Running is going very well - I did my four miles on Wednesday, and my five miles on Thursday.  The five was actually a LOT better, and I’m not sure if it is because I went a better route - I combined two routes that I normally do.  I had already done two miles when I started up my regular route (where I usually run), so it kind of felt like I had just started my run, when really I had already ran two miles!  Then I just had my regular 3 mile run to do, for a total of five!

Tomorrow is 8 miles, and I’m a bit worried about where to go.  Roots, my local organic foods store is 4.5 miles away.  I can run there, and run 3.5 miles back, and then walk the last mile.  Or, I could try to run the whole thing, or stop when I’m almost at Roots.  Or, I could figure out another route all together.  I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do.  I do, however, want to be completed with my run by noon.  I’m dragging the whole family off to pick up trash in the afternoon!

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Speaking of trash, my trash pickup afternoon yesterday was FANTASTIC.  Niles and I headed out, but not before I facebooked my friends Bria and Rob to ask them to help.  I also ran into Rob while I was running and told him to join, he promised he would after he got out of work.  I dragged a wheel barrow and trash can on wheels (I had the trash can in the wheel barrow, which was also filled with orange DPW cones) the .6 miles to Pearl Street, where the clean up was to be held.  On my way, I called my friend Dave and asked him to help.

Niles and I started, and one of the neighbors asked if we were on parole.  No, just cleaning up the environment. He watched us for a little while, then started picking up trash in front of his house, then slowly moved across the street to help us.  His name was Scott, and he’ll be important later.

A local jogger ran by and told us we were doing a great job. Then he paused, and said “You know, I’ll help you out.”  He grabbed a trash bag and headed up the hill.  Then were then joined by Bria and Rob.  Then Dave stopped by after a bit.  At one time, there were SIX of us cleaning up Pearl Street.  It was absolutely wonderful.  There were several other people who stopped and asked why we were cleaning up the streets.  One of Rob’s friends pulled over in his car, and when he asked “For what?”  I replied “For the environment.”  Everyone thought we were in a club, or were a part of a program.  Really, we were just kids who wanted to clean up the street.

(This is Rob)

The afternoon ended with Bria, Rob, Niles and I, and we were left with many trashbags. We had spent two hours picking up trash.

Bria ran down to get her car, but on the way stopped and asked Scott if he could help us.  He didn’t hesitate, and pulled his station wagon around and loaded everything inside, including my wheel barrow, my trash can, and me!  He drove everything back to my house, because my trash day was the next morning.

We talked about looking at what trash day it is in the city, and doing that area the day before.  That way, we don’t have trash sitting around for a long time.  Thursdays seem to be a good day for everyone, so we might make it Trash Thursday.  Bria and I were trying to think of a slogan, and I thought of “We’re Young, But We Care.”  We should get it printed on T-shirts we wear while out.  And we can make them bright neon so we stand out and don’t get struck by traffic.

Nice and clean.  I walked by there today with my mom (she was going to City Hall, I was walking to the grocery store), and I felt so proud of what we had accomplished.  I really do have great friends.

When I got home, Niles grabbed a table from the neighbor’s house to put in his backyard (reuse), and as I went to drive him home, I REALIZED I HAD LOST MY KEYS PICKING UP TRASH.

I grabbed my spares, and Niles and I went to look for them.  We were climbing up and down that hill (see photo above), and Niles and I went and searched the hill.  We had given up and were returning to my car when I looked up and spotted them!!!!!  See the boulder?  And then that tree right above the boulder?  They were up near that tree!!!  I took a picture of them before I grabbed them:

Thank God I have that bright green Vera Bradley wallet thing attached, or they would be long gone.  It was easy to spot now that the hill was so clean.

Thanks to my friends who helped me clean up Fitchburg.  It makes me feel proud not only as a person, but as a citizen of this town.  If anyone wanted to help tomorrow afternoon, I think I’ll be picking up trash around 1pm, and dragging my mom, dad, and brother with me!  Feel free to join in.   More people really does make it go by a lot quicker, and you certainly get more done.

I ran four miles today with no trouble at all.  My iPhone app was doing really well until the VERY end when my mom called, and so it says I only logged 3.69 miles, but it’s wrong.  PLUS, the GPS has me zigzagging all over the road. I used mapmyrun.com to figure it out precisely, and I got to 4.07.  It was pretty good, too, and I didn’t have much of a problem.  I didn’t have to stop and walk much, maybe once every mile, and I walked for about 15-20 seconds.  Nothing major.  It was very cold today, so I ran in long pants and a sweatshirt.  The sweatshirt came off around mile 1.5, and my the time I was around mile 3, I wish that I had worn shorts.  The weather was around 40 degrees.  That’s a good way to learn, and now I know that in 40 degree weather, if I’m going to be running more than 3 miles, I should wear shorts and a thinner long sleeve jacket.  Larry gave me good advice today that if it’s cold out, I can jog in place, or do jumping jacks, or something to warm myself up before I go outside.  That way I won’t have that freezing cold at the beginning of the run, but hot at the end of the run problem.

Either tomorrow or Sunday I will do my “long” run for the week, and this week it is going to be six miles long.  I haven’t decided what day I’m going to do it yet, because I don’t know if my legs will be sore tomorrow or not.  I think Saturdays are generally a better day for my “long” runs because I sometimes work on Sundays at Macy’s, and that will screw up my calendar.  Saturday during the day, I usually have plenty of time to run.  The schedules I’ve seen go like this for a Sun - Sat schedule:

Sunday - Rest
Monday -  3 or 4 miles
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - varies over weeks: 4,5,5,5,6,5,4
Thursday - 3 or 4 miles
Friday - Rest
Saturday -  Long run - also varies:  6,8,10,11,12,9,8, 13.1!

I’m on the very first week right now, so my long is six.  I’ve screwed up by not starting on Sunday, because Friday I did 4 miles, then another 6 tomorrow, then Sunday a rest.  Then I’ll start over correctly on Monday again.  According to that schedule, next Saturday I’ll be at 8 miles!  Holy crap! That’s a lot of miles.  On my rest days, I would like to do some strength training (not my legs, though), some yoga or pilates for stretching, and also some walking.  Walking is low impact, but it would still be good for my leg muscles to be warmed up.

I also read that if I’m planning on being out for more than an hour, I should carry water with me, and drink some every 20 minutes.  In the summer I used to carry my camel bak bottle in my hand, but that was only for about 2 miles.  I don’t think I would like to carry it for 6 or 8 miles.

It’s hard to figure out good routes to take.  My friend Eric lives a few towns over in Townsend and it’s 9.9 miles from my house, so I will run there for my 10 mile run, and then I will make him drive me home.  It’d be fun to hang out with him and have lunch or dinner, but how will I get dry clothes to his house without driving there first?  This is all very complicated.  Perhaps I will have to hang out with him before the 10 mile run, and give him a bag of stuff for that special day.  That sounds like a good plan.  I can just shower at his house, and then we can do something fun as a reward for me running 10 miles.  Perhaps I can convince him to give me a massage! Heh.

I also wanted to take the train to a rail trail that is in Ayer, but if I do that, I can’t bring anything with me because I don’t have anywhere to store it.  It seems like I’ll have to drive my car, leave stuff in my car, and then go out for lunch (Larry said there are lots of good restaurants in Ayer).  But I would much rather read on the train, bring a small backpack, and keep it in a locker somewhere.  But there are no lockers at the train station or at the rail trail.  Bummer.