Catching up...and learning something new

I've been away from the blog for a few weeks, and one of my New Year's Resolutions is to be on a consistent blogging schedule, so why not start early.  Since the Trenton Half, I've been focusing on cross training and keeping up the regular runs to get ready for 2014 starting with WDW Marathon weekend where I'll be running the 10K and Half Marathon.  This is my first Disney race and our extended family is making the trip there...so there will be a lot going on that weekend. So what have I been doing since the last race?

My husband, daughter and I did a Turkey Trot 5K Thanksgiving Day, where my husband and I took turns pushing kiddo in the jogging stroller.

Kiddo and I are in our matching Sparkle skirts

At the very cold start, kiddo has the best seat in the house.

The view from the first hill 

My favorite part of this race was seeing my kiddo so happy to run the final part of the race by herself.  I hope I instill a love of exercise and running as she grows up.  

I've also been running without tracking the data which has been nice, just go get out there and run and not necessarily be constantly thinking about how fast (or not) I've been going.  I haven't completely stopped using data, I'm just using data for check-ins to mark my progress every once in a while. 

I've also started running with my dog, which is definitely an exercise in patience as she would rather sniff everything than run with me.  Once we get going, she is definitely a happy camper and good to run along. 

Mid trot.

Yesterday I did a double workout, first with the trainer in the morning and then a 6 mile run in the afternoon.  The weather has been unseasonably warm after the snow last week (like 66 degrees yesterday) so my usual running path is now muddy and icy.  The good news about this is that it forced me to find a new trail, which is always good to have a backup place to run.  

Late afternoon sky at the end of the run yesterday

So, since it was so warm out yesterday, I decided to put on my warmer weather running gear (which also happens to be extremely bright). I put my keys in the back zipper pocket and as soon as I start running I realize my pants are falling down (I've never had a problem with these pants before).  I take my keys out of the pocket and stick them in my bra hoping that'll solve the problem...which solves the first problem. Now I have a new problem, my keys are poking me. There is no drawstring on the pants so I can't make them tighter, I also know there isn't enough daylight to go back in the house and get another pair of pants and run 6 miles before the sun goes down, so I try to fold the top over on the pants to keep them up...that doesn't work.  I then try to hike them up really high so that hopefully they stay up, which doesn't work either.  I finally realize that my shirt covers my pants so I'm not exposing myself and I can focus on running instead of my clothing.  Lesson learned: wear pants that have a waistband (and retire these pants from my running rotation).

Post run 

Have you had any running mishaps?

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?