Wednesday, May 13, 2009

All's well that ends well

Things have been really hectic lately and I am behind on blog followup. But I am slowly catching up...I am only about 200 posts behind now.

The hob hunt is inching along, taking it's own merry time as job hunts tend to do, and sometimes it's easier to wallow in darkness than to imagine light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday, I had one of those days, where you wish you could bury yourself in a hole and never surface again. At the end of the day, I could feel a headache creeping up as I reluctantly pulled myself out of my hole and drove to the gym, planning to get an energetic BodyWorks class in. 2 miles from the gym, I was pulled over by a cop for running a red light. After explaining to him politely (oh, who am I kidding...I was batting my eyelids) that the light was yellow when I crossed it, he waved me away with a 'verbal warning'. Last thing I need right now is a traffic ticket!

Relieved, I reached the gym. With 5 minutes to go, I was changing out of work clothes and into workout clothes, when I noticed that the clothes I pulled out of my gym bag were smeared in random places with vaseline. My gym bag also doubles as Race bag, and I had thrown in a tub of vaseline 2 weeks ago, before the half marathon. Just perfect! I was tempted to just leave, take myself back home, lay on the couch and nurse my growing headache with a comforting cup of cardamom tea. But, we runners are made of sterner stuff. What would you running moms think about abandoning a workout for something as insignificant as a headache and a sticky sports bra? So, I slaved on, wiping, cleaning and rinsing the gooey mess off my clothes, reminding myself that things could always be worse. Thanks to the miraculous invention of moisture-wicking clothes, I was in the class a few minutes later, damp but quickly drying off.

The class was bursting at the seams, but my abs, hips, shoulders, hamstrings and quads got a solid workout. And DH had that cup of tea waiting when I finally got home, so it all ended well.

Monday: 5 miles + spinning

Tuesday: 4 miles + BodyWorks

Wednesday: 4 miles (hills) - Due to lack of proper coordination on my part, I missed my hill running buddy Glenn, and had to tackle the hills alone today. This time, I was ambitious. I picked the steep hill I had found a few weeks ago. This was no gentle, forgiving hill, no beginner hill. It was a busy local road with a narrow shoulder and no sidewalk. I did have my reflective vest (not that it did much good in broad daylight, but you can't be too cautious) and was prepared to dive into a bush if a car came too close (oh, did I mention...I had a choice between a narrow shoulder and a 10 foot gradual drop with bushes (that would break my fall) on one side of the road, and a very narrow to non-existent shoulder on the other side). I parked at the top of the hill and took off, facing traffic as I ran downhill. But it was nerve-wracking to hear cars speed by just inches away from me. Thankfully, no tree hugging was required. I reached the bottom of the 1.2-mile hill safe and sound.

Running uphill, I felt like all the running I have ever done so far was of no use and I had to relearn how to run again. I was breathing so hard I felt I was regurgitating my heart into my mouth. I adopted the Jeff Galloway method, with a 1:3 run-walk ratio. Three-fourths of the way up the hill, I decided to take a detour...one of the quieter (and flatter) side roads. Much better! By this time, my throat was getting prickly...I chalked it down to automobile fumes, though I could have been imagining it. There was no way I was going down and up the vicious hill again. So, I completed 1.6 miles on side roads, somehow managed to crawl up the remaining one-fourth of the hill and headed to my car, dusty, exhausted, and wondering how the hell you hill-runners do it!

16 comments:

Lindsay said...

keep on tackling those hills - they'll get a little "easier" ...sorta :) way to work that cop over! glad you didn't get a ticket. hope a break comes soon in the job hunt, but keep up the good workouts in the meantime.

joyRuN said...

Wonderful job not letting anything get in your way! Fortunately I only have a short bridge that I can do my hill work on - I don't think I'd be able to really do anything longer.

Anonymous said...

Way to not let anything stop you from getting in a good workout! Very sweet of your husband to have tea waiting.

Hope all goes well with the job hunt.

Abby said...

Way to push through, sticky sports bra and all!

It always seems to end well when there's a run (or a Bodyworks class) involved, doesn't it?

Marlene said...

Hill workouts are hard enough without doing the on what sounds like Suicide Road!

Awesome job sticking it out at the gym, too, even with everything working against you!

Mica said...

Wow, good job tackling that hill. It sounds like a "doozie"!

Aileen said...

That's dedication lady! I'm glad you remained car-free. And way to get out of the ticket...you have cop skillz ;)

Amy said...

Yeeeaah talking your way out of a ticket...nice! ;)

I'm glad you toughed it out. I would've been tempted too if I had to work out in a Vaseline bra. But then you got a good workout in, so it all worked out! :) :)

Cindy said...

one of these days i'm going to have to suck it up and do a real hill workout. for now i'm counting my little bunny slopes as good. good job!

Mel-2nd Chances said...

how long was that hill! Awesome work! :)

Felice Devine said...

Way to go! The hills honestly will get easier. Maybe the cars won't get any less scarier, but the hills will become your friends!

As for the wallowing, I say do it. Sometimes you just need to. When I left/lost my job 2.5 years ago it took me a long time to figure out which end was up. But, it turned out to be the best thing for me. I hope your job loss turns out that way, too!

teacherwoman said...

Way to push through, chica! nice work!

HeatherC said...

seriouslyyy - ugh, running on treadmills means avoiding hills entirely! And....also means I'm a little worried for the "one mile HILL" thats supposedly part of the race this Sunday. ha, um, should be interesting.

way to get in some good workouts!

Beth said...

You are getting all kinds of workouts in. Good for you! Glad a little Vaseline didn't get in your way.

Anonymous said...

That's a hard-core workout! Road-side runs can be dangerous. Good thing you had your reflective vest.

There is nothing wrong with batting your eyelids after having being pulled over for crashing a yellow light ;-)

J said...

Great job getting to the gym and still working out! Glad you didn't get a ticket from the cop! That was a close one!

Some days the hills can be tougher than others! keep working at it!