How do you know if someone runs?

Don't worry, they'll tell you.

(Someone recently wrote an excellent article or blog post about this, how running, or track, is not well attended in high school because many schools don't offer it until high school, and most sports use running as a punishment, so kids associate running with negative thoughts.  I think it was a Runner's World article, but I can't find it now.)

Anyway, runners are a breed of their own.  Runners are always thinking about running, where, when, how, how far . . . these are all thoughts that a runner has during the day and sometimes even while they are running.  And honestly, it's worse when you start run streak.  I do not fit the mold of all runners, but I do have my own quirks that probably resonate with other runners.

I have become good (not great) at blowing snot rockets while I run.  Before I started running, I would never have done that, I didn't even spit well back then.

I hate running sometimes.

I run the same route almost on a daily basis.  Even different mileage has the same starting route usually.

If I run past a store window I always check myself out, especially my butt.

When I travel I bring more running clothes than regular clothes.

Again, when I travel, I'm always looking for a good spot to run.

Also, when I travel, I stress out how I'm going to get my run in.

I'm over race bling, I don't need another medal, unless it's for a distance I've never done before or I PR'd (which I haven't done in years).

I secretly love my race tshirts and can't bear to part with any of them.

I don't understand how someone with long hair can run without putting it up.

I always speed up when I'm passing another running.

I never warm up and rarely cool down, or stretch.

I actually dread when my son wants to run with me more than a mile.

I have never peed (or otherwise) outside while running.  Other runners talk about it, but I've never had to.

I'm sure there are many more, but that is all I can think of for now.  Do you have any quirks related to your exercise that are cliche (or not)?

Runstreak

Running is interesting.  It is the only exercise that I will consistently do.  For many, many years I've wanted to do yoga consistently, but I forget, or get lazy, and just don't do it.  I enjoy spin class, but don't do it.  I did weights for awhile but got bored (after close to 2 years).  Running seems to be the only thing that I will do regularly and always go back to.  (Actually, since starting 8 years ago, I've never stopped unless injured). 

But there are also times when I feel like running a lot and times when I don't feel like running at all.  When I went to Hawaii I wanted to run all the time, even after I got home.  I loved it.  It kinda felt like Hawaii gave me a little boost.  However, my Alaska cruise had the opposite affect.  I didn't want to run on the boat, and since I've been home, I haven't wanted to run hardly at all.  I am keeping my run streak, but barely.  

In Hawaii I ran 1 mile only a couple times in 10 days and when I came home I wanted to keep that up.  Since March I have run more than 1 mile 5 days a week, which I haven't done for several years (usually 3+ miles 3 or 4 times a week).  I even hit 100 miles in a month for 4 months, only one month in 5 was under 100 miles and it was 95 miles.  Then we went on a cruise in August and the treadmills were awful, and I quit running so much.  In August I only made it to 81 miles, and since getting off the boat, I've only run 4 times a week (more than a mile) and my longest run has been 5 miles (one time).  I will say, that for 3 of those 4 weeks I've been sick, but I really haven't felt like running. 

Anyway, I am still running, a lot of 1 miles and 3 miles, but it is still a streak.  I know I was going to go for a year, and my year is up on November 1, but I've been thinking about extending it to at least the end of this year.  Then I can say I ran every single day in 2019, which I think is kinda cool. 

And I think I'll end with a couple cute baby photos.  =)

Grandma . . . Granny . . . Nana . . . Nona . . . MawMaw . . . Me

So this happened . . .

Asher Rae was born on Sept 12 at 11:22pm.  He weighed 6.4 ounces and was 19 inches long.  Maddox is one happy uncle, and I am one reluctant Grandma.

Damian's birthday is today.  He is 21 . . . with a 4 day old baby.  I seriously don't think he really understands how much his life has changed.  They have stayed with us for the last 2 days (since Callie, his gf, got out of the hospital).  They told me last night that "they" are leaving today to go to Callie's apartment.  Remember, Damian still lives with us . . . but I have a feeling his stuff is living with us now, and he will not be there.

I don't know what to call myself to the baby.  I don't really want to be Grandma, and I refuse to be Granny.  I'm not sure if I like Nana or Nona, although the maternity nurse called me Nona and I liked it there.  Then on Friday morning I took Maddox to see the baby at the hospital and as we were leaving he looked at me with wonder and said "Mommy, you're MawMaw now."  (MawMaw is what my kids called my Mom).  I have been pretty adamant that I don't want to be MawMaw, because of my Mom, but when Maddox said that I thought it was cute, so now I don't know.

Cruise

Good morning!  Well, I've been back from my Alaska cruise for a week now.  I wasn't ready to come back.  I would have liked to have stayed on the boat another couple of days.     I had tshirts made before we left.  My dad paid for us to go on this trip, so the back all said "I'm with Tom" and his said "I'm Tom."  We had sooooo many comments.  He said he's never wearing the shirt again.  😂

There actually was a bit of a panic before the cruise.  My sister and her family flew from N. Carolina to Spokane (eastern WA) on Wednesday.  After they got to my Dad's house, she realized she left all their birth certificates and her marriage license in NC.  In order to go on the cruise we needed a passport, enhanced license, or birth certificates and if you used a birth certificate and were married with a different last name, you need a marriage license to show your "new" last name.  Anyway, my sister could get her stuff in WA, because she was born and married there, but my nephew was born in  NC and my brother-in-law was born in Ohio.  She had someone look in her house and at her office, but they couldn't find the papers.  So she flew back to NC on Thursday, got her son's birth certificate, and flew to Seattle Friday.  Her husband was able to call a relative in Ohio and they sent a next day mail with his birth certificate.  Anyway, they were able to get all the required documents, but it was touch and go for a couple days. 

We started in Seattle, traveled a day and two nights to Juneau.  I did not enjoy Juneau as much as I thought I would.  I ended up with 2 kids (Maddox and my nephew, who is the same age) and even though they were good, it was a lot.  My sister and her husband (from NC) are not active people, so my nephew is also not very active.  Spending an entire morning walking from store to store was not that fun for him, I think he was pretty tired by the time we were done. 

My favorite part of Juneau was waking up early and seeing the humpback whales . . . although, I suppose we were not near Juneau at the time, but just coming into Alaska.  I was only up and out because I was looking for a quiet spot to work on homework when someone announced that there were whales, so I decided to go watch them. 

The next day we were in Skagway, and we did a railway tour, which was pretty cool. 

No we did not go over this bridge, thankfully!!

 This sign was in a bathroom stall in Skagway.  I thought it was hilarious. 

Following Skagway,  we went into Glacier Bay, where we got to see a couple of Glaciers.  We were on the boat the entire time, but it was still pretty cool. 

The next stop was Ketchikan, which was pretty cool.  It was my favorite stop, but apparently we didn't even find the "cool" street.  I guess there was a "street" that was on the pier and had a bunch of shops, Creek Street.  I didn't know anything about it until we were back on the boat and one of my sisters said something about it.  I was bummed to miss it, but we still enjoyed Ketchikan.

After Ketchikan we sailed back down to Victoria, Canada.  I was most disappointed in Victoria because it was such a short stop.  We were only there from 7pm-11pm on Friday.  And because it was in the evening, and Damian is only 20 and wanted to drink, I wanted to take him to a bar to have some drinks (Canadians can drink at 19).  We left Maddox on the boat in the kids area, but it closed at 10pm, so really our trip was 7:30 (once we were off the boat) to 10, and we had to travel into town, so really we were only there for a little over an hour.  I had time to get one drink with Damian and then Chris and I rushed back to the bus stop to get to the boat to get Maddox, but as we were approaching the bus, I noticed a really, really long line.  Of course it was for the bus.  I didn't think we'd get back in time, so I told Chris we were walking (a little over a mile).  He is not much of a walker so he found a bike taxi thing, and we ended up doing that, which was actually pretty fun.

The Parliament building in Victoria.

We were back in Seattle before we woke up on Saturday morning and we got off. 

Yes, I ran while on the boat. It had a "jogging track" but it was this tiny little thing that would have taken 20 laps to get to a mile, so I ended up not doing that.  I went to the fitness center every day, which I was pretty disappointed in.  The treadmills all faced the window and were at the top of the boat in the front, but they had giant TV screens on them that you couldn't see around very well. 

The second or third day my sister told me that I could run around deck 7 outside, but everywhere else was soooo slippery that I was really worried about that.  So I continued to go to the fitness center.  The first 2 days I ran 3 miles, but hated it so much I ended up doing 1 mile the next 3 days just to keep my streak going.  Then, on Friday I decided I would regret it if I didn't try running around deck 7, so I just did it.  It was beautiful and soooooo much better than the treadmills.  I ended up doing 4 miles on accident.  I was going to do 3 miles, and I looked at my watch at one point and it said 2.93 or something, and I thought, one more mile, so I kept running.  It wasn't till I was at 3.25 or close that I realized I was going to stop at 3, so I decided to just finish 4.  

My sister and her husband were sitting outside when I started running so they took a bunch of pictures of me as I ran by.  It took about 2 1/2 loops around the boat to make 1 mile, but it didn't feel like I was not going anywhere.  It was the best run I had, and now I regret not doing that everyday.  

The view from the front of the boat

and the view from the back (although this was taken by someone else)

Also, I did do my homework on the boat.  Although, it was very, very frustrating.  The internet connection was TERRIBLE.  It was okay to be on my phone, and we had quite the group chat on facebook messenger (did I mention there were 16 of us?).  I ended up turning it in with so many errors.  I messaged my professor to let her know, and she was kind enough to not grade me harshly (she actually gave me 100%, which I didn't deserve).  

Highlights?  Dinner.  It was amazing!  And we had the best waiter for dinner.  We only ate in the dining room for dinner, otherwise we ate at the buffet.  The food in the dining room was out of this world.  We loved it!  And Maddox LOVES seafood.  He tried something new every night, usually seafood, and ate it all every night.  

 

When we got home, my sisters neighbors had put up a sign because they had so many cars in their front yard.  It was hilarious.

Maddox was so tired that he slept close to 15 hours Saturday into Sunday.  I think that means he had fun.  =)

Happy Monday

Well, I suck at posting again.  Only 2 for the month of July.  Oh well. 

I have officially decided not to do the marathon this year.  I was only half-assing the training, and was undecided anyway.  Plus, I'm leaving this Saturday for a week long cruise, and I was nervous about a 14 mile run on a boat (that's a lot of circles).  I was supposed to be up to 12 miles last week (July 28) but since I had gone to my Dad's house and ran after I got home in the heat of the day, I only did 4 miles.  And yesterday I only ran 6.2 miles instead of 9. 

Yesterday's run was hot.  I waited too long to get out of the house, leaving about 10am, which is my favorite time to run, but the heat was already increasing.  Plus, I was rather dehydrated.  I haven't been that great with my water lately, plus wine on Saturday night, it wasn't pleasant.  Let's just say that I'm very thankful my run took me next to a park with a bathroom, I barely made it there.  My pants (shorts) were down before I had the stall door latched,  It wasn't pretty.  I over estimated my route as well, so instead of a 5-6 mile run, I went 7 miles.  Although, at 6.2 I stopped and walked the rest of the way home.  Needless to say, yesterday's run was not pleasant. 

Last night as I was going to bed I thought that I should run this morning because today is supposed to be as hot as yesterday, if not hotter.  Then when my alarm went off at 4:30am I didn't remember.  It wasn't until my snooze went off at 4:45 that I remembered I should run.  I really thought about staying in bed and doing it later, or even going to the gym (that I pay for and never go to) but I knew I regret it.  Plus, on Friday I woke up at 4:30 and thought about running, but decided not to, then laid in bed for 30 min before deciding to just do it.  If I had gotten up at 4:30 I would have been done, or almost done by the time I actually left.  So this morning I just did it.

It is nice to know that it's done.  I don't have to do it later today. 

This week will probably be a lot of morning runs.  I have something going on almost every evening this week, so unless I want to run late in the evening, I will have to get up. 

I really love the sun and the heat.  It is so nice.  And I love my pool.  I spent a lot of time in it yesterday.  And I fell asleep in it on Saturday (only for a min, someone called my name and woke me up). 

And one last happy thought before I go . . .

Ragnar Northwest Passage

I just realized I haven't posted anything in awhile, and I ran a Ragnar . . .

I guess I don't know how to describe my Ragnar experience.  It was easier than I expected, but I didn't have a lot of expectations.  Or didn't know what to expect.  I was pretty frustrated before with my team and the captain, who I felt was terrible at communication.  And any time I'd ask a question to the group I'd get a vague answer or a "read the race Bible" answer, which started to just make me mad.  However, once we were all there and in the van, I was okay and, for the most part, enjoyed myself. 

I was really lucky because the captain and his wife (my coworker) had a camper van that had a top that popped up into a bed.  Plus, one of my team members' parents live in Bellingham, so during our first break we went to their house and hung out for 4 hours or so.  I took a nap in a shady spot in their backyard, it was nice. 

We started at 6am near the Canadian border.  I was runner 3, so my first run started about 7:45am and was 8.3 miles.  The team I was with was from a gym and they had so many people sign up for it that they made 2 teams,  So even though I didn't know anyone, other than my one coworker, I ended up running with a young girl from the other team.  She was only 17, and was much slower than me, but it was kinda a nice start.  It was a pretty hilly 8 miles, so running with her saved me physically for later.  I did "ditch" her at the halfway point though. 

The exchange

 My second run happened about 10 hours later and was through (sorta) Mount Vernon (where I live) for 6.6 miles.  It was on a back road that I've run on before for a long run, so I knew what to expect and it was flat.  This run I was thinking would be a piece of cake.  I've run on that road before, and it was flat, so I didn't even think twice about it.  However, it was a lot harder than I expected.  I think it was mostly because it was such a long run after a long run (my longest run in the last year is only 9 miles), and it was pretty warm. 

 When we got to the exchange for the 5th runner there was a farmer's stand that also sold ice cream.  As we were pulling in I saw someone with a giant mint chocolate chip ice cream cone and I knew immediately that I had to have that in my life.  It was the best (and worst) thing I ate for the trip.

 It was the worst because it made my stomach not happy for the rest of the evening.  But it was delicious. 

We spent the night in Oak Harbor at the high school there.  Most people slept in sleeping bags in the gym of the high school, but because we had a cool van, we were able to sleep in the van.  I had to use the bathroom and was out almost before the van stopped, by the time I got back everyone else was leaving with toothbrushes. At that point I didn't care, I grabbed my blanket, headphones and a little pillow I brought, climbed up into the popped up top bed, curled into a ball and fell asleep.  I think I slept the best of everyone in my van (4 hours).  If you ever do a Ragnar, I HIGHLY recommend having head phones or earplugs.  I think that helped tremendously.

My last run was in Oak Harbor for 3.1 miles.  I will say, it was my hardest.  It started at about 545am and was mostly uphill.  Plus, I just wanted to be done, so pushed myself to be faster.  (It wasn't my fastest, but I was tired.) 

After my van finished running we had to wait around for the second van to finish.  We made our way to Langley (where the finish line was), found someplace to eat and then just hung out for a while.  My Dad, Chris, and Maddox all met us at the finish line and we waited. 

This is my coworker, but I really was trying to get the van.  

The take away?  Marathons are harder.  I was always scared to do Ragnar because I thought it would be so hard.  It was difficult, I did 18 miles in 22 hours with a total of maybe 8 hours of sleep (over 2 nights).  However, I think I got more sleep than most and that was only because of the van I was in.  In a typical van, there's no way I would have been able to curl up and sleep in it.  I would have been on a hard wood floor with hundreds of other (smelly) runners. 

Oh, and on the Ragnar web page, my picture from my post Ragnar run came up because I tagged #ragnarnwp.  😊  (I'm on the bottom left.)