Mom on the run...

Yuexiu Park with the latest family addition.  It was one of
the greatest moments of my life to bring her into the
family.  Perhaps someday she'll be a runner too.

It's been two weeks since my last post, but that does not mean that I've been resting.  No siree.  This has been one super active woman, and though today was the first time since leaving for China that I put hard pavement under my running shoes, I did manage to log more than 35 miles while I was overseas (which is impressive - if I may say so - because I hate jogging on the dreadmill for any length of time).  I'm just now blogging, however, because I did not take a laptop with me and it cost almost $10 to use the hotel computers for twenty minutes.  I quickly decided I would lump all the workouts together once I got home.  So here's a short recap of how things went and I'll finish up with today's run.

Proof that those were treadmill miles.

Two extremely short weeks ago my husband and I boarded a plane to China to adopt our daughter.  We spent the whole two weeks in the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong province, which is very near Hong Kong.  That means tropical, which means SUPER steamy.  In fact, most days we were there the "feels like" temperature exceeded 100.  That is not conducive to running and surviving (though I did see many Chinese who seemed to survive running in it..more power to them) so I relegated myself to the China Hotel fitness center for my two weeks of running.  At least those are the only miles I counted.  We actually walked all over the city and so I probably logged several more actual miles in the blistering heat...but oh well.  I can hardly complain because it was one of the most special times of my life, and, oh yeah I crossed another milestone - 60% of my goal in the books! :)

China Hotel pool

Guangzhou Zoo

So along with logging the treadmill miles (done mostly during nap time or before my husband and daughter were awake), we spent a lot of time at the pool (my daughter loves the pool), walking through Yuexiu and Liuhua Lake Parks, through the zoo and around random neighborhoods.  We exercised ourselves and got to know each other as a family.


Fast forward after two days of rest between the trip and my next run and we come to today.  I wasn't looking to break any land speed records or log a gazillion miles.  I just wanted to feel the pavement, get out of my head and relax for a few minutes during nap time (both my daughter and my husband).  So I tied up my shoes and just headed out to stretch my legs and enjoy.  It felt good and I'm looking forward to my next run...hopefully with the jogging stroller once we get the tires pumped up and ready to go.  Happy trails!!!

Stats (only today's are below...while in China I logged 35.55 miles)
Miles:  4.05
Time:   35:00 (average pace of 8:38 per mile)
Location:  Bay Head to Log Inn
Feeling:  Nice and smooth, a little tight in the knees but that's par for the course after long flights

Asian sunrise...

Because I'm on the other side of the dateline, it will look like this workout occurred on Saturday, but really it's Sunday here.  I arrived in Kuala Lumpur last night, late, and know that in order to beat jet lag impacting my ability to function in meetings, I have to treat the local time with respect.  So, while my fellow travelers were burning the midnight oil overcome with energy after some 28ish hours of flying from DC, I was forcing myself to sleep.  My plan was to sleep in until 7 and then hit the gym.  Well, that didn't work out entirely because I was up around 6am.  Not too bad actually because I got to watch the sun come up over the pool gardens while I ran.

Now, prior to leaving DC, I read up on the increase in interest in running in Malaysia and know that there are dozens of routes mapped for Kuala Lumpur on mapmyrun.com, but I'm not yet sure exactly of the lay of the land, so a gym workout was in order.  I don't like the treadmill...basically its a torture device, but I sucked it up for 5+ miles this morning.  It felt great to stretch the airplane cramps out of my legs and get moving.  Let me tell you though...remember the heat I complained about in UAE a month ago?  Holy moly, we've got that plus massive humidity here in Malaysia.  We'll have to see how this goes the next several days.  I would like to try at least one local running route while I'm here if the schedule allows.

In the meantime, today's agenda doesn't begin until noon, which gave me some time to check out the hotel this morning.  Did you know they've got a hedge maze of their own, and a great pool?  I only got a photo of the maze but I got in a little reading poolside before time to get the suit on for the afternoon.  Happy trails!!!

Stats -

Miles:  5.1

Time:  26:47 + 20:00 (3.1 miles at 8:38 per mile, 2 miles at 10:00 per mile)

Location:  Fitness Center, Shangri La Hotel Kuala Lumpur

Feeling:  Hot and sweaty but the muscles were great

Pollen exposure causes insanity...

Rather than being smart and running after dark tonight - you know, when the sun has gone down and the temperatures are a little easier on the system - I fell victim to the chemical in pollen that makes you do crazy stupid things, like run in wilting heat and blazing sun. If the universe was sadistic, it would have caused me to pass out on the sidewalk as punishment...and then it would have laughed. After all, I had the option to wait, right? Perhaps not, especially if my theory is proven that pollen actually causes you to do insane things...momentary insanity if you will.

Here's my internal dialogue prior to running this afternoon: "It's really not that bad. And if you run now you can go to yoga tonight (which I still plan on hitting, thank you). Run now, get it over with. You can just stay on the shady side of the streets, under the tree cover, and it won't be so bad." Wouldn't you know, I had a hard time finding the shade that those beautiful trees provide. I guess when the sun is at high noon, not even the trees are willing to protect you. This idea to run was getting worse by the 100 meters. I swear every other stupid person I passed who was also jogging looked ready to call for an ambulance. I'm fairly certain I even saw the Capitol dome sweating. So, what started out as an effort to try to get in 5 miles fell 1.5 miles short, because all I wanted was a cold shower. Oh yeah, did I also mention I failed to adequately hydrate this morning? I was so desperate, that this kiddie pool on East Capitol Street looked very inviting. Next time folks, I don't care if its trespassing, I'm diving in.

So, here's to lessons learned. While technically its going to get much much hotter this summer, and I'll eventually get used to it, you should always approach a drastic swing in weather with respect...or at least make sure the pollen count is really low. Happy trails!!!

Stats -
Miles: 3.5
Time: 30:31 (average sluggish pace of 8:43 per minute)
Location: Capitol Hill, Lincoln Park, Stanton Park
Feeling: While the muscles felt good, the brain really needs checked