The Running Recap and a Public Service Announcement

The Running Recap
Yesterday afternoon proved to warm up nicely... 78 degrees or so with blue skies and some clouds.  A little humid, but after all this is Florida I live in.  As soon as my work day ended, I left work on time... for once.  It's a rare occassion that I leave work on time, which is perhaps something I need to get better about doing.  There are usually some nagging tasks that I want to finish, but generally nothing that can't wait until the next day and yet I stay. 

But yesterday, my run was calling me.  At lunch, I had my haircut which is always nice and then I headed to the pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions.  And I remembered we were out of dark chocolate.  The dietician said to add 1 oz of dark chocolate to my diet, and so I have been.  1 oz is actually a perfect amount of chocolate.  Lo and behold, there was a sale!  Lindt dark chocolate 75% cocoa for $1.99 a bar (which is a 3 day supply of chocolate based on the 1 oz per day).  So I bought 6 bars - 2 of which were infused with hot chili. Yum.  They are now hidden nicely in my secret chocolate location. : )  Oh and I picked up my prescriptions as well.  Got back in plenty of time for my conference call and snagged some canteloupe, turkey, and yogurt and munched before the call.  For some reason, that's what I was in the mood for - that and my 1 oz. of dark chocolate infused with chili.  Oh and a big glass of water.

I gazed out the window and thought that I would love to go on my run, but I knew it would have to wait.  So on to the conference call and other work. 4:15 rolled around and I was almost counting the minutes to my run.  I even day dreamed a little about what I was going to wear on the run and where exactly I had put my Body Glide.  I thought about which route was the 5 miler and how the 1st mile was supposed to be in Zones 1 & 2, and then I was supposed to do a total of 6 x 3 minutes of 5K pace with 2 minute recovery after each during miles 2,3 & 4. And then run/walk mile 5 as recovery.  And the time passed so slowly - like a little kid waiting to open presents on Christmas day.  Every second was like an eternity.  I laughed a little that my HR monitor belt and watch were sitting on my desk... calling like a beacon to run.  And then I wondered how I was going to get my swim in on Thursday - I have daycare delivery duty in the morning and a conference call at 3:30 and this type of conference call is known to run long.  We'll just have to see.  Perhaps Mr. Darcy will be back in time to get the ladies and let me go swim instead of pick them up.  One of life's little mysteries.

And then finally it was 4:30 and I ran off to put on my running gear and head out the door.  My spirit was willing, but unfortunately whatever is going on with my legs (and I'm thinking that I need to visit the chiropractor... that may be the issue) was not willing.  Within 0.1, my legs were hurting.  And the pain only got worse.  Eventually around the 3.5 mile mark, my feet from the arch to my toes and including the pads of my feet were tingly, like numb tingly.  And so I walked from about the 4 mile mark on, attempted a detour to return home quicker in an attempt to cut the 5 miles short and ended up turning the wrong way (I should know by now to just stick to the plan) so I did 5.25 miles.  About 0.6 miles away from home, the tingling numbness stopped so I ran the rest of the way doing 5/1's.  It was really frustrating.

But despite the frustration, and after having a call with Coach and a night's sleep, there were some good things about the run.  1st: I ran the 1st mile staying in Zone 2 in just under 11 minutes.  Of course, I then had to stop and stretch out my calf muscles thinking it would help while attempting not to curse out loud because there were children playing nearby.  2nd: I did the 6x3 minutes of 5K pace.  Sure, I had to walk the 2 minute recoveries and I may have been on the verge of tears a couple of times, but by golly, I was on about an 11 minute pace.  So what if when I'd walk it was as though my feet were slapping the ground because that's all I could do with the pain.  3rd: Even with all the walking and a 2nd stop to try to stretch my way out of it, I still finished the 5.25 miles in 1:03:03.  Not that I'm deluding myself that this is fast, but that's still a 12 minute mile pace.  4th: Compared to last year, I'm in a lot better shape.  Last year, I am doubtful I would have even been able to do what I am doing at the pace I am doing it.  5th: my lungs felt good and the rest of me felt good, just my stinking shin, back of the calf down above the ankle areas, and arches that were killing me.  Last year it would have been my lungs and the feeling that this was really hard to the point of mentally convincing myself I could do it.  This time it was really hard but not because I couldn't do it. 5th: I saw the sandhill crane couple with their babies on the run.  I hadn't seen them in about a week, only the other sandhill crane couples that don't have babies right now, so I'd been worried... and was relieved.  The girls saw the babies the other week and noticed that there were 2 of them and Angelfish said, "They have twins just like us!"

As I talked to Coach, I drove to get the girls from daycare.  She reminded me that the past month has not been an easy one, that I've had to miss workouts for doctor's appointments and a death in the family, that it's been a rough month or so for me emotionally, and that I've been on planes, trains and automobiles and I probably need to go see the chiropractor.

The girls were in a good mood, but wanting to watch TV.  We attempted to have chicken nuggets for dinner but were all out.  Next try, PB&J sandwiches... out of PB (Mr. Darcy had put away a completely empty jar of PB.)  Finally, we were able to settle on Kashi Go Lean cereal, a cheese stick, and some pita chips and hummus for dinner.  We kind of spaced it out a little.  We had the cereal, got hungry about an hour later and added the pita chips, hummus and cheese stick as a snack.  You'll note the lack of veggies in this meal.  Unless you count the chickpeas in the hummus, of course.  I plan to do much better than that tonight.  Of course, I also have to swim before getting the girls, so we might end up with cereal and steamed veggies.

Then they refused to go to bed.  Ladybug was up until 11 pm when I finally laid down the law and told her she was not allowed to get out of bed, she was not allowed to come into my room, and she had to go to sleep and that in order for me to be a good Mommy, she needed to stop waking me up.  This morning she told me she didnt' feel that good because she hadn't gotten enough sleep.  I told her that's why we need to go to bed on time.

But I have to say for all the torture of last night with the bed time (resulting in my sleeping until 6:45 this morning... a whole hour later than usual), they got up and got dressed without too much of a fuss.  They ate some breakfast, got in the car and were happy little things.  Of course, when we got to school I discovered that their Spring party that I thought was next Thursday was this Thursday.  I knew I should have listened to Ladybug last night when she said that they were having an easter egg hunt tomorrow, and when I said it was next week, she said, "But Ms. Ali said it was tomorrow."  Ladybug has a memory like a steel trap, especially when it comes to a party, so I should have known.  So, I sped off to Publix and bought 2 boxes of 24 Oatmeal and raisin cookies from their bakery and headed back to their school.  I dropped them off in Ladybug's classroom first (where Ladybug was hugging on her teacher - it was really cute) and Angelfish asked "Did you buy me some too?"  I told her I did and I was going to take them to her classroom now (her teacher gets there a little later, so they all play with Ladybug's class in the morning before morning snack at 8:30).  Then I ran off, stopped at the bakery for a bagel with ham, cheese and 2 eggs, got it to go along with a cup of 2/3 decaf and 1/3 caf, and made it to work on time!

Of course, that area at the back of my calves down close to my ankle area is killing me on both legs, and the small of my back is a little tight today.  And I woke up once or twice in the night because I was trying to stretch my legs out in my sleep. So I'll have to find a way to get a chiropractor's appointment sometime soon.  But I have a feeling it won't be until early next week.  I'll find a way to hobble through... like advil.

Angelfish still declares she is going to marry Holland.  But now Ladybug says she's not sure which boy she's going to marry.  I've told them both that they have plenty of time to decide such things, especially since they won't get married until after college (that's right, I'm planting the seeds in their brains...).

Oh and it's a beautiful day outside.  Blue skies with light clouds and the high is supposed to be around 82.  I'm wearing sandals and a sleeveless top with capri pants for the 1st time this season.  Spring is in the air (as my morning cough up session proves), and it's a beautiful day.  I hope to hit the pool this evening, and we know how I love the pool.  Mr. Darcy returns from Tampa, and I'm hoping his presentation will have been a sucessful one.  And I'm envisioning steak with steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for dinner.  All in all, it should be a good day.

Public Service Announcement
A friend of mine has a cousin who works in the US Marshal's Office and who sent her an email about a website called Spokeo.  This is super troubling, and I've already put in to have myself and Mr. Darcy removed from the site.  Spokeo is a publically available database which may contain a significant amount of your personal data . You may review the available data by visiting their website. If you are on this website, it may list your address, home phone number and even a Google map picture of your home. Go to www.spokeo.com and enter your name. If your information is on there and you want it removed, go to the bottom of the home page and click on "Privacy." Follow the instructions to remove your information. The
removal of information takes about 24 hours to complete.

It had a picture of our house, what we did for a living, that we had children and how many we have, a general range for income and credit score, as well as other information like hobbies, how long we lived there, etc.  Much of the information was incorrect for us, but enough was correct to be scary to me.  A couple of friends have looked at the site and the websites even had pictures of them, some with their maiden name as well.  So, I urge all of you dear readers (and any anonymous lurkers) to go and get yourself removed, if you appear on this site.

Be safe and Happy Thursday!