Tag: new year

1- New Year

I sent 2019 out with a migraine for 3 days. Or did it see me out with a migraine. Hmmm.

One thing I want to change in 2020 is these weekly recaps. Part of me likes them as it helps me remember what I did and how I felt. Also it is the only way I have ever effectively stuck to a training log. I’ve tried various forms of diaries and log books but they’ve never lasted more than a few months. So I know that I want to keep it but I also want to change things up. However, I am not sure how so until I figure it out, I’ll keep on keeping on.

Outside of the migraine, I think last week went about as well as everyone else’s- I had no idea what day it was half the time. Holidays in the middle of the week with work on both sides mess with your head. The fact that I worked the Saturday before New Year’s too just made things seem screwier.

Monday and Tuesday were spent at work and then hiding in the dark in the evenings. Wish I could say it was the migraine that kept me from a New Year’s Eve celebration but it wasn’t. #introvert

Wednesday– Best thing about winter and days off is the running in the afternoon part. I headed out for a few easy miles but they just felt hard. Which is fine as I know I am very out of shape right now but a wheezing 4 miles done.

Thursday and Friday– work, work. Plus it kind of hurt to breath.

Saturday- 7 miles Hey, look who ran a baby long run! I headed out in the early afternoon again and the weather was pretty good. It wasn’t exactly easy but it wasn’t exactly hard either. If that makes sense. I may have overdressed a bit but I have a paranoia of getting sick.

Sunday- 7.ish miles on the bike. I meant to do the recovery run on my training plan but it was crazy windy. Did I mention the paranoia? I spent 3-4 months sick at the beginning of 2019 and I am not going back. I used an interval option and for once I feel like I got in a decent workout.

So 11 miles running for the week. Doesn’t sound like a lot or hardly anything at all but it’s my first double digit week in 2 months. Yep, gonna be a tough road back.

How was your week?

Week 1- Bumpy Start

2019 Race Schedule (so far):
3/24 Oakland Running Festival (more to come)
4/28 SLO Half Marathon
~~5-4 Wildflower (Thanks BibRave)~~ Canceled
8-11 Oaktown Half (Thanks BibRave)

And just like that we say goodbye to 2018 and hello to 2019. I celebrated the New Year like I usually do, quietly, haha. Big partier over here. You all partied for me right?

Last week was chaos at work. For a short week, it was the longest week ever and I swear we had 3 Mondays. I still wasn’t great and a migraine came to visit on Wednesday. It’s still here. Then I compounded the issue by wearing a new pair of shoes on Friday. They are super cute and I have worn thembefore but they are tight and I ran around ragged on Friday and now my left foot hurts even 3 days later. Crap.

I am planning on changing up these recaps up but I haven’t quite fully worked out how yet. So let’s recap the active things I did do. It wasn’t much thanks to rain and my foot but it was still more running than I did the last 3 weeks of December- ha!

Tuesday- 4 New Years Miles
I ran outside! Yay! I forgot how much I missed it. Ever since I was sick, everything seems cold to me so I was bundled up like it was 20 degrees cooler than it was but it worked for me. I ran surprisingly well though and powered up a few hills and then promptly had a wheezing attack. Haha! I also lost my Buff partway and had to take my car back along the running route to find it.

Saturday- Treadmill 5K
Rain came to town and I ran and hid. High winds and flood advisories, oh my. I did a few miles on the treadmill at a nice, easy pace. I felt a twinge in my left foot, I immediately slowed down but the twinge didn’t really go away. Not cool.

Sunday saw more rain and wind and a not happy foot. Instead of my 6 miler, I sat and watched the rain. Boo.

7.1 miles for the first week of 2019. Less than I planned but 3 times more than last week so I’m calling it a win.

How did you greet 2019?
How was your week?

2017- The Year Of

It’s that time of year where social media is full of reflections on the previous year (mine is here!) and goals or resolutions for the new year to come. This is not that post.

I don’t do goals. Goals are a 4 letter word in my book, literally and figuratively. When I first joined the blogging world and Instagram, I followed along, all the cool kids were doing it- why not me? I tried, I did. 95% of the goals I set for 3 years were spectacular failures. The more I tried, the more I failed and the more I stressed. It was a vicious cycle.

The problem is that I don’t like goals. They rate up there with the word “potential”. I hate that word. 90% of the time potential is always followed by the word “but”. I’ve told employees over the years that I will never use it in their performance review and so far I never have. But I’ve gotten sidetracked.

Goals don’t work as incentive for me. They work for some people and that’s great, they’re just not my jam. Fessing up to a goal free 2016 took a lot last year, I was afraid of the reaction. That said, I think a goal free 2016 went quite well- most miles run in a year and I ran a freakin’ marathon. 😀😀 Yeah, I’m still on that.

So that brings me to 2017. I may not have goals, but I do have a word.

2017 is all about the challenge. I want to challenge myself, not just in running but in multiple ways in life. 2017 is shaping up to be an interesting year in a variety of ways but instead of letting it push me along, I want to do my best to be driving the bus not just a passenger.

This is primarily a running blog so lets talk about running. In 2017, I want to Challenge myself with some speed. I have never been fast but I used to be speedier than I am now. I’m not putting a number on it, I’m not even putting a finishing time on it. One race finish does dictate speed. I let myself use my health issues as an excuse for far too long, I was too lazy to put in the work, whatever the reason was, it’s time to put in the work and see what I can do.

Right now I only have a few half marathons on the race schedule, Livermore and Destination Races Santa Barbara being the key ones. I do have the crazy desire to run another marathon but the only one that really intrigued me was Revel MT. Charleston. However, it’s April 29 and I just don’t think there’s any way that I will be ready to run it. Plus, it’s in Nevada and well, that’s a drive. 😛 So instead, it looks like I stick with my 1 half a month schedule February to summer and then reassess for a fall marathon. While I am Challenging myself this year, I don’t relish the idea of 20 milers in the CA summer heat. 😛 I’ll do it if I have to; it just doesn’t sound fun.

I want to apply Challenge to more aspects of my life as well. There are so many ways that I need to expand my horizons and step outside my comfort zone but I’m saving those thoughts for later date. The water hasn’t quite boiled yet.

So, 2017- Year of Challenge…

Let’s do this.

–Slacker

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!

Running Ahead

When 2013 started I had a few running goals that I mostly kept to myself. I knew I had at least 2 half marathons in the year to come and by City to Sea in October I was hoping to break 2:15:00. That would be 11 minutes off City to Sea of 2012, so I was a little nervous. I also wanted to break 30:00 for a 5K again, just to make sure that the first time wasn’t ~~a fluke~~ just because it was the HOB fun run. I figured it may have just been the adrenaline stemming from the literally almost 100 people I knew there, it’s a very popular local event. Most races, I only know 1 or 2 other people, less stress. 🙂 In 2013, I wanted to get over the horrible mental block I had with 10K’s, I had only run 1 but I hated it so much, it was 2 years before I ran another. Give me half marathon any day. I was also aiming for 12 races through out the year.

2013 also began with a promotion and job location change. I now commuted every day. On top of that, work was insanely busy. We were going through a merger, so most days including the commute were over 12 hour days. I wasn’t getting home until after 7, and then I was so tired I usually just crashed. This went on for a few months. Running took a backseat and I became a weekend runner. 😦 My first 2 races of the year were in that time period as well. A 5K in February and the Wine Country 1/2 in March.

Also the last time I had my natural hair color, ha!!

I went into Wine Country feeling seriously under trained. I had run this half twice before so I knew the course well. I was hoping to finish near 2:25:00, so only a minute faster than 2012’s City to Sea. Then 3 minutes to the starting gun they announced a last minute course change. The out and back portion would be shorter to accommodate adding a crazy hill at the end, at mile 12.4. Seriously?! I figured I would run as much as I could and walk when I needed to. I won’t lie, I walked that entire damn hill and some after that, cursing in my head the whole way up. The shocker was that I crossed the finish line at 2:14:04. Ummm, how now? I still have no idea where that came from. I had to double check Nike, the official time and the starting clock, I was in disbelief. But then I was like, what now? I wasn’t sure I could get faster. So in June, I started Slacker Runner (thanks for joining me!), partially to hold myself accountable and to find motivation in all your stories as well (which are amazing, by the way). And to stop driving my coworkers crazy with running talk.

In June, I also ran my first 10K in 2 years and it didn’t suck!!! In fact, I ran another in July and loved it. As for 12 races, I ran in 11 events but 12 races. I am not sure how to count that. 🙂 And I finished City to Sea Half in 2:05:56. I had discovered this great path at a park in the town halfway between home and work. It helped with sticking to my training plan and I think that helped with my overall pace. I can’t wait to get back to it in the spring!

So now we are heading into 2014 and where do I go from here? I am putting my goals in writing this year, so let’s do this!

5K- Finish under 27:00

10K- Finish under 54:00

Half marathon- Break under 2:00:00 in the first half of the year. If I do– see how close I can get to 1:50:00 by City to the Sea 2014. (yikes!)

So, in order to do that I need races!!!! I am debating joining the 14 in 2014 (but more on that later). I generally plan my races only a quarter ahead and most of the time it also comes down to finances 😦 So for the beginning of the year, I am thinking-

Feb 1- Super Fun Run 5K
Feb 15- Buzz 1/2 Marathon
March 23- Wine Country 1/2 marathon ( dang hill!!!)
April 27- SLO 1/2 Marathon

So now I need to get moving, get running!!! That first 1/2 marathon is less than 2 months away. Which is making me regret finishing my Christmas shopping tonight instead of running, oops.

To everyone who has their race year mapped out, you seriously impress me.

Anyone have a goal race in the first half of the year?

Everyone ready for Christmas?