Running Routes that produce Results

The other day my sister was telling me about her 13 mile training run and the route she normally runs. As I listened to her explain where all she ran, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped.  She runs on some of most unsafe roads and her normal route includes the steepest hill in town.

Our running routes certainly could not be more different.  I choose my route based on safety and for that reason I only have about 3 or 4 "regular" routes that I run when I'm at home.  I've noticed that the pace (and quality) of my run is based largely on the route I run it on.


For instance, my island is the closest route to my home so it's the one I visit more often but I rarely have what I would call a "fast" run there.  It is a very safe route because there are no cars but because it is an island, the route is circular with lots of twists and turns and I find it hard to pick up speed when I 'm running in a circle.  A majority of  the route is not paved so it is a bit harder to run on the earth's surfaces (I think). Also, this island is not flat. There are no hills but just enough inclines in some places that make you exude a bit more energy.  If I need a long run, I don't go to the island.

My long runs are always at the rail trail. This trail is a little further from my house but it is so worth the drive. The trail is completely flat and is a straight shot. It's a combination of surfaces and I've had many "fast runs" here.  This is probably my favorite route and where I have my "best" runs! A plus for running on this trail is that there is a Starbuck at the end of it (or beginning depending on which way you go).

When I don't have time to drive to the rail trail, I drive into town (or sometimes I run there from the island).  This is a pretty safe route because I am running on the side walk that is on the river side, which means I don't have to stop for any cars.  I've also noticed that I can pick up speed when I run on the sidewalks. Sidewalks feel so good to run on after running many miles on the trails.  I remember doing a 10K PR on this route!  It can certainly be a pretty fast route, but there are certain things about it that can slow me down. For one, I have to watch my footing in certain areas because the sidewalk is not always even. Also, if I do more than 6.2 miles, I more than likely have to cross the street. If I'm on the other side of the street I now have to watch for cars and potentially stop at red lights. In turn, all things that add time to my run.  
Do you have routes that produce different result in your running? -M



The Truth about Fabletics

Ever since I started writing my Fashion Column in the newspaper one of the most asked questions I get is "Have you ever tried Fabletics"?  I hadn't, So I thought it was time to do some research.  What I found was that customers were about 50/50 on it.

    


Before I continue, I need to be up front and

The Weekly Wrap...March 27th


You know how once in a while you mention a small detail on the blog and that unexpectedly seems to be the one thing that many people comment on?

That's exactly what

How we made Super Smoothies



I'm always up for a good smoothie. I generally make them at home and my typical smoothie consist of some Greek yogurt, some frozen fruits, and either orange juice or Almond milk. I admit I often put a little whip cream on top if I have some.  So as you can see, it's not too in depth.

This past weekend my mom

A Benchmark Run and Addressing Weaknesses



I mentioned in the Weekly Wrap post that I had two good runs last week. I did four miles on Tuesday and four miles on Thursday.


 I want to talk a little bit about my Thursday run. My plan was to

Rockin in at Rock n Roll Dallas Half Marathon

This past weekend I ran the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Dallas. All weekend was very busy.

 I got into Dallas very late on Thursday night and checked into the

Hey Runner's, Why we're breaking your rules!


When we started running races, we did not have a blog, we weren't on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any form of social media. Social media, what's that?

For this reason we had

Weekly Wrap..March 20th

I'm not gonna lie, this daylight savings and losing an hour sleep this past week kicked my butt. I don't know if it was so much the losing the hour sleep as much as it was that it was so dark when I woke up in the mornings. I was starting to get use to the sun rising and the birds chirping and now it's just total darkness. I pushed snooze on my alarm 4 times this week! I think that had a lot to do with my lack of motivation for the week.

As you recall, last week I just started back in my

The Instagram Challenge

One of my favorite things to do before bed is to scroll through my Instagram feed.  I must say, I follow a great group of fitness minded people, runners, foodies, fashionistas, and Disney fans.


Although we have our group of running bloggers that we connect with on a daily (or weekly) basis, I noticed that there was a good group of  Instagram folks whose

Running as a Chaser

Have you come to the point in your running where it's not as challenging as it use to be?  Have you plateaued with your PR's? If so, I have a concept to share with you.

Picture is of the Las Vegas Marathon and Half and is from Competitor.com


Earlier this month when I was

At Home Workouts you can do in 5 minutes





The hardest thing about running is the preparation involved. When I say preparation, I don’t mean getting dressed, filling your water bottle, and preparing your fuel (although all that can become time consuming). When I talk about preparation, I mean preparing your body so it is able to run properly and withstand injury.
The only problem with that is that it IS time consuming.

Weekly Wrap up..March 13th

This past week I officially started getting back into my running again after what seemed like a very long hiatus!


Now I have to explain that I am only taking "baby steps" here.  This week was sort of a "trial" week just to see where my fitness level and running ability lie. I ran every day this week except for Thursday (because it rained) but I rode 5 miles on my bike.


Sunday was my first run and I purposely ran it slow just to get the feel of running back.  I ran the entire mile without any breaks just to see if my IT band would act up or not ( I know I'm tempting fate here). Turns out it was good.


Monday I ran another complete mile with no breaks and I really put some effort into it this time. I'll call this my "intended" fast run.  My time was certainly better than the day before, so I was pleased.


Tuesday I wanted to do just an average run on feel. Not purposely slow or purposely fast.  Turns out, my run time was exactly the same as the day before.  Apparently what I thought was my "fast" run wasn't all that fast...lol


Wednesday I did another average run and my pace was even better than the day before which surprised me.


Thursday - 5 miles on the bike since it was raining.
Friday- I did two miles with my sister and was very pleased that the first mile was my fastest mile all week. I guess it pays to run with someone faster than myself.






Lacey has not taken any breaks from running since running the Gooofy Challenge in January. In fact her training is going well and she is looking forward to running Rock n Roll Dallas later this month!


Okay, now on to the big news from this past week. That darn Wine n Dine race. I have to say that neither one of us is thrilled with the thought of it becoming a daytime race instead of a night race.  Now what sets this race apart from every other race challenge that Disney offers? Nothing! I understand that by providing a challenge race Disney is obviously making more money and in the end, they are a business and their goal is to make money.  I for one am seriously debating whether or not I even want to sign up.  Before this challenge was announced, I had already planned to go so I already booked a room. I know I said that I was done with the Challenge races, so if I do go, I don't know if that will be something I participate in. Although why not do it just once and then I have done all the challenges at least once?   I guess I have time to think it over.  


Anyone else running Dallas?




We are participating with HoHo Runs and MissSSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap up.  Now that we are both back to training we may have more to report on at the end of the week!

The new Urth box

My sister has always been pretty creative in her Christmas gifts and most years one of the gifts to me was some sort of goodies box.  Remember that Huge home made runner box she made for me a few years back?  She filled me up with fuels and snacks to last me for months!






This past year she ordered me a three

Wine n Dine 2016

Way back when we registered for the WDW Marathon for 2016, I knew that I was not going to follow it up with the Glass Slipper challenge for 2016. I did both challenges last year and knew it was not a smart idea.



With that being said, since we knew we were going to pass on Princess, we planned on this being the year to do the Wine n Dine half marathon.





I am sure this year is going to be a unique

Running Highlights you wont want to miss


I have hit a huge milestone this month already!   Remember over Christmas break I said that one of my goals was to catch up on all my magazine subscriptions?  Yea, well that did not happen. 


However, I am proud to say that I have

How Running Enhances Lives

You've all heard about how running can be beneficial to your health. Although I am sure that is true, I never started running to be healthy or to lose weight. To be honest, I have never experienced as much pain and discomfort and I've never visited more doctors, physical therapist, masseuse, and orthopedic surgeons than I have since I started running.  This running has been painful, expensive, and at times miserable but it has definitely enhance my life ten fold!






Because of running I have

On Dancing

I admit that when the whole Dancing With The Stars craze happened, I didn't jump on board. What is so interesting about a bunch of people twirling around anyway?  But much like all good tv programs, I caught on a few seasons later, much like I did with the Big Bang Theory (why didn't anyone tell me that show was so funny?).




Anyway, I've taken a

Confession Time



Wow, I don't think we've ever done a confessions post. Have we?  It seems like the popular thing to do to recap the end of the month, so why not.

It is Fitness Friday but as I stated in a previous post that February was my Rest Month, Hallelujah!  (I know most people take a rest "day" or a weekend, but I took  an entire month).  I enjoyed not rushing home everyday to get to the gym and thought I would be able to use that time relaxing and reading books and just doing nothing, BUT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. It seems as when you have free time, you quickly find ways to occupy it.

 Here is what I have to confess from last month, the good and the bad........

Earning the Right to Run

When I was marathon training I would try to make it to the gym as often as I could during the week and then do my long runs on the weekend.  I don't mean to sound like a broken record but I did mention before numerous times how this method left me exhausted.  The reason I was so adamant about going to the gym though was because I wanted to do the strengthening exercises for my legs so that I could put the IT band injury WAY behind me. I had suffered with that injury for 19 months and it was awful.  What I was doing at the gym seemed to help.



There were  only a few weeks when I did not