I went over 900 miles for 2009.

Friday.  Was.  Awesome.  I think all Fridays should be half days with the afternoon spent at the theater watching a highly anticipated movie.  :)  Really makes for a great day.  I loved the movie (as was to be expected, because I really enjoyed the books), and turns out I'm Team Jacob.  Who knew?  I feel wrong for saying this because, he's only 17, but my GOD that boy is Hottie McHotHot.  Easily the sexiest Taylor I know.  Ow ow!  Haha.  Ok, I'm done being a hormonal teen now, as I am no longer a hormonal teen, and that's just not as cool as a 25 year old lady.

I was sitting by my manager during the movie, and during the previews, she was concerned, "I feel like I'm going to have a huge outburst when the movie starts going!"  To which I replied, "Guaranteed my outburst comes with Jacob's first shirtless scene!"  Well wouldn't you know, that came true.  Hah.

Ok, focus Jeri.  This is a running blog.  :)  So the other part about Friday being so great, is that I got done with the movie at about 4:30pm and it was time to go run....while the sun was still out!  It was awesome.  I had an easy 5 miles on the scheduled, but since I was a bit lazy on Thursday, I did 6 miles instead.  I mapped out a route near my old apartment and set off in a light jacket and capris.  EXPOSED FLESH!  Hurrah.  I had to run quite a ways to the west to get to my old stomping grounds, so I was literally running off into the sunset.  The sun was HUGE and gorgeous, so you gotta love that, right?

I don't know what my deal was, but even on the crazy hills for the first 2 and last 2 miles, my legs were just flying.  If I had to guess, I would say I was running 9:30-9:45 pace.  Boy was I wrong.

I did my 6 miles in 55:05 for a pace of 9:11.

1. 9:12
2. 9:16
3. 9:16
4. 9:17
5. 9:16
6. 8:46 

Uh ya...that last mile?  WTF?  I was hoping that the speedier than intended hilly/easy run wouldn't spell disaster for my 12 mile long run on Saturday.

I was the biggest loser ever Friday night, and passed out on my couch at 8pm....then quickly moved to my bed for a glorious 12 hours of slumber.  Apparently my body forgot how tired it got from running.  Also, it's probably making up for almost 2 weeks of no sleep.  Damn you insomnia!!

Ahem.  I woke up at 7:15am on Saturday morning (and yes, that was after making myself go back to sleep).  I was actually wide awake at 5am!  I had planned on taking advantage of the mid-50 temps around noon to do my long run, but then there was some schedule rearranging where I thought I was going to have to leave town around lunch, so why not start the run at 8:30am?  Suuuuuure why not?  Wind chill of 27?  No prob.

I actually ate before this long run (+2 points for me!) and got bundled up for my run.  I also had to figure out how to rig up my normal iPod as my shuffle is dead and doesn't have a charger since I stepped on, and broke the one for it.  (-2 points for me).  I know you're not supposed to run with those since they have movable hard drives, but I couldn't imagine going 12 miles without tunes.

I started off the run, and the miles were flying by with no effort from me.  And I started to get freaked.  These are the paces I usually rock the last part of my long runs.
1. 9:01
2. 9:01
3. 9:11
4. 9:04 

What are the odds that I'll be able to maintain this pace for 12 miles?  The answer to this:  not likely.  Extra credit answer:  You will probably die a slow and painful death via long run.
5. 9:11
6. 9:13
7. 9:08
8. 9:19 


I was just not into this run mentally.  The biggest thing I've noticed from my time off for my injury is that I'm not in tune to my pace anymore.  I used to be able to run within about 5-10 seconds of a pace without fail, and now my pacing is all over the pace.  I'm not too concerned, because I know that will come back, but I didn't realize how great it was to have that ability until it was gone.

The last part of the run was truly brutal.  It seemed like every mile just kept getting slower and brutally more painful.
9. 9:18
10: 9:29
11. 9:18
12. 8:55

I finished the 12 miles in 1:50:13 for a pace of 9:12.  Not a bad pace at all, don't get me wrong, because this was easily the worst long run I've had for as long as I can remember.  I just never felt "into it" like I usually am, I never reached the zone, and I just hurt for 90% of it.

When I got home, I checked the temp/weather/etc. and saw that the wind gusts were 25+ mph, so that was definitely some of the crap factor for the run, but I saw something else interesting.  When I got home, the winds were out of the SSW, but when I started the run, they were out of the SSE.  Well when I run, I run first to the east for 6 miles, than back home to the west for 6 miles.  I literally ran almost the entire 12 miles against the wind.  NO WONDER IT WAS SO BRUTAL.  Eff.

Oh well, I survived and lived to tell about it.  When I got home I filled up the bath, and had the most amazing ice bath ever.  It felt sooooooooooo good.  My legs are still really tight and sore today, so I can't imagine how bad they would've been without.  The other thing that sucks, is that my digestive system was just tore up big time during the run, immediately after the run, and for most of Saturday day and night.  I'm sure it was just that I haven't done a long run for 3 weeks, and my body was pissssssed at me, but wow, that's never a good feeling.

The one gleaming highlight of my poopy long run, was that I went over 900 miles for the year during the middle of it.  I totally forgot until I was about 5 miles in (I hit 900 at 4.4) so I did a little booty shake on the trail while running, because...well...why not?  :)

Can't focus on life...too excited for New Moon.

Uff da.  That's all I have to say about my tempo run today.  I had 6 miles on the schedule with 4 of them at a tempo pace of 8:23.  I started off just dandy, but about a 1/4 of a mile into the first tempo mile I was huffing and puffing!  Ugh.  I compromised with myself, that I could cut the run to 5 miles instead of 6.  Then further compromised that I only had to do 2 miles at the tempo pace, but if I didn't hit the pace, I would have to do a 3rd (I'm a hard coach, what can I say?  :p).


It was soooooo nice running when the sun is up (gotta love my late Thursday work schedule!).  But unfortunately, I was WAY TOO overdressed for the run.  I'm used to running in 35* after dark and getting colder, not 38* with the sun up and getting warmer.  I was a sweaty mess.


I did 5 miles in 44:49 for a pace of 8:58.  I did miles 2 & 4 as my tempo miles.
1. 9:32
2. 8:27
3. 9:23
4. 8:09
5. 9:15



Um ya, mile #4?  No wonder I felt like I was going to die!  Luckily I know I still have my speed, and I'm just not as dialed in as to what that pace should "feel" like.  I think I expected to be much more out of shape speedwise, which is why I kept pushing the pace to that uncomfortable place.  It didn't help that my Garmin was showing my pace as 9-13:30.  Stupid overcast day.  :p


Ok, this is a pretty boring post, so my utmost apologies.  Oooh!  One thing I forgot to mention, after the WWR in August, I had thought I was going to lose a toe nail, because it had pretty much uprooted itself from the nail bed, but that sucker never turned black and never ditched out on me.  (Sidenote:  I've never actually gotten a black nail from running, just one from basketball, random.)  When I did my toes last night, I realized that I got a weird pink-colored nail instead of black from it.  You can tell it's dead, but it's definitely not black, and definitely a different color than the other nails.  Yay, I'm officially hardcore! :)

Now on to the important stuff:  New Moon.  Who's going to see it?!?!?  There's actually a bunch of gals in my office (my manager included!  hah!) who are taking a half day tomorrow to see the earliest matinee showing.  We are hoping that the annoying teenagers will be in school, so we can enjoy it in peace.  I'm soooooooo excited.  And also, a 14 year old girl, apparently.


I watched Twilight with a guy friend on Tuesday (yes, it took some convincing, but I'm quite the persuasive chica.... :p) and he had a thousand questions, as he had obviously not read the book.  


N:  Ok.......so all those people must be vampires, right?  Because they're sooooo pale??
J:  Yup.  But based on that logic, that would also make you a vampire....soooo......


Jeri:  1, Pale pale N:  0.  Hahah.
His new nickname is Pale face.  Poor guy.  Walked right into that one.  

Look Who's Off the Injured Reserved List

Oh man, I was an anxious beast on Monday.  I was so excited to get out and run, but I was also deathly nervous that the pain would be back.  Part of me wanted to run right away, and the other part wanted to wait til the end of the day, just to be safe.

When the clock struck 5pm, I pretty much sprinted out of the office.  I grabbed my running clothes, and proceeded to do the happy dance around my apartment as I was getting ready.  Dare I say, this small injury was what I needed to remind me how much I love to run?  ;)

I started off and was forced to run a fairly hilly route because it's so dark at 5 now.  Boo!  I concentrated on keeping good form and paying attention to any pain, should it crop up.  The first mile to mile and a half I was sucking wind pretty hard, but that was also the extremely hilly portion of the run.  After the first mile and a half, it just felt GOOD.  No aches, no pains, and what I felt was an easy pace was actually a bit faster than I had planned for.

Around mile 3 and a half I did start getting a bit tired, probably because I was HUNGRY.  At mile 4, I looked down at my watch to see what my split was and SPLAT!  Arms and legs flailing through the air, and Jeri biffs it.  Big time.  :p  Oh geez.  Finally have a healthy foot, and trying to wreck my wrists and knees.  Haha.  Nothing was harmed except for the hole in my new running pants.  Sigh.

I ended up doing 5 miles in 45:46 for a pace of 9:10.
1. 9:13 2. 9:17 3. 9:10 4. 9:06 5. 8:59

I just went through my training schedule for the next 3 weeks.  (My race is in 3 1/2 weeks, holy CRAP!)  I knocked the plan down from 5 days/week to 4, which knows my weekly mileage from 37-38-37 to 28-30-29.  For my long runs, I'll do 12-13-12, and I reduced one easy run/week by one mile to lower my weekly mileage.  I have no qualms about lowering any of the other easy runs by a mile if I need to.  However, I don't see my 8:22 pace that runnersworld.com predicted for me happening on race day; I will be happy with a pain free race.  Can't WAIT!

Tonight I am sooooooooo excited to sleep.  Running is my Ambien, so I've been a bit [read:  INSANELY] of an insomniac for the past couple of weeks.  I'm guessing my bed is going to be the greatest. thing. ever.

I'm a Biking MACHINE. Wait, isn't that actually a bike? Hmm..

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning, and my body was raring for a long run.  Sorry body, maybe next weekend!  I had planned on taking Polly out for a spin, but it was COLD and WINDY.  I'm a hard core runner, and that wouldn't stop running Jeri, but biking Jeri is a WUSS.  To the gym I went.

I set the bike for 60 minutes and an interval routine at a level of 9.  Oh my goodness, this kicked my butt!!  The two times I checked my HR, it was between 135-155.  This is the first bike workout that I felt was as tough as a run.  I happened to be biking next to a giant mirror, and glanced down at my legs while biking away and realized that my calves look SICK!  One benefit of being injured apparently, I'll take it.  :p  I biked 12.15 miles in the hour and could literally wring my shirt out when I was down.  Impressive fo sho.

Post workout, I met up with an old co-worker to do some shopping.  I've alluded to this briefly on my blog, but over the course of the last year I've lost probably 25-30 pounds.  I never thought I was heavy before, but was just bothered that my body no longer looked athletic, as it has always looked.  Well obviously after losing that much weight, my clothes don't really fit the greatest, but I haven't let myself get new clothes for some reason.  (????)  I finally thought about it and realized that I should just sell the clothes that I have that are too big and use my Xmas/Bday money to get some new threads.

Our shopping trip was primarily for browsing, but I did find some CUUUUUTE items I couldn't pass up.  :)  Since the only pair of jeans I own are also starting to be loose, I got a new pair of jeans.  Sidenote:  I may have tried on a legit pair of skinny jeans at Banana that didn't look horrible on me....that's straight up SHOCKING.  Haha.  No way I'd spend that much on jeans though.  :p

An adorable tank.

And a great cardigan.  I literally live in cardigans.  It's the librarian in me, I guess.  :)

I always got a pretty sweet comment about my new black running jacket.  I was giving my friend a fashion show with the new coat, after previously showing him the green coat and how cuuuuuute it was, and how bummed I was about sending it back because it wasn't worth the $90, to which he responded,
"Oh that coat looks way better on you than the green one did anyway."  Here, let me just set my ego in your lap and you can continue to stroke it for the evening....awesome.  :p  Hah.

I tried out the great new running jacket on my loooooong Sunday bike ride.  I waited for the temp to reach 30, because I'm a wuss, and set out.  I wanted to do 18 or 20 miles, which would be my longest bike ride by 6-8 miles.  I loaded up my sweet new road trip playlist and hooked my ear phones into the collar of my coat (instant speakers!).  It was a bit chilly out, but I warmed up pretty quickly.  I tried to keep my pace around 12 mph, which was fine for the first 8 miles, but after I reached my turn around spot, I could tell I was getting TIRED.  It's a bit taxing to take on some hills with a one speed beach cruiser.  :)

I did see some CRAZY things while I was biking.  First I saw a muskrat, I think.  It was BIG like a small raccoon but not marked like a raccoon.  Then I saw a ferret.  Or what looked like a ferret.  But I swear it jumped in the river after it saw me, and I'm fairly certain ferrets don't swim.  Although, I wouldn't be surprised if that river doesn't make super strains of animals.... eeew. Ever see that episode of the simpsons?

Also, I saw two gorgeous deer.  They leapt out in front of me on the trail.  Luckily they are much faster than me on my slow bike, and crossed right before I got to them, because I would've been too slow to stop.  EEK!

Because the bike trail ends about 8 miles away (which I wasn't aware of for some reason) I had to tack on another 2 miles towards the end of the run.  I had to bike through a whole gaggle of geese and they were hissing away at me.  Since I was on a bike, I didn't feel nearly as threatened as I do when running, and hissed back at them as I pedalled through.  Felt good.  Hah.

I ended up doing 18.07 miles in 1:35.  I swear my feet are still cold hours later.  :(

In other EXCITING NEWS.  I am planning on attempting my first run Monday!!!  Everyone please say multiple prayers that the foot is a-ok, because I'm ready to get back running.  I've already decided I would be cutting my running from 5 days a week to 4 for the duration of my training, and I'll have to do some long run adjustments as well.  I just want to run the race pain free and enjoy myself.  I don't think I'll be able to PR the race, but it'll be cool having my brother, sister in law, and nephew there cheering for me.  :)

Biking + Domino Table

This week I did some more biking.  Non-running makes me want to not blog on my running blog, so my apologies for my laziness.  After complaining to my co-worker about my boring bike workouts, he suggested I do some intense hill workouts.  I figured it was worth a shot.  Previously I had checked my heart rate while doing another bike session and it was hovering around 101.  Um, no, need to get that puppy up there!  The intense hill workout sure did it.  Wowsers.  I did 12.15 miles in one hour, and was covered in sweat.  That's more like it.  :)

Ok, so my last post may have conjured some questions among my readers.
John asked:  So, is there a date in the works with triathlon/college guy?! Your fans want to know!  :) 


Sorry guys.  There is no date in the works for me and the tri guy.  He's a super cute guy, and we had a thousand classes together in college (we had the same major), but I just don't think we have that spark that's necessary.  Plus I'm fairly certain the love of his life is his training.  ;)  Which there's nothing wrong with, but can you imagine trying to find time for each other if we were both in training?  Ay!  Plus, I won't compete with a bike for attention.  :p


Also, Slomohusky left me the best comment I've ever gotten, so I wanted to share it with you, because I think it's SO TRUE:   When you find that human version of the Asics Nimbus all will be right and very happy.


Who knows...maybe there is a boy out there who's interested in chasing down running Jerbear....we'll just have to wait and see..... :)


Outside of running, I really like to create things, sometimes that's baking or cooking, which I've shared with you on my lil ol' blog, but other times it's weird-o arts and crafts stuff.  I was looking at an arts and crafts book and found a table covered in dominoes.  My living room is black, white. and yellow so I thought it would go perfectly.  I already had a cheap-o fake wood looking end table, so I figured it was a go.  After searching high and low for dominoes (apparently they only sell colored ones at the store these days, go figure) my Grandma and Madre came through for me.  


This table was literally a 4-5 day project (strung out over 3 weeks or so, because I was so darn annoyed with it).  I had to paint it.

And then I had to put the dominoes down.  Since I would get them in bunches from my fam, I would work on it as I received them.  

After attempt #1 of covering the table, I realized that some of the dominoes were slightly different colors and different sizes=fail.



Attempt #2 I tried to get all geometric on the table.  Thinking I could outsmart the dominoes that way.  It started out as a great idea.

But that quickly became a fail as well.  For some reason I can't find the picture, but it ended up with random open spaces which I didn't like.

So I tried again.  Attempt #3.  Again thinking with a pattern mindset.

So far so good.  Solution to different colored dominoes:  striped pattern.

Trying to not get my hopes up at this point, as it usually takes you to the very end to realize that you've messed up BIG TIME.

YAY!  I still need to cut some dominoes in half to fill in the outside layer, but I LOVE the way it turned out.  Totally fits my somewhat funky/cool style and was el cheapo to do.  Just call me the edgy Martha Stewart.  :)

MMMM Cookies + More Biking

Oh running I miss you so.  Guess what I've been up to...not running.  And apparently not running=biking.  Sunday I set out to do a long bike ride with Miss Polly.  Unfortunately I was a little lazy to get out of the gate, and didn't end up leaving my place until an hour before the sunset.  Ok then...60 minute bike ride will do.  I managed to see a rooster (male pheasant) and a big ol' buck while riding my bike around, which is funny because a bunch of my friends were pheasant hunting this weekend, and another has been sitting in a tree stand for the last 2 months trying to get a stupid deer.  I mentioned on facebook that I should've been a hunter, but that a gun would NOT go with my bike.  Something about my bike makes me think she's a non-meat eater/bambi killer as well.  ;)  I ended up doing 11 miles in a little under 60 minutes.  Clearly I'm about breaking land speed records.  Look out.

Another interesting thing of note on Sunday, I went to the bookstore to enjoy a latte and read some magazines/look for books.  I've always had a fantasy about meeting a guy at a bookstore as we're grabbing for the same book on the shelf.  Yes, I'm a romantic nerd, whatever.  Well, it happened.  Kind of.  In the magazine section, I was loading up with running magazines, when someone grabs a Runners World over my shoulder.  I turn to see my triathlon friend!  Whom I actually was interested in for a while in college, coincidentally.  Hah.  Of course we spent the next hour talking about our races/training/etc.  He's doing his first full in January and is trying to BQ.  Crazy kid.  And then he's doing his first full Ironman this spring.  Again, he's a nut job.  But it was nice to catch up with the guy.  I only occasionally see him flying by on the bike trail, and I miss our gazillion of hours together trying to survive our insanely hard sociology courses in college (just kidding, I don't miss that part AT. ALL.)

Monday I got back on track with my early morning yoga and did a yoga routine that focused on the thighs and booty.  Uff, whatever is jacked up in my left cheek is still hurtin'.  Yeouch.  I did another 60 minutes on the stationary bike of some random hill workout for 11 miles.  Also, when did a bunch of hotties join my gym?  Seriously it was like boy central in there.  Maybe they were all there all along and I was just blinded by love, but it sure is a lot easier to get through a boring hour long bike ride with some eye candy.  After my ogle fest (jk) I came home and created some shrimp enchiladas that were so. damn. good.  And while they were baking, I rocked out a nice ab workout.  2 points for yoga + abs.  Whoo.  Go injury dedication.  :)

A couple of weeks ago I got the baking bug.  I looooove to bake.  More importantly I looooove to eat baked goods.  I found a recipe for Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies at For Love of Cooking and knew I had to have them.  Seriously check out her site for the recipe and to die for pics.  Mine really don't do the cookies justice, but here they are regardless.

One stick of butter + a bunch of other delciousness?  Yes please.

+ 1/3 bag of Oreos...again...yes please.

.....Then have your blog eat the picture of the delicious cookie dough balls all laid out uncooked before they go in the oven.......(jk pic recovered, phew!)

Then straight up deliciousness.  Say it with me now, yes please.  :)

Biking is Boring + New Running Clothes

Since no one reads my blog to see how my "stationary biking" is coming, I'll make sure to keep that portion of the post short winded.  :)  So far on my NO RUNNING plan, I've done 45 minutes of hills for 9.5 miles on Thursday, and 60 minutes of hills for 12.35 miles on Friday.  Both times were pretty boring.  I am making some headway in the stacks of fitness magazines I haven't had time to read. Partial success!

Ok on to the fun stuff.  :)  I received my new running gear that I ordered from Nike. WHOO! Unfortunately, most items didn't end up as I had expected. The jacket feels like a thick wind breaker. And while it looks super cute on, I can't justify $90 on a jacket that I don't think is going to keep me warm or protected this winter. I'm going to send it back and get the Target jacket that was 1/2 the price, and much much warmer. Also, the hat is crazy crazy thin. Now I understand you don't want something super heavy causing you to sweat and be even more cold, but this hat is a bit of a joke. Le sigh.

On a positive note, I'm in l-o-v-e with the pants. They are awesome. I've already wore them twice. First on my long run with tights underneath, I was actually hot towards the end in the 25-35 degree temps, and again on Monday night by themselves in a low 40s temp. They are awesome. Super comfy. And actually flattering (because you know that's part of requirements for running gear!).

Update on the sweet Target jacket.  I bought it last week for the cheap-o price of $35.  Well when I finally tried it on I realized that a small wasn't exactly very small.  So I took it back to see if they had a itty bitty size.  Wahoo, they did.  AND it was on sale!  $29.99.  I wore it on a bike ride this weekend and was toasty.  I think I'm in luuuuuurve.

In other running consumer-whorism, I also bought some new running tights.  I already have a pair but they're a $15 walmart pair (from my EARLY high school track days), so I figured I could get a new pair especially since I was saving so much $$ on my returns.  I found these beauties at TJ Maxx marked down from $50 to $16.  Doesn't get much better than that, huh?

Also, because I'm still in love with them, please enjoy another shot of my shoesies.

Self Timer Photo Blooper Reel

(This is the point where I realize it's much easier to have a boyf to take pics of you in your new gear.  Jeri + self timer = total suckage)

no second timer instead of 10 second timer.  Jeri=fail.

This is what I look like while backing up to get in position for the photo.  ACTION SHOT.  Still....fail.