Brrrrrrr.....

Seriously....no blogging since the Sunday run?!?! I can't possibly be that busy can I? No. Just lazy. Hmm. Well turns out I remember why I always fall off the running bandwagon post fall half marathon: I HATE THE COLD. Seriously. There is nothing more uninspiring than running in the cold/grey/wet/snowy weather. Soggy leaves? Eew. Soggy socks, fml.

The good news is, even with the blog slacking, I haven't been running slacking. Three cheers--hip hip hooray!! I am, however, completely over running on the treadmill. So hopefully the temp stays in the 40's for the rest of the winter. That should be doable, right SoDak? Awesome,blossom.

This week marked my first week of half marathon training for the Dallas White Rock HM. WHOO!! I heart races (I think I've mentioned that before). :) Monday I had 5 easy miles scheduled at a 9:51 pace. Since it's now Thursday, I don't even remember how that run went. Hmm...let's consult my Runners World log for some clues, shall we? Oh hey! Turns out I was too big of a wussy to run outside and went to the gym. I imagine all 5 miles were REALLY BORING as they tend to be when running indoors. Oh ya, that knee pain that was bothering me on Sunday? It was back the last 1/2 mile of the run. Uff, it was not fun. I also learned I have somewhat of a gym stalker this past weekend, so just being at the gym in general was not so super fun.

I did 5 miles in 48:19 for a pace of 9:40. One fun thing to pass the time at the gym is to stage endurance races against all the other treadmillers. I'll have you know that I was supreme-o victorious on Monday. I lasted longer than all of them. Jeri: 1, Other Treadmillers: 0.

When I got home, I decided to buff up my arms since I have to show them off in my strapless bridesmaid dress this weekend. I did an intense upper body yoga series **and totally rocked crow pose longer than I ever have before, YES!!**. Followed by 2 sets of 20 push ups. I'm swull, I'll post pics of my guns after this weekend.

Tuesday I was already over my training schedule, and already all about rearranging it. Man, I'm a loser. I think I may have been getting a bit of a cold or something because I zonked out at 9pm and slept until 7:30am. Take that germs.

Last night I decided that I would brave the elements and test out some layering options for an easy 5 miler. Since I was a bit chilled on my long run on Sunday, I tried to find another layer for the legs. I found a pair of leggings (you know, those leggings that were v. popular to wear under skirts?) that I bought a couple of years ago. Btw, Jeri a couple years ago, was about 20 lbs heavier than current Jeri. Haha, oh my goodness FAIL. Obviously they're not meant to be run in, so I'm an idiot straight up, but I had to pull them up every quarter of a mile. Finally I just pulled them up to my boobs and they seemed to stay for a while. To be honest though, when they first started shifting downward, I couldn't tell which layer (running undies, leggings, running pants) was falling down and totally thought my booty was hanging out for all to see. Phew, glad that wasn't the case.

Other than that, the run wasn't horrible, but the elements were. It was freezing cold and pouring rain. The first mile was straight into the wind, and I almost turned around and went home, but after I rounded the corner it wasn't nearly as bad, so I kept going. Glad the weather kept most folks home and off the trails, because I'm sure I was a sight to see with yanking up what looked like my falling bloomers, probably, along the run. :)

I did 5 miles in 47:38 for a pace of 9:32.

I would like to note that my shoes are STILL SOAKED from this G.D. run. Grr.

This morning I had an easy 5 miles to do. Somehow I was sooo slow moving that I only had time to do 4 and still get ready for work. Oh well, I've probably reached my limit for consecutive 5 mile easy runs for my life. :) Silly me prepared for the biting cold/rain/snow of the last few runs and managed to overdress. We're talking sweaty city. I don't get it, it was only 41 yet I'm sweating bullets? I'm guessing the no wind must've made all the difference compared to the 10 and 17 mph from previous. It was bad though, I actually had to take off my gloves and carry them for the last half of the run because my hands were soooo warm. I actually busted out my real running tights, and think they'll be a great addition to my winter running collection.

Speaking of, I need some SERIOUS advice on cold weather must haves. I started looking at Nike.com today and the nice warm jackets that have wind proof material (obviously a must) are $90-250!!!! I haven't even started looking at pants. :( I'm hoping to buy one nice jacket, and one nice pair of pants, for hopefully under $200. Then just rotate the under layers through. All suggestions are welcome. What can you NOT LIVE WITHOUT? Midwesterners, I'm looking to you here..... You bitches that are still complaining about 90 degree tropical weather, need not comment. :p

To finish, I'll leave you with a super sweet convo that I had with my running co-worker the other day. The funny thing is, I joked about adding it to my blog (he knows I have a running blog) and then quickly jotted down the convo so I wouldn't forget it, because I really WAS going to add it. then the next day he asked to see if the convo had made the cut or not. Ha.

Jeri: Toooooooooooooom! Come in here a sec! (Our offices are next door so we frequently just talk through the wall to each other.)

Tom:  What?

Jeri:  I WANT TO START LOOKING AT MARATHON TRAINING PROGRAMS!!  

Tom:  Uh, ya, because you have to start training in like 4 months?

Jeri:  Try threeeeeeee.  PLUS, it's the next race I start training for.  Meaning it's on DECK.  A MARATHON.  Which means I have to figure out what program I'm going to do NEXT.

Tom:  Ya right, you'll do at least 10 races between now and the marathon.

Jeri:  Nuh uh.

Tom:  [mocking me]  OOOHH, Tom!  I can take 2 weeks of from marathon training to run a 5k right?!?  I just don't want to lose my speeeeeeeed.  I can just swap out a tempo run for a race right?!?!?!  It's only $20, it'll be fine, right?!?!?!?!

Jeri:  Ok, that sounds about right.  But I'm still looking for a training program.

Clearly we've been working together way too much.  Or I've just been talking about running way too much at work.  Hehe, sorry co-workers.  :)

In other sad news, I think I broke my camera.  It won't take any pictures saying the memory card is full, except that there's no pics on the memory card.  Last time I uploaded pics I accidentally deleted them from my computer instead of deleting them from my camera, so I think it doesn't recognize they're gone.  Any ideas?

I'm sorry, did I lose fall somewhere????

After blogging about my sweet gift from Lacey on Friday, I came home from work to find this:  A dozen WHOOPIE PIES!!!!  Look at them in all there delicious glory.  :)  There are banana, peanut butter, red velvet, maple pie, pumpkin, and oatmeal.  Luckily they are able to be frozen for a year before going bad, otherwise I would be one gorda chica asap.  I looked at the calorie content on them, as I tend to do (although, calories don't ever make me NOT EAT something I want to eat, I like to be conscience of the serving size, etc.)  OMG, these puppies have almost 400 calories per serving.  And guess what?  Each pie has 2 servings.  AHHHHH!!!  If I was anywhere close to Miss Lacey's speed, I would start to think that she's sabotaging my running, but since her marathon pace is my 5k pace, I don't think that's the case.  :)  Thanks for the goodies Lacey.  I will enjoy every delicious calorie-dense bite.  

Look how beautiful this one is.  Mmmmmm.  I threw all of them in my freezer except for the oatmeal one.  I had a good chunk of it for dessert tonight.  Oooooh nom nom nom.  

Saturday morning I woke up to snow on the ground 2-3 inches to be exactly inexact.  I double checked the hourly forecast to see if there was any change for the 2pm race I was supposed to participate in.  There was a change, but not for the better.  The new wind chill was 22 (I only look at the wind chill in the winter, as I think that's a better indicator of the intense cold) with 17 mph winds.  :(  Sniffle.  I was actually really bummed to not be racing, and contemplated at the last minute just doing it.  Then I weighed the possibility of getting injured while trying to push in the cold when my body isn't used to running hard in the cold, so I again decided to opt out.

Instead I headed to the gym for an easy run.  I had planned on doing 2-4 easy miles depending on how long I'd be able to handle the stupid whirring machine known as the treadmill.  I flipped through a magazine while running and listened to a new awesome playlist thanks to some suggestions by Chic Runner and the run completely flew by.  The first time I looked down at my distance I was already at 2 miles and decided just to keep going to 4.  I did 4 miles in 39:07 for a pace of 9:47.

Saturday night I headed out for a night on the town with some pals.  I honestly haven't gone out in town for almost a month.  Uff.  One of the waitresses came by and randomly put a shark hat on my head.  Here's Barry modeling the hat.  Barry is marrying my old roomie Mel this weekend.  Oh man, it'll be a ridiculous weekend folks.

He should probably be a model.  Once the bar closed, we decided to head back to Bryce's (pictured on the left) house to play some Rock Band.  Oh man, and rock we did.  I'm kind of in love with the game (yes I know I'm look 2 years behind, whatever, I've been a faithful Guitar Hero fan).

Sunday I had a long run to take care of.  I was shooting for somewhere between 8-10 miles.  I had told myself that I would start running NO LATER than 5:30pm to ensure that I would be home before 7pm aka dark.  You know when your parents would give you the curfew of "be home before the street lights turn on"?  I was abiding by that.  Except that I didn't.  I walked out of the apartment at 5:50pm and it was SNOWING.  Like ginormo, romantic, magical, give me your hand and let's fall in love snowflakes (my favorite, in case you couldn't tell!).  Turns out big thick wet snowflakes are not the most fun to run in, GO FIGURE!

It was about 30 degrees with 10 mph winds and I swear to God the snow was blowing into my face the entire 9 miles.  Blech.  The first half of the run was pretty swell and I was posting negative splits.  After the halfway point my legs started to feel like lead.  I had decided to fore go wearing running tights under my pants, and definitely regretted that decision the last 4.5 miles.  Then because my stride was so short and choppy, I started to have pains in my knees.  It was probably the worst long run I've ever done.  And of course, the last 2 miles were done in the dark, dark, along the river where it would be super easy to dispose of my body post murder/mutilation.  HAPPY THOUGHTS!  The highlight was seeing a a figure ahead on the trail that appeared to be skipping along the trail.  As the figure got closer, I could tell that they were indeed skipping, and then they stopped and just started walking.  When I got up to them, I realized it was a grown man skipping along the trail.  Hah.  Guess he really loved the snow.  :)

I did 9 miles in 1:25:19 for a pace of 9:29.

1. 9:45 
2. 9:29 
3. 9:25 
4. 9:24 
5. 9:26 
6. 9:35 
7. 9:30 
8. 9:29 
9. 9:12

For the last few miles, I noticed that I was collecting a small snow drift on my chest and hoodie pocket.  I really wanted to document it when I got home, but the picture doesn't really show it off very well.  Oh well, this is how fab I look after a snowy/cold/windy 9 miler.  (Yes, I like green.  Not pictured, a green t-shirt under my hoodie, and green sports bra.  Ha.)

After the run I was staaaarving and wanted to make some 'za.  One of the meals I really enjoyed pre-pescetarianism was taco pizza.  Tonight I wanted to attempt a meatless version.  I basically just used the exact same ingredients minus the taco meat.  Yummyness.  I used a premade pizza crust with refried beans, some crushed up tortilla chips, colby jack cheese, red peppers, tomatoes, and avocados.  On the other side I used marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes, red peppers, mushrooms, and avocados.  SOOOO FREAKIN' GOOD!!!

Brick Workout (Ish) + You've got MAIL!

I had been looking forward to the weather on Wednesday all week. Sunny, warm, a reprieve from the horrendous cold rain. Could it be? My first nice weather day to take out Polly?!?!?! But first, my run. Work before play, ya know? I had to do an easy 4 miles. Since I was planning on taking the bike trail for my bike ride, I decided to do a hilly route for my run. Easy run....hilly run...same difference I suppose. :)

My Garmin started beeping at me at 1.39 that it was LOW BATTERY, all doom and gloom like. Oh garmin, get over yourself. I kept looking down at it, almost as a challenge to see how long it would last before giving up. Up hills, down hills, through hills, wait...what?? That puppy stayed strong through the whole run. Ok, well it did have one minor mishap where it tried to tell me I ran a mile in 4:30, but that sounds pretty legit, right? Luckily it was only the final mile that was messed up, and I know my ending point, so I was actually able to figure out my splits. Good to know that the low battery will go for at least an additional 2.61 miles. Heck ya.

I did 4 miles in 37:37 for a pace of 9:25.

1. 9:31

2. 9:39

3. 9:26

4. 8:59

Next up, the inaugural ride on Miss Polly. If you missed her big unveiling, here she is again.

Swoon. I checked weatherbug and determined that I had approximately 30 minutes to bike before sundown. Plugged in the Garmin for 5 while I found a sweatshirt to put on, switched it to cycling mode and I was off. To be honest, the first couple of blocks were a bit off. I haven't ridden a bike (other than a stationary) in probably 3 years. And since the handlebars aren't straight across I was kind of all over the place. :p After we got used to her, I was off.

Not kidding you, I was literally grinning from ear to ear the entire run. It was so much fun, and she's just so gorgeous. I did have some issues with the back pedaling brakes. I kept reaching for them on my handlebars and coming up with nothing. Hah. Also, there are a couple of hills that made for some trying times on a one speed, haha, but nothing too horrible.

I did 5.02 miles in 30:38 for a pace of 9.8 mph. HAHAHAH! Speed demon on the yellow beauty. I actually was biking VERY slowly especially around tight turns because I was super afraid that another biker would be flying through in the opposite direction and I'd crash, especially since I wasn't used to brakes, etc. Plus, I didn't by the bike for speed, merely fun. One of my good guy friends was making fun of my bike, and was shocked that I didn't get a "serious" bike since I'm such an athlete. I took that as quite the compliment, but know I'll only be biking for fun, and have no need for a spendy serious bike. :) I made it home just before the setting sun.

While wheeling my bike up to my apartment, I saw this growing out of the rocks by my sidewalk. A purple pansy. :)

These were my Grandma's favorite flowers, so whenever I see them I think of her. I took it as a sign that she was saying hello and that she also loved my sweet new ride. :) It is pretty random that it was growing wild, especially in some random rocks, and after 2 nights of frost.

Thursday night I got home from work and was BUMMED that I didn't have any mail. Doesn't it just make you feel unloved? Waah. But when I walked up to my apartment door, I saw this propped up against it.

First of all, I had to laugh because it was in an Asics running shoe box. I never buy boxes to wrap Xmas presents in, because I always have excess shoe boxes laying around. Haha. Too funny. I opened it to find this AWESOME collage made especially for ME. :) A while back I won a contest that Lacey put on through her blog Common Objects & Everyday Events. I was super excited because I never win anything, and I looooooove Lacey's blog. She's such an inspirational Faaaaaaaast runner, and always leaves such thoughtful and insightful comments on my blog. Have I mentioned how much I love the running blog community yet? ;)
Check out all this sweet loot!!! Definitely some really cool stuff in there I've never tried, a way cool magnet (which is already on my fridge for inspiration) and the DVD Running the Sahara, which I'm super excited to watch! Thanks for the giveaway Lacey. It was super fun, and I'm stoked I WON. :) P.S. I totally plan on cutting the sweet collage out of the box and displaying it with some medals/race bibs/etc. :D

Sadly, I've made the decision not to run the 5k I had planned on running tomorrow. :( I'm super bummed, but looking at the hourly forecast it's supposed to be a wind chill of 24 degrees, 17 mph winds, 20% chance of snow/freezing rain, and is supposed to snow tonight. I race for fun, and racing in that weather doesn't sound like too much fun. Which means I'll for sure be doing the 5k on the 24th, and hopefully the 10k on Halloween, because this girl wants to RACE (just not in the snow :p)!

Best of luck to all the bloggies who are racing this weekend. Kick some booty Mica, Morgan, Glenn, Jamie, XCountry2 & ChicRunner aka Danica, and all the others I've forgotten. I'll be patiently awaiting your results and race reports, since I'm a loser and axing my race. :p

Easy Freezy Four + Pescetarianism

Tuesday morning I finally did something I've been trying to do for WEEKS.  I got up before work to do yoga.  :)  I figured after the insane speed session that was Monday, my body could use some extra stretching.  Since I now have cable (3 cheers, hip hip hooray!), I had dvr'd a couple of yoga episodes off of FitTV.  I did one that used to be my favorite, but realized I didn't really enjoy it as much as the Chaz Michael's podcasts I had been doing when on my yoga kick in August/September.  I'm sure it's just because it has to fit on a certain time schedule to fit as a tv show, but it just felt rushed.  I felt like I wasn't really getting that good deep intense stretch that I was looking for.  

Tuesday after work I had an easy 4 miles to do.  It.  Was.  COLD!  Like 45 degrees with 17 mph winds, making the wind chill 37.  Um, what?  That's horrible.  I busted out my ninja shirt (Yes, my UA long sleeve will henceforth be referred to as ninja shirt, due to its likeness) (and yes, that means it was dirty and being worn twice in a 3 day span, whatever, that's how I roll) some old school running pants, a hoody, and these sweet new gloves.  :)  My college bestie, Megan, is going back to Cambodia to continue saving the world (that's what I tell everyone her job is when they ask what she's DOING on all her crazy adventures) so she gave me some of her old running stuff to utilize.  I'm kind of in love with the gloves.  They even have a sweet little pocket for your housekey, which is cleverly marked WITH A HOUSEKEY SYMBOL.  Preciousness I tell you.

The first two miles of the run were swell, and I was actually hot.  As soon as I turned around to make the trek home, I realized that those 17 mph winds were at my back the first half.  Oh lordy, I was one frozey girl by the time I got home.  I did 4 miles in 38:16 for a pace of 9:34.

1.  9:30

2.  9:33

3.  9:36

4.  9:36

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Food news

In other interesting/exciting news, I've decided to become a pescetarian.  Since I'm sure most of you, like me, are also obsessed with many food blogs along with the gazillions of running blogs that you daily read, you probably already know what that means.  But if you don't, that's cool too.  I don't think I had heard of it a year ago.  

pes·ce·tar·i·an \ˌpe-skə-ˈter-ē-ən\ Pescetarian, also called pesco-vegetarianism, is the practice of a diet that includes seafood and excludes mammals and birds. In addition to fish or shellfish, a pescetarian diet typically includes some or all of vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, beans, eggs, and dairy. The Merriam-Webster dictionary dates the origin of the term "pescetarian" to 1993 and defines it to mean: "one whose diet includes fish but no meat."^[1]

[taken from Wikipedia]

This isn't something that I've decided to do over night, but since I haven't really talked about food much in this blog (except how much I like to eat it) it very well may seem that way.  Growing up I HATED meat.  I asked my parents time and time again if I could be a vegetarian.  We're talking early grade school days here.  My parents said that I could once I was done growing, and would have to continue to eat meat until then.  I was super involved in sports, and my dad was concerned that without meat I wouldn't get enough protein and would get sick/hurt/etc.  I remember hiding McDonald's burgers down the front seat pocket in the car because they would make me gag.  For years, I would take my meals up to my room to eat, and then feed the meat or whatever I didn't eat to the dog when my family wasn't paying attention.  I don't think this was disordered eating, I was just EXTREMELY picky, and could not handle eating something that didn't sound good.  For most of my at home meals, I would eat cereal, frozen pizza, and ice cream.  Hah, how I managed to be an athlete on that diet is beyond me.  Yikes!

My boyfriend in high school and most of college was a HUGE meat eater.  His mom would always have to make me a special meal whenever I ate over for dinner, which I felt was a huge inconvenience, but also super sweet of her.  When my ex made me a hamburger on the grill for the first time at the age of 20 I was IN LOVE.  It was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted.  So my sophomore year of college I went CRAZY with meat (and mostly the crappy stuff--fast food, college commons low grade meat [shudders]).  For some reason I felt like I was trying to make up for all the years without meat, especially with burgers.  Nom nom.

I continued to enjoy meat, but still eat less of it than the average person.  I'd say the years spent post college (almost 4 now, whoa!) I'd eat meat for maybe 3 meals a week, and that would primarily be grilled chicken and the occasional hamburger.  However, I would only eat the meat if it was prepared on the grill.  Otherwise it would taste disgusting.  Also, if someone other than Taylor made it for me, I probably wouldn't eat it.  He would be extra EXTRA careful to make sure that there wasn't a spot of pink on any of the meat he made for him.  Very sweet.

Last fall, I read Skinny Bitch and had my eyes opened about a lot of things, especially about the mistreatment of animals in slaughterhouses, etc., information about dairy consumption and why so many of us have issues digesting it (very interesting for those lactose intolerants!), and information about processed foods.  While I think the book is fairly extreme, it did have some valid and strong points.  After reading this book, I committed to trying to eat a cleaner diet.  I finally started paying attention to what was actually IN my food (looking for short ingredient lists), cooking my meals so I knew exactly what was going in them vs. going out to eat, and eating a lot more fresh fruits and vegetables.  

I also stopped eating the meat that I didn't like.  For a good 2 years, I would eat whatever Taylor's mom cooked for our Sunday dinners because I didn't want to offend her.  Finally, I just stopped and would eat more of the other components of the meal and skip the meat if it wasn't something I enjoyed, or if it wasn't charred enough for my liking.  :)

So for the last 9 months, I've been eating a lot healthier, and shockingly enough, have slimmed down considerably.  Granted the miles I put in each week definitely help, but after cutting out a lot of the CRAP (ie:  mostly processed stuff, fast food, crap) I've found that my body looks and feels better, and ultimately performs better at my sport of choice:  running.  

Which brings me back to the meat topic.  Up until recently, I have only been eating meat maybe 1-2 a week.  Mainly only grilled chicken that we would use in wraps or fajitas.  When Taylor and I broke up (um..ya, if you haven't figured that out yet, that happened.  sorry for the not-so-prompt revelation) I realized that I was only including meat in our meal plans because I knew he loved it.  Since I no longer had to prepare meals for him, I wouldn't have to include it anymore.  Also, since eating a much cleaner diet, my tastebuds seem to be much more keen, and 99% of the time when I would eat meat, I would distinctly taste blood, no matter how well done it was.  Talk about an appetite wrecker!

So about two weeks ago, I decided that I would give up meat at the end of September.  I would continue to eat fish, as I do not get the gross bloody taste when I eat fish, and I actually ENJOY eating it.  But still eat it as frequently as I had been eating meat in the past 1-2 per week.  On September 30th, I brought the last food item I had with meat in it to work for lunch--chicken noodle soup.  I refuse to throw out good food, so I was determined to eat what little I had before "the day."  I took one bite of the chicken, and was so grossed out by the taste that I ended up picking out and throwing away the rest of the chicken bits.  For dinner, I racked my brain to think of the ONE restaurant meal that I would truly miss, so I could have it one last time before October 1st.  You know what?  There wasn't one meal I could think of.  I guess that kind of validated my decision huh?

Kind of interesting, after the fact, I learned that October 1st is actually National Vegetarian Day.  Granted, I'm not a complete veg-head, but it does seem a bit clique now to have used that date.  ;)  HA!  Last night was the first grocery shopping trip I've done since I "went off the meat" (I really like to think of as many random ways to refer to this as, hope you're all cool with that!) and found that there wasn't anything I was bummed about not getting.  Ok, one small exception.  Every once in a while Taylor and I would splurge and get a Digiorno pepperoni pizza, and they're probably my favorite pizza ever.  So I was bummed for about 2 1/2 seconds, until I realized I could get cheese pizza and pile it up with a ton of veggies and have it be a thousand times tastier.  

Ok, hope you stuck with me through all of that.  If not, that's cool too, as I know this isn't a food blog, and I've never claimed to be a healthy eater or anything like that.  Feel free to share your thoughts/suggestions/etc. as I embark on this new journey.  :)

In other news, I'm an idiot....

Yet another rainy day prompted me to hit the gym again. Seriously this is getting old. But as I've stated before, I actually enjoy doing speedwork on a treadmill, so I did a swaparoo with the schedule to allow just that. On the agenda: 5 miles. 1 mile warm up, 4x800 m. @ 3:43 pace, w/400 m. jogs, & 1 mile cool down.

Totally forgot how packed the gym is right after work. Blech. I did my warm up mile, stretched the quads and calves, set the speed at 9.6 and was off. HOLY CRAP. I did this same work out 2 weeks ago only with 3 instead of 4 800's and felt fine, hence the addition of another 800. But I was s-t-r-u-g-g-l-i-n-g. After I hit .5, I hit the lap button on my garmin to record my split and slowed down to a walk to catch my breath. I couldn't believe that this was so much harder than 2 weeks ago! While walking I scrolled through my history and time to see what my split was: 3:16. A pace of 6:30. WHAT?!?!? And then it hit me, somewhere during my poor mental math skills, when doubling 3:43 I came up with 6:26, and that's what I set the treadmill at. TURNS OUT...3:43 x 2 = 7:26. Heheh, whoops! No wonder it felt so tough. :p

I was relieved (to say the least) that me dying was not from being out of shape/slowing down, and even MORE relieved that I didn't have to do 3 more of those puppies, because I was ready to walk out of the gym after one. Uff. The last 3 felt like a breeze in comparison. It definitely gave me a lot of confidence going in to my 5k for this Saturday.

I did 5 miles in 46:23 for a pace of 9:17. (This included .05 walking after each interval and .2 jogging).
Warm up Mile: 9:52
Interval 1: 3:15 (6:30 pace)
Recovery 1: 3:06
Interval 2: 3:38 (7:16 pace)
Recovery 2: 3:06
Interval 3: 3:34 (7:08 pace)
Recovery 3: 3:03
Interval 4: 3:44 (7:28 pace)
Recovery 4: 3:18
Cool down Mile: 9:47

**Disclosure: I was totally "that girl" during the final 1.25 recovery/cool down. I flipped through the People I had been previously using to cover up the treadmil screen. It helped pass the time sooooo much, and I found the updo I want to wear for my old roomies wedding next weekend. SCORE. But ya, I looked like a douche probably. :) **
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October RACES

So speaking of my 5k this weekend, I'm trying to sort through my races for the rest of the month. Obviously, the weather is changing here in the Midwest, and before too long races will be out of the question. Heck we might've already reached that point, who knows. I'm doing a 5k this Saturday to try to break my current PR and go under 24 minutes. There's another 5k on the 24th of this month that I was contemplating doing and actually racing, just because I figure it'll be my last shot at a 5k for 2009. And then there's a 10k on Halloween that I'm also interested in doing. I've never done a 10k before, so auto-PR. I'd try to race it, but more just to do a 10k then to get a killer time. Also, let's be honest, I remember wearing snow suits under my Halloween costumes as a kid, so there is a good possibility I could be running 6.2 in the snow. :p

Since that's 3 races in 4 weeks time, I realize that could be a bit much, but I was thinking I could substitute the races for the speedwork I currently have on the schedule for those weeks (I'm starting Dallas White Rock half marathon training next Monday. WHOO!) Any thoughts? Suggestions? Interest in dressing up as a banana and entering the Halloween race with me? Seriously...I've always wanted to race in a banana costume. I might try to snag one on clearance post-Halloween this year to have as a standby for the future.

Go to Amanda's blog at RunToFinish for her sweet Moeben giveaway!

A Ninja Recovery Run

It's cold here.  Sunday when I was getting ready for my recovery run, I realized I needed to bundle up.  Since the long sleeves I had wore for the long run the day before were still wet (eew.) I had to find something else to wear.  Look what I found!  An under armour long sleeve that I nabbed at TJ Maxx for $16 (back when it was still 95 degrees here).  Score.  I put on my black capri tights and was throwing my hair up in a pony when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.  Whoa!  Where'd the ninja come from?!?!  Of course, that prompted me to take some ninja-inspired photos.  I'm such a loser.  :)  Thank God I had pink shoes on to counteract the ninja-ness.  

Disclaimer:  After I realized how ridiculous I looked, I threw on an old school (we're talking summer before senior year of high school 2001) tye dyed green shirt over the top.  Fashion crisis averted!

Disclaimer #2:  I'm really not this skinny.  It is definitely the all black that everyone claims is so "slimming."  Because, eew, I look groooooss.

Ok, seriously, the face in picture #2 is amazing.  :)  Anyway, the run.  I did 3 easy miles in brrrr cold weather.  I did the 3 miles in 27:57 for a pace of 9:19.

1. 9:29 
2. 9:21 
3. 9:05

Alright, I'm going to go fight some bad guys, or whatever it is that ninjas do.

Number of snot rockets blown > Number of miles ran

I'd been looking forward to Friday lunch time since it was suggested on Monday that we should do some sushi. I used to eat sushi probably 3-4 times a month, but have cracked down a bit on my finances, and realized I hadn't gone in about 6 weeks. GAH!!! 10 times out of 10 I get the same meal because I am just head over heels in love with it. They have a crazy lunch time special where you can pick two choices out of about 20 options, and it comes with a salad, miso soup (not pictured because it was already in my belly), for $8.95. Awesomeness. :) I got the sushi which comes with shrimp, tuna, and salmon along with a spicy tuna handroll and sashimi which consists of salmon, tuna, and yellowtail (I think).

I also always get a shrimp tempura roll because they are my single favorite thing in the history of the world (overstatement? not at all). Yes this is a poop ton of food, but it lasts me for at least 2, if not sometimes 3, meals.
Since my pal and I are regulars (her waaaaaay more so than I) she always gets free fruit. Of course we had to play with it after consumption. Orange goggles? Why not?

Friday was a rest day. I had planned on doing yoga and sit ups/push ups, but did neither. Way to be lazy Jeri. :)


Saturday I had a 10 mile long run to do. I woke up very late, but realized I could totally do that since it was COLD out and would actually be beneficial to run at noonish since that's the warmest part of the day. I checked the weather and it was 43-46 degrees with 10 mph winds. What? I don't even know what to wear in that temp. I had to go back into my running log to see what the temps were for my 5ks from last spring to have a point of comparison. I ended up wearing capri running tights and a lightweight long sleeved top. I probably could've had another layer on top, but I survived.


Since I got up so late, I also didn't have much time to fuel. I had a mondo slice of zucchini bread and was on my way. No wait. Let's wait TEN minutes for the Garmin to find it's satellite. I mean, seriously....

Let me say, I LOVE running on crunchy leaves. There is nothing better than running in the fall. :) I will say that I was quite hungry, and was actually looking forward to taking my GU at 3.5 miles for some sustenance. Huge eating fail, I know. The run was pretty steady and easy going, nothing too exciting to report. Although I did see a HUGE, giant-proportioned man walking a miniature teacup tiny dog. It was pretty comical to see. Also, the right headphone for my iPod wouldn't work, so I'm probably slightly deaf in my left because of it.

The only real thing to note about the run was the mishap at the water fountain at mile 8. I bent down to take a swig, and pressed on the spout button, and felt like I was punched in the eye/nose! Something must've malfunctioned with the water pressure because I was seeing stars and had water gushing out of my nose (after it had already gushed UP it). It was so incredibly painful. After I was able to see again, I looked around, literally expecting someone with a video camera recording the prank. I was still thirsty, so with arm completely extended, I gave it a test, worked like a charm. I kept it running, and used the other hand to shield my eyes in case it should happen again. Stupid water. It was around this time that I started feeling a bit nauseous, but I'll chalk it up to not eating enough, and having only GUs in my belly.

I did 10 miles in 1:33:00, and 14 snot rockets in the same amount of time. Apparently cold weather makes for some snivellies, which propel quite awesomely, minus the dangling participle they leave behind. Nom nom. Here are my mostly negative splits.

1. 9:34
2. 9:27
3. 9:30
4. 9:26
5. 9:24
6. 9:18
7. 9:11
8. 9:21
9. 9:03
10. 8:42

After the run I barely had time to stretch, and NO TIME for an ice bath as I had to head to my grandpa's 80th birthday celebration, where my mom was putting on a murder mystery. Needless to say, when I ate dinner 5 hours later, I was in HEAVEN. No more slacking on long run fuelage, lesson learned.