Geeking

Dressed for my 15 mile mixed-surface run this morning: windy and 28 degrees...

Yesterday while swimming length after length mindlessly (kinda like running mile loop after mile loop during an houred event), I understood the obvious. I am a geek.

This coming into geekhood is not a BFO (blinding flash of the obvious), yet rather a slow unveiling of the truth. Most runners, I expect, are like myself and are delighfuly unaware until something makes you think about it. I thought about it after seeing myself in the mirror just before getting into the pool.

Dressed in a typical swim outfit...

Me post run this morning...looking freakishly like the above photo!

Skull caps, eye protection, sports bras are all a way of life for me...and I expect for most other geeky runners. Compression socks that mock the knee highs I wore as a middle school Catholic school girl and capri tights and arm wear that make me look like cross between a wanna be football player and a cyclist! Not to mention the hydration pack and layers that are wrapped around me flapping in the wind making me into a traveling yardsale during a 2 hour run when the temperature changes 12 degrees! Geeking is, I think, reality.

This is a photo of "optimal clothing" for cold weather running...very styin'...yet I balk

I am a geek because I would sweat to a puddle and my hands would freeze in less than 10 minutes if I wore the girl's outfit. During a hilly loop training run in the winter, I seek to minimize my sweat...and therefore an unable to create such an outfit! Always I wear gloves and overmitts  and often with handwarmers in between!

As I consider geekiness, I look around my "office" (the little spare bedroom in our house I have claimed as my space...This is what I see (no "doctoring" to the space to set up for pictures has been done!)

Clothing drying, headlamp, reflective vest, foam roller, stretch rope, hydration gear...

My desk, 40 minutes post run today...no doctoring to photos, really!

Need I say more?

Drawers full of nutrition and sports medicine gear...

A draw full of handwarmers...thanks to a very generous Christmas stocking!

The above is what I've contained in my "private space" at home...So I stalked around the house for a few minutes this afternoon taking a couple photos with my iphone:

No the scratching post is not for my 2005 WS 100 Cougar...yet Mama Grey shares floor space with the sculpture!

Pottery awards sitting on the wine rack in the dining room...

Magazines on the bathroom shelf.

 Running, racing, training, swimming, wearing synthetics is a way of life for me. Many days I go to work clad in 50% running clothes, topped off with a conservative  jacket and shoes that help me masquerade as being professional. Running or working out is never "if", but "when or where".

4:40am is a time of day I know well, and 10pm is a late night.

The only time I watch TV, (and even then it's the Home and Garden Network) is when I am on the treadmill or elliptical at the gym.
I think I love being a geek!
As almost 1 full month of 2012 has passed, I am ever-grateful with being able to run and be active and to sweat and learn and explore!
I wonder how many other folks are happy to practice "geeking"-and what is most geeky? (For me t the compression socks/sleeves totally get the points!)

Geeking attire for this morning's run: Mtn Hardwear Beanie, Native sunglasses, Mtn Hardwear Malina tank , Team USA Nike Capris, Sugoi Compression socks, Montrail Rogue Racer, Mtn Hardwear Momentum Glove, homemade overmitts, Mtn Hardwear Ghost Whisperer Anorak, Nathan Elite 1 Waist Pack. 4th generation shuffle and 2 hours of tunes!

Next up for me: A training weekend in Greensboro 2/11& 2/12-Groundhog Gallop Half Trail Marathon and St. Valentines Day Massacre Marathon.