Halfway through week 2...

Week 2 so far has been a little more painful than it should be.  Mostly due to my own stupidity...

Monday (Labor Day, -2 miles)-
My fiance wanted to go to school on Labor Day to work (the whole day not even a half day).  No one was in lab except for one other colleague....who also works on animal behavioral research and runs!  Funny how the people who work with live animals are the only ones in on the weekends and holidays (Actually, it's not funny at all esp. when you're the one who is showing up).  I decided since it was Labor Day, I'd do something 'fun' and bring my shoes to calibrate my Nike+iPod program on the school track.  It really needed to be re-calibrated since the standard settings are not very accurate for me.  I seem to take a shorter step than the average person (go figure...I'm 5' 2") so Nike+iPod was always saying I was running farther than I actually was.  Well, I ran 4 times around the track (4x around the track = 1600m ~ 1 mile).  Unfortunately, I had a 'I-can't-use-modern-technology' moment and lost the workout before I had a chance to calibrate it.....so I did it again (ugh...).  This time there was a creepy shirtless older dude waiting for me to come around the track to run alongside me and give me 'the eye'.  The first time it happened I thought it was fluke, but the second and third and forth?!  Well, the creepiness factor at least improved my time the second 1600m I ran around the track.  By this time it was noon, and it was hot.  Since I was wearing my sub-par running clothes (was expecting only a one mile run), my thighs chafed (b/c I have thunder thighs).  Technically, Monday was supposed to be a rest day...but I ended up running 2 miles.

Tuesday (~1.5 miles)-
1.5 miles should be no big deal by now, right?  I've been running for a bout 4 weeks already.  Yeah, that's not the case when you eat spicy red Korean stew the day before.  I'm lucky I didn't crap myself while running.  On top of all that, my right calf muscle decided to hate me and tense up after my run causing me to limp back to my apartment during my cool off walk.  Apparently this is a newbie 'injury' from working on speed or (oh hey!) running on hills....like in the neighborhood I run in, Cheviot HILLS.  Nothing massaging and a hot bath can't solve...I hope.  My awesome fiance massaged my calf muscle that night.  There's a HUGE knot that kind of hurt when he rolled over it with his arm (I nearly kicked him in the face from flinching from the pain).  It felt good though trying to get the knot out....it didn't come out.  Supposedly, my new foam roller is coming on Thursday or Friday so I can massage this muscle myself and not nearly kick my fiance in the face.

Wednesday (Today, 3 miles)-
This morning was the worst of them all.  I overslept by half an hour and didn't get out to run till 7:10am or so.  There are just too many people out by that time, too many people in the way, and saying 'hi' to me.  I don't like talking when I run; it wastes energy.  I even skip the profanities when cars pull out of their driveways and almost run me over.  Yes, running makes me a more 'forgiving' person.
The people were only a minor annoyance over the fact that my iPod ran out of power a few steps into the run.  Running without music sucks....like really, really sucks.  You know what else sucks?  My right calf.  It was now tense when I was running....especially towards the end of my run.  Ok, I didn't stretch it out as properly as I should have since I was in a rush from oversleeping, but that doesn't change that it sucks.  So in summary, tense calf with no music to distract across 3 miles is REALLY no fun.  By the end I was shuffling back to my apartment during my cool off walk and don't get me started about the stairs to my apartment ( I live on the second floor-3rd if you count the parking garage-and there's no elevator).  I foresee a major problem for after the marathon next year....  I've already informed my fiance he will be carrying me up and down the stairs to our apartment next year and he has not refused (like he has a choice).  Tonight I will be eating bananas (for potassium) and drinking milk (for calcium) while taking a hot bath to relax my calf muscle.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I had NO BLISTERS after the run!!!!  This may have been because of the new Mizuno shoes or the fact that my running was more like a slow shuffling this morning.  Assuming my calf will get better between tomorrow (1.5 mile run) and Friday (rest day!!!!), we'll find out for sure on Saturday which is my next 'long' run.