Tuesday, March 16, 2010

First hills and unreachable key!

"The body is shaped, disciplined, honored, and in time, trusted."
Martha Graham

Today, I ran my first hills...and I was not feeling up to it. Wrong time of the month and the lungs are not too great...but, as you've all experienced at one time or other, it did not reflect itself in my run...Yay!
First I put my car key in a cool little pocket on the side of my top (a pocket I'd never used before). I then went for a 1.5K warmup and as I went by my car I wanted to blow my nose and put my gloves and scarf away. I went to unzip my pocket to get my car key and I could not, for the life of me, get that zipper down! I managed to find the unlock door button, through my pocket, and figured I'd deal with it after I finished my hills. Went to the overpass, up - down - up - down...and it went really well :) I was pretty pleased with myself. My cardio only got up to 150, which is perfect. I'm feeling much better than I imagined I would with my first hills. Next I'm off to do a cool down run of about 1.5K and then back to the car. At this point, I really have to go to the bathroom, but that zipper will still not budge. I open the doors through my pocket again, sit in the car, take off my two watches (Garmin on the left and cardio monitor on the right), take off the top and try with all my might to unzip that zipper, as I am feeling the pain of needing to get to a bathroom now! No Deal! This is not good...I really must get that car key out of my pocket...but how?
Idea :)
I had my house keys in the car, so I turn my top inside out and start poking a hole in the back of the pocket lining with a key until I make a hole big enough to pull out my car key...Done! Phew...I really must get home. Now! So...the hills went much better than I expected...and I was never so happy to get home :)

Cheers!

25 comments:

Julie said...

Hi Anne,
You are one smart cookie:) I am glad to hear that you made it home safe! Nice job on your hill workouts! I need to figure out how to use my Garmins heart monitor...it is still sitting in the box. Cheers to you:)

Hi! I'm Erin said...

Oh man, I would totally be panicking! Good for you for figuring it out!

And I've never been able to figure out how to train on hills. Like, how long should the hill be, etc. How did you figure it out?

ajh said...

Totally funny although believe me I could feel your pain!!!

Melissa said...

Hilarious!! Glad the hills went well and that you thought of the escape plan for the key. Too funny!

Beth said...

I'm so happy for you that your hill workout went so well and that you figured out your key issue!

MomRunningFromCancer said...

Ann - too funny about your key . . . I thought you were going to say that you lost your keys. Way to run hills. Not my favorite things.

NY Wolve said...

Smart thing to run with your key - despite the issue. I read a story about a guy who was arrested hanging out at a running trail parking lot and who would each where people hid keys and then break into the cars! This winter I also bought a hat that had a tiny pocket built in.

Oh, and hills. Good luck. They are are areal bear, but they do make you strong.

Johann said...

Great job with the hills! Here in SA hill training is huge, especially this time of the year when everyone is training for the Comrades marathon. That has some serious hills! Glad you got the key out in time!

kilax said...

Evil shorts! Trying to eat your keys! I am happy you could still get in!

We have proximity keys for our cars, so you just have to get near the car and press a button on the car. I would be so upset if I had to rip a hole through my shorts though!

Jamoosh said...

Can't say I have had that particular key malfunction, but congrats to you on not just being able to focus on your hills, but coming up with a remedy on the spot.

runningfrom said...

what - you mean you never squatted on an overpass before? ;) Tackling my hills today...

misszippy said...

Great story! Glad you got it all figured out.

Marlene said...

Sounds like that pocket was a little too secure!

Great job on the hills!

teacherwoman said...

Wow, I would have been panicking for sure! Way to figuer it out! Nice job on the hills!

Jennifer said...

Ha ha pretty funny! I could see myself in your place, but not nearly as calm! Great job on the hills, glad your lungs are holding out.

Alicia said...

Dang zipper! Glad you made it home! :)

Diana said...

I hate it when zippers do that. Glad you were able to come up with a creative way to get the key out!

Amy said...

Glad your hills went so well, but geez, what a fight you had with your key! I had one slide down all the way in the lining of my running jacket through a little hole in the pocket...

Heather said...

Great job on the hill workout!

Tara said...

Haha! Genius! Thanks for making me smile today. :)

I'm so glad that your hills went well even with those nasty obstacles!

Miglena said...

haha.. this is hilarious! Congrats on the hills - you make everything sound so easy.

Iris said...

Just discovered your blog. I too have asthma- nothing near as serious as yours - and am glad you are showing people that running and asthma CAN go together!

Monica said...

LOL!! Way to go MacGyver!!! :)

Lily on the Road said...

Thanks for the great laugh! I can laugh, because I've been in a similar situation!!

Hills, you'll never meet a hill you didn't love. You'll be glad you've done hill training, although NCHM is relatively flat, there are a couple of hills at the beginning of the course.

momof3 said...

HILARIOUS! Go your for some seriously quick problem solving.