Teary Eyed Nose Running, Wipe the Snot on my Sleeve

Disaster. Can't a sister catch a break? If there were ever an injury prevention poster child of what NOT to do, I'd be it. We can now add: messed up right knee, to my unending list of injuries. If you were wondering "messed up right knee" is the official diagnosis.

The equation goes like this: solid ice + G-Money on a leash + birds = jolted right arm, twisted hip and knee and face met trail. Ow. Goliath's biggest downfall is how prey driven he is, and it's one of those traits that's hard to knock and out train. I've forgiven him emotionally, but physically I have a feeling this injury will take a while to heal. The ice bath was like insult to injury, it's five degrees today and instead of a nice hot shower I got an freezing ice bath to ward off swelling.

We managed a total of 2.78 miles today of our scheduled 6, but it was mostly walking. The fall occurred early on, and I hoped I could "walk it off."

I like this picture, it's a half woman half dog running machine.

Today's Mileage: 2.78
Time: why bother

Fifteen Percent Concentrated Power of Will

Tons of things to report since last Thursday. And by tons, I mean very few. The weekend wasn't eventful for me, but Goliath? He had the time of his life with his girlfriend Sarai. Sarai is a boxer mix like Goliath, but she's missing the breed that's wired for continual energy. Goliath never gave the poor pup a break, she went from this:

To this:

...after four hours of non-stop playing.

I swear the guy never wears out, and only sleeps out of boredom. So the idea that I need to run him daily is both negated, and supported. He needs to work out, but it certainly doesn't tire him out like it should. While he's already marathon ready, and built for speed I am not.

We set out for our daily miles today, just like any other day except one thing. I really didn't want to. I've been in this wicked funk: eating poopie foods, and not running. Essentially being sedentary. Optimistically, I thought if it got warm I'd want to run but it didn't and I keep skipping training. I even put on my marathon socks to get me motivated.

As usual, however, after the first half mile I renewed my love and pushed the work out.

The trail was solid, solid ice and running on it was more like jumping up and forward over and over as to not slip. If I had used my normal form it would have been akin to running up the down escalator. Goliath was splendid on the ice, and did not pull me. I have this inherit fear of falling terribly, alone and breaking a leg or something. Maybe Goliath shares that fear, because it's as if he inherently knows not to pull on ice.

At our split we took a two minute breather, and by breather I mean: I caught my breath and Goliath sniffed and explored. It was the type of cold today that makes your teeth hurt, and nose ache. My eyes stung, and my face was so dry. This did not make me very happy.

The back end of my run was incredible, I averaged an 8:30 minute/mile and spent most it on grass. Pushing myself felt great, but afterwards I couldn't help be be annoyed with myself. Over the span of a year I have progressed in running a lot, so why am I putting up roadblocks? Why do I need to continue to kick myself to get out there and run? I know full well that the hardest part is getting up and doing it, but I hate starting my runs with resentment-it makes them less enjoyable, and by the time I'm halfway finished I wish I had enjoyed the first half more. My runs are too short and far between these days to be angry at the miles.

I know it's cold, and I know I'm prone to injury but no more excuses, and avoiding the pavement.

Today's Mileage: 5.1
Time: 45:24

I run my life or is it running me?

It has been so hard not running for both of us. It's easier to run 50 miles a week, then it is to not. Two weeks off. Two weeks of nervous energy in Goliath. The only good thing about taking two unintentional weeks off is the rest was beneficial for my tibias. They feel good, and ready to kick out some kilometers.

Goliath has been the only one logging any sort of mileage, and even his has been sub par. We've tripped to the dog park, but I haven't felt up to walking around too much and there's never any other dogs there for him to play with. It's been bitterly cold, but he needs that little bit of freedom.

We both look a little maniacal, but then again so is going to the dog park in ten degree weather.

I've ceased all pain killers. I can't deal with the dizziness. I'd rather be in pain, and running. So that's what I did. It is unbelievably excruciating to have free time and not be able to spend it running. I think of my time in mileage these days. Like, seven loads of laundry would take me like eight hours or 50 miles. I'd rather run 50 miles. Straightening my hair takes twenty minutes, that's 2 miles. I'd rather run 2 miles. So when I sit on my butt for an hour, doing nothing but catching up on sitcoms, I think to myself: Wow, you just wasted 6 miles.

Not wanting to waste anymore miles, Goliath and I hit our trail. And get this-I was nervous! Like worried I wouldn't even be able to run a mile. Seriously. It was a weird pinned up mental nervousness. The kind you get before a big test, I know I've taken a test before but what if this one's different.

After a half mile, I was flying. Like a bird. My love. Magic. If my fragments aren't enough of a clue, going out today was the best thing for me. For my body, my mind and my pup. We needed this. The miles passed too quickly, I pushed myself and told myself that this is the sport my body was made to do. It's exciting to be back, and I can't wait to start focusing on my diet again.

Tired of water and dog pictures yet? Too bad, my blog.

I've posted this everywhere, so if you've seen it sorry-but this IS my running and weight loss-esque blog. So, here's my newest progress photos:

Today's Mileage: 4.1
Time: 38:43

Couldn't wait to get goin' but wasn't quite ready to leave

Well, we're back! Aspen was beautiful and vacation was needed. The absence from Goliath was nearly more than I could take, I think I might have a little separation anxiety myself. Call me obsessive and crazy-but I love my dog, he makes me smile when no one else can and he goes with me when no one else will.


It's been nearly two weeks since I've laced up the Bowermans, and secured the leash. And I'm really feeling it. It's right about this time where the hormonal low starts to get to me. The depression sets in, and the motivation isn't hard to find. The problem? My health. It's the total pits right now. Without getting into all the gory details, and sparing you photographs I had some minor oral surgery on the previous Friday, and there were complications, and complications to the complications. I'm on high dose pain killers and oral and intramandibular antibiotics for the next three weeks, when I will have hopefully my last round of surgeries.

This couldn't have happened at a more inconvenient time. Of course right after vacation and the dead middle of marat training. I've missed so many days of training, that my fitness level and lactate threshold will be null. I've laid in a bed for a week, I've lost a little over ten pounds. Ten pounds of muscle mass. I'm nervous.

What do you do after set backs? Where you pick back up in training?

Usually, I'd just go out for an easy run to see what I can do. I want to be 100% but I can't wait another day. I don't want to push myself too much too soon, but that's kind of who I am. I've come to accept that I'm an "all or nothing" kind of person, but I've also come to accept that this part of me needs to change. It's why I keep getting injured, It's why I'm considerably more frustrated with my training than your average runner and It's why I've never been able to just relax.

When I'm not pushing myself there's a knot in my stomach that's akin to that rock you get when you feel guilty. It probably is guilt. Guilt because I know I can do better than whatever it is I just half butted.

While I know it's not healthy to be this hard of myself, especially while I'm trying to recover in the first place, I don't really know any other way.

Baby steps I guess.

BoskyBlog on Vacation!

We'll be offline for a snowboarding trip to Aspen,CO!

Goliath will be at the mercy of my brother, who will likely learn a lesson in exercise and leash management.

Oh and training has been put to an abrupt stop, I know the pain in my legs all to well. It's time to take it easy, which won't be easy with a marathon in ten weeks. Hopefully vacation will distract me enough.

Rome wasn't Built in a Day

There's nothing more motivating then getting congratulated by Lance Armstrong. Just one of the pluses of the Nike+ Sport Kit. I'm renewing the love I once had, I love hearing my mileage in my ear and hearing how much left there is to tread. I love having someone else in my ear, I feel like I can't let them down.

Yesterday, I actually cross trained. Yes, me. I went to a...GYM. I lifted...WEIGHTS. I am...SORE. This morning, I could barely walk. Getting out of bed was the hardest part of the day. Strengthening my core will be a lot, um, something. See, I want to be a better runner but I want to do it by running.

It's hard enough as it is to get motivated to run, let alone when it's freezing and you're sore. My hips felt like there were sand in them, and my IT band was solid. Needless to say, the first half mile was agony, warming up was agony and cooling down was agony. My training dictated a 5 miler with a 3 mile warm up at 11:04. I'm sorry but trying to run that slow with Goliath is torture. We're both miserable, so we sped up and worked in a five minute split to stretch.


We ran this without our yak traks. I overly romanticized running in the snow. Oh, it's so magical and calm. It's quite. Snow is beautiful. These are the lies I tell myself. Really, snow is terrible. I hate it. It compacts into my treads. It gets my socks wet. It doesn't respond to my feet like the trail. Don't worry though, I'll complain about the heat come summer time. But for now, I'll mourn the skin on my legs.

My friend sitting next to me just commented on my pink capris. How sad. Those are my legs. Running without my jamming tights today probably didn't help with the DOMS, but it certainly did make me feel uber hardcore.

I'll leave you on a little less frigid note, pictures from our dog park trip:


Today's Mileage: 5.1 miles
Time: 51:45