Damn Girl

This weekend was not good for me and my exercising. I planned to run all weekend, especially on Saturday with Mal. However, due to Friday night outings, we just couldn't make that early morning run. I did have my mind set on running on Sunday morning and by golly, I did. I took out the dogs for a quick bathroom break, drank half a coke, hydrated with two big glasses of water, and decided that I was going to walk up to Hermann Park for my run. Of course, by the time I did actually set tennis shoe to pavement, the sun was peaking out just a little bit more than when I took the dogs out making it slightly hotter.

I got dressed, hooked up my ipod, stretched, and headed out the door. I was fiddling with my playlist when I went too far and noticed that my ipod has a Fitness button on it. It's so cool; it's a pedonometer, which calculates how many steps you took and the calories burned. I put the music to Play All and walked the 1.8 miles up to the park. For the first time, I took in the sights of my walk. Last time, I was walking with Mal and you know...we girls like to gab alittle. Okay, really I just like to keep my mind off of the fact that I'm running or walking. This time, I took some pictures.

The Wainerdi Bridge I cross to get to Hermann Park from my apartments.

Looking at the Medical Center. You can see the hyperdermic needle towers they call St. Lukes Hospital.

Looking out on the mini bayou.

I dropped in on the running trail as soon as I crossed the road. I love this park, because it's all shaded and pretty much a great scenic run. Plus, Hermann Park has the nice running path that is easy on the knees. I called it pee gravel in other posts, but it's not. However, I do pass by the zoo and you get the occasional zoo poop smell. It's not always nice, but you move by quickly. I also noticed that this park is under construction like Memorial Park. Consequently, there were parts that I couldn't run. At one point, I had to go down a ditch hill just to get to the open area and then dodge golf carts.

I ran the 1.5 mile loop around without stopping and felt good. I did slow down to an almost walk to change the music on my ipod to an actual album, because I got hit with 3 slow and depressing songs in a row that really got me out of the mood. So, I put it on Unknown Album that I got from my old coworker, which is mostly club, upbeat, hip music, things like K$isha (or however you spell it), Lady Gaga, Lil' Wayne, etc. I sped up my run when the music started. In fact, at the end of my run, the song (not really sure what the name of it actually is) that I call Damn Girl, Yousa Sexy Bitch came on the ipod (why my post is titled Damn Girl). It pumped me up. I mean the lyrics are basically saying, "People think you run too hard," "You ain't like any other girl," something about the nice ass, and of course, "Damn Girl, Yousa Sexy Bitch." I mean it's not hard to think that you are a running diva sent down to tread on all those other peon women runners out there. It even made me think, "Hey, sexy bitch, why don't you run around another loop?" I really did think it, but by the time I got to my stopping point, I realized that my knee had an ache and I still needed to walk the 1.8 miles home. I checked out my ipod fitness tracker (accidentally stopped it so I have 2 items) and I burned 347 calories and 60 calories on the next one. I don't have it with me so I can't remember how many steps I took, but I know I took at least 6,000 steps (or was it 9,000) on the first one.

Instead of stretching in my apartment when I got done with my run, I decided to head to the pool and stretch there. It feels good not only to have the cooler water on my skin after a run, but it just feels so good to stretch in there. I tend to have longer, fuller stretches.

After this run, I think I'm ready to take my running to the next level and really push it with more mileage. I need to quit pussyfooting around. Depending on the end of my day today, I'm going to try to run. It's been a rough and anxious day for me and I might need to get some energy out even though, Monday is supposed to be a rest day. We shall see.

On a side note, I took out my doggies for a 1 mile walk around my apartment last night. Not only is this more walking, but it's an arm workout. Lady is like a speed rocket blasting full power as soon as the gates open. I used to think it was the fact that she hadn't pooped yet, because she always pooped on our way back home (always a calmer walk). This time, I realized I was wrong. She pooped within the first 100 ft of leaving my apartment. She didn't let up until we turned around. It's like she knows she's going back home and wants to spend as much time outside as possible. She's sniffing around, checking out the sights, hitting every spot she can, yelling at me, "But mooommmm....you're going too fast."

I didn't bring my ipod with me to check out how much calories I burned, but it was some much needed bonus exercise. Kudos to me.