Neptune's Daughter

That's it - way too cold and dark to run when I come home from work now.
Toured the "Y" today on Huntington Ave. and it's got wonderful charm. The indoor track is banked and to get to it you dodge basketball games and then go up a very narrow, rusty iron spiral staircase. I was told it "was the first 'Y'" and that on certain days you have to run the opposite direction to make sure it doesn't fall apart I guess.

3 miles = 37 laps.

And a virtual cycling studio!

I'm signing up this week and loading on the Evelyn King.

First off, I need a new music listening device. I was just informed of this sneaker from the future that does all kinds of stuff with an ipod Nano or ipod Touch:
http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/run.html
You can put this thing in your shoe and it syncs up to an ipod and you can customize your workouts and make your songs play at certain parts (if you're slowing down and getting tired, oh! there starts Betty Harris! cooling down? Starbuck. presto.) and it gives you feedback as you run and then you can go home and view your running results and progress on a computer screen. It's awesome.

Thursday and Friday saw no running activity. I had planned on Thursday's rest but not Friday. It was too dark to run when I came home from work. I may have to buck up and join a gym. Probably the "Y" because it's cheap. I toured Healthworks about a month or two ago for kicks and was roundly seduced. They have a snack bar. And the young lady giving me the tour chirped that the state of Boston requires swimsuits in the whirlpool but not the sauna. I doubt the "Y" is as free and unfettered.

On Saturday morning I woke up and went right to running. I ran 5 miles. I could have ran more but there were lunch plans on the horizon. I had the non-Kristin-playlist mp3 player but it also had a radio function on it. FM only. So, I listened to the oldies station, which was easy enough to run to. The commercials were mostly jingles so even that was fine. The annoying thing about it all though was the DJ interrupting songs to yell "goooo Sox." The toughest song to run to by far was "Clean Up Woman." Although the run was a success I didn't eat or drink anything until about 2pm and I felt very faint and was not the most enthusiastic luncher. Probably not the best routine.

Sunday morning saw no running. And I'm not happy about this at all. I blame my Saturday night downward spiral, the grand finale seeing me passing out and then being woken up at about 2:30am by a young lady screaming bloody murder. She kept yelling "LEAVE ME ALONE!" and really sounding distressed. Peeking out my window, I saw it was a bunch of drunk kids and someone had already called the cops. Sunday morning saw a huge brunch and this evening my sister visited so we drank and didn't run. We devised a probably-lucrative new tour of Boston landmarks, that involves flight attendant wear and a lot of cussin'. And we heard this, which I love:

Chuckie Baby, But No Running.

I am reading a book about neuroscience and music and I think it will firm up why I seem to need music to run.

Yesterday I thought my body needed a rest but when I dashed out of work today it was so nice out that I really wanted to run - have to keep the momentum going or I'm afraid I'll lose my ambitions here. BUT, I had to go to a magical industrial park in Norwood to pick up a UPS package so there was, unfortunately, no run today. Ate at Chili's for the first time in my life and I think it will be my last. And I watched the thrilling Boston comeback baseball game. I got caught up and was too lazy to do laundry so a morning run depends on what kind of non-stinky outfit I can scrape together.

As my old boyfriend, Chuck Barris, and his pal Gene already know, when you can't run you can always dance:

Run Paint Run Run

I did some calf exercise research and it all stinks. But, this looks fun:


And according to this article I'm doing a fine thing by not stretching, thanks:

To Stretch or Not to Stretch

The article states that there is no evidence that stretching prevents injury and actually you use more energy with loose muscle. It does seem to be good for creating long, lean muscle though.

Break My Stride

Yesterday I rushed through work and then rushed on home, determined to get some miles in before my Night Plans. I wound up completing a paltry 2.8 miles before rushing home through the embarrassing part of the run – the "public" part where the cars and bikers ride on the Jamaicaway. I don't mind being a complete sweaty mess around the Pond but when I venture out alongside the road I get ridiculously self-conscious because I often see people I know breezing by looking fabulous and cute – I had to take this shorter route though to make it home in time for a shower and costume change. I had grabbed a portable listening device that actually works this time but did not have a hand in any of the pre-set playlists so I was at first just doing one song selection at a time, which wasn't very practical, so I just hit random and got the luck of the draw. This whole back-up music player was a plus because my alternate plan was just going to be humming "Break My Stride (I've Got to Keep On Moving)" to myself over and over.

As luck would have it, a ton of Francois de Roubaix came on and this was surprisingly great to run to, making me feel like I was being stylishly chased. And the unfortunately-named Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich helped me to pick up the pace a lot.

When I headed home for the shower it was completely dark outside and I found this to be a bit challenging as the area is not lit at all and I was having trouble playing "what am I stepping on now?" and deciphering what was dirt, gravel, pavement or tree root. And the car headlights were distracting. My father frowned upon this running in the dark business on the grounds of ease-of-assault (this is a man who knows every state's law on shipping and receiving stun guns and who thoughtfully provided my sister and I with mace and a handful of home rapid-test disease kits for our college years), but if he saw my ridiculous running outfits I think his fears would be assuaged.

Morning

Then this morning I ran 3 miles! I got up at 6:30 and by the time I made it to the Pond it was light enough to run comfortably. It was a TOUGH 3 miles though and I suspect I was dragging from the 4 course/wine pairing food orgy that kicked my ass last night at Ten Tables. I think I'll rest tomorrow.

First Day's Run!

I ran 4.25 miles yesterday afternoon. A good mile and a half should probably be classified as a very bouncy walk but it was 4.25 miles in total just the same. Felt pretty good after and strutted over to Cambridge to meet up with a friend and shopped. I also organized my records and my books!

My portable listening device totally crapped out on me though for the run and I have only 10 songs on it now. Only 1 was fist-pumping enough to run to so I put that on repeat until I was absolutely sick of it. It is Lorraine Ellison's version of "Stay With Me"



and then I tried to work Al Hibbler but just couldn't so I ran in silence with my thoughts and began wondering if each person I passed was content or not with his or her life, can one really find pure happiness, etc. and then I started checking out people's calves. I really want better calves. I don't know if my frame will ever allow me to have hot calves, no matter how many toe risers I do. I'll do some research on workouts and post it next. Here's the Al Hibbler song. He sounds a bit Australian in the chorus but he's not. And Ray Charles tried to kill him once:



I set my alarm for 6:00am this morning to run before work because I am going out straight from work but it was completely dark outside. I snoozed it until 6:30 but it was still dark. Now it's 7:00am and light but I don't have time to run. This may be tricky - I didn't really pay attention to the sunrise times before. I may not be able to run today.

I am a little stiff this morning but I also do not stretch. I hear some sports people say you should not stretch and some say you must. I found 2 interesting articles on stretching before, after or during running and will post that either while at work or tomorrow if I don't get a chance to run today.

What I Drink About When I Drink About Drinking

I did some traveling recently and picked up a few books (I thoughtfully provided links to excerpts or reviews, below):

Well Enough Alone

Revolutionary Road


What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.


The last book inspired me to write this.

I somehow find the time to sit in front of a computer for two hours and write emails and search inanely for remixes of Estelle's "american boy," the scene in To Sir With Love when LuLu sings "Stealing My Love From Me" in the school gym, or American Breed music videos but can't take 30 minutes out of my day to get back to running? I think that forcing myself to keep this about running may indeed improve my will to run. If I don't run I don't have much to prattle on about, now do I?

I started running again back in April.
I haven't ran in almost two months.
Self-loathing has hit an all-time high. Lung capacity a low.

With this man's help, I'm confident that my gams (NOT just the thighs) will be whipped back into shape:



And, just for the record, all the American Breed videos suck:


The LuLu scene doesn't exist on youtube but this continues to delight:


and Estelle is the devil.