I Heart Fall

This weekend my running was all unicorns, sparkles and daisies.

Thank god.

Kyle and I made a very last minute decision Friday afternoon to skidaddle out of town on Saturday to Minneapolis and I realized that my long run wasn't likely to happen during a mini-vacation.  Of course we made this decision after my lunch consisted of cooler ranch doritos and starbursts.  Perfect long run fuel!

I mapped out a run near my undergrad college for the first part of the run, and was going to swing back by my apartment and take on the bike trails for the last 8 miles.  It was the most beautiful long run weather I've gotten so far.  Low 60s, low low humidity.  A slight breeze.  :)  My legs did not feel awesomely fresh at the start, but I knew that completing a long run on tired legs would really "up" my mental toughness that I struggle with...constantly.

The first 6 miles were much hillier than I'm used to, but my pace didn't seem to be affected all too much by them.  Because it was so nice out, I was barely sweating, and barely sipping on my handheld.... IS THIS REAL LIFE?!?!?!?!? 
1. 9:35
2. 9:36
3. 9:51
4. 9:51
5. 9:35
6. 9:27

By the time I got to the bike trail, it was getting dark.  Now often when I tell non-runners that I run on the bike trail, they get super freaked out for me.  "aren't you afraid for your safety?!?!?!"  Well...no.  Apparently there used to be some really scary stuff that would happen to women on the bike trails.  :/  Which is why I avoid them at night, or make sure to bring a buddy.  I figured I could get a couple of miles in while the sun was setting and be ok. 

Well... I was right.  Except that it put me 2 1/2 miles away from home, with no choice but to run that remaining 2 1/2 miles in the dark.  Luckily there were some soccer games going on near the trail, so I wasn't all alone, but I guarantee my HR was up there pumping from adrenaline.  And so much for a flat last half of the run........
7. 9:41
8. 9:23
9. 9:33
More hills.  Bah.  The nice part was as the sun set, and the temps dropped, so did my heart rate, and so did my pace.  During the last few miles I wanted to get my HR towards the higher level of my LR zone, and plus I was somewhat certain that KK and my dinner plans were going to include me all stinky since I wasn't going to be home with enough time to shower.

The last few miles felt great, and with it being too dark, I had no idea what my pace was unless I went under a street light.  Wheeeeeeee! 
10. 9:15
11. 9:11
12. 9:00
13. 8:00
.1 :40 (6:39 pace)

I did 13.1 miles in 2:02:38 for a pace of 9:22.  Let's ignore the fact this is only 2 minutes off my race time from a couple of weeks ago.... **shakes fist at IT bands**

When I got home I had a text message from one of my co-workers saying that she had just saw me out running.  I responded that I just got home, and she thought I was insane because she had seen me running 2 hours earlier.  Haha welcome to my crazy running world.

So naturally after spending my Friday night doing a long run (followed by eating delicious Indian food with KK), I learned that I’d be heading to the cities next weekend, and with traveling to Fargo for a race the following weekend, I couldn’t justify this  trip to the cities.  Le sigh.  My checking account sighed in relief.

Saturday was spent being an Alabama fan and hanging out with the boy.  And Sunday was the most beautiful fall day ever.  I told myself that if I put in 90 minutes of study I “got” to go do my run.  Don’t ask me when running became my reward, but whatever… it worked. Since I skipped my recovery run on Saturday, I tacked a couple of extra miles on to my supposed to be 6 miler.  I legit felt like I could keep running forever. 

I did 8 miles in 1:16:39 for a pace of 9:35.  Average HR 153.

And then it was off to watch the Packers go 3-0 to start the season.  GO PACK GO!  I finished off my Old Chicago Oktoberfest mini-beer tour, and the German gal in me loved it.  Turns out that by day-drinking you’re fully capable of studying in the evening.  Good to know!

18 Miles.... You Win Again.

For both rounds of marathon training I have struggled with my 18 milers.  20 miles?  Great.  22 miles?  Awesome.  18 miles?  100% shit show.  When I woke up Saturday morning, I had wanted to wait until the wind chill was in the double digits.  Finally at 2pm, I said screw it and headed out in the balmy 9 degree temps.  Luckily for me, there was a sheet of ice covering my entire running path.  Yay!

After mile 1, I resigned to the fact that this would be a slow run, and opted to not pay attention to my garmin for much of the run.  I was wearing my yaktrax, which helped with my footing, but still gave the impression of two steps forward, and one step back while running.  Gah.  Through the first GU break (4.5 miles) I was having a jolly good time.  I had planned to run a nine mile out and back to get my mileage for the day.  Unfortunately at 7.5 miles I realized that the rest of the trail was under construction, so I'd have to tack miles on to the end of the run.

Since I'm 100% loco runner, this messed with my brain big time.  When you run the same trail over and over and over and over again, you get used to knowing exactly how far you are from being done.  Having to add 3 miles to this automatic total suckkkkkked.  At mile 9 I went to take GU #2 only to realize that some dumb dumb hadn't zipper her coat pocket and had lost her favorite blueberry pomegranite roctane.  I continued to pout and scour the trail for it's shiny blue wrapper.

I was approximately 100 yards from my initial GU point when I saw something shiny out of the corner of my eye.  Praise Jesus alleluiah!  I am saved!!  Seriously... I don't know if I've ever been this happy on a run.  I kept on with my run going an alternate route to tack on the remaining 3 miles, only to realize the trail was closed THAT WAY TOO.  alskfjalsjdflajslkfjlkajsdlfkjlkasdjflasdflakjdsflkajsdf

Fine.  I'll do a mile lap around my apartment.  Whatever.  Just get this run d-o-n-e!  I ditched my yaktrax on the apartment lawn (ie:  snow mountain) and continued around the block.  Foreshadowing:  big mistake.  At approximately 17.3 miles, I ran by a pet shop with some huge dog bellowing out a barking rant.  When I moved to get off of the sheet of ice that sprung up on me and on to a mound of snow, I completely lost my footing and flew through the air landing really hard on my elbow and right hip.  Immediately upon hitting the ground I stopped my garmin (tell me that isn't a reflexive action....) and cursed at the dog to shut the eff up.  Oops.

I hobbled the remaining .7 miles home, pouting.  When I got home I felt sicky sick.  Oftentimes after a long run I feel really pukey and this time was bad.  I curled up in the fetal position on the couch in my still sweaty and stinky clothes and called KK.  And of course he didn't answer so I pouted 100x harder.  Moments away from crying he called me back and said he had a gift for me.   Well technically 2 gifts.  Well actually thousands of gifts...... and I perked right up.  Someone had replenished my starburst jelly bean stash!!!!!!!!!!  :) :) :)  Eventually the promise of candy was enough for me to pry myself off the couch and in to the shower.

Oh and for the record, I can run at least 21 miles in the time it took me to run 18.  If it's not spring by the time my 20 miler rolls around, I'm going to kill winter.  Seriously.  I hope they let me blog from prison.

And in lighter news, check out my haul from the library this weekend.  Yes I am a homebody, why do you ask?  ;)  Quick poll:  How many of these will get read/watched before their impending deadline?  Answer to come.

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!

Reasons I Love Fall

Fall is undesputably my favorite season.  To kick off the new season that has arrived (even though it felt like it arrived about a week ago), I thought I would let you know why I lurve it oh so much.  :)

Fall...How do I love thee?  Let me count thy ways....

1. Cooler temps, for running and general life enjoyment.
2. Hoodie and jeans weather = perfection.
3. Shorts and a long sleeve running weather = perfection.
4. Running through crunchy leaves.
5. Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes.
6. Starbucks pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting.  I literally die.
7. Football season.  GO PACK GO!
8. Football players.
9. Mmmm football players...... :)
10. Apple cider.
11. Hot chocolate.
12. Super cute scarfs.
13. Gorgeous multi-colored leaves getting ready to fall off the trees.

This morning I had my first official run of "fall."  I had an easy peasy 4 on the schedule since it's race week!!!!  I stepped outside in shorts and a cut off and it was CHILLY.  And being chilly makes me happy. :)  I saw people out in pants and long sleeves (amateurs.... :p) but I still managed to work up a decent sweat regardless.  One thing you won't see on my list of fall looooooooooves:  wind.  It kicked my booty today.  30 mph wind gusts?  Yup, this run goes in to the strength training category. :p

What do you love about fall?

Fall Photo Shoot

Monday I was dreading going for a run.  My legs were sore from racing then long runnin'.  But it was sooooo beautiful out.  I convinced myself that I should take my camera since it was just an easy paced run.  Then I had an even better idea.  Take out Miss Polly Sunshine, because who knows when the last bike rideable day is, right?  I went 9 miles in an undetermined amount of time.  I kept stopping and starting my garmin when I was stopping to take pictures, but at one point forgot to restart it and never started it again.  Oh well.

I love the colors of fall, I love fallen leaves, I love bridges, and I love Miss Polly, so they are my inspirations and subjects of the shoot.

This is my favorite of the group, and sadly it was taken while I was actually biking.  This is right before my favorite part of the trail.
I love the windiness of the trail, so I tried to capture that here.
Also, there are hundreds of pine trees planted in rows here, so every time I run through it, it smells like Christmas, and I love it even more.
A zoomed out version of the windy trail.
I love this bridge, but I've never actually run across it, it's off to the right of my regular route.  I think it's just a bridge to get access from the main roads to the trails actually.
Polly is just chilling while I attempt to be a photog.
I may complain about our bitterly cold/miserable weather, but it doesn't get much more beautiful than fall.
Love the crunchy fallen leaves.
Coming back over the bridge.
Peek a boo.
I thought these were beautiful with the bright orange tree peeking out in the background.
The sun is setting behind the river.  (P.S.  It's getting COLD and I'm still 4.5 miles from home.  WHOOPS!)
My second favorite shot of the bunch.  This is my favorite bridge on my route.  And I love how the sun is still just barely peeking out before setting for good.
The super calm river from the bridge.  It was mondo windy so I don't understand how it was so crazy still.
Got to have the reflection shot, no?
I was going for something more artistic here.  It didn't work that way, but I love how bright she is next to the dark colors of the bridge and river.