Give back to the track, Jack!

[By Merry]

The Nike World Campus in Oregon

Want to make yourself feel good? Sure you do.
Got any old running shoes that you really should get rid of? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Okay, here's the deal. You can recycle your old shoes.

Reuse-A-Shoe is a program sponsored by Nike. Worn-out athletic shoes of any brand are collectedand recycled into material used in sports surfaces like basketball courts, tennis courts, athletic fields, running tracks and playgrounds for young people around the world.

Not just any shoes

For some reason, they wouldn't accept these...

They have to be athletic shoes. Specifically, they will recycle:

• Athletic shoes only (any brand)
• No shoes containing metal
• No cleats or dress shoes
• No wet or damp shoes

Sounds great! Where do I drop them off?

They've put together a website of places to drop off old shoes in the U.S. And another for places to drop off old shoes in Europe or Australia. Sadly, they need to realize how great Canadians are at recycling. At least Nike's trying. I'll give them credit for that.

Just don't try to donate used gym clothes

Is this something that everyone who's anyone has known about for years? Are you all sitting back and yawning, thinking to yourself "That Merry! She really needs to get out more -- everybody knows about this!" If so, are there any other really cool recycling programs I should know about? I know you can recycle old cell phones by donating them to women's shelters and places like that. Any others that I've missed?

Rules of the Road Runner

[By Merry]

Sometimes only the cyclist has the right

Rules of the road from the driver's P.O.V.

Rule #1 - Merry's vehicle has the right of way at all times. (This rule, for some reason, has not yet been universally adopted. But I am hopeful.)
Rule #2 - Bicycles, joggers, and inline skaters should just get out of the way right now, thankyouverymuch. (Not my personal rule, but one I've observed many times.)
Rule #3 - When you're not sure if there's room to pass the cyclist/jogger/skater, rather than slow down and wait until it's safe to pass, go past them very, very, very quickly. (That rule always bugs me. If you're not sure it's safe, you want to pass quickly so that you'll be far down the road when the ambulance comes?)

Rules of the road from the cyclist's P.O.V.
Rule #1 - Merry's bicycle has the right of way at all times. Except when a driver is on a cell phone. Or when the rules of the road give someone else the right of way.
Rule #2 - When another cyclist starts to pass you, be sure to speed up until the impudent upstart has learned their place and drops back behind you.
Rule #3 - If you get a flat tire, stand by the side of the road and look helpless. Some man will stop and change the flat for you. (This rule is generally applicable to the female of the species. Luckily, there are a lot more men on bicycles in the middle-of-nowhere, 'cause most women would tell me to fix it myself.)

Rules of the road from the runner's P.O.V.
Rule #1 - Don't snigger too loudly when passing Merry on the jogging trail
Rule #2 - If someone starts to pass you, be sure to speed up until the impudent upstart has learned their place and drops back behind you. If you feel like your heart is going to leap out of your body, stop to make sure your shoe laces aren't untied. Catch your breath while waiting for the upstart to go around the curve up ahead.
Rule #3 -
um...
.... wait a minute,

Oh all right, I know I need to put up a third R of the R. It's not my fault.

I got distracted.

By:
Graph Jams: pop culture for people in cubicles


And by:
Daily jigsaw puzzle

And by:
An online self-designed kaleidoscope (Dangerous. Easy to get sucked into wasting time with this.)

I know it's not Friday yet. The plain fact is that my brain still thinks it's the weekend. Does anyone have any idea what the third Rule of the Road for Runners is? Please leave a comment if I left out any others, too.

On the bright side, Crabby's blogging tomorrow, and she's got some good stuff lined up.

What type of runner are you?

[By Merry]

HammockTime

Since it’s the day before the Friday before a holiday weekend (at least it is in my neck of the woods), we thought this would be the perfect time to throw out a quiz. (Because right now we don’t have an attention span long enough to scour the medical journals for the latest fitness news and stuff like that.)

Not sure how you fit into the world of running fitness? Take this handy quiz and become even more confused find out!

(And if you're not a runner? 90% of the quiz is equally applicable to people who walk, bicycle, kick boxes, etc. Besides, you've been working hard! You need a break. Tell your boss I said it was okay.)

Do you:
a) Run whenever you can fit it into the schedule, whatever
b) Run last thing at night because you promised you’d run today and the day’s not ended until midnight, damn it
c) Run first thing in the morning to make sure you don’t miss it
d)Run first thing in the morning because you can’t stand the thought of going more than 8 hours without giving those pearl izumis a workout

Would you rather have:
a) a hammock and a lifetime supply of beer
b) an all-expense-paid week at a luxurious spa
c) a new pair of running shoes that fit you like a dream
d) a run where you pass the fastest runners in the world

Your approach to tracking your progress is to:
a) plan to plan a running schedule, but never actually get around to doing it
b) reward yourself for each goal met
c) track your mileage to see how much you’ve improved
d) note down each time you beat your own personal record

If a fairy godmother were to grant you one wish, would you choose:
a) to be incredibly popular
b) to be extremely fit
c) to be able to run without ever getting hurt
d) to get better the older you get
e) just kidding – there is no e) answer. Pick one of the four above. Sorry.

If your house were on fire, what would you do?
a) Grab the significant other, the kids, the dog, and the dog’s pet goldfish
b) You’ve done enough fire drills with the family so that everyone knows what to do, which means you have time to grab your PDA
c) Grab the significant other, the kids, the dog, the dog’s pet goldfish, and your iPod
d) Hey, the s.o. will grab the kids, and the dog can carry the goldfish bowl – you should make sure about your new pearl izumis!


Score:
Count up the number of a, b, c, and d answers.

Types of runners:


If you responded with mostly a) answers, then your type of runner is:
Syndee Sloth
You're about as interested in being a runner as Britney Spears is in being an underwear model. You’ve perfectly happy with putting off running as much as possible, and catching up on your television watching instead. If everybody else is running, then yeah, you’ll run too. Or jog, anyway. Half-heartedly. Have you ever considered taking up bowling instead? Life’s too short to do something you’re really not into.


If you responded with mostly b) answers, then your type of runner is:
Dan Dogged
You aren’t so much disciplined as you are stubborn. You like the way you feel after a run, even if you don’t enjoy the running itself. If there were a way to get fit and feel good without running, you’d take it. But until you find another way, you’re going to stay fit by gritting your teeth and pounding the pavement.


If you responded with mostly c) answers, then your type of runner is:
Rhoda Runner
You run for the love of running, but you’re not interested in competition. You’re in it for the long haul, are lean but not mean, and will keep running until your knees give out.


If you responded with mostly d) answers, then your type of runner is:
Jack Rabbit
You are an eager beager, can’t wait to run. Can’t bother with jogging, you go for the thrill, go for the kill, you are the epitome of a Pearl Izumi ad runner.

How did you do? I must confess I'm hanging my head in shame ... move over Syndee...

The Annual Cranky Fitness Exercise Review

[By Merry]

It's spring, people are starting to think less about shoveling snow and more about exercising for fun. It's time for the first annual exercise review.

Not sure which exercise is for you? The experts at Cranky Fitness have reviewed some of the most popular forms of exercise. But their answers were boring and informative, so I gave them the boot and did the review myself.

Swimming
Pro: Good for people who have joint problems.
Con: People will see you wearing a bathing suit.
Tip: When purchasing swim goggles, find a pair that comes with thick black frames and a false nose, so no one will recognize you.

Did you spot the one person in this flickr photo NOT wearing the glasses?

Kick boxing
Pro: Supposed to get you into shape quickly.
Con: Requires good shoes and a box.
Tip: Before you kick the box, make sure it has not been filled with books, big heavy rocks, or nitroglycerin.

Outdoor bicycling
Pro: Good for people who have weight-bearing issues.
Con: Lack of front and side airbags is a real drawback.
Tip: Wearing a helmet is very, very smart.

See? Wearing a helmet makes people happy.

Indoor (stationary) bicycling
Pro: You don’t have to worry about cars.
Con: You do have to worry about going insane from boredom, plus the stationary bicycle design was lifted from an old idea first developed by the Spanish Inquisition.
Tip: Wearing a helmet will scare people off, so you won’t have to bother with making conversation.

Walking
Pro: So easy, even a toddler can do it!
Con: There are a lot of toddlers out there; you might trip over one. Watch out.
Tip: If walking is too non-strenuous, try race-walking. You get more exercise, plus you will provide innocent merriment for passersby.


Running
Pro: Great aerobic conditioning.
Con: Who cares? You’re puffing like a steam engine and some little old lady in a walker is passing you!
Tip: If new to running, make sure to avoid running near nursing homes, day care centers, and other places where being passed would prove especially humiliating.

They both look ready to kick my butt...

It doesn’t matter which form of exercise you choose so long as you keep moving. You know that. I know that. I know you know that… I’d better stop before I get even more confused. All this terrific* advice notwithstanding**, what is your favorite form of exercise?

(Um... that you can talk about in public.)

* Oh, humor me, would ya?

** I try to throw in the occasional polysyllabic word in a post; I like to think it adds a bit of class and culture to the blog, and maybe even impresses Crabby.

Losing Your "Cool"

[By Crabby]

I suppose I shouldn't admit this, but one of my favorite things about exercising (and there aren't that many) is the "coolness" factor.

Sure, we're supposed to just do it for our health and our sense of accomplishment or whatever. Because we're all far too secure and self-confident and evolved to care what other people think of us.

But for me, feeling cool and smug is one of the best parts of getting exercise! I know there must be others like me too, aren't there? We imagine that our sedentary friends who find out we go to the gym at 6am, or even complete strangers in cars who see us running uphill in pouring rain are thinking: wow, I could never make myself do that! (Instead they are more likely thinking "what a crazy freak," but that's irrelevant. We know we're cool).

(How Crabby Imagines Herself When She Exercises)

Imagined Coolness is part of what makes those intervals and sore muscles and early wake-up times worth it. Look at me! I'm exercising! Isn't that awesome! Don't I rock?

(Closer to How Crabby Actually Comes Across)

When Even Imagined Coolness is Impossible

Unfortunately, some exercise situations are NOT conducive to even an imagined sense of coolness. I'm sure everyone has their own list. Are there ever times when you feel particularly self-conscious about your workout?

I'd love to hear what your own personal Un-favorites are. In the meantime, here are mine:


Top Six Ways to Feel Uncool Exercising

1. Do Stupid-Looking Stretches Outside of a Class.

If you're in an actual yoga or other fitness class, with an instructor and a bunch of other helpless victims students, you can practically bend over and stick your head up your ass (if you are flexible) without feeling stupid. Because the instructor told you to stick your head up your ass, and so you're supposed to, and everyone else is doing it too!

However, what happens when you are not in class but instead are out on your own in the tiny stretching area in the corner of the gym? And all around you are burly weight lifters and snotty type-A executives on treadmills who have not themselves ever been to stick-your-head-up-your-ass class? Do you still go right ahead and do it?

One of my least least favorite stretches for public consumption is, I think, called the Cat Stretch. You get on all fours and curl your back up towards the ceiling (not too bad), but then you do the opposite and drop your stomach towards the floor and stick your rear end way up in the air like an animal in heat. Unfortunately, it is the second part of this stretch, the butt-in-the-breeze part, that I most need to do to loosen up my tight lower back muscles.

My other least favorite is the iliotibial band stretch, in which you cross your legs and do a side stretch. I look like a six year old child who desperately needs to pee. But if I don't cross my legs, I don't get much of a hip stretch.

See, Even Cute People Look a Bit Silly Doing This
(Photo: Dr. Pribut, provider of handy Sports Medicine tips).

Sometimes I close my eyes when I do these stretches so no one can see me.

2. Go Race Walking

I've written about race walking before, (twice) so I won't belabor it.

Let's just say I saw finally saw someone else besides me race-walking a few weeks ago. And my immediate gut-level uncensored reaction was: "what an asshole!" The guy was doing it much more gracefully than I ever do, too. But there seems to be no way to race-walk without looking simultaneously prissy and deranged, unless maybe you're doing it in an official race with a number on your chest.

3. Try New Things at the Gym

It's supposed to be good to try new things, right? And it's no problem if you have a personal trainer to introduce appropriate new exercises and show you how to do them.

But what if you're too cheap to hire one and prefer to read about new exercises on the internet that sound cool but you have no clue how to do them in real life?

I have too many examples of this to list them all... but here's one: not long ago I read a very persuasive article about the amazing benefits of running backwards on the treadmill.

It's, um... somewhat harder than it sounds.

4. Exercise Out of Context

You're standing on a platform waiting for a train or whatever. There are lots of people around, but plenty of space still available. You realize you could be making efficient use of this wasted time by doing the stretching you forgot to do for the last three days, or, if you're particularly willing to look like a jerk, knocking out some jumping jacks or push-ups.

Do you?

There are stealth moves, like pretending to tie your shoes to stretch out your hamstrings, but if you do it without bending your knees you still look kinda funny.

If you have a co-conspirator, I've discovered, you feel less doofy exercising out of context, but it's surprisingly hard to do alone, even if it's a perfectly logical thing to do.

5. Make Peculiar Clothing Choices

Hey, 10776-- Orange hat with a red shirt? Don't think so!

(Photo by Marganz)

Sometimes these fashion violations are not intentional. Ever realize that all your running clothes are in the laundry and too toxic for the "shake-it-out and pretend it's clean enough" recovery method?

Do you skip your workout? Or do you do it anyway, wearing something tattered and sweat-stained, or originally intended as a gag gift, or belonging to another person who may be a child or your 83 year old mother-in-law or someone 10 inches taller than you?

Note: it does not help you look like less of a weirdo to announce loudly to no one in particular that you don't normally dress like this.

6. Karaoke Syndrome

The only way to truly make aerobic exercise enjoyable, in my opinion, is to do it to the pounding beat of music on an mp3 player. I do NOT sing along when people are around (though I may sometimes be forced to mouth the lyrics silently to myself if the beat is too good).

But sometimes I find myself alone first thing in the morning, and the street or the trail or the track or whatever is deserted, and I think... what the hell.

How liberating to sing along with the rockin' beat! It makes aerobic exercise almost fun! Wheeee!

And so what if you're middle-aged, can't carry a tune, and will sing along to just about anything on your playlist? It's fun!

"You and me baby we ain't nothing but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel..."

"Can't you hear the music pumpin' hard like I wish you would?
Now push it, push it reeeeeal good..."

Why is it that the more inappropriate the lyrics are, the more likely someone is to come bounding around a blind curve or pass you sneakily from behind?

Nothing like discovering your off-color warbling has been audible.


Does anyone else ever feel hopelessly Uncool during your workout?

Morning Run

This guest post was written by Fury Gekijou--she describes herself as an "ex-patriot, barely-reformed couch-potato living and working in Japan who occasionally loses her mind in the quest for fitness." You can read about her 3-month misadventure training for her first triathlon at Tri Tri Birdie.


It's morning, a beautiful, mild spring morning and I am getting dressed for my run.

I put on my Technical Top. A bra. A technical bra. No kidding. The last time I considered a bra technical was back in my teens when I first started wearing one – a contraption made of elastic, fabric, hooks, wires, et cetera. My “technical” sports bra doesn’t even have any moving parts (unless you count me), but it’s made of this fabulous material that I am certain justifies its ridiculous cost. It’s sleek and black. It was designed by a team of engineers in Japan. It cost a lot of money. I’m not large-breasted by any means, so I am sure any regular, non-technical sports bra would do. Heck, I could probably do the support thing old-skool, with three ace-bandages wrapped around my chest., but the ad for technical bra was so enticing and the website was so cool and...

On go the running tights. Not just any old tights mind you, but Technical Tights. They’re black, kind of shiny, hydrophobic, breathe, stretch, have reflectors, zippers, natty grey flat seaming which make my stubby, chubby legs look long and lean and these tights' instructions claim they have “memory.” I don’t want anything that has been on my butt to “remember” anything! Regardless of how advanced the tights are, they still slide down, so during my run I go: RunrunrunrunrunrunYANKhoprunrunrunrunrunYANKhop.

I put on running socks, also considered “technical” clothing. The socks are made of a material that wicks. Socks don’t have wicking, candles do...but they are the “official sock” of some running team and they're black. Not shiny, but they are black.

Shoes next. My shoes are shiny, too, but not black. I don't like black sneakers. So mine are silver and yellow. The shoes have so many features that they came with an instruction booklet, written in five different languages. I lost the instruction book, so I don’t remember any of the features. I do remember that they lace in some weird way that I had to look at the left shoe (pre-laced thank goodness) to figure out how to lace the right. The shoes have treads and bubbles and gussets and grommets and look very advanced. But they still wear out at an alarming rate. So I bought three more pairs. Why? I can’t wear more than a pair at once. It’s good to have two pairs to alternate and distribute mileage across...but the third pair? I was just in a gear frenzy and got greedy.

I put on my “technical/performance” sunglasses, but the 110-dollar glasses really don’t make me perform any better. In some small way the purchase of my glasses probably made some Visa Credit Card shareholder’s portfolio perform a little better, but my running didn’t improve. I think they make me look cooler but I will confess that sometimes I think my technical/performance shades don’t work any better than the perfectly functional cheapo pair from Dick’s that they replaced. Note: If you sit on expensive technical sunglasses, they go “crunch” just the same as the cheapo ones.

I put the headphones of an MP3 player over my head and into my ears. The player itself is tiny and light – a vast improvement over the big, clunky cassette Walkman I used to use. The player fits in the palm of my hand – or even more conveniently, in my “technical top” sports bra. Sometimes the earphones rub me the wrong way and make the inside of my ears sore. They can make a player that weighs less than three ounces, but they can’t make earbuds that fit comfortably in my ears.

Continuing on with the gear parade, I strap a heart-rate monitor around my chest and put the receiver on my wrist. It looks like a watch, but in addition to telling me the time, the receiver tells me my heart rate (which always spikes when I put the transmitter on because the contacts are always COLD even when I dampen them using warm water). It also tells me how many calories were burned and the date.

I neglected to get a heart rate monitor that has a stopwatch function or does splits, so on the OTHER wrist there’s a stopwatch. It’s a pretty basic one, but I paid extra for the black finish because...well, because it looked more technical. If I’m not careful, the stopwatch, heart monitor and MP3 player all cause interference with each other. In a computerized twist on the old Groucho Marx joke, I thought I was dead the other day because there was no reading on the heart rate monitor.

I put a pedometer on my waist to track how far I run. It occasionally falls off, which means I have to pick it up. This involves stopping. Stopping makes my heart rate drop a little and causes the alarm on the receiver to beep, letting me know that I am not performing at optimal aerobic level. The beeping usually startles me, so that I forget to pause the stopwatch and that in turn messes up my time and/or my splits and then I can’t figure out how long it took me to run the mile before the pedometer fell off. Oh, and sometimes the shock of the impact resets the pedometer. Grrrr. I'm saving up for a GPS unit that will do everything: heart rate, mileage, splits, locations, my tax return, but I have to wait till I recover from the cost of having to replace the expensive technical sunglasses I sat on.

The electronic devices are all battery-powered. The batteries wear out. But never all at once, so I am constantly changing batteries. I’ll be pleased to tell you that I can change batteries in two devices AT ONCE, in the 4:30am darkness and still keep a 10 minute per mile pace (believe me 10 minute mile is an absolutely blistering, technical-tights-melting pace for me). This is an essential life skill we’re talking about here.

All geared up, I head for the door, ready to go out and run. My husband (ensconced on the sofa) notices me and looks, well, frightened. I guess it’s justified, with my looking very much like a Borg what with all the wires and gadgets and black Lycra.

"I’m going for a run," I snarl.

"You don’t seem very happy to be going for a run. You know, when you first started, you were always so happy to go for a run, even when you couldn’t go very far... but now I think you aren’t as happy, and I think..." He pauses and looks at me. "You had less stuff..."

Ever watch kids run around? They go quickly or slowly but they laugh and they smile. They are un-selfconcious, not caring how fast they go or what they are wearing. They're naturals. You can tell that for them, it just feels good to run. It was like that for me when I began, even though I could barely make it to the end of the driveway. It felt so good to go, to run for another minute than the day I did before, to go just a little bit further. In the first few months, it felt especially good to stop. I felt the camaraderie of other runners out in the heat, the rain, the snow, the wind. It felt just as good to run alone. I did all this with very little equipment, just the basics – enough to keep me comfortable and safe from injury. As I added mileage, I added stuff. I’m not sure why. "Just Buy It" syndrome, I guess. I’m sure I’m not the only person guilty of this. The big tragedy isn’t the waste of money but the wasting of what is for me the joy of running; the pleasure of moving for moving’s sake. The electronics sometimes distract me from that.

I take off the player. I take off the glasses, the monitor, the receiver, the stopwatch, and the pedometer. I’m not a competitive runner; I run for fitness, for enjoyment, for the pleasure of being in my body, for the sheer joy of just moving. I don’t need detailed reports on my runs; I just need to know I did my best. My mind, body and soul can tell me that, with no electronics at all.

Have a good workout. =)

Exercising on the road: A typical Crabby day

[By Merry]

Well, Crabby wasn't sure how she was going to manage staying fit while on the road, so out of pure helpfulness I've drawn up a little schedule. I visualized how a typical day on the road would go for the Crab and the Lobster, while they try to balance road trip with fitness stuff.

6:00 a.m. Get up out of bed, start the coffee brewing. While waiting for a cup, go outside and jog around the Wal-Mart parking lot several times. (Note: might want to get a faster coffee maker. Just saying.)

10:00 a.m. Stop at a roadside rest stop to stretch your legs. While you’re at it, throw in some squats and do some jumping jacks as well.

10:05 a.m. Explain to the nice policeman that you’re from California, and people do things like that there. Really, nothing to worry about, officer, we’ve only been drinking coffee.

12:00 noon. Have a picnic lunch by some scenic spot, by a river or in a park or something like that. Eat healthy food that you’ve picked up at the last health food store you stopped at. Try not to remember how long ago that was. Expiration dates are only suggestions, aren't they?

2:00 p.m. Try cat-lifting in the back of the van, while the Lobster pretends she doesn’t see what you’re doing. Stop after a few minutes, since a) there’s not enough room and b)there's a limit to the number of band-aids in the first-aid kit.

4:00 p.m. Stretch your legs. Just stretching, that’s safe.

6:00 p.m. Stop at a local fast food restaurant and inquire if they have bean sprouts and tofu on the menu. Explain that you’re from California.

10:00 p.m. Find a handy Wal-Mart to park in for the night. Jog around the parking lot. Explain to the nice security guard that you’re not running away, you’re running around. Decide to stick to running in the morning, when the security people are less awake vigilant.

Okay, so it's just barely possible that Crabby might want to seek a second opinion on how to combine traveling with exercise. Anyone have any better suggestions? I know they're camping in the van, so hotel gyms are out. And I don't think they arranged their schedule to include guest passes at gyms on the route, but there have to be other options for exercising on the road. Crabby said she would check in if she had a chance, so I'm sure she'd be glad for any ideas you have.

p.s. Yes, I know this is a silly post. But last night I posted a guest post, written by Karly, that's serious and discusses important issues. (I didn't want you to think that I was letting the blog get too frivolous in Crabby's absence.)

The worst brings out the best in us

[By Merry]
The good news is, the worst is over.

No, I'm not talking about Madonna's fashion sense. A psychologist from Cardiff University says January 24 was the Worst Day of the Year, when people were the most miserable. He even has a formula to prove it: 1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA.
W: Weather
D: Debt
d: Money due in January pay
T: Time since Christmas
Q: Time since failed quit attempt
M: General motivational levels
NA: The need to take action

Anything with that many variables makes me suspicious (okay, and confused). There are so many factors, I don't see how you can predict their interaction with any degree of reliability, no matter how many diplomas you have.

I think this study was memorable because humans like imagining the worst. It tends to bring out the best in us. In Oregon, they celebrate bad weather by hosting the Worst Day of the Year Ride. This bicycle ride has gotten so popular that they had to cap the number of people who signed up.

Another example is the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, whose members swim every Sunday from October to April. In New York. Sounds insane to me, but they're all smiling in the picture.

Is the human race schizophrenic or what? One the one hand here's a large part of the population huddled by the heater whining about how lousy it is outside, and then there are these fanatics really enthused people deliberately going out into the coldest, most miserable weather -- and enjoying themselves! They positively embrace the fact that it's awful, instead of whining about it as any normal red-blooded human would do.

I envy them even while feeling irritated. I mean, they make the rest of us look bad. I think the most annoying part is -- well, you know how you felt when you got up crack o'dawn to go exercise or do something virtuous like that? You remember how good you felt afterwards, maybe even a little smug about the people who didn't get off their tuckuses and work out first thing? That's how I imagine these people feel. I don't want people feeling smug around me; it makes me feel inadequate.

Probably there's no way to stop feeling this way except to join the Dark Side myself, i.e. go out in the worst weather to exercise. I'm curious: does anyone know if there are more of these extreme weather workouts around? Do people like them because it's a chance to exercise outdoors and experience the excitement of a race with other people despite the inclement weather?

Or maybe it's just that we're attracted to the bizarre. There's one marathon, the Moonwalk, that takes place in Scotland, among other locations. It begins at midnight, and everyone participating wears a pink bra. (Presumably a pink sports bra, but you never know.) I like the idea of making exercise fun, but I don't know if I'm ready for that one yet. Because it's a marathon, yeah, that's the reason.

Besides, Madonna will probably be there. She's already got the perfect outfit.

True Confessions

So yesterday we were talking about New Years Resolutions and whether people were keeping them or not. And I explained that like many of you, I hadn't made any official resolutions, but I'd already announced earlier I was going to do a couple of things.

• I was going to get more serious and structured about interval training; and
• I was going to stop trashing my knees by running.

So today, I'm going to try to explain justify rationalize make up some weasely lame-ass excuses as to why I'm Zero for Two on those.

Yes, like one of those wholesome house-wifey drug abusers straight out of a made-for-tv-movie, I've been keeping up appearances but sneaking out the back door to get high. I may say "exercise" or "workout," but for the last month or two that's included running, and it feels wonderful, so much better than dork-walking! And yeah, my knees do hurt a bit more sometimes (but not THAT MUCH, okay?).

Is this some sudden magical change in the physiology of my middle-aged knees? Maybe that fish oil and glucosamine are finally kicking in, even though I've been taking them for years? Or is this is yet another short-term experiment that will only end badly?

Any sensible person knows the answer to that question--but someone who desperately craves running endorphins is not a sensible person.

Why no doctor visit? Well, the reason is boring--it involves our moving, and filling out insurance applications again, and my wanting to look like I never actually visit a the doctors office. But I swear I'll go once I'm set up again. It's not like I'm doctor-avoidant or anything...

In the meantime, I've discovered icing.

Not the fun kind of icing, like on cupcakes. I discovered that kind of icing quite a long time ago. No, I mean the kind where you wrap something freezing cold around your injured joints after you abuse them. And (this may be wishful thinking, but...) icing helps! I'm pretty darn sure that my knees are not nearly as crotchety after a run as they used to be.

I started with the low-tech version of a Cold Pack:



And yeah, I know you're supposed to use peas or carrots or something more pliable, but we didn't have any of those.

(By the way, Frozen Asparagus? Works way better as an ice pack than as a side dish. Some vegetables just should never ever be frozen and asparagus, it turns out, is one of them.)

Anyway, now I have an Official Expensive cold pack instead, which is good, because the asparagus bag finally split open and was dripping foul asparagus ice-water all over everything.

So enough about the running and the asparagus. What happened to the intervals?

Well, I still do them, because I do think they're really good for you. But I bailed on the whole "structured" part, which worked better on a treadmill. It was too creepy going all-out on a treadmill and hoping I didn't trip and fly off the back and slam into a wall and kill myself. (Paranoid? Who me?)

So I'm back to doing un-timed, unofficial intervals when I run--and these tend to coincide with hills or really great songs on the ipod. I think I'm pushing myself further and harder with these intervals than I did on the treadmill, but in all honesty, I'm probably not doing as quite as many of them.

Whatever. Close enough.

So of course there's two ways to frame this. "Bailing on my resolutions..." or, the much better sounding "Being Flexible!"

And thanks everyone for checking in about your own progress yesterday. Since this is sort of a continuation of yesterday's post, it doesn't leave a whole hell of a lot to stuff to comment on. So feel free to say hi or not or weigh in something totally unrelated that made you happy or cranky or amused you today.

On a personal note, I'll be in and out today, as the Lobster and I are going to be visiting a notary and signing a stack of documents about two feet high, then wiring what seems a rather whopping sum of money cross country. If all goes well, by close of business we'll be the official owners of a place in Provincetown, Massachusetts!

We plan to visit it next week, start getting it fixed up, and put our California house on the market as soon as we can after we get back. (We'll also be in DC again, as the Lobster has some Business to Attend to and I get to come along for the ride). So if I'm a little lax in blog visits etc these days, I promise I'll get much better once things calm down a bit. ('Cause I'm obviously so good at keeping promises).

Location, Location, Location

[Written by Mary, who also blogs over at Sheesh]

No, this is not a post about house hunting. I'll spare you that.

I'm trying to determine how much of a difference location makes when you're running.

For the last few weeks, I've been slowly immersing myself into the running schedule of the Beginning Runner's Handbook. I started out extra slowly, repeating the first couple of weeks, because I wasn't sure how the knees would feel about this idea. But it hasn't been so bad. The first run was awful, but the others have been ... well, I'm not saying I LIKED it, but it was okay. Until a few days ago, which just plain sucked.

So this seems like the place to ask this question Do you ever have days when the running just plain stinks? Should I chalk this one up to part-of-the-experience? Or should I look to see if I was doing something wrong?

One thing that changed this time was the location. I was running on Thanksgiving day, and the (good sized) park where I normally run was packed (i.e. there were about 6 or 7 people playing with their children, dogs, and frisbees). So I went to run in the forest, where it was dark and the terrain was uneven, but I figured I wouldn't have people looking at me huffing/puffing/glowing red. Even there, I met people: a young couple being chased by a small black cat. (Probably a story there, but I ran past them with a polite nod.) So I went across the busy street to an area of empty-lots-and-deserted-office-blocks. It was sunny there, but the wind brought the temperature below freezing. And I was miserable. Could hardly force myself to run ... jog... move... faster than a snail on tranquilizers. It was horrible.

Does where you run make a big difference? Or wind chill? Shouldn't you still be getting an endorphin rush regardless? I'm trying to figure out if I did something wrong (didn't warm up enough? too much beer-and-bacon before the run?)