Season 2, Mission S16: Zombies, Bike!

1.54 miles – 31:24 minutes – 20:26 min/mile

Got a late start today, but it was a short mission, so I got it done fairly quickly. No zombie chases, and looks like I was pretty slow. Ah well, it was a nice afternoon, and I didn't feel like pushing it.

And that's it for Season 2! Except for the Halloween missions, which I'd decided to save for October.

I got a new pair of running pants on eBay. They're Adidas men's pants. I wanted something full-length, not skin-tight, and lightweight for summer running. All they sell for women these days are tights and leggings, and I'm tired of those. The pants are pretty nice. Of course they're way too long (women's pants would be, too —I have short legs), so I'll have to shorten them, but meanwhile I can just tuck the legs up. I wore them today and they were very comfy. I wouldn't mind if they were a bit looser, but there's nobody around here to see me, anyway.

Today's music was Steve Earle again. I forgot to put a new playlist in when I downloaded the mission, and I didn't feel like taking the time to change it today. Heh.

For today's mission, the runners rode bicycles, thinking it would be easier to outrun the zombies. They didn't take into account things like tire blowouts!

Season 2, Mission S15: Quartermaster

2.27 miles – 44:57 minutes – 19:46 min/mile

Today was one of those days. I started off thinking, it's supposed to rain today, maybe I'll just do yoga inside. Then the sun came out, briefly, and I was actually thinking I'd like a walk, so I geared up and went out. Of course, by the time I started walking, it had clouded up again. It went on like that the whole mission — cloudy, breezy, sunny, cloudy, a sprinkle of rain, cloudy, sunny again. At least it wasn't too cold.

I didn't walk last Friday, but instead I spent around six hours working on the cat enclosure I'm building. I decided that was exercise enough. More than enough, really, I overdid it and am still feeling a bit draggy. I should set a hard limit of four hours a day of building work. I wore myself down to a nub. Still. I'm impressed that I even managed to do that much. Must be getting stronger, even though I don't feel like it.

Anyway, there was one zombie chase today, at 31 minutes, which I evaded just after they got within 50 meters. I do fine with the chases as long as I'm walking the rest of the way. I don't have to run so hard. I would like to start incorporating more running into my walks, but I will have to turn off the chases if I do. Maybe once a week?

Today's music was "Copperhead Road," by Steve Earle.

Today's mission was to visit a mad scientist who'd promised Abel some new weapons—in exchange for Runner 5's assistance with some of his zombie experiments.

Season 2, Mission S14: Circuit Training

2.34 miles – 46:13 minutes – 19:44 min/mile

Oof. Well, I blew it off yesterday. It was really windy and cold and I spent the first part of my morning getting in some firewood and fixing the panels around the swamp cooler (which I'd installed last week when the weather was hotter, and which is now letting all sorts of drafts in with the current cooler, windy weather) and making a makeshift cover for the swamp cooler fan out of a towel and some plastic sheeting. After that, and seeing how cold I was, I decided to stay in and do yoga instead. But I ended up not doing that either.

So I did my Wednesday walk today, on Thursday. Was half-way to just putting on walking shoes and taking it easy, but decided since I was doing it, I might as well do it properly, so I got my exercise clothes on and fired up Zombies, Run! and did my walk. I went around the house once, then walked down the road about half a mile and back, then around the house some more.

Had one zombie chase after I'd gotten back to the house at 38 minutes, which I evaded after the zombies got within 50 meters. I was already tired, especially after the uphill walk back to the house, so I didn't try very hard, but still managed to evade. I guess I'm getting a little bit stronger after all.

Today's music was "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" by the Alan Parsons Project.

Today's mission was for Runners 3 and 5 to go to a fitness center and find a working treadmill that could be brought back to Abel. Meanwhile, Sam was nearly delirious with fever and not up his usual standards of mission controller.

Season 2, Mission S13: Actual Cannibal Rescue Mission

2.14 miles – 40:07 minutes – 18:44 min/mile

Had my yoga week last week. Managed to get three sessions in, even though I totally spaced out on it Friday and ended up doing my third one on Saturday instead. It was hot last week, so it was good to be able to exercise indoors at any time of the day. I may end up doing yoga more often during the summer.

The weather's cooler this week, so today's walk was not bad. I ended up getting up early today, so I was out on the driveway by 8:15 am, and it was breezy and cool. Had one zombie chase at 21 minutes, which I evaded just after they got within 50 meters. Time wasn't bad for walking the rest of the mission.

Music-wise, I got myself an unprotected version of Licensed to Ill by importing back the CD I'd burned of the protected album. CDs don't have DRM, so the songs were unprotected when copied back off the CD. I did at one point burn all my digital albums to CD, so I should be able to do the same thing with any others I want to play while on missions. I went through my library to see which albums were protected and there were only ten (nine now that I've done Licensed to Ill), so I'll do those as they come up.

Today's mission was the second part of the last mission, to rescue the sister of one of the Girl Guides who'd been captured by suspected cannibals. Only three more side missions in Season Two, so by next week I should finally be able to start Season 3! There are a couple of Halloween missions also in Season 2, but I think I'll save those for October.

Yoga week

I'm taking the week off from walking/running and doing yoga instead. I've been finding myself increasingly resistant to going out to do my walk. I very nearly blew it off altogether last Friday, telling myself I'd do it Saturday instead (which I knew I wouldn't do), but in the afternoon I remembered I needed to go down to the shed to run the generator to pump water, and I figured I could at least walk around the house for twenty minutes while the water was pumping. So I did that. A short walk, but at least I did something.

Then this morning, I was still not feeling like walking, so I decided to do 30 minutes of yoga with the Yoga Studio app instead. That was very nice and pleasant. I hope that a week of yoga will refresh me and let me get back into walking next week. I keep thinking I should really be doing both, walking and yoga on alternate days, but so far I'm lucky to just do one or the other.

Season 2, Mission S12: Search And Rescue

2.01 miles – 37:04 minutes – 18:27 min/mile

Whew. I managed to get out the door a little after 9 am, but it was already pretty hot. Still had a pretty good run/walk. I decided to try running every third lap... until I got a zombie chase at 23 minutes, just after I got down the hill on a running lap. Still, it was only finishing the lap I was already going to run and a little more (but at a faster pace), and I evaded after they got within 50 meters. After that, I decided to try running half a lap, then finishing at a walk, and doing another full lap walking. So it was a .5 lap running to 1.5 lap walking interval, instead of 1 : 2. That worked a little better, I think, especially in the heat. It's supposed to cool down a little after today, but soon enough summer will come along and I'll have to start getting up early to do my runs before the sun comes up. At least I feel fine now, didn't get totally dragged down by being out in the sun. Yay for my meds!

It's warm enough now that I've started wearing my short-sleeved shirts and leggings to run in. Which means, no pockets. I was just slipping my phone into my jacket pocket or the pocket on my long running pants, and I seem to have forgotten everything I've ever known about exercise gear, because Monday and today I just tucked my phone into my waistband, but today, since I was running, my phone started to slip down into my leggings, and I started thinking, I need something to attach my phone to... maybe get one of those armband phone holders... but no, I can't wear those because of my arm... hm, maybe I should have a belt with a loop I can tuck my phone into... And then suddenly my brain switched on and I remembered, oh yeah, waist packs with phone pockets. I have at least three of them here in the house. D'oh! Will have to dig out my lightest one for next time.

Today's mission was for Runner 5 to accompany the Girl Guides on a mission to try to find one of their members' sister. Turns out to be a two-parter. I was just thinking this morning, I'm getting a bit tired of these side missions, it will be nice to get back to more involved stories. And then we had this one, which is more like the regular season missions! Just what I was wanting.

Season 2, Mission S11: Zombies, Stretch!

1.62 miles – 32:03 minutes – 19:46 min/mile

A shortish mission today. No zombie chases, which was good, because I wasn't really feeling it today. Didn't go out until around 11:30 and it was already pretty warm, high 60s, and no clouds. Thankfully, with my meds, I can still go out in mild heat and not get too dragged down. But before long, it will be 80s and 90s rather than 60s, and I'll have to start my exercise earlier.

Today's mission started when the team got back to base, and was just various runners in the rec room doing stretches, Sam and Janine playing an arcade game, and people knitting and so forth. Kind of fun for a change of pace. I figured, I'd better not get any zombie chases while I'm inside the base! Although, as I recall, I did get a chase while I was inside someone's house once. Those zombies are everywhere!

I got to play Beastie Boys while I walked today! Turned out, only the Licensed to Ill album was protected. I usually listen to Ill Communication anyway, so I just put that on the playlist. Will see about getting an unprotected copy of Licensed to Ill but meanwhile I've got Beasties!

Season 2, Mission S10: Zombies, Climb!

1.97 miles – 36:14 minutes – 18:25 min/mile

Boy, it's getting warm these days! Didn't need my jacket, and my running pants were even a bit too warm. Have to start getting out the warm weather gear.

Good run. Two zombie chases, at 9 min (evaded after they got within 50 meters) and 20 min (evaded).  It makes a difference where on the lap the zombie chases start. The first one started after I'd gotten down the hill in front of the house, and was mostly run uphill. The second one started in back of the house at the top of the hill, so was downhill until I turned the corner by the road, and a slight incline after that. If I could just run downhill all the time it would be so much easier! Heh.

Finally got the app's Built-In Player to play Boston for me! Yay! Turns out one set of Boston tracks is m4p and the other is m4a. I thought the .m4a was the Apple download so I used the .m4p tracks, but they're the DRM-encoded ones that iTunes won't let other players use. So I deleted it and re-added just the .m4a tracks to my library and copied them to the iPhone and now it can use them. However. Now I have to find which of my other albums is in .m4p form and convert them so I can play them. Looks like some of my Beastie Boys music is protected, too. I'll work on getting unprotected copies of them next.

I went for a walk yesterday, too. Instead of zombies, I found a guided meditation to play while I walked and had a more relaxing exercise.

This mission was ostensibly an experiment to see how altitude affected zombies. In actuality, it was an attempt my Maxine to match-make Runners 4 and 6. As usual, Things Do Not Go As Planned.

Season 2, MIssion S9: Zombies, Row!

1.85 miles – 35:02 – 18:57 min/mile

A slightly shorter mission today. One zombie chase, at 11 minutes, which I evaded just after they got within 50 meters. I wonder if I should turn off the chases and just run every third lap or so. The chases really wear me out and don't seem to improve my speed or endurance much. I was thinking today, as I was evading the zombies, that in a real zombie apocalypse, I'd be toast if they were fast zombies. I could probably outrun a slowly shuffling zombie, if I wasn't too far from shelter, but other than that, I wouldn't make it very far.

Still fighting with my phone and iTunes to get it to play Boston while I run. Long time ago, I bought the CD. Then forgot I had it and bought it from iTunes. From then on, I've had a fight between iTunes and the CD copy. iTunes only wants to recognize its own copy, which I've long since deleted and now it seems iTunes doesn't remember I bought it. I can't make a playlist for Zombies, Run! with just the CD copy, because iTunes wants to play its copy, which isn't on the device, so it just complains that it can't play music that's not on the phone. I thought I had it solved by deleting the album from my iTunes library on the computer, which just left the CD copy. But now iTunes on the phone refuses to recognize the CD copy, because it's not in the library, even though it's on the phone in limbo somewhere.

So that will be my project for today. If I have to delete all traces of Boston from my phone and computer and start from scratch with the CD, I will get that album onto my phone and on a playlist I can play while I'm running.

Meanwhile. Today's mission was a boat race between Abel Township and New Canton. And, as usual, Things Do Not Go As Planned.

Season 2, Mission S8: Interview With a Girl Guide

2.24 miles – 41:43 minutes – 18:35 min/mile

Only one zombie chase today, at 32 minutes, which I evaded after they got within 50 meters. I walked the rest of the mission.

I have my missions set to go by time duration, rather than miles, and usually just let the default time stand. But today's mission was set to go for 51 minutes, which I thought was a bit much, so I decreased it to 42 minutes. One of these days maybe I'll do a longer mission, but I have an appointment today and I needed to finish anyway.

In today's mission, Runner 5 takes Jack and Eugene out to try to find the Girl Guides so they can interview them. Of course, things never go quite as planned. I kind of miss Jack and Eugene, since these days I never keep going after the mission's over. Maybe one day, I'll just listen to Radio Abel while I run.

Season 2, Mission S7: War Is The Answer

2.31 miles – 42:08 minutes – 18:15 min/mile

I almost didn't go out today. It's been raining off and on and I was feeling blah. Thought maybe I'd just do some yoga later. But I ended up putting on my walking clothes and heading out.

Today I decided to walk except for chases again, but OMG there were four chases! The first, at 11 minutes, was easy enough. I evaded without them getting close. The second was at 36 minutes and was a little harder. They got within 50 meters, just before I evaded. Then the third came immediately after the second, at 37 minutes! I mean immediately — I hadn't taken two steps before they were after me again. I knew I wasn't going to evade this time, so I didn't strain myself. Just jogged a little ways until I had to drop some supplies to distract them. Then there was a fourth chase at 39 minutes. I'd managed to get enough breath back to evade them this time, just after they'd got within 50 meters.

I wonder how they calculate the % increase in speed you have to maintain in order to evade? Is it based on the average speed you've done over the whole mission so far? In that case, every time you do a chase, it bumps up your average a little, and you end up having to go a little faster each successive chase. Or maybe they just calculate the speed on the first chase, and use that for each chase during the mission. Hm.

Today's mission was to accompany Runner 7 to his secret underground bunker to collect some supplies. I kind of like these side missions. They're not as stressful as the story ones where everyone's under attack and horrible things happen.

I need to spend some time copying music over to my new phone and reconstructing the playlists I had on it. I haven't used them in a while and had deleted a lot of music from my old phone because it didn't have enough space. Now I've got plenty of space on the new phone and could easily copy all my music from my computer. Tired of iTunes telling me I can't play that album through the app because it's in the cloud.

Season 2, Mission S6: Trefoil

2.34 miles – 44:34 minutes – 19:03 min/mile

Today I decided to walk the whole mission, except for zombie chases, so of course, there were no chases. I keep telling myself that a brisk walk is just as good as running, although I can't help being a little disappointed that even after three weeks exercising regularly, I'm still not doing much running. Getting old, I guess. But even walking is helping a lot, so I keep at it.

Today's mission had Runners 5 and 4 running decoy for a training mission, only to be swarmed by a pack of zombies and rescued by a troupe of Girl Guides. It was another fun one.

Just checked and there are still 10 more side missions for Season 2. That's a lot of missions! But if I keep going at three missions a week, I should be into Season 3 next month, finally. (I remember when I first started doing Zombies, Run! several years ago, thinking, oh no! I'm going to run out of missions one of these days, then what will I do? Now they're up to Season 8, and I'm still trying to get past Season 2.)

Season 2, Mission S5: Top 40

2.45 miles – 43:59 minutes – 17:47 min/mile

Well, as I feared, last week was rain and snow all week long, and the road was too muddy to run or walk on. So I did yoga indoors for my exercise, 30 min/day for MWF. It was nice, and seemed easier than the last time I tried to do yoga, which, of course, was before I started on my meds.

But today the road was pretty much dried out. The only muddy spots were where the wash runs through the yard and cuts across the driveway on either side. There's still water running in it and I had to kind of jump over it, but other than that, it was fine. The weather was perfect for running, mostly cloudy in the mid 50s. If only it could be like this all the time! Soon enough it will be blazing hot again.

I was planning to try to run every third lap, but I kept getting zombie chases! Three this time, at 14, 21, and 27 minutes. The first time was right after I'd finished a running lap (they got within 50 meters), and the second time was right near the end of a running lap (20 meters that time, but I managed to evade). The third time was about halfway through a walking lap (50 meters), but by then, I was so tired, I decided to just walk the rest of the way. Still, all that running got my time down under 18 min/mile!

It was a fun mission. The runners were headed for a CD store to stock up on music and ran into a pop star who was trying to evade her horde of zombie fans.

Season 2, Mission S4: Times New Roaming

2.22 miles – 44:33 minutes – 20:03 min/mile

Another week done! Today I walked except for zombie chases, of which there was only one, at 8 minutes. I evaded after they got within 50 meters. A slow one today, because of the walking, and also I started the mission by starting the generator to pump water, and then walking up the hill behind the house to check the water level in the tank. That slowed me down quite a bit — that's a steep hill, and I had to stop to climb up and unscrew the tank lid and such. Anyway, my splits were 19:36 and 19:05 for the two miles.

Weather was nice again today, sunny and in the 50s. Now they're forecasting rain Monday and snow Tuesday and Wednesday, so next week's exercise might be a challenge. May be out there slogging in the mud again. Just have to wait and see how it goes.

Today's mission had a reporter from the Rofflenet news program accompanying Runner 5 on a supply run. At the end he made sort of a speech about how the news of runners working together and succeeding in the face of diversity gives people hope in these dark times (paraphrasing wildly because my memory sucks), but it was strangely inspiring. Things aren't quite as bad as a zombie apocalypse, but times are dark enough.

Season 2, Mission S3: Whack-A-Mole

2.18 miles – 42:07 – 19:19 min/mile

I had a horrible migraine last night, and was still feeling yucky when I got up this morning, so I decided to just walk today, except for zombie chases. And there were two chases today, at 12 and 34 minutes. I evaded both of them, but the second one they got within 50 meters. My splits were 17:53 and 19:25 — slowed way down in the second mile, obviously not much energy today. But I got it done.

I was hoping the exercise and fresh air would clear away the rest of my headache, and it seems to have worked, so there's that! Weather was nice today, sunny but cool. Driveway's completely dried up. Should be clear the rest of this week. Now they're saying snow next Monday and Tuesday, but who knows.

Season 2, Mission S2: Headcount

2.41 miles – 45:48 min – 19:00 min/mile

In which Janine goes on a run and attempts to take a census of people living in the area around Abel, with results about as you'd expect. Heh.

The weather was very nice for a change, sunny and in the low- to mid-50s. I took off my jacket after the first couple of laps and could have had a short-sleeved shirt on. The road was pretty dry, just a few damp spots but no slippery areas. It's supposed to stay clear for the rest of the week so running/walking should be pretty good.

There were no chases today, but I did try to run every third lap. (Since I cannot seem to count from one to two while running laps, I'm not sure I always did two laps walking between one lap running, but I probably got it right most of the time.) My recorded pace was slow, but I think that's mostly because I was pumping water while I was running and had to go to the shed to turn the generator on and off in the middle of the mission. My little road map is all over the place. The GPS can't keep up when I'm cutting back and running small loops around the shed and such.

Nine Inch Nails recently released two ambient albums for free, Ghosts V and VI, so I put them on my phone in a playlist and used them for running today. Very nice being-chased-by-zombies music! I need to put together a few more running playlists and download some more music to my phone. I had it all set up on my old phone, but haven't gotten around to doing it on the new phone yet. I've got 256 GB on this phone, as opposed to 16 GB on the old phone, so plenty of room for music!

I'm going to try to get up early to go grocery shopping on Wednesday, so will probably run/walk when I get back.

Friday walk 30 min

Today's walk was accompanied by the hold music at my pharmacy, where I'm trying to get a prescription refilled. I was going to wait and walk after I got that taken care of, but I've been on hold for 1 hour 40 minutes now and I decided not to wait. So I plugged the phone into my headphones and went out to walk, while listening to the same music repeat over and over and the operator tells me the next available assistant will assist me.

The road wasn't too bad today, but there were some slippery spots on the back corner. It snowed maybe an inch Wednesday night and again a little bit last night but it melts off pretty quickly and the days have been clear or partly cloudy. But the road stays a bit muddy and slippery.

Still, another week done!

Season 2, Mission S1: Canada

2.30 miles – 43:15 minutes – 18:46 min/mile

Well, the weather was nice today, contrary to the weather report. Clear and mostly sunny. The driveway was dry all the way around for a change. Now they're saying rain and snow this afternoon. With luck it will be dried up again by Friday for my next mission.

There was one zombie chase at 13 minutes, which I evaded after they got within 50 meters. I also ran maybe two of the laps. So, continuing to get faster and stronger, little by little. 

Today's mission was a funny one, for a change. With a guest appearance by Margaret Atwood!

Season 1, Mission 23: Aftermath

1.84 miles – 34:45 minutes – 18:54 min/mile

Rained and snowed last night and the driveway was a mess this morning, but I went out and did my walk anyway. Go me! Fortunately, there weren't any zombie chases, because the road was pretty slippery. But for walking it was doable. It's supposed to rain and snow Wednesday and Thursday again, so we'll just have to wait and see how bad the road gets. As long as I can stay on my feet, I will keep walking!

Finished Season 1 today! Just checked, and there are a ton of Season 2 side missions, which I haven't done. Maybe I'll do those next, and proceed to Season 3 after that.

Once the weather gets decent, and we're allowed out in public again, I'd like to start going to the park once a week again to run. Try to get trained up to finally do that Halloween Virtual Race I'd signed up for in 2018. I still have the race envelope here with the finisher's medal and stuff. I don't think I ever opened it — waiting until I finished the race!

... Oh, wow! I was just clicking around the app and saw that they have "Zombies, Stay Inside!" Lockdown Workouts with indoor exercises you can do while listening to Sam on comms. That's awesome! I'm fortunate that I can still go outside to run, since I live in the middle of nowhere on five acres, but for people who are stuck inside, they can still use the app. That's great!

Season 1, Mission 22: Horde

2.14 miles – 40:02 minutes – 18:41 min/mile

All right, I got my time under 19 min/mile! Heh. Today's mission was 40 minutes long. I considered shortening the time, but then I figured, what the heck, I can do 40 minutes. It will make up a bit for not running on Monday. And it was actually no problem. I even decided to run a couple of the laps while I was at it.

I had one zombie chase, at 25 minutes, which I evaded without them getting close. I was a bit concerned about the condition of the driveway, since it went and rained and snowed again yesterday, and it was still a bit squishy and slippery, but not enough to interfere. Even on the zombie chase, which I was running at higher speed, my footing was fine.

One more mission in Season 1. I thought I'd finish this week, but the weather wasn't cooperating. We're still supposed to get more rain and snow next week, so who knows how it will go, but I will be out there on the driveway if I can.

California's officially under lockdown since yesterday. I'm glad I live in the middle of nowhere, where I can still go out and run around my driveway without seeing another soul. It's kind of weird, running in a fictional zombie apocalypse while an actual pandemic is happening.

Wednesday

30 minutes walk

Well, as I feared, the weather this week has been interfering with my exercising. Heavy rain and snow on Monday meant no walking/running. However, I did spend some time dragging the ladder up to the house, scraping snow out of the internet and TV satellite dishes, and Tuesday I dragged the ladder back down to the shed to scrape the snow off the solar panels. I call that exercise! The good thing is that I felt really strong and able while I was doing all that snow scraping. The exercise has really been helping, even though I didn't think it was.

So today, I put on an old pair of leather sneakers and went out to see how the driveway was. It's still pretty muddy and slick in places, but I was able to do 30 minutes of brisk walking, so go me! I didn't put on my running clothes, or use the Zombies, Run! app, which somehow makes me feel like it wasn't a "real" exercise session, but I walked just as fast and just as I do on the missions, so it counts.

The weather's supposed to stay clear for the rest of the week, so I should be able to get back to the zombies on Friday

Season 1, Mission 21: Siege

1.81 miles – 33:04 minutes – 18:18 min/mile

Did my third mission of the week on Saturday instead of Friday, since I had to leave early yesterday for an appointment, plus it had rained on Thursday and the road was still wet, and my Saturday plans were cancelled anyway. I don't like postponing runs, because I tend to keep postponing them until they just don't get done, but for this week it worked out well. The road was dry enough that I didn't have to worry about slipping and there was no need to get up early to run.

I keep saying "runs" when they're actually walks — although I did get one chase today, at 11 minutes. I didn't try to run at top speed, just kept a good pace, and evaded just after the zombies reached 50 meters. So that bumped my average speed up. Even my second split was a bit faster than usual, so I guess I am getting stronger, even though I don't feel much like it.

I will probably continue like this for next week as well, walking except for chases. It's supposed to rain off and on next week, so the driveway might be muddy at times, but we'll just see how it goes.

Two more missions in Season 1. I'm tempted to re-do Season 2 as well, since I don't really remember much of what happened in it. I suppose I can catch up by reading the mission threads on Rofflenet. If I keep re-starting the story every time I take a long break, I will never get past the first couple of seasons!

Season 1, Mission 20: Listen In

1.81 miles – 34:34 minutes – 19:03 min/mile

Turns out Mission 20 downloaded after all. When I checked last night, it was there. That's good, because I don't think my email to support went through. Whole app was glitchy on my last run, but it looks like it's okay now. Probably just needed to be restarted.

No zombie chases today, again, which is just as well — it poured down rain all day yesterday, and the driveway had some muddy spots, especially on the southwest corner, where it was soft and slippery. It was okay for walking, as long as I was careful, but I wouldn't have wanted to try to run on that part. I considered turning the chases off for today's run, but decided not to bother, seeing as how I was rarely getting any chases anyway. I figured if I did get one, I'd just hope it was around the part of the driveway that wasn't slippery, and if it was, I'd just do my best.

I got a late start today, but it was still 47F and cloudy when I went out just before noon, so it was fine to be walking in the middle of the day. When summer comes around, I'll have to be more diligent about getting up and out early, but for now, at least it's not too hot. This Friday, though, I've got to leave at 9:45 am for an appointment in Bakersfield, so I'll have to make sure to get up by 7:30 am. Supposed to be snow next Monday and Tuesday so we'll see how that affects my runs next week.

Only three more missions in this season. Then it's on to Season 3, finally! The story is up to Season 8 now, I'm way behind. So I guess I won't have to worry about running out of story for a long time.

Season 1, Mission 19: An Unimportant Mission

1.53 miles – 29:21 minutes – 19 min/mile

Had a bit of a glitch on this morning's run. I turned the zombie chases up to 4.9/hour (because I couldn't get the slider to land on 5), and I did get one chase — when I'd barely done one lap, and was not even remotely warmed up! Still, I started running, and was doing all right, when I got to the point where the chase should be ending, and the beeps that mean the zombies are on your tail stopped, but I didn't get the message "Zombies evaded." I kept running for a bit, then came to the hill in front of the house and couldn't run any more, so I started walking again. Still nothing from the app. So I checked, and the mission had stopped. I told it to resume and carried on from there, but I ended up with two run logs for today — one for the first 2:44 minutes, and one for the remaining 26:37. The zombie chase didn't get logged, it must have stopped right at the end of the chase. So I combined my two logs for today, but there was also another bit in between, no more than a minute, probably, after it stopped and before I resumed. Anyway, no matter, I got my mission done for today. I hope that was just a one-time glitch and not a bug in the app.

I wish you could have a little more control over the zombie chases. Maybe set the number of chases you want during the mission, and minimum number of minutes in between. Or at least minimum number of minutes warm-up at the start before you get hit with a chase. Then let it throw them in at random, but at least you'd know how many you were getting at the start.

... Okay, now the app is not downloading the next mission. I get a progress bar, but at the end, it just goes back to "download" and the mission isn't there. I tried switching to WiFi, but it still doesn't work. Argh. Maybe I'll check the forums. I hope it's working again by Wednesday!

... Hm, I tried downloading the mission after that, and it downloaded okay. Must be a problem with Mission 20. I'll email support.

Anyway, week 2 and I'm still out there trundling around the house in circles. My neighbor with the barking dogs moved up the road, so I had a few blessed months with no dogs barking at me every time I stepped outside, but then his friend moved in next door, and he has barking dogs, too. Sigh. Fortunately, his dogs don't bark as often or as loudly as the previous neighbor's dogs, so I just carry on and ignore them.

Season 1, Mission 18: Eavesdropping

1.70 miles – 32:56 minutes – 19:21 min/mile

One week completed! Still no zombie chases, even though I increased the rate, but that's okay for this first week. I'm happy just to be out walking briskly for half an hour. I didn't walk yesterday, because things, but I'm not bothered about that. I will try to do something on my off days — maybe some weights or yoga or something, as well as walking — but the main thing is to get my official three days of running/walking done. I think next week I'll continue to walk most of the time, turn the chases up a bit more, and maybe try running every third lap or something.

I remember this part of Season 1 now, and it reminds me of something that I occasionally find frustrating about the Zombies, Run! story, which is that Runner 5 never speaks. I understand why — they want to make Runner 5 as undefined as possible so that anyone using the app can assume the Runner 5 identity for themselves. Which is cool, but when things happen and Runner 5 gets accused of things he (or she or they) didn't do, I'm running along going, "Tell them! Explain what happened! Stand up for yourself!" But Runner 5 remains a cipher.

Perhaps I'm supposed to insert my own dialog there, being that I'm Runner 5, but no one can respond to me and it doesn't fit the story, so I'm left silently fuming.

Oh! I got a letter from Maxine on Wednesday congratulating me on meeting Runner 10! That must be something new to the app, I don't remember ever getting email after a run before. Kind of makes me want to go back and start over from the beginning to see if I get any more letters... but I won't.

Season 1, Mission 17: Information Exchange

1.71 miles – 33:28 minutes – 19:33 min/mile

Twice in a row! Yay! I'm on a roll now!

I remembered to turn on the GPS this time. Pretty slow pace, but once again, I just walked the whole mission. No chases. I seem to recall this happening once before, and I had to turn the chases up before I'd reliably get one or two during a half-hour run. So I've turned them up to 4 per hour for next time. Not that it's a problem at this point—I'm happy just to be walking. I'm already feeling better. I sleep better, my mood is better, and my joints and muscles are loosening up. Looking forward to seeing how much better I can do, now that I've got meds to keep me from crashing out.

I also went out for a half-hour walk yesterday, but I didn't get suited up or listen to the zombies. I just put on my shoes and set the timer on my watch for half an hour. I am hoping to do my run/walk on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and then just a half-hour walk on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. As long as it's just half an hour, I should be able to fit it in no matter what else is scheduled for the day. If I decide to train up for a race at some point, I'll probably do the long runs on Friday, to keep my weekends clear.

 It's still cool enough that it's no problem to start my runs later in the morning. It was 8:15 when I got out this morning. Will probably want to start earlier once the weather starts to heat up, but I hope now that I'm on meds I'll be able to handle the sun a little better, so it won't matter so much if I get a late start.

Season 1, Mission 16: Scouting Mission

3242 steps - 33:11 min

Well, it's been a long time since I posted a run. And I didn't really run today — just walked briskly around the house for 30-ish minutes — but at least I got out there and did something. I forgot to set it to track mileage, so I only have time and steps recorded. I turned the GPS back on for next time. I had zombie chases turned on, thinking I'd walk the mission and run the chases, but there weren't any, so I just walked the whole thing. I'll continue to do that at least for this week (may turn the frequency of the chases up so I'll be more likely to get a little running in) and then evaluate.

Anyway, after my last disastrous attempt to do just a virtual race, I pretty much gave up on running, or any kind of exercising, really. I just got so tired and weak and dizzy every time I tried to do anything, especially outside, especially in the sun, I couldn't keep trying. I felt worse when I exercised than when I didn't. This went on until last September, when I finally got my doctor to refer me to a cardiologist, who had me do a tilt table test, something none of my other doctors had ever done. Anyway, I passed out on the table during the second part of the test — where they give you meds to speed up your heart rate and simulate exercise — and my blood pressure went so low the machine stopped recording it. So they don't know how low it really went. Anyway, it's not supposed to do that! So, finally, I had a test that actually confirmed what I've been saying for years — that when I exercise or go out in the sun, my blood pressure drops so low I can barely function. So the cardiologist put me on meds to keep my blood pressure more stable, and I've been much better ever since. I still get dizzy sometimes, especially when I'm tired, but I recover quicker and I've actually been able to do stuff like housework and building projects without collapsing.

Ever since I started on the meds, I've been thinking I should start exercising again, but it's been hard to get back into gear. Lately I've been trying to walk around the house while I'm pumping water, but that's only 20 minutes and I don't always do it. Last week, I was determined to get back on track and run or walk three times a week, but various circumstances interrupted and I didn't. But this week, I put on my running clothes and fired up Zombies, Run! and went out and did a mission.

At this point, I barely remember any of the missions, but I decided to continue where I left off last time, re-running the Season 1 missions I lost when I deleted my app before (now, thankfully, it's changed so it remembers what you've run even if you delete your app), and then starting Season 3.

At some point, I will probably even run the Halloween 2018 virtual race I was leading up to when I crashed out last time.