Proust Questionnaire

This is a version of a famous questionnaire once asked of Marcel Proust, and is posted on La Moretta's blog.


1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
I can't answer this. Many things make me happy.

2. What is your greatest fear?
Alzheimer's.

3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Grudge holding.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Dishonesty.

5. Which living person do you most admire?
Donna Deegan (the 26.2 with Donna, Donna)

6. What is your greatest extravagance?
New running shoes, tech shirts, running skirts, Garmin...
I'll just call it "Running Paraphernalia".

7. What is your current state of mind?
OK ... just OK.

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
I don't think any of the Virtues (and there are many lists of Virtues) are overrated. Most are underrated.

9. On what occasion do you lie?
In bed? Like lying down? Seriously, I make every attempt not to. I do not want to have to keep track of everything I've said.

10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I don't know.

11. Which living person do you most despise?
That's a tough one. I don't think I really despise anyone. I do, however, dislike the actions of a few people I know.

12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
Fidelity.

13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Fidelity.

14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Seriously.

15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Family.

16. When and where were you happiest?
I can't say. Not that I won't; I can't. There have been many happy occasions in my life.

17. Which talent would you most like to have?
To play the violin.

18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Run faster.

19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Getting through another day. Just kidding. I really don't know.

20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A sea creature.

21. Where would you most like to live?
At the beach ... so close to the Ocean to be misted with sea spray.

22. What is your most treasured possession?
My wedding ring. It's just a very simple gold band, but it means so much.

23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Hopelessness.

24. What is your favorite occupation?
Does this mean "pastime"? If so, I have many: reading, running, playing with my children, laughing with my friends, etc.

25. What is your most marked characteristic?
Sarcasm laced with humor.

26. What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty.

27. Who are your favorite writers?
Sylvia Plath, William Faulkner, Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, Pat Conroy, Louisa May Alcott, L. Frank Baum, Philip K Dick, etc.

28. Who is your hero of fiction?
How about Science Fiction? Then it would be Spock.

29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
This is something I have never thought about.

30. Who are your heroes in real life?
There are many. They give without thought of reciprocity.
I am continually humbled by them.

31. What are your favorite names?
Julia and Michael

32. What is it that you most dislike?
Cheating and lying.

33. What is your greatest regret?
That I said, "OK" to one trip to Atlanta.

34. How would you like to die?
In my sleep.

35. What is your motto?
I'm glad I got out before the roof fell in!

Almost there ...

Finally, in spite of myself, I am starting to look forward to the marathon this Sunday.

Everything has been lining up against my looking forward to it:

Injury (ITB, lateral meniscus tear, Achilles tendon strain)

Illness (community acquired pneumonia)

Weather (warm with rain all day)

But, today is the first day of the Expo. That is exciting in itself.

As to the rest? I have a brace for my knee and antibiotics for the pneumonia.

The weather? I can't do anything about that. At least the rain will keep it cooler on the run.

And, I have friends who will be running as well. That will help keep me sane.

Countdown to the Marathon

That is how I was originally feeling heading towards the marathon. I had anxiety over EVERYTHING concerning it.



I am a little better now. I am feeling more like this:






I still have anxiety, but it's melting. There are still 2 things causing me stress:


1. Can I really make it 26.2 miles?

2. Will my IT band take me down or let me finish?


Only time will tell on these two.

Finding Balance

Not running for these past couple of weeks has made me painfully aware of something.


Running has taken over my life. At least the part of my life spent not working. It happened slowly and insidiously as the miles increased. And, as I transitioned from running alone into group running, it took over my social time as well.


"Not running" has made me really look at this, and evaluate just how big a part of my life I want running to be from this point forward.



I enjoy the friendships made through running and plan to keep them. But, there are other friendships (of the non-running kind) that I have put on hold for a while. I am re-establishing those now. I am meeting up with a group this week for dinner and a movie. We used to get together once a month. This past Fall, we only met once. Why? I was too busy.... running.



My family too has not had the best of me these past few months. The ever increasing long runs on Saturdays have left me too tired to do much of anything with them the rest of the weekend. And, the injuries have left me out of sorts.

I plan on continuing running for a long time to come. But, the focus is shifting. Running is not my life, just a part of it.

The Art of Not Running

Or ... "Now What do I do on Saturday morning?"


I am not enjoying recovery at all.

I have learned this about myself - I have absolutely no patience with my own physical limitations.

I am counting the days until I can run again.



*big sigh*

Working out the pain

Today I bit the bullet and went for an hour of bodywork (a.k.a. deep tissue massage).

It was both painful and a relief at the same time. Or as Sherri, my massage therapist, said it is a "good hurt".

Afterwards, I was amazed at how easily and painlessly I could walk.

So much tension was gone from my body that I went home and slept for a few hours. She warned me I would be sore later. I am.

But, the achiness is of the good healing kind.

The Last Long Run

This morning's run was our last long run before the Marathon. It was 24 degrees when we got started on the Rail Trails. The Rail Trails are paved over railroad tracks which are in extreme NW Jacksonville. The whole trail runs from Jacksonville to Baldwin. It is really very rural. There are woods surrounding the trails in some places, and farmhouses also along the way. And a gun club.

We started before dawn in the extreme cold. There were very few runners present. Some had run the Disney Marathon last weekend and were not there due to that. Others? I guess the cold and distance (26 miles today) kept them in bed.

Coach Chris usually talks for a good 10 min before we start. This morning was so cold that he spoke very briefly. He only reminded us that a group of runners in Chicago training for our Marathon were taking off this morning in -7 degrees. Someone yelled, "they're idiots", and we were off.

I had already decided to run with Group 8 today. Due to ITB issues, I wanted to take it easy and run as far as I could. But, where were they? It turns out that just 4 of us showed up - Lauren, Nicki, Richanda, and me. No pace group leaders. But between the 4 of us, we had a Garmin and a watch so we set off.

It was cold, really, really cold. But, once we got moving it was just ... cold, really cold.

Around the 1 mile mark, a rooster crowed to signal the approach of Dawn. He was a bit early. We really didn't see much light until mile 4. When the sun finally came up (just light, no warmth really), we noticed that the ground off the trail was all white! Searching my memory banks to time spent in NC, I realized that the ground was covered with frost. Some in our group had never seen frost before. I'd like to never see it again.

I started having ITB friction pain at mile 2. I ignored it. At mile 10 we spotted a deer running through the woods. Also, by this point, my ITB was screaming at me. So, I changed things around and tried some ChiRunning. ChiRunning felt much better on my ITB. I guess the positional shift helped some. Soon we were at mile 13, our turn around point.

I continued the ChiRunning; but, the pain was increasing. At mile 15, we spotted a hunter in the woods. The pain was becoming unbearable, and I fleetingly thought of stopping; but put that thought away. After all, my walk minutes were still only a little painful.

But, after a few more miles, I could not walk on it anymore. I was done. TJ had quit at mile 17. She was having side stitch problems that wouldn't stop. Carol wasn't there. Her ITB started bothering her at the 23 mile run and she is in PT and out of the marathon.

So ... after Phil picked up TJ at 17, he picked me up. I could not stand on my left leg anymore. In addition to the ITB pain, I am also having Achilles tendon pain (also left leg). After sitting and recovering for an hour in ice wraps, I was ready to go home. I am disappointed that the longest distance I have run to date is 20 miles. I am also disappointed that I need to stop running completely for a minimum of 2 weeks.

Here is the really frustrating part ... mentally, cardio-vascularly, and everything else ... I felt good on that run. I could have made the whole 26 miles IF my stupid ITB hadn't derailed me. This just sucks.

I have been advised to consider not running at all until the marathon.

I have 2 weeks to think about it.

Speedwork

Rocks!!!

I was supposed to run 6 miles this morning with my group. The run site is about 40 min from my house. I got up this morning with every intention of going until I turned on the Weather Channel and heard that the temp was 37° with windchill in the low 30's. So ... I rationalized that I could run 6 miles on my own in the afternoon.

Of course, left to my own devices, I decided to change it up a bit and opted for some speedwork instead.

I ran 1 mile repeats at my 5K pace with .25 mile walks in between. I was able to get in 3 sets of this before the sun went down.

It felt great! And, the best part is that my IT band did not hurt at all.

Cross-training revisited

Cross-training is something I have done consistently since I started running 19 months ago.

Always 3 days a week. Always. Until my ill-fated 18 mile run back in November. After that I went into "recovery mode". All I could think about was running and how I couldn't do as much of it as I'd like. AND, I stopped doing everything else.

I completely forgot about cross-training.

Well, last night I started back with it again. I pulled out one of my old DVDs, Sexy Arms with Dave Sinclair. Admittedly, Sinclair is kind of a big doofus; routinely interjecting phrases such as "Right On!" into the workout. But, the workout is sound and easy to follow. After I completed it, I felt pretty good.

And, I slept well. Better than I have in a long time.

Cross-training is now back as a part of my regular routine.

Maybe tomorrow I'll pull out one of my Neena & Veena DVDs.

1st Run of the New Year!!!

This morning's group run was 8 miles at the Beach. We ran at one of my favorite places to run - Atlantic Beach. At the start of the run it was 53°, 97% humidity, dewpoint of 53. So, yes, there was fog.

Fog at the Beach is heavy and beautiful. It quiets and calms. Well, that's the effect it has on me anyway.

Today was an unusual run. It was the annual "scavenger hunt" run. We collected assigned items (e.g., best lawn ornaments) with a camera. It was a bit goofy, but fun.

Group 8 - Marathoners and Half-Marathoners

Personally, the run was good. I did have some ITB friction pain, but not enough to stop me. It started at about mile 3 - nagging and annoying. I ran through it.
At around mile 6, I raced ahead of the Group so I could turn and take a photo of them running towards me through the fog.

OK, that hurt and probably wasn't very smart. But, the photo was good!!!

I made it the full 8 miles. I am very happy about that. I hope that means this is healing, because I want many more runs like this.

A few Scavenger Hunt photos with the clues beneath:

"Our Gracious Host"

"Runners' favorite Pit Stop" - Thanks, Miles!

"A Symbol of what we are running for"

The woods are lovely ...

... dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep. ~ Robert Frost

We started out this morning at 6AM on the Rail Trails into the woods. It was dark with a heavy wet fog. The fog was so dense that we were all damp before running the first step. Visibility was no more than a couple of feet. So we ran into a deep dark foggy morning unable to see where we were going or where we had been.

As the sun rose, the fog lingered leaving water droplets clinging to spider webs in the trees.

Two things I learned from this morning's run:

1). I am not a long distance runner. If I make it to and through this marathon, I will not run another. The half marathon will be my longest distance from then on.

2). The ITB compression wrap does not work. I need serious rest and recovery ... starting now.

Jacksonville Bank Half Marathon

This is a training run. This is a training run. This is a training run.

I kept repeating that to myself before the race. I still started out too fast. The 1st 3 miles were too fast. It was humid and warm. I knew when the sun came up it would be humid and hot. I wanted to be done before that happened.

I realized that wasn't going to happen, and I slowed down.

The run went OK until about mile 8. Jesse's knee was bothering him some. We slowed down some more.

By mile 11, my ITB started to ache; and, the heat was getting hard to deal with. I wanted to be done. Forever.


At about 12.6 miles the course took off across an open field and then off into the woods. It became a true Cross Country course - deep sand, rocks, branches, all things cross country. All I could think I that point was, "I can't run this - I don't have my trail runners on."

We came out of the woods to finish on the track.

This half marathon was not that much fun.

I'm glad it's over.

A short, cold run

This morning's run was only 7 miles. The half-marathoners in our group ran farther (9 miles) than we did. It was a COLD run! It was 32° this morning with a windchill of 30. I couldn't even feel my feet for most of the run.


Our head coach, Chris, and his 10 year-old son ran with us today. The run was by the River and across 2 bridges. Chris kept our usually fast Group 7 on pace.


After resting, stretching, icing, and rolling my IT band this week, I did not expect any problems with it. I was wrong. At about mile 4, it started to hurt. When we finished the 7 miles, it was really hurting. I am hoping that part of the problem is the cold weather.


We'll see.



Yes, that is the moon. It was up when we started running. The rest of the city was still asleep.

ITBS

ITBS (or iliotibial band syndrome) is bringing me down. This is one pain that I just can't run on. Well, that's not true. I have run with it. But, not for too long or too many miles. It kicked in at about mile 8 of my 20 mile run. I made to mile 15 before I felt like screaming. I did make it the full 20 miles ... slowly and painfully.

I went in search of a cure. A miracle drug or brace to take the pain away. I thought I had found it - something called an ITB compression wrap. I was advised against it. Something about how it really doesn't work.

So I bought an innocent looking white foam roller.

Rolling an ITB hurts. A lot. It better be working.

Sometimes races don't go so well ...

Festival of Lights 5K – 12/07/08

Tonight was an annual 5K and 1 mile fun run that is usually a very fun family event. It was the 1st 5K I ran in last year. I ran it then with my older son. My husband ran the 1 mile with our younger son. The races are run after dark. Luminaries line the race course, Christmas music plays throughout, and the runners all have jingle bells tied to their shoes. It is really a fun night.

Not this year.

This year the boys decided not to run. Jesse and I signed up to run the 5K together. But, due to the 20 miler yesterday, I opted not to run and just rest my ITB for a few days. I went with Jesse to the race to cheer him and the other runners on.Things seemed more chaotic before the race this year than last year.

1st of all, I think the number of runners had easily doubled from last year with many trying to register at the race site. They were just not prepared for that many people.


Secondly, they started the first race (1 mile fun run) at 5:30 BEFORE any paramedics had arrived. True, it's a 1 mile run and usually nothing happens at those... especially when the temp is in the low 40's. Then there was tonight.

Jesse and I stood at the finish line area to cheer in the kids running the one miler. The 1st runner came in right at 6:30 min. He looked to be about 7 or 8 years old. WTG!!! Then a few more kids. Then at around 8 min a Dad (early to mid 40's) came in running with his 2 kids.

More kids coming in. The Dad and kids walked out of the finish area where the Dad collapsed. Apparent heart attack. No paramedics! The ambulance showed up a FULL 5 min later then couldn't get through the crowd. Just too many people. They had to leave the ambulance on the other side of the finish line, take the stretcher out of it, run through the finish line past runners still coming in, then through the crowds of people who wouldn't move for anything (because they are trying to take pictures of THEIR kids, you know) to get to the poor guy. I have no idea whether he made it or not. I hope so.

It was such a nightmare, I thought they might call the race. Nope. The 5K started at about 6:15. I stayed at the finish line to cheer Jesse in. The 1st runners came in a little over 15 min. Then, a weird thing started happening. Runners would cross the finish line then stop. Just stop. Some would bend over and mess with their timing chips; some just turned around to look for their friends. As more and more runners came in, the crowd started backing up before the finish line! By the 28 min time, runners were having trouble running across the finish line. It was ridiculous!

FINALLY, the race coordinator got on a microphone and started yelling at everyone to keep moving and clear the finish line area. By then it was too late. It was backed up way before the finish line. Jesse said someone shoved him from behind trying to get past him to the finish. What was the point of that? He couldn't move either. His gun time was 38:32. But, that means nothing. He was standing still watching the time go up and not moving.

Really, it wasn't like this last year. I am glad I didn't run it.

20 miles!!!

This morning's run was a 20 mile run out on the "Rail Trails". After the 18 mile run where I basically fell apart, I was NOT looking forward to it.
At. All.

The Rail Trails are a good 45 min from my house. That meant leaving by 5AM for a 6AM run. Which meant getting up around 3:30 to eat and get ready to go.

This morning it was 52 degrees, 93% humidity in fog and light rain. The temp and humidity remained constant throughout the run. The rain slowed to an intermittent misting under an overcast sky. At 6:00 for the start of the run, it was dark, really dark.

Both Group 7 pace leaders were there today along with 24 others of us in Group 7. My friend, TJ, and I had decided that we were not going to repeat the 18 mile fiasco. TJ had completed the 18 mile run with the group, but had felt so bad after that she was ready to quit the marathon training altogether. Last week's 7 mile run at the correct pace convinced her to stay with it. So, we told one of the pace leaders that we would be sticking to the correct pace regardless of what they did.

And we did.

Running the correct pace kept me from dehydrating and getting overly tired. The only difficulty I had today was ITB related. The outside of my left knee started hurting around mile 8. I ignored it and kept going. At mile 15, it was pretty intense pain. So, I walked about a quarter of a mile. While walking, my knee felt fine. Once I started running again, the pain came back immediately. I knew then it was ITB. But, I decided to keep going, pain or not.

I finished the 20 miles. Yes, it hurt physically. But, mentally, it felt great!