all my unwritten posts
Yes, I do realize that it has been a long time since I last posted. I’ve written like 5 different posts in my head, but every time I tried to sit down and get my words out something would distract me. Sometimes it was work, sometimes it was play. Such is life for an off schedule summer-time teacher. I doubt that I will return to any kind of schedule until August. Until then, I’ll just have to be happy with the time that I get to post.
Here are the remnants of posts that I’ve started and not finished over the past week or so…
All That Yummy Food
I got to spend this weekend with my running sole mate Andi. She’s getting settled in her new (gorgeous) apartment that just happens to be a mere 3 hour drive from my front door! Our original goal was to explore her new city and find some great places for her to hang out. We weren’t sure how to approach the vast un-know city, but then we got hungry. She had a hankering for sushi and I wanted to enjoy some frozen yogurt. And so a plan was hatched: we’d drive north, get some cheap (vegetarian) sushi from Whole Foods, check out Red Mango, on our way to downtown where we were going to get some fruit sushi from a trendy sushi place. The whole evening was a success!
Procrastination Pays Off
I was supposed to run my 6 miler (longest since the marathon) on Sunday. I left Andi’s because I knew that it would be at least 10 degrees cooler back at my house. To this end I headed home mid-morning. The drive was nothing spectacular. I did get to see some pretty spectacular lightening and the heavy rain slowed me down some. When I finally got home I sat around. Then I sat some more. Yes, I am a procrastinator. Its my least favorite part of myself. Anytime I’m sitting when I know I should be doing something I get so frustrated. Not enough to get me to do anything about it…
I ended up waiting until Monday to run my miles. You know what? Monday was glorious! The sun was out but it wasn’t hot. I got to run on my favorite route. There was a light breeze. Everything was clicking. The whole time I was running I was thinking “Man, I’m glad I didn’t go running yesterday!” This is probably not the best for curing me of my procrastination…
Treadmill, how I Love Thee!
As a marathoner, I know that I’m supposed to loathe the treadmill and in all honesty I often have turned up my nose at the hamster-wheel like machine. I might, might, be having a slight change of heart. The husband and I are staying with my parents for the next two weeks and they happen to have a treadmill. I hopped on it the other day to go for my 5 mile “recovery” run. My main problem with recovery runs is that they are supposed to be at a slower pace and I can’t ever seem to hit my target. I get so addicted to looking at Gigi (my garmin). I look and slow down. Look. Slow down. And so it goes. But with the treadmill, I just set the pace and go. Also, with a built-in fan pointed at my face and another fan directly in front of the treadmill I was set. The temperature outside? 87 degrees. Inside? 72. PLUS…I was able to do some laundry, answer the phone, and spend time with my grandma. All while getting my mileage in. I’m totally SOLD.
Now, don’t get your nike tempo’s in a bunch…I’m not going to abandon the out-of-doors. I can’t anyway, I don’t have access to a treadmill at my house. But, while I’m here and while it’s smoldering hot, I’m going to enjoy this little machine. I may even try bare-foot running a time or two…who knows…
The Runner’s Fuel
I am not good at meal planning. That is my new half-year’s resolution. I have some time on my hands this summer (not much, but some) and I want to use it to fine tune healthy balanced nutrition. First off, my husband and I are both vegetarians. Add to that several food aversions that Mr. Dawn suffers from…and that limits our diet significantly. One of the biggest mis-perceptions about vegetarians is that we are inherently healthy eaters. This is NOT the case. I have a severe sweet tooth. We both LOVE pizza. And chips is probably the biggest sin of them all.
I want to get informed and then transform our eating. About this time last year we talked about eating healthier and we did make a lot of changes. We added in more fruits and veggies, cut out all “bad” carbs and replaced them with whole grains. But I want to learn more about the nutritional benefits of food and what our bodies need so that we can be sure that we’re getting the vitamins and sustenance necessary. In three weeks I start back into my marathon training regimen and I want to go into this cycle prepared to fuel my running.
