- I waved to a deer. It didn't wave back. Whenever an animal becomes aware of me, I always feel the need to wave to say hi. The beauty of running when everyone else is still in bed, is that I get to wave to the animals without looking like a looney tune.
- I heard an obnoxious cyclist yell, "left, left, left, left..." Since I was as far over on the trail as I could go without running in the ditch, I looked over my shoulder to see a goose honking instead of a cyclist yelling. I'm beginning to think I'm not completely "awake" on my morning runs.
- I almost stepped on a toad. Kudos to nature for making that puppy camouflaged to the fullest. In this instance, it was almost NOT in the toad's best interest to be camoed.
- I think I may have been incorrect in my previous ostrich siting. On closer review, I think it might be an emu. Boring.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
On Today's Installment of Running with the Wilderness...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Race Report: Salute the Troops 5k
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Foto Friday
Seriously...how cute is the bowtie? :) Have a good weekend and good luck to all the racers out there!!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
5k Taper Time
Yesterday I had my last training run on the schedule before the 5k I plan to dominate on Saturday. Hopefully that run is not an indicator of how Saturday will be, because it was less than domination.
I had a 30 min. tempo run to do. When I left the apartment at 5:25am, the clouds were dark, purple and not very happy looking. After running for about 30 seconds, I saw lightning and immediately turned around with thoughts of going back to bed dancing in my head. I stopped to try to assess the weather, is it coming, is it going? How close is it? Am I faster than it? I determined that the storm was still a long ways off, and did not appear to be moving, so I again set out for it. Let me tell you: stormy weather + river = nasty nasty dead fish smell. Almost knocked my socks off, yuck.
I had a one mile warm-up that I completed in 9:48, followed by 2 tempo miles. Tempo mile #1, 8:08. Whoo! Since I usually sucky mcsuck-suck on the first tempo mile of any training run, I really concentrated on long stride lengths. After this mile was the turn around point, and then came the wind, and the rain. Bleck. The wind was BRUTAL. After I got home, weatherbug confirmed the 22 mph wind gusts that I was trying to tempo through. Ever so slightly, my ab started to hurt also. Waaah. So I ran the second tempo mile faster than a moderate pace, but right under ab pain threshold 8:33. Still not too bad, but my range is supposed to be 8:10-8:20, I think. I finished with a cool down .5. Overall 3.5 miles in 31:01 for a pace of 8:52. Tempo pace of 8:20.
Since I didn't have to wake up to run this morning, and I didn't have to work til 11, I slept in until the glorious time of 10am. It was magical. Seriously, there were elves and fairies dancing around my bedroom when I finally tumbled out of bed. Hopefully my legs reward me with some super sweet speediness on Saturday. If anyone knows any great ab stretches, please send them my way, I'll be trying to do some SERIOUS stretching and happy-vibe therapy to that puppy in the next couple of days. :( And I'm definitely going to have to do some yoga, situps, and pushups tonight because I'm going a little stir crazy without doing ANYTHING active yet today (because apparently dreaming doesn't count!)
P.S. One of my favorite episodes of Saved by the Bell was on after my run. The one that they work at the summer resort, and dig for gold on the beach and have to shuffle a birthday party and anniversary group in and out of the dining hall all night. I heart Preppy.
[Also go here to get register for some SWEET Amazing Grass products on Bobbi's page!!]
[And here for another awesome giveaway and info about strands website at The Happy Runner.]
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street....
Do's and Don'ts for Runners
Saturday, June 20, 2009
I'm either going to PR or die trying...
I'm in the midst of finalizing my 1/2 marathon training program set to start June 29th. WHOO! This 1/2 is the race that I do every year, thus qualifying whether I'm a loser or a winner. As many of you know from following along, I was a sprinter in high school (and for a solid week or 2 in college, quitter!). During college I would run on the treadmill or around campus randomly but never more than a mile or 2. The summer after my junior year, I started to notice one too many chins and started following a training program I found in a fitness magazine to "get back into shape." It was kind of sad how "not in shape" I was. I had to run/walk and was huffing and puffing a lot, especially in the beginning. But by the end of the 8 weeks of following it, I could run again. Phew.
I finished the race in 2:07:39 for an avg. pace of 9:45. I didn't die, and I didn't have to walk. (I did have to stop for a few seconds a couple of times as my IT bands were getting VERY tight.) But I didn't meet my third goal.
Year #3: Again with the Intermediate training, but slacking pretty majorly. Usually cutting out at least one run a week, because I had a boooooooooooooyfriend and I was in loooooooooooooooove. And he was waaaaaay more fun than running. :) 2:16:14. You get what you work for I guess, and clearly I was working less. (Also notice that each year I'm a little less..um..."fit" looking...that couldn't have helped me to be faster...hah.)
Last year was year #4 of the annual 1/2. Again with the intermediate, but VERY loosely following. As in... I ran 2-3 times a week, even SKIPPING long runs--Cardinal Sin #1. My heart wasn't in it, I knew I wasn't going to beat 2 hours but I knew I could complete the run with minimal training, so that was the goal. Finish. I did in 2:19:57.
After last year's half, I retired. I wasn't loving running anymore, and I sure as heck wasn't getting any faster. Running had begun to be a chore, and I wanted out. Shortly after hanging up the shoes, I realized a good friend of mine was now living in SF, and he mentioned he wanted to start running. We ran a handful of times and it was fun. It had been a long time since a run had been fun. Apparently I just needed a break, and then to focus on shorter distances, because that long distance stuff is for the birds! But still I hardly ran from November-December, who likes running in snow and ice? Not this girl.
Friday, June 19, 2009
A Notice of Strike
My favorite movie as a kid (and still is, actually)was Goonies, we had to head to the beach to see part of where it was filmed.
Here we are at Ikea post-scavenger hunt. Caught offguard,
but it still looks like a ridiculous uppity catalog modeling shot. Too funny.
Inappropriateness with the handy hearts. Check.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
It's insane that 7:30 is now sleeping in...
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I'm seriously drowning....
With that being said, I could literally wring out my shirt after my run today, and almost half of the run was done INSIDE. Whoa is me, seriously. It was pretty similar weather as yesterday, mid-60's with 97% humidity. I think sweat droplets formed as I was stretching outside. Ick. Today was 8 x 400 at mile pace. Again I decided to run to my gym as my "warm-up." I'm secretly obsessed with my weekly/monthly mileage so it's nice to get in another 2.75 miles on these "sprint" days. The run to the gym was 1.37 miles in 17:45. Although I think the Garmin was off. It "lost satellite" for a minute while I was running under an overpass, and my first mile ended up being an 8 mm split, which was not the case. Probably closer to 9mm I'd imagine. Or slower even.
When I got to the gym I was SWEATY. I got some stretching in and hopped on the treadmill.
2 @ 1:42 (6:48 pace)
2 @ 1:41 (6:44 pace)
1 @ 1:40 (6:40 pace)
1 @ 1:39 (6:36 pace)
1 @ 1:38 (6:32 pace)
1 @ 1:36 (6:24 pace)
For an average pace of 6:40. In between each quarter, I walked .1 and to de-sweat. Ha. I did mess up on #7 by only running .2, so I ran .3 on #8 (at a faster speed, ugh). But I'm too lazy to calculate that out, so I took the easy way.
My legs were tired. But I still needed to get home. I headed home on the bike trail since it was light enough (it's too dark, in my opinion, to run them on the way there) and felt like I was crawling. It was miserable. 1.38 miles in 12:29.
When I got home I looked in the mirror and had to laugh. I had some serious raccoon eyes. I used a new mascara yesterday, and it must not have washed off all the way last night! I'm hoping it ran on my run home from the gym, but I'm guessing I looked like a fool AT the gym when everyone was wondering why I put on eye make up for the gym. WHOOPS. Oh well. I had to laugh. :)
For my post-run breakfast, I made my first ever green monster. It was delish. I've made some protein smoothies in the past (frozen strawberries & banana, ice, a splash of vanilla soy milk, and 1/2 scoop of protein powder) but this was my first with a healthy heaping handful of spinach. It was delish. Honestly, it tastes the same as the ones without. Plus it was my favorite color. :) Too bad I was running too late to snatch a picture. I could use a nice photo to break up this monotonous text (which apparently is a pet peeve of some, who knew!!) :)
I love me some speed work, but I swear I'm always starving for the rest of the day. Keep your fingers crossed for no storms so I can watch some men's softball, and for goodness sake humidity, go away!!
P.S. If you haven't seen Taken you totally should. We watched it last night and it was AWESOME!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
That felt more like swimming than running.
Monday, June 15, 2009
BFFF weekend recap + 9 mile run
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Rainy Five + Foto Friday
At Coyote Ugly. Good times had by all.
Day 6: Is it still a morning run if I don't wake up at 4:30am?
AND it was actually warm out at 7:30, it's the darnedest thing sun up=no pants. Er..wait. Minus pants plus shorts. I'm guessing the run would've taken on a whole new meaning sans pants. Anyway, I had a little 3 mile recovery run to do, and plenty of time to do it. I felt like a sprightly young gazelle out there, just springing along the trail, it was the darndest thing. I really thought I was doing a 9:45-10 mm pace because it felt sooooooo easy, but the first mile came in at 9:08. Huh? Mile 2 8:49. K. Mile 3 8:19 (ok so I pushed a little bit the last .25 of the third mile because I felt so dang good). Finished the 3 miles in 26:26 for a pace of 8:46. Good to know that my legs are much happier later in the morning also.
While running and feeling like a champ, I got to thinking about how great it would be to run at 7:30-8am every morning, and that I should just turn "really good" so I could run as my full time job. That would be awesome. Minus the whole working really really hard part. Yikes. Elite status here I come. :)
After my run I still had loads of energy so I rattled off 16 (new pr) pushups. Whipped up some cupcakes, and then did my ab workout while they were baking. Then I did another 15 pushups, because I'm STRONG. Ha. The cupcakes are de.li.cious. I'll have to take a photo to share because, nom. French vanilla cakes with strawberry frosting, me like. I saved a few for me to devour, but the rest are coming to work with me for Friday treat day. Sad.
Oh, I randomly tallied up how much $$ I'm going to be spending on running over the next 6 months for race fees, flight costs, and new shoes: $1175. And that's not including probably an additional $200 that I don't have solid cost info. for yet. Ugh. Being a couch potato is so much cheaper (but not nearly as fun)!!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Day 5: Legs, you are lucky you decided to be quick today!!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Day 4: Morning Runner Crabtastic Edition
2. 9:37
Monday, June 8, 2009
Listening to Nature's Music AKA iPod Fail
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Fancy Seeing You Here
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Day 3: Morning Runner
Here we are at Lake Okoboji last summer for the 4th of July. Look how cute we are. And we're that cute AFTER swimming/lounging/drinking in a dirty lake and showering under a small trickle of water in a gross campsite shower. Now that's cute. :)
Also, I would like to include a photo of mi madre, as it's her birthday today!! Happy Birthday Ma. :) I think she turns 25 today. ;) Wait... I'm 25...hmm..
Here we are post-half marathon 08. I look like death, and thoroughly soaked/sweated out. My fam won super awesome awards for this race. They were at 7, count em SEVEN, locations throughout the race, and kept me from quitting. (worst race to date, yikes!)
Have a great weekend!
Day 2: Morning Runner (A day delayed)
In honor of National Running Day, I was motivated to get out of my comfy, warm bed to take on Day 2 of my morning running challenge. It was much more difficult to get out of bed Day 2 than it was Day 1, because I could not fall asleep Tuesday night. It did help that I had a speed/interval workout to look forward to. :)
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Day 1: Morning Runner
- It was beautiful out. Cool, breezy and sun just starting to rise. +1
- I didn't feel tired when I woke up. Usually I'm up from 4:30-5:20am when Taylor is not-so-quietly getting ready for work, so it was nice not to have to try to fall back asleep after that. +1
- My legs, were dead. 900 lbs. a piece at least. This is probably 15% from running in the morning and 85% from running a long run on hills just slightly more than 24 hours ago. -2
- I got to hog the whole bike trail. No running on the right shoulder (which slants downward slightly hurting my ankles, hips, and pretty much everything on my right side), constantly staying out of the way of speedy bikers. I only saw 2 out on my run, and just hogged away otherwise. +2
- Less bugs. Bugs eaten: 0. Bugs snorted: 0. Bug bites: 1. SUCCESS! +1
- I had time to eat a nice healthy breakfast post run. +1
- Saved by the Bell was on during my after run stretching. +1
- I now have more time to hang out with the Boy after work, since I don't have to run, stretch, shower, etc. +2
Monday, June 1, 2009
May Wrap-Up and a Hilly Long(ish) Run
2. 9:56
3. 9:47
4. 9:41
5. 9:55
Average Weekly: 16.51 miles
Average Run Distance: 3.91 miles