A Few of My Favorite Things

Some of my recent obsessions are:

Putty-colored nail polish. It's like a cross between brown, gray, and purple and totally rad.

Fresh pineapple. I've been buying at least one a week, cutting it up and eating it within about two days. I can't stop.


Iced tea. This brand, to be exact, because it was on sale at K-Roger for 59 cents a bottle! Score.

The Discovery Channel's miniseries Life. In HD.
This weekend is plants and primates, the last episodes! Brad and I look forward to this every week, and we're both going to be bummed when it's over.

Coonskin Park. I've been going to the park at least 6 times a week -- walking the dog after work Monday - Friday and trail running on the weekends. It's very close to where I live, and surprisingly under-utilized. It makes living on the side of a mountain in a neighborhood with no sidewalks much more bearable.

*****

We're off to Virginia this weekend, where I will be playing pit crew for Brad at a 13-hour mountain bike race. Then I'm traveling to Indiana for work on Monday and Tuesday and getting my summer haircut on Wednesday! I'm fighting the urge to chop it all off.

Kneepeas

Because I'm sure the universe is simply dying for an update, my knee is much better today. I took three days off from working out and elliptical-ed this morning at the gym. It felt so good that, after I got off the hamster wheel, I ran a mile on the treadmill before heading home to ice my leg with my kneepeas (a bag of frozen peas that are designated for icing body parts, not for eating).

In other news, I'm headed to a brand new doctor tomorrow, whose name I randomly chose from my health insurance's network of doctors. My doctor in Pittsburgh was kind of a dick, and he never listened to me. I have high hopes for new dude tomorrow.

Pain Cave

I have finally gotten to a point with my fitness that I am proud of. I can run that 5K that I was aiming for -- in fact, I have been running 10-15 miles a week pretty consistently for the last month or so (a combination of treadmill and trail). I know that is not a lot, but I hope one day to be one of those people who runs 10-15 miles at once, and for the first time I have been feeling like that is achievable. "Every runner has to start somewhere!" I tell myself. So what if I'm starting later than most; I spent my teen years being over 200 pounds!

Yesterday I went to the park near my house to run, on a familiar trail that I have run several times already. I ran this particular trail end-to-end and back (about 2.75 miles, I estimate), was chased by a goose in the process, and then got back into my car to drive home. As I sat down in the car, I felt a twinge in my left knee. Huh. I have had problems with my right knee for years, but never the left.

By the time I got home, moving my foot on and off of the clutch was excruciating. I showered and iced my knees, and then took a look -- very swollen, as I suspected. Walking up and down stairs is seriously difficult. Putting pretty much any weight on the knee while it is bent is very painful.

I'm so discouraged, I don't know what to do. I have worked very hard to get to this point in regards to running, and I am afraid I'll lose a lot of fitness by taking too much time off. On the other hand, I know I need to take care of my body and, frankly, I think I could run today if I tried.

So, I'm bummed. Super bummed. But hopefully a couple of days' rest is all I will need to heal.

In the meantime:

Easy Like Saturday Morning

This morning, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful, crisp 35 degrees outside. Brad left on his road bike to do a century just for the hell of it, and I decided to head to the Kanawha State Forest to do a trail run.

First, let me say that I have spent a decent amount of time hiking on the trails at the KSF, but I am the girl who needs the super stiff hiking boots to keep from rolling her ankles. Second, I can run a couple of miles easily now, but all of the miles I've run have been on the treadmill. As I drove the 15 minutes to the forest, I began to think that this was not a good idea. The trail I was headed for, the Davis Creek Trail, is one of the flattest in the forest. It does, however, have its share of rocks, roots, and slippery, muddy areas. I imagined myself spraining an ankle and lying in the woods, waiting for mountain lions to kill me. I hoped that they would be swift about it.

Before I could talk myself into turning around and heading to the gym, I arrived, parked, strapped on my ipod and Smartwool hat, and was on my way.

I'm sure you saw this coming: I think I ran the whole time with a huge grin on my face.

Wow, trail running is awesome. I had to walk one short, icy section along a little ridge, and when the trail suddenly became a river, I had to walk off trail to get around it, but otherwise I ran along at a good pace, my "girl power" playlist blaring, smiling and sweating in the sunshine. I don't know for sure how far I ran, nor do I really care, but based upon how long it took, my estimate is about 2 miles. I would have run longer, but the trail mysteriously ended and I wasn't sure where to go next. When it finally dries out, I'm going to be all over Middle Ridge trail -- that one goes on forever.

Now I'm home icing my dodgy knee. I have to head to the mall this afternoon to find something to wear to my brother-in-law's wedding in Wisconsin next weekend. I hate the thought of spending such a nice day in a mall, but it has to be done.

I hope everyone has a glorious weekend!

Best. Thing. Ever.

For dinner tonight, I had roasted broccoli dipped in peanut butter. It was absolutely delicious! I urge everyone to give it a try.

That is all.

An Actual Conversation

It is 5.45 am. I have dragged myself out of my warm bed, put on my workout clothes and driven to the gym. Squinting against the uber-bright florescent lights, I choose a treadmill, set my program and start to run. But my legs! They feel like whole frozen Christmas hams. They are heavy, heavy, and after 5 minutes I slow to a walk and hang my head in shame. I feel defeated.

Man on treadmill next to me: Seems harder today, doesn't it?

K: Yes, it does.

Man: That one is stuck at an incline.

K: That would certainly explain it. Thanks!

I moved to the next treadmill and had no trouble pounding out my 2 miles. Crisis averted!

It Felt Like Springtime on That February Morning

What a beautiful weekend to live in West Virginia! Saturday was warm and gorgeous. Sunday was warmer and . . . gorgeous-er. Today is rainy and crappy but, you know, it's Monday so no one really cares. I hear that it's supposed to snow again later in the week but for now, it feels like spring and that is enough to pull all of us out of our winter-induced funk.

Yesterday afternoon, Brad and I walked around downtown holding hands in the sunshine. We debated hitting up Ellen's for ice cream, but since they don't accept debit cards and neither of us had cash, we drove instead to our favorite Mexican restaurant for margaritas and nachos. I love days like that. Years ago, when we lived in Milwaukee, we would occasionally take an afternoon and walk around the city, going from bar to bar to restaurant, just the two of us, and it was always so much fun.

Five of Brad's friends are coming down from Pittsburgh this weekend for an epic, 2-day Kanawha State Forest ride. This means that we'll have a house full of bikes and skinny dudes in spandex. I'm planning to bake a few kinds of cookies and stuff for them this week. I love to bake but I refuse to have a surplus of cookies in the house; I would end up eating them for breakfast (or lunch, or dinner).

*****

Oh, and I ran two miles yesterday, without stopping to walk. To most people this is not that big of an accomplishment, but for me it is! I'm 2/3 of the way to a 5K, which was my goal for the year, and it's only February! If I can run 2 miles, why not 3? And if I can run 3, soon it will be 5. And if I can run 5, I can certainly run 6! I might end up running a 10K this year in addition to the 5K.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I ran the 2 miles on the treadmill at the gym. I know, I know, it's harder outside. But I played around with the treadmill's incline and speed to make it more closely resemble outdoor running. Right now, I'm still working on building up my lungs. I'll worry about my legs later.