Recovering into Week 4

Because last Sunday was the last day of the Great Lakes Medieval Faire, Jay and I decided to brave the heat and enjoy Avaloch. I packed three bottles of water and fresh fruit to snack on. If I learned anything from last year, it was the importance of Faire hydration.

Maybe it was my meds, maybe it was the humidity, maybe it was my (lack of) stamina, but I ended up getting heat exhaustion. At one point, my eyes "got all unfocusy." Luckily, Jay forced me into the 1st aid tent where some jerks in kilts supplemented my water with Gatorade (they were drinking Hawaiian punch mimosas).

Two days later, I'm feeling much better, but I'm still supposed to take it easy. I didn't run last week (crazy work schedule), so even though I wasn't feeling 100%, I started Week 4 of C25K. I didn't run the last half mile, but kept up a brisk walk to finish the thirty minutes/two miles.

The Hocking Hills Indian Run is fast approaching, so I really need to pick up and keep up the (metaphorical) pace. Despite not taking it easy, I'm feeling pretty damn good post-run, so it seems that as long as I keep running a priority, I can be confident about finishing my first 5K.

Solving Old (Unimportant) Mysteries

One of the greatest blessings/curses I was born with is my weirdo memory. I can't really control what I remember, but the things that stick never seem to leave. I remember the day my brother was born (I was two), but I'm not really sure what I had for dinner on Wednesday.

When my memory (intentionally, I believe) leaves out key bits of information, these incomplete thoughts stick even more thoroughly. So, I am more excited than I really should be about two mysterious memories I just figured out.

The first probably occured in 1997 or 1998. I had a friend sleeping over, and she wanted to watch MTV (which was forbidden in my house). Because my parents were asleep, I let her, but when video of a girl singing and taking off her clothes came on, I tried to change the channel. As fate would have it, my mom came downstairs, and that was the end of the tv for that sleepover.

I always wondered what the song was. A few weeks ago, I was feeling lousy and started searching for Fiona Apple videos on YouTube. Quite by accident, I found the mystery song:

"Criminal"

Go me!

Last night, I couldn't sleep and suddenly remembered a book I'd read in one day while visiting my cousins' cousins in Temagami. Because no one really wanted to play/hang out with me, I raided their bookshelf and found...a book. I read it in a few hours and loved it. But as soon as I left, I forgot the title.

With about forty-five minutes of Googling and Amazon-ing, I found it again:

Woo-hoo!

And yes, I totally did just order it from Amazon.

Double Fail Run

For the first time since I started C25K, my asthma kicked in. Needless to say, that ended things pretty quickly. I had thought that building up my endurance had prevented my asthma from coming on in attack formation (I always have a little tightness when I exercise, but nothing major in a while). Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Still, I was glad to have real excuse to end early because Abby was just not up for a run today. She did really well on Wednesday--staying close, not jumping on me. This morning though, if she was going to run attentively, we needed to be on a trail with no cars, no people, no animals, and (most important) no goose poop. Obviously that wasn't going to happen.

She's also obsessed with biting her leash. Every time I walk her, I'm reminded of one of my favorite books from high school:

"I used to drag him around on a lead, but as I explained to Mrs. Next Door, he ate it."

Playing House

As I mentioned earlier, Jay and I are staying in Ohio while my family is on vacation in Canada. It's a little weird for me. This is the first summer in my life that I've skipped out on the Ontario pilgrimage. Part of me feels really sad--my grandparents' cottage is one of my favorite places in the world. The rest of me knew, though, that if I couldn't spend time with Jay up north, I'd be pretty disappointed.

So, we're having a "staycation" and playing house. I'm taking care of the dog, and Jay is keeping me company.

Thus far, our adventures have included:

1. Afternoon of the Undead Car!

I went grocery shopping on Monday morning for healthy provisions (so much melon!). When I got out of the last grocery store at 11:40, my car wouldn't start. I called Papa Ash for help. No answer. I called Mama Peg. She promised lattes. I called Jay. We jumped my car for about half an hour. Nothing.

We went to my house, ate, and got my good jumper cables from the garage. We jumped the car with Papa's van. For another twenty minutes. I called AAA. We waited for forty minutes. AAA jumped my car. At 3:30, I got home.

2. Giant Fights Initiated by, But Not Limited to the Afternoon of the Undead Car!

...the less said the better.

3. Barking Dog at 6:15 a.m.!

And Mom thought I'd sleep through her morning routine...

4. Disney-Themed Drinking Game!

Aladdin + Mike's Hard + Beer -Dog = Unexpected Bliss

And it's only Wednesday morning! What fun could lie in store for us?

Hint: It involves a barking dog. At 5:00 in the morning.

C24k: Week 3 Do-Over

The stress of the past two weeks finally caught up to me in my Monday run. When last I wrote, I'd made it though the hell of standardized tests and was ready to enjoy my pre-vacation week. Unfortunately, Jay's passport was a no-show, so I decided to stay in Ohio with him and my family's dog. During all the up-in-the-air-edness of the passport "situation" I stopped running. Or, rather, continued to just not run.

So on Monday, after I'd said good-bye to my parents and sibs, I decided to restart with Week 3 of C25K and this time, take the dog.

Abby is no so great at the running with humans thing. Still, she is only about five months old. When I had her in the park, she wove back and forth in front of me the entire time I ran. During my walking breaks, she would run up behind me, jumped on my butt, and tried to push me faster. It was pretty darn adorable.

Still it had been two weeks since I'd run and about a month since I'd run outside. It was bad. I couldn't finish my last three-minute interval. Oh well. As soon as I'm feeling human again, I'll be taking Abby out for another run on the Week 3 program.