Runner’s Strip: The Pre-Run Routine – Get out the door and running before you grow a beard

Sometimes it feels like it can take an eternity before we actually get out the door for that run. Between taking care of all those creaks and squeaks, making sure the ‘guts’ and bladder are ready to roll, and WHY does that darn Garmin sometimes seem to be looking for that darn satellite by way of hot air balloon?! This doesn’t even take into the account the times where you know you’re purposefully stalling…c’mon, you really don’t need to check Facebook AGAIN. 😉
pre-run routine
It’s true, the runner’s pre-run routine may snowball at times, BUT I’ll tell you what, I like to run first thing in the morning and I’m also a total sucker for wanting every ounce of sleep so I’ve pared my routine down to about 10 minutes between eye ball crusty wiping and hitting the road. Here are some of my quick tips:

1) Lay all the gear out the night before. Shoes unlaced and sitting next to my pile of clothes, Garmin sitting (hooked up to the charger because I am petrified of it running out of batteries mid-run) next to my clothes.

2) Hit the bathroom. I give myself about 10 minutes to let my guts wake up (I allow myself this window of email/website/Facebook time...but I look at the clock and stick to just 10 minutes.) and off I go.

3) Start locating. I hit the ‘locate’ button for my Garmin when I go into the bathroom to let that sucker start up. On my way out it’s done 99% percent of the time.

BOOM. I’m out…no more farting around for this girl. I will say that I have a finicky stomach so I eat a big snack before going to bed at night and then don’t eat in the morning. If you DO need to eat before your AM run:

* Nightstand nosh: I’ve had friends leave an energy bar on their nightstand and wake up in the night to eat it, then roll back to bed.

* Liquid nutrients: Drinking something with sustenance when you’re close to run time can often be easier than handling food if your stomach is sensitive.

* Nighttime bedding: If you need an extra hour or so before your AM run to eat, get to bed earlier and be strict about it. Sleep is incredibly important for runners, so don’t skimp there…you can use the extra morning hour to do things you would have done the night before. Getting sucked into YouTube gems included.

Here’s to getting to that run before that first Cup ‘o Joe wears off! 😉
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Check out my post on taking care of those runner pops, squeaks, creaks, and niggling injuries.

Check out my post on pre-run nutrition and finding foods that will sit well in your stomach and timing your fuel.

Check out my post on liquid nutrients.

Check out my post on GI issues for runners.

Check out my post on sleep for runners.

Check out more Runner’s Strip cartoonage!

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1) What usually takes the longest in your pre-run routine?

2) What are some of the runner rehab elements you do to take care of the ‘old bod’?
Plantar rolling and leg swings are staples.

3) Do you drink coffee before your runs?
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Super Secret, Amazing, Scientific Answer To Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain: RUN

Every year around this time I admit to getting up a little on my runner’s high horse and thinking, “Gosh dang, you people, shut up about all those ‘Avoid Holiday Weight Gain’ articles the answer is simple: RUN!”
no fat in running
I’m not shy and fully own up to being a neurotic runner who does run every day, the holidays are no exception. And you want to know a little secret? One of the BEST perks of being a runner = eating like a runner = looking like a runner and not a sumo wrestler.

There is a little thing called balance, moderation, and then license to grub hard. That last one also applies to special circumstances (ie: holidays) where you eat foods and amounts (ie: foods in trough-sized plates) you wouldn’t normally…but that also circles back to the law of averages and your nutrition for the entire year.

runner eating pizza

Eating steak pizza isn’t going to be enough iron, in addition to diet you should be supplementing.


So, Runners, I believe if we are then the kinds of runners who brave the weather, who don’t miss a day just because the gyms are closed (uhh, it’s called outside…hehe) or what the calendar says, let us all sit atop our little high horses and cringe at all those stupid article. Because the truth is we’ve solved the holiday weight gain conundrum…

Run. 😛
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My article on dining out for runners also touches on the topic of nutrition, balance, and license to indulge: How Runners Can Stuff Their Faces at Restaurants and Still Perform at Their Best
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1) Do you do the eye-roll and head-laugh every time you read one of those ‘avoid holiday weight gain’ type articles or stories? Do you also realize that it’s usually rehashing the same obvious tips over and over again? 😛

2) Do you adjust your running or dietary habits around the holidays? How do you keep balance?

3) What is your favorite type of holiday indulgence?

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Runners, Get Your Confidence On: Workouts to build the confidence you need to race your best

I’ve talked a lot about how important confidence is for runners. When you step to the line of a race, and any workout too for that matter, it is confidence that helps quell those nerves. You tell yourself that you’ve battled through excruciating pain before and you’ll do it again to get to the finish line certain you left it all out there.
woman running
Confidence is often a tricky because in order to build it up you have to have accomplished certain distances, workouts, and runs. Though, in order to conquer those workouts you’ve got to have enough confidence guts to get out there attempt them, and then kick their butts. So it’s a bit of a revolving door, chicken and egg thing. Thankfully running gives us ample opportunities to cycle through those revolving doors (ie: umm, every day! Hehe) so if you do have a weaker workout, get through it and look forward to the next workout which you can demolish. The key here is, in order to escape bad workouts with your confidence intact; you have to LEARN from them but then push them out of your mind.

The confidence you get when you step to the line of a race should come from the workouts that you nailed. The mile repeats that you came in under goal-pace, the tempo run where that last mile you definitely hit through to a new level of pain tolerance, the 800’s where you surprised even yourself.

Over time a runner comes to have those ‘key workouts’ that stand out in their minds; the ones they’ve done time and time again and over the years it’s become a bit of a benchmarker. It’s often fun (and motivating) to see the progression over the years; at the same time these types of workouts can do much in the way of indicating you are set for a stand-out race.
kara goucher
My latest article up on Competitor: “Confidence-Building Workouts From the Pros” shares four of these confidence building workouts from some of the professionals. Josh Cox and Tera Moody talk about their staple marathon workouts, Sara Vaughn shares about her speedster 800’s and Renee Metivier Baillie did 500’s up at altitude to predict what kind of 5k shape she was in.

I had a lot of fun doing this particular article because I know that we ALL have workouts that we particularly enjoy doing because they make us feel ‘on’ and then when we step to the line of a race we know it’s ‘go time.’

Check out the article over there, but I’d also like to hear what kinds of workouts you use as benchmarkers, race predictors, or workouts you’ve done for years and you use the progress as motivation to keep on kicking butt out there! 🙂

1) What is one of your ‘key’ workouts that give you confidence or help build your confidence before a race?

2) When you step to the line of a race, what kinds of things do you do to bolster your confidence?

3) Have you done, or do you want to try, one of the workouts talked about by the elites I profiled in the article?
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Carpe the Run

Run every interval like it’s your last.

Run every mile like it’s your last…and be grateful for it, even if in the moment it feels like he##.
carpe the f***ing diem
Step to the line of every race like you are among friends…well, the friends that you still want to kick the @$$es off of. Competition IS your best friend because it makes you run faster.

Take every day and decide if you’re going to be a runner or a lazy bum.

Remember there is more to being a runner than just running…do the core, stretching, weights, drills, and all the ‘boring extras’ because in the end it will make you a better runner.

Cherish the miles spent with your training partners. Even the silent miles because the irony is you can sometimes learn more about a person in those silent footfalls than in most other ways.

Slog through the bad runs because they are tests to makes sure you deserve the good runs.

Being a runner is a state of mind; we do the action because it reaffirms who we know we are inside.

1) What is one way that you remember to be grateful for your runs?
Umm, injuries have a sick way of giving people perspective, in that regard they can sometimes be blessings in disguise. Remember that next time you want to burn that elliptical into the ground.

2) When is the last time you had a kick butt run with a training parter/friend? Was it a long run, regular run, or an interval session you ground each other to the ground in that sickly, good way?

3) What is one day you will carpe the diem today? In running or otherwise?

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Straight Talking Iron For Runners: IV treatments, pills, doses, and runner norms

If you’re reading this and wiping steak blood juice from your lips because you’re a runner and know how important it is to get that iron into your blood, then this post is JUST perfect for you! 😉 Actually, my latest article up on Competitor.com is ‘Iron Level Upkeep for Runners’.

runner eating pizza

Eating steak pizza isn’t going to be enough iron, in addition to diet you should be supplementing.


I wanted to share a little more about anemia and iron levels for runners because it’s something that I’ve had to deal with myself and know just how sh*tty it feels to be running when your iron levels are sub-par. And since I’m not a certified smarty-pants and rather get my knowledge from good old fashioned experience and being able to leech all the information I can from the certified smarty-pants I’ve been lucky enough to work with and train under, here is where I can be a little more free with the advice if you know what I mean.

Let me cut to the chase and bottom line this for you off the bat: If you’re a runner you need to be taking iron supplementation in ADDITION to anything you eat. To be frank, every single world-class, competitive, and ‘runner’ runner that I know, be them man or woman, take iron pills, liquid iron, or get iron injections.

If you’re training as much as runners do, there is just no ‘realistic’ way to get the amount of iron necessary through diet alone. Some people have this thing where they don’t like pills or ‘fake’ things, I respect your beliefs, but at the same time you’re only doing yourself a disservice.

In the article I stress how if you don’t have a doctor experienced in working with competitive runners, they could be telling you that your iron levels are in the ‘normal’ range when, in fact, they are anemic compared to runner standards. The ‘average joe’ levels are not going to cut it, and if you get your blood tested and your ferritin is hovering around 20 ng/ml there is then a reason why you’re feeling like crap on your runs.

When I got my levels tested way back when, I was at a 9 and at that point was rejoiced to finally be able to have an answer as to why my running was feeling so dang hard. Weird right, that I was happy to be anemic, but the good news about low iron is that it’s one of the ‘easier’ things to fix once diagnosed.
blurry runner
Again, the article explains a lot about that, but what I’d like to share here is a little about my iron infusions and then some tips that since I’m not a doctor can’t just toss into other articles I write:

Iron Infusions:

*Process: Sounds scary, and to a needle-phobe it wasn’t a trip to the Pop-Tarts store, but honestly, they weren’t that bad. I went in for three sessions on three successive days, each visit lasted for 3-4 hours hooked up to the IV bag and outside of the prick it didn’t hurt. It felt a little cool where the iron was going in, but that’s all.
*Nausea: What I WILL warn you about is that iron can make you feel a little nauseous and with a headache if you take a lot at once. A few hours after my first IV treatment I felt pretty sick; I went to bed and was fine the next day. The other two days of treatment I felt fine afterwards though. Everyone is different, some people may not even feel bad the first day, but I think because my levels were quite low to begin with and I hadn’t been taking any iron pills, it was a bit of a shock to my system.
*Blood Levels: I went from single digits and up into the 20’s pretty much within days. It was awesome, and as I took pills after that, my levels kept rising rather quickly.

Iron Pills:

*Commonality: The vast majority of runners I know go the pill route, they are super easy. All you really need to be aware of is you need to take them with food (or you’ll probably feel sick) and take them with Vitamin C to help aid absorbtion. Try to not take them with calcium because that will block absorption a bit.
*Doses: I’d suggest aiming for around 60-70 mg per dose if you’re maintaining and just running a moderate amount. If you’re in high training and competing I’d say you should at least double that; when I was doing hard training I’d safely be having four 65 mg pills a day spread into two doses. People worry about iron overdosing, but unless you’re a kid or weigh 70 pounds you’re not going to die, probably just feel sick. That said it is IMPORTANT to note that I didn’t just go pound four pills off the bat, you need to gradually increase your iron intake, start with one pill a day for a week, add a second pill the next week but spread it out at least 6 hours and go from there. And you could stick to that amount, get your blood tested regularly and adjust your iron intake accordingly.

running in storm

Running with anemia feels like you’re trying to run through tornado, those splits are off but they feel four times the effort.


Iron Blood Levels:
*Runner Norm:
Because of iron toxicity phobia people tend to be a little shy of sharing just how high they’d like their levels to be. I’d say that runners should aim to be at least around 70 ng/ml, and to be totally honest I’d say even try to stick around 100 if you can. Some people just can’t get that high, but going with the better safe than sorry logic, shoot for that.

If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them as a comment and I could do another post if there is enough interest. Low iron, known as anemia, is quite common in both men and women and it is incredibly crushing and frustrating to deal with as runners. Or, more correctly, it is brutal to deal with before you find out that is what you’re dealing with. From there, getting supplementation and into an iron maintenance routine is an easy way to get your running back on track!

1) Have you ever dealt with anemia? What was your experience like?

2) Do you take any kind of iron supplementation?

3) What ways do you then try to still get iron into your diet?

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Garmin Forerunner 10 Review: Uh-Oh, now I’m stuck in a love triangle

Shhh, you CAN’T tell my Garmin Forerunner 410 but I’ve been cheating on him. It’s horrible, I know, because you all know how much I love him, but I find myself also in love with the Garmin Forerunner 10.
Garmin Forerunner 10
Source
The Forerunner 10 is the new, slimmed down version, and I was SO STOKED when the kind folks over there gave me a lime green one to test out. I took that baby for a spin (uhh, way more than once) and here are my thoughts:

* The Stats: This ‘little’ guy will track your time and distance on one screen, you can flip over to the other screen to see your pace and calories. To be frank those are really the only functions I use my ‘bigger’ Garmin for; since the 10 retails for $130, if you’re not needing all those ‘extras’ I would say your best bet is to go for the 10. To compare, the Forerunner 410 retails for $250. And for the record the 10 does have a virtual pacer feature if you’re into that.

* Alerts: The Forerunner 10 will beep every mile marker, which I really like. Sometimes I feel people can fall into the trap of getting too obsessed with their paces, especially on easy days, so what I’ll do sometimes is not look down at the pace and just keep track of all the mile beeps. It’s kind of like my compromise to going ‘naked’…I’d be a little too freaked not to know the overall mileage but I can handle with running off of effort and let the pace drop wherever it may for the day.

* Fit: The Forerunner 10 really does fit just like a ‘regular’ watch; I know that some of the older Forerunners are pretty wide and bulky and for a runnerchick with a thin wrist it sometimes made me feel like I was wearing a watch sleeve! Lol. That said, my Forerunner 410 does fit nicely on my wrist and that’s comfy; however, I will say the 10 is noticeably lighter.

garminella and prince

Ya…buy me a Garmin and it just maaaaaybe better than a ring. 😉


* Accuracy: As anyone who has a Garmin or understands the Satellite technology, it’s not always exact down to the molecular distance level. (Yes, I made that a word) I’ll run the same routes and some days the mile markers are a few feet either way, I’d say that the accuracy between the 10 and 410 are the same, so you aren’t losing any ‘quality’ for going for the more compact or cheaper Garmin.

* Cait Proof: The real test was I was able to get it out of the box, set, and run-ready all by myself, quickly without reading any of the instructions. Of course, go read the instructions, but my point is that the 10 really is that simple to use…I like that.

* Overall: Honestly, I love my Garmins and I’ve said that long before I ever got a bit of swag. I can’t say anything bad about them; the only slight annoyance I could say I found between the 10 and the 410 is that the Forerunner 10 seems to take a little longer to locate the satellites before my run. Other than that, if you want need Garmin technology and you’re only interested in distance, pace, time, and calories, this is your guy. I’d say it’s the best bang for your buck, and *perk* for me is that lime green is my favorite color. There are also pink and black available.

On that note, now I don’t know what I’m going to be doing with my little Garmin love triangle over here…I’ve been fair though and giving love to both. 😉

1) Do you own and use a Garmin? If so, which one?

2) Are there times when you don’t use your Garmin?
I believe sometimes getting away from the obsessed numbers game can help certain runners in relaxing on their runs and keeping those runs easy…but at the same time I won’t lie and going ‘naked’ is dang hard! 😛

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Seuss Gets Hi-Jacked by a Runner

Move over Sam I Am, there’s a runner here about to tell her own story…
cait i am

…enter that darn fox…
fox in socks

…you know you want to try this one…
fish on treadmill

…a little running from with the Lorax…
lorax

..and of course the Grinch gets face time…
grinch

…need I say more?? 😉
excited runner

Hope you enjoy my Seussical rendition…snag a running shirt HERE! 🙂 Cait I Am is Out!

1) What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss story?

2) If you could meet and pal around with any Seuss character who would it be?
Cat in the Hat is too obvious…I’d like one of those pocket sockets or something.

3) What is a random thing you could do in one of my running shirts? 🙂

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Running Can Be Scary As He**, Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back

Running is scary sometimes. Not in the ‘BOO!’ the Oogittity-boogitty Monster is chasing you, though that would surely get that turn-over moving, but in the fact that with running you must constantly be putting yourself out there.
blurry runner
Part of that funny feeling in your stomach and flurry of nerves that greets you on race day, and to a degree on hard workout days, is fear. Us runners don’t like to consciously admit that is what it is, because ADMITTING that there is fear works against us; burying that fear and words like ‘can’t’ are appropriate coping mechanisms to get us through those hard workouts and races. Words like fear, can’t, tired, and pain shouldn’t be leaking into our mental vocabulary.

Though, we can’t deny that these feelings exist and in order to overcome them DURING the races, the workouts, the long runs we have to be able to UNDERSTAND where they are coming from.

The fear comes from knowing there is the chance of failure.

Being afraid of failing, coming up short, losing, embarrassing ourselves in front of others, and having solid proof that we are not capable of something are what stop a LOT of people from accomplishing things they ARE capable of. What’s more are those feelings are the things that derail them from even trying in the first place. The truth is that it’s SO much easier to never try because at least that way we will never have concrete proof that you failed. But that not trying is just a cop-out.
tough runner
Running can be daunting as he** mostly because it can be hard as he**. No two ways about it; in order to achieve those goals you have to PUSH yourself, open yourself up to the chances of failure, of having to look that fear of starting dead in the eye and not blink.

Runners butt up against that fear on a constant basis, which is another reason it takes an insane amount of guts and fortitude to stick to our sport. Every time you go out for a run, the inevitable fact is that yes, you will be uncomfortable. Discomfort is like the base line for any run and it only goes up from there.

Fear of pain is a primal instinct, your body doesn’t WANT to hurt that bad. It is hard-wired to do all it can to avoid pain; in workouts and races we run towards that pain. The days we come out the mental victors are the days we must be insanely proud of and REMEMBER because the next day we’ll have to face the same pain again and strive to come out on the winning side again.

Running is like the revolving door in that sense; you don’t just beat out the pain and fear one day and then sha-bam you’re on the elevator to the top. You have to KEEP passing through the same gates, and yes, there will be days you wind up ‘wimping’ out mentally and take the wrong door. It happens to the best of us…we do ‘fail’ sometimes.

Though we can’t let ourselves be so consumed by the fear of failing that it screws with our mind. People can get hung-up on the times they aren’t so proud of and let the seeds of doubt bloom into this heinous Venus Fly Trap that eats them alive every time they step to the line. Recognize that there will always be highs and lows in running; you savor the highs and you stick through the lows.

To get through the lows it is comforting to know that 1) EVERYONE has them 2) EVERYONE is denying that little bit of fear mixed in there during pre-race/pre-workout jitters and nerves 3) the revolving door of running will always grant you another chance regardless of outcome.
keep running
Fear should never rule you, nor should the times where you maybe did wimp out mentally; that’s why during that warm-up and as you battle through that hard workout and races, fear should be banished from your mind. In those moments there is no such thing as fear, as can’t, as pain, as failure.

We can understand where these feelings are coming from, but after that, all the focus shall be placed on overcoming them, of putting ourselves out there day in and day out.
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HERE is an article on how to channel pre-race nerves to your advantage.

HERE is an article on how to use the art of visualization to improve your hard workouts and races, another part of mental training.

HERE is an article on why it’s good to put yourself so far out there it’s scary.

The winner of the Ambler Heat Beanie is John Gash. Send me an email at captaincait@hotmail.com and we’ll get you sent out your swag! 🙂
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1) What are some of the other emotions mixed in there with pre-race and pre-workout jitters?

2) How do you set your goals for running, races, times, etc.? How do you make sure they are big enough to ‘scare’ you a little bit?

3) Name a time where you definitely pushed through to another level of pain tolerance? Brag on your fine self! 🙂

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Running and ‘Craming’: Race day ready with not as much time as you would have liked

The results for the ‘cramming method’ when it comes to running are a pretty mixed bag. Admittedly there are those lucky few blessed with a fair chunk of talent and with minimal training can whip out a rather remarkable performance given the circumstances. That’s not the norm and I’d like to also point out that the craming method = the hazing method. Read as: be prepared to suffer the consequences by way of pain uncomfort and soreness. Hey, you have to pay the price some way!

finish line face man running

Trust me, he’s hurting, but I think he ditched the can’t beast at mile 2.


Running rewards the consistent and the hard-workers BUT there are circumstances where you’ve got less time than you’d like before race day and you want to do all you can to make the most of that time available. My most recent article for Competitor: ‘How to Get Race Ready in Four Weeks’ shares how to get the most bang for your buck in 4 weeks of training.

This article pertains to 5k and 10k races; generally the shorter races are a little easier to ‘gutt it out’ and surprise yourself with a better than expected race. True fact: you really can’t fake a marathon, even with months of warning…haha.

In getting back to running a race with a deadline looming, different scenarios will offer up very different prospects:

* Coming off of injury: We’ve all been there and if you’re injured early in the season, or during the point where you’d be doing the ‘meat’ of your training, you would be surprised just how WELL cross-training like a demon can prepare you for the race. Take your running workouts and just adapt them. By the time you get healthy enough to run, transition smartly and with even just 4 weeks of ‘real’ running you can have a really great race.
runner legs
* Running but not training: Say you’ve been consistent but not doing any real workouts or mixing up the paces. Then your 4 weeks of training will mostly be getting those legs accustomed to faster paces and the mental training component of embracing the hurt of training, it’s different from just straight running. The good news is that ultimately if you’ve been consistent and are not out of shape, you’re tuning up and you may not be in PR-busting shape after 4 weeks but you’ll be well on your way and then motivated to keep that momentum up.

* Slacker: Okay, got to call out the runners that show up after summer vacation to report to their schools’ teams having not run a single step. Here is where that nice hazing term comes in, I know of some runners who, having diligently trained over the summer, take a sick kind of glee in watching others pay for their slackerdom. Like I said, you have to ante up somewhere and usually slackers have to pay double for their little hiatus. That said, at least if you’ve been a runner you have the muscle memory on your side so with 4 weeks of actually focusing you could wind up at least not totally embarrassing yourself. Then just keep up the hard work and hopefully learn your lesson just once. 😉

Along with sharing the workouts that will give you the most bang for your buck (spoiler: threshold workouts) the article has a 4 week training program guide too. So if you’re looking nervously at the calendar, take a breathe (hopefully you’ve been cross-training! Hehe) and know that you STILL can make it to the start and finish line with your ego intact and have at least a respectable showing…and potentially a really awesome one! 🙂

1) Was there a time where you were on a time crunch for your race; what was the circumstance, how did your training end up going, and then how were the results?
I had been injured for pretty much all of one cross season but was able to get in some land runs and workouts a couple of weeks before one of the big races. Since I was really good with my cross-training I actually did PR, so again, don’t underestimate cross-training! 🙂

2) Was there ever a time you feel to slacker syndrome?

3) When is your next race and what are some of your staple workouts in your training?
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We May Be Funny Runners But Call Us Joggers And The Laughing Stops There!

The other night one of my friends asked me, “When you see people running, what are some of the things you judge them on?” Okay, so first off I guess I DO have to admit to being maaaybe just a bit judgmental of some of runners I see, but c’mon you know you’ve seen some things that made you giggle!
twitter catoon
* Texters/talkers/phonies: *Disclaimer* I know I open myself up to some blogger hate here, so I apologize in advance, and if you fall into this category I’ll still love you and maybe you can share how/why you do this. So, I do not understand how during a run people can get their thumbs texting and provide this crazy awesome spread of photo’s. I’ve seen people update their Facebook/Twitter accounts while supposedly in said run. I just don’t get it, and perhaps it is my insane LACK of coordination, but a part of my brain sort of thinks if you can text and tweet you probably should be running faster???

* Attire: Don’t get me started on the chaffage wonder of running in jeans, I’ve seen people sporting cargo pants loaded with TONS of things even a key ring so large I could hear sleigh bells. There are people running around in Converse (love the brand, not for running though) and it makes me full on cringe when I imagine the injury risk.

* Fuel-belters: Look, there are certainly times and places for fuel belts but a four miler is not one of them. Unless of course you’re running on the sun, any able bodied person should be able to make it through an easy run in the single digits without needing re-inforcements.
vibram shoes
* Form Freaks: HERE is a list of some of the common form maladies, and I’ll open up and share that I don’t feel too bad judging people because I can totally poke fun at myself for my own form faux pas. When I first started I looked like a T-Rex who had her arms jacked up so high I don’t know how I didn’t punch myself in the face. When I see people running like the Hunchback a part of me wants to catch up to them and puuuuuull their head up straight. [Core work really can help improve your form.]

THE EPITOME OF OFFENSES

* Dropping the J-Word: I wound up telling my friend that really, I may poke fun at people I see running but all of that is all well and good and PALES in comparison to the ultimate runner offense. It’s not something you see, it’s something that is only heard, like the worst curse word in the books: jogger. You call me a jogger, it’s GO time…I’m a runner, thank you very much.

The thing is, runners are awesome, even those who may do some wonky things…hey, I’m probably Queen of Wonky. I support all people getting out there and doing it, so don’t get me wrong there, I mean I have said on numerous occasions I live in the Utopia that is sarcasm.

Get running, be happy, be sweaty, be injury-free…just be on watch for any poor souls who dare to call us joggers!
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Tomorrow is your last day to enter my Ambler Heat Beanies Give-away! 🙂
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1) What are some of the funny things you’ve seen people do while running that make you chuckle?

2) Last time you got thrown the j-word and did you do anything about it?
It’s been a while, but I make a little joke about it, “Oh, hey now, you didn’t see me jogging I was running!” 😛

3) Worst running attire related offense you’ve committed?
When I first started, I admit to just running in whatever kind of shoes that were the cheapest.

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