Giving new meaning to holiday cheer

Ho! Ho! Ho!

(or something like that)

Thank you, Kevin (at 5ksandCabernets) for this epic running photo from Budapest.

I just have one question:

Aren't they cold???

Bikini jogger

It might be cold outside, but one San Francisco runner isn't letting that stop her from working on her tan during daily runs! Back in November, a Bernal Heights blogger posted photos of her neighborhood "bikini jogger" (her words, not mine) and wondered why anyone would run in such minimal clothing.

Source: bernalwood.wordpress.com via Beth on Pinterest

A few days later, Bernal blogger noticed a man running in a speedo in the same neighborhood.

Source: bernalwood.wordpress.com via Beth on Pinterest

My guess: These runners either misheard that bareFOOT running is the new, hip, hardcore thing to do. OR they want to avoid the dreaded runner's tan!
And, as it turns out, my guess was correct. According to a "micro-interview" with the Bernal Heights bloger, bikini jogger wants to avoid tan lines.

I can sort of understand bikini runner's motivation. But, I have to admit, running nearly-naked in San Francisco's cold weather is... Brave? Crazy?

And what about bouncing???
My girls would not be happy after even a mile of running without... ahem... support.

I should also note that the while speedo-runner wears running shoes, bikini-runner runs in flip flops. I guess that's one way to make sure you don't heel-strike?

What's your take on these tan-seeking runners? Brave, crazy, or just unique?

Streak week 1

Thanks to a little nudge from Runner's World, and some encouragement from Caitlyn over at Adventures of a Latin Geek, I decided to start a holiday running streak.

Source: google.com via Trudy on Pinterest

I have run consistently (3-5 days/week) for more than a decade, but have never before run more than four days in a row. (Yes, I went back through my training logs just to be sure.) And those four-day "streaks" are few and far between.

Today I broke that streak of non-streaking, and finished seven consecutive days of running at least a mile.

1. Sunday - 4.5 miles (Hash run!)
2. Monday - 1.1 miles
3. Tuesday - 3.5 miles (accidentally overslept, but still ran)
4. Wednesday - 1.2 miles
5. Thursday - 3 miles
6. Friday - 5 miles (gorgeous day at the beach, but I could have done without the 20mph headwind!)
7. Saturday - 1 mile

This adds up to about 18 and a half total -- not my highest mileage week ever, but the goal here is running every day from now until Christmas, not breaking weekly mileage records.

Seven down, twenty-nine left to go!
(I wonder if I'll be glad, by 12/25, that I can take a real rest day, or if I'll be motivated to keep going so I can join the US Running Streak Association?)

What's your longest running streak?
Have you ever been the other kind of streaker?

Streaking

I've always wanted to be a streaker!

Source: annadancefloor.tumblr.com via C on Pinterest

No! Not the kind of streaker that runs naked across a football field.
(Well, ok, that might a cool item to check off the Life List, too.)

What I mean is the more traditional definition of streak: "to move swiftly," or "to have a streak (as of winning or outstanding performances)" as defined in Merriam-Webster. (MW seems to also be ok with "streak" meaning "to run naked through a public place." Dirty dictionary! But I digress...)

I've read stories of people who have run every single day for 1, 2, 10 years. According to the United States Running Streak Association, there are at least 6 people in the US who have run every single day for more than 40 years.

And I wonder: How do they do it?

I run regularly, but I'm more of a 4 days/week runner. I rarely run back to back days. But then again, my running routine has been fairly constant for several years now... Maybe it's time for a shakeup? Which brings my back to my original point...

Runner's world is hosting a virtual holiday running streak. Runners are encouraged to log at least one mile each day from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. I'm down with all of this except for the New Year's Day run... The New Year is a special holiday for me, and I fully intend to be nursing a hangover on 1/1/12. I can't justify breaking my New Year's celebration streak (12 years and counting!) just to start another.

But streaking from Thanksgiving to Christmas day... That's mighty tempting!

So what do you think...
Is it time for a little streaking?
If you want to get in on the streaking action, leave a note in the comments section so we can keep each other motivated for the daily mile minimum!

100th blog post

Today I've reached one of the critical blogger milestones: the 100th post.

I fretted over what to write, since this post seems momentous. (But then again, it is really just like every other post...) Should I write something reflective? Should I gush about the blogger community? Should I write a retrospective on all the years I've been running, or how much my life has changed (or not) in the past 100 posts?

In honor of this special occasion, and in the spirit of keeping things simple, I decided to take a brief look back at the blog so far.

Superlatives, flops, and things I've learned:
The (surprisingly) most popular post so far has been my book review of Bad Shoes and the Women Who Love Them. The popularity of this post is, at least in part, thanks to Pete at Runblogger, who Stumbled the post and has been generating regular traffic ever since. (Thanks Runblogger!)

The second most popular is Running in the Buff... Don't even get me started about the weird search terms that have generated traffic for that post. The popularity of Running in the Buff made me wonder if I should start blogging about nudity more often. (It generates traffic!) But seriously, I've seen Avenue Q. I should not have been surprised by the search results.

(Viewer caution: The Avenue Q video contains no nudity, but is NSFW)

The post that I had the most fun writing, but flopped royally, was Spitting Mad (about running etiquette, especially not spitting on your fellow runners). I expected at least a few "eww gross" comments, but instead got silence. *crickets chirping* Then again, Yes, Folks. I Run Like A Girl was only a baby blog then. Even my family wasn't reading it yet. (I do wonder if Spitting Mad would get more traction today?)

The most controversial post, by far, was Sexist New Rules (about the swap to women's world records now only counting in women-only races). This post blew up into a raging debate on my facebook wall, with dozens of comments on both sides of the argument. To everyone's credit, the debate was heated but civil.

My thanks to all who have been reading along with me so far. I look forward to sharing the next 100 (miles and posts) with you!

Proper or prudish?

Black plastic wrappers around magazines like Playboy would seem extreme in Europe, but are common in the States. I suppose I understand the practice. I really don't need or want to see boobs when I'm buying a pack of bubble gum.

But my grocery store seems to have taken this practice to a whole new level.

Really, Publix? Really?

I lifted the modesty panels, just to see what could possibly be so shocking that it needed a cover. (Curiosity is either my strong point or my weakness. You decide.)

Here's what I found:

Apparently the September cover of Oxygen is inappropriate for the grocery store checkout line.

I'm so confused! Remember, this is the Florida panhandle. Standard summer attire for men is shorts. Only. From the backyard to the bayou and certainly out in public there are nearly-naked men everywhere here in the summer. Summer attire for women is a bit more modest. But while exercising outdoors the uniform for Florida ladies is shorts + sports bra. How else can a girl run in this heat?

So I can see my neighbors running around in various states of undress, but I can't see a photo of the same attire on the cover of a magazine?

And, more importantly, Florida's panhandle is in the nation's obesity alley. In nearby Alabama and Mississippi one third of adults are obese. Perhaps we should put modesty panels over the chocolate bars at the checkout line, not the fitness magazines.

Am I wrong to be shocked?

Is this proper? Or prudish?

Running in the buff

Seriously?
Running naked?

First the barefoot movement took hold, and now the month of June has turned into barea$$ running month. Did I miss a memo?

I'm not a prude. I swear. But this month's slate of news stories and advertisements has me wondering "how can that be comfortable?"

First, there's the streaker guy who ran naked through a neighborhood in Kansas.

Then I pick up the June issue of Runner's World to see a cover story about a clothing-optional duathlon in Pennsylvania, known as the Bare Hare Duathlon. Ok. Fine. I found the nude racing section in Bart Yasso's My Life On The Run to be amusing, if not necessarily something I wanted to emulate. I'm not so sure about riding a bike in the buff, either, but to each their own.

And since good things come in threes, there is the new Vibram "You Are The Technology" ad that cleverly depicts people in their Vibrams and a birthday suit, with the slogan "you are the technology" in the online ad campaign and "less shoe, more you" in print. The ads, as you can see, are definitely attention-grabbing.

But...

As a female runner I have to wonder whether or not this can possibly be comfortable?

I mean, what about the bouncy bits? How long can you run comfortably without some sort of motion control (and I'm not talking shoes here, people).