feeling strong!

Woot! 4 miles at 5:45.. temp was a kind 65 degrees with zero humidity. Perfect running weather.

I felt good and strong again. Like, I CAN DO THIS. Thank goodness because I was starting to have serious doubts that I will ever be able to run a freaking 1/2 marathon. Serious doubts.

I'm still a little stressed about the long runs because of how hard Saturday was but I just HAVE to remember to keep them slow so I can keep my energy up.

Thursday, a few of us are doing out long run since the 4th is on Saturday and most of us will be doing other things that day. Jules and I have already talked about the route to get in 7 miles and I think it'll be good with few hills. I'm excited about trying a new course since the parks are getting pretty monotonous.. although, I did notice that the second LONG hill of the 4 mile loop was a lot easier this morning. So maybe we ARE getting stronger?!

In other news, I haven't lost ONE POUND since I started training and that's a little discouraging. I think last year I had breastfeeding to my advantage. This year, I got nothing. Oh well. I'm fit, that's all that should matter, right?

Wanna see the two pictures my awesome hubby got of me as I was running on Saturday? Heh. He's a great cheerleader and totally cute but not a great photographer. Maybe he just likes my bum?

Well that sucked.

Yep. There's just no other way to describe the 10k. I have vowed to never do that race again. It sucked all the confidence I had in my runs right the hell out of me. Just ask my lovely running partners, I cussed a lot during it and I still want to cuss when I think about it. It was hard. Ever since the race, I've been questioning whether I can REALLY do a half-marathon. Not a good feeling at all.

The problem is that it started at 8:00 so by then it was probably already 80 degrees. AND my goodness.. do they HAVE to include THAT many hills? Really? I'm kind of angry that people told me just how hilly and hard the course was before the race because I thought about the hills that were to come the ENTIRE run. So, I'd get moving and then the assvice of "save your energy for xx hill" that someone gave me would creep in and my body and mind would refuse to go another inch.

Grr..

I guess the good thing is that we finished and we survived. My time was 1:09 so an 11.10 mile. Again, not great, but whatever.

I felt like I had shin splints on Friday and iced them on Friday night but they were fine on Saturday. Shew! I think I dodged a bullet or something there. I didn't have any shin pain (er, none out of the ordinary) during the race.

Another reason I love my runnin' girls? I was a little ahead of my two partners at the very beginning of the race. I was running with someone I know but had NEVER run with before. Just before the 1mile mark, I hear "Emily! Emily!" and I turn around and my girls, pretty much at the same time, said "We are doing a 9-minute mile right now!!!" Obviously we all knew we'd NEVER survive 6.2 miles going 9-minute miles so we all slowed each other down. When we hit the 1 mile mark we were right at 10 minutes so that was perfect.

So, my time wasn't the best but I'm glad I had friends there to lean on and talk me out of some of the funk I had in my head.

Here's a couple pictures I stole from Jules' facebook page. I'm feeling WAY too lazy to download the ones on my camera! (I totally look preggers in all the pictures! I need to work on my posture.)

Me and Jules before the race:
Liz (our coach!), Maria, Jules and me. The three of us started this running thing last year when we trained for the July 4th 5k.
Me and KT before the race. He did the 2-miler in something crazy like 18 minutes?! He's seriously the best cheerleader ever. And I loved his green shirt because I could see him from way far away!

Me and Susan at the finish. We both picked up our speed at the finish but she TOOK OFF!! Go girl!
All the Janes at the end! We did it!

Hills

I used to say "I love hills!" and I really meant it. I am not a fan of flat running for long periods of time. I do like the change of pace (literally) that hills provide.

During this training program, I've sort of just hated hills all around. Well, last night, we met with some crazy ultrarunner to do hill repeats. We ran a 1-mile warm up and then went up a humoungous hill (I can't even explain how far the hill goes. Just trust me on this one.) 4 times after doing intervals of 10 seconds, 20, 30 and 40. It totalled 1.5 miles! ON A HILL! We did NOT get much rest time between the repeats. After the hard hills in 90 degrees, we went another mile or so to "cool down".

I haven't done that hard of a workout in a LONG time. I'd rather go run 6 miles on a Saturday morning than go up that crazy hill just one time. I know that it helps me in the long run but SHEESH!

Mama was TIRED when she got home. I sat on the couch and let hubby bring me dinner. And then went to bed at 9:15 just to get up at 5:45 to run again.

Yes, run again at 5:45.

This time we only did 2 miles since we are in preparation for the 10k on Saturday. And because we technically did our Thursday run on Wednesday since we got in about 3.7 miles. I just couldn't not run this morning. I love days when I've run in the morning.

So, we did a quick 2.2.. and there were several ladies who SAID they were going to just do 2 but they didn't, they just kept going! YOU GO GIRLS!!

I was hurting during the way back on the 2.2 run so I walked some but finally got in my groove at the end.

Tomorrow, it's rest day so that I can be ready for the 10k on Saturday. I have a goal time in my head but I'm not posting it here for fear of humiliation. ;)

Digging the 5:45 a.m. run

When the little man was growing in this mama runner's belly, I started doing crazy things like: waking up early, eating breakfast, not drinking so much wine, and not vegging on the couch for hours and hours. It was like Will completely changed me because I had to start thinking about someone else (gasp!) besides me! Doh!

I'm always amazed at how different my life is today compared to 2.5 years ago.

Now, I've made all these (positive) changes in my life because of Will and now also because of training for this 1/2 marathon. I seriously feel like my life is so good right now.

I have been voluntarily waking up at 5:26 to get dressed and out the door and to drive the 3 miles or so to the park to run with my running girls. It's awesome. I am so excited about this major change in my life. I can promise that 3 years ago, I wouldn't be caught ANYWHERE except in my bed at 5:30 a.m..

The fun thing about getting up though, is the great girls I'm running with. We are busy ladies with jobs, kids, family, friends, Facebook... and we all make the time to run.

With the weather as unpredictable as it is and the heat that we've been experiencing (high of 91 Thursday and 94 on Saturday), it's not only fun to get up and run with 6 other ladies and share the experience of running, it's also pretty much essential to get a good run in.

I'm also loving the feeling I get throughout the day of knowing that I'm done. I don't have to juggle being a wife, employee, mom and runner between the hours of 5 p.m. & 7 p.m.. All I have to be is wife and mom and those two things are really all I want to be after a long day at work.

So this morning was awesome. Tuesdays always seem better than Thursday. I think it has to do with the wonderful 2 days of rest we get between Saturday and Tuesday. Today just felt good and like I was in my groove. I love that feeling.

I invited a church friend and her running partner to join us and they did! I loved migrating groups!

We did our normal 4 mile loop and finished in the same amount of time we have been in the weeks prior. The hills are still a bitch but I just think they always will be.

Speaking of hills, tomorrow, I'm going to do "hill repeats" with the Janes group at the park that Liz encouraged us to do. We aren't meeting until 6 p.m. and apparently an expert is going to lead us in this. Tomorrow is an exception to the rule of being home in the evenings but I'm sure the boys will do just fine without me.

And then on Thursday (provided I survive hill repeats), I'll be hoping that I don't wake anyone as I sneak out the back door of our house at 5:45 a.m. to do another 4 miler with my crazy girls. Crazy girls that I am proud to call my friends. I really just can't wait to get back out there again!

6miles with a couple celebrities

Yeah, you read that right. We ran with two local celebrities on Saturday. Not like celebrities that you see on TV on Thursday night but running celebrities. The first was this guy. And the other was a dude who is running this race this weekend coming up. In case you are too busy to click, the first guy ran all the way across the Sahara Desert and the other guy is about to compete in a 100-mile ultramarathon. Awesome.

They were both totally nice and you never would have known you were with superstars. They were just like anyone else out there on a little morning run. I mean, besides EVERYONE knowing them, but whatever.

It was awesome and I'm thankful to our coach for arranging it.

But no matter how great they are, this is my blog, not theirs. And my 6 miles is not their 6 miles, so I'm done with that.

So, we didn't do the normal chit-chat at the beginning of this group run. Instead we warmed up and hit the pavement.

I'd gone to bed at 8:00 on Friday night because I wasn't feeling too good and was worried I wouldn't feel good on Saturday. So I showed up, a tad icky feeling and maybe a bit dizzy still and just went for it.

Luckily, my coach is totally correct in saying that the first mile or two might be the worst (it's different for everyone) but once you get those over, you get in your groove and you are good. She was right. I hated the first mile but after that, it was like "Whatever, I'm a runner!". We stopped for a good 5 minutes or so after 3 miles because we thought some peeps were lost and I forgot to stop my watch. So, I'm taking 5 minutes off the time I told Liz at the end of class.

Anyway, the hills in the parks are just plain stupid. Especially when it's HOT and HUMID and it's only 7 a.m.. I tried to walk a HUGE hill but 5 steps into the walk, I couldn't walk anymore, I had to run. I can't WALK! I need to RUN!

At 5 miles, we stopped to "GU" and then got going again. OMG. So tired. So so so so tired I was. I was running with a girl who had 7 miles to do (not my normal Tuesday and Thursday runnin' buddy) and she asked if I would go the extra mile with her. My response?

"Sorry, I can't. It's not you, it's me."

There was no way. I was SO tired and I think it was ALL because of the humidity. Because when I was done my 6 miles, I felt fine! Not winded, not tired really.

So, because of the way the run ended, I thought "good run! No big deal." I would NOT have said that at 5.5 miles but I guess that's why we get a runner's high? To forget how crappy we feel at small moments during the run?

This weekend I'm doing a 10k race here, provided I can get a sitter. Oh the drama.

Before that though, 4 miles Tuesday and Thursday with the Crazy girls at 5:45am. WOOT!

P.S. Got an awesome new Livestrong hat last week and wore it on Saturday. LOVE IT. Why have I been running sans hat this long? Really?

Keep on keepin' on..

Another 4 miler this morning.

Mama is tired. And sore? What's up with that?

It was HOT and HUMID this morning which made for a tough run, I think. I was tired the entire time. Never snapped out of the yucky fog I felt. Oh, and I was a bit dizzy too.. not good but we just kept moving.

Finished 15 seconds quicker than Tuesday.

Shouldn't have worn my Janes shirt with sleeves. Too much fabric on a HOT day! Will stow it away for the fall.

On a mission to buy a hat to run in. Mama's growing her hair out and thinking a hat might be the key to looking a little cuter when she runs. Because running is really just about being cute. Ahem.

That's all for now.

Rainy 4miles

So, I convinced my crazy girls (I stole this name from Jules!) to start at 5:45 instead of 6. What's 15 minutes right? Will gets up at 6:30 and we were getting home at 7 and I just HATE not having that little bit of time with him. Today, I got home at 6:45 and he'd just been up for 10 minutes. I know, I'm probably crazy but I can't help it. I love being with my boy in the morning.. Hm... when we increase to 5 and 6 miles, we might have to start EVEN earlier!!

I got up this morning and got dressed in Will's playroom just as I always do in the mornings. See... I set EVERYTHING out the night before in the back room so I can minimize the risk of waking someone or everyone. I ran out the door and I immediately felt a very light mist. Whatever. It never STARTS to rain in the morning, right? As I drive closer to the park, it's getting more and more rainy. By the time we were all out of our cars, it was RAINING and I was squealing like a little kid.

Someone said "Well, we could go back to bed?" Yeah, right. She was half joking but that would NEVER happen in my house. For one thing, Will would be up in another 45 minutes and two, I could never just fall asleep that quickly in the morning. So off we went.

We did our normal 4 mile route and I enjoyed chatting with my new running buddy. We did the 4 big ass hills and were done. At the end, I was soaked but it was nice to stand in the rain and cool off a bit before getting into the car.

You know what? Between the great conversation and the rain and the earliness of the whole thing, I never once even thought about the fact that we were running. I mean, I did... going up those BEAST hills but I never found myself going "Oh, I can't go anymore.." or "oh, my leg hurts". I just ran and chatted and enjoyed the morning out.

It's like...*gasp*... these morning jaunts are just really easy all the sudden? You know, what have you done today? "Oh, ran 4 miles in the rain at 5:45 a.m." NO big deal and NO skin off my back.

I got some new running shorts at Target yesterday that are making me happy. I was wearing just below the knee pants for every.run and now I have something cooler to wear. I am dying to buy more running tanks but that little Father's Day thing is really taking a hit on my allowance for the month.

I hope Target has those $9.99 tanks still in July. I like, LOVE them. They are lightweight and totally affordable.

6 miles

Sorry I haven't posted yet about our long run on Saturday.. KT and I left town on Saturday not long after our group run. We've been here way too much lately. We needed to pack it up and enjoy some family time in VA.

So, Saturday was fun. I was very nervous in the beginning about running 6 miles since I haven't done 6 in YEARS, years as in BW (Before Will). Coach Liz had it all worked out that we would run Greenway and Trails ... we ended up doing 2.5 on trails and the other 3.5 on the greenways.

The trails were great except the stopping and starting that you sometimes had to do to get around mud or go down a steep hill. And it's definitely a bit nerve-wracking thinking you are going to bust your butt at any minute on a root or rock. I loved getting muddy though and I LOVED how cool it was inside the woods.

At mile 4, Liz had GU set up for us since there were several ladies who'd never done it before, we just all stopped and did it together. Yum! It really does put a little pep in your step for those last miles.

After getting off the trails, it was hard running on the pavement. Naturally, your legs are a little wobbly because the ground is so much different. But I made it, didn't die, and have felt good ever since. No soreness or abnormal tiredness at all!

I finally finished my 6 miles in 1:13. Not too bad, I guess.

KT and I just signed up for the Freedom Run on June 27. I'm doing the 10k and he's doing the 2-miler. Now, I just need to find a babysitter... hm...

another 6am 4-miler

Holy crap, I'm tired. I think the excitement of "let's get up and RUN at 6a.m." has worn off. Oh well. I'm glad it's done and I can spend time with my boys tonight and not worry about that.

Did you know I have tremendous mommy-guilt? Yeah, I do. I worry about every minute I could be spending with Will that I'm not. I'm okay with some short things on the weekends without him but during the week, it's HARD. So, when I was running in the evenings, I would leave work early so that I could be home in time to cook dinner or greet them when they walked in the door at 5:30. Leaving early is okay, but not ideal, for obvious reasons.

I did feel bad this morning though because when I walked in, KT went straight to the shower. Evidently, Will was up right at 6:30 and so KT didn't have a chance to do anything this morning. He could have done more, but this is my running blog, not a place to complain, so I won't. Let's just say, we all need to work on time management with this new schedule.

So, I started out the run with another Jane and at the end of GA (about 1.2 into the run) my right shin was killing me and my legs were heavy and I just felt tired. But then, we got to NMP and I made the executive decision with myself that I was going to stop focusing on the pain and focus on the great convo my running partner and I were having. So I did.

And viola! I did it!

We did 4.04 miles and realized that only after visiting her blog and seeing that she has exact mileage. We finished in 45 minutes which isn't too bad.

After the run, we stretched a bit and waited for the other three girls, chatted a bit, encouraged one another and went on our way.

Coming up Saturday - a fun 6 miler! Yikes!

Total: 4.04 Miles

4-miler at 6am

Woot! That's all I have to say about the run with 5 other ladies this morning. Ok, maybe not ALL I have to say.

It was awesome, though.

I chatted with a new running friend the entire time and felt good. It was only 70ish degrees but it was warm. The worst part about running in the morning? The cobwebs. We did GA which is pretty wooded and my partner and I were battling the webs the entire way. I hope Jules and the others appreciated all that web taking down we did for them! At one point, there was even a spider on my nose! The things we do...

We finished the 4 miles in 44:48 so we did right at an 11 minute mile. That was probably faster than Liz wants us to do, though.

Anyway, I have to say that I'm feeling really good and really positive about this experience. Training smart is key to a successful race. I'm SO excited that I've met and bonded with so many new women in the city and that we will all share this experience together.

Total: 4.02 Miles

5 miles

Yesterday I met the group for our long run. Can I just say how much I'm loving this group of girls? So fun!

None of us did our homework for the week so Liz was a little mad at us and of course, I forgot this morning to take my resting heartrate. It's just hard when you hear "Mommy! Mooommmmyyy!!!" to remember that you need to do something besides drag out of bed to get the boy. Anyway, maybe tomorrow I'll remember.

After Coach Liz got over being mad at us, we took a group picture, warmed up and set out for our run. I had a 5-miler on my plan along with about 6 other ladies.

She's MAKING us go slow. Like, really slow. So, I did and boy was it hard! After the first mile though, I sort of got in the groove of the 12-minute mile and just went with it. I ended up running with a lady who has "run 1/2 marathon before turning 50" on her bucket list. She's really funny and a total grouch. She curses the entire time and is just funny. Luckily, she has a Garmin so I was able to know how fast we were going and how much farther we had to go.

We finished the 5 miles in 1 hour and 51 seconds and just kept going because we weren't at the end of the parking lot yet. I like running with her because she's anal like that just like me. So we totaled 5.2 miles in 1 hour, 4 minutes. Not too bad.

I admit that we started running harder at the end after getting up a few beast-like hills. But overall, we averaged the 12-minute pace and that's what we were supposed to do. Funny thing is, as much as I hate "going slow", I feel great. My legs haven't been hurting at all and I don't feel like I ran 5 miles yesterday. So maybe this running coach knows what she's talking about afterall? Glad I'm paying her the big bucks!

When I left there, I got a nice overwhelming feeling of happiness that I've met some great women so far and that we are ALL in this journey together. We are there to encourage one another and hold each other accountable. There's no doubt that this class is a great experience so far. I was even thinking.."gosh, I want to do a full marathon!"

I think that was the runner's high talking.

Total: 5 Miles

Thank GOD for my conscience on Facebook

I posted on facebook that I really did not want to run in the rain and boy did I get the motivation. Jules and another friend, Anna, had no sympathy for me and the things I worry about like falling down or getting struck by lightening. So, I checked the radar on weather.com and saw that I had about an hour window that I could get dressed, get to the park, run and get home before the rain started again and guess what? I did just that.

I decided that I did NOT want to do beast hills x4 so I came up with a new (to me) route that is 3.4 miles ... since I did about 2.5 yesterday, I figured it was okay to skimp my 3.5 run by .1. It was HOT out there and as soon as I stepped out of my car I was drenched with sweat.

Anyway, I went across the street from NMP to the short 1/2 mile semi-circle, went back into the NMP and did GA all the way to the end and back (2.4 miles) and then back to my 1/2 mile semi circle. Very easy run that only has 2 monster hills total. I tell ya. Hills are HARD and really slow me down for a few minutes until I can recover fully.

I get a little weirded out running GA sometimes because of the scarceness of the people out there. And, it's right next to a cemetery so I mean, how icky is that? There's a lot of older men out there and some die-hard runners and one biker that I see every.time.I.run no matter what time of day. He must be out there ALL the time. Today, I ran into a very nice walker who was also trying to figure out if it was RAINING or if the trees were just shaking off the water. She was adorable.

Anyway, it was a great run and I felt good doing it. I finished 3.4 in 37 minutes. A little slow, but whatever. I did it, right?

Coming up: 5 mile run with the group on Saturday morning. In one of my new running tanks from Target that were $7 each! Woot!

Total: 3.4 Miles

woods run

Yesterday, I ran in the woods at the college. The woods have all kinds of stories about them, so there was no way I was going in alone. I asked a running colleague to go with me and then as we were talking about it, someone overheard and joined us!

For anyone in the area, it's a great 2-mile loop that is shaded and just beautiful. There's a few hills and lots of roots that you have to watch out for.

We did the 2-mile loop in 19 minutes! I was HAULING because we had the most terrific storm coming and I was a bit freaked out by all the thunder. Actually, there were several storms that all hit one another and just sat over top of the city for a few hours that ended up dropping between 8 and 10 inches of rain on us! It was insane.

I'm pretty sure Coach Liz would not be happy with this quick 2 miler on an "easy" day but seriously? Training program vs. dying from a lightening strike... sorry Liz. :)

When we got out of the woods, we had about another .6 miles to go before we could get to our cars. We SPRINTED to the closest building because by this time there was lightening and thunder right above us, the wind started to pick up and the heavy rain started.

We ended up having to stay in the student center for a good 45 minutes before we could run again towards our cars and we really shouldn't have been out then either. If you ever want to see me freak out? Put me outside during a storm. Not pretty.

So I would say we did about a 2.6 mile sprint, er run, in I don't even know how long. But it felt good overall!

I am supposed to run 3.5 tonight but it's storming again. I might have to put that off to a morning run tomorrow.

I just know I was wet and totally freaked out by the events of the last 2 hours that I just got into my car without saying much to the girls and drove away. Crazyness.

Total: 2.6 Miles

3.7 in 38 at 5:30 (as in a.m.)

Uh huh. You read that title right. I ran at 5:30 this morning!!! For those of you reading that on Facebook AND here and thinking, "SO WHAT?! You are not the only person in the world running at 5:30!" I know that. But, you have to understand. I don't do things at 5:30. Or 6:00. 6:30 is even difficult for me. I love my sleep.

But, a friend from church told me she met a new running partner and did I want to meet them this morning to run? Since it's supposed to be 93 degrees this afternoon, I figured, why not?

I overslept. I woke up at 5:28 and pulled into her driveway at 5:32. I'm SO glad I had my stuff all ready to go next to the back door!

Anyway, we did a quick run. Or, a fast run in my book. Our coach keeps saying to keep it easy but this morning just felt good to go a good pace. We even walked a tiny bit so we must have been booking it.

Now, I'm exhausted but my run for the day is over! WOOT!

P.S. My left knee hurts. I iced it after the run for about 10 minutes (didn't have anymore time because Will woke up) and it's not as bad now, but it hurts to walk. Hm...

Total: 3.7 Miles