It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere. I'm all alone, more or less...

So many I'm not in space (today's thread title is brought to you courtesy of the old British tv sci-fi comedy "Red Dwarf"), but it certainly is cold in Toronto tonight.

My handy dandy firefox browser weather application has the temperature hovering around 7 degrees celcius (44 fahrenheit) with brisk 19 km/hr (12 miles per hour) winds. That means a windchill of 3 degrees c (12 f).

Yikes. And to imagine it's only going to get worse. As a lifelong Canadian (and not even a wussy Torontonian - a native Montrealer!), I shouldn't be surprised that winter comes along every year without fail. Or that it is cold. And yet... I kind of keep wishing that each year the meteorological Gods forget to change from early-fall temps to unfathomable below freezing ones.
Despite this, I bravely donned my shoes, sweat-wicking pants (that GOD I opted for the pants versus the shorts in May) and Vision TV t-shirt which OA got for free from a work colleague (she promptly handed it over to me to use for my runs).

Yes a t-shirt tonight. I still can't feel my arms completely.

It wasn't all sooooo bad tonight with the cold - although I came in under my "dream goal" of 2 miles again tonight by over 0.75 miles. My legs were feeling awfully leaden and my breathing was only so-so. The wind came whipping off of St. Clair and I kept dreading having to turn into it each lap.

So yes, I am slightly disappointed. But for my first two-nights in a row run in ages... not so bad.

A major fun goal this weekend is going to be picking up a long-sleeved workout top (the Vision TV shirt is going into the closet and probably won't be coming out until April).

Oh and I'm also going to start calculating the approximate length of my workouts in minutes (including a quick 0.25 mile walking warm-up to the track which I don't count in my overall mile goals). The first person to mock me for my BLISTERING 30 minute mile pace will get a virtual smack over the head. :)

I'm off to defrost in a nice warm shower!

DAY 40 REPORT

start time: 8:10 pm
Total Distance: 2 miles
Total Time Including Warm-Up: 40 minutes

Total Ran (approx): 1.25 miles
Total Walked (approx): 0.75 mile

Legs - heavy feeling
Feet - fine
Lungs - uneven
Stomach - good
Sweat level - low

Everyday a little run...

Thank you everyone who has been giving me such kind words of encouragement over the last few days. I must admit, I've been a little down of late, but things appear to be on the up and up now.

First, I got called for an interview for a random dream job in major gift fundraising for a very interesting organization today! I applied ages ago and had kind of given up on the whole shebang, so that was a nice surprise. Send me good vibes for Monday at 12:30!

Second, as many of you know, I have been upping my running mileage dramatically in recent days in an attempt to stay more or less on target of my goal from earlier this summer. Tonight, I had 2 miles of running planned... and I made it without too too too much difficulty.

I was breathing nicely, the temperature was a brisk 10 degrees and there was not a single other person out on the track. Yea!


DAY 39 REPORT

start time: 9:20 pm (too late really... I'm having difficulty keeping my eyes open now)
Total Distance: 3.125 miles

Total Ran (approx): 2 miles
Total Walked (approx): 1.125 miles

Legs - good
Feet - right foot numbness around 1.25 miles of running. It went away after I stopped for a moment and shook out my leg.
Lungs - good
Stomach - fine
Sweat level - low... it was ffffffffreezing!

Further Stubborness

Helen, thanks so much for your comment on my post from last night - your feedback is really great.

I know I am being hard on myself with this goal, but I think I am still able to reach it if I follow my plan.

Not having a driver's license, I have always been a walker. I can walk for miles and miles without any difficulty (other than the occasional sore feet!) I have never been able to run... even at very slow speeds. When I started this program back in May I wanted to move away from just walking to exercise that would feel more... substantial.

My real goal has been to simply be able to run. Not super far, definitely not very fast... but just to be able to do it for once without wanting to curl up in the foetal position and die.

That is why I haven't been counting my walk breaks in my overall goal of 100 and then 72 miles of running by my birthday.

If I were to count walk breaks, my total distance travelled since May would be:

drumroll please

56.21 miles

... when you consider that of that amount, 62% was run versus only 38% walked, I am on the right track.

At this point, I want to keep to my goal of running 72 miles by my birthday (or... thereabouts) after which I will reevaluate to look at how I am measuring my progress. Is it abirtrary? Yes. Do I still think I can do it? Definitely with hard work.

I'm not going to kill myself attempting the goal. If I don't make 72 miles by November 3, so be it. But after so many months of looking to that date (which is now oh so close), I can't give up now when I've still a fighting chance.

And if I break 72 on November 4, 5 or even 15 - it will still be an accomplishment.

Yesterday, I was looking over some former posts from back in June when I was flabbergasted that OA's old street running route was 1.8 miles. I thought I would never be able to get to the point where I could run that far. Tuesday's run was 1.75 miles and tonight I am scheduled for my first attempt at 2 miles.

Progress is there, no matter whether I make 72 on 11/3 or not.

Death at the doorstep

Thank you to Bev and Dave for your comments for my rather sullen post this morning.

I have recalibrated my remaining training plan and, if all goes well, I may realistically be able to achieve it.

It looks like this (the numbers on the right represent how many miles I should run that night):

09-Oct-07	Tue	1.75
10-Oct-07	Wed
11-Oct-07	Thu	2.00
12-Oct-07	Fri	2.00
13-Oct-07	Sat
14-Oct-07	Sun	2.25
15-Oct-07	Mon
16-Oct-07	Tue	2.25
17-Oct-07	Wed
18-Oct-07	Thu	2.50
19-Oct-07	Fri	2.50
20-Oct-07	Sat
21-Oct-07	Sun	2.75
22-Oct-07	Mon
23-Oct-07	Tue	2.75
24-Oct-07	Wed
25-Oct-07	Thu	3.00
26-Oct-07	Fri	3.00
27-Oct-07	Sat
28-Oct-07	Sun	3.25
29-Oct-07	Mon
30-Oct-07	Tue	3.25
31-Oct-07	Wed
01-Nov-07	Thu	3.50
02-Nov-07	Fri	3.50
03-Nov-07	Sat

If I follow this schedule to the letter, I will have run a grand total of 74.46 miles by November 3, which allows me a teeny bit of leniancy here and there.

Oh, and while I am a confirmed run/walker, I am not counting the miles I walk in my workouts as part of the mileage. This is my running tally and if I allowed myself to start counting walk breaks, I would not be able to push myself to go that extra running lap or whatnot.

As for tonight's actual run. 1.75 miles. Another longest distance ever. Woot.







I felt like I was going to die.

Don't laugh.

I'm serious. Death was there at doorstep calling me home to him.

Somehow I managed to shake off Beezelbub, because I'm at home now typing. It was a close call.

I have a feeling he will be back on Thursday when I have, suicidally, decided to schedule my first 2 mile run. Yikes.

DAY 38 REPORT

start time: 8 pm
Total Distance: 2.75 miles

Total Ran (approx): 1.75 miles
Total Walked (approx): 1 mile

Legs - pretty good
Feet - another numb right foot
Lungs - below-average
Stomach - twingey in places
Sweat level - high

The Bell Has Probably Tolled...

Last week's blerghyness (real word, that) may have been the final coffin in my plan to achieve my already re-worked goal of running 72 miles by November 3 (my 24th birthday).

As of this writing, I have managed to run only 33 miles - less than half of my goal. If I really stretch I can possibly run 4 times a week. There are four weeks left before my birthday.

I have never run more than 1.5 miles at a time. Weak, I know... but increased distance appears to come very very slowly to me.

So... if I average 1.75 miles (longshot) x 4 times a week (also a longshot) x 4 weeks remaining... I will have run an additional 28 miles and will fall 11 miles short of my intended target.

At the very least.

Plus, with sleet and snow always a possibility in Toronto in November (despite yesterday's 30+ degree scorcher of a Thanksgiving day) making long term goals now may result in weather-related disappointment.

SOOOOOO... what do I do now?

Welcome Back Me!

A great weekend in Montreal has now been nicely capped off by a great run tonight at my track. It is, by the way, officially "my" track. Tell that to the school who technically owns it!

I was joined in my endeavour by only one other runner (and he really was doing more walking than even *I* was... which is saying something) - not a dog or a soccer team in sight.

With the skies clear and temperatures around 16 degrees celcius, I knew that tonight could be the night I finally managed to run a half mile without stopping (i.e. 2 consecutive laps) AND go a full 1.5 miles total distance run.





Guess what? I did both! Huzzah!

Tomorrow I have another 1.5 miles planned which will be followed by ANOTHER weekend in Montreal with my family for Thanksgiving.

Turkey! Double Huzzah!

DAY 37 REPORT

start time: 8:15 pm
Total Distance: 2.2 miles

Total Ran (approx): 1.5 miles (yea!)
Total Walked (approx): 0.7 mile

Legs - pretty good
Feet - right foot went completely numb about 3/4s of the way through
Lungs - average
Stomach - fine
Sweat level - medium-high

Off to Montreal until Tuesday

... and there will be no running no jogging no anything other than work and stuffing myself with actual to goodness REAL bread, pastries and other assorted carbs that are at their best only in my home town (and possibly Paris... who knows?)

I may also partake of Quebec's national dish:



Have a great weekend everyone!