14 in 2014 Challenge Halfway Update

Tags

2014 Challenge, Biking, Exercise, Mental Health, Pilates, Planks, Race, Relationships, Running, Walking

Happy July! Are we seriously half way through the year already? This has been such a strange year of my life, and so different than the last few years, so it’s been hard to judge the passage of time the same way. Since we’re now halfway through the year, I thought I’d do an update on my 14 Challenges in 2014.

I challenge myself to run 200 miles. Running has gone much better this year than last year, and I’m not fully sure why that is, but I’m not complaining. So far I’m at 147 miles for the year.

I challenge myself to walk 275 miles. Last year I had to stop walking quite so much due to my tendinitis and IT band syndrome, but this year has felt ok. I try to hold back on pace and distance just so I don’t put extra strain on everything, since I don’t want to have to stop running. So far I’m at 177 miles.

I challenge myself to bike 900 miles. I’m right at 516 miles for the year. Many of those miles have been done on my bike trainer, and most of the first 3 months of miles for the year were spent studying for my big test I took in mid-March. Since then I’ve had some great outdoor rides too!

I challenge myself to 75 hours of pilates. 75 hours may have been a little too high, and I refuse to push myself to do it just because I “HAVE to”, and then get burnt out on it. Either way I’ll end up pretty close. Right now I’m at 38.25 hours for the year, which definitely has me on track. We’ll see. I’m still really enjoying pilates though, and really appreciate all that it gives to my body.

I challenge myself to 250 minutes of planks. This one has been pretty easy so far, although less so now that it’s warm. In cold weather (October-March) I seem to have no problem doing planks, but the summer months I definitely cut down. No idea why? So far I’ve clocked a total of 152 minutes for the year.

I challenge myself to run 10 races for the year. Like 2013, these races can be in person or virtual, but I’d like at least 5 of them to be in person! So far I’ve done 4 races in person and 5 virtual races, so I’m doing well! I have a few more races set for the rest for the rest of the year too!

I challenge myself to read at least 14 books. This one has been so fun, and now that summer, it’s been REALLY easy. So far I’ve read 13 books this year, and have really gotten into crime books that have me on the edge of my seat (like John Grisham novels!). I’ve also read a few inspiring books like The Hiding Place and Notes From A Blue Bike. 

I challenge myself to go through all the clothes that I own. This one I finished at the end of January when I got rid of 54 or 56 (I forget which) items of clothing. I just did another haul at the beginning of June, getting rid of another 75ish items. I think that just shows how much I’ve really held on to over the years that’s been ridiculous! This podcast (Freedom From Stuff) has been inspiring!

I challenge myself to continue to be present. Am I present every single moment of every day- no, but I don’t think that’s fully possible for most of us! But being present has really changed my life, and I’m continuing to enjoy this challenge!

I challenge myself to continue to hunt for provisions and blessings (continuing to develop gratitude in my life). Yes! I’ve written it down twice a week, and am really enjoying it. I even started a gratitude journal outside of this blog, and it’s great to have a hard copy I can flip through.

I challenge myself to read the entire Bible this year. I found a plan online (it’s this one if you’re interested) and have been following that. I don’t necessarily exactly read what is outlined on the day, as sometimes I get ahead or behind (and then have to catch up). I’m just a few days behind on the reading plan, so I’m close to being on track!

I challenge myself to publish an article this year. I haven’t published it yet but I’ve written it and it’s gone through a few rounds of revisions now! We’re close to submitting it to the review board now!

I challenge myself to put more time and energy into friendships and relationships. YES! This one has been so much fun, and I’m loving the relationships that I’ve either strengthened or built over the last three months. I’ve even made some new blogging friends, like Melissa and Meg.

I challenge myself to be brave. Oh yes! I wish I could write blog posts about this, but at this point I can’t so much. Brave (or courage) is my word for the year, and while this probably deserves an entire post of it’s own, I thought I’d throw it out there anyways. I want to continue to push myself to be brave in any area of my life…

So, overall, I’m pretty much on point with where I “need” to be for the year in each of these goals, although slightly behind with one. It really hasn’t felt like too much effort, but knowing these goals are out there helps keep me motivated. So, we’ll see how this next quarter goes–

Now it’s your turn to share! How are you going on your goals/challenges/resolutions etc… for the year? Is there anything that you hope to accomplish in the next three months?

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5k Foam Fest Recap {includes a discount code}

Tags

Race, Racing, Review, Running

Disclaimer: I was offered a free Bib from the Foam Fest in exchange for sharing my thoughts on this race. No other compensation was provided. All thoughts are my own. 

I was so excited to have the chance to do another “fun run” this year, and while I love half marathons and more serious races, I feel like it adds some fun to training to have these types of runs too. I was supposed to do the race with Melissa, but she was sick, so I ended up going alone. I was really excited for this race, as they claim it’s “filthy clean”- a good mixture of mud and foam! The race website suggested getting to the venue an hour early for check in, so that’s what I did. I ended up not needing so much time at all, but in later waves (yes- you get to choose what wave you want to run in, which helped the lines at obstacles be nice and short) I saw a much longer line for registration. Just a head’s up! I turned in my waiver, left my stuff at gear check, and headed to the starting line. I started talking to 3 other women, and when they found out I was there alone, they invited me to run the course with them! One of them had even run the Indy Women’s Half the weekend before too!

The first part of the course started in the woods, climbing through webs of ropes, down trails, and up and down little hills. This was the first time I’ve ever thought that I might actually really enjoy trail running. Once we popped out of the woods, we hit the first Foam and Mud pit. The ground was really slippery due to the mix of mud and and foam. They had inflatable balls hitting you as you ran through, making it even more difficult to keep balance!

Seriously- doesn’t that look like fun?

From that point on we ran most of the race on the sides of a soybean field, which meant the ground was uneven. Some places in the fields were so uneven that we had to slowly walk so we didn’t twist an ankle. This was a little frustrating as it would’ve been fun to run a bit more of it! The most crazy obstacle for me was crawling up a rope ladder thing about 20ish feet in the air and then climbing back down. I was totally ungraceful, but it was fun.

This was sort of a huge inflatable slip and slide. It was so long that you had to run the last part of it, which was tough, but so fun.

The end came far too quickly, and I really wished I could run through the course again. The final obstacle was a huge inflatable slide with water on it- I may have yelled a bit on the way down! It was a really fun way to end this great race!

 

Even though I had gotten muddy throughout the race, I had very little left on me by the end, as you can see in the picture above. They had little stations to rinse off too, but I didn’t bother waiting in line for them.

A few suggestions for you: I brought a towel to sit on in the car, which I would strongly encourage you to do. I also brought a bag to put my shoes and socks in, since there was mud still in them. I loved being able to switch to flip flops right away. Bring sunglasses to run in so that spraying water, soap, or mud won’t get in your eyes. I wore contacts and sunglasses and was just fine. My clothes and shoes cleaned up just fine (although I didn’t wear my current pair of racing shoes for the event).

My thoughts on the race: Positives: The race was SO FUN, and I had a great time running. The obstacles were quite a bit of fun, and it was incredibly well organized. There were two places to get water to drink on the course, which was a nice touch. They had all sorts of other activities that you could do after the race too (but obviously had to pay for them). They gave out shirts at the end, and they were great. They had women’s specific shirts that fit really well and were cute! The volunteers were all very nice and helpful too.  Negatives: The entry price was $75, and I would’ve never paid that for this race. It wasn’t $75 worth of fun, for sure, even though I did love the race. I know that lots of people were able to get discounts (the women I ran with got it half price on groupon). Parking was also $10, so the price of the race in total could add up pretty quickly. I had asked a question of Foam Fest via twitter a few days before the race, and didn’t get a response, which was a little disappointing. For post race food they ONLY had pure protein bars, and they have milk and whey in it. For anyone who is lactose intolerant (like I am), vegan, or has a milk allergy, there was no post-race food available. I’d highly suggest the race look into other options that everyone could eat… especially if they’re going to charge $75 for the race. Luckily I had brought other food in the car!

So, overall, the race itself was a LOT of fun, and I really enjoyed the obstacles and getting a chance to play around in the mud. I would definitely consider doing the Foam Fest race again… but wouldn’t pay full price for it! For those of you who’d love to run the race but don’t want to pay full price, use the following code at checkout for a discount (good nationwide): FF3380

Now it’s your turn to share! Have you ever done the Foam Fest before? What fun runs have you done in the past or are wanting to do?

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Neon Dash 5k Race Recap

Tags

Friends, Race, Racing, Running

This past Saturday evening Melissa (that’s the link to her neon dash race recap), Meg, and I ran the Neon Dask 5k. This is the first night race I’ve done, and I have lots of thoughts on it, so let’s get started.

Melissa went and picked up our packets on Friday, which was really nice of her (so I can’t speak to packet pick up on race evening). I was a bit disappointed in what the race gave to us- there were generic cotton tee-shirts that fit awkwardly and were not in any way ideal for running. So that’ll get tossed pretty quickly. The other thing they gave was this weird neon dash scarf thing that looked bad no matter what we did to it. So Melissa and I decided to just go with it and did cheer leader bows with it.

Because we were feeling really weird about our whole outfit (there was LOTS of laughter as we were getting ready), we had to take a funny pic- ninja, cheerleader, ballerina.

We drove to the race site and started to deck ourselves out with glow bracelets and necklaces (Meg purchased these online- far cheaper than buying them at the race).

Nice and Clean before the race start…

The race was originally supposed to start at 8:30, but a few days before the race we got an email saying they were starting at 9 instead. Around 8:50 we walked to the race start to get in line… and proceeded to stand there for half an hour before we started running (they let tiny groups go every few minutes… but never communicated that to us. We would’ve gotten in the starting shoot much earlier if we had known).

LOVING the tutu action.

The first color station took almost a half mile to come to, and it was a powder station. Then it was almost another half a mile before the next color station. Then there were a few color stations really close together. I really wish they had been more spread out.

They had specifically said multiple times that walkers were to stay to the right, and runners to the left. That obviously didn’t happen, and it was a little annoying. I wasn’t expecting to run fast, as this isn’t a normal race, and I wanted to have fun at the color stations. However, it was really annoying to have to weave around really slow walkers.

There was water once on the course at mile 1.5, and I was looking forward to it. It was hot and humid, and going through powder stations had made my mouth extra dry. We got to the water station and there was a LONG long long line, so we decided it wasn’t worth it to wait the multiple minutes it would’ve taken to get a cup of water. When we passed we realized what the problem was: they were filling tiny cups with a water hose! SERIOUSLY. The entire thing was really inefficient, and I was not so pleased.

Mid race

We continued on, enjoying the black light stations they had to take pictures at after the color stations along the race course. That part was fun. It would’ve been fun if they had music playing around the course too- it would’ve fit in with the black lights and neon vibe.

Post-race!

Once the race finished, we went in search of water. Again, they were filling tiny cups with water that was not cold or refreshing. They had the Honest Tea company there with samples too. This was cold and refreshing, but only about 2 ounces too. So, at the end of the race, we were given about 4 ounces (MAYBE) of liquid, and that’s it. Not fantastic. The post race party was “meh”, so we headed out pretty quickly. French fries were calling our name.

We stopped my McDonald’s on the way to Melissa’s house (we spent the night there), where we stocked up on Fries and McChicken’s (it was after 11 pm at this point, and we had dinner at about 5 pm, so we were HUNGRY).

A few tips for you: Bring a towel for your car after the race is done. We were covered in liquid and powdered color, and it would’ve soaked the seats if we hadn’t brought towels with us. Bring snacks and drinks for the car on the way home, as you won’t be getting any during the race. If you’re going to bring your phone, put it in a plastic bag. My phone was in a bag, but the bag was covered in color by the end. It’s worth it to bring your phone so you can get fun pictures along the course! Line up early on in the starting shoot so that you’re not waiting around for 45 minutes after the official start time to actually run.

Pros for this race: It was pretty cheap. I paid 22 dollars I think, so of course I wasn’t expecting some of the race amenities that I was used to expecting. It was a fun environment and something different to do with friends! Running in a tutu was a blast…. and there might be more of it in my future 🙂

Cons for this race: It was REALLY unorganized. Our start time was later than expected, the water station was poorly managed (they should’ve had more tables set up, and maybe tiny water bottles or something to accommodate the crowds. Warm water from a hose was just not ok). More hydration post race would’ve been nice as well.

Would I do it again? Yes, as long as it was as cheap as it was. I would’ve been really disappointed if it had been more expensive. This race could be awesome if it was just a little more organized. Really though, I just had a fun time running in a tutu with lots of glow stick bracelets and dancing in liquid and powder color- all things I don’t do in my normal life. Running it with Meg and Melissa was a blast too!

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Inspirational Books and Movies About Running

Tags

Book, Running

Last Sunday at runchat, they featured questions submitted previously by participants, and they chose mine! I asked people to choose a favorite book or movie about running, and the participants had a lot of great responses. Of course the two favorites were “Born To Run” and “Spirit of the Marathon”, and I wasn’t surprised by that at all. Someone in the chat mentioned that he wished that someone would compile a list of all the suggestions people had, and since it was my question, I said I would do it. Below are the suggestions given by the participants of Runchat (copied from twitter).

Books About Running:

• Born to Run
• Hal Higdons Marathon Book
• Anatomy For Runners
• Natural Running
• What Do I Talk About When I talk About Running (Haruki Murakami)
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Alan Sillitoe)
• Hanson’s Marathon Method
• The Hobbit (participant said “Watching Bilbo go from a fearful and afraid guy into a brave man really, really inspires me)
• Me Only Faster (Greg McMillan)
• Running With The Kenyans (Adharanand Finn)
• Flanagan’s Run
• Onward! The Absolute, No B.S., Raw, Ridiculous Soul-Stirring Truth About Training For Your First Marathon (Brook Kreder)
• Running For Women (Kara Goucher)
• Run Gently Out There (John Morelock)
• Never Wipe Your Ass With a Squirrel (Jason Robillard)
• 4:09:43 (Hal Higdon)
• Running For My Life (Lopez Lomong)
• My Life On The Run (Bart Yasso)
• Chi Running
• One More Step- the 638 best quotes for the runner (Randy Thurman)
• Jogger on Riverside Drive (poem)
• To An Athlete Dying Young (poem)
• Spartan Up!
• The Long Run (about firefighter Matt Long)
• Mind Gym
• Running & Being (Dr. George Sheehan)
• Running On Empty (Marshall Ulrich)
• Once A Runner (John Parker)
• Marathon Man (Bill Rodgers & Matthew Shepatin)
• Running Like a Girl: notes on learning to run (Alexandra Heminsley)
• The Perfect Mile (Neal Bascomb)

Movies About Running:

• Spirit of the Marathon
• The Marathon (a movie about a boy with autism who ran a marathon)
• Forrest Gump
• Chariots of Fire
• Without Limits
• Running the Sahara
• Run For Your Life
• Unbreakable (the Western States 100 documentary)
• Prefontaine

I’ve read and watched a few of these, so I can’t vouch for some of these things on the list. All I know is that I have a long list of books to read now the rest of the summer!

Now it’s your turn to share! What’re your thoughts on any of these books or movies? Anything else you want to add to the list?

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Thankful Thursday

Tags

Friends, Running, Thankful

Happy Thursday! This week has felt a little strange and off to me this week, I think mostly due to recovery (and a random out of state trip on Tuesday to help one of my friends move). Here’s what I’m thankful for at the moment:

I’m thankful I’ve had the convenience of a friend living a two minute and thirty second walk away from me.  Seriously, how convenient is that? We walk together on occasion, and watch TV or movies together almost every week. We went to grad school together back in the day, and it’s been really nice (and convenient) to have a friend so close. She’s moving three and a half hours away now for a new job, and I’m definitely feeling sad about that!

I’m thankful for another half marathon. For some reason it almost seems like that half didn’t happen last weekend- I wonder why? I’m thankful for the chance to get out and run again in a race setting- so fun (even when it’s tough)!

I’m thankful for fun with new friends! I have friends that are moving away, but I also have new friends too! I spent Saturday hanging out at the pool with these girls, and had a great time!

I’m thankful for fresh air. What a simple and beautiful thing, right? I love it!

I’m thankful for the rain that is watering my flowers. They are growing so quickly and they are beautiful and vibrant!! I love looking at them.

Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for today?

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Indianapolis Women’s Half Marathon 2014 Race Recap

Tags

2014 Challenge, Exercise, Friends, Half Marathon, POTS, Race, Racing, Running

“In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.”- Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon Co-founder

On Saturday afternoon, Melissa and I were at the pool, and she (I think it was her anyways and not me- haha) mentioned that she had no idea how to really recap this race, and I immediately agreed. This was by far the most strange half marathon I’ve ever run, and it seriously can’t be compared to any other half marathon that I’ve run so far (this was half marathon #6). This was a totally different game, and one that I said on Wednesday last week might be totally different due to weather.

My alarm went off at 5, and I checked the weather (humidity at 94%-ugh), and ate my traditional pre-race meal: 12 ounces orange juice, 1 luna bar, and 1 medium sized banana. I got ready quickly and warmed up. Melissa accidently turned her alarm off, so I finally woke her up at 5:45 (we were planning to leave right around 6). She had gotten sick in the middle of the night- a great sign of the day to come. We hit the road and got to the corrals about 15 minutes before the start. We warmed up quickly and jumped in the corrals ready to go. Race start temperature was about 60 degrees with 92% humidity, but we knew the temperature was going to shoot up quickly. I took a salt packet about 30 minutes before the race, hoping that would help any cramping issues.

I need to mention again here that, because I have POTS, exercising in the heat is pretty difficult. I can’t cool myself appropriately, so anything over about 50-55 degrees is really warm for me. Going in I knew this was going to be the case, and Melissa and I decided that it was better to be safe than to put ourselves in a dangerous situation (she also doesn’t do well in the heat). Safety was the name of our game.

At the starting line

The first 5 miles flew by pretty quickly, and the temperature felt ok for us too. We started off doing a 2:1 run:walk ratio, and we decided to keep our pace equivalent to training runs until we felt like it wasn’t safe anymore. The first 5 miles we hit in the 11-11:25 range, and that felt awesome. At that point the sun had really come out strong and the temperature was rising. Melissa wasn’t feeling great, and somewhere in the 5-6 mile range my heart rate got out of control fast. We both walked for a good chunk of that mile- remember our motto? Safety first.

We hit the half way point and I was hurting from walking so quickly. When we walked, we were keeping about a 14:40 pace, which is far faster pace than I normally walk at. My right arch was hurting and my left piriformis was unhappy. I remember taking inventory of myself, looking at Melissa, and wondering how we were going to make it through the rest of the race. Running felt better than walking at this point, even though running wasn’t good for me.

At mile 7 we hit a water station and there was no line at the port-a-potty. SCORE! I hopped in and went quickly- a first for me at any race. It was worth it though (one thing I will say is that I feel like I was hydrating well throughout the race. I drank water and powerade at every station the first half, and also carried gatorade in my handheld water bottle). Melissa told me to run ahead and she’d catch up, so I grabbed the powerade at the station and walked along, eating my race fuel (cran-razz shot bloks. I also had margarita shot bloks at mile 3.8 and 10ish). I also took half a salt packet at mile 7, not because I was cramping, but because I was sweating and losing so much salt, and didn’t want to cramp at the end.

Right after mile 7 was a huge hill, and I definitely walked up it. Melissa caught up at the top, and told me that she threw up again. I felt so bad for her, and even though she told me to run ahead, I refused. We signed up together, and we were going to run it together! And honestly, I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the 2nd half without her next to me anyways.

Honestly, those last miles went by in a blur, and I felt like they went by pretty quickly too. We walked a lot, and ran as we could. Neither of us felt fantastic. The second half of the course I only took powerade at the stations because the water was too warm to be refreshing at all, and I couldn’t stomach the thought of it. Right around mile 9 I looked as far ahead of me and behind me as I could, and every single person I saw was walking. That’s when I realized how tough this weather really was.

Somewhere around mile 9 we set a goal for ourselves- we would come in before my slowest half marathon time (set at my first half marathon at the Indy mini), and that pushed us to run just a bit more. Right about mile 12 I suddenly started to shiver a bit, and said “Oh my gosh Melissa, I’m getting goose bumps.” At this point it was still high humidity about almost 77 degrees, and I shouldn’t have been shivering at all, so this was clearly a sign that my body wasn’t doing well. Honestly, if I had more than a mile left I would’ve been pretty concerned, but I felt ok continuing on, knowing that it would all be over in about 10 minutes.

Right around mile 12.5 we ran past some of Melissa’s co-workers who brought out ice cold water bottles for us. I handed off my hand held, and it felt absolutely amazing to hold something that was so cold. Once we saw the finish line Melissa told me to run ahead so I could make sure that I was under my slowest time. I ended up crossing the finish line about 20 seconds before her, but both of us ended with a time of 2:55. It’s certainly a far cry from my half marathon PR, but as I said, this race can’t even be compared to my other races.

I felt more emotional crossing that finish line than in any finish except for first half marathon- I guess because my body felt pretty off at that point. Men who were in the military were passing out the medals, and we also got roses (along with the standard banana, nuts, water, etc…).

Melissa and I took a few pictures, and then headed back to stretch.

Honestly- I wasn’t at all disappointed in our time. This race was really tough for both of us, and in many ways I had to push myself much more than in other races. I ran a relatively safe race with POTS (minus when my body started to hit heat exhaustion), and was able to finish strong in that last mile. I had fun for a good portion of the race, and this race was another example of proving that I am stronger than I thought I was, and my diagnosis doesn’t have to hold me back completely. I think that long distance summer races are just something that I can’t really do because of POTS, and that’s ok. Honestly, looking at the big picture, the time doesn’t matter to me. Me pushing myself, being safe, growing, learning, and just being able to run is what’s most important. I’m so thankful that I can run, even in the tough, hot, and disgusting races. I’m thankful for this race, safety in running, and for the lessons learned through it.

Overall the race was organized well. The course was fine- nothing special. There were plenty of aid stations with water and powerade. I wish the water had been kept cooler, as it was just gross and not refreshing the 2nd half of the race. The volunteers were really encouraging, but there was minimal spectators cheering on the side of the road.

I’m interested to see how I view this race in a few months, but right now I’m not disappointed at all. Despite having to drop our pace, we didn’t quit, and that was huge for us. More on the expo and post race fun later this week!

Check out Melissa’s recap of the race too!

For more information on POTS, click here. For other race recaps, click here. To see how this race compares to the Monumental Half Marathon, the Indianapolis Mini Marathon, and the Carmel Half Marathon, click here. For more information on my Bioskin calf sleeves, click here. 

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National Running Day {and Race Week Thoughts}

Tags

Half Marathon, Race, Racing, Running

First of all- happy National Running Day! I’m celebrating by going out on a very short run- just a little shake out one since I have a half marathon on Saturday! Last year I wrote an entire post on why I run, so check it out if you’re interested in it! Running helps me deal with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome– it allows me to fight, to prove that a diagnosis can’t completely control me. Running is a time set apart for reflection, for happiness, for time in nature, and for mindfulness. Running is for stress relief and for freedom. I’m so thankful I took a risk in that first run, and even though I almost passed out, I kept going. I run for me, and I run because I can, even though it has to look different due to POTS.

Like I mentioned, this week is race week. I’ve never had a race week that’s been so hot/high in humidity before. This is obviously pretty nerve-wracking to me, especially with POTS. With POTS I don’t have the ability to cool myself down like I used to. I already have to consume more salt and fluid than the average person, so add in lots of sweating, and I’m curious to see how it’ll go. I do know that I won’t put myself in danger, so if I need to take extra walking breaks, and/or slow my pace down, I’ll definitely be doing that. I’ll likely carry my handheld with me so I can have some extra fluid in case what’s on the course isn’t enough. I’ll be carrying extra salt packets in case I feel myself getting dizzy. And I’m debating whether I should wear a tank top or go without a shirt… with my issues cooling myself, having one less layer of clothing might be really helpful. I’m still pretty undecided on this though. This week I’m doing all of these race week preparations and trying not to let taper get to me.

I’m craving a good bike ride, but I’m not allowing myself. I walked way more miles than I really should have last week, so I’m really cutting back this week. I find myself pacing around my living room a bit, and then force myself to sit down. That’s how it goes, I guess.

Melissa and me running Carmel in April 2014

Despite the concerns about the weather, I’m so excited to get to spend more time with (and race again with) Melissa (we ran the Carmel Half Marathon together in April… when it was much cooler, but with more hills), and hit the starting line again!

Now it’s your turn to share! Why are you a runner? Any hints for running in the heat?

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Memorial Day Virtual 5k Race

Tags

Family, Holiday, Race, Racing, Running

Earlier this month I won a giveaway from Erica for a free Memorial Day virtual race through vacation races. Memorial day, as I mentioned yesterday, is a meaningful day to me, so I was happy to get to run this race.

My youngest brother graduated from college on Saturday (SO so proud of him- more on that tomorrow) and I was up late that night celebrating with him, so when I woke up early on Sunday to take my other brother part way to the airport, I felt a little blah. Once I started running around 9:30 though, that all went away. The sun was out in full force, the humidity was high, and I was a little emotional (with both my brothers leaving that day). I had also woken up at some point in the middle of the night because my left calf muscle cramped up and it was really painful- I immediately sat straight up and tried to dig at the cramp to get it to relax- OUCH!! It was still a little sore and tender as I laced up my shoes. I started off pretty quickly (especially for all of these variables in play, and hit my first mile in under 11 minutes- oops). I wasn’t wearing my garmin and went out too fast.

I also found a “hill” (when I say hill, I mean that the incline is about 30 feet, and that’s as much of a hill as I have around me) to run up and down, and that added a bit of fun to my route. About half of the route was on a new-to-me road, and that also helped to shake it up a bit.

I tried to use some of the time I was running to pray for our military members (currently serving, those who have served in the past/were injured or in some other way traumatized) and their family members (again- those who have lost a family member, are currently in the middle of a loved one’s deployment, or are dealing with the fallout of some other aspect of their family member’s service). I spent about a mile and a half praying and thinking about it-that certainly didn’t help my level of emotional-ness throughout the day!

I hit 3.1 in 34:50- again, not my fastest 5k at all, but with all the variables mentioned above, I’ll take it. I ended up running a bit more for a total of 3.6 miles for the morning. Overall I felt pretty great. My muscle in my calf is still a tiny bit sore where it cramped up, but hopefully it’ll be back to normal quickly!

Shirt that came with the race.

Once again, I just wanted to say thank you to any military members and their families- I SO appreciate your service and your sacrifice.

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My Best Long Run I’ve Had {and 9.8 miles}

Tags

Half Marathon, Running, Training

Saturday I ended up going on what turned out to be probably my best long training run I’ve ever done! I woke up at 7:30 intending to head out within an hour for my run, but a friend ended up stopping by, so I didn’t start running until around 10. Luckily, unlike last week, it was much cooler. We had a few days where the temperature dropped from the 70s and 80s back down to the 40s, so it was absolutely fantastic running weather. Although the weather provided a great environment for running, I know that my half marathon won’t be so chilly, so part of me was hopping for some hotter weather to get myself used to running in that weather. As this was my last long run before my half, I guess my run last week is the only real race that’ll give me that weather!

I felt pretty great right off the bat on my run, which is more rare than not. It often takes me 1-2 miles to really warm up and get going. Around the 3 mile mark I heard a text come through, so I pulled out my phone on a walk break to text my cousin back. I realized at that point I was holding an 11:03 pace- WOAH. I don’t really ever hold that pace during long runs, even during a race! I pulled my phone out right past mile 6 to text my cousin again, and was still hovering right around 11:06 pace. That felt really awesome, and right on par with my 9.8 miler back in March.

Right around mile 8 I could tell that my pace had slowed slightly- I was really fighting for it, but it felt great! I took a small handful of sports beans at mile 4, and had about 10 ounces of nuun on the run. I’ve been carrying my handheld on my longer runs the last few weeks just to get my body used to it. Depending on how hot race day is, I may want to carry it with me. To replicate race day, I decided to run with it. I thought it might bother me to hold it for so many miles, but it didn’t at all!

I came back to the driveway and saw this:

BAM- AWESOME run and a full 1 minute 25 second per mile pace faster than my run last week. As I had mentioned in the spring, I had been having the start of leg cramps on my runs, but since I’ve been regularly stretching my calf muscles on an almost daily basis, this hasn’t been a problem. I didn’t have any pain or cramps at all, despite my faster than normal pace. I also down a salt packet before each of my runs.

This run was a truly excellent run. I listened to podcasts, enjoyed the flowers blooming and the squirrels and birds hopping around, and ran with a smile on my face most of the time. This is the type of run that keeps me coming back…

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Running According To Effort {and 8.8 miles}

Tags

Running, Training

Saturday morning I was up and on the road by about 9 am to run. My plan was to get out earlier, but I ended up being called out on Friday evening for a work situation, and didn’t get to bed until much later than I had hoped. I ate my normal pre-run breakfast, followed by my packet of salt to try to help avoid cramps on the run. While I wasn’t really down about my run, I knew it was likely to be tough- this is the hottest run I’d had since sometime in early fall (in the 60s with humidity above 50%), the sun was out without any clouds, and my allergies had been pretty bad that week (but the flowering trees are totally worth it!). Even with all that, I was excited to hit the road and run.

On my 7 miler last week my IT bands had flared up a tiny bit (I had to stop a few times at the end to stretch them out, which hasn’t happened in my training since 2013), so I had no idea what the run would look like. I had about 8.5 miles in my mind, and hoped I could hit that. I filled my handheld 16 ounce water bottle with nuun and brought half a packet of sports beans with me.

Given everything I mentioned above, I decided to not watch my pace during my run, but instead run based on effort. I know that mentally I can start falling apart when I can’t keep my pace where I want it to be (and I knew that today was not a day where my pace would be on point), so I thought I’d do better running based on how I felt.

Around mile 3 I wondered how I could ever make it 5 more miles- I was definitely feeling spent. Around mile 4 I hit some shade, and that definitely helped a bit. At mile 5.5 I popped in a building to get some cold water from the drinking fountain, and that definitely perked me up a it. Those last miles, while hot, felt much easier.

The funny thing is that my miles were about 1:15 slower than normal, but my effort felt more difficult than normal. If I had been watching my pace, I would’ve been pretty down on myself. Instead, I tried to take how I felt in stride, proud of myself that I was continuing to push myself as I could. I ended up going 8.85 miles instead of the 8.5 I had planned because I just wasn’t quite ready to stop running yet. Beyond the difficulty breathing due to allergies and needing to slow down due to the heat, my body felt great- and no IT band pain at all!

This weekend’s run was a great reminder as we head into summer- our pace generally has to change, and that’s perfectly fine. Running based on effort instead of numbers is an excellent way to combat the heat and humidity of summer!

Now it’s your turn to share! How does your running change in the summer? Any warm-weather running tips?

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