4am.......

This is what time I wake up every.single.morning. I have no explanation as to why, except that Fresh Prince comes on at that time and maybe my subconscious really wants to see it? I'm only awake for a few minutes; just long enough to look at the clock, change the television station, and roll over. It's getting to be an annoying little quirk, and I'd really like to sleep through the night. OK? Thanks.

Aside from my bizarre sleeping habits, not much has been going on in this girl's life. The weather has been crap for the past few days, which made for a super fun 12 miler in the rain on Sunday. Annnnnnnd I made the mistake of trying something new before the run. I decided to eat a small breakfast - just 1/2 a bagel and peanut butter - about an hour prior. BAD IDEA there. I usually don't eat anything at all before a long run and now I remember why. My stomach cramped up to the point where I was gasping for breath and barely shuffling along. In retrospect, I should've just stopped, caught my breath, and then continued. But, on par with my inability to give myself a break, I kept going, albeit slowly. I finally caught up with my running partners when they stopped for a drink of water. I managed to finish the second half of the run more satisfactorily, but still felt kind of down on myself. Oh, and I ripped holes in the bottoms of my pants because I am an idiot. Lesson learned: don't wear long pants to run in the rain because they'lll get soggy and heavy and stretchy at the bottom. And will end up over and under your shoes. And it will suck.

Fast forward to yesterday - I ran 5 miles. At an 8:57 pace. It felt damn good. Maybe I will not quit running after all.......

spring fever

It's been a really nice weekend. The weather has been wonderful - 80's and sunny both yesterday and today. D and I spent yesterday working on things around the house. He changed the oil in the cars and rotated the tires. Yay for no more roaring noise from the tires! I cleaned the house and put new bedding on the bed in the guest room. I snagged a deal at Target on a complete bed set - comforter, shams, sheets, and dust ruffle - originally $80, marked down to $20!

It was so nice to have all of the doors open and the ceiling fans on (and the dogs outside!) to air the house out. D went to a friend's house last night to play pool while I stayed home to rest up for my run this morning.

The run this morning went great! Even though I felt like my legs were going to fall out from under me a couple of times. We did a couple of BIG hills and they took a lot out of me. In spite of that, we clocked about a 9:15 pace. Most of that was thanks to A for dragging us along. She rocks! I'm lucky to have found such a good group of girls to run with and I'm looking forward to the carbfest at J's before the half!

I thought that I would be too tired when I got home to do much this afternoon, but the nice weather kept me from sitting still for too long. D and I went out to our local disc golf course. D played a round while Bodie and I cheered him on. Afterwards we went to Sonic - how is it that no one has clued me in on how great Sonic is???? We had a nice snack of tater tots (yum!) and ice cream. Well, D got a Reese's cup blast (similar to a blizzard) and I got a stupid Strawberry smoothie. The lure of the non-fat frozen yogurt that is used to make it was too hard to resist. Yes, I know that sounds crazy, but fattie here is always looking for the healthiest (read: least likely to make me fatter) option. I knew in my head that I should get what I wanted to eat instead of worrying about what had the least calories, but I couldn't stop myself. I ended up being unsatisfied and eating half of D's ice cream. I'm going to call it a lesson learned and try to do better next time. At least I'm not beating myself up over it, which is definitely progress.

Anyway, now we're home taking a quick break after getting a lasagna assembled and in the crock pot for tomorrow night. Tonight we'll be dining on salmon burgers, asparagus, and baked potatoes.

In a few minutes, we're going to go out and do a little bit of yard work before enjoying some much deserved Coronas. Hell, we may enjoy the Coronas and yard work simultaneously....

R & R: Rain & Run

Yesterday morning I ran 9 miles. In the cold. And the rain. Ugh. It went better than expected though. I was 2 miles in before the rain started so at least there was that - lol. I know it sounds crazy that I went out and did that, BUT it snowed last night and today and I had no other time in the work-week when I could get a long run in. I surprised myself with my pace because I was giving myself a break and not pushing hard with the weather conditions. My beloved Garmin told me I ran a 9:49 average mile. Not bad at all.

What should you wear on a 9 mile run in a cold rain? Here is what I wore, with the disclaimer that I like to be warm when I run!

• long cotton/lycra blend pants
• long sleeved cotton t-shirt (I highly recommend Life is Good t-shirts for under a running shirt b/c the fit is perfect)
• long sleeved close fitting fleece
• zip-up running jacket
• gloves (cheapie 2/$1 cotton stretch)
• ear warmer (crucial!)
• baseball cap
• neck warmer

I added the baseball cap over the ear warmer and the neck warmer once it started raining. The running jacket served as another layer and also as protection for my Garmin and my ipod.

It was good to get that long run out of the way and I was only semi-sore the rest of the day. Now I'm working on scheduling my runs for the rest of the week!

too tired

I am too tired to blog well, so here is a quick recap. I tried to write a post about my 10 mile run last Sunday, but it just ended up sounding stupid. It was a good run, the last long run before the half, and I finished strong. Second breakfast afterwards was great! Either Perkins has really great food or I was starving.

Tuesday was a nice, easy four miler. Although there is not much nice or easy to say about running in the cold, rain, and dark. I take that back, it was very nice to be running it with my group. I don't think I could've (or would've) done that one on my own. We are hardcore!

Wednesday = three miles. Alone, ugh. I went home after work, let the dogs out, changed into my running gear, brought the dogs back in, and drove over to the neighborhood. In the dark. Luckily there were streetlights, so it wasn't pitch black out. I was in hurry to get it over with I guess, because my pace was under a 10 minute mile! I felt like I had a good pace going, but I did not expect the 9:48 that my ipod reported when I was done :-) That really made it worth it, considering that I almost skipped the run because I am so exhausted.

That leads me to the whiney part of my post. D left Sunday afternoon to go to FL for work. I felt like such a bad wife because I didn't even make it home from my long run/breakfast on Sunday before he left. We met up at Starbucks (when did I turn into such a yuppie?) for a quick goodbye. I know that he had to go for work, but it just really sucks that is was this week before the half-marathon. It has left the the house and the animals solely under my care, which I can handle, of course, but it would have been nice to take it easy this week. I'm also not very good at cooking and/or eating dinner when it's just myself at night. That has stressed me out trying to find the time to plan meals and cook. I've done just OK with that this week. I had second breakfast leftovers on Sunday night, soup and cheese toast on Monday night, Twizzlers on Tuesday night (um yeah, Twizzlers the candy), and a shrimp, veggie, & brown rice stir fry last night. I have leftovers from that for dinner tonight so at least that's covered. D gets back Friday night so maybe I'll ask him to pick up some dinner on his way home from the airport. I am thinking of taking a half-day tomorrow to give myself a little time to rest, I think I'm going to need it.

For being too tired to blog, I sure wrote a lot! One more run before the race, a big two-miler tonight, then book club, then driving home, then handling the animals, then doing laundry, and then...........sigh. I think I'll have more time to relax while I'm running the half than I've had all week!

1.1 miles to go

Yesterday morning I finished my longest run yet - 12 miles!! I had a hard time deciding what distance to run because I have gotten so much different information about training. I was originally following Hal Higdon's novice half-marathon training plan, but since I started it early I ended up finishing it early. In my revised plan, I had decided to run 11 miles yesterday, 12 miles next week, and then the half the following week. Well...........then I learned about "tapering" before a race and that I really shouldn't run 12 miles the week before the half-marathon. BUT, in Hal Higdon's intermediate training plan there is a 12 mile run the week before the half-marathon. Confused yet? So was I. I understand that the idea of tapering is to give you a rest before your race so that you can run your best, but if I'm not worried about my time, does that really matter? If I was training for a marathon, wouldn't I run 12 miles one week and then 13 the next? What's the difference, really?

In the end, I decided to take bits and pieces of everyone's advice and information and form my own plan. When I started out yesterday I set my nike+ipod for 11.5 miles. That was a good compromise and I knew that if I went that far, I could finish out 12 if I felt like it. I ran the first 8 miles with a great group of ladies (hi!) and then went on to finish the last 4 on my own - well, with my audiobook :-) I really felt good for the entire run and when my ipod congratulated me on finishing 11.5 miles, I already knew that I was going to push for 12. I had to keep checking the distance on my ipod for the last .5 miles because NO WAY was I going further than 12! When you check your status using the ipod, it announces your distance, total time, and pace. By doing this, I realized that I was *very* close to running 12 miles in under 2 hours. I pushed it as hard as I could and finished in 1 hour, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds. Only once I was done did I realize that I had run 12 miles with just under a 10 minute per mile pace. I haven't run under 10 minutes per mile in quite a while! I owe a lot of thanks to the group for that!

I'm feeling good about the half, knowing that I only have to go 1.1 miles further than my longest run. Could I physically do it with 10 miles as my longest run? Probably. Could I mentally do it? Not sure. Knowing what I know now, about how much of a mental sport running is, I'm glad I went the extra distance. Now I have no excuses come race day.

postscript - i have plenty of excuses for why i haven't updated my blog though! none of them are very good, but hey, i'm not getting paid for this :-)

so, 9.5 miles...............

This morning I went out and ran 9.5 miles - my longest run yet. And it.kicked.my.ass. Literally. It is now 4:00pm and my legs and butt are still hurting. I don't think that I have felt this bad during or after a run up to this point. In fact, things have been going so well that last night as I was reading about marathons in Runner's World, I actually had the thought in my stupid head, "THAT WOULDN'T BE TOO HARD." OMG, what? Has running fried my brain cells? This morning was a real wake-up call for me. I finished it though and didn't walk a bit, even though I contemplated it.

After a run, and after the half-marathon, I want to be able to say that I "ran" it, not "finished" it. That may be silly, but it's what I've gotten in my head as the goal that I want to accomplish. I have gotten past fretting over my ever slower pace and I don't have a time-goal in my head at all for the half-marathon. I haven't even tried to figure out what an average time is or what my time would be if I ran a certain pace per mile. Right now I'm just concentrating on running, one foot in front of the other, for 13.1 miles.

T minus one month!

Holy cow y'all!!!!!!!! (insert laughter here) The 1/2 marathon is one month from today! I feel good, I feel like I'll be ready. I had a great run last night - 3 miles at 10:10 per mile. Unfortunately, you'll just have to take my word on that because my stupid piece of crap effing ipod lost my run. Bastard. Of course it just had to be the best pace I've run in a looooong time. Oh well, at least it didn't crap out during my run. We'll see if it holds up tonight on my 4-5 mile run - I haven't decided on the distance yet.

I am trying to figure out my training plan for next week. We are going out of town Friday morning and we'll get back on Monday evening. So next week I'll probably run Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I am signed up for a point-to-point 5K on Saturday morning - which will be my 2nd race ever! I can't decide if I want to run just 5K that morning or if I want to try to stretch it out to a 15K - running the distance back and forth 3 times. I hate to miss my long run, and that will be my only opportunity to get one in next weekend. Does anyone have any advice for me? How bad is it to miss a long run this close to the 1/2?

unexplained run

bad run
crappy run
hell run
shitty run
unfinished run

Those are a list of titles for this entry that I tossed around while I was running last night. I planned to tell all of you that running EIGHT MILES after all you'd eaten that day was: a poptart, wheat thins (of course), and peanut M&M's - was a BAD idea. Oh and don't forget that you'd had no water all day, only coffee and a diet cherry coke. Yep, that's how I started out on my run, with a sharp pain in my side and a bad attitude. Well guess what, folks?!?! That is evidently a winning combination. I was able to run the full 8 miles at a faster pace than any of my long runs thus far. I've said it before and I'll say it again - WTF?

This is one of the reasons that I have a hard time accepting and respecting my body - because it doesn't make any sense.

up to 7.5 miles!

I can't believe that it took me so long to share this! I ran 7.5 miles on Monday night. Remember how great I said I felt on my 7 mile run? Well, this was definitely not a repeat of that experience.

I was supposed to run Sunday night, but I didn't, because my Mom was in town and we got a little sidetracked by all of the um, shopping at the outlet mall. So I planned to make it up to myself and my running schedule on Monday night. I was a little hungry when I got home so I thought it would be a good idea to eat a Luna bar for a snack. Guess what? NOT a good idea. I had intense stomach cramps for the first couple of miles. I was literally doubled over at some points. Does that make me dedicated, or just stupid? Not sure.

Around mile 5, things started looking up. That is, until I looked down and saw that I almost stepped on a snake! I generally do not mind snakes, especially not black snakes, but I *really* don't want to step on one. This particular specimen was not a black snake, either. It was patterned with brown, tan, and black - I think that it was probably a corn snake, but it very well could have been a copperhead. I told D about it when I got back to the house and he asked if it had a diamond-shaped head. Now, I know that is how you tell a venomous snake from a non-venomous one, but really? I'm not getting close enough to look.

After my little scare, I went on to finish my run uneventfully. By the time I was through, I was just happy to be done. I did my usual post-run activities - a cool down walk, some stretches, and then a shower. I am having a really hard time eating after my runs lately. I ended up not eating dinner that night, but I was honestly never hungry. I know that's not great for my body's recovery from my run, but I am also stuggling with some other "eating issues." As part of my treament, I am trying very hard to eat only when I am hungry and to make sure I stop when I am full. I know that running is good for me because it is helping me to appreciate my body and not hate it so much, but it also adding another layer to my food struggles. I've gotten a few suggestions and my post-run plan includes: cooking afterwards so that the aromas will tempt my appetite; taking a couple of bites of something because that usually makes me hungry; and if neither one of those work, I will try to sip on a smoothie or protein drink. I feel positive that I'll work this out.

halfway there!

Last night I ran 7 miles, so I'm safe to say that I am halfway to my half-marathon distance. Actually a little further than halfway if you want to be precise. My run last night was great. Granted, it wasn't fast, but I felt good the entire time. The past couple of long runs I've done have had me out of breath before mile 2 and limping at toward the end. My left knee has been giving me some trouble, but last night it held up well. It hurt when I first started out (as usual) but after about a mile, it felt fine. It stiffened up a little last night, but it's feeling OK overall today. I'm feeling really confident right now about the half-marathon. I know I'm sure to have some bad runs between now and then, but for now I'm concentrating on how good this past run was!


I started a new book last night too - Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. So far it's good enough and easy to listen to. It's always hard to get into a new book in the beginning. I think that I am still emotionally connected to the characters in the book that I was previously reading/listening to. Speaking of, I recommend reading Second Glance by Jodi Picoult. It's a combination love story, ghost story, history lesson. It was very thought provoking and had the usual Jodi Picoult twist (which I love!) at the end.

last night

And once again, I was behind a day on my runs. I was exhausted and crampy on Sunday so I gave myself the day off. At least I'm able to make up my days when I miss them instead of just skipping them. I'm pretty proud of myself for staying so motivated. Anyway, I did my second 5 mile run last night. It was HOT outside so I really took it easy. My pace was around 11:00 and while I was not thrilled about it, I'm trying to not let it bother me. My main focus right now is increasing my distance and endurance and I need to remember that. I have a good excuse anyway, there were freaking bats diving at my head while I was running. That'll get you a little off course, ok? For some reason we were discussing bats at work recently and one of my co-workers said that if you throw rocks up in the air, the bats will dive at them. Well, I got desperate enough to try it, but it didn't seem to work. The bats kept pace with me occasionally flying too close for comfort. I tried to ingnore them, but you have to admit, it's kind of freaky.

I'm still listening to Second Glance by Jodi Picoult - coming soon...........book review!!

arrrgh!

So last night I.RAN.FIVE.MILES!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the first time ever! Can you tell that I'm a little excited? I was a little apprehensive starting out last night because my stomach was not feeling oh so great. We ate a new Mexican restaurant on Saturday night and let's just say I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. I don't really think it was the establishment, but just that my system is not used that kind of food. It was good though.

Anyway, I was nervous about the run because of my stomach and also because - 5 miles. That just sounds so more intimidating that 4 miles. It is more of a milestone. But I did it! I didn't push myself too hard since I already didn't feel great. I also wanted to make sure that I would have enough left for that last mile. It was pretty humid out last night which slowed me down a bit too. My pace was 10:56 which isn't great, but isn't horrible either. I really feel like I need to re-calibrate my nike+ system, but I just haven't had a chance to. I'd also like to find a track to run on so I could test my time for real. What I'm hoping is that my nike+ is telling me that I am running slower and shorter distances than I really am. It is going to be a big letdown if the opposite is true.

About 3.5 miles into my run something flew into my eye. I thought it was a bug at first because I could feel something in my eye. Then the stinging started - OMG - I have never felt such painful stinging in my eye before. I thought maybe it was sweat (and a bug?) but I couldn't get it out. I didn't want to stop running because I was so far along and also because there was really nothing I could do. I still had about 20 minutes before D came to pick me up and it was already too dark to walk home. So I put my hand over my eye and kept going. I'm sure I looked like a deranged pirate who had lost their eye patch and was having to improvise. The pain subsided a bit and I was eventually able to continue in a normal running stance. My head was filled with thoughts of getting home and fishing that annoying bug out of my eye. Ah - the relief it would bring. I got home and went directly to the bathroom mirror. Guess what? No bug, no nothing. I hoped that it would work its way out while I slept. This morning I woke up to a red, goopy (sorry!) eye, but no bug and no relief. I'm wearing my glasses right now debating on whether or not I need to go to the eye doctor. Ugh.

What I learned: I am stronger than I give myself credit for.

just do it

I was supposed to do my long run on Sunday, but a little something called a "beach weekend" got in the way! My mom came down to visit on Saturday morning and we headed for the coast. We had gorgeous weather all weekend long which made it especially hard to leave on Sunday afternoon/evening. I honestly planned to run when I got home, no matter what time it was. I'd had a realization earlier in the day about what Nike's slogan "just do it" means. We ended up getting home about 8:45pm, but I came in and changed into my running clothes, grabbed my ipod, and.........realized that my ipod batteries were dead. Super great. At that point, I had a little tantrum and tried to charge it for about 10 minutes to see if that would help. Um, no, it didn't. So I gave up and took a shower.

I redeemed myself by making up that 4 mile run last night. The weather was nice - it was hot, but not too humid. I felt decently OK while running, I was having to push myself just a little bit. I didn't push too hard because honestly I was still tired from the weekend. I was pleasantly surprised when Tiger Woods came on my ipod when I finished to congratulate me! My average pace was 10:22 which I was very pleased with! I guess I am getting a little bit faster without even realizing it because I'm getting more conditioned.

Now my quandry is whether or not to run tonight. My right knee hurt last night before and after running, but not during - try to explain that one. It's hurting in a different place than it has before, so right now I'm just keeping an eye on it. Honestly, I already know that I am going to go running tonight. And I also know that I am going to increase my distance to 3.5 miles from my usual 3. I was thinking about it last night during my run. So much of this running game is mental - I had no idea. That's what I learned this time - that once you get that goal in your head and tell yourself to "just do it" it's actually harder not to do it.

Oh! One other (frivilous) thing I learned: running skirts are super cute and comfy! If you know me, you know that I am very easily influenced about some things. So of course, when Runner's World did a story about the rise in popularity of running skirts, I had to have one. I always stalk the clearance section at Target for workout gear and yesterday, lo and behold, running skirts were on sale. Lucky day!

thanks lance!

So.............I know I'm late on posting, but it's not because I didn't do my FOUR mile run on Sunday! I did it - my longest run ever - as in my whole life. And Lance Armstrong came on my ipod after I finished and congratulated me! I had another congrats when I downloaded my run onto nikeplus and found out that I hit the 100 mile mark on there. All in all a good day.

I did learn a few things that I will take into account on my next long run. I am used to running in the evenings so running on Sunday morning was a switch for me. I am going to stick with doing my long runs on Sunday mornings though because the half marathon is on a Sunday morning, so I will be used to it. I am going to try to go out earlier next time because even though I went out around 8:15am it was already HOT. I also need to remember to eat a good dinner the night before. We went to the beach on Saturday and ate a bunch of crap and got home late that night. I think I would've had a better run if I had prepared better the day/night before.

This week's training plan is a repeat of last week's. I'll be running 3 miles today (Tuesday), 2 miles Wednesday, 3 miles Thursday, and 4 miles Sunday. I was supposed to "stretch and strengthen" yesterday but I was busy giving my dog a bath! That does take some muscle, so that counts, right?