Race Report: Mock 1/2 Marathon/Black Fri-A-Thon

After checking the weather report for Friday through Sunday, I decided that Friday afternoon would be a perfect time for my mock half marathon, as it was supposed to be a high of 55*.  I had to tweet for suggestions as to what to wear for 55* because it's been so long.  :p  I was all excited to wear shorts, until I remembered that I still didn't have my iPod shuffle charged, and would be lugging Big Bertha around.  Unfortunately, she only fits in my running pants and capris.  Capris it is!

I woke up and ate some pizza for breakfast--no underfueling issues for me this time!!  Watched some tv, did some online shopping, and finally set out for my run around 1:30pm.  I looooove having weekdays off.  Daylight!  Sun!  All the great makings for a long run, I tell ya.  I had planned on trying for a sub-2 hour pace, as that was my goal for Dallas White Rock HM after "the injury" occurred, at which would be a 9:10 pace.  For me, running is about 95% mental, so I wanted to determine if this was a feasible goal, or if I needed to revise to avoid my legs falling off around the 10k point.

I started the run and immediately realized how much easier it felt than last week's horrible, horrible long run.  It definitely helps having less layers on, and less restriction on my legs.  Thick running pants + leggings = impossible for Jerbear to stride out, uff.  Capris = wheeeeeeeeee!  Look at me go!  The first few miles flew by, but I could already tell that my 12 oz. of water weren't going to last me very long.  I was already a bit of a sweaty beast.  Oh no.

1.  9:01
2.  8:55
3.  9:01

I kept going along at the same pace without too much effort on my part.  I was honestly pretty surprised each time my watch beeped and showed another split under 9 minutes.  I took a GU at 3.6 and drank waaaaaay more water then should've been allotted at not quite the 1/3 point.


4. 8:56
5. 8:53
6. 8:58 


I took a second GU at the halfway point and started to head back towards home.  Those first two miles back were into the wind, and the pace dropped down.  After two miles over 9 minute miles, I decided to actually try to "feel" a slightly quicker pace.

7. 9:04
8. 9:08
9. 8:50 

I had hoped a bathroom was open at 9.75 miles so I could refill my water bottle since I only had a teensy tinsy swig left.  FAIL.  Nothing.  I can honestly say that I was searching all the bikers the last few miles to see if they had excess water I could bum off of them.  Hah.  I did take my final GU at 9.75.  I usually kick up the pace with 3 miles to go, but apparently my legs were just ready to be home.

10. 8:39
11. 8:40
12. 8:37
13. 8:19
.1 :43 (7:22 pace) 



Honestly the entire run felt really great and really strong.  The last mile was the only mile that I felt like I was putting in some hard work.  It was great.  I was very shocked and surprised to have this successful of a run, especially after having almost 2 whole weeks off for my foot.


I ended the 13.1 in 1:55:50, which is only a minute off of my 1/2 marathon PR.  Apparently I might be in good enough shape to at least attempt a PR in Dallas, which I had previously deemed out of the question.  Goal A will still be to just have a blast, but I honestly think a PR is feasible.  Especially since I just looked at the race day forecast and it was a High of 61*.  This girl can run like the wind in little running shorts and a tank top, and it sounds like it might just be the weather for it.  :D

I accidentally turned on my laptop, so my time was erased from my Garmin screen.  Waaah!  I decided to still snap a picture of the history.  Check out those goosebumps.  WHOA!

Friday night was an impromptu celebration of my race.  What?  It was someone else's birthday celebration?  Well, huh... in my mind it was a celebration of me, whatev.  :)  Here are some pics of our shenanigans...

The newlywed and I.

The boys were having a beard growing contest for $$$.  Now they're just continuing on principle.  WTF?

Bryce & I.

EEEEEK!

Happy Thanksgiving kiddos!  I want to share my thanks with you guys, since that seems to be the trend.  Plus, my family totally skipped the going around the table say what you're thankful for, business.  Geez.

I'm thankful for:

-Fabulous friends who stick with you through thick or thin.

-An awesome family who drives me up a wall, but loves me unconditionally.

-A healthy and strong body that takes me farther on foot than I ever thought it could.

-All my great bloggy friends, whom I've begun to appreciate on so many levels throughout my training.  

-Elf playing almost non-stop from now until Christmas (it's my favorite movie).

Wednesday night after work, I headed off to the gym for an intense speed workout.  It was COLD and crazy windy, so the gym won without a question.  On the schedule I had a 1 mile warm up, 6-8 800 m. repeats at 3:40 pace, with 400 m. walk breaks, and a mile cool down.  I was going to play the 6-8 by feel and see how I felt since I haven't done a hard speed workout for a month because of my injury.

The first interval felt great, but the rest/recovery quarter mile seemed to take FOREVER.  After that first one, I decided to shorten it to .15 instead.  I ended up doing all 8 x 800's and ran them all at or below a 3:40 pace, and the pace felt great.  I definitely miss running hard and fast.  :)  I did compromise with myself that if I did all 8 and hit my pace, I could shorten the cool down to a half mile instead of a mile.  DEAL!  Also, when I was done running, I realized I was only .2 miles from 7 miles total, so I did some speed walking so I could count a full 7 miles towards the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge !

Warm up	1 Mi	9:44	9:44	9:44
Interval	0.5 Mi	3:35	13:19	7:10
Interval	0.5 Mi	3:39	21:25	7:18
Interval	0.5 Mi	3:39	27:54	7:18
Interval	0.5 Mi	3:39	34:21	7:18
Interval	0.5 Mi	3:39	41:05	7:18
Interval	0.5 Mi	3:40	47:47	7:20
Interval	0.5 Mi	3:39	54:33	7:18
Interval	0.5 Mi	3:38	1:00:59	7:16
Cool down	0.5 Mi	4:49	1:08:37	9:38

Recovery/walk times and distances were omitted because the chart was ridiculously long (even more so than currently).  No one cares how fast I walk (I'm guessing).  :)

Turkey Day I woke up bright and early so I could get to the gym and knock out my easy 5 so I'd have time to shower and get ready for the holiday.  When I walked outside to my car, I realized it was MUCH warmer than I thought it was.  I checked weatherbug, and it was 30* with a 26* wind chill.  When I looked before I went to bed, it was supposed to be 17* at 9am!  Outdoors it is!  And I'm sooooo glad I ran outside.  I hate the gym, and really want to save it for runs that HAVE to be done there for safety purposes.

I saw a bunch of grade school aged boys playing flag football, and desperately wanted to go home, grab my Favre jersey, and come back and ask to play.  I love me some flag football.  Sidenote:  In college I was the captain and QB of my girls flag football team (The Packer Puffs, natch), and we went undefeated for 4 seasons (fall & spring) for my junior and senior year.  We were KIND of a big deal.  :p

Otherwise the run was pretty eventful except for the brutally cold wind during the last mile.  Uff, my face was burning by the time I was done.  I did 5 miles in 47:13 for a pace of 9:27.

1. 9:24
2. 9:25
3. 9:29
4. 9:31
5. 9:22

My miles got slower, so that was fun and special. :)

In exciting I-might-poop-my-pants-news, I received the following email yesterday:

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!  I'm planning on signing up on my golden birthday, which is one month from today, WHOOOOO!  (Yes, I will be running my FIRST 26.2 miles in my 26th year, which also happens to be my golden year, hurrah!)  But I've been so concerned with my poor wussy foot and the Dallas White Rock HM, I kind of forgot that I'm going to start training for a marathon soon.  Holy guacamole.  Anyway, if I had been wearing a heart rate monitor at my desk, it would've probably gone in the "danger zone" upon receipt of that email.  Hah.

Hope everyone had a great turkey day.

I remember when 5 miles was my looooong run.

Man, I have a tough time motivating myself for a run when it's crazy dark outside.  I miss my bike trails that are nice and soft (in comparison) on my legs.  I miss being out with fellow runners/bikers/fitness enthusiasts.  At night, this trail turns into an episode from Forensic Files where we're trying to ID DNA from my cast aside Nimbus 11.  [shudders]  So on to the sidewalk it is.  To be honest, I don't have any great runner routes near my place other than the trail, because why would you run anywhere other the trail unless you HAD to?  You don't.  That's the answer.  I've been running to my old stompin' grounds for my easy runs because the area is safe, and sometimes I can run on the road in slow traffic residential areas.  Unfortunately it is a hilly BEAST to get the mile and a half to the stomping grounds....then hilly for the last mile and a half home.  Annoying.  Oh well, those hills have gotta be working towards strength, right?  RIGHT?!?!

Ahem, so last night I had an easy 5 miles to do.  After the horrendous run that was my 12 miler on Saturday, my legs still hurt.  I even treated them to 900 downward dogs on Sunday, no respect I tell ya.  My hammies were just en fuego, which never happens.  I'm always a quads-in-pain kind of gal.  Since I'm still sans iPod I just let my brain flow to wherever it wanted to during the run as I took it at a please-stop-hating-me-hammies-love-jeri-pace. 

Observation #1:  I get cat calls A LOT.  At first I thought I was just looking particularly cute for my run, then I just realized it was because I wasn't plugged into my iPod.  Usually I only hear this form of attention if I'm at a particularly quiet part of a song; otherwise, I don't hear the whistles/yells/cries out for my #. 

Observation #2:  Songs get stuck on repeat waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much in my head.  Seriously, it's like a broken record up there.  And I also learn how well I don't know the lyrics.  Fail.

Observation #3:  I remember when 5 miles was my "long run."  This was my favorite thought on my run.  I thought back to summer 2005 when I started training for my FIRST half marathon.  My first long run on the schedule was either 4-5 miles, and I remember being so proud of finishing it.  Yes, I was very athletic in high school, so I am lucky that running comes pretty easily to me, but I have never been a distance runner.  My focus has always been speed work and sprints.  Now 5 miles is a short/easy/recovery run in a 30+ mile week.  I love that about being a runner, it's so fun to look back at where you were, and to see how far you've come to get to where you are today.  Just proves that anyone can accomplish major things physically, just takes hard work and a lot of mental focus.

Observation #4:  40* is not cold.  You do not need gloves (took them off at mile 2).  You do not need an ear warmer (although I'm prone to earaches, so I kept mine on just to be sure).  You don't need heavy running pants (capris would've worked just fine).  And 3 layers on top is a BIT much (I sweated through all 3, um gross).  I could've swore I froze my butt off during previous 40* runs, but holy heck, I was sweating bullets!  Windless runs really make all the difference I guess.

I ended up doing 5 miles in 48:09 for a nice pace of 9:38.  My legs thanked me profusely for it, and have finally eased up on the intense uncomfort.  Speaking of nice pace, check out my splits.
1.  9:38
2.  9:42 (hill)
3.  9:39
4.  9:38
5.  9:31

Umm...ya.  I secretly want to do a short/easy run with EXACTLY the same mile splits, but that's pretty ding dong close if you ask me.  Especially because I was just letting my legs go however fast they wanted.  :)

Ok on to fun stuff.  :)  My old roomie got her wedding pictures back and they are divine.  Seriously, I want to get hitched just so I can hire them to take gorgeous pics of me on my day.  Please enjoy.

 The lovely ladies and bride in our changing quarters moments before the wedding started.

The fun wedding part after the wedding before the reception at our "go to" bar.

The happy couple (the party bus was Hawaiian themed).  I secretly hope this is their wedding card photo.

We were told to do creative intros.  My groomsman and I decided to do a hip/shoulder check.  The horrendous facial expression was unplanned, but adds a great accent to the photo, no?

Wedding party dance.  Not sure why we're dancing w/each other and not our groomsman though.  Hmm..

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.