September 9, 2013

the heebie jeebies

So the biggest negative for me thus far with nursing has been the fact that I need to be readily available to feed the babe (obviously), and fitting in a workout in the morning while taking that into consideration can be a pain in the ass.  Yes I could pump and try and 'schedule' it a little more, but quite frankly I hate pumping (and more than anything washing pump parts, dumb I know), so in theory it is just easier for me to feed her.  Sometimes that means my runs happen before 6am.  Lame sauce for sure, but I like to just get it done.

That was all fine and dandy in the middle of summer when it got light out at 5:45am.  Now it is freaking D-A-R-K until at least 6:20am, later than that really.  I dislike running in the dark for a variety of reasons.  I can barely see my feet and the sidewalks in our neighborhood are crap.  There is probably some creepy man lurking in the bushes.  Cars might not see me.  But one of the reasons I hate running in the dark the most?  All of the critters haven't hid themselves from the day yet.  I don't do critters.  I don't care how big or small the bug or little animal is, no thanks.  They gross me out.  And the freaking cicadas scare the crap out of me, plus you can never tell which ones are dead and which ones are alive until you run by and it goes all buzz crazy on you.

Keeping that in mind, Saturday morning at 5:45am Jenny (who is apparently just as nuts as I am and likes to get her run out of the way early) and I set off on a little nine mile adventure.  It was, as expected, DARK, but for the most part we run on the main road so not too scary, right?  Well less than two miles in we're just trucking along when a freaking SNAKE is in the sidewalk.  #$%&!%&^!  Of all the creepy crawlies that could be out there a snake is what I'd like to run in to the least thank you very much.  I'm pretty sure anyone in the vicinity thought we were being murdered with the shrill blood curdling screams we both let out.  I swear I high stepped it for at least another mile after that.  And that sudden burst of adrenaline really sucks the life out of you quickly.  The rest of that run was hard.

I still had the heebie jeebies when I set out at 6am this morning.  Half sprinting and jumping over every freaking stick on the sidewalk.  I hate it.  I  need the weather to cool down so I can try the jogging stroller with the girls.  And so it isn't a not so lovely 77 degrees when I set out in the pitch black.  That is extra not cool.

I've got six miles on my schedule this weekend, but currently don't have high hopes of getting it done.  We are going to a wedding in Colorado on Friday, which means I'll be busy, tired, and honestly scared of what it feels like to run in Colorado :o).  But hopefully if nothing else I'll convince myself to do a few miles in the hotel fitness center.  We shall see.

What is the scariest thing you've ever encountered on a run?

 

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6 comments:

Amy said...

The scariest thing I've ever encountered on a run was a PSYCHO on a bicycle that came up behind me on the sidewalk, cursed me out, drove up ahead, turned around, biked back and SPIT IN MY FACE when he passed me!!! I remember the nursing/running timing issues very well. I was training for my half marathon and nursing Eli and getting my long run every weekend was a challenge for sure. Basically I had a two-hour window and if it didn't happen during that time, it wasn't happening. Props to you for getting it done!

ACW said...

I miss running terribly! Hopefully I will recover from my c-section in November quickly and be able to begin again!

Christene @ MommaBird said...

Where in Colorado?

For a wedding I'm guessing you'll be up in the mountains so you should get some really nice cool weather. The highs are in the low 70s this week but I'm down in the city (Boulder area) so it should be 5-10 degrees cooler in the mountains.

The lack of oxygen might hit you, but it's beautiful over here :) Enjoy the wedding!

Liz Runningmomma said...

I feel the same way about pumping! Why is it that the worst part is washing the pump bottles. When I'm working I have to pump 3 times a day and ugh! On the weekends it's hard to motivate myself to pump in order to build up a stockpile.

Ashley said...

A moose. That's the scariest thing I've run into while running. It was dusky and a friend and I had just turned into the park to finish our run on the path and off the street when a moose stepped into the light right in front of us. Scared the crap out of me because those things are not scared of people, they charge people. I high tailed it the other way pretty fast. My friend laughed really hard because I'm typically really slow and she said she had never seen me move so fast.

Unknown said...

I'm crazier than you. I get out at 4am on the weekdays and 5am on the weekends. I run in the dark always! I had a frog jump on my foot one morning and I about lost it.