Not the Object of Your Affection

This morning, after a particularly difficult-for-no-good-reason run, I was fininshing my cool-down (which is really just walking for a few minutes until I get home) when a man drove past and whistled at me.  For the sake of the story, I will disclose that he was a fat, middle-aged man driving a rather large silver pick-up truck.  However, homeboy could have been Ryan Gosling and my reaction would have been the same.  I quickly turned around, stopped in the middle of the road and yelled, "Really?!   You want to start with me at 7:00 in the morning?  Really?!"  While it was actually 6:45, the time, like his appearance, had nothing to do with it.  As he slowed down, eyeing me in his mirrors, likely trying to figure out if I was about to chase after him, I continued to give him a death stare and then focused in as though I was memorizing his license plate despite not really being able to see it.  My hope is that he spends the entire day worried that the lady who yelled at him will somehow find him and destroy him. 

This is not the first time this has happened to me but it still fills me with rage.  I am dragging my ass out of bed at 5:30 in the morning to run, not to be sexualized and objectified!  Further, I never want to be sexualized and objectified while going about my business, running or otherwise.  I really don't understand how some men still think that whistling or calling out to women is an appropriate behavior.  Obviously some part of them knows it is wrong, otherwise it wouldn't be limited to when they are in the safety of their car or when I am sans a male companion.  Not once have I been whistled at while with a guy, be it my husband, brother, dad, or friend.  However, get me out alone mid-run all sweaty and red-faced, looking like a total mess, and the animals turn loose!  Do I need to starting running with a blow-up man doll?

And I know there are women who welcome this kind of barbaric behavior because it makes them feel good.  And I feel sorry for them.  And I know that there are men who will say to just ignore it or it isn't meant to be harmful or threatening.  And to this I say, Really?!  You really want to start with me?  Really?!

We All Fall Down

When my alarm went off this morning I used every ounce of will power to DRAG myself out of bed.  I should have slept in.  Barely half a mile into my run, I fell and landed on the T tracks.  This was not a trip and stumble kind of fall, this was a full body slamming into the gravel/concrete/asphalt/tracks kind of fall.  Every part of my body south of my shoulders hit the ground.  I quickly popped myself up and got off the tracks while assuring the 2 women who were standing at the train stop that I was indeed, OK.  Luckily I hadn't gone far and hobbled home to clean myself up.  I had briefly considered continuting my run but after surveying the damage, I realized that anyone who saw me running would think I had just escaped a some kind of brutal attack.  Also, I kept thinking about that girl who fell off her homemade zip line and gashed her leg and later lost said leg due to an infection from the wound.  I am not interested in losing any limbs and since I was bleeding from all 4, I decided that disinfection was priority #1.  The reason for my fall is unclear.  As I told Dutch, I have run over those tracks hundreds of times without a problem.  I was not distracted, I didn't feel myself trip over anything, I just felt the ground as my body slammed into it, proving once again that rock beats epidermis.  So now I am all bandaged up but event that was an issue.  We were out of regular size bandages at home but did have some large ones.  The large bandages worked out for most of the wounds because they are rather large.  However, I have a gash on my pink finger near the base of the finger that required a smaller sized remedy.  The only solution I could find was a bandage roll we bought in Ireland last summer.  It's basically one big strip that you can cut to size.  After several attempts, I finally got the right size and shape.  I'd like to think that after a start like that, the day can only go up.  However, I am going to put some band-aids in my pocket, just in case.         

Back on the Run and the Return of Wine Monday

I was forced into a week long break from running because of a nasty virus that held my body hostage, mostly via cough and sinus congestion.  Yesterday morning I finally got back to my routine and was pleasantly surprised with how good I felt. I did 5 miles at an 8:38 average and didn't have a coughing attack or any chest pains. In fact, someone called me fast! Me! Fast!

This triumphant return is all the more note-worthy because Monday night marked the official return of Wine Monday! I had not participated for over a month, giving it up for my last few weeks of training before the half marathon. During last week's Wine Monday I wasn't feeling great and didn't imbibe. This week however, I made up for lost time. With some help from Dutch, my partner in crime, I managed to polish off a wonderful bottle of Petite Syrah.

So to recap: sick for a week, drank a lot of wine, ran 5 miles. Fast!

SUCCESS!

Yesterday was the Pittsburgh Marathon and Half Marathon.  After running 13.1 miles I went to brunch, did some errands around town, cleaned, and made dinner and I can still walk today!  My goal was to complete the course in 2 hours or less.  According to my Garmin watch (I won't get my official race time until tomorrow), I ran 13.25 miles (must have taken some of the curves too wide!) in 1:53:20 which is an average pace of 8:33 per mile!  It got a little warm and I was definitely sore when I reached the finish line but I felt great overall.  A big thanks to all my donors who helped me raise $705 for the National MS Society.  Also a big thanks to my husband and dad who came out to watch the race.  My mom has a big test this week so she wasn't able to make the trip but my dad drove out from Illinois to take pictures and report back to her.  Now that I'm done, I'm thinking about tackling the full 26.2.  I would definitely need to find a race on a flat terrain - midewest somewhere - but I think I could handle it.  It's officially on the 2013 "to do" list!   

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

The half marathon is tomorrow!

Banana-rama

Bananas are a staple food for most runners.  I often enjoy one in my lunch as it is a perfect complement to my "gourmet" PB&J sammich.  Yesterday's banana had a sticker on it along with a bar/scan code (still don't quite understand how those work).  The sticker told me I could turn my banana into yonana.  Apparently there is a machine called the Yonana that makes frozen delights out of bananas and other fruits.  The frozen banana serves as the base and when processed, looks and tastes (allegedly) like soft serve ice cream.  The end product shares the same name as the machine, Yonana.  I assume the name, is a spin off of fro-yo despite not having any yogurt.  I get that this is healthy alternative to ice cream or frozen yogurt.  What I don't get is: why?  If I want to be healthy, I will eat the banana.  If I want dessert, Iamma get some 'zerts!  And PS folks, you can freeze whatever you want and shove it into that machine, but eating too much of anything will make you fat! 

In other banana related news, I made (what I consider to be) a hilarious banana joke yesterday.  Are you ready?  Here's the set-up: I was leaving for lunch, putting my banana in my bag, when a co-worker walked by my desk.

Co-worker: Is that thing loaded?
Me: Yeah, with postassium! 



 

Heat Wave

Yikes! It's been quite a while since my last post. I've been pretty busy but have maintained my training plan. The half marathon is just 18 days away. Aside from some aching hips after my long runs, I'm feeling pretty good and still hoping to finish in under 2 hours. Yesterday's Boston Marathon served as not only as motivation but warning. With temperatures in the mid 70s at the race's start in Hopkinton, everyone from first timers to elite runners had to reconsider their strategy. Just one year after a course record was broken, yesterday's runners had to economize their energy to maintain a pace that would keep them in the race to the finish line. It's one of the great tragedies of road races - no matter how hard you train, you can't control the weather on race day. Even training in warm temperatures doesn't guarantee a strong finish, it just makes the heat less of a surprise. Pittsburgh has had a fair number of warm days, including yesterday when the temperature reached a high of 84. However, today's high is 62 and we won't get there until 4:00 this afternoon. I absolutely hate running in the heat, so much so that I choose only to run in events that allow me to train in cooler weather. Therefore I'm going to start praying to God/Mother Nature/The Great and Powerful Oz/Al Gore - whoever it is that controls the weather up there - for a nice cool morning on May 6th. 50 degrees and a slight overcast would be just wonderful, thank you very much!