Tag: Nike

Short is better than none right?

So, not feeling well on Tuesday led into a second rest day on Wednesday. Plus between work and school and then back to work, I felt all over the place and so, so tired. Thursday was a normal day of work followed by school later in the evening. If I was a smart person, I would have run 4 miles in the time between. I had my clothes and shoes in my car. I, however, was not smart and chose to meet the tennis team for dinner at Chipotle. Oops. Didn’t get out of school until 10 or even home until well after. Running at 5 AM this morning on 4 hours of sleep? Yeah not so much. The bed was so warm and comfy 🙂

So, that brings me to 3 days off with no running. You would think that 3 days rest would make me feel invigorated and ready to go, right? Ummm, no. I am still so tired. What gives? I have a race in less than 48 hours and I need to get a run in before then. I generally don’t like going for a run the day before a race (tomorrow), plus that would then be 4 days off. Yuck. It’s not like I’m sick, I just feel super tired and worn out. Not a good combination to start the weekend. 😦

I hate running on Fridays because it usually feels like a longer day and work is generally busier. My last long run was on a Friday but was only because I was on vacation. However, I had my running clothes with me and was going to try and make myself go the gym after work. Yeah, putting on running capris after 3 days of Slacker-dom? Oh what fresh hell is that?!

I didn’t make it to the gym but I did make it to the lake. I was fighting a setting sun as well as Friday fatigue. But anything is better than nothing right? I set out to do 2 laps. That would be around 2.35 miles. Since it was short, I decided to push a little harder. I started out feeling really sluggish but halfway through my legs actually felt pretty good. I wanted more sun. Plus I got to test out my new capris, so far so good, but it was only 2 miles. The weather for this Sunday’s race may be a little warmer that I would like. I can’t decide if I want to wear capris or shorts. Decisions, Decisions.

I am hoping that working the registration/ packet pick up table tomorrow will help get me in gear. I really like watching everything be set up. Plus, it is fun handing out the packets and watching people pick up their bib numbers and chips. The shirts can turn into a bit of hassle with people wanting to changes sizes but it’s still fun.

I love this race; I really do, but it also adds stress. The course is flat and fast and if there was a time to aim for a PR, this would be it. In fact many people try. The course has not changed over the years and it is the only race I have ever run that offers money for the top 3 placers in the 10K and top male/ female in the 5K. Plus 100% of the race entry fees go to charity and you get to choose which charity your entry fee benefits. There are usually 3 charities to choose between.

This is also the only race I have ever run that actually closes the roads. Ever run a half-marathon with a semi coming up behind you? Yeah, it’s a little nerve wracking. The 5K is one loop through downtown and the 10K is two loops. I am nervous about running through the starting/ finish line after the first loop. I know that my Nike app tells me the pace at every mile, but it’s different than seeing the numbers on that big red clock. Hopefully running passed the crowd will be enough of a distraction. Either that or work as a motivation boost!

Anyone have any big plans for the weekend?

Any races or long runs?

My Happy Place

It rained!!!!! Only for a bit and it was more of a mist but it rained! It happened while I was working Saturday, I tried to take a picture but it just looks gray. We’re in the middle of a drought so any rain is exciting. Granted I wasn’t in my home town and it turns out it didn’t get any rain. Driving home in the rain and fog was less exciting. I was behind a car going 40 in a 60, but that was actually ok as I could hardly see the car itself due to the fog.

I arrived home to find new toys in the mail! My new belt had arrived. I had searched numerous web sites and asked fellow bloggers opinions as I was super frustrated by my current hydration belt. After checking things out, RunningFromitAll (awesome blog) recommended iFitness. Duh! They made my basic running belt that I really liked aside from it being too small for longer races. I had forgotten about them. So I checked out their website, turns out they changed their name to Fitletic. After mulling things over, I ordered myself a new belt.

Now this is not a hydration belt. I can order the add on’s for that but I think I am going to try it without. There are 5 water stations in my next half marathon, so I figure between those and a little handheld with Gatorade, I will be ok. At least that is the plan. We’ll see how it works out after the race. It has 2 pockets and some straps for gels, as well as race bib holders. I probably won’t use the bib holders, I tend to wear my belt really low on my hips. My phone does fit much better in this belt as well.

I was torn between the track and the gym for my run, but I really wanted to test out my new belt. The track won. Which is more than fine by me, the track is my “happy place”. I was aiming for between 4-5 miles and was thinking about trying some 800’s. I felt pretty good after my first mile, so I decided to just try and maintain pace as long as I could. I had a larger bottle of water to carry but it was driving me bonkers so I left it on a table by the track.

I hit mile 4 and still felt good, so I kept going. My mother had come with me for this workout and I noticed then that she was doing her sprints. She does those when she nears the end of her workout. I rounded the south curve and hit mile 5, and she was sitting on the table waiting. It was too good of run to quit so I pushed through to a full 10K. Mile 6 was my best mile out of the 6, 9:38 🙂 My overall pace was better than my previous run on the treadmill. But I also love the track now, like I said, it’s a happy place. I hated it in high school, but then I hated running too. I have always been a slacker. I was actually asked a couple times if I wanted to run track back then and I was like “why the heck would I do that?”. I ran the required amount for tennis and softball and that was it. Not a foot more. Now I wish I had maybe given it a shot then, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard now.

Today was a designated Slacker day. I spent the day shopping. Prior to getting healthier and losing weight, I use to say that window shopping was exercise, all that walking up and down the street right? My Nike Fuelband quickly put that theory to rest. Shopping days are actually some of my laziest days. I earn more fuel points at work, and I sit at a desk a lot. Today, I discovered that trying on clothes is a work out, haha! I went to Dick’s to look for a new pair of running capris. I tried on 9 pairs, that was just ridiculous. I ended up going with the Nike Filament Capri, which was funny because they were the pair I liked the least on the rack and based on fabric. Once on, though, they felt awesome. Now to see if they run awesome.

I also picked up some new work clothes for a steal 🙂 and ate some yummy food. I picked up a few things to finish the mini room makeover, but still haven’t been able to get the headboard to work. All in all, a very good Slacker Sunday.

So yummy, I snacked a bit first :) — So yummy, I snacked a bit first 🙂

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend and kicked ass in any races 🙂

Dune sand sucks….literally

Thursday and Friday were planned rest days, even if Thursday was far from restful. Work was crazy and I had my first class that night. I got good news at work but I was too tired to muster up much enthusiasm. Thankfully, Friday was better. I finished the day with some lovely carb heavy French toast and getting my things together for today’s race. I was excited!

I woke this morning with my usual nervous stomach. Since my goal today was to just have fun, what did I have to be nervous about? Nothing but try telling that to my tummy. I have trouble eating food before any race, even my half marathons; I tried a Belvita cracker today. Not a lot but it was still better than usual, I ate 2! Since my race photographer (aka mom) has been complaining that I run every race in all black, she claims it makes it hard to find me in a crowd, I picked out some of the brightest clothes I own.

The race was about 45 minutes away, so I set out with enough time to meet up with my friends about 30 minutes to the starting whistle. Yea for race buddies!!!! My friend, C and her husband are the ones that have run the most races with in the past but it’s been since a Turkey Trot debacle last November that we have made our schedules work. Hopefully we are back on track now!

This race claimed to be in its 25^th year but it need some better organization. The starting line was a chalk line and there was no electronic timing. Yea for the Nike+ app! When picking up your race bib, you were told to fill out the bottom portion. Not being told why, I figured it was for a raffle and didn’t bother since I never win anyways. There were no race shirts or finishing medals. About 15 minutes to go time, my friends and I were catching up when a very perky announcer and friends held an impromptu jazzercise class as a race warm-up! Definitely a race first for me.

The horn sounded and we were off! I wore the wrong belt so the Nike app had 13 seconds on it before the race officially started, oops. Told myself to remember to subtract that off later. We started out on the street headed for the beach and the boardwalk. About 2/3 a mile in, we cut across a parking lot to get to the boardwalk. I saw some painted arrows on the outside of the lot so I followed those while everyone else cut across. I was thinking that everyone was trying to cut a little mileage off along the way, but nope, think I followed the 10k line. Both races merged at the boardwalk so I was back on track. Just in time for Nike to say my mile 1 stats. Mile 1- 8:38, hell yeah, a new mile record for me!

Running the boardwalk my music crapped out. I think I am done with particular music app. I debated if I wanted to fix it or just run without but eventually slowed down to start another playlist and snap a picture or two. Like I said, today’s goal was to have fun. Still I felt I was maintaining a decent pace. That all ended when we hit the dunes.

Running on hard pack sand at the ocean line is kind of nice. Running on soft loose dune sand? That sucks, literally and figuratively. I felt like every time I tried to lift my foot, the sand pulled it back. Plus the trail narrowed to single file and it was almost impossible to pass anyone. It turned into a bottleneck, not fun. Once out of the dunes, we had to cross more soft sand to get to the hard pack. Once there the 5k runners went right and the 10k went left to the pier. I went right across the beach to the next left which brought us to more soft sand. Once we crossed that, we went up the ramp and were then back on the street. I felt like I had 2 pounds of sand in my shoes.

Running past the last water station, I felt tired. That sand had taken a lot out of me and the weather was muggy. Because of the race the traffic was backed up on the street, but instead of the drivers yelling angrily, they were giving shout outs and encouragements to the runners! It was great, you would start to drag a little and then someone would yell out “keep going, you look awesome”! Can I hire people to do that at every race?

Can you tell when I was taking pictures?

I rounded the corner to the end and crossed the finish line at 30:03. Turns out bottom portion of my bib was needed to staple to the card that said I finished 15^th. Oops, nobody told me that! After a little lecture by the lady at the finish line, they just wrote my name and age on the card and placed it in a little bin. Met up with my mom and waited for my friends to come across. They came in a few minutes behind me. 🙂 Awesome! As we were chatting, we figured I went a little too far in the beginning. Nike had me at 3.2, so I didn’t get really lost. We did a head count and C and I figured out we were some of the first women to cross the finish line. So did that mean we made age division leaders? The awards ceremony wasn’t supposed to start until 10:15, did we want to wait that long?

We also figured out that the race clock was a little off. My mom said that it had stopped working at some point while we were running, and their solution was to bang on it. Umm, ok then. So Nike had me at 30:11 for 3.2 miles. Take off the first 13 seconds and that is 29:58. Hmmm, I like that number better. Hehe, either works but oh well it was still fun.

My friends had to leave before the awards ceremony since 10:15 turned into 10:45. It was so cold waiting around. Again, the race could have been better organized. They finally started announcing the age groups. I was waiting for the 30-39. Starting with 3^rd place and it was C! Luckily they let me pick up her medal. I placed 2^nd for our age group. Woo hoo!!! This is an upside to smaller, local races.

2nd Place!!!! Shiny silver :) — 2nd Place!!!! Shiny silver 🙂

My mom and I finished the day with a yummy lunch and a little shopping. I picked up 2 more pairs of bright shorts. I am really liking these Nike Dash shorts. Also, I really should not be allowed anywhere near a Dick’s, so many pretty things.

All in all would have been a great day if it wasn’t for how sick I got when I got home. I am calling it food poisoning because I do not have the time to be sick. So now that I have taken all your time with this post, I am going to curl into a ball and get some rest. I will run again Monday.

I hope everyone has a truly amazing weekend!!!!

Wardrobe oops!

Sunday marked 10 weeks to my next half marathon and 8 weeks to my next 10K! If I didn’t have such high PR hopes (goals) this might not be so nerve wracking. I have a 5K planned as well, but that is just for fun 🙂 I finally have some friends running with me!!!

Sunday I headed to the track to get in a few miles. I ran a pretty good 5K and decided to try some quarter mile sprints. Ha ha, that was funny. So on the first one after I restarted the Nike app, it said that I completed it in 1:42, so that would break down into a pace of 6:48 per mile. Yeah, ummm, no. I almost started crawling after that, I was breathing so hard. I completed another one but not at that pace. All in all, I ran 4 miles.

Then I went and helped my mother clean up and get the tennis courts ready for the new school year and season. There was a crank (holds the net up) that tried to kick my butt, however, I had a hacksaw and I won!! I then completed some really slow ladders. I managed to do them right this time but very slowly, I had to count out the foot work! But perhaps, I got a little more sun than I had anticipated, oops.

After work, I hit the park to get in a few miles. Having run Saturday and Sunday, I normally may have taken today off, but I am having a girls night tomorrow, and I am planning on Eating 🙂 So had to get a few preemptive miles in.

Ever have one of those days where everything fits all wrong? Yeah that was me today. I set out from the car with the belt that I have been trying to break in. Yeah, no thanks! It was either riding up my waist or down below my but but managing to pull my shorts up at the same time. What? I began the run in perfectly respectable shorts that tried to turn into racing briefs. Umm, Shalane Flanagan I am not. So to anyone on the path tonight who saw way too much of my upper thighs, I apologize. The belt was driving me so crazy, I actually stopped at my car at the first pass and switched to an armband. Luckily, I keep lots of spare gear in my car 🙂

I pulled a nice 3.5 miles at a good pace actually. Which was all I could take, the sports bra was so not friends with my sunburn.

So Monday run done! And good times planned for tomorrow, hope everyone else has something to look forward to this week!

Anyone else ever have wardrobe issues while running?

Run, Run, Run!!!!!

So Sundays planned day of rest turned into a 4.5 mile trail run/walk. This was after a yummy lunch and a little shopping 🙂 While shopping I picked up a pair Yurbuds. I could never find a pair of earbuds that didn’t hurt in some way, so I thought I would step up the money and see if it was worth it. Worn them twice so far, and have to say, pretty nice.

I told myself I was going to take it easy on the trail run, and I did half the time, I ran the other half. It was a very pretty trail. Could have done without the snake that decided to say hi, I think we equally scared each other! I may have to do this again sometime.

After running on Saturday and the trail on Sunday, I really should have taken a rest day today but I was so close! After the trail, I noticed that my Nike+ app said 997.1 miles. I was almost at 1000!!! I wanted to hit that number so bad, so I went for a run after work. Figured I would force myself to go easy for 3 laps of the park. The weather was good except for the backside of the lake, the wind was ridiculous! And of course, I was running into it 😦

So my ankle was not feeling so great and I was tired, so I was actually taking it easy. As I’m running, I’m telling myself that my slow today is still faster than when I first started running and this time last year and at least I was getting in a workout. Of course, while I’m trying some motivational self-talk, what happens? A freakin’ turbo comes flying past me, leaving me in the dust. Gee, thanks dude, did you miss my inner pep talk?! Seriously, he was fast, and more power to him, I was just envious.

But Turbo-Man aside, I hit 1000 miles!!! Hell Yeah, Little happy dance.
🙂

Now if only the average pace was more reflective of the past year, hehe.

Tomorrow is definitely going to be a rest day and since I work later than usual on Wednesday; that will probably be a slacker day. I’ll get running again on Thursday.

Anyone else have any turbos on their runs?