joseph hates running on treadmills, but for me, well, it's really hot outside, and honestly, running on a treadmill doesn't aggravate my sometimes shin splints like running on asphalt does, it doesn't seem.

Anyway, yesterday, I ran/walked somewhere between 2 and 2.5 miles. I did a few spots of running, my best was .3 miles at a 10:10 pace. I ran to 30 Seconds to Mars (and warmed up with Adam Lambert's "For Your Entertainment" and "Strut"). My 10:10 was to "Attack", I did around a 14:00 to "Savior", a 13:00-ish to "Closer to the Edge", and I ran for a little bit to "Search and Destroy" before deciding my legs just weren't up to any more. Walked in various paces between 20:00 and 30:00 depending on how my legs felt.

Ran again yesterday

Joseph and I went running yesterday around 1 or 1:30. There was a storm blowing in, so there was a good breeze to help with the fact it was around 80* according to my weather channel app on my phone. It never did really rain here, but apparently the storm got close enough to produce nice winds and overcast skies. Nice running weather.

I think we went around about 5 times. 5 x .45 is...2.25 miles. We ran some, and we walked some. We did one run of the .45 (a whole time around), then shorter runs. Some on the straightaways, some on the shorter ends. My calves are still tightening up a lot when I run more than 1 straightaway at time, which I find odd, and I'm not sure what to do about it. Stretching doesn't seem to help, and it doesn't seem to really be getting any better. I'm not at all sure what it is, or why it's happening. My calves aren't weak. Far from it. I've been trying to really focus on not running primarily on the balls of my feet, so that I'm not bouncing off of them excessively. I wonder maybe if now I'm flexing my foot too much, and pulling on that muscle the whole time. Or if it's something completely different. I have no idea, but it's frustrating. I want it to stop.

On the upside, our garden seems to be doing well. The large amounts of water being dumped on it by Mother Nature doesn't seem to have phased it at all. Zucchini and squash have flowers (and the zucchini leaves are big enough you could use one as an umbrella, nearly), eggplant is just now starting to get flowers. Tomatoes are falling over due to the sheer weight of the unripened vegetables hanging off of them. Our strawberries stalled out for a little bit, but they're now blooming again. The jalapenos had flowers on them, but I think all the rain may have pulled them off, lol. The potatoes are doing awesomely. They seem to like drowning, lol.

Not running so much lately

We went for a very short run on Thursday. Not sure what was wrong with it, but it felt off. Maybe it was the fact it was suddenly pretty hot, maybe it was the fact we ran in the middle of the day when we usually run in the evenings, who knows. But we only went about 3 times around the block, and only ran 3 straightaways.

Wednesday night's dance class aggravated my shin splints, so that definitely slows things down a bit.


For whatever reason, my hip is hurting, right along the groin line. We're not sure what happened, or what caused it, but it hurts when I do various things. We're not even sure exactly what is hurting. It seems better today, but Wednesday through Saturday, it hurt just about anytime I did a few different things that are hard to explain.

We danced at our local Greek Food Festival yesterday, and while the temperature wasn't bad in normal clothes, while dancing and wearing velvet (like I was) it was hot, and I was dripping sweat. I also tried out something new: KT Tape. I went to Sports Authority looking for normal athletic tape, and this was all I found. I was hoping to be able to tape my shins for Saturday, so I could still walk today. Wandering around on concrete in completely unpadded dance shoes plus dancing on a metal stage usually does my shins in. Not sure if it was the tape, or just good luck, but my shins are not in the 'omg, don't touch them' state that they can be in after such performances or feiseanna. I got all kinds of comments on my purple stripes on my legs (I bought purple tape because it's my favorite color, and the color for my dance school). But hey if it works. I'll likely be trying it again. We used 2 strips and the box comes with 20.

And today, it has been raining all day. I don't know that we have more coming, but my goodness, it is humid outside.

Half A Mile!

Tonight, I ran either .54 or .55 miles. :) It was a slow pace, .45 miles (where we stopped the stopwatch) was at 5:53 minutes, but I wasn't winded at the end. My calves hurt like heck though. We're not sure what I must be doing, but my calves tighten up very quickly. I do warm up and stretching (though possibly not enough), but they still tighten up pretty badly. After running that distance, walking was painful, but as I walked, it loosened up slowly. I got home, stretched, and Joseph rubbed my calves some, which helped loosen them up a lot. We're not sure what exactly the problem is however.

One theory is that, maybe I'm running too much from my calves. A possibility is that I bounce on the balls of my feet too much, and therefore use my calves too much, due to Irish dance. In Irish dance, everything is done on the balls of your feet, the higher the better. So my default is to land, and spring back up onto the balls of my feet, and too push back up onto the balls of my feet. We're not sure that that is the problem though. I've been working on running "quietly", which seems to mean less impact, but that didn't seem to fix the calf thing tonight.

We don't know. Any ideas? During dance class, my calves don't tighten up like this, so it's odd to me. We're not going to increase the distance anymore for a while, though. I'm content at half a mile. It feels like a real accomplishment, much like completing the whole block did. But our whole block is only .45 miles, so a half mile wasn't that much further. Pretty good progress for having started running only about 3 weeks ago. I bought my first pair of running shoes about 17 days ago. :) Now, we're just going to work on making that half a mile better.

.45 miles!

According to mapmyrun.com, the distance around my block is actually .45 miles. I had only ever mapped it with my travel odometer on my car, so it was a rough guess. But on the upside, I RAN THE WHOLE .45 MILES TODAY!!!!!1 Before running that,I ran three .14 miles (our straightaways, as I refer to them), and after the .45 miles, we did a cooldown that consisted of walking the straightaways and trotting the ends of the loop, which are about .09 miles in length. I think we did 5 laps, which is .45 miles x 5...which is...2.25 miles. :)

Here's the nifty thing, my little sister (age 6) went with us today. And she did, in fact, run the entire .45 mile stretch, after running all the rest that we ran too. She was complaining of her legs hurting a bit, and she seemed a bit dehydrated. She lagged behind a bit, because we started running, her shoelace untied, so she had to stop, so we told her to wait at my grandmother's (next door to our house). She didn't, so she was behind us, but she says she ran the whole .45 miles. Which is impressive, in my mind, for a kid who doesn't really run off of the playground.

*happy dances* I ran nearly a whole half a mile!


Oh, and I bought my first running bra yesterday (well, my mom bought it). It's a Juno, made by Moving Comfort.  
I wore it today, and didn't really notice a difference. I suppose it had to have made a difference, but I didn't really notice any less jostling (not that I ever notice any anyway). It was comfy, I like the adjustable straps, and I like the fact that if I for some reason ever felt inclined to show of my pale-as-moonlight tummy while running, I could in this bra (it's made for running shirtless), but I didn't really notice it doing things any different than my compression bras do. And I do Irish dance and running in the compression bras, and plain sports bras that don't have compression. So I don't know. Maybe I'm just not tuned into my boobs.

Ran Today

It was pretty warm earlier today, but as sunset came about, it dropped into the 60s. I didn't get home until 8 pm or so, so I went running in the dark. My mom went walking with me (and ran a bit), and I ran for a little bit. After about 30 minutes, my stomach started hurting (I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, so it likes to periodically just freak out), so I had to quit and go inside. I ran solidly for nearly 4 minutes before I had to stop, which was just short (like 30 feet short) of .4 miles, or my entire block. :) I'm so proud. And excited. Hoping to go running again tomorrow, and to actually make it.

Where was my usual running partner, you may ask? Well, Joseph's knee has been hurting since Wednesday. He had basically everything torn or injured a few years ago, and so it frequently gives him issues to some degree (pops often and painfully), and after it happened, he was told he would never run again. Well, he proved them wrong, and he now runs and does Irish dance. But anyway, it randomly decided to be painful on Wednesday, and he decided to dance at practice anyway. So, he could barely walk on it Wednesday night and Thursday, and today, he's walking normally, but it's not up to running par yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Shins are still hurting some, but tolerably, and not usually during normal daily activities. I take ibuprofen about 30 minutes-1 hour before I go running and ice them afterwards. It seems to be helping. So we'll see. :)

Oh, and I found those Clif Bloks at Wal-Mart today. Only $1.76, so my mom bought 4. :)