Just one more mile

Absolutely Off Topic - Macarons

2012-01-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is a running blog that I've been sadly neglecting. Yes, I'm still running (more about that in another post). Yes, this is a wildly off topic post. BUT, it's also full on awesomesauce because, loyal readers, I'm going to share with you the secrets of macarons. Not coconut macaroons, but French macarons, the stuff of daydreams and indulgence. These babies usually sell for about $2 a cookie, so it pays to be able to make your own. And people are ridiculously impressed with them. Take a plate to your next pot luck and people will seriously worship you for the pastry goddess/god you know you'd love to be. So, enjoy the fabulousness of macarons. And then go run a few miles because they aren't low fat or paleo or anything other than purely and indulgently fabulous (they are, however, gluten free, so, you're welcome!).

Macarons

(Makes 18-24 assembled cookies, depending on size)

For the cookies:

1 ½ C (6oz/185g) confectioner’ssugar

1 ¼ C (5oz/140g) blanchedalmonds or almond flour

3 large egg whites

Pinch salt

¼ C (2oz/60g) granulated sugar

½ tsp flavored extract of your choice

Gel paste for coloring (optional – Wilton’s cake dye works well)

Sanding sugar (optional)

For the filling:

1 C (8oz/250g) unsalted butter, at room temp

¾ C (3oz/93g) confectioner’s sugar

1 ½ tsp extract of your choice

Tools needed:

· Pastry bag with ½-inch round tip (or, you cancut the end off of a disposable pastry bag, which works just as well, or justdon’t use a tip with a reusable bag, since the opening is about the rightsize. In a pinch you can cut the corneroff a zip lock freezer bag, but you won’t have quite as much control over thesize of the cookies and they might not be perfectly round)

· Baking parchment (this is key, it’s a big painin the butt to make these without parchment)

· Electric mixer (you can whip the meringue with amanual egg beater, but you may die in the process)

· Food processor (you need this if you don’t buyground almond meal (and if you do get the ground stuff, splurge on Bob’s RedMill from Whole Foods, the Trader Joe’s almond meal is too coarse and doesn’tgive as good of results)

· Sifter or sieve (absolutely key – I use a sieve and it worksfine)

A note about macarons

Macarons have areputation for being kind of fiddly and difficult to make. There’s a lot of myth around them, and a lotof mysticism, none of which I knew when I decided to make them. With a few exceptions (when I got a littletoo creative with the recipe), they’ve always turned out well for me. If you want to read more about macarons, www.bravetart.com has a wonderful bunch ofentries about macaron commandments and myths. I haven’t actually had as much success with her recipe as I have withthe one here, but her technique suggestions have been invaluable. I’ve included weights as well as volumemeasurements since weighing is the best way to get really consistentresults. The biggest thing aboutmacarons is that even if they come out cracked or undercooked, they still tastepretty fabulous, so don’t let fear of messing them up stop you from makingthem!

For the cookies (oven at325F)

1. Ifyou’re grinding your own almonds, put the almonds and confectioner’s sugar in afood processer and process for 1 minute. If you’re using ground almonds, just wisk them together with theconfectioner’s sugar. Sift into a bowl,and if you have any large pieces that won’t go through the sieve, put them backin the food processor for another 30 seconds, then sift again. You should have no more than 2 Tbsp ofchunkier bits, and you can just throw them in (too many chunky bits, and yourmacarons will crack, since they’ll be like little pieces of shrapnel).

2. Ina clean large bowl on medium high speed, beat the egg whites until they form adense foam (myth has it that you should use room temperature egg whites thathave been left out for a few days – totally unnecessary, though room temp eggsdo separate more easily. And remember,if you get yolk or other grease in the egg whites, they won’t make meringue, soseparate them carefully). Add the saltand granulated sugar. Beat until stiff,glossy peaks form, 3-4 minutes. Add theextract flavoring of your choice and the food coloring and beat until combined.

3. Usinga rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the meringue in three batches. You want to deflate the meringue a bit, soyou fold and kind of press against the side of the bowl. Undermixed macaronage will be too stiff and won’t spread properly, and willprobably crack, overmixed will spread too much. The consistency should be like magma – fluid, but no runny. If you take a spoonful out and plop it backon top of the batter, it should reincorporate back in in maybe 30 seconds. If it just sits on top, mix a few morestrokes and try again (the bravetart blog has some good advice on this).

4. Cut3-4 pieces of baking parchment the size of your cookie sheets. Using a pastry bag, pipe the macaronage into 1 ½ inch circles aboutan inch apart (if you’re afraid they’ll all be different sizes, you can use astencil to draw circles on the parchment, then flip it over so you don’t getink or pencil on your cookies and fill them in, stopping right before themargins of the circle, since the cookies will spread a little). If your little circles don’t flatten out andhave a little peak, like a Hershey’s kiss, your macaronage isn’t mixed enough. If you want, you can sprinkle sanding sugar on top at this point. Strictly speaking, this isn’t traditional,but it can hide cracks if you’re worried about that, and give a little extracrunch (my mom is a fan of this –s he was pretty bummed I didn’t put sugar ontop of these ones).

5. Atthis point, slide your cookie sheets under the parchment and smack the cookiessheet, cookies and all, hard on the counter a couple of times. Turn the cookie sheet 90 degrees and smack ita couple more times on the counter. Thismoves the air bubbles out of the cookies and helps keep them fromcracking. Traditionally, you’re supposedto let the cookies sit for an hour to form a skin on top, to further protectagainst cracking, but I’ve found this to be pretty unnecessary, so go ahead andpop that first sheet in if you’re so inclined (you won’t hurt them by waiting,but you don’t have to).

6. Bakefor 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven. Overcooked is better than undercooked if you have to make a choice. They should peel fairly easily off theparchment when cooled, so if they stick and the bottoms come off, make a noteand try cooking a minute longer next time (I cook mine for 15 minutes, and thesmaller ones pull off leaving nothing behind at that cooking time). If you can, cool completely before taking themoff the parchment, and you can use a small metal spatula if you want (thoughit’s not usually necessary). I get thebest results cooking one sheet at a time on the middle rack. If your cookies are sticking to the parchmentpaper, I found it helpful to pick up the cookie and then “flick” the parchmentwith your index finger, which helps remove it quickly without leaving a lot ofcookie behind.

For the filling andassembly:

1. Beatconfectioner’s sugar and butter in a large bowl on medium speed until justcombined, then increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. Add the extract of your choice and foodcoloring (if desired) and beat until combined.

2. Usinga small rubber spatula or spoon, spread the filling on upturned cookie. Find another that’s about the same size andsandwich them together. My husbandthinks I should match them all up in advance, since invariably I end up withone very small half and one very large one at the end (which I think is fine,since I just eat that one). This recipemakes a bit more buttercream that you need (usually) so don’t feel like youhave to be stingy with it.

3. Thefinished macarons should be stored in the fridge in an air tight container forabout 24 hours before you serve them. Get them out an hour or two before you want to serve them to let thebuttercream warm up a bit. These arenoticeably better the second day, so it pays to plan ahead. You can store these in an air tight containerin the freezer for a couple of months, just be sure to thaw in the container,since they’ll get soggy otherwise.

Post Columbus injury whining

2011-11-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in my race report that at the end of the race my Achilles tendon was bothering me, which I thought was odd because it had never bothered me at all during training. Turns out it continued to bother me and I have been unable to run pretty much since the marathon. I tried a spinning class, but that still bothered it, so I was reduced to the elliptical. The only redeeming thing about the elliptical is that the sound on the built in tv's at the gym actually works, so I don't have to lip read like I do on the treadmill. Still, I was not thrilled being a hamster on a wheel, and I started slacking off. Then I came down with some nasty strep-like virus that put me on the couch for 5 days. I *finally* got out today, on what the radio keeps saying is literally the last good day of the year. I loaded my youngest into the jogging stroller and managed to get in 4.6 miles AND a shower before I had to go get his big brother from preschool.

The run went well, but towards the end, I was definitely aware of the Achilles. It was nowhere near pain, but I was aware of it. Does that make sense? I'm kind of unsure of what I should do in this situation. I'm dying to get back to running, it's been really hard not being able to run the past few weeks, but I obviously don't want to do anything to make things worse. I may just keep the runs to 5 miles for a while and back off if the Achilles acts up again. Clearly, it's gotten MUCH better, I just wish I knew how long it would take to heal up, or what exactly I should do. Grrr... silly body!

But given that I felt fine for the first 3 miles, I think I'm definitely clear to do the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving with Oliver, who is *REALLY* excited about doing another 5k. Given how fast he finished the last one, I think I'm going to try to get him to run even more this time, and see if we can finish in closer to 33 minutes. I don't think he understands that he's going to have to get A LOT faster if he wants to win his age group, but at this point, I just want to get him out there.

Columbus Marathon Done!

2011-10-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

I've had a few conversations recently with people online about runner elitism and this tendency that we seem to have as women to kind of cut ourselves down before anyone else can, and couch it in funny self-deprecation. Lululemon apparently recently did a waterbottle that says "I run because I can" and in tiny print underneath says "but I really jog", which kind of annoys me because if you're out there with two feet off the ground at some point during your stride, you are RUNNING, no matter your speed. So in the spirit of encouraging other women to not engage in this nasty habit of belittling our own accomplishments, you will see no apologies here for my finish time. Lots of people finished before me, but lots of people finished after me, and a whole hell of a lot more people didn't run at all that day. My accomplishment is in no way belittled by the accomplishments of others, and in the spirit of that, I'm damn proud of myself. I'll give away the ending and say that I missed a PR by a couple of minutes, but there are many things about the way I ran this race that I'm proud of. I'm sore as hell, but damn it, I did a good job.

A pre-race thumbs up. Note the "why the hell am I doing this?" look on my face.

That said, I still woke up the morning of the race in a state of some anxiety, though admittedly less than I usually feel before a big race like this. I think knowing that I had the hubby to share the misery with me helped a great deal. Our hotel was mere blocks from the starting line so we were able to just walk out the door at 7am for a 7:30 start.

Checking the Garmin and freezing my butt off.

They had a pre-race photographer, which was cool.

Walking to these things is always pretty cool, lots of people out on the streets, lots overheard conversations (according to one that I heard, Gatorade does indeed go bad, so be warned there). Haakan calmed me down during my mini freak out at the start and we were off and over the start line less than 10 minutes after the gun. The first maybe 4 miles were a straight shot down a wide street, which, coming from Pittsburgh where it's all hills and curves, was pretty cool. It was a pretty perfect day for a race, fairly cool, low humidity, but windier than I would have liked.

Having the hubby running with me was full on awesome. If you ever get the chance to run with someone who is willing to carry your water and refill the bottles at aid stations, then catch up to you, do it. He says as the race went on it got harder for him to catch up to me as he got more tired, but I think he liked the chance to go a bit faster. The crowd support through a lot of the residential neighborhoods we ran through was really great. We went through one very nice neighborhood that's on the register of historic places (Old Town, maybe?) where there was some kind of awesome house party going on. There were like 20 people on the porch and in front of this house and they set up the most awesome cheer as we went past. I kind of wished I'd been at that party, the food looked good. And another neighborhood (German Town? German Village?) smelled like cinnamon. Mmmmm... It was neat to see all these very nice neighborhoods so close to downtown, since the geography makes that largely impossible in Pittsburgh (and a history of bad civic planning, but we won't go into that).

It was around mile 10 that my stomach started to bother me and I just felt inexplicably tired. I had to stop for a walk break, but I'm super proud that I hadn't stopped at all to that point, even at the water stops. I'm not sure if it was the gels or the Gatorade, probably a combo of the two, but my doubts started to creep in and I had a hard time getting going again. We were well ahead of pace at this point and doing well, so I sucked it up and soldiered on.

I look tired, but I don't think this was all that far into the race.

The hubby called my mom when we were about a mile from where they'd be able to see us pass (just a block from the hotel - good thing I didn't know that, I would have been tempted to just stop and go take a nap). They were going to see us before the half marathoners split from the full marathoners and I was getting nervous we'd missed them somehow when the hubby spotted them. "I'm going to cry when I see them" I'd warned him, and I had to fight really hard to not start bawling when I saw them.

"I'll see you soon, I've got to keep running!" I told them.

I fought back the tears and we kept on going. "Wanna just do the half?" I asked the hubby, only half joking. He ignored me and we passed the point of no return and ran through a very cute neighborhood (Short North? Short something, at any rate) and saw the girls from the lululemon store, who cheered us on enthusiastically, as well they should since we were both decked out in their product. There were more walking breaks here, my stomach just didn't feel good and I was tired. Still, the miles were going ok and we weren't totally off track yet.

Around mile 17 or so we got to the Ohio State campus, which was kind of cool, but totally deserted. Where were all the students? I know a bunch of them were probably running, but seriously, it was past 10am when we ran through, at least a few could have mustered it up to come out and cheer. My dad's an OSU alum so we had to snap a picture.

See me leaning on the sign? That's because I was exhausted!

I think I heard "Hang on Sloopy" about 20 times during the course of the race, and one of the best parts was all the music. This race had more music than the RnR marathon I did as my first in Phoenix. There were DJ's everywhere and live bands, it was really nice. Once we got through OSU, we were in Upper Arlington and had been told the last 10k would be pretty much down hill. It was, thank goodness. I had my slowest mile splits here, but I also had some of my fastest. It was also at this point that my Achilles tendon started to really bother me, something that I'd never had an issue with before. My quads started to feel it, too, but it was really the Achilles that was bothersome. The last 10k seemed extremely long, but parts of it were very nice. I think the hubby slapped the hand of every child who held it out, and when we heard a musician playing "Dance with Me", I did a little twirl with the hubby as we ran past. He also mustered up some slow motion running to the Chariots of Fire theme song, and I had enough left in me to do some fake knocking on the door during a live rendition of "Love Shack". With a mile left to go the hubby told me to go on ahead and run while he filled up the water bottles, and maybe he'd just see me at the finish if he couldn't catch up. I cursed him a bit because I really didn't want to run anymore, but it was just a mile left so we really had to do it. He was hurting by this point, too, as this was by far the longest amount of time he'd ever been on his feet running a marathon (he's usually done well before the 4 hour mark).

I think this is the final turn before the finish.

The single best thing about the Columbus Marathon is the downhill finish. The last .2 or so is fully downhill, so you really can finish strong. The announcer called out my name as I crossed the finish time, and though I have to get it straightened out because my chip malfunctioned, the final time was 4:54:09. Not a PR, but still under 5 hours. And, very cool, the results website tells me that in the last 6.2 miles, I passed 167 runners, and was passed by 15. Personally, I think that ratio is awesome. I can't tell you how much I LOVE the fact that we were passing a heck of a lot more people than were passing us during what was easily the hardest part of the race. I would love for more races to include this statistic.

Gonna airbrush that clock...

I battled some of the same issues I'd had in Pittsburgh, most notably that the race happened on the day my monthly "friend" came to visit. All my male readers just went "yuck", but I'm a girl, I have girl issues, and this is significant as the time before my period leaves me feeling very sluggish. It is a far from ideal time to run a race, so I'm just proud of myself that I got it done. I'm also very proud of the 10 miles of even paced running that I did, with no breaks at all, though I truly felt like I couldn't have pulled out a much faster pace, even for a shorter distance. Doing this same race under the same conditions at a different time in my cycle might easily mean cutting 10 minutes off my finish time, but I'll never know that for sure. The lack of speedwork during my training probably hurt me, too, since my body didn't know what to do with the lactic acid when it started to build up, and that probably contributed to my upset stomach. I've learned even more about how to train for the next one, but I think I may take a racing break for a while, while I work on some strategy for how to get faster. I say that now, talk to me in a week when I'm not so sore!

Done! Looks a lot like the pre-race photo, but sweatier.

Night before the Columbus marathon

2011-10-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

**This was supposed to post yesterday, but for some reason it didn't upload from my phone**

I've noticed that I feel really emotional before big races like this. In some ways the specter of my first marathon in Phoenix in 2009 still haunts me, it was such a horrendous experience. Pittsburgh went much better, but still was far from perfect and I under performed it, I feel. So now there's more riding on this. This is the race I was supposed to do last year, then bailed on after a miserable summer of training and disappointing races. My training has been beautiful, there's no real reason for me to not meet my goals. But I find myself putting all this pressure on myself, all this heaps upon heaps of anxiety, and find myself just wanting to crawl under the covers and ignore the clock that's ticking down to start time tomorrow morning. I get too much into my head with these races and I need to remember that tomorrow morning, I'm going to run the best race I can for the day I'm given.

The day wasn't all spent in an anxiety induced state of hysteria. The kids had great fun at the kids races, and I bought these beauties at the expo. The only thing that could make me happier is if they were stability shoes (they're not, so they'll just be for short distances, and looking super cute).

Oliver's first 5k!

2011-10-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

My 6 year old, Oliver, has been asking for a while if he could do a race with me and his dad. He'd done a mile here and a mile there with us, but nothing major. So when we had a weekend with back to back 5k's right in our neighborhood, I decided that maybe we could give one of them a shot. He *REALLY* wanted to do the Zoozilla 5k, which runs up the giant hill that cuts the zoo in half, then goes back down through the zoo, but having done that race and knowing that Oliver's kind of a wimp (he gets that from me, unfortunately), we decided to try for the Shadyside 5k instead. It's a much flatter race and there are usually a lot of kids doing it, so I thought it was a good first race for him, just to see how it goes.

The race started at 8am so I got him up a bit before 7am, we got dressed, and out we went. Unfortunately, my plan to park in the public lot right behind the start line was foiled by the roads being closed (doh!), which wasn't an issue last year because I got there super early. So we had to park like half a mile away and I made the poor kid run/walk with me to the start, because we still had to register. We managed to register and get our chips on our shoes, but I was still pinning my number to my shirt when the gun went off. At this point Oliver starts to have a full on freak out, thinking we're going to miss the race, but I managed to talk him down and we started off.

We ran down Walnut Street to Aiken, and then down onto Ellsworth, and Oliver was doing great. About a half a mile in he started to get very annoyed that I hadn't brought water for him, and we managed to *almost* get run over by the leaders because we were on the wrong side of the cones when I had to stop to tie his shoe. At one point he said, "Are we winning?" and I had to point out ALL the people ahead of us, including the super fast guys who had almost run us over. When he would ask to walk, I would tell him we could walk when we passed some landmark in the distance, and he was a pretty good sport about it (better than I am when Haakan does that to me when he paces me - there's usually cursing involved when I get told "just run to that lamp post up there"). Around the halfway point I reminded him that there were pancakes at the end and his face lit up and he took up for a while. He loved the crowds and was high five-ing everyone, and the runners who were around us were very encouraging to him.

When we got to the final stretch up Walnut Street, I told Oliver it was time to sprint, and holy cow, I don't think I could have kept up with him if I'd tried. Given the burst of turbo speed at the end, I definitely don't think we needed all those walk breaks. Final time was 38:41 and he couldn't have been prouder. Unfortunately, they didn't get his name recorded for the results, just his number, but he wasn't in medal contention, anyway (some of those kids were really speedy!).

It's really an amazing thing to be able to share something like this with one of my kids. At his age, there's no way I could have run a 5k, and maybe if I had been more into sport and such, I wouldn't have had to find my healthy habits as an adult. And really, one of the biggest reasons I started running was so that I could set a good example for my kids. I always thought it wasn't as big of a deal for boys, since they're just kind of expected to be good at sports and such, but it's really just as important to be a role model. With Oliver, he gets obsessed with winning and will become frustrated and decide he doesn't want to do something if he can't win. I think me going out and doing races and not winning is a good thing for him to see, and an even better thing for him to experience. At the end of the day, we're all competing against our best selves, on so many levels. It's not about accolades from other people or getting a medal, because really only a small number are going to get that. It's about putting forth your best and each time, trying to surpass it, because it gives *YOU* joy. If that's a lesson he can start to learn early, I don't think it will ever serve him ill.

Great Race number 4!

2011-09-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

Oh the Great Race. Such a perfectly named race, it's just so much fun. This was my 4th time doing the 10k and I never fail to be simultaneously tickled and annoyed doing such a big race. This year there were 14,500 people in the sold-out race, doing both the 5k and the 10k. I'll go on record saying that I think the Great Race 5k is probably a pretty crappy race, since about half of it is running UP the Blvd of the Allies, but I've never done it so I couldn't say for sure. The 10k, however, is just plain nice. I think I've had four blog posts now waxing rhapsodic about the Great Race, but it bears repeating. If you're in the Pittsburgh area, I think this is a race worth doing, and not just for the Eat'n Park smiley cookies at the end.

We gave my neighbor Val and my frequent running partner Stephanie a ride to the start and had a nice time milling around in the giant crowd at the start. The Hubby ditched us to head up to the front after we stood in a super ridiculously long porta potty line, and after trying unsuccessfully to find my friends Kelly and Andy, we ended up lining up in the big crowd. I didn't manage to place myself as well as I did last year and we should have easily been another minute or two closer to the start, which meant I felt like I was doing a lot of dodging of people up until we got onto Fifth Avenue, but live and learn. My plan was to stick with Stephanie because I had a feeling she was going to finish faster than I was (she's faster than she thinks she is), but I peeled off right around the halfway point when I had to take a short walk break. I was doing great until then, totally in PR contention, but I think the heat got to me, and I just had gone out too fast, and I kind of lost my mojo. Going up the Blvd of the Allies was rough, much tougher than it was last year, but it was also a lot warmer this year than last. The race started a half hour later, I assume so that the 5k walkers would be totally cleared from the course by the time the 10k started, but that half hour was enough to make it HOT by the time we started. I wore short sleeves and was totally comfortable at the start, which is a pretty good sign that I'm going to be overheated during the race. I'm going to try carrying my own water next year, too, since I lost a lot of time at the water stops.

At the end of the day, I managed a 57:59 finish, which is good enough for a second best 10k time. If the weather had been a bit more cooperative (and I think the humidity was the real killer, and it was downright tropical feeling by the time we were finished) I might have been closer to breaking that old PR, but it just wasn't in the cards. As I predicted, Stephanie did finish before me and I would have been closer to a PR if I'd managed to stick with her, but like I said, it was hot and it just wasn't going to happen. And incidentally, though I didn't find my friends Kelly and Andy, Kelly kicked serious behind, especially since her youngest child is only 9 weeks old! Seriously, she's awesome (there's a whole slew of "woe is I" posts about how much I struggled to get some speed back after Charlie was born, so I'm way impressed). The good news is that according to the McMillan Pace Calculator, the 4:37 finish time were're shooting for in Columbus is still very much within the realm of possibility and I don't think we're going to make any major course corrections there. This is my highest mileage week of marathon training, culminating with a 22 mile run this weekend, so I just hope I can remain healthy enough to get it done (back to back bouts of strep messed up the plan and I had to scrap one of my 20 milers in the hopes of getting healthy). Once this marathon is done, I am going to do speedwork (which I've been avoiding, because I hate it and I'm lazy and I don't like to do things I hate) and hopefully that'll help me to start seeing some speed gains with shorter distance races. I think I'm going to put the marathon on the back burner after Columbus is done, and concentrate on specific speed goals with shorter distances. I've definitely got a goal to break 2 hours in the half, so maybe next year will be the year for that.

I was going to include a link to the video of me crossing the finish line, but somehow I managed to be *right next* to a guy wearing exactly the same color shirt as me, and you can't even see me until right after I cross the finish line, and then only for like a second and a half. Seriously, blink and I'm gone (I had to watch the video three times to even find myself!). So instead, bad bedroom self portrait.

Charlie wanted to be in the picture, too!

Recap of running in Sweden

2011-09-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

My lord I'm a poor excuse for a blogger. Seriously, this is why I haven't gotten any money yet for "monitizing" my blog. I could list a slew of excuses, but instead, on with the race reports!

But before that, I should talk about the three weeks we spent in Sweden and the running I got to do there. Overall, it was a good trip. The kids had fun, though they got a little tired of having no one to play with but each other, and we enjoyed ourselves, though we were exhausted pretty much the entire time. The weather was fabulous coming from the hellish heat and humidity that was Pittsburgh. I didn't care if it rained every day, it was such a relief to be out of the heat. And good weather made for some very nice runs, including one in Visby where I got to run inside the medieval city walls, which were built in the 12th century. Seriously cool.

This trail was right near the house we stayed in for two of the three weeks we were in Sweden.

My training schedule got a little messed up, so I had an 18 mile run to do a couple of days after we arrived. After looking over some maps and such, the hubby picks out a route for me that should follow a trail that goes out near the water and *looks* like it should be really nice. And the beginning of it was, but then I quickly ended up bushwacking my way along a trail that was little more than a goat path, trying to find my footing over boulders, and doing a lot of backtracking when I couldn't find the trail. I finally found a nearly 3 mile loop that was largely runable, though not quickly, and ran that a couple of times. When it started to look like it was going to rain, I decided to try to head back home and found that along the road it was pretty straight forward. I still had 5 miles to go, so I ended up doing loops around the cul de sac where the house was. The hubby made fun of me pretty mercilessly because I kept getting lost and it had taken so long, but I was vindicated the next day when he tried it himself, and ALSO got lost and had to run slowly. So there. Sometimes he should just listen to me, I'm not *always* just being a wuss.

The lucky hubby got to do a 10k called the Midnight Run while we were there. He bought someone's bib and ended up back in the "slow people's" corral (I grumbled when he said that, because those are *my* people, damn it). It's worth mentioning if only for the blindingly orange shirt he had to wear during the race (they ALL had to wear them, and I think half of Stockholm must have been blinded).

I love that you can barely see his face because the shirt is so freaking bright it's sucking up all the light!

After my 18 miler out in the sticks where we were living was so messed up, we decided to do my other long runs in the hubby's parents' neighborhood, and those went much more smoothly. However, I discovered a couple of things that make running in Sweden annoying, as opposed to running at home. First, though it was seriously wonderful to have so many paved walking trails all over the place, there was NO public water. None. I had to take a detour into a shopping center to fill my water fountains in the rest room! Secondly, free rest rooms are kind of hard to come by. Yes, it's pay toilets all the way, so I was sure to take some kroner with me when I did my second 18 miler on that route. It all worked out, but as some who plans my routes based around the availability of bathroom facilities and water, this put a damper on things.

I'll stop there while I formulate my race reports from the Run Around the Square 5k and the Montour Trail Half Marathon (which doesn't sound like nearly as much fun as the Ikea Half Marathon, but it's the same race, just renamed).

This photo has nothing to do with running, but see? Lots of fun in Sweden!

Stampede in the Park 5k and a lesson learned

2011-07-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

So we did this one last year and it has the dubious honor of being my slowest 5k ever. This year, I finished in 29:03, good enough for a 7th in my age group, but third finished in 28:11, which I should have been able to beat easily. So now I'm kicking myself for not pushing through and going for a faster time. Oh well, live and learn, right? This is a good lesson about goal setting. I won't go into another race without a time goal that I'll push towards. I'd like to think that if I'd had the Garmin (mine bit the dust, so now I'm waiting on my replacement and Haakan and I are sharing his, and he had it for this race) it might have made a difference, but probably not. Next year I will seriously rock this race. The speedy pants I'm married to placed 3rd in his age group and won a coffers mug, which I will shortly be filling with coffee.

At least I look cute, right?

Summers races and plugging away

2011-07-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

Summer is not my prime time as a runner. I'm starting to realize that when the mercury and humidity rise, I kind of go into running stasis, just kind of trying to preserve the routine until the weather cools down. This is not a time for PR's, so what little success I have, I'll take. Just doing better than last year (which, if you remember, was horrendous) feels like a huge accomplishment.

The first race of the summer was the Father's Day 10k down on the North Shore. It's a nice race on a fairly easy course, but it's usually hotter than hell and unfortunately I went into this year's race just coming off a nasty summer cold and definitely not feeling 100% despite the easy week the preceded the race. I was also challenged by the joys of being a woman, and I almost didn't even start the race, but I figured if it was really horrible I could either DNF or just walk it in. I won't lie, there was some walking involved (there pretty much always is in these summer races) and it was pretty miserable, but I definitely did better than last year and finished in 1:01:13, which actually makes it a 4th best 10k, so not as crappy as I was thinking it was, especially given that while we were standing around waiting for the results, I started to see stars and almost passed out, which is pretty sad when I think I placed like 20th in my age group . Haakan took this little movie of me getting close to the finish line in my bright yellow top and snazzy little running skirt.

After the Father's Day race, I got back to the training, just plugging away and trying to keep up with the mileage and long runs so that I can go into the Columbus Marathon as well trained as possible. Over 4th of July we took a nice vacation out to Montana to both visit my dad and to go to a college friend's wedding, and I had three runs, including a 10 miler, to get in while we were away. I got the first run, 5ish miles of speedwork, done at the Kalispell, MT city park. It was not a bad route, exactly a mile around this cute little park with a lake (unfortunately there had been some MAJOR flooding in the park and all the standing water meant it was mosquito heaven). I managed to hold my own, despite being at a higher altitude than usual and pretty worn out from just getting to Montana with three fidgety children. And I got to see this little guy like 3 or 4 times as I ran past the little pond.

Montana turtle

After the wedding was done, I got in two runs in Victor, where my stepmother's family has a cabin. First up, the 10 miler. There just so happens to be a paved bike and walking trail that follows Route 93 and will eventually go all the way from Hamilton to Missoula. Right now there are apparently some places where it's not been finished, but it was possible for me to get dropped off right on the edge of Victor (downtown Victor was all torn up with road work) and just run towards Missoula. The benefit of this - it was relatively flat, it was paved, there was no road traffic and very few places where it even crossed roads (not that anyone drove onto those roads, anyway). The drawbacks - there was NO shade, not even a little bit, no water, and nowhere for a bathroom break. Also, those little rolling hills felt like freaking mountains in the heat and the altitude. In case you were interested, it's exactly 5 miles from the road where I got dropped off to the Stephensville sign. So I ran those five miles, turned around, and ran back. The run back was a bit more scenic, but it really wasn't what I'd call a pretty run, since you're next to a 4 lane highway the whole way. I did see some cows and horses, and a baby deer, so it wasn't bad. And I got it done, which is the name of the game.

Pretty mountains outside of Victor, MT.

After the 10 miler got done, I also still had a 6 miler to get through (it should have been 8 miles, the hubby forgot that he'd scheduled an increase in mileage for me, so I had a little catch up to do when we got home) and decided the best way was to run the 1.5 miles from the cabin up to the trailhead and back, twice. This actually wasn't too bad of a run. Again, it was hot, I'm not great at hills, and the altitude was getting to me (and it wasn't even that high! The moral of the story here is that I'm a big wuss). But it was kind of cool to run up and back, and it was definitely prettier than running on the flat and shadeless bike path in town.

Bear Creek, running very high and very fast.

Once we got back from Montana, there was again no rest for the weary and I got right back into things. I was up to 16 miles for my long runs, so after I'd done a few up at the Highland Park reservoir, I decided to branch out a bit and came up with this route that would take me through 4 city parks for a total of 16 miles. There were some wicked hills involved (those were mostly walked), but I was pretty pleased with it, as the stretch through Schenley Park was particularly pleasant. The first time I did it, before vacation, it wasn't too bad (the last 2 miles through East Liberty and into Highland Park always kind of sucks because it's a gradual uphill that just feels plodding and slow), but the last time I did it, my Garmin totally died halfway through. Well, it actually went crazy scrolling through screens, beeping and not responding to the buttons, until I smacked it with my water bottle and it finally turned off. It was really hot that day since I'd had to start later than usual and the rest of the run turned into a bit of a death march. It took me close to 4 hours to get through it and I walked a lot. No shame, it was tough and I finished it.

This brings us up to summer race number 2 - Annie's Run, put on by the Greater Pittsburgh Road Runner's Club. The premise of the race is simple enough. Show up at 6am, run for 6 hours, whoever covers the most distance wins. The course was a 1.25 mile loop at the Upper St Clair park and had two wicked hills - one you run up, one you go down. I walked the hill on the way up. It was REALLY steep. Haakan and I engaged the services of a fabulous babysitter so we could do the run together, and we had no intention of doing the whole 6 hours. My plan was to do 16 miles, and Haakan was going to do 11. But he ran so much faster than me that he had lapped me twice by the time he finished his 11 miles, so he decided to just do the rest of mine with me, which would take him to 20 miles if I did one extra lap (and it would bring me to 17.5 miles). I briefly contemplated doing an even 20, but I was ready to go home by the time he was finished, so 17.5 miles it was. It was a pretty low key event and a lot of fun. After this, he's all psyched up to do the full 6 hours next year. It took us around 3.5 hours, which I don't think is too bad given that it was hot and hilly, and I'm a wuss when it comes to both.

Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I agreed to do a 5k with my sister the next day. The money raised was for sarcoma research, which is a good cause, and it seemed like it would be a pretty good course, so sure, what the heck. At 6am when she picked me up, I was beat, and it warmed up really quickly, but it turned out to be an ok race. Something I've been learning is that during the summer I need to totally reconceive what a good race looks like. Everything is slower and more effort, so the 28:49 finish is really not too bad, good enough for my 5th best 5k, amazingly. And, since I gotta love an event listed as "run/walk", my stats for this race are fantastic! I finished 10th out of 74 in my age group, which might be my best stats ever. However, even if I'd beaten my PR, I would only have placed one place higher in my age group, so clearly I need to get quite a bit faster. If I could get my 5k time to 24 minutes or faster, I could actually compete in my age group. Hopefully PR's will be coming down come fall, since I'm doing relatively well for it being such a hot summer.

A reprieve from the heat

2011-06-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

So my 10 miler didn't go so well. I only did 5 because it was just miserable out. 75 degrees at 6am and at least 80% humidity. Anyone in the south who reads this blog, feel free to call me a big wuss, but seriously, it was terrible. I called it quits after 5 miles and went home totally ashamed of myself. It bothered me all morning, so just before noon I decided that I was going to such it up and do the other 5 miles I had bailed on, even though it was now hotter AND I'd have to bring the jogging stroller. Amazingly, it went really well! Yes, it was hotter and I was pushing the jogger (thankfully only the single this time), but there was a nice breeze and I think the humidity had fallen a little. Charlie sang in the jogger for most of the time and only got antsy at the very end, and it wasn't a bad run at all! Faster than my morning run, and quite a bit more pleasant. And I do love the occasional run with the jogger. My kids are pretty fun to run with, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a little boost from the "supermom" and "you go girl!" comments that I get from people when I run past.

I was supposed to do 14 miles tomorrow for my long run for the week, but there's an event at the lululemon showroom that I want to go to, so I talked the hubby into giving me the green light to go out and do it this morning instead. This meant I had to be out the door at 5:30am in order to be back not too long after 8am, but truthfully, I kind of like being up that early. It was still dark at 5am and I got to see a glorious pink sky as I ran up the hill to the reservoir. I did 3.5 laps around the lower cinder track, then 4 laps around the upper loop, then another 3 around the bottom, and 3 around the top before I headed for home. The lower loop is hilly (the jury is still out on the best way to run it - I ran counter-clockwise today) and almost a half mile longer, while the upper loop is totally flat, and splitting the run up so that I was doing a little of each really helped stave off the boredom, and I think doing the hills and flats isn't a bad thing. It was around 47 degrees when I went out this morning, in long sleeves and capris, and it was just glorious. It was the perfect temperature for a long run, perfect weather, and just all around awesome.

Part of this event at the lululemon showroom tomorrow is that we get to test drive some shoes on a 3 mile run, and I'm looking forward to that. Someone is bringing a bunch of pairs of Brooks shoes for us to try out on the run and I think that'll be kind of cool. I'm going to be needing new shoes in another month or so, so trying out a different kind of shoe will be interesting. I've been wearing Nike Motos pretty much the whole time I've been running, but I wouldn't mind branching out a bit. I need a stability shoe because my gait is all kinds of wonky and I wonder if something else might not be even MORE stable for me than the Nikes are.

F'ing hot

2011-05-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

The title says it all. It's hotter than hot here lately, and will be 74 degrees at 6am when I go out to run tomorrow morning, according to weather.com. 74 degrees! WTF? It's been ungodly humid, too, and just left me feeling sapped and exhausted. It was so hot on Monday morning that I went out to run in just my shorts and sports bra, which if you know me is something I pretty much never do. But it was oddly liberating and I'll probably do it again.

In all the winter training, I had forgotten just how much summer takes out of me. I really need to get better at just sucking it up in the heat, or I'm in for another summer of disaster races. We're doing the Father's Day 10k again (if my mom and sister can watch the kiddos) and while I'm sure I won't repeat last year's 1:08 and change disaster, it looks like my long-standing 10k PR is probably not going to fall anytime soon, unless we get an inexplicable cold snap, and I run through a wormhole. We've got my races leading up to Columbus all planned out, which is both comforting and kind of scary. I'm back on the horse with the training without too much of a break, but I'm still concerned about how it's going to fit in with our summer vacations and such. I guess things will figure themselves out as we go.

In the meantime, mentally preparing myself for 10 miles in the freaking heat tomorrow morning.

Marathon mile splits

2011-05-21T04:59:00.000-07:00

For those who keep track of these things, here are my Garmin splits from the marathon. They actually tell the story fairly well.

Mile 1 - 10:35
Mile 2 - 10:25
Mile 3 - 10:14
Miles 4 and 5 - 9:54 I turn to pace leader and say, "Ummm, we're running negative splits! He's unphased, but it freaks me out
Mile 6 - 10:59 I drop off from the 4:30 pace group
Mile 7 and 8 - 10:46
Mile 9 - 10:39
Mile 10 - 10:13
Mile 11 - 11:44 The half marathoners break off and turn around, which is pretty depressing. Carson street suddenly looks like a ghost town.
Mile 12 - 13:33 Bathroom break in Oakland at the top of the hill. I wish I knew how much time I lost on the hill, since I lost *at least* a minute in the porta potty.
Mile 13 and 14 - 10:33 Obviously I did well through Oakland and Shadyside. If I'd looked at my watch and actually seen the average, it might have encouraged me to keep the pace up a bit more.
Mile 15 - 11:52
Mile 16 - 11:25
Mile 17 - 11:44
Mile 18 - 11:36
Mile 19 - 11:13
Mile 20 and 21 - 11:06
Mile 22 - 12:32 Totally losing steam here. I think a lot of this was going up Liberty so we could do the final downhill
Mile 23 - 10:43 And Haakan appears!
Mile 24 - 12:06
Mile 25 - 11:20
Mile 26 - 11:10
Final .2 - 8:08 The final sprint. If I had enough speed to pull this out at the end of a marathon, I could have run the whole thing a bit faster.

So, lessons learned here:

1. Look at the freaking Garmin, stupid! Seriously. There are a couple of points where if I had actually paid attention to the splits I was running, I probably could have salvaged things a bit more, definitely come in under 4:50. What's the point of wearing it if I'm not going to pay attention to the splits?

2. Have a plan. In anticipation of Columbus, Haakan says to me, "You need a plan. It's fine to run/walk, but you need to plan for it." I would rather plan to NOT run/walk, but I clearly need a contingency plan for when I inevitably get tired and need breaks. If I'd been able to run and then walk through the aid stations (which were every mile after the half marathoners split off), I would have cut minutes off my finish time.

3. Tweak the training. I'm thinking more hills, more drinking on the fly, and keeping the Garmin running during bathroom breaks so that I can get a sense of how much time I'm actually losing when I have to stop. I need to check my vanity about the speed of my training runs (which is stupid, since they're not even fast!) and go more for accuracy.

3. Make midcourse corrections. The minor injury to my knee and the time off it required messed me up. In retrospect, it might have been smarter to start with the 4:45 group and try to stick with them. I won't make this mistake again.

First post!

2011-05-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

If you never did, check out my first ever blog post. It took me two years longer to get to the Pittsburgh Marathon than I'd intended, but damn it, I did it. I started this blog so long ago, I forgot that the whole reason was to talk about training for the race I'd grown up watching but never thought I'd get the chance to run. Kind of makes me a little teary eyed.

Further ruminations on the marathon

2011-05-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

I did my first post-marathon run today, and other than the torrential downpour that greeted me just as I got to the park, it wasn't bad. I only did 3 miles, and I might have run longer if it hadn't been for the rain making my shoe insoles creeping up under my toes. My middle toes were still feeling kind of squished, and truthfully I'm not sure how long it's going to take for them to return to some kind of normal, which is a little freaky. The swelling and blisters have gone down, but they're still pretty sore. Hopefully in another week they'll be feeling more normal.

So I'm thinking a lot about where things kind of went wrong in terms of not hitting my goal time, and I think it comes down to a general aversion I have to pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. This is something I've probably always been struggling with, but I've noticed it most since I started trying to get back into running shape after Charlie was born. I have potential to be going much faster than I have been, but I have a hard time maintaining it, for whatever reason. I need to work more on the speedwork, if for no other reason than to get used to how it feels to not be comfortable and to push myself. I tend to give up too easily, and I just need to get past that. I do need to cut myself a break, too, because in the grand scheme of things, I'm not all that experienced of a runner. Every marathon teaches me more about what I need to do differently in the training, how I need to learn to push myself, all that good stuff. I'm pleased with how I did Pittsburgh, since I think I did the best I could have done for how I was feeling on the day, but I've got high hopes that Columbus will be even better.

The other big thing I need to do is more stretching and cross training. My sports medicine doc ( Dr Hottie ) said my IT band is incredibly tight, and that's obviously a recipe for disaster, so I need to get better at doing the things I need to do to make sure to stretch it out. I also think that adding in a day of spinning or swimming could only do me good. So my blog readers are going to help to keep me honest and accountable here! Remind me to stretch, remind me to do something other than just run, and hopefully, I'll do even better in Columbus than I did here in Pittsburgh.

We Are Victorious! or Second Full Marathon DONE

2011-05-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

As usual, I spent the early morning hours before my second full marathon (Pittsburgh, on May 15) standing in the kitchen with Haakan, saying "why are we doing this again?" He pointed out that this was the reverse of the last time we both did Pittsburgh, when he was running the full and I was running the half. I pointed out that he'd have to wait a whole lot longer for me to finish than I had waited for him, speed demon that he is, and reminded him again to bring a book.

We got into town, found parking on the North Side, not too far from the finish (getting back to the car was definitely less of an ordeal than getting back to my hotel in Phoenix, where I did my first full marathon, had been - when I had to walk almost a mile to a light rail station, wait, take the light rail, then walk 4 blocks back to my hotel) and started to mosey towards the start. There was a giant banner hung across the Clemente Bridge (which we'd have to cross at the end) that said "We are victorious" in Greek. According to legend this is what Pheidippides, the Greek soldier who ran from Marathon to Athens, said as he arrived at his destination. Then, according to legend, he dropped dead. So, inspiring words, but I hoped not to exactly replicate Pheidippides' feat. There were also big banners that said "1/2 mile to go", and I thought about how long that final half mile was going to feel at the end (it also seemed particularly mean to make us run over a bridge at the end, since you don't realize it until you're running over one, but bridges are up hill!).

This year the start was in the middle of Downtown, as opposed to in the Strip District, where it had been two years prior when we'd last done the race. This time there were corrals, which were heavily policed, and a lot more organization. I found the 4:30 pace group, they all tried to calm me down, as I was fighting down nervous tears at this point, the mess of pain and bad emotions that my first marathon had been was totally in my head. Finally, convinced I wasn't going to sob my way through 26.2 miles, Haakan went up to Corral A (my slow ass was in Corral E) and I chatted with the other hopefuls in my pace group. Here's me right before I dropped off my gear, looking all excited and freaked out.

Check out my number, yo!

We crossed the start almost 13 minutes after the gun and it became clear to me by like mile 3 that 4:30 was just not going to happen for me. It just felt harder than it should have at that point. The pace felt too fast, I felt too winded and too heavy, and I just knew that it wasn't going to be my day for a PR quite that great. I remember thinking that if I'd been doing a 10k that day, it would have been one of my slowest. I felt like I was running at my maximum, which isn't really where you want to feel during the early miles of a marathon. I dropped off from the 4:30 group right behind mile 6 and crossed the 10k mark still in good shape for a 4:30ish finish. However, I felt myself fading and feeling tired already and I made some midstream goal corrections. I could finish under 5 hours easy, maybe I could shoot for 4:40 or less instead. My friend Chelsea, who was doing the half, unexpectedly caught up with me at that point and I managed to keep pace with her for a few minutes until I fell behind and lost her in the crowd. We went back into the West End (which was kind of cool, even though it was all uphill - there were a TON of people out), then out onto Carson Street for my least favorite part of the course. I HATE that chunk on the road before you get to Station Square. There's no one out, it's largely uphill, and you're basically running down a highway. There were a ton of signs and such up, though, so that was cool. By this point, I'm doing a run/walk, and it was very early in the race to be doing that. I was just trying to keep my average pace within a certain window, and was pretty successful with that, until I made a pit stop in Oakland, after we crested the hill on Forbes (and that hill sucked every bit as much as I thought it would. Note to self: more hill work!). I lost at least 2 minutes waiting for the porta potty, and then using it. I didn't realize how far behind I'd gotten until I spotted the 4:45 pace group on Fifth Avenue. We crossed the halfway point at Fifth and Morewood, and I knew that all hope of a sub 4:40 finish was pretty much gone. Sub 5 hour became the new goal. I briefly got in front of the 4:45 group, but I lose them as we crested yet another hill (I swear, I felt every single hill in the course).

Look! I'm not last!

Running down Fifth Avenue was nice, as was running down Penn towards Braddock. Once we got back into Homewood, I felt like I was running in an unknown territory, since I don't drive back there a whole lot, and it seemed further than it was, I'm sure. There were A TON of people out along the course, which was pretty neat to see. There was a lot of music, smelled like a lot of barbecues going on, and a lot of pithy comments to the runners, which was fun. Once we made the turn onto East Liberty Blvd, I got a second wind because I knew we were really close to my neighborhood, and getting close to the final 10k mark of the race. At that point, I knew I could finish and finish strong, even if I was over pace. I strongly considered just turning around with the half marathoners and doing a DNF while I was on the South Side, but by mile 18.5, I was feeling glad I hadn't done that. "I got this," I kept telling myself. Mile 19 came and I felt great. I had settled into a run/walk kind of pattern, and I was ok with that since the primary goal was a better experience than I'd had in Phoenix. I started seeing neighbors who were cheering me on, and as I passed my street, I just hoped my mom would be out with the kids when I turned the corner. And she was. As soon as I saw my mom carrying Charlie, I started to well up with tears, I felt so overwhelmed to see my family. She ran next to me with Charlie while I told people, "That's my little boy!" until we got up to where my sister was standing with Elliot and Oliver. When they saw me they started cheering at the tops of their lungs, "Go Mommy! Run fast, Mommy!" and I about broke down into sobs. "Those are my kids!" I shouted to anyone who could hear me, and the runners around me smiled. Elliot was shouting so loudly, we could still hear him two blocks away.

Freaking joy on my face, seeing my kids.

I finished up mile 20 and felt like I was losing steam a bit. I'd run strong through Highland Park because I knew so many people there, but I was starting to feel pretty much DONE. Still, I knew once I hit Liberty I'd be close to the end, and get that nice downhill stretch. There was some fabulous dance music going up at the top of Liberty, and the crowd support was great in Bloomfield. I started down the hill feeling like I was definitely going to make it, and going to finish strong, when out of nowhere my fabulous husband appears. He'd finished the half marathon in 1:39 (a finish time of which I can only dream) and had walked 3.5 miles back up the course to meet me and run the final stretch in with me. He took a little video when he caught up with me.

I was pretty happy to see him, especially when he began running in next to me, since it had been getting a little lonely there without my iPod and I was wondering how I was going to spot him at the finish line. Clearly I was pretty pleased to have someone to run with.

What a flattering angle.

We went down Liberty into the Strip, running until it flattened out and my piriformis muscles started to cramp up on me. We did a lot of run/walk then, but I knew we were in the home stretch and I was going to come in under 5 hours easily. The last two miles really were some of the hardest physically, and I walked a lot more than I would have liked, but mentally, I just felt good. I was going to finish, I wasn't miserable, and it was going to be good. Ignore the pissed off look on my face here, I was actually pretty pleased!

What you looking at, punk?

As we got to the final bridge, Haakan said "Ok, I'll see you at the finish!" and took off down the sidewalk to let me do the final mile myself. It was HARD. I was so tired by that point and that bridge at the end was just plain mean, as I'd thought it would be. Seriously, why put a freaking hill in the last mile? I know we're the city of bridges and all, but c'mon!

That half mile felt freaking LONG!

Crossing the finish line, I really did pour on the last bit of speed that I had. I finished in 4:51:56, almost 20 minutes better than my finish in Phoenix, but more than 20 minutes over my goal time. Still, given that I felt so tired so early on, I feel like I ran the best race that I could have for how I felt that day. I don't even think starting out slower would have helped.

Gotta PhotoShop that time clock, that is NOT my chip time!

Haakan has pointed out that I'm barely a year post baby, and it took me a while to get under 30 for the 5k and under 1 hour for the 10k, so this finish time isn't that far outside of the realm of where I have been. Could I have finished faster? Given ideal conditions and an ideal physical state, I probably could have gotten much closer to 4:30. But the knee injury kind of got me off track, as did having to take a longer taper than I wanted, thanks to being out of town. And I can't discount the joys of being a woman of childbearing age, which definitely played a part in how I was feeling on Sunday. There are lots of variables and moving pieces, but like I said, I think I did the best I could have done for that day and the circumstances I was handed.

Me and my bling.

I felt physically pretty good through the whole race, so I wasn't prepared for the absolute horror show that was my feet when I took my socks off. I knew I would have some blistering because I could feel it on the bottoms of my big toes, and when you're running that far in wet conditions, some blisters are to be expected, but the big purple nasties were beyond what I thought I was dealing with because they just didn't hurt that badly. I also had giant purple blisters under my toenails on my middle toes on both feet, and a blister at the end of my pinky toe on the right foot. The blisters under my toenails freak me out, and I may have to admit that I've sacrificed them to the marathon gods. I never thought I could have something like that that didn't just hurt like hell! The blisters I had during Phoenix look like little nothings compared to these babies (I'll spare you a picture, but maybe I should have taken one because they were horrifying).

So, to paraphrase, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, but I guess most marathons are. I'm sure I'll post more ruminations on it as time goes on, but for now I'm just really pleased to have survived it, to have set a new PR (which I will hopefully be taking down in Columbus in October), and to have exorcised the demons of my first marathon in Phoenix. ~~Since my official race photos aren't up yet,~~ I'll leave you with a picture of the beautiful flowers my sister got for me. Love you, Jess!

Yay, pretties!

Coming soon, Pittsburgh Marathon race report!

2011-05-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting on a few more photos, but rest assured I'm working on a race report for the Pittsburgh Marathon I completed on Sunday May 15! Without giving too much away, this was a much more positive experience than my first marathon (the report for which I don't think I ever posted - gotta dig that out of the old laptop!) and all the gory details will be up once the photos come online!

2011 Race for the Cure - another Runniversary!

2011-05-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

Props to my fabulous mom for getting up at the crack of dawn on Mother's Day to watch my kiddos so the hubby and I could run the Race for the Cure. In all honesty, this isn't my favorite race. It's hilly, congested, and generally disappointing in terms of finish time. But I do it every year because it's a good cause (though I definitely want to know how much money the Komen Foundation actually nets with these events, because they are SO expensive to put on) and because it was the first race I ever did. Four years ago, I decided to get my fat ass off the couch and start doing something to feel better about myself, and the Race for the Cure was my goal race. Memories... Like the corners of my mind....

Anyway, I managed a 27:18 finish, which is almost a 2 minute PR for this course, so I'm not in the least disappointed with how it went down. The Mr Speedy-Pants that I married finished under 21 minutes, so he ought to be happy, too (if I ever finish a 5k that fast, I'll probably have the finish time tattooed somewhere visible on my body). I was going to try to stay with him for the first bit of the race, but I pretty much lost him immediately as he took off like he was dodging enemy fire or something. It was pretty entertaining to watch. I realized that I really do need to do some more hill work and some speed work once I get this marathon squared away (5 days and some hours - eeeeek!), since I still should have been able to finish this race faster. But all in good time, right?

I hope all the moms out there had a fabulous Mother's Day! Mine was busy (my middle son turns 4 today, so we had his birthday party on Mother's Day), but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Run club!

2011-04-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

The first rule of run club is, don't talk about run club.

Ok, not really, but wouldn't that be kind of cool? Some kind of secret hard core running club, where you come home with the soles peeling off your running shoes, your Garmin smoking, and an odd aura of accomplishment emanating from you? Yeah, that would be cool.

My running club is cool, too. I've been running a couple of times with a group organized by the lululemon showroom here in Pittsburgh, and the best part has been getting to run with people. I do almost all of my runs alone, and it gets a little lonely. I mean, I see the same cast of characters where I usually do my runs, and it's nice to get a friendly wave from Glowing Zipper Guy and his pal Scary Home-Made Face Mask Guy, Friendly Mullet Guy, Camo Guy, and the Friendly Old Italian Guys, but it's *really* nice to be able to have a conversation with someone over the course of a few miles. I found that it keeps my pace in check, too, which is something I definitely need. We finished our five mile loop and I got the impression that the other runners were a bit disappointed with our 10:42 pace, but I personally felt like it was fabulous. That's what a nice easy run should be. If I could find someone to do my long runs with, who I could chat with, maybe I could reel in the pace a bit, which would only be good.

On the subject of my long run pace, I've known for a while that my long run pace is a bit faster than it should be, but I've been unable to slow it down. It sounds stupid, but I get into a good pace, I feel good, and it feels unnatural to pull it back. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that I got injured during my 20 miler because I was trying so hard to keep the pace slower that my gait got all messed up and I ended up stressing myself in a way I hadn't before. But, anyway, I sought the advice of the experts on Runners World Online in the Marathon Race Training forum, and at least one person suggested that perhaps it's not that big of a deal that my long runs end up very close to or a bit faster than marathon pace. He (or she, I can't remember now) said that as a newer runner, it makes a bit of sense that my runs would be in that pace range, since there isn't going to be a huge difference right now between my marathon pace and my regular easy pace, since I'm still not really "racing" a marathon as much as just surviving it. That made a lot of sense to me and it comforts me a bit to think that being a bit faster than I should be doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to crash and burn during this marathon, which is exactly one month from today. I'm going to do my last long run, 20 miles, on Sunday, and then I'm going to take a long taper and hopefully kill this thing on May 15.

Marathon countdown and injury conquered (hopefully)

2011-04-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I've been a bad blogger, once again. Big surprise there. I get on the wagon, I fall off. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The good news is that I've been plugging away with the training program, dutifully putting in my time and doing well. The bad news is that I tweaked my knee during my 20 miler 3 weeks ago and have had to take it a bit easier than I had been.

The bad part of being injured is obviously that you're injured. There's anxiety, there's uncertainty, and if you're me, there's full on panic and a lot of melodramatic "Why, god, why?" and some tears. I had to miss the Just a Short Run half marathon that I was planning, which should have been an easy PR for me. I sat in the kitchen crying on the morning of the race and my 5 year old, in a fit of sympathy that's utterly uncharacteristic of him, put his arms around me, gave me a kiss, and said, "Mommy, you look crestfallen." Crestfallen, indeed (and, props to public school, that's good vocab for a kindergartener!).

The upside of an injury is that I get to visit my sports medicine doctor, who I shall henceforth refer to as Dr. Hottie. Dr. Hottie is not only a fab sports medicine doc, but, as the pseudonym implies, he's hot. HOT. Not as hot as my husband, obviously, but still, if you're going to wait for over an hour after your appointment time to spend a few minutes in a cold office in your shorts, it might as be with someone attractive. Dr. Hottie manhandled my knee, made me bend and stretch and flex and all that, and then assured me it was probably just overuse and made a followup for me in two weeks. So I rested, I varied my route (I had been running in the same direction on a canted road, which is all kinds of dumb. Bad runner! Bad!), dutifully did the PT exercises he'd given me, and things looked very good at my follow up. Apparently my IT band is *extremely* tight, according to Dr. Hottie (interestingly, it was NOT my IT band that hurt, but good to know), but if I'm smart about things, it should all be fine.

And in the spirit of that, my training is now back on track. I came back with a 12 miler, then a 16 miler last week, and this week I'm supposed to do 20, and we'll see how that goes. Worse comes to worse, I can always switch to the half marathon at the expo, but I'm confidant that things will go well, and I'll at least be able to finish.

Gear review Thursday!

2011-02-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

This week for the gear review, I thought I'd venture into a world I'd previously scoffed at - running skirts. I'm not sure why I never got into the whole skirt thing before, maybe because when I first started running it was couched in some kind of modesty terms, and I'm not someone who felt immodest in shorts or tights, so why did I need a skirt? I did finally get a skirt when I ran the Skirt Chaser 5k, sponsored by Skirt Sports, but I was much less than impressed. I got the skirt with my registration, and as far as I can tell, it's one of these Kick Start skirts, which, cute as it is, fit really oddly. I had to exchange my size medium for a small on race day, and given that I probably weighed about 10lbs more than I do now, there's no way that skirt fits me. I found the shorts didn't stay put, the waist was odd, it was just not a good fit for me. So I swore off skirts.

However, I am in need of some warm weather bottoms, since I dropped a bit more weight and the stuff that fit me last summer isn't fitting quite as well right now (liner creep, ick), so when lululemon uploaded some SUPER cute running skirts last week, I bit the bullet and ordered two. So this week I'm going to give you a comprehensive review of the Run: Pace Setter skirt. Unfortunately, these sold out wicked fast from the website, but if you live near a lululemon store, you could probably still find one there. They're pretty similar to the Run: Speed skirt, which also sold out wicked fast online, but I believe the rise is higher, and there are two tiers of ruffles in the back, rather than one. With a warm 45 degree morning, I set out to do 5 miles of speedwork in my new snazzy skirt, and see how it performed. To get a sense of sizing, I'm 5'7" and 135lbs. I take a size 2 pants in most places, and I ordered this in a 4 from lululemon. I would say this fits true to size as related to other lululemon items.

First off, there is no denying how freaking adorable this skirt is. I felt CUTE when I put it on, and while obviously looking cute isn't necessary in order to run, it definitely helps when you're tired and getting up in the early AM to head out there.

As you can see, it's a regular A line skirt in the front, but it's got two tiers of ruffles in the back. This means you've got a nice full range of motion and you don't need to have any vents on the sides or anything. I didn't find this rode up in the front at all during my run. It's got a nice wide waistband, too, which helps to eliminate any muffin top that might potentially be an issue. It also stayed put well and I didn't have to hitch it up at all. There IS a drawstring if you find yourself between sizes and want to go with the larger one, but the drawstring on the black skirt is hard to undo when it's wet and sweaty (I've learned from experience from other items), so I'd try to avoid using it, or cut it to make it easier to tie and untie - it's a continuous drawstring the way it comes.

You can see that it's also a bit longer in the back than in the front. That's good because this baby is SHORT. From middle top of the waistband to the hem in front, it measures 11.25", and 12.25" long in the back, again from middle top of the waistband to the hem. I didn't get a great picture of where they hit me, but I would say they're kind of a medium rise, sitting right above the hip bones, but still below the belly button. If you are not a fan of short skirts or shorts, this might not be the skirt for you. I kind of can't picture doing a lot of running around town in this one, but it would probably be fine, since short shorts are pretty acceptable nowadays.

As for what's underneath, you can see that there are pretty short shorts underneath (3.25" from the middle seam to the hem, so in practice they're probably closer to 2.75" when you have them on). Lululemon doesn't call them compression shorts, which is good because they're really not. I actually think I'd like them a bit better if they WERE compression shorts, but they get the job done. They've got some sticky plasticky rubber stuff along the hem to keep them in place, and I'll admit, I was pretty skeptical that it would work to keep them in place. They seemed to him me in a really odd place, right where my thighs are widest, but they didn't really bother me at all when I ran in them. If your thighs touch when you run, you might want to take a few laps around the store (at a real jog, not just a bouncing up and down motion) to see if they're going to make you chafe. A little Body Glide, and perhaps hitching the shorts up or down might help. I found they pretty much stayed put, and like I said, I was pleasantly surprised.

For a little skirt, there are actually a fair number of pockets. Lululemon has been putting two front pockets and one zippered back pocket on their Run: Speed shorts and Run: Energy shorts, and they've done the same here. The front pockets are at the top of the waistband, between the layers of fabric, and though they're not zippered or secured shut, they're fairly large and I've never had a key bounce out of them or anything. They're a nice size for a Gu or something similar, and I've even tucked my iPod Nano into one in a pinch. The back zippered pocket is actually the perfect size for my iPod Nano (I've got one of the longer skinny ones, third generation, maybe?), but since the top I had on had a nice big zippered pocket in the back, I put my keys in the zippered pocket on the shorts today.

Overall, I was pretty tickled with this skirt and definitely think this was a good purchase. If the weather holds up, I'm considering wearing one for the 15 mile race I've got coming up next weekend. I *did* find that there were a few fit differences between the two skirts that I got - one in black, one in lilac snow. The lilac one seemed a bit higher in the rise, the fabric stiffer, and the shorts stretchier. Overall I like the fit of the black one better, but that's pretty typical for Lululemon - the black fabric they use for the Run: Speed shorts, etc, is pretty much perfect, the fabric they use for the colored and patterned ones, a bit less so.

New feature! Gear Review Thursday

2011-02-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to start doing gear reviews for a while. I run a fair amount, mostly outside and in a variety of weather conditions, and I definitely have opinions, so why not, right? So this is the first in what will hopefully be a series of gear reviews based on my own experience with different running-related products. If you've got something you'd like to see reviewed, let me know in the comments and I'll see if it's doable.

So first up in our series, Injinji Performance Series - Mini Crew Rainbow (CoolMax EcoMade). Yup, that's right, we're tackling socks. When I made my first trip to the running store with the hubby, he insisted that I pony up what I considered to be mega bucks for some fancy-schmancy running socks. Newbie me thought this was stupid, but after many many miles run, he was absolutely right. Socks are something you don't want to skimp on, just as you want to make sure you have the best shoes for your own particular feet. When you figure that good socks will last you LONGER than your running shoes, and are all that's standing between you and the mother of all blisters, it's sort of a no-brainer that decent socks are worth the money. At $14, the Mini Crew Rainbow socks are consistent with what I'd expect to pay for running socks. I've been reading about Injinji for quite a while, usually with an "OMG, I would *never* wear those!" kind of reaction. Because, if you haven't looked at the link, these are toe socks. TOE SOCKS. My only experience with toe socks has been receiving them as a gag gift, but after I read a couple of articles extolling the benefits of toe socks for blister prevention, I decided to take the plunge and get myself a pair. I had a couple of bouts of blisters this summer that were so bad I'd do just about anything to avoid the again. I bought these socks from REI and the size small is the right size for my size 8-8.5 feet (I wear a size 9 running shoe, in the interest of full disclosure).

Could they be more adorable? When I tried them on last night, my children proclaimed them "weird" and the hubby said he couldn't believe I was going to try toe socks, and I'll admit, they felt a little weird to begin with, but I got used to them. I decided to give them a try on my 4 mile tempo run this morning. It was cold this morning, air temp of 5 degrees and a windchill of -4, and given that my toes were frozen, which is not a problem I usually have, I'm going to say that these are not great socks for cold temps. Think of it like this - mittens keep your fingers warmer than gloves because your fingers can huddle together for warmth, rather than being kept separated in their own separate casings. Same goes for socks. I think these are probably fabulous for summer running, or at least above freezing temps, but I won't be going to them again for these super cold mornings. I'll revisit these for another review once the weather warms up and see how they do outside of sub-arctic temps (ok, it's not really sub-arctic, but it's still a bit nippy out there!). I didn't notice the separate toes once I got going, however, and they really did fit pretty well, despite being sized for men. I'm not sure how well these would fit someone with significantly smaller feet or shorter toes, however. I also did find the places where the colors joined to be noticeable when I first started running, so someone with more sensitive feet might be bothered by that. Again, I didn't notice it once I really got moving, though.

So, rounding up:

Pros:

Good sizing (size small fit my size 8-8.5 feet well)

Comfy once I got going

Super cute (they come in other colors, too!)

Decent price point

Cons:

Not good for cold weather

Joins where colors change might be annoying for some

Sizing might not work for those with shorter toes/smaller feet

Overall, I'd say they're worth a shot, though ideally it might be nice to be able to try them on first (just don't let how weird they feel deter you - you get used to them!).

2011-02-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

The gym may be packed, but I've noticed fewer and fewer runners out there braving the cold. And it really hasn't been THAT cold (though it's supposed to be freaking frigid tomorrow morning - we'll see if I wuss out and go to the gym or if I tough it out in the single digits). I think it's the inevitable post-New Year's resolution breaking, because now I'm back to just me and the old guys who walk every morning, with the occasional sprinter blowing past me. I didn't see anyone else out running when I did my 10 miles on Monday morning, and only a couple of the guys I usually see out walking. Could have been that everyone was at home still crying into their pillow over the Steeler's loss in the Super Bowl. Whatever it was, it's sometimes nice to have that much time *alone*. A couple of years ago a friend gave me a hat that said "Marathon Mama: 26.2 miles of peace and quiet", and sometimes I think that that's a big reason that I run. I get time alone when I can listen to whatever I want without one of my kids telling me they don't like it, or my husband turning it off as soon as I leave the room. And it's time when I don't have to communicate with anyone beyond a "good morning" or a nod and wave as I go past. That's not to say that I don't enjoy running with someone else on occasion - I've very much enjoyed when I've gotten to run with Speedy, and I enjoyed taking a couple of laps a few weeks back with a guy who was training for the Boston Marathon. But overall, it's nice to just get to be quiet and to hear myself think. Or not think. There's something wonderful about not having to think about anything other than putting one foot in front of the other.

Another long run done, and my highest mileage week to date!

2011-02-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

Like the good girl that I am, I got up before dawn this morning to get my 14 mile long run done. We had too much other stuff going on during the day to do it later, and it's so nice to have Sunday free as a full rest day. I got up to the reservoir just as it was starting to get light, and good thing, too, since ALL the streetlights were out on one side. It was a bit disconcerting, but interesting to see just how much natural light there was around 6:30am. I think the snow helped. The run itself was uneventful, and only noteworthy because it was so pleasant. As usual, the first three miles were pretty slow - between 10:55 and 10:40 - and after that the pace just kind of took off. I spent at least 3-6 miles in the 10:35 range, and the last 3 miles, at least, were sub-10 minute miles for the most part. I have no idea what this pattern means, but it seems to repeat with pretty much every long run. Today's pace was only 1 second per mile off of last week's at 10:29. Really, that's still a little fast according to the McMillan pace calculator, but it makes the 10:20 pace of the 4:30 full marathon group seem that much more doable. Yes, I obviously know that there's a big difference between 14 miles and 26.2, and trust me, given how my last marathon went down, I know that for me, it's kind of up in the air what's going to happen after mile 15. At the very least, I think I can pull out a decent pace for the 15 mile race I've got towards the end of the month. I might try doing it at 4:20 marathon pace and see how that goes down. If it's pretty easy, then I'll know that the 9:56 pace that a 4:20 marathon requires might be doable. If it's wicked hard, then I'll know that a 4:20 finish isn't going to happen this time.

Today's run brings my weekly mileage total to 36.4 miles, my highest mileage week to date. From now on out, every week that my mileage increases will be a new high. Haakan's plan has me topping out at 50 mpw and doing not one, but TWO 22 mile runs. One of those might get dropped if I get sick, or if the 20 milers are particularly horrendous, but we'll see. I've been lucky so far in terms of illness, maybe my luck will hold.

I was disturbed this morning to find that my Garmin was apparently dead, even though it was fine last night as I was downloading all my runs and clearing it's full memory. I stole Haakan's for my run, since I wasn't going to do 14 miles without anything to help me with my pace (yes, I rely too much on it, I'm sure there's something deep and existential in there), but I spend a lot of my run thinking about what I would do if I had to replace it, if I'd get something different instead or just try to get it fixed, etc. Luckily, a friend online advised me to do a "hard reset" on it, and that worked! So if your Garmin ever locks up or won't turn on, try a hard reset (and if you Google that, you'll find out there are a couple of ways to do that, and a "soft reset", too).

I'm thinking of doing some fit reviews of the running gear that I use all the time, is that anything that those who read this blog would be interested in seeing? Let me know in the comments and I'll start doing a review with pictures maybe once a week.

Warm 10 miles and the never-ending pacing issues

2011-02-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to do a temp run this morning, but I hate tempo runs and it was cold, so like a loser I opted to stay in bed. I'll hope on the dreadmill after the hubby gets home this evening and maybe find a fun rerun on the DVR to watch while I try to burn up the track with my wicked tempo pace. But I *did* get out to run 10 miles yesterday morning and it was absolutely gorgeous. I really wasn't feeling it much when I got up, but it was like 40 degrees, and that kind of warmth in February is just too good to pass up. With most of the rest of the country in the grips of the storm of the century, I felt a little guilty about the unexpected warm weather, but since we were up to our armpits in snow about this time last year, I didn't feel *that* bad.

The first few miles felt pretty slow to me, they were probably around 10:40 or so, but right about mile 3 I hooked up with a new running friend, we'll call her Speedy (since I don't know if she wants her identity disclosed in my blog), and did a lap or two with her. She had a friend with her who turned around as I came up behind them, nudged Speedy, and said "Hey, it's your skinny friend with the cute clothes!" The cute clothes comment I can get behind, as I've dropped some bucks at Lululemon on my running attire (hey, if I'm going to get up at 5am to run, I might as well look cute doing it, right?), but somehow I still can't picture myself as the skinny girl. Too many years of being the fat girl, I guess. I mean, I weigh 5lbs less than I did when I got pregnant with Charlie, and I wasn't exactly a large girl at the time, since that was after I'd done the big weight loss, but it's still hard to think of myself as the "skinny girl." So I laughed and told them they'd made my day, and Speedy went on to tell me that a guy she runs with (he won't get a nom d'plume unless he appears in the blog a few times) had also commented to her that I keep a "great pace". I immediately wondered what kind of crack he was smoking, since my blistering 10 to 10:30 pace is pretty unimpressive by many standards, but it still made me glow a little bit to get a compliment from someone who I know runs much faster than me. We averaged between 9 and 9:30 for the laps I did with Speedy and her friend, and that little burst of speed was enough to get my speed up for the rest of my run, which I finished with an average of 10:03.

So this leaves me with a few questions about pacing. I am running WAY too fast, according to the McMillan pace calculator, but I am consistently running at sub-10:30, and feeling good while doing it. My last long run averaged about 10:24 (I think), which is well below what I should be averaging for a long run. So am I running too fast, or have I gotten faster? My next race is a 15 miler at the end of the month and I was going to try for an average pace of 10:20, but now Haakan is thinking that might be too slow and maybe I should go for something faster. I'm oddly terrified by the idea of doing it faster, but I'm thinking around 10:00 will be my marathon pace, so why should that same pace scare me when it comes to a shorter distance? Obviously I still have some issues. I'm feeling pulled between the 4:20 and 4:30 pace groups, too, since I'm not sure what would be best. I think I could probably finish somewhere between the two, but I guess I'll have to wait until I've got at least this 15 mile race out of the way to think about where I should be. I've got a half marathon at the end of March, too, which I think will be particularly illuminating in terms of pacing. I don't think I'll hit sub-2 hours, but I can hopefully get closer than I have been in the past!

I heart Florence + the Machine

2011-02-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

There are those who would say that running with music is a crutch Haakan and those who swear by it. I'm somewhere in between, I've done runs with tunes and runs without. I did all my last marathon training with audiobooks, which was actually kind of fun. But this morning, as it was pouring down rain and was potentially going to be icy, I ended up on the treadmill and I found that the tunes were key to keeping me going for 8 incredibly dull miles. Haakan was a trooper and got the kids all ready to go about their various routines while I ran at home, and though we have a TV in the bedroom positioned right in front of the treadmill, I didn't use it this time since I didn't know which kids were going to come in and want to sit on the bed and talk endlessly to me while I ran (this do that a lot). So I had NPR on for the first half of my run, and after hearing about riots in Egypt, healthcare policy in the US, and the condition of the local roads (not as bad as they'd thought they'd be, for once), I felt like I needed to change things up a bit, so into my new music I went.

I've thanked Florence + the Machine in the title of this post, but really, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Cee Lo Green, Gnarles Barkley (who is mostly Cee Lo Green), and Lady GaGa all share some of the credit here. I've got to thank my friend Carrie for the recommendation of Florence + the Machine, what a great group. I'm really enjoying the whole CD, but obviously "The Dog Days are Over" is a fabulous running song. I also REALLY liked the visual of the video, with everyone popping into little puffs of confetti at the end. I heard this at the very end of my run and I kept thinking about those little pops, like the 10ths of miles popping off as I finished them. So, for your viewing pleasure:

The best laid plans

2011-01-26T12:03:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, the hubby is still out of town (he'll be back on Saturday, and not a moment too soon!) and it's been really challenging to get time to run while he's been away. I didn't realize just how convenient that getting up at 5am to run routine really was. The first issue is that my gym's daycare options SUCK (Urban Active Pittsburgh, I'm talking to you!). They are closed from 2-4pm Monday through Thursday and 12-4pm on Friday. This is ridiculous because that's the time of day I could actually really use the gym and make the most of my time! If they were open during that time, I could pick Elliot up from preschool at 1pm, drop him and Charlie at the childcare (where Charlie would nap and Elliot would play with the cars) and do my 8 miles, or whatever, get showered, and have plenty of time to get Oliver from school at 3:50. That time between Elliot's pickup and Oliver's is absolutely dead time because of Charlie's nap, it would be the perfect time during the day to run. But can I? Nope. Because my gym's daycare hours suck.

In an effort to overcome this difficulty, I decided on Monday that we'd go to the gym at 4pm after picking Oliver up from school and I'd do my 8 miles on the treadmill, then we'd either grab dinner out or whip something up quickly at home. I figured we'd be home around 6pm. Well, it too longer than I thought to get us checked in and everything (it should be a newsflash to no one that 4pm is a busy time at the gym, and I should have anticipated this), I misplaced my phone in the changing room and had to track it down, and the 4 miles into my 8 miler I got a call from the childcare that Charlie was freaking out, so I cut it short, showered and went down to get him. Since it was so late in the day, I had packed a bag of snacks for the kiddos, which the childcare staff totally forgot I brought, so my children were absolutely losing it because they were hungry, poor things. So I took everyone home, all three of them crying, Oliver in low blood sugar induced hysteria, and realized that there really was no part of that plan that had been a good idea. So lesson learned, 4pm at the gym is not a good time for a whole bunch of reasons.

I was going to try to go this morning, since the older two kiddos would be at school, but then I ran into problem number two - my kids keep getting sick. Oliver said his belly hurt, so I agreed to let him stay home since he said it hurt "so bad" and was crying and upset, the whole nine yards. Now he *IS* a pretty sensitive soul and prone to overreaction, so I made a rookie mistake and let him stay home even though he really didn't seem that sick (I think he just had some gas). I didn't want to drop him at the childcare if he was sick (obviously), but I did make him come to Target with me to get some new shoes for Charlie, where he proceeded to *skip* through the aisles and pitch a hissy fit in the Lego aisle when I wouldn't buy him the 12 different things he asked for. At that point I decided he was probably fine, so I signed him into school late. Yup, I'm *that* mom. But I'd already missed my chance to run since the stupid childcare closes so early, so today is a wash, too. This means either I'll have to talk my mom into hanging out at my house after I put the kids to bed so that I can go to the gym and do my hamster on a wheel routine, or I'll have to skip pilates tomorrow so that I can run instead. And that'll only work if everyone stays healthy! Let's not forget that I've got my old annoying cold that I'm fighting, but since mom's don't get to be sick, I'm choosing to ignore it for now.

That's a whole lot about my kids and not a whole lot about running, which seems pretty appropriate given how the week has been shaking out.

Still plowing away

2011-01-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

My 14 miler on Saturday went surprisingly well, some belly upset notwithstanding. I'm not sure what causes the upset belly, but I choose my routes for the facilities, so it all works out. This was my longest run in almost 2 years and though the pace was a pretty slow 10:50ish, I got it done. I think the poor conditions contributed to the slow pace - it was wicked slippery out there! My Yak Trax did not live up to my expectations and snapped after just 5 or 6 uses, so I was out there sans friction, and the icy snowy yuck that got left up around the reservoir was just enough to slow me down. I did the last 2 miles on the road and they were MUCH easier, even with the hills.

Haakan's put in some projected paces and finish times for the races I have coming up, and for once I actually don't think he's overestimated my abilities. I'm shooting for a 2:35 finish in the Spring Thaw 15 miler at the end of February, and I think that's pretty doable, if I get the early pacing right. That puts me at a 10:20 pace, and after I get a couple of 16 milers under my belt, that really shouldn't be pushing it all that much. I'm shooting for a 4:30 finish in the marathon in May, which would be awesome. It would please me to no end to actually come in just under 4:30, like 4:29:59. I mean, less than that would be great, but I'd be happy with *just* under.

Haakan's out of town so I'm stuck on the treadmill, which I absolutely loathe. It was actually beautiful outside today, over 40 degrees, and I would have taken the younger kiddos out in the jogging stroller, but it was still pretty icy, so the treadmill it was. I'm sort of perplexed about why it's so much easier to keep my pace up outside as opposed to on the treadmill. I'm thinking it's because it's just so. damn. boring. Seriously, it's like being a hamster on a wheel. I need some better strategies for dealing with it because I'm stuck on the dreadmill for another week or so. Yes, the fancy schmancy gym does have TV's on the treadmills, but for some reason the volume is so low on the headphones, I can barely hear what's being said. This does actually provide some distraction, but it's totally annoying, and I can't ever get the closed captioning to work.

Some numbers to wrap up 2010

2011-01-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

2010 was a good year. And for those of you who love numbers and stats, here are a few to review the year that was.

803 miles run total

13 races completed (8 5k's, 3 10k's, and 1 half marathon)

3 5k PR's set

3 slowest records sent (slowest 5k, slowest 10k, slowest half marathon)

2 pairs of running shoes gone through

I love the symmetry of having had so many extreme highs and extreme lows at the same time this year. Still I'm hoping that moderation is more the order of the day for the new year, all those highs and lows get exhausting!

So far we're off to a good start. I did my first long run of the year yesterday and it went pretty well. I was not at all pleased to head out for 12 miles in the pouring rain, on what I consider to be not nearly enough sleep, but it really wasn't unpleasant, other than my hands being absolutely frozen by the time I got home. I haven't figured out a good way to keep the hands warm when it's raining, do they make rain-proof gloves or mittens? I kept a rather zippy pace of 10:21, and felt pretty good still at the end. Next week I up my mileage to 33 miles, so I do a 10 mile, a 7 mile, a 4 mile tempo run, and a 12 mile long run. I think this will be the highest weekly mileage I've ever run, since training for my previous marathon topped out around 31 miles (which explains a whole lot about how that race went down). Then the next week I get to up my long run to 14 miles, which is about where the wheels came off of my marathon training over the summer. I'm both looking forward to this mini milestone and kind of afraid of it.

Things Elliot says while we're out running

2010-11-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

I took my two favorite little running partners out for 4 miles today to take advantage of the beautiful weather. I just love taking Elliot running because he never stops talking. He shouts encouraging things like "go mommy!" and "you run fast, mommy!" and lately he's been in the "why?" phase that all 3 year olds go through. Here's a little snapshot of some of our conversation today.

"Mommy, why you run?"
Because I like to.
"Why that girl not run?"
Because some people walk and some people run.
"Why people walk and run here today?"
Because it's a beautiful day out and it's good to be active.
"Why it beautiful day?"
Because the sun's out and it's warm.
"We go playground now?"
We're going to do 4 laps. Are you going to count them?
"I count. One, two, three..." About 10 seconds later. "We all done now? We go playground now?"
(At this point I give Elliot some crackers which keeps him quiet for a few minutes.)
"Mommy, why you not run faster?"
I don't need to run faster. But it's probably more fun to run with daddy because he runs faster.
"Daddy run fast, mommy run fast! Mommy run FASTER! GO MOMMY!"
(More crackers.)
"Mommy, you my mom. I "mwa!" you."
Awww, I love you, too, honey!
"Mommy, why you my mommy?"
Why do you think? (We've addressed this topic many times before.)
"Because I came out your belly?"
(Pause)
"Mommy? Why I come out your belly? There fun games in your belly?"

I seriously love this kid.

2010-11-11T05:36:00.000-08:00

I can't think up a pithy (or even mildly clever) title since there's not much going on. I've been fighting a bit of a cold with a really annoying cough, and I just feel kind of gross today (the fast food last night probably didn't help), but the running is going fine. Haakan is out of town (in a tropical local for something work related - no sympathy from me) so I took the younger two out in the jogging stroller and managed to get in 6 miles and then went straight to pick Oliver up at school. Of course, they both fell asleep in the stroller and I paid the price with Elliot being up until 10pm, but it was still a pretty good run, and pretty zippy for having the stroller with me. I may try to take them out tomorrow to get in another 4 miles, which will just leave me with my long run to do on Saturday or Sunday, since Haakan will be back (woohoo!).

I've upped my mileage to 28 miles a week, which still isn't huge in the grand scheme of how much some people run, but I'm doing ok with it and that's the point of upping the mileage slowly. I'm thinking that after the marathons are done (Pittsburgh in May, Columbus in October) that I may just stick at 30 miles per week as a base for a while. I'm surprised how much I'm liking that two of my runs a week are a decent distance - two 9 mile runs a week right now, and one of those counts as my long run - and I'm finding them going better than the shorter ones somehow, maybe because I have time to ease into things and get warmed up. I'm doing the Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving and I'm wondering if I could be in line for another PR. I'm also doing the Trot for Tots 10k the following weekend and Haakan has tried to prepare me for that not being the easiest of races since there always seems to be in wind in the face on the way back, as well as a slight uphill. My 5k times do seem to indicate that I might be due for a 10k PR, which would really knock my socks off. To even get close to the 55:14 that I did in the Great Race in 2008 would be a huge ego booster. That finish time is so far outside what I had been doing, I'm not sure how I even did it. It's my longest standing PR, and I think the time is right for it to go down.

In gear news, I've resurrected my Saucony ProGrid Rides that I bought over the summer, since my Nike Moto 7's are approaching the top of their mileage, and they seem to be doing ok. I'm pretty sure I'd be happier in at least a half size larger, but they're not causing me any major problems. I am having some blistering between the toes, so I'm thinking of trying out a pair of Injinji toe socks. I mean, the rainbow alone kind of enchants me, but I like the blister reduction, too, and the price is in line with what I've paid for tech socks in the past. I'm also debating another running pullover for cold weather running outside, and waiting for Lululemon's Run:Dash pullover to be released. I have two of the Inspire pullovers and they've been working great (I'll need another layer for outdoor running once it gets colder, but they're ok for the high 20s/low 30s that I've been running in in the early AM), but I wouldn't mind having a third top, for the weeks that I do my runs outside, as opposed to on the treadmill at the gym. To say that I am a little addicted to the Lululemon gear would be an understatement. The stuff performs great, but what really has me sold is that the shoulders are roomy and the arms are nice and long, which has been an issue for me with my linebacker shoulders and long monkey arms. My eyes are bigger than my pocketbook and I need to start deciding what I *need* as opposed to what I just *want*, but hopefully there will be some new pretties uploaded to the website or in my local showroom today, so I can at least try a few things out. Debating a new pair of running tights, too, but I'll have to wait and see on that one. It might get so cold that I'm pushed inside for most of the winter, and then all my pretty winter stuff will be languishing.

Gen runs like hell!

2010-11-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

The Freaky 5k I did on Saturday had "Run for your life!" as its tagline, but a friend tells me that it used to be "Run like hell!" and have zombies on the tshirt. Though I'd love a tshirt that says "run like hell!" on the front, I have a bit of an issue with zombies, so I'm happy with the little running skeletons on the swag shirt I got. The Freaky 5k is part of the Pittsburgh Marathon series, apparently, and Haakan had it on my training plan, so I thought what the hell. The fun part is that it was a costume 5k, and Haakan and I both had the bright idea that I should go as Wonder Woman, so after I was unable to find a Wonder Woman costume that actually fit me properly, I went low rent and wore a red top, bright blue crops, a red cape, and pinned the Wonder Woman symbol to my chest (printed out about 2 minutes before I left the house, since, you know, I like to plan ahead and all that).

The race was in North Park and Google maps had me going with weirdest way, but it worked and I managed to find the race in fairly decent time. I had a little mini panic attack as I drove through the park because I remember the route from the Just a Short Run that I did in March of 2009 and really wasn't feeling a repeat of the 5k portion, which went up a wicked hill, but it was a pretty flat course. The costumes were fabulous! I saw a Sarah Palin, complete with bump hairdo and American flag, a guy doing a "beer run" with a case of beer and a two headed baby in a Baby Bjorn, and a bunch of other super heros, among others. A few people looked like they were there to run seriously, but the guys who came in first and second were dressed like Mr Incredible and a caveman in a spotted loin cloth, so who says you can't run fast in a costume!

The race started right on time, and boy was it cold! I was in a tank top and my hands were numb before we even started (gloves would be a good idea for next year), but I found myself near the front pretty quickly. It was an out and back at the beginning of the course, and it became clear pretty early that a lot of people were just going to walk it. Which was nice for me because it meant my stats would be pretty good. Maybe a half mile in I looked down at the Garmin and realized that I was doing around an 8 minute mile, which is ridiculous and unsustainable for me, but I had a hard time pulling it back and I took a walk break when I got to the water station around the 1 mile mark. I went back out, and again, the pace was too quick and I took a break again right around the 2 mile mark. At that point I could see the turn where we'd head back to the skating rink where the finish line was, so I thought I might as well finish strong. I also saw another Wonder Woman and I really wanted to pass her. With a quarter mile left to go I checked my Garmin and found that I was well under where I thought I'd be and that amazingly I might have a chance to PR. I crossed the finish line with Batgirl and another super hero and set a new PR of 26:39, which was good enough for 12th in my age group. I thought I might place a little higher, but there were some speedy chicks in there!

I got Batgirl and the Wonder Woman I passed to snap a picture of me before I left. I think I'll run all of my races with a cape from now on, since it obviously is to blame for my speed and pacing issues!

Holding steady

2010-10-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

I've had a few race-free weekends now, which feels kind of weird, but the running overall has been going quite well. It's like Charlie hit 5.5 to 6 months and something just clicked with my physically and suddenly, I was on my way back. As time goes on I just feel like I'm getting stronger and stronger, and it's cool to have gone through a pregnancy and birth and be back to where I was, fitness wise. I'm even a few pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight, and I've really never felt better.

I've been getting up at 5am to run 3 or 4 mornings a week, and surprisingly it's been going really well. The kids are so unpredictable, it's great to get the run out of the way and not have to worry that someone's going to not want to run with me, or scream bloody murder the whole time (that would be Charlie), or that it's going to be pouring down rain or something. Poor Charlie had croup last week and I forewent the 5am run in favor of sleep, since we'd been up with him all night, and I did manage to get in 6.5 miles with him asleep in the jogging stroller during the day. Poor kid was so tired, and the cooler air is supposed to be good for croup, so it was win win. I was surprised that my pace with the jogger was about the same as my pace without it. I've been averaging between 10:19 and 10:30 for my easy runs, which is actually a big speedier than they should be according to the McMillan Pace Calculator, but I have a hard time slowing down. It's always been a problem for me, and the cooler weather just makes it easier for me to run faster.

I did my 3 mile tempo run yesterday at 9:00 pace, and I'm kind of wondering if I might be able to set a new 5k PR at the Freaky 5k next Saturday. I think whether or not I PR is going to depend on a lot of factors, not least of which is whether or not I run it in costume. Haakan and I both had the brilliant idea that I should run it dressed as Wonder Woman, but I have yet to find a costume the right size (this is where I could rant a little bit about vanity sizing, but I'll spare you since I normally don't care, it only bugs me when *my* size isn't in stock). Got any other brilliant ideas for a clever costume? I may have to try another costume store and brave the hoards of kids and teenagers this weekend, though my hopes aren't high. I'm thinking if I can find a Cat Woman mask, I can just wear my black running tights and black long sleeved top and call it a day, but believe it or not, I haven't seen Cat Woman at the stores! I've seen every other permutation of superhero gone slutty, but no Cat Woman.

Gen runs back to back 5k's and lives to tell the tale

2010-10-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

This is the first weekend in a while that I haven't had a race to do, so I thought I probably should write up a report of the 5k's I did last weekend. Yes, you read that right - I did TWO 5k's last weekend - Run Shadyside on Saturday and ZooZilla on Sunday.

I signed up for Run Shadyside in advance or I probably wouldn't have done it. We had a miserable night with Charlie, poor kid kept waking up all gassy and upset, and I was NOT a happy camper when 6:30am rolled around. It was cold that morning, too - probably around 40 degrees - and I was just not feeling it. I drove over there in a heavy fog that lifted *just* as I drove out of my neighborhood (the race came within 1.5 miles of my house, so yeah, I could have easily walked there, but like I said, it was cold!), and things began to look up when I was able to easily find a parking space. The nice thing about Run Shadyside, other than the relatively flat and fast course, is that it starts on Walnut Street, so I was able to duck into Starbucks and get a cup of coffee before the start. "Were you out running or something?" the barrista asked me. Ummm, no, I'm going to be doing a 5k with the other 800 people outside in the street! Seriously, they were a little clueless in there, especially since the place was full of people in running gear with race bibs on. I considered getting a doughnut and running the race John Belushi style (little chocolate doughnuts, anyone?), but thought better of it.

The race started basically on time and my goal was just to finally break 30 minutes. I've been trying all summer and it's just eluded me. Haakan thought I'd be able to do it easily, though I had my doubts. I set out to keep a reasonable pace for the first mile, but that mile came up fast and I ended up finishing it right around 9 minutes. And I felt good at the end of that first mile. "If this continues," I thought, "I'm going to break 30 easily." The second mile ~~marker~~ came up right at the corner of Center and Highland, and we ran back into that mist I'd driven out of earlier in the day. I still felt pretty good and now I was starting to get excited. I was potentially going to come in pretty well below 30, I just had to hold it together for another mile. And then I saw the 2 mile marker, about .25 miles away from where it should have been, and I began to get worried. I didn't want to make my final push only to find that the finish line was a quarter mile farther away than I thought it was going to be. But they put the finish line in the right place, thank goodness, and amazingly, I tied my PR of 27:54, which I set back in the Ikea 5k last year when I was 16 weeks pregnant. Had I been smart enough to check my watch on the final turn, I might have even surpassed the PR, but given that this was a pretty flat course and didn't have the wicked first mile downhill that the Ikea 5k did, I considered it a pretty significant victory. We went out for pancakes and there was much rejoicing. Horray!

Sunday morning I was supposed to do the ZooZilla 5k. If I haven't mentioned it before, this race strikes fear into my heart. It starts with a lap around the Pittsburgh Zoo parking lot (about .75 miles), then goes UP the gigantic hill that runs next to the zoo, up to the hairpin turn, down a little ways and then up the service ramp INTO the zoo itself. Once in the zoo, you run UP past the polar bears and aquarium, and then it's all downhill, past the bears, monkeys, elephants, lions, tigers, snow leopard, back on to the road at a service entrance, and back into the parking lot for the finish. I am NOT an uphill runner, which is rather unfortunate for someone living in Pittsburgh, but whatever. Haakan had placed very well in this race a couple of times (I think he said he was third in his age group last year - came home with a little gorilla for the kids, it was pretty cute) and thought I was making too much of the hills. Having done some speedwork on that hill, and having had to take a pit stop in the weeds to pee because I about wet my pants from the effort, I was a little leery of the race. But whatever, Haakan was my coach, he thought I should do it, so I dutifully drove down there (it was cold again!), signed up, and waited for the race to start.

I was amazed to discover that most of the people I spoke to had no idea what the course was like. There were some scared faces when I pointed to the road and said "Ummm, yeah, you run up THAT hill", which made me feel like I was at least a little bit prepared for it. The worst of the uphill was .58 miles from bottom to turn around, and if I could just hold it together through that, I knew I'd be ok. Haakan had said, "Maybe you'll PR!" as I left the house, and I laughed him off. Not in this race, I thought.

The first 3/4 mile around the parking lot was fine. I was keeping a good sub 9 minute mile pace and feeling good. My goal was to keep the uphill at around a 10 minute mile and hopefully come in under 30 again, and it was pretty cool to pass so many people on the way up. A lot of people had gone out way too fast and were paying the price on the hill. I'm glad that I'd run it before because it definitely didn't feel as bad as it did the first time I ran it, and Haakan was right, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I managed to run the whole thing and turn around at the hairpin, and when the downhill FINALLY came after the aquarium, I was beyond thrilled with myself. I felt like I wasn't going all that fast through the zoo, but I must have been. There was a girl ahead of me in a white hoodie who I kept wanting to pass, but she stayed right in front of me. I had the foresight to check my watch right as we made the final turn back into the parking lot and I saw that I was WAY under my PR. Holy cow, I had a chance at a PR in this race and it took a second for the shock of that to wear off. I dug down deep and pulled out the last bit of speed I had left and I floored it for the finish line. I finally overtook hoodie girl right before we crossed the finish line and set a new PR of 27:13 on what is probably the most challenging course I've ever run. I placed 11th in my age group, which is pretty good, though had I posted this time last year, I would have come in 4th, which about knocks my socks off. We had some really speedy people this year, though, but I'll take it!

So, summing up, last weekend I ran back to back 5k's tied then obliterated my 5k PR. Yes, I am very proud of myself!

Gen and Haakan run a GREAT Great Race

2010-10-04T18:15:00.000-07:00

I just love the Great Race 10k. Seriously. If the Ikea Half Marathon is my happy half, the Great Race is my happy 10k. Well, last year's Great Race, when I was 18 weeks pregnant and it was pouring down rain, was actually pretty miserable, but the year before that was AWESOME - I set a PR so far beyond what I've done in any other race that I swear, I must have run through a wormhole or something. Haakan also broke 40 minutes in this race last year, so I'd wager it's a favorite of his, too. Even those he's Mister Speedy Pants, he decided to run it this year with me. He did still get a super nifty elite number and seeded position at the start, but he stayed back with me and the hoi polloi, and probably had a better time (at least I hope so!).

It was a great day for a race - cool, sunny, not pouring down buckets of nasty rain like last year. It was just plain nice. We gave my neighbor Val a ride to the start, and it was lots of fun chatting with her while we waited for the race to begin. I saw a guy dressed up in a banana costume while I was waiting for the porta potties, which is always amusing to see. As usual, the races started late, and we didn't actually hear the gun. All of a sudden it just started moving, then slowed down to it's usual slow crawl to the start. We placed ourselves excellently and were right where we should have been (though it did take us 5 minutes to pass the start!). Haakan's usually way up in the front so this was the first year he got to hear "Shout!" like four or five times while we moved at a glacial pace towards the start line.

We took the first mile pretty slow, around 10:40is if I remember right (I actually forgot my Garmin so I had to rely on Haakan to know what pace we were going - I chose ignorance for most of the race). Right as we're heading down Forbes towards CMU a group from the air force catches up with us, complete with flag bearer and that fabulous chanting. It was like something out of a movie, and very cool. Once we stopped going downhill they passed us pretty quickly and we didn't see them again.

I didn't notice a whole lot else for the rest of the race. we kept it under 10:00 for the remainder, and I only really felt like we were pushing it at the end when Haakan said we had a good shot at breaking 1:01 (our goal going out was 1:02). I did pass a girl of maybe 7 years old on the big hill on the Blvd of the Allies and I remember thinking she was a trouper for doing so well. I think she was running with her dad. I'm really looking forward to being able to run with the boys, if they want to.

So in the end, we finished in 1:00:54 and I felt great. I really pushed it at the end, though man those last .2 miles were harsh! We got to see Val finishing up, too, which was cool, since I never see anyone I know at the finish line. And as always it was nice to have Haakan as my running partner. Perhaps the best part was coming in so far under our goal time. In retrospect we probably could have easily brought it in under an hour, but who knew at the time? The goal was to have a good race experience, and we definitely did. And it was even my second fastest 10k ever (which it still would have been, even if we'd pushed harder, since I don't think I would have beaten my 2008 Great Race time of 55:14).

Here's us, the happy couple, basking the glory of a fabulous race!

Gen and Haakan rock the half marathon

2010-09-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

Funny the things that change when you have children. I've commented many times that my 23 year old self would have been horrified that, for example, sleeping until 8am qualifies as "sleeping in" these days. What qualifies as a date, apparently, is Haakan and I getting up at the crack of dawn to run 13.1 miles, which I'm sure would be considered anything but a good time to many, but I have a soft spot for this particular half marathon. It's the Ikea Montour Trail Half Marathon, and it was the first half marathon I ever did, 2 years ago not too long after I started running. It's a really nice out and back course, the first 1.5 miles (more or less) is downhill, so you can build up a little cushion, the rest is fairly flat (though the subtle up hill from mile 6 to the mile 7 turn around is easily the longest feeling mile of the race), and it's on a trail with a good bit of shade. It doesn't hurt that the weather always seems to be fabulous for it, too. I bagged on it last year - I was 16 weeks pregnant and had a full on panic attack in the car just thinking about it, so I switched to the 5k and ended up with a PR - but I was determined to do it and do it well this year. Given my recent races, I knew going in that this was probably going to be my slowest half marathon, but with that in mind I wanted to just run it in a smart way, and set a reasonable goal.

We almost didn't make it to the race since my mom, who graciously agreed to wake up early and come watch the kids, was pretty late getting to our house, but it all worked out since we weren't ready to leave when we thought we would be, anyway. Everyone woke up right as we would have been waking out of the house, so we had to attend to their various needs. Barely making it to the race in time seems to be a theme with this particular race, but we got there about 10 minutes before the start, got our chips, and didn't have time to be worried or nervous. Though I'm sure Haakan wasn't all that nervous - he might not have done the distance in a while, but since he runs his training runs quite a bit faster than I run mine, I knew he'd be able to do it and be just fine. This is the man who did this same half marathon in 1:31 and change last year, so I was pretty sure he'd be able to keep up with my 10+ minutes per mile pace.

I have to say, the first 8 or 9 miles of the race were very pleasant. The weather was beautiful, our pace was well chosen, and I just plain felt good for that distance. The lack of a water stop from miles 6 to 8 was rather unfortunate, but we survived ok. Haakan turned to me at one point and said, "This is just so *nice*, you know?" and I had to agree, it's just really such a nice race. We saw the leaders come through right as we hit mile 6 (so they were two miles ahead of us at that point!) and I always love seeing the leaders. It must have given some of the runners around us a burst of inspiration because we got passed by a bunch of people and I remember thinking "where did *you* come from?", as I usually think when I get passed like that halfway through a race. The last three miles were kind of rough, which we were both expecting. I hadn't done more than 10 miles in quite a number of weeks, so I knew I was going to have to just gut it out for the last three. Haakan was very encouraging, kept chatting to me about different things to take my mind off of how tired I suddenly felt. I had to stop and walk after the last water stop because I managed to swallow a bunch of air and my stomach felt like it was going to burst. After I burped like 5 or 6 times (yeah, running is a sexy sport, let me tell you) I felt ok to keep going, and just sucked it up until the end. The last 2 miles were totally a mental game of me telling myself that as much as I wanted to just walk it in, I didn't need to and should just keep going. I had gone in with finishing under 2:30 as my first goal, going under 2:20 as a secondary goal, and going under 2:15 as my "all the stars align and I somehow pull out a faster pace than I probably will" goal. when we passed the mile 12 guy and he said we were at 2:07 and change, I knew we were going to make it in under 2:20, and the pressure was off for a sub 2:15 finish, since that just wasn't going to happen. I had nothing left in the tank for a last mile sprint by then, but if we just kept going, we'd make it easily under 2:20. I managed to pull out a final burst of speed to cross the finish like at 2:18:50, making it my slowest half marathon, but one of the best races I've run since Charlie was born. I came out exactly where I should be, performed exactly according to expectations, and I had nothing left by the end. I can truly say I ran the best race I could run for the shape that I'm in right now, and I had a good time doing it.

On a side note, I had some fun with my addiction to lululemon running gear and Haakan and I played "spot the lulu" for the first 8 miles of the race. I saw more than a few pairs of speed shorts, and one girl passed me in the savage green run: swiftly top that I've been kicking myself about missing out on ever since they sold out a few months ago. One of the lead women was in head to toe lulu, wearing the same shorts I was, just in the citron color (which I like better than what I've got, truthfully, but oh well). We also had some fun with the old railroad tunnel that we ran through around mile 3, joking that it would definitely be nice if it was *really* a time tunnel (if your kids watch "Dinosaur Train" you totally get that one), unless it took us back in time rather than forward, because that would obviously suck during a race. I'm sure the other runners around us thought we were crazy, but at least we were entertaining!

Here's us after our 13.1. This was actually about an hour later, I'm sure I looked more like a tired pile of goo immediately after the race than I do here, when I'd dried out a little.

Gen vs. the double jogger

2010-09-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

Today was my fabulous 5 year old's first day of kindergarten. Isn't he adorable? Kind of amazing to think that the next 12 years of his life are mapped out, at least where school is concerned.

Since I only had two kiddos for most of the day (can you believe he goes to kindergarten from 9:05am until 3:51pm? For kindergarten!) I decided to celebrate the gorgeous day and take baby Charlie, 6 months old today (awwww) out for a run. Elliot, my 3 year old, was all for it, and really, he's great to run with. He chatters happily, pretends to count my laps, says encouraging things like "Go mommy!", and narrates everything he sees, ie: "Look mommy! That girl running! That boy walk! He no run, he walk!" It's all said with a super cute lisp, and with great excitement. Charlie, unfortunately, has not yet found the jogging stroller love. Still, they were both good sports while I loaded them into the double jogger, waited patiently while I tracked down the bicycle pump and inflated the tires, and even smiled and giggled happily all the way up to the reservoir. Of course, once we passed those fabulous art deco statues at the entrance to the park, all hell broke loose. Charlie began with a bit of whining, but quickly escalated to a full on wail. I tried to calm him down, but then decided to just give it the old college try and see what happened. What he's done in the past is calmed down once he found his thumb, since I knew he was tired, so we gave it a shot.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. I hate being "that woman" with the screaming baby in the jogging stroller. Before I had children, I used to wonder who these people were who would run with a screaming child in the stroller. And now I know, they're moms and dads just like me, who are desperate to run on a beautiful day and have a good feeling that their child will, sooner rather than later, calm down and probably go to sleep. I stopped a few times around the upper loop to calm Charlie down, and got some amused comments from sympathetic passers by, but as soon as I'd put him back, he'd just start wailing again. So I ran to finish my lap and headed home, since running was the quickest way. Close to the entrance I checked on him again, stuck my finger in his mouth, and felt not one, but TWO sharp little teeth poking out on the bottom. Miserable mood explained! Poor child, teething sucks. I adjusted the seat and put him back in, and he was happy as a little clam for about two miles. I did one loop around the outer track, which is pretty hilly, and got a couple of "You go, girl!" comments, which are always nice, and even managed a full lap and a bit around the upper track before Charlie got restless again. I heard Elliot say, "I help mommy, I tickle baby!", which I think woke him up, so I just threw in the towel after that and headed for home. Amazingly, I managed to get 4 miles done, and fairly speedy for having the jogging stroller with me. I guess that screaming baby is pretty motivational!

Haakan and I have the Ikea Half Marathon this weekend, so I won't be attempting another jogging stroller run until next week, but hopefully it'll go better the next time. I had been planning my exercise thinking about how to run with just Charlie, but if Elliot's willing to come with me, too, that kind of puts a new spin on things. Haakan and I also checked out the new Urban Active fitness club, which is enormous! It seemed very sci fi with all the tv screens and such, especially after the teeny tiny gym I go to for pilates, but I wasn't impressed with their offerings for yoga and pilates, so I'll probably end up passing, or just getting a winter membership at BodyTech so that I can run on the treadmill and have someone else watch the kiddos. It seems kind of stupid, though, since we HAVE a treadmill, we just don't have a good place to put it, so I can't use it early in the morning, or while Charlie naps, because it wakes him up. Doh! It's like a logic puzzle trying to figure it all out!

Running = Sanity

2010-09-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

These are my two older children. I show you their smiling and shining faces because you need to see just how adorable they appear in order to understand what little hellions they are capable of turning into. It's back to school time, and since my oldest, Oliver, is starting kindergarten on Wednesday and my second, Elliot, is going back to preschool on Tuesday, a trip to the shoe store was in order. If you have children, you understand that there are few excursions that inspire as much dread as a trip to the shoe store. Taking them one at a time would have been wiser, but really, I despise shoe shopping with my children so much, I'd rather just do it quick and dirty style and be done with it. So the four of us - the baby, Charlie, had to come, too, though thank goodness he didn't need shoes - went to the shoe store and I was on a mission to search and conquer. And my children were horrible. HORRIBLE. I take some small comfort that every parent who came in there with more than one child was having the same experience as I was, but still, it sucked all the way around. They ran around, they wrestled with each other and poked each other with shrieks of "He's touching me!" and "Get your foot off my head!" while I tried to find my 5 year old's size, as well as fine the ONE pair of shoes in the whole store that I could even get on to my 3 year old's feet (poor kid has a really high instep AND wide feet - not a good combo for quick trips). They almost knocked over a display of sale shoes and the behaved so badly, I threatened to not take them to the playground afterwards (though I did, because it would have been a punishment for *me* to not let them burn off some of that energy), and spent the whole trip getting shoes one handed since I had to keep swinging an exhausted Charlie in the car seat (he was asleep when we got there, eyes popping WIDE open as soon as we got into the store ).

Anyway, we did manage to get some shoes, and the children continued in the same vein for the rest of the day, so that when we got home from a visit to Haakan's work - where they kids also ran amok and freaked out when we left without snacks because of their crazy behavior - I informed him that our children were going to drive me to drink. "You need to go out and run," he said. And that, dear readers, is exactly what I did. You've never seen a gal put on her running clothes so fast. I ran around the hilly lower loop of the reservoir and every lap felt like a gift to myself. It was one of those runs that was hard, yet effortless at the same time. I did 6.4 miles and felt great the whole time. It was a gorgeous 74 degrees, sunny in that fabulous late afternoon kind of way, and all the way around, the perfect antidote to my horrendous day. I came home to three little kids who were *thrilled* to see me, who were fed and went to bed easily. They even wanted to read stories with me, which is a rare treat since they're usually just all about daddy in the evenings. A good run is like a mental sorbet, cleaning out all the nasty tasting remains of the day and leaving you fresh mentally and nicely tired and ready to wind down for the night.

Another early run, and a Run Around the Square

2010-09-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

Horray! Haakan no longer has the honor of having run all my slowest races with me! We did the Run Around the Square on Saturday and it was a gorgeous day for it. Actually even a little on the chilly side, even, which was a very welcome change. Another nice little surprise is that they've put a mat at the start of the race, which is awesome since it took us more than a minute to cross the starting line. But, as usual, this was a challenging race for me, and I didn't quite make it in under 30 minutes. I think my biggest mistake was stopping twice for water. I definitely could have run through that second water stop, and that might just have put me under 30. And as usual, that freaking hill from 1.5 to 2.5 was so much longer than I thought it would be. At one point Haakan turned to me and said "It's all down hill from here!" I almost turned to him and called bullshit on it, I knew it was too early. But we really pushed through during the last half mile of all downhill and I definitely gave it my all in the end. So, though I came in over my goal, I'm still pleased and it was a good race.

We left the kids with my mom and sister at the big playground at Forbes and Braddock and when we ran past I heard Oliver scream "Run faster, mommy!" Everyone around us laughed, and it was pretty funny. Poor kid was actually tearful after the race when I told him that no, I didn't win. Since I still had some mileage for the week to finish up, and the kids weren't ready to leave the playground, I decided to run back home and just meet Haakan and the kids back there. It turned out to be almost exactly 4 miles, which is not as far as I thought it would be. It's amazing to live in a city and for it to take forever to get anywhere with traffic and stoplights, and then realize that I can actually run to all these places. It tickles me to think that I could put Elliot and Charlie in the double stroller, run to the park, let them play, and then go home. The run itself wasn't bad once I hit the crest at the top of Beechwood Blvd. I was flying down the hill, wondering why I was getting so tired. Duh, I was like a minute and a half faster than my usual pace! Which is why downhills are cool. I'm a fan.

I also managed to get in another early run this week, which was excellent. Charlie woke up around 5am to eat, and I decided I'd just get up and run after I got him fed. I was up at the reservoir at 6am and had my 8 miles finished before 8am, and then felt all virtuous and fit for the rest of the day. And hungry. I swear, I ate like crazy all day because I just felt like I was starving! I think I need to fuel better for those long runs, but I'm at a loss about how to do that for an early morning one. I guess I'll figure it out.

I'm doing a 10 miler this weekend in anticipation of the half marathon that we're doing next weekend. I'm not too worried about it. I've been doing 8 miles pretty handily, 10 miles is only 2 more than that. and 13 miles is only 3 more than that, right? Subdividing the mileage doesn't make it seem quite so far.

Run early, feel virtuous

2010-08-26T18:34:00.001-07:00

I have come to the sad realization that as it gets darker earlier, it's going to become impossible for me to run outside in the evenings after Haakan gets home. Why is this sad? Because it leaves me with only a few alternatives - make friends with the Treadmill (which I really don't want to do - the Treadmill and I get on best as acquaintances), or transform myself into an early morning runner. Ick. I get on with Mornings even worse than I do with the Treadmill. If the Treadmill and I are acquaintances, who give one another a smile when we pass and make smalltalk in the checkout line, then Mornings and I are more like frenemies. Oh sure, we pretend to make nice, mostly because we have to, but Mornings are more than happy to give me the smackdown, along with a little help from its friend, Sleepless Night.

Still, perhaps I haven't given Mornings a chance to show me how sweet it can really be. So, in the spirit of second chances, I decided to give morning running another shot and got my tired behind out of bed this morning at just past 6am (those of you who have jobs outside of the home and leave the house at this hour every morning - showered, dressed, and prettied up - feel free to call me a big wuss), put on the running clothes I had laid out the night before, and headed out into the breaking dawn with a 8 mile goal.

The really fab thing about running in the morning is that it's SO much cooler - temperature-wise - than going and running at 5pm, which is like the hottest part of the day. it was a fabulous 60 degrees when I left the house and I ran comfortably in a short sleeved shirt. I can't even tell you the last time I was able to do that. I walked the half mile up to the reservoir and decided to do my 8 miles around the flat upper course, rather than the hilly lower track (I'll build up to that one). And it rocked. I started out slow, well below my modest 11 minute mile goal pace, but I picked up the pace as time went on and I ended up at exactly an 11 minute mile by the end. Woohoo!.

And the REALLY fabulous part, aside from having the run finished and out of the way and not hanging over me, is that I felt incredibly virtuous all day. Of course, then I snacked like a mad woman and undid any calorie deficit I created with my 8 miles, but whatever. It turned out to be a good thing that I had pilates this morning, too, since I was able to stretch out my sore calves.

Haakan has to take the car in for service early tomorrow, but I may haul myself out of bed to do my 4 miles early, and bask in the satisfaction of being done.

An Ode to the Bob Ironman

2010-08-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

OK, not really an ode, because my poetry skillz are pretty rusty at the moment, but I do have an almost profane love for my jogging strollers. I loved my Dreamer Designs Ditto Lite when the older kiddos were small and compliant enough to ride in it, and I love my Bob Ironman single for running when I only have to take Charlie with me. We set out today to do 6 miles while Haakan took Oliver and Elliot to the pool, and the plan was that I'd meet them when I finished up, but I ended up doing 7.7 miles, thanks to a bit of a miscalculation, as well as a desire to keep Charlie asleep as long as possible. Poor guy hasn't been napping well at all since he started this obsessive rolling over phase (totally annoying - I remember this from the older boys and it makes me crazy every time) so I wanted him to get some quality sleep. We did a rather hilly course, and I'll cop to a fair amount of walking on the hills. Running with a jogger is not for the faint of heart, and I'm rather out of practice since I've had either the luxury of running alone, or been unable to figure out how to push both strollers at the same time, which I'd need to do if I were going to run with all three at once. I hope this is just the first of many fabulous runs to come!

I had Haakan snap a picture of me afterwards with my new favorite running partner. Clearly I need to wipe the smears off the camera lens on my cell phone, it looks like I'm standing in a heavy fog or something!

Moving in the right direction

2010-08-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

So if you're one of the three people who follow this blog (and hello to all of you! <3 ), you know I've been struggling a bit with the running for a while. I expect too much of myself, Haakan was expecting too much, blah blah blah. So, with this in mind, I dragged myself out of bed last Saturday morning for the Brookline Breeze 5k. Charlie doesn't sleep great, so the fact that I made it out of bed at all is pretty impressive, but I managed to show up at the race an hour before the gun, so I had plenty of time to snag an excellent parking space (which I then had to vacate once I realized that I wouldn't be able to actually leave after the race, since the main drag was closed for a community festival - oops) and try to get my head together. At the registration I checked out a map of the course and realized that I had driven in on the out and back course. Suddenly, the "challenging" course seemed a lot more doable.

The last 5k Haakan and I did together was pretty disappointing with me stopping a lot and walking. I'm sure the heat had something to do with it, but as I stared up at the biggest hill of the race (which I would be running down at the end) I vowed not to walk during this race. If I was able to handle giving birth three times without drugs, I could handle a 5k without stopping. My goal was just to do better than the last few 5k's, and to feel good about myself at the end, rather than wondering why I didn't push harder or do more. And in that, I was absolutely successful. My finish time of 30:28 definitely didn't break any land speed records, but it does make it my best postpartum 5k and means that I'm finally moving in the right direction.

It seems so silly and almost kind of stupid that I had to relearn that I can push myself out of my comfort zone and I'm not going to die right there on the spot. I've had a couple of really excellent runs since that race and I feel like it's a bit of a corner that I've turned and I'm finally on my way back to where I was before I got pregnant. I've got the Run around the Square next weekend and I'm actually looking forward to it, and going for a sub-30 minute finish.

5k tomorrow morning!

2010-08-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

Apparently I am running the Brookline Breeze 5k tomorrow morning, and I'm trying not to think about it all that much. Mentally, I am not in the best place with the running, though my trip to San Francisco definitely showed me that the temperature has a HUGE impact on how fast and well I'm able to run. I'm also having to kind of rediscover what my speed and distance feels like, since it was so different while I was pregnant. I was purposely NOT pushing myself, so to push myself again is just taking more getting used to than I was anticipating.

So tomorrow's 5k (9am start - good because I don't have to be up at the butt crack of dawn, bad because it's going to be on the road to hot already by then, and there is something to be said for being done earlier rather than later) is described as a "challenging" course, which I think is code for "hilly." The question is why, as a native Pittsburgh gal, a hilly 5k would be a surprise to me. Isn't "hilly" the default around here? Rather than stressing on it (the disappointing Skirt Chaser 5k that I did back in June was also a pretty hilly course, and I felt pretty demoralized after that), I'm just going to deal with it. I run hills all the time, I can handle a few hills! And it can't be any hotter than it was during the Stampede in the Park 5k that Haakan and I did a few weekends ago (which also started almost a half hour late ). So perhaps this will be the race that starts me on the road to rebuilding my racing self esteem. And if it's not, then there's always the Run Around the Square in two weeks. And then the Ikea Half (which was my first half and is a nice route - the first mile is all downhill!) on September 11th. Lots of chances for a good race and lots of chances for me to work on pushing myself more and not being afraid of what will happen, silly as that sounds.

What a difference 30 degrees makes!

2010-08-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

We got back on Sunday from a week in the San Francisco Bay area and it was a wonderful trip! The family had a great time, and more than that, I had a week of really awesome runs. We happened to be in a hotel that was right on a stretch of the San Francisco Bay Trail, which was just fabulous. No stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge or anything like that, but it was still lovely to be able to run next to the water. I ran 4 times while we were there, and most were pretty gray and windy, but there was one lovely sunny day and it was gorgeous running next to the water. The trail isn't completed and we were at one end of what I think was around a 7 mile stretch. In one direction, the trail went 1.71 miles from the hotel, and in the other direction I'm guessing it went closer to 5 miles or so. The farthest I went was 4 miles, to do an 8 mile out and back. Other than that one sunny day the weather wasn't above like 55 degrees or so when I went out to run, and it was overcast, but that made for some excellent running weather.

The first day Haakan pushed me out the door while Charlie took his morning nap and I did 6 miles at 10:22, which is quite a bit skippier than my usual 11-12 minute miles I'd been slogging through at home. I had a spring in my step and it really barely felt like an effort. The two 8 mile runs were both around 10:55, since Haakan had told me to keep it around 11 minute miles, since that's where it seems like I should be right now. Those 8 mile runs were awesome. I ran past a couple of marinas, a veritable minefield of giant snails trying to cross the path (that made for an interesting little stretch, trying not to stamp on them), and ran up a nifty hill to a spectacular view of the bay (I believe that was at San Bruno Point - I was mostly running between there and Oyster Point, closer to the hotel). And, totally geeked about this, I ran past the Genentech offices, which thrilled me a little since I know they were the company that first synthesized human insulin (thank you, Mr Salsi, for that tidbit of info that I've remembered since high school!). I also ran past a building that one day smelled like Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and the next day smelled like black licorice. It was a USDA building, I discovered the next day! The anise smell wasn't too bad, but the Krispy Kreme smell was like torture, since I was pretty hungry when I went past it. The last run I did was a 3 miler that Haakan suggested I do at a zipper pace, since it was short. I did it at 10:12, significantly faster than my most recent 5k.

Clearly the weather is a HUGE factor to me in how fast I'm able to run, and how much I enjoy my runs. This is amazingly comforting to me, knowing, for real, just how big of a deal the weather is. I just need to get through these next few weeks until the weather cools off, and then I can begin to enjoy my runs more, add to my mileage, and think about some future cooler weather races. Heck, even a drop out of the 80s would probably make a huge difference. It was 91 degrees when I went out to do 6 miles yesterday, back down to 11:38 for my pace (and a stop to tie my shoes in there, during which I stopped the clock), but it didn't seem so bad knowing that cooler weather is around the corner.

Half marathon it is, then

2010-07-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

I've been going back and forth about whether or not I should be doing this full marathon in Columbus. Yeah, it seemed like a great idea and I had all these romanticized ideas about long runs and all that jazz, but the reality is that it's been freaking hard to get the runs in, and more have been bad than not. So I raised the question with Haakan, all teary eyed and full of anxiety, and we decided it probably wasn't a bad idea to scale back. I was supposed to do 14 miles as my long run this past week, so we decided I'd still do that.

Disaster is a good word to use when I describe the 14 miler, which ended up being a 12 miler. The first few miles were ok, it was hotter than Hades out there, but I was holding my own (went out around 5pm, after a particularly bad night with Charlie kept me from going out early in the morning like I had planned). I was ready to throw in the towel around mile 7, but I dutifully took my gel and soldiered on. I kept telling myself, if I've made it to 7 miles, I can just as well do 10, and then I'll reevaluate. I got to 10 miles and though, I've gotten this far, I'll finish 12 miles and then decide if I can do the last 2. Miles 10 and 11 were rough, and when I stopped to use the porta potties and almost passed out, I decided that I probably should concede defeat and head for home after 12 miles. And I barely made it home. I was a shakey, sick, low blood sugar mess by the time I got home, and I had to ask Haakan to make me a hotdog because I couldn't stand up long enough to do it myself without getting nauseatingly dizzy. Very unpleasant. I had this happen with a 10 miler and I *thought* I had fueled appropriately throughout the day, but apparently not. It's just proving very difficult to eat enough while I'm breastfeeding to have enough to pull it out for these long runs.

So it looks like I'm either going to do the half marathon in Columbus, or else just defer on the full until next year. I'm doing the Ikea Half Marathon about a month before Columbus, and I'm not sure it's worth it to drag the whole family to Columbus, get a hotel, etc etc, just for a half marathon. And at the same time, I can't really go alone because Charlie will be so little still. We're still working out the details, so it's up in the air, but as of now, I'll try for the full marathon in Pittsburgh in May of 2011.

I feel kind of like a weight has been lifted since we've decided to bag the full marathon in October. I feel like I've been getting slower and slower, which is the opposite of how I should be feeling. Maybe I can concentrate on getting faster for some races and such and can definitely have a more positive marathon experience in May than I probably would have had in Columbus in October. Yeah, I feel like a little bit of a loser, but this is supposed to be fun and it was feeling like more of a job than it should. I have enough not fun things that I have to do throughout the day, the thing I do for myself shouldn't be one of those things I *have* to do, it should be something I *want* to do. So hopefully I can get back on the wagon the right way and this blog can stop being so damn depressing and whiny!

THIS is why I run

2010-07-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

When I started running a few years ago, I had this fantasy about the perfect long run. The weather would be lovely, sunny but not too hot, I'd look good running wherever I was, and the run itself would be challenging, but not so difficult that I'd want to melt into a puddle of goo by the end. Yesterday, I had that run I'd always fantasized about, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

My hip ached for a few days after my disastrous 10 miler and truthfully, I was afraid that I'd really screwed up and was feeling pretty low (if that wasn't obvious from all the "woe is me" I've been posting lately), but I managed to get it stretched out and thought I should try an easy 3 and see how I was doing. Before I attempted this, I happened to come across a copy of last month's Runner's World, which had an article in it about meditation and running that caught my attention. I think I'd looked at the article when I first got the magazine, but I didn't really read it. I did this time. And for some reason, things just clicked this time when I read it and I had an epiphany. I've used breathing techniques to control pain and discomfort before. Hell, I had three non-medicated labors and used breathing and relaxation techniques through all of them (my last labor was shorter than the marathon I did last January, too). I don't know why it never occurred to me to use the same techniques while I was running. "Return to your breathing and your feet", the article said, and this would help to center you as a runner. It also said something to the effect of that we shouldn't spend so much time worrying about doing things without pain. Life is pain, you deal with it. The proverbial light went on and I somehow felt like I'd stumbled onto something that had been missing. I went out without my iPod to do my easy 3 miler.

It worked great! I thought about my breathing, my feet, and when anything hurt, I just accepted that it would hurt and tried not to worry about it or obsess on it. This kind of thinking probably would have been really helpful to me during the marathon, but for some reason I thought I would be able to finish it without my feet, and every other part of my body, aching and screaming for me to stop. After the success of my easy 3 miles, I felt brave enough to attempt the 12 miler and did it the next evening.

Folks, runs like that are the reason I run. At no point did I question why I was out there, and at some point I realized that I was in the middle of one of those rare runs that was just pure pleasure. My pace was good, I only had to stop for water every 3 miles, and when I started to feel sore or my mind started to wander where I didn't want it, I just brought my focus back to my breathing and my feet. Amazing. It worked so well, I went out and bought myself a copy of Chi Running today and will hopefully read it over the next week and pick up a few things at least. I am continuing on with my marathon training renewed and full of confidence that I really *can* do it. Hopefully this feeling will last and I'll have even more fabulous runs like the last one.

When the going gets tough... and hot...

2010-06-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Haakan and I did the Father's Day 10k last Sunday, and to say that it was a little bit of a disaster would be an understatement. We set out MUCH too fast (we realized in retrospect) and by 2.5 miles in, I was burned out. I had a total breakdown, crying and all, because I felt like such a loser. I finished a faster 10k at 18 weeks pregnant, in the pouring rain, and having to pee. After crunching the numbers, Haakan decided that the pace had been entirely too ambitious and I'm actually quite a bit slower than he thought, which is both comforting and depressing. At any rate, I figured out a few new ways how to NOT run a 10k. Next up, a 5k in Bellvue in July.

My runs this week were ok. I did a 7 miler around the lower track of the reservoir, which was fine except for the two ENORMOUS blisters I now have on my pinkie toes. No idea where they came from or why they showed up, but they suck and they hurt and I can't wait until they're gone entirely. My speedwork was fine, no big surprises or problems, but it was kind of miserable since it was already 80 degrees and like 90% humidity when I did it at 7am. Yesterday's long run was like a death march. I meant to do it early in the morning, but then Charlie had a really bad night (woke up choking on mucus running down his throat, poor thing), so that means I had a bad night, too. When 5am rolled around, I thought there was no way I was going to be able to run (and it's good that I didn't, since he woke up again at 6am wanting to eat), so I ended up going out around 5pm, which is probably the worst time of day to run in the summer. It didn't seem that hot until I started moving, and then I heated up very quickly. My bowels were upset the entire time, so there was more than one potty break involved, plus a lot of walking to make it through. My hip injury from the last round of marathon training has been rearing it's ugly painful head, and I almost bagged it after 6 miles, but I knew I'd hate myself for not completing the run, so I sucked it up and finished. By the time I got home I was a mess and I spent the evening in a nauseated low blood sugar lump on the couch.

I won't lie, this bad of a run this early in training has thrown me a bit and I'm having some major doubts about the wisdom of this marathon. I'm going to give it until my next cut back week and see how it's going before I really decide one way or the other. I fully expect the 18 and 20 mile runs to be unpleasant, or at least really tough, but if the 14 and 16 are that way, too, that might be a pretty good indication to me that I should drop to the half marathon instead of the full. Haakan is still very optimistic, though we've reassessed my finish time goals to have me coming in right around 4:45, rather than shooting for 4:30 (I'll try for 4:30 or under in May when I do Pittsburgh). Unfortunately, there's no 4:45 pace group, so I'm on my own. I may try to find a group hoping to finish in 4:45 so that I don't have to go it alone, but we'll see. I'm a little afraid to post about it on Runner's World for fear of being laughed at by the hard core marathoners, for whom a 4:45 finish would be a "why bother?" kind of situation, but that might be a good place to find some other runners hoping for a finish in that range. I feel like if I could just get the aches and pains out of the way, I'd be doing really well. Maybe I'll try to get a fuel belt to bring on the 12 miler next weekend so that I don't actually have to stop for water or anything. I need to get used to not stopping or these long runs will be useless to me, since I don't really plan to keep stopping during the marathon to use the porta potty and all (hopefully!).

The one bright spot of my disaster run yesterday is that I was very pleased with my expensive running shirt from Lululemon. It held up great and was the one thing that wasn't bothering me during the run. I was annoyed that my shorts wouldn't stay put (I got some nice chafing on one thigh) and the liner kept riding up, but the shirt worked great. I may try to get one in a sleeveless style, too. And some longer shorts. Lesson learned, for me, short shorts and the long run don't really mix all that well. I think some longer compression shorts might be in order for the next long run.

Almost like running blindfolded

2010-06-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

I would have made a crappy Boy Scout. I love the "be prepared" motto, and yet, I never seem to be. I was supposed to do speed work this morning, the last thing to do before my upcoming easy week (of which I am in desperate need - I feel totally burned out and need a break), but my Garmin crapped out before I even got up to the reservoir. So I decided to turn it into an easy 3 miler and just kind of wing it. And I have to say, it was kind of liberating to not have my Garmin or my iPod with me. I actually had some time to think, and it was kind of nice. And I say this as a die hard iPod lover. I might try to do one of my runs a week without the iPod and see how it goes. But I really don't want to give up the Garmin. I need some way to at least time how long I'm out and then do the math to find my pace.

Next up in races - the Father's Day 10k down on the North Side. The course seems a bit different this year, though I could be wrong. Sounds like it's starting a bit farther down the waterfront from the stadium. The race raises funds for prostate cancer research and they've thankfully changed the name from "Us, Too", which always bugged the heck out of me - since, you know, men's health issues are so underfunded and underrepresented in the world of research - to "Man Up", which I like a lot more. It's more positive, more calling you out, and less whiney. I'm trying not to think too hard about my goal for this race and just hoping to have a good experience, and hoping that my mom and sister will be able to keep the kiddos happy for a while while Haakan and I run. I've never done a race with someone next to me the whole time, so this should be kind of an interesting experience for both of us.

A new look

2010-06-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

Like the new blog template? I felt like my funk necessitated a bit of a change. Doesn't this look like it would be a nice place to run? The templates had a bunch of different options, though none really screamed "runner!" to me. I thought about putting a big mountain in the background, since that's what I sometimes feel like I'm running up, but I settled for the nice tree lined street, which is not unlike where I usually run.

In the wake of my craptastic performance in the Skirt Chaser 5k last weekend, my runs this week have been quite a bit better. Haakan and I decided I should try to pick up the pace of my easy runs a bit, so I did my 5 miler at a zippy 10:28 minute mile, rather than the 10:45+ I had been shooting for. My easy 3 miler on Wednesday was slower, because I was planning to do my long run, but forces conspired against me. First, I wasn't able to get out the door as early as I wanted to because Charlie pooped after I fed him, and then decided not to go back to sleep easily. Then, about 2 minutes after I got out the door, the sky literally opened up and the rain just *poured* down on me. I decided to call it my easy run after 3 miles and headed for home, waterlogged and glad that I had the wiggle room to do it another day. So I did the long run yesterday evening, and it went ok. I continue to struggle with pacing issues and I went out entirely too fast for a long run. The first 5.5 miles were awesome. The last 3.5 miles were pretty harsh. My feet were bothering me, I was tired, and I just couldn't pull in the pace for some reason. I was glad to be done.

The high point of my long run is that my snazzy new Nike Airborne Long Top worked awesome. I'm always on the lookout for a tank with a built in bra that actually works without another bra underneath, and this is the first one I've found that really works the way it's supposed to. I definitely want to get another one. It stayed put, was supportive, was nice and airy despite feeling substantial, and it didn't show weird sweat stains (always a plus). I went down a size in the Nike Speed Shorts, too, and I think that helped with the weird fit issues I was having before. I am also madly in love with the way too expensive Lululemon Run:Speed Shorts that I splurged on. Yes, they are short, but I think I can make them work. And best of all, they work great. They're super comfortable, they don't ride up, and I actually think they might make me run a little bit faster.

Gen compiles further proof that the 5k is not her distance

2010-06-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

I'm writing tonight from the depths of suckatude. I'm watching DVR'ed episodes of Glee (totally in love with neil Patrick Harris, btw), I'm preparing to eat cookies and cream ice cream, and I'm generally wallowing in my extremely shitty performance in today's Skirt Chaser 5k. It had the potential to be an excellent race, but the course was challenging - the first 1.5 miles was like straight up hill - and I don't know, I just couldn't suck it up. I felt like I couldn't breath, I just couldn't push through it somehow. And it seems like this is what happens lately. This was even worse than my last 5k, and by all indications it should have been much better. I can pull out a 9 minute mile fairly handily in my speedwork, but I felt like I couldn't even hit that with the hills. And I do run hills. I don't know. I think I just keep psyching myself out or something, like I really am my own worst enemy when it comes to races. And why? I have no idea. I've done labor 3 times without drugs and I can't muster it up for a sub-30 minute 5k finish. Yes, Charlie's only 3 months old this coming week. Yes, I need to give it some time. But damn it, I'm frustrated and more than a little disappointed in myself.

The race itself is a pretty cute concept, and I got a pretty cute running skirt as part of my swag (and I look pretty cute in it, which is nice). It was out at Heartwood Acres and unfortunately, it *poured* down rain before the race and turned the parking area on the grass into an absolute swamp. The race was postponed for 15 minutes because of lightning. It might actually have been more motivating if the torrential downpour had continued through the race, but it didn't. They played The Beastie Boys' "Girls" as the women took off at the start (the women got a 3 minute head start and the guys had to "chase" us, it was pretty cute) and the first like tenth of a mile seemed promising. Then we started going up hill. And up. And up. And even more up. It was relentless. And then when we hit the top, and went down a little, there was more up. And a little more. There was some downhill again, too, but by then I felt so demoralized and so behind my goal time, I think I just let it get to me. Every hill felt like a kick in the face, like a "you suck" from the course, and I just rolled over and took it instead of fighting it.

So what do I do? How do I get past this? I'm afraid I'm going down the path of self doubt and performance anxiety and I'm too much a prisoner of the elements and the course. I feel like maybe I get lucky every now and again and pull out a good race, but overall I'm just a back of the pack runner, and maybe I always will be. I'm not quite ready to be ok with that, so I guess I'll keep on fighting it. Next up: the Father's Day 10k, which I'll run with Haakan beside me to pace me. We'll see if that goes any better than the last two 5k's have.

Long run in the clouds

2010-05-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

I finally got motivated to get up early and I did my 8 miles this morning mostly before the kids were even awake. Charlie woke up around 6am and I fed him and was out the door not too long after that, all snazzy in some of my new gear (more on that later). I just hoped that everyone would sleep for a while so that I wouldn't come home to all three kids screaming (it's happened before), and Haakan was happy to report that they'd only been up for around a half hour when I got back, and Charlie was still asleep! So for once, the stars aligned and things went the way they were supposed to.

I do my long runs at the Highland Park Reservoir, which is a .75 mile loop around one of the major drinking water supplies for the city. It's all ringed with crab apple trees that bloom in the spring, there are baby ducks that swim around in the reservoir (don't worry, it's all filtered and safe by the time it gets to my tap), and this morning the honeysuckle was blooming and the scent was just fabulous. It also was so foggy I felt like I was actually running through a cloud. I haven't been in fog that deep since I lived in Ecuador and visited an actual cloud forest. I walked up to the reservoir (it's a bit more than .5 miles) and before I was even a quarter of a lap into my run, my hair was soaked and dripping into my eyes from the fog. I could barely see 5 feet in front of me. It was really cool. And obviously really wet. Luckily it wasn't hot or it could have been really miserable. That super thick mist wasn't even burned off by the time I finished my last lap around 8:30 or so (I started running at about 7am). I've been reading the Percy Jackson books and all the mist was putting me in mind of the mythical Mist that clouds the minds of mortals. If there were Greek monsters lurking up at the reservoir I didn't see them, though I definitely kept my eyes peeled.

It turned out to be a really good run. I was skeptical and almost bagged on it, since my digestion had been pretty upset the night before, but I did the whole 8.25 miles (which is 10 laps, plus the run home) with no stops, not even for water. kept my pace at a nice 11:09, which was pretty much perfect for a long slow run. My feet were bugging me a little by the end, but overall I felt pretty good. And I feel like I needed that after my last two runs were harder than I thought they should be.

I went out all kitted out in some of my new duds, as you can see from the picture. I'm a little bit in love with these shorts. They rode up just the *tiniest bit* but then settled and didn't budge for the whole 8 miles. The shirt, on the other hand, did ride up a bit, but no belly was exposed, and the wrinkles it made kind of helped hide the muffin top a bit, I think. Both are from Under Armor. This is me after my 8 miles - see how happy I am? That's because I'm done!

Solo Speed Work, or Gen Crashes and Burns

2010-05-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

I've got issues.

This is no surprise to anyone who knows me, and my mom has a number of pithy little comments she could insert at this point, but specifically, as this is a blog about running, I'm talking about my issues with regards to pace. I know some people, like my hubby, can go out and say, "I'm going to run 5 miles at 9:25" and then do it, no Garmin or external monitoring required. I, unfortunately, am not one of those people. Even with some nifty technology at my disposal, I have issues.

Because I'm trying to increase my speed from back of the pack to at least middle of the pack, I've been doing speed work once a week. Generally, this has been good for my ego as the speeds and distances have been challenging, yet doable. And Haakan's been coming with me, which has been fun (it would be *really* fun, were it not for the actual running, but hey, you can't have everything), and has also helped me to stay on pace, since like I said, he's got an internal speedometer. This Wednesday, I had to go alone.

"Go forth and do three 1 mile repeats at 8:55," said my coach, aka Haakan. We didn't want to leave the kids at home with his parents, since we were afraid the baby would wake up, so he stayed behind and sent me out alone.

8:55 would have been a very doable pace. Challenging, yet not impossibly so. 8:45, which is where I ended up for the first two miles, proved to be a bit TOO challenging, since I was only able to squeeze out .5 miles for my final one.

So here's where my issues come in. I set out with the best of intentions, with my Garmin all charged and set up properly, my shoes laced up right, looking all cute and runnerly (which always helps), and yet I just couldn't get the pace under control. As soon as I'd take my eyes off the Garmin, the pace would creep up, and before I knew it, I was zooming along WAY too fast, and I'd have to fight to slow down. I have no idea why I couldn't keep it under control, and I paid the price for it. Instead of three 1 mile repeats, I ended up doing two 1 mile repeats and one half mile. I spent part of the second mile repeat feeling like I was going to pee, so I had to make a pit stop at the porta potties (thank goodness for them!), and I think trying not to pee screwed me up even more. I think I need to learn how to internalize the pace more. It's like I think it should be harder to go at that pace than it is, like I think it should feel like a sprint or something. So I go too fast, I'm exhausted at the end, and the thought of doing another mile just feels like torture, so I dread it, and then I don't want to do it. I spent my cool down between the second and half-completed third repeats trying to psych myself up, saying "I'm doing this because I *can*, not because I *have to*." It wasn't entirely successful.

Next post, I share my fabulous fashion finds when I went a little crazy at Dunham's. I'm still waiting on my snazzy new shorts from Lululemon, but I've got a few other snazzy things to tide me over. I almost look like a real runner, so now I've just got to stop doing stupid things, like having no control over my speed!

Fashion challenged running

2010-05-23T06:49:00.000-07:00

My runs lately have been going great. My speed improves, my distances are getting longer, and my feet are feeling much better (let's hope the orthotics don't actually cause more problems than they solve - they'll be in next week, hopefully). So in the light of all these fabulous changes, I'm upgrading some of my running clothes and getting rid of the shirts I've had for 2+ years, because I can't seem to get the almighty stench out of them. And if I don't want to smell myself when I run, I'm sure other people don't want to, either. When I run past people, I'd rather them not be thinking "Wow, what was the stenchy blur of speed?" So new running clothes, here I come.

Choosing what to get is something I'm agonizing over. I wish there were a decent running store closer to me so that I could try things on, but since there's not, I'm relegated to buying online and hoping the return policies are good for things that don't work.

First up, I've got a pair of Lululemon Run:Speed Shorts headed my way in Foxy Passion Plaid. I was seduced by the sale price (though they're not returnable, unfortunately, so I hope they fit right!). I'm slightly concerned about how short they are (2.75" inseam) and hoping I won't be pulling at them the whole time I'm running, but we shall see. I fear no short shorts! I've also got a Cool Racerback in Passion, to match the shorts ('cause I gotta be matchy-matchy, right?) and a TaTa Tamer that will probably be too small (luckily that IS returnable). If the shorts and racerback work out, I'll go back for another pair, most likely, if they're still on sale, since sale always helps.

I'm also eyeing up a few things at Athleta and wondering if I can pull them off or if I'll just look like an overly matched idiot with flab hanging out. Haakan thinks I can pull off a Ready to Run Bra Top, but I will admit to some skepticism. Not sure the flab on the belly has gone down enough for that, but I'm game to give it a try. The sizing is tricky as heck, though, with my small ribcage/large breasts issue. I'm also intrigued by the Hana Run Shorts, which look just a little more interesting than my usual boring black Nike shorts (which are giving me a weird faux penis effect lately). I totally wish they had this stuff in stores so I could try it on, but alas, I'm SOL on that one.

Lastly, I'm contemplating a pair of these lovely Abby Shorts by Asics, which Runner's World says are one step away from bunhuggers. Hmmmm, am I woman enough for bunhuggers, or even shorts that are one step removed from them? I may have to try them and find out. I'm only a few pounds from my pre-baby weight and I'm looking pretty good, I think I might have a shot. And maybe they'll make me magically faster! A girl can dream, right?

In actual running related news, I'm signed up for the Skirt Chaser 5K on June 5th out at Heartwood Acres. It should be fun, and it's a cute premise - the women get a 3 minute head start on the men, then the men are invited to catch us if they can. I anticipate being caught, but I also anticipate doing well. We'll have to see how it goes. My speedwork seems to indicate that I could definitely be doing sub-9 minute miles for the 5k. I just need to actually do them now. No idea what's holding me back, but I'm sure it's more mental than anything at this point. So I'm kind of looking forward to this 5k because I feel like I really might be able to pull off a pr, or at least do better than I have been doing.

So, for the two people who read this blog, what running gear do you like? Tops? Shorts? All that good stuff. :)

Some good runs, and an odd runner

2010-05-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Haakan pushed me out the door into the rain and commanded me to run 5 miles on the hilly lower loop of the Reservoir. I went out only because I had to, since it was cold and wet and I was still feeling a little like a whipped puppy after my disappointing 5k, but it turned out to be a fabulous run. Every now and then you get one of those days when you feel like you can keep running forever, and you're shocked when you realize your pace is faster than you thought, and you feel good. I think it's something about the rain, maybe, or it being kind of chilly. But whatever the reason, I felt just great.

Because it was raining there weren't many other people out, which is nice, because it makes me crazy to have to dodge dog walkers on the path. The one other runner braving the rain and chill was a girl who looked like a pretty hard core runner when I first passed her - all long legs and shorts and layered tech T's. She looked like she was zipping along, too. Because we were running the loop in opposite directions, I passed her twice on each lap. The second time I passed her, she was running with an umbrella. And not just an umbrella in her hand, but full extended and held over her head. And it wasn't any kind of special sports umbrella (if such a thing exists), it was just a regular black umbrella. I think I must have eyed her kind of funny and I assumed she would have abandoned it by the time I saw her again, but nope, there she was again, umbrella extended. And each time I passed her, it seemed like I was going faster than her, which was weird because she seemed to be zipping along, despite the drag the umbrella must have been exerting. It was one of the oddest things I've ever seen a runner doing, running with an umbrella.

I finished up that run with a zippy pace of 10:28, which totally perplexed Haakan. If I could do 5 hilly miles at that pace and not be winded (seriously, I felt great the entire time, I did not feel like I was going that fast), why could I only pull out a 9:50 pace for the Race for the Cure. Deciding to solve the mystery for himself, Haakan roped his parents into watching the baby so that he could do some mile repeats with me at the Reservoir while the older kiddos were at preschool. We jogged up there at a nice 11 minute mile pace, then stretched and moaned a little (well, that was all me, since I wasn't so thrilled about the speedwork). The goal was to do two 9 minute mile repeats, and it went really well. In retrospect we probably could have done them at closer to 8:50, or maybe even 8:45, because I was able to ramp it up quite a bit during the last quarter mile of the final repeat, but it was nice to know that that pace really shouldn't be out of my reach for a 5k, and now we're looking for another one that I can do next weekend, maybe. And Haakan is threatening to run the Father's Day 10k with me to keep me from slacking off, which I seem to do when left to my own devices. Who knows, maybe I'll end up with a 10k PR if he's there to push me on, though I think it would take a lot to top my PR in the Great Race the year before last (an 8:54 pace for a 55:14 finish).

First Postpartum 5K - DONE!

2010-05-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

Well, the Race for the Cure wasn't the disaster I was thinking it would be, but it wasn't spectacular, either. As I suspected, I have some mental issues when it comes to racing. I feel like in some way I'm just afraid to push myself too hard, though I'm not sure why. The experience was more pleasant than it was last year, and not too far off what I did then. So I guess that's the good news, that I'm about back to where I was before I got pregnant, at least in terms of speed. That's the benefit of being slow, I guess, there's nowhere to go but up, right? BTW, those charming children standing with me are Elliot, who turns 3 today, and Oliver, who turns 5 on Thursday. Haakan's multitasking and holding the baby while he takes the picture.

The problem with the Race for the Cure, here at least, is that it's REALLY congested. The walkers get confused an start with the 5K (even though the walk starts later), they stand in the front and walk like 5 or 6 abreast and are difficult to get past, and it's just generally hard to get past people. There were more than a few times that I felt like I had to slow WAY down because I was just totally blocked in. My other issue with this particular race is that I always forget just how long it actually is. It makes a couple of twists and turns that I always forget about and the last mile comes out a little differently than I think it should, and that always confuses me. There's also a couple of good hills that I think are mentally harder on me than they are physically, but again, they always screw me up. As I thought, the paces Haakan had set for me were a little too ambitious, and I didn't end up hitting them. I finished with thoroughly lackluster 30:33, for a 9:50 minute mile average. I had some good bursts of speed on the downhills, but I don't know, I just went into it with too much anxiety. I need to do more hills, more speedwork, and more miles in general. My feet held up ok, but I am SO getting those orthotics that my podiatrist is recommending. So I guess it's good that I got the first race done. It can only get better from here.

Resurrecting the blog, and another runiversary

2010-05-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

I've been bad. Been neglecting my poor little blog here, when I really shouldn't have. But as I vow to become a better runner, I'm also going to try to be a little more kind of my blog and not leave it to languish quite so much. Poor little blog, I hope I can make it up to you.

In the past year, I've done a whole lot of running, a good portion of it while pregnant. Yup, I've got a 2 month old baby boy to keep my older two boys company, and I ran through most of my pregnancy, and even did four races (two 5k's (one a pr) and two 10k's). Running while pregnant was an interesting experience. You have to reevaluate your goals so much, it's mentally hard to get your head around. Rather than building speed, you're working on just getting out there some days and just trying to maintain and not lose too much strength and endurance. And then you have to take time off afterwards, which is just plain hard because it's hard to sit still. And when you get back to it, it's hard to be so far from where you used to be. It feels like you've taken all these steps backwards and are rebuilding from scratch, but with this distant vision of what you used to be able to do. It's like coming back from a major injury, I'd imagine, though obviously it's nice to have a new baby to cuddle up to.

I went back to running when Charlie was about 3 weeks old, and now, with him turning 2 months old today, I'm preparing to run the Race for the Cure tomorrow, the first race I ever ran. My hubby and I went to the track on Thursday to do some speedwork as part of my plan to train for the Columbus marathon in October (yes, I think I am insane, but more on that later), and based on that, he thinks I could be racing faster than I am. So I get ready to do this race with a lot of anxiety hanging over me. For one thing, it's freaking cold out there, and the idea of getting up early and standing around in the cold and rain before the race just does not appeal to me. And second, I'm afraid of setting out at the paces he recommends, and just crashing and burning for being too ambitious on the hills. I'm still feeling my way back into things, I'm feeling like pushing for speed is something that's just so far beyond me, and I'm afraid of failing at it and disappointing everyone, especially myself. Last year's Race for the Cure was not all that great, and I feel like it's hanging over me. I've been having some issues with my feet that I am also afraid are going to slow me down (as a side note, I am officially in love with my podiatrist - man taped and padded up my feet and it did WONDERS. Unfortunately, the tape and padding are all gone now, so who knows how tomorrow will go).

I need to get better at pushing myself, I think. I need to mentally toughen up. I've done childbirth without drugs three times now (though the marathon I did last January actually took me longer to complete than my last labor took!), I made it through a death march of a marathon, and I routinely have to do things I don't want to do. Why can't I push myself through races? What makes me pull back, or stop and walk, or just not want to do it? Why can't I just suck it up like I need to? I guess that's the question I have to work on answering as I work more on my speed and endurance and try to surpass where I was before. I never realized just how mental running was until I started doing more of it. I never thought I would think that my mental game is the weak link, rather than my abs or quads or whatever.

"Speedwork", or "Gen plays beat the clock"

2009-05-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

Given my lackluster performance in my last 5k and 10k, I decided that it was time to start kicking things up a notch and finally do what I've been putting off for so long. Speedwork. Or as I like to call it, torture of a very quick and breathless kind. I'm not sure why I've been so hesitant to do speedwork. maybe I've been afraid of finding out just how slow I am, or regressing back into that fat girl who couldn't run a quarter mile in gym class. It also doesn't help that I injured my hip after a particularly nice fast run, so I've associated speedwork with injury, which is stupid, but that's how my mind works.

So today, I bit the bullet. If I ever want to get faster and reach more of my potential, speedwork is going to have to happen. Haakan's always saying he thinks I should take his advice, so I picked his brain a bit and we decided that I should do two mile repeats with a quarter mile walking recovery, and I should aim for around 8:30 for my pace. So, all well with the world, I set off for the reservoir to do my mile repeats, not at all sure this is a good idea and feel like a big weenie that my speedwork pace is his easy pace. I jogged up to the reservoir and did a lap and a third so that I could start my intervals at the water fountain, then use the quarter mile walk to walk back to the water fountain so that I could get a drink before I tried the insanity again.

8:30 was my goal pace, but I ended up doing the first mile at 7:53. And though it was exhausting and I was glad to hit that one mile mark, it also felt great to run that fast. It was like a whole different experience. It was actual RUNNING, no question about it, and it's something I wish I could do for longer periods of time. And without feeling like my lungs were going to pop, or that I was going to lose my bowels (yeah, my stomach was upset, but at least I didn't throw up or anything). So I walked back to the water fountain, got my heart rate back down to a respectable level, and did it again. And it was hard. Again. But I did my second mile repeat at 7:51, and really, there wasn't a whole lot left in the tank after that. I don't know that I could have done it much faster. Did I pick a pace that was a bit too kicky? Probably, but part of the problem lies in not exactly knowing what an 8:30 pace feels like. And that always tends to be my problem - I go out too fast because I just don't feel it yet. It's not internalized and I always have to guess, and I guess wrong a lot.

All in all, not a bad day's run. I ended up with 5 miles total, two of them wicked fast. For me, anyway. I feel a little bit less cool knowing that my fast interval pace is about the pace Haakan maintained for the WHOLE marathon two weeks ago. But you never know, I might get there myself some day.

Race for the Cure - my "Runiversary"

2009-05-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

A year ago on Mother's Day, I ran my first race ever - the Race for the Cure 5k. I finished in 32 minutes and change, and after that first race, I was hooked. I've been a runner ever since. And today I ran the Race for the Cure again. It wasn't my best race, though I beat my previous 5k time by maybe 30 seconds, but it was a good race because it gives me the chance to think about the past year and all that I've been able to accomplish. It's hard for me to remember that it's really only been a year that I've been running, and in that year I've run three 5k's, three 10k's, three half marathons, and a full marathon. That's 10 races, after having never run a race in my life. After never having run faster than a 10 minute mile or farther than 3 miles on the treadmill (and thinking I was pretty hot stuff when I did that in college, probably because most of my friends weren't working out at all).

I think it was March of last year that I signed up for the Race for the Cure, thereby giving myself a reason to get out and run. Or more like something to hold me accountable. People were sponsoring me, I had to run it, and my goal last year was to finish it and feel good at the end. And I did. I was immeasurably proud of myself for finishing the race, I was high on the feeling of having run with so many people and crossing a finish line with a clock and a time and everything. Last May I weighed more than 20lbs more than I do now, running 3 miles was a lot, and the idea that I could ever do more was a fantasy.

In the year I've been running, I've had fabulous races - last year's Great Race, which I ran faster than I ever thought I could have, and last weekend's Pittsburgh Half Marathon, which was probably the closest to a perfect race that I've ever gotten - and I've had miserable and unpleasant races - the Just a Short Run Half Marathon comes to mind, as well as the miserable Burgh's Pizza and Wings 10k that I did two weekends ago - and races that were just kind of mediocre and "meh", like today's 5k and last year's Run Around the Square 5k. I have to remember just how new I am to running and racing every time I have a less than stellar performance, remind myself that there are still a lot of lessons I obviously have to learn and a lot of ways that I can improve how I train and how I race. The fabulous races make me feel over the moon, the bad ones make me want to hang up my running shoes and just give up, but I'm starting to see that they're both equally valuable because of the lessons they teach me. I'm getting better at dusting myself off after the bad ones, too.

Happy Runiversary to me! I'll do the Race for the Cure next year, too, and my goal is to shave another minute off my time, at least. But should I fail to do that, there are still things that I'll take away from the race, but hopefully another year of running with make me older and wiser, and just plain better.

That girl who runs funny with the jogging stroller

2009-05-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

I tried something new today. I decided to run to pick Oliver up at preschool with the double jogger, with Elliot in it, of course. And that went fine. I took the Jackson/Stanton loop on the way there, and got to school right on time, allowed myself just enough time. But while I was running, I caught a glimpse of myself in a store's plate glass window and I was horrified to see that I was far from looking like that hard core woman running with the jogger. Instead, I was kicking my feet weird, kind of bouncing, and it just looked... odd. Not even just odd, it was dorky, not cool, and not at all runner-looking, if that makes sense.

Now, I had always kind of, silently, in my head, pitied people who ran with really weird strides. There's that girl who runs like a sloth who I've seen in a few races (and who has passed me, rather horrifyingly), and the women who shuffle their feet oddly, the guys who kind of glide along. I never thought I was one of them! Ok, well, sure, I'm not the best runner out there, but wow, I'm going to be kind of self conscious now (and I'll think more charitable thoughts about the girl who runs like a sloth, since I think she might have finished the half before me last Sunday).

Better for me to concentrate on the run today, which was quite good, actually. My pace turned out kind of slow, since I hit all the red lights on the way back (and had an extra 40lbs of kid to push in the jogger), but I did the whole way there with really no stops, other than for traffic, even up the hills into the park. So I guess I am getting better, even if I don't feel like I'm getting all that much faster, which is a nice feeling.

What's on the iPod

2009-05-05T11:29:00.001-07:00

I am currently absolutely obsessed and in love with Janelle Monae's Metropolis - The Chase Suite. It's freaking amazing, I'm just blown away by it every time I listen. I heard her somewhere on NPR during the South by Southwest music festival, and was really intrigued by the concept album - a kind of Bladerunner-esque dystopic vision starring an android named Cindi Mayweather who is going to be deactivated because she's fallen in love with a human. "Many Moons" came on during the half on Sunday and it was a wonderful blast during the beginning of the course. I can't wait to hear more from Janelle Monae, and am looking for videos to see the dystopic vision in action, not that you really need a video. The instrumentation and all leads to a very cinematic feel to the music, so it's easy to picture what I think she wants you to. Everyone should go out and get themselves a copy (you can get it on iTunes).

I put the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack on my iPod, too, and "Jai Ho" came on at some point during the half and also helped me pick up the pace. Pretty much every song on the soundtrack is great to have on my running mix. And Ben Folds' "Hiroshima" is thrilling me lately, too. I love the part when he says "There was blood on the key" "Oh my god." It just gets me every time. I don't think I heard "Hey Ya" during the race, but that's another favorite that always gets me going a little bit faster. But my all time favorite pick up the pace song is Sinead O'Connor's "No Man's Woman". No idea why, but that song just gets me totally pumped. It's like my go-to song when I need to make a push up a hill or just power through something.

More musings on the half marathon

2009-05-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

I must still be basking in the afterglow of yesterday's race, because I had a hard time reeling it in for today's easy run, doing it about 15 seconds per mile faster than I should have. But while I was out doing my easy 4.5 miles, I thought about some of the things that I started doing that probably helped with yesterday's race, things that I definitely should have been doing all along, and most certainly should have been doing prior to the marathon in Phoenix.

Hills. I started running the lower loop at the Highland Park Reservoir, rather than the upper one. I started doing this after last month's horrendous half marathon, and I really think that it helped a lot. I powered through the hills yesterday, unphased, because none of them actually seemed all that bad. "I've run that hill before," I thought as I came up to them, and then I smoked them. I think doing the hills also helped me to learn how to run downhill better and just let go on the hills. I think I made up a lot of time on the downhills, something I was too tired to do during the last half marathon, thanks to starting out too quickly.

Speed and pace. I was conscious to run at a MUCH slower pace than usual this past week, and to not do very high mileage, and though I was worried that it would hurt me in the end, especially since I haven't done a long run in a few weeks, thanks to being sick, it seemed to really help. I was nice and fresh and not exhausted for the race. I'll definitely be sticking with the slower easy pace and adding in some speed work to try to get me going even faster at races. I definitely have the potential to be running faster than I am, at least in races.

Taper. I had planned to taper, really. But the length of the taper was kind of accidental, since I had only planned to taper for a week before the race, and I ended up tapering for 3 weeks because I had to take a whole week off because I was sick. But I felt great once I started running after that week (even though I was irrationally worried that I wouldn't be able to run at all and would totally lose all my strength and all after a week off).

So all these things together, plus the absolutely perfect long race weather, led to this being not only my best half marathon time, but really, probably the best race I've ever run, in terms of how I felt the whole time, my mental state, etc. It was the polar opposite of the marathon in January, where it was hard and unpleasant from the very beginning. This one was great the whole time, just really fabulous. I haven't even found the right word for how good this race has made me feel. Truly, it'll be a hard one to top.

Redeemed!

2009-05-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

The Pittsburgh Marathon and Half Marathon was today, after 6 years on hiatus, and I was just so excited to be running the half. I think it has something to do with it being a race that I've been watching all my life, as well as being one that goes through so many neighborhoods that I know and love. Even though the half marathon course didn't go through my neighborhood (the full one did, though - mile 21 was just two blocks down the road from my house), I still was pumped for it, but definitely feeling a bit gunshy after my past few races having been so unpleasant. I had decided if today's race was miserable, I was just going to swear off racing, since clearly it would mean I was doing something very wrong. So mentally, there was a lot riding on this race.

When my stomach started acting up again, I wasn't optimistic about the outcome today. Haakan and I stood in the kitchen at 5:30am, saying "Why are we doing this again?" But we were on our way with no major difficulties, Haakan leaving early, Byrno (who was also up for the half) and I leaving after my sister showed up to watch the kids (thank you, thank you, thank you, Jessica!). We found parking, found Haakan, and all was going according to plan. I found my pace area and said good bye and good luck to Haakan and Byrno, and prepared to just do it, however it came out. My goal was to keep to around a 10 minute mile, to bet my previous time (2:12:22), and to not feel like a soggy pile of doodoo when the race was over.

And it was amazing. The race went better than I could have ever hoped. I feel like I have redeemed myself after so many miserable races as of late. I PR'ed with a finish time of 2:08:16 and a pace of 9:48/mile, and most importantly, I felt GREAT during the whole thing. I ran the entire course, I didn't stop once, even only slowed down at water stops, and I really felt wonderful throughout. I'd say that the only difficult points came in the last 3 miles. There was a lot of uphill and I was having a hard time pacing myself properly and ended up pushing a bit harder than I wanted to up the hills, but it all worked out in the end. And as much as I wish I had trained for the full marathon, I was very happy to split off from the full marathon runners to finish up the half. I was ready to be done at that point. I really turned it on during the last mile so that I could be sure to come in at 2:10 or under, and I had quite a bit left to pour it on, more than I thought I would. So now breaking 2 hours doesn't seem so unachievable in a few months. I kept checking my pace, which was in the 10 minute mile range for the first few miles (which I had planned), but gradually I was able to pick it up a bit, averaging between 9:30 and 9:45 for the rest of the race.

I saw my mom twice along the course and she got some good pictures (she tells me), so that was nice. My sister wasn't able to get the kids out to see Haakan come through because it started to rain, but he says he didn't really notice, anyway. He finished in 3:28:35, which just blows me away. And Byrno finished in 2:17 and change, which is awesome for a first half marathon. I also saw a lot of very neat running going on. At the very start of the race, I passed a woman who had on a t-shirt that said on the back "I'm slow because of Mylee 4.2.09". I said "does your t-shirt say that you just had a baby last month?" And she said, "yeah, that's why I'm so slow." I said, "Honey, you're not slow. You just had a baby a month ago, you're hardcore!" I don't know how she did or if she was doing the full or the half marathon, but I thought that was pretty amazing that she was out there with a newborn. I had my water at the water station between miles 7 and 8 handed to me by a woman with a small baby in a moby wrap. I said "Hey! A babywearer!" and probably sounded like a total freak, but I was excited to see it. I also saw a little girl, maybe 4 years old, running holding her mom's hand as her mom started the second leg of the marathon relay. And I saw a couple, maybe husband and wife, cross the finish line wearing matching outfits and holding hands. It was sweet to see a couple supporting each other that way. And I got to see the winner cross the finish line, since I was there waiting for Byrno (who had already come through, but I didn't know that). Runners in the half were crossing the finish line at the same time, and I just thought how cool that would be, to cross the finish line with the winner.

I'm sure lots of hard core racers would disagree, but for me, it seems that doing well in a race is like a balancing act. How hard can I push myself and still complete the distance. I'm sure there are those who would say you should be pushing hard the entire time, but that hasn't worked out so well for me, maybe because I haven't trained as well as I've wanted to or as wisely as I should have. So I pushed, but not so hard that I felt like I couldn't recover, if that makes sense. I'm actually feeling kind of excited for The Race for the Cure 5k next weekend. My previous best 5k time is pretty unimpressive, 29:something, so I'm SURE I can beat that, especially with so much downhill on the course.

The humidity hits

2009-05-01T07:13:00.001-07:00

I did an easy 4.5 miles yesterday in prep for the half on Sunday and I think we can safely say that running in high humidity kind of sucks. It was like running through soup. I was soaked at the end, but I think a lot of that was just because I had to basically swim around the reservoir, since it wasn't actually all that warm. But it's amazing how the humidity can make what should have been a very pleasant run much more challenging than it otherwise would have been.

I think that was my last run before the race on Sunday, and I'm feeling very optimisitc about my chances of doing well. I'm hoping to at least maintain a 10 minute mile, if not a hair faster. The sub-2 hour half is just not going to happen this time, maybe because I didn't really do anything to train for it. I've been going along thinking that I can just kind of get faster without really putting in much effort, but clearly that's wrong since I'm not really getting any faster! I do feel a little bummed that I'm not doing the full marathon, and even very briefly entertained the stupid idea of switching to the full, but I'd just be setting myself up to fail. I keep forgetting that there's a whole big chunk of the course that goes over through Regent Square and over into Homewood - it doesn't go straight from Oakland into Highland Park like I keep wanting to think that it does. The half course is just so stupid, though, going through so many areas where no one really lives. Are there really going to be crowds to cheer us on? I certainly hope so. I've told my mom to come out and cheer for us, since she lives right off of North Avenue, and I should be pretty easy to spot in my neon green top. And hopefully the marathon is back to stay and I can do the full one next year or the year after. As Haakan keeps telling me, I've got plenty of years of marathoning ahead of me.

So now there's just the logistics to work out. We could eat early Italian before the race, or Chinese (since all that rice is carbs, right?), or Thai from up the street... decisions decisions.

Garmin love

2009-04-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

Haakan got me a Garmin 205 for my birthday and I seriously think I'm in love with it. I'm totally geeked out about how much info that snazzy little thing stores. Though I do wonder how accurate it is because my pace seems to jump around a lot according to it. I did my nice 3.5 miles today, trying to follow my new "run slower to run faster" plan, but I can't say I felt a whole lot different running slower than I did running faster. But I guess I've got to give it some time, right?

I'm very much looking forward to the Pittsburgh Half Marathon this weekend, and really really REALLY hoping that the weather cooperates. It's supposed to rain all week, so I'm just hoping that it finishes up before Sunday, since running in the rain isn't really something I want to do, and I'm sure Haakan doesn't want to do 26.2 in the rain, either. It's pretty exciting, though, that they've painted the feet on the road on the route now, and put down the mile markers, too. I love driving around and seeing "hey, here's the half marathon marker!" Gives me a little thrill somehow. And I'd be lying if I didn't admit that there was some tiny part of me that wishes I was doing the full marathon instead of the half, but it just wasn't a good idea given how hard Phoenix was. I wonder when I'll be able to run it, since next year probably isn't in the cards, but hopefully at some point I'll get to run the Pittsburgh Marathon, since it comes so close to my house and all. And in other fabulous news, my sister is able to watch the kiddos so that we don't have to investigate any other options, which would likely prove to be a logistical nightmare, and instead can do what's easiest for everyone. Well, everyone except my sister, of course, but I'm eternally grateful that she's able to watch the boys. And maybe they'll get to see Haakan run past, too.

Long time, no post

2009-04-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a long time since I posted anything, and in the meantime I've completed a full marathon (I'll get the report for that from the other laptop), another half marathon, and a 10K today. Come to think of it, all three of those races were HARD, like way harder than they should have been. And I think I've begun to figure out why. I think I've been running my training runs much too fast, and I think this is something that I need to rememdy as soon as possible. I've just been pushing too much, and when it comes time to run a race, there's nothing left to push. So here's what Runner's World tells me I should be doing in order to run a 2 hour half marathon (which will not be happening next weekend, unless I run through a wormhole or something like that).

10:34 easy run training pace

8:50 tempo run training pace

7:58 maximum oxygen training pace

7:23 speed form training pace

10:34-11:54 long run training pace

4:04/800 Yasso 800s training pace

So just looking at that list, I see right away that my easy pace is too fast, my tempo pace is too slow. So I really need to start being more aware of what I'm doing when I go out and run. I think I could run MUCH farther if I pull back my easy pace. And I need to reel it in by at least 40 seconds, since I've been averaging under a 10 minute mile for the easy stuff. I just wish I'd figured this all out earlier, I might have had a shot at a sub 2 hour half marathon next weekend. Now I'm just hoping to maintain a steady 10 minute mile and set a PR. Oh well, live and learn, right? Good thing I'm young, I've got plenty of years of races ahead of me.

Today's 10K, the Burgh's Pizza and Wings 10K, was miserable. Like beyond awful. My last half marathon was pretty pathetic, but I still beat my previous time by a good 2 minutes +. This was my slowest 10K ever, a good 10 minutes slower than my fastest. I think the biggest problem was that I got really dehydrated. It was hot, there wasn't a ton of water on the course, and I was too stupid to think to bring my own. So, lesson learned, when running in the heat, port own water. I'll also not make the mistake again of wearing glasses and a headwrap, because every time I had to fix the damn thing, I had to stop and take my glasses off. So, lesson learned, which may redeem the day. At any rate, I got in a run, and I was 12th in my age group (12th out of 20, but shhhh! don't tell anyone).

Narrowed it down

2008-10-09T05:57:00.000-07:00

So, I've got two contenders for a first marathon - either the Breast Cancer Marathon in Jacksonville, Florida in February or the Washington D.C. Marathon in March. Here are the pros and cons for each:

Breast Cancer Marathon
Pros:
Raises money for a good cause
Warm weather
I'd get to travel for it :)
Cons:
I'd have to travel for it
Might not be enough time to train
More expensive than DC with travel and lodging, etc

Washington D.C. Marathon
Pros:
I could drive and stay with Byrno
More time to train
I know D.C. so the course wouldn't be a total surprise
Cons:
D.C. in March? Potentially really icky weather
March might be a little late, I might like to do one sooner

So I'm kind of stuck right now, I don't know which to choose. If anyone actually reads this blog (and I don't think anyone does, lol) go ahead and weigh in on which one you think I should sign up for. Obviously I'm not insane, so I'm not going to do both, but I am going to do the Pittsburgh Marathon the first weekend in May (mile 19 comes right past my house, I'd be crazy NOT to run it!).

In other news, I got an email that my photos from the Great Race are online. They suck. I'm not even in the foreground of the finish one! Haakan's got like 5 photos, all of him looking like a runner. And they only got 1 of me, and I'm in the background. Guess you need to run with a much faster time in order to get a decent photo.

Lots has happened

2008-10-06T13:14:00.001-07:00

So, since my last post months and months ago, I've run the Ikea Half Marathon AND the Pittsburgh Great Race, and I'm very pleased with my performance in both. The half marathon I finished in 2:14:35, which works out to 10:17 minute/mile. Not super fast, but I finished the race fairly easily and it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Actually had a very nice chat with the woman running next to me from miles 7 through 13.1. I'm definitely looking forward to doing another, since I know I can run it much faster now, as my whole pace has improved a great deal.

The Great Race was the weekend before last, and I smoked my previous 10k time by a good 6 minutes, finishing in 55:17, which shocked the hell out of me since I had to stop and take a walking break right near the end. I just felt like I was going to throw up, it was not pleasant at all. I think I just pushed myself too hard, since my pace was 8:54 minutes/mile, which is pretty freaking speedy for me. Had I not had to stop and walk, I think I might have finished in under 54 minutes, but alas, I'll never know.

So now I'm on the lookout for a marathon to run in January or February. Haakan is going to run the Harrisburg Marathon in November, but there's no way I'll be ready for that (though I probably could do it if I had to, I think it would suck big time and I'd probably injure myself), so I'm looking for something a little bit later in the year. I want to do one before I do Pittsburgh in May, just to have one under my belt. I don't really want Pittsburgh to be my first, given that it's a pretty challenging course, but I haven't found a warm-weather one that I want to run yet. Maybe there's something in the Bay Area or something like that.

On the way to my marathon goal, I ran 10.25 miles yesterday, and I felt pretty good at the end, though I was seriously cold! I definitely need to get some cold-weather running gear - more long sleeved shirts and such, because it's ridiculous for me to be out running and get chilly like that - really puts a damper on the whole thing. I'm fighting some kind of annoying stomach bug, too (Haakan has the same thing), so that's also not helping things. I had miserable cramps the other night after I did 6 miles, but I felt pretty good after my 10 yesterday.

Hitting the wall?

2008-08-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

On the edge of my first half marathon (next Saturday), I feel like my get up and go has gotten up and went. My milage this week is shaping up to be very sad indeed. Didn't do my long run the past two weeks in a row, both because of timing issues. This seems to be a crucial problem for me - go too early in the day and I'm still tired, too late in the morning and it gets too hot, too late in the evening and it gets dark on me. It's just so hard to fit it in with kids and dinner and other things I need to get done during the day. And I want to make running a priority because I enjoy it, but I have so many other priorities already, how can I really put anything else up at the top of my list? And I know another part of the problem is that I've been staying up much too late at night, waking up multiple times with the kids, and I'm just exhausted. No wonder I'm ready to throw in the towel after 3 miles, I'm just absolutely beat! My pace isn't suffering all that much, though, which is nice, but jeez, I need to figure out how to work things better so that I have time to run, time to sleep, and time to do everything else I need to do in my life.

5k number two under the belt

2008-08-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I did indeed improve on my last 5k time - 32:20 - but didn't come close to breaking 28 minutes. Finished the Run Around the Square in 29 and short change (let's just say 29:00 since it took a little bit to get across the start). The first mile was super fast - 8:50 - but then the second mile and a quarter was ALL up hill and it totally sucked. I mean it sucked BAD. I had to stop and walk for a little bit right after the second mile marker because I was just beat. And the signs said there was going to be a water stop, but there wasn't! I might not have slowed down to a walk had I not thought there was going to be water (which I had to stop to drink, anyway, otherwise it just ended up on my face). The last bit was all downhill, and in retrospect I really could have floored it and probably finished at least 30 seconds faster, but hey, what did I know at the time? It'll be better next year, right?

With only two weeks until the Ikea Half Marathon, I'm in a little bit of a panic. 13.1 miles is a LONG way to run, way farther than I've ever run before. I probably should still do it, just to see if I can, but wow, it's not going to be pretty. Definitely there will be no records set at this one, at least not by me.

5K tomorrow

2008-08-22T15:30:00.001-07:00

So, I've stopped putting my stats in every post (obviously, since I haven't posted in a while), but anyone who's curious can see them here, thanks to the good folks at Runner's World.

Since I smoked my first 10K a few weeks back with a finish time of 1:01:26, which is like 9:58/mile (also known, by me, as wicked fast), and some of the fastest splits I've ever run, I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow's Run Around the Square in Regent Square. I did the Race for the Cure back in May, my first 5k, with a finish time of 32:20, and I definitely run my regular runs at a faster pace than that, so I'm shooting for at least 28 minutes tomorrow. Haakan's shooting for under 20, but he's crazy like that. I like to keep my goals attainable. By me, anyway.

We're kicking around the idea of running a marathon in Harrisburg at the beginning of November. Can't decide if this is a good idea (sooner marathon, don't have to wait until May, not too far to drive, my aunt and uncle can probably watch the kids) or a bad one (it'll be November in central PA - not a time I usually think about going outside to run really long distances for fun in the snow vortex that is Amish Country). Either way, I'll at least be doing the Ikea Half Marathon next month, though I'm not sure how great of an idea that is. My longest run to date is 9 miles, and I failed miserably at my long run yesterday, barely slogging through 3 miles before I gave up and came home. I did much better today - a fast 4.7 miles - but having had such a bad run kind of freaks me out. Guess it's not worth dwelling on, though.

2008-07-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 7/15

Goal: 3 miles

Ran: 3 miles (with the single jogger)

Where: reservoir upper track

Time: 32:37 minutes

None too shabby for running with the single jogger. Oh how I loathe that single jogger. It pulls so badly to the right, I feel like my arms are getting more of a workout than my legs. It just kills me because it's so lightweight compared to the double, I could be just pushing it along if the stupid thing would just go in a straight line.

2008-07-15T04:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday 7/12

Goal: 5-6 miles

Ran: 4.5 miles

Where: upper reservoir track

Time: 50 minutes (11 minute mile-ish)

Sunday 7/13

Goal: 2 miles

Ran: 2.25 miles

Where: upper reservoir track
Time: 22 minutes

That long run on Saturday just about killed me. In retrospect I think I made a few fatal errors. First of all, I waited too long to go. I wanted to go at like 6am and just get it over with, but Haakan slept in, then he wanted to come, too, and when all was said and done we weren't out the door until like 10:30. I just got too hot and tired by the end. Plus, the bikram yoga class I went to with Jessica left me sorer than sore, which definitely didn't do me any favors. I'm going to have to rethink having my long run the day after that yoga class. But at least Haakan was able to carry my water for me, which is always nice. But when he left after the kids got restless, I had to carry my own water bottle, which just annoyed the hell out of me and didn't help my mental state any. So I felt like a big loser for not doing the whole 5 miles, but hey, live and learn, right?

Sunday was a bit better. Still sore as hell, but at least it was only 2 miles that I had to do, and since mile 2 comes up before the end of the lap, it's easier to just do the extra quarter mile so that I don't have to walk in the sun any more than necessary. I do need to get myself a couple of new sports bras, though. Oliver seems to actually be afraid of my black one. When I came into his room wearing it to get him dressed, he backed away from me saying "I don't like those" and pointing at my chest. he kept eyeing me distrustfully even after I'd put my shirt on. No idea what that's all about, but I guess the lack of support in the stupid thing IS a little scary. I could spend a fortune on running clothes, and I probably should invest in at least a couple of bras and a few more pairs of shorts, but I think it'll have to wait a couple of weeks at least. Let's see if I can keep things up before I plow a ton of money into snazzy running clothes.

I conquer the double jogger

2008-07-10T16:44:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 7/9

Goal: 3 miles

Ran: 3 miles

Where: upper reservoir track

Time: 29:00 (9:45 minute mile-ish?)

Thursday 7/10

Goal: 2 miles

Ran: 2.25 miles (WITH the jogging stroller. Whoot!)

Where: upper reservoir track

Time: 24:something (left the ipod downstairs)

Since Haakan had bowling tonight, I decided to take the kids running with me, rather than try to fit it in after he got home. My first mistake was not getting up early and just doing it at like 6am when Oliver informed us that it was time to get up and eat pancakes. Mistake number 2 was probably running without putting on sunblock, since I'm sporting some nice sunburn from my run on Wednesday, during with I also got rain poured down on me during a torrential thunderstorm. Kind of unfair to have gotten sunburned AND soaked. But I digress. Since today was only a 2 mile run, I decided I could definitely do that with the kids in the double jogger, and I set off around the upper track at the reservoir. And the kids were great, a total dream. Oliver was sweet, Elliot was happy, and for a good 5 minutes, they were laughing together as Elliot kept putting his leg over onto Oliver's side and Oliver would grab it and tickle it. Truly warmed my heart, made me feel like this was why I had two kids, so that they could have the opportunity to play together and laugh with one another. There were a whole bunch of baby ducks up there, so after the run everyone got out to look at them. Oliver was counting them, asking me which one was the mommy duck, which ones were the babies ("the little ones or the big ones, mommy?"), and Elliot just pointed and yelled "BAA!" at them, and then tried to vault himself out of my arms and over the railing. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm pushing over 80lbs with the weight of the kids and the stroller, and the fact that they are, unfortunately, rarely this well behaved in the stroller together, I would take them jogging with me much more often.

Starting a program

2008-07-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

Goal: 3 miles

Ran: 3 miles

Where: upper reservoir track

Time: 29:58 (basically, a 10 minute mile)

I talked to Haakan about it, being that he is my running guru (though I really don't want to tell him that, he doesn't need the ego inflated), and he told me to just pick a 10K training schedule and then see how I feel once we get closer to the half-marathon. I have exactly 12 weeks until the Great Race, and I do fully intend to run that, and I think the half-marathon is like the weekend or two before that, so I guess we'll just have to see. So I picked the program in the Competitive Runner's Handbook that Haakan picked up a while back, and since the 10K and half-marathon training is basically the same for the first few weeks, I'll just see how it goes. It's kind of nice to see training with achievable goals, makes me feel like I'm in better shape than I probably am.

So I did my run around the upper track at the reservoir today, mostly because it's flat and I did miserably last time I tried to run up and down the hills on the lower track. Didn't help that someone's chihuahua chased me past a barbeque and I kept having to dodge car doors and misbehaving children. And I still haven't figured out if I prefer to run it clockwise or counter-clockwise. Downhill-big uphill-downhill vs uphill-big downhill-uphill. Probably six to one, half dozen the other, but I think that one is mentally easier than the other. Or maybe I'm just kind of pathetic that way, who knows.

But the run today wasn't bad at all. Weather was nice, not too humid or anything. There were teeny tiny baby ducks (and no dead ones this time, which is always nice, since then I can try to forget that I saw the dead ones last time) and not too many walkers or runners, so I didn't have to dodge around people too much. The fountain was inexplicably not working properly on my last lap, but it was still a pretty good run. I could have eeked out another lap if I really had to.

Here's my OT question of the day: when you see big hunks of acrylic hair lying on the ground, where on earth does it come from? I fully expected to see a bald woman when I got to the park because it seemed like every few feet there was like a handful of red curly hair. I find hair on my street all the time, and it just puzzles the hell out of me: who loses big wads of hair while walking down the street? Or is there a lot of hairpulling going on that I just don't know about? Or do those chunks of weave just kind of randomly come loose? maybe the glue melts in the sun if they're not sewn in right. There was no bald woman at the top of the hill for me to ask, so I guess I may never know...

bad long run

2008-07-05T19:50:00.001-07:00

That about sums it all up. Bad long run today. Not even a long run. I tried to do 6 miles around the lower track at the reservoir, and instead only made it 3. I should know better than to try to do a long run on the hilly course like that. Doh! Got a nice blister on the side of my foot, too, which I'm sure isn't helped by the fact that my shoes are like a year old (not that they got much use in the past year).

I've been looking into doing the Ikea half marathon in September. Is it bad that I just don't want to commit to it yet? I think I'm just going to do the 10k training and see how I feel after a couple more weeks. I need to find the time to actually go and run regularly, preferably without the kids in the jogger, since that seriously handicaps me. And usually puts me into a bad mood because one or both of them usually ends up yelling to get out and go to the playground before I'm done.

So for this week, I ran 2 miles with Elliot, 3 miles yesterday, and 3 miles today. I really ought to be keeping better track so that I know what my base milage is. I think I'm supposed to be starting at like 15-20miles a week as a base for the half marathon training, and I'm pretty sure I'm not doing that, but give me another couple of weeks to get back into the swing of things.

A marathon? Am I crazy?

2008-06-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Now that I don't have a newborn in the house and am getting back into shape (now losing the pre-baby weight, aka the "grad school weight") I thought maybe it would be a good idea to have a goal for when I'm running. Cool, goals are good, right? So what do I shoot for - keeping in mind that even when I was running every day in college, I never did more than 3 miles and no faster than a 10 minute mile. I did the Race for the Cure on Mother's Day, and that was alot of fun (though my time of 32:20 wasn't great), so I thought "sure, I can do this again." And the hubby and I are going to sign up to run the Great Race in September, maybe I'll do the Run Around the Square 5k in August. But then what? A 10k seems like such a modest goal and since we're going to wait at least a year to have another child, I think I can aim a little higher, right?

A few weeks ago, I heard on the radio that after a few years hiatus, the Pittsburgh Marathon is coming back again since they finally found some sponsorship. Mile 21 (or maybe now it's mile 19 - they redid the course a few years back) comes almost right past my house and we've always watched the runners going by, since the time I was a kid. So wouldn't it be cool to actually run in it? Forgetting for a few moments that the farthest I've ever run is 6 miles, and it took me a little over an hour to do that, wouldn't it just be cooler than cool to run an actual marathon? Wouldn't it help to put me and Haakan on equal footing in the running department, since he did the Columbus Marathon 3 years ago, right after Oliver was born? Wouldn't that give me a little bit of bragging rights? And help to get my saggy ass back into shape? And be a good excuse to buy some cute new running shorts?

Ok, so some of those reasons are stupid. But here's the reason I'm going to run the Pittsburgh Marathon next spring. Because I want to, damn it. Because I think I can. Because if I gave birth to two children with no drugs, a marathon ought to be right up my alley. So what you have before you is the blog I'm hoping to keep while I train for the marathon next May. I think Haakan and I are going to run a half marathon in March to prepare for the one in May, but other than that and the Great Race in September, the next 10 months is wide open as far as races, etc, goes. Hopefully I'll be able to keep track of everything here, and all the 30ish moms who happen across my little blog will find some inspiration that you don't have to be a natural athlete (which I am certainly not) to be able to accomplish something.