What's Next?

Leading up to Fargo half, I suspected that race day wouldn't be a 100% effort for me. To mitigate my disappointment, I started to think of a back up plan if that was the case. I had planned to do a 10k for fun-ish in early June, and have since decided that it'll be my official substitute goal race for the spring (even though that's probably summer at that point). My marathon training will start in later June, so this gives me an opportunity to still have another attempt to post a race time that'll help me project a fall marathon goal race time.

Now fingers crossed that it doesn't feel like summer on race day! If so, I may drop to the 5k, which would still be fun.

There's also a 5k the following weekend in my little town that features bacon and bloody Mary's post race. And the money goes to help with Junior Achievement. So why not race on back to back weekends? My thoughts exactly!

And THEN Strava and NYRR announced a 1 mile virtual race challenge. Well that sounds like fun too. So sometime during this 8 day span, I'd also like to do a 1 mile time trial. LOLZ. This'll either be the most fun 8 days or the worst idea I've ever had.

Stay tuned.

Ocean View Half Marathon Training Week 4

Week of October 23-29

Monday Planned: General Aerobic + Speed 6 miles 2 sets 6x100 strides
Monday Actual: General Aerobic 6 miles in which I thought I was going to get lost and never found again.

Tuesday Planned: Recovery 4 Miles
Tuesday Actual: I took a rest day, as I had some left calve knots and failed to bring any good torture devices to remedy it.

Wednesday Planned: Endurance 10 Miles
Wednesday Actual: I have no idea how I thought I was going to run 10 miles while traveling back from Memphis literally all day long. In my head, I was going to be back in time for the group run, but I was very very wrong.

Thursday Planned: Rest
Thursday Actual: I had planned to do the 10 mile long run Thursday morning after I realized my error, but we got home at 10:30pm and I slept until 9am. And then I worked until 9pm. It was also 30-45 mph winds. What is happening?!

Friday Planned: Recovery 3 Miles
Friday Actual: 4 Recovery miles in an insane wind advisory. I guess winter is back. <see above when I was running in shorts and a tank on MONDAY>

Saturday Planned: Race 5k, 6 miles total
Saturday Actual: Trick or Treat 5k with 2 miles warm up and a half mile cool down.

Sunday Planned: Recovery 3 Miles
Sunday Actual: Recovery 5 miles. I wore shorts and a long sleeve and was WAY TOO WARM. The rain was welcomed and helped me cool off slightly.

Total Mileage Planned: 32 Miles
Total Mileage Actual: 20.59 miles

Trick or Treat Trail Run Race Goals

I went back and forth for quite a few weeks about running the 5k or the 10k for the Trick or Treat race. It's the weekend before my half marathon, and it's in costume, so both were weighing on my decision making. On one hand, I thought I'd be better suited for a 10k, given I've been training for a 10 mile and half marathon this fall, but thought that maybe my legs would still be recovering into race week and I didn't want that. Toni had planned to do the 5k, which swayed me slightly, and once I found a costume, I was all in on the 5k train. Plus the fall "5ks" I've been running are more 3 milers, so I was curious what I could do for a legit 3.1 miles.

My best legit 5k (only) of the year was the Purple Stride 5k in June in sweltering heat and humidity. I ran an 8:40 pace for a 25:41. My best 3ish mile this year was the last one of the Parks and Rec series, which was a 7:57 pace for 23:04 on a 2.91 mile course. Most of my 3 mile efforts have been in the 8:20s 24:58-25:08.

A goal: If it's a nice cool day, I'd really like to see if I can maintain a sub 8 pace for a full 3.1 miles. I was able to do it for 2.91 with zero people running near me (Toni finished 90 seconds ahead of me, so I was 100% pushing myself). I'd like to think that the competitive part of my brain can pull me through for another .2 miles, right? A 7:59 on an exact course would be 24:48.

B goal: This one doesn't give me much wiggle room from A to B, but I would like to be under 25 minutes. Back when I was racing 5ks a lot, it was such a huge deal the first time I went under 25, and I even won a 5k in a low low 24 once. It'd be awesome to be in this time range for having been working on longer distances and nothing specific to 5k speed training.

C goal: Earlier this summer, I had written down a goal for a 25:30 5k time. And then the 2 legit 5ks I raced were in the hottest of hot days so I wasn't anywhere close. I think even if it's a warmer late October day, I should be able to do dig for that sub 8:15 pace.

Stay tuned for my costume!

Ocean View Half Marathon Training Week 2

Week of October 9-15

Monday Planned: 6 miles, 3 @ 5k pace
Monday Actual: 6 miles, 3 @ 5k pace.  This was a somewhat impromptu 5k brought on by skipping my long run over the weekend. It was Jeri's perfect race weather. So cool that I had a jacket on in between the warm up and the race. That's COLD. Love.

Tuesday Planned: General Aerobic 7 Miles
Tuesday Actual: Rest day. I've still been feeling under the weather, so I took another rest day.

Wednesday Planned: General Aerobic + Speed 6 miles, 2 sets 6x100 strides
Wednesday Actual: Another rest day with yoga. I had gotten my hair and make up done and just didn't want to ruin it with a run. Oops. #dedication

Thursday Planned: Rest
Thursday Actual: I finally got out for a 5 mile recovery run through the crunchy leaves.

Friday Planned: Endurance 11 Miles
Friday Actual: Rest

Saturday Planned: Rest
Saturday Actual: Rest

Sunday Planned: Recovery 5 Miles
Sunday Actual: Endurance 11 Miles. I absolutely love running in these cool temps. Love love love.

Total Mileage Planned: 35 Miles
Total Mileage Actual: 22.14 miles. Not nearly as many as planned, but I had to take care of some issues in my body that were cranky.

Twin Cities 10 Training Week 11

Week of September 18-24

Monday Planned: 6 miles, 2 mile warm up, 5k, 1 mile cool down
Monday Actual: 2 mile warm up, 5k race (slightly short) and skipped the cool down mile as I had to dash to book club!

Tuesday Planned: Recovery 4 miles
Tuesday Actual: 

Wednesday Planned:VO2 Max 8 miles, 2x1200, 2x1000, 1x800 @ 3k-5k pace
Wednesday Actual: 3 miles with the group at 605. 60 minute yoga class and then we went to the track for 5 miles including 2x1200, 2x1000, 1x800 @ 3k-5k pace. All intervals were sub 8 place. It was my best track workout of the session. Wahoo!

Thursday Planned: POWER + Rest
Thursday Actual: Rest. I woke up for POWER and then reset my alarm and went back to sleep.

Friday Planned: Recovery 4 miles
Friday Actual: 4 recovery miles at the coffee run with Toni and Kristin! Then all the coffee!! FREE SHOT FRIIIIIIIDAAYYYYYYYY!

Saturday Planned: Endurance 9 miles
Saturday Actual: Long run 9 miles with Toni. So very humid. Uff da.

Sunday Planned: Rest
Sunday Actual: Rest day!

Total Mileage Planned: 31 miles
Total Mileage Actual:  30.4 miles

Race Report: Firecracker 5k

On the 4th of July I did the Lennox Firecracker 5k. I've done the 10k twice and this is my second year doing the 5k. Leading up to the race, I looked up my previous 5k time there to see if maybe a course PR was in the works. 24:06? No. Nope. I did want to go out hard and just see how long I could hang on to it. It was 97% humidity and 73 degrees, but you never know unless you try right?

I got up early and really wished that I hadn't signed up at 10:18pm the night before, because I wanted to keep sleeping. Kyle agreed to come to the race with me which was great, but he was taking his jolly sweet time getting ready and we ended up leaving our house 10 minutes after I had hoped to be at the race start for my warm up run. Womp. By the time we got there and I picked up my race bib, it was already time to meet up for our group picture and then the picture got taken late so I STILL didn't have time to do a warm up, and it was basically time to start. Harumph. I did get in my glute band exercises and leg swings.

The race started after three failed firecracker duds, with a whistle, and we were off. I told Courtney that I'd ignore my watch, and I listened, for the most part. I was running with a group of ladies in my running group and wanted to stay with them as best I could. Within a few minutes I was already drenched in sweat. I could feel myself slowing down toward the end of the first mile, which makes sense because the one peek I did take at my watch was in the 7's. Oops.

Mile 1 8:15

During the second mile I focused on catching up to a handful of people in front of me. My friends had pulled away a bit, but I thought I could still catch a second wind and pull off a good kick to catch up with them! After I caught up to that small handful, I was pretty lonely and by myself until the race started to merge with 1 and 2 mile folks, mostly walkers at that point. At 1.55 I was at 13:08 so I told myself just over 10 minutes to go, 4 songs. Totally doable.

Mile 2 8:59

The race was a different route this year because the Main Street in town was under construction. I'm not super familiar with the town, so I was excited when I thought we were on the final home stretch of the race. AND we had a few blocks of beautiful shade. I made myself run as hard as I could during the shade, and then I started to see people turn to the left. The illusion was broken, it wasn't a straight shot to the finish as I was hoping/wishing. I saw my watch was close to hitting 26 minutes, so I started counting to 26:16, which would've been an even split for the first half/last half of the race, and eventually ran out of numbers to count. As I turned the corner, I saw the time clock nearing close to 27 minutes so that helped me speed up ever so slightly.

Mile 3 8:51

.13 :56 (7:11 pace)

I ran the 3.13 in 27:02 for a pace of 8:39 (just slightly faster pace than the 5k earlier this month in similar atrocious humidity). The official results had me at 26:58, which is awfully nice of them. :)

Kyle said I came in faster than he was expecting so he didn't get any pictures of me. I asked him how I looked coming through, curious how my form was through the finish, and his response was, "tired. really tired." Well thanks Kyle. :P

Maintenance Training Week 5

Week of June 19-25

Monday: My BRF was FINALLY back in town. So we met up for some warm up miles before the weekly Parks and Rec 5k race. We got in two miles, the 3.01 of the race (it's a short course) followed by the slowest one mile cool down in all of the land. It felt like a brick mile.

There was a large group of SFWR at the race. YAY!

Tuesday: I got to the group run early to get in a leisurely 3 mile shake out run. It was finally cooler temps and my body was loving it! I did two miles of walk/run with the group before a 30 minute yin yoga class. Yay stretching.

Wednesday: I did a sweltering 3 miles with Toni at the group run. I texted her earlier in the week that maybe we could do a speedier/tempo-like run on Wednesday. And then some storms rolled through and it was 93 degrees with a million percent humdity. So a slow slog it was. Followed by some yoga.

Thursday: I went back and forth about a trail run or a rest day, finally opting at the last minute for a rest day. I had run 4 days in a row, so I thought I'd be smart and treat my body to an epsom bath instead of a run.

Friday: 60 minutes of POWER. I had planned to do 3 miles afterward but I jacked up my back pretty severely during POWER. And it got worse and worse throughout the day. By far the worst back pain I've ever had. I took an epsom bath immediately after POWER, took ibuprofen, used my myofascial release balls on my low back to release some of the tension, and I was still dyyyyying. Luckily my friend was able to get me in for an emergency massage right after work, which helped. An any icy hot back patch immediately after I got home. Ahhhh.

Saturday: I was still in pretty rough shape Saturday morning but had to teach yoga, so I modified class a bit so that my body could demo most of it as necessary. The yoga helped loosen up my back, but I was still a ways from normal.

Sunday: My back was still pretty tight, so I took another day off from running. Womp. I took a 60 minute slow flow yoga class followed by a 75 minute restorative yoga class.

Total Mileage: 14 miles.

Race Report: Parks and Rec 5k Week 3

For week 3 of the Parks and Rec 5k, the humidity had finally dropped. I think it was in the 30-40%. Wahoo! My legs felt really good during the warm up with Toni, unlike the previous week when I felt every mile of the 20 mile bike ride Kyle and I had gone up the previous day. I had texted Kyle earlier in the day that my goal was to be under 8:40, hopefully close to 8:30 pace.

There were a lot more runners this week, which I was really excited about. The race got going, and I started going, somewhere in the comfortably hard range. When the first mile came through in 8:13, I simultaneously thought SHIT, too fast and let's see how long I can hang on to this.

Mile 1 8:13

The second mile I definitely knew that quick of a pace wasn't sustainable, but I wanted to keep working hard. A gal passed me at this point, and I tried to attach a string to her mentally to pull me along, but she was getting stronger as I was getting more tired. At the halfway point, I did some quick race math and calculated that my finishing time could be just over 25 minutes if I didn't let up anymore. 12:36 at the halfway point (the course is short, so I basically assume I'm racing a 3 mile instead of a 5k).

Around the turn around I realized that Toni wasn't super far in front of me, so I set my sights on her back to chase. Somewhere during this time, I guy I usually run with, and we take turns beating each other at races, passed me, so I tried to use that to propel me faster as well.

Mile 2 8:28

I gave myself half a second to be annoyed at how far off pace I had fallen during the second mile, and instead focused on less than a mile remaining in the race. I had my watch set to tell me the average race pace, so I was focused on dropping that pace down as best as I could leading up to the finish. We had some shady spots in the final mile, so I told myself to run hard in the shade. The final quarter of a mile I tried to pick it up as hard as I could coming up on Toni. As soon as I got close to her, she turned on her turbo jets leaving me in her dust, but that also helped me find another gear to push along with her.

Mile 3 8:23 

.01 :02 seconds, 6:46 max pace

I ran 3.01 miles in 25:08 for a pace of 8:22!

164 Avg HR, 170 Max HR

I was so freakin' excited. And in looking at my first half split vs second half split, I actually ran stronger the second half of the race, despite the fast first mile 12:36/12:32. This is the fastest pace I've ran for 3 miles/3.1 miles since AUGUST 2011! Which is craziness. Of course I had to hop on McMillan running calculator to see what that translated to for other races, knowing full well that I'm a speedier runner than I am an endurance runner, so those calculations never really work for me, but whatever! If I can run those paces in 85 degrees, I'm pretty darn curious what I can do on a nice cool day! Can't wait to get the chance to figure it out.

Race Report: Parks and Rec 5k Week 2

Monday night was week two of the June 5k series. I skipped week 1 because it was 90+ degrees. No thank you. It was so much cooler this week (sarcasm font) at 83 degrees and too much humidity. I was planning to bail on the run, but somehow talked myself into just going to get some miles in. I did a two mile warm up with 4x100m strides and then did some leg swings and glute stretches. 

I started the race hoping I could be near-ish my pace from the last 5k I ran, 8:40. So when I started off in the 8:15 range I thought to myself, oops. A half mile into the race I settled into my pace a little better. I was pacing off of some 3k racers, and when they turned around I was all by my lonesome. And my pace reflected it.

Mile 1 8:46

One of my fellow SFWR was not too far behind me, so that kept me moving forward. I was in third for females and during the out and back turn around I counted to determine I was in tenth overall. At the halfway point I checked my time, knowing the course would be right around 3 even instead of 3.1 and hoped to finish around 26:40. 

Mile 2 9:06

The final mile I was all by myself so I focused on just moving forward, trying to pick up the pace during the shaded portions of the course. I was pooped and just ready to be done. I picked up the pace a little bit the last half mile to inch my overall pace under 9 minutes.

Mile 3 8:59

I ran 3.01 miles in 26:58 for a pace of 8:58.

I look forward to future weeks and hopefully more of my runner friends to show up (mostly to help push me, lolz).

Race Report: PurpleStride 5k

This was the first year for the PurpleStride 5k for Pancreatic Cancer. Several months ago, a friend of mine got a team together: SFWR Light Savers. Yes, bonus points for the best name ever, and a bunch of my friends and gals from our running group joined. Over the course of a few months (and a really awesome final 48 hour push) we raised over $1200 for pancreatic cancer research. 

Since it was the first year for this event, I expected it to be small, and was planning to give them a million passes as some fundraising events have some flaws or things that might not be thought of because typically non-runners are putting them on. Not this group. I arrived at the event super early so I could get in a warm up, and there were tents set up, music playing, tons and tons of volunteers. The same-day packet pick up was super quick, and a sweet volunteer even offered to put my "I wage hope for My Mom" bib on my back for me. So sweet.

I did my warm up miles (hot and toasty) and then met back up with friends and team members.

Yay Light Savers!

There was an awesome opening ceremonies thirty minutes before the event, honoring survivors, and talking about how important the fundraising is to help find early detection and better treatment options for pan can. There were over 550 people there for the event (!!!!) and over $56,000 raised ($$$$$$). Giant thanks to anyone who donated to the cause. 

At 9am, it was time for the race. They had an awesome balloon archway, and no one would line up at the front, so I made my friend Jordanne line up there with me. 

So of course I lead the race for the first 5-10 seconds. Hah.

My body had felt pretty terrible for the past couple of weeks, so I wasn't sure what I was capable of for a hard-isa 5k. Toni had ran a 10k at altitude (Bolder Boulder) last weekend, so I asked her if she thought I could hold her 10k altitude pace for a 5k. So that's how I came up with a goal time. Totally scientific. 8:34 pace, ok!

The first mile felt pretty strong, I started around 8:40ish and was dropping my pace down to the mid to lower 8:30s and it didn't feel terrible. Yet I was shocked that everyone ahead of me also seemed to be speeding up and putting some distance on me. I was sitting in 8th female for the first mile or so, and finally moved up to 6th after a bit.

Mile 1 8:36

I was feeling pretty good during the second mile as well, which was shocking because it was pushing 80 degrees and we all know how Jerbear feels about running/racing in the heat. Barf. I did REALLY want some water though. I failed to drink water after my warm up and was dealing with stomach issues before the race, so I was pretty dehydrated to start. At the turn around, we had to run up a small set of stairs and then head back down the opposite side. Nothing terrible but my legs felt really heavy after and it took me awhile to get back into a groove. I picked up the pace towards the end of the mile, but my mile time really looks like I took it easy. Ha.

Mile 2 8:50

The mile markers were all wonky the second half of the race, so I wasn't sure if the race would end up being super short or what. I think the two mile sign was around 1.75 miles, or something really early like that, but it ended up being pretty close to perfectly 5k. I was impressed. One of the coolest parts of the race was a Boston Marathon banner/rug/sign laid on the trail a mile from the finish line. (To read one of the coolest/saddest/most inspiration stories check out this local families pancreatic cancer Boston Marathon story here). I thought about the Scott family as I ran over the mat, as well as my own dreams to run and cross the Boston Marathon some day, knowing my mom will be right there with me.

With a mile to go there was a group of three gals in front of me that I was slowly gaining on. That lit a small fire underneath me as I thought it would be really awesome to come in top three female for a race that was so important to me. The last mile and a half of the race was directly into the sun with little to no tree cover, and it was slowly causing me to putz out. I kept noticing my pace slip and then I would pick it up, and back and forth as my watch got closer to three miles. I tried to start a kick with a half mile to go. With a quarter of a mile to go, two of my teammates that I had never met before race morning came up on me, and Betsy clapped me on the back and told me, "let's go" and that my mom was there with me cheering me on. Which really helped give me that final boost to finish strong.

Mile 3 8:41

.08 :32 (6:45 avg, 6:24 max)

I finished in 26:41 with an average pace of 8:40.

I was shocked at how close I was to my race goal pace, especially in some crazy warm conditions!! It gets me excited for the summer 5k series.

Thanks again to anyone who joined our team, wished me well for the race, donated money, or has been there for me. Events like this really make me hopeful that research can advance and improve our survival rates to eliminate other families from suffering like my mom did.

WAGE HOPE.

Here's some local news coverage of the event (and me leading the race for 5 seconds, LOLZ).

Race Report: Harrisburg 5k

Two weeks ago, I ran my first race of 2015, the Harrisburg 5k. I've ran the 10k a couple of times, and opted for the 5k this go around to see where my "speed" was at as I knew I didn't have any speed+endurance, making the 10k sound like hell.

I had plans to go out around 8:50 pace, in hopes that I could maybe sustain an 8:45 for the duration of the race. Most of the super fasties did the 10k, so I lined up toward the front, and then we were off! I tried to go out comfortably, but clearly I haven't raced in awhile, because somehow comfortable was significantly sub-8. Including some sub-7 moments. Uh... nope.

I finally settled in-ish but had my watch set on lap pace, so I had a hard time judging what pace I was actually running at since I had gone out so fast. I kept track of the ladies that were passing me as I was putting on the brakes, knowing it'd be good motivation for my competitive side once it was time to kick it in to gear! 

Mile 1 8:20

 

I was pretty tired and wasn't sure if I was physically tired, or if I mentally felt like I should be tired after running an 8:20 first mile. Turns out I was pretty tired, as the next mile was in 9:05. Around the half way mark, I knew I could be under 27 minutes, and thought I could maybe be close to 26:30 if I didn't fade too badly, so that became my new goal.

Mile 2 9:05 oops.

There was not a single whisp of a breeze at this point, and I would've paid handsomely for someone to fan me with a giant leaf as I ran by. I'm not familiar with the town the race was in, despite having run it before, and the route wove all around, so I had a hard time judging where we were in relation to the finish line. So I just kept running. As you do.

I picked it up every so slightly in the final mile, although I'm pretty sure I was giving it all I had at that point.

Mile 3 8:53

I kicked in the last .5 of the race, and caught up to some folks in the process, and then steps before the finish line, one of the gals I passed came WAILING through to pass me. Of course she was in my age group. :P

.1 7:19 pace

Final time 26:33

Overall I'm pretty pleased with my efforts and was excited to see I ran the race a minute faster than my last 5k in November. I've still been running minimally, with the focus being on yoga teacher training, so I'm excited to be able to commit myself to a program and see some more progress.

Race Result

Overall 35 / 109 (32.1%)

Ages 30 - 39  5 / 35 (14.3%)

Gender 12 / 72 (16.7%)

Harrisburg 5k Race Goals

About a week ago, I decided to drop from the 10k to the 5k for this race. I know I can complete a 10k this weekend, but as far as a solid race is concerned, I know I'm not yet into 10k race shape. I'm working on some issues with my left glute and my form is still struggling when I did into the 5-6 mile range.

With that being said, I have spent some decent runs going "fast" for me. I haven't done any targeted speedwork, per say, but I have spent some time each week running faster than normal. My runs have been faster overall since I've been running shorter amounts.

My goal for tomorrow's 5k is to run faster than the last 5k I ran back in November which was a 27:30. A sub 27 would be top notch, but I'm not sure that I'm in that shape. I guess we'll find out tomorrow!

Spring "Goal" Race

As I mentioned previously this week, I found a race to train for! With yoga teacher training every other weekend, and working Saturdays of my "off" yoga weekends, it has been impossible to find a race to train for, sooner than mid-June. Well I've learned something about myself, and that's if I don't have a race to train for, I end up not running.

I was putzing around on some race calendars a couple of weeks ago, and happened to find a 6:30am race on a Friday morning that I happened to have off from work. Wahoo! Goal race! It's only a 5k, but it'll be nice to have a shorter race to focus on as I build up my running again. And it's hard to tell myself I don't have time to go for 2-5 mile runs, since the last training program I followed included 20 milers.

So I have seven weeks to see what kind of 5k shape I'm in! I'm hoping to get in 3 runs a week: speed, long, and easy. Let's see how this goes. :)

Aramco Houston Half Marathon Training Week 5 and 6

I started my week as usual at a gentle vinyasa class on Monday morning at the studio. We focused on triangle and I learned a ton, per usual. The instructor is so awesome, i wish I could copy/paste her yogi knowledge into my brain!

Tuesday I convinced my co-worker to come with me to my first (and her first) ever barre class. My friend Jenn is obsessed, and promised it'd give me the much needed glute work I'm seeking. She was right. It was hard, but a good hard? I really liked it, and I'm thankful Emily came with me, so I wouldn't be too chicken to go alone. Also, the pic below makes me LOLZ every time I look at it.

I meant to go to a touch class Thanksgiving morning, but my bed just sounded magical. And before I went to bed I noticed there was a waitlist and I figured I shouldn't go if I was just on the fence about going if something else REALLY wanted to go. Or something like that.

Friday I had off for working Saturday and started my day at the yoga studio at 7am to scoop up some great sales. I came back later that morning for a Shake and Flow class: 30 minutes of barre and a 30 minute yoga flow. Awesome.

And later that day, I headed downtown to race a 5k. No wonder my legs were pooped at 2.35 miles. I forgot I put them through this class. Derp.

I went to the Tuesday night barre class yet again, and I swear we spent 60 minutes doing glute work. Mine actually locks up during certain moves which is just extra special, but it has to help my running right? Or at the very least make my booty look amazing in tights. Def one of the two though I think.

I went to another barre class Thursday morning before work and it was the hardest one yet. I normally don't sweat during barre, but that wasn't the case today. The instructor did things with her legs that I can't even fathom my body doing. Impressive. And challenging, like whoa.

Saturday morning I got to attend my first yoga class in FOREVER. I had a crazy weird work week, so I couldn't go to any of my normal classes and for a creature of habit, I HATED IT. I did a power vinyasa class and it was tough and awesome. And sweaty.

Sunday morning I attended another power vinyasa class where we played around with more dancer pose and mermaid pose which was tons of fun. And a bazillion chaturangas. Woof.

And then Sunday evening I returned to a packed house for restorative yoga. I could tell I hadn't gone to restorative for awhile because everything was so incredible tight. Woof.

I had big plans to get my long run in between the two yoga classes, as the forecast was for mid 40s! Except then it was freezing rain and 35 mph wind gusts and a real feel of 19. Meh.