I’m heading out of town for a week…spending my days in the lake, lounging around outside reading books, and going for nice long-unrestricted-by-time-runs. Bliss!
I need a chance to disconnect from work and the stress that goes along with it.
Happy Friday Friends!
When I got off work last night t 10:30 it was 90 degrees with a heat index of 103 degrees. I kid you not! Today, when I went running around 8am it was already 80 degrees outside, but the humidity wasn’t as bad, so I set out on my run.
It took all I had inside of me to do it, but I pounded out 5 miles on the pavement. I’m not too please with the pace time, because I had to walk so much due to the heat and sun, my pace went from 9:30 minute miles to an overall ending pace of 11:58 per mile. Grrr. Oh well. I’m just working on getting faster and stronger, right?
And there is just something about running outside in the summer. Maybe its that I know that the cold weather and snow will come eventually and I will be stuck inside on the treadmill wishing for the warmth of the summer sun on my face, and a cool breeze blowing through my hair. So, even though I struggle during the heat and humidity, I’m going to enjoy it and savor every moment!
I’m about to hit the pool for a little R&R before I have to get ready for the day.
Have a good one friends!
This weekend was busy! I had dinner with one of my best friends from forever…and hung out with her until late Friday night. She lives about 2 hours away from me, and we don’t make the time often enough to see each other. But she and her husband took time off, and I got to see her. It was great!
My parents were out camping for the weekend, so I joined them on Saturday. We went to the lake at the campground and swam. And I, my friends, wore a bikini! That’s right, a bikini! Out in public. For the first time in my life since I was a kid.
I bought it this winter on sale from Victoria’s Secret. I highly recommend buying a suit during the off season…mine was 13 bucks!
I had been wearing it in my backyard pool, but no one but my family could see me. But I decided that I had to wear it, because a) I don’t have any other suit that fits because last year’s swimsuit is waaayy too big, and b). I worked hard for this body and I’m going to flaunt it. It may not be perfect, but it is mine and that’s what matters.
But an amazing thing happened: Men were staring at me! And I don’t think that they were staring because I looked bad. I saw appreciative looks in their eyes! What a great feeling! NSV for sure!
This weekend is a bachelorette party for one of my favorite co-workers, and I am super excited! I will post pictures, I promise!
I also got up and ran 5 miles this morning. It was 6:00am, and already 79 degrees outside. But as it appears there is no relief in sight, I decided to haul my butt out of bed and go. It was hot, I was dripping with sweat, but I ran my 5 miles and feel GREAT about myself!
Have a great day friends!
We’re in an excessive heat warning from Friday at noon until Tuesday night…and it could be extended for even longer! The high temperatures alone, without heat index, will be 100 degrees for much of the next week! It’s crazy! And the Ben Does Life tour is coming to Omaha on Saturday morning and I really really really want to go and do the 5k but its going to be so hot that I don’t think I will make it.
So I’m sad. Sigh.
On another note, I managed to get a run in last night. It was only a 1.13 miles, instead of the 5 I wanted to do! But it was something and I feel better about myself and life.
Tomorrow is Friday and I’m sooo ready!
I’ve been sick for a few days now, stuffy nose, head cold, sneezing, sore throat. I haven’t run since Sunday morning, and I’ve been so tired that I haven’t cared.
Today, I woke up at 5:45am as usual, and, in my benedryl-induced haze, I rolled over and reset my alarm for 7:15am.
That extra hour and a half of sleep did wonders for my health. Seriously. Wonders. I feel soooo much better. I think I will be able to run tomorrow morning. I miss it.
Besides, seeing all of your posts about your am runs make me so jealous, its not even funny!
Have a great day!
It’s a million degrees outside, not a cloud in the sky and scorching hot, and what am I doing with the first day of my 4 day weekend?
Floating in the pool, working on my tan? Nope.
I’m helping my dad and older brother build a shed.
And, since its 5K Fridays, I did that before we started on the shed this morning!
I think I may have lost my mind.
Perhaps I should go look for it in the pool! Think they’ll notice I’m missing?!
Have a fantastic day friends!
One of my dogs woke up just before 5:00 this morning by barking up a storm in the living room. When I let her out, I noticed it was beginning to get light out…ish. Still dark, but dawn was coming, you know? And I realized that it was already very warm and muggy. So I was thisclose to putting on my clothes and going for my run then, instead of at my usual time of 630am. I dismissed the idea as crazy, even for my running-obsessed self. So I convinced the dog to come back in, despite all the fun she was having barking and running around outside, and we went back to bed.
By the time I started my run at 630, it was heating up even more, and I only made it 2 miles, due to heat and ridiculously high humidity.
Lesson learned from today?
I should have listened to the dog.
So I told you earlier that I have a heart issue that causes problems when I run sometimes. Here’s the deal: I have Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease. Basically, instead of 3 leaflets on my aortic valve, I was born with only 2. What this means is that someday I will have to have my heart valve replaced. Hopefully in 30 years or so. But my cardiologist says I may have to have it done when I’m 45-50 years old.
That sucks.
The funny this is, is that it was found because I was hospitalized back in November with this weird stomach issue. I was so sick. I spent 8 days in the hospital. 2 in a smaller hospital, where I was diagnosed with C Diff Colitis. They began treating me for that, but I wasn’t getting better. I even told my parents I felt like I was “circling the drain.” It was that bad.
So after 2 days I was transferred to a bigger hospital in a bigger town and stayed there for 6 days. They did chest x-rays, stomach x-rays, a colonoscopy, and I had a heart echo. That’s because I have a murmur, so they were just trying to figure out what was wrong. That’s when they discovered the BAVD.
I wasn’t getting any better, so they don’t think I had the C Diff Colitis, but they still had no idea what I had. After about 7 days in the hospital I finally started getting better, in spite, the doctors said, of what they did.
I have no clue what happened to me. While I was still sick they were talking about taking out part of my colon. That’s how sick I was. I had 2 hospitalists, 1 Hematologist/Oncologist, 1-Nephrologist (Kidney Doc), and 1-Gastroenterologist taking care of me.
The Hematologist was because there were issues with my blood and levels there. The Kidney doc was because I have a kidney disease that was found about a year before I got sick, so he was there because in the early stages of my illness I was in acute renal failure! I couldn’t eat…lost 6lbs in 2 days, had stomach issues (I’m sure you can figure out what I mean by that!) and was severely dehydrated! It was terrible!
I didn’t even want to eat in the hospital. The thought of food made me ill. However, my main Doc was a marathon runner and understood how I felt when I told him that I wanted to run a half-marathon on May 1st. He told me he would see me there! That I would get better and be able to run!
And I did. But now I have a Kidney doc and a cardiologist, like I’m some 80 year old woman!
I gained 35lbs of water weight…I was freaking out about that. I felt sooo uncomfortable, the pain of the water hurt. They gave me Lasix (water pills) and I was able to get rid of it.
About a week after I got out of the hospital I started running again, and I haven’t looked back since. 3 weeks after my hospital stay you would never have even known that I was sick! It was the strangest thing. Makes you very grateful for good health.
Also, the guy I was dating at the time came to see me once while I was in the hospital, and then he was MIA. He visited Sunday, I texted him Wednesday and never heard from him, and then when I went home Friday I texted him again and he finally got back to me. Said he’d been busy! We had been dating for 2 months at this point.
The week I went back to work was Thanksgiving week and I texted him again and asked if he wanted to get together. He said he was crazy busy (he was a teacher) and that was the last time we talked.
I’ve learned a valuable lesson: the right guy for me will not run when the chips are down and I am lying in a hospital bed. The right guy will have to be forced to leave my side when I’m sick. I deserve at least that much!
So, in summation…this BAVD makes it hard for my heart to get oxygen sometimes, in humidity, when running up hills, etc. So this morning, I had a sucky run because of the humidity. My heart rate monitor said my heart rate was at 89 sometimes when I was running…and at 120. Usually its at 164ish when I’m running. That’s my MHR and its fine, but I don’t want to hurt myself so I think I need to be careful when the humidity is high!
Anywho, sorry for the long post! It’s going to be a hot one here…triple digits expected tomorrow! Upper 90’s today and the rest of the week! Have a great day!
I got up at 6am, totally planning on a 4-5 mile run. The sun was shining, the weather a perfect 58 degrees, so what did I do? I didn’t go run, that’s for sure!
BAH!
I could really kick myself. I appear to have developed some allergies and couldn’t breath/sleep last night so I took a benedryl. Then this morning I was too tired and couldn’t manage running because I couldn’t wake up, thanks to the benedryl.
So, I am taking a deep breath, knowing that it’s okay. It’s fine to take a day off, since I ran 3 miles yesterday, and still have the entire rest of the week that I plan on running.
Remind me to tell that to my inner running-obsessed girl. She needs to hear it!
Wow! What a difference humidity makes! When I walked out the door to go to the race, there was steam in the air! I knew right then I was in trouble! Despite having not run more than 5 miles since my Half-Marathon on May 1st, I figured I would be okay.
Wrong.
The humidity about did me in! My 10k split time from the Half was 1:14:38. I just wanted to beat that, if I’m being honest with myself, I wanted to run 11 minute miles the entire time and make it in about 1:08. This did not happen.
I ran the first 2 miles or so without stopping at a pace of about 10:45 min/miles. Then I had to walk, because the humidity and the heat were killing me! It was 7:30am, about 80 degrees and about 80% humidity. I walked way more than I thought I would, however if I hadn’t I think I may have passed out. It was that bad.
I live in a small town, and there was a 2 mile run that was happening at the same time, but I figured that most of 40ish people running were running the 10k because, to me, 2 miles isn’t that much.
Imagine my surprise to find that only about 12-20 people ran the 10k. I nearly came in last! And my time was 1:09:41! I beat my previous time by nearly 5 minutes, and in my half-marathon time’s defense, I was pacing to run another 7 miles!
I came in 3rd from last, but the important thing is, is that I did it!
And I discovered something new about myself: I don’t like running when its so hot/humid out. So I think that I may just run for fitness and semi-training the rest of the year, but do most of my races in the spring. I don’t think I will do the Omaha Half-Marathon in September…too humid out!
Part of why I had some trouble running was due to a weird heart condition that I have…but that’s another post for another time!
Runnin' Down a Dream 