Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Activities

Weekends with a toddler means lots of errands and catching up on everything that didn't get done during the week.

Saturday:

We had scheduled a play date with friends for our girls which meant we would be leaving our doggie alone for a few hours, so I had to tire her out.  A 3 mile speed walk usually does the trick. I put my running clothes on and my daughter was game to sit in her stroller for our 'run'.

The route I took with the doggie and my daughter is one same one I usually run. When I'm walking, I try to take some photos, since my phone is in the armband when I'm running. 

One of the two bridges on the loop

By the end of the walk, I'm good and sweaty and the doggie is tired out.

Sleepy time for the boo bear.

And we're off to our play date and the doggie (and mommy) got some exercise.

Sunday:

I've been contemplating a 15K in a couple of weeks which means I need to get my mileage up. I met up with some ladies from a running group at a nearby park for a 5 mile run.  I'd been to the dog park here before, but I had not run the path. 

Park view

 It was really nice to run with a group of women, since last summer I was doing my long runs by myself. This summer my running partner and I are on different schedules so we can't always do our long runs together.  Knowing there's a group that gets together regularly is helpful when I need that extra push to get out there and get it done. One thing I love about summer runs is when I leave the house before everyone gets up, it's still light outside.

Path view

We weren't the only ones out there getting a run in at 6:30am.  By the time we were done, the park was starting to fill with people fishing, teams getting ready for street hockey and kids playing on the playground.  The added bonus of getting 5 miles in was I still had my whole day left to spend with the family feeling accomplished.

How do you juggle training & other commitments?

Hello new shoes, let me show you around!

When I was a rower in college, I could get away with having 1 pair of sneakers the entire year.  Now I'm looking at breaking my new ones in and getting some more mileage out of the ones I currently wear and will probably be looking at a back-up pair later this fall.  I'm definitely going to surpass last year's miles in the next couple of weeks.

This summer I've been doing some runs without starting my Runmeter because I wanted to run for a while without thinking about the data before re-starting training for fall races.  I know I've put more miles in than what is reflected above, which got me thinking I should find a new pair of shoes.

So what shoes to pick? I loved my Mizuno Wave Alchemy 8's but they were discontinued so I've been running with my Brooks Addiction 10.  I do like them, but during the half marathon in May they started to feel heavy around Mile 9 (I mean my whole body started to feel heavy by that point, so I probably can't totally blame it on my shoes). However, you should go into race day feeling a comfortable as possible and not worrying about how your shoes are going to hold up. Last month, I went to my local running shop and tried on a couple of different shoes and ran on the treadmill to get the feel of them.  So I ended up back with the Mizuno's and this time with the Wave Rider 16. I've never had brightly colored running shoes before, so it's been taking a little bit getting used to their brightness compared to my dirt covered, well-worn shoes that used to be white.

As you can see my Brooks got a lot of love and have been with me on a lot of runs.  We've completed several firsts together (1st half marathon, 1st 5 mile race, 1st lost toenail) so I'm a bit sad to see them go, well minus losing the toenail.  I still have some mileage left so they'll come in handy during the transition period and they will find a good home once the transition is complete.

Do you have a favorite pair of running shoes that you don't want to transition out of? 

One more race on the calendar...

I got into the B.A.A. Half Marathon!

Last Tuesday, my friend asked me if I wanted to run the Boston Half Marathon with her.  She's doing the B.A.A Distance Medley and already in for the half.  I get a rush thinking about the next race (and then on race day), so this seemed like an awesome idea.
I did have a moment's hesitation about it since I'm doing the Army Ten Miler the following weekend and briefly worried I would be over-extending myself. I decided to go for it and realized I can use these as training runs since I'm doing two half marathons 6 days apart (one on Sunday and the other on Saturday in November) and I need to train my body to get used to doing back-to-back races. Not to mention the 10K and Half Marathon in January and the Glass Slipper Challenge in February.
In order to think about training for all of this,  I had to get in.  She said it would sell out quickly, so I set a reminder for myself to try to register as soon as registration opened at 10.  At 10:07 I got the confirmation email that my registration had been received.  The race sold out at 10:12.  Later that afternoon it was confirmed, I was in! Wow.
Growing up in Upstate NY, Boston was the closest "big city" to us.  We spent a lot of weekend exploring there growing up and I have a lot of wonderful memories there.  I have a lot of friends that live there now, so it will be really nice to see the city from a runner's perspective and having good friends cheer me and 7,499 other runners on along the way. 82 days a counting...(better start getting my mileage up).

1 Vacation, 1 5k, 1 lost toenail

We just got back from our annual trip to Wisconsin to see family, I didn't do as many official workouts as I planned, but I did carry my 30+ pound toddler around a lot (so that has to count for something, right?)

About a month ago, I started looking for a 5K to run while we were there and came across the Oshkosh Sawdust Days 5k.  My husband signed us up (along with my brother & sister-in-law). I thought since it was in the morning it would be cooler than the last 5k I ran the week before. It was a little cooler, but more humid.  There was a surprisingly small group of runners (90-100 max).  I thought I could finish the race in under 30 minutes, since it was along the water and flat.  My 1st mile split was 9:30 and doing a quick calculation in my head, I thought I could do it.  Then the thirst and heat hit me.  I quickly regretted that I did not bring water with me. I hit the first (and only water station) and I felt ok, and then I started to feel myself overheat.  Instead of running on the road, I started running on the sidewalk to try to catch some shade by the trees.  I decided to walk a little to catch my breath and cool down a little, so my mile 2 split was 10:45.  I abandoned all plans of a sub 30 min 5k, instead I re-focused and thought about the last 5k time and decided I just had to finish ahead of that. My husband was feeling better than I was so he finished ahead of me and then met me at about 500m out to run it in with me and push me to the finish line. I ended up finishing it 4 minutes ahead of of the previous 5k but most importantly, I finished.

As I was getting my socks on to head to the race, my toenail peeled 90% off.  After I ran my first half marathon in May, it definitely was discolored and I had a nice blister to go with it.  I had been keeping an eye on it, so I wasn't so surprised that it decided to part ways with my toe and it didn't hurt.  So I taped it up and ran the 5K and then the next day I peeled it right off. So I met 2 of my three goals for the run (1. finish, check. 2. don't finish last, check.  3. don't lose toenails, at least the new one is starting to grow back...)