Author: Tara Cuslidge

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A bloggy birthday

It’s my blog’s birthday! Well, actually, it was yesterday. I’m a little belated in wishing my own blog a happy birthday. It just goes to show how busy I’ve been all week.

I’m excited about this milestone.

I started this blog on Sept. 22, 2011. This wasn’t my first blog. It’s the first, though, that I’ve been able to consistently maintain. In 12 months, I’ve written 130 posts (131 including this one).

I’ve moved to bigger server space with room to grow.

I’ve run and written reviews on 19 races.

I’ve shaved five minutes off my best half marathon time. But I’ve also ran a disastrous marathon.

I’ve learned my share of lessons from running. I’ve become a better runner too. And I’ve shared it with the World Wide Web.

I’m excited that “…andsheruns.” has come so far. I’m happy that I’ve been able to post regularly about topics related to, mostly, running and every now and then explore other areas too. I’m excited about where this blog continues to go as well and the people I’m talking to because of it. I’m also excited to, twice, being recognized by someone at a race!

I think blogs can be a risky venture. This is particularly true when you buy a domain name and server space. It’s also true because the writer of a blog puts out a big part of them in the process of blogging.

My readers get to see first hand my successes and failures. I once told myself I’d never write about the bad races. But writing about the bad ones make the good ones all that much better (kind of like the bad runs).

So happy birthday to my blog. I’m excited for the year ahead, including the upcoming Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon (I’m in corral 11!) and the Nike Women’s Half the next week. October is going to be a great running month.

I’m ready to keep running and blogging.

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Likes, loves and hates

I’m kind of on a running hiatus for three days.

Yesterday was a rest day. Today I work all day. On campus from 9 a.m. until I have to go to work for a night shift. Then I’m sleeping over at my grandmother’s (totally not lame, my grandmother is freaking awesome for letting me stay) so I can wake up early and take my students to a journalism conference in Sacramento. Whew.

I’m kind of busy.

So instead of blogging about running today, I’m going to write about some of what I’m loving, liking and hating lately. Some of it will be running related.

LOVES

– The Lululemon quality assurance and return policy. My charcoal/Caspian blue capris started falling apart last weekend. I’ve only had them for a month. I sent a quick email to Lululemon with photos and received one back within 24 hours. The verdict? Capris that new should be fraying. I’m sending the old ones back and getting a gift card (to buy new ones!) in the mail.

– My new water bottle from the Title 9K this past weekend. It’s seriously pretty awesome. I’ve been using it all day.

– REM sleep. Not related to the band at all. It’s the sleep stage where you dream. For the first time in four months I’ve been able to get into REM sleep and dream. I’m waking up feeling more rested. But I’m still exhausted.

– Diet Coke. Because I always love Diet Coke, but the caffeine in it lately is really helping me out. What’s that? It could kill me? Yes. I’ve heard it before. From my husband. A thousand times.

– My iPhone. I don’t care about getting a 5 right now. I have a 4S. It take awesome photos. It has Siri. Enough said.

– The return of night running. It caught me off guard last week (in case you saw my Twitter post), but there is something refreshing about running at night. Plus it means I get to pull out all my awesome reflective gear.

LIKES

– M&M’s. Apparently these are becoming my favorite go-to snack.

– Ending my day shooting video less than a mile from my house. I was able to do that twice this week. That never happens. Score.

– Rest days. I’ve factored more in and am loving them more and more.

– The fact I ran 9:37 average splits last weekend. Still can’t get over that.

– A place to put my money and license when I shoot video. I refuse to carry a purse to an assignment. It’s kind of risky. So I usually put everything in my pockets. I found this nifty little ankle wallet at REI. I’m in love.

– Wearing my Converse to work. Tonight is football night and I’ll be reporting from the field. Jeans. Converse. T-shirt. A casual-style evening.

HATES

– Traffic on Interstate 5 through Stockton. Two pseudo slow downs this morning for no reason.

– The color of my new running shoes. They are much lighter than my previous pair. They make me feel old for some reason. I’m thinking about adding fancy shoelaces to them.

– When my students don’t show up on time for distribution, leaving all the newspapers in the parking lot with me. I try to convince them that one day, doing something like this may mean getting fired from a job. I’m still not sure they understand the concept.

– The heat. Tomorrow is the first day of fall (or is it today?) and it’s still short-sleeve shirt and capri weather. I just want some cold.

– Insomnia. Yes, I achieved REM sleep. No, I didn’t stay asleep long. Tonight’s going to be a long night.

I have a long run scheduled for Sunday. Time and place to be determined. We’ll see how exhausted I am from two days straight of work.

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Sometimes even bad runs can be good

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the past year is that sometimes a bad run can actually be a good thing. It can also be a good run in other ways than time.

It all depends on how I define what “bad” will be on any given day.

A couple weeks ago, I set out with my running buddy Jennie for what was supposed to be a 15-mile run. I was still exhausted from the week before, after working over several days and ushering my students through the first issue of the newspaper for the school year. I had hardly any sleep the night before our Sunday run.

Jennie, too, showed up exhausted.

I admitted that I was considering canceling. She was thinking about it too. Both of us really wanted to run, though.

There’s a popular mantra that says “running is cheaper than therapy.” I didn’t believe that until I started running with friends.

You can cover a lot of ground over six miles, and not just the distance. You can talk about different topics, analyze problems and, generally, really get to know a person. That’s why I run with my friends. I enjoy the athletic part as much as I do the togetherness aspect.

So on this particular Sunday, we were dragging. Not just a little, but a lot.

Our first three miles seemed to go on forever. We didn’t seem to be able to find our stride. After our first bathroom stop, Jennie mentioned that she didn’t think she’d be able to make it to 15. I didn’t think I’d be able to either.

My feet just didn’t want to carry me.

It was also the day I was to be retiring my first pair of LunarEclipse +2 shoes. (Don’t judge me for keeping the timing tag on. I never seem to take them off after a run, usually not until the next one, so I had no need to remove it.)

“Can I push you to eight miles?” I asked Jennie.

She said maybe. So we kept on. At eight miles, I asked about, maybe, going 10.

She was still down to run, even though we were both tired. It was also starting to get warm. Just when I think it will finally be cool in my part of California, it seems to warm back up again.

We kept going, trying to stay in the shade. Then we turned back down one of the main streets in Mountain House and headed back to our cars. Our damage for the day was only 11 miles.

But it was five further than Jennie wanted to go initially. It was 11 more than I wanted to run that day in general. That’s a win.

Especially on a beautiful day.

Our time didn’t reflect any sort of success. For all the training we’ve done recently, it really doesn’t say how strong of runners we’ve become in a short time with increased workouts.

I thought about that on my way home: What defines a good run?

Is it distance? Is it time? Is it not having an leg pain? No cramps?

It’s different things for different people, that’s for sure.

But for me, on that day, it was just about getting out there and getting it done, despite fatigue and heat. It was also about propelling Jennie through and encouraging her to run “just one more mile” and “just two more miles” as we went.

The end result was a win for both of us. And, in many ways, a very good run.

 

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An empowering 9K

I signed up for the Title 9K for one specific reason: Last year an injury forced me out of the previous one at the last minute. It was one of two races in a two weekend period that because of my strained Achilles, there was just no way I could run.

I was on crutches, actually. And in a lot of pain. So much pain that it still hurt to put my foot down even slightly.

So when I found out that this year’s run would be at Quarry Lakes in Fremont and that it would be a little later in the year, I decided to sign up. I’m so glad I did.

Today was a good day. An empowering day, with hundreds of other women. And over a 9K (5.59 miles), I didn’t stop once. I also didn’t wear my Garmin, surrendering it to Jennie who came along to do a training run herself in the park. But my official time is pretty awesome.

I finished in 53:39 for an average of 9:37 a mile, officially.

I’m super stoked about this for a couple reasons.

One is that it means I can likely sustain a 10K at under 10-minutes a mile. Two is that it means, despite some recent setbacks and a not so great running week, my training is still on course for the California International Marathon. Success. Empowerment.

The sky was overcast as the group headed over to the start line.

Jennie looks a lot preppier than me in this photo. I just look tired. And my hair is a mess. Yikes. I’m only posting this to show the weather, which was a nice overcast.

I was only there for about 20 minutes before it started. There were plenty of portable and real toilets. I was literally in and out of the bathroom line in five minutes. Thumbs up for Title IX for that one, especially for an all-women’s race.

The starting line was chaotic, but organized. I don’t have any photos because my husband “borrowed” my iPhone so he’d have entertainment while I ran. (He couldn’t exactly leave because I was running for only an hour.)

My husband had already picked up my race bag with a bunch of swag in it.

And my nicely-designed T-shirt, which initially was too big. The nice ladies at the expo/check in both were nice enough to let me exchanged it with a size medium after the race. I’m glad I hadn’t washed it before, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to exchange it.

At 9 a.m. exactly, we were off to run Quarry Lakes. The organizers promised a “flat” race. I’d say it was “flattish,” but definitely not as flat as I’m used to on some of my training runs. I’m actually really glad I’ve been doing more incline work to prepare.

I started out strong, kind of stuck behind a group of women who were spread across the path. I kept trying to pass them, finally doing so when the path opened up a little bit more. I had no pain in my legs, not even my glute that’s been bothering me over the past week.

So I just kept going. I had no idea what my time was. I just kept at it. No problems, outside of a park official’s truck literally driving right through the race path.

I didn’t even need to stop at the first aid station because I carried my Amphipod 20-ounce handheld.

I quickly saw the sign for mile two and headed out into the out and back section. It all seemed to happen so fast. I turned around at a bridge, behind what seemed like a ton of people, and headed back along the outside of the park and then into the park again.

I slowed only when I hit an aid station on the way back, just after mile four, and grabbed a cup of water.

Toward the beginning of mile five, as I made my way back to the finish line, there were two ladies manning an aid station with chocolate for the runners. I didn’t partake. I figured I was doing really, really well. I was tired and I could have used a boost, but I figured I’d just keep going.

And I did.

My legs picked it up on a couple more small inclines and finally I ran under the finish line and my chip made the computer beep. My time was registered and I walked through a line of people toward an area of food.

As I was headed that way, I was handed an awesome water bottle.

It’s a little blurry, but the bottle is a nice metal one. It has the race on it and a design that matches the shirt and the bag. I was surprised because no one said anything about a finisher gift.

It even denotes that I ran and finished the Title 9K.

At the end there was a nice offering of bagels, Hint water and other goodies. In another line, people were being handed awesome multifunctional headbands/wraps. I was handed a tie-dyed purple and black one. It’s pretty awesome. I definitely think I’ll end up wearing this as it starts to get cooler in the next month or so.

It’s pretty nice. I’m looking forward to trying it out on one of my upcoming training runs.

All the “swag” at this race was pretty nice, but that’s not why I’m excited about it. It was a great experience, surrounded by other women who propelled me to do my best, resulting in one of my best races to date.

It’s funny, I figured I’d start this blog and talk all about how great I ran. The problem is, when I run great I don’t feel the need to dwell on it. When I have a bad run, I almost feel the need to justify my time, even on my blog.

This was a good run, but not because I willed it to be. Because my training is on par. Because I’m a better runner now than even four months ago. Because I’m taking my CIM readiness runs more seriously.

In three weeks, I run the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon. After today, I’m really looking forward to it. Because after today, I know I’m ready. And there’s no need to dwell over that.

 

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The rub down

Total creeper photo, right?

I think I should put a caption on it that says “the scene of the crime” or something like that.

In truth, only good came from my visit to my massage therapist today. Usually only good comes from a visit, but today was notable.

I bought a membership about five months ago into our local corporate massage place. I figured if worse came to worse, I’d get a new therapist every time. So if I didn’t like one, there was always next time, right?

For the first few times, that theory actually worked in my favor. One therapist was too quiet. (I’m sorry, I like to gab when I’m relaxing.) One was too hard. I seriously had bruises on me from that visit. The other just wasn’t right. I was starting to feel like Goldilocks and the Three Massage Therapists.

Then I got Alyssa. Not only is she totally punk rock and easy to relate too, she’s also damn good at what she does. No kidding. I’ve never had a massage therapist so keen on making my legs feel like they can run forever. She’s a miracle worker, no kidding.

Today I came in with that nagging glute pain. She asked if it was bothering my back. Nope. So she went to work on me with me turned face up first. She really gets down into my stress areas, specifically my left shoulder. That’s where EVERY SINGLE BIT OF STRESS EVER hides. I swear. It’s likely because I have some nerve damage back there.

Then she started working and stretching my legs. I immediately felt a tinge of pain in the area I felt it in while running earlier this week. I felt like moaning out loud…then it stopped.

Alyssa kept working it, moving my leg to treat all my muscles. I’ve also been having some hip pain, usually from overworking out, and that, too, just disappeared. When I got to my car, I wasn’t even slightly upset about the $60+ it was going to take to fill my tank to get to work tonight.

Now I feel light. I feel like I want to jump on the treadmill and just go for a run.

I’m waiting until Saturday though. I have a 5.5-mile race on Sunday, so I’m doing my long run on Saturday. Since 5.5 miles is typically around what I run on weeknights, I figure I don’t need the rest. (Maybe that will come back and haunt me later? We’ll see.)

All I know is that I feel so much better since my rub down. And sorry for the creepy stalker photo…the rooms are dark and I don’t like posting without photos…so there you go.

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My best friend today

In the middle of my Tuesday-night run (with new shoes!) I started getting a nagging pain in my left glute.

The nagging pain became more and more substantial with each step, so I slowed down. Nothing changed. The pain grew as did my grimace. There was no way I was going to go my six miles for the day.

I settled for four.

Not horrible, but not up to expectations either.

Was it the shoes? They are the same, exact pair I had before. Was it the speed? I was moving along at a 10-minute mile pace.

I don’t know. All I know is when I got off the treadmill and started walking, it didn’t seem to go away. So much so that I took some pain reliever and called it a night.

This morning I woke up determined to run and get some of my missed mileage back. But I grabbed my Grid roller first. Instead of spending 30-minutes running three miles on my treadmill, I spent that time working out a massive ball of hard muscle in my leg.

The pain was killer. I was making grunting noises. My dogs kept looking at me like I was a lady possessed.

But I jumped on the treadmill, queued up my iPad and ran three slow miles just to see how it felt. No pain. For now.

My work today included a two-hour video shoot where, outside of some discomfort when I did a ground shot, my glute didn’t feel bad. I also took my TigerTail to work to rub out the spot whenever I was sitting for a long period of time. (Yes, I totally rub out my legs at work. My job includes coding and hours of word/video editing, so sometimes I sit for awhile and it’s really helpful.)

I haven’t had any severe or significant pain in my legs for sometime. In fact, the last I can remember is nursing an IT band in my right leg at the beginning of the year. I’m hoping that I just tweaked something by running or stepping funny. Otherwise my Grid roller and my TigerTail might be my new best friends for some time.

Crossing my fingers that’s not the case.

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Sometimes I disappear

I hate to say it, but this is the time of year when I tend to disappear. From family gatherings. From social outings. From blogging. I just get too busy. That’s not a bad thing (because I’m busy making money).

Unfortunately I also seem to disappear from running too.

Not this year, though. This week already I’ve logged 25 miles with a long run scheduled for Sunday morning. I’m hoping to have 35+ by the end of Sunday morning. I’m hoping to gradually step up my mileage as I really start to prepare for California International Marathon on Dec. 2.

Because it’s that time.

My students published the first issue of the campus newspaper for the semester on Friday. At my full-time job, I’ve been busy with the high school football season taking off. That means I’ve been logging some serious time sitting in front of the little monster above. (For those who don’t know him, that’s Domo He’s one of many monster-types at my desk.)

I’ve been logging serious mileage lately in general, both slow and fast. And, outside from a down period a couple weeks ago, I’ve been feeling really good about my running. So much so that I’m really excited about a 5-mile race I’ve decided to do next week all about women empowerment. It’s actually one of the races I had to forgo last year because of a nasty Achilles strain that put me on crutches.

I was feeling great about running until I started hitting the road/treadmill this week. That’s when I noticed a slight twinge in my calf. I also noticed that my shoes were looking a little more beat than I remembered.

That’s when I knew. It was time to buckle down for a new pair again.

After only 300+ miles. I honestly thought the LunarEclipse +2’s would last a little longer, but I’m the same runner with the same weight, so this shouldn’t really surprise me too much.

These are the “Breathe” edition of the LunarEclipse’s. Kind of pretty looking in person. I’m going to do another outdoor run in my old shoes (the long run Sunday) and then start moving through the process of retiring those. Sigh. I really loved the hot pink. But these are my first “pretty” running shoes in general, and the new ones are pretty nice too.

So about that disappearing? I literally have to make time to blog now with school and video shoots more than twice a week. I’m busy. But I’m also working on balancing everything better this year. That’s why I pushed myself to run days in a row. It’s why I stopped everything and started blogging today.

It’s why you’re reading this, basically.

But it also means I’m working 70+ hour weeks when my students are in production for their newspaper. So I’m also a bit whipped out by Friday, especially after a 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. shift, which in reality tends to be a 2 p.m. to 12 a.m. shift. I’m trying to get over the fatigue, though, put my mind in an active area and just run.

Today that meant five miles. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

But if my blogging is lacking into the next month or so, it’s because life gets crazy busy this time of year. I’ll only worry about it if I start slacking on my training.

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Lighting the way

It may not yet be fall, but it’s starting to get darker earlier again. My regular evening runs begin at 7:30 p.m. In June, it was still light, though a little dim, when we finished with our six miles about an hour later or so.

I’m not new to this. When I first started running in Mountain House, it was dark. It’s dark most of the year when we run out there, sometimes even early morning darkness.

So last year at about this time, I bought a headlamp. Not just a cheap little headlamp, a nice one. I purchased it from REI for $32. It’s a Princeton Tec lamp, with four modes and a study band for my head. It doesn’t slip. And it’s always lit my way.

Until last week.

As Jennie and I were running Mountain House, we noticed the darkness was setting in sooner. So the next time we ran, I wore it on my iFitness belt until it got too dark, then I popped it on about three miles into our run.

The next time we ran, I went to put it on again and it wouldn’t stay lit.

I thought, maybe, it was cycling through modes since it also has a flash mode. I kept trying to turn it on and it wouldn’t stay on. I tried holding the “on” button down, but it was a no go.

I asked Jennie if she wanted to run five miles instead of six. But we figured we’d ran before without the headlamp, so we would keep going and just be careful. We finished our six miles fine, just in a lot of darkness.

When I got home I messed around with the light to see if it needed new batteries or something else. I put three new AAA batteries in and it came on. And stayed on. It wouldn’t turn off.

Well, crap.

I realized my light was broken. My first thought: “I’m going to need a new light.”

I did a quick Google search about warranties, since I knew I’d had it only a little more than a year. I told myself I’d likely go pick up a new light to run with on our next outdoor run and, if I ended up getting  new light, I’d give it to my husband. He tends to steal my headlamp on a regular basis anyway.

I just happened to visit REI the next day to pick up some Kind bars. I happened to ask the woman ringing me up if they had any sort of warranties on gear. She mentioned the 100-percent guarantee. She told me next time I was around I should bring it in. I actually had it in my purse because I wanted to purchase a similar to one to what I had.

Within five minutes, a tech guy from the gear area came out, tried to cycle through the light and realized it was indeed broken. He then walked me over to where the headlamps were and asked me if blue would work instead of the back one I had. Sure. I don’t care too much about the headlamp’s color as long as it lights my way.

A quick exchange, even a year later it was easy to bring up my info because I’m an REI member, and I was out the door with a new headlamp (pictured above).

I’ll miss my old headlamp.

Don’t mind the photo showing the gigantic iPad. This was before I had my iPhone. I know, it looks dumb. But that’s my headlamp right after I first bought it.

And it works just like my previous one. It illuminates the path far in front of Jennie and I. It definitely makes running a lot easier at night.

What should you take from this post? Get an REI membership and buy your gear there. I was astounded by the quality of service and ease to return an item.

My husband once told me I paid too much for the light when I first got it. Now I know it was definitely worth the money.

 

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Where the sidewalk ends

Not even kidding about that title.

The community I run in is not yet finished. It has around 10,000 people. There’s one, small convenience store. There are a couple schools, but the school district only recently put up a building for its administrative office. A new high school is being built.

And there are a lot of roads to nowhere. There’s even a bridge to nowhere.

But my favorite part about Mountain House, not to be confused with Mountain View further into the San Francisco Bay Area, are all the sidewalks that just seem to end. That’s apparently what happens when construction isn’t yet done.

I always feel as if the conversation between construction workers goes a little something like this:

Worker 1: “Well, we’re almost out of concrete.”

Worker 2: “Ahhhh, we don’t need anymore. We’ll just end the sidewalk.”

Worker 1: “But what if someone walks off????”

Worker 2: “No worries, we’ll just put up a barricade. No danger in that.”

It’s not as if people can’t walk around the orange and white barricades. The bridge to nowhere I mentioned early (in reality, it will take the community over a main road once the area is completely built out), has a fence in front of it so no one will dare go up or on it. In reality, the bridge makes a great place to train with hill repeats. So people go around the fence. It’s not that hard. Let’s face it, people often ignore warning signs anyway.

It’s kind of humorous though when you get to one of these barricades. What exactly is it protecting me from? My run turning into a trail run? My feet hitting a hole? (That’s actually a serious concern, but I watch out.)

Funny thing, near one of the newer buildings, sometimes we actually run to where the sidewalk ends and turnaround.

Why do we not keep going? There’s no sidewalk. But there’s no barricade either.

 

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Close calls

See that color?

It’s pretty bright. And this is looking down, with a little shadow on it. It’s actually VERY bright in person.

I’ve posted this photo before, in June, when I purchased the Lululemon Run: Swiftly tank in the “ray” color. When I bought the shirt, I was concerned it was maybe “too bright.” My husband assured me that at least no one would miss me when I ran. I figured that would be a safe bet. Drivers and other runners alike would be able to see me just fine.

I thought.

This weekend, my running buddy Jennie and I ventured out on an early morning run. Not super early. The sun was just rising in the west, but it was plenty bright in Mountain House.

The community I run in is about 10-minutes west of where I live. For Jennie, it’s only about five minutes. There are few stoplights, but a lot of stop signs. There are many cross walks.

We always use the cross walks when we run. We never run against traffic, or even in traffic.

And by the time we were on the back end of the development, the sun was shinning pretty good.

We made our way into miles five and six and down toward the only market in the small town. As we made our way to the crosswalk, I noticed a red Jeep flying out of the far parking lot. We were already starting into the crosswalk, with the right of way, when the Jeep barely stopped, sped through a stop sign and started into our path.

The Jeep was raised. Still, as he came toward us, I yelled out “Hey!” The driver, a man, acted as if WE got in HIS way. He slowed his car at an angle and then just kept going, screeching his tires as he went away.

I’m pretty sure Jennie yelled something at him. I know I yelled something to the effect of “JERK!” and we kept running.

When we stopped at the store to pick up our regular mid-run Gatorade, we talked about how people are always in a rush. How very few care about others. How if he hit us, he likely would have killed us. I was more in his path. Jennie kept apologizing for not noticing the Jeep until it was too late.

The issue here?

We did everything right.

We both were wearing bright colored shirts. We stopped running and looked both ways. We were cautious in our regard to the environment.

We were running smart.

And it still wasn’t enough.

My waving and yelling at the driver was the only thing that got him to even notice us.

Later on at a dinner for my husband’s birthday, my sister told me that I shouldn’t run outside. It’s dangerous. I could get hurt. I know that. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I opt to run in Mountain House instead of where I live in Tracy. In Tracy, even early in the morning, cars tend to roll through stop signs and stoplights.

I had several close calls in my own town. In one, I actually had a guy nearly hit in right in the hip. I slammed down both my hands on the hood of the car. I looked the man straight in the eyes and said “I have the right of way!” Then I kept running.

Running is dangerous, yes. So as runners we take precautions. We wear bright clothes. We add reflective bands to our wrists and ankles. We wear lights in the dark. We generally make ourselves as visible as possible. But, at times, doing everything right doesn’t mean you are safe and protected.

I’m realizing that after a couple close calls, including this most recent one, I need to remind myself of that every time I run.