Rest Day Friday

I forgot to tell my internal clock that it is rest day! 5am *blink* I'm wide awake. Tried hard to go back to sleep, but my body just wasn't having it. I gave in, got up & cleaned the house, did a little laundry, had a little coffee .... kinda nice to have some quiet time around the house before work! Happy Friday bloggy friends!

Hello Sweaty Head

Today was 6am hill repeat day. Nothing sounds fun about that sentence. I know I've said before that hills and I, well, we just don't like each other. I don't practice on them and I pay the price later....

So hill repeats it is. I met Penny at 6am to run up/down/up/down this big nasty hill. I hate that hill. I don't even like driving that hill! An hour later I was drenched. Not a dry spot anywhere! Whew. That was hard.

I always sweat - alot on my head & hairline. I have GOT to find a headband or hat - something to keep the sweat out of my face. I usually wear a hat, but I think I need something else. Any suggestions runner friends? I need something that stays put and soaks up buckets of sweat. Is there such a thing?

I was a little worried how my knee would hold up since today was the 4th day in a row that I've ran. Surprisingly it held up really well this week! Rest day tomorrow! Hooray for rest day!

New Group Jitters

I don't know if everyone is like this or if I'm just a freaky freak....but I get so nervous when I'm running with new people.

I am a member of the local running club, and I'm yet to ever run with them. I meant to, really I did. Well, not really. I'm too scared. Will I be the slowest one in the group? Are they runners who stay together or go off on their own and just meet at the end? ipod runners or talkers? What about water breaks? Do they take them?

I have a few ladies who I'm totally comfortable with, but we can't always meet up for mid-week runs. It would be nice to have another group just in case.

What is the deal with my being so scared to run with new people? For the last maybe 6 months I get the emails everyday announcing group running plans. I read them, I wish I had the guts to go with them, and delete.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. I got the same email I get every Tuesday - announcing the 'beginner' (slower) group run Wednesday morning. I've read this same email every Tuesday for months. For some reason, yesterday I read it differently. I've gotten a *tiny* bit of confidence back since I seem to be able to run again, knee is doing ok. I've gotten a *tiny* bit of confidence back because I can now say I'm training for a race.

I emailed the group leader asking pace, she emailed right back telling me it would be slow and asked me to join them.

I typed, 'thanks so much, but I'm not sure my knee is ready for the hills on the route'. Backspaced that out. It's not your knee's fault you're being such a cupcake.

'thanks so much, but I don't really have enough time to do 6 miles before work'. Liar. They meet at 5am, that's plenty of time. Backspaced that out.

In my head : Suck it up princess and just run with them. How bad can it be? If you can't hang with them, just blame it on your knee, walk back to your car and try again another day. They will understand if you're slow, you are just getting back after surgery. Runners are supportive, good people right?

'Ok, I'll be there!'

Holy cow, I'd better get to bed. 5am run means I have to get up no later than 4:15. Must have coffee, food & be out the door by 4:45. Yikes. Slept awful - similar to how I sleep the night before race day. Nervous I'd sleep through the alarm, nervous I'd wake up late, blah. Not sure why I said yes.

But. All that fussing for NOTHING. 6 miles, no problem - I could have gone faster by about mile 3 (that's when I get warmed up and can kick it in a little faster). All went fine, everyone was of course very nice, supportive, etc. Just like you'd expect. 6 miles done before most people were even awake. I kinda LOVE that!

Tomorrow....hill work at 6am, followed by a glorious rest day on Friday! Have a good rest of your week!

3 Hills & a Toilet

Hills schmills, who needs hills?! Thought I would torture myself this morning & throw a few in...WoW. I am going to need to practice that a bit. I hate hills. Hate them. Of course, who really likes them unless you're going DOWN!

In my 2nd 1/2 marathon I got surprised by hills (duh, look at the course before you run silly!) and DIED since I never and I mean NEVER run hills. Fool me once shame on me....what was that my mom always said about me learning my lessons the hard way? Some things never change.

My run today was ok, kinda quiet since I was alone with no ipod. 6am run, 3 miles on the training schedule, so 3 miles I did. But I did see this on my run today:Yes folks, that is a purple toilet on top of a dirt pile. If any of you read Shut Up and Run, this pic is dedicated to her! Check her out, she has a giveaway going on today too. Have a good Tuesday!

1/2 Marathon Monday!

Today is the first official day of training for my October 1/2. How did I start that first day of training? Sleeping through my alarm and missing my run this morning! Dang it. Not a great way to kick things off huh?!

I had 3 miles on the schedule today, so I squeezed those in at lunch time. It was an ok run, I'm a bit tired from staying up too late, but all is feeling good today. I have GOT to get to bed before midnight if I plan to run in the mornings before work! Yikes. I'm gonna have to get it together...it's training time!

Good luck to everyone training for fall races!

you put WHAT in your sports bra?!

First for my daily run recap .... 5 miles at 6am with the girlies. Great run, weather was good, knee was ok, great way to start the day!

The Rack Trap
Ok now, I read this article today, about the Rack Trap. A pocket for your sports bra?!?! I'm a little disturbed, yet curious as well. I have been known to carry things in my sports bra as a last resort(Well, I have to carry stuff somewhere when I run, and I boycotted the hydration belt forever)

I have a hydration belt now with a little pocket to carry my stuff, but I still really don't like it much, and the pocket isn't big enough for keys, phone & fuel. I think I want to try this out!

So ladies? Rack Trap. Discuss.

I wonder....

If you're a runner, you probably have read Born to Run. After telling me all about eating chia seeds, a friend gave me the book to borrow when I was laid up after surgery. It talks alot about barefoot running and how many running injuries never existed until we started running in our high tech shoes. So I've read alot about barefoot running lately. I guess it's the new thing now? Well, everything is new to me because I've only been running for a little over a year - I know just about zero - the only things I know are what NOT to do.

I'm curious about this barefoot running thing. But not curious enough to set out on the street running barefoot. Holy moly, what if I step on something sharp? Want to end your training schedule? Step on a nail. Well, stepping on a nail with shoes on would be bad too....but you get my point.

Or gross, we run by the bars of Aggieville on Saturday mornings - I don't even want to tell you about the barf we saw last weekend. I know, TMI. Nasty.

BUT. During my workout today I started thinking about it. I already basically have shoes on even when I'm barefoot (I wear nothing but flip flops all summer and walk barefoot ALOT), so my feet are not baby bottom soft.

Today I did the elliptical for about 20 minutes to loosen up my knee and hit the track. (inside running today - people it's Kansas, at noon, in July.) I planned to run 3 but I just wasn't with it today. Probably because my breakfast consisted of grapes and I forgot my mid morning snack. Bad eating = bad running.

About 1 1/2 into the run, my knee was hurting quite a bit. I was alone on the track, so what the hey, I decided to take off my shoes and see what all the hubbub is about. It was weird. But kinda cool. I noticed my stride got shorter and my feet landed much lighter. The best thing was - instantly my knee pain was gone. What the heck. Seriously. It was gone. I don't think it's the answer to 'my knee's all better now', but I ran the last 1/2 mile with no pain after it was hurting enough before I took off my shoes that I wanted to stop.

I would have gone farther but a guy came and told me I had to wear shoes on the track. Fun spoiler.

Anyone know anything about barefoot running? Have a good day friends, I'm off to google it! I see Vibrams in my future....do they come in pink?! Why yes, they DO!
Vibram Five Fingers

Isn't it time to train YET?!

WoW. Unmotivated Monday....just as unmotivated today....I really need a training schedule. Call it weird, crazy, or maybe OCD, but I have got to have a weekly training plan or I just feel totally lost. Eh, I don't want to work out today. No list to check off, noone with know.

That all ends next week. (thank goodness!) I will start training for Waddell & Reed 1/2 marathon. This will be my third 1/2, but my first race since knee surgery. I don't have a time goal (um, yeah, I can say that....but we all know there is a finish time that will make me happy, and a finish time that will piss me off)

Let me know if you come across a runner who can honestly say they don't care what their finish time is. Chances of that are slim to none I'm thinking! LOL

Getting my pink sharpie ready to X through each training day. YAY!
Waddell & Reed Marathon

Our Saturday Adventure

A few days ago, Racing with Babes
(http://racingwithbabes.blogspot.com)
did a post called 'snapshot of eight'. She took a pic at each mile of her run that day. I thought that was cool, so I attempted to do that this morning :)

The girls and I met in our regular place, 6am for a 7 mile run. We decided to try a new route, one I never even knew existed. (yeah, I've lived in this town for a long time and I never knew this trail was even here!) Super nice run, a great change of pace.

Our fist view was this at about mile 1:


Here is mile 2:


Here is mile 3:


Here is mile 4:


Here is mile 5:
Yeah, ok, that one needs a little explanation....we were low on water, so we got off the trail and went down to a local business (who wasn't open), saw their hose out front and thought we would fill up. OMG the hose water actually bubbled in our water bottles, was really cloudy, and quite scary! So we dumped that and went on to the next place - the only place around was a concrete company - they seemed to have people around so we went on in. Hello? Anyone here? Oh, there's a few guys - hey do you have any water around where we could fill up our bottles? I swear, these guys looked at us like we were crazy. First of all, it's before 7am, and how random for three *very* sweaty ladies to come walking into the concrete company garage? Hey we were desperate and there was a water cooler. Works for us :)

Here is mile 6:


And here is mile 7:
Thanks ladies for a fun morning!

Anyone Want Some Free FRS Chews?!

On a long run, you have to have something mid way through to pep you back up. I've tried, well, I think everything possible. I really can't do GU (the consistency ... barf, barf, barf), so I'm always searching for the perfect on the run energizer.

I bought these FRS chews, because you know, if they're good enough for Lance they should be good enough for me....I don't like them. Not at all. Wow, I mean really not at all.

If you do, and you would like a whole brand new bag, please message me and I would be happy to send them your way! Keep in mind that the bag is open since I obviously tried one - but the little chews are individually wrapped (which is what sold me in the first place). Let me know if you can use them, I hate throwing $20 in the trash!

Holy Guacamole!

Here's Penny & Gina taking a much needed walk break...Wow friends, it's is like a sauna out there today! And not the nice ones that serve iced drinks.

The girls and I set out at 6 am for a quick run, thinking we would beat the heat by going out early. Oh my, I was wrong. When I got up this morning my house windows were FOGGED over! I went to let my puppies out, stuck my hand out and UGH. It is thick out there people.

We ran farther than I anticipated....we did 5 miles today that felt like 10! I think I honestly could have squeezed sweat out of my hat. Nasty! I rushed home for a quick shower and off to work - love having 5 miles on the log before 7am.

We got to see a really pretty sunrise this morning. Too bad it's trash day in the neighborhood...if you can ignore that it's a really pretty picture!
Have a great day!

Get up off the toilet (if you can)

Tonight my kiddo and I set out for a short evening run. I was a bit afraid she would never go after she couldn't sit down on the toilet after the last run. (you know you've had a great run if you have trouble sitting on the toilet!)

After just a tiny bit of talking into, we laced up our shoes and took off. She asked how far we were going and I lied...just a little....and said we would just go run and not count how far we were going. Running just for fun. I knew darn well I had a 2 mile route planned.

Last time we did a run/walk 2 miles. I mapped it when we got home and we ran just a little more than we walked. This time I was going to try to get a little more running out of her. Honestly though, I am a little afraid of making it too hard for her right out of the gate - she'll hate it and never want to do it again.

So how did this run go? I resorted to talking about anything possible trying to distract her....I even sang stupid songs (anyone we passed probably thought I had lost my mind!) But in the end, less whining and more running! Our route was 2 miles, we ran 1.75 of that 2. That's a 1/2 mile farther than the last run. Whoop whoop! Super proud of my non-runner kid today!
Here she is after our run...Didn't look so happy here, but I caught her singing in the shower after :)
And the knee is feeling great after my longish run last Saturday!

Getting ready to register both of us for J's first race! August 8 we are heading to Kansas City for Race for the Cure. My friend Jen is running her first 5K that day, so we're heading there to pull her through her first race day. I worried that taking J would slow Jen down, but after running 1.75 tonight, 3 1/2 weeks to go before race day, I think we'll be ok! Getting excited!!

It's Saturday!

WoW I wanted to sleep in this morning REALLY bad. I got to bed late last night, 5:15 alarm seemed super early. 5:15 I got up, went back to bed, 5:20 got up again and went back to bed! I had my phone in my had to text the girls to tell them I wasn't going to make it for our 6:00 run....

Something about having to tell someone that you're just to lazy to get your tushie out of bed.....just couldn't do it! Thank goodness I was meeting friends or I never would have gone.

I'm so glad I went. The weather was perfect! We ran for 1 hr, 15 minutes today - my knee felt really good after the first mile. :) It's a little sore now, so I'm icing as I'm typing, will baby it some throughout the day, rest tomorrow, and hope for the best!

Here is Penny & I post run. Gina was with us too but she didn't want her pic taken. I have no idea why - the girl runs for over an hour and isn't even sweaty! I'm in my Little Apple Road Runner shirt that is so bright I blind people and I look like do-do but who cares :)
We had a great time this morning and had time to sit for this afterward. This is Penny's little tiny baby coffee with a little heart on top.
After running we bumped into some friends who are training for the Susan Komen 60 mile walk - they were out walking 18 miles today! Wowza. They will spend most of their day walking! Then they will walk another 15 miles tomorrow! That is true dedication.

Run on friends!

Run Like a Normal Person

Since my long-ish run last Saturday my knee has been acting up a little. Saturday it was fine, Sunday a little sore, Monday worse. So. I figured I would call my ortho to see what the heck. I'm 12 weeks out of surgery, I feel like I should be totally better by now. Afterall, he did say 6-8 weeks and I'd be running again.

I talked with his nurse first. She asked all the standard questions like "did you start back up too early" "how far are you going" "how fast are you going"? No, I didn't start until 6 weeks post surgery just like a good little girl. I'm going super slow...in fact I don't even know if you can officially call it running. How far? Well, I only did 5ish on Saturday, a few on Monday and 2 days later it's still hurting.

Yeah, she laughed and said "And you consider that not being able to run?"

Um yes. If I can't run 3-4 times a week with a long run on Saturday, I consider that not being able to run. Don't you!?!

Hmmmm. Could you just ask the doctor for me?(obviously she just didn't get it!)

Doctor's assistant called me shortly after with this wonderful news. "Yes, it's normal for it to still be hurting. It could take up to a YEAR before you are 100% if you push it too hard. Everytime you push it to pain, you are going to make it take longer to get to 100%. RICE and you may need to run like a normal person for awhile."

She is a runner herself, so she's automatically cool. I laughed and said, "Run like a normal person? What does that mean?!"

Apparently not everyone expects to be able to run a 10 miler 12 weeks post surgery. Surprising right?! :) Looks like I gotta take it easy. Not the news I wanted, but I'm trying hard to remember this is for the long haul, not just for this year.

I've never claimed to be anything close to 'normal', but I'm going to give it my best shot :)
How to be a Totally Normal Person

Finally!

For months I have been begging my daughter to come running with me.

Me: Just try it! You might really like it.
J: Na, I'll just stay home.
Me: Please, please, please, just try. If you hate it, you'll never have to do it again.
J: Na, maybe sometime, but not today.
Me: Darn it, ok, I'll be back in an hour.

Anyone with kids probably knows that the more you want them to do something, the more they don't want to do it.....It takes begging, talking into, bribery, etc. to get her to try something she's never done before. Tonight was no different. I've tried begging. I've tried talking into. Bribery....well, I hadn't stooped to that level *quite* yet, but tonight I did.

Me: Ok, that's it. Your legs are longer than mine and you're 10 years old. (She got those from her 6'2" daddy) Those legs are made for running. Just try it with me. I'm super slow and I promise we can walk if you need to.
J: I don't want to.
Me: Well you have to get up and do something, so if you don't go with me, you have to clean up the house. (I thought FOR SURE this would work)
J: Ok, I'll help you clean the house. (HUH?!)
Me: Nevermind the house. 10 points on the 'chore' chart if you do a 2 mile run/walk with me. 10 points! (points at our house can be redeemed for fabulous things)
J: Really? OK.

It turns out she was just afraid to try....which is pretty standard for her. I always have such a hard time knowing when to force her or when to back off. That's a tough one for me. Sometimes it comes out good, others not so much.

J did pretty well, although there were a few times I thought she was going to scream at me, or cry (whining happened for sure). She complained of her side hurting and wanted to stop long before I let her....because I knew she could go a little more. We got a pretty good sweat going and I think I showed her that this could possibly be less than awful! Progress!

I don't want to force her to do something she doesn't want to do, but she doesn't like sports, so I have to find something that she can do to stay healthy. Bonus for me would be that she actually *likes* it one day. We'll see about that one. Right now that's going to be a challenge.

Although....I told her about some small races here in town and it seems that very few kids sign up to run.....which means she'd have a pretty good chance of getting an age group metal in most of the small races around here. Yeah, she was all over that. I think there's hope :)

Who have you tried to push your running obsession onto lately?! :)

Six a.m. Saturday

So my friends Penny & Gina asked me to run with them this morning. I kinda had a bad running week this past week so I was a little anxious to venture out with the girls - afraid I would have to walk, or quit early, or cry like a big baby. But I always seem to do better on a run when I'm with these girls, so I decided to go ahead. We agreed to meet at 6am & run 1 hour. For a 6am run I like to get up at least by 5:15 to have coffee, eat a little something, etc. I woke up at 5:40....takes me 15 minutes to get to our meeting place....yeah, not a great way to start a run! I almost called and backed out, but I knew I would regret not going....so I rushed around and made it on time.

I'm kinda having a mental thing going on right now when it comes to running - trying to get back what I've lost is hard. But I knew a good run with my friends would cure me. And it did :) With these ladies there's never any drama, there isn't a competitive bone in either of them, and they are super supportive. They don't care how fast I can go (or how slow), if we have to walk, etc. Penny is so great about setting her alarm for every 10 minutes, to remind us to take a little drink :) She takes care of us.

I was really struggling about a mile in (the first mile is always my worst!) and they were awesome to just let me walk for a little bit. After about mile 3 I settled down, and we were going along at a comfortable pace. I know they could have gone faster, but that's the coolest thing about my friends - every run doesn't have to be the best run of their life - they were happy to just be running, and happy that I was along with them. Those are some cool chicks.

So just like that, I ran an hour and felt great. This running thing....you can have an awful run, enough to make you want to throw your shoes in the pond, and then a good one comes along and you're sucked right back in. :)