I find out tomorrow whether or not I received one of the 15,000 lottery spots for Chicago! Fingers crossed!! I have a couple Plan Bs that I'm tossing around, just in case. I kinda figure go big or don't go, so my top 3 plan Bs are: Athens, Greece; Hawaii; or Philadelphia.
There a few awesome updates I'd like to post about. I'll keep it short.
1. I broke 24 minutes in the 5K!! I'm like a semi-legit runner now. Although, I'm not convinced it wasn't a fluke so I'd like to try and do it again just to make sure ;)
2. I ran an 8k and it was cold and windy. My face was windburned for 2 days afterwards. Let me tell you, windburn is a pretty attractive look. Especially on the face. You should try it sometime. I did get 2nd in my age group which was neat. Except I didn't get a medal because they messed up my chip time. But it's all good.
3. The next race on the calendar is the Bentonville Half Marathon on April 6th. This one will be interesting. It starts less than 12 hours after my flight lands from a week long vaca in Paris. Luxury problems are fun :)
4. I was supposed to run 11 miles yesterday. A mile and a half into my run I came upon 2 spots on the path where it was totally flooded. Not the kind of flooded you could jump over either. So what did I do? Did I turn around and find another way around the flooded part of the path? Nope, I sure didn't. I ran straight through the flooded path like an asshole. Twice. And soaked my shoes. I'm an idiot. You know that time when you put your car keys on your seat and stare at them sitting there as you proceed to lock and close your car door? And only after you close the locked door you think, "damn. my keys are on the seat"? It was kinda like one of those moments.
So I called my husband to pack up both kids and come meet me with my old runing shoes and new socks (how selfish am I??) But then I decided I was too wet and cold and didn't want to run anymore so I just had him come pick me up.
To make up for my moments of brillance yesterday and decided I would run 12 miles today. I ran 13.1 instead :)
Monday, March 11, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Chicago Marathon Drama!
Have you heard the latest about the Chicago Marathon???? You can't sign up for it! I'm having a little bit of anxiety over this. And it's increasing everyday. What if I don't get in??? That was a scenario that NEVER even crossed my mind! Go back to the very first blog entry. Is "not getting in" listed anywhere there???? Nope. It Isn't. What happens if I don't get in? What then? The whole is not to run A marathon, the whole point is to run the CHICAGO marathon. I had the registration date marked on my calendar and everything. I went to the website and tried to register at 1:15 (reg opened at noon) and it wouldn't let me. This is sad.
They said they will tell us what their solution is by Thursday at 3:00. Until then, I will just sit anxiously and hope I don't have to think of a Plan B.
They said they will tell us what their solution is by Thursday at 3:00. Until then, I will just sit anxiously and hope I don't have to think of a Plan B.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, January 14, 2013
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.
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.
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:
Monday, December 17, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
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.
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.
Friday, October 12, 2012
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!
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!
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