Why?

We're on a road trip for Steve's bike race. Since I'm not riding, I dropped him off at the start and set out to find a nice run.

As a woman, when I run alone I stay in very populated areas. Finding a relatively safe run here was a challenge. Most of the runs on mapmyrun.com for this area go through some barren locations. That's the problem with runs over 10 miles, it's hard to find a consistently good route.

I picked a route along the shoreline thinking that the beach is always nice. Fail. I ended up in what must be the most yucky beach town on the planet. Running isn't any fun here - lots of missing sidewalk, potholes and cracks, trash on the street and dog dookie on the sidewalks. I'm sure there's something nice about this place, but I'm at a loss to tell you what it might be. There was so much fog I couldn't even see the ocean.

Since mapmyrun has gone to a paid model, you must now pay to print maps. That's pretty much the end of my use of mapmyrun. Their service is adequate, but no better than some of the free services out there. I didn't print a map, but I did memorize a 12 mile route.

It was ugly, foggy and trashy, but I was strong - running hard through the beachside trailer parks. As I was at the midpoint of my run, I noticed that the same black Monte Carlo car was always behind me. After a mile or so, I realize, this guy's not looking for an address. Now we start a game of cat and mouse. I turn in the opposite direction and he takes the next turn and catches up to me. I run slowly; he drives slowly. I run though yards or against traffic, he catches me at the next intersection. Creepy. I finally lost him, but also had managed to get lost - without a map, off my memorized route and somehow on the other side of the canyon and the highway. Getting back to my truck added a few extra miles to my plan. As I got near my car, there he was again. I looked over and there was now a woman in the car with him and she snapped my picture (with flash). Why? Why do you stalk and snap a photo of a stranger running?

You annoy me creepy, cellulite fetish, Chevy Monte Carlo man and your freaky photographer girlfriend. You annoy me.

Michael Phelps and I - Twins?

Michael Phelps was interviewed on the sideline of today's Michigan game and I promise you he said this when listing his goals.

"Get back in shape"

Forty days after capturing his 8th gold medal in Beijing, Michael worried about his fitness level and needs to "get back in shape".

Clearly "Get back in shape" means something different to Michael than it does to me. Because getting back into shape is one of my goals too.

Spun

Went to spin class. Then went and ate two enormous cookies from the catering tray in the break room.

QOTD

The only real limitation you ever had was your inability to see what you were actually capable of all along.

-Dawn Dais
The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women

Who's Down With ADD? Yeah You Know Me!

I'm so friggin' bored with my workout schedule that I'm not really working out all that often. I'm not feeling challenged or stimulated or well, anything. For an ADD person like me boredom=not going to bother. Also, I'm fat these days which isn't helping

In hopes that something will spark me to leave my office and go to the gym, I''m giving another shot at shaking it up with new workouts. Today, I rocked it old skool in the pool. Having swum competitively since I was 6 years old, the pool is a familiar place for me.

I hopped in and did most of today's Master Swim workout, but had to shave off a round of laps because I ran out of time. That happened because I'm so slow that I couldn't complete the full workout in the time allotted. It wasn't even a hard workout, a mere 2500 meters (1.5 miles) in a short course pool. Poop! Also, my butterfly which was always my strongest stroke has gone completely wonky. Double Poop Poop!

I suspect I'll be spending time with this book on short pool workouts.

Today's Workout:

Warm Up	-	500 Increasing	-
Drills	2 sets	5 x 25 Fly	30 second intervals.
-	-	5 x 25 Back	Each stroke restarts at the top.
-	-	5 x 25 Breast	Last in each series is an easy kick drill.
-	-	5 x 25 Free	Should have been 3 sets.
-	-	100 Easy	-
Cool Down	-	800 Decreasing	-
-