ridiculous running shoe journey

I’ve mentioned it a few times many times that I’m on a search for the PERFECT shoe.  I want the clouds to part and rays of sunshine to fall on my beautiful, perfect new-running-shoe-fitted-feet.  This is the ideal.  But I will settle for something super-duper fabulous.

these are the emotions I want to feel

During Dopey, I saw a number of hokas running past me.  Considering I recently went from a stability shoe to a neutral with loads of cushion, I figured this would the PERFECT shoe.  Not to mention, Sweaty Emily raves about them and she runs a billion miles.  Then Kara from It’s a Dog Lick Baby World got them and I think she is very neato so I wanted to be like her.

did I mention I did this?!

A chunk of change later and I was the proud owner of a pair of Hokas.  Let’s just put it out there that these puppies aren’t the cutest things ever and they make my feet look giant.  Nevertheless, I was willing to overlook these for a sweet ride.

I wasn’t disappointed – at least not for a while.  They initially felt very large and clunky.  I kind of wondered if they were too big?  I ordered a size down so I could see if this was it and these rubbed against the side of my feet – the right side worse than the left.  So, I kept the 8.5’s thinking these would be the right choice.

Sadly they are not my earth-shattering dream shoes I hoped for.  The blisters on both feet are just getting worse and running is uncomfortable/painful.  I think my right foot is wider as this one is more irritated.  I thought I could push through it and I will but I need to mix them up with shoes that fit me better.  My Brooks Glycerin’s are good but my current pair are DONEZO.  I looked on amazon and they didn’t have any in my size so I will look somewhere else.  Amazon did suggest some Asics Nimbus though.  I started out my running career with Asics and maybe it’s time to go back?

p.s. NEVER look up “blister” under images… trust me

Clearly, I am incredibly wishy-washy when it comes to shoes.  My “journey” is silly and *perhaps* my standards are just a bit high.  OR I need to stop falling into the trap of hearing/reading about what others are wearing and thinking these will make me run like them.  While I don’t really believe this will make it true, some part of me wonders if there is magic in shoes…  I also should have gone to Hogwarts for my undergrad but you know… the owl got lost.

There you have it.  My Asics are coming today and I need to find the Glycerin’s right quick-like (just in case the Asics don’t work).  I have a 25k on 5/10 and I need time to break in the new shoes.  Not to mention, running in the Hokas on back to back days is making my feet all hurty.  I will stock up on some moleskin because Hokas last for 700ish miles.  I’m probably the only person who is disappointed by this.  I do want to say, I like a lot about the hokas.  The cushion is great and it definitely helps encourage mid-foot striking.  They also have a mad love affair with my treadmill.  I can’t explain it but running in these on the ‘mill is so much easier than in other shoes for me.

Oh no!  Another angsty post – here, look at this funny t-rex – maybe it will help you forget about my whining!

man, I love a good t-rex meme!

 

is that runner-girl drunk?!

No, I wasn’t drunk.  But toward the end of yesterday’s 9 miler, I was kind of weaving so it looked like I was!

this is about how fast I was going too

I need to back up a bit…  Friday night I stepped on the treadmill fully prepared to run 5 miles.  Due to some sickness during the week, I hadn’t run since Monday and I felt it.  Also, pain killers were my friend this week and I think these added to my sluggish steps and made for this awful run.  My dad called at mile 2.6 and then I didn’t get back on the treadmill.

Soul-sucking run – Check!

nope. done.

I figured Saturday should be a redemption run, right?  I knew I wanted to go a bit longer but didn’t have a firm number in mind when I set out – yes, outside.  This was a huge help.  I felt pretty good in the beginning.  I ran up this giant hill and then ran around downtown.  I increased my speed for about a mile and half.  It felt great!

goooo Amy gooooo!

When I do my longer runs, I get nervous about speed since I want to have enough energy to finish.  I need to stop being so cautious since I’m never going to get faster unless I attempt to push it.  In theory this is the right attitude.  In practice, it sure is tough!

I did have to end up walking a little at three separate times.  I was kind of bummed but I know in a week or two, I won’t have to again so this is helpful.  My last mile and half I was bobbing and weaving like a drunken sailor.  I was BEAT.  My hip was hurting.  My ankle was hurting.  My legs were exhausted.  So, while I thought about hitting some double digits, it would only to be able to say, “I hit double digits!”.  It certainly wasn’t the smart thing considering my body was yelling at me to stop.  At least I listened.

I probably wasn’t exactly ready to run 9 miles.  Two weeks ago I did 8 and that felt MUCH better than yesterday’s 9.  I haven’t done enough during the week to support these longer runs and I know this is the way you get injuries.  My calves are TIGHT this morning.  I failed to foam roll/Tiger Tail last night and I’m regretting it today.  My plan is to hit a few more miles today since the weather is cooperating.  Not to mention, yesterday’s run was only marginally better than the aforementioned soul-sucking one so I need some good running mojo.

OH!  That reminds me – yesterday’s run also included a forceful headwind, some snow and chilly weather.  I swear my weather app completely lied to me, they made it sound like the conditions were much friendlier than they turned out to be.  So I warmed up on the couch with Simon and some Twilight – I needed a good movie marathon.

this is EXACTLY how I feel about movie marathons on tv!

a water-drinking fiend

I did some of the running yesterday.  It wasn’t pretty.  I might have had something to do with me laying around until 8:15 pm and then attempting to coax my muscles into actually moving.  I’m fairly certain those muscles had atrophied during my couch laziness.  Of course that means today‘s run will be off the charts amazing – right?

I have the next two days off.  This week is spring break and I decided taking two days vacation was a good idea.  I was wrong – it was a fantastic idea!  I have all kinds of plans for this weekend, some of which involve some crafty business and cleaning all the things in my apt.  There is a chance none of this will happen and I will exist in my sweatpants and a hoodie, snuggling my cat.  It really is 50/50 at this point but I’m headed into it with some motivation.  Fingers crossed I can use this motivation for the greater good!

Today is the beginning of Lent.  I took one of those Buzzfeed surveys titled, “what you should give up for Lent”.  The survey determination?  Television.

Yep, I don’t know how I feel about this.  First of all, how does Buzzfeed know me so well?!  I swear, they have spies everywhere!  Or maybe they work for the NSA –  this makes more sense in my brain.  Anyway, this is probably a really good idea.  I’m sure I would get a lot more done if I didn’t spend time in front of the boob-tube.  However, I don’t want to give up tv.  There I said it.  But I could scale my tv watching down.  I should think of a time limit… or something.  I shall ponder this.

Last year I gave up my snooze button.  This was remarkably difficult.  I want to give it a shot again this year.  I failed my first day but I shall not give up!  I’m so completely addicted to my snooze button.  I set 3 alarms because I am this dependent on it.  I’ve read the science-y articles that say hitting snooze is detrimental to feeling awake but in the morning when I’m all warm and cozy it’s difficult to believe said science-y articles.

I also like to do things that are beneficial for Lent.  I guess the snooze button falls under this and I have a one or two other ideas that I’m hoping to put into action.

I got to pick these nummies up today!  Wahoo!

You can bet your sweet bippy I tore into these about .03 seconds after I picked them up.  It would have been sooner but I figured stuffing my face with cookies in front of others would be less than appetizing.  I’m probably going to alienate many with this admission, nevertheless here is a truth about me:  I can’t stand Thin Mints.

Last and this is going to be TMI… I peed 10x yesterday!  This is huge for me!  To be honest, this is sometimes more than I pee in TWO days, let alone one.  I definitely have an issue with hydrating.  Today, I’m already on my third water bottle (24 oz) so I am very proud of myself.

 What are you proud of yourself for?

 Are you a Girl Scout cookie fan?  Which kind. 

I’m not one of those people

Breaking news:  this morning I was one of those people who forgot to eat.  Trust me, this NEVER happens.  But I got into work and started working on a project.  And was drinking coffee.  At 11 am, I was suddenly very hungry and realized I forgot to eat my almond/coconut Kind bar.  First of all, this in itself is astonishing considering I love me my Kind bars.  Second, I don’t forget to eat.  This concept is quite odd to me.  Third, it’s probably been 7 years since I last forgot to eat breakfast.  I suddenly feel lost.  WHO AM I?

Why didn’t I eat it straight-away after this realization?  I was meeting my friend for lunch at 11:45 at Panera so there wasn’t really a point.  Although I was nervous that later on I wouldn’t be able to feel full.  This used to happen to me all the time when I didn’t eat in the morning.  I wouldn’t eat until 1 pm or 2 pm and then proceeded to eat the rest of the day/evening.  Whenever anyone asks me how I lost weight in the first place, my answer is always, “I started eating breakfast”.  Really, this changed my eating habits on a permanent basis.

Anyway, back to how I originally started this post.  Not quite sure why I’ve gone all radio silent this past week.  I could blame it on feeling completely exhausted every night after getting home from work.  I could also blame it on some writer’s block.  Then there is the fact I was feeling lazy and falling into a napping habit.  Or because I’ve been taking my meds in the middle of the day in an attempt to make my dosage 12 hours apart.

Hmm… these are all fairly accurate reasons.  So there you go.

Thankfully, these reasons haven’t kept me from running.  I’ve been sticking with my plan pretty well with only a missed run here and there.  Remember – this is good for me!  I did decide to skip the 1/2 this past Sunday.  It snowed the night before (4′) and was a combo of frozen roadways and a freezing morning.  Not to mention, I woke up late and with a headache.  All of these made for running 2 and 1/2 hours seem incredibly less appealing.  I don’t regret my choice although I do feel a bit wimpy.  My treadmill and I are super good buddies at this point.

I also created some art!  I had a bit of help but here is the finished product:

It’s hanging in my living room and definitely helps with some necessary color.  Naturally, now all I want to do is CREATE!  I purchased three more canvases in hopes of painting this:

or at least something fairly close

Thank you pinterest, for ever fueling my project endeavors.

Last oddball thing:  for some reason I’ve started saying “oil” in a Southern accent.  I looked for gif or video to help explain this but to no avail.  I think the best way to describe it is, I say “uhl” – I’m not sure where the “o” or the “i” went.  I’m from WA state.

It’s very strange I tell ya.  I have no idea where this came from!

a cat dish, celery seed & cinnamon

Aside from my grocery shopping experience a few other things of note happened this weekend…

On Friday, I had a meeting with a bunch of undergrad and graduate students.  They ranged in ages from 19-25.  One student was sort of sitting in a corner and I said, “James, you should say, ‘nobody puts Baby in a corner'”.  Cue me laughing at my own joke and students all staring at me.  Every single one of them.  “You all don’t know what that’s from?”  Again with the blank stares.  It hurt my heart a bit – our youths have no culture!

Harry Potter marathon weekend.  This was a nice change from all of the murder and mayhem I’ve been watching on Investigation Discovery.  Since our cable was upgraded I now get this lovely channel along with a bajillion others.  For this tv gal, this is awesome.

I also watched some House Hunters.  One episode featured this couple who were very elitist.  Nothing “matched their style” and they literally said, “This is SO suburban.”  Turns head,   “oh look!  There’s the rain shower I wanted!”.

Even their realtor made fun of them pointing out that a rain shower is in fact a dreaded suburban detail. I think they drove me bonkers because of how condescending they were.

I finally did some laundry and the rolling suitcase trick worked wonders.  I was going to pick up the last load and decided to take my trash out as well since this was desperately needed.  Sure enough as I was almost there I went down hard!  I landed on my “saddlebag” area and tweaked my knee a bit.  Oh and the car of people driving by saw the whole thing!

The aches and pains aren’t terrible though.  Good thing I drink so much coffee (creamer) and eat yogurt, I’ve got some strong bones!

I also posted some items for sale.  I’m working on selling my bistro table, some dishes and then  some throw pillows to give away.  I’ve heard of a site where people trade and sell their gently used work out gear.  I need to find this as I have gear with tags on it!  If any of you are interested let me know and I will post some pics.

Oh and an INMATE called me on Saturday afternoon.  Why yes, a recording said I was getting a call from _____ (didn’t catch his name) who is an inmate from a jail in MI.  That was all I needed to hear and I hung up.  Sorry dude – hope I wasn’t your only phone call but NO.

My original plan was to run yesterday.  I plugged in my Kindle since there is no way I can run on a treadmill without being totally entertained (there is some firstworldproblem sarcasm here) and changed into my running shorts.  I needed to waste some time while it was charging and for some reason I jumped into organizing my spare room.  Clone Amy strikes again!  4 hours later and while I didn’t run, I did make some progress.  I was going through this shelf of clothing and I found a container of celery seed, one of cinnamon and a cat dish. Umm… I got nothing.

Not going to lie, it’s times like these that I wish I was more “normal”!

I couldn’t believe how much work I got done in that span of time!  Since today is a snow day(!!) I can get a run in along with doing more work on the room.  Yes, I am very proud of myself!

Do was your weekend?  Please tell me you have found random spices in your clothes closet too

little miss whines a lot

First of all, I wish the title of this post was, “little miss wines a lot”.  Maybe this weekend…

Back when I was a small tyke, the “little miss and mr. men” books were very popular.  We bought one called “Little Miss Bossy”.  I am fairly certain I liked the fact she was a blue (my favorite color) character and she looked cute.  Maybe it was because she wore boots – these are all possibilities.  Never did I imagine what a mistake this was…

this isn’t little miss bossy boot’s best side – I doubt I was ever this bad!

My family always said I was bossy and when we read the book about “miss bossy boots” they latched onto the (almost) literation and it became my nickname.  Whoa.Is.Me.  I am still called “bossy boots” to this day.  I perfer to say these were leadership qualities displayed at an early age but no one buys it.

Why the long intro?  Because I’ve been feeling like “little’ miss whines a lot” all week.  No, this isn’t an actual character but it should be.  Frankly, I want to punch everyone in the face and I am simply irritated.  IRRITATED!  There is no one specific reason why.  Honestly, most were a bunch of #firstworldproblems.  I was going to whine to you all but  you’ve been saved – sort of.  I spent the last part of my day listening to someone whine incesisently so I didn’t want to put you through that torture.

this is me… all week long

So I revamped this post a bit!  Ordinarily I would go for a run to sweat this mood out but I’m feeling kind of crummy.  I recognize I say I don’t feel well quite often and there are a variety of reasons for this.  I’ll jump back into things this weekend for sure.

A run is also sort of out of the question considering I don’t have a sports bra clean.  My laundry mountain is out of control.  I don’t even remember the last time I did laundry but I think it was Jan. 2nd.  Maybe.  I’m getting low on clean clothes!  As in, it’s almost time for bikini bottoms as skivvies!  I am both lazy and bratty: I don’t want to walk outside in the freakin’ arctic blast!  I did finally come up with a decent brilliant idea of getting the laundry to the laundry room without breaking a hip on the ice.  I’m going to use one of my big older suitcases on wheels and roll it back and forth.  I am good at using my resources well and considering the amount of laundry this will save my back.

nope, no idea

Other than these silly annoynaces I just feel out of sorts.  I need to pull my head out of my bum.  I got to catch up with a dear friend last night and haven’t woken up late once this week!  I’ve had bacon for dinner three times this week.  I have a wonderful bottle of wine for the weekend.  I picked out races to sign up for and will be registering very soon.  I also don’t have to pay for my own heat which is huge during the aforementioned artic blast.

perhaps I’m a bit too excited for the wine – if this is possible

AND I paid for my running coach!  I still can’t believe I went through with it!  I’ve thought about it for a while and thought I would never be able to afford it.  Or that it was only for runners who were really good.  Or it would be something where I talk about it but am too nervous and allow it to get in the way of my goals.  It was kind of like registering for Dopey – I just did it, refusing to consider there was a possibility of failure.

I will never tire of this picture

Most of the time, in the midst of all my whining I do remember the positives!  Not to mention, I still have ice cream left!

extra! extra! read all about it!

Today’s post is brought to you by the best cup of coffee I’ve made in weeks.  And my strange shirt with deer on it.  Oh and my tasty cookie with frosting that I had for breakfast.

I’ve had some interesting happenings this week and I figured saving them for one post was a good idea.  That way it seems like I am whining less… hopefully?  The other day Simon woke me up at 4:30 am.  This is not unusual, however, he comes up and walks by my face and IT SMELLED BAD!  Great.  TMI but Simon is a long-haired kitty and at times poop gets stuck to his bum.  I figured this was the issue and quickly got up and scrubbed his bum.

this is a fair assessment of both of our feelings… btw when I looked up “cleaning a cat’s butt” an article stated that a cat’s behind is his health barometer. weird.

Later, I came home and found poop on the floor.  I do feel sorry for the little guy though because about a 1/2 hour later he puked his guts out.  Kitty stomach flu.

(Strange pic ahead!!!)  Then my (male) co-workers and I were discussing birth and the placenta.  We had a disagreement so I looked up placenta online.  And I found this

yep, it’s a teddy bear made from the placenta. I am now torturing my co-workers with it because that’s the type of person I am

I showed my other male co-worker and he said at first he thought it was a pastry teddy bear that just needed some powdered sugar.  I took so much sick delight in telling him what it really was!

The other night I was attempting to balance my beautiful BLT (minus the L), with a can of pop while getting Simon’s toy for him.  In slow motion my BLT hit the carpet.  So sad!  And no, I don’t do the 10 second rule on carpet especially with a pet.  Plus there was the aforementioned poop issue!

this is exactly how I felt – james you get me

There was some stress at work this week hence the cookie for breakfast.  Wednesday, I got home and locked the door behind me.  It was hermit time.  Thursday when I got done at noon(!!), came home, took care of some things and left for a run.  10 big fatty miles!  It was a great run that boosted my Dopey training confidence.  It was also amazing weather 39* and dry.  To not run would be slapping mama nature across the face!

To be honest, I was tempted to hang on the couch again but then two things happened: a) my friend texted and helped kick my butt in gear and b) I realized I didn’t like the underwear I was wearing so I would get to change it after running and then showering.  I am absolutely serious.

It’s been a strange week.  Monday was the two year mark of my mom’s passing.  I wrote a post about it but not sure if I will ever hit publish.  It’s easier this year than the last and I have conflicted feelings about this.  I know healing is important and I am grateful for it but…

I’m looking forward to heading back to WA on Monday!  I’m going to stock up on my favorite blend of coffee, smother my family in x’s and o’s, run and relax.

I have so many thoughts

Some of my thoughts:

1.  How could I have forgotten how good a BLT is?!  I completely skip the lettuce because I am lazy but I loaded up on the bacon and tomatoes.  I love the gushy tomato with the lightly crunchy bacon.

I think he loves bacon more than I do… but not by much

2.  I eat a Chobani Flip everyday for breakfast.  My boss told me the other day he is concerned about the amount of yogurt I eat.  This could be true but so far I have not tired of my Coco Loco and it’s a treat for breakfast.

3.  I was reading through Run, Eat, Repeat the other day and I really like the compression shorts she wears for races.  They are Moving Comfort 7.5″ Compression Short.  I like how they are a little longer and reviews say they don’t ride up.  Since my thighs do touch (ha!  see how I worked that in?!) this is a good thing.  Some reviewers say the waist sits too low so we’ll see.

superhero shorts

4.  In both marathons I ran last year, I saw a couple of women whose shorts/skirt kept riding up and their inner thighs were bleeding from the chaffing.  Would you quit at this point?  It might have been mile 20… I would seriously consider it…

5.  I have 20 miles on my “schedule” (which I have loosely based on a training plan but play it by ear) for today.  I have decided my prize – yes, I do reward myself with food, is this incredibly delicious donut from a local donut place called Sweetwaters.  I had 1/2 of one about a month ago and I’m still thinking about it.  Only one problem, I don’t know what kind of donut it was so what if I pick the wrong one?!  I feel this will be my important decision for the day.

6.  Yesterday I learned there is a sandwich hierarchy when ordering food for college students.  Now, I understand there is such a hierarchy for candy (generic candy doesn’t cut it) and pizza but I didn’t realize this included sandwiches.  Apparently, Subway is at the bottom and Jimmy Johns is a much more “fun” sandwich.  I argued that Blimpies was much lower than Subway and I was informed that of course it was and it wasn’t even included in the list.  Now you are enlightened as well.

7.  If you ever came to visit me there is a good chance one of the following would be on tv, a Twilight, a Lord of the Rings, a Harry Potter or an episode of Supernatural.  A few months ago, I got invited to a party later in the evening on a Friday night.  Most everyone was already drunk and this guy asked me what I had been doing earlier.  I answered, “I was watching Lord of the Rings”.  He thought I was joking – I wasn’t.

maybe – but I’m not ashamed!

8.  Did you realize that the word scratch can be a verb, an adjective or a noun?

9.  You should feel lucky I didn’t bother typing what I was actually thinking here.  It was beyond dumb.

10.  I finally figured out my costume for the Dopey races!  Wahoo!  More to come in the next couple of months!