I thought of a great title and funny first few lines of a blog entry last night in the car, but I was too tired/didn’t think to record the thoughts on my BlackBerry. I smiled to myself about how clever I am! And now I can’t remember what it was. Grrrr. Next time I will be sure to make the effort. 🙁

Maybe it had something to do with the 4 miles I ran yesterday in the rain? Or maybe it had to do with the fact that I WAS RECOGNIZED BY A READER IN STARBUCKS?!

Yes, you heard me right! The boy and I arrived at his brother’s too early for dinner last night, so we went into Starbucks to kill some time and because I was thirsty. While waiting for my iced tea to be ready, a girl came up to me and asked if my name is Dori. I said yes, looking at her face and trying to figure out how I know her. And then . . . then she said, “I thought it was you, I read your blog.”

!!!!!!!!!

And it gets better. The reader, Robin, recognized me by my hair! As you might know, I am growing out my japanese straightened hair back to its curly true self. The result is about 4 inches of curl on top and straight hair on the bottom. It makes me constantly self-conscious and it is unusual and it is weird and it is got me recognized!

I could not believe it! It is so strange how I write this blog, assume that people I know from Facebook and bloggers I know and some friends and family read it, and think little else. I rarely think about people who don’t comment actually keeping up with anything I write because in my mind – why would anyone care?

I was on cloud nine after that encounter! I just cannot believe I got recognized! Robin said she almost didn’t say anything — but I am SO happy she did. Sometimes I need a little validation to keep this going, to know people are reading, to know it is making someone’s day slightly more entertaining. And since it has been more difficult lately to get my posts in, this would a great boost of motivation.

AAhhhhhhhhh!!!  🙂

So, back to reality. Thank you for your comments about my hellish 1 mile race. They made me feel much better, and I especially felt great once I got my chip time of 7:46! Going forward, time is not so important. But since I clearly ran this race for time, I will celebrate it and make sure everyone knows how fast I ran a mile.

Speaking of chip times, I mentioned this at the end of my last post but I wanted to say it again as part of a decision I made . . . I realized there was no starting chip time at my first 5K, there was only a mat at the finish — so the time must have actually been less than 28:46 and my pace a little less than 9:16. Additionally, my Nike + iPod has been annoying me with its inaccuracy now that I am becoming more of a “runner.” It told me my pace for the 5th Avenue Mile race — a race that is a confirmed 7:46 pace — was 8:54. That is a big difference! And now that I am running longer Sunday training runs in preparation for my 5 mile race, I am starting to get concerned that I am overtraining; running farther than I should be.

I am recovering from two knee injuries and constant hip pain, and the last thing I need is to overtrain. While my Nike + iPod was a great and inexpensive decision to give me an estimate for my runs, I decided I am ready for accuracy. I currently use a Polar F7 heart rate monitor, although I forgot to put it on for a long run a few weeks ago, didn’t miss it at all, and haven’t worn it since. If I am not going to use my current HRM, and I desperately want one that will accurately track my distance and speed, I decided to take advantage of Polar’s trade in program. This program will allow me to send in my F7 and get a discounted rate off another model. After lots of research on their site, I think I decided on the Polar RS300X sd. Anyone have experience with this one?

This HRM has many appealing functions, including:

• Measures heart rate combined with speed and distance
• An easy start option do you don’t have to scroll around
• Easy data transfer to computer
• Target pace alarms and speed/pace summaries

Polars are known to be much more user friendly than Garmins, and I have to say my Polar F7 is extremely intuitive, which is important to me. I need to call customer service to actually make the trade in happen, so I just wanted to throw this out there before calling. I am VERY excited to have a HRM that will accurately tell me my distance and speed! I don’t trust the Nike + for either of those, especially speed. I have a strong feeling I am faster than it leads me to believe.

My training plan called for 4 miles yesterday, but when I woke up it was rainy and gross. I was sore in my calves and hamstrings from my 1 mile race. I also had a slight hip pain. And I have a major aversion to rain. To the point where I will forego all plans in order to stay home and avoid the rain. So I ate breakfast, and then I ate second breakfast, and I decided to just hop on the elliptical later on. When later on arrived, it looked like the rain had calmed down a little. The thought of being inside the gym made me ill, and I decided to attempt my very first rainy run. Despite the rain, the calf and hamstring and hip pain, despite the fact that I ate 2 breakfasts and would likely suffer a very bad cramp.

I got dressed and put on my visor to keep the rain from my eyes. I told the boy I was going to attempt 4, but might come back sooner because of aches/pains/rains. When I got to the lobby I saw the rain looked worse than I realized. I considered turning back but decided to give it a shot.

As soon as I started running, I felt pretty great! The rain was light and felt refreshing and cool. I did get a left ribcage cramp right away, but I practiced breathing out, lips pursed, on my left foot and it did the trick! At a mile in, my neck started hurting — forgot to do my neck stretches! That pain disappeared as well after about half a mile. At mile 2, my right ribcage cramp started. Forgot to keep up with my breathing after I killed the first cramp! Did my breathing again. Pain went away. Could NOT believe I didn’t get the lower left side food cramp — wow! Maybe I CAN eat and run if I wait a few hours?

Running in the rain was also great because there were hardly any people out on the trail! I felt very free. I ran at a very comfortable pace for me (until I get my new HRM, I don’t know exactly what that pace is!) I forgot to wear my knee sleeves but I didn’t even notice until mile 2! When the Nike said 4 miles, I stopped, although based on my time I believe it was more. This was my second time running this distance and I have to say I loved it again! I finally feel like a runner, being able to run 4 miles and say it was easy! And once again I felt so awesome during this “long” run that I really, truly understood why people love running — because now I am one of them!

And I just ordered a Road ID. It will go around my shoelace and has my name, age, city/state, emergency contact numbers for my mom and the boy, my health insurance number, and information saying I am not allergic to medications. I want to be safe now that I run outside more.

My awesome run made me come home and look into some longer race options for next year. I have a big one in mind but I won’t discuss it just yet. 🙂

I’m going to have a GREAT giveaway this week that I am very excited about!

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