Jogging in place for an hour on one of those stupid little rebounder trampoline things is far from an ideal way to get a run in, but I haven’t run since the day before I came down with the plague (almost two fucking weeks ago) and I couldn’t stand it anymore, and it sure beats the hell out of running four miles in sub-freezing temperatures with single-digit wind chill on the tail end of the flu.

Although the stupid trampoline was better than jogging in place on the floor, though, I have decided I need a damn spin bike or elliptical or something. A treadmill would be ideal except for the thing where I live on the second floor and don’t want to disturb my downstairs neighbors with my clomping feet at five in the morning.

It was kind of neat to do this with one of those neat relaxation DVDs from the dollar store that had little video clips of various tranquil nature scenes on the TV; this leads one to pretend one is running in such locations and not, say, bouncing around on a stupid little trampoline. The undersea one was, sadly, defective and had to be swapped out for the rainforest about twenty minutes in. While I was quite enjoying pretending to run underwater, the trees and waterfalls were very nice too. I think this is a practice I’ll continue when I get my spin bike.

Anyway, I finished the jogging-in-place-on-stupid-trampoline version of the G28K week 9 run and was not even breathing hard, so I think I should be okay to actually run this weekend and also to race next week.

This was a concern because I fired EA Sports Active: More Workouts up again Wednesday night and it almost fucking killed me.

Waterskiing: fun! Kind of like the inline skating from the original, but it doesn’t keep you in a squat forever. Paddle surfing: also fun! Also, cleverly disguised jump lunges. Trail running: would be more fun if it acknowledged the fact that I AM doing the damn kick-ups as fast as I’m supposed to be. Island Outrun: fuck you. I managed to pass three runners before I disintegrated into a weak jog. And I was running my ass off. I love the new boxing targets. I haven’t tried the obstacle course or the squash or any of the resistance band shit or core shit yet. The new warm-up and cooldown stations are… well, the warm-up is kind of “meh,” I thought, but the cooldown stretches are greatly appreciated.

I still have minor issues with not really being able to make my little avatar look like me–hair colors are limited to “natural” and the bodies come in “skinny,” “skinny,” “skinny,” and “kind of chubby”–but that’s a minor gripe and at least there are more clothing choices.

Also, the parts of my legs that were bothering me aren’t bothering me anymore. I hope they continue to behave themselves.

1. Wake up.
2. Check outside temperature by feeling the nearest window.
3. Cry.
4. Get up anyway. Read the rest of this entry »

So this morning I woke up to go run and noticed it was a tad chilly in the apartment. If my well-insulated apartment, in which I hardly even have to run the heater in the winter, is “a tad chilly,” that means it must be COLD outside.

But that’s okay, because I have a brand-new long-sleeved tech shirt and some brand new tights, and surely that will be all I need!

Ahahahaha. Haha. ha. Hahaha.

Me: doot de doo okay well it’s a little chilly [chatterchatter] but I’ll be fine once I start running, and–

Wind: Y hai thar! I’ma blow up the back of your shirt now, k?

Me: ASJHGAFSJHGASJHFJHCOLD

I didn’t even make it out the complex gate before I turned around and went back up to the apartment to don a light jacket and some shorts over my tights (which looked dorky as all hell, I’m sure, but at least my butt was warm).

I ended up shucking off the jacket and tying it around my waist after about the first mile, but I was grateful for it after my cooldown, which was, uh… exceptionally cool.

Anyway, I finished week 7 of Gateway to 8K today. Week 8 is exactly the same, except with different music. Three 15-minute intervals with one minute in between. It’s pretty easy. Which is something I never really thought I’d say about running for 45 minutes.

I just don’t feel it necessary to blog about every single run now, for some reason–I guess it’s because getting my butt out of bed two hours early to run has just stopped being something blogworthy. It’s just something I do three days out of the week now, and I just don’t feel the need to go HAY WORLD I RAN TODAY anymore, any more than I would feel the need to go HAY WORLD I BRUSHED MY TEEF TODAY, and I guess that means it’s going to stick for a while.

Still, every once in a while, exceptionally cool things happen. I saw a huge-ass meteor Tuesday morning! Which I wouldn’t have seen if I’d been curled up in my bed asleep. That’s pretty awesome.