Beverly says... Back in the saddle again, again...?

Okay, so Julie is off starting a new career so clearly I should at least show a little life on the site to make up for her brief absence. This summer, and I use this term loosely, has been a struggle. June in Boston has gone on record as one of the top 4 worst summers since 1904. What does that mean? Well until the second week of July the average temperature around here was around the lower 60s and it rained. Like it rained every day. I know, cry me a river but it was gloomy. Now it is hot and muggy and I have used up my allowance of complaints. The hot weather has jump started my efforts. It is funny (not really) but agreeing to do this half-marathon kind of stopped me in my tracks on fitness. My Mom (hi Mama) says it is the way I am. I guess when things are my idea and on my terms I am fine but throw in a little control and a deadline and I fall to pieces. I have been doing better in July and now August. When you don't use the fitness you have acquired it goes away rapidly. I have been regularly exercising now for three weeks and I am just now starting to feel like I am getting some strength back. Last week I went up a 100 stairs cold. This is only 8-10 flights of stairs. Back in March I could do several hundred stairs. My legs were sore for days, like four days from these stupid stairs. Why did I stop climbing stairs?


Anyway the point is I am trying again. There isn't a lot of time left before the half-marathon. 27-28 weeks, whoa, I just looked at the calendar. Panic attack. My goal is still a 5K in October. But the big question is can I go from 5K to 13 miles in 3-4 months. I think we all know the answer. I will cross that finish line in February, I just may be crossing it on my hands and knees.

Now for the mp3 shuffle list. (See Julie's last post.) This little exercise proves to me that perhaps I should edit my music. I used the iTunes I listen to at work and not my entire library. Okay here goes but I don't think it is a true sampling of my taste in music although it is about half right:

Fall Line - Michael Houser (Door Harp makes an excellent baby gift!)
Indoor Fireworks - Elvis Costello
Daddy Go Down - David Byrne
Road Trippin' - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Thank you too! - My Morning Jacket (excellent song)
Wave - Alejandro Escovedo
Endgame - R.E.M.
Use Somebody - Kings of Leon
Mr. November - The National
Hard Women Blues - Paul Burch
Back to the Earth - Rusted Root
Big Backyard - Soulhat
Jewel of the Summertime - Audioslave
Mothers of the Disappeared - U2
Parking Lot Song - The Hackensaw Boys
Resignation Superman - Big Head Todd and the Monsters
London Calling - The Clash (favorite record cover art of all time)
Low - Cracker
Don't Let Me Down - 311
Heard Them Stirring - Fleet Foxes

Julie Says.. Yeah, That Too.

It's a been a roller coaster kind of life these past three weeks. That first came out "rolle roaster." I was tempted to leave it that way :) My brain is spinning a little every day. What about running? Thbt. Nada. Zip. Zilch. None.

I almost convinced myself to go to a nearby national park to run, but chickened out when visions of murderous villains started dance-slashing in my mind. Sigh.

So I think I should join a running club to decrease the odds of the rape/murder scenario. But then all my insecurities and excuses creep up on me, and I think

• I'm too slow


• I'm too competitive


• I'm lazy


• I dislike schedules


• I like running alone

Then I think, well, I'll just join a gym. Which brings us to:

• I hate treadmills


• It's expensive (I'd so rather have a new pair of shoes every month)


• Ew. Dirty. Germs. Ptootie.

What to do? What to do?

In the meantime, I've stolen the following idea from the post "We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties. Please Stand By." by mystery writer J.D. Rhoades
from the blog Murderati. Using whatever mp3 player you have: shuffle, then make note of the first 20 songs. I realize my sister may be the only person to participate in the exercise, but that's okay, especially given that three of the songs that came through in my shuffle were gifts from her. Here are mine:

Just Dance - Lady GaGa
Mama Told Me Not to Come - Three Dog Night
Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
The One I Love - REM
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Right For Me - Justin Timberlake
Juke Box Blues - Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)
Can't Get You Out of My Head - Kylie Minogue
Quietude - Michael Houser
We're All Mad - Natasha Bedingfield
Voodoo Doll - Fergie
Ramblin Man - The Allman Brothers
Exgirlfriend - No Doubt
Si sa che aprir la porta - Madama Butterfly
Crazy Game of Poker - OAR
I will buy you a new life - Everclear
Fake Empire - The National
E soffitto e pareti - Madama Butterfly
Lost Coastlines - Okkervil River
Past in Present - Feist

Julie Sings of Tiny Things Past

Once upon a time (far too long ago), a group of silly girls sang silly camp songs in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Many years later, one of the silly girls got a clover flower stuck between the toes of her Vibram FiveFingers. With an equally silly grin, she began to sing...

There is a daisy on my toe
It is not real
It does not grow
It's just a tiny little flower
To look at when I'm in the shower

It's on the second toe of my left foot
It has no stem
It has no root
Because... That wouldn't look good [spoken]
It's just a daisy on my toe
My right foot loves my left foot so (*smooch*smooch*)

{Scrreeeech} Welcome back.

A little digging on the web revealed that it's not "just a tiny little flower". It is instead *gasp* "a tattoo of a flower."

"That can't be," I think to myself. "It's just a kid's camp song."

A little more digging revealed that it's a Smothers Brothers song titled "The Tattoo Song." Well.

There is a midi of the tune here: http://webcatt.net/Midi/daisy_toe.html
(remember midis? ah... how times change). I tried finding the song on iTunes. I think this is the point where I have to say, "You know you're old if... " Yeaaaah, I guess no one really wants to pay for Smothers Brothers songs.

The song as I remember it is almost right. I learned the song at Camp Little Crossroads, a GA (Girls in Action) camp, so I suppose tattoos were considered too risque for miniature Christian girls. The camp has since changed its name to CrossRoads Camp and Conference Center. Also, in 1998, they initiated coed camps *gasp* (You know you're old if...).

Ah, remembrances. I am trying to enjoy these last few days at home... running barefoot in the grass... chasing cats... watching the garden bloom... watching TV with Mama... cooking dinner...

Times change. I'm content with where I'm going. I am hopeful that this next phase will be as enjoyable as the last.

For the record, running is out for the next few weeks. I'm still recovering from an unfortunate episode with a pair of high heels and not sure how long it will take me to find a safe place to run in my new location. In the meantime, I think I'll go back to concentrating on yoga. I think that will best for keeping me centered during this transition, and I could use the extra strengthening.

Julie Whirls and Tweets

Whew, it's been a whirlwind these past two weeks. For those of you who may have missed the emails and tweets, I got a job!!! It seems to be a perfect match for me, and I'm very excited to get started. However -- holy moly there's a ton to do. I start July 6th and between then and now I have to find a place to live, move, and... and... um...huh. I guess that's it. Find a home and move in two weeks. No biggie.

As promised on Twitter, I owe a story on my experience with the treadmill. I don't like treadmills in general because they are so boring. It's no fun to exert all that effort and not actually go anywhere. This particular treadmill (in the hotel gym) was facing a mirrored wall, so I had the bonus of seeing my own puffing face the entire time. This really was a bonus in this instance because I needed a chance to check my form. The VFFs are great at preventing heel-striking, but a great stride is far more nuanced than just not landing on your heels. I've been reading and reading and trying to apply what I read. Surprise, surprise, it's hard to look at your feet and maintain a good form at the same time :)

What I learned is this: it actually takes more effort to run slow than to run fast -- or at a minimum, no more effort to run much faster. Gasp! You think I'm crazy, right? Turns out, the more efficiently you run, the easier it is. Although I hate to see all those numbers on the treadmill display (re: my post on why I run with a HRM) it gave me a chance to fiddle with the pace and watch the results in my form and heart rate. I was able to bump up the speed by more than one minute per mile with zero effect on my heart rate -- and maintain that speed with no conscious extra effort.

The following video may not be the best example, but it's fun to watch anyway and features Barefoot Ted, who is one of the main "characters" in Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Reading Barefoot Ted's blog was one of the things that convinced me to try VFFs. Anyway, notice how little he actually moves his feet. McDougall talks a bit in the book about this economy of movement. (He's wearing hauraches, which he learned to make from the Tarahumara).



As far as shoes go, the VFFs felt fine but were extremely loud (THUMP_THUMP_THUMP_THUMP_THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP)
-- so now we know that cushioning in shoes is good for noise reduction... ah ha! That's why they're called sneakers!

Other bad mojo from the treadmill is that it left me limping with extremely sore hips for several days. Ouch. I'm writing this now from the same hotel (after a return trip home, then back here, then around and around and around and around in search of a new home). I plan to run on the treadmill again only because I have no choice :(