RUNNING - IT'S ADDICTIVE

 It's another gorgeous day in Central California.  Every day is a good day now that Kitters can come and go as she pleases.  Lately, she seems to be out more than in.  Though she used to spend lots of time next door in the field with the goat (I had no idea that they still HAD a goat), she now has just a little trouble jumping up and over that 7' tall fence.  I told her she needed to be on a diet.

With nothing going on for the next day, it was time to get back to walking/running.  It's addictive, this running stuff.  Truly, it's jogging, or as we runners call it, clydesdaling.  We just run along at a nice jog until we are dying for breath, then we walk for 3 minutes, then jog again.  

There's a point after the first half mile or so that you can take a really big breath.  From then on, you can run for some distance before completely running out of air once again.  

Breathe in to four steps, breathe out to three.  In to three, out to two.  By the time you get to two steps in and two steps out, you feel like you are underwater.  Once you get your breath back from walking, you go again.  WHY?  I've no idea.  There's something wrong with the brains of runners that say I can do this.  Or maybe it's just being challenged.  I've been that way all my running life.  If they can do it, "I" can do it.

Pretty soon ... months that is ... you can run for 4 or 5 miles without stopping.  If you keep it up, you really go crazy and start entering races.  Not to race, because there's no way I would ever win, but just to see if I could.  The first one was in Lake Tahoe.  My friend who had run this before, forgot to tell me it was mostly uphill.  I only ran the 10 km race (6 miles), but felt like I had run a 26.2 marathon.  

This is the ONE MILE mark on this day!!!

I kept practicing and running with her, though she kicked my butt on every occasion.  Eventually we entered many races, starting with half marathons, working on up to marathons.  Who in the world EVER would have thought I could run that far.  

Having San Francisco Giants season tickets turned out to be the perfect excuse to run.  Low altitude, cool (the colder the better), with lots of uphill training.  I won't mention how many times I got lost in the hills, once ending up at a Fire Station where the guys took me back to my starting point.  

Soon I was running two marathons in San Francisco a year, along with several in Sacramento.  There were no trophies, but lots of medals, T-shirts and fruit.  Ten feet across the finish line was a pile of fruit for you to grab to regain some of your strength.  The more I ate, the less sore I was the next day.

That led to Triathlons.  Swim, bike, run.  I tried it a few times, but I was a terrible swimmer and finally gave up that endeavor.

As I trotted on down my measly 2.5 miles on this day, the peacock was still hanging out, though hard to see through the fencing.  

After the first marathon I ran, I thought I was doing so good ... I could still walk!!  The second day was another story altogether.  I was so sore I could not go up or down stairs, which were required for me to get to my office.  

From then on, I ran even MORE because I thought if I was in BETTER shape, I would not be so sore the day after a race.  It became terribly addictive.  And time consuming.  Practice included running every other day for about 3 hours, with a 5-7 hour long run on Saturdays.  I ran my last race at 66 years of age.  

I kept running, but just didn't want to spend all that time when there were more fun things to do.  Besides, I had two puppies to take care of by then.  Not to mention, San Francisco became a homeless nightmare and was not a safe place to run any more.

Unfortunately, I STILL have that I-need-to-run thing in my head.  It just does not go away, so for the next few weeks, I will probably be out doing my thing in the country.  I got in 2.5 miles yesterday, with more running than walking.  I guarantee there will be no 10k (6 mile) runs, but at least I can stay in a little better shape ... I can run up those Elks Lodge stairs ... and probably even sleep a little better.  

Regarding those nasty Rip Van crunchy things ..... TRY THESE!  I do love peanut butter and have a terrible sweet tooth addiction.  These are SO much better than the other ones.  Still not quite enough sugar, but enough to quiet the craving.  MUCH better than ice cream or cookies!!!

Diner wasn't exactly a gourmet treat.  I finally just boiled all twelve leftover potatoes from the bag I bought and mashed them up.  They aren't too bad if I don't eat too much.  Add to that veggies and a roll that I thought only needed to be heated up.  Alas, they actually have to be baked first.  I know, I eat weirdly.  Whatever I can find without actually having to cook.

I'm sorry to say, I'm pretty sore from yesterday's run.  When you start running, you run out of air quickly, so your muscles don't have time to get in so much work that you get sore.  However, there is a point at which you can keep running and NOT run out of air.

That's where I'm at right now.  Since you are not restricted by your LUNGS, you keep running until your legs give out ... and that's when the SORE begins.  

No worries, I only run every other day, so I give them a little time to heal up.  I just walk funny!!!  Running ... it's addictive!!  But it also keeps me OUT OF THE FRIDGE, so it does have its benefits!