June 28, 2014

Eight sweaty miles

Yesterday, I was hoping for a relaxing day, and I definitely got it. I didn't even have anything to write about, so I didn't post yesterday. After dinner, I only had about 3,000 steps for the day, and was really tempted to just forgo my 12,000 step goal and sit down with a glass of wine. I was feeling very "bingey" though, and I was afraid that I would eat everything in the house if I did that.

Instead, I made it a mission to get in all of my steps. First, I went outside and used a broom to get all the spiderwebs, cotton from the cottonwood trees, and fish flies off of the house. It actually took me about an hour. I was a mess when I was done, covered in cotton and grime, which was all pasted to the layer of sweat on my body (thanks to the awful humidity!).

I was dying to go inside, take a shower, throw on my pi's, and lounge in the air conditioning. But I hadn't accumulated many steps from cleaning the house, so I headed out for a long walk. I walked to my parents' house, and chatted with my mom and her neighbor for a little bit, then continued to walk the neighborhoods.


(I love that an Instagram filter will remove even the grossest of sweat and bug guts from my skin)

I arrived back at my house having just hit 10,000 steps. I was getting blisters from the shoes I was wearing, so I swapped them out and headed out for one more circle of my neighborhood. After four miles total, I had reached my 12,000 steps.

I couldn't get into the shower fast enough, and then I finally sat down in my pajamas with a glass of Cabernet. It tasted so much better knowing that I put it a ton of effort to get in my step goal for the day.


This morning, I had plans to get together with Stephanie for a long run. On her schedule was eight miles, and she said her pace has been around 11:00/mile, so I figured it would be a nice, relaxing run. Well, I'm sure it would have been, but when I got out to my car, I saw that the humidity made it do THIS:


You know the humidity is bad when even your car is sweating! I drove to the Metropark to meet Stephanie at 6:45. When she parked, I gave her a bottle of Chardonnay and a card that I had gotten her for after her marathon--I haven't seen her since, so I've been holding on to it all this time (and surprisingly I didn't drink it myself). She asked, "You ready?"

And that's when I realized I forgot my Garmin.

It was like all the birds and animals went silent. The waves of the lake stopped moving. The sticky breeze came to a halt. I forgot my Garmin. Is it even possible to run without a Garmin? Would my legs still move? What would happen if I couldn't glance down and see my pace? If you run without a Garmin, does it even count? What do you post to social media?! For the love of God, what was I thinking when I left the house?!!

Okay, enough with the dramatics ;)  Since I was running for fun, there was no need for a Garmin. And Stephanie had hers, so I could just use the info to plug in manually when I got home. No big deal. (But still, I felt so naked without it!)

We did an eight mile out-and-back, and I'm pretty sure I was completely soaked through with sweat by mile two. But it was nice having someone to chat with, and definitely made the time pass much faster than if I had run alone. We came across a couple of deer, who didn't seem at all scared of us. We got really close before they ran off the path and into the grass.


We took a 0.1-mile walk break after each mile after the turn-around, which helped a little. There were quite a few people out, mostly on bikes, but we saw a couple of other runners, too. There were a couple of older men on bikes that passed us, and they yelled, "There's ice cold beer waiting for you at the end!" Hahaha, I told him that I wish that were true. We finally made it back to the car--eight miles, run and done!


It was probably the most humid day we've had so far this year, but it was nice to run with a friend today!

8 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 28, 2014

    Hi Katie! You might have many more steps than the 12,000. You ran 8 miles this morning right? I don't know about you, but when I run it comes to 1900 - 2000 steps per mile. Or don't you add in your steps from running to your step total? In any case you certainly are determined...muscling through cotton and bugs and humidity...absolutely awesome and inspiring!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJune 28, 2014

      Oops! My mistake...you ran this morning and the 12,000 steps were yesterday. Feel free to delete all this...don't know how to do it myself!

      Delete
  2. Do you use a pedometer to track your steps? If so, what kind? I've been thinking of getting one but I want to make sure I don't get a cheap (quality) one that craps out on me in no time :-)

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  3. AnonymousJune 29, 2014

    Hey Jennifer, I have a Omron HJ-320. It works pretty well keeping count of my steps.

    Hi Katie, I did an easy 3 miles today and your 8 miles is going inspire me an 8 mile easy run next round. (Longest easy run for me was 6 miles). After some speed runs that is.

    BTW, I love your blog and it is an inspiration to me. I could not have done it without reading about your experiences. I want to say thank you- your writings have both been motivating and your honesty has been more supportive than all the programs that I have been on. Thank you!

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  4. Love the part where you talk about forgetting your GARMIN! Hilarious! The world stopped for an instant while you realized the gravity of the situation. I went out for my walk abut 1 yesterday. Our indoor/outdoor thermometer said it was 70. I started sweating immediately, when I got home, the thermometer read 76, but I think the humidity must have been about 150%. Like you, I was short of my goal steps for the day last night--I shoot for 6,000. I just went out and walked around the perimeter of our acreage and before I knew it, I hit 6,000. It was tempting to sit on my butt in front of the TV, however.

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  5. HAHA. I loved you comments about running without the Garmin. I feel SO lost if I have to run or bike without my gadgets. hehehe

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  6. Sometimes I don't even wear a watch when I run...

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  7. It's been humid here too, (KY) and I know how hard it is to run in it. Awesome job!! I have forgotten my Garmin a couple times, when that happens I just use Runkeeper on my phone. I don't like it as well, but at least it's better than nothing. There's not much better than ice cold beer after a run!

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