Indulge Me

Once again, I am trying to break up with processed sugar. It's not easy and I backslide occasionally, even with maple syrup, honey, and agave to keep my sweet tooth entertained. I haven't been able to run (some sort of soft tissue injury in my left leg), so I've been doing yoga every day instead. Once in a while, I'd like to reward myself for working hard to stay healthy, but I'm having a tough time thinking of motivating but inexpensive rewards that are not some form of chocolate.

A long, relaxing bubble bath was one possibility, but none of the stores in the area carry non-floral bath salts or bubbles. There were almost no bubbly options at all, in fact. Bath bombs seem to be the trend, but the ones I found were mostly overly sweet floral. Yuck. I did try a rose/bergamot bath bomb, which wasn't bad but a little pricey for a small indulgence. Next option? DIY.

Luckily, bath salts are easy and I already have a variety of essential oils that I use for making toothpaste, yoga mat spray, etc. The other ingredients are pretty reasonably priced. My first attempt makes me happy, so I'm sharing it with you.

A couple of notes about these bath salts. The rose petals are VERY optional. They look pretty in the jar and floating in the bath, but they are a pain in the glutes to clean out of your tub. If you don't have some sort of screen over your drain, skip them. The coconut oil is also pretty optional. It makes your skin feel wonderful, but it makes your tub an impressively slippery place. Kinda like the old bath oil beads, if you remember those. If you use it, be prepared to climb out slowly and cautiously and to re-clean the tub immediately after your bath. Dish soap seems to clean it up the quickest.

(I started with the basic bath salt recipe from the Wellness Mama blog and added my own scents. Use the Dead Sea salts if you can find them--the ones I found don't dissolve completely and make a nice exfoliant.)

Spiced Rose Bath Salts

2 cups unscented epsom salts
1/2 cup baking soda
1/4 cup Dead Sea salts
2 Tbsp coconut oil (optional)
1/4 tsp rosewater (food-grade)
20 drops sweet orange essential oil
20 drops lemon essential oil
5 drops cinnamon essential oil (be careful with this one--it can burn your skin if you use too much!)
1/4 cup dried rose petals (food-grade) (very optional)

Combine all of the salts in a plastic shopping bag or glass bowl. Mix together well. Add oil and scents. Stir (glass bowl) or knead (shopping bag) as if your life depends on it. It will take some time to get the oils evenly distributed. I worked mine until the logo came off the plastic bag. If you want to use the rose petals, add them at the end and make sure you toss out any tough pieces of stem or bud before you mix them in. Store in a glass jar (or several, since this recipe makes a pretty big pile of bath salts). Toss a generous handful or two into a hot bath, breathe deeply, and relax.

More Mud

Yesterday I finally bought myself a pair of real trail running shoes.  I’m not certain why I, erm, dragged my feet (cough) on this particular purchase.  After all, when I started this blog, I had just taken a tumble in the woods and broken my hand.  I did get new shoes (with a lot of help from my friends), but they weren’t actually trail shoes.  I’ve been running on dirt trails as often as possible since I started running, so it makes no sense that I haven’t invested in the proper equipment.  

Warning:  this is the running nerd paragraph--if you aren't a running nerd, you may want to skip to the next section.  I bought a pair of Saucony Peregrines, which are described on the Saucony website as being a neutral shoe.  The helpful guy at the closest running store said that since trail shoes offer more stability in general, I didn’t really need anything more (since I’m a mild overpronator).  I was tempted by a pair of Brooks Cascadias, but when I was running they felt nearly identical to the Peregrines.  Since I loved my other pairs of Saucony shoes so much and they’ve held up so well, I ultimately decided to stick with my brand.  (Also, the helpful guy said he personally preferred the Saucony trail shoes.)

Very serious, no excuses shoes.  I wore them out of the store and went to the closest place with dirt trails and ran a little over 4 miles in them.  It had been raining for nearly 24 hours, so everything was nice and soggy at the park.  You should see how these things handle mud—I cruised through the squishy parts like they were hard ground!  They are lighter and stiffer than the shoes I’m used to, but it didn’t take too long to get used to the feel of them.  I did have a hot spot on my heel by the end of the run, but my socks and shoes were soaked for the second half of the run (the trail I took crosses a couple of creeks in addition to all the rain and mud), plus they were brand new.  Hopefully after another run or two, that won’t be a problem.  After all, these are supposed to be my half-marathon shoes!  

And speaking of the half-marathon………you are all invited to come out and holler for me on Cinco de Mayo!  The race starts at 9:00 and it will probably take me at least two hours to finish, so you have plenty of time to get there.   Bring your best cheerleading yells and help me celebrate!

Muddy Morning Run

I survived the Marines 5k Mud Run!  Just in case you were worried, as I haven’t posted since then……

It was a chilly morning, but my friend Zac was running also and his wife came along as support crew, so we clowned around and distracted ourselves from the fact that we were purposely going to run around in the woods, get soaking wet, and thoroughly muddy.

Clowning around pre-race

We started at the very back, which turned out to be a poor decision.  We are faster than we thought, so we had to pass the crowd of slower people in front of us.  If you know me, you know I’m not terribly coordinated, so that was maybe trickier for me than for others.  I caught up to Zac at the bottleneck before the tunnel, but lost him again once we hit the river.  Because of my tremendous physical skill, I fell over in the river pretty much immediately.  Cold, cold, cold coooooooold.  It didn’t really matter, because it was up to my waist later anyway.  Plus I ran into a submerged tree limb further along.  I didn’t think I’d be capable of running by the time we finally got done slogging through the water.  My knees were numb and my thigh muscles were whining.  I did, though.  And it felt like I was flying, because I wasn’t fighting the resistance of the water anymore.

I almost got knocked down in the first (knee-deep and fairly short) mud pit.  Managed to keep my feet that time—whew.  I was really glad I had the safety goggles to cover my glasses.  I don’t think I could have made it through the race without them.  I’m pretty sure the tiny rubber duckies glued to the safety goggles helped quite a bit, too.  After the mud pit, the course headed up a long, steep hill and the trail was barely wide enough for two people.  Not many chances to pass, unfortunately, and I was trapped behind slower people a couple of times.  There was plenty of space once we got to the top, plus a water stop (I did grab water, but just to rinse the sand out of my teeth—yuck!) 

There was some running at an angle—no real trail there, just grass cut shorter on the hillside, then a steep downhill (what goes up must come down).  My Trail Runner Magazine reading helped out and I got to try a particular downhill technique for the first time—I passed people—woo-hoo!  At the bottom of the hill, the trail headed back into the woods (stuck behind people again periodically).  I was thrilled to realize I had enough breath to shout “sweet lid” at a lady who had on a snazzy hat (as I passed her—hee). 

Before I knew it, I was across the last creek and headed for the mud pit.  200 yards of cold, muddy water and plenty of rocks.  Lots of caution tape, so you had to stay completely in the mud to get under it.  Once again, thank heaven for the safety goggles—the duckies kept me afloat, I’m sure of it.  The easiest technique seemed to be to let my feet float and pull myself along using my hands.  Then across the finish line and into the big crowd of incredibly muddy people.  Done!

Turns out Zac had slowed down repeatedly to look for me, but I must have passed him (maybe in the river?).  He came through the mud pit about a minute after me—and nicely held the caution tape for some of our fellow runners.

Cold but victorious

It also turns out that somewhere during the race, I had injured myself.  I got some nasty scrapes on my shins and had to visit the first aid tent after rinsing off and dressing in clean clothes.  Also got some wicked bruises, which didn’t really appear til later in the day.  Considering how often I fell down and the terrain we went through, I felt pretty lucky overall.

I will definitely plan to do this again next year, and I made some mental notes about things I could do to make it more fun.  Here they are, don’t let me forget:

•  No slacking off during summer runs.  I felt strong during the run, but I was faster last spring.
• Gotta get my own support crew--Allison was great, but of course had to focus on "her" runner.
• Braid my hair--maybe even wear a swim cap.
• Find different gear--something like compression tights and a shirt that dries faster.
• Get back into swimming (my arms and back were crazy sore for the next few days).
• Rinse off in the river instead of fighting the crowd at the outdoor showers.
• Bring a thermos of coffee for warming up after.
• Bring two towels.  At least.

Wish I had some wine, but all I've got is whine.

Having another one of those “just can’t get happy” days.  Just got more bills from the emergency room and money troubles always seem to make me crash hard.  

Was supposed to try to join a running group yesterday, but I chickened out.

Can’t seem to wake up, but I don’t like the coffee today.  

Got new green tea last night and I don’t like it, but it was the only green tea the store had on sale that had caffeine in it and now I can’t justify spending money on another box because of the emergency room bills. 

I had some fun reading blogs and commenting—found a new blog to read, but I know I’m supposed to be concentrating on my job, which makes me feel guilty, which isn’t much fun.  

Trying to think of a way to make all this sound funny, instead of just whiney (I don’t think it’s working).

I hate feeling like this.  I try to think of things I’m grateful for.   I try to think of nice things I could do for myself or for someone else.  That Pollyanna shit is just not doing it for me today.  So I’ll just go get my work done, then plan to read the archives on All Fooked Up.  That should give me something to look forward to, at least.

And if you know anyone who would be interested in helping me pay my emergency room bills, feel free to send them this way.  If you know someone who wants to commiserate about how bad it sucks to try to survive as a single person on a clerk’s wages, feel free to send them over here.  Whining is more fun when you have company.

Stung!

I love running in the woods.  LOVE IT.  But I’m getting really tired of the accidents.  At least this time I didn’t fall down.

I was hiking up one of the steep hills along a very narrow part of the trail, when I encountered a big chunk of rotten tree limb.  It completely blocked the trail and there was no way to go around.  No, really, I mean it.  Steep hillside, poison ivy.  Yes, poison ivy is an impassable barrier for me.  It’s taking longer to heal up from the poison ivy than it’s taken to heal a broken bone.  No way forward but through.  So I kicked the stupid thing off the trail, and cruised on by.

Then someone poked me in the ankle bone with a red-hot needle.  I’m glad no one was out at that hour, because I hollered.  And plucked whatever it was off my sock—sort of grabbing, squishing, and throwing all at once.  It was a weirdly graceful but destructive moment.  Of course, now I have no idea what stung me (or bit me?), because I destroyed the little fucker and got away from there as fast as I could hobble.  What else would you do if something was stabbing you with a red-hot needle?

I’ve never been stung before, so once I was well away from the place where it happened, I sat down to investigate the burning pain in my ankle.  No stinger that I could see, just a blood spot over the bump of my ankle bone.  I waited for the adrenalin to stop rushing around and making my heart and lungs go nuts.  I waited to see if it would swell up or if I would stop breathing.  Nothing.  So I finished my run.  Because it was a gorgeous day and wayyy to nice to give up and go home.

Now I have an itchy, red, slightly swollen ankle.  I’ve been putting toothpaste on it (because some brave [crazy] guy let himself be stung repeatedly just to test OTC and traditional home remedies and he said toothpaste or ice gave the most relief).  It is cold enough in the office here that my feet are usually fairly numb anyway.  It’s annoying, but not too horrible.  Still, it makes me wonder if other trail runners have these problems or if I’m just extra-lucky?

Hand Up(date)

I went to see the doctor this morning and my hand must be healing pretty well.  After my x-rays were done, she asked me how accident-prone I was.

Ahem.

I reminded her that I had fallen down hard enough to break my finger and warned her that I had started running again.  And mentioned that I had whacked it a couple of times while it was in the splint/bandage wrapping.  She said “okay, you’re unlikely to hit it hard enough to re-injure it, so I’m just going to buddy-wrap it.”  Turns out buddy-wrapping means she tied my pinkie finger to my ring finger with a few loops of elastic bandage.  It just doesn’t seem like enough, considering my recent history, but I’m not the one with the giant student loans and years of experience, now am I?

I’m also supposed to start trying to bend my poor, frozen little finger joints.  It hurts and I don’t really want to.  Then again, I picture myself going back for my next appointment and my hand is back to normal and the doctor asks “Why are you still wearing those bandages?”  Besides, if running has taught me anything, it has taught me that I can do this, even if it does hurt.