watching the men and other things

Thursday, I ran in and around Piedmont Park. I bought some new trail shoes around xmas time and had not taken them out running yet and there is a place in the park where I can run on crushed rock/dirt. It was so nice to be outside after the previous weekend of rainy, icky weather. As i was running along at my 9min-ish/mile pace, I was passed by 2 guys at different times. When they ran by, it appeared as though they were sprinting; their legs moving so fast, so fluid, so even and graceful. It was beautiful. I love watching men run fast. I find them more beautiful to watch versus fast women. Not sure why. Just do.

Just for a tiny bit of “speed work”, friday night i jumped onto the treadmill and ran 2 fast miles. Whew. That hurt. But, good hurt, ya know??!!

Solid running this weekend. Saturday, I wimped out of running outside as it was another rainy, cold, nasty day. I hopped onto thrillmill treadmill and ran 6.28 miles. I was actually gonna go for 6.5, but treadmill stopped at 60 minutes. Of course, I could’ve restarted it, but I took it as a sign.

Today’s run was outside. Clear skies, about 40 degrees. So nice to have the sun again on weekend. I popped into REI to grab some gels. One of the ones I grabbed was CLIF BLOCKS. I had some last weekend for first time and liked it a lot. If you have not tried, I would recommend. I feel a little burnt out on the true gels.

The first couple of miles were tough. This was my 3rd day in a row of running back to back to back with less than 24 hrs rest between runs. The downside is it takes me a bit to get going; the upside is my legs get used to running through fatigue. I finally felt good after about 4 miles. Ran all along Peachtree St -Brookhaven and Buckhead. Nearly 100% in the sun so that felt nice on my body.

Nutrition: so, i basically went a whole month with a vegetarian diet. I definitely discovered some interesting stuff, both “positive” & “negative”.

POSITIVES

-ate a lot more at home >> forced me to get creative & cook for self

-cheaper to eat in, obviously

-because I ate in a lot, saved $$ on alcohol cause I rarely drink at home

NEGATIVES

-had some issues w/ not getting enough iron >> felt groggy & really fatigued at different points

-sometimes challenging to find good veggie meals at restaurants

So, net-net, it was a good thing for me to do. I feel like I will be better at getting my veggies into my diet on a more consistent basis. I’m not gonna put any “restrictions” on my diet now. I wanted to see how this would go for a while and know I now. I will say this: I am looking forward to having some steak tacos again. One of my favorite things to eat! If anyone has non-meat ideas on IRON (besides veggies), please let me know.

Here’s the last week of miles:

Jan 31: 9 miles – outside

Jan 30: 6.28 miles – treadmill

Jan 29: 2 miles – treadmill, fast

Jan 28: 4.4 miles – outside

Jan 26: 3.5 miles – treadmill

For the month of JANUARY 2010, I ran 97 miles. A decent start to 2010.

Next race is in 2 weeks. Looking forward to it.

I will end with a picture of a true class act. Congratulations on Grand Slam #16!