The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Marathon Training Week 7 Recap – And the Pain Begins

    ·

    Ruth Carter

    Lucky 7 by Jim68000 from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
    Lucky 7 by Jim68000 from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

    When I was in college, my friends and I were frequently flyers at the piercing parlor. (I’ve had 14 piercings in my life but I’m back down to 2 currently.) After my last piercing they gave me a sticker that says, “We put the ‘f*ck’ in ‘That hurts.’” That was theme this week.

    Monday:  I had early plans on Tuesday this week so hit the gym today. To my dismay, the treadmill was taken so I jumped on the elliptical instead. I did 4.5 miles in 32 minutes (~8.5 mph). The last time I ran on the treadmill average, my average speed was 7.1 mph. I burned fewer calories than running but I was super sweaty by the end of my workout. Hat tip to Dr. Drew and Gary Vaynerchuk whose podcasts kept me entertained.

    When I got back, I knocked out 100 push-ups: 5 sets of 18 and 1 set of 10.  It was challenging at first but got easier by the third set. I hope to be up to 5 sets of 20 next week and build up to 4 sets of 25 within 3 weeks.

    Tuesday: No workout today. I spent the day at Shankminds Phoenix.

    Wednesday:  Back to running in the real world today, but I accidentally ran 6.7 miles instead of my usual 6.5 because I told a wrong turn into the condo complex next to mine and I got half way around their parking lot before I realized what I did. I did some speed work until I experienced a bit of hip pain around Mile 4 and took it easy for the rest of the run. If this issue keeps up I’m going to hit the injury clinic at Runner’s Den next week.

    After my run I finished my push-ups for the week:  4 sets of 19 and 1 set of 24.

    Thursday: I went super pathetically easy on today’s 4.5-mile run. I’ve been trying to research hip pain related to running and I wonder if my pain is caused by doing speed work and running on hills. Everything from my waist down seemed to hurt today with a 2 or 3 out of 10 on the pain scale. Hat tip to The Daily Show Podcast without Jon Stewart for entertaining me today.

    Friday: Rest day.

    Saturday:  Holy crap today’s 12-mile run was hard. My right hip and left post-tib hurt from step one. My goal for the run was just to finish without stopping – except for stoplights. I felt pretty pathetic sometimes but I got through it. The last three miles with the hill were really hard. That’s when my knees and quads really started to hurt and I was running so slowly. It barely counted as running. My thanks to Profiles with Malone and Mantz for their extended show about Alfred Hitchcock that kept entertained and distracted from my pain.

    My New Shoes
    My New Shoes

    After today’s run, I checked my running log and saw that I’d run over 330 miles in my current pair of shoes. That doesn’t include wearing my running shoes out and about or walking Rosie. This pair of shoes has probably walked 400-450 miles since I got them in July. My post-tib has probably been hurting more because my shoes are dead. While I was out running errands, I hit REI for a new pair of insoles and Runner’s Den to replace my shoes. Nate at Runner’s Den said the wear pattern on my old shoes (Asics GT-2000) looked “perfect” so I’m definitely in the right shoes for me so we just replaced them. (I’m glad they still had them in my preferred color because it looks like next season’s colors for these shoes are ugly.) I also hooked myself up with another pair of Asics running shorts with the built-in brief and Feetures seamless socks.

    Sunday:  The increased muscle tone in my quads definitely came in handy on today’s 19-mile bike ride. I’m able to ride harder and faster than before. (Wait, that sounds dirty.) More endurance + less pain = happier Ruth. And it was nice cool 68 degrees this morning – perfect for a bike ride.

    Weekly Totals:
    Running: 27.7 miles
    Biking: 19 miles
    Push-ups: 200 push-ups

  • Adventures with my Bashful Bladder

    ·

    Ruth Carter

    Pre–employment drug testing by Francis Storr from Flickr
    Pre–employment drug testing by Francis Storr from Flickr

    I was recently offered an adjunct instructor position at an art college to teach Business Media Law. When they told me that they wanted to hire me, they explained that the next step was a background check and a drug test.

    A drug test. This was going to be fun.

    My problem with drug tests isn’t that I worry about passing. It’s that I generally can’t pee on command.

    I’ve always had a bashful bladder. When I applied to the U.S. Air Force Academy, a drug test is part of the physical. I was there at 7am and I couldn’t make myself pee until after I finished the rest of my tests. About 10 years ago, I participated in one of the Merck HIV vaccine trials. I had to take a pregnancy test before each time I was due for a vaccination. I drank tons of coffee before going to the clinic and it still took forever to get me to pee on command. After that the staff gave me a set of specimen cups and trusted me to pee at home and bring in it with me. It was weird carrying a cup of urine in my purse into the clinic each time.

    Last week I got my official notice of my testing site and that I had 48 hours to complete the test. I drank a bottle of water after my morning coffee and when I started feeling a tickle in my bladder, I headed to the testing site. The gentleman with the African accent showed me to the bathroom and handed me the specimen cup with the instruction that I needed to provide at 50mL sample. I sat down in the stall and tried to think about scenes from my favorite comedians stand-up specials – like Kathy Griffin and Ellen DeGeneres. But no luck – my bladder wasn’t giving in.

    I glumly told the guy that I couldn’t pee and headed back to the waiting room to drink more water and think about humorous things. I paced around the room but thought it would probably be better to sit still. No one may have concentrated more on funny things than I did sitting in that waiting room. Two more bottles of water later, I was ready to try again.

    I sat down in the stall again and started thinking about Tom Green. His early stunts are so stupid and funny. They make me laugh so much.

    Success! After thinking about a few of Tom’s stunts, my bladder let go. Here’s the clip I was thinking about when I was finally able to pee.

    Thanks Tom!

  • Minimalism in 90 Days Update – What I Unpacked During Week 2

    ·

    Ruth Carter

    Minimalism Boxes - October 26, 2014
    Minimalism Boxes – October 26, 2014

    I’m a little over two weeks into my new minimalism project where I only unpack what I need as I need it – inspired by the “packing party” Ryan Nicodemus of The Minimalists did. His process lasted 21 days. I’m giving myself three months for mine.

    I looked up Ryan’s packing party story in Everything That Remains and noted that his first day when he didn’t have to unpack anything was Day 10. I’m still unpacking things every day, but the number of things I need is dropping – still mostly clothes, kitchware, and now that I have a TV, DVDs.

    I realized that before when I needed something, I would look at everything I have and make a decision. Now that most of my stuff is still in boxes, when I need something – like deciding what I’m going to wear that day, I envision how I want to look and feel that day and decide accordingly. I don’t rely on the visual stimulation of looking at my stuff to inspire me but try to tap into what I really want instead.

    One of the challenges I face on a daily basis is paper. No matter how much I minimize my life, I will always have to deal with paper in form of mail, business cards from networking events, receipts, etc. I’m toying with the idea of letting it pile up and deal with it once a week instead of daily.  That might be a more effective use of my time. Given that “freedom” is something I value greatly, conserving my time for things that matter to me is important.

    For those who are interested, here’s what I unpacked during Week 2.

    My T-shirt Drawer - October 26, 2014
    My T-shirt Drawer – October 26, 2014

    Day 8

    • Spoon
    • Sundress and cardigan
    • DVD
    • Highlighter
    • Coupons and store club cards
    • Laundry soap, dust cloth, duster, dryer sheets, and dishwasher soap

    Day 9

    • Contact lenses, contact solution, lotion, and marker
    • Eyeglasses case
    • Bike pump
    • T-shirt and socks
    • Big soup pot, food storage containers, measuring spoons, medium pot, chopper, cooking spoon, colander, and onion goggles
    • 2 DVDs

    Day 10

    • 2 T-shirts, tank top, bra, and cardigan
    • Salad container and measuring cup

    Day 11

    • Tank top
    • Lids for food storage containers and mug
    • Extra razor blades and 2 types of mouthwash
    • Vase I use for spare change

    Day 12

    • Skirt, blouse, and Mary Jane heels
    • Remote mouse aka “clicker”
    • Makeup brushes, eyelash curler, compact, powder, and nose hair trimmer
    • Crochet project

    Day 13

    • Reflective belt for early morning running, t-shirt, underwear, Legal Rebel Converse high tops, and blazer
    • Extra business cards
    • Measuring cups

    Day 14

    • T-shirt
    • Home inspection binder
    • Q-tips and tampons
    • Small pot, wooden spoon, and new knives

    I wouldn’t be surprised if my first day where I don’t unpack anything comes within the next week. I think I’ll need about a month to get through the majority of the activities I do on a regular basis and then it will be easier to start going through my boxes and get rid of things on a more frequent basis.

    In case you missed it: What I Unpacked During Week 1