This past weekend was a nice one. With no particular plans, except for a 9 mile long run, I was looking forward to it. Saturday I left the house a half an hour early to try and get about 3 miles in before I met up with the Alley Pond Striders. The runners who come to the park and run at my pace usually only do about 5 to 6 miles on Saturday morning. If I want to go longer, I usually end up doing the bulk of the run by myself. I've now started running to the park and getting in any mileage over the 6 before the meetup. The weather was pretty good. Cool if a little humid. I got in about 3.25 miles before I hit the park. For a change, the runners had set off only about 5 minutes late. This means they were already well into the park before I got there expecting them to have started the usual 15 minutes after the planned start time. I managed to catch up to the back of the pack about 1/2 a mile later. I slowed down to stay with Suzanne who usually runs over 11 minutes/mile. She sped up a bit and we ran at about a 10:45 pace. I can usually keep that up easily. However, last weekend I had experienced some pain in my left knee about 8 miles into a 9 mile run. It was bad enough that I had a tough time walking for a day or so after. I skipped a run and did a 5 mile slow run on Wednesday instead of the planned speedwork. The knee seemed fine, but it started to bother me again on Saturday. It seems to be my ITB and I'm a little worried. This is my first running related injury. I've had the odd ache or pain, but nothing persistent. I skipped running on Sunday and today and have been trying to stretch out the band. I hope this doesn't mess up my half marathon in two weeks. Sunday I went clothes shopping. This is an unusual event in my life. I hate shopping for clothes. I've never fit into 'standard' women's sizes. And, of course, when I was heavier it was even worse. But I've been getting a little better since I've lost the weight. And I really needed some summer tops that I could wear to work. So off to the mall I go. I didn't find any tops, but I still managed to spend some money. I liked the new line of clothes that being carried by Steve & Barrys that are put out by Sarah Jessica Parker. When I heard about them, I scoffed - I mean she's got that twiggy figure and is always at the big fashion shows, I figured that her clothing would only fit those size zero girls. Some of it does look like that, but I got some nice pants and also grabbed a hoody. So I was feeling quite happy when I left that store. So good, in fact, that when I went into JC Penneys and saw that they had bathing suits on sale, I decided to try some on. I haven't owned a bathing suit in over 25 years - traumatic body issues in puberty. I had no idea what size I was now, but I brought a couple into the dressing room. They didn't look half bad - I wasn't crying after bathing suit hell. The topper was that the sale price was further slashed for the weekend and I got an $80 suit for about $25. Sweet!
I got tagged with this one by Marci I chose the artist partly because I like them, but I also had to pick someone with enough songs to have a shot at completing this thing. Most of my current faves only have one or two albums out so I couldn't use them.
Here's the game: Using only SONG TITLES from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. No repeating song names.
Artist: Catie Curtis
* Are you a male or female: Jane
* Describe yourself: Innocent
* Describe your day: Just Getting By
* Describe where you currently live: Magnolia Street
* If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Hey California
* Your best friend is: Saint Lucy
* Your favorite color is: Red Light
* You know that: Life Goes On
* What's the weather like: Dark Weather
* If your life was a television show, what would it be called: World Don't Owe You
* What is life to you: Rope Swing and Avalanches
* What is the best advice you have to give: Don't Lay Down
* Describe your ex: The Trouble You Bring
* Describe your current love interest: The Wolf (It's just me and the dog)
* What's your favorite hobby: Run
* When you think of your friends: Radical
* What do your friends think of you: Strange
* What does your current love interest think of you: Slave to My Belly
* You always travel with: New Flowers
* The best way to end a long day: On the Phone with my Sister
I hope everyone is having a great Independence Day! And for those not in the USA, I hope it was a tranquil day. I decided to run a race this morning in honor of the holiday. So at 7:30am I was heading out to Bellmore Long Island for the Bellmore Striders Independence Day Run. I've been slacking on the speedwork, so I decided this was a good way to get in my midweek speed run and have fun, as well. The race was 4 miles long, fairly flat and not too twisty, which is a good thing out here where the races are often just laps around the town. I wasn't sure how fast I was going to go. The last time I tried 4 miles I was considerably slower than last fall. All the training has been geared toward doing the distance of a half marathon, so I was just going to give it my best shot. The morning was very pleasant and cool. The sun wasn't showing itself and the wind was kicking up with a threat of rain later in the day. I ran a pretty good race. I was trying to stay in the neighborhood of an 8:30/mile pace. It was pretty tough, but I managed to hold it together and finish in a respectable 34:18. Not too shabby. I came home and, after showering, took a nap on the sofa. I just woke up and I feel like a truck ran over me. Kind of sore but I think it's something else. I've been nursing a slightly queasy stomach and a headache for a couple of days and right now I also feel like I have absolutely no energy. I'm guessing that I'm catching something. I had no plans to extend my day off today to cover the rest of the week (like so many others are doing) but I'll have to see how I feel tomorrow.
Name: DebbieJRT Home: Bellerose, New York, United States About Me: crotchety cross stitcher, trying to channel my inner athlete See my complete profile
