Still Here. Still Cold.

Hello!

What a week, huh?

Snow, freezing rain, negative teen temperatures, and the Patriots' victory parade (which I only realized was happening when I took Iris for a walk and was like "Why are there so many drunk people???"*). Am I still running?

Yes!

Of course!

In fact, I am like some gym vagrant, scurrying from one treadmill to the next, looking for my next fix. This week I tried out the very beautiful, ladies-only Healthworks, which has the added bonus of being exactly .5 miles from my house (which means I count the walk there and back as part of my run**).

Aside from the snow, Dave and my schedules have been nutso, so I did Wednesday's run on Tuesday and took Wednesday off, and then I did Thursday's run later in the day. I was supposed to get my last run of the week in this morning, but when I woke up at 6:15, I rolled over and told Dave that under no circumstances was he allowed to get me out of bed.***

So, I'm doing it. Sometimes I want to weep while I'm doing it, but I'm doing it.

The nice thing about the treadmills at Healthworks (aside from the decided lack of sweaty man grunts), is that they rigged the TVs to show videos of various hikes and pleasant walks, so you can almost imagine instead of being stuck inside in freezing, gray Boston, you're actually strolling along the Mediterranean or picking flowers in a meadow. Because my latest book is a Western, I chose the trails of the American Southwest:

You can sorta see it, but that guy in the shorts walking right in front was there for pretty much the entire movie. I hoped he would provide some sort of Rick Steves'-like narration, but when I plugged in my headphones: muzak.

I have one more run this afternoon and then I have to figure out what I'll be doing about this week's long run, since 15 miles on a treadmill sounds like the definition of miserable (also, I've run out of free trials) and there promises to be more snow this weekend. Or...oh...right now. It literally started snowing right as I typed those words. :(

"Don't worry about it," Dave told me, when I complained about the treadmills and snow. "I can't remember ever training on the treadmill when I was getting ready for the marathon."

"So how did you run in the snow?" I asked.

"Hmm... I can't remember. I don't think I did."

"So you're saying when it snowed, you just didn't train."

"Yeah, I guess not."

[I whimper]

"But hey! I still managed to finish the marathon!"

He has a point.

~~~~~~~

Thank you to my very generous donors this week! My in-laws, Mark and Anne; my cousins, Nora and Doug; and my grandma Florence (who at 93 could probably run the marathon just fine, as long they let her use steroids****). Thanks to their amazing generosity, I am a THIRD of the way to my goal!



*Real conversation that I had:
Drunk Guy: Uhhhh, hey. Do you know where the Prudential building is?
Me: *turns around, points at the gigantic building right behind us that says PRUDENTIAL at the top* Right...there?
Drunk Guy: So I keep walking this way?
Me: Yes. Walking in that direction will get you there.

**It's three degrees outside. Cut me some slack.

***This turned out to be a good decision, because the baby, in true rock-star fashion, slept until NINE AM. NINE AM! The greatest gift a child can give her parent...

****She would want you to know that steroids are fantastic and make her knees feel awesome and everyone should be using them. Sound advice, Nan.

SNOOOOOOOOOOW

Oh look.

Snow.

For the past eight hours, the world outside my window has looked like a deleted scene from The Grey. Didn't we do this blizzard nonsense last week? Yesterday afternoon, the streets were clear and I was looking forward to getting back outside to run when I woke up to Boston's best imitation of an arctic tundra. It is crazy. There is much snow.

I actually don't have any running stats today, because last weekend's long run got sort of disrupted by our ski trip. How was it? I'll let the baby answer:

It was great! We took the kid cross-country skiing, strapped to Dave's chest, and with the fresh powder and sunny skies, we all had a great time. Iris was the cutest little skier out there (no offense, Dave), and we could barely go more than a few feet before someone would stop us to check her out (she did look pretty cute).

Bretton Woods was beautiful and lovely and snowy and wonderful and we had a fantastic time and immediately started looking up vacation properties.

But, when we got back to Boston, we thought we had left the snow behind. So imagine our surprise at today's weather (Dave went to work in snow pants...). We just managed to pick up Abby from puppy vacation before the snow emergency, and she, at least, doesn't seem too phased by the snow:

This was after she stuck her whole face in a snowbank and inhaled like she was breathing in life itself.

Sadly, not all of us come equipped with built-in fur coats, so I'll be keeping this week's runs indoors, hopefully to a gym that doesn't charge me Iris's college fund to run in place for an hour. (does such a place exist??) Back to treadmills!

Down With Treadmills

Thursday Run
Distance: 7 miles
Time: liiiiiike...an hour aaaand...fifteeeeeeen minutes?
Pace: Oh crap, I have no idea
Most Challenging Moment: TREADMILL
Most Inspiring Moment: Good book!

Friday Run
Distance: 3.5 miles
Time: something like 35ish minutes
Pace: yeah no
Most Challenging Moment: no time!
Most Inspiring Moment: No more treadmills (maybe)


With the snow still on the ground, I'm still at the gym, and it's as terrible as ever.

Are there people who actually have to train for marathons at gyms? Like, is that even possible? (Google says: yes) Shudder to think.

I went back to the gym Thursday night for my 7-miler, feeling...unenthused... Not only was I running at the end of a long day (due to schedules, babies, puppies, etc etc), but since I could barely make it through Wednesday's 4-miler, almost double that distance had me feeling very :(

This time, though, I came prepared with a full bottle of water and a copy of The Magicians on my Nook.

How is it? Okay! So far. I think Quentin has a little Holden Caulfield thing going for him (not a compliment) and I'm struggling to see why this isn't technically YA, even with the drugs, sex, language, but sure, it distracted me from my run, and that's all I could ask for.

During my longer run I discovered that the treadmill shuts off after an hour (embarrassing) and guys apparently really like to grunt while they run. I'd be trotting along when the dude next to me would just let out a HNNNGGGDDDDHHH!!!! and then the guy on the other side would go UUUUNNNNNGGGGTTTTT!!!! I asked Dave about it later, but he had no explanation. Guys.

I also got blisters! Blisters! After all these weeks! Unpleasant.

When I left the gym, I looked at the clock and realized I was going to have to be back there in 12 hours, and I felt a crushing sadness that nearly brought me to my knees right in the middle of Boston Sports Club.

Maybe that was the reason why I slept in this morning and had to run to the gym (ironic). I was so late that I didn't even get my full workout in and met Dave and the baby in the lobby so Dave could rush off to work. And I'm still exhausted! Stupid treadmill!

I would love to say that I'm done with gyms and treadmills and back out in the wild elements for this weekend's long run (14 miles), but Dave and I are actually heading out skiing this weekend, and who knows what that means for the run. Do I skip it? Do I substitute skiing for running (a 1-to-1 calorie ratio!)? Or do I, ugh, try to run 14 miles on the hotel treadmill?

Who knows! Tune in next week for the answer, and in the meantime, look at my kid being adorable:

Oh, Hey, It's Snowing

Distance: 4..ish miles
Time: 40...something... minutes
Pace: sometimes 13:20 min/mil, sometimes 10:00 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: I hate treadmills
Most Inspiring Moment: Not cold?

You may have heard that there was snow in Boston and your first thought was probably, "How will Kendall get her runs in this week?" This is correct, because this is what the sidewalk outside my house looks like:

So, I'm not one that scares easy when it comes to snow. I've lived in Boston for 5 years, Chicago for 3, grew up in New Jersey--snow doesn't really bother me. But when I go to Star Market and this is what the checkout lines look like...

...I pay attention. That right there is a shopping cart full of several cases of water. That's some next-level apocalypse stuff. I saw a girl on the floor, her whole upper body stretched into a shelf, searching for the last of the packets of ramen. God help you if you wanted a box of spaghetti. (did you know Boston is a college town?) At one point, while waiting in line, a toddler let out a wail of exhaustion and desperation and the woman standing behind me looked at him longingly.

"Don't you wish it was okay to start crying like that in public?" she asked. The despair was palpable.

But! We made it home and waited out the storm (some of us better than others)

and when I woke up today to a fresh three inches on top of the 23 we got yesterday, I suspected that perhaps I would not be making it outside for my run.

So, I went to the gym.

Dave works out at the Boston Sports Club in the Prudential Center, and I've long known about their 1-week free trial memberships. I've been waiting until the weather got truly horrendous to use it, and this was the lucky week!

Oh lord I hate treadmills. Here's a tip: if you want to run with a giant TV one foot from your face, no airflow, and something beeping at you incessantly, you may enjoy running on a treadmill. I was always one of those people in gyms who went on the elliptical and idly flipped through US Weekly, so I wasn't looking forward to getting in 4 miles on the treadmill, but iiiiittttt waaaaaasssss hooooorrrrriibllleeeeee.

First I couldn't figure out how to get it to start and then it wouldn't stop beeping at me because it wanted my heart rate and then it refused to go any faster than 13:20 min/mil which was not going to cut it because I needed to get this exercise done in 40 minutes or I'd be late for Dave.

Also, that stupid timer is the worst. My tactic when it comes to running is to run out half the distance I need to go and then turn around and run the other half, so that on the way back, when I want to stop, I can tell myself that the faster I run, the sooner I'll be done. This does not work on a treadmill. It's too easy to stop! I would run for what felt like twenty minutes and then look down and be like "FOUR?! FOUR MINUTES?!? WHEN DO I GET TO LEEEEEEAVE?!?"

Here is when I realized I hated life and this gym and everyone in this gym:

As you can (sort of) see, the distance says 1.96 miles. For those of you paying attention, you'll know that that's less than half of what I'm supposed to run. It was unpleasant.

But just when I was ready to call it quits, I turned on Iris's Disney mix on Spotify, and what should begin to play?

Go the Distance, man.

And I did it. I hated it the whole time, but I did it. And tomorrow I have to go back and do seven miles. When I walked home, I passed armies of guys with snow shovels working on the sidewalks and I wanted to give them a hug. Shovel faster.

I'm not the only one anxious to get back outside. I caught Abby cuddling with my post-workout clothes. Someone misses running...

Sloppy Swish

Distance: 9 miles
Time: 1:45:28
Pace: 11:43 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: I fall on my butt. This turns out to be a Bad Thing
Most Inspiring Moment: That post-run shower...

Yesterday, I forgot to post this picture I took of a flock of white geese hanging out by the Charles:

I've never seen white geese in Boston before, which is why I was like "Imma take a picture of this."

Turns out those geese knew something, because this is what it looks like outside today:

It's snowing! And guess who likes snow!

With all the snow, I knew today was going to be a mess, so I figured why not throw the pup onto the mix? Her trainer turned me on to Musher's Secret, this crazy wax that's supposed to protect her from salt and snow, and it worked great! She had no trouble with the sidewalks in front of the hotels, which are usually so oversalted it's like running on gravel. Apparently it also gives her some grippiness, because she was solid as a rock!


And probably I should have put some on my sneakers, because I went down. There were some runners with their dog coming toward us on the path, and I decided to pull Abby off the path so that I could properly distract her. Turns out I did a great job distracting her, because I immediately fell on my butt and she was like "You're at my level! I WOULD LIKE TO LICK YOUR FACE NOW."

I tried to make it look like I had fallen on purpose because hey! who doesn't like hanging out in wet snow?! Finally I dragged myself to my feet and realized I had maybe...pulled something..? This was what I'd sort of been worried about for a while, and by the time I got to nine miles, I pretty much couldn't wait to stop.

This is a little worrisome, although I'm home now and feeling better. That might be because I took the most amazing shower ever or possibly because I made myself a little egg toast with salt and butter. Oh! I also discovered I am officially back to pre-baby weight, which, hey, that's cool.* And because I moved my run up a day, I have THREE! DAYS! OFF! I haven't gone that long without running for over a month.

Stay cozy out there!

Abby post-run. Also feeling pretty great.**

*I include this fact mostly to point out that there are Kardashians who claim to lose all the baby weight in six weeks, and I am literally running a marathon and it takes five months. It's a process, people. Love that post-baby body.

**I wanted to title this post "Five Now Dog Five!" but I worried only Dave would get it.

Let's Have Some Quiet, Please

Let's get the nitty-gritty out of the way first! Here are yesterday and today's stats:

Thursday Run
Distance: 6 miles
Time: 1:04:31
Pace: 10:45 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: TOO MANY BIKES ON THE RUNNING PATH
Most Inspiring Moment: I passed some people!

Friday Run
Distance: 3.03 miles
Time: 30:58

Pace: 10:12 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: hmm... I can't think of one! EVERYTHING IS AMAZING
Most Inspiring Moment: Coming home to a house of quiet...

What I like about this picture is that the clouds were thicker on the Boston side than the Cambridge side, so it looked like the sun was rising over Cambridge. If you had told me, six months ago, that the most interesting thing of my day would have been realizing that the clouds made it look like the sun was rising in the west, I would have laughed and laughed and laughed...

I feel like I'm wrapping up a week of pretty good runs! Of course, that might just be because Iris almost went the whole night without waking up. I sort of want to give it to her, because what happened was I woke up at 4:45, freaked out because I hadn't heard the baby, and knocked over the baby monitor in my efforts to ensure she was still alive. She was, and she did not appreciate the noise.

So, I'm feeling extra chipper today having gotten a solid SIX HOURS OF SLEEP. Oh man. It feels good just typing that.

My run today went so well that I couldn't even come up with a Most Challenging Moment. I woke up, fed the babe, got dressed, had a great run, and came home to a quiet, empty house. This is even more amazing than the sleep thing. An EMPTY HOUSE. It feels good to type that, too.

Dave had taken the pup to school and brought the baby with them, and I beat them back, giving me a good 20 minutes alone. I was giddy with freedom and possibility. I didn't even take a shower because that would be time wasted (gross). What I did do was make myself breakfast and bask in the peace and silence (btw I love my family).

And now? Dave is at work, the pup is at school, the baby coming up on hour two of her nap, and I'm feelin' fine. My biggest concern right now?

The long run might be coming a day early!

She's Back! (Again)

Distance Run: 3.13 miles
Time: 31:05
Pace: 9:56 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Abby's back!
Most Inspiring Moment: Abby's back!

After three weeks of solo runs, I decided to bring back my partner!

I'd been leaving her at home for a few reasons. First: it is cold. Despite her fur coat, Abby doesn't love negative-20-degree winds (who does?), and I have to be really careful with her when there's snow on the ground. Not only do I not enjoy running on ice while being attached to a creature who just saw a squirrel twenty yards away, but snow leads to salt which leads to hurt paws and a whimpering dog begging to be carried home (and my back isn't up for that anymore).

Secondly, Abby is not really what I would call a...focused runner. Squirrels, dogs, other runners, bits of trash--it's all worth a closer inspection. This means I also need to pay attention to anything that could possibly distract her (which is everything), which requires more mental energy than I'm willing to expend at 7AM.

So, it was not really a tough decision to head out solo.

But! I miss my pup! And she could use the exercise:

So off we went!

Oh man, we were like some poorly-assembled six-legged creature. I don't know if in her three-week vacation, Abby forgot how to run? But we were a mess out there. On the one hand, I had one of my fastest runs ever because Abby does not believe in pacing herself and I was trying to keep up with her* but I also almost stepped on her and fell on my butt, like, every other step.

I'm not even sure how the run went because the whole time I was out there I was pretty much thinking "How is the dog?" I came home sooner than expected but mentally exhausted and glad I didn't break an ankle.

Because I am officially an Old Person, I'm veeeeery nervous that I'm going to twist/sprain/break something before April and end my marathon dreams. So, Abby might be going back on hiatus until she can run on the leash a little more solidly (which won't be forever! she has a trainer. we're working on it).

Is that sad news? Let's look at something happy. Hey! Here's the baby reading a book to the puppy!

That's better.


*The pace recorded above is in no way accurate. I started it the second I left the house so it was going while Abby had her first pit stop. Given my (rudimentary and most likely incorrect) calculations, my pace was closer to 9ish minutes/mile.