Category: Run!

A New Year 10K

I love days off in the middle of week, even if they do confuse me a bit. This feels more like a Sunday than a Hump-day Wednesday. Which is not a horrible thing. It means I only have 2 days of work before the weekend, not 5, woo hoo! Can’t complain about that! And bonus, tomorrow there should be a crew of 5 at work, well hopefully. Fingers crossed!

Last night was an extremely chill New Years Eve. Like so chill that I forgot to watch the clock so the fireworks had to remind me of what time it was. After I jumped about a foot in the air, that is. Then it was off to bed for me. The plan was to sleep in but I woke up around 7:30 thinking I had a bladder infection (TMI?). Not pleasant. So I read some blogs while trying to doze of for the next 2 hours. Getting up I still felt a little touch and go but chose to ignore it. I headed out for lunch and some errands. I hit up Target to stare at some more food labels. It was funny how empty town was and it was after 12 by then. How late did some people sleep?

I was out the door by 2 for an easy run. I was aiming for around 5-6 miles. My first 3 miles were at a good pace even with my little walking warmup. A little past 2 miles I hit the top of incline and usually head back down a block over. This time I went right and continued up another little hill. As I rounded the downhill on the other side coming on 3 miles, I saw my mom and Zoey down the street. Or heard them, Zoey was not being a good walker today, haha. I met up with them at the bottom of another hill. They were headed up it, I really didn’t want another hill but I joined them. I won’t lie, I walked that hill and was huffing and puffing all the way up. This is one way Garmin is not great, I looked at my watch and saw that my pace was now 16+ minutes per mile, yikes!

Once at the top, I walked another .25 of a mile with them. I tried to jog with Zoey to the end of the block but it only lasted about 20 yards before she decided to pay tug of war with the leash. I think though that whenever she is finally trained she will be a fast running partner. She’s less than 4 months old and she treats 4-5 mile walks like it’s a run around the yard. I didn’t know an animal could have that much energy! Downside is she seems to think I am a giant chew toy. No matter what I say or do, she jumps all over me every time she sees me. I have puppy teeth marks up and down my arm and holes in some of my clothes. 😦 She’s lucky she’s cute.

Hill in the background, Zoey chewing her leash in front :) — Hill in the background, Zoey chewing her leash in front 🙂

I left them there and ran on. I added in one last uphill towards the end so I would hit 6 miles. I finished my run at 6.31 miles. Perhaps not as speedy as I would liked but pretty dang good for an easy run where I walked too. So first day of the year, and the first 6 miles towards my 750 goal done! Now if I can just keep it up. 🙂

I stretched out and then completed my first Nike Training workout. I always wanted to try this out but my previous iPhone didn’t have enough memory. When I upgraded to the 32gb in November I was finally able to download it. I tried my first one today and I was glad no one was around to see. I am seriously uncoordinated and just special when it comes to thing like that. Seriously, I forgot how to skip! Other than that, it felt like I did something and I liked that I could choose my own music.

I think my issue from this morning was a false alarm but I will keep an eye on it. It couldn’t be a hydration issue because I usually drink too much water on a daily basis. I though the doctor was crazy when he told me to drink less, but then another seconded that opinion. Well, damn. But I ok with nothing being wrong because I want to run this weekend!!!! Hmm, maybe tomorrow?

Hope everyone had an awesome New Years Day!

Foiled Again!!!~ Goals and NYE

Happy New Year’s Eve!!!! Or Happy New Years to those east of me!

This time it wasn’t my fault, promise. Work was pretty good today actually, My team of 3 held strong and help came in the early afternoon to cover lunches and what not. It could have been much busier, but most people seemed to think that we closed early. No such luck, we worked a full day. One of the parties I was debating about tonight was canceled, The hostess was down with strep, yikes! Feel better ME!!!! ( I swear that’s her name)

This to me seemed like a sign, I was going for a run after work. I wasn’t really feeling a party anyways 🙂 So after work, I changed and headed to the gym. Which was when this happened-

You know you live in a #smalltown when the gym closes at 5 on #newyearseve 7 hours before midnight!

— SlackerRunner (@SlackerRunner) January 1, 2014

Seriously?! Ok, maybe I should have called first. I did think about them closing early, but I figured the earliest a “24 hour gym” would close was 7 or 8. Not 5:00!! I was sad and sheepish. I was all runned up with nowhere to go 😦 I was still not feeling very sociable, so I went home and ate a small boring dinner. I then decided it was time to finish some 2014 plans while sitting in the Comfy Chair.

Well then, here goes-

14 in 2014– I briefly mentioned this in my first races of 2014 post. I decided to take the plunge. This will mean running 14 races in 2014. Less than most of the bloggers I follow (you rockstars!) but 2 more than I have previously completed in a year. Plus the increased race schedule should help keep my training mileage up. Which then leads to-

750 miles in 2014– Again way less than most but more than previous years. It averages out to a little over 62 miles a month. Which I currently hit on my good months. However months like December (34.5) are more common. I ended 2013 with 558 miles. I had thought it was going to be higher, oops. Hello Slacker.

So with those 2 goals in mind, I am ready to greet 2014. 2013 was a damn good year, both with running and work, I PR’ed all the various distances and earned 2 promotions, woo hoo! A 45 minute commute came along with that last bit, but I’ve adjusted 🙂 Thanks 2013 and all those who helped make it great, friends, family coworkers and the new community I have found with this blog.

Oh, and I also registered for my first race of 2014 tonight. Not the first one I am planning on running, but the first that I have paid for. Wine Country 13.1, here I come! Now I will continue to marathon The Arrow on Netflix and look forward to sleeping in tomorrow and getting in a good run. But not at my gym, because again, the 24 hour gym is only open from 7AM to 1PM. 😦

Anyone run a New Year’s Eve run/race tonight??

Hope everyone has a fantastic evening!!!!

Paving the Road

Sunday started out according to plan. I slept in a little, started some laundry and then met my family for a last guilty lunch. Per usual, it was pizza and salads at a local restaurant. It was very yummy. I then headed home to work on organizing and cleaning my closet before heading out for a run. I had enlisted my mother’s help with the early spring cleaning. She is an organizational queen, I once posted a picture of her closet on Facebook. All the the tank tops were hung by color, and it was very noticeable as she had upwards of 140 at the time! With my inherent Slacker-ness, minor OCD and germophobe issues, I can have hoarding tendencies. She on the other hand loves either throwing things away or donating them. I figured between the 2 of us, it would take an hour, hour and a half tops.

I was so naive. It took an hour to empty the closet. How is it that items that fit so well before suddenly expand to fill up a room and then some? It was ridiculous. I seriously do not need any more running clothes. It was dark by the time it was finished, with 2 bags of trash and 2 bags to donate. I was so over it by then, now the test is to see how long it lasts. The thing about closets; they have doors, so very easy to hide a little mess. 🙂

It was now too late for a run. I don’t run in the dark, the streets around my house are just not designed for that. There is one, just one, street that has sidewalks but they are more like hurdles, haha. My gym also closes early on Sundays. Then my phone rang, when my phone rings on Sunday afternoons, it’s rarely ever a good thing. It was someone calling in sick for Monday. Waaah! That meant that for Monday, it would be a crew of three, just me and two others. Yikes! I had a hard time sleeping last night just trying to figure out the logistics of only three people.

So this morning that meant I had to be up earlier and out the door sooner. I also went for a double dose of caffeine. I had the feeling I would need it. I even upped from a small soda to a medium. Caffeine and sugar! Work started out well, it stayed steady all day but didn’t really pick up until the afternoon. I managed to sneak away at 2:45 for a few minutes to eat a quick lunch. From then on, it just felt like chaos. I hardly sat down and walked back and forth about a hundred times. And sadly this is not an exaggeration. I was exhausted. We even managed to get help from another location, but it was still rough.

I had optimistically packed my running gear and my shiny new Garmin but I was in no mood to deal with people 😦 And it was too dark to run outside- stupid daylight savings! Tomorrow is more of the same work wise 😦 But it’s New Years Eve, so we’re wearing jeans!!! It’s the small things right?

I am also torn between going to a New Years Eve party or trying to hit the gym again. My gear is still in my car, ready to go. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

So is the road to hell paved with good intentions or good excuses?

Who got in a last or second to last run of 2013? You rockstar!

Unseasonably Warm

It’s December 28th and my run today happened in shorts and a tank top. Say what? Christmas day was in the 70’s and sunny. Boo hoo, I wanted clouds. 😦 Where is winter? I know I should stop complaining, it will be cold soon enough and I will probably complain about that too. I’m fickle like that 🙂 I passed one guy running in heavy black pants and full sweatshirt and hood followed by another 4 blocks later running only in shorts. I’m not sure which one seemed more out-of-place.

I did start out wearing a long-sleeved shirt but I lost it by mile 2. Ever have one of those runs where you felt like your stomach was leading you? I know I said that I wasn’t going to worry about December and maybe indulge a little, but I really shouldn’t have stepped on the scale this morning. Wah. And to continue the spiral, I ate a tri-tip sandwich while out shopping (Christmas returns) followed by a cinnamon roll at Panera. So counter-productive. But I think I have finally figured the new diet restrictions, so fingers crossed I level out soon. Plus my training plan starts Monday so bring on the calorie burn! Hopefully half marathon ready by February 15th 🙂

Today’s run was an easy 5.5 miles around the neighborhood. I normally don’t run after eating a lot of food because my stomach with its issue just doesn’t like it. But I am trying force myself to run through it. I usually don’t eat anything pre-race, even on half-marathon days. I know that I need to change that in the future. So like I said, I felt like my stomach was leading the way. That being said it was a pretty good run. Ran the first 3 in 30 minutes, with only a little walk break. As I rounded the top of a hill, I saw my mom and Zoey coming up it. I met up with them and walked with them for .5 mile. It added in another little hill but oh well, it had a big downhill. I took Zoey’s leash while we were walking but she must not have noticed, because about 3/10 of a mile in she looked up the leash and was very surprised to see me holding it. The look on her face was priceless. I left them at the downhill and ran on. I looped around and met back up with them at the school, water stop! I walked a bit more with them before running on to finish my run.

I love my new Garmin, and all its shiny new data. Even If I am still trying to figure it all out. I was able to send workouts to it but I have not made it to the track yet to test them out. Right now I all I know is that my pace is all over the place and my cadence is really low. More things to work on 🙂

I have one last guilty lunch with my family planned for tomorrow hopefully followed by a run. I also have boring errands and laundry to catch up on 😦

Anyone racing tomorrow? If you raced today, you rock!!!

Can you believe it’s almost 2014?!!

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?