Week 13, Day 2 - Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was a pretty good 3 mile run.  I decided to repeat my run from last week running around the Xerox campus, then around the field-y park (mostly b/c I haven't discovered any other routes yet).  The run itself felt pretty good, but it was VERY windy outside.  I felt like no matter which direction I turned, I was still running against the wind which was a little frustrating.

WARNING!!!  THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH CONTAINS CROTCHETY BITCHING OVER SOMETHING STUPID...READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK:
There's a certain sense of camaraderie among runners..... I always want to give other runners the props they deserve when they're out cruising the cement.... That's nice - right?   Also, when I see people running who are clearly out of shape or overweight, I always want to shout out, "GREAT JOB!!  KEEP IT UP!!!"...also nice!  However, today, this older lady walking her dog "GREAT JOB!! KEEP IT UP!!ed" me and royally aggravated me!!  First of all, in order to hear what she said, I actually had to slow down and take my earphones out which was annoying enough, but it also made me wonder if I had looked as though I needed someone to cheer me on?  Did I look like I was struggling or overweight?  I don't think so... When I'm pushing the kids in the stroller or when I was out walking while pregnant, I enjoyed people's encouragement... I was like, "Hell's bells biznatch!  I AM doing something awesome & thanks for recognizing!"  However... today was a completely different story, I've been running for 4 months now and thought I was actually starting to look slightly fit.  I know this woman was obviously just trying to be incredibly nice by encouraging me and I'm also aware that I'm being crotchety and oversensitive, but the truth is she pissed me off something terrible.... It really made me rethink wanting to give encouragement to other runners too.  From now on, I'm pretty sure I'll be keeping my mouth shut.

In other news.  I went out yesterday to buy a hydration belt.  I purchased one which is nearly identical to Michelle's from this past Saturday.  It has 2 big bottles which fit in little compartments over the small of my back.  It also has a nice sized pouch which can hold keys and gel packs. Even though I only ran 3 miles today, I decided to take it out with me just to see how it felt running with water. I thought for sure the sloshing would drive me crazy, but I didnt' feel it at all and couldn't hear it over my music.  I'm going to have to figure out how to jimmy the belt part better b/c the excess belt strap ended up kind of flapping in the wind.  Maybe this weekend I'll run out to Joanne fabrics for some Velcro to see if I can stitch something on there.   It was actually really nice to have some water with me and was pleasantly surprised how nice it was to be able to take a big schlug ever 1/2 mile or so! 

The water must have made a good difference, because my running time was only a 9:41 pace mile!  That's actually my best pace since 1/4/2012! 

Lastly, I'd like to get some props for my commitment to my running.  Today was the first day I was invited by co-workers to go out for Thai lunch and I turned them down in order to run :(  I very much wanted to go with them, but with the Shamrock only a few weeks away and all the runs I've missed in the last few weeks, I just couldn't skip my run today.  Hopefully they'll invite me again some other time.