Taxpayers vs ticketholders

So where am I? Week 13, Day 1. #10krunner  @clearskyapps.

Sneakers, phone, dog. Check.

Surprisingly, this post is not about my reasons/excuses for repeating w12d2 a gazillion times.  Today is about a different kind of obstacle to fitness.

With three kids and a dog, Park Hayarkon is my tax shekels working for me. Arnona, Tel Aviv's outrageously high municipal property tax, is paying for playground equipment, acres of grass, a couple artificial ponds, exercise equipment for both people and dogs, and miles and miles and miles of paths for running and biking. This is where I have done weeks 3 through 13.

Today however, I hit a roadblock. A gate across the path and two burly guys in rent-a-cop uniforms telling me "This is a secure area, ma'am."

That's right, all those tax dollars don't buy me the right to get within half a mile of where the Rolling Stones will be tonight, not that they are there right now.

Is this standard practice for bigtime park concerts? As a Tel Aviv taxpayer and sometimes runner, I know the answer.

For instance, I did run through that section of the park four days before the concert. Hill sprints were out because of the amount of equipment and lighting towers already set up on the hill itself, but all the paths to and around the concert area were open.

That is an improvement over the week of Madonna's 2012 concert. Four days ahead of that concert, an entire swathe of Park Hayarkon around the concert area was closed off, so it was impossible to get from the Fairgrounds area to Bereshit Forest. Yep, four days before the concert and tax dollars weren't buying me the shadiest running paths in town.

Maybe they have to do this? Maybe it's the only way to set up for a megaconcert?

The answer is "no." How do I know? Because just ten hours before curtains-up for Justin Timberlake last week, runners could use the paths right up to the concert area. In fact, the security guards rolled back the gates between what would be backstage and what would be the dressing area for the star and his entourage so a running mom and her dog wouldn't even have to slow down.

I bet I'm the only @clearskyapps user to ever repeat w13d1 because of a Rolling Stones roadblock.  

Rain

So where am I? Week 11, Day 2. #10krunner  @clearskyapps.

Sneakers, phone, dog. Check.

So the truth is I was on the fence about whether to do w11d2 today or repeat w11d1. The dealbreaker was, in fact, a fence. My usual route was closed off due to possible river flooding so I had to use my "off road" route.

Trails are always slower but now they would be muddy too. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention it was raining? For part of my run it was actually pouring. Which is not exactly par for the course in Tel Aviv in May. So w11d1 it was.

It was fun to run in the rain. In January, I usually use the rain (and the cold it brings with it) as a good excuse not to run. Today's weather was May, raindrops aside.

So I had iffy running terrain, slippery mud, perfect temps and no company out there. The paths were completely, utterly deserted. Not exactly the usual urban running experience but has its perks. I could belt out my surprise fave Jack and Diane when it popped up.

Surprisingly, for the last run – back on the paved path – I averaged 9.5kph which is pretty good for me. Still not 10kph, but inching up. And someone on Facebook asked if I want to be a last minute replacement relay runner for the M2V ultra. I said no, but does this make me a real runner?

Wet sneakers are deal-able. Wet dog is icky. If you were wondering.

Liberation Day

So where am I? Week 11, Day 1. #10krunner  @clearskyapps.

Sneakers, phone, dog. Check.

Today was Independence Day but it felt more like Liberation Day. It feels good to look a 60-minute run in the eye after that 80-minute bugaboo I barely dragged myself out for last week! Fifteen-minute run, 2 walk, 15 run, 3 walk, 15 run. Plus warm up and cool down, of course. Sixty minutes. Not scary at all.

Of course, it being Independence Day, we also have the barbecues. I did not manage to get out early enough in the day to beat the BBQ-ers (what IS early enough to beat the BBQ-ers?). They were parking on the traffic islands in my neighborhood by the time I got my sneakers on. Runners need to breathe air, which was in short supply.

I don't normally run on city streets; stopping for traffic lights completely throws me out of whack. If I'm doing great, I hate losing the time and screwing up my average pace. If I'm having a sucky run, stopping to gasp for breath at a red light can remind me how miserable I feel. Sometimes when the light turns green I just walk.

But traffic lights aside, it was refreshing not be afraid I could never finish this run. Not before I got out on the pavement and not while I was out there. Liberation Day.

Hands down song of the day was Let's Get it Started (Black Eyed Peas).

#wheredidthemorninggo

So where am I? Week 10, Day 3. #10krunner  @clearskyapps.

Sneakers, phone, dog. Check.

Oh yeah. And that motivation thing. I'd been worrying about this run for a while now and now that it came down to the day to do it, I was still worrying.

Five times 12-minutes running with walk intervals. At 80 minutes, that's a pretty intimidating chunk of time on the pavement, not to mention blocking time for how long it takes me to get out of the house on "slow" days and a recovery yogurt, and wow! This run earns its very own hashtag #wheredidthemorninggo or #schedulingnightmare

However, I did get out there and I did do it. There's still a huge gap between my legs getting back in shape and my lungs getting back in shape. If I run comfortably for my legs, I get out of breath pretty quickly. If I slow down to run without gasping, my legs feel out of sync and I have to concentrate on my feet. Thinking about feet = looking at feet = not a good thing.

The dog did not appear to be having the look-at-feet problem. Check out her blog for how W10D3 feels on four feet.

On a brighter note, this was the first run that added up to more than 10k. But we all know it was 60 minutes running with no small amount of walking to pad it out, and it still only added up to 10k and change. So how exactly do we get to 60min = 10k?

Dear @Clearskyapps,

"Run barefoot on hot coals" is not an answer.

Thanks,

User and Dog

One size fits someone

So where am I? Week 10, Day 2. #10krunner  @clearskyapps.

How did I get here? I did Weeks 3 through 8 pretty faithfully; then life got in the way. I've been a couch potato this year, including a nasty round of pneumonia, but before that I was pretty fit for someone who was a couch potato for most of their life.

I thought Clear Sky Apps 10k runner would get too easy and I would be skipping weeks, but that didn't happen. Except Week 9, which I skipped several times while throwing a bar mitzvah and Passover.

So this week I dove straight into Week 10. This week is the most intimidating, evidenced by how long it takes me to get out of the house to do the workouts. Future weeks, with fewer, longer runs, are not so scary.

W10D1 and W10D2 are five times 10-minutes running with walk intervals. I'm starting to feel like I can tell people I'm going for a run again.

But W10D3 is looming and it is even scarier.  Five times 12-minutes running with walk intervals. That's also going to take up a big chunk of morning.

Overall I'm liking #10krunner. However, #10krunner seems to think that three weeks from now I will run 60 minutes which will also be 10 kilometers.  Today, I did five 10-minute intervals, only three of them were faster than 9kph and none of them were 10kph.

Someone at @clearskyapps, probably someone single, athletic and male, seriously underestimated how slowly a 40-something mom-of-three can run. Fitness apps shouldn't be #onesize