Home Sweet Home

Well....maybe not sweet. I mean, I love running, but I hate treadmills.

In light of the stress fractures in my left knee this September, I've come to grips with needing to use this torture device more than I normally would for my May full marathon training.

As you come down the stairs from our kitchen to the basement... you can either go straight into the "gym" area.....or through a doorway to the right into the laundry/walk in closets area.

If you go straight, this is what you see.


Pretty typical. Weight bench, bowflex, treadmill, bike trainer, yoga mats, the fan (that we lovingly call the "prop plane") and other misc fitness flotsam and jetsam.


Don't mind the dust on the mill. She's been out of commission for quite some time. The internal fuse kept blowing....but we've since gotten a replacement. The poor thing is well over 10 years old, so if replacing a fuse here and there is all I need to do, I'll take it without complaining.

(Although, the fuse would blow almost exactly 21 minutes into my run....when I'd find myself hurling into the control panel at full speed. So yeah, I might have complained a little when it started happening.)

:-)


Here's my view while running. Ancient upright freezer (with misc poem magnets permanently stuck to it.....collapsible golf cart....bookshelves with hand weights, disc golf equipment, workout videos.....a case of wine......an old TV (with stereo, vcr, dvd player, etc hooked up to it), and on the bottom right side of the picture, a large stack of wainscot (for an upcoming dining room remodeling project) and on top of that are floor tiles (that we didn't end up using on the last kitchen remodel).

Pretty typical basement fodder.

I reinstated our netflix account and I'm going to see about having our cable service run to the basement. I'll be needing all of the entertainment help I can get.

And Mot is going to need to start sleeping with earplugs. Between the "prop plane" fan, the 10 year old treadmill, and the stereo I have to turn up loud enough to hear OVER the prop plane fan and the 10 year old treadmill....it might get a little crazy.

My first run, since the end of September was last night. My legs felt great....and my lungs were joyous!!! I was dripping sweat, and smiling like a fool. I took it really easy, right around a 12 min/mile pace, to see how the legs would feel.

The nagging lower leg pain I'd been dealing with all year wasn't there at all.....but I did end up calling it quits after a couple of miles. My knee didn't hurt.....but it felt strange. I don't want to push it. Slow and steady as I ramp my mileage back up.
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5 min walk warm-up, 5 min walk cool-down......5 minute running intervals with 2 min walk breaks in between

Felt marvelous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11/22/11: Fear

It's amazing how distracting and intimidating fear can be. My husband seems to be afraid of nothing.....and I seem to be afraid of everything.

Most of what I'm afraid of doesn't affect me, I won't let it. Don't get me wrong, the butterflies and racing heart are still there...but I push them off, ignore them as best I can.

Allot of them are normal fears. Spiders, snakes, eels, seagulls (don't laugh, they're mean), looking into the bathroom mirror without turning the light on. Stupid stuff like that.

Then there are those that are a little bigger in scale.

Roller coasters. I watched someone get their foot cut off at the arch. Right in front of me. Granted, it was someone working at the park, and they were standing on the track when the cars came by...but still. (the ride was delayed until the workers could climb under the coaster to find the missing half of her foot)

I'm terrified of water, yet we own a pair of kayaks and spend quite a bit of time in them. (As long as I'm wearing a PFD, and remain acutely aware of my surroundings, I'm OK.)

I went white water rafting through the Royal Gorge with a smile on my face. (although I was holding onto the boat with my legs so hard, walking at the end of the day long trip was nearly impossible.)

I'm horribly claustrophobic, but had a BLAST going spelunking when in South Dakota. (We went on a wild cave tour and I made sure I'd positioned myself behind the largest guy in the group anytime a "squeeze" was coming up.)

I'm horribly shy.....it's ridiculous actually. But I've held many jobs that all my FORCE me to overcome it. I've gone on weekend and week long trips with people I don't know. Sure, there are parts of each of those trips that are miserable. I want so badly to walk up to a group of interesting people and strike up a conversation......but I never do.

And then there are the fears that I still have yet to overcome.

1) Being upside down.

Sounds strange doesn't it?

You know, now that I think about it, this is probably why roller coasters bother me. :-)

The yoga classes I take will sometimes involve inversions. Head stands, etc. I'm paralyzed with fear the second I get close to going upside down. My form is great, I'm right there....then I freak out.

But I'm going to keep trying. I'm going to work on it at home, and have hubby help. He's pretty good at the tough love stuff. The "for crying out loud Nej, just do it and quit being a baby about it" stuff. It usually does the trick - but don't tell him that.

2) Marathons

Yep, you heard me right. It's a silly fear, isn't it? I mean, I run halves now.....and I really don't think much about them any more. I ran the last one with my sister (it was her first)....just so that I would have something to think about and do while running. They kick my butt, don't get me wrong....but they are also boring when by myself.

I've been told that if you can run a half, you can run a full. Sure, it's much more training, more endurance, and the chances of needing a port-a-potty along the way are higher (giggle).....but it can be done. Keep hydrated, pace yourself, pay much more attention to how your fuel before and during the event......

I think, at this point in my running life, the fear is actually a fear of injury. Of not being able to participate, or getting hurt along the way.

The Omaha half marathon was in September.....and last night I ran for the FIRST TIME since the event.

THE. FIRST.TIME.

Nearly two full months later.

I have a full marathon coming up in May. Can I start running after not running for two friggin' months, and be ready in time? Can I do it safely?

I guess last night I decided that fear was my problem. I'm going to start training...and if I get hurt, I get hurt. I'm not going to live being afraid of it.

Now....if I could just do a headstand........