Tiiiirrrrredddd

Maybe it was doing back to back run days.  Maybe I didn't sleep enough last night.  Maybe I am getting ready for a "special friend" to visit.  Whatever the reason, today I was TIRED.  Blech.  But I did manage to pull myself together and sweat to my favorite dance class.  And I was a vain little wench while doing it - I couldn't believe how skinny my legs looked!

Tomorrow is six miles.  They are going to be slow miles, but they will be done.  Which means I really have to finish up this bowl of cereal and dried fruit and get ready for bed.

Oh - BTW - I have fallen in love with cinnamon raisin English muffins.  And not even the classy special bakery kind - Thomas'.  Why did I never have these before?  I will mention that I ate it with cashew butter which might elevate its highbrowness.

I'm inventing words - it's time to sign off.

But before I do - today I am thankful for all the people who make me laugh.  I'm thinking about this today because I have my cousins coming over Friday night and expect to be prostrate on the floor with laughter.  In recent weeks my co-workers have also made me laugh myself into hysterics as well.  It's such a good feeling.

Sunday=Pain Day

My thankful for today is that Tina put out the thankful challenge.  Because of that I have become consistent with my blogging plus I am getting more into the habit of actually using my camera!

So...from the title of this post you can guess that today is not going to be in the top 5 of my runs.  But - there is something special about it, which I will tell you at the end.

Today started out right - slept in a bit, ate my beloved bagel w/PB, packed up, and got ready to run.  I even remembered to put my camera in my fannypack so I could take the pictures of my running route!

Practical AND stylish.

I had a good start - trying to stay slow which has been a struggle recently.  Sometimes I'm not sure what slow is to me.  I do the talk test under my breath every once in a while but since I run alone it's a little awkward,  Maybe I should try to fake that my headphones are for a phone and have an imaginary conversation?  Will give that more thought.

My first five miles are not that interesting - mostly city blocks.  Then I enter a small park - including a dog run!  I'm lucky that I've never been threatened by any of the dogs I've ever run by.

What a cutie!

I continued on through the park and had a little friend running parallel to me for a bit!

SQUIRREL!

There's definitely some hilliness in Cambridge - biggest one is in this park.  I will admit that later in the run I walked up one hill, but otherwise I stuck to it.

More city, and then - the river.  Lots of pictures there.

Really nice to run along on sunny days as today was.  I usually see kayakers at some point and today I did see one person out, but didn't get the camera out in time to catch him.  But I did catch some other river travelers.

Oh, and another dog.

What a sweetie!

I turned left from the river to complete my loop.  Not much to see there, but I do love these buildings that are right across where I stop for some Gatorade.

I have no idea what they are, I just love their shapes.

Made it back to my gym to pick up my stuff.  But it really was a close one.  My right hip started feeling stiff around mile 5; my left joined in around mile 8.  I was happy when the left kicked in - I was symmetrical now!  I wouldn't be babying one side and running in bad form!  What a loon.

The important part about this run was that I had a new longest distance run.  I did 14 miles.  I wanted to give up at mile 8 and catch the T back.  I wanted to give up at mile 13 and give myself another week to add the mileage.  What kept me going is that knowledge that if I cut this run short I wouldn't make my 100 miles.  I tried to say "oh, I'll make it up later..." but I knew that was a lie.  So - fought through.

In total honesty the last three miles were a liberal application of the walk/run principal.  If I was to publish my splits (which I will not, for pride's sake), it would show a steep decline from mile 1 to mile 12-14.  Not good.  

It might have been from doing a tempo run yesterday or I might not have been stretching post-run enough this week (or ever).  Today was a mental toughness day and I am proud to say that although my body wanted to give up, my spirit didn't.

Hey - I actually cooked!

Shocking, I know, but I actually cooked tonight.  

Yup - water boiling, pasta cooked, quick sauce, voila!

Yeah, I know, not the prettiest.  Would have looked better if I hadn't been to cheap to buy parsley. And could take decent pictures.  I will say it tasted really good.  The recipe is Penne with Tuna and Mustard , and I used an interesting mustard that I bought when I went to The National Mustard Museum .  Yes, I actually visited a mustard museum - for my birthday last year.  It was sorta fun.

Guess what else I did today?

That's right - took pictures of my shoes!  Well, after I ran a tempo run.  Not my best - I had some awesome times when I felt like I was flying, but had to slow down to a walk in part of it.  I need to remind my stupid brain - slow down doesn't have to be a walk.  It's better when it's not in fact!  But these shoes - they make me want to go go go!

Can't you hear the angelic choir?

I do love these shoes - for now.  We'll have to see how they break in.  One thing that is bothering me is that I'm having some issues with my running socks.  For my first run in them I wore one of my thicker pairs of socks and felt somewhat constrained in the toes.  Today's run was in thinner socks and was slipping around a little bit when I was walking before the run.  I feel like for problem one the shoes will loosen in time, and for problem two I've had this before with other shoes and it stopped after a bit.

I also spent today taking my camera all over the place, practicing taking pictures.  I really want to have more pictures on this blog - plain text can be boring.   You know that a boiling pot of water is excitement filled!

Sunshine in front, Jody in back

I also took some fun shoe shots.  Have to say, I strongly dislike sneakers.  I like these, though.

But today I wore these.  

Sassy!

And just because I was looking awesome (not!), here I am!

I'm going to keep practicing my photo skills.  Jody - think I can get better?

Doubtful.

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Today I am thankful for lazy lounges in warm baths.  Do not ask me how many baths I took today.  I think I'm part fish.  What fish lives in warm water?

Short and simple 2

I'm thankful for a warm bed on a windy, cold night.

Work it baby!

Goals are good.  So is ramen and peas on a rainy day.

Mmmm.  Raaameen.

My goal for this month is slightly better for me than ramen.  Slightly.  I want to hit 100 miles this month.  I've never gone that high, but I've come close!

August = 1/2 marathon training
September=sick for entire week

I will run 100 miles this month.  When I started the sentence before this, I almost wrote "I probably...".  None of that.  I will hit my goal.  

It's interesting that even without a large event to train for, I still have this drive to go further and/or faster in my runs.  I was concerned that I would get to be a slacker with nothing huge to look forward to.  Not happening, which is awesome.

My next race is a 5K in December.  My goal is a new PR there.  And it's an important PR; if I improve on my current PR it will mean I will average a sub-10 minute mile.  I know I have it in me.  I will be doing speedwork in between now and then and get myself mentally prepared.  10:00?  You're going DOWN!

Other than that, I will say that I am thankful today that my Ann Taylor Loft credit card bill came.  I know - weird to be happy for a bill.  It's just that it's a new credit card and my first bill from them, and I wanted to be sure that it didn't get lost somehow.  I just have these extremely paranoid visions of my credit being screwed up because of an unpaid lost bill!

And that ends our #whitepeoplesburdens section of November.  

Plain and Utter Joy

I talked with my new boss today for the first time.  She is pretty awesome; we are so much alike that I asked if she was a clone of me that was created before I moved from Virginia (where she lives).  I then had a highly productive meeting with the manager of one of the teams I am going to be working with, and started my first high level project document.  I know - fascinating.  I can't help myself.  I've wanted to move into this position for years and I finally got here.

On the exercise side I ran three miles before personal training today.  The three miles were in my new Brooks sneakers and I was a little nervous because the socks I put on seemed to make the fit seem a little tighter than it was in the store. I have hopes that they will stretch out a bit in time.  I love them from what I was able to see today.  I felt like I was flying.  Of course if you come back in six months and read that I hate my Brooks, know that I am either on drugs now or then. Or both.

From the food side I have been eating free food for the last three days.  And you know that free food most often equals sub-optimally nutritious food.  (Notice how I didn't say bad there?  Reframing FTW!).  Tonight I am happy to be back to a nice salad with chicken and a side of my homemade pumpkin soup.  I would post a picture of it but it is pretty much decimated.  Also boring.

To close out I am thankful for my awesome trainer. I worked hard with her today and might curse her name tomorrow, but for now I am so glad I have her in my life.

Anticipation

My office had a visitor today.  Our VP of engineering was visiting from the west coast.  It was good to see him but what really was important to me personally was that he confirmed a job change for me that I had only heard about second hand.

I will say that this job change is welcome ; it's one that I've been looking for for a long time.   At the same time I'm as nervous as I was when I started at the company for the first time.

I have my first call with my new manager tomorrow.   I've heard really good things about her so I am excited,  but at the same time nervous.   I am ready to face the challenges!

Today I will be thankful for all the people who supported me to get this far.  My most recent manager is leaving the company,  but one of his last focuses has been on getting me this job.  I've worked for this VP at two different jobs and have always felt that he wants me and my coworkers to succeed.   And I am definitely thinking of some other supportive people I have worked with along the way.  I truly am grateful that I met so many fantastic people in my career so far.

Short and simple

I am thankful for the technology that allows me to blog this from my bed and keeps me in a job.  I am thankful for the technology that will allow me to work from home when the winter comes.  And I am thankful that we can connect to each other across the globe.

Picture Day!

So, I had planned to be semi-relaxed about my LSD (long slow distance) today and was going to take pictures along my route.  It's a nice route that I've done multiple times before.  Start at Porter Square in Cambridge, go left for a loop, right for a loop, run down to Harvard (dodging tourists), down to the Charles and along the river to Kendall Square.  There are definitely some good picture locations along the way, especially at the river.  That was the plan.  Of course the plan did not take into account that I am not the sharpest pencil in the drawer, complicated by the fact that I am lazy.  Which translates me to realizing I forgot my camera when I was warming up, but being too lazy to go down a set of stairs and get it.  So - no during run pictures.  How about a compromise  with some post-run pictures?

Stunning, I know, as well as displaying excellent photo technique.

If you look carefully you can see some white patches.  Yes, I sweat like a mother when I run.  I frequently get salt in my eyes when I pause around mile 11 to get some Gatorade.  Also in the picture is my gorgeous couch, which also has the highlight of being torn up from being used as a scratching post.  When I lived in DC it was in the middle of the room so the cats had access to the back.  I tried to get them to stop by putting aluminum foil on the back.  That worked, and gave some awesome highlights to the room.  Be sure to ask me for decorating tips.

Since I wanted more pictures for this post I decided to actually stretch after a run.   This of course lead to an assistant.

Yes, I wore red and purple together.  Style icon!

Well hello gorgeous!

After some stretching and cat cuddling, I decided to reheat my lunch.

Black bean chili with cheese.  Not shown - tortilla chips and browning  guacamole.

After lunch is not as picture worthy, mostly because I just did a lot of laundry and read.  I would take pictures of me in my lovely warm flannel PJs, but since they are in a cheetah print I think I would set the internet on fire.  

Rest of the evening will be Sunday-evening Bridezilla watching mixed in with minor cleaning.  Might fit in doing my nails with one of new colors I bought yesterday.  Yes - my life is full of danger and excitement.

To close out today, I will list a few reason why I am thankful for my mom.  She's a really special person in my life and I am truly blessed to have her.

• My mom and I have a very close relationship.  She and I talk on the phone most nights of the week.  We spend vacations together.  We shop together, and our taste in clothes is so much alike that sometimes we find ourselves fighting over the last of our size.  Not really fighting, though - my mom is always so nice and lets me try the clothes on first.
• My mom is retired now, but when she was working she was awesome.  She worked in finance for a lot of top companies and traveled for assignments to Europe.  I remember going to visit her in Paris when she was working there.  Since she's retired she took over the financial dealings with her portfolio and has done beautifully with the money. I always turn to her for financial advice.
• My mom loves her animals.  When I was growing up we always had cats and/or dogs in the house.  We topped out at 5 cats and a dog!  Right now she has one dog and one cat and dotes on them.  We tease her that she loves the dog more than she loves us.  I can understand that; she has a pretty awesome dog.
• Since she retired my mom has spent a lot of her time volunteering.  She works for the New Jersey Conservation Association, and also volunteers for the Good Samaritans with her church.  The rest of the time she gets to read and watch movies all day - I envy her!
• I love my mom so much and always know that she is there to support me.  She's had to talk me down off the ledge sometimes and I know that I take that for granted.  I truly am blessed to have her.

Fall back - FALL BACK~!

It's turning chilly here in the NE.  Well, not as chilly as last weekend's storm, but still getting a bit brisk. I don't know if my running has made me a little tougher, but I don't seem to mind the weather as much.  Maybe I'm finally developing my Mass roots.  I would promise not to start driving like a maniac, but unfortunately, too late.

Today was a run around day even though it didn't feel like it.  I woke up late - so nice to hit snooze three times without worry!  Then I had to haul my butt to the gym for a massage.  I've never had a full out massage before. It was nice.  I think once I get more comfortable I'll ask for a little deeper pressure.  My muscles were so tense that even a moderate pressure gave me some ow!  Need to do more massages and/or more yoga.  Of course I still had some vestiges of DOMS too.  But it seems to be going away, thank goodness.

After the massage I went over to my local running store and picked up a new pair of sneakers.  I only have a couple hundred miles on my current shoes (Asics 2160s), but I feel like I want to start swapping pairs in if I'm going to start doing back to back days.  Which I might - we'll see.  I'm not as in love with the 2160s as I was with the prior model, so I went with Brooks this time - the Ravenna 2.  I plan on breaking them in on Wednesday with my personal training warmup, and I am already excited.  They felt awesome on when I was doing some jogging to try them out at the store.  Whee!

I picked up twenty tons of soft-core porn...ahem...romance novels from the library.  From there I came back and tonight cooked up black bean chili for dinner, with a side of tortilla chips and guac.  Maybe I'll post a picture tomorrow of the leftovers when I have them for lunch.  The chips were Tostitos Hint of Jack, and I loved them even without the guac.  The chili was soooo yummy.  Nicely spicy.  The recipe I used is from Cooking Light - Black Bean Salsa Chili .  I didn't follow the recipe exactly; I used beef instead of turkey and skipped the sour cream topping.  I threw some taco cheese on top, and it melted in nicely.  I have a feeling it's also going to be wonderful as leftovers tomorrow.  Perfect for after my long run!

Rest of the evening is going to be quiet.  Going to watch the only one of two shows I watch these days - the Suze Orman show.  I like the Can I Afford It segment.  Otherwise she kind of annoys me.  The other show I watch?  Bridezilla reruns on Sunday afternoon.  What can I say?  I'm a klassy, klassy girl.

And to keep the streak alive - today I am thankful for...new experiences.  New shoes, massage, new recipes - trying new things out are fun!

Thankful challenge day 4

Today is a day where I am feeling physically and mentally tired.  Started out with some DOMS from my personal training session on Wednesday that caused me to cut my 6 mile run into a 3 mile run.  And even with that I had trouble getting out of my chair at work today.  Luckily tomorrow is a massage, so that should help.  Emotionally I had some non-surprising but important news come that will cause some changes at work, so that's always exhausting.

With that, I still decided to stick with what I planned my be thankful for today message would be.  For today, I am thankful for my health.

I haven't talked about it much, but I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was 24.  It had hit me hard - I couldn't walk down the halls at work, I shuffled.  I didn't have the power to shift the gear shaft in my car.  I was so happy when they finally told me what it was.

It's been 13 years since that diagnosis, and I've had my ups and downs.  I've had days where I just couldn't walk well from the pain and stiffness.  And you don't know how strange it feels to have attacks in your toes! I've had a few nights where I woke up in pain.

With all that said my symptoms are very well controlled by medication.  I'm currently on methotrexate but in the past have been on such fun medications as Vioxx (you know, the one that was taken off the market because it caused heart problems?) and Plaquenil, which caused permanent scarring in my retinas.  Fun!

I think my running has made me that much stronger and able to deal with my arthritis.  I haven't had the attacks recently.

I also am very blessed because it could be so much worse.  I am currently reading an incredible book about the history of cancer.

Get it out from the library and read it.  I'm only partially the way through and am already enthralled.  It balances the heartbreak of cancer stories with teaching about how people in history have taken bold risks to fight it. 

In reading it I am reminded that I am truly thankful for my health.

Thankful challenge day 3

I've got a lot of thankful long posts brewing in the back of my head that I don't feel I can give justice to tonight.  It's 8:30, I'm eating ramen (salt lick!) with peas, cuddling in flannels with a cat determined to be on my lap no matter how many times I shack her off.

For today, I guess I'll go with...I'm thankful for being able to cuddle up in warmth and salt. I know how blessed I am to have a roof over my head and the knowledge that if things go wrong I have a strong support group to stand behind me as I get back on my feet.  And I am extra thankful that I have low blood pressure so I can enjoy my salt lick every once in a while without guilt.

Challenges accepted!

So Tina @ Carrots N Cake put this out for November - Be Thankful Challenge .  Every day in November write down something you are thankful for. It's a nice way of reminding yourself of the good things in your life.

My thankful for November 1 was that I live close to family.  Love Boston as a city but the real hold is my awesome cousins.  Last night we got to go see Legally Blonde on stage together - and cracked up.  Hilarious.  Also had some songs I plan on downloading for running to.

For November 2, I'll say...I'm thankful for my job.  Not only that I have one but also that it is one that challenges me sometimes.  Not always - but what job does?  And really - who wants to always be under pressure?  I also am thankful for my job because it pays me such that I can live the spoiled rich princess life that I do.  Peel me a grape, butler!  Nah, not at that level, but at the level that I was able to buy my pretty pretty car when I crashed my old one last year.

It's not really orange, I'm just a really bad photographer.

In addition to the Thankful challenge I also signed up for Pile on the Miles .  I'm always happy to run but having the extra incentive of possible prizes doesn't hurt.  Of course that also adds a fourth place for me to update my mileage; I track on Sparkpeople (calorie tracking), DailyMile (challenges, plus good way to look back over prior months), and in a shared spreadsheet with  a friend for motivation.

November should be a fun month - and challenging!   I also have some other goals, but those go for another day.

Well that was a surprise (Devils Chase RR)

So, I ran the Devils Chase yesterday (10/29/2011).  It's a 6.66 mile race in Salem, MA.  I had looked forward to running it ever since I saw it advertised in the goodie bag for my first ever 5K (which was a Halloween race last year).  It just seemed like a fun concept.

I was supposed to run it with my cousin, but unfortunately her job took precedence.  She's a field hockey coach (and an excellent one at that!), and her team had the last regular season game on that day.  It was a game that had been postponed from another day due to all the rain we had this fall.  Boo weather!   Her team won 7-0, and they are in tournament, which means I am hoping to go see one of their games this coming week!

Oh, right - this post is about the race.  Back to that.  First off - love the shirt they had.  It's a really cool red long-sleeve technical shirt, with the Devils Chase logo down around the right hip.  I got a unisex small, which is kind of long (as usual).  Red is not usually my color, but I love this one.

For the actual race, conditions were chilly.  I drove over to the race and was able to park extremely close to the start line.  That was a good thing, because after a quick port-a-potty trip I decided to spend 1/2 of the remaining 20 minutes before race start sitting in my car.  Cold!  ~36 when the race started.

I was a bit underdressed for the weather, although it wasn't exceedingly bad.  I had full-on leggings, shorts, technical shirt, hat, and gloves.  My upper body was chilly for most of the race, but hey - better that than hot!  Gloves came off about halfway through - my hands get sweaty fast.

 The race was crowded for the first couple miles, and I could not believe they started us straight up a hill.  Really - the start line is right at the bottom of a hill.  The course was good (but hilly).  The funniest part for me was that we ran around this little park about 1.5 miles in, and while we were running there was a guy there servicing the port-a-potties.  I had to jump over the hose that he had to clean them out!  Luckily it wasn't connected because knowing me I would have tripped/slid in mud, and gone careening into it.  Eww.

Not a lot of spectators, but the folks who were working the course were fun and dressed up.  I missed the Thriller dance re-enactment.  As I went by, they said that they had done the dance 7 times that day, and were taking a break.  Understandable.

The important part of this post is - I had a goal...and I ripped it apart.  I'm a turtle/penguin/whatever you want to call a slower runner, so my goal was modest - 10:30 minute average pace, 1:10:xx finish.  I ended with 1:07:xx, 10:07 average.  Holy cow!  And to be honest - I think I could have done a little better.  This was the first run where I pushed myself.  I knew I had more in the tank than I thought I did - c'mon, I've been doing 13 mile runs, I can do an awesome 6.66! - so I just told myself to keep going.   It was the first 10K (or close to 10K) that I've done without walking.  Mental barrier broken!

I feel like this was one of my best races.  Mostly because it was a mental breakthrough.  I don't think I'll do it again next year (too many other options out there!), but I definitely can see doing another race by the same organizers.  I also can't wait to do my next race - and push myself again!

It's Never Going to Be Perfect

Image from http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm

I am an overthinker.  No question about it.  So of course I've been taking a look at the conditions for my race on Saturday (Devil's Chase, 6.66 miles).  They look like the exact opposite of my last race - going from sunny mid-80s to rain/snow and temps probably in the high 30s-low 40s.  Now I've been enjoying the last couple weeks of cooler weather, but this turn seems really fast.  I haven't run in these temps since last winter.

This is where I take the promises that I made to myself after my last race.  I won't psyche myself out too much.  Checking the weather every 5 minutes is not suddenly going to turn it into sunny and in the 50s.  I have to be prepared for the race, but it does me no good to overplan.  Stress does not lead to success.  Much as it is a fun rhyme.

I'm probably still going to be checking the weather.  I'll only really take it seriously the day before, when I have to put together my race day outfit.  Rain, snow, or sunny - if the race is on, I am on. 

Feelin' groovy!

I've been feeling good recently.  Well, not truly recently; I think I really felt awesome starting with my last long runs coming up to my half in September.  Getting to 10 miles was a truly awesome feeling.

Since the half I've been concentrating on adding mileage.  Recent weeks have been 20-25 MPW, with my goal being 1500+ miles in 2012.  It's no 100 mile week but I'll take it.  

The side effect I'm seeing is more confidence and ease in my runs.  My LSD (long slow distance, and don't I love this acronym) today was 13 miles, total time just over 2:28.  Now that I've pointed you to the fabulous Rose Runner's blog, that doesn't seem as impressive, but trust me - it's way huge for me.  And yeeks - 13 miles on a LSD?  A year ago, when I was in the midst of training for my first half, I didn't think I could finish that distance once.  Now I'm trying to turn it in to a casual thing!

I do have a next goal in mind - full marathon.  I'm pretty sure it won't be 2012.  I really want to take some time to focus on strength and speed.  And confidence/comfort with what I can push myself to do.  

I know I've got a lot in me.  I'm so proud of where I've gotten in a year.  But this is just the beginning and I can't love it any more.

BTW - the post title?  It's the Simon and Garfunkle song my dad used to sing to me and my siblings.  So cute.  He also used to sing us You May Be Right by Billy Joel.  Not as cute.

Recovering mentally

It's been a while since a new post, and I've definitely been working hard at my running.  I did a runner's bootcamp for four weeks after my half.  It involved a lot of treadmill work, both speed and hills, plus rounds of weight training and core work.   It was beneficial in that it gave me time to get more comfortable on the treadmill again, and it also made me realize that as my back has been getting stronger that my abs are getting weaker.  Bad, bad, bad.

In addition to the bootcamp I have a goal of getting in an average of 30 miles per week.  My goal is to have 2012 be another year of assorted races (probably not as many as this year - still on track for 11 in '11!) including at least one half, with my eye half on doing a full.  The full I would love to do is the Nike Women's, but being it is in San Francisco, I think I need to do much more hill work.

Anyway, I had been consistent in my weekly runs, including getting up to 12 miles for my long run.  I was feeling much stronger and happier and was confident that I could tackle the 10K I had coming up.  A little background - the 10K is my mental weakness. I've never completed a 10K without walking.  And I don't mean just walking through the water stations - I mean actual walking.  I've done three prior 10K's - my first was when I was still new to running and couldn't run that distance even in training; my second started with my shorts sliding down and ended with me run/walking for 4 miles, desperately needing to poop; my third was in June and I went out too fast and ended up getting moderately dizzy at mile 5.

Given the above improvements I felt I've made recently, I felt like I could finally set a new PR (my current is from race #2. ).  I set a goal - 10:30 average.  Hey - I said I'm slow, and I mean it.

So this 10K - Tuft's Women Healthcare.  Boston in October - perfect running weather, right?  And it was the week before and the week after the race.  The day of - happened to be a day that was in the mid-80s.  Record highs for that day.  And the race started at noon.

Sooo....I let the heat get to me.  Mentally.  The first two miles were good, in that they were fast - maybe too fast.  The last two miles and a bit I definitely was in my game - I was rocking it.  The middle two?  Utter collapse.  I have this thing that kicks in somewhere between 1.5 and 2 miles - my body realizes that I'm actually running, and tries to convince me to walk.  Most of the time I can fight through.  I think my 10K non-successes and the heat overrid my normal mental strength.

Long story short (too late!), I ended with a time that was 8 minutes slower than my PR.

I will say this about the race - I honestly think it was the first where I wasn't at some level surprised that I finished.

So, first race where I really felt that I underperformed.  A lot of my other races felt slower than I wanted to be, but this was the first where I felt let down by my mind more than my body.

Writing this out is a step towards moving past it.  I'm going to take it as a strange milestone.  I've now been racing long enough that I have high expectations of myself.

Now to move on.  I will take the lesson from this - I know my weak time in a race, and will find a motto to repeat to myself to make myself realize what is happening, and how to handle it.  I've been practicing more of my tempo runs to make sure that my goals are realistic - which they seem to be.  I will be practicing staying in my own head at the start line so I can remember to go out slower.

My next race is two days before Halloween.  It's a devil themed race and I will be dressing up.  I do have goals, including not walking this time.  I think I can trick myself though - this race is 6.66 so it's not a 10K!

I will end this post by saying that there is one benefit to this race.  It finally gave me a race picture good enough that I am seriously considering purchasing it.

Race completed; post-race, not the best

I ran my second half marathon on September 4.  And I'm way proud of my result.  


As background I ran my first half marathon in January.  It was not a great run but I completed it - in 3:14:05.

7 months later I went into this race feeling stronger and more confident.  For the first time I had goals that I believed I could meet - you can read them in my prior post.

I won't keep you in (non-) suspense.  I met two out of three goals.  I beat my last race - and I broke 02:30:00.  By 15 seconds.  Yes, I ran the race in 02:29:45.

Good things from the race:

* I really broke through mentally.  I think setting goals that were stretch really made me focus and push myself.  At around mile 10 I wanted to start run/walking.  At that point my frantic math calculations against my garmin were not really accurate enough to let me know if I was going to hit goal #2 or not.  I had a sub goal for this race - no walking (* exception for water stations).  That goal got me through the last three miles and got me to realize that I can push myself harder than I think I can do.

*  My mom was there to cheer me on!  She's never seen me run and we were a little worried about us splitting before the race/her finding where to go.  She loved it -  she found three different places to cheer me - including start and finish lines!  I even heard her yell my name, even though I was wearing headphones.  She plans to come visit when I run my next race (10k in October) and might even aim for a 5k herself.

* I kept a good pace through the race and felt strong in my form.   My legs were ready to give out before my breathing, and even they didn't give me more than some minor stiffness the next day.  Compare that to limping for days after my first!

Not so good:

* I'll be a bitch here.  The pace from my first race put me in the second to last corral of the race.   That put me in with a lot of people who were run/walking.  And they were walking across the middle of the course.  Sometimes they even blocked THE ENTIRE COURSE!  Did they not read the race etiquette part of the directions?  What is hilarious is that one of the race photographers caught me in mid-vicious face as I got mad at getting blocked.  Hah!  Once I took the opportunity to duck through every available gap I managed to catch up to folks that were pacing at about where I was.  Luckily this race result should get me in a higher corral at my next Disney race (whenever that is) and I won't have the same problem.

* I caught a nasty cold the day after the race and haven't run since.  I'm not on a specific training plan right now and know that I am doing a post-race taper, so it's not that bad, but I am still itching to get back to running.  Unfortunately the cold is hanging on and I didn't get to take a sick day last week.  Plan is to rest/sick day tomorrow and get back to running the next day.


All in all an awesome experience.  I do have three more races coming this year but I feel less pressured about them.  I will work hard, no doubt, but this race was a huge mental breakthrough.  I know I can rock the races and have a good time.  Next up - a year of speed improvement!

Race Goals

My half marathon in California (Disneyland!) is in 5 days. I'm very excited. It's not my first race, or my first race at this distance, but it's the first where I truly am setting goals. I'm going with the safe/probable/stretch goal trio.

* Safe - beating my first half marathon time. Since that was based on much less running experience plus injury plus a nasty cold, it would probably take asteroids to keep me from beating this. Or really long lines at character picture stops.

* Probable - Time goal of < 2.5 hours. It's a nice goal number and reachable, based on training calculators. It's what I will be aiming for. And it's the first time I will be watching my time before the last mile to figure out what I need to do to make it. Hope my brain is warmed up along with my feet, because there's some math a comin'!

* Stretch - Average of 10:30 per mile. This is a stretch goal but maybe not as stretchy based on recent training runs. I have to be careful with this one - don't want it as primary because I could see myself starting out too fast (common problem) and running out of steam aiming for this. It's more of a "we'll see how it goes, and grow from here" goal.

I'm way excited for this race. Disney does a great race from my first experience, plus I'm running in an area I've never been to before. Double fun! Just based on that, I expect to be happy. If I hit one goal I'll be extra happy. If I hit two, I'll be ecstatic. Three - you'll have to talk me down from the moon.

So much to say...

I've been doing a lot more thinking of blogging than actual blogging recently. And by recently I mean the last two years. But then again, why blow a streak?

So...
* I just came back from vacation a week and a half ago. It was hella awesome as always; it was a vacation to my favorite place in the world. I won't go into details because it would be a lot of text with no pictures, but suffice to say that when I was running a week in a half into the two week trip I caught myself thinking that my thighs didn't rub as much when I was running at the start of the trip. Success by any measure!

* I'm about to go back on another vacation. Yes - I do actually work, it's just for some reason I tend to cluster a lot of trips together. Which can be unfortunate because of my bad habit of always thinking ahead, and never living in the now. My brain is already on vacation, which means that basically what I said before about working? Eh - not so much.

* The vacation mentioned in the immediately prior point is to DISNEYLAND. ALL CAPITALS, WELL DESERVED. And as part of it, I'll be running a half marathon. Or to put it more correctly, the Disneyland trip is because I am running the half.

* I've never been to Disneyland. I expect to enjoy it. I will be going with my mother. The last two sentences do not contradict each other. Mom and I have gone to WDW multiple times and loved it; I expect the same with this trip.

And that's it for now. I know I had a lot more to say, but here's to breaking the blogging brain backlog!