5K Zombie Run

The 5K Zombie Run was insanely fun. Like when I got home I immediately looked for another one to sign up for fun.

There weren’t nearly as many people there as I expected, maybe because it was the weekend before Christmas. Maybe because it was the day after the world was supposed to end so people wanted to spend their hard earned money on something they knew they’d actually get to enjoy. Either way it worked for us; there was no line to speak of for anything but still plenty of runners and zombies to make it fun!

This race was at the Little Everglade Ranch just like Pretty Muddy, but it was a completely different route. I love that place!

The race didn’t have a whole lot of obstacles, most of them where haystack mountains and over/unders. Oh yeah, and the zombies.

Basically when you see the zombies ahead everyone tried to get in a group and then sprint past them in different directions, theory being that they couldn’t get everyone. It was a whole lot like a grade school playground game of tag with different random groups of strangers on your team at any given time.

I made it about 2 thirds through before dying, I have to admit that’s further than I thought I’d get. These were not the slow zombies of the original Dawn of the Dead!

The best part of the race was the barn. I was already dead anyways but some of us recently infected were running decoy for the still living. A bunch of people were grouped together before the opening to the barn, you could see tons of zombies silhouetted in there and there was one in a suit crawling slowly towards everyone, dragging himself on his elbows. That guy jumped up so quick I didn’t even see him do it, he was just suddenly sprinting towards everyone, and all of the runners scattered through the barn in a panic, you would have thought we were really in a life threatening situation.

The other best part is that although my hip did start aching it didn’t start for quite a while and didn’t get too bad. I think the trick is going to be to stop running on concrete and maybe try trail running, the concrete seems to kill my hip in just a few steps.

Oh, and the other other best part was the zombie truck.  I wanted to be a zombie just so I could go for a ride on the truck!

Running Backwards

So, I did the barefoot run, and it did not go so well. My hip started hurting just a few steps in. Not near as bad as it was before, but still extremely discouraging and depressing. I finished the run anyways, it wasn’t very far.

The barefoot part was great! I like the feeling of the road under my feet and I think it probably does help with form. I’m definitely going to give it another try, but I guess I’ll have to wait a while more for this thing to heal. Not to be negative but this is really getting old…

Time to try barefoot?

I can finally start running again in two days, Saturday.  Considering the sad fact that the longest I've ever run was 3.5 miles and really just 3 miles on my long runs about killed me I figure I'm pretty much starting from scratch again.  Which I'm actually OK with, that just means that every step is an improvement over today. And it means I can try something new without worrying about backtracking.

I've been reading lots about getting started running barefoot, and just like ever other subject the information out there varies from several web sites content being word for word the same (I always wonder where on earth the original content comes from when this happens) to totally contradicting information.

A lot of sites recommend starting with just 200 feet per run the first week.  That sounded great until I looked it up and found there are 5280 feet in a mile.  So they are saying I can run down the driveway and be done?  I understand that you are supposed to start easy but geez, I'd like to actually start.

So I pulled up Mapmyrun.com to see just how far 200 feet is, and just how far a quarter mile is since that's what I intend to start off with, and I want to see what the difference is.  It doesn't show feet so I still insist I'd be done with 200 feet before I left my yard.  But it does show a quarter of a mile is about to my parents house, which is about that far up my street. 

So there you go, I have my first goal.  A quarter mile barefoot run Saturday, and if I feel great I'll do it again on Sunday.  I have my Fila minimal shoes I'll have to wear on weeknights I run, I'm not home when it's light out on weekdays (thank you, daylight savings time) and I'm not risking stepping on a snake/frog/giant beetle/whatever in the dark.

I think this will be great fun.  I go everywhere I can barefoot now, and if I have to wear shoes it's pretty much always sandals so the only worry I have is my stupid hip.  Oh and the fact that my sister says I'll get worms if I run outside barefoot, my coworker says my knees will be useless within 5 years, and my mom just thinks it's gross.

Lucky I'm used to it, if people I know started telling me now that my super-great ideas are super-great  at this point I'd be very suspicious.  When will they learn???

Off the Wagon... Again

It seems I took the Dr.'s order to take if easy for two weeks perhaps a bit too seriously.  I have done NOTHING so far but eat crap.  No running, no walking the mutt (she pulls so hard it was bothering my hip to walk her), no stairs at work.  I watched the entire first season of American Horror Story and have an awesome place in Minecraft though, so that's something. 

I got a bunch of stuff done around the house this week, so it wasn't as much of a total wash as it feels like.  But I can't believe how easy it becomes to do nothing that is good for you.  I haven't even done yoga until yesterday; I used to do yoga daily. That's a habit I'm getting back into starting yesterday!  Yoga is every bit as good for you as running both physically and mentally, but in a completely different way.  The two complement each other perfectly.

Time to get back to 20 minutes of yoga on work days and 40-60 on days off. Goodness knows I need something to help keep me zen, I don't stay that way naturally! 

I have today and tomorrow off to see Eddie Vedder both nights (yay!) which gives me plenty of time to start my week off right.  So I'm off to do an hour of yoga, make myself a green smoothie, and plan and plot how to keep myself motivated for more than 10 minutes at a time...

Foodie Pen Pal Reveal November

This is the first time I participated in Lindsay's Foodie Pen Pals.  I had fun looking for locally made items and even found some things I'm going to have to buy to try myself.

My package was sent by Shanon in Detroit.  Thanks Shanon!

She included a jar of Velvet Peanut Butter and a jar of Sander's Hot Fudge so of course I  went straight out to buy a gallon of vanilla ice cream and we spooned a bit of peanut butter and fudge over the ice cream to try it.  My kids thought it was funny that I put peanut butter on their ice cream but we all agreed it was an awesome combination! 

She also sent an assortment of Faygo soda which is was bottled in Detroit.  I haven't tried them yet  but will!  I rarely buy soda so my kids are kind of drooling over it, I'm not sure I'm going to get any of that.

For December Lindsay is doing something a little bit different, instead of arranging for everyone to send and receive food packages she's asking that her group of pen pals send the money they would have used for the food boxes to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy.  Her goal is to raise $1500, if you are interested in helping out please go to her site to read about it and sign up!

A running injury WHILE NOT RUNNING?

So it seems that I got my very first real, had-to-go-to-the-dr running injury. I should be very proud of myself considering I have long had the goal of pushing myself to run so hard that I puke. Never actually did that,. but came close. It just sounds so kick-ass die hard! Maybe someday......
The problem is it didn’t actually happen when I was running. I still felt great and normal the next morning after a long run when I got up. It was after my daily hour and a half drive to work that it hit. I got out of the car and bam- it just started hurting and I limped for 3 or 4 days before it settled into an almost ignorable constant pain.

Anyways, according to the Dr I sprained my something indefinable. Whatever it is right where your leg bends at the body. I don't think it has a name. Whatever it is it has caused me not to run since my last post except for 1 pathetic and painful not quite half a mile run which convinced me to take the last couple weeks off, even though I hadn't run for a week before the Pretty Muddy 5k either. Unfortunately that had little to no effect on it, it still hurt just walking.

So off to the doc I went. He gave me 10 days of anti-inflammatories and said not to run/jump/skip/etc. for another two weeks. Really? I think I already gained 4 pounds. While it is kind of cool to get a prescription to be lazy I think I better start some upper-body something to make up for it. Why didn’t I try harder to learn to walk on my hands???

The up side? I think maybe I was actually becoming a real runner, because I actually miss it and can’t wait for my 2 weeks to be up. Hopefully I won’t be over it by then. Granted, it wasn’t a gee, I didn’t run today thing but more of a gee, I haven’t run this month thing, but it is a start.

Plus, all this down time made me learn to play Minecraft, thanks to my younger son’s tutoring. Video game addicted much? Why yes. The bad thing is that stupid Minecraft is just like real life, I keep getting lost. But in the game I can’t call my uncle for directions so I have lost 3 or 4 houses now. Which isn’t as bad as it sounds since every once in a while I run into them again and get a nice little virtual-homecoming.

Not my typical weekend!

Last weekend was definitely not my typical weekend. I was invited to a friend’s 40th birthday but skipped it – to go to dinner with the Pretty Muddy blogging crew. Me, skip a whole lot of drinking with friends to meet a bunch of strangers after work? Not likely, but I did.

We met first at Little Everglade Ranch to get a sneak peak of the Pretty Muddy course. We jumped in the back of a pickup (we were invited up front, but where is the adventure in that?) and were driven around the 1st 2 miles of the course. It was really fun to get to see everything before the crowds and to have an idea of what we were facing the next day.

Why didn’t we go the full 3.1 miles? Because driving around the over-unders the truck got stuck in the mud. I cannot even think of a more appropriate end to a mud run tour than that. So in the best tradition of horror movies everywhere, just as it was starting to get dark all the women decided it was a good idea to just walk back. Was I REALLY the only one there that knew that is how EVERY scary movie starts?? But not only did we make it back we were able to hitch a ride back in a tiny work truck which was a (bumpy) fun ride in itself.

After that we met at Kafe Kokopelli in Dade City for dinner. The restaurant is a neat place to visit; the staff was beyond friendly and attentive. I got a quesadilla and it was good, but then how do you mess up a quasadilla?  I heard no complaints from anyone about the food and the apple cider was good! What was even better was the company; I had a great time listening to everyone’s stories of their blogs and their adventures in running.  I think I was the only one at the table that hadn’t run half a dozen marathons. (feeling wimpy…)

Saturday morning was Pretty Muddy. I've run a couple others with my boyfriend, son, and other friends but going on my own was pretty intimidating. No pun intended. Much.

Even as I was parking my car my typical surge of this-is-outside-my-comfort-zone confidence was showing itself. Why am I here? Do I really think it’s going to be any fun at all doing this alone? It’s not like I’m going to be able to do all the obstacles and I’ll probably be walking across the finish line last person of the day… 

Turns out I met someone at the starting line that I ran the whole race with (sorry Jessica for talking pretty much the ENTIRE time). I had an absolute blast, all of the obstacles were very do-able, and I was able to run most of the race. I am SO glad I decided to stay and run!

This is why I like to run. This is why an all women’s race like Pretty Muddy is a great idea for women who would love to try something new but just aren’t sure. Since I started running I’ve met people I wouldn’t have otherwise met, and done lots of things I wouldn’t otherwise have done. My only competition is myself, yet somehow I keep finding myself jumping headfirst out of my comfort zone and into (or in some cases over) the fire.

The funniest thing about mud runs?  I hate beer but you always get a ticket for a free beer after the run, and it is always the best drink EVER.  I thought maybe I was turning and tried a beer or two elsewhere.  But no, beer is strictly a running thing for me. I can live with that!