1000 Mile Celebration

For the first time since 2011, I have cracked the 1,000 mile marker for 2017! I'm so excited. For most of the year, I've been ahead of this goal, especially during the summer when we were piling on the miles.

2009 was the first year I broke 1000 miles with 1020. If I recall correctly, I ran my 1000th mile on my birthday that year on a treadmill at a gym. Pretty anti-climatic. In 2010 I ran my first marathon and hit 1000 miles in the fall, ending with 1365. In 2011, I ran 1333 running 2 marathons in the year but also starting my masters program. In 2012 I just missed 1000 miles, running 920. And then I got seriously burned out from running and haven't hit it since.

UNTIL THIS YEAR!!

When I was calculating out my weekly mileage, I realized I would hit it on a long run with my BRF. And when I texted her to let her know, she said we had to celebrate. Well obvs. We had plans for a post-long run brunch, but those were thwarted when I needed to push back our start time.

So instead we invited the guys along for some BBQ a week or so later.

Cheers to 1000 miles, and to a whole bunch more!

1000 miles + Twin Cities Marathon Expo

My ideal start to a weekend is a Friday off, and cool morning temps for a tempo run.  Ok, just kidding, I will probably dread tempo runs until the day I die, but the cool temps make it not quite so terrible.  Plus, I knew as soon as I was done, it was off to see SUSAN in the Cities!  Yippee!!


I had 7 miles with 5 at goal tempo pace of 8:15.
1. 9:39
2. 8:15
3. 8:11
4. 8:13
5. 8:15
6. 8:04
7. 9:15


7 miles in 59:54 for an average pace of 8:34.  Average tempo pace was 8:11!


Yes, I do think that would be the definition of "killed it."  :)  Usually I lose my mind on tempo runs, so I gave myself a free pass to "pat myself on the back."  According to DailyMile, apparently I had side stitches during miles 2 and 4 but I've already long since forgotten about that, I guess.  Hmm....

When I got home and was logging my run I realized that I had hit 1000 miles for the year.  That’s like icing on top of an already delicious and decadent cake (ie:  right up my alley…..mmm).  Of course I had to google stalk myself to see when I hit it last year….. 8 days sooner.  S.O.B……

After I was showered up and packed it was off to the Cities.  I’m known for getting lost while traveling, and assumed this adventure would be no different.  Imagine my surprise when I arrived at Erika’s doorstep without having to use a single minute of my “30 minute I’m bound to get lost” cushion! 

I finally got to meet Susan, and she’s just as nice/fun/goofy as she seems on her blog, aka she’s a big fun dork like me!  (I mean that as the highest level of complement, Susan, promise!)  We went to find some foooooooooooood and then hit up the Twin Cities Marathon Expo.

When we got to the expo, Susan had wrangled us some VIP passes for the weekend along with invitations to the reception on Friday night.  Race/run with Susan and you become a big deal, good to know!  We grabbed Susan’s bib and were immediately reminded of her running blogger celebrity status when the volunteer asked her if she was Nurse on the Run.  Seriously… it was too awesome.  Not to be outdone, 2 or 3 other readers came up to her while we were at the expo to introduce themselves.  It was seriously so cool.

photo borrowed from Susan, taken by me, so I figure it evens out. :)

After not depleting my bank account (I have no idea who I was this weekend, I didn’t spend $$$$$$$$ it was crazy), we hit up the reception and realized that it was primarily for vendors partnered with the marathon events and elite runners.  I’m willing to bet I have the slowest marathon time of the group…. FYI.  While there we ran in to Hannah who handles the social media for Twin Cities in Motion and asked to take a pic with us “big time running bloggers.”  Thanks for the ego stroke Hannah!  Also, thanks for the new blog to add to my reader!

quick! who has longer hippie hair?  me or susan?!? :)

Saturday we had planned to lounge around to rest up for the big event, so the only thing on our agenda was Susan’s shake out run.  Yikes.  Susan’s “easy” run  = my 5k race pace.  Should be interesting….. :/  She hooked me up with this sweet I <3 Sweat shirt, but secretly I think mine should say I = sweat, so naturally we had to match during our run.

We started off the run and I realized she wasn’t going to kill me, thankfully, and we chatted away.  Until I hit a speed bump.  Literally.  No denying that I’m a klutz.  FYI this is why I’ll never be a trail runner.  I wish I would’ve had the fall on video because I’m guessing it was INTENSE (=hilarious).  We continued on, but I think Susan was afraid I was trying to kill myself to get out of running with her, because our pace slowed a bit.  Ha.

uh...oops.  ouch.

We did 3.06 miles in 27:54 for a pace of 9:08.  Thanks for hanging with me!

Heartbreaker + 1000 Miles

I would like to alternately title this post as Heartbreaker:  A Soleless Tale.  Eff I'm witty.

Dearest Nimbus Running Shoes,

You and I have been together since the beginning of this long distance running shenanigans.  I remember when I first set my eyes on the much loved green Nimbus 7's.  As we both know, it was love at first sight.  We've had our shares of ups and downs, and that's only to be expected with my fiery personality.  Heck, I've even given up running in the 7 years we've been together, but still have been loyal to you.  We trained for and completed my first marathon with a smile on my face and no injuries to be seen.

But lately..... lately things haven't been going so well.  Perhaps we have ourselves a case of the 7 year itch?  It's just not working anymore.  I swear... it's not you, it's me!  Ok, honestly, I think it is you.  You keep revamping yourself and increasing your prices, and I seem to be getting less and less miles out of you.  When I went to the running store today wearing my current pair, the dude working said they were shot, and only had 275 miles on them!  What happened to the 400-450 miles we used to be able to get together?  That was the final straw.

I must admit:  there's someone else.  It's a pretty recent thing, and it's not serious, but I do see the potential for greatness.  If not, there's always a chance I'll come running back to you.  Hell, you've seen my track record with my former loves, a second (or third) shot isn't out of the question.  We have history.  You never get over your first love.  I shall think of you fondly and hope you do the same.

Love Always,

Jerbear

*

Mizuno Wave Rider 13

After my trek to the running store for my new kicks, I hit up the gym to do some biking (it's been storming all day, blech).  I biked 15 miles in 1:01.  After I was done my knee felt pretty good and I had an idea....maybe just maybe I could hit up the treadmill.  You know.... just to test out my new kicks.... make sure they were a solid investment and all.  Or maybe it was because I've been at 999.4 miles since my knee started acting up last Thursday and it's SERIOUSLY KILLING ME.  Ahem.  Anyway, I thought the worst that could happen is that it would hurt and I would stop.

I started going and holy heavy legs.  Nothing like attempting a brick your first run back, dumb dumb.  My knee was slightly twingy for the first 1/4 of a mile, but after that it (and my quads) loosened up and we had ourselves a nice little mile jog.  :)  At .6 I was one smiley fool.  1000 miles....hollar!  And despite my mini set back, I still managed to complete the number of miles 3 months sooner than in 2010.  Heck ya.

*Can we discuss the fact that these shoes have sparkles on them?  I know I may have expressed my extreme distaste for sparkles with NFL apparel, but that is sooooo not the case when it comes to running shoes apparently.  I recall taking sparkly fingernail polish to the Nike swoosh sign on my spikes in high school to jazz em up a bit.  Flyyyyyyyyy.

This run powered by GLEE

I have a confession:  I'm kind of obsessed with Glee.  And Finn Hudson.  Ok, mostly Finn Hudson.  My co-worker convinced me to watch Glee and it's amazing.  And then she gave me some CDs to listen to.  And then I uploaded them to my iPod for my morning run.  And it was perfection.  The only way it would've been better is if Cory Monteith would've been running along side me crooning in my ear.  Oh, and if my knee wouldn't have felt all weird.  Yes.  That would've been nice too.

I had my first legit run of marathon training (since Wednesday's easy 3 miler was just to make sure that everything was still in working condition) of 6 miles.  It was a chilly 50 degrees so I got to wear my favorite shorts and long sleeved combo.... I knew as soon as I put it on that Aron would be jealous.... ;)  I tried to keep the pace easy, but it seemed that when I was running slower my knee felt funny.  Like there was a ton of pressure directly under the knee cap as well as the area below the knee cap.  When I stopped to stretch to see if it needed to pop it HURT instead.  When I started running again it felt fine.  Of course when I was done running it hurt again.  Perhaps I just need to run everywhere to keep the pain at bay.  I'll be chilling with an ice pack for the next couple of days to be on the safe side.

I did 6 miles in 58:41 for a pace of 9:47.

Of course after I logged my miles in my running log, I realized I was at 999.4 for the year.  :p  Perhaps I could've just gone that extra .6 because I guarantee that I'll forget I'm running my thousandth mile for the year when I set out on my long run Sunday.  Hah.

Check out Jessica's giveaway!

Happy Golden Birthday to ME and 1,000 mile milestone.

Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday dearest Jerbear, Happy birthday to me!  

You will probably never meet another adult that loves birthdays as much as I do.  And I'm proud of that fact.  I countdown from my birthday starting on December 27th each year.  I also make a big deal out of all my close friends' birthdays as well, so I'm not completely selfish when it comes to birthday cheer.  I could literally tell you all of my high school classmates birthdays, as well as 90% of my college friends'.  At one point, roughly around age 20-21, my brain must've filled up, because I have a couple of close friends that I cannot remember for the life of me!  Sigh.  ANYWHO.....

This year marks the birthday I've been looking most forward to, the big 2-6, aka my golden birthday!  I always thought I'd do something big and extravagent for my golden birthday, but then again, back in the day 26 seemed sooooo oooooooold, and for some reason when I was soooo ooooold I thought I would have bookoo bucks to go on a sweet trip.  HA! Jokes on me.  26 is NOT old, and I do not have $$$$.

My birthday gift to myself:  Cellcomm Green Bay Marathon REGISTRATION!  That's it.  I'm really doing it.  Marathon #1. :D  If any of you are still struggling with birthday gift ideas, you can revert back to my Christmas list post, as they can lend themselves quite nicely to birthday gifts as well.

On my last run as a 25 year old, I set out to do something I have never done before.  I had originally planned to do my last 4.5 miles to 1,000 on my birthday, but because of the snow storm, I was left bored and by myself for Christmas Eve, and decided to head to the gym to make my day better.  I decided to do a tempo run, with a 1 mile warm up, 3 miles at 8:19 pace, and a half mile cool down.

My legs were stinkin' SORE for the warm up mile, and most of the first tempo mile.  I need to be more diligent about using my rolling pin on my IT Band, especially after speed workouts.  After that my legs loosened up, and I had fun.  I swear I had an ear to ear grin going the entire run.

I did the 4.5 miles in 39:18 for a pace of 8:44.
1. 9:39 warm up
2. 8:14
3. 8:19
4. 8:14
.5 4:49 (9:38 pace cool down) 

During the last mile, I started reflecting back on all the miles and races that my legs had gotten me through during 2009.

• My first 5k race WIN! 
• My first relay where I met and made some great new friends. 
• The half marathon where I finally broke 2 hours. 
• And my favorite race to date (and current HM PR). 

We've come a long way this year.  One of my primary goals for 2009 was to fall back in love with running, and I think it's safe to say that has happened.  Not only is running a huge part of my life again, but I was lucky enough to PR in every race I ran this year, except for one 5k in the freezing cold. :p  That is a huge accomplishment and one that I have to thank my legs for immensely.

Here's to an even better running year as a 26 year old.  I have a feeling it'll be golden.  ;)