I feel like my life is a spiral of crazy right now. Not in a bad way, just in a busy way. Things I've known were coming my way for months are now here, and I'm all... "whaaaaaa? wait, no that's not for awhile yet." Uhhhhh, no. Things are coming at me left and right, and I need to catch up. Quickly.
I have a half marathon to run in six weeks. Hospital Hill is quickly approaching. I'm not going to race this, seeing how it will be hot as balls and humid. But that doesn't mean I want to just give up on it. I still want to do it in under two hours. And while my speed is in fine shape for that pace in a half, my endurance, not so much.
I'm worried about getting my longer miles in considering some upcoming travel. We are heading to San Diego next week, and while yes I can and do run on vacation, I don't want to obsess over getting in a 12 miler while I'm busy surfing, hiking, exploring and eating my way through a week of fun and relaxation.
Hopefully I can get in a few 12-milers in the weekends after my trip. That ball will be in my court. As in finally giving in, manning up, and running the longer miles I've been avoiding the past.... oh....six months or so.
In other news. Amid life, work, teaching, beer brewing business, distractions and not checking my 'running' email in about three months, I totally forgot about the NYC lottery drawing. Thanks to Twitter I was reminded, so I went and checked my email account and saw I didn't get in. I'm not disappointed by this information. One bit. For a variety of reasons. One being that my main marathon partner will be having a baby right around that time! SQUUUUUUEEEEEE!! Had I gotten in, I would have deferred. No fun in doing a 'dream' marathon alone, right?
Week 4 of HH (hospital hill 1/2) Training:
Monday - 3 Miles Easy
Tuesday - 5 Miles Easy
Friday - 5 Miles Easy / Hot Yoga
Saturday - 10 Miles (planned)
Sunday - Hot Yoga (planned)
Friday, April 27, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
best part of my day. getting away.
It was really more my entire weekend. I spent the weekend in the Ozarks with my oldest sister and my cousin. We shopped like we meant it, ate some great food, slept a lot and piddled around. It was a much needed cousin weekend away. Back to reality, sadly.
If you've never been to that part of the country, you wouldn't know how beautiful it is. Sadly I didn't grab my camera on my way out the door and didn't get any really good pictures of where we were staying (at table rock lake). But it's beautiful down there. And not filled with hicks and rednecks like one might think. Just friendly people, beautiful scenery and lots of shopping! Did I mention the shopping? Shopping. It made me happy.
If you've never been to that part of the country, you wouldn't know how beautiful it is. Sadly I didn't grab my camera on my way out the door and didn't get any really good pictures of where we were staying (at table rock lake). But it's beautiful down there. And not filled with hicks and rednecks like one might think. Just friendly people, beautiful scenery and lots of shopping! Did I mention the shopping? Shopping. It made me happy.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
st. patty's day 5k. livin' on the edge.
I wrote this two days after the race, which was a month ago. Still posting it anyway, because that's how I roll. At least I made sure to add pictures:
So about that race on Saturday. To actually race or NOT to race? Well that decision was made quite easily for me. For a variety of reasons. Lemme 'esplain.
a) I set my alarm for 6:30a since my friends were coming to my house around 7:30a to pick me up. And my alarm never went off. Excellent. I woke up at 7:15a.
b) My allergies hate me. Which means I can barely breathe let alone run well.
c) The girls and I.....well... we were under the impression the race started at 8:30a. Since that's what it had said on the race regi page. Annnnnnnd we were wrong. Our other friends running the race realized this fact and were actually there on time. We unintentionally bandited a race only because we got to a race that started at 8a, at 7:59a. Time to pick up packets? Um, no. Bandits! Even though we paid, we just didn't get to use our chips and bibs. So sad.
Therefore, AP beat me once again. The awesome part was the only reason we knew the race started at 8a is because of the starting line phone call we got from our other friends we were meeting at the race. Telling me AP was going to race without me. We were confused. We talked it out. I shared that AP could have the win because my sinuses hate me and obviously we weren't going to get to the race in time. I admit defeat again.
AP is a winner. I am a loser. AP = 3; BR = 0. But that's a 0 I wear with pride. I will continue to race him, someday I will win. I'm not a quitter! Most of the time, anyway. I have plans though. There shall be a 10K showdown and he will have to man up and run in a longer race for once. Enter into MY territory!
Moving on. We parked (we made our own spot, that's how we roll) and jogged to the start line, as we were jogging we saw the racers come around the bend.... soooooo we just jumped in. And a minute into the race we spotted our other friends racing, caught up to them and proceeded to enjoy the race together all while sporting our supa' hot st. pat's knee socks. It was a win-win.
Our group split after the race, some to run extra miles and then those of us not so ambitious (coughahem) went and loaded ourselves up with delicious coffee and had some fantastic quality time with the girls. You can see where my racing-mind currently resides.... that's right. It pretty much doesn't exist. Meh. Fatty delicious mocahs with lots of girl-talk after a race = happiness for me. Another great race day in the books! I'll take it, especially since race days are fewer and further between for me these days (100% by choice). Even if a boy DID beat me.
Cheers to a week of running, interwebbers!
So about that race on Saturday. To actually race or NOT to race? Well that decision was made quite easily for me. For a variety of reasons. Lemme 'esplain.
a) I set my alarm for 6:30a since my friends were coming to my house around 7:30a to pick me up. And my alarm never went off. Excellent. I woke up at 7:15a.
b) My allergies hate me. Which means I can barely breathe let alone run well.
c) The girls and I.....well... we were under the impression the race started at 8:30a. Since that's what it had said on the race regi page. Annnnnnnd we were wrong. Our other friends running the race realized this fact and were actually there on time. We unintentionally bandited a race only because we got to a race that started at 8a, at 7:59a. Time to pick up packets? Um, no. Bandits! Even though we paid, we just didn't get to use our chips and bibs. So sad.
*pre-race. we were thinking we had so much time....*
Therefore, AP beat me once again. The awesome part was the only reason we knew the race started at 8a is because of the starting line phone call we got from our other friends we were meeting at the race. Telling me AP was going to race without me. We were confused. We talked it out. I shared that AP could have the win because my sinuses hate me and obviously we weren't going to get to the race in time. I admit defeat again.
AP is a winner. I am a loser. AP = 3; BR = 0. But that's a 0 I wear with pride. I will continue to race him, someday I will win. I'm not a quitter! Most of the time, anyway. I have plans though. There shall be a 10K showdown and he will have to man up and run in a longer race for once. Enter into MY territory!
Moving on. We parked (we made our own spot, that's how we roll) and jogged to the start line, as we were jogging we saw the racers come around the bend.... soooooo we just jumped in. And a minute into the race we spotted our other friends racing, caught up to them and proceeded to enjoy the race together all while sporting our supa' hot st. pat's knee socks. It was a win-win.
*post race with our little group that day*
Our group split after the race, some to run extra miles and then those of us not so ambitious (coughahem) went and loaded ourselves up with delicious coffee and had some fantastic quality time with the girls. You can see where my racing-mind currently resides.... that's right. It pretty much doesn't exist. Meh. Fatty delicious mocahs with lots of girl-talk after a race = happiness for me. Another great race day in the books! I'll take it, especially since race days are fewer and further between for me these days (100% by choice). Even if a boy DID beat me.
Cheers to a week of running, interwebbers!
Monday, April 16, 2012
adventures in oz.
Despite having 90+ tornadoes hit the state of Kansas this weekend, there were no casualties and only some minor injuries. Well done Kansas weather teams, well done.
It's hard sometimes to take tornado threats seriously where we live, especially for me since I work in the media and am saturated by media and news all day, every day. Just like Floridians don't worry about Hurricane's and Californians are used to Earthquakes. Kansans don't usually sweat tornadoes.
That said, this weekend was the first time I can honestly say I took a threat seriously. As in I didn't go outside to watch the sky. Well I did, but only BEFORE the tornado got within a few miles of our city. We actually prepared for this one, albeit during those five minutes we were watching a 1/4 wide tornado head directly toward our part of town. But we prepared nonetheless. That was a first.
In a funny twist, we were supposed to go camping this weekend with a group of friends. We made the last minute decision (all being long-time kansans knowing our weather 'threats' could turn out to be a bit of wind and some sprinkles) to nix our camping trip and instead get together for an indoor campy meal. In our friends' basement. And I can honestly say (especially since this storm wasn't fatal) that we were all relieved the storm ended up coming through, it made us feel like our decision to forgo our camping trip was worthwhile.
So, we stuffed ourselves with Taco Soup (our typical camping dinner fare), some Island Park beer (wall cloud stout to be exact, in keeping with the theme of the night of course) and s'mores. All while tucked away in the basement waiting out the storm.
Parts of Wichita did get pummeled, a tornado did come through and rip things up. Thankfully the tornado took an abrupt turn before moving into our neighborhood. The extent of the damage at our house included one snapped Iris and a few limbs scattered across the lawn. The parts of Wichita that got the worst of it were more industrial than neighborhood, which I suppose is better. Although a few neighborhoods did get severely damaged. Seeing some of the pictures it's actually pretty incredible there were no serious injuries.
Ariel photos are all from kansas.com photo galleries.
Happy Monday, and cheers to a good running week! Oh and I guess it's Boston day, good luck Boston runners! Soak up those well deserved 26.2 victory miles!
It's hard sometimes to take tornado threats seriously where we live, especially for me since I work in the media and am saturated by media and news all day, every day. Just like Floridians don't worry about Hurricane's and Californians are used to Earthquakes. Kansans don't usually sweat tornadoes.
That said, this weekend was the first time I can honestly say I took a threat seriously. As in I didn't go outside to watch the sky. Well I did, but only BEFORE the tornado got within a few miles of our city. We actually prepared for this one, albeit during those five minutes we were watching a 1/4 wide tornado head directly toward our part of town. But we prepared nonetheless. That was a first.
In a funny twist, we were supposed to go camping this weekend with a group of friends. We made the last minute decision (all being long-time kansans knowing our weather 'threats' could turn out to be a bit of wind and some sprinkles) to nix our camping trip and instead get together for an indoor campy meal. In our friends' basement. And I can honestly say (especially since this storm wasn't fatal) that we were all relieved the storm ended up coming through, it made us feel like our decision to forgo our camping trip was worthwhile.
So, we stuffed ourselves with Taco Soup (our typical camping dinner fare), some Island Park beer (wall cloud stout to be exact, in keeping with the theme of the night of course) and s'mores. All while tucked away in the basement waiting out the storm.
*roasting a marshmallow by candlelight. indoor camping at it's finest. no comment on how many i ate, let's just say my workouts this week may be a bit more intense....*
Parts of Wichita did get pummeled, a tornado did come through and rip things up. Thankfully the tornado took an abrupt turn before moving into our neighborhood. The extent of the damage at our house included one snapped Iris and a few limbs scattered across the lawn. The parts of Wichita that got the worst of it were more industrial than neighborhood, which I suppose is better. Although a few neighborhoods did get severely damaged. Seeing some of the pictures it's actually pretty incredible there were no serious injuries.
*ariel view of just one of the several damaged buildings on spirit aerosystems campus*
*this little guy did a full flip! an airplane at the kansas aviation museum*
*the worst hit neighborhood in wichita*
*another wichita neighborhood*
Ariel photos are all from kansas.com photo galleries.
Happy Monday, and cheers to a good running week! Oh and I guess it's Boston day, good luck Boston runners! Soak up those well deserved 26.2 victory miles!
Friday, April 13, 2012
easter sun run 10K. calling it the 'sun run' might be a stretch....
So. Here's the thing. I have two race reports to do. And really, you know what I realized? If I myself don't care THAT much about posting on my races? Does anyone else? Chirp.....chirp..... But... I keep this blog as a virtual scrapbook of my races, so post I must. I should take pictures of my ACTUAL race scrapbook that I started when I first began racing in graduate school. BRILLIANT.
Moving on. I'm doing this all out of order. I'm writing this race report before I get I write about my LAST race. Meh. I think we are all okay with that here. Wouldn't ya'll rather see pictures of my dog anyway and hear about my meltdowns? I thought so.
Nonetheless. Race report. I knew I wasn't in true racing shape. As in I was well aware no matter the racing conditions (i.e. nice cool rainy weather) I wouldn't be setting a PR. I was right. However, I did meet my goal of running the 10K in under 50 minutes. So I'll take it. I would like to shave two minutes off of my 10K PR, and I am confident that will happen in due time. Once I've trained longer than a few weeks in preparation for it.
It was a chilly, yet humid (this can only happen in kansas, of that i'm sure) and very stormy morning. My faithful racing buddies showed up to my house pre-race and we sat around listening to the rain and piddling about until we decided to head over to the race. Because we aren't scuuuuured of a little rain. Plus the lightning had (mostly) quit by that time.
As for the race itself, the rain managed to stay away for most of the race, it spit at us a little toward the end, then the rain started again once we were heading out after the race. And I managed to maintain a nice even split of 8 minute miles. You know how I roll, keep the run pace even steven. If there is one thing I love, it's an even final split.
So that's that. My finish time (according to my garmin, that i whipped out and used for the first time since last year) was 49:43. Trying to get the official results this year has not been successful. They aren't posted on the race website or anywhere that I can find. So the official results will remain a mystery for now.
Moving on. I'm doing this all out of order. I'm writing this race report before I get I write about my LAST race. Meh. I think we are all okay with that here. Wouldn't ya'll rather see pictures of my dog anyway and hear about my meltdowns? I thought so.
Nonetheless. Race report. I knew I wasn't in true racing shape. As in I was well aware no matter the racing conditions (i.e. nice cool rainy weather) I wouldn't be setting a PR. I was right. However, I did meet my goal of running the 10K in under 50 minutes. So I'll take it. I would like to shave two minutes off of my 10K PR, and I am confident that will happen in due time. Once I've trained longer than a few weeks in preparation for it.
It was a chilly, yet humid (this can only happen in kansas, of that i'm sure) and very stormy morning. My faithful racing buddies showed up to my house pre-race and we sat around listening to the rain and piddling about until we decided to head over to the race. Because we aren't scuuuuured of a little rain. Plus the lightning had (mostly) quit by that time.
As for the race itself, the rain managed to stay away for most of the race, it spit at us a little toward the end, then the rain started again once we were heading out after the race. And I managed to maintain a nice even split of 8 minute miles. You know how I roll, keep the run pace even steven. If there is one thing I love, it's an even final split.
So that's that. My finish time (according to my garmin, that i whipped out and used for the first time since last year) was 49:43. Trying to get the official results this year has not been successful. They aren't posted on the race website or anywhere that I can find. So the official results will remain a mystery for now.
*post-race with megger and sheller (and the back of 2Slow4Boston's head....)*
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
best part of my day. helpers.
I have a few race re-caps, some logging of my workouts last week and more to blahg about. For now, just a tidbit about the best part of my yesterday. Since I worked too late last night to make it to hot yoga I decided to just get some yoga in at home.
Whenever I do anything on the floor at home--whether yoga, stretching, what have you--my cat Franklin and my dog Milo feel the need to 'help' me. They are excellent helpers.
You can't tell but Milo is generously gnawing on his bone and Franklin is walking back and forth and back and forth underneath me reminding me he is, point of fact, also in the room. Letting out his tortured sounding meows of pain (i.e. he is screaming: STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND PAY ATTENTION TO ME YOU A-HOLE) isn't enough, he has to walk under me, shove his big cute kitty head into my legs and let me know he is ready for dinner. Or water. Or to be picked up. Or to be let outside. Or he is protesting that there was a sunrise that morning. Or that he is sick of the Kardashian's. Or that the Republicans are totally screwed in this election. Or that CNN won't let him be a corespondent. The list goes on.
Clearly my animals live a painful existence, especially considering how I allow them to freely wander, gnaw on bones, cry at me, head butt my legs, flop and roll all over my yoga mat, when I'm trying to doing yoga. ROUGH. LIFE. But dammit, do I love those manimals.
Whenever I do anything on the floor at home--whether yoga, stretching, what have you--my cat Franklin and my dog Milo feel the need to 'help' me. They are excellent helpers.
Clearly my animals live a painful existence, especially considering how I allow them to freely wander, gnaw on bones, cry at me, head butt my legs, flop and roll all over my yoga mat, when I'm trying to doing yoga. ROUGH. LIFE. But dammit, do I love those manimals.
Monday, April 2, 2012
scrapple.
Get your coffee.
Remember that date we made a few weeks ago to meet back here and assess my training for my spring goal race? Guess what? Assessment time, who's excited?!
Scrapple. My term for the fact that I am scrapping my spring goal race. For a few reasons. Mostly due to the fact that I will now be out of town the weekend of the Wichita Half marathon. I am also calling scrapple because even though my speedwork is going really well and my paces are dropping, my endurance for a half just isn't where I want it to be. While these facts have never stopped me from joining in a race before... well. Times-a-change-people. My decision making process when it comes to racing is far different than it was a year ago. So, no spring goal race. No spring half.
Instead I'm going to continue training and continue with my speedwork and run an early summer half marathon in Kansas City for kicks and giggles. I aim to run my goal half race in the fall.
I have goals that I'll talk about later in regard to my summer training. Boiled down, I want to get faster. Because I like running fast. Because that is my version of some fun runnins' people. More to come on that some other time.
My plans this week for running do include a 10K on Saturday, and I'm afraid to say that because I haven't raced a 10K in so long. I have no high hopes that I will defeat my previous PR, but I am going to give that 10K my best effort on Saturday. I am also going to attempt to beat AP, he's a boy. So wish me luck. I want to see him whimper at my victory. Trust me, so do you. If I win, gloating pictures will be posted.
Despite last weeks difficulties I did manage to get in some good runnings and a nice day of speedwork. My weekend was filled with running with my girlfriends, walks with my dog to the local coffee shop and a few bike rides. It was refreshing. Just what I needed. I am ready to tackle life again. So far this Monday is proving pretty good, in fact I just came back from a 5 mile run that felt pretty fantastic and invigorating. I love it when a run is like that!
Tracking my workouts here is something I like to do, so the official training schedule for Hospital Hill begins now. Side note: I've wanted to do this half marathon for ages but just never got around to it. I am deeming 2012 the year for doing races "I've always wanted to do." BRING IT!
Week 1 of HH (hospital hill 1/2) Training:
Monday - 2.5 easy miles with Milo
Tuesday - 30 Minutes Elliptical and 30 Minutes of Total Body Weights and Abs
Wednesday - 2.5 easy miles with Milo
Thursday - 6 Miles of Speedwork w/ 3x1 Mile Repeats @ 7:19 pace
Friday - Off
Saturday - 2 mile walk with Milo to get delicious coffee's and a 30 Minute Bike Ride
Sunday - 5 Miles with the girls, 30 Minute Bike Ride
Embrace the scrapple. Cheers to a happy week of spring runnings fellow interwebbers!
Remember that date we made a few weeks ago to meet back here and assess my training for my spring goal race? Guess what? Assessment time, who's excited?!
Scrapple. My term for the fact that I am scrapping my spring goal race. For a few reasons. Mostly due to the fact that I will now be out of town the weekend of the Wichita Half marathon. I am also calling scrapple because even though my speedwork is going really well and my paces are dropping, my endurance for a half just isn't where I want it to be. While these facts have never stopped me from joining in a race before... well. Times-a-change-people. My decision making process when it comes to racing is far different than it was a year ago. So, no spring goal race. No spring half.
Instead I'm going to continue training and continue with my speedwork and run an early summer half marathon in Kansas City for kicks and giggles. I aim to run my goal half race in the fall.
I have goals that I'll talk about later in regard to my summer training. Boiled down, I want to get faster. Because I like running fast. Because that is my version of some fun runnins' people. More to come on that some other time.
My plans this week for running do include a 10K on Saturday, and I'm afraid to say that because I haven't raced a 10K in so long. I have no high hopes that I will defeat my previous PR, but I am going to give that 10K my best effort on Saturday. I am also going to attempt to beat AP, he's a boy. So wish me luck. I want to see him whimper at my victory. Trust me, so do you. If I win, gloating pictures will be posted.
Despite last weeks difficulties I did manage to get in some good runnings and a nice day of speedwork. My weekend was filled with running with my girlfriends, walks with my dog to the local coffee shop and a few bike rides. It was refreshing. Just what I needed. I am ready to tackle life again. So far this Monday is proving pretty good, in fact I just came back from a 5 mile run that felt pretty fantastic and invigorating. I love it when a run is like that!
Tracking my workouts here is something I like to do, so the official training schedule for Hospital Hill begins now. Side note: I've wanted to do this half marathon for ages but just never got around to it. I am deeming 2012 the year for doing races "I've always wanted to do." BRING IT!
Week 1 of HH (hospital hill 1/2) Training:
Monday - 2.5 easy miles with Milo
Tuesday - 30 Minutes Elliptical and 30 Minutes of Total Body Weights and Abs
Wednesday - 2.5 easy miles with Milo
Thursday - 6 Miles of Speedwork w/ 3x1 Mile Repeats @ 7:19 pace
Friday - Off
Saturday - 2 mile walk with Milo to get delicious coffee's and a 30 Minute Bike Ride
Sunday - 5 Miles with the girls, 30 Minute Bike Ride
Embrace the scrapple. Cheers to a happy week of spring runnings fellow interwebbers!
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