Family Runs

Family runs are my favorite, especially on super nice 60ish degree days in January. 

It takes about a mile for the babies to get settled into the whole sitting in a stroller thing.  Blankets fall off, baby dolls get run over by the stroller, sippy cups go flying; but after a mile everything seems to settle in place and we can run accident free for a while.  We did a nice little jog from our house to downtown Bentonville and back. Five glorious miles that I loved every second of. Once again, I can't stress enough how awesome it is to live next to a path that goes super far. Soooooo nice.

I need to get my running butt back in gear.  I've been slacking for the past 6 weeks.  There are a couple races coming up we're going to do and I'm pretty excited about that.  There's a Valentines run on the 9th and I will be doing the 8K.  I've never run an 8K and don't actually know how far it is in miles......... but I guess I'll find out on the 9th.  Or just google it.  That's what they should teach in math classes- easy ways to remember how to convert Ks to miles.  Silly america making things all confusing by being different. 

The next race is the Bentonville half marathon.  I'm being told it may be a bad idea to run it since I'll be overseas the week before and won't get back home until Friday evening and the race is Saturday morning. Well Naysayers, let me tell YOU what I think. I think that I'm going to adapt a new motto starting right now: "If Dean Karnazes can...".  It's more like a half-motto.  And the "..." is a very essential part of the quote. I can't exactly say "If Dean Karnazes can, I can" because that would be a lie.  He runs 100 miles on a seemingly regular basis.  That is crazy.  I can't run 100 miles.  BUT maybe I can say, "If Dean Karnazes can run 199 miles at one time to raise money for sick children, then I can wake up in the morning after a week in Paris and run 13."  Positive thoughts and perspective. Yep.

All that being said, tomorrow I will be back on the running wagon. It's supposed to be sunny and 50-something.   Perfect weather.  I will just need to make sure I don't get too caught up in renovating the bathroom and run out of time to run. 

3 Steps Back and Glorious Memories.

I'm not sure if I've taken 2 steps forward and 3 steps back, or 3 steps forward and 2 steps back, or if I've just started walking backwards.  Either way, I was just humbled by a 2.6 mile run.

There are many factors (excuses? sometimes I'm not sure where to draw the line) that probably contributed to this backwards run.  Allow me to list:
1. I'm still trying to kick the cough from the upper respiratory extravaganza I was blessed (not!) with over Christmas.
2. I've only run once in what feels like a month, but is probably more like 3 weeks (it was an amazing run that I will chronicle once I'm done bitching about getting bitch slapped by 2.6 miles)
3. I'm stressed.  Normally, I would be able to run or go the gym after a stressful stretch of life and workout all my issues.  As it is right now, that is not an option. 
4. I am an ex-smoker, turned non-smoker, turned occasional-social-smoker and I fell off the bandwagon over Christmas. I'm actually not sure how much this had to do with the 2.6 miles-of-crap-run, but I thought it was worth a mention.

Ok that's all.  Now let me list the positives of this run (yes- there were some!)
1. It was almost 70 degrees outside and it was January 11.  This would be why I live in the south.
2. I just bought a much needed new pair of running shoes and wore them out of the store to go for my run
3. I was sporting my new Christmas present- GPS watch! And was beyond thrilled to use it! And my newly purchased shoes just happen to match the GPS watch perfectly.  No, I did not do that on purpose.  Everyone just seems to be putting out lime green and white colored runningly-things.

The next chance I'll have to go for a run will be Friday.  Let's hope the weather cooperates so I don't end up confined to the treadmill.

Here's the short story of the Super Awesome Chicago Run over Christmas:

 

It was Christmas Eve in Chicago and the weather was amazing.  My husband and I did a 45ish minute run around our old neighborhood. The houses are tons of fun to look at and it brought back sweet memories.  I felt great the whole time- like I could run forever- and we were going at a decent pace too.  It was glorious.  Some of my favorite memories are of running with my husband.  This particular day will be remembered and cherished, just like our run together around Central Park. And the one time years ago we ran together for over an hour in the rain. 

Update!

So there hasn't been tons to report on lately.  Just the usual running routine. 

I did another 10k. I believe that makes 3 total 10ks; all ran in different settings: trail, cross country, and road.  The latest 10k was the Girls on The Run back in November.  I ran a 53:17, which is a 8:36 mile.  Not going to lie, that is way faster than I thought I'd run.  I got second in my age group! Actually, it's not that exciting.  I've come to realize that the 25-29 age group tends to be the "slowest".  You know what age group is super fast? The old people.  Like 50+ age groupers.  I'm telling you, those baby boomers don't mess around when it comes to running.  They are FAST. Yikes.

I'm continuing to do speed session workouts.  I skipped once from not feeling well, but other than that I've been a champ at attending.  And that's saying a lot because it is cold outside and I despise the cold.  Nothing is more unmotivating than the prospect of a cold, dark run and time away from the family.  It's so easy this time of year to just throw in the towel and say, "F it. I'm staying in my nice warm house and cuddling with my babies." But I always feel great after the workout and have tons of energy when I get back home. I'm trying to focus on that positive side of it.

I've started trying to go to the gym Wednesday nights after the babies go to sleep. I've always been a nighttime gym person and would much rather go at 8pm than 5am.  It's been nice.  I get to lift; which I think is great! I forget sometimes how much I love lifting.  I don't,however, forget how much I love flexing in the mirror when I brush my teeth after a lifting session at the gym. Try it sometime. You'll probably feel like a Jersey Shore wannabe, but it's ok because you'll probably be alone in the bathroom anyway. Seriously, try it.

The next big race on my radar is the Bentonville half marathon April 6.  I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to run this one or not becaaaaaauuuuuse........ wait for it....... I might be in Paris!!!  I can sacrifice the Bville half for Paris.  Plus I'm kinda thinking maybe I'll just make up my own half marathon in Paris while I'm there.  I might even make jerseys and race numbers for Husband and I to wear. So exciting!

I don't know if I talked about wanting to run a 50k next year or not.  Well, I do.  I think.  Maybe not.  31 miles of trail is a lot of trail running.  And it is before the Chicago marathon, which is risky to do if I want to be in tip top shape for Chi. I keep going back and forth in my head.  It kind of reminds me of when I was preggo with Baby2 and for about 3 months I thought I wanted to give birth without an epidural. And then I changed my mind.  This 50k thing is kinda like that.  For about 3 months I've been totally convinced that I could and would do the 50k.  Now I'm changing my mind.  Maybe I should aim for the 25k instead. I'll have to keep you posted on that.  

Seconds Dates with 10ks. It's Like We're Married.

So I ran my second 10k back on October 13.  And I kicked it's ass! Which I seriously did not think would happen. Let me tell you why. But first, let me paint a quick picture of this race.  Our friend said it best when he described it as "a cross country race for adults". That is exactly what it is.  An open 10k cross country race for anyone.  And then a college race.  And then a high school race.  And then a junior high race.  It brings back memories of the Glory Days, for sure.  On with the story:

My morning started just peachy- there were no major child/husband/me disasters that caused us to be late or anything like that.  I had coffee.  And a peanut butter bagel. I was set. Everything was going smoothly.  And then we arrived at the parking lot and waited for the shuttle to take us to the race.  And we waited.  And waited.  With two kiddos under 2, a BoB duallie, and about 8 backpacks full of baby-ly and running-ly things, my waiting time patience was maxed out at 20 minutes.  We also hadn't considered a long shuttle wait-time into our morning agenda. 

.....So here is where I could seriously write an entire book about our adventure getting onto the shuttle, the shuttle ride, and departing the shuttle.  But I won't.  Because it's really frustrating and I don't really care to relive a play-by-play of everything that happened.  But I will say this, which pretty much sums it all up: In all my years of running, I have always found that the running community is full of really amazing, encouraging, helpful, totally rad people.  None of them were on the bus that morning.  Except for 1 guy and the other family that was juggling 3 kids.  Everyone else sucked.  Bleh.

Anywho.  We got to the actual race area way later than we intended.  The check-in was setup as a men's line and a women's line; which meant my husband got his number in about 4 seconds and I had to wait 15 minutes.  Such is life when you have a vagina.  At least there wasn't a line for the porta potty (this is my attempt at optimism).  This race always does a super job of having a plethora or porta potties.  I bet a woman organizes that part of the race. Anyway, after all that, I had just enough time to change shoes, put on my number, find my headphones, and run to the starting line.  Forget any warming up or stretching. Bleh again.

The gun fired and we all took off! I was running on straight-up adrenaline/pure outright frustration about that damn shuttle ride for the first 2.5 miles.  It was awesome! They even had a guy calling out your mile times- just like in high school! It made me smile :) The little 8ish-year-old girl that I kept running back and forth with made me smile too.  She looked like she'd much rather be playing with Barbies than running a 6.2 mile race early in the morning with a bunch of lame adults.   

I had no idea what time I should go for in this race.  I've decided it's difficult to have goals other than "faster than last time" when you are still getting back in shape.  So instead I went for "people goals".  There were lots of people at this race that I recognized from other races and I wanted to beat them all.  Ok, well, at least beat the ones I knew were possibly beatable.  And I did! I had my sights set on one girl in particular who is always at the speed sessions and is always faster than me.  And I passed her! I was so proud of myself (that's right, I just tooted my own horn. Deal with it). So I don't remember off hand what exactly I ran, but I believe my splits were sub-9:00 miles which is beyond anything I could have expected for myself!  The running store owner/speed session coach yelled at me to kick it in with about 1/4 mile left, so I did.  I've found it makes my life (read, my Monday speed sessions) easier if I do what he says.  Plus, there were two "old dudes" in front of me that I had no intention of letting beat me.  I thought of about a million different smartass things to say to these "old dudes" as I passed them ("hey old guys. I can't believe you are going to get chic-ed this close to the finish line. hahaha"), but I thought better of it and kept my mouth shut.  Now, if you know me in real life, this will surprise, nay, SHOCK you.  You probably don't even belive me. But it's true. I'm still not sure if I'm sad about it or not..... ;)

The next 10k will be Girls on The Run on Nov 17.  It's a road 10k and will be the real test of where I'm at.  My running has taken a step down lately because of traveling (my husband just ran his first marathon!!), and the husband traveling and just overall craziness of life.  I'm hoping to be able to get in at least two 6+ mile runs before Nov 17. 

First Dates with 10ks

One down, one to go!

So it wasn't the worst first date with a 10k. It was, however, a little misleading.  You know when someone posts a Brad Pitt-like picture and they are like "this is my profile picture.  I really do look like this."  And then when you meet them in person, you think they probably should have posted a picture of Steve Buscemi instead.  Because that would have been more realistic.  No offense to Steve; I bet he's really nice.

Anyway.  So the 10k wasn't really a 10k.  It was like a 6.4-6.9 miler depending on whose GPS who choose to believe.  Which actually kinda makes me happy.  My splits for an actual 10k were about 10.02, but since it wasn't really a 10k, that means I had sub 10 minute mile splits.  Yay me!  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that whatever time you would normally run a road race at, add at least a minute to your mile pace when you are doing trail races. They are hard.

Here's the down low with the race.  I had no idea where the course was going to go.  My plan was to make sure there was always someone in front of me that I could follow.  This ended up being the best plan in the world.  There were a lot of people who took wrong turns.  I guarantee you I would have been one of those people had I not made sure I was following someone at all times.  But the race itself was so much fun!  Trail running requires so much mental power (step here, watch out for that branch, jump over that log, etc) that you almost forget to be tired. It was a total brain workout. The end was the worst.  The last couple of miles were all up hill, down hill, up, down, up, down.  Really short and steep uphills and really short and steep downhills.  Of course, by this time your legs and brain are about fried which make trail running even harder.  A lady bit it right in front of me and I tried to help her up.  She totally ignored my attempt (jerk!) so I made it a point to run past her.  So mature, I know. Then karma hit and I almost bit it twice in a very short period of time. 

Next 10k is the Chili Pepper Cross Country 10k tomorrow morning. I've always wanted to run it so I'm really excited!  It's been raining all day today so it'll be interesting to see how crazy the course ends up being.  My goal is to run 9:30 splits. Woohoo!

First 10ks and Weird Mental Things

Let's talk about the weird mental things first. 

The reality of my situation is that I don't run that often.  My goal was three times a week, and that rarely happens.  I am faithful about doing speed sessions on Mondays when my husband isn't out of town and I try to sneak in one other day throughout the week.  And that's it.  That's all she wrote. But here's the kicker: every week I continue to feel faster.  And the speed session workouts are telling me that I am faster.  I feel in shape (ok, not like Boston-qualifying-in-shape, but I feel good). I can, and have, run 6+ miles without feeling like I was going to die in the middle of it.  Or feel like I needed a month to recover afterwards. I find this amazing because, like I said, I'm only out there 2 days a week. 

I guess here is my point: 

You don't have to workout everyday in order to feel good about your training, or working out, or weight loss, or getting in shape, or yourself in general, or whatever your personal motivation is.  Being told that you have to workout everyday for 30 minutes and it has to be cardio and your heart rate has to be above 180 for that entire 30 minutes blah blah blah blah blah is really unmotivating. You end up beating yourself up when you miss a day or have a bad workout and, honestly, it can be really hard to pick yourself back up after that. You will make progress at 2 days a week. 

Soooo.....

Maybe this is the wrong way to looks at things; but set the bar low. Maybe your low bar is really higher than you thought. But also, and super importantly, don't be afraid to move that bit** up when it's time :)

Speaking of which:

10ks. Always wanted to run one, but I've totally been chicken about the whole idea.... up until now.  Not only did I sign up for one, but TWO within three weeks.  And they're not even "easy" road races.  The first is a trail race this Saturday and the second is a cross country race on October 13th. Holy cow. I'm excited! And nervous. I feel like I'm going on a first date. With a 10k. What if the 10k takes a fake phone call in the middle of dinner and never returns? Am I suppose to still go on the second date with the 10k?? Or do I say "screw you, 10k. You suck.  I'm going to sleep with your cousin- the 5k"? But then what if the 10k is glorious and I fall in love?? And then I say, "Ugh. 5k's. Gross.  Who would ever stoop so low?I mean, please, have some self respect." And then I'll turn into a running snob and a 10k slut.  Agh! 

 

I'll keep you posted......



Rockin' It Out

Here's what I've been up to in the recent past:

I did a speed session the last Monday in August.  It wasn't a particularly difficult session, my running buddy wasn't there, but I did manage to do my lunges super duper slow which led me to win one of those things you wear on your hand that holds a water bottle.  I have no idea what those are called.  But I won one.  I love surprise surprises!
They don't do speed sessions on Labor Day because there is always a race going on somewhere around town.  I had all intentions of running it.  And then I got sick which resulted in me not running for 11 days.  (Honesty time. Only 4.5 of those days can really be blamed on the sickness.  Whew, that felt good to admit)

So that Thursday morning 11 days after said speed session was my first run in, like, forever.  And I only did it because I had a running buddy (the power of a running partner should never be underestimated).  I have a strong aversion to running in the dark, especially by myself.  And it's dark at 5am.  And let's face it, running on a treadmill for 4 miles at 5am doesn't exactly scream of excitement.  I made sure my running buddy was aware that she needed to show up with lowered expectations since I'd been sick and not running and was sure this was going to be a terrible run for me.  Can't you just feel my positive attitude emanating through the blog? Don't you feel all warm and sunshinny inside now? Anyway, I arrived early to our meeting place.  And by early, I mean on time.  My running buddy also arrived on time.  And by on time, I mean 10 minutes late. I greeted her in my usual friendly manner, "Wow. You look really tired." She laughed. Then we ran 4 miles.  And it was awesome! I totally felt great the entire time.  You always hear of people who do the whole 'mind over matter' thing; which was obviously not my approach to this run.  This run ended up being 'matter over mind'.  I thought the run was going to be awful, but it was actually super awesome! (Honestly time again. Pre-run, my running buddy said that typically she has really great runs after she's taken a break.  Even if the break was due to a sickness.  She was right.)