Frumpy Run Wednesday!

Man it feels good to be home!!! I love vacations and traveling but it just feels so good to unpack and get back on track! 18 DAYS until the Seattle Half Marathon! YIKES! I NEED to get back on track in a serious way! I am taking the pressure off of myself to hit a sub 2 hour half BUT I am still aiming for a better time than last year and hoping to do at least as good as I normally do which would put me finishing anywhere around 2:03 to 2:06. I would be happy with that. For me a PR would be 2:02.59. I might be able to hit that.

Today I hit the road for my 5 mile run. The sun was shining! It was amazing and nearly unheard of around here this time of year. I was catching up on some work and missed TV shows when I decided to head out. I didn't feel like getting all geared out so I hit the streets with my sweat pants, which I NEVER do and a hoodie sweat shirt, which I rarely do. It was funny compared to my usual decked out self with running gear! I just wanted to run. I wanted to run at home in my town. I wanted to see familiar streets and homes. I just wanted to zone out and have me time. I wanted to clear my head and just run. I didn't want to care about my time or my pace. I wanted to run until I got tired.

Stats for today's run:
Mile 1: 9:11.02
Mile 2: 9:08.72
Mile 3: 9:38.46
Mile 4: 9:47.3
Mile 5: 9:34.11

Not my best run but not bad either. It is certainly better than not running. I guess tomorrow I will hit up a hill for some hill repeats, since I am a believer in interval training. I have seen how it improves my times!

Today I am grateful for:
Veterans and their families.
Good hair days!
Awesome friends!

18 DAYS!

Run Happy Peeps!

Vacation run #3

Viva Las Vegas!

We arrived in Vegas on Thursday evening. The Hubs and I checked in to My Aunts House (awesome casino that is strangely like home!), visited for a while, got my Little Buddy tucked into bed, got dressed up and hit the town! We met up with some friends for (a long) dinner and by the time we were all done I was tired. We considered hitting the strip for a night out but I said, "Wow, I know I am lame but I am tired. And I really need to run in the morning. Lets go home." THAT is how I know I am at least kind of a runner! I passed up a night in Vegas, while wearing heels and tight blue dress, so I could get up in the morning and run! So our first night in Vegas we were home by midnight!

This is my Friday morning run....on the outskirts of Vegas on a hot and dry morning! Boy was it dry! I was so thirsty as soon as I started! I had some terrible Desert Garmin Gremlins because my watch had me running at 11 mph at one time! It clocked my first mile at 6:34. YEAH RIGHT. But in all it was an OK 2.5 mile run. Yep, only 2.5 miles. But hey, I was on vacation in VEGAS and had a rehearsal and luncheon at noon. I didn't have time for a good long run!

After my run I so wanted to jump in my Aunt's pool! It was a little cool. They have turned off the heater and settled in for winter, even though the temperatures were about what we see here in the summer! I thought it was summer!

Vacation really puts a kink in training! I think I am going to really struggle to hit my sub 2 hour half goal here at the end of this month. I just haven't been training like I should. But I guess my vacation was well worth it! We had a great time!

Today I am grateful for:
A wonderful trip with my family!
My aunt, uncle, cousin and my mom who all took care of my Little Buddy so The Hubs and I could have a great time in Vegas sans Little Buddy!
Celebrating 6 years of marriage Vegas Style.

Vacation run #2

Monterey!

I got to have 4.5 miles of pure running heaven along the sandy shores and the beach! This sure made me want to run all day. Too bad I couldn't!

Since I am on vacation this posting will be short!

Today I am grateful for:
A wonderful time with friends and family!
A beautiful path to run on!
Spending time in Monterey, my favorite place on earth!

Vacation Run #1

Saturday morning I hit the streets of Berkeley for an easy 5 mile run. After about 3.5 miles I came across this gem of a dirt track:

I knocked out a mile on the track and made it the half a mile home. Man, let me tell you Berkeley is pretty hilly too! I just can't seem to escape these hills!

Here I am post run, with my little Pirate in the background! My Moeban arm sleeves were perfect, I fit right in with all the liberal hippies (no offense!)! And the best part? My iPhone fits in the sweet little pocket on the upper arm so I was able to run with my phone! SCORE!

Sadly my allergies began acting up in a serious way (or I have a cold) and I spent the hole day fighting a horrible sore throat! I started taking some allergy medication and hopefully I will feel up to hitting the road tomorrow for 8-10 miles in Monterey, my old stomping grounds! Plus I have a dress to fit in this coming weekend for a wedding in VEGAS! I can't completely slack off!

Today I am grateful for:
Vacation with my fam!
fun times on Halloween!
SUN sun and MORE sun in California!
The beach!
Watching a beautiful sunset at the beach where my husband proposed! :)

A Little Too Ambitious

UP

DOWN

Up/Down

3:46/4:35

2:59/4:03

3:06/4:07

3:17/4:39

3:48/3:21

2:37/3:08

So, my plan of running my 1/4 mile hills repeats under 2:10 was a little too ambitious. This hill was a monster! I feel good about doing 6 instead of 8. Ehh, what 'cha gonna do.

Today I am grateful for:

VACATION tomorrow!

Rest Day=NO HILLS

Yes, Tuesday I talked a big talk. I had every intention of running my 8 hill intervals this morning. It just didn't pan out. I woke up this morning exhausted. I tossed and turned all night and was staring at my ceiling at 2:30 AM. I knew it would be a rough day. Not to mention my calves were screaming at me from my hilly 4.5 miles run yesterday. So I decided it would be best to take a rest day and hit the hills tomorrow. I think that the quality of a workout really matters. If I would have hit the hills this morning I would not have worked to my potential, thus wasting a perfectly good (and terrible at the same time) workout. So tomorrow morning it is: 8x400 hill repeats at 1:55 to 2:10 pace.



Today I am grateful for:
A wonderful lunch with my friend and her new baby! Can you say baby fix!? :)
A family dinner and game of scrabble to celebrate The Hubs birthday a few days early.
Things picking up at work.
Size 8 pants!!! That is down from 12 then 10!!! Wooo Whoooo!


And if you need some running gear ideas Mel at Tall Mom on the Run is having a sweet giveaway! She is giving away this:










How sweet is that!! Brooks created the Brooks For Her (BFH) collection to help support the fight against breast cancer. For each BFH piece purchased from March through December 2009, Brooks will donate 6.25% of the suggested retail price to three organizations that research and support those affected by breast cancer: The Young Survival Coalition, Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, earmarked for breast cancer research. Your vote, between March 1, and December 31, 2009, determines how much of the total donation each group gets. No purchase necessary to vote. Learn more about the three selected charities Learn more about how BFH works See the Brooks For Her collection

Definitely worth checking out!

Happy Running!

Is it Just ME?

Is it just me or is it hard to breathe when it is cold outside? Now I know 45 degrees isn’t THAT cold but I could not catch my breath today. I hit 5 Mile Drive with AN the RB for a nice 4.5 mile run and we could see our breath. I was winded the entire way.

Could. Not. Catch. My. Breath.

I guess it could be all those days off I have had…either way it was an ok run, which I will take over no run any day!

Tomorrow calls for a tempo run, which I loathe. SO I have decided to hit the hills for some more interval training. I found a pretty good (as in terrible and totally sucky) hill that will be great for tomorrow. The plan is 8x400 at 5k pace so since it will be a steep incline I am going to shoot for my fast ones to be between 1:55 and 2:105. That would be about 9 min/miles. We will see how it goes! I am just happy to be back in the saddle again!

Today I am grateful for:
A run on 5 Mile Drive with minimal raccoon sightings.
A new car battery! Yay for not being stranded!
Awesome Halloween drawings and art work from my Little Buddy.
A short but sweet mid afternoon nap!

Run Happy Peeps!!

AN the RB saves Lazy Runner

I have been in a slump.
I have wanted to run.
I have been thinking about running.
I have felt guilty for not running.
I have 15 excuses as to why I have not been running.
I have been beating myself up for not running.
I have been thinking about how hard it is to get into the habit of, but how EASY it is to fall out of the habit.
I have been teetering on the edge of no longer being a runner.
GASP!
I know, those are like bad words! Straight from the running devil!
I know!
I know!

Thank goodness for AN the RB! She met me this morning and we went for a nice 5 mile run. It had been pouring rain earlier this morning but it died down for 51 minutes. Not a single drop fell from the sky to land on us. Although there were plenty of puddles that we jumped over in unison and wet branches and bushes that soaked my arms. But in all it was a perfect running weather morning! Thank goodness! I have a sick feeling that if I had not run this morning I very well may have gone another week without a run. Ugh. So. Not. Good.

AN the RB snapped a few post run pictures for me. I wanted to show off my awesome running sleeves in action! They were AWESOME!

Today I am grateful:
that I got my act together and went for a run!
for a fun evening with some other wives from my hubby's work, including a runner!
for vacation on Friday!!!!
2nd and 3rd chances.

Run Happy friends!