Run the run

Holy Mother of all things good! I have 2 words for you.....

PUMPKIN SOUP

I have to start by saying that I am NOT a big fan of pumpkin, at least not in the sweet version that seems to be everywhere right now. Nope to the Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Nope to the Pumpkin Muffins and No thank you to the Pumpkin Cheesecake. But being fall and loving soups I figured I'd give this a shot. After all my sister absolutely LOVES pumpkin in any way shape or form and well, if I didn't like it I could always pass it along to her. It was very easy peasy and surprisingly (to me) delicious!! Just what I needed after the tongue lashing I had to give myself this morning on my run!

Here are the stats:
Duration: 1:02
Distance: 5:16 miles
mile 1: 12:21 (included .50 warm up)
mile 2: 11:13
mile 3: 12:17
mile 4: 12:31
mile 5: 10:58 (finally warmed up!)
last .16: 3:09 (cool down)

How does that saying go? "The road to Hell was paved with good intentions." Well I'm not sure it was HELL worthy but close enough. I set out this morning with good intentions and they quickly went to Hell in a handbasket! I hadn't even reached mile 2 yet and was walking. The internal dialogue had been started "just do 3 miles" "No, you set out to do 5, your doing 5, even if you have to walk it". Well, I decided I was doing 5 if it killed me and the faster my legs covered that 5 miles the sooner I'd be done. So, I kept putting one foot in front of the other and knew I'd get there eventually. The only mile that didn't include a walk break was mile 5 and that still felt slow.

The awesome thing about running though is that regardless how bad it feels while your doing it, finishing it always feels AMAZING! I was proud that I did what I set out to do. Happy that I got up early to do it and the rest of the day would be a walk in the park. I constantly have to remind myself that I cannot compare myself to other people that are running 8 and 9 minute miles. I'm just not there yet, may never be there but all I can do is strive to be MY best. Not THEIR best. And I also need to get out there and put in the miles. Reading, talking and blogging about running are not going to improve my running. It's the actual running that will make me stronger and I need to make a better effort to put in my miles.

xoxo,

Say hello to my little friend!!

Yep that's right folks, my little friend Garmin who is also known in this home as my 4th child!

Garmin arrived bright and early this morning and was taken on his Innaugural Run tonight. He performed fabulously. I on the other hand not so much...
I am still fairly congested from the cold I had last week and for some reason was really sore from Saturdays 5k and had this knot in my right calf the entire time I was running. I'm not even going to post the stats from my first workout their so pathetic... I ran 2 miles and took quiet a few walk breaks but even though the run wasn't what I had hoped it would be I did learn a couple things so it wasn't a complete bust.

1. just because it rained does not mean it is cold out - the long sleeve shirt was overkill and almost unbearably HOT!
2. Never, I repeat NEVER forget to stretch after a 5k - or you'll pay for it later
3. A lot of times when I'm running and start to feel winded, I would start to feel like my heart rate was too high...based on tonights run my heart rate never maxed out. It did get up there but never reached my max so I need to stop using that as an excuse and just suck it up and run, slow down if needed but stop using it as an excuse to walk.

Well my friends, I'm off to shower and crawl into bed...tonights reading material will be my Garmin Owner's Manual, I must learn all it can do!


xoxo,

Shoulda, coulda, woulda...

I wish I could say I was running as FAST as this photo would have you believe...
Josh aka: Speedy with his 2 sidekicks Michelle and Bern...

After a week long cold, which seemed to be getting better as the week progressed, I woke up this morning really tired and congested. I had such high hopes for this 5k, it was a hometown race, I knew the course like the back of my hand, it couldn't have been any flatter and I just wanted to PR...

shoulda:

• hydrated better this week, my water intake was the saddest it's been in a LONG time!
• ran at least twice this week, but coming off of a Cycling vacation (150 miles) and a cold, I rested.

coulda:

• had a PR with this course... :o(

woulda:

• been happy if SOMEONE from my family (the non-runners) had been there to cheer us on... after over a year of running races and having this in our hometown, merely blocks from home it would have been extremely nice to see the parents or kids at the finish line. I totally get that it's early on a Saturday but come on! I mean I've sat my cold sorry ass on many a soccer field, baseball field, gymnastics, dance...you get the picture. I understand WHY they didn't come but still if we're being honest here, it would have been nice. That's all I've got to say about that.
  

All in all, it was a fun run, extremely crowded and LOTS of very young kids and walkers. They had a huge turn out. I'm disapointed in myself but at the same time I know that in the moment I gave it my all. I guess my disapointment comes from the feeling that I've been running over a year now and my 5k times just are not improving, I feel that I should be closer to a 30 minute 5k by now. We start our half marathon training this week so hopefully with that and our increased distance I will see some improvement. It's been a good running year and overall I am proud to at least have stuck with it. As we come to the end of this year I can't help but think about what goals I'd like to make for the new year, I guess one would be to improve my 5k time and shoot for a 30 min time....

What goes UP must go DOWN...

This week was 2 years in the making... planning, saving, dreaming and worth every single dime and worry line! We knew ahead of time that we'd see one of the couples we toured with last time because I had kept in touch with them and we planned this together and I had requested the same tour leaders, one of whom I had stayed in touch with but we had no idea that 2 other people from our last tour would be joining us, it was purely coincidental but WONDERFUL!! So in all there were 10 people in our group, 8 of which had been on our last tour- it was like a reunion and we were all like long lost siblings who had just been reunited!

Our entire group on our last day of riding...so sad to see it end!

Sister riding UP a hill...one of many, cuz Vermont ain't flat!
One of the beautiful trails we rode...

The Causeway- this trail was Amazing, it cut all the way thru Lake Champlain, which to me seemed like an ocean it was SO BIG! This trail was about 6 miles long and it was so neat to ride with the lake on both sides of us.

This girl, this silly girl.... Oh the laughs we had on this trip!

Her goal for this trip was "not to fall" which for some odd reason she does quiet often...it's getting better but still she falls. I've often joked about getting a helmet cam just so I could see exactly what it is she's doing back there... well this time, I got to witness it firsthand.
In case you didn't know, Vermont ain't flat.... there are hills, there are trees and then there are HILLS!
This particular hill that we were riding was so steep that at some points you couldn't see the top because of the trees... I get to the top of the hill and stop to catch my breath, a few seconds later here comes Sister. Whizzing right by me and then BAM! Both her and the bike on the ground right in front of me! Not quiet sure what just happened I asked "what the heck?" and she says "I couldn't get my feet off the pedals!"
Apparently she realized about half way up the hill that she needed to stop and rest but couldn't because she couldn't unclip her shoes from the pedals...as she passes another one of our riders she yells "help me!" the other rider thinking she just needs some motivation yells "you can do it! keep on going!!" Well, she had no choice but to ride the rest of the way up the hill...and then lay it down right there. Once I realized she wasn't hurt (which, for as much as she falls, never gets hurt??) I couldn't control my laughter, none of us could...because really, what was she expecting the other rider to do at that point? Put her arms around her and hold her? Lay down and allow Sister to fall on her?? Really, there wasn't anything anyone could do for her at that moment....it was all quiet funny!

The weather was wet and cold the entire week, we had a couple hours of blue skies on a couple of the days but for the most part had rain every single day.... On Tuesday the rain came in around noon and we ended up riding the last 20+ miles in the freezing pouring down rain...that was a pretty miserable day!

This is me - the pocket on back of my jacket, filled with rain, mud and my new camera!! Yep, ruined. Bummer. I guess it's a good thing I have more than one camera but I was really liking this one...
All in all I would say that I prefer the Southern part of the state better than the Northern and I think next time I'll do Maine in the Summer!!

Next up..... half marathon training begins!

6 more sleeps!!!

To be more specific- Michelle and I leave for Vermont in 6 days!!! Ever since we were little girls we counted down by 'sleeps'. I know this blog is primarily to journal my running and riding but honestly, it's all I can think of these days. I am so beside myself with excitement as the day grows near that I think I pee myself just a little every time I think of it!! To give you a bit of background, a co-worker and her husband took a bicycle tour with this company about 17 years ago. When she got back and I saw her pictures I knew at that very moment it was something I MUST DO. Well as we all know, life gets in the way. I was a single mother with 2 small children- this was not something I was going to be doing anytime soon.... fast forward 15 years -sister and I are now riding our bicycles thru southern Vermont and thoroughly enjoying EVERY SINGLE MOMENT. I knew then that I'd be back... which brings us to now, 2 years later, we are counting down the days till we leave again. This time we will be riding thru Northern Vermont, one day we will ride into Canada, one day into New York and we will also be doing some Kayaking... hold on while I go change my pants.... Ok I'm back. As if that wasn't enough, we met some of the nicest people on our last tour and I've kept in touch with one of the couples who live in Austin, Tx. They are going to be meeting us there and joining us on our tour!! And.... I've also kept in touch with the tour leaders we had the last time and have requested them, they have also told their office that they would love to be tour leaders on this tour so there's a good chance we will see them also!!!

A whole lotta walking goin' on...

I set out to do 5 miles this morning and my intent was to get up and be out of the house at 7am. I ended up getting up at around 7:15 and had some coffee and whole wheat toast w/ a little peanut butter. I decided to take my new water bottle with me so I filled that and put it in the freezer so it would be extra cold. It all seemed like a fabulous plan before I left the house...
Notes to self:

• cold water bottle= cold hands
• you know you need at least 1 hour between eating and running- don't try to fool yourself
• 8:30 is just too late to start a summer run
• the food you eat before a long run WILL affect the way you feel the next day

to say the least my run this morning was disappointing. When I started out I felt like I had put on my 83 year old grandmother's legs, I kept telling myself to push thru the first 2 miles, that the 'groove' would come but I had to take a walk break after 1.5 miles, another at 3.0 miles and the last 2 miles I think I walked every half mile, I never did 'find my groove' and merely traded my grandmothers legs for my mothers, they loosened a bit but never really got to feeling good... BUT on a positive note, I did learn some stuff that will help me in my Half Marathon training that we will be starting next month. Some of this I already knew but will need to make sure I pay closer attention in the future, like the time between eating and running and starting earlier to do a long run when it's hot. But the last note was something I had often wondered about. I wondered how much my diet actually affects my running. Now I know, it matters ALOT! Yesterday in the first half of the day my food was right on track- clean healthy food. But around 2:30 I ate 1/2 of a chocolate bar, had some more coffee, didn't drink enough water and to top it off I got home and ate 3/4 of ANOTHER chocolate bar and then for dinner I made bacon, eggs and toast and ate way tooooooo much bacon. Geez when I fall off the wagon I fall hard!!! It makes me sick just typing it, how on earth did I let myself eat that crap?! But that proves what I've know all along, I know NO MODERATION, I am better off not having a piece of chocolate because before you know it I've had 1 1/4 candy bars. I'm going to try to to this same 5 miles next week but am going to make a conscious effort to stay on track with a good mix of carbs and protein and LOTS of water the day before. We'll see.

I'm so excited to start Half Marathon training next month, Michelle is totally on board and we're going to try and do our long runs together so that should be fun. She runs a little slower than I do and I think that will be really good for me because I'm not a fast runner but seem to only have one speed, and will need to run a little slower for my long runs so her pace should fit just perfectly... I have printed out about 3-4 different training plans so we are going to talk about them on the airplane to Vermont-we leave 2 weeks from today (squeel!!!) and we will decide on one. Then we will start when we get back. We will do some cycling for cross training also since we will be doing the Tour de Palm Springs again this February. We are determined to finish that 100 miles this year (god help us). I will be blogging my way thru it, I hope you enjoy my journey.

Well, I'm off to shower the dried sweat off and enjoy my weekend.

Chain Reaction

I tell two friends, they tell two friends.... so the story goes. This morning we ran our September 5k, it was a memorial run at Mile Square Park. Michelle's friend Connie (pink stripes) ran with us. This was her very first 5k and she did amazing!!! She finished in something like 31 minutes! Woot Woot! It was blazing hot and started at 8:30, which as you know from previous posts, is just too late to start a summer run (in my opinion!!!). Anyway, I got to thinking after the race, how my crazy idea to 'become a runner' which came from another crazy idea 'to do a triathlon' has affected the people around me. I mean when I think about it, I knew going into it I'd drag Michelle along.... but then Josh started running, and then Jessica, and then Makenna...and now Connie. Who'da thunk it???