There’s a bagpipe tune called “Easy Day March”,  and it has stuck in my mind, hence the post title. Dum dum dum, dum de dum dum de dum - it’s a real swing the kilt type of tune, definitely not running music! Sometimes I miss playing my bagpipes. It’s been so long I’m just too puffed to get a squeak out of them. I really should give it another go.

Nothing exciting or dramatic to report. It was an easy day today, I woke before the alarm and wasn’t likely to get back to sleep, so I went out before everyone was up. The idea was that I’d be back in time to at least have a cup of tea with my hubby before he went to work. Just did 6km, can’t remember the time,  wasn’t too worried about it. Was still a bit hot for Sinner, and he lagged a little. I was thinking that I seem to do all my runs at a similar pace if I don’t think about what I’m doing. I was reading the half marathon program my hubby did for me, I’m not considering it again, but was looking at the suggested pace for the long runs. I should be doing them at somewhere between 7 and 8 minutes per km, but I just don’t seem to be comfortable at that pace. If I relax, I seem to automatically go at around 6 - 6 1/2 minutes per km, whether it’s 5k or 10k. That may well change as distance increases.

I live not too far from a funeral parlour. It’s always busy, and as I drove past it today with its packed carpark I was thinking you’re a long time dead. Really, we need to look at the big picture, be kind to the ones we love, don’t sweat the small stuff and take every chance to live the richest life we can. Smarmy, yeah, but not far wrong.

Have you ever had a big swig of your sports drink bottle and found there was undissolved Gatorade around the spout? If not, don’t. Take my word for it, it’s not delicious!

Had two very busy shifts at work - non stop consults but nothing too taxing, thank goodness. I’m of two minds about work, on the one hand I’d love to pack it in, just to have the extra time to myself, but I actually like my job, and I like the people I work with.

I was going to head out with MBRR yesterday morning, they were going running through some wetlands about 40 minutes away with a breakfast afterwards. I woke at 4am and got up to get ready but it was overcast and raining. Figuring it would still be cool for the rest of the day, I went back to bed and got up again around 7.30. I went into Redcliffe by myself. It had stopped raining but there was a fair wind coming off the ocean. I went in the opposite direction to the way I usually go with the Road Runners because I figured I’d rather battle the headwind on the way out rather than on the way back when I was more likely to be weary, but still got buffeted. I was aiming to do 8km, but felt really comfortable when I got to that point, so kept going. Shin felt great! I ended up doing 10km in 1 hour 03 minutes 28 seconds, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, and didn’t turn the Garmin off for quite a while - kept sneaking a peek at the display, LOL. Here’s the run on gmaps.pedometer. I went for a coffee afterwards, and quite enjoyed the time to myself. I had an audio book on my mp3 player and I really enjoyed that, more so than music. I don’t think it’d be a good option on the road where there’s cars etc and you need to concentrate more, but along a beachside path there wasn’t too much to look out for.

I took the dogs a walk wearing my Nike shoes, and my shin started to hurt again. Seems if I wear my Asics, I can do no wrong, but anything in the Nike hurts my shin - doesn’t matter if they have no insoles, the insoles with the heel raises, or the orthotics. I’ll take all my shoes and bits and pieces to the Podiatrist next weekend when I’m due for a recheck and see what it might take to get my Nikes useable.

I’ve been having a bit of a look at the Ipod Nano and the stuff you can do with Nike on the web - challenges, map runs, download workouts etc. Looks like fun. I thought you would have to only use Nike shoes but I’m told that you can attach the little bit that communicates with the Nano to your shoelaces somehow. I’m going to call in to WOW Sight and Sound on the way home and see what a Nano is worth.

Starting to formulate a few running goals, will publicise them when I’m sure of what I want to do.

Space bar behaved itself today!!

Hehe, great post title but not what you’re thinking. I so need to upgrade this computer, there’s no point in mastering touch typing and doing it really fast when you don’t have a functional space bar!! Two words forward, one word back to belt the space bar and convince it there needs to be a space. Frustrating.

I had my choice of dogs today but I decided to take Sinner, because I wanted to try and go a bit quicker and Guinness is still young. Slept in a bit and by the time we got out it was 7am and like a sauna (hence the post title). I had some new music on my mp3 player - last night I took the children to see the Watoto Children’s Choir and downloaded the CD I bought to my player. It’s not all boppy, even the boppy ones are quite sedate, compared to how they were performed live. I think I would have preferred a live CD, so much more energy. The children were lovely, most if not all had been orphaned by HIV/AIDS and had been taken in and housed in Watoto villages. I’m not a big fan of organised religion, but this looks like a very good project undertaken by a Christian group of people.

Anyway, I went out into a bit of a headwind, aiming to try for a quick 5k. Shin fine, groin fine, no dramas. Poor Sinner felt the heat by around 4 1/2 km, and started lagging a bit but we still came in at 28.2min for the 5k, which I was happy with. Been so long since I’ve felt I’ve made any improvement in my running - that made me feel like I was still doing okay. I was reading a book on sports nutrition and thought I’d try something different. Usually I get up and head out with nothing more than a cup of tea, I don’t have much of an appetite, but today I ate a banana and had some gatorade about 20 minutes before I ran. Did that make a difference? Maybe. Sample size of one. Will try that again. I still had no appetite when I came back, and took a while before I felt like breakfast.

I need to go and take Guinness for a walk as we’ll be out for a chunk of the day, but I know he’ll pull me from shady tree to shady tree. Still, he needs to expend some energy.

I now have a non running goal - to quit my job by March 2008 and have an alternative income source in place. Need to get started on that one. Need to work out a running goal too!

Darnedspacebar!!!!!!

Melbourne Cup day yesterday, just about everyone stops to watch the race. There was a report in today’s paper about a man who bet $6000 to win $48000, and the horse ran second. I’d be happy to hold on to the $6000. He was apparently “quite emotional” about it. No joke sherlock!! Must be the fastest $6000 ever spent. Apart from the gambling, I hate the way the horses are treated. A horse snapped a hindleg yesterday and fell in one of the preceding races. One minute galloping his heart out, the next behind a black screen being euthanased. What do they do to horses such that they’d break a leg just doing what they’ve been bred and trained to do? It totally sickens me.

Anyway, onto other things. Hubby took Sinner out for a 3km run today to test his calf, so I felt morally obliged to take Guinness out. It was unlikely I’d get them out for a walk otherwise today so he needed the exercise. I figured if he could run quite fast as much as he’s been doing lately, I’d give him a shot at a slow steady 5k. He breezed it home in 31 minutes and some seconds. He walked in the house and had a seat, not even panting, didn’t need a drink, so cruisy. I found it harder running that far with him in that he needs a bit more focus than Sinner. When Sinner comes with me, he just stays by my side and I can listen to music and not worry too much about where he is or what he’s up to. Guinness baulked at a noisy truck, wanted to chase a magpie, tried to pee on every shrub (you’re gonna lose your cajones, boy!) and occasionally swapped sides in front of me. In spite of all that, he was actually very good considering it was his first “long” run. I’m looking at the Hal Higdon 15km training program, and Sinner can do the longer weekday runs, Guiness can do the shorter ones, and I’ll do a long one on the weekend with Moreton Bay Road Runners.

I received an email from 2XU today, they’re going to send me the clothing I requested with the voucher I won at the Bribie Beach Bash. Looking forward to receiving that.

Miss 7 has said she doesn’t want to come out on C25k with me any more, because she gets to bed a little later than she’d like, and she’s just too tired in the mornings. Fair enough too, she needs her sleep. Plenty of time for that when she’s older, if she still wants to.

And, hubby’s calf held out well. All in all, a productive day.

Getting a bit concerned about my food intake. I couldn’t finish dinner last night and it wasn’t a huge meal. I took Guinness out this morning for week 3 of C25K, and all I’ve had is a half slice of toast and a cup of tea. Just not hungry. I lost 2 kilos during the C25K, which isn’t a great drama, but I jumped on the scales last night and I’ve lost another 2kg. I’m now down to 64kg.  I need to watch this a bit I think.

 Guinness had a great time this morning, he’s starting to run really nicely beside me without tripping me up, and he looks like he could keep going for miles. I, on the other hand, found it quite hard going doing the run parts at a bit of speed. Legs felt like lead. I may have a chat to one of my orthopaedic colleagues - just for a better idea of how much will be too much for him. His other ear is up now too!! It’s time to get a picture of him and get a new blog image put together.

On a happier note, my hubby had a couple of km run last night with no calf pain. Looks like he’s back on track.

There was an eel on the grass near the lake, dead. Why did someone take it out of the lake to leave it to die, when they obviously didn’t want to eat it? That’s totally senseless.

I’m having a bit of a look at Hal Higdon’s 15km training program, it might be a more achievable plan for me at this stage.

I figured that setting a 10k run as a goal isn’t terribly motivating as I’m not far off it anyway, I’d get there just by nature of the slight increase in distance I seem to do every now and then. So, I couldn’t see that being much of a goal. I’ve been thinking about aiming for a half marathon, because it’ll be a decent amount of hard work to get there, and because it ties in with my plans to do an Endurance Test with my dog. There are also plenty of training programs out there. My hubby has drawn up a training plan for me based on one in Runners World Magazine and worked out the pace of each of my runs. It looks quite hard , for example, the weekend after next my long run is over 12km!! It’s a pretty slow run though, but I don’t think I’ll manage that. I think this program might hurt my shin in a big way, it’s just started feeling really good. I’ll have to give this one a bit more thought, might not be the right time. Guinness can’t do an Endurance Test until he’s two, in March 2009. I really need some direction!! I need a goal that I will need to work to get to, and that’s achievable.

I went out with Moreton Bay Road Runners again on the weekend, they’re starting at 5.30am now but it still heats up quickly. I think I’ll have to start carrying a water bottle with me. Nobody to run with as there was nobody doing my distance or pace, but it was pleasant enough along the foreshore listening to the waves and the birds. There was a cat sitting in the window of a house overlooking the bay, just gazing over the ocean. I wonder if animals appreciate nice scenery. Probably not. I might take my mp3 player next week with a teleseminar on it, train my mind as I train my body, hehe.

Went for coffee again afterwards. Most of the club members have a VIP card for the Coffee Club, which means if they buy a coffee, they get one free. The last two weeks I’ve had someone cover the cost of my coffee with their card, which has been nice. I’ll have to get myself a card next visit so I can reciprocate. I’ll be joining the club shortly as hubby feels happier if I do my long runs with company, he feels it’s safer. It’s not fair that there are so many places women can’t run safely on their own because of the actions of a sick few.

Interesting effect on my diet lately. I’m not nearly as hungry as I usually am, so don’t eat as much. Probably not a good thing since I’m using up more calories. Roseanne gave me a bar of chocolate today, and I enjoyed a couple of pieces but didn’t feel my usual urge to scoff the lot in as short a time as possible. There’s even some still in the fridge. Might go and have a read about the effect of exercise on insulin - diabetic dogs need a consistent level of exercise or their insulin needs fluctuate, probably similar in people. I might have to explore that further as my distance increases, I don’t want to end up too skinny.

I went ice skating last night with the family, pulled on my jeans, and not only could I get them on, but I could do them up comfortably and there was a half inch of space at the thighs! I don’t mind this running stuff!!!

… I have a goal. I’ve been feeling as though I have no real direction and nothing to aim for, and it’s making it hard to stretch myself. I need some sort of program but don’t know what I want to get out of my running.  Maybe this will help.. I’ll have to chew it over a bit yet.

I didn’t run today, I’ve been feeling very down in the dumps lately, and I actually had a decent night’s sleep last night. Woke at 7.30 feeling a bit better, but there wasn’t time to get out.

Slept in a bit again! When I went out though, it was a bit overcast and a bit cooler, so Sinner and I headed out on my new “loop”. I saw the plover chick down our street; I also saw both parents at close range and eye level. I tried a gear change - put my orthotics into the Asics and wore them instead of the Nikes. So comfortable, I felt like I could just keep on going. The shin was a bit niggly at the start but rapidly warmed up.  I also went out a little slower than I have been, I think part of the reason I found it hard to increase my distance was because I started my run quickly and ran out of steam.

Got to 4km and just felt great, but it was really starting to warm up and the humidity was high, Sinner started to struggle. Stopped at 5km in just over 32 minutes. I’m trying to remember  if this is his first summer running, I can’t recall when my hubby first started with him, but when he was doing his 13km or so runs, it was early on a winter morning. It may well be his first summer of distance because last summer he would have been just over 12 months old, and not doing as much. He’ll have to acclimatise to the conditions, which will mean a slow increase in distance as he gets used to it. That may mean that in order for me to increase my distance, I may have to go out once or twice a week without dog. That may also mean that Guinness, being quite black, may spontaneously combust if I run too much with him over summer. That’s okay, he’ll be 12 months old in March, so we’ll be bumping his distance up as the cooler months approach. I’m probably a bit over cautious - not just the orthopaedic issues, but I’ve known a dog to die of heat stroke while running with her owner, this was back when I had my practice in Clontarf, and it’s not pretty.

My shin, however, feels fantastic! No pain at all. Maybe the Asics are just better suited to my feet than the Nikes. I’ll stick with the Asics for the next week or two and see what happens. Not exactly a scientific experiment by any means, but if it’s not hurtin’, I’m not changin’. The Nikes will have the liners with the heel raises in them and they can be used for going for a walk with the dog.

Looks like hubby and I won’t be running on Saturday morning after all. His calf is still sore, and he’s not running at all. Probably quite frustrating for him, but he’s doing the right thing. We’re going for Yum Cha instead, and there will be plenty of other times to hit the trails.

I’m going to treat myself to a new swimming cossie this summer, I think.