Category Archives: measurements

I feel like it’s been AGES since I’ve written anything of interest here. I mean, sure: post-bombing my own blog with weeks and weeks of CSA goodies is something. but is it interesting? I don’t think so. remember a month ago when I was making regular posts and they were all about running? oh, those were the days.

so, you might recall that just over a month ago a coworker invited me to participate in a 10K with some of the kids from the philly office. and you know, as I’ve been planning to run the great race in pittsburgh (another 10K), I figured I may as well get that whole distance thing over with. Plus I’d just finished the freihofer’s 5K and was still so excited about getting back into it. I started running. A LOT. I started eating lots of hard boiled eggs and running 4-5 times a week. I figured I had three weeks to train for the 10K, which was 3 miles longer than anything I’ve ever run before. So week 1 was 5K/3 miles. week 2 was 4 miles. That was also the first time I ran outside for real: I drove over to the state park near my folk’s house and did a pretty respectable 4 mile run up and down hills on a poorly maintained gravel road. and then week 3 was 5 miles. I ran in a 5-mile run near my town, and I finished it with a quite respectable time: 52:57 (10:35 mile). And even better, I felt like I could keep running. maybe not for another whole mile, but for a bit more. that weekend I ran 6 miles to make sure that I could, and then on July 4th I ran in the Revolutionary Run at Washington Crossing. It was so great. I ran faster than I thought I ought to for most of the way (probably because 1. it was so flat and 2. there was a dude who was a loud breather running near me, and a couple of times I just had to have some distance) and finished strong at 1 hr 04 min (10:21 mile)! YAY! I can has 10K! and then I had brunch with my coworkers, and drove home the long way. it was great.

I’ve registered for the grafton lakes run for the roses with meredith, and I think it will be superawesome. She has been walking and jogging like a superstar – we went for a walk together on sunday and she trucks! she walks so fast! it was great! I’ve heard the route is a little hilly, so that will be a good lead-in to my month of 10K training for pittsburgh.

this thursday I’ll be running the verizon wireless corporate classic 5K. I tried to get people from work to sign up, but they are Not Into It. I wanted to try and run this one in under 10 min. miles, but I kind of took a week and a half off after the 10K, and didn’t really take the time to practice running.

I was so excited about the 5K last week that when a coworker invited me to run a 10K in washington’s crossing on July 4th I quickly canvassed my running-savvy friends and said yes. eek! I am pretty excited, but that is just over 3 weeks away. and I’m really really busy at work. but I’m sure I can do it if I run every day until then….

actually, there’s a 5-mile run the week before that will be really good for confidence. and today I ran 4.11 miles in 45 minutes, which is pretty super after a week of not doing anything. and that means that even if I don’t run at all after running 4 miles I will still be able to finish the 10K in about 1 hr 15 min., which would be pretty not-bad. I’m feeling good about this! I just hope my knee holds out… lots of stretching is in order.

the 5K went so well yesterday! michelle and I drove up friday night to fully represent team lois. everyone in my family showed up to watch meredith and rachel and I run, and it didn’t rain at all! we started together and once up the big hill rachel ran up ahead of us. I left meredith walking and then she ran up to me once she caught her breath!
our times were:

• rachel 32:47
• me 36:13
• meredith 40:40

I am so proud of all of us. Rachel had only clocked a 40 min. 5K before but the race day excitement had her going fast and furious! Meredith had been walking 15 min. miles but she ended up run/walking at a pace of 13 min./mile. And considering I only had about 2 weeks of training, I am satisfied with my time. I had to walk a couple of times, and gym training doesn’t prepare you for humidity and hills, but I finished well under 40 min., and that was my goal. this was my first chipped race, and it’s kind of great to not have to kind of remember what time you cross the start line at so you can guess when you finish.

I think meredith and rachel may have caught the 5K bug! we talked a little bit about signing up for the run for the roses in grafton lakes state park on 8/12. other than that, my next planned 5K right now is the mid-july work one. but I’d like to find something in june to run as well with michelle. and then sept. 30 is the 10K Great Race in Pittsburgh.

I’m scheduled to run the freihofer’s 5K for women on sat. and I haven’t done the comprehensive training that I would like. last night, though, I got on the treadmill and went for 3.1 miles. I finished that in 35:16, and it wasn’t that fun. I don’t know if it was just plain NOT FUN or if it was not fun because I was pushing myself too hard. I won’t finish as fast as I did the run last september (about 36 min) but as long as I’m under 40 min I will be happy, given the minimal training I’ve been doing. and also, given the big uphill that is at the beginning of the route and which I’ve been warned about.

I keep telling myself that when I’m good at running I will really love it. I interpret good as being able to run a 5K in about 30 min. without killing myself, I guess – to be at the point where I can just get up and it’s not a potentially overwhelming task to just tie on my shoes, and I can go outside or to the gym and run for a while and come home and it won’t be a huge production, just something I Do. and maybe that will happen – when I was playing goofy ultimate frisbee games I loved the running back and forth, and that glimpse of moving fast and freely and on my own two feet.

the training strategy of making other people sign up with me for runs is working really well so far! Rachel has been running for a few weeks now, and Meredith is a superstar, walking up big hills for conditioning. I’m so excited about the three of us being so active. I’m so excited that we’ve been making almost-daily activity a more regular part of our lives. and I’m so proud of the two of them! they are so super. Sat. will be superfun, no matter how fast we run (or apparently, how much it rains).

I’ve been thinking a lot about running lately. I’m learning more and more that I’m a real goal oriented person – which explains a lot about the procrastination thing, because if I were more PROCESS oriented I wouldn’t put things off like I do. So running and training for races seems like the ideal way to exercise towards a goal. Now that my knee doctor has said that my knee is “almost as good as new” (which is as good as they’ll go) it also makes me realize that without the goal of rehab, I need another reason to stay active. When I stopped running after the 5K in the fall I noticed right away that my knee responded poorly to the loss of movement.

so my new strategy is to start training for 5Ks. I’m trying to sucker people into running races with me all over the place in an effort to keep myself motivated to go to the gym. I’ve mentioned it to a friend who lives in Montreal, so I hope we can connect in the spring or summer for a 5K up there. Meredith and I (and potentially Michelle too) are planning to run the Freihofer’s 5K for Women on June 2nd. Team Lois (Michelle and I) have also tentatively planned to run a 5K around the metro NY area in May, as well as travel to Pittsburgh for the Great Race (a 10K!). And also, I’m trying to talk my company into sponsering a whole bunch of us to run in the Verizon Wireless Corporate Classic 5K on July 19th.

I’ve started back on the couch-to-5K again (I picked up at week 4, though, it’s nice to start in the middle!) (oh, and I can’t speak highly enough of this program) and it’s going pretty great – especially considering how long it’s been since I’ve run. my body is so tough and forgiving. I’ll miss out on running while I’m in Japan but with my big feet and the whole “backpacking” thing I’m not going to bring workout clothes with me. Hopefully Michelle and I can pick a 5K sometime in mid-May, I think that would be wonderful (maybe the wall street heart run on May 22?).

I never really thought I liked running – and that’s probably true. scratch that, I like running but JOGGING I don’t enjoy. But I do like being good at things. I do like succeeding at things. And I think that running is something I can be good at if I work at it. Hence this goal-oriented training program. Plus, the whole RUNNING thing. I do love the feeling you get when you’re going fast and you feel like a million bucks and it’s beautiful weather and you just feel like a coil of boundless energy. It’s the toil to get to that point that I’m not a fan of! but the goal is so very worth it. and I’m so thankful I have so many kind people in my life that I can talk into running these things with!

just to capture the latest crackpot idea floating through my head:

They’ve just built 3000 sqft townhouses on my street. They’re selling the end units for roughly 750,000. YIKES. no way I could afford that, and no way I have any kind of downpayment, and no way am I going to be buying property in N. NJ anytime soon.

So say these 3000 sq ft townhomes are roughly 3 or 4 bedrooms. say that we use a 1% rule of thumb for mortgage, taxes, and insurance. Say, then, the monthly mortgage would be $7,500.

OK, the point of this saying-exercise is to point out that even if I could talk Kathleen and Gabbi into moving in with me and buying a townhome en masse, we STILL couldn’t afford it. b/c there’s no way in HECK that I’m paying $2,500 a month for a TOWNHOUSE without a YARD.

Therefore, I won’t even mention it to them. unless they catch a drift of it here. See girls? it won’t work out for us. Sorry!

a list of things I feel strongly about, and therefore, may cause me to soapbox about willy nilly:

• alternative fuels
• feminism
• sustainable food sources
• community
• reduction of consumerism
• self-sufficiency within the framework of todays american culture
• energy efficiency
• the value of popular culture
• transportation issues
• classism and issues of structural violence

Team Lois made a great showing today at the Koman 5K. Not only did we all finish in very fast time (Delia with about 34 min, me with about 36 min, and michelle with about 38 min and that’s counting running in a skirt and carrying a bag and walking because you know, she didn’t really plan on running today), but I bet we raised a bunch of cash for the Cause. Over $1,000, actually.

THANK YOU, friends; thank you so very much for making this possible.

The event was wild, too. I knew it was a big deal but there really was something empowering and emotional about seeing thousands and thousands of people walking and running together. I wanted to do this 5K because it gave me something to train for, and I also wanted a way to support Michelle’s mom. She’s a runner, only she’s not able to run right now because she’s undergoing treatment for her cancer. When I showed up today to run I was so impressed by every one else who turned out. I’m so glad I stumbled onto something so much bigger than myself.

you may know that I find arlen specter to be one of the most frustrating senators out there, because half the time he’s being ridiculous and political and not doing what *I* think should be done, and then he’ll go and say something like this, which I am totally behind:

On the strictly personal level, I have noted the declaration by President Nixon in 1970 when he declared war on cancer. Had that war been pursued with the same diligence we pursue other wars, I believe cancer would long ago have been cured. Without unduly dwelling on my own situation with Hodgkin’s, a year of chemotherapy, I think had the research been fulfilled, I would have been spared that malady.

speaking to the senate on July 17 2006.

cancer and heart disease are two diseases that I feel very strongly we should have had some movement on. if it takes an informed and active populace to get things done, then well, that’s what we’ll do. Like Arlen says: there is a WAR ON CANCER. and it seems to be going about as well as some other current wars that shall remain nameless. And we really do know, generally, why people have heart attacks: yet people are still dying — and often it comes as a surprise. this is a particular soapbox of mine and I don’t want to get to riled up, but y’all: do what you can to make these things a priority. at some point we have to start fighting to learn how to keep people alive. isn’t that a good way for america to spend her money?

1. updated the insight page with mileage data for the last two months.

2. b/c the susan koman 5K is on sunday, I had to make sure I could run 5K. I’ve been doing really well and my knee is behaving like a real superstar! this morning I ran 5K at the gym in about 34 min. That’s a pretty reasonable speed, but I really don’t think I’ll hit that when I’m running outside, you know, up and down hills. But I will finish the run!