More Ja'mie King

Ja'mie King, always an inspiration.

Right. Well... Um... I'm just spit-ballin' here, but how 'bout some clouds drifting across a blue sky?

Today I did 10 miles and felt pretty good. So I successfully completed the first week of training. And on top of what I wrote yesterday, today I'm considering running a different marathon in late September or one in November. I'm just spit-ballin' here.

I don't think I've bitched about this yet, but I've decided to give up drinking drink less while "training" and it's been going fine, but sometimes my roommate makes it really hard.

Guys, seriously, build a bridge and get over it.

Yesterday was a rest day. I didn't run, but I did finally get to swim, which felt good but tiring. This morning the plan was a 45-60 minute easy run. I did 56 minutes and felt good. Also, I'm thinking about adjusting the training plan since it's not going to be ending with a marathon. Sundays are the long run days and I'm thinking about halving the distance over ten miles (13 instead of 16, 15 instead of 20, etc.). I don't really see the point of doing 22 mile runs. And I'm thinking of doing a half marathon in September now. I've run them before, but never raced one, which would probably be a good idea before trying to race a marathon.

Obvious to other people; a new idea to me.

Also, I'm thinking about volunteering for that stupid sold-out marathon. The better to judge everyone.



Side note 1: Marriage is now legal for gays in New York. Huzzah! And now I can add "unmarried" to other things that are wrong with me. Here's a link to a New York Times article but before you click it, remember that you only get to read so many online articles for free now. I'm still annoyed at The New York Times over this. Link.

Side note 2: So far this calendar year, I have seen two movies in theaters. In May I went to my younger sister's graduation and one night we (my two sisters and two of my brothers) went to see Bridesmaids. It was still newly out in theaters and newly on my radar since one day at the library I was paging through Harper's Bazaar (a rare occurrence for me, believe it or not) and almost passed out with excitement when I immediately recognized Sookie St. James. I love her! (Gilmore Girls, obviously, and The Nines.)



I also recognized Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, but somehow didn't recognize the other three who I actually know better--that girl from The Office, Clem from Reno 911, and Rose Byrne.

Anyway, I liked it. It was funny, but my favorite part was her (Kristen Wiig's) perfect little pity party where she makes herself a cupcake. It spoke to me.

Then last week I saw X-Men: First Class. It kind of surprised me by being the most stylish movie I've seen in a while. And I liked the story.



That poster's from here.

Oh well.

That marathon, that I hadn't signed up for yet, is already sold out (or whatever the terminology is). Of course I found this out after I got up early and ran two miles at goal pace, two miles at a "tempo" pace, and two miles at goal pace. Plus 15 minute warm-up and cool-down. Blah. Then this evening I kept seeing slow-ass runners I'm sure signed up. Ugly, fat, and slow.

I'm going to keep going with the training plan though. Some how I'll show them all, make them sorry, etc.

This morning I successfully ran four miles and then did four 100-meter striders. Good job me. I was again unsuccessful in swimming. I called the YMCA and the chatty receptionist (it was before 6:00 AM) told me that a part had been backordered. Is there anything more infuriating than being informed that something's been backordered?

Urban Dictionary, right again:

The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.

I've decided to run a marathon this fall, so until October I will be Blogging With A Purpose.

I'm doing the Runner's World training plan, which technically started yesterday, but that was a "rest" day, so I rested from blogging an update. Today I jumped right in with a 4x1-mile repeats at a "cruise" pace.

Some background: I came up with this brilliant idea when I went to "watch" my father run the Boston Marathon in April. I took the train in to Boston from Hopkinton, where we were staying, and watched the finish. It was oddly exciting since I've been pretty much over competitive running since college. Anyway, I decided "I can do that!" (Win a marathon, not just finish one. Haha.) So I started running sporadically, which became several times a week. Before I officially started this training plan the furthest I'd run (since starting up again in April) was 9.3 miles and the fastest was an 8-mile run at about a 7:00 pace.

Back to today's "cruise intervals"--a 7:00 marathon pace would have been 6:19 miles. A 6:00 pace would be 5:25 miles. A 6:30 pace (which Runner's World doesn't give you and I had to figure out on my own) would be 5:52. I did 5:38, 5:57, 6:02, and 6:02. I'm pretty sure they weren't supposed to almost kill me, but they did. Thank God some hot guy started working out on the track during my last two (this is why you should always do speedwork on a college track). With the 15-minute warm-up and cool-down, I figure I did 7.5-8 miles today.

Tomorrow's just 4 miles, so I should be able to do that no problem.

Some pictures to give you an idea of how hot I look running:






Exercise side note: I'm going to start swimming again too. Actually it was supposed to start yesterday, but the Y by me was doing their "annual pool maintenance" Sunday through today, so it should start tomorrow. The point is, you know how every magazine is always showing short-ish retro-ish trunks? But whenever I go to my usual high-end stores (Gap), all they have are normal boardshorts from 1999. But Old Navy actually has some that are pretty flattering and on sale (or they were yesterday).



On the Old Navy website they're currently sitting with a 1.5-out-of-5 star rating and this one review: "had to return these because they were WAY to short!" Ha. Of course I bought a pair.