After walking through my last 2 scheduled runs to let my groin/inner thigh muscle issue calm down, I went for my first run today to test the waters. Success!!!! I decided to run out a mile and then turn back for a total of 2 miles. While I’m sure 3 or 4 miles would have been fine, I’m trying to be smart and make sure I don’t push it only to have a setback. I’ve got TOO MANY races the second half of the year and I don’t want to miss any of them. It was quite soupy out today. In just 22 minutes my entire running outfit was soaked!

I'm glistening!

I’m glistening!

The second part of my successful math equation: my new kicks!!! This was a potential crisis averted and I’m thrilled. Here’s the situation my parent’s went away on a week’s vacation: I have been wearing the Asics Cumulus 13s since training for my first marathon in 2011. LOVE THEM! The 14s came out and i HATED THEM! Total freakout. So I did what any normal crazy superstitious runner would do and found an online retailer that still had 2 pairs of the 13s in my size. Boom! I was all set for the next 6-9 months. Well, in the last week I noticed that my sneaker mileage was dangerously close to maxing out on BOTH pairs (TIP: I tend to rotate between two pairs. This is great for when one pair is wet from a rainy day or you’ve stepped in dog poo, gum etc and you have back to back running days. (I try to stay around 300-350 miles per pair. I keep a log on my phone in a note but I know they even have apps for this purpose.) By now I’ve made it clear that I can get obsessively stressed over the “small stuff”. To complicate things, they now have come out with the Cumulus 15s! Yesterday I decided to face my fears head on and walk up to the Asics store on my lunch hour (god bless the fact that I work in Manhattan just 5 blocks away from an Asics store). To my dismay the 15s were just as the 14s were. Not cushy enough for me. The guy helping me suggested the Nimbus 14s (the 15s are out but the 14s were cheaper and will still be around for a few months). I took a leap of faith and was pleasantly relieved to discover that they felt great! They actually felt like the Cumulus 13s did. So I made my purchase knowing i’d give them a few trial runs and if all was good i’d go home and order another pair or two.

Brand new Nimbus 14s

Brand new Nimbus 14s

So today was a good day. The sneakers felt perfect. The leg felt great. And I’m giving myself kudos for actually listenting to my body and giving my muscle a chance to feel better. <<pointing finger at you>> Now to all you readers please take my advice and do the same. Listen to your body. Sometimes it will say “Hey sexy.” But sometimes it will say “Ouchie. Give me a break please.”

Today I walked the same route that i did on Thursday and while I wasn’t trying to walk faster i ended up keeping a pace that was whole minute faster per mile!

watch

Maybe I wasn’t feeling my groin pain as much today and so I didn’t have that hesitation in my step like last time. Who knows? But it’s exciting nevertheless to have something to smile about when you’re not running. Oh and speaking of smile….what do you think about this pedestrian crossing sign? Runner or walker? =)

photo 2-1

runner or walker? #runnersthoughts

Even though I’ve been enjoying these walks, I am sure to advertise to the world that i’m a runner. And today was a win-win because i’ve never been able to wear this lovely white Brooklyn Half Marathon shirt running because I sweat too much and it would end up making me look like i’m ready to participate in a wet t-shirt contest.


runner-nessSo i plan to do this one more time on Tuesday and hopefully i’ll be back in business to run again by Friday where i’ll be in CALIFORNIA!!! Yep. It’s almost here. My first non-marathon related vacation in quite some time. But don’t worry, I’ll be running twice while out there. Once in San Francisco. And once in Pismo Beach. Woot Woot!

shoreline

 

Well I’m off to get some errands done. Hope you enjoy your weekend. I’ll leave you with this random duck who prefers the gravel parking lot over the water or the sand or the grass….

DUCK

Question? Do you feel the need to advertise you’re a runner? I do. I’ve got more magnets on the back of my car than is really necessary. And I love the rainy spring season so I can wear my NYC Marathon rain jacket =)

well no words of wisdom here today. as a matter of fact i’m feeling a little blah. I’ve got a very mild pain in my groin/inner thigh/adductor muscle area. Thought i’d skip my run and just do some light exercise at the gym today. Rowing machine wasn’t too bad but the computer part was broken so i have no idea how many minutes/calories burned etc I accomplished. I wasn’t huffing or puffing. Barely even “glistening”. Next up was the bike. Well after 13 minutes i had to stop. I could feel the twinge in the thigh muscle. So that’s all I have to say about that.

But here’s where the numbers game comes in to play. I’m not a superstitious person per se but I’ve been using locker #131 for the longest time because that’s my goal weight. HAHA! I was at 136 for a while so 131 was quite in reach. Needless to say 3 years later and i’m 10 pounds heavier. Locker #131 was taken today and I opted for #136. I guess that’s the universe’s way of saying I need to focus on getting back to where i was. 10 pounds seems more attainable to me than 15 anyway.

So there you have it folks. A completely useless post. (unless of course you have a silly numbers game or superstition that you’d like to share of course?=)