My first run with the L.A. Leggers

I did my first run with the L.A. Leggers running/walking club this morning.

It was 12 miles. My longest run ever, I think.

It took us about 2.5 hours. I chose the 12.5-minutes-per-mile pace group, and it was a good call. I was thinking about maybe doing the 12-minutes-per mile group, but that would've been too fast. It turns out they do the Galloway method of walking for a minute each mile, which means the running pace is a bit faster than I would normally do comfortably.

Here's what I liked about running with the big group

1) I could be distracted by talking to people. My work-the-room instincts kicked in.

2) It undoubtedly kept me going when I would've wussed out if I were on my own.

3) Protection on the boardwalk. I don't run the Venice Beach boardwalk on my own. Even in the safety of the big group, we got our share of harassment. No, it doesn't kill us, but who wants to hear sleazy remarks? We'd get more on our own.

4) There were water stations. Cool snacks, too -- of course, there weren't any that I could have.

Here's what I was less thrilled about.

1) All the matching shirts.

2) Weird hand motions and yelled signals.

3) I'm not sure I like the walking-for-a-minute thing. But I'm giving it a shot.

Two types of people who don't say anything

Almost everyone I know, even casually, remarks about the weight loss.

There are two main groups of people who don't, however:

1) Friends' husbands. Oh, a few of them who know me well will say something, but it's generally nice that I can pretend nothing is different. Oftentimes, a wife will mention how impressed her man is at the change. But they usually don't tell me.

2) Women who still have their own struggles, their own issues.

I understand. There's mild envy, undoubtedly -- just as I envy people who seem like they don't have to watch their pennies and I can get irritated at conspicuous spending, I can be a physical reminder of what they want but haven't done quite yet.

There's an almost impolite intimacy to commenting on another's weight loss. I can't say I mind it a great deal, though. It's never fun when it devolves into "you're wasting away" kind of comments. But I'm getting less of those as people get used to what I look like now.

Do not let what you cannot do ...

... interfere with what you can do.

That's from the great John Wooden.

John Wooden coached basketball at South Bend (Ind.) Central High School long before his days at UCLA. (Trivia: Paul and I lived in the old South Bend Central High School building when we first got married, as it had been converted into apartments. We had a huge chalkboard in our living room, and our ceilings were probably 20 feet high. Our next-door neighbor had set up a basketball hoop in his living room.)

But I love that Wooden quote. I always look at it like there are tons of things I cannot do -- particularly related to coordination and athletics. But I can keep pretty good control over my nutrition. And just slog out miles. So I'll focus on what I can do.

Today, I had my little class with the "Boomer Fitness Guy," who is starting to grow on me. Once I get past my initial annoyance with athletic types (Or coaches. Or trainers.), I can appreciate them as people. He's at that place with me now; it just takes some time.

So far this week I've only run an hour -- but I've gotten two hours of strength work in.

What's up with the City of Angels half?

I want to run the City of Angels Half Marathon in December. For the last few months, I've been watching the website, which said, "2009 website and race details to launch Sept. 15, 2009."

Well, Sept. 15 came and went.

Today, at least, the site said, "2009 website and race details to launch October 1, 2009."

I wonder what's going on.

Running: I got 60 minutes in today. No knee pain at all. The first 10 minutes of it was just jogging alongside Paul on his way to work. I'm aiming to do that more often, as it gets me out early, and I like that. With him, too, I can go out while it's still a bit dark. This morning, it was light by the time we left, so I broke off fairly early, so I wouldn't have to run past the Home Depot guys.

L.A. Leggers: I went and joined the L.A. Leggers, primarily for the long run support. I'm not someone who generally likes to run with other people, and the idea of group runs doesn't appeal to me very much. At the same time, it's probably a smart idea -- and I might be surprised at liking the group runs. It also will help me to find running folks who are at my speed. Most runners are considerably faster.

Making cookies

I made cookies today for the first time in nearly two years. I have made the kind of cookies that come pre-cut and packaged with no problem. This time, though, I made the dough, which was always a weakness.

"You're weird, Mom," my 11-year-old said. "You want cookie dough but you're OK around chocolate."

Guilty as charged.

I got my 5-year-old and 7-year-old to "help," which distracted me from the temptation.

Running: I ran for a half-hour Saturday evening while my son played some ball.