The Green Girl's Very First Run Run Run-ning Shirt

The Green Girl got a new moisture wicking shirt to wear for the Surf City USA Half Marathon on Sunday.

When I workout, I usually just wear cheap, white cotton t-shirts. I wear those same shirts when I do 5k's. When I trained for my very first marathon with Team In Training, I wore the Team In Training singlet every time I ran. Our group did a half marathon as one of our training runs so I wore my singlet for that, too. For the marathon, we got the signature purple Team In Training shirts.

When I did the Nike+ Human Race, I got a shirt that was way too tight for me.

After I completed the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon with Team In Training, I joined the Beach Runners. I wore a plain white t-shirt to my first Beach Runners session but when I signed up, they gave me a Beach Runners shirt so I went to the bathroom to change into that shirt. From that point on, I always wore my Beach Runners shirt. When I did the Long Beach Half Marathon back in October, I wore my Beach Runners shirt. I did get a technical shirt from the Long Beach Half Marathon but the material is transparent and I don't feel comfortable wearing it without a shirt underneath.

My running group just changed its name to the Sole Runners and we haven't received new shirts yet.

I didn't realize I didn't really have a technical shirt to wear until this week. All this time I assumed I had "running" shirts because I was wearing the shirt associated with the group I was running with.

After hitting a number of stores today, I finally managed to find a shirt at Target. I couldn't believe my luck when they only had two sizes left and one of them was an XXL and it was big enough for me!

The Green Girl's Fitness Assessment

On SparkPeople, there was an article about do-it-yourself fitness assessments. I decided this would be a great way for me to measure progress for myself.

This do-it-yourself fitness assessment consists of three tests:

• The Pushup Test (measures muscular strength and endurance)
• The Crunch Test (measures abdominal strength and endurance)
• The 3-Minute Step Test (measures aerobic fitness)

I started off with The Push-up Test. I only do fist pushups now because of a bad right wrist. I did full pushups because I didn't realize the women's sexist chart was only for modified pushups. Unfortunately, my hands hurt too much for me to do an entire minute but I did manage to do 40 full pushups in 40 seconds. I spent the last 20 seconds rubbing my fists.

For The Crunch Test, I was able to do 76 crunches in a minute.
For me, the The 3-Minute Step Test was the hardest assessment because I'm not sure if I calculated my results correctly. I had to use Mr. Green Garmin to monitor my heart rate, my 'regular everyday' watch for the timer, and then a metronome for the cadence.

I'm also not sure how accurate Mr. Green Garmin's heart rate monitor is. According to him, my initial heart rate was 57. After three minutes of stepping on my 12" sofa minus the cushion, my heart rate was 112. After exactly one minute, it was 100 and then after another minute, it was 77.

I'm going to repeat these tests from time to time so I can compare my results.

The Green Girl Runs For Angelman Syndrome

The Green Girl is going to be running the San Francisco Half Marathon in July to raise money for Angelman Syndrome.

I just finished setting up my fundraising page.

I will begin my training after the Surf City USA Half Marathon. I am going to have to do a lot of hill and speed training to prepare myself for the streets of San Francisco.

The Running Gods Smiled Down Upon The Green Girl

The Running Gods smiled down upon the Green Girl today.

I BodyGlided up my feet and slipped the ankle wrap around my right foot. Then, I put on my patellar strap on the right knee. All this awkward walking to minimize ankle pain has caused my knee to start hurting again. I mean, who doesn't love overcompensation injuries?

I was running really late this morning after getting caught up in heavy traffic so the group had already taken off by the time I got there.

My ankle was still feeling a little bit tender so I did a brisk walk for the first 10 minutes to warm up my body. Then, I moved into a slow jog. My arch throbbed each time the ball of my foot hit the ground. I figured I'd give it a few minutes to stretch it out since I'd been babying it all week. It stopped hurting after about 3-5 minutes so I increased my speed. It felt so good to run again.

At this point, I caught up with another runner, Ruby, who had also arrived late. I feel in stride with her and we started chatting.

The warmer weather was a pleasant surprise today. The skies were clear and the ocean view was spectacular.

There are so many reasons why I love being part of a running group. Meeting new people is definitely one of them. We swapped race stories and shared what had made us start running in the first place.

I was scheduled to do a 3 hour run today but I decided to cut it short because I didn't want to take any chances. I ended up doing 6.51 miles in just under 2 hours.

I've missed the majority of my Surf City USA Half Marathon training schedule. I'm not nearly as prepared as I'd hoped to be but I'm okay with this. I know I've got a good cardiovascular base from cross-training and I'm not aiming for a personal record at this point.

The Green Girl Prays To The Running Gods

Oh, Running Gods, I was a very good Green Girl today.

I did not go kickboxing even though I really wanted to.

Please let my ankle be okay tomorrow morning for my long run.