The Anti-Running Runner

No, I'm not referring to the Honey Bucket visits from the last post. Horrible runs meaning extremely difficult jogs. My last few runs (a six and a couple eights with shorter distances thrown in there) have been quite challenging. I blame the heat (seriously, it is KILLER here), but I also blame my lack of talent as a runner. And my inability to get up early. I don't have "it" like some people do. But that's okay. It's not a complaint. I do have perseverance, so that's in my favor. But getting back up to higher mileage is such an ordeal for me. As a 10-12-minute miler, it takes a long time for me to get some of these runs done. I guess this is one of the reasons why I'm the Anti-Running Runner. While in Georgia meeting my new niece (!!!) I got a chance to run in my sister's neighborhood two weekends in a row. I've mentioned before how much I love running there. Here I am doing one loop around her neighborhood (about 4 miles). It was ho...

I've been wanting to write some of my past running stories. In particular, events or things that happened before I started the blog. I have fond memories of my first half marathon, Hood 2 Coast, some not-so-fond memories of my first marathon, and other running tales I could share. To get the ball rolling, I wanted to explain what happened to me on my run today. On Tuesday, I finally managed to run five miles with the Vibrams. Yay! It was a humid day, but cloudy. Not so much blazing hot sun beating down. But for some reason every gnat in Florida was out for an evening...stroll flight?....on my running route to the St. Pete Pier. I have a bug phobia, so that wasn't fun, but I was glad that my toes didn't hurt. Today, I left work intending to run the same route. It was sunny and hot at first, but I noticed some dark clouds in the distance. They moved in and I had that glorious sensation of cooler air for about a mile before the rain began. It felt so good. I was loving i...

I love this time of year. The days are getting cooler, the humidity level decreases, and running feels pretty good. My running routine changes throughout the year. I have quite a few races coming up, so my current schedule is to run every other day (average 3 days a week, sometimes 4). My favorite time to run is after work along the waterfront. I change into running clothes and walk to the security-guarded parking garage where I leave my things in the car. The route I often take from the garage to the Pier and back is about 5 miles. My next race is the Women’s Half Marathon on Nov 21 st , so I’m increasing to 8 miles today. Nice and slow. During the summer, after work is not a fun time to run, but I have a really hard time getting up at 5am to run before. The anti-runner in me hits snooze until it's too late to run before work, and my punishment is to run in the Florida deathrays of the late afternoon. Lately, I have prefered this to waking up early. I...