the last post for 2012

The light-up necklace was the coolest part of the swag!

Can the year really be coming to a close already?  Wow!  Seems like it was January 1 just a couple weeks ago.

Hmmmm, I haven't exactly been covering myself with glory fitness-wise these last few weeks.  Again, life has interfered with my well-intentioned plans.  What's the saying? "You make plans, and God laughs"?? Or something like that.  Another saying: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." You get the idea.  So I'm just going to keep moving forward and see what happens....  I still have to do my all my HBBC update posts.... Yikes.  I'm behind.

Annnnnyyyhooooo.  Let's talk about my last race of 2012. The Jumpin' Jack Frost 5k. It was a good time!

I love 5Ks.  Such an easy distance and I feel like I can just go and run 3.1 miles and not have to train or anything.  Of course, I'm never going for speed. Things might look a little different if I were a serious runner. And by serious, I mean fast. Which I'm not. And I also mean talented.  Which I also am not. But I'm fun!

Pre-race with my running buddy.

So the night before the race, I met up with about 30 of my high school friends, all home for the holidays. It was so fun to see all those folks and catch up on everything that's been going on in the 5 years (give or take) since we graduated from high school. I was super careful about my pre-race fueling, too.  The temple that is my body ingested only the best deep-fried Wisconsin cheese curds and I insisted on 9-grain bread for my BLT.  And my dirty martini vodka of choice?  Grey Goose. I hear it's got more carbs than other vodkas.

Good thing the race didn't start until 4:35 p.m.

I ran with a friend - our first time running together ever - and we had a wonderful time!  We ran pretty slowly (see our splits below) and chatted the entire time.  I always forget how much fun it is to run with someone else! The course is an out and back along the Mississippi River in St. Paul.  We started at dusk; it was completely dark by the time we were finishing up and the city lights shining over the river looked absolutely beautiful.  A nice way to finish the year!

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	31:30.2	3.05	10:21
1	11:00.9	1.00	11:01
2	10:24.0	1.00	10:24
3	9:43.2	1.00	9:43
4	:22.1	0.05	8:03

========================================
And now, let's look at the year in review.

Number of races completed this year: 
23 total - Six 5k (including one Warrior Dash!), an 8k (trail), a 10k, an 8.9 mile (trail), a 10 mile, 8 half marathons, a 25k, a 30k, a 20 miler and two full marathons (Grandma's and Chicago).

Number of PRs set this year:
Six! - 5k, 8k, 10 mile, half-marathon, 30k, and marathon.

Free stuff! 
Remember, I'm cheap frugal, so I LOVE getting anything for free, no matter how it happens.  And can I just say that I love the magic of the internet?
Items won via Facebook:
1. Soleus watch courtesy of Team Ortho, organizer of many of my favorite races!
2. Race entry to a half marathon, courtesy of an Orthopaedic Group that sponsors many races.
3. Sweatshirt courtesy of the Med City Marathon folks, just for "liking" the Facebook page! (The fact that I won a sweatshirt is kind of ironic since the temps in that race rivaled the those in the pits of hell.)

The message informing me that I'm a winner!

5. Race bib belt from Final Stretch running, just for being one of the first 10 folks to sign up for their newest race.  It's called the Chocoholic Frolic.  Guess how long it took me to sign up once I saw the title.... Yeah, about a nanosecond.  That's why I'm a winner, folks!

My cozy sweatshirt....

.....and my cool race belt!

Items won in other ways.....
1. A sweet jacket courtesy of my running club for following their blog.
2. Hotel room at Grandma's Marathon - ok, so I didn't "win" this, but still, free stuff is free stuff!
3. Road ID bracelet for signing up for the Explore Minnesota Challenge.  Sadly, I didn't meet the challenge because most of the races I ran didn't qualify.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll try that one again if they expand the race list....

Progress on goals: 

1. Complete Grandma's again and improve my time. Check!

2. Run a total of 1000 miles.  Nope. 773 was my total mileage for running.

2012 Running Miles

But when you include walking and elliptical, I covered 1123 miles.  Not too shabby!

2012 Total Miles

3. Run at least one mile per day every day of the year.  (the "I heart to Run" running streak challenge)
I abandoned this one. Running one mile every day proved much more difficult than anticipated!  The daily donning of the sports bra proved to be the biggest mental hurdle to reaching this goal. Oh well.

4. Purposely move my body 30 minutes every day for the first 100 days of the year.
99/100 days of success!

Missed it by one day. Doh!

5. Attempt eating clean more often than not.
Epic failure. But I did manage to purge Oreos from my diet.  Speaking of Oreos...

6. Keep on trying new challenges and see where this adventure takes me next.
Well, I guess running a marathon on very little training is one way to challenge myself...... but I do keep on trying!

All in all, it's been a pretty good year.  I may not have met all my goals but I still managed to accomplish a lot and had a pretty good time doing it.  That's success as far as I'm concerned.

Happy New Year, everyone!  Looking forward to continuing the journey in 2013!

another rainy race

New hat and headband to help provide attitude.

Oooo, look!  My second blog post today!!

So yeah, I ran the Get in Gear Half marathon yesterday.  If you recall, I won an entry to the race via a marvelous little invention called Facebook. The internet certainly is chock full of goodness!

Yesterday's race was just like last year's....cold, rainy and windy.  For some reason, it was a much tougher race than last weekend's half marathon. I don't think I hydrated as well this past week, and I was having GI issues most of the week as well...... I'm still figuring out this whole fueling thing.  It's a puzzle, that's for sure.  Good think I like puzzles!

Post-race soaking wet honeybadger.

I met up with the same friend I ran with last year (Julie) and we had a great time catching up on everything that's been going on since the Minneapolis half marathon (the last race we ran together.)  I also got to see my sister-in-law (well ok, technically she's my ex-sister-in-law but as far as I'm concerned, we're still family!) She ran an amazing race and finished under 2 hours.  I'm so jealous of that pace!  I was going to get pictures of all of us, but the porta-potties were calling our names.... so my SIL and I lost each other before the start.  Didn't see her again until the out-and-back portion of the race.  She was waaaayyyyy ahead of me - no way I could have kept up with her! Another work friend was running too, and also killed it at 2:02.  I have some speedy friends!

So anywhoo, the upshot of the day was that I didn't get a distance PR, but I did get a course PR!  My official time was 2:14:53, last year's time was 2:23:26 so that's an improvement at least. GarminElectra bailed on me at the start. The lying tart APPEARED as though she was ready to run the race with me, and chirped when I hit the start button as I crossed the mat, but at mile three I realized there was no beeping happening.... so I had to restart her. Grrr.  That means I only have my splits for the last 10 miles. SUCH a frickin' diva.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:41:39.1	10.17	10:00
1	10:23.2	1.00	10:23
2	10:13.5	1.00	10:14
3	10:19.1	1.00	10:19
4	9:51.0	1.00	9:51
5	9:57.8	1.00	9:58
6	9:41.9	1.00	9:42
7	9:58.9	1.00	9:59
8	10:12.1	1.00	10:12
9	9:25.9	1.00	9:26
10	10:00.8	1.00	10:01
11	1:34.9	0.17	9:18

We must have been REALLY slow for those first three miles because my overall pace was 10:18.  It was pretty crowded at the beginning and we were getting passed by a lot of people, but that's usually how it is for me anyway.  I like to start slow and then once my body gets over the fact that I'm making it run, it levels off and I can slowly pick up the pace.

I started to fall apart a bit at mile eleven (mile 8 according to GE) and needed some sustenance..... my hands were so cold I couldn't get my honey stingers out of my pocket so I had to walk. I told Julie to just go ahead and I would catch up.... not so much - I didn't see her again until the finish line.  She was flying and ended up about 2 minutes faster than me.  I really had to dig deep those last two miles and WILL myself to keep running in the last mile.  Not exactly the strong finish I had hoped for but, oh well.

After the race I still had 5 miles on the training plan. So I went home, changed my clothes and headed to the treadmill.  And I did my 5 miles for a total of 18.  Just like last year, it made me feel like a badass honeybadger to do all those miles.  Funny how that works!  After all that, I took a well-deserved ice bath.  I hate them and I love them at the same time.  My muscles are always much happier after an ice bath, but the during part?  Ugh.  The actual sitting in a tub of icy water is NOT happy time.

Not.
At.
All.

Colorful language helps me cope.

winning and not winning

My cool new TCO shirt and fun extras.

So, remember me blogging last week about how I won an entry into the Get in Gear Half Marathon? Well, I heard from the group that did the giveaway (Twin Cities Orthopedics) and not only did I get the race entry, I also got my choice of su-WEET TCO tech shirt (I went with the long sleeve shirt since I have plenty of short sleeved running shirts). When they sent the shirt to me, they threw a couple of bone-shaped pens and a pedometer into the package too.  AND I found out that in addition to my race entry, I get a complimentary pass to the pasta dinner the night before the race, too.  How cool is that?!  Not sure if I'll go because of the timing/location and my suspicion of "pasta feeds" in general, but still a huge unexpected bonus!  Anywhoo, I guess I should have named that post "winner winner pasta dinner."  Haha, get it?  Yeah, I slay myself.

Apropos of nothing..... here's how I fuel my addiction.
Ummmm, I stocked up.

So.... back to the GIG.  TenacityChris wants me to race it.  (TenacityChris, I should mention, is in Boston this weekend preparing to run some marathon that's happening there. She's my hero.)
Again, back to the GIG....I'm excited to try for another PR, but kind of nervous too. Hopefully I won't choke like I did on the hot, humid day that was the Get Lucky half marathon. (Speaking of hot and humid, the weather for Boston is supposed to be horribly hot.  So hot, that they are offering deferrals to next year's race. Might end up being a tough day for the runners.) Once more, back to me and the GIG........I'm hoping I can redeem myself after the Get Lucky and prove to myself that I do have cojones. Huge ones. Or at least moderately sized ones.

Today's run wasn't too great.  I was supposed to do 16 miles but threw in the towel after 14.5. And I walked the last 3.5 miles.  Not sure what my deal is but I just get soooo tired. It started out pretty good, I ran 4 miles to my parents' house, then took their dog out for 3.5 miles, then headed home again where I planned to nab Jane and head out for the final 4-5 miles. It didn't quite work out that way. I did nab Jane but couldn't do the full 5 miles.  I felt like crap. Might be time to make some changes in my diet (eating clean??  yeah, not so much) and work on getting more rest.  Next week's run will be better.  I'm sure of it.

heading to grandma's, week 6

Another week under my belt!  This week wasn't my best but it definitely reinforced things I knew (but chose to ignore), and provided some learning opportunities.  For an old broad, I sure make some dumb, non-commonsensical choices.

Here's the recap for the week.  Read and learn from my mistakes..... you know I'm here for you.

Week 6:  March 19-25

Poor colorless day 79.

Monday
Easy run of 4 miles at 11:34 min
Workout note: Felt horrible all day at work, had a low grade fever and chills.  When I got home, I went right to bed.  No workout at all for me, which means my "move 30 minutes every day" streak ended after 78 days. That was a bummer. So I'm starting over again.

Tuesday
Easy run of 5 miles at 11:34 min
Workout note: Worked from home, still not feeling too hot.  Besides being sick, I've been experiencing some heartburn along with TONS of PVCs and they are driving me crazy.  Even though I figured they're benign, the fact that I'd been having runs of them and wasn't feeling well AND had a 15 mile run coming up made me think I should talk to someone, just in case.  I was right, no heart worries, which is great!  But the PVCs are still really bugging me.  My resting heart rate is pretty slow now, so I'm likely just noticing them more.  Got out with Jane and ran 5.07 miles at 10:35 pace.  And though I still felt kind of yucky, it was a nice, easy run. Yay for that!

Wednesday
Workout note: Core work. 150 clam shells, 25 push-ups, 20 crunches, 20 hip thrusts, 20 reverse crunches, 20 bicycle crunches, 20 pendulums, 10 plank reps. Today is Sunday and I'm still feeling the effects.  Ouch.  I absolutely have to do this more often; if I don't, my core strength could end up being my achilles heel. (Get it? Hahaha!)

Remember the jacket I won from the running club? Here
it is!  Sweet, ain't it?  I photographed it in all kinds of
J. Peterman-like action poses, but then you couldn't see the logo.
So there goes my attempt at artistic expression. Dang it.

Thursday
Run 3 miles at 11:34-12:34 pace
Workout note: Met with the running group again (Shoutout to Mary!!) and did 4.02 miles (Monday's distance) at 10:59 pace.
I'm enjoying meeting new folks and seeing some old friends, too!  It was a fun, if rainy run.  We got soaked!
GarminElectra was obnoxious as could be....  beeping and chirping the whole time.  One of the women asked, "What does all that beeping mean?" I explained that GE doesn't like rain, doesn't like being called upon to work, really, and this was how she expressed it.  Oh, and GE showed her versatility, too.  This time, instead of shutting off mid-run, she wouldn't allow me to turn her off AFTER the run, so the miles kept beeping on the way home in the car.  Then, after originally denying access, for no reason all all GE finally let me get to the "Stop Workout" screen.  I have GOT to get a new running partner.  Or maybe figure out what I'm doing wrong with this one. Sigh.

Friday
Workout note: Jane and I headed out for a nice leisurely walk, stopping often so Jane could fully experience all the wonderful/nasty smells of spring. 1.21 miles.

Saturday
Long Run as Follows:
WU for 1 mile at 12:34 pace
Run 14 miles at 11:34-12:34 min
Cool down with brisk walk for 5-10 minutes
Workout note: Holy Hannah, this one was tough.  I take full responsibility.  Read about it HERE.  My biggest concern really is how much my left ankle hurt when I was done running. Feels like the tendinitis might be making a comeback.  I was hoping that switching to Brooks (from the Sauconys) meant I wouldn't need orthotics anymore, but it's feeling like I do so I headed out to get some new ones today.  Hopefully, that will help.  My old orthotics, may they rest in peace, served me well and have now gone to a better place.

Sunday
Workout note:  Walked to the Quickie-Mart with the husband and the dog.  2.64 miles.  I tried my new orthotics and though they felt great support-wise, they are only half orthotics and I'm thinking that seam might just drive me crazy, not to mention cause blisters or other mischief.  We'll see how it goes.

Miles planned: 27
Miles run: 23.97 (What the heck, let's just call it 24! Oh, and I'm including the miles I walked during yesterday's 15 miler.)
Miles walked: 3.85

Happy week to you!

heading to grandma's, week 5

I can't believe I'm done with week 5 already.  Grandma's will be here before I know it!  Here's the recap for you.

Week 5:  March 12-18

Monday

Easy Run As Follows:

Warm up walking 5-10 min at brisk pace

Easy run of 3 miles at 11:34 min

Cool down with brisk walk of 5-10 min

Workout note: 3.1 miles, 11:11 pace.  Easy peasy. (Clearly that's my new favorite saying. Time to find another one.)  I also walked 2.42 miles.

Tuesday

Interval Run as Follows:

Warm up with 1 mile at 11:34 min 11:32 pace

Run 4 x 400 m (1/4 mile) at 8:40 min pace, recover ¼ mile at 11:00 8:42 with 11:06 recovery

Cool down with an 11:30 min mile

Workout note: Millie has rules about pacing and won't stray from what she chooses. This run was surprisingly easy for me!  Much more so than the hill interval run in week 3 that kicked my ass. Yay for that!

Wednesday - Workout note: walked 2.8 miles with Jane.

Thursday

3 Miles Easy Run as Follows
WU w/5-10 mins of brisk walking

Run 3 miles at 11:34-12:34 pace

Cool down with 5-10 min brisk walk.

Workout note: I ran 3.2 miles with the running club (the one that I ran with last fall) in Minneapolis. This time I made sure to introduce myself - funny how if you reach out, folks are pretty likely to be friendly and welcoming in return. I got to meet some nice people and had a good run. I'll definitely run with them again. Oh, and I picked up the sweet jacket that I won! I'll have to tell you about that later.

Friday - Workout note: walked 1.58 miles.  And carb-loaded for the race.  You know how much I hate having to do that. 

Saturday

Get Lucky Half Marathon!!!!

Goal:  2:10:00!!!!!  Let’s aim for this and see what happens.  I think you have it in you and it will certainly give us a feel for how realistic our Grandma’s Goals are for you!!! Pace: 9:56.  Print a paceband at Marathonguide.com – under calculators section.  EVEN SPLITS!!! 

Workout note: Yeah, this one was a complete fail, although I did still get a PR. Read about it HERE.

Some learnings:
1. Wear a hat when it's warm.
2. Look at the number of water stops in the race, and if it doesn't look like enough, carry your own damn water!
3. Maybe, just maybe, when your coach tells you to stick with a SLOW pace on your long run the week before your race, you should do it. Even if you're feeling fine and like you're not pushing at all. Because maybe (again, just maybe) she knows what the hell she's talking about and you should frickin' listen. Did last week's pace wreck this week's race? I don't know, but next time I'll listen to my coach just in case. Oooo, a little rhyme for you! Bonus!

Sunday - Workout note: walked 2.64 miles at William O'Brien State Park with Jane and the husband. It's so beautiful today! There is still a lot of ice on the lake at the State Park and it's very close to the shore. Jane went swimming and then walked on the ice. She was a happy dog.

Jane walking on water.  She's amazing.

23.49 miles running.

9.44 miles walking.

Another week in the bank!  

winning

So I've been a bit of a slacker lately, as far as running is concerned, anyway.  The knees and ankles have told me they need a bit of a break so I'm trying to be nice to them.  They're on to me - they know I'll be asking them to carry me through another marathon in the not too distant future so I have to try to stay on their good side.

Had a mini-vacation with the husband and three of the five grunions.  We went to the husband's parents house in Omaha for the 4th of July.  It's always a good time with his family!  While we were there we managed to get out for a couple of slow, short runs (3+ miles only).  It was hot and humid as only Omaha can be and the runs were exciting!  We saw bunches of wild turkeys, I got attacked by a nasty-ass wicked little dog (nothing serious really, but it scared the crap out of me), and we made sure to catch the nearby neighborhood parade where the kids decorate their bikes, put ribbons and bows on the dog and walk around the block.  Those kinds of parades are the best.

Back to running.......  Unfortunately, despite the reduced mileage, the eat-age hasn't been proportionately reduced.  And all that eat-age is starting to add up.  Looks like Ima need to ramp the mileage back up again 'cuz we all know I have problems with portion control.  Dang, I like food.

Here is my su-WEEEEET new necklace!!
It's so new that they haven't named it yet.

Anywhoo.....

So.

Ok.  You know how much I love free stuff, right?

Love it!!

But you know what's better than just getting stuff for free?  WINNING stuff.

Well.

Today was my lucky day!!

I won the most awesome necklace from Sporty Girl Jewelry!! She was doing a giveaway on her blog and the random picker thingie picked me!!

I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

And now I have to get my ass back out running or I just won't feel right wearing something that says 26.2 on it.

Thanks Sporty Girl!