osmolality, schosmolality

as some of us AARS peeps gear up for our long run this sat, we should think about how to take care of our delicate bodies. and no, i'm not talkin' hair color or brow shapes. i'm talkin' hydration: water vs. sports drink.

in a recent active.com article, good ol' matt fitzgerald sings the praises of osmolality (who doesn't?). although i'm sure my microecon TA learned what 'osmolality' meant in 3rd grade, i was happy that matt defined it for the rest of us: "the concentration of dissolved particles in a fluid."

so in addition to learning a new word (note to self: use "osmolality" 3 times today to make it part of regular vocabulary), the article also provided some useful advice about when to use what - "Water is a great drink choice outside of workouts, but during exercise you're much better off with a sports drink". he also talked about the benefits of protein and, a bit surprising to me, sodium: "Those [sport drinks] that contain higher amounts of sodium are preferable, because they are absorbed quicker and maintain fluid balance in the blood and muscles better. Choose a sports drink that contains at least 15 mg of sodium per ounce."

this made me think of new flavors for sports drinks that highlight the high sodium content. what's saltier than potato chips? or pickles? mmmmmm...Fierce Dill Gatorade...Krazy Ketchup Propel Fitness Water...seriously, i might be on to something here.

if they can do it...

... so can we.

bugs bunnies

even best laid plans fail, so i was left to run all by myself yesterday. seriously, i can't remember the last time i motivated to run alone. i was feeling a little wound up from sitting in front of the computer all day so a run was definitely in order.

it was actually a really nice evening albeit a smidgen muggy. i ran to gallup park and along the way saw four bunnies. i guess catching a glimpse of a rabbit is sort of a rarity - you always get that "awww, look a little bunny rabbit!" reaction. that was my first thought, until i saw another, and another, and then another. and then it wasn't so special anymore. it was more like, "get out of my way, you rascally rabbit."

running in the evening is nice - the sun's down and the weather nice has cooled down. it's actually my favorite time of the day to run. except the bugs. they weren't technically noseeums, since they weren't they biting kind, they were probably gnats. but i couldn't really see 'um, until i got home and realized i had all these little splattered, gnatty bugs stuck to my shirt, my neck, and my arms. it was really gross. or as martin bashir says, "it was disturbing."

friendly reminder

....that we should register for the crim by wednesday, august 27th to take advantage of that mad discount for early registration. are we committing to the 10 mile or just being content with the 8k?

art fair finds

no, this has nothing to do w/ "s..t on sticks" or some lovely baubles or cutting edge art - i'm talkin' running shoes! after our run this a.m., the AARS (minus aa) cleaned up at tortoise and the hare. p and i both picked up TWO pairs of shoes, while e and k showed some restraint and just got 1 pair. however, at a mere $30/pair, i don't feel too guilty. and it's good we went right when they opened - even at 9a the crowds were already in full force.

for all those readers (all 4 of you) who have never been to AA art fair (described once as "neither art nor fair"), it's quite an event. you have the pros - sidwalk sales, kettle corn, lots of interesting art - and the cons - lots and lots of ppl, streets shut down making it difficult/impossible to get around, trashy over-priced crap. the high temps and humidity don't help, but it's still a fun and interesting event...maybe i'm saying that since i won't be here for most of it?

Writing is to Running as...???

I inherited t-bone's copy of a book entitled "Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day" by Joan Bolker. I'm not far enough into to determine whether there's any actual useful advice (of course, t-bone has already completed her dissertation so maybe proof is in the pudding), but I was tickled by the analogy she makes to creating a writing addiction to running. Here's the exerpt:

For some of us, writing gives us a place to be with ourselves in which we can listen to what's on our minds, collect our thoughts and feelings, settle and center ourselves. For others of us it gives a chance to express what would be otherwise overwhelming feelings, to find a safe and bounded place to put them. For some, it's like exercise: this is the way we warm up a muscle that we are going to be called upon to use.
--snip--
The satisfaction of writing every day is very much like the satisfaction of a daily 3-mile run. One begins, lives through the warmup, hits stride, has the experience of "being run" rather than "running," of a fluidity of motion that one no longer has to direct and then, cooled down, can feel, "Now the rest of the day's my own. I've done what I most needed to do." And for those who've never run? Writing offers the pleasure of a deep, ongoing engagement in an activity that is meaningful, one where you know more at its end than you knew at its beginning.

I'm trying to get into my writing stride and it ain't easy. Like running, the beginning is the hardest part where the pain is most intense, but eventually you settle into a stride. In writing, ruminating over how to begin is the most painful, but once you get a few sentences down that actually start to make sense you do get into a writing stride. Fifteen, thirty minutes or an hour later you've got something down on paper and it really does feel like you've accomplished something. But, the stride just doesn't happen the first, second, or third time you try - you gotta work at it, unfortunately. Gotta work on my stride, girls. Gotta work on my stride.

a little inspiration

My previous running partner (sorry ladies, you weren't the 1st...but in my condition, you very well might be the last) sent me this nice little article about the CRIM that some of us are planning on running at the end of August. She had nothing but raves about the race, and now the penguin confirms it (hmmm...if we went by the animal that we most resemble when we run...) - we GOTTA run it!

All this time I thought (I must have read it somewhere because I wouldn't have thought of it) CRIM was an acronym for Coolest Race In Michigan. But lo and behold: "The race is named for Bobby Crim, who created the 10-mile race in 1977 to benefit the Special Olympics. Now 74, the former Michigan State Speaker of the House is still there, still a part of the festivities, and still signing T-shirts."

I traded my Lloyd Carr autographed AA-Dexter race shirt with ann arbor, and although I appreciate the much better fit (note to self: stick with size "M"), I miss Lloyd's loving words (not to mention having to abandon my "sell it on Ebay and retire early" plan). So now I can ask Bobby to personalize my CRIM shirt. Sah-weet.

ask and you shall receive

what do we want?

more runners!

when do we want it?

now!

apoz asked for it and though it meant importing folks from rhode island (aka the other "rhode" scholars) , we had a sizeable running group today - gimps and non-gimps alike. sadly, this will be the last time that all of the aars will run together for about a month or so as various peeps are off to more exotic destinations for much needed (and deserved) r&r. have fun and we'll miss you! the crim awaits your return!

p.s. i'll be stuck here so if anyone wants to run, let me know...

re-release into the wild

I missed the run last night, this whole having to get work done thing is cramping my style. I've been dying to use the Old School phrase "re-release into the wild." I feel it is appropriate here, since 40% of the scholars have been out of commission for 3 weeks. How did it go, ladies? I hope the run went well.

With the crim coming up, it is time to get some t-shirt ideas together. Any special requests? Nothing to dorky, yo.

beat the heat

or, get beat by the heat. I fear the latter was the case for poz and I this morning. We headed out around 8:15 am for a 6 mile reverse loop of where I don't know because I never pay any attention. Poz tells me when to turn and I obey. It was hot. We were hot. We persevered, but we both agreed that had we been running alone it would have become a walk after about mile 3. But that always leads to the dilemma of how the hell you get home... so we ran. We were awful chatty for 2 hot mammas. Lots of breastfeeding talk, even some discussion about circumcision- poz brought that up I swear. I am realizing I don't even know how to spell it.
I saw Anne Arbor out and about with her knee brace on. She was certainly looking athletic, but it was hard to tell if she had been for a run or not. Going by looks alone I'd say she'll be back on with the road scholars in no time. Ecshelto looks to be making a full recovery, might she be back eating up the miles again soon?

2 good links

i don't know if anyone else gets the active.com monthly newsletters so in case you don't - i found the following 2 articles pretty interesting.

this one provides tips on becoming a "lean mean athletic machine" (cringe at the dorky title). FYI - #2 confirms that p-loop was right to gorge after the july 4th 5k!

and this one debunks some nutrition myths. i.e., even though ms. winfrey lost all her weight by not eating after 6p, some of us who have to squeeze in more than filming a 1 hr TV show might have to munch into the night.

Wanted: running partners

p-loop and i ran this a.m. and started comparing schedules for the next few weeks. it doesn't look good: she's out this weekend, i'm out in 2 weekends, there's talk of km visiting her home country later this summer, and ditto for anne arbor's home turf. meanwhile, ecshelto is out of commission for a bit - go back to her original post about the biking incident and let your imagination run wild on the bit about "gory details"...

anywho, what i'm saying is we're down to a skeleton crew for running (but enjoying our summer...except for maybe ecshelto - feel better soon!). so if any non-AARS are reading this and want to join in on the running fun, let us know!

p-loop, always so modest

P-loop forgot to mention she set her personal best (pb) in the race yesterday! T-Bone ran too, kicking ass and taking names. km represented, going out to fast as well. P-loop also forgot to mention she ate steadily for about 2 hours after the race. Strandvej pointed out running a 5k "isn't really exercise" and P-loop almost ate him. Tech guy has recovered most of the route from the gps watch and should send it to P-loop soon. Baby pushed a couple buttons on the watch but it looks like the route is still salvagable. GPS detected some pretty steep inclines for a "mostly flat course."

Born on the 4th of July

Upon km's suggestion, some of us (the non-injured and those still in town) decided to do the Tortoise and Hare 4th of July 5k run. Since I hadn't run since our short jaunt in Boston, I jumped at another opportunity to drop $25 on 3.1 miles and yet another t-shirt that I probably won't ever wear. I was really drawn to the "mostly flat" description of the course and the "live DJ."

I'm always surprised at the number of people of who run these races. Where do they all come from? Similar to the Summer Solstice run, there were definitely some running bunnies out there and they actually hop very quickly. In contrast to the Dexter to Ann Arbor run, the weather was quite nice - warm but low humidity and with a nice, light breeze. I ran with a watch for the first time in a light effort to actually pace myself... it only reminded me that once again I went out too quickly, but I'm hoping that I can get more comfortable with pacing myself so I don't feel like ass midway through the race. Other race strategies include learning to use the bathroom before the race starts. Overall, it was a good race for me - but somehow there's always someone else who's stealing my thunder.

In other news, it looks like we're close to getting some our running routes up on the site. Strandvej, our tech guy, has been working overtime during the holiday weekend and has produced some nice mock-ups from the GPS watch. He's a new hire and has just eeked by his probation period, but we think we'll keep him. It's hard to find skilled workers these days and he works for beans. As a little incentive/bonus (you know, to keep him motivated), we gave him his very own shiny, red stapler. You should have seen the look on his face. You'd have thought that he won the lottery or something.