Quicky Update

Hello hello!

Happy Hump Day! This week has been feeling so long for some reason. I’m counting down our days until our getaway to the Sierras in a few weeks, so I have a feeling everything is going to feel slow until we’re in the car on our way!

This week I’ve gotten back on the running/training train and it feels great. I had my first tempo workout in a looooong time on Monday and it felt so, so good to let the legs fly. It was tough and I remembered why I hate speedwork so much, but man, there’s nothing like seeing a 7:41 average at the end of your 5 mile run to get your juices flowing! I think I inadvertently gave myself a little rest break in between tapering for the half, and then taking the week after super easy. I feel really pumped and excited to start stepping up my training! I’ve got a lot of work to do in the next few months.

The wisdom teeth extraction went swimmingly–thanks for the good wishes! I was in and out of the chair in about 15 min and remember exclaiming “There’s four of everything!” on the way home (Thanks blurred vision). I spent Friday sleeping, watching “How I Met Your Mother” and eating milkshakes, applesauce and mashed potatoes.

Saturday I woke up feeling really good and it was a beautiful day! I couldn’t bear to stay cooped up inside! I ended up taking Rudy for an easy 2 mile walk (I didn’t try to run at all!) and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the back yard in the hammock reading.

It was downright lovely.

Sunday, I ventured out for an easy 2.5 mile run and then spent the day doing my typical Sunday chores: laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. I’m surprised by how quickly I bounced back and I’m super grateful for it!

I’m still on the mushy food diet, which is just so boring. It consists of oatmeal, soup, scrambled eggs, applesauce and jello. I’m not much of a hamburger person, but man what I wouldn’t do for a giant hamburger with some french fries. I miss bread like you wouldn’t believe. Yesterday, I found myself scrolling through the breakfast section of pinterest staring hungrily at all the glorious carby foods.

I’m kind of in shock that it’s October tomorrow. I have a feeling the next six months are going to fly past us! So many things to look forward to.

Anyways, that’s all I’ve got for you this morning! Have a happy Wednesday!

Friday Things!

Happiest of Fridays! Any fun weekend plans? In about 3.5 hours, I’ll be getting my wisdom teeth removed from my head, so my plans are to relax, relax, and do some relaxing (and maybe some homework…womp womp). I’m heading into work for a few hours this morning, and I’m actually really happy about this. It will be good to have a distraction from the fact that I can’t eat or drink anything. It’s seriously the worst news to tell a runner that loves her morning coffee and peanut butter toast more than any other meal of the day. I almost considered not being put under, just so I could eat my breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day, after all.

I already apologized for being the Grumpy McGrumperson I’m going to be at work today.

Here’s what I found on the internet this week!

I really related to this. I’m not a creative by any means, but I loved the underlying message of this article. “There is no magical, perfect version of you waiting in the future. You are here. This is all you have. Live exactly the way you want to live, starting right now.”

I’m absolutely guilty of being connected too much. I’ve read a lot of articles on the importance of unplugging, but this one is by far the one that resonated most with me. It’s made all the more poignant, since Scott Dinsmore lost his life while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Let’s all unplug a little more and vow to spend more time connecting with the people we’re with, and not on Instagram. (Manfriend, I promise to do this more often!)

This is literally my worst nightmare.

Are you sick of Boston talk yet? Sorry. This absolutely blows my mind. Only 5,000 spots?! The goal is to be able to register during the first week next year.

I love Andi’s blog, I loved her book. I loved her Ted Talk. She did this podcast a few weeks ago and I loved it too. The way she speaks about being healthy and loving yourself is something I can relate to and appreciate that she talks so candidly about it. If you’ve got an hour to spare, I highly recommend listening to it.

Pretty sure this was a Bones episode.

I think this is absolutely fascinating. Jeff recently got a Surface Tablet for work, and he’s been playing solitare on the touch screen. It’s crazy to think how far technology has come in 20 years.

I’m no beer connoisseur (don’t ask me to describe any undertones), but just a FYI for those of you that are. I’ll continue drinking my beers in whatever glasses I’m handed.

I may not be able to get a job with my history degree, but this is exactly why it’s important to have some background knowledge oh historical events. I mean, geezus.

This made my elementary school self SO happy. I remember watching All That and loving Kenan and Kel. “Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger….”

Have a fab weekend everyone!

Fall Racing: Schedule and Goals

Welp, it’s officially Fall.

I’ve lamented the end of Summer, but I am excited for Fall running! It also doesn’t hurt that I just ordered myself some fun new cold-weather gear and am excited to wear it.

With the first race of the season behind me, I’m starting to look at my calendar and get excited about all the awesome races I have coming up in the next couple of months! I’ve never raced so much in a short amount of time. In the past I’ve kept it to a half marathon weeks and then eventually a full marathon, and that’s all I do in a calendar year.

I wanted to do something different this year though. I wanted to race more, race differently, and have a lot of fun doing it!

Coming up I’ve got the following:

• Soulstice Mountain Trail Race, October 10th. (11 miles with some insane climbs) Another trail race, with some intense elevation change, I don’t have too  much in mind for this other than to enjoy it. Soulstice is a huge event for the trail running community in Flag, and I’m really excited to be a part of it this year!
• Ragnar McDowell Mountain. (November 6&7, 15ish miles total). I’ve never done a Ragnar and I’m really looking forward to my first and have it be a trail race as well. I’ve heard great things about it from people on my team that have done it before.
• Girls on the Run 5k. (November 21) This isn’t actually a race, but I’m including it anyway. The AZ Oiselle gals are meeting up to run with a girl from Girls on the Run and help her finish her 5k. I’m really excited to do this. Right before I started working at the gallery, I had been looking into becoming a coach for Girls on the Run, but unfortunately didn’t have the time then. I’m excited to meet the Oiselle ladies and help out at such an awesome event. I’ll probably do a longer training run beforehand to get some marathon-training worthy miles in.
• Tucson Half Marathon (Tentative. December 6). I haven’t registered for this yet, but I am seriously contemplating it. J and I would make a weekend out of it–my best friend and younger brother are in Tucson, so we could go and spend time with them, and I could run a half and have a solid test of my fitness with 10 weeks to go before the marathon. It’s a net downhill course and I got it in my mind that it would be fun to shoot for my sub-1:40 there.

Since marathon training will officially kickstart in November, I’m trying to figure out how I want to balance my training for a goal race, while also racing quite a bit. The thing I’m really quite excited for, is I’m going to have quite the base already built up before marathon training starts. I want to keep my long runs at about 10-13 miles for the next few weeks. I was considering “tapering” for the Soulstice Mountain run in a few weeks, but since I am taking this week very easy, I’ll treat the next few weeks as training, and include Soulstice as a harder effort long run.

With some of these things in mind, here are my goals for this training season.

1. Stay Healthy. Run Smart. First and foremost, treat my body with love and care. I’m taking it easy this week after my back really started to hurt on Monday’s run. Since then, I’ve done a barre workout and a vinyasa yoga session. This morning, I put the treadmill at a 10% incline and walked uphill for 2 miles (good practice for Soulstice!) and then did 2 easy miles to test out the back. It felt much better and I’m confident that I’ll be back at it next week. The important thing was, however, that I realized I needed to let it rest, and that’s what I did. It’s no sprained ankle, but it did cost me a few miles, and that’s okay. I have plenty of time to run all the miles. I want to let my body rest when it needs to rest and be okay skipping a workout here and there. Maybe that’ll be an extra easy run one week, or an extra rest day completely. I’m not going to make myself stick to a hard and fast schedule with such a long season ahead of me. Keeping myself healthy and feeling good–avoiding the burnout–will be imperative to reaching my ultimate goal.
2. Speedwork! I’ve neglected any kind of regimented speedwork for almost 7 months now, and I can tell. I’ve hit a few sub-8’s on runs, but overall an 8 min/mile pace still feels like a lot of effort–and that’s gotta change. Since my endurance is built and I’ve got a solid base to work with, the next few weeks are going to see an introduction to speed workouts. Eventually, I’d like to get one track-like workout in, a fartlek/tempo/progression run, and fast miles during my long run each week. My biggest barrier during a marathon is falling apart once I start to feel fatigued. I’m hoping that by incorporating more speedwork (and sticking to it!), will help me in the last few miles of the marathon.
3. Stretch/yoga/roll: Again, something I always say I need to do and never do it. I recently signed up for a trial subscription to Jasyoga. It’s only $4.99/month and she’s got several short “reset” yoga videos (I’m talkin 10-15 min). It’s completely doable and will be hard to justify my way out of NOT doing them. If I can incorporate them after a hard run/longer run and give my body more TLC during training, I’m pretty confident I’ll stay more fresh and enjoy myself a whole lot more.
4. Don’t be afraid to say no. I’m working full time, going to school, and training for a 3:30 marathon. If all I want to do is come home after work, crash on the couch and watch TV, I’m going to. I am not going to be afraid to tell anybody no, if I don’t feel like being social.
5. Maintain balance. On the other hand of that though, I don’t want to completely become a hermit until February 14th. I do want to ensure that I’m spending time with the people I love, and enjoying myself. It’s all about balance people!
6. Pay attention to nutrition. It happens every cycle. I get busy, my days get long and crazy and I start to eat like crap. I want to be better about meal planning/prepping on the weekends so Jeff AND myself are still eating well during the next few months.
7. HAVE FUN! I want to enjoy every second of this. I want to work hard and see the results. I want to enjoy every race. I want to meet new people and maybe find friends to run cold, winter miles with. I want to toe the start line in February, after months of work, and feel excited for the 26.2 ahead of me. I don’t want to feel dread and burnt out from it!

   So there you have it! Bring it on fall! Let’s see what you’ve got!

Race Report: Flagstaff Half Marathon

Hello there! I thought I’d write about this race when it was nice and fresh in my mind. I didn’t run much during the week before it–about 9 miles total and nothing too special–so you’re getting this instead of a training log. Without further ado, here’s my experience at the Flagstaff Half.

The Flagstaff Half Marathon was held this past Saturday, September 19, at the Nordic Center, just north of Flagstaff. The race, all on hiking trails, boasted 1120 feet of elevation gain and was just shy of an actual half marathon distance, clocking in at 12.54 miles.

The start time was set for 9am, and my friend Jamie was coming to with to spectate. When I registered for the race, I had planned to do it for fun since it was here in town, and told Jeff not to plan on coming. He, therefore, made other plans and I was excited to have a friend come to watch me race! I told Jamie to be at our place around 7:45 since I wasn’t sure how long it would take us to get out there and I treat races much like I treat being at the airport: I want LOTS of time to use the bathroom and no chance of missing the start.

I climbed into bed around 9:30 Friday night, set my alarm for 7 and had a great night’s sleep. I’ll say one thing, I LOVE being able to sleep in my bed the night before a race. It happens so rarely for me that it’s a real treat! I woke up Saturday morning not sure how much time I had until my alarm went off. I went to check my phone and…it was off! Before going to bed the night before, I had had the grand idea of installing the new system upgrade. Turns out, when you do that, you have to walk through the set up before your phone turns on. Frantically, I started going through while screaming inside “WHAT TIME IS IT?!?!” (nevermind my perfectly charged iPad was laying right next to me). Relief flooded me when I saw it was only 7:15.

I hopped up, got dressed, put on the coffee and started making my toast with PB and banana. Luckily, since this was a fun run, I wasn’t terribly stressed. I ate and drank my coffee, chatted with Jeff and waited for Jamie. True to form she was there right at 7:45. I filled her cup with coffee, said goodbye to the man, and we headed for the race.

We got there in plenty of time. It was kind of chilly at the beginning which was nice. I was worried about it being so hot at by 9 am, but I was able to keep my sweatshirt on for a while before the race. I hit the porta potties a few times, drank some water, and enjoyed hanging around chatting before the start.

At about 8:55 we all started lining up, and the race director went over how the trail was marked and what to look for.

Can you spy my orange Rogas?

(Sidebar: I’m due to receive my Oiselle singlet Monday. I was a weeee bit disappointed not to have it to run in on Saturday)

I made sure I had my picky bar in the my back pocket and tried to think of a game plan. I figured I’d take it easy on the uphills and try to gain some time back on the downhills. I didn’t want to go out too fast, so I decided to run completely on feel.

At 9:00 on the nose, we were off!

As soon as we were off and running, I felt the heat of the day. There was a nice breeze at the start line, but once we were in the woods, that was blocked and there were several patches that were exposed and in the hot sun. Despite that, I settled in, running at a pace that felt good and enjoyed the scenery.

A quarter of a mile into it, we started climbing. I settled into what I felt was a maintainable pace. Pretty soon, I looked up and realized I was sitting in second place for females. I got super excited and was all “holy shit. Maybe I’ll place!” Not too shortly after that though, a girl passed me. We then started to head downhill, I opened up my stride and passed her again.

My watch beeped for the first mile (yes. We hadn’t even hit the first mile and I was dreaming of placing. Not good) and I looked down and saw 8:18. Yikes. Way too fast. I realized then that I was pushing way too hard and my wheels were going to fall off quick if I kept that up. I reigned it in as we hit the next climb, said goodbye to the dream of placing and settled into a more comfortable pace: 9:33.

I stopped to run/walk on most of the inclines, since I knew that trying to run them all would only make me a mess by the end. The whole first half of the race just went up. Around mile 3, I started running next to a girl and we started chatting. She was great and it helped the miles fly past! Before I knew it we were coming out of the first loop at 6.5 and starting on toward the second.

The course was made up of two loops, that intersected each other at several points. The marathoners, that had started an hour before us, had to do the loops twice, and the 10k, which started half an hour after us, did the second loop once. At times the course was really confusing, and you weren’t sure who to follow, since you’d see marathon and 10k bibs. Overall, they did their best to make it as clear as possible, but I heard a lot of people complaining about getting lost on the trail.

By the time we started the second loop, the heat was getting to me a bit. It was nearing 80* and I was starting to feel a bit lightheaded. Tess and I were running at a pretty good speed, maintaining about an 8:40 pace and chatting away. My legs were feeling good, but I don’t think I had taken in enough water. My stomach and head were starting to feel a bit iffy.

Just shy of mile 9 we started to hit the incline for the last BIG hill. It lasted almost 3 miles and I knew I was going to slow way down. I told Tess to go on without me and slowed to a walk to try to get my head and stomach feeling better before the big climb. When I started running again, I still had Tess in my eyeline and was going to try to catch back up to her. As I was looking ahead of me, I hit a rock and was suddenly facedown on the trail.

I hopped back up and immediately looked around to see if anyone had seen me fall, but luckily I was alone. I started running again and then figured I should stop to inspect the damage. My wrists were a little tender from breaking my fall, my legs were filthy and scratched up, but other than that I seemed to be in tact.

I started running again chuckling at myself when a pain shot through my back. (I should mention here that the Saturday before the race some friends had taken me out for a belated birthday celebration. I woke up Sunday morning terribly hungover and with a sore back. I knew I must have rammed into something, but I didn’t remember and none of my friends noticed. Over the week it got progressively better, so I felt confident it wasn’t a broken rib or anything like that, and figured it was just a deep muscle bruise. I had felt it a little during the early miles of the race, but nothing noteworthy.) I realized my fall must have tweaked whatever I had hurt the week before.

I took the next couple of miles extremely easy. It was hot, my back was hurting more significantly and we were heading up and up and up. It felt like it was neverending. I ran as much as I could, and walked the rest. By this point, I wasn’t terribly concerned with my finish time, I just wanted to finish. Finally, at mile 11 we reached the crest of the climb and the trail started to move back down the mountain. I opened up my stride, hoping to catch a few people that had passed me by, when I realized all too quickly that wasn’t going to work. Each step jostled my back, and the pain had started to move into my rib cage and it was getting painful to breathe.

I pulled back, ran as softly as I could and it was better. I knew I didn’t want to walk it in, and running was tolerable, if a little uncomfortable. I kept the pace easy coming into the finish, with my last two miles at an 8:30 and 8:10 pace.

I came into the finish area at 2:00:48. 2 hours on the nose! I was really surprised and happy about it, since I didn’t think I was going to finish anywhere near my goal time.

Final stats: 21st overall, 8th female, 1st in Age Group.

They didn’t do Age Group prizes, so that is completely moot, but I’m pretty damn proud of that since this race did not go as well as I had hoped.

This was a really hard race. There’s lots of things that went wrong during this race…my fall and my back slowed me down for the last few miles, my fueling and hydration was off, it was HOT. In spite of all of these things, I am so damn proud of this race. This was, by far, the most challenging course I have ever run. I didn’t have the best training behind me, and I went in with really low expectations for myself.

I’m proud of where I finished, in the shape that I was in. If I hadn’t of fallen, I’m sure I would have come in under that two hour mark, but I wasn’t going to place in this race regardless. And 21 out of 164 people is pretty damn awesome. It was so challenging, but I had such a great time. Everyone I met out on the course was so great and fun to talk to. Despite how I was feeling, I had so much fun!

I walked away Saturday saying I was glad to have done it, but I wouldn’t do it again. But, after having some time to think it over, I think I would like to run it again next year. Especially now that I know what to expect.

Jamie made the best sign ever.

If you ever manage to make it up to Flagstaff in September, I highly recommend this race. Yes it was brutal and tough, but man was it fun. Aid stations were well stocked and the volunteers were fantastic! The crowd was great and the course was BEAUTIFUL! Full of Aspens and incredible mountain views. I didn’t bring my phone with me, but I’m tempted to go back out and run it again for those views. Man, it was beautiful.

You’re welcome for this incredible photo.

Plus, anytime when you get to come home four shades darker because of all the dirt you’re covered in is a good time.

Friday Things

Happy Friday! Has this week felt insanely long to anybody else? I could not be happier that it is the weekend if I tried! And I’m getting so pumped for the race tomorrow! I’ve run a handful of times this week, very easy, short miles and my legs feel good. I’m ready to give it my all tomorrow and charge up that mountain!

I accidentally published a non-finished version of this post yesterday afternoon again. Damn those dang “Publish” and “Save Draft” buttons so close together. I didn’t even notice it until Jamie commented! Ha! She got a nice little preview of things.

This morning I have a consultation with an oral surgeon to get my wisdom teeth removed. Womp womp. I’m nervous about what it’ll entail/recovery time, since I have another race in three weeks. Hopefully, since they’re already peeking through, they’ll be easy to remove, and I’ll be on my way.

Not too many links this week. The internet didn’t seem to be as great as last week. But, here are the articles I found interesting enough to pass along!

How to Cope With an Injury. We’ve all been there. We’ll all be there again. These are good things to keep in mind.

Why Goal Setting Is the Hardest Part of Running. Staring into the face of another marathon cycle, this time with school and work has me shaking in my running shoes a little bit.

I Pole Vaulted in High School. This was always a serious fear in the back of my head. So sad.

I’m actually a little disappointed Alex Trebek has no sense of humor. I want to high five this lady.

I liked this list. Especially number 3. Whenever someone asks me if J is a runner and I say no they always try to justify why it’s ok. It doesn’t need justification. He doesn’t like to run. I don’t like to work on cars. We love each other anyway.

I always end up eating french fries. Apparently, I should be eating fried chicken.

Have a happy weekend everyone! Good luck to all of you racing this weekend and happy long runs to those who are training!

Some Boston Talk + This Half Marathon Thing This Weekend

It’s Boston registration week and I feel the need to talk about it a little bit.

For those of you who don’t know how Boston Registration works, let me lay it out for you real quick:

Registration opened this past Monday the 14th for people who qualified by 20+ min. Wednesday, registration opens for those that have qualified by 10+ min. Friday registration opens for those that have qualified by 5+ min and next Monday are for those of us that qualified by less than 5 min.

For those of us that would be keeping all our fingers and toes crossed for a spot on during week two, they add this little disclaimer

“If space remains after the first week of registration (Monday, September 14 through Saturday, September 19), then registration will re-open for all qualifiers from Monday, September 21 at 10:00 a.m. ET through Wednesday, September 23 at 5:00 p.m. ET.As during the first week of registration, entry during this period (Sept. 21-23) will not be first-come, first-served and the fastest qualifiers in their gender and age group among these submissions will be granted entry as space allows.”
BAA Website

I made the decision not to register a while ago, and I’ve been okay with that decision. In fact, things have worked out pretty dang well. Rather than training for a marathon during a semester of school where I’m taking 2 (maybe 3) classes and working full time, I’ll be training this fall/winter while I’m only taking one class. My marathon is February 14th, which means I’ll be tapering by the end of January–typically around when school work will begin to pick up.

I also have the amazing opportunity to go to Peru this April instead. And that trip will be incredible. Jeff was in Peru almost 5 years ago when he met the couple that told him about Flagstaff. After returning, he applied to the job he has now, moved six months later, and we met for the first time just a few months after that. Peru means a lot to him, and I’m excited to be able to experience that with him.

In spite of that, however, I’m feeling sad this week when I see other people on social media declaring their registration success. I know that qualifying again this February with that 3:30 time, guaranteeing my entry in 2017 (note my confidence) will end up being a more enjoyable experience. I’ll be done with my pre-requisites by the time training for 2017 Boston will come around and I won’t have to worry about juggling school, work and marathon training. I’ll be able to enjoy it, and most of all, enjoy the hell out of my Boston experience.

Rationally, sure it all worked out for the best. But, emotionally, I’m sad that something I worked so hard for isn’t coming to fruition this week. I am so happy for those Internet friends that get to register and will be running this year–I mean, 30,000 people gotta do it, I’m bound to run into one or two of them on the internet 😉 — and I’ll continue reminding myself that this experience will  make running 2017 all the more special.

I’m ready to start working hard in order to make that Boston dream come true, which brings up to this half marathon thing this weekend.

I’m at once terribly excited, and terribly frightened. This is the first time I’ve ever run a race that I hadn’t trained hard for, and didn’t have a some crazy “A” goal time. I’m running it to just run it.

So, here’s my plan for this Saturday.

The race starts at 9am and the weather forecast is for clear and sunny, high of 71. The race also starts at 8,000ft, so it’ll be a bit cooler. I am SO relieved for that, because, honestly, I was getting real nervous about the weather after my 80* run last weekend. It’s also nice that it’s a late start in my hometown. Sleeping in!

So, let’s talk goals.

1. Come in under 2 hours. This may seem like a silly “A” goal, considering my Half PR stands at 1:42, but with an elevation profile that looks like this:
   
   

   Sorry for the teeny picture–that’s the best I can do

   2 hours is just fine and dandy for me.
2. Have fun and race my race. This may include walking, and I’m okay with that. Physically, I’m a lot stronger than I was a few months ago, but I’m also not in the best shape ever. I’ve tried to run UP a lot, and I think that has helped things, but I’m not under any impression that this race will be “easy”. 13 miles of climbs on dirt trails sounds like a hell of a lot of fun, but not something that will allow for a PR. So, instead, I want to just have fun and run how I feel. If that means walking at times, then I will walk. I just want to come out of this enjoying my hometown race and feeling good about where my fitness IS at.
3. Finish. If everything else goes wrong, I just want to cross that finish line.

The purpose of this race is to just enjoy it. It’s a trail race, it’s my hometown race, and it’s a fun distance. It’s by no means an accurate gauge of my fitness at this point in time, and it isn’t meant to be. I’ve done absolutely zero speed work for this race and will be happy with however my body decides to handle the elevation and milage.

I’m going to go out conservatively on the uphills and then try to bomb down the downhills to make up sometime, but truly, we’ll just see how my body feels. There’s no pressure on this race, and I definitely don’t want to add any!

I hope everyone is having a spectacular week so far and that your Wednesday is as good as a Wednesday can be!

Training Log 9.7.15-9.13.15

Happy Monday–and Happy Boston Registration Week! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Ours was a lot of fun, and per usual, I’m sad to see it end.

It’s race week! It’s hard to believe I’m running a half-marathon this Saturday. It doesn’t feel like I should be ready for it. I’ll talk more about my goals for Saturday later this week, but I’m trying to just take it easy and not overly stress myself out about it.

I ended up “tapering” a lot more than I anticipated, which I guess is a good things. My legs felt pretty rough towards the end of the week, so I’m hoping to do some yoga this week to make sure everything is nice and stretched out before the race.

Monday – off

Driving back from Colorado.

Tuesday – 5 miles

I’ve been having a really tough time getting myself up and out of bed before 6 most mornings. Typically, that doesn’t leave me with much time to run in the mornings. Tuesday, I got up and decided to hell with it, and leashed up Rudy and we went out for two easy miles. After work and before class, I headed out for another three. I tried to run a little fast, and nailed a 7:06 as my last mile!!! That felt really, really good.

Wednesday – 4 miles

After work, I set off for four easy miles. This wasn’t anything spectacular, just some easy miles.

Thursday – 3 miles

I got up and ran early in the morning, but it wasn’t stellar by any means. My legs were feeling pretty tired. Kept it easy and short.

Friday – Strength workout

Alright, I’m just going to say it. I can’t do a strength day the day before a long run. I had a dentist appointment after work, which turned into 2 hours in the chair, and when I got home with a numb face, I just really didn’t want to run. So, I took Rudy for a walk and did a Deck of Cards workout instead.

Saturday – 6.5 miles

My last “long run” turned into “survive for at least six miles”. My legs were SHOT, it was hot out and I mentally didn’t want to be out there. My body was craving sleep after our pretty sleep-deprived weekend in Colorado, so I let myself sleep in on Saturday morning and then lazed around for a few hours. By the time I finally got myself out the door, it was almost noon and 80*.

I just wasn’t feeling it. My legs were pretty shot from the lunges and squats the day before, and the heat affected me pretty badly. I ran a hilly trail near the house, and it took everything I had to keep climbing up. I was trying to look at it from the perspective that I’ll be doing that a lot next weekend, and the start time isn’t until 9, so it’ll be warm. After getting home, I laid on the floor for a while before I was able to move again. 

Total miles: 18.5

Not at all what I was planning on for this week, but oh well. Sometimes that happens. The best thing to do–especially right before a race–is listen to your body and give it what it needs, and sometimes that’s a lot less milage than you would like!

Friday Things

Hello everyone! Happy Friday to all! I feel like even though this was a short week, it took forever to get here, and of course the weekend will fly by too quickly! I’ve got one last long-ish run this weekend (8 miles) before the half next Saturday and plans to do some mega laundry. How is it that vacation always creates MORE laundry?

I’m doing things a bit differently this Friday. I bring to you a roundup of my favorite stuff from the interwebs this week:

Jenny Scherer talks about her struggle with anorexia and how it almost ruined her running career. It’s a great read about something that a lot of female runners struggle with–maybe not to this degree, but I’m sure guilty of the thought “If I weigh less, I’ll run faster”. This is a critical reminder that taking care of your body–no matter the shape and size–is most important.

There’s a Hogwarts Running Club!!!!! Thinking about joining when registration opens back up.

This couple made their own Drunk History for their wedding, and it is absolutely hilarious.

Yikes. Two Harry Potter things in one post. Sorry about that, guys. For those of you who love the series like me, did you see J.K. Rowling’s announcement that we’ve all been pronouncing “Voldermort” wrong for 18 years? I’m sorry, J.K., but what’s the point of coming out and saying that? Just let us interpret/have our memories of the series and leave it alone. Voldermort will always have that “T” on the end for me.

My calves are notoriously the most troublesome spot for me as mileage increases. Runner’s World has a stellar article on how to treat your calves to some TLC.

Any fellow history buffs out there? I’ve heard and read a ton on hiding Jews in various countries throughout World War II, and even some in rural Germany, but never thought about what it would be like in the heart of Berlin. This excerpt from a new book has me hooked. I plan on purchasing and starting it this weekend.

Anyone else get through Bachelor In Paradise? While I thought last season was waaaay better than this one, this Betch review on the finale had me in tears from laughing. #truth

Girls respond to failure differently than boys. Embracing mistakes and “failures” has helped me to make wiser and better choices for myself overall–but, they were never easy to do. This made me think.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Colorado Trip, Part 2

Saturday morning after my run, we headed out to tackle some trail running of a different kind.

For those of you that are not aware, Jeff and I share the same fondness for trail running. My preferred version is in my running shoes, while his includes four wheels. One of Jeff’s stipulations for the trip was to explore some of the trails around the area we were staying. So, we met up with another friend to explore the wheeling situation in Colorado.

Travis took us on some really awesome trails. Nothing too technical, but it every single one had KILLER views.

In his element

Freezing my butt off at the summit of the first trail.

The second trail we ran–Kingston Summit–ended at 12,000 ft. At the very top is a little rock fort that visitors have built and continue to add to. Not to be left out, we also left our mark at the top of the summit.

It was an exceptionally fantastic day. We finished around 5pm and headed back to the apartment to change and get ready for dinner. After dinner, we decided it was a good idea (with the help of a few margaritas) to go into Denver to get some more drinks and eventually make our way to Voodoo Donuts. Let me tell yah, an Ol’ Dirty Bastard at 1:00 in the morning was a decision I regretted in the morning. But! I am glad to have finally experienced Voodoo Donuts, and they were pretty good.

Food photography at it’s finest. You’re welcome. This is the Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Yeast donut with chocolate frosting, oreos and peanut butter.

(Forgive me Internet, but I am no connoisseur of donuts and really they tasted like any other donut I’ve ever had. It was good, but I’m just as fine going to Dunkin Donuts and getting a regular ol’ chocolate donut).

Sunday we spent the day just driving around exploring. None of us felt particularly great after Saturday night’s adventuring, so we got a great breakfast in Boulder and spent the morning wandering around. I’m completely in love with that town.

That right there is Flagstaff Mountain. Coincidence? I think not!

We ended up crashing pretty hard mid-afternoon, so we ordered pizza, visited Trader Joe’s (a must for whenever we’re somewhere that has a TJ’s), and got ready to head back home.

Our drive home was uneventful. We perfectly planned it so that we got into Breckenridge as the sun was starting to rise and it was absolutely breathtaking.

Colorado, you did not disappoint. I hope to see you again very, very soon!

Colorado Trip, Part 1

To say this trip was great would be an understatement. We had such an unbelievably fun time this weekend, I didn’t want to leave!

Our original plan was to drive up through Moab over to the I-70 and go through Vail and Breckenridge, but Thursday night, Jeff’s buddy was telling us about massive amounts of construction happening in that area and how he sat there for almost an hour and a half. Since we wanted to just get there and start our weekend, we decided instead to roll through Durango and Pagosa Springs, and take the “scenic route” on our way home.

We left around 5 am on Friday morning and headed for the Rocky Mountain State.

This trip was unbelievably pretty. As soon as we rolled into Durango, we stayed in the mountains the entire time. We were at or above 7000ft until we started the descent out of the Flatirons. It was unbelievable!

Our entire drive looked like this. Disgusting.

Clearly not pleased with the scenery.

This route was longer–it took us about 11 hours to get there, but it was unbelievably pretty. It didn’t take long for me to look at Jeff and simply state “Yep. I’m definitely a mountain person.”

We finally rolled into Boulder around dinner time and we had one stipulation: good food and good beer. Our friends delivered and took us to a burger and beer place in Downtown Boulder.

I was carbo loading for my long run the next morning. Totally legitimate.

After dinner, we explored the mall area for a little bit before I called party pooper and asked to head back. Between the early wake up call that morning and my looming wake up call/long run in the morning, I wanted nothing more than to crash and sleep.

Downtown Boulder

I talked about my long run on Saturday in yesterday’s post, but I’ll just say again it was so much fun. I did some research and found an awesome trail system near where we were staying. I woke up right as the sun was starting to rise and set off to explore for 12 amazing miles.

Once I made it back and showered, we headed out for breakfast and then a different kind of trail running!

Part 2 Coming soon. Have an awesome Wednesday everyone!