ummmmm

first song on the shuffle: "everybody" sister hazel

so, uh, yeah. that was one of the most awful experiences ever. let's just say i was outside for about 70 minutes, but i definitely didn't make it 7 miles. i'm praying i made it at least 5. it's hard to say though. between the heat, my calves cramping up and...did i mention the heat...i decided it was best to just stop running after 50 minutes. i figure the loss from being short 2 miles for the week is far less than the loss from fucking up my body because i pushed too hard.

tomorrow: rest day
weekly mileage: 16 miles
tuesday: 3 miles

3 miles

first song on the shuffle: "on bended knee" boyz II men

despite the painfully sappy slow song starting it all off, i had a great run today. i was supposed to go 3 last night, but i was hungry and tired. i'm glad i went this morning instead because i think i was in the right mind-set to do it.

tomorrow: 7 miles (yay step-back!)

5 miles

first song on the shuffle: "sick of myself" matthew sweet

so, i spent the first half of my run asking myself questions i unfortunately couldn't find answers to...

however, i spent the second half of my run asking myself one and only one question: why, dear god, did i eat that massive burrito for lunch?

the answer: because i have no willpower when it comes to food.

no more chipotle on kinda-long-run-wednesdays.

tomorrow: 3 miles

3 miles

first song on the shuffle: "now that we found love" heavy d and the boyz

pukey.

tomorrow: 5 miles

10 miles

after missing my thursday run, getting really drunk instead and having one of the top 5 worst hangovers of my life, i quite possibly had one of the top 5 runs of my life today.

i think we were averaging around 9:35-9:40 pace per mile, and i felt awesome. one of our pace leaders wasn't there so i got to help lead, and it was a lot of fun. i even got to lead the hill group, which was pretty neat.

oh, and i'd like to point out that this 10 mile training run was a good 2 minutes faster than my soldier field 10 mile race. just thought that was interesting.

i went to breakfast with a couple of the pace leaders, and they told me not to do the 3 i missed on thursday tomorrow and just to stick with the plan to cross train. i'll trust them.

note to self: tri-berry gu is tasty. chocolate powerbar gel is not.

tomorrow: cross training
weekly mileage: 18 miles
monday: rest day

5 miles

first song on the shuffle: "on the sea" vertical horizon

well, that sucked just about as badly as i thought it would. i was really beat today and never got the bug to run...clearly that negative thinking didn't help because i felt like hell the entire time. of course, me being me, i decided it might be a good idea to throw in a 1 mile pickup about 3 miles into the run. i'm an idiot.

tomorrow: 3 miles in the a.m.

3 miles

first song on the shuffle: "breathe and stop" q-tip

felt ok today. again, the first half of the run was kind of rough, but the second half was fine. i'm not sure what that's all about, but whatever. i'd rather feel good at the end anyway.

met up with kb and jc right after i was done. went to taco bell for dinner after we checked out kb's new apartment in wrigleyville. kb says i should enter an eating contest as she watched me inhale a chicken soft taco. i'm not sure i could enter one of those professional ones like nathan's hot dog eating contest, but i bet i could go around hustling people at bars and such.

"i bet you a 100 bucks i can eat the entire left side of the menu in under 20 minutes..."

yeah, i know. dead sexy.

tomorrow: 5 miles

9 miles

you know you've woken up too early when you turn on the tv and the first thing you see is a commercial for one of those "call me if you're lonely" phone lines.

damn, today's run (err, i guess technically yesterday's since it's 3:05 a.m.) hurt pretty badly -- 1) because i had nothing in my system; 2) because it was hot and humid (even at 5:25 a.m.); and 3) because i was about 20 seconds faster than my planned pace per mile.

luckily, i didn't feel too badly during work. just a little tired. however, i somehow thought going out afterwards with jc would work...and it might have had we not ended up at the worst club in chicago. if i have to spend one more night like that, i'm throwing in the towel and becoming a nun.

it just occurred to me that i was only an hour and a half away from waking up this time yesterday. kinda funny...kinda not. time for bed.

today: considering skipping the cross training.
weekly mileage: 19 miles

3 miles

first song on the shuffle: "welcome to atlanta (remix)" jd featuring a whole slew of people i can't think of right now

that sucked. a lot. that's all i have to say about that.

tomorrow: rest day

4 miles

first song on the shuffle: "heart of the matter" india arie

first mile was pretty shitty today. my right hip was bothering me, and i just felt kind of sluggish. luckily, it went away, and i felt great for the last three.

i've got tons of work stuff tomorrow so it looks like i'll be doing a morning run. i can't wait till this week is over.

tomorrow: 3 miles

3 miles

first song on the shuffle: "can we talk" tevin campbell (yeah, shut up)

so, i know i am always finding new levels of sweatiness. well, today was a new record. it was so bad that when i stopped outside of my building to stretch my calves, the sweat dripping off my face soaked the right side of my shorts. i know, i know. it's such a wonder how i'm still single.

on a less disgusting note, i felt great today. i guess last week's step back really was a good thing.

tomorrow: 4 miles

5 miles

i'd like to tell you a little story.

i met a lot of great people in my first job out of college. one in particular was my boy cs. he was a little bit country...i was a little bit hip hop. we were an extremely odd mix, especially since we worked in politics...on opposite sides of the aisle. anyway, cs, like me, was not a morning person. at about 10 a.m. one day, a guy in his office just bursts out laughing. turns out, cs had put on two different dress shoes - one brown and one black. within minutes, the entire statehouse had caught wind of his mistake, and the mockery flowed like a fine wine. he took it like a champ because that's the kind of guy he is. i got in a few jabs because, well, that's the kind of gal i am.

well, friends, karma is a bitch. i woke up this morning at 5:20 a.m. and was in a cab by 5:40. i got to the group run site and was stretching and chatting with a few of the other runners. i bent down to stretch my hammy and low and behold...i had two different running shoes on - on the left foot, i had my newer brooks; on my right i had my retired mizunos. i looked up and said, "oh god, look at my feet." everyone laughed. one guy said he probably would've thought i was just starting a new trend.

the scariest part about it is that the shoes are completely different in terms of function and age. the brooks are neutral and the mizunos are stability; the brooks are just a few weeks old, the mizunos had about 4 months of running on them.

and i couldn't freaking tell the difference.

let the mockery begin...

tomorrow: cross training
weekly mileage: 15 miles

3 miles

ran with niketown today. it actually worked out pretty well because i was working until 6 anyway. it was gorgeous outside. however, when it's gorgeous outside, that means the path is a mess. seriously, if i hurt myself from dodging random wanderers who don't pay attention to where they're walking/biking, i'm going to take someone out tonya harding style.

tomorrow: rest day
saturday: 5 miles

4 miles

first song on the shuffle: "i'm still here" vertical horizon

holy crap, i felt great today. i have no idea what it was...maybe the fried chicken, fries and biscuit for lunch? maybe the mid-afternoon gatorade? maybe the late afternoon shoulder rub? maybe the perfect mix of sun and breeze?

it's hard to say what exactly made the run great...so why ask why?

tomorrow: 3 miles

awesomely disgusting

so this has nothing to do with running, but i just had to comment on a "sport" that calls for endurance, speed, mental and physical strength and a very lazy gag reflex...

for the past few years, i have watched the annual nathan's hot dog eating contest on the 4th of july.

these crazy people have 12 minutes to eat as many hot dogs and buns as they can.

this year, reigning champ takeru kobayashi broke his own record with 53 3/4 hot dogs and buns and won the coveted mustard belt. that's right...the mustard belt. his previous record was 53 1/2. mind you, this guy is 160 pounds.

the chotchkies clan was so amused by this little guy and his "kobayashi quiver" that we held our own eating contests. i think we should have another one in celebration of a new hot dog eating world record.

i love a man who can eat his weight in processed meat. hott.

3 miles

first song on the shuffle: "karma" alicia keys

happy 4th of july! it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. there was a really nice breeze, but i still managed to get really sweaty.

the path was a freakin' zoo today, but i guess that's what i get for waiting until noon to run. however, the endless amount of people did provide for a lot of entertainment. i almost ran over a few people on bikes (don't ask me how), and i watched a little boy almost get run over by a bike...it was insane.

tomorrow: 4 miles

7 miles - 7/1/06

there's a reason i ran track and cross country in high school...and that reason became very clear on saturday at my sister's 4th of july party.

i suck at anything that requires any skills other than putting one foot in front of the other...and that includes horseshoes.

yeah, that's right, i said horseshoes.

after feeling pretty great from another fun long run with the cara marathon training program that morning, i quickly lost that high a few hours later as i (along with my poor, unsuspecting partner) were getting embarrassingly killed in a game of horseshoes. i'm pretty sure we forfeited after 20 minutes and a score of 9-0.

yeah, i think i'll stick with putting one foot in front of the other.

weekly mileage: 16 miles
tomorrow: 3 miles