nooner

So for election day the students had off and teachers go in for worthless BS. I didn't mind it since I got to sleep in a little bit and take my time getting there (voted first). I tried running this morning before work but made it only 2 minutes on the TM. I brought stuff with me to go running at lunch if I was feeling it. Usually we have 1/2 hour for lunch, today we had an hour and a half! So I went running over the lunch break! I am jealous of those of you who can do this on a daily basis - this was nice! Of course, I usually just think that a run midday or after school isn't going to work out (mainly due to stomach cramps) and I normally run indoors to take advantage of water and bathrooms. So, I wasn't as prepared as I should have been for an outdoor run. No water, no gu, no support band that I've been wearing most of the time... normally, if I wasn't pregnant, I wouldn't have these things or care, but I want to make sure I have fuel and hydration if I plan to run over an hour.

I started out, and about 10 minutes in, had a side stitch. I thought this was it, but since I had already done 10 min, I figured I could just push through it. It ended up fine. I walked when I needed to. My plan was to turn around at 30 minutes, but then I started thinking I could go a little further. It started raining after about 30, but light rain. It was refreshing and kind of nice. After about 40 minutes though, I was hungry. I was close to where I wanted to turn around (@ Villanova) so I just turned around knowing I'd pass a CVS and Running Store on the way back. First stop - CVS - water and a Whatchamacalit (I just saw this at the counter and it reminded me of when I was younger, and I thought if the running store wasn't there anymore, it would be something to eat). Water was good. I found the running store a few blocks further down and grabbed a Gu. The gu was my salvation. I savored every squeeze of the stuff. After this, I was in the zone until the end. I finished just short of 7 miles, but it felt like I had done double that. I carried the whatchama back and had some when I got back. That stuff is good!

I was happy to run outside. When I went to Villanova, I would do the opposite run. I would start at Villanova, run for 30 minutes to Ardmore and run back. This time I started at my school/work further out in Ardmore and almost made it to Nova. My time was ridiculously slow (7 miles/1:15ish), but I was pretty much just happy to be running outside and on the lunch hour!

Post run - some low back pain. Feels fine now, but maybe the extra weight is starting to bother my back. I always wish that I had a camera to take shots of the sites. I found a new brueger's bagels going up and saxby's coffee. I never made a bathroom stop!! This was pretty good!

While I was running, I thought about flexibility and stretching. In the NYtimes magazine was an article about stretching and how holding a stretch isn't necessarily good. That what you should do is warmup for 10 minutes then do some warmups similar to what you will be doing - so for running, butt kicks, high knees, and some other weird stretches that they gave demos of. Anyone see that? Since I normally don't stop after 10 minutes to stretch, and much of the time during the week, I don't even stretch after = BAD, BAD, BAD, I need to improve my stretching routine.

What's your stretching routine??? Which stretches are always a part of your routine?