Category: Run!

Slow moving rant…

This post may be a little Rant-tastic. Just wanted to give you a warning first.

Sunday’s treadmill run was slow but I figured hey I was still tired from Friday. Yesterday, I had planned on doing speed work at the lake. I was looking forward to running as it had been a crazy day. I had slept like crap the night before and I knew the first day back from vacation is always spent catching up plus it being a Monday, I was prepared for it to be a very busy day. I was not prepared however for someone to spend 20 minutes forcefully expressing their displeasure and disappointment with me. So by the time work was done, I felt like I needed a good run.

ilovetorun.org | RUNNING CAN BE GIVEN

Got to the park and dropped my phone down the black hole on the side of driver’s seat. So I wasted 5 minutes trying to fish it out. Finally got it out and set off. From the second I started running I just felt sluggish and tired. For the past few weeks I feel like I am getting slower not faster and that is just stressing me out. I have 2 races coming up that I had wanted to improve on my previous times. Right now I don’t see that happening. I was so frustrated and cranky last night that I quit after 2 laps, just 2.5 miles. Lovely Mr. Nike gave me a pace update at the 2 mile mark and I told him to frak off. ( Yes, I talk to my Nike + App ) Plus come to find out, I had forgotten to take the Nike App off of treadmill mode, so my mileage was off from not using the GPS. Ugh!!!!

Then there was spider monkey. I was rounding the back corner of the lake on lap 1 and completely frustrated with my pace when out of nowhere came this guy. He came running in from the side leaping from rock to rock. While shirtless and wearing gloves? After the rocks, he leaped to the railing of the bridge. Then hanging like a monkey from the side of the bridge climbing up and down and doing some pull ups. He passed me again about a ½ mile later running with Tom Cruise hands, and then leaped from rock to rock again before ending up doing pushups on the tall parallel bars. That was new, and at least it provided a distraction from my crankiness. Not sure where he went after that, didn’t see him on the second lap around.

The second lap wasn’t any better than the first and I was just done, so I called it a day and drowned my sorrows in pizza 🙂 Today, I decided to look for some motivation and I found the best tweet!

Not all workouts work out #inspirationalquote #toofasttuesday @Flotrack @RunnerSpace_com @runnersworld @RunCompetitor @tandfn

— Aric Van Halen (@Aricvh) September 17, 2013

I also had a doctor’s appointment to go over some neck x-rays I had last week. Doctor recommended physical therapy but said nothing against running. Woo hoo! So tomorrow, I am heading back to the gym, hoping that maybe the treadmill will like me. If not, then I will just keep running. It’ll get better eventually right?

Easy Sunday

After Friday’s treadmill 10, I stopped by the desk on the way out and upgraded my gym membership. Now, this might seem a little odd as I hadn’t been to the gym since February. However I could upgrade for free right now and the upgrade meant I could bring a guest for free anytime I wanted. So today I headed back to the gym with my mom in tow.

We checked in and headed for the treadmills. I took her through the basics and she was off! She was planning on walking 4 miles on the treadmill before checking out the other equipment. She had a couple of minor mishaps on the treadmill before settling in. She pulled the emergency stop out twice, oops! That’s why I don’t use that thing. She also almost ran into the front of it, I do that all the time! I told her that just meant she could go faster. 🙂

From the second I started running, I could feel how tired my legs were. I think I maybe could have used another rest day. Since I had already run my 3x this week, I had no real plan for today. I ran an very easy 3 and then walked just shy of another mile. Then my mom was like “let’s check out the ellipticals!”. Yeah, ellipticals and I don’t always get along. I can hardly ever get them to stop! But I gave it a shot. Meanwhile, she was just powering it away on her machine. Took me almost 11 minutes to complete a mile, yeah that was it for me. My legs were so tired, not really sore, just tired. Plus, by now I am far enough into training that my toenails are talking back to me.

ilovetorun.org | RUNNING CAN BE GIVEN — Ahhh, the joys of running 🙂

I think I created a monster; she already wants to go back to the gym!

Slacker Saturday yesterday was pretty nice, I can’t complain. I was able to pick up a new quilt as well, so bring on the mini renovation 😉 I was super excited until I hit a little snag today. That lovely headboard that I bought on Friday? Yeah, it’s too big, by 5 inches. Crap!!!! So even though I still have to figure that out, I could make some of the changes.

I guess she approves :) — I guess she approves 🙂

As of today, I am exactly 2 weeks from my 10k and 4 weeks out from my half marathon. Eeeek! And now it’s back to work tomorrow which bites but its ok too. There’s a 3 day weekend (race weekendJ ) in October and then I have a full week vacation in November to look forward to 🙂

Anyone else sharing in the toenail troubles?

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend!

Shine On !!!!!

Happy Saturday everyone! Thanks again to BayRunner Jamie for the nomination for the Shine On Award 🙂 The rules are as follows:

1. Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.

2. Acknowledge that blogger on your blog, and link back.

3. Share seven random, interesting things about yourself.

4. Nominate up to 15 bloggers for the Shine On Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs

5. Copy and paste the award somewhere on your blog

Numbers 1 and 2 done, so here goes #3:

Seven Random Things

1. I watch too much TV, I really do. Netflix and I get along great. It’s very helpful for marathon sessions of Doctor Who or Supernatural. Or whatever else strikes my fancy.

2. I’m a natural blonde who dyes my hair darker. I currently have a couple shades going on, blonde, red and brown.

3. I love Diet Coke and can’t stand coffee. Drink way too much Diet Coke, but I’m working on that.

4. I have posted Harry Potter fan fiction online.

5. I love to read, a lot.

6. I put on foundation and mascara before every race, it may be ridiculous, but it’s part of my race ritual.

7. I am in my early 30’s, and on my 9^th car.

Ok, that was hard! Now on to the fun part, the blogs that I would like to nominate for the Shine On Award are:

AttemptedRunner

Run, Hemingway Run!

The Princess and the Jog

I Sweat Pretty

eatbreatherun

Move Eat Create

I chose ones that I really like to read and that I don’t think have been nominated before. If I am wrong, I am sorry!!!

This also made me realize that I need to read more! If you haven’t read any of these, you should check them out.

Since, I am working on having a nice Slacker Saturday, I think I will work on finding more blogs to read. You can never have too much inspiration right?

Hope everyone is having an awesome day!

Oh, vacation…

I have been on vacation for the last two days. I had planned to run a couple miles Wednesday after work; however after leaving “work school” I was so tired. And I still had to drive home. I was supposed to meet my mom for a run/ walk but wanted to cancel so badly, but was gonna tough it out. I made it back home and found out that my mom wasn’t feeling it either. Yay for a rest day!

Thursday was my first vacation day. I had originally taken the time off because I wanted to head up to Sacramento to attend Aftershock, but wasn’t able to make that work out. 😦 If anyone who reads this is there, I am so jealous! But a 4 day weekend is still pretty awesome, right? I spent Thursday running errands (boo- DMV) and catching up on school. After not having to commute to work, I really did not want to drive to school, but I did. What do you know the teacher was late and the alarm in the nearby chem lab went off every 5 minutes for the next 2 hours. Ugh, really? Thankfully, the teacher couldn’t take it either and we were able to leave early.

Today rolled around and I should have gotten out of bed and done my long run before it hit triple digits but I didn’t. Instead I slept in, went to lunch with my parents and did a little antique shopping with my mom. I have been looking for a headboard for years now, but never found one that I liked and was in my price range. Wandered into a booth today and one was leaning up against a wall. Blue-gray in color, good, right bed size, check, and the price? Steal of the day-under $50? Sold!!!!

Since it was still around 100 outside, and the first home football game was tonight, I decided not to run around my neighborhood. The stadium is within walking distance of my house, so Friday nights often mean crazy traffic and crazier drivers. So what the heck, I went to the gym. Haven’t been since February, oops.

Walked into the gym and was confused. When did it turn into the Biggest Loser gym? I was waiting for Jillian Michaels to come out and start yelling at me to run faster. Hmmm, guess I missed a remodel in the last 7 months. So I got on a shiny new treadmill (way too many buttons) and started running. 10 miles later, I still hate treadmills. And I am a little over the movie Hancock, it was playing on one of the numerous TV’s when I got there and then it started over. No!!!!!!

But, long run done!!!! Also while I was on the treadmill, I had a little notification from Word press pop up. I was nominated for a Shine On Award! Talk about a great pick me up when running 🙂

I was nominated by BayRunner Jamie, who has a really great blog, if you haven’t checked it out, head on over and catch up! Since I am still trying to figure this whole blogging thing out, I need to read more on what I need to do now so that will follow soon in another post. But thanks for shout-out BayRunner Jamie!

Tomorrow I am looking forward to being as much of a Slacker as possible. Is it sad that I really like this shirt?

Hope everyone has a great weekend ahead, either great plans or just good general lazing around. 🙂

The naked wrist

After a day relaxing on Sunday, I was ready to run on Monday. I had planned on meeting M at the lake for a few laps. I was looking forward to taking it a little easy; my stomach was still a little wobbly from Saturday.

She was running late so I ran a lap before she got there. She arrived, got Baby G situated in her stroller and we were off. Seriously that baby is adorable! We kept a decent pace around the lake, her mostly pushing the stroller, sometimes I did. I have to say, why don’t jogging strollers have handles like an elliptical? It would make things feel so much more natural.

And mile 3, carrying Baby G :) All in all 3.5 miles — And mile 3, carrying Baby G 🙂 All in all 3.5 miles

Next lap around, baby G was kind of fussy, so we slowed and M carried her while I pushed the empty stroller. After about half a mile, we traded off again, she took the stroller and I took G the rest of the way. That baby has the best hearing, she heard things coming about behind us before I did. Again, so cute! Does carrying a 17 lb. baby for a half mile count as strength training? I joked that she now weighs as much as my cat… yeah he’s a beast.

Heli ( the Beast) in front, Kimi in the back

So today I planned on a rest day or a bike day, it was still in flux this morning, I was very undecided. Driving south on the freeway, I realized I felt naked… I had forgotten my fuel band!!! I have worn it every day since Christmas, how the hell did I forget to put it on? I almost turned around but that would have made me late. Ugh!

Naked wrist vs normal wrist :) — Naked wrist vs normal wrist 🙂

So I finally get home after work and my fuel band says a sad little 0. If I rest I won’t meet my goal and if I ride the bike, I won’t meet my goal either. So nothing else to do, I changed real fast, threw on my shoes and was down the driveway for a run. I figured 2.5 miles would make me meet my goal for the day. It would be short and quick but still good. Turns out I don’t know where the halfway point is for 2.5 miles from my house, oops, so I hit 3 at the bottom of my driveway. Oh well, 3 is better anyways, right? On the walk up my freaky driveway hill, I checked my fuel band… I was still 900 under my goal. WTH?! So I guess I don’t sit on my but as much as I thought I did at work. I usually hit my goal around the time I get off work. So I did some fake jump roping to get more points. I am sure I looked ridiculous, but I made my goal. And on the upside, I had dang good pace for an unplanned run, yippiee!

Tomorrow I have work and the first day of work school. So my day will be split between 2 towns before returning back to my home town to get a run in. And then…Vacation!!!! Only 2 days but hey, that makes a 4 day weekend 🙂 Woo hoo!!

Anyone else ever forget something that made them feel naked?

Hope everyone is having a great week!