Category: Run!

A little unplanned rest?

So, yeah, this week has been a total mess. If my goal was to be as much of a Slacker as possible, I have succeeded. However, since that was not my goal, big fail!!!!! I have not run since Sunday. Yikes!! I swear I have this kneejerk reaction to challenges, it’s like I try to fail. It has happened twice now with both the plank challenge and the pushup challenge. As I posted before, I set myself a challenge for miles in November and the first week isn’t looking so pretty.

Monday I did not run as I was getting ready for the trip the next day. I did take my running gear with me on Tuesday, hopeful that I could get in a few miles around the area while the girls were playing their tennis match. First sign against this was the tall locked gates and fences prohibiting us from actually getting on campus, let alone to the tennis courts. Once we finally were let in, it was around the 3^rd comment from another coach there that we had to make sure to look out for “unsavories”, which made me think, umm maybe not. I sat in the van for a bit and worked on school work instead and sure enough, some kids tried a stunt until they noticed me still in it. Seriously? That was an exhausting day without running though, so maybe that was a good thing.

ok, this should have been the first clue

As for Wednesday, that was just pure Slacker-ness. I should have taken my gear with me and changed at work and then driven straight to the gym. But I did not. No, I drove all the way home with the intention of changing and then heading out. Well the road to Slacker-ness is paved with good intentions, right? Yep, day 3 with no run. 😦 Tonight was school and with the time change, I can no longer run before class. The road is too narrow to run in the dark. Ugh!!!!

A little pre- dinner road trip photo op.

I have been feeling a little under the weather the past two days but didn’t think much of it. That changed tonight when I became so ill in the class that the teacher stopped class to ask if I was ok. That was then followed by them trying to find me a ride home. The campus is about 30 miles away. Talk about embarrassing. I drove myself home but did leave early. Plans of trying to run tomorrow before work have now been scrapped. This time may be for a good reason but I feel like I have become the excuse queen this week.

I have work tomorrow and Saturday, so at this point I think I will just call this an unplanned rest week. It means I will more than likely not make the miles goal that I set for this week for the Pile on the Miles challenge. 😦 But hopefully some rest, planned or not, will just help me step it up next week and after. As for now, I am resting in my chair watching Glee.

Hope everyone else is having a good week!

Any races this weekend?

Come on now!

This may actually be my 15^th attempt at trying to post this damn thing. I tried numerous times last night and then again on my lunch today. No luck. WordPress and I have been having a tense conversation, mostly one sided, by me, with some very colorful language.

As Monday’s go, today was actually pretty good. Got most everything squared away from last week’s mess, plus the computers were up and running. I was sad to see just how dark it was tonight when leaving work. No run tonight, busy getting ready for a long day tomorrow. Driving to Upland with the tennis team. Wish me luck, I’ll need it.

Happy Monday!!!

And now for the original post-

This Saturday I did not have to work, so yay! I had the intention to run some errands, go phone shopping with my mom, and get in a good run in the afternoon.

The errands were tedious, lunch was yummy, and the phone store was hilarious. My mother had a droid which she loved and then hated with a passion. She was ready for a new one and kept asking my opinion. I have had an iPhone for years and knew nothing about droids, so I couldn’t really help her. She claimed she hated iPhones but couldn’t tell me why. So she did her research online and decided that she wanted the new Moto X (I think). The phone store was slammed, I was very surprised by how freaking busy they were. We talked to the representative there for a while before my mom said she would buy the Moto. The salesperson replied that they did not have any and it would have to be ordered. Uh oh. The thing about my family is they have no patience. When they want something they want it yesterday. My mother thought for about 45 seconds, looked at the sales rep and said “I’ll buy an iPhone.” I cracked up laughing.

So my mother was the brand new owner of an iPhone, I spent the afternoon helping her set it up and download all the apps she may use or need. Then she and I went for a run/walk. I have talked her into doing the Spooner’s Cove 5 mile with me. Her first race!!! She was tired so we walked together sometimes and sometimes I ran ahead and then doubled back. I don’t know why, but I loved hills yesterday. I saw an incline and thought I have to run that. All in all it was a good 4.5 miles. Also I took a few fall themed pictures-

The plan of attack for today was to hit the track for some speed work. I was thinking a mile warmup, 3 miles of speed work, and a mile cool down. However the headache that greeted me this morning derailed that. I still headed to the track hoping that running would ease it back. Mile 1- no such luck. Mile 2- still ouch. Finshing mile 3, I still felt like crap but figured I would complete 4 miles with trying some sprints for the last mile. Apparently I should sprint with a headache more often, my last mile came in at 8:47. And I was done. I stretched out and headed home to some cleaning and laundry.

I also had the New York marathon on in the background while doing chores. That was a crazy amount of people!!! And some very impressive running. I don’t know if I want to run in a race that big or if it kind of scares me. 🙂

As for the November challenge, I chose to sign up for Pile on the Miles over at Run Eat Repeat. I was torn between this one and The no excuses challenge at Running Bug. I was also tempted by one I read about called No-Run-vember. Got to admit that sounded tempting! But I was good and chose to run instead. 🙂 So 2 3 days in and 8 miles in, I can do this!!!!

And now tomorrow is Monday and fingers crossed, the network and computers will be working again. Also that it doesn’t take too long to fix the mess left after Friday.

I hope everyone who ran or raced had an awesome weekend!

A Fresh Start

Seriously, where did November come from? Slow down!!!

It’s been almost 3 weeks since my half marathon and they have been 3 busy, erratic and lethargic weeks. I have had some trouble mustering up motivation lately. I have completed my 3 runs per week like planned but they have not exactly been quality runs. Not to mention that my eating habits have taken a nosedive. Enough is enough.

Today is the bright shiny start of a new month and the end of my lethargy. (Fingers crossed) As today is Friday and work is usually crazier, I did not plan to run just to eat a hell of a lot better than I have been. Mission semi accomplished. It’s a good thing I planned on running tomorrow and not today as I would have had to cancel and that would have just made me cranky.

Last minute pirate…that’s fairy tale right?

Yesterday ( Halloween!), we dressed up and had a potluck and that was the great part of the day. However at 3:30 the network crashed and we lost all internet connectivity. Well crap. We left as usual hoping that it would be fixed by this morning. No such luck. We ran the entire day with no computers. About the only thing the computers could do without the network was tell us the time. And we lost our phones. I think I put more minutes on my cell phone today calling other locations than I have in the last 3 months. Poor phone. So, yeah, work ran over today, I didn’t even get home until almost 8. 😦

I think that part of my ennui was that I really wanted to find another half marathon to do before the end of the year, but couldn’t find one that fit with my schedule or budget. Also with the time change coming, in years past I have always become a much bigger Slacker in November and December. This year I want to be better than previous years, I am hoping that this blog will help keep me accountable! Call me out if I get too lazy!!!!

I have been looking at various running challenges for November and I may do one. I will post when I make up my mind. I want to look more in depth tonight and tomorrow before I decide. I will post when I make up my mind. As for races, Spooner’s Cove 5 mile Trail Run, here I come!!!! C and I are also looking at a 10K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning 🙂

So here’s to be being a little less of a Slacker going forward!

I hope everyone had an amazing Halloween!

Anyone else DVR’ing the New York marathon like me this weekend? I know, I’m a big nerd!

Bad Math

Happy All Hallows Eve Eve?

I started to feel icky Sunday evening and Monday morning was no better. I had to drag myself out of bed in order to get ready for work. I still packed all my running gear though. I was so lying to myself!!! It was overcast and wet while I drove to work, but no rain. 5 hours later, the skies opened up and dumped; rain!!!!!! Nowhere near enough to affect the drought but it was awesome to see. I was also surprised at how quickly the street outside flooded. An added bonus was that I finally decided to not run. I figured rain plus feeling crappy did not make a good combo. So I drove home, made it to the comfy chair and crashed.

Tuesday morning, I was just as tired. I was not feeling like an evening of volleyball. However I knew we were down 2 players so I dragged myself there. I always wear shorts and knee socks to play volleyball, but this night, I figured I would try capris and maybe stay a little warmer. Never again! I don’t care how damn cold it is, I am wearing my shorts. My kneepads were pulling down my pants, and my pants were trying to take my damn underwear with them. I was terrified I was going to flash some poor person. Add the constant pant pulling up and my lack of enthusiasm, being down 2 people and it did not make for a good night. We lost both games. I just wanted to sleep. 😦

ilovetorun.org | RUNNING CAN BE GIVEN

With the time change coming on Sunday, I know that I will be unable to run outside after work next week. The roads are too narrow in the town where I work, and the lake park has just a few too many transients to feel safe running in the dark. So it will be the start of treadmill evenings for me. Boo!!!! Today I was still tired and cranky but I hit the lake path after work for a very short 2.5 miles. It had been a few days since I had run so I aimed for short and sweet. As it was, I made it back to my car in full twilight. I may have done another lap had it been lighter. My legs felt tired and stiff but the run felt good. It was colder than I planned, my ears were freezing!

I headed home so I could put some things together for tomorrow’s Halloween costume and potluck. I am finishing my evening by watching Nova’s Marathon Challenge. Hoping for some motivation to fight this lethargic-ness I have been feeling.

Anyone have any plans for Halloween?

Slacking it at Harvest

As I had to work yesterday, I ended up getting off early on Friday. However this was not planned and as such I was unprepared. As I was driving past the lake path, I was cursing my lack of foresight, because I totally could have gone for a run. But all I had in my car was my old pair of Inspire’s and my belt and earphones. Think I could run in old shoes and a dress? I might have received some interesting stares. I also knew that being it was Friday I would lose the eagerness to run by the time I got home. And I did. So I ran errands and caught up on some reading instead. Slacker!

Driving to work on Saturday, the weather was perfect for a run. As evidenced by the numerous people that I saw running on the sides of the highway. My Saturday commute takes me along 2 rural highways, both with wide paved shoulders. There were quite a few people taking advantage of that that morning. I was so jealous. Even though rationally I knew that even if I didn’t have to work, I would probably be sleeping in instead, I was still jealous. Runner’s logic, right? It was interesting to see how some people were just running in shorts and shirts and others looked like they were wearing a parka. It was a lovely crisp 45 degrees. 🙂 Ha! I had the heater in my car cranked up. The fog never stays gone for long though and rolled in by 11:30 so I got to drive home in the fog, oh boy!

I did make it to the track for a good run though. I did 4 miles with an average pace of 10:07. Usually my track times are a little faster than this, but I was brilliant and ate a large lunch about an hour before running. I had been craving a hot dog as I hadn’t had one in almost a year. After yesterday, it will probably be another year before I want another hot dog. It was super yummy but it did not make my run fun at all. On the plus side, I still love my new shoes!

This weekend was the Harvest Marathon in my home town. It is actually the combo of what in previous years was 2 races: the Harvest Marathon and the Wine Vine Run. I had participated in both events in the 5K in years past. I really wanted to run the half marathon this year but since it was so close to the City to the Sea half marathon I was planning on extremely late registration. I figured I would to see how I felt. I felt great but my pocket book did not. It came down to shoes or the race and shoes won. Plus my left foot has been making itself known to me. It still doesn’t hurt, but something is not right. 😦

However, I did participate in a way. The race works as a fundraiser for the local high school’s athletic department. My mother is head tennis coach there and all sports teams had to volunteer. So I was up at 5AM to head out and help her and the team work a water table. We had station #4 which was at mile 8.7 of the marathon. The half marathoners had a different course. We had the table up and ready to go by 7:00. We had people to hand out water, a guy for traffic control and 2 athletic trainers. We were ready to go but the race started at 7. We had 40 minutes until we would see the first runner and it was so cold. 😦 I went and sat in my car until 7:35. So very social of me.

Mother and me :) So damn cold!!! — Mother and me 🙂
So damn cold!!!

The first runner came through around 7:50. Woo hoo!!! The first 5 people were men, then finally the first girl! Actually I think she was another blogger that I just started following but not sure. This was a hometown race so the marathon only had around 60 people registered, so there was a fair amount of time between people running by. I was surprised by how much the runners were drinking though. I have worked aid stations before and people always sipped and then threw the cups. These runners were guzzling water down. We started to think that we were going to run out of cups, most runners were taking 3 each! Also half of them walked the cups to the trash bag on the opposite side of the street, even when we said they could just toss it and we would pick up after. Also we were not a station that provided Gatorade but so many people wanted it. I felt horrible every time we said that we didn’t have it!

The runners and the course :) — The runners and the course 🙂

In between the first pack and the second, the boys decided to play with branches they found on the side of the road. Really? I could see the runners coming so I told them to put the sticks down, that we didn’t need to have the approaching runners think we were going to pull a Tonya Harding on them. Every single teenager just stared at me. They had no idea what I was talking about. Am I really that old?!?!

Good group but man I feel old now :) — Good group but man I feel old now 🙂

The last runner passed at around 9:00 and we were done! We packed up our stuff and headed out.

While I felt lazy that I did not run the half marathon this morning, I was also not inspired to run a marathon. They all looked so damn tired when they ran through and they still had 17 miles to go. Do I like that at mile 8 when I run half’s? No wonder people think runners are slightly crazy. Still it was rewarding to work the other side this morning and it’s probably not the last time I will do it. I may even put this race on the schedule for next year, but I may try for Nike in SF instead. 🙂

Anyone race or volunteer this weekend?

Am I the only one feeling my age? ha!