Tag: Garmin

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?

A Slow Return

I really didn’t plan on a running break this long. As of this morning, I had not run since the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. After the wonderful but calorie laden birthday dinner for my parents, I was going to try and run the next morning. I had my doctor’s appointment Wednesday morning so I had some extra time. My alarm went off; I silenced it and checked the weather- 25 degrees. Umm, no thanks. Hello winter and I rolled over and slept more.

Back to Tuesday, I had mentioned that my mother wanted a cake? Thanks to the Madonna Inn, I delivered. Sugar Rush anyone?

I also presented with the Pops with this shiny new Garmin.

Right now I honestly can’t remember what I did Wednesday night, so not sure why I didn’t try for the gym. Hmmm, oops. Thursday was school, and I have to say, I cannot wait for class to be over. This class has dragged on and on and on. Just 2 more weeks. I have a plan to submit, a presentation and a final in that time but it’s so close!!

Friday was a little crazy at work. Someone called in sick and then later in the afternoon, the system crashed. It was a short outage but was no fun while it lasted. The tree was finally delivered but it came so late that it still isn’t decorated. Bummer, but that leaves something to look forward too for next week.

photo 5 (2) — But here’s a little of my tree!

I met a friend (NikeC) after work for dinner to catch up. We ended up chatting for a few hours; I think the restaurant may have been a little irritated, oops. It was a good talk, life and running, plus good food, good times!

Today started out cold again, so I slept in a little. Then I ran some errands and ate a yummy lunch. I was trying to find an inexpensive party dress for next week’s work Christmas Party. I found one that fit the budget but I am still on the fence. I have a week anyways. And then it was after 3. I so did not feel like going to the gym. The Slacker in me was whispering “one more lazy day, maybe one last weekend, you can run on Monday”. The whispers were so very tempting. It was cold and I had rolled my ankle yesterday ( I was stepping down from a credenza onto a squishy chair wearing 3 inch heels, so in other words my own damn fault). It was a little twinge, but it needed rest right?

No!!! I changed speedy fast and was out the door. I was wearing long sleeves but forgot gloves and an ear warmer, oops. I knew I was going to be sluggish and I was. But it felt good to be out and running, cold ears and all. I ran the neighborhood, hills and all. 3.8 miles later I was done and was greeted with this cuteness-

My ankle was fine throughout the entire run, but I have felt it ever since. That twinge feels very tendon-y. hmmm. I have some Christmas shopping to get done tomorrow, and hopefully I will get in another run. Fingers crossed!

How has everyone’s weekend been?

Any Racing?