i'm so excited!

Does the title of my post make anyone else think of the episode of Saved by the Bell when Jessi Spano gets addicted to caffeine pills? I'm too stupid to figure out how to put a video in my post, so if you want to see it go here.

Anyway, that's not why I'm excited, although that is a powerful piece of film. I'm excited because I am signing up to take riding lessons again! It's something that I've wanted to do for a while, but I hadn't found the right barn yet. Now I think I have and I'd like to start taking lessons in April - after the half-marathon of course. I'm not going to quit running for the sake of riding, don't worry. Maybe this will just turn into a running/reading/riding blog.

Speaking of running, I had a decent 3 mile run last night. It was the last day of good (aka warm) weather that we are supposed to have for a while. Meh to that. This weekend is supposed to be rain, rain, rain, rain. I'm not happy about that, but at least the temps are supposed to be in the 50's and not the 40's. Fingers crossed that we'll have good weather for the half - in just over 2 weeks!!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat my lunch. At 11am. Apparently my appetite has returned.

the reading runner

You may have noticed the new widget I've added over to the side. I've always been a big reader, *nerd alert* it is honestly one of my favorite hobbies. I love it so much that, as you know, I listen to audio books while I'm running!

I know that I typically read a lot of books in a year, but I've never kept track of the number. This year, I'm using Shelfari to list and rate the books I read in 2009. I think it'll be really interesting to look back at the end of the year and see what I read. If you have any suggestions for my reading list, please let me know!

tuesday already?

I did not want to go out and run tonight. I haven't felt like that in a long time, especially not when the weather was freaking gorgeous. I don't know what my problem was tonight, but I just felt so sluggish and unmotivated. I am wondering if I overdid it this past weekend after my long run. I had actually been thinking that staying more active than usual after my long run was a good idea because I haven't felt as sore or as stiff as usual. I think I need to combine that theory with a little bit of rest as well. Live and learn.

I usually do a ballet workout on the day after my long runs. I did most of the workout yesterday, but sadly I had a skip some of the grand plies and the jumps because that shit is hard on the knees. It's so funny to think back to all of the YEARS I spent in dance class hoping that we wouldn't have to do jumps in the center or that the plies would be replaced by floor work. Now I am actually sad that my knees won't allow me to do them? I guess it really is true that you don't know what you really have until it's gone. I know that's cliche and I didn't mean to spin off into a post about dancing, but I really miss it and I'm sorry I didn't appreciate it more when I had the chance. Makes you think, doesn't it?

It took me a good 2-3 miles before I was really into my run tonight. I'm usually in a pretty good rhythm after 1 mile, so I was really stuggling. I even gave myself permission to take it easy since I've trained pretty hard the past 2 weeks. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Garmin, but damn that thing makes it hard to back off my pace. I look at it way too much and I speed up if my pace is not what it was the previous time I ran. Which meant that tonight I finished 5 miles in 45 minutes. While I am of course thrilled with that pace, I have got to give my body some sort of rest or I'm afraid I'll be looking at an injury. To top it all off, I have no appetite, which also happened last fall towards the end of my training. Whine, bitch, moan, I know. I'm sorry. I'll do better tomorrow :-)

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....

so i'm thinking........

...........of doing this. Anyone want to join me?

sub-9, baby!

Tonight I ran 3 miles at a 8:58 pace! That is the fastest I've ever run and honestly not a pace that I expected to see. I really wasn't pushing myself too hard because my ankle was bothering me a bit. Who knew that possible injury = faster pace. Ha!

Honestly, I know that's not funny and I'm concerned that I am overtraining just a bit. My right ankle has felt funny all day - just a little bit sore if I move it a certain way. It felt OK while I was running. If I thought about it, I could feel a twinge but otherwise it didn't bother me. While feeding the horses after my run though, I noticed that my right knee was a little painful. Sigh. I noticed that particular pain while I was squatting down to squeeze under a gate. I think (and really hope) that if I am careful with how I bend and move then it should be OK. Ugh. I sound freaking old having to worry about that. I hate that my aches and pains are overshadowing my excitement about my pace tonight!

edited to add: don't you think "squatting" is kind of a gross sounding word? I was reading back over my post to make sure my wine-influenced grammar wasn't too horrible and that word just bothers me. Odd, I know.

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!