April 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

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  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
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    kgirlhart wrote: »
    @girlinahat My son is 22. He just finished his bachelors degree and is going to Japan to teach English! He wants to to it now before he goes to grad school. He is planning to be there at least a year. I am so glad to hear you had a great experience. He will be in Iwate prefecture which is going to be a lot colder than here and will be snowy. After growing up in Texas he is really looking forward to it.

    I lived in Okayama and taught in Kurashiki. (both on Honshu, sort of mid-way between Osaka and Hiroshima). Okayama has one of the Three Great Gardens in Japan - basically it's a big lawn!!!

    I loved it - I found time to travel a bit, although never went to the North. There were quite a few islands to get to near me so spent time exploring there. The local train system is cheap enough (as opposed to the Shinkasen) but is pretty slow. It's a funny place - so very backwards in some ways (the banks shut down over New Year for three days and over Golden Week, meaning you can't get any cash out at all (smaller cities are more cash based economies) but mind-blowing in other ways.

    He'll have a great experience. My number one tip - even if he doesn't learn Japanese (which is HARD), he should learn to read Katakana - it's the writing system used for foreign words and can be very helpful. And some common phrases such as 'sumimasen' (excuse me - probably the phrase heard MOST) and 'hai' which means yes. I spoke/understood very little Japanese, but found you could learn a lot by watching, as things tend to get done by rote (as an example, in a convenience store you buy a bento box from the fridge. If you say 'yes' to the question (I have no idea what was actually said!!) they ask at the till they put it in the microwave and heat it up).
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
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    rheddmobile wrote: »

    Last year when I was injured I bought a bird feeder to keep from going crazy, so I’m posting this from outside in my yard watching birds. Today we have nuthatches, purple finches and house finches, chipping sparrows and song sparrows, bunches of mean old cowbirds and starlings (although I like the sounds cowbirds make, they also are nest parasites), a Cooper’s hawk which flew over, mourning doves, ground doves, and collared doves (aka weird invader doves). I also saw a hairy woodpecker and a flicker. I do feel somewhat better about life sitting here. I highly recommend birdwatching for injured runners.

    I'm going to have to look some of those bird names up - they probably relate to the same birds we have here but you have such cool names!!! cowbird! hairy woodpecker!!
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    edited April 2019
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    garygse wrote: »
    The greatest feature with the iPhone relates to the courageous decision Apple made in removing that useless headphone jack. Now, instead of plugging in those horrendous old-fashioned wired headphones, you get to spend extra $$$$ on a pair of AirPods that end up holding a charge for a couple of hours (tops), and you have the added bonus of walking around looking like you have a pair of miniature tampons hanging from your ears.

    You got a like because your comment made me laugh, but for serious, those AirPods are by far the best headphones I’ve ever owned (ETA to be fair, I’ve only ever been a casual headphone user - my husband had a pair custom fitted to his ears that cost 3-4 times what the AirPods do, but he’s an audiophile). I can’t imagine running (or walking, or weight lifting, or shoveling snow, etc etc) with wired headphones anymore.
  • quilteryoyo
    quilteryoyo Posts: 5,970 Member
    edited April 2019
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    Elise4270 wrote: »
    There is something to be said for simplicity. When we were looking at phones it was always “well for x more you can get y”. Yes but honestly at the end of the day, does it matter? 5g vs 4g, 31 battery hours or 34... this fast or that. Meh. Nothing that would enhance my existence any. For that we’d need simply bacon and a fried egg in a burger. :smile: keepin’ it simple!

    Hahahaha That would enhance my existence too. Add in chips and dip for me.

    @Elise4270 Love the new shoes!
  • quilteryoyo
    quilteryoyo Posts: 5,970 Member
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    @Tramboman Relax. You're going to do great tomorrow. I feel it in my bones.

    Last night I took the inaugural run in my new shoes, on the treadmill. It was a hard run and I'm not sure why. I don't know if it was the shoes or the fact that I haven't been eating or sleeping properly this week or a combination of all of those things. I did manage to do 2.6 miles and totaled a 5K when I include the warm up and cool down walks. I feel like I used a lot of different leg muscles on this run. Is it possible that my old shoes were so worn out that the new ones are making me use different muscles?
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    quilteryoyo wrote: »
    @Tramboman Relax. You're going to do great tomorrow. I feel it in my bones.

    Last night I took the inaugural run in my new shoes, on the treadmill. It was a hard run and I'm not sure why. I don't know if it was the shoes or the fact that I haven't been eating or sleeping properly this week or a combination of all of those things. I did manage to do 2.6 miles and totaled a 5K when I include the warm up and cool down walks. I feel like I used a lot of different leg muscles on this run. Is it possible that my old shoes were so worn out that the new ones are making me use different muscles?

    Are those the Adrenaline 19s? What you’re describing is actually the reason I didn’t buy them - I felt like they were throwing my weight to the outside of my foot and making my knee stabilizers work overtime.
  • Tramboman
    Tramboman Posts: 2,482 Member
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    quilteryoyo wrote: »
    @Tramboman Relax. You're going to do great tomorrow. I feel it in my bones.

    Last night I took the inaugural run in my new shoes, on the treadmill. It was a hard run and I'm not sure why. I don't know if it was the shoes or the fact that I haven't been eating or sleeping properly this week or a combination of all of those things. I did manage to do 2.6 miles and totaled a 5K when I include the warm up and cool down walks. I feel like I used a lot of different leg muscles on this run. Is it possible that my old shoes were so worn out that the new ones are making me use different muscles?

    Thanks for the positive vibes.
  • Scott6255
    Scott6255 Posts: 2,442 Member
    edited April 2019
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    Wow @7lenny7 you have been through the ringer! Hope things start getting better for you. As an aside...I tried some Hoka's about 2 years ago (forget which model), but I didn't like them at all. Not for the low drop, but because I felt like I was running on marshmallows. It was just weird. Hope you can find something that will work for you.

    @Tramboman You've got this! Everyone gets nervous before a race. Relax and you'll do great. And if not, don't fret about it. It's just one race.
  • Tramboman
    Tramboman Posts: 2,482 Member
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    Scott6255 wrote: »
    Wow @7lenny7 you have been through the ringer! Hope things start getting better for you. As an aside...I tried some Hoka's about 2 years ago (forget which model), but I didn't like them at all. Not for the low drop, but because I felt like I was running on marshmallows. It was just weird. Hope you can find something that will work for you.

    @Tramboman You've got this! Everyone gets nervous before a race. Relax and you'll do great. And if not, don't fret about it. It's just one race.

    Thanks. You're absolutely right. But if I didn't HAVE something to worry about, I'd INVENT something to worry about.

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