Hi! Remember me? The girl that made the commitment to keep writing? Well I did take some time off from writing, but I did NOT take all this time off from running. (I took some off from running though). I’ve been doing a hybrid of gym running and outdoor running. In case you forgot, I’m in Arizona and it’s that time of year weather wise. It’s not quite as hot as Satan’s butthole yet, but it’s getting there. I’ve just had a lot going on that made it difficult for me to run for a little while. This past year has been…eventful to say the least.
I joined EOS Fitness because a few of the girls from school workout there, and so do a bunch of people from job 2. There are also MULTIPLE locations of said gym so I have no excuse not to go. The plan was/is to go with them before school some days. You know what they say though, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plan”.
Now that it’s summer and I’m off from school (not job 2), I haven’t seen many of my school friends. Granted it’s only 3 weeks into summer and I was in Vegas for the first week. We have texted and made plans to hang out, go to lunch, workout, whatever, but so far I think we’ve all just kind of been recovering from the school year.
Sadly, my other friend group that I had from my old school…imploded (for lack of a better word) and I’m not hanging with them anymore. (It’s a long story that I’m not going to go into). So the friend that I used to work out with the most constantly, is no longer in my life. I do have another friend who happens to go to my same gym, but we can’t get our schedules lined up to get a workout in together. When I do go there, I usually just use the treadmill and leave. It’s generally too crowded and to be honest, and more than a little intimidating. I am not super comfortable there alone.
But I digress. I have been running steadily for the last few weeks. I even went and bought new shoes because my other new shoes (that I got in January) seem to be giving me shin splints. I was getting very frustrated with all of the rest days I was having to take. I was worried that maybe I was going to be stuck running one day a week, taking a week off to recover and then running when my legs felt better; but I’ve been able to run for the last two weeks with the new shoes and have not had issues! I went to my favorite local running store (Sole Sports in Tempe Arizona!) and I ended up going from the Brooks Ghost, to the Brooks Adrenaline for a little added extra support. That must’ve been what I needed!
So the last two weeks I’ve been running pretty steadily. It helps that we are doing a healthy, “activity” challenge at my second job. It’s company-wide (so basically globally there are thousands of people employed). We are in teams of 4 and we push each other to complete several goals for calories burned, time in said healthy activity, and a stand goal. My goal is moving enough to burn 370 calories, exercising for 30 minutes, and standing once an hour for 12 hours (the goals are set by the app we use based on our individual biometrics). I still use my Garmin Forerunner 745 when I run, but I also put my Apple Watch on my other wrist to help monitor and to see how similar the information is from both devices.
Sidebar….I mean, I like my Garmin, but I’m not super into all the stats and everything that I can get from the Garmin and I know for a fact I don’t know half of what it’s capable of because I don’t utilize it. I don’t even know what half of the information I can get from my run even means. When I got my first Apple Watch back when I was running all the time, (I think it was the first generation watch). I didn’t love it because it didn’t have the data that I want and it ended up dying about 3/4 of the way through a marathon I ran with my friend Chris. There have been SO many improvements on the Apple Watch since the first iteration I’m hoping I can ditch the Garmin eventually and just use my Apple Watch!
Okay back to the original post…. So for the month of June we are competing to meet those healthy activity goals. Honestly there isn’t a huge prize and there are so many people competing I don’t expect to end up in the top 30% much less the top 5. For me it’s more about the motivation and the camaraderie of encouraging a teammate to get their ass in gear.
It’s definitely encouraged me to be more active this summer. Even on the days where I am still just utterly exhausted and feel like I just need a rest day, I try to get at least some activity in to make my goals. I may not exceed my goals on those days (like I do on run days) but at least I’m getting moving. I also started lifting weights again and found that my apartment gym has a nice selection of free weights as well as a lot of other equipment (yes-I moved! This will be part of my next post so stay tuned!)
Just as a side note I have to keep going back and editing this post to remove specific details about workouts/runs as it’s been a couple of days working on it. I go back to read it and find I’ve written, “Today I ran x amount of miles” when it’s not actually today anymore. I’m actually writing this post and another one simultaneously because it’s been so long since I’ve written and I have so much going on in my head that’s demanding to come out-haha.
On that note I think I’ll sign off for now because the next post will be jam-packed and I want to focus on that! Catch you on the flip-side!
One of the neighbors scared the crap out of me on my run the Sunday before last. I started out on my normal route because I really missed what I affectionately refer to as my ”stretching post”. Really it’s a stop sign on the corner that’s close enough to the curb that I can hold onto it and do calf raises and leg stretches before I set off on the first part of my run.
I almost had a heart attack when I saw a shadow moving in my peripheral vision. I looked all around me quickly and I stumbled a little (no coordination+being startled does not equal a balanced Jamie), not seeing anyone. I had images (hello too much Criminal Minds) of someone sneaking up behind me bent on throwing me in a shady white van or worse. (I’m not overly-dramatic or anything).
Not seeing anyone I finally looked up and realized one of the neighbors was on top of her motorhome, cleaning it. That’s where the shadow came from. I think I scared her as much as she scared me. She was grasping her chest with a rag in her hand like I startled her. I mean, granted I had just started running, but I am not a quiet runner. My lungs like to make it known how much they struggle, so they wheeze and whistle sometimes in addition to the huffing and puffing, plus I know my footfalls are not quiet. The one time I ran without music I felt like I sounded like a buffalo plodding down the street. Plus from her vantage point, she had a birds eye view of the whole street.
Hoping she hadn’t seen me frantically looking around for a serial killer and tripping over my own feet, I sheepishly waved at her, said ”Good morning!” and ran off. I’m pretty sure she waved back but I was too busy watching where I was going to know for sure.
It really is getting too hot to run outside anymore. Either I need to start running on the dreadmill at the gym, or I need to start getting up at the butt crack of dawn to run. My weather app said it was only 72 degrees when I got out of bed, but it felt way hotter than that as I ran into the blazing sun.
That run was much better than the one prior. It was still a slow run because it felt like the heat was pressing down on me, trying to keep me from going too fast. Instead of trying to beat my time, and based on how much I struggled with the decision to actually run, I decided to just do 1:30sec intervals with 1:00 walking between. I felt accomplished just putting my running clothes on.
I had kind of been feeling like crap all week. I don’t know if I was just feeling run down because it’s the end of the school year, or maybe I was trying to catch the stomach bug that seemed to be going around, or if my stomach didn’t like the reintroduction of one of my favorite Starbucks drinks. I felt slightly nauseated almost every day last week and my stomach was just really bloated. Like I looked about 7 months pregnant bloated. I hate that feeling. Both the nausea and the bloating actually, but I hate feeling bloated more than anything. I always want to take a pin and stick it in my stomach to see if it will pop.
My favorite Starbucks drink during the hotter months is the Strawberry Açaí Refresher, sans the strawberries. I’m not a fan of freeze dried fruit to begin with, but there is something about those red chunks floating around and possibly getting sucked up into a straw that just absolutely grosses me out. So I always order it without the fruit. There is something about it that just seems so refreshing to me and it was a nice change of pace from my normal unsweet black tea that I normally get in the morning before school.
Starbucks Strawberry Açaí refresher sans strawberries
I don’t know if there is something in there that my stomach doesn’t like or if it’s a coincidence, and my stomach is just a jerk. I stopped drinking them last summer because I felt like my stomach was worse when I drank them, but again I have to think, is it my stomach or the drink itself? I’m not going to drink any for a week or so to see how I do and then on a ”good” stomach day I will drink one and see what happens. My family gives me grief about all of my weird food ”experiments” but it’s the only way for me to figure out what to avoid without cutting everything out completely. Of course if I could get an actual stomach diagnosis, that would be great.
One of the best movies!
Sorry…I got a little off track with all the stomach talk. I think the overall feeling of crapiness (that consequently led to me not eating great) contributed to my slowness. I have not been kind to my body the last two weeks. Between not sleeping, not eating well and the overall ickiness I’ve been living with, I think my body is finally starting to get pissed off at me. I know it’s so important to sleep and fuel correctly when running, but I’m just doing everything I can to survive the end of the school year right now so it is what it is. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop running-I kind of need that for my sanity right now.
As I ran I thought about school. It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. We have a little less than a week left and I wonder what other interesting things we have in store for us. I have discovered in recent weeks that junior high kids get a little restless towards the end of the year. I love my school, I am honestly so glad I moved to middle school, I feel like this is where I’m supposed to be, but to be honest some days it’s a veritable shit show. I really need to start writing all the things down that kids say and write a book. I have some great ones from when I taught elementary school, but junior high kids are a lot more inventive and colorful with their language.
As I continued to run with the sun beating down on me, I tried to distract myself from the fact that I was sweating so profusely it was running down my face and into my eyes, making them sting. I’m honestly shocked that I didn’t cause myself bodily harm (based on how graceful I am…not) by falling down or running into something because I felt half blind for most of my run. I focused on the music and tried to ignore the fact that I was drenched and probably losing most of my body hydration.
It was so hot (have I mentioned that it was a little hot?) and there were no sprinklers, hoses, or yards with irrigation in sight. I would happily have taken my shoes off and splashed through some irrigation water had it been available. I would have even taken someone just throwing a bottle of water on me at that rate. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been that hot while running. I felt like my face was melting off and my feet were getting stuck in the melting asphalt. I am 100% overdramatizing of course, but it was really hot.
I have come to the conclusion that 4 miles is now my long run. I ran it by ”accident” a few weeks ago, and now I feel like anything less is just dumb when I know I can do 4 miles. I mentally played tug-o-war between just cutting it off at 3 miles because it was so hot, or continuing on, but the side of me won that said, ”That’s dumb it’s only one more mile.” So I pushed on despite the headache that I could feel forming and the fact that I could feel my pulse was pounding both in my head and behind my eyes.
The last few weeks I had been pushing myself a little past the 4 miles. I keep thinking I have to set records every week with my Garmin. Today was not the day for that. As I got closer to my house, I saw that I was only 2 tenths of a mile from the 4 mile mark and realized for the sake of my health (and melting brain), I probably should call it quits. I proceeded to run halfway up my block and back (I tried to sprint but the heat just sapped out any extra energy I had). When I hit that magic mile marker and my Garmin recognized it by vibrating it on my wrist I stopped. I just stopped. A dead stop. Normally I jog to slow down and walk around a little to cool off. There was none of that. I stopped still and just stood in the middle of the road and briefly felt like I was going to vomit. I took some deep breaths, used my shirt to try and wipe the sweat that was still dripping into my eyes, and slowly headed home. Luckily I was only like 15 feet from the front door when I stopped.
When I first walked in the door I thought about just going up to my room and sitting in front of the fan, but I knew I needed to go stretch. As I trudged out back I realized how spent I felt. I basically collapsed in the spot where I usually stretch, even with the sun beating down on me. I probably laid there for about 10 minutes before I did anything.
Not a cute picture, but you can see how hot I was!
I did my post-run stretches grudgingly, but I knew if I didn’t, I’d be miserable later. Then I dragged myself upstairs, turned on my fan and chugged a whole bottle of water. I laid down on my bed and my cat came to join me. She either liked how warm I was, or she was telling me she was proud of me for getting out there. I can never tell with her, she doesn’t say much.
Sammy wanted to give me cuddles while I was trying to cool off.
When I finally cooled off enough to function, I checked my Garmin app to see how I did. I obviously didn’t hit any speed or distance goals, but I did hit my personal goal of knocking down mile three to get my negative splits! I was so excited!
Negative splits!
I was ecstatic that I had accomplished my personal goal. I’d been trying to work on that for a few weeks now, but mile 3 kept beating me. I was over the moon that I was able to achieve this goal, even though it wasn’t one of my better runs.
I had planned to see if I could do that again on my next run, just to see if it was a fluke or not. I woke up early this last Sunday morning. 6am. On my one day to sleep in. That’s how determined I was to run this week. My goal in getting up that early was to beat the heat. I figured I could do my normal Sunday routine, groceries for school, pick up grandma’s groceries, sort out her medicine, do laundry, run errands, etc. and then take a nap mid-day. I don’t like taking naps on school days because I know I’ll be up all night and I won’t get enough sleep for school. If I did happen to nap, I figured it would be worth it in this case if I was able to go for a run.
Apparently that was not in the cards for me though. My back has been doing weird things all week. Not my back per-se, but my right shoulder blade. I don’t know how to quite describe it. There wasn’t really any one thing that set it off, I don’t remember twisting funny, picking something up that was too heavy, or getting into any accidents without my knowledge.
It started last Monday. It almost feels like when you get pins and needles in your feet or hands, but in my shoulder blade. Or like if you’ve ever been to a chiropractor and they’ve used a tens unit on you and maybe turned it up too high…like that. Occasionally it will feel like someone is digging their finger into my shoulder blade, and every once in a while it’s like someone is snapping a rubber-band onto my back. Sometimes it’s burning, sometimes it feels like someone squirted me with cold water and I get a weird sensation of something cold flowing down my back. It’s going up into my neck too.
Also the fingers on my right hand keep going numb. Actually I’m pretty sure the whole hand is going numb. It went so numb, that on Thursday morning I was trying to straighten my hair before school and I dropped my straightener. I had gone to bed with semi-wet hair the night before and it was a hot mess in the morning. I have natural waves that some people think are ”beachy”, I just think it looks like I didn’t do anything with my hair. I generally straighten it every day, unless there is a special occasion and then I curl it.
True story
When I picked up my straightener it was working perfectly fine. For like a minute. Then it made this sad electronic noise and turned itself off. I was already running behind schedule and was not in the mood to deal with electrical issues. I tried everything, turning it on and off, unplugging it and plugging it back in, flipping the reset button off and on, waiting for 10 minutes and then trying everything I had already tried once-again. Like giving it a break was going to give it enough energy to start up again or something. It would power on for a few seconds and make this sad little noise like when you lose a life in an old-school video game like Donkey Kong or Mario Bros. and then it would turn off. I finally gave up and had to curl my hair.
As bad as my morning started I had more compliments from students that day. One boy who barely speaks up in class said, ”Wow Miss (that’s what they call me), you look really pretty today and your clothes are nice too.”. I must look like a big scrub every other day of the week judging by the other positive comments I received on my appearance.
Anyway, back to the matter at (numb) hand. In the mornings it isn’t too terrible, but by the end of the evening I can hardly stand it. By nightfall it feels as though someone is poking me with an icepick or something equally uncomfortable. I have to try to contort myself into weird shapes to try to find a comfortable position that doesn’t hurt. Based on everything I’ve said, the majority of the people I’ve talked to this week (of course none have an MD after their names) have told me it sounds like I have a pinched nerve.
Looks like the chiropractor and perhaps a few massages are in my future. I don’t mind the thought of regular massages, but the last time I went to a chiropractor (over two years ago), he adjusted me and I got an immediate migraine that lasted for days and was nauseated for like a week afterwards. I really don’t want to experience a repeat of that. I’ll have to call tomorrow and try to make an appointment for Friday maybe. Thursday is our last day of school with kids and Friday is a teacher work day. If my stuff is done and my classroom is relatively put away, I’m pretty sure I can leave a little earlier than normal to get to my appointment if I can get one. Considering this post is so late and has sat in my drafts box, I already went to the chiropractor, but that’s a story for another post!
I knew when my alarm went off that morning that I probably shouldn’t go for a run. My back was immediately doing the pins and needles thing and I had to roll over to get out of bed rather than just sitting up like a normal person. But my brain was screaming at me to GO RUN! So I got up and started getting ready. It didn’t bother me getting dressed. Not even when I had to wrestle myself into my sports bra. I thought for sure that would make it flare up or set it off or whatever, but I was good to go. By 6:25 I was out the door, stretching and getting ready to set off.
As I walked to my normal stretching corner, my back started bothering me again. I kept telling myself it was fine though and I’d be able to run no problem (runner denial). I stopped and stretched as per my usual and then set off at a slow pace. I seemed to do okay while running. When my interval timer went off and I slowed down to a walk, my shoulder started acting up even more. I tried to keep a slow pace in hopes my shoulder would loosen up and I’d be okay, but every time I stopped to walk, it hurt worse. It started feeling like something was torn in my shoulder. I know that’s not the case because I’d be in a lot more pain, but it’s hard to put into words exactly how it felt.
I decided to call it a day after a mile. I probably could have kept running. It hurt, but I didn’t feel like I was dying. I’m still trying to be responsible and listen to my body. There is no sense in making it worse by pushing myself, especially without knowing exactly what’s going on with it. As aggravated as I was about stopping early, I didn’t think of it as quitting so much as future-proofing my running. Ensuring that I won’t have to stop running semi-long term to deal with some dumb injury. I’m definitely calling and making an appointment with a chiropractor tomorrow. I’m sure they will tell me if I need a regular doctor or if they can help with whatever is going on.
It’s sad how small this block of time is. (And how slow) My goal is to get my ish together in the next few weeks. I want to get the all clear that running is not going to make my back worse, then I will start running on the dreadmill during the week for my ”short” runs and continue to get up early for my long runs on the weekend if my schedule allows. Since my second job is so accommodating to my school schedule during the summer months I open up my availability completely so they can work me as needed. It’s hard to get a regular routine that way, but I’m not complaining. I love working there, or I wouldn’t still be there almost 5 years later.
And since I didn’t take the obligatory running pictures today (did it even happen if there is no photographic proof??) I will leave you with this:
I wish my body would come together and stop making it hard for me to do what I want running wise!
PS As I left to go pick up dinner that night the sprinklers came on. I decided what the hell, they’ve been elusive on my runs of late, so I took full advantage and ran through them! I’m sure the neighbors thought I was nuts-but it was fun!
When I woke up Tuesday morning it was 46 degrees outside. I was warm and toasty in my bed so I decided to wait a little while before getting up to go for my run. My milage was to bump up this week and I was a little nervous about it to be honest. I always get nervous when it’s time to kick it up a notch. I wasn’t sure how I’d do coming off of my cold/allergy thing and I debated redoing one of the ”days” on my app that I had previously done just to stretch it out.
I decided to stop whining about the temperature and the milage and get up and go run. I made up my mind that if I needed to walk, I would and I wouldn’t beat myself up about it. I also reminded myself that the temperature would not be this low for very much longer and I needed to take advantage of the cooler temps while I still could! I threw on a long sleeve shirt over my running tank just in case it remained too chilly and headed out.
It turned out that by the time I got to the end of the block, I didn’t need the long sleeve so I shucked it off and tied it (double knot so I wouldn’t lose it) around my waist. It was such a nice day out I couldn’t have asked for better weather for my first ”bump up day”. The only complaint that I had about my run was my app. There is a disembodied voice that usually tells me how far I’ve gone and when to run and when to walk. It kept messing up and it was annoying me so much I almost turned it off.
I’m sure there are other apps out there, but this one was recommended to me years ago and I’ve kind of stuck with it. The training is broken down into weeks and then subsequently broken down into days. The weeks generally consist of 3 days per week in which I run. It also allows for rest days in between runs. The runs are generally the same for the whole week and then they increase moderately the following week. This week was a bigger bump than normal, but I was ready.
The app is nice because I can set it to play with one of my playlists on Apple Music and it does most of the work for me. I don’t know the interval in which it tells me my milage, but every so often the cheerful male voice will come on and say something like, ”Ten minutes thirteen seconds. Point zero eight two miles. Average pace… One hundred thirteen calories burned” (I’m making up those numbers for the example). This day it was like my male announcer had some trouble speaking. He would start out, ”Ten minutes….” and just stop. Then 30 seconds later, ”Ten minutes thirteen…” and stop. All the while it would lower the music. I had to keep waiting for it as it started over, slowly progressed and then started over again until he could relay all the typical information. That happened at two different points during my run and it was irritating me so much I wanted to throw my phone. I wouldn’t really do that of course, I love my phone too much for that.
I definitely had to push myself during this run and I struggled mentally. I don’t think I struggled really with the run itself, I was just struggling with my confidence as a runner. I had that ”Oh crap” moment when I was running for a longer period of time than normal before a walk break. I had been thinking I was doing so great on my training thus far. At that point I was huffing and puffing and struggling to keep up my pace (I have it in my head that I need to stay below 11 min/mile while I’m running even though that is still a slow pace). I started bashing myself and thinking that I’m crazy to think I can start running again, that I shouldn’t have signed up for a marathon for next year and that I can’t even run 3 miles without walking so who am I kidding?
Then I remembered my goal to try to be kind to myself. Would I say things I was saying about myself to a friend? I also needed to remind myself that I was still getting over being sick, that I forgot to take a hit off of my inhaler to open up my lungs before I set out and I haven’t really run and FOUR years and that I needed to cut myself some slack because I’m retraining my body. I quickly shut myself down and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other and focusing on the positive. I was doing it, I wasn’t quitting and saying I needed to walk before my ”run” time was up. I was pushing myself and doing it even though I was tiring and struggling to catch my breath towards the end of my running intervals.
By the time I got to the end of the run my Garmin read 2.78 miles. Last time I pushed myself farther than I should have to get to a well-rounded mile, I ended up benching myself for almost two weeks with sore knees. I struggled for my decision for only a nanosecond before I talked myself into rounding it out to an even 3 miles. I figured I’d been running more regularly and farther distances so that in itself would reduce my chances of injuring myself since I wasn’t going way overboard like I had done several months ago.
I was right in front of my house at this point so I just decided to run to the end of my block, turn around, run up past the neighbors house and back. I ended up doing this three times in order to get to my 3 miles. I’m sure the neighbors were wondering what the heck I was doing, if they had looked out the window during that time frame. I probably looked pretty ridiculous just running around in circles, but it got the job done!
Overall It was a good run. I was pleasantly exhausted and I was sweating. All signs of a good run. I had also noticed as I was running in circles that the neighbors had so thoughtfully left their sprinklers on for me. I looked around me to make sure no one was looking and then made a mad dash through the sprinklers-just once but it was enough to cool me off and make me a little giddy. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind right? I mean I’d loan them a cup of sugar if they needed one-it’s the neighborly thing to do after all. What’s a little water between neighbors?
An oasis in the desert haha
The last song on my run was Eminem and it felt fitting
I love that my Garmin sends me cute little messages about me setting a new record. It keeps me motivated and I feel like someone is cheering me on:
And then when I got home I saw this message from a friend I hadn’t seen in a while and it made me happy:
I’m happy too that it’s spring break and I get to run! I always think of it as ”getting to run” versus ”having” to run. I think I see it more as a reward and others seem to see it as a punishment. Sometimes it does feel like I’m punishing my body, but somehow that doesn’t seem to be the right word. To me it’s more like “pushing” my body rather than a punishment. It’s making me better and stronger both physically and emotionally.
I was pretty proud of myself for not running on Sunday. I never thought I would say that. Sunday was to be my ”test walk” to see how my knees did after being sore for the last few weeks. I knew I shouldn’t run because both of my knees had been irritated from doing too much too fast a few weeks ago so I’ve been grounded, so to speak. It was also the chance to test out my Garmin Forerunner 745 (even thought I wasn’t running).
I love Apple products. I’m a big fan of Apple. Everything electronic I own is Apple and I will be Apple for life. With that being said, I need more in a watch to track my running and all that entails. The AppleWatch is great for running, tracking your milage, calories burned and time, but I wanted something to help me with cadence, breathing, etc. Something with more bells and whistles. I’m NOT knocking it. I adore my AppleWatch and use it every day. The AppleWatch is still relatively new technology and they are improving it every year based on feedback from normal people (apple.com/feedback) They have a dedicated team of people that actually read suggestions and that’s how they make changes to products! I never knew that-but it’s true I found out! I’m hoping they add more of the things Garmin has specifically for runners. Apple-ized of course!
I wasn’t going to get a Garmin because my AppleWatch does me good most of the time. I had a Garmin many moons ago and I really don’t think I used it to it’s full potential. A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend of mine who purchased her first Garmin and she was so in love with it. She is an Apple lover as well, but couldn’t stop telling me about all of the great things her Garmin could do, that AppleWatch couldn’t do-yet. I was starting to have watch envy, but I really didn’t want to spend the money. A really good deal that I couldn’t pass up fell in my lap and I couldn’t say no, so I ordered the Forerunner 745.
I debated on color-I’m really feeling the teal, mint-green, soft green colors right now. My whole classroom is decked out in that color scheme so I almost got the Neo-Tropic because it’s such a fun color, but I tend to wear a lot of black when I run (probably not a great choice) so I settled for basic black instead.
My classroom is matchy matchy right now
I was excited when it finally arrived. Shipping said it would only take about 3-4 days but it ended up taking over a week for some reason. Maybe it was stuck in the middle of the ocean with everything else. Is that still a thing? I try to not watch the news too often as it only depresses me. I immediately took it out of the box and set it up and started playing around with it. I even went to their YouTube channel and watched some videos. Did you know that was a thing? I’m sure there are features on there that I will never learn how to use because it was all a little overwhelming.
I did not set an alarm the next morning. I have been waking up before my alarm goes off every morning, so I embraced the opportunity to try to wake up naturally. I didn’t have to work which was nice, but I had a crap ton of stuff I needed to do as we had family coming over to celebrate my beautiful grandmother’s 88th birthday that afternoon. I had worked all day Saturday and helped my aunt babysit my cousins (three of them ranging from 9-11 years old) so I was really exhausted when I woke up. But I forced myself to roll out of bed and get dressed to head out.
I hadn’t had any sort of physical activity in the last 2 weeks because of my knees and I could tell my mental health was starting to suffer. I never thought I would be one of “those people”who talks about mental health and exercise, but I had noticed a difference in both my attitude and the way I felt when I started running again. I could notice a definite decline in my mood over the last two weeks.
So out I headed into a mildly chilly, sunny Sunday morning. I was a little nervous because earlier in the week my cousin sent me a picture she took at the end of our block. She was taking her daughter to school and happened upon a COYOTE wandering our neighborhood. We aren’t rural by any means, we are a suburb of Phoenix in fact. Apparently this fuzzy guy must’ve traveled quite a far distance either from one of the reservations that are north of where we are, or one of the many areas of desert out to our east. Regardless of where it came from, apparently it had quite the smorgasbord in our neighborhood.
Remember when I told you I currently reside in an area with acre properties? Remember the picture of the ostrich? Well apparently there are goats, chickens (we have chickens too), a cow, horses, goats and many other farm animals in our hood. On one of the streets where I do my turn around loop, the corner property has a rather large yard and they apparently had a bunch of baby goats (9 I think?). Now they only have 2 left. So sad. The coyote was actually spotted in several peoples yards. Why no one called animal control, I have no idea. It did worry me though so I made sure I had my pepper spray with me when I left. My uncle teased me and told me they would be more scared of me, but I wasn’t going to take any chances.
A little blurry but here was Wiley hanging out at the end of our block.
I didn’t see Wiley anywhere (whew!) but I did make a friend at the end of our block. I like to randomly name the animals I see on my adventures, so this little dude I named Shadow. (I later found out his name is actually Johnny Cash)
He was a gorgeous black cat with the brightest yellow eyes peeking out from behind a bush at the end of the block. He stared at me unblinking like he was daring me to get closer so he could run out and cross my path. As I neared him, out loud I said, ”Don’t even think about it dude. I don’t need anymore bad luck”. He must’ve liked the sound of my voice, or he knew I was a ”cat person” because he immediately gave a cheerful little ”meow” and came over to wind himself around my legs a few times. I think he was trying to tell me a story because he just kept up the chatter for a few minutes while I stopped to pet him.
My new friend Johnny Cash
I was a little worried because he started to follow me. It was so quiet in the neighborhood that I could hear the pitter patter of his little feet as he plodded after me. I got to the corner and stopped to do some dynamic stretches. I’ve read that dynamic stretches are supposed to be better pre-run than static stretches. Apparently I’ve been doing it wrong all of these years. No wonder I’m so injury prone! I have no idea what the hell I’m doing still after TEN years! So I was doing some leg swings and Shadow/Johnny Cash sat and stared at me like I was nuts (I probably looked nuts, standing at the corner and swinging my legs around).
After I stretched for a few minutes, I took off following the route I normally go when I run. I kept looking behind me and he followed me for a little while, my little shadow. I could see his little mouth opening and closing so I know he was probably still talking to me as I walked away, but I had my AirPods in so I couldn’t hear what he had to say. Thankfully he stopped following me because I was worried he’d get eaten by Wiley if he was still around. I have a feeling Johnny Cash can take care of himself though.
After that my walk was pretty uneventful. I saw some giant cacti in the side yard of someone’s yard. I didn’t know they could get that big. I almost felt like I was in Land of the Lost. Do you remember that show? The original, not the one with Will Ferrell. My brother and I used to watch it as kids. It wasn’t one of our favorites growing up, but it was just weird enough to catch our attention occasionally. I’m probably dating myself. They were reruns when we watched it. It was one of those ”there’s nothing else on so we may as well” kind of shows.
These were almost as tall as me!
I had both my AppleWatch and the Garmin on because I wanted to see how close they were as far as counting steps, time, calories burned, etc. I think they were pretty comparable. I started the AppleWatch a few seconds later because my fingers were so cold (I’m cold ALL the time lately) I couldn’t press the buttons to get to the workout screen to start the walk activity.
I’m kind of ridiculous I know. I love the aesthetic of the AppleWatch a lot better, I just need it to do more! This was the basic setting on the Garmin, I just wanted to see if they both recorded the same time. Plus why use the bells and whistles when I’m just walking? They were more or less the same in both time and milage. As I said, I fumbled around a bit before I could press the button on the AppleWatch to get my workout started so it’s a little off, but not by much.
I only walked 1.2 miles because I was afraid of overdoing it and stressing out my knees. I think it was just enough because they weren’t bothering me at all! It’s taken me a week to write this (busy, long stressful, unbelievably difficult week) so I rested (and I use the term loosely since I don’t sleep much these days) my knees again. I’ve already determined that I’m going to go for a run tomorrow instead of another walk. That gives me 3 weeks of rest/light activity. I’m not going to go all out like I have been. I’ll use a walk/run app I found just to pace myself and keep myself from overdoing it. I’m sure if I feel good I’ll have to physically restrain myself from going overboard! Here’s to sweet dreams (hopefully) and a great outcome tomorrow!
Runs Through Sprinklers 