"Power Ballads" are the greatest.

Another close to a successful week. I'm pleased with how well my running has been going. I had a strong week. So far I think I'm sitting at about 7.0 miles total for the week. And I think I may have a few more left in me! I hope. I'm really liking the lake route. It's nice and hilly so it helps break up my stride a little bit and use different muscles. I'm still working on the new play list for my .mp3 player. It needs some serious work. I have my certain "power ballads" though. Yes, power ballads. What else should I call them? These are the ones, without fail, that give me the extra boot in the caboose and get me over the hill or to the next mile marker.

Worm's Top 5 "Power Ballads!"

1. "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel
Maybe it's the history geek in me, maybe it's the fact that this song inspired me to go grad school, maybe it's just that it's someone shouting really loud and the rythm is fast, but I love this song!! I know I'm holding pace if I struggle just a little to sing along.

2. "Jet Airliner" by Jefferson Airplane
This is the unexpected one. Thanks to the final season of The West Wing and a kick ass video montage featuring the hustle and bustle of campaigning for President, this song always gets me in a happy, funky mood.

3. "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard
This is the cheesiest of all cheesy songs and I'm still trying to figure out why it always gets me running faster....and wanting to shout "POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME!!"

4. "Me and My Gang" by Rascal Flatts
It's like country N'Sync. As long as they don't start doing coordinated dance moves in their videos, I think I'll be ok.

5. "Lean on Me" by The Temptations
It's one of those determination songs. I just wish I weren't out in public when I was running so that I could belt out the lyrics! "We all need somebody to lean on..." Sometimes by the end of the run, I could really use somebody to lean on. This song usually fixes that problem!

Pain, Progress, and Peanut Butter

Ouch, ouch, ouch. Everything hurts. Yes, I'm going to whine. After three hard games of volleyball on Monday, I was starting to feel my calves tighten. Then yesterday my abs and arms started hurting. After going for my run/walk yesterday, my calves are really tight. They loosened up when I was running but I'm paying for it now. I have the ouch, ouch, ouch with every step. I realize that pain doesn't always mean progress, but to me, this feels like good pain. This is the kind of pain that will eventually make me run stronger and with less effort, so I'm ok with the ouch, ouch, ouch for now. I'm up to the run five minutes, walk one minute part of my schedule now. I may have to drag this part out over two weeks though because of my trip to spud city. Yesterday I also listened to the .mp3 player for the first time since I started running again. It certainly helped me but I don't want to get dependent on it for motivation. Most races don't allow .mp3 players, so I need to be able to hack it without the music.

I've decided that peanut butter will be my downfall in life. I seriously can't get enough of it. The amount that I consume during the day probably defeats the purpose of eating it for protein and carbs prior to running. And on top of all the real peanut butter consumption, I also eat peanut flavored granola bars, and add peanuts to my salad. I tried to break my addiction by searching for almond butter but I had no luck finding any. I've heard it exists so I'll just have to try some other stores!

Ok, this is a strange thought. Why does Planters, the maker of all the wonderful roasted, toasted, salted, dipped, and other various types of peanuts, almonds, cashews, etc., NOT make peanut butter? or almond butter? or cashew butter? You'd think that would be a market they could really take over.

So it starts...

The blogging world has finally sucked me in. It's scary to finally take the blogging plunge but it's also not surprising that I finally caved in. My mind runs in overdrive every second of everyday and maybe, just maybe, this blogging thing may help me straighten things out upstairs.

Ultimately, the purpose of Worm's Word is for me to track my journey back into the running world. It's been a while and I know it won't be as fun and exciting as it was the first time around. I have a lot more on my plate than I did two years ago. At least I can take comfort in knowing that I've been here before, slowly adding minutes and miles, and that the pain does subside and the miles do get easier and more enjoyable.

Yesterday I started an 8 week program, courtesy of Runner's World, that should ease me back into running. The program is a different approach for me. Two years ago, I started the run/walk thing on my own and slowly got up to running almost daily. I lost 30lbs., ran a 5k and a half marathon. Then I slowly, and certainly with less pain and effort, went from being an athlete to a sedentary grad student. Luckily, that 30lbs is still MIA so I'm hoping that makes things a wee bit easier on me this time around!

So, yeah, I'm back! Yesterday wasn't so bad. I ran for a minute, walked two minutes, lather, rinse, repeat. Thirty minutes later, I was exhausted, but relieved that I had finally started "running" again.