10k Firechase

Yesterday I ran the Cascades 10k Firechase. It was hot. Really, really hot. I had forgotten just how hard it is to run, let alone try and run fast, in the heat. It was a double loop which had a couple of not so pleasant hills but it also had a massive firetruck spraying us down. I almost stopped right there during my second loop. I can't tell you how great it felt getting sprayed - literally soaked! - by that firetruck. I didn't feel like I had as good a day as I could have (49:39). I really need to get out in the heat for some runs to get used to it again. Speaking of running in the heat, the track workouts with my running group are going to be starting up again soon. We meet at the high school track every Thursday night for speed drills and it is hard. Like really, really hard. Last summer, I would start every Thursday morning with, "Crap. Speed day." but I went, every Thursday, and at the end of the workout, I was always so happy I went. Those workouts are run by a married couple that own the local running store I go to, Potomac River Running. They also happen to be pretty bad-ass runners. Ray Puglsey's name is a regular in winner circles as is his wife, Cathy. Ray won yesterday's 10k, Cathy came in second. If that doesn't keep me motivated to get to those speed workouts so I can hear advice from them, nothing will!

Now I can spend the rest of my weekend at BBQ's (started with one last night) and save another run for Monday. Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend!

To Join or Not to Join

I haven't blogged in a week! A full week! It is so unlike me to have nothing to say. I'm a big fan of talking and typically don't care if other people are bored enough to shove a stick in their eye, I just keep on talking. However, I've seriously had nothing to say! This week I got back on the spinning bandwagon and I guess it's just sucked the talking energy right outta me! I just got home from my second spin class of the week and since I refuse to spin on Friday's (Friday's are supposed to be fun!), I'm done with it until Monday. Don't get me wrong, I love spinning when I'm done with it - nothing makes you feel un-puffy like 45 minutes of spinning! - I just hate actually doing it.

I haven't done much running. On Saturday, my husband drove my kids to Quinn's soccer game at a close by school and I plotted a very round-about way to run there and got 5 miles in. Tuesday after my strength training class, I had a very productive, runners-high inducing 6.8 miler but that's been it. A couple of us are doing a last minute 10k (the Cascades 10k Firechase which means, hello, there will be firemen there. Oh yeah!) this weekend though so that'll end the week nicely.

Speaking of working out, I've gotten so used to my strength training classes and occasional spinning that I'm seriously starting to panic about this summer. My kids are out of school in 5 weeks and the rec center where I workout has no childcare. Well, let me re-phrase that, they don't have biggish-kid childcare. It's all babies and toddlers in a room the size of a closet. I went to Lifetime Fitness over the weekend for a tour and price check because I really don't want to give up my workouts. Holy freaking crap balls is that place nice. Like off the chain nice. I had my boys with me and their little jaws hit the floor when we walked in the child care room. Huge! Climbing structures! Computers! Videos! Full court basketball! Massive outside running/soccer/general mayhem area! Quinn wanted to stay and play basketball right then and there and Carter was wandering rather quickly towards the computers and muttering something about Club Penguin. Needless to say, our tour guide (a fairly slick guy who chuckled at the idea of working out at a local rec center) was thrilled with their reaction. They also have a fantastic rock climbing wall, indoor pool with a lap area as well as a big 'play' type pool with beach entrance, outdoor pool with a massive deck, beach entrance, two slides and a snack bar. Oh and they have a little cafe in the gym and just in case I'm having a bad hair day, a hair salon where I could also stop for a quick mani/pedi. Whew! The class schedule is endless. More opportunities than you can shake a sick at and they had no less than 200 treadmills. I swear, it was crazy. And don't get me started on all the other kid activities they have available, at an additional cost of course. Anyway, it's super nice and I'd love to try it but it just seems like a lot to spend. Even though I know my kids would dig it and we'd get a lot of use out of the pool this summer. As you can see, I'm very wish-washy about this decision. Anyone belong to Lifetime?

Pacer's Half Marathon

Sunday's race was full of surprises. The day started off quite crisp but sunny. My friend Amy and spent the 30 minutes prior to the race finding small areas of sun in an effort to stay warm before the start. Once we got going, we were good and warm quite quickly though. The sun was pretty strong and by mile 3, it was starting to feel down right muggy. The course map online was horrible. It was so small and basically impossible to get a good idea of elevation so I was pleasantly surprised when the first 1 -2 miles were a nice down hill slope. I tried to keep my pace slow despite going down hill because I was worried about the unknown that was to come. And boy I'm glad I did! We were sent on a course that included several hills (one very hard one around mile 7 that tried - and almost succeeded - to take my mojo from me) which was unfortunate for me because I haven't run hills in quite some time. I was keeping a really good pace, had a couple of 7:45's a 7:15 (which is the one mile that I like to talk about most!) a 7:25, 7:30, and that hill at 7 that had me so worried I managed to tackle in 8:22. I was getting pretty excited around mile 9.5 because to be honest with you, I was very unprepared for this race - the furthest I had run since Shamrock was 10 miles and I had only done that once! - but I was thrilled with my splits. Going into the run, I was hoping for a 1:55 finish. But as I got to mile 9.5 or so, I was starting to let myself think about a 1:43 or 1:44! Then we made a turn and the last 3 miles went straight into some of the strongest winds I've run in. The kind of wind that would normally send me running for a treadmill! I couldn't believe it. The guy next to me was dropping all kinds of 4-letter words and my heart just sank. I had my head down and sideways and it was all I could do to plow ahead. The last half mile was up hill which only added to the turtle pace. I'm still very happy with my time, 1:45 is a pr for me, but I can't help but be a little miffed about that wind at the end. I keep thinking "if only it were calm!"

Another thing, and I guess I'm just completely clueless, but are all races not the exact distance? I got to meet Jennifer of RunHappy who was waring a Garmin. According to her Garmin, the race was actually 13.49 miles long!!! Um....wha??? This kinda pisses me off, I have to be honest with you.


BUT, I am not going to dwell on it because it was a great day! My husband and boys were about 50 yards from the finish screaming their heads off which made my day even better! The photo left is one my husband snapped as I was running by. I only include it because it seriously cracks me up. I'm hoping I only look like that because I just ran through a freaking hurricane! Look at that turtle head! Scary.

Because of the hills and my lack of proper training, I'm still a bit sore in the hamstrings. Monday was hard for me, I kind of hobbled around all day. Tuesday I got on the elliptical machine for 20 minutes at the gym which actually really helped loosen everything up. Today I'm just about 100% but seriously have no desire to run....not sure why. Now with nothing on my race calendar until the 4-mile obstacle course in Quantico, Run Amuck, on June 20th, I'm just going to keep doing what I was doing between Shamrock and this half - run when I feel like it, for however long I feel like and with no pressure...ahhhhh!

Pacer's Half Marathon - Done!

A very windy and surprisingly hilly race is done! Official time: 1:45:48.

Time to chill with my boys! I'll do a race report tomorrow.
Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Training vs. The Rest of Life's Stuff

Did you watch Biggest Loser last night? I really don't want to give away any details in case you recorded it but let's just say that Jillian, the queen of quotes, had her best one of the season last night: "Wanna know how to train for a marathon? You run. And after that, you run some more. And after that, you run more." Said while pushing the speed up, up, up on a treadmill. Classic. I think I'm going to put it on my side bar.

Speaking of running then running more and more, etc, etc, etc....do you ever feel like the rest of your hobbies have been shoved way to the very back of the back burner? I know after Shamrock, I went on and on about how now I was finally going to get back to things I had neglected during my marathon training. Like maybe I'd finally fix these:



Those are the drapes in my bedroom. I bought them at Ikea over 3 years ago. See the cut edges...the strings hanging down all willy-nilly? Apparently, French doors are way taller in Sweden then they are here in America (I wonder if they even call them French doors?? I bet they are Swedish doors! Totally explains the fact that they were approximately 4 feet too long...). I am not a type who sews. As mentioned previously, I've been a 'tom-boy' my entire life so the idea of sewing a curtain to the proper length literally makes me itch and kind of freak out. So what did I do? I cut them. Yeah. Smart, right? The idea was that I'd cut them and then use that super simple iron mending tape stuff and just like that, a perfect hem! Fast forward three years and I'm still looking at what you see above. After the marathon, the plan was to take the advice of The Nester who is just stinking brilliant and 'mistreat' them. I was going to find the perfect cute yet sophisticated trim/fabric and hot glue it on and finally be done with it. After the marathon when I was feeling all full of myself and homemakerish, I went to Jo-Ann's and within 5 minutes, nearly had a nervous breakdown and ran out of there.

The other thing I've completely neglected is my love of reading. I've been a big reader for as long as I can remember. Nothing makes me happier then curling up with a really good book and a glass of wine. Before I started running, I'd read a book a week at least. There were a lot of times when I'd be reading two books at once - one for 'the kids are at school and I'm on the couch with tea' reading and one for 'the kids are asleep and I have wine and a fluffy pillow and not a care in the world' reading. During marathon training, by the time I'd get into bed, I'd crack a book, read three sentences and promptly fall asleep. As you can imagine, it takes me approximately 4 months to read a half of a book. That didn't stop me from buying books though and so this is what my side of the bed looks like:



I felt no need to panic or feel guilty because as soon as Shamrock was done, I was going to read! I was going to hot glue and read!! But then I signed up for this Pacer's Half Marathon and so I'm still reading what I was reading when I ran the Shamrock Marathon. And I really want to be done with it because honestly, I'm kind of tired of it.

I also had big plans to cook all kinds of fabulous foods. I have a semi-abnormal love of cooking sites and blogs and read them daily. I bookmark and print out recipes sometimes I even go so far as to purchase necessary ingredients but then I'd be so drained from training, I'd resort to some old standby meal. I'm sure this explains why I've been so excited about the foods I have managed to create lately (Catilin's perfect pesto, Sunny's breakfast muffins and last night's chicken in mushroom sauce from Eating Well).

Anyway, the point is, I kind of miss all that stuff and really, really, really mean it this time when I say that after this weekend's half marathon, I'm going to take a much needed break from training. I'll keep running but I'm going to force myself not to sign up for any major runs before October's Army 10-Miler and Marine Corps Marathon. Think I can do it? How does a person addicted to training find balance?

I Almost Forgot!

In my haste to hit 'publish post' and get back to my exciting Cinco de Mayo happy hour, I totally forgot to share with you what I had for dinner last night! I made Chicken Breasts with Mushroom Cream Sauce from Eating Well. It was so fantastic! And easy!! And I'm a horrible cook!!! The only change I made in the recipe was I swapped 2 tablespoons of light sour cream for the 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and I used white wine, not vermouth. Also, they wanted me to cut the tenders off of my chicken breasts but I was all, "Hell no!" and left them on because I'm wild and crazy like that with my extra calories.

(and no, this is not my actual dinner...it looked good and all but not that good!)

Hola!

So today is Cinco de Mayo and since I'm not one to let a party opportunity pass her by, I choose to indulge! I give you happy hour treats!



Yeah. So that's exciting. Seriously though, I do love the little 100 calorie packs of Wholly Guacamole. I'm a sucker for guacamole and would easily put away way more than a single serving so for me, this is one time that the 100-calorie pack idea works. And yes, I know, it's a good fat and would be even better if I would make it myself but come on - cut, squirt, eat - that's what I'm talking about people!

I went back to the podiatrist yesterday and this time I mean it....he is so fired! I hate to bore you with the details, I've already gone from 7 followers to 6 so I really can't afford to be any more dull than I already am. In a nutshell, he now seems to think there is some kind of pinched nerve going on. He did this tap tap tap test on the front of my ankle/foot and when he did, I got really wacky tingle-pins & needles type feelings all up the side and back of my calf and down the top of my foot into my toes. And the feeling lingered for a bit after his tapping. He suggested maybe I was wearing some kind of strappy shoe that was cutting off the circulation at that point on my foot. Yeah, you clearly don't know me doc. No strappy shoes here. I wouldn't even know how to strap strappy shoes. So he gets that scrunched up face look, says a few "huh"s and "hmmm"s and I say, "Well, I used to be notorious for tying my shoes too tight but I've been trying to pay attention to that and feel like I've gotten better." So he says, "Well, it would make sense that your shoes are the problem. What kinds of other shoes do you wear?" so I say, "Running shoes and flip flops." and he says, "What about strappy shoes?" ARGHHHHH!!!! I tell him that I have been a tom-boy for as long as I can remember and didn't even wear strappy shoes to my own freaking wedding so could we please move on? Seriously. He decides to give me another cortisone shot in the nerve he is thinking is pinched and tells me I should feel immediate relief and to return in three weeks.

Foot pretty much feels the same.

I did manage to run 7 miles last night and another 3 today so I guess I should just be thankful that I can do that and move on to a new doctor. I have a friend who is a Chiropractor and informed me that all those nerves that travel down your leg and into your foot all start in the spine and I should come in for an adjustment. And he said he could adjust my feet too. Um. So. I'm not sure about that one. I told him that I have to run a half-marathon on Sunday and I didn't want to try any new kind of treatment before then. Blah.

Pacers Half Marathon.....

.....is in 6 days. On Mother's Day. I was thinking I had another week, not that it was this coming weekend. See, this is what happens when you get talked into a race at the last minute and your heart is not really in it: you forget about it. Crap. So. I guess I should technically be in taper mode. Which means maybe it's not so bad that it's supposed to rain every single day this week. That will help keep me under control. I managed a great 10-mile run on Friday but then Sunday's run was a horrible flop. I got on the treadmill intending to do either 4 or 5 miles but after 2.5, I got the worst side stitch I've ever gotten. I couldn't get it to go away so I gave up and called it a day after just 3 miles. I'll try again today. I've got to find my training schedule from the Baltimore Half to see what I did the week before that race and duplicate it. I'm a little worried about this race because while I've had some good weeks total mileage-wise, I haven't run more than 10 miles at a time. I'll just have to hope for the best and stick with my friends and more importantly, stick to the original plan which was to just have fun and not take it too seriously.

I'm headed back to the podiatrist today. I know, I know...I said I was going to fire him and I am! Just after today's visit. He gave me that shot of cortisone 3 weeks ago so in fairness, I thought I'd keep this follow up just to tell him it didn't work and the mystery pain is still here. After today though, I'm done with him.

Yuri the Canadian

The other day I was bouncing around web and found so many cool new blogs. One in particular that I really love is The Beholder. She is so stinking hilarious! I wish I could remember how I found her but it was one of those click click click days where you can't remember where it all began! She is training for her first half marathon but her site is full of so much more fun stuff than just running. In fact, she is currently walking me (ok, all her readers but I like to think it's all for me!) though expert mascara application! Anyway, other than mentioning her just so you too can get a laugh a day by reading her blog, I also mention her because it was on her site that I found Yuri the Canadian Hottie Trainer Dude. Yuri is officially my new trainer...he just doesn't know it. I'm all over his YouTube videos like a pig in shit. Besides the fact that he is fun to look at, he has some really great workout clips and tips.

Check him out with a foam roller showing me how to loosen up all the "gunk and toxic buildup" in my IT band (I had no idea I had toxic buildup, this explains so much!). Then he goes on to fix my T.F.L, yet another thing I didn't know I had but clearly mine is tight/sore/stiff because that pigeon pose is one of my favorite things about my yoga dvd. And he says "bum"! Love that. I didn't know Canadians said bum.



And here he is with an awesome core workout he calls the "Super Abs" workout. I'm going to do this one for sure minus the leg pull ups because I don't have a bar. I've done the roll ins with the stability ball and while hard, they really work.



Had a great 10-mile run today followed by a super yummy vanilla yogurt/handful of strawberries/handful of blueberries smoothie....yum! Hubs and I are supposed to be heading to the Nationals/Cardinals game tonight but I'm being a wee bit whiny about it because it's chilly and rainy. Blah. We have four tickets for tomorrow afternoon's game when we will be taking the kids so I think it's total fine for me to be all anti-tonight's game. Right?