Brown Socks

No running to report

Taking it easy at the gym- running here and there but nothing over 3 miles at the gym. The funny thing is- I've down almost 2 sizes since I'm not eating to "fuel" anymore.

Surprisingly, I don't miss running. At least not right now. Probably when Spring comes along and the days are longer- I'll miss running at the Greenbelt. I guess it is just one of those phases that I'm in right now though.  I'm enjoying the extra time with Zack, Marcel, and friends and haven't woken up early to run in months. Ahhh....this is a nice break.

To fill up my time I've started to make jewelry, totes, and stuffed plush monsters.  I'm hoping to "open" up an etsy shop once I gather a collection of things.

Also, I've joined the modern world and joined myspace. Check me out there since I probably wont be posting much here for a while...

Keep in touch y'all!

Jennifer

Podcasts

I've looked around on the web and iTunes and have yet to find a podcast specifically dedicated to Trail Running or Ultras...am I missing something? Or are they just not out there yet?

Lately when I run I listen to a combination of podcasts and music- I usually need the music toward the end of the workout to keep an even pace, but during those long slower runs I listen to a few podcasts- change it up a bit.  So far the only somewhat running related ones that I have found (that I like) are Get Your Geek On, and Endurance Radio.  While GYGO is a triathlon podcast, I still find a lot of inspiration from the guests that they have on the show, and from Wil who is busy mother of two training for Ironman.  Listening to someone else talk about training with small children makes me feel like I am not alone in wanting to pursue "big" goals that require (much) time away from the family. It's comforting because so few people in my life right now really understand why I am doing "running thing".

And Endurance Radio has recently interviewed some trail/ultra runners!  For a while it was a lot of adventure racing and triathlon interviews (at least since I started listening in March), which I still enjoy during my runs, but couldn't relate to... at all.  But, in the past few weeks he has interviewed trail/ultra runners including Buzz Burrell, Lisa Smith-Batchen, and Catra Corbett.  Very cool. To me these interviews are so different than the others, the trail/ultra folks are so much more on my wavelength I guess.  No egos whatsoever, a love for the trails, and a desire to push the limits.  What I also heard that was different was that though running is an individual sport,  in many times it takes a community to work together to get to the finish line (like in the case of Lisa Smith-Batchen's Marathon de Sables training group).  Though I don't have multiple hundred (plus) milers under my belt, I feel more at home listening to these folks.... 

Anyway, getting back to my question...where are the trail/ultrarunning podcasts!? Surely someone out there wants to start one, right?

Check this out

Zack posted this on our family blog and thought I would link to it here- check it out. Russell is a great guy and he will be in our thoughts as he runs across France. 

Marcel made him a good luck card for his send-off yesterday which included the following good luck message "Moo, Boo, Zoo" and  bunch of pasted on Elvis pictures.  Marcel thinks Russell is a pretty cool dude and so do we.

Great run- But what's this new pain?

From 4/3/05

This morning I scrambled to get down to the trail before all of the Cap10K participants took all of the parking spaces. I ran on the trail last year during the race, and remembered that the trail was barren (yay!) and I was able to listen to all of the bands warming up for the race. I was hoping to finish my 8 miler about the time that the front-runners passed by, so that I could watch for people I know. I was on track to get back to the car in time, until I started to have a pain under my left heel, and a pulling feeling below my ankle? I had about 3 miles to go. So I ran with the ankle pain, a bit slower, and made it back in time to catch the early runners. I watched for people for about 15 minutes, but there were just to many people to scan. In the meantime, my foot is really starting to hurt... Great. A few people looked at me strangely, I think they thought that I had been running the race and dropped out (I was quite sweaty looking).

When I got home, I iced my ankle with a bag of frozen corn in a pillow case. I'm a bit concerned about my foot, but it doesn't hurt that bad. I'm just happy I am back to 8 miles!