Positive temperatures, negative attitudes

It took me til about an hour ago to finally stop making excuses and go run this weekend. I went to the dentist, had lunch yesterday with my family, had dim sum today with the extended family, went grocery shopping, watched Sunday morning cartoons for a bit, I even played piano for the first time in years -- and for more than one sonata -- at my parents house yesterday afternoon so I wouldn't have to come home and put on my running shoes, despite the positive temperatures all weekend. I'm funny that way. All told, this plus 4C temps wasn't bad and in fact, probably somewhat ideal, come Race Day. Just 5K today, but given my mental struggles to get out the door this weekend, I'll take it.

For extra motivation, I wore my Chicago Marathon souvenir pullover today as I dragged my feet around my neighborhood. The pullover just reminds me that I can train myself to go this distance, and that so much of running is really a mental issue for me.  And Chicago always reminds me of the deep dish pizza that Yumke and Frankie and I inhaled after that race. Also Yumke has signed me up for a "recovery" run for the weekend after the Around the Bay. That's what friends are for.

Running with Glee

I wanted to stay in bed this morning. But last night I convinced myself that I need to start getting used to running outside again. A treadmill will only take me so far, but if I'm running a race in March, I'm going to have to face the elements. As I was laying in bed last night, all I could hear was the howling wind and I wanted to cry a little. I also thought about how I should run with people because people keep people honest with friendly competition and I know me, I can just as easily talk myself into not leaving the house. So my plan was to go down to the Beach and join the Sunday Running Room clinic. Only CMan wasn't yet home from work when I woke up and I was clearly not going to make this clinic. Already dressed though, I decided I'd have to do this alone after all around the neighborhood.

The streets were empty. No one was walking their dog, going to brunch, or even driving anywhere. It was -10C, but felt like -21C with the wind. Snow was blowing off roofs and smacking me in the face. Very strong winds made me feel like I was running in the same spot and I kept thinking to myself, WHY, OH WHY?

But the Glee soundtrack has been inspiring all my running lately, and this one was no different. I stepped out of the house to "Walking on Sunshine" and ended with "Don't Stop Believing". Five kilometres is a good start to the year, I say. Once I reach the 10K I think I will start believing.

Two bad decisions to end 2009

Not entirely sure what drove me to do any of the following yesterday, but it's done and 2010 starts with me feeling actually somewhat good about running again. Since my last post about the buddy system, I've convinced myself to run increasingly longer amounts, by five or 10 minutes each session. Slow, but steady. Average pace of about 5 miles per hour with walking breaks. I pushed myself to run a full hour the other day after a particularly harrowing work day. To top it off, I have finally hung the plaque commemorating the Chicago marathon. It only took three years.

So this is exactly what I emailed to Frankie yesterday after my "two bad decisions":

1. am confirmed for the 30K race

2. i tweeted about it

I'm just now trying to see what the fuss is about this Twitter thing. Still not on FaceBook though:

kyngca

last bad decision of '09, decade: just signed up for 30K around the bay race. oh, peer pressure! the other bad decision: signing up for thisabout 21 hours ago from web

Guess I'll be seeing my cousin, Yumke, and Frankie around the bay in just under three months. Brrrrr. Someone please have hot chocolate at the finish line. Or bring a spatula to scrape me off the sidewalk for the moment that reality hits me in my frozen face that 30K is frakin far.