Pre-Race Indifference

I should be sleeping. I have a 10K run tomorrow that I was actually hoping to do well on, but somehow I don't feel like sleeping.

Mom and I after last year's Bellin.
Notice the fleece I am wearing?  Gotta
love Wisconsin weather.  Fleece will be
sidelined tomorrow. It's supposed to
be a high of 86 and already
in the 70s at the start.  Ah well.

I don't know how this race will go. I don't really care at this point.  It's going to be hot - and although the heat does not intimidate me mentally - I know it will affect me physically.  I don't really think this is going to be the right day to try for a PR.  Therefore, I have decided not to wear my watch tomorrow and just run by feel. I will have my music, as I know I will be racing alone.  (It's strange how you can be surrounded by almost 19,000 people and still be on your own.)  I will carry my own Gatorade, because I think the water stations will be jammed, and I will make it a point to run through every mister and sprinkler offered.  I'll cheer on the stragglers and strugglers and yell "good run" to those passing me - unless I am too caught up in the moment to notice them.

I just plan on coasting comfortably hard for the conditions and having a good time.

Afterwards, I'll hang out with my kids and Hubby at the park, chat with any friends I happen to see, and then drive home and go about my day.

Just another morning running a local race event.  Strangely, this makes me think of that way overused phrase "life is good."  Overused or not, life IS good, and one should not forget that.

Some pix from strawberry picking today....Obviously, I survived.  No big knee blowouts, but that wouldn't happen until tomorrow anyway.  I am cautiously optimistic that my little plan worked.  After going on and on about what I could possibly take to help ease my knee pain, I ended up nabbing one of my kids' art table stools.  It worked like a charm - got me low to the ground but seated, and it was light to carry and not too obnoxiously bulky.  I got some odd, supposed-to-be funny comments from fellow pickers, but so be it. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, I didn't crouch for three hours picking berries.  Of course, my butt bones are sore from perching precariously on the small hard plastic surface for so long, but that's another story....

The kids had fun strawberry picking at least, and this was mostly after all for them.

Happy Running!

Strawberries - a serious injury threat to runners?

I am afraid.  I shouldn't be, but I am.  Today I pick strawberries, and I can only hope it doesn't lead to training-interruptus - as it has in years past.

Around northeast Wisconsin, where the winters are about six months long, any type of fruit season is keenly anticipated.  Because of my interest in buying local when I can and my spoiled taste buds, which turn their tiny little noses up at most grocery store produce, I especially look forward to these short seasons.  So, in June that means strawberries; July, raspberries and blueberries (if I am traveling to Michigan); and in August and the fall, apples.  Most of these items do not pose a problem for me.  

Strawberries, however, are another story.  

Picking strawberries kills my knees and is just another example of how some non-running related activities can impact your training - all that squatting, bending, and crouching.  It makes me cringe just thinking about it.

I hate to give up fresh strawberries freshly picked (mainly because it is about the quarter of the price of pre-picked berries, and I am cheap.)  Also, the kids LOVE strawberry picking.  Check out this cuteness from a couple of years ago ....

Priceless, right?  Well, except for the fact that it was a day after this that I went for a long run and came home with a case of patellar tendonitis that didn't go away for nearly two years (okay, that was my fault; I didn't take care of it properly).  

Anyhoo, yesterday a friend mentioned her family was going strawberry picking and knowing the kidlets would not be able to pass up an invitation to an adventure like that, I said we'd go, too.  Since then, I have been trying to think of a good strategy for making myself look useful strawberry picking and yet not kill my knees doing it.

A quick scan of the garage offered these possibilities:

The stadium cushion, which I have used in the past.  It looks disgusting, though, and I am too lazy to clean it right now.

There's this little gem....I could actually push it down the rows and I don't think the kids would miss it.  It kind of pushes the limits of how ridiculous I will let myself look at any given time, though.

Here's one idea that actually makes sense - the granny gardening chair my mom gave me for Mother's Day.  It actually works and it's how I do my weeding now.  The downside is that it is bulky.

Now, here's a possibility - the hard-sided cooler.  I could sit on it and store cold drinks at the same time.  I love things that have dual purposes.

Well, I will noodle it out for a bit.  No doubt something will make sense.  One thing I know for sure is I don't want to spend my morning like this...

Well, the eating strawberries part is okay, just not the crouching.  I do have the Bellin 10K Run tomorrow, and I don't want the combination of crouching and running "fast" to kill me.  

Happy Running!