stillsostrange

I mentioned that I ran the 3M Half last month? Well, this month I'm running in the Austin Half Marathon. February 19th, to be exact. Some of this is masochism, but mainly I'm fundraising for Out Youth. So if you'd like to contribute to Central Texas LGBT+ kids' services, programs, and safe space, you can do so at:

www.crowdrise.com/amandadownum

Anything is appreciated, including good wishes for my poor limbs. This route has hills.

On Sunday, matociquala and I ran* the Galveston Half Marathon. The astute reader may note that I am still alive. This comes as a surprise to us all.

We appear to be doing it again next year.



* I ran 3/4ths of it, in intervals, because I'm still taking it easy on my IT bands.

This is just to say that I did a pull-up today. Two of them, in fact. Sadly, there was an hour in between those two, but hey. I did a pull up. I am officially a valkyrie. I'm also running two miles at minimal intervals. With any luck next week I'll be running 2.25 miles.

In other news, Poison Court is closing fast on 20k. And we're still in the first round of plot twists. Long book may be long. I'm also watching Hannibal, because bulletproof kink. I blame Tumblr. And also bulletproof kink.

Saturday was Warrior Dash, which I attended despite the last month of knee problems and my banged up arm. Compared to Run For Your Lives, it was both harder and easier. The WD trail was full of nasty hills, and of course December in Texas is a better time to run than March. But without the ever-present threat of zombies, you didn't have to run. And mostly I didn't after the first stretch. The WD obstacles were a bit more challenging, though I was disappointed we didn't get some of the cooler ones they show in promo photos.*

We did get tire grids and wet balance beams and over-unders with barbed wire and rope tunnels and chain ladders and several walls to climb over, including a wall with a knotted rope** and trenches that could be vaulted or climbed out of and fire pits to jump. So perhaps I need to shut up and be happy with my obstacles.

The final obstacle was a mud trench through which we had to swim. Reader, I have never been so filthy in my life. My bathroom has never been so filthy. Now I know what hippos feel like, except they don't have to sit in a car for an hour still caked in mud afterward.

After the race I think I can safely call myself a badass. After the race is also when I became a badass who makes poor decisions. You see, as soon as I got home I had to jump in the shower (see aforementioned filthy bathroom) and get ready to go to a SXSW show. I ate a small something immediately post race, and another small something when I got home, and drank some nasty Sports Beverage. This put me at around 1200 calories for the day.

Reader, 1200 calories is not enough after an obstacle course. Especially not when one plans to go stand/dance at a concert for seven hours. I was feeling pretty okay when I left to meet my friends for the show, better than I had after Run For Your Lives. I attributed this to not being soaked to the bone and chilled as I had been then. I met my friends, we went to the venue. The parking gods smiled upon us in a way that usually requires a bloody sacrifice. There was hardly any line and doors were to open in 30 minutes. All seemed well.

After twenty minutes standing in line in the sun, my vision went staticky, and the surf noise of an incipient grey out began drown out nearby conversations. I felt nauseous. I thought very clearly that I needed to sit down, but I couldn't actually do so. Then the world went away for a few seconds. It came back to find my concerned and startled companions holding me upright. I finally managed to sit down in a strip of shade. A friend got me water and carbs***. The venue opened (only half an hour late) and they poured ginger beer down me. Blood sugar being restored, I proceeded to dance through most of the night. (I sat out much of the Xeno & Oaklander set because my feet hurt too damn much, but there was no way I wasn't dancing through The Soft Moon's.)

So, crisis averted, right? But through all of 2013 I've been running on a sleep deficit, and wondering when I would hit the wall. Well, dear reader, I hit that wall on Sunday. I got four hours of sleep and shambled home to get ready for an evening shift at work. By noon I was too nauseous for lunch, so I took a quick nap instead. I felt a little better after that, and ate some toast. I went to work. I spent the next four hours being dizzy and nauseous and sitting down frequently. A coworker gave me her lunch so I wouldn't have to leave the store and I napped again on my lunch break. It didn't help. I was still dizzy when I got up. At this point multiple coworkers began telling me to go home. Which I eventually did.

Now I've had ten hours of sleep and am camped in bed with the laptop. My back is sore, as are my poor sunburned legs, but otherwise I think I'm alive again.

I would really like to declare Project Valkyrie a success, but I still can't do a pull-up.



* I'm still not sure about Spartan Race or Tough Mudder, but if I'm going to complain about lack of obstacles, I may have to try one of them. Next year.

** The rope wall was the one obstacle that multiple people ahead of me failed. I did not. I did, however, very nearly climb back down to kick the ass of the spectator who expressed surprise when I aced it. No mead horn for you, asshole.

*** My own poor decision making is not one of the reasons I keep nurses around as climbing and dancing partners, but maybe it ought to be.

I missed last week's valkyrie report, so have a week and a half's worth.

Thursday - Gym. ~3 miles elliptical.
Friday - 4 hours dayjob.
Saturday - Dancing. And a lot of walking back and forth between clubs.
Sunday - Dayjob, dancing.
Monday - Yoga, climbing. Crow pose! A whole two seconds of it.
Tuesday - 1 hour gym. A very good day. More weight added to my deadlift, and more taken away from my pull-up assist. 4 hours dayjob.
Wednesday - Run/walking, 5k. Sadly, despite all the foam rolling and stretching, my knee still locked up at 1.5 miles.
Thursday - Rest day due to fresh tattoo. 4 hours dayjob.
Friday - 4 hours dayjob.
Saturday - ~45 minutes at the gym. Pull ups, push ups, and 1.5 miles on the elliptical. Dancing, dancing, dancing.
Sunday - Dayjob. No dancing. I am a badass, but not that much of a badass.
Monday - Yoga, climbing. Three seconds of Crow!

92 miles out of Hobbiton.

I have new shoes, and will probably make another go at running on Wednesday despite of common sense. But I have also taken the wise advice of a friend and made an appointment to get a referral to a sports medicine clinic to have someone look at my leg. I realized this weekend that the prospect of not running anymore makes me angry, and I want to do something about it.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll get back to the inane survey.

Behold, a post!

Valkyrie Report:

Thursday - An hour at the gym, mostly doing bodyweight and core exercises. My trainer gives me homework now.
Friday - A half day at the dayjob, but mostly a rest day.
Saturday - Bouldering, 3 miles walk/running. A brief dancing interlude that night.
Sunday - 8 hours dayjob, dancing.
Monday - Yoga, climbing. I cleanly sent a 5.10 that I'd struggled up before Christmas.
Tuesday - Gym. Pull-ups and push-ups and deadlifts, oh my. My deadlifts are now in the triple digits, an increase of at least 20 lbs since I started training. I've lost 20 lbs on my pull-up assist, too. Muscles move in my arms when I comb my hair*.
Wednesday - Running. ~1.9 miles in 21:30. Wind chill was 23, and I only survived because of my fuzzy bear hat with ear flaps. So far my best time is a mile in 11:30. Which is definitely an improvement, but only a small one.

I'm considering running a half marathon with matociquala in March. A week after Warrior Dash. I can totally do that, right? It will make my trainer sad, since I'd probably slack off on weights, but if I keep up my protein intake I probably won't lose any muscle.

---

Having run, I am now camped out at a coffee shop**, where I will poke dejectedly at several projects and try to find some traction on one of them.

I have completely lost track, so I'm going to say that I'm now 65 miles out of Hobbiton, and go from there.


* I need to take pictures.

** They play the best music, but every time Joy Division comes on, I want to shove tables out of the way and start dancing. I'm not sure they'd approve.

Err, hello. I am being part of the lack-of-LJ problem again. I've even slacked off on spamming with workout stats. But Run For Your Lives is this Saturday, so maybe that will be worth an update! (I ran another 5k on Sunday, and finally beat 5 mph. So progress is happening.)

Are there any memes going around worth doing, to keep some semblance of activity happening here?

Will she trick or treat? I bet she will.

Tonight we took Agent J trick-or-treating, and afterward I did not ditch Steven to go dancing at Elysium. But, oh, dear reader, how tempted I was. Instead I'm at home drinking cocktails and wondering if we can squeeze a bad movie in before bedtime.

Tomorrow I'll make every effort toward MaybeWriMo. We'll see how that goes.

In other zombie related news, I can now run jog two miles without a break. I am totally a match for zombies in uneven footwear, or small, three-legged zombies.

Two or three years ago it was just another snake cult...