last run of the month.

And it was a good one. I decided to switch things up and run downtown today instead of sticking to the normal neighborhood route I do. I packed my running stuff this morning and brought it to work with me so I could fit the run in before I went home. I ran the entire seawall and up and down one of the T-heads. It was about 4.5 miles run in 48:09. I felt pretty good and peppy the whole time, plus it was beauuuutiful today. The weather was in the sixties and there was a nice breeze as I headed south, but not too windy to be unpleasant (like the race).

Heading into my last month of training, weeee! My 9.5 mile route is already mapped out for Saturday. Going all the way back to my house is 10 miles, so I have the option of stopping at 9.5 if I feel like death, or just finishing up the last half mile. We'll see how it goes! I have gummy bears ready to be consumed.

January goals revisited

My goals were as follows:

• complete all of my training runs I missed one training run because I was sick, but I'd say that's not too shabby. With an extra run from the beginning of the month, I still hit my 13 runs for the month.
• run the Surf N Turf 10K in less than 69 minutes (maintaing at least an 11 min/mile pace) 1:07:25! Definitely rocked this one, and got third place in my age group! SUCCESS!
• eat 6+ servings of fruits and vegetables every day I would say I did this at least 2/3 of the time, but definitely stopped keeping track after two weeks.
• get at least 7 hours of sleep every night Same as above, probably about 2/3 of the time.
• no booze, no cigarettes FAIL.

first race recap!

My first real race, the 2012 Surf N Turf 10k, is OVER! And let me tell you, it was a doozy. I was a bit concerned about it before hand, not because of the distance but because of the sand. I had never run on sand before and I wasn't sure what the beach was going to be like on race day. It turned out to be perfect. Lots of hard packed, flat sand for everyone to run on.

We got there nice and early to get a decent parking spot and we enjoyed some tunes while I sipped a cup of coffee and had a couple of pre-race jitter bathroom breaks. Finally, the runners started to line up. Half marathoners went first, promptly at 9AM, and us 10k-ers started two minutes after. The first leg of the race was a little disheartening. The wind was strong and people were passing us left and right. We ended up being at the end of the pack of 10k runners. Then 5k people started passing us. Well, it proves that slow and steady wins the race because we soon began to pass a ton the 10k runners that had passed us initially.

The first 4 miles of the race were divine. The beach was beautiful, the weather was PERFECT, and even though there were six year old children passing me I didn't care. My pace felt good and peppy and we even started to pick up beach garbage while we ran. According to Josh's GPS, our first three miles were paced something like 10:20, 9:54, and 10:15. Oh yes, it was lovely.

Until the turn around. Holy god, the turn around. Until then we had been running with the wind. All of a sudden, after already running four miles, I was expected to run into winds of who knows how fast. Our pace dropped to more than a 12 minute mile. Unbelievable. I was jogging, just trying to keep up momentum, and I was going as fast as people that were walking. I wanted to cry at a few points because it was the toughest running that I have ever, ever, ever done. But I pushed on, cursing occasionally, and after 2 miles we were back on the pavement facing a sign that so joyously stated '0.9 miles left!' We were now running in a different direction and the wind lessened a bit.

Those two miles took so much out of me and we were getting dangerously close to our goal time of 69 minutes. I didn't think I was going to make it and at that point I didn't really care. I just wanted it to be over. Finally, the finish line was in sight and that's when my nausea hit. After pushing so hard on the beach with the wind, and then trying to pick up the slack once we hit pavement again, I was at my maximum. I told Josh I thought I was going to throw up and he simply told me "Wait 'till the end." So I did. We rounded the corner and sprinted to the finish line. Final time: 1:07:25. I made my goal, with a few minutes to spare.

Once we started walking, I started gagging. I didn't reaaaaally throw up but a little bit of Gatorade came up, I'll admit. After a few minutes of walking I was right back to normal and jogged around the parking lot a little. We bided our time while waiting for the results to post by eating bananas, downing cups of water, and stretching. And finally, the 10k results were up... and....

I GOT THIRD PLACE IN MY AGE GROUP! Not even out of three! There were five runners in my group. And I didn't place last. It was the best feeling in the world. I won a medal and got to stand on one of those special 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place podium things and get my picture taken. After the hardest run of my life, and my first true race ever, I actually placed. It ruled, and I am officially addicted to races. Also, I won a free dinner for two in the door prize drawing. Overall, a total win.


I've got five weeks until my half marathon and I am feeling good about it. I can totally fucking do this.

I'm still not feeling 100% but I'm doing my three mile run today, anyways. I feel much better than I did the previous two days. I've been getting enough sleep and eating really, really well and it's making me think... why don't I do this all the time?! I'm going to spend the rest of the month focusing on eating good, delicious, healthy foods and getting enough sleep and treating my body nicely. I think it's especially critical, now that I'm getting into the most intense part of my half marathon training. It's the last six weeks, the last thing I need is to be tired and improperly fueled.

Also, lately I've been thinking I want to shed some of these pounds. I didn't start running with that intention, it was mostly to feel better and test myself with a goal that seemed impossible but I knew was achievable (yet challenging). I know now, just over halfway through training, that I am capable of much more than I ever gave myself credit for. Now that I'm there mentally, I'd like to make things easier physically by losing some of my fluff. My tentative goal is to lose 15-20 pounds over the course of the next 'X' amount of time. Definitely by next year, but that's giving myself a lot of leeway.

The notion of losing weight isn't so much for vanity. I'm content with the way I look and I know that I'm strong and fit because, well fuck, I don't know a whole lot of people that run more than two miles. Mostly I just want to treat my body better and feed it with quality foods and incorporate exercise into my daily life, not just for training purposes. I know that I will feel better mentally and physically, and when you feel good the world is just a brighter place.

stuffy nose, stuffy weather.

I woke up Tuesday with congestion from hell and an irritated throat. I stayed home from work and, obviously, opted out of my three mile run. I've got my 10K on Saturday, anyways, so I know it's not going to hurt to taper a little bit, even if it is a shorter race. Hopefully I'll be feeling up to running tomorrow. It does suck, though, because I had set a goal for myself to not miss any training runs this month and now I have missed one.

I've armed myself for battle today, though. Yesterday I spent all day resting on the couch. Today I brought healthy food to work (soup, carrots, apple slices, an orange, strawberries, and oatmeal for breakfast), I'm staying hydrated with lots of water and hot tea, and I've got cough drops and Emergen-C, along with Mucinex and Excedrin already in my system. Hopefully with another good night's sleep I'll have kicked whatever this is.

brief, tired.

Saturday's eight miles... oh boy. It was tough. I was at a slower pace than I've been in a while but I don't give a shit because I still ran eight miles. It took me an hour and a half. Over an 11:00 min/mile pace. Whatevz.

Running my first official 10K this weekend! It'll be nice to have an easier long run day (although the race is on the beach, which may prove more difficult than I'm anticipating). I'm going to enjoy the mileage cut back because the following week is 9.5 miles. HOLY. SHIT. How am I going to do it? My brain is my worst enemy on these runs. Boredom is brutal. Must find entertainment. But even though it seems unfathomable, I know I'll manage, even if I want to die and sleep in a lawn before finishing.

Early to bed tonight and for the rest of the week. I've got some serious sleep to catch up on.

i'm back!

I feel like I haven't posted here in forever, but it turns out it's only been a week. Since my last post, I've been keeping up with my runs and on Saturday I ran the longest run I have ever run in my entire life - 7.17 miles. I seriously feel like such a badass. Me? Run 7 miles? Straight? Yep, that's right. I celebrated the achievement thoroughly at our homemade pizza party that night. Now every Saturday is going to boost my confidence even more as I continue to beat my own records.

Today for my 4 mile run, I ran a route that I used when I had my four mile 'long' run. I remember running it back then and stopping RIGHT when I hit the four mile mark, even though I usually just make it back to the house before stopping, regardless of if I go a little over on the scheduled miles. That day, though, I didn't even make it back to the house. I did what I had to do and not a bit more. I basically gave up. Today I made it back to the house and felt good. It totaled 4.32 miles and I ran it in 46:27. My progress is clear and it is awesome.

My mood has been a little weird lately. I've been feeling a little out of place in my world. Running is my therapy.

keeping momentum.

I switched my Tuesday run to yesterday since I had the offer of company! A pal of mine rode a bike with me while I did my four miles. It was nice to have someone there to chat with and definitely made the run more bearable. I only checked my time once as I was in the home stretch, just to see where I was sitting with my time. Right on schedule - I was at a 10:40 min/mile pace and finished the run in 43:19.

I'm glad I have a few days off before my next run, my legs are tired today!

This week will also mark the longest run I have for sure ever done in my entire life - seven miles. I feel 100% confident. From here on out, every week will be a new record for me. I am entering unknown territory and it feels awesome.

feelin' like a badass.

Not gonna lie, this morning has been pretty awesome. My alarm went off at 6:45AM, and I'll admit I hit snooze once or twice, but I was out of bed by 7AM. I grabbed a pre-run snack, got dressed, and started my run. Six miles. One of the longest runs, if not THE longest run, I've done in my life. With the way my 5.5 mile run went last week, I was a bit concerned, but holy shit this run was amazing. I felt strong the whole time. I did 6.04 miles in 63:29. So I'm still keeping a sub-11:00 min/mile pace. According to the HRM, I burned 857 calories. Daaaaaaaaaamn. I'm ready to eat pasta tonight!

I bought a new pair of running shoes and a running belt yesterday. The shoes are the Mizuno Wave Runners. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet. I took them for a short test run yesterday and I felt like my legs were tweaking a little more than normal, but if I remember correctly my old Asics did the same when I first got them and now I love them. They have certainly been good to me. I'll keep them around for the long runs until I break in the new shoes with the short runs. I wore the running belt for the first time today and I kind of love it. It wasn't remotely uncomfortable and I liked being able to carry the water bottles around and stay hydrated during the run. I feel like that may have been a contributing factor to my terrific run today.

The folks are coming into town soon. Our pasta dinner will be made with homemade tomato sauce (from homegrown tomatoes) and homegrown eggplant. Did I mention I can't wait to eat pasta?

terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Well, maybe not THAT bad. But I've got a lot weighing on my mind lately. I planned on going running as soon as I got off of work since I was off a bit early, but instead I fell asleep on the couch for an hour and a half. That couch is dangerous territory. I should know that by now. Settling in to watch just ONE episode of Intervention or some other shit on Netflix almost always ends up turning into either multiple episodes or a nap. Sometimes both. So from now on, the couch comes AFTER the runs.

I woke up around 7:30PM and got my ass moving. I felt pretty good for the first 2.5 miles or so, and then I literally felt like I had hit a brick wall. I don't know if I was dehydrated (I shouldn't have been, I drank 8 cups of water at work), still tired from the nap, or if I didn't fuel well enough (I guess cheddar cheese rice cakes aren't ideal, huh?) but it was miserable. I trudged through the rest of the run, wanting to walk but refusing to let myself. I finished 3.63 miles in 39:23, setting myself at a 10:50 min/mile. I was very surprised to see that I was still sub-11:00. I will definitely be sticking to my usual banana or peanut butter on bread before runs. What works, works.

Quiet night in tonight. Watching TV with the roommate and probably going to bed at a decent hour. I want to get some things done tomorrow, including a hair cut and oil change. Maybe bringing a pup or two to the park, as well. Saturday the folks are coming into town so we'll probably go out to lunch or dinner.

My 10K is in three weeks and my half marathon is in two months. Hell. Yes.

new year, new runs.

I started off the new year with a badass run. It was Monday's three miler (3.13, really) and I averaged at a sub-10 min/mile pace! The run took me 31:02, which gave me a 9:54 pace. The run was hard but I pushed through. Today I've got a 3.5 mile run on the schedule and I'm trying to enlist my pal to ride a bike along with me for company.

I'm going to buy a new pair of running shoes this weekend, I think. It's about that time, and with the half marathon only two months away I want to have time to break them in but not overwear them.

Also, I already broke my no booze goal for January by having one beer last night while out to dinner with the girls. I'm not going to worry about it, though, because it was a pretty stressful day. Another goal that I'm tweaking is the run a mile super fast every Wednesday goal. I've decided I'm going to do start this after the half marathon. I don't want to run the risk of hurting myself beforehand.

January 2012 goals.

I'm going to make monthly mini-goals to keep focused. Here's what I've got on my plate for January:


1. complete all of my training runs
2. run the Surf N Turf 10K in less than 69 minutes (maintaing at least an 11 min/mile pace)
3. eat 6+ servings of fruits and vegetables every day
4. get at least 7 hours of sleep every night
5. no booze, no cigarettes

Rock on. I'll check in on February 1st and see how I made out.