High-altitude running.

I know I was trying for the whole write-a-post-once-a-week thing. But that obviously failed.

New March goal: blog more.

Okay. Glad I got that out of my system.

Anyway, like I mentioned in my last post, I went to Denver to visit some friends. I was a little nervous about running there. I have lived at sea level for my entire life so traveling to 6000 feet is always an interesting experience. When I visited last year (during one of my many breaks from running), I couldn't even get through a single mile. Completely pathetic.

So I went into this run with only a mileage goal in mind and ZERO expectations about pace, how I would feel, whether or not I would pass out and scrape my face on the treadmill belt, etc.

There is a gym in the apartment complex where I stayed, and what should have been a 2 minute walk took literally 10 minutes. It was basically a blizzard outside. (or at least that's what it was in my Californian mind) I was almost up to my knees in powder and there were crazy gusts of wind coming right at me. I can't breathe when wind is blowing on my face (apparently babies will hold their breathe when air is blown on their faces - I guess I never grew out of that?), so I pretty much had to walk backwards the entire way. I couldn't find the sidewalk and almost killed myself on some curbs, so I decided to walk in the street. Talk about a really easy way to get hit by a car. But I survived. I guess natural selection doesn't always work.

My view while running. This was the shallow end of the snow.

I'm going to preface what I'm about to say with a little explanation about my personality. I am the kind of person that will do exactly what I set out to do. I (usually) have very high expectations, so the fact that I don't go beyond what I originally planned is (usually) not a problem. But if I set a goal, no matter how easy or painful, I will do it, and not any more or less.

When I started running, I had decided to run 1 mile and take a 0.25 mile walk break, and repeat that until I finished my miles. When I got close to 1 mile, I realized that I actually felt really good (compared to how I felt last time I attempted to run in the Land of No Oxygen). So I decided to go a little bit further until I didn't feel quite as good. Straying from my original plan is fairly contrary to how I normally operate, but I decided to go with the flow.

On the next run, I decided to keep up the pattern from the first run. But by the time I got to the point where I took a walk break on the previous run, I realized that I was still feeling all right - so why not keep going? It was scary and exhilarating, but since I decided that I didn't have a good reason to stop, I didn't stop. And then on the next run, I pushed a little farther. And on the next one, I pushed a little farther. I may have pretended that I was Shalane Flanagan running a marathon...but you gotta do what you gotta do to get through it, right?? I can't be the only one who does this. It helped me destroy the (boring) treadmill runs and I walked away feeling like a badass.

Anyway, so this post is about the little voice in your head that says you can do it. It's the little voice that says, "Why not?" And it's the little voice that is probably a heck of a lot quieter than the loud, obnoxious part of your brain that tells you to play it safe, to stop when it hurts, and to be comfortable. Sometimes you just need to listen to the little voice that tells you to keep going. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own heads and we don't stop to look at the situation as it really is. I think sometimes, and this applies to more than just running, we need to take a step back and look at our reality, instead of our perceptions, and make decisions based on the current situation and not what we think or want it to be.

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Do you live where it snows? (Pretty much anywhere that isn't California or Florida...)

What do you do to beat boredom on the 'mill? I stare at one spot in front of me and focus on my music, my posture, and my breathing. I really wish I could watch TV on the treadmill, but for some reason I just can't focus on the TV and run at the same time.

Greetings from the Mile-High City!!

Apparently I only blog once a week. I'm working on making that better. We'll see. Maybe it will happen. Maybe not.

Anyway, for some reason I decided it would be a good idea to go from this...

 ...and this...

...to this. Hello, Denver!!

As a born-and-raised California girl, I can say with absolute certainty that I am freezing my cojones (if I had any...) off. It's like a giant slushie outside. But significantly less tasty and less fun. (Although I don't mind admiring the snow when I'm snuggled up under the blankets with a hot cup of coffee... :)

Anyway, some pretty crappy personal things have happened in that past day and I was starting to get really worked up over it. I decided hit the treadmill (no way was I going outside!!) not because I thought it would make me feel better, but because I decided that I need to step up my training and be a little more serious about it. Yes, I guess I'm technically coming back from an injury, but I think that having an injured mentality is holding me back. (Or maybe I've been watching too much Biggest Loser and I'm imagining what Jillian would yell at me?? I have very mixed feelings about the BL by the way. Maybe I'll talk about it in another post.) 

As I was running, I was pondering what I would write for this post. What am I grateful for today? I was so grumpy, I couldn't think of anything. Zilch. Nada.

I was really starting to let the crappy personal things get to me. But I always underestimate the transforming power of running. Combined with a few encouraging texts from my friend L, I was beginning to see how the bad things that are outside of my control shouldn't define me. I won't pretend that I'm an island and the things I say and do should have no impact on others, just like the things that others say and do should have no impact on me. But who I am as a person, what I choose to believe, to stand up for, and to fight for are completely up to me. And while I can't change some situations (such as the one I was in earlier today), I can change the way I perceive and the way I react to them. And sometimes that makes all the difference.

Perspective is an incredibly powerful tool. The difference between being in a rut and in a groove is how you see it. So today, I am grateful for my friends and the treadmill that both help me see things in a different light.

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What are you grateful for today?

I'm still alive and I have new socks to prove it.

I went a little MIA for a while. The last couple of weeks have been a little difficult for a variety of reasons. The simplest explanation is probably that I get stuck in my own head a little too much. I missed a few runs in the process, but I have decided that this is a lesson in learning how to not beat myself up. I'm going to keep moving forward.

So to the point: this post is about the people who believe in me, even when I don't necessarily believe in myself. I was having a bummer of a day when a family friend invited me to spend the afternoon with her. Maybe she knew I needed a boost or maybe it was a coincidence, I'm not really sure. We ended up at a store that sells crazy socks (cupcake print, cats, Mona Lisa, Valentine's day - basically things that you didn't know you wanted on your socks until now). She said she was proud of me for finishing the 5k so she bought me a pair of running socks. They are super comfy (breathable, soft, nice arch support without squeezing my feet to death) and I didn't take them off for at least 4 days. My hygiene could probably use some improvements, but my feet don't smell (I promise) so changing socks every single day is pretty low on my priority list.

My feet again. Despite the fact that these socks are called Smart Wool, they are made of merino wool, 

so they are not thick and scratchy like you would expect. They are surprisingly thin and keep your feet cool.

I actually don't own many pairs of running socks. I didn't even know it was a thing until fairly recently. Excuse me while I brag a little - my feet are low-maintenance (besides the whole overpronating thing...). I do not chafe and I do not get blisters when I run (which means I can wear any of my socks when I run - great for being on a budget and simplifying one small portion of my life). I ran a marathon in cotton socks without any problems (related to my feet that is...but everything else from the knees up was a whole lot of ugly...).

Anyway, back to the point - one pair of socks completely turned my day around. And it wasn't even that I got socks out of the deal; she could have given me a hug (or a corgi or a panda) and it would have had the same effect. Knowing that someone was thinking about me and was proud of me without judgments or qualifiers was a huge bright spot in my week (year...) and I am so grateful that I have people like that in my life.

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Do you run with special tech gear? Or do you try to keep it low-maintenance?

What was the last nice thing you did for someone else?

Kaiser Permanente Half-Marathon & 5k race report!

My brother and I ran the KP 5k in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Super Bowl Sunday!! I thought it would be a great excuse for me to eat more Super Bowl snacks ;)

 The race start. I love Instagram. I feel like it almost makes up for my lack of photography skills.

I was a little nervous going into this race. I've been trying to deal with some shin splints for the past few weeks and last weekend I had a flare up. I took the week off from running and went for the elliptical-yoga-strength path instead. I knew I would finish the race in one piece so I wasn't anxious about that. But I was worried about how fast I would be able to go and how well my shin would hold up.

My brother can run much faster than me but he stuck with me the whole way :) We finished in 31:22. It wasn't a true 5k though. The race organizers wanted the 5k and the half to start and finish together and in order to keep the half a certified course, they had to extend the 5k to 3.2 miles. So according to the race organizers (who inexplicably calculated the pace based on 3.1 miles), I ran a 10:XX pace. But according to my calculations, I ran a 9:48 pace. And according to my brother's calculations, we ran a 9:3X pace. He used a GPS app on his phone and apparently we did so much weaving that we actually ran 3.4 miles. There were a lot of walkers that we had to go around. Weaving doesn't usually bug me that much, but it made it harder to stick with my brother.

Overall, I thought it was a nice race. Golden Gate Park is beautiful and the net downhill course was nice. I thought I was going to die during the race, but I didn't. Always a good thing. And then I felt awesome after :) I do like when there are crowds of people cheering for the runners, and there weren't very many crowds at this race. I saw more disgruntled runners and cyclists who were trying to get in their daily workout and were annoyed by the presence of the race than people who were cheering. But it was okay because the 5k is short and just when I was sure I was going to keel over, I was at the finish line.

I decided to try out KT tape on my shin. It's the stuff that the US women's beach volleyball team made really popular a few years ago. There haven't been any studies that say this stuff actually works. But I've spent long enough in the research field to know that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The tape has really mixed reviews; some people swear by it, others don't. I decided to give it a shot because I didn't have anything to lose (other than $12 to buy the roll of tape). And now I'm contributing to the mixed reviews. My shin didn't bother me during or after the race. However, I don't know if that's because I took this week off from running or because of the tape. My shin usually doesn't start bugging me until I start doing back-to-back runs, so I think I will use it this week and see what happens.

So today I am grateful for my brother. He's a solid running buddy (even though we don't live in the same city - we still share updates on our training and keep the other person motivated) and we've been having a lot of fun going through the ups and downs of training together. He's interested in some longer distances, so we may have a 10k or half on the horizon!

Lastly, let's have a moment of silence for my headband. I had a purple, stretchy, all-around-fantastic headband from Lululemon and I dropped it some time between leaving my brother's apartment and when I was tying back my hair on the bus on the way to the starting line. It served many purposes, the most important one being that it kept my headphones on my ears. I hope someone picked it up and is giving it a good home...

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Have you run a race recently? Have any races coming up?

How do you calculate pace - do you go with what the race organizers say or what you recorded with your watch/Garmin/phone/whatever? Do you use the length the course is supposed to be? Or do you use the distance you actually ran according to your Garmin/phone/whatever?

Super awkward and a misbehaving shin.

I just want to preface this post by saying this is as awkward for you as it is for me. I'm not really used to taking pictures, especially not for a blog, and super especially not pictures of myself to put on a blog. But here we are now, you all get to admire my leg.

If you've read any of my other posts (you only have 4 to choose from...), you'll know that I started my blog to vent frustration over shin pain. Naming my blog after the tibia in question was (and is...) a way to remind myself that I'm not superhuman, I have to listen to my body, I need to take care of myself, and if I don't, then I really will have a broken tibia. I tend to have an all-or-none attitude - I jumped into marathon training from next-to-nothing fitness-wise and completely ran through a knee and hip injury. I never said I was smart. But I am stubborn. This time around I'm working on increasing the smart and decreasing the stubborn.

Anyway, the point being: I am now finding myself struggling again with my shin again. I took some time off running a few weeks ago. When I came back, my shin was a little tender, but not painful. After a few more days, it felt fine. But now I'm experiencing discomfort in another region...

 The newest angry spot on my leg. Sigh...

This has been uncomfortable for maybe a week. I've never noticed it during my runs, but I've noticed some irritation after. If you can't tell, it's on the lateral side of my tibia, not directly on top of it. I've been icing it and I haven't been too concerned about it. But today I took my dog on a pretty long walk and it seemed to get irritated from that.

And the old region is a little irritated too now.

The old angry region. Double sigh...

So here is the dilemma: I am super paranoid about stress fractures. I have a 5k this weekend and I have my eye on a half-marathon in April and a full marathon in June. I am completely set on making it to the starting line injury-free. I do not have health insurance, so I can't go see a doctor. Instead, I am accepting anecdotes, words of wisdom, words of support, and any informed opinions that you may have. It's not quite the same as a bone scan, but that's what is in my price range right now. Dear readers, what do you think of this predicament?

And since I am actively working on showing gratitude for things in my life, here is a short list:

1. I am grateful for my socks. I like to buy the seasonal socks at Target (the 2 pairs for $5 deal - the other pair is blue with snowpeople). Even though I'm kind of bummed about my leg acting up, my socks do make me feel a little bit better. Yes, I am a child on the inside.

2. I am grateful that my friend's dad is a physical therapist. I may have to go find him and trade him some homemade cookies for his expertise.

And 3. I am grateful that my mom has an elliptical so I can get some low-impact exercise in. :)

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Have you ever had a stress fracture and/or shin splints? What did it feel like?

What races do you have coming up?

Carrying things and calf knots.

I have been ruminating over the ever-present runner problem of how to carry all your stuff on a run. I used to not carry anything when I ran, but I learned the hard way (several times) that it's a bad idea to a) not have your phone and b) not have a reliable way to carry your things (phone, gels, keys, etc) that doesn't involve wearing a jacket because it's the only garment you own with zippered pockets. I thought about getting an armband. But I hate armbands. And if I get a new phone (some day...), I would have to buy a new armband as well and I don't really want to do that.

Enter Spibelt.

Sorry about the terrible picture quality. I know zero things about photography. But I do love polka dots. :)

A quick Google search turned up this baby. Spibelts are glorified fanny packs. But they are so amazing that it's okay. It stretches to fit whatever I want to carry, which means no more losing my car keys because my jacket pocket has a hole in it. The Spibelt doesn't bounce, it doesn't move (usually), and it comes in lots of ADD colors for ADD people (or just plain black for the grownups). You can buy them online or I found mine at Dick's Sporting Goods (I still laugh a little on the inside whenever I read/hear/say that name. I am 7 years old apparently...).

I lost his mate on the way to a laundromat in Madrid. I am disturbingly attached to my socks 

and didn't want to throw the loner away. Yes, everything I just said is completely true...

The next amazing thing to come into my life is my sock buddy. I know, you're so lucky to get this view of one of my socks. Go find a (clean) sock, fill it with rice, knot/sew/use a hair tie on the end, pop it in the microwave for 30-45 seconds, sing your praises of me. On one of my runs earlier this week, I felt a knot pop up in my calf. It was sudden, unexpected, and mildly uncomfortable. It felt like someone stuck a fork in my calf and tried to wind spaghetti around the tines. After I was done with the run, I couldn't feel the discomfort any more (duh, you don't use your calves when you're sitting and watching Arrested Development), so I didn't do it anything about it. I've just made a huge mistake...

I went for my run the next day and...oh hey there calf! You feel 10x worse than yesterday! The first thing I did when I got home was try to spend some quality time with my foam roller. But my calf was in so much pain that I couldn't even roll - I just ended up sitting with my calf on the foam roller and scrunching my face through the pain. I decided I needed to try to relax the muscle first. I alternated between my sock buddy and the foam roller over the course of the next day and a half and my calf is feeling pretty good! Hooray for new running gear and for (hopefully) many more hassle-free and pain-free miles!!

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How do you carry your stuff on a run?

Do you listen to music when you run or do you prefer au natural?

I am grateful for courage.

There are certain things I won't do by myself. In college, I refused to go to the dining hall by myself. If I couldn't find someone to go with me, I wouldn't eat. It seems completely ridiculous now. I don't have any friends where I live, so the only time I leave my house is when I need to do something. This has been negatively affecting my mood lately, so I took a bold step and decided to go out and do something just for me. Just for fun. And just because.

Standing at the bottom and looking up.

This is Bishop's Peak. The trail is 1.6 miles one way with about 1000 feet gain in elevation. On the way out to the trail and for part of the way up, I felt so timid. I was so self-conscious of myself and the fact that I was alone. I don't even know why. Maybe it's just habit. When I got to the trailhead, I almost turned around and drove home. I decided that since I took the time to go all the way out there, I should at least check it out for a little bit.

The view from halfway up. 

As I started climbing, I realized that most of the hikers came by themselves. I wasn't special and I certainly wasn't abnormal. Apparently people do lots of things by themselves and this is normal and considered healthy. (I'm only kind of sarcastically saying that)

Blurry. I thought someone was behind me and I didn't want to stop walking while taking the picture.

It was so calming to spend some quality time outside. It gave me the chance to deeply appreciate how beautiful nature is and I felt so much more peaceful after my hike. I realized that stepping outside of my comfort zone can be a truly wonderful experience and I should probably do things like this more often. I need to learn how to be more comfortable with myself and how to have the courage to stand up by myself.

This experience allowed me to be grateful for having the courage to go out and not only face something that makes me uncomfortable, but to embrace it and to find the positives in the situation.

And then, in typical Me Fashion, I was so cold by the time I got back to my car (Did you hear about the cold spell that hit the southwest and all the weak-blooded Californians were complaining? Yeah, consider me one of those Californians - I was freezing my butt off!!) that I couldn't feel my legs very well. I ended up smacking my shin with the car door because I couldn't tell where my legs were. I hit the shin that has been bothering me too. Smooth.

In running news: I did 2 very tentative miles on Sunday to test out my leg. It was still a little irritated, but not painful. I decided to rest after the hike (apparently climbing over rocks and jumping doesn't feel very good with shin splints...) but I went for 3 miles on Wednesday. With some yoga sessions mixed in there, I'm feeling pretty good and I'm pumped to knock out another run tomorrow!