Chatty McChatty

Heading back to the torture chamber, otherwise known as speed work at the track, this evening. I'm having grilled chicken today at lunch in my salad, had salmon last night for dinner, probably going to down an extra cup or two of coffee this morning since my husband is in California and I've got the entire pot to myself, I'm going to drink as much water as possible throughout the day, and I'll have a banana exactly 45 minutes prior to the start of the workout so I think I'll be ready!

Hopefully all will go well and I wont be as sore as last time because I've got a race on Saturday evening, the Twilight Festival Four Miler. I ran it last year - it was only my second race ever - and it was a lot of fun. My schedule says that for those of us running in Saturday's race, we should do a 1-3 mile warm up since it takes place on our long run day. Hmmm....I'll be honest here and say I really don't think that's going to happen. I have never, ever done a warm up run before a race. So what to do? I'm sure I wont be up to a long run on Sunday after speed work tonight then a race on Saturday. Suggestions?

Oh, and that reminds me, the race is held by the running store that I was so afraid of. Did I happen to mention that I went there after the half marathon and bought new shoes?? Yup. I did. All by myself. It was totally fine. I was nervous as hell to do it, but it was good (man, do I have issues). He was very nice to me and didn't laugh at me once. Except when he looked at the shoes I've been wearing. He got a good chuckle out of those things.

Anyway, he put me up on the treadmill then proceeded to bring out thousands of pairs of shoes for me to try on (a girls dream come true). After walking around, jumping, getting on the treadmill and of course checking color selections (dude kept bringing out pink and purple...I don't do pink or purple), I finally settled on the Asics GT-2130s. And I'm pretty sure I got a decent deal on them. The price on Road Runner Sports is the same. I did see them at DSW for $5 less but I can live with that. So far, they are good. I was a bit sad to give up my tried and true Addis but the transition has been fine. Only bad thing was that I showed up at that first run with the running group in my bright and shiny new shoes. Should have written 'newbie' across my forehead...it would have had the same effect.


New topic: Food.
I am officially enlisting the help of my 12 readers to give my favorite bar recipe a makeover. They are oatmeal-raisin bars from the Everyday Food Magazine. I really, really, really love these bars. They are totally fantastic. Especially warm. The problem is that the charming Ms. Martha didn't include the nutritional information in the magazine or on the website and something tells me it probably isn't the healthiest way to start my day. Could be the stick and a half of melted butter...or perhaps all that sugar that is shouting that out. So who has some ideas for me? I thought about using Splenda but have heard that doesn't work so well in baking.

Planning My 2008 Race Schedule

Since I'm sitting here watching my kids trash the house on this last (hooray!) day of Spring Break and not running (again), I thought it would be a great time to get my race schedule all planned out. Nothing like convincing yourself you can do multiple races during a week in which you have (a) only run 3 miles, (b) had more pieces of cake than will be mentioned here, (c) actually partied like a rock star on St. Patrick's day and as a result, may still be peeing green, (d) I think I just figured out why I've only run 3 miles this week...., (e) will probably need a medic when I attempt my next 'long run', (f) what was I talking about again?

Ok, so. Here we go. That running store I'm still scared of, Potomac River Running (do you think if I give them a shout out enough times, someone from the store will actually drive to my house, put there arm around me and take me to the store?) does this cool thing called The 2008 Loudoun Race Series. The PR garb on Washington Running Report goes like this: "Six premier events in Loudoun County, Virginia have joined together to form the Loudoun Race Series, presented by Potomac River Running. Participants in all six events will receive a commemorative short sleeve technical t-shirt." I fully admit, I'll do anything for a free t-shirt. The Van Metre 5 mile race I did last weekend was the first of the 6 events so I figure I should go for the next 5! Especially since 2 of them, I did last year and was already planning on doing again this year (The Twilight 4 Miler and the Freeze Your Gizzard 5k).

The next race in the series is being held on April 20th - "Run for the Shelter Half-Marathon and 5k". I'm pretty sure I'm not ready to do the 1/2 marathon. Well, I take that back, I think (think) I could do it but I've kind of got my heart set on the Marine Corps Half being my very first half. Probably because my parents are coming up from South Carolina, my husband and boys are going to be there and it's just become this big event for me. My only wish: I wish I had known there was a freaking half marathon being held in my town before I registered for the Marine Half....would have saved everyone a ton of hotel money! So, having said all that, and basically talking myself out of the 1/2 unless someone talks me into it, I'll stick with the 5k.

After that race, is the Twilight 4-Miler on June 28th which I participated in last summer and had a blast. Then there is the Leesburg 10k and 20k on August 10th (I'll be signing up for the 10k....not the 20k!) then the series ends with two 5k's - the 5k Race for Education on October 28th and the Freeze Your Gizzard 5k on November 22nd. Pretty cool, right?

These six races will take me through the rest of the year. And, of course my two half marathons - Marine Corps in May and Baltimore Running Festival in October - will be tossed in there as well. Whew! I think that's about it. Oh wait, I just remembered, there is a 5k on May 10th being organized by the family of a little girl that my youngest son went to preschool with. I have to do that one, without a doubt. So now I have one big question looming: how the hell am I going to afford food after paying all these registration fees??

Hello, My Name is Renae and I'm Afraid of Running Stores.

The Washington Post had a good article on running shoes today. they mentioned Potomac River Running (the running store for super cool, real runners) several times even showing a photo of their treadmill test. I need new running shoes desperately. I go onto Potomac River Running's site often and think about going but never do it. instead, I hate to admit, I grab shoes anywhere else: Costco have Addias this month? Sold to the girl who is scared of a real running store (which most likely explains my knee and ankle pain). Just thinking about walking into a running store like PRR gives me the shivers. I'm terrified they'll laugh at me. I feel like the uncool girl trying to sit down at the popular kids lunch table. Surly they'll look me up and down, start laughing and say "Seriously? You are not a runner!" And then even if I manage to convince them that I'm trying to be a runner and they let me in, what if I fall off the treadmill during "The Test". Yikes!! I'm getting hives over this. I know, this is beyond stupid. I need a partner to go with. It's always easier to get laughed at if you have a friend with you. Maybe I'll recruit my husband to help me get through the door. They wont laugh at him....and even if they do, he wont care. However it happens, I need to do it soon so that I can get used to new shoes before May! I'm such a dork.