adrienne-is » Los Angeles Marathon http://adrienne-is.com/blog A continuous journey of self-discovery through personal contemplation, photography, travel and life of Adrienne Abiodun. Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:52:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 One Month Until the L.A. Marathon… http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2007/02/04/one-month-until-the-la-marathon/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2007/02/04/one-month-until-the-la-marathon/#comments Mon, 05 Feb 2007 01:03:49 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=388 And I’m not running it after all. My knee was experiencing some unexplainable pain over the last few weeks and though I tried working through it on elliptical and bikes, I still found myself wincing at times. I’m too young to screw up my knee. It’s not worth it. I never had pain before all this running and as much as I’d like to run in my home digs with my friends and fam there to cheer me on, I’m going to have to pause for now. Does this mean I’m throwing in the towel on running as a whole? No – never! I’d like to run another marathon before summer… Right now the Rock n’ Roll marathon in San Diego is looking good if things shape up in the next two weeks. Perhaps I’ll just spring up in some spot like Tacoma to run a race. We’ll just have to see.

I’m told I can post my number up for grabs/sale to get some of the money I paid for the entrance fee back, but I’m not the type to have someone run under my bib number for the sake of getting $90 bucks back. I’ll just call it a donation for now.

Just thought to pass on the news to anyone who may have been following my progress or lack of…

There is still plenty of time and I’m not going anywhere.

Signing off,
Greta the Great!

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2007/02/04/one-month-until-the-la-marathon/feed/ 0 Running I Was I Wish.. http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2007/01/11/running-i-was-i-wish/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2007/01/11/running-i-was-i-wish/#comments Fri, 12 Jan 2007 04:33:45 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=185 LA Marathon Poster 2007
Weren’t those the great words of Forest Gump? Okay, yeah, pysche… Forest may have been slow, but he was actually running unlike myself these last few days and I’m still bummed. I just iced my knee after doing 60 minutes on the eliptical machine. It feels much better than before when there was obvious pain with every glide and movement on the machine. I took off four days from running and any activity and now I think I’m feeling good enough to start up again, but slowly. I MUST be smart about this.

I received my marathon bib number and info for the expo today in my email and it seemed to make time speed up that much faster. The race is on March 4th and I really need to get a full month of speed training in there. In addition to speed, I started doing some ab work to help when the lower back starts getting weak in the later part of the run. (This was my biggest woe last marathon.) The first day of ab work made the next two days for the center area feel like complete hell. I’ve never liked ab or upper body work, but what doesn’t kill me will only make me much more stronger. All I must remember is that I MUST be smart about this.

I’m hoping to start running again with no aches by Monday.

Resting is training.

Adrienne

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2007/01/11/running-i-was-i-wish/feed/ 0 The Knee Nurse http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2007/01/04/the-knee-nurse/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2007/01/04/the-knee-nurse/#comments Fri, 05 Jan 2007 04:07:36 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=176 Some of you may be wondering what happened to my running posts and if I’ve fallen from my training schedule? I was actually going strong and just a couple days before New Years my knee started feeling pain. Perhaps it is overexertion, but whatever it is it ain’t going away. (Tears, lots of tears fall from my eyes.) I’m so upset by this right now. This is the very same week I was supposed to start my speed training for my race and now I have this silly limp. Every time I walk into the gym or outside I’m so tempted to break into a mad sprint (this is called stupidity), but something tells me that isn’t a grand idea at all. I thought working in my THR zone on the bicycle or elliptical machine would help lessen the impact (which it has), but the pain still remains and it seems as though it might be the time to take a 3-4 day hiatus from all gym equip and trails. :(

I’ll be sure to let you know once I get out of this physical funk and hit the ground running again. For now Tiger Balm and I will be getting real intimate.

Say a little pray for me.
Adrienne

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2007/01/04/the-knee-nurse/feed/ 1 Test Numero Dos: Nike+iPod http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/19/test-numero-dos-nikeipod/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/19/test-numero-dos-nikeipod/#comments Tue, 19 Dec 2006 23:45:36 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=169 Few days ago I took a two hour ride down from Marietta to Columbus to return the first Nike+iPod sport kit I purchased for a new one. If you recall the first one wasn’t reading my pace correctly. It completely insulted me by saying I was running 25 minute and 31 minute miles. No way Jose I wasn’t! With my run today I tested the new sensor out and while it wasn’t reading as badly as the first I am still unimpressed. Perhaps my blonde hair is starting to come in and I just can’t seem to get this simple technology down, but this time after I had calibrated the darn thing for 10 minutes miles, I noticed it reading my pace at 8:40 and 9:20 minute miles even though I ran the first miles at 10 minutes and the last three at 9:40. I saw 25 minute and 14 minute miles pop up only for a quick second, but nothing long enough to throw off the entire workout, though I’m still going to go off the treadmill today over the sensor.

Running Stats:

Location: Morgantown, WV
Temperature: Room temperature. 73 degrees
Run: Short – 4 miles
Course: Manual, treadmill
Time: 38m 20s
Finished: Feeling okay.

Music that Made Me Really Move Today:

Enterception – J*Davey

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/19/test-numero-dos-nikeipod/feed/ 0 Beat It in Morganstown, WV http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/18/beat-it-in-morganstown-wv/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/18/beat-it-in-morganstown-wv/#comments Tue, 19 Dec 2006 04:43:50 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=168 After all that Chaka Khan, standing in an Office Depot for seven hours, talking about laser jets, Colorsphere, ink jets, driving two hours from Parkersburg, WV to Morgantown, WV, arriving at the Marriott the GPS could not find and being exhausted with a capital ‘E’ it was time to work out. This is the first time since I started training again that I did not get my morning session in and let me tell you it sucks! To begin today was my cross-training day and that means getting on a bike and giving the legs a much needed break. I would have taken care of this in Marietta, OH before we departed, but I the BW lacked a fitness room and there wasn’t a gym close by. Second, if I had known our drive was going to be two hours long after work I would have just gone out and run two or three miles down the River Trail. Being misinformed is a killer.

I’m not going to details tonight folks. It was plain and it was quite simple. My arse was dead beat, tired, and whomped, but I placed my gear on and went down to the new hotel’s awesome fitness facility and climbed up on that bike. It was 10 pm by now and as much as I mentally wanted to do 30-40 minutes of cycling my body said 20 and when your body says 20 then you give it 20. I made sure my workout level was decent so there was a decent amount of resistance. I worked out in my target heart rate zone and got nasty sweaty all while soaking in the latest in music videos. At one time in life I would have crippled over into the fetal position if I couldn’t watch music vids everyday, but these days I catch them when I can. Last one I caught for the night was Nas rapping about how Hip Hop is Dead. Don’t know about all that, but I was feeling the track and more than that I was feeling like crawling my dead behind into bed. I’m just happy I got the workout in.

Never skipping a beat…
Adrienne

Workout Stats:

Location: Morgantown, WV
Temperature: Room temperature. 73 degrees.
Workout: Rode on the bike, level 10 (1-20), THR = 145, in the zone!
Time: 20 minutes
Finished: Feeling tired.

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/18/beat-it-in-morganstown-wv/feed/ 0 Ten Miles of Marietta http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/17/ten-miles-of-marietta/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/17/ten-miles-of-marietta/#comments Sun, 17 Dec 2006 16:24:59 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=164 Something unnatural must be happening to me, because my long runs have been feeling better and better these days. Perhaps it is as simple as my change in attitude – looking forward to the run instead of dreading it hours on end before it actually arrives. Amazing stuff isn’t it? :)

This morning I even decided to take off earlier than I normally would. As a woman in an Appalachian town in Ohio unfamiliar to me, I would have waited until some sunlight appeared, but I was anxious. I had been up since 5 am and by 6:38 am I was out the door. It was still pretty dark out and the street lights were starting to flicker and shut off with the slow anticipation of morning sunrise. To sum it up – I was quite scurred in these parts. It was hard to keep from sprinting. I tried humming with Alicia Keys as she sang Diary live and as she promised to keep the secrets of her love done, I wondered what secrets were tucked away in these gently rolling Appalachian hills. Hoping a raccoon or an Appalachian Madman wouldn’t cross my path I kept my cool and made it down the two miles stretch from my hotel into Historic Downtown Marietta, Ohio.

The previous day I had spotted a track and thought it might be a good idea to do some miles on the track turf and better yet have more accuracy in my run. I looped around the gated track and field only to find it was locked and chained so no one would ever get in without having to hop a fence. I thought for a second and immediately thought not. At this point I was only at mile 3.5 so I turned back and decided to do some laps around this historic area until I saw some better running paths. No one was out on the streets; a couple of cars here and there, some teenage kid on a bike and a suspicious looking man. (Note: almost everyone is a suspicious character in foreign places while it is dark.) I ran past dusty looking antique shops with Christmas lights strung on both the inside and outside. Old bank buildings and the historic LaFayette Hotel were also on my route. I ran over a bridge and along the river by Marietta Park and back over again. Finally, my eyes set sight on a nice bike trail and I jumped on the opportunity to run its length. I was in my last four miles at this point. I had stop to take a GU shot at mile 6 and washed it down with my Gatorade Frost. Even the GU is starting not to taste so bad. 

My music had been on party shuffle the entire time and I didn’t want to tamper with the iPod at all so I just let it run its course, but man did it know what songs to play and when! Like Rick Ross I pushed it to the limit like I was flying down a Miami highway breakin’ from the police. I couldn’t believe how good I was feeling at mile 7, 8, 9 and 10 – the end.

Running Stats:

Location: Marietta, OH
Temperature: 52 degrees
Run: Long – 10 miles
Course: Rolling hills. Street asphalt and bike trail.
Time: 1h 40m
Finished: Feeling great! Wanna do it again!

Music that Made Me Really Move Today:

Bubble – Sean Paul feat. Farenheit
Can’t Wait – Shurwayne Winchester
She’s Hearing Voices – Bloc Party

Adrienne

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/17/ten-miles-of-marietta/feed/ 0 Running Through One of History’s Bloodiest Battle Lands http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/12/running-through-one-of-historys-bloodiest-battle-lands/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/12/running-through-one-of-historys-bloodiest-battle-lands/#comments Wed, 13 Dec 2006 02:03:13 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=162 Last night when Michelle and I pulled into Gettysburg, PA we were bummed that we wouldn’t have more than a few hours to actually check the city out. It was already 8 o’clock at night and I was way too beat to do any night exploring, but I urged Michelle to go check it out for herself. I needed to do some work anyway and told myself that I would just have to see whatever I could on my morning run.

When morning arrived I checked the local weather to find it was a nice 28 degrees outside. Hearing this made me want to find a fitness center, but I decided to go with it and head into the chill. The woman at the front desk was very helpful in pointing me to a nice place to run. She said in two turns at I would be at one of the most historic places in all of Gettysburg – the old Confederate battle grounds. For a second I thought I felt the hair in the kitchen off my neck start to curl. After thanking her for her help, I proceeded to make the first left off the roundabout and decided to walk to the first two lights. I had some business to handle with my iPod before dashing off. I played with the settings and adjusted my workout to the correct distance I was running. Only 4 miles today! Once I hit the second light I broke out in my run.

The old battle fields were peaceful. No cars, few runners and walkers and just lots of beautiful open space. There was so much history on this land. Like in the movies it almost felt as though the trees would morph into life-like human people, bend towards me and ask why I was running thru this land. The trees hold all the secrets. I was really starting to enjoy the run until I remembered four songs into the workout that I hadn’t heard the pretty lady voice in my iPod. Where was she I thought? I just did a mile plus and has she been mute all this time? I take a look at the iPod and it has only registered .51 of a mile. This starts to become frustrating, but I maintain my cool. All I have to do is call Nike and see what’s going down with this thing.

I continue concentrating on my surroundings. There were tombstones and statues constructed for this brigade and that infantry unit that fought here in the past. Eerie doesn’t quite describe how it felt until I heard the faint sound of a hound barking near one of the statues. First I thought it might be a sound coming from my iPod, but when I turned my head in all directions I confirmed that it was a hound-looking dog standing a just little ways from behind the statue trying to scare me off. Hearing the dog made me think that my iPod purchase probably wasn’t the best fit for me. I don’t usually run with music anyway and here I am distracted by Madonna and a sensor that is telling me I am running at a 24 minute pace.

In the end I ran for 40 minutes in and out the old Confederate battle lands and got on the phone with Nike right after. They’ve offered some suggestions and tomorrow I’ll have to see if this thing is going to act right. If not I’ll need to replace it ASAP. All I wanted was a little accuracy in my runs. Sigh.

Here are some photos I took after my run once I showered and took off for work.

National Park Entrance
The entrance to the park where I ran.

Trees
Path through the creepy all-knowing trees.

Trees
Another part of the path.

Statue
A war statue.

Van in Battle Grounds
My lovely work vehicle in the park.

Gettysburg Address
What is the Gettysburg Address? I did not see this sign on my run, but I saw it on our way out of town and had to take a photo.

Town
Shot of the town of Gettysburg.

No Casinos
Don’t gamble with Gettysburg… Apparently a lot of the towns people are opposed to casinos coming in – these signs were everywhere.

Adrienne

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/12/running-through-one-of-historys-bloodiest-battle-lands/feed/ 2 Long run gone wrong http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/10/long-run-gone-wrong/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/10/long-run-gone-wrong/#comments Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:47:25 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=159 Something went wrong on my long run today. Everything felt good and right including my iPod + Nike sport kit until mile 4. Suddenly the darn thing stopped tracking my pace correctly. I know getting back out there for the first time isn’t going to produce times to impress anyone with, but I knew there was no way I could be running a 15 minute mile with some change stacked on top. After I came back and hooked everything up to Nike online to track my results it calculated my pace at 15 minutes moving upward and that I just have to reject. I ran for 2 hours and 5 minutes and it only showed 8.12 miles. That is wrong, wrong, wrong… I know it. I’m going to have to try to figure this one out tomorrow on my cross-training day. I’m thinking I did around 11 miles today when I was only supposed to do 9. I’m just glad I felt great during all of it…

Adrienne

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/10/long-run-gone-wrong/feed/ 0 Running with Musicia! http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/08/running-with-musicia/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/08/running-with-musicia/#comments Sat, 09 Dec 2006 02:51:58 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=157 Um, yeah… I’ve run with music before in the past and it was okay. There were times when I could really feel it pushing me and others when I used it for a cool down session. On the fourth day into training after purchasing the iPod Nano and downloading some new tunes to upload the previous night I felt as though I were humming down the sidewalk. (Like a hummingbird, if you will…) I played Fergie’s Fergalicious on repeat until I found myself into the gym where I let the music go to shuffle. This was day one with the iPod and I ran four miles total. On day five when I had to do six I found that it was giving me a little headache while running on the treadmill in the gym. The headache could have been related to my getting out there later after searching my hotel room like a wild woman for my ear warmers and gloves I misplaced in my laundry bag. It took me a good 20 minutes to find my hiding gear. Gar! In the end day five went about fine with no other complaints what-so-ever.

For the first real week back I must say this feels a lot easier than the first week ever! I think back to how grueling it was to run in Arizona (think hills and heat) and how far I’ve come. It’s just a matter of sticking the ‘serious about running Adrienne mode’ out. I think I can. I think I can.

The little A that could… :)

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/08/running-with-musicia/feed/ 0 Training & Nike + iPod – Got One! http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/06/training-nike-ipod-got-one/ http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/06/training-nike-ipod-got-one/#comments Thu, 07 Dec 2006 04:05:15 +0000 adrienne http://adrienne-is.com/blog/?p=156 Day three started horribly. I had a monster headache and seriously thought about running in the evening. Something told me just to get out there and get some fresh air. I wouldn’t doubt that being in this hotel room wasn’t part of the problem. As I put my gear on I was singing a completely different tune from my past two days. Once I got out there and started I did feel better. Strange how that works sometimes. I did a very easy jog up to Results Gym and then ran on their treadmills for three miles. Then I was off again for my last mile back up to the hotel. Thank goodness I got it over with in the morning because the traffic in DC wore me out on the way in for the evening.

iPod

On a more exciting note I finally purchased an iPod some millions of years after they have been on the market. I got the Red 4GB Nano because I actually like the red color and part of the money will go to helping AIDS in Africa. I also picked up the Nike sport kit to I can start running with more accuracy. Since I didn’t get the shoes I have to get a key holder to put the chip in and then on top of my Brooks running shoes. As for right now I’m going to continue to take advantage of the Results Gym while it is around the corner and this weekend I’ll do some running with my new Nike gear.

If anyone out there is using this gizmo out there, with or without the shoes I’d love to hear some feedback. How is it working for you?

Adrienne

]]> http://adrienne-is.com/blog/2006/12/06/training-nike-ipod-got-one/feed/ 4