Runner Insight

Stop Petting My Pillow Pillow

^Click Arrow To Listen

Last winter (or maybe the winter before) while shopping at Costco we passed some very big pillows, long like a body pillow.   I reached out to touch the pillow, and it was the softest pillow I had ever felt.  The soft, velvety fuzzy fabric was so captivating, I couldn’t stop petting it.  T then reached over and started petting it, too. 

Soon we found ourselves transfixed by this big soft body pillow.  Knowing there was no way we were leaving the store without one…even though we really had no place at home to put it, we picked out a color and put it in our cart. 

As we continued to shop, we noticed that strangers would reach out and pet our pillow.  And when we got to the check out counter, the gal boxing up our stuff was just standing there petting the pillow in a euphoric trance.  T joked, “Hey!  Stop petting our pillow!”  Laughing of course, it broke the clerk out of her velvety-soft-fuzzy-fabric-induced trance.  A bit embarrassed, she did admit she would have to buy one of her own, she couldn’t just keep stealing comforting strokes on other people’s pillows as they came through the check-out stand.

While the pillow itself is nice, it’s the fabric that it’s covered in that sucks people into its vortex with no shame, a perfectly innocent looking pillow lying there with a secret sneaky mission in life, when within arm’s length of humans it is begging to be petted.

Vision Runner and her Stop Petting My Pillow Pillow

 

In fact the label calls it a “Butter Soft Body Pillow.” Now I don’t know about you, and maybe it’s one of those silent addictions that people don’t talk about in mixed company, but I don’t know very many people who are into petting butter. I’ve never read an article in Cosmopolitan or Good Housekeeping or even the Enquirer about the shameful back room secrets of the butter-petting crowd. ;)  I’ll admit that I could be wrong about it, though. In that case, though I say ignorance is bliss.

T figured that they should name it the “Stop Petting My Pillow, Pillow” cause it literally is one of the softest pillows ever, and people can’t stop themselves from being drawn into a velvety soft petting trance. It’s almost addictive! Which is probably part of its dastardly plan to take over the world, someday, anyway. 

How ’bout it?

-Vision Runner

P.S. If you’re getting value out of this blog, you can do me a favor by linking to us and mentioning my Run Over To Ellen’s fundraising project to friends and co-workers. Here’s the link information for this particular article:
Title: Stop Petting My Pillow Pillow
URL:http://runnerinsight.com/2009/07/03/stop-petting-my-pillow-pillow/

You can also social bookmark us at Digg or StumbleUpon using the links below.

P.S.S. You’ll want to check out my Run Over To Ellen’s fundraising run. We only need 30,000 people to donate $1 each. When you get your donation in and get your private access to the donor’s only daily updates, you’ll want to go check out the video blog and leave a comment, cause there’s only a couple of days left…every donor that leaves a comment on the video blog site through July 4th will be in the drawing for the $70 value “Spy Coin” that includes a micro SD chip!!

Marathon Training: Nutrition and Hydration The Day Before the Race

^Click Arrow To Listen 

Over the course of the 6 months I had been training for the marathon, I had heard and read a lot about this thing called carb-loading.  The idea is to eat a whole lot of carbohydrates the week before the big race.  This is supposed to increase your glycogen stores to give your muscles the energy they need during the test of endurance and fitness that a marathon presents.  However it is controversial and there’s a debate as to whether it’s worthwhile or not. 

Since I didn’t know enough about it, and hadn’t ever used a method of carb-loading in any other races, I figured it probably wasn’t a good idea to start experimenting with my diet now. So I had my pre-race meal of “Tuna Spaghetti” Check out how to make it here:Marathon Training Program Diet and Nutrition   Now I realize the name of it sounds horrible, but if you read it, you’ll see it’s not what it sounds like.

I had eaten this meal several times before my long marathon training runs, and it seemed to work well for me. So I chose to have that as my pre-race meal the night before the race.

I was also trying to take in more water than I usually did, but I found it hard to do.  I was drinking a lot of water already due to the record-breaking heat we were experiencing that summer, so I’m not sure how well I actually did with this. 

But the marathon was the next morning, and all in all, I thought I had done everything in my marathon training program that I could to prepare, and I was ready for the big day.  I really just treated it as if it were another one of my long run training days.  I mean after all that was what they were for, and this was my first marathon …. What did I really know?

Only time would tell…

How ’bout it?

-Vision Runner

P.S. If you’re getting value out of this blog, you can do me a favor by linking to us and mentioning my Run Over To Ellen’s fundraising project to friends and co-workers. Here’s the link information for this particular article:
Title:  Marathon Training: Nutrition and Hydration The Day Before the Race
URL: http://runnerinsight.com/2009/07/01/marathon-training-nutrition-and-hydration-the-day-before-the-race/

You can also social bookmark us at Digg or StumbleUpon using the links below.

P.S.S. You’ll want to check out my Run Over To Ellen’s fundraising run. We only need 30,000 people to donate $1 each. When you get your donation in and get your private access to the donor’s only daily updates, you’ll want to go check out the video blog and leave a comment, cause every donor that leaves a comment on the video blog site through July 4th will be in the drawing for the $70 value “Spy Coin” that includes a micro SD chip!!

Bunny Two Shoes

^Click Arrow To Listen 

Here’s a great tip for you that I got from my local running store a couple of years ago.  I was training for the marathon, and went in to get a new pair of running shoes. Anders at The Runner’s Edge suggested I buy my second pair about a month or two before I would need them. 

Finding this curious, I asked why?  He said that way I could start breaking them in a little at a time and it would help me to prevent the blisters and sore feet that can come packaged with a brand new pair of running shoes you’re trying to break in.

Well, instead of waiting until a month before I needed them, I bought two pairs of my running shoes that day.  I wanted to make sure that I didn’t have to worry about them being out of stock of the brand and style I like, plus I wouldn’t have to worry about it later. I had a lot going on to prepare for my first full marathon; I didn’t need to be worrying about my running shoes, too!

I have been adhering to his advice ever since!  In fact, I’ve been slowly breaking in a new pair in preparation for the half marathon I’m doing in mid July.  The timing is perfect, as I will have just over 500 miles of  running on my old shoes.  By running in my new shoes only a few miles at a time, they will be broke in just enough that I needn’t worry about them causing me any problems during my half marathon, and since they’ll have less than 100 miles on them, they’ll still have all the support and cushioning I need to make the run a success.

Not to mention how crisp and bright and white they will look with my race day outfit!  Yee Haw! Gotta Love That!!

How ’bout it?

-Vision Runner

P.S. If you’re getting value out of this blog, you can do me a favor by linking to us and mentioning my Run Over To Ellen’s fundraising project to friends and co-workers. Here’s the link information for this particular article:
Title: Bunny Two Shoes - Running Shoes Times Two?
URL: http://runnerinsight.com/2009/06/29/bunny-two-shoes-running-shoes-times-two/

P.S.S. You’ll want to check out my Run Over To Ellen’s fundraising run. We only need 30,000 people to donate $1 each. When you get your donation in and get your private access to the donor’s only daily updates, you’ll want to go check out the video blog and leave a comment, cause every donor that leaves a comment on the video blog site through July 4th will be in the drawing for the $70 value “Spy Coin” that includes a micro SD chip!!