Garmin Piece of Junk

The last time I ran was the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February. That would also be the last time I wore my Garmin Forerunner 230, the "trusty" running watch I got for myself shortly after I decided to take up heart rate training in 2015.

Man, has the watch been a disappointment this year. The day before the Princess 10k, I put my watch on and the little band that holds the excess watch strap broke. Luckily, I was able to improvise using a Disney Annual Passholder 2014 band decoration for the race.

But then I quit running after that race. I'm not really sure if I'll ever be able to take it up again because I'm just so freaking uncomfortable right now. I have tissue expanders in the place where my left breast used to be. My plastic surgeon and breast surgeon operated on me the same day back in July - the whole procedure, which I refer to as "demolition" and "reconstruction," took about six hours. Apparently, I had to be intubated and was given a catheter. Anesthesia is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

So since July, I've had the tissue expanders in place, and have had to go for a few "fillings." This will create space for the plastic surgeon to give me an implant after I'm finished with chemotherapy. You can imagine this is not a very "comfortable" process.

I don't know if running will ever be a part of my life again. The TE is extremely awkward, and I just generally don't feel good most days while on chemotherapy, so running is right out. I also need to avoid gyms and other places that are germ breeding grounds since my immune system is compromised.

While I'll be able to go back to the gym after chemotherapy is over, I doubt I'm going to feel any more comfortable and excited about running after having an implant.

Meanwhile, I can't just sit around and be inactive, even during this trying experience that is going through chemotherapy. So I've been trying to get at least a walk in daily, and I was reminded yesterday that my Garmin could keep track of my step count. I thought it might be best for me to try to get 10k steps in every day.

So I charged up my watch, put it on, and then this happened:

Cheap watch strap snapped right in half. You can also see the Disney Passholder charm I was using to hold it together before this happened. 

I just can't catch a break. Going to see if I can buy a replacement watch strap now.

Rant of the day: Socks

Let's talk about socks for a hot minute. There are a few common lengths you can find when purchasing socks for athletic pursuits, although they might go by different names depending on brand or what store you are searching at. I've found some helpful visual aids to ensure we're all on the same page here. Here they are, ordered from least to most acceptable:

No-show: I feel the same way about no-show socks as I do about strapless bras or thong underwear. God forbid someone sees your panty lines, or bra strap, or freakin' sock, so let's invent something super uncomfortable but ask you to wear it with a smile in the name of fashion. No-show socks provide some of the very basic benefits of being a sock, but absolutely NOTHING where it really counts... my heels. My heels tend to be blister magnets. Zero stars, No-show.

1/4 or Anklet: WTF, 1/4 length? You are like the less-cool cousin of No-show because you're visible above the sneaker-line, and therefore somehow uglier according to society. So I'd love to at least give you props because you're trying to be more functional, but I can't because you still leave me with bloody, mangled heels. Fail all around.

Knee-high: Enjoyed by soccer players and my grandfather. I actually had a few pairs of pretty sweet Superman knee-high socks for CrossFit, which I appreciated when box jumps were part of the Workout of the Day. I mean, if it came down to it, the socks were going to do jack squat if I ate it to keep me from getting bloody shins, but there was still some peace of mind there. Not really appropriate for running (unless you are using compression), because you might as well be wearing pants at this point, but these get an honorable mention as they do often play an important role in costumed, themed, or fun runs.

3/4 or Mid: The ONLY acceptable sock length for running. My heels and ankles, while slightly whiter than the rest of my body, are well protected from the damage my sneakers can do from a long run. Unfortunately, I must be the only one in the state of Florida who has this problem because there is not a single running store that sells this magical sock. I can only find No-show. Heck, it's really hard to even find 1/4 length here, as if that extra tiny bit of sock is going to cause one to immediately suffer from heat exhaustion. I understand we get 100% humidity down here, but come on people. Really.

And barefoot purists, this is NOT your time to comment. I tried it your way last year, and ended up with an awesome stress fracture after running the Dark Side Challenge (despite training in minimalist shoes for four months) that left me sidelined for a good portion of the summer. I'm thinking your way is the right way... but only once you actually are at a healthy weight. Until then, sneakers... with socks... are for me.

Before I moved to Florida, I was a member of Roadrunner Sports, which carried all kinds of glorious socks. I swore by their R-Gear Dry Max socks, as they were reasonably priced compared to other brands of running socks (especially if you were a member!) and seem to last a long time for the number of miles I put them through. I let my membership expire since RRS doesn't exist down here, but started to get nervous as I picked up running in sneakers again last June and realized my sock collection was dwindling. So when I actually went looking for socks around here and could only find fucking No-show socks, I rejoiced when I was on the road in Colorado with my husband and... lo and behold... we passed a RRS! I made him stop for a few minutes so I could stock up on my favorite socks.

When I finally find 3/4 length socks, I be like...

Anyway, my socks seem to be wearing out again. Thank goodness for the internet and mail order.

Running Recap

Alright, running friends. What do you do when you wake up bright and early on a Saturday morning for your weekly long run and find with dismay that you've let the battery die in your trusty Garmin?

Well, the first thing I did was put a reminder in my iPhone for every Friday night going forward to check my watch battery. I'm not letting that happen again.

And then I laced up and ran out the door anyway. I figured I'd been given a gift - a non-rainy Saturday morning where I otherwise felt great couldn't be wasted. St. Pete Run Fest will be here before I know it, so I figured I'd train using Rate of Perceived Exertion. But using RPE doesn't always work out for me when trying to stay in my target heart rate, and it certainly didn't help that it quickly got to be hotter than balls by 8am.

Call the police and the firemen. 

Ah well. Still glad I got out there... because I finally solved a mystery that has been bothering me for almost a year now. At this time last year, I ran into some kind of race happening put on by the Florida Ultra Runners but could find no mention of what they were up to online. So when I saw them again this weekend, I worked up the nerve to actually ask one of the runners what was going on.

The event was something called the "Durty(sp) Beer Run," an annual 6-hour run that takes place along a 3 mile-ish loop in downtown St. Pete from 6am to 12 noon. St. Pete is pretty packed with microbreweries, so I suppose it makes a good destination for that kind of run but... no thanks, I'll pass. It was 8 million degrees on Saturday. I'm only slightly exaggerating. I wonder how many people died that day.

Yet that wasn't the only event taking place on Saturday! They were also setting up for something called the Great Brain Wash, which looked much more appealing. This 5k included inflatable obstacles that were similar to giant slip-n-slides, and the race supported brain tumor research. I would have totally crashed the course, but they hadn't started yet, so I just walked my sweaty self home.

My Disney Annual Passes came out of blockout this week, so my husband and I went back to Animal Kingdom yesterday for the first time in over two months.

When our Disney Annual Passes come out of blockout, Ben and I be like...

Also, still going strong with my puritanical devotion to healthy eating, having no difficulty navigating a day at Disney yesterday food-wise whatsoever. I will share that I have begun picking up tracking my food in MyFitnessPal again, because I do believe I may be falling into the trap of undereating. I would rather err on the side of having a little bit more food than I need right now to kill any future possible binge urges while I've got the support of medication on my side, rather than be sucked back into the same dangerous cycle the minute I stop meds. Like I said in my initial post on the subject, it's all about developing the right habits for me right now.

Dunks'

It's National Donut Day again. Feels just like yesterday I was fighting the urge to stop at Krispy Kreme, Wawa, AND Dunkin' Donuts to take advantage of free donut offers.

Well, let's be honest. I fight the urge to eat donuts every single day. Much harder to do when they are FREE!

Donuts are definitely not part of my meal plan on the Never Binge Again protocol. And they certainly aren't allowed on the Whole Life Challenge, an 8-week healthy living challenge I'm currently taking part in.

But I've decided to lose some points on the WLC and loosen up on my meal plan to take part in this annual "holiday." I just decided I was only going to indulge in ONE donut, not one at every single place that was offering free donuts... and Dunks' won out. I thoroughly enjoyed my indulgence, but I must cage my inner pig and get back on track immediately.

I'm otherwise kicking ass and taking names on the WLC. Well, sort of. I'm in first place on my team, which consists of my mom and my husband's family. They were the ones that invited me to participate, I think mostly because they wanted me to encourage HIM to participate. I couldn't get him to commit, though, and now I'm demolishing them all. /bragging. I don't think I'll be invited to participate in the next challenge.

I may be doing well on my team of ten, but compared to the rest of the world, I rank right around 3k out of the 14k people who are participating overall. So really, I'm doing kind of... meh.

A nice long run tomorrow should certainly undo the donut damage I did today. I've got a brand new pair of kicks I'm sporting these days*:


Mizuno Wave Inspire 13

If you've been following me for a while, you might remember I've been married to my Saucony Hurricanes for a long time now. When I went shoe shopping this past weekend, however, I tested out the current model and was not thrilled. My local shoe expert suggested I go with Brooks Adrenaline instead, but I was hesitant because that was the shoe I was using years ago when I experienced some knee issues. So he then laced up a pair of these Mizuno Wave Inspire 13s for me, and I decided to give it a go.

I broke them in with 10k steps around Disney on Sunday to check out the new "Pandora" world at Animal Kingdom, and then ran 5 miles in them yesterday. I think they are going to work out just fine. We'll see how a longer run goes tomorrow.

*Amazon Affiliate Link. This means that if you click any of the links to Amazon through my site and buy something, I may earn a commission. Much obliged.

Catch Me Running Dirty

As much as I always prefer to be home instead of travelling for work, I will say there are some perks to being a runner in New Jersey instead of Florida at this time of year:

• I heart the weather. No humidity and/or Tropical Storms.
• The sun is actually up here at 5:30am, so I feel less like I'm getting up in the middle of the night.
• I've got access to a 400m track. They keep these pretty locked down in Florida.

Of course, the question still lingers... should I even be a runner anymore? My right foot has not healed properly since April's half marathon. It's not like I'm in intense pain all of the time - I'd say it's about a "3" on a scale of 1-10 when I run.

And a "3" is not enough to keep me off my feet. I need to be active. I'm not sure what "active" for me is without running. CrossFit is fine, but I can only handle it about once a week right now, and I can't take my gym with me when I travel.

But I can always toss my running shoes in my suitcase.

And I do have a choice in shoes.

Could it be my most recent choice in footwear is contributing to my problems? Only one way to find out.

So I ended my five-month affair with my minimal running shoes and begged my Saucony Hurricanes to take me back.

But my old shoes turned a cold shoulder.  When I hit the track this morning, I felt no different than I have felt on any other run I've attempted over the last few weeks. The heavier, more cushioned shoes were no help to my foot whatsoever.

Next two days are going to be longer than usual with work. I'll be able to try running again Thursday morning, but my optimism is low.

Guess I just need to run to the foot store and grab a new one.

Upgrading to a BB-8

After taking a few days off from running to focus on moving and unpacking, I found myself with a little time and motivation to take one last jog down Bayshore Blvd. today before saying goodbye to Tampa for a  while. 

Which gave me a chance to use my new droid*:

I got it in purple to match my awesome new shoes.

The Garmin Forerunner 230 is essentially the same as the FR 235, which I fired two weeks ago. The key difference is that the 230 does not have optical heart rate monitoring - you must use a chest strap to get your HR.

Before today, chest straps and I were not friends. But the strap that came with the bundle did me no wrong. And I had a pretty even, consistent, stress-free run. 

Maybe I'll actually keep the FR 230. 

Oh, I did find my old Polar Heart Rate monitor while unpacking everything - so for friends who mentioned interest in getting started with HR training, let me know and I'll send it your way. 

There's still a ton to do to truly feel settled at the house, but it will all come in time. I don't have internet set up yet at home - we're hoping the local cable company will have everything set after Wednesday. I'm using the WiFi at Dunks right now, and will need to "commute" to my mother's house for the next two days so I can get connected for work. I am hoping to still be able to check in here - I was pretty proud of only needing to skip one day of blog writing over the craziness of the last few days, but it really killed me to miss posting yesterday. 

So back into the groove with running, feeling good about my new hardware - now, just need to get back to where I was with my diet. Unfortunately, my day today is pretty reflective of how I've been eating during the move. I just didn't have time or the inclination to cook and eat healthfully.

*Amazon Affiliate Link. This means that if you click a link to Amazon through my site and buy something, I may earn a commission. Much obliged.

75 days left

Today's Exercise:  Last outdoor run @ Bayshore Blvd:

M1: 15:47
M2: 15:40
M3: 15:49
M4: 15:30
M5: 15:23
M6: 15:49

Breakfast	Lunch	Snack(s)	Dinner
Quinoa and sausage, coffee	Egg and cheese on a bagel, caramel coffee	Donut	N/A, tea

Worse than Donald Trump

There's a lot I don't mind writing about here, but I'm not going to touch politics with a ten foot poll. 

No, the analogy I'm making here is that I've done a lot of 'firing' as of late. The Apple Watch, the Garmin FR 235, and now my Saucony Hurricanes. It's a pretty big deal because I've been using this particular shoe model for years. But between getting blisters in a new pair a few weeks ago and reading up more on how I can improve my running form, I decided it was time to try something new. 

I had taken an interest in barefoot/minimalist running after reading Born to Run* in 2011. I joined the Vibram fad and tried to walk around as much as possible in them. It didn't last long - the shoes were such a pain to put on, and gave me blisters on my heels. So I never made the transition to minimal running. 

While I found my Hurricanes to be "comfortable," I became a chronic heel-striker. I also found myself with referrals to physical therapy and in the chiropractor's office for runner's knee and lower back pain. Not saying I know for sure my heel-strike was the cause, but I've certainly read enough as of late about running form to think it's time to try a different route.

Over the last two weeks, I've been transitioning to the Vivobarefoot Evo Pure:

You know, it doesn't matter who makes 'em... but someone somewhere must have decreed that
running shoes have to be hideous

Looks aside, they feel like nothing on my feet. It's actually quite nice. I wish all my shoes felt that way. My calves are yelling at me right now, but it's a good thing - at least I know I'm activating the right muscles. I still know I have a lot of work to do on form because I'm creating too much friction on my forefoot. It starts to feel particularly painful when I'm running on the treadmill.   

Anyway, I figured if I'm making the switch, best transition now - the Star Wars half will be here before I know it.

*Amazon Affiliate Link. This means that if you click a link to Amazon through my site and buy something, I may earn a commission. Much obliged.

81 days left

Today's Exercise:  Rest

Breakfast	Lunch	Snack(s)	Dinner
3 eggs with spinach, coffee	Salmon salad, tea	2 HB Eggs	Chili, tea

Fired another droid

Continuing the discourse on running gear today. I have not mentioned yet that I fired my Garmin Forerunner 235 last week. 

Before I had the FR 235, I had the Apple Watch. Which I also fired. 

Listen, I do my due diligence before making investments in technology. Everything I had read online suggested these devices with optical heart rate monitors do just fine, which was exciting to me because I loathe heart rate chest straps. Didn't have a good experience with an old Polar HRM. Chafing issues.

But I'd rather give it another go with a consistently reliable HRM chest strap than continually get frustrated with optical HRM crap outs. With both the Apple Watch and the FR 235, I'd experience extended periods of time where I was either getting readings I knew were too low, too high, or getting no readings at all. Just a status that said "measuring."

I can't be the only one dealing with this, can I? Both products have good reviews.  Do I have weird wrists or something? 

So I sent back the FR 235 to Amazon and exchanged it for the Garmin FR 230 bundle*. It should arrive by the end of the week. The 230 is essentially the same as the 235, the ONLY difference is that it does not have the optical heart rate monitor. 

In the meantime, I'm not going HRM commando. I've gone back to using my Apple Watch as a running watch and pairing it with Map My Run to get at least some running data. 

*Amazon Affiliate Link. This means that if you click a link to Amazon through my site and buy something, I may earn a commission. Much obliged.

82 days left

Today's Exercise:  Bayshore Blvd Run -

M1: 15:37
M2: 15:44
M3: 16:31

Breakfast	Lunch	Snack(s)	Dinner
3 eggs with spinach, coffee	Salmon salad, tea	2 HB Eggs	Chili, tea

Hoth

I just need to put this out there:

See that big chunk of red? That's where I used to live

This confirms that - even with everything I've been going through with our new house - moving to Florida was the best decision I ever made. No more of this:

When the airports open, NJ friends, come on down, we'll go to Disney.

Alright, so it's still a little cold here - enough to make an outdoor run unenjoyable without the right gear. Since I last wrote about not being in our house yet, and not having access to any winter clothes, I bought compression arm sleeves from Running Skirts. They had a flash sale where they sent me three sets for cheap, I just had to be willing to take whatever colors and patterns they sent me. I find that they do provide some nice added warmth, but not enough to feel comfortable at 38 degrees. 

I'm really digging that leopard print.

What's the deal with compression gear, anyway? This article provides a good overview, but to summarize, compression leads to improved blood flow leads to more oxygen getting to your muscles. So that *should* lead to improved performance, but results are inconclusive.

The last book I read on the topic (Primal Endurance by Mark Sisson*) suggested compression gear provides a lot of benefit for recovery, but wearing compression socks while running will minimize muscle vibrations that contribute to soreness. 

Here's my experience - I ran last year's Star Wars half marathon with Zensah compression leg sleeves* - and my legs felt so much better, happier, and less fatigued than any other half marathon I had run before. I had run 6 miles the day prior, and hopped a 5-hour red-eye across the country back home that very evening... and felt ready to run again the next day. 

So compression. I'm a fan.

*Amazon Affiliate Link. This means that if you click a link to Amazon through my site and buy something, I may earn a commission. Much obliged.

83 days left

Today's Exercise:  90 min Treadmill run @ Globo Gym. The treadmill display was broken and didn't give me my per mile time, but I didn't realize it until I was pretty for into my run. Average pace - 16:40

Breakfast	Lunch	Snack(s)	Dinner
3 eggs with spinach, onion, and cheddar, coffee	Breakfast was more like brunch...	HC Latte	Chili, tea

To run or not to run?

That is the question. 

The feet feel fine. Sunday's beach run did not do permanent damage, thankfully. There are only two things holding me back from getting out the door tomorrow bright and early to get back into my routine.

Thing 1: Although my feet feel fine, they don't look fine. I'm worried that a run done too prematurely could sideline me for much longer than three days.

Thing 2: It's cold.

A long time ago (July) in a galaxy far away (New Jersey), I packed all of my winter clothes, including my Under Armour cold gear, into a box and said farewell as our friendly movers hauled it off to Florida and buried it somewhere in a storage unit.

I anticipated we'd meet again well before winter arrived in Florida. After all, we were supposed to be in our newly built home in St. Petersburg and out of storage sometime around the end of October. Heck, that's like still the middle of summer down here.

And then this happened.

And we're still not in our newly built home. 

And my winter clothes are still buried. I don't have a single long sleeved shirt. 

So, in the last week, I've left the house wearing:

A. A pink bathrobe. Who needs a jacket?

B. My husband's runDisney Star Wars shirts from last year. 

At least I have some variety, as we each got three shirts from these races - one for the 10k, one for the half, and one for the Rebel Challenge. I'm grateful that my husband had better foresight in his packing than I did so that neither of us have to freeze. But he and I aren't quite the same size. My hands disappear in the sleeves. If I added a belt, these would actually make great dresses for me.

The lack of warmer running gear is a lame excuse, I'm aware. I could still make my triumphant return to running tomorrow... on the treadmill. 

But is a treadmill run worth the small but possible risk of further injury to my feet?

94 days left

Today's Exercise:  Rest

Breakfast	Lunch	Snack(s)	Dinner
Beef stew, coffee	Beef Stew , tea	Almonds	More Beef stew

Got myself a new droid.

Well, I guess my excitement about "sleeping in" yesterday was premature. Woke up at 4:30 again this morning.

The cool thing though is that I can see exactly how I slept! 

I get a 0.0 for deep sleep. Reminds me of my favorite scene in Animal House.

I fired my Apple Watch this week. Besides often crapping out on giving me heart rate readings regularly, it's just not a running watch. It doesn't do the things I need it to do. 

So I upgraded to a Garmin Forerunner 235. Like the Apple Watch, it has an optical heart rate monitor, gives me smart notifications, and reminds me to move when I've been sitting too long. But that's pretty much where the similarities end. The Garmin offers me:

• GPS: The Apple Watch could only record distance outdoors when I carried my phone with me. Even then, it couldn't give me mile splits - I had to also use Map My Run to get at that information. 
• Sleep tracking: Apple Watch didn't offer sleep tracking, probably because the battery life was dismal and it needed to charge every night. Maybe the Garmin can help me gather some additional insight into my sleep problems.
• All of those extra cool metrics runners salivate over like cadence and VO2 max: Oh, and I can now use Smashrun which takes all of your Garmin data and gives you interesting insights AND lets you earn fun badges. I mean, the commentary on this is fantastic:

Interested? You can create a free account and be my friend using this link

I used my Garmin outdoors for my long run yesterday, and also wore my Apple Watch for comparison. This was a mistake. Sometimes both HR readings were perfectly in sync, but the times they weren't made me really neurotic. 

I also tested out the Garmin indoors today - and, just like Apple Watch, it failed at giving accurate mileage indoors. I was doing 16+/mi on the treadmill, but the Garmin tracked me much faster. 

Anyway, as with any new device, understanding how it works, customizing it, and figuring out exactly what hole on the stupid wristband I need to use so it doesn't go sliding all over my wrist... is just taking a little bit of time. But overall, I think I'm going to be much happier with my new droid.

100 days left.

Today's Exercise:  Treadmill "run":

M1:16:12
M2:16:40

Breakfast	Lunch	Snack(s)	Dinner
3 eggs w/ spinach, coffee	3 eggs w/ spinach, tea	N/A	3 eggs w/ spinach

Fear is the path to the dark side

I had a really off morning today. 

I'll start with a positive - I didn't wake up at 4! I woke up at 4:20! #winning

But that's really where the positive ended. About 5 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, a nasty cramp in my right leg roused me. I walked it off quickly, but I hope this isn't going to be something new to contend with. I used to get leg cramps all of the time at night when I was running farther, faster, more frequently. Not fun.

I then was really looking forward to my AM "run" - it's been a few days since I have been able to do it outside. However, about 10 minutes in, I started to feel a blister forming on my right heel. I had decided it was time to throw away my old model 14 Hurricanes over the weekend (they should have been trashed in October), and started using my model 16 Hurricanes this week. (Saucony may very well be on model 50 by now. I can't remember when I bought these, it was so long ago. I always like to have a pair of backup shoes on hand). I'll be really disappointed if I have to toss a pair of new sneakers because they aren't serving me. I've delayed my retirement twice now purchasing all of the stuff I need to run better.

Anyway, I really wanted to stay outside. Sunrise, dolphins, beautiful weather... why waste a perfect day inside the gym? But I turned around and went back inside to use the elliptical to prevent messing up my foot any further. 

So it's days like today when a lot goes wrong... and I'm trying to figure out why... that I get started with the "What If?" questions. 

What if I'm not doing this right?

What if my heart rate monitor is inaccurate and I'm not training aerobically at all?

What if I don't get faster?

What if I don't hit my sub 2:00 goal?

If you have anxiety, then you know it's hard to follow "What If's" through... the fear just kind of lingers there. 

So while I'm processing these down to a place where I won't worry, I did just want to put this out there for other worriers - it turns out that people who worry are pretty smart. 

Maybe it isn't so bad to keep the "What If's" going. It at least keeps me motivated to continue changing things up until I get it right. 

108 days left.

Today's Exercise: 1 hr walk/elliptical

Breakfast	Lunch	Snack	Dinner
3 eggs with spinach, coffee	Tuna salad, peppermint tea	HC latte, almonds	chili w/ guac

Wigging Out about Half Marathon Hair

Sundays are usually reserved for spin class, but my flight got me home pretty late last night and I thought the combination of sleeping in a little bit plus not missing a long run this week would be better for my training. Glad I did it this way, as I had a pretty decent run.

The only troublesome thing was my hair. Female runners know all too well the discomfort that a loose strand or two of hair sticking to a sweaty forehead can cause. The right hairstyle can certainly do the trick:

I've invested in a few headbands, only to find that they end up slipping right off the back of my head, causing an even greater annoyance than the original problem they were designed to solve, as I then have to stop the treadmill and fiddle around with both my ponytail and headband to get everything back into a comfortable spot again.

There's only one I've found that is decent, and that was quite by accident - my husband donated two of these headbands to me when he purchased them for racquetball and found they didn't quite fit his head. Both of these were in my dirty laundry pile, so I was forced to go with an inferior headband.

In order of worst to best in terms of slippage:

The black cotton headband on the far left is the one that I wore today - and had to stop every 7 or 8 minutes to readjust my hair. The flowery one was falsely advertised as a 'no-slip' headband - I try to reserve these for my weekly spin class since at least my head is relatively stable there and slippage isn't as much of an issue. However, since I'm only doing spin once each week, it means I'm stuck with at least one run where I'm doomed to be annoyed by loose hair. The orange/cheetah print headband I got using Kohl's cash and it's decent - just a little too wide for my liking.

So Nike wins for those of you looking for a headband that gets the job done. Heading over to the Nike website to see if I can buy out the rest of their headband supply.

188 days left.

Today's Exercise: 5.85 mi treadmill run (10:48 min/mi) @ Globo Gym

Breakfast	Lunch	PWO	Dinner
N/A	Beef Curry Pumpkin Coffee Pecan praline	N/A	Taco Salad, Pumpkin Cheesecake

Stormtrooper Under Armour

I'm a bit neurotic when it comes to my workout clothes. I rotate through about 7 pairs of yoga pants/capris, moisture-wicking tech t-shirts, and sports bras throughout the week. Performance socks are a must. God forbid I don't have any clean and have to run in cotton. *Shudder* A strategically placed blister can ruin a run pretty quickly.

Anyway, because of the obsessive-compulsive way I treat my attire, my husband is banned from ever doing laundry. This has nothing to do with stereotypical gender roles, but draws back to a time early on in our relationship when - in an attempt to be helpful - he took care of the wash and threw one of my pricey sports bras in the dryer. The bra itself didn't take as much of a pummeling as my husband did.

There's really no explanation for this, when you consider:

• I don't even treat my dresses and pant suits as well.
• Most of the running t-shirts I got for free at races I've done over the last four years.
• Obviously, the clothes don't make or break you.

Skipped bootcamp today in favor of a treadmill run. Also wanted to use it as an opportunity to investigate personal training at the gym - at $40-$60 per 30 minute session, it might not be in the cards. Anyway, the run tonight didn't feel quite as awful as last night's run, which makes me think my' humidity' theory is more plausible than my 'dairy' theory (just take a look at that PWO).

Averaged a 10 min/mile pace with occasional "sprints" at 9:13 min/mile. Just to put this into perspective - I'm going to have to average 9:05 min/mile in April for the ENTIRE RACE if I want to get in under 2:00:00.

195 198 days left (Apparently, I've been miscounting for the last week. Added this nifty little countdown clock to my blog to help me keep track today and was thrilled to see I have an extra three days to prepare!)

Today's Exercise: Treadmill run @ Globo Gym - 3.1 miles @ 10:00 pace

Breakfast	Lunch	PWO	Dinner
Coffee Eggs with Spinach	More Coffee Tuna Baby Spinach Salad	Snickers Fun Size Bars (stupid Halloween candy on sale!)	Beef Curry