Eating Toast in the Shower

It all started when I blew a fuse in my bathroom.  Then yada yada yada happened and before I knew it I was eating toast in the shower.  You try to explain that one.  Fine, I'll give you a run down of how these two events are connected.

I was meeting my 100 miler coach, Brenden Huber, to go for our Sunday long run.  We were supposed to meet at 2:00pm.  It was 1:57 and I was scrambling; I ran into my bathroom and flipped on the light.  BOOM.  A flash of light and then blackness.  The fuse had blown.  So I shot a quick text to Hubey telling him I was going to be ten minutes late, went over to the breaker box and reset the fuse.  This is seems so unimportant, yet turns out to be the heart behind this blog post.  Ten minutes late, at 2:10pm, we started our 16 mile run in and around St. Peter.  For those of you who know the area, bare with me while I give a brief run down of the location of this wonderful town.  St. Peter is in a river valley with the Minnesota River flowing through.  You have Gustavus Adolphus College on the top of one side and farmland on the top of the other side.  It's a gorgeous location minus the hills in the winter and the wonderful St. Peter wind that, as my mom states, "cuts through your soul" and reminds her of "walking to school in Detroit in skirts (since she wasn't allowed to wear pants)." #NavyBratLife

For our run, we started by headed east on 99 up the side of the valley towards Faribault, before turning off to head to the golf course, then dropping back into St. Peter on 22.  We then headed out 99 to the west up the other side of the valley towards New Ulm, then cut across on some back road, parallel to 169, towards the little town of Traverse, before, for all intents and purposes, meeting back up with 22.  Now, there is snow on the roads so the footing wasn't fantastic but we made it up both sides of the valley and on this unnamed backroad where we were feeling really good, both physically and mentally.  Granted, we had to run down the double yellow line to avoid the snow drifts, but in the grand scheme of winter runs in Minnesota this wasn't so bad.  Ultimately, for this long run we had picked a pace where we could chat the whole way without breathlessness so it was the equivalent of hanging out for an afternoon on the couch.

For those of you who do not run outside much, it's definitely amazing how few clothes you need to wear in the winter.  For this run, the weather was a balmy 23 with a 10-15mph wind and I wore long spandex, an underarmour long sleeve, a tshirt and a very light running jacket with running gloves, a fleece neck warmer and a winter hat.  By mile 6, I had already sweated through my running jacket. By mile 7 I took off my gloves storing them away, inside out and in a small sweaty ball, in my jacket pockets.  By mile 8 there was nothing acceptable left for me to take off so I just kept running.

 Now, on this unnamed backroad, we were cruising.   We could have run for another ten miles but didn't say it out loud to each other in hopes of not jinxing it... too late, I guess thinking the thought was enough to shift the universe.  As we turned to meet up with 22, a mere two and a half miles from The Rock (our apartment complex), the sun disappeared, the wind  picked up to a constant 25mph and shifted directly at our faces and the yellow line we were following to avoid the snow drifts, was now buried underneath them.  It got cold.  My face hurt.  My hands started to freeze, so I quickly snatched my gloves out of my pocket but they were crumpled into a frozen ball of sweat.  Awesome.  Leaving my hands out to the elements, I desperately tried to de-ball these gloves while avoiding snow drift after snow drift that made me, at times, look and feel quite unathletic.  Eventually, I shoved my now frozen, dry and wind burned hands into these gloves, which were frozen themselves so I'm not sure how much good they actually did. With our heads down we plugged away, one foot in front of the next, singing "I'm coming home" by JCole until we finally reached The Rock, happy those last 2 1/2 miles were done and over with. #characterbuilding

2 hours 14 minutes later, our longest run together was completed.  We averaged a relaxed 8:15 minute mile.

Following our quick cool down, it was about 4:40pm and we were supposed to be at a co-workers house to make homemade pizza at 5:30pm and we still needed to swing by the grocery store. Eeek.  We were docked to leave The Rock at 5:10pm. I was shivering from sweating and now walking in below freezing temperatures so immediately ran inside thinking about all the things I needed to do in a mere 30 minutes...  Eat during my diminishing 30 minute window of post-run time, shower, blow dry my hair, get dressed and stretch.  I quickly realized multi tasking was going to be necessary.  I threw some bread in the toaster, while that was crisping up I chugged some water, quickly buttered the toast then ran into the bathroom to warm up the shower (which is only a stand up shower, so it's a small confined space).  Alas, the point of the story you have all been waiting for, once the water was hot, I hopped in, bread in hand, to warm up, clean up and eat up, thus the title "eating bread in the shower."  This is one more event I can add to the list of reasons why I am now a true runner.  I so wished that bread was a beer. #whycan'trunnersbenormal

In conclusion, we didn't make it to our co-workers house until 5:40pm, but you can't dispute the effort.

Breaking News: Running Causes Dandruff

Yes, you heard it correctly.  There is a direct correlation between running and dandruff.  And I am the proof.  I'm sure the other factors could be the fact that it's the middle of winter and the air is extremely dry, taking a hot shower every day, or the fact that Herbal Essence is no longer suitable for my scalp, however the underlying issue here is running.  I mean I never had to deal with dandruff before training for this oh so wonderful 100 miler. I've survived extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme wind, extreme rain and yet ever had dandruff.  Now I say hi to it every day.  Here's my rationale...

It's a Burnett trait to sweat... alot. Much more than the average human being.  So, when I run I dehydrate myself and moisturized skin comes from the inside out.  See, I sweat out every ounce of liquid I have in my body within the first four miles of my daily run and then have to use my reserves after that -- and the reserves apparently are used to keep my scalp moist.  No reserves equals dry scalp. Dry scalp equals dandruff.

Plus, due to my excess sweating, it is pertinent that I take a shower immediately following the completion of my workout.  And since it's winter, obviously that shower is going to be hot.  Not only do I take a shower, but I have to wash my hair everyday and I already have dry hair. On top of all this, I have to blow dry my hair every time because it's negative thirty degrees out, which does not pair well with wet hair. All in all, not the best combination of ingredients.  Dry hair, daily hot showers and blow drying my hair equals dry scalp.  Dry scalp equals dandruff.

The worst day for my dandruff is Tuesday.  Tuesday equals dry scalp. Dry scalp equals dandruff.  No but seriously, Tuesday is the worst day for my dandruff because it's my double day.  Meaning, I run twice... for example yesterday I ran seven miles in the morning and five miles in the evening.  After my morning run on these days I shower but don't wash my hair.  I mean, why would I wash my hair when I am just going to work out again in five or six hours.  But since I'm a Burnett my hair is wet from sweat, so it dries and gets all crusty (so appealing, I know) which dries out my scalp.  Then I sit with crusty hair and a dry scalp for six hours before hopping back on the treadmill, running for 45 minutes then taking a hot shower where I wash and blow dry my hair, before walking out into the -35 degree dry Minnesota winter air.  Double days mean hanging out with sweaty crusty hair which equals dry scalp.  Dry scalp equals dandruff.

Bottom line, there is a direct correlation between running and dandruff.

It's Called Character Building

     Character Building is known as any task, activity or event, that contributes to our personality, maturity, assertiveness, etc...The idea that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It's often used as a sarcastic phrase as most people believe that difficult events in our lives build character. Here are a couple prime examples: 

Parent to Child Convo 1: "Cleaning the dog pen out builds character" 

Convo 2: 

Child: "Mom, there's no more hot water and I need to take a shower"

Parent: "Looks like you'll have to take a cold shower"

Child: "But I have to wash my hair" 

Parent: "It'll be good character building for you honey" 

     These are all well and good, but let me tell you, true character building is training for a 100 mile race in MINNESOTA during the WINTER.  And no, you can't avoid running outside in -35 degree weather because do you realize how many days are -35 in Minnesota?! Most.    Which means if you avoided it, then you would be running 50 miles a week on a treadmill for five months... which is even tougher character building than running outside.  

Here is a myth buster too: It's not true when people say at some point cold is just cold.  There is a drastic difference between -20 and -35 and -50.  Each one is much colder than the previous. Negative twenty is where you can walk outside with your arms casually by your side instead of folded in front of your chest trying to keep the warmth in.  Negative thirty five is where you put your head down and walk as quickly as possible from point A to point B; some people even decide it's worth it to yog from point a to point b, but full out running is not necessary.  Negative fifty, on the other hand, just flat out hurts; everything about the air hurts, which means mouth breathing is painful and nose breathing is just simply out of the question. With this being said, I AM PROUD to say that I have decided against running outside when it is -50 and opted to have my cutoff be at -40.  Now that's intelligence.  

I think my icicle mascara is the next thing... don't you?