Category: gear

Finally a Reason

Friday morning, I woke up feeling like I had slept more hours but they were just as crappy. I just wanted to burrow under the covers for a few more hours. But I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for work. Since I was feeling crappy, I wore my newest skirt and my most comfortable boots to work. Fake it ’til you make it right?

Yeah, I rock funky socks, every day :) — Yeah, I rock funky socks, every day 🙂

Don’t worry, I push the socks down before we open the doors. 🙂 I was also treated to this morning view while picking up the cookies-

Shaping up to be a good day, right? By early afternoon, my headache had turned into a head pounder and my swallowing was so painful. Ahhhh, light bulb moment, I was sick. Maybe that explained the week of crappy sleep and the zoning out I did a few times at night. I watched Biggest Loser on my DVR over the week, but I couldn’t tell you a dang thing that happened. I don’t remember it at all. 😦 After leaving work yesterday, I crashed in the Comfy chair with a blanket. I was hoping I would be better in time for a long run today.

I had a little shopping trip planned with my mom; she wanted help looking for a wedding gift for one of her former players. I set an alarm in the hopes I could get a run in this morning first. Ha! My head and throat were worse. So I tried to get a little more sleep before getting ready for the day. Shopping went well, even if both my mother and I were feeling poorly and moving a little slower than usual. Even though my throat hurt, I was able to enjoy lunch. 🙂 She also found a great gift, which is good as the wedding is tomorrow. 🙂

She then needed to head to the Tennis Warehouse to pick up a few things for the team. Uhoh- danger zone! The Running Warehouse was literally 10 feet away. And I had been feeling the urge for new shoes. I was one of those rare runners who only had one pair of shoes. I wore them for every race, training run and occasional trail adventure. When they wore out, I replaced them. With my planned increase in training this spring and more half marathons on the schedule as well I was thinking about getting another pair.

The place was packed, but then the store front is small. However customer service there is amazing. I tried to resist, I really did. I ended up trying on the Mizuno Wave Inspire 10 and the Mizuno Wave Rider 17. I love my current pair of Inspire 9’s so I was optimistic for the 10’s. They felt like an entirely different shoe, tighter and flatter. Not cool. The Wave Rider’s on the other hand felt awesome! Restraint be damned!

The Wave Rider’s are a neutral support shoe so that is a change. So I will be trying them out on the treadmill for the first few runs. If I like them, I figured I would use them for the flatter, shorter runs and races. I can’t wait to test them out. Our shopping trip was longer than planned; I ran out of daylight. My mother cannot make a quick trip to Petco. I ended up wandering away at one point and having a conversion with a little boy about betta fish. He was excited because they are fighter fish. I told him we have one at work that likes to try to attack a coworker. He thought that was great. 🙂

Once home, I had absolutely no energy for the gym. So today became a rest day. I am hoping that I will feel better tomorrow and can get in some miles. Maybe not the 8 that I missed today but anything between 4 and 6 would be cool. It will have to be early though as I am my mother’s plus 1 for the wedding. My dad, well he’s not the partying type. Neither am I, really, but I fake it better. 🙂

How was everyone’s Saturday?

Was I really the only one with one pair of shoes?

A Christmas 4

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you and yours are having a truly wonderful day!

Christmas day is the one day a year that I usually take my Slacker-ness to a whole new level. Like stay in my pajamas all day, Slacker, But that’s ok right? Christmas is one day of the year that it’s acceptable to wear matching pajamas, right? That was my plan for today. However things changed a bit after opening presents this morning. My amazing parents sprung for a Garmin for Christmas!! So I had to test it out right?

After a yummy breakfast and gift opening, we relaxed watching movies. Choice for the morning- Red 2. I then joined my mom and Zoey for an early afternoon walk. Well it was supposed to be a walk, but I really wanted to play with my new toy. So I would run ahead and then double back. I only almost lost them once. I threw in a hill loop and it took me longer to catch back up. It upped an easy run into a temporary tempo, ha! I ran with the Garmin and the Nike App, just to compare. They were pretty dead on to each other. 4.25 miles to 4.23. I love being able to check my pace as I am running. This may make me more neurotic than ever, haha.

Then it was time for an amazing dinner of Beef Stroganoff and the previously mentioned matching pajamas. Fleece ones this year, so much better than flannel. Then it was time for the Doctor Who Christmas special, a tradition these past few years. I won’t lie, I may get a little misty eyed this time around.

Hope everyone has had a great day!!

How many of you got running gear for Christmas?

So much pink!

Baby, it’s cold outside! Shouldn’t be a surprise as it’s December, but every time I walk out the door, brrr! Yesterdays run was so cold, I think my cheeks were wind burned. Which is sad because it was around 38. Toasty compared to some other places.

Pardon the bald look, my cheeks were so cold!!!

I didn’t get back from shopping until almost 4 and the temperature was dropping but I wanted to run. I changed as fast as I could into what I hoped was warm and was running. I ran the exact same route as Saturday. Not sure if it was that I was feeling better or if the cold was the incentive but I took 4 minutes off of the previous days time. Woo hoo! I felt good and would have like to run more but the setting sun was against that. 😦 As I was stretching out afterwards, I realized just how pink I was. Not only were my cheeks pink and stinging, my clothes were too! I don’t think I have ever worn that much pink before.

This was also the first time I had ever run in full length pants not capris. I had picked them up while shopping on Sunday, and figured it was cold, why not try them out first thing? They were awesome. They never moved or slipped and felt comfy the whole time. The waistband was still higher than I would like but I think that’s just me. The odd thing is that I bought these exercise pants at Abercrombie (I know, I know, but I really like their sweaters, even when I was 40 lbs heavier). Random I know, but I have not been liking the pricey Nike capris or the numerous pairs of Fila I own. I had to go up a size and I was hoping for a lower waist but so far, worth the money. Which was the best part- $20! They washed well the first time, so now to see how long they last.

I also picked up a running skirt (my first one!) on clearance at Sports Authority and a new pair of knee socks. I also finally treated myself to some new jeans (amazing Gap coupon!). I only had one pair. Losing weight is awesome, but it was a real hit to my budget. I don’t wear jeans that often but it was making things a little tricky. My mother on the other hand became a veritable clothes horse when she lost all her weight, so I was usually calling her on the Thursdays before Friday Jean Day, crying help! I need pants!

My family is incredibly hard to Christmas shop for but I think I managed to pick something out for my brother. I am 99.9% positive that he does not read this, but just in case, that is all I am saying. Now if I can just figure out everyone else before Christmas. Managed to finish my Secret Santa shopping too, now fingers crossed, it gets here in time!

At work, we finally managed to get our Christmas tree decorated, but this Slacker forgot to get a picture. I also apologized to my boss, because as I was tumbling on Friday, I managed to break one of her icicle decorations. Sorry!!

The plan is to hit the gym tomorrow night and get a couple miles in on the treadmill. That will depend on how far I manage to get with my advertising plan. This post has been a wonderful distraction from the headache of formatting but I better get back to it! The Sing-Off is pretty distracting too 🙂 And I am on standby for jury duty again tomorrow, so who knows?

How was everyone’s Monday?

Anyone like jury duty?

Anyone else singing along?

The trouble with pants

Can I just say that pants and I have a love-hate relationship? I am presently on the hate side. And running capris? Well, they are the devil.

A few weeks ago, I committed a big race no-no while running the Spooner’s Cover 5 mile race. I wore something I had never ever run in. On a race day. I ran in a skirt, I didn’t even own one, I had to borrow it from my mother. (She has a ridiculous amount of running/ tennis clothes.) I had never really been interested in running in a skirt before. I know that tons of people do and I have seen some super cute ones, but in my mind, skirts were for tennis and shorts were for running. But I just could not stomach wearing capris so I figured I would try a skirt. Actually, it was pretty comfortable, I may buy myself one.

But off point, the last month or so of posts, I have mentioned some stomach discomfort. I figured I would share a bit. I have a thing, I hate words like disorder or syndrome or condition. Anyways, that thing is gastroparesis. Or at least that’s what the doc is going with now.

I have had problems for years and went to multiple doctors and nutritionists and had numerous tests done, yet very little help. No allergies to speak of and then last year, they finally came back with gastroparesis. What that means is that my stomach doesn’t like to digest food, and it does so extremely slowly. See, even my stomach is a Slacker. 🙂 So that can cause some discomfort and irritation and make running uncomfortable. It also can cause some blood sugar drops which lead to lovely dizzy spells. Woo hoo!

Back to the pants, there are times that pants just suck. In fact I own plenty of dresses for that exact reason. Ok, well some are just really cute ( and great for lazy days 🙂 ) I even have one that all my coworkers know I wear when I just refuse to wear pants. Running capris are the worst. Why are they so damn high-waisted? I have tried so many brands and types but all the same. I have tried rolling the waist band down too, no such luck. I love my Nike shorts because they sit low enough. Sometimes, it’s uncomfortable just crossing my arms, which sucks because I always cross my arms.

So, verdict is that I should be a grazer, and have to moderate my carb intake among some things that I shouldn’t eat. Despite the food pictures I have posted on this blog, I really do monitor my carbs, but those pictures would be boring. I have literally had the same thing for lunch and breakfast, with slight variations, for the last 11 months. Yawn.

Anyways moving on, I have had a better year than previously but November has not been my month. Hence the whining on my posts and the very uncomfortable last 2 miles of my last race. But I see my doc next week, so I will be sure to whine to him, but this may wander back into the blog at some point, just giving you a heads up.

I have debated posting anything about this, but I figured why not? It can’t hurt and maybe something good will come out of it. Maybe someone out there has similar issues, who knows. Otherwise, my next post should have some actual running in it :).

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Any crazy AM shoppers out there?

Bright, shiny and new!!!!

Shoes!!!!!! As I mentioned in a previous post, my Mizuno Wave Inspire 9 were getting a little tired. In fact, I probably shouldn’t have run my half marathon in them. But I loved them so much! I set a PR for 5K, 10K, and half marathon distances in them. So, ok, maybe I was a little attached, a little overly sentimental.

Monday’s short little run brought the mileage total up to 444. The wear was showing and the support has faded. Poor shoes. 😦 It was time to do something. Mizuno has been teasing the release of the Wave Inspire 10 for sometime in mid-November. I had mixed feelings about this for a few reasons. #1 was that I didn’t want to wait that long. I needed shoes now, so I could break them in for November races. #2- I loved these shoes, 10 were redesigned, what if I hated them? Plus by the time I would figure that out, I may not have been able to find the Inspire 9.

I have been checking websites off and on for about a month now, hoping I could find the Inspire 9’s for a little less. Monday after my creepy run, I decided to just buy my shoes. I have bought (been gifted) every pair of running shoes from The Running Warehouse. I love them, great selection and customer service. I am probably a very annoying customer, as I usually try on like 7 pairs of shoes each time. This time I knew exactly what I wanted, so I figured I would go online. Easy peasy right?

Strike 1, they had the 9 in two colors but not my size. Well crap. Ok, how about the Mizuno website? 3 colors available, but again not my size, strike 2. I was starting to get a little nervous. Did I wait too long? Next I checked out Road Runner Sports. I had never been to the site before but kept seeing it on Twitter. Success!!! They had my shoes in my size!!!!

I ordered them around 10PM Monday night. They had a deal with their VIP account, so I figured why not. I got 20% off plus free shipping. Score! And yes, I paid for my first pair of running shoes. Tuesday morning, I received an email that they had shipped. Well that was fast. I still expected them to take a while. After getting home from work school on Wednesday, I found my shoes!!! Less than 48 hour turn around! I was impressed. Part of me wanted to go for a run but my neck was freakishly sore and stiff after class, so I held off.

Thursday, I headed out after work, before more school, for a little 3 mile run. The weather was amazing, bright shining sun and blue ocean. It was a little windier than anticipated; the water was choppier than I had seen it. The shoes were great, no issues, I could really feel the support.

Only one slight quirk, the shoes are pink, like in your face, bright pink. (Sorry, Mizuno, Beetroot not pink) I think this is the brightest pair of shoes I have owned. I could see the pink out of the corner of my eye while running, that will take some getting used to. 🙂 I can count the number of pink things I own on one hand.

On the shoe subject, I rewarded myself for achieving my 10K goal with these super cute platforms-

I wore them today for the second time 🙂 Love them, but almost walked out of the right one 3x today, my right foot is smaller. 😦 I need to buy one of those heel inserts. It’s hard to believe I am a runner when I sometimes have troubles walking!

Can’t wait to get my next run in with my new shoes!!!

Anyone else have any favorite shoes?

Anyone racing this weekend?