new short(er) update

It's all gone!!!

Well, not really.

While I feel like it is all gone, most people's reactions have included the phrase "it's still pretty long",

On Friday I went to the Locks of Love event at my daughter's school and had the stylists in training (yep they were students... no, they weren't very good yet...  poor Ks hair!) cut 10 inches off of my hair.  I would not allow them to do anything else, preferring to trust my hair to a stylist trained in cutting curly hair.  

I had my Devacurl cut yesterday afternoon, and I will say this: it was indeed different.  First of all, the stylist cut my hair dry.  Then she washed it via the "no-poo" method.  She then put gel in my dripping wet hair (this was the part I could not seem to wrap my brain around on my own) and then gently squeezed the moisture out of my hair.  I got to sit under a hair dryer and watch the most insane video ever -- it was a product video showing a stylist creating the craziest hairstyles.  It was mesmerizing.  After my hair was dry, the stylist showed me how to finish styling my curls.  The picture above shows my hair the next day, and although I am not ready to commit to using $20/bottle no-poo, conditioner and gel (yes that is $60 total), I really like how my hair turned out.

But this blog is not about hair cutting techniques, it is about running.  And while the story of the cut is interesting to me, I bet you might be wondering about its effect on my running. Today I got up nice and early like I normally do and I went for a run with RP, and this morning I did not have to wrangle my hair.   

No ponytail-ing, no braiding, I just got up and went!

Ahhhhhhhh, the FREEDOM!!!  

I could really get used to this.

it's been a while...let me tell you about my hair.

Yes, yes - it's been a while since I posted.  I suppose there is lots to share, and I may get around to it or ... I may not.  Our desktop computer died and had to go in for service throwing off my momentum.

What, you may ask, has brought back my mojo?  My hair.

You see, I have rather long hair.  Noticeably long, and curly.  In fact it is the longest my hair has ever been (and the curly thing is a pretty new development) I am not sure why I grew it so long, I guess I got lazy to go to the salon and also was a touch curious how long I could grow it.

Having really long hair is a strange phenomenon.  Practical strangers begin to act possessive of it.  Acquaintances will give you unsolicited advice concerning it.  Some will tell you to never cut it, while others feel the need to tell you that you should cut it all off and donate it.  Everyone has an opinion.

Well, if you've paid attention to the title of the blog, you may have noticed that I intend to train for a  marathon this year.  This will require a bit of running.  I typically like to shower after I run, you know, out of consideration for the people around me.  That hair you see up there... it's a lot of work.  

Showering for me involves the delicate process of untangling my hair, washing it carefully, and then allowing to it air dry for a while... time time time!  And when I plan on spending more time out there running I will have less time to mess with my hair.

So today, I am cutting it off.

Now wait a minute!  I didn't say I was cutting it all off!  Calm down, friend.

There is a Locks of Love event at my daughter's school and I am heading there this afternoon to donate 10 inches of my hair to them.  My 12 y.o is donating her hair as well.  It should be a bit of a freeing experience.  (my 6 y.o. wants in on the action... we'll see if hers is long enough to donate)

So when you see me next, don't be too surprised to see less hair.  Feel free to even tell me my hair makes me look fast.  (that's the kind of compliment we runners just love.)

inspiration #2

Last night I bumped into a friend I hadn't seen in a while.  She and I share a love of running so we began to catch each other up on our training and goals.

I shared with her that I was training for a my first marathon this fall and she also had her first planned for this fall..

While this exchange is nothing but ordinary, some history on this friend and you will see just how extraordinary it is and why she is another inspiration to me.

This friend, I will call her L, had a stroke just two and a half years ago (late summer of of '11).  L is not very old and the stroke took everyone by surprise - she had no risk factors.  It was a shock, and despite suffering initial one side paralysis, L's recovery was very good.

In fact within the year she was back to running and I bumped into her at the Air Force Half Marathon in September if 2012 (a little over a year past stoke at the time).  We ran together for many miles until she pulled away around mile 10 and ended up beating me!  We even have couple of very cool race pics together.

So when she told me last night that she was planning to run her first marathon last night, I was truly inspired.  She told me that she knew her time would not be great, but if she can survive a stroke and still run - she was happy with any time!

She is one awesome lady and I am blessed to know her.

So I am adding her to my list.  L you are amazing!

First time for everything

I had the most amazing thing happen the other day.

I touched my toes.

No big deal right?

Wrong!  My entire life I have been UNABLE to touch my toes!  Regardless if size, age, etc - I just couldn't bend that way.  (Okay- I could touch them, but I would have to bend my knees quite a bit, it was embarassing!)

But now I can!

What I am talking about here is standing straight up, bending over at the waist and being able to touch, nay GRAB my toes!!!

All I can figure is the difference is that I have been working out regularly and have strengthened nearly every part of me, including the ever evasive core,

So now as I head back to Yoga class for the first time in a long time, I am excited to bring my new ability with me.  I may just end up touching my toes- just for fun!

Wow.

I was just looking at my blog, and looked at my miles this year counter, it reads 20 miles ytd. (and we are only in the beginning of the fourth week of the year)

I realized that even though it seems low to me, it's actually pretty impressive.  Sure I know quite a bit of people who cover that distance on a Saturday, but I also know a bunch of people who have said to me that they could not even imagine running 1 mile.  I need to celebrate my accomplishments and keep in mind that what may have seemed impossible 4 years ago is now completely doable.

What is crazier still?   Later this year, I will run 20 miles as my long run in my training..... and after that?  26.2 miles.  I got this.

a small time away from the blog and running

I have been a touch absent from my blog this week.   I don't have a great reason, but I do have an-it's-easy-to-understand reason: our desktop computer died.

And why is this a valid excuse (for me)?  Well, have you have tried to type something longwinded on an iPad?  In itself this is not a terrible task, unless you want to navigate inside said longwinded blog post!  Enough excuses.

I have also been a touch absent from my running this week as well.   I don't have a great excuse either, but I think I had a valid reason to take a little break.  My double runs last Tuesday left my right knee feeling a little inflamed, and when I ran on Thursday morning it began to ache after 1.5 miles.  I switched to walking to give my knee a break.   I ended up taking Saturday off due to scheduling conflicts, and I feel that this extra rest may have been good for my knee.

I have always been warned by more experienced runners to be cautious with injury and I really do not want to risk an injury this year!  I think it is very hard for most runners (myself included) to take a break and not feel like you are being lazy.  I know as well as the next guy that the minute I start writing excuses for myself, I can start writing one each time I don't want to get out of bed when my alarm goes off at 4:50am.   I do, however, have a 3.5 year history of getting out there and running every week rain, snow or shine.  That track record keeps me in it for the long haul, I have built my running up for so long.  I don't want to take an extended break and have to start all over again!

That being said, sometimes a break of a couple of days does do me some good.  It breaks up the monotony of the alarm going off so early and gets me ready to do it again.

a reminder and a goal

Yesterday I double dipped.

No, I did not indulge in two scoops of ice cream.  I ran twice in one day.  I did not have to, I just chose my own crazy.

Why crazy?  Crazy because I haven't been running a lot lately, just maintenance miles.  Maintenance for me is three miles three times a week.

So yesterday I ran three miles at 5:30 am, and three miles at 6pm.  Why?  There were two reasons.  The first being that I run regularly with RP in the morning and we have been missing a few runs here or there due to illness, weather or schedule conflicts.  Nothing serious, just enough to mess with the regularity of our schedule and I want desperately to get back to our normal, predictable routine.  The second being I was asked to fill in for a coach at the Tuesday night running group yesterday and I love running with that group so I said yes knowing that I would end up double dipping.

Though not in my regular repertoire, double dipping is not all that uncommon.  Many runners will run twice in a day to break up longer mileages in their training.  I plan to do it myself as my weekday mileages get higher in my marathon training.  I just do not recommend doing a lot if you are not used to it, you need to work up to higher mileages slowly and not go out and run ten miles if you haven't even run one before.  There is so much good advice out there about buliding up your mileage slowly to prevent injury.

And my body last night reminded me of that.  While I did not struggle to run either time, I suffered the niggling fear that I may have injured myself yesterday.  After I got home last night my right knee 
was a touch sore.  I ran the equivalent of last weeks weekly mileage on one day.  I should not have done that, I know this.  I intend to let that feeling in my knee last night serve as the reminder to not let my desire to do great things this year to overpower the wisdom I have gathered over the years about training.

As a result, I took it easy on my legs this morning at my workout. No need to make matter worse.  And no more heroic jumps in mileage!

I have begun to look into training plans.  We have about 36 weeks until the marathon, and most training plans are roughly 18 weeks long.  I have a good amount of time to investigate and figure out what I want to do and I intend to use it wisely.  I want to fit my marathon training into my life instead of fitting my life into my training. This lead me to look up some marathon training books at the library.  I found a great promise in the intro of the invitingly titled book, The non runner's marathon guide for women: "... this book offers advice on how to avoid death while training for a marathon.". 

All right, you hooked me, that is my new goal:

I want to avoid death as I train for this marathon.