Just Ridiculous!

The other day I went to the rail trail to do a long run. I have to have my music for my long runs (if I'm running by myself), so I bring my ipod. As I started my running playlist I got about 30 seconds into the first song and then it just stopped. Hmm, that was weird. I didn't think the battery was going dead yet because I had just charged it the night before in anticipation of this run. So, I started it again and it started right up. But again, 30 seconds into it, it turned off.

Okay, I decided that maybe it was just that track. I changed to a different song and low and behold the same thing happened. It would turn off every few seconds or so. Okay, I can not be restarting my ipod every few seconds during my long run. This is not going to happen. In my mind I had already made plans to go shopping after my run to buy a new ipod. This one has served me well for several years and I use it pretty hard so perhaps it is time to retire it. This was one particular run where I did have my phone so using that for music was my back up plan.

Just on a whim, I decided to see if I could get a radio station to come in on my ipod and see if that worked. Turns out, it did. I know listening to the radio always slows me down because of the excess talking that happens instead of a constant pace of my own music, but I planned this run to be longer and wasn't in any hurry.

So all this stuff with my ipod was NOT the ridiculous part.  The ridiculous part was the stuff I heard on the radio. This stuff just baffled my mind and I want to say WHAT? Are you kidding me???

Walking my Baylee is one of my favorite activities.

1. First off, the dj was talking about whether or not kids should earn an allowance for doing chores around the house. She then mentioned the going rate for common chores. For example $1 for taking out the trash, $6 for mowing the lawn, etc. And THEN she said on average kids earn $2.50 for walking the dog. WHAT?  Kids should NOT get paid to walk their dog. That is a PRIVILEGE. That is a family member that they are taking care of. A dog is not a business deal. I would never want a child to see a dog as a chore.  I get that kids need to learn responsibility but perhaps I am just too sensitive on issue.

  2. The next thing that baffled my mind was a big fancy study that was done that showed people who had large weddings (as in a larger guest count like 200 or more) had stronger and happier marriages than those who had small weddings (smaller guest count).  The reasoning behind this was that those who had more guests at their wedding were seen as having many more friends and family which equated to a larger support system for when they went through rough times. I'm sorry but this is just a RIDICULOUS thought.  I know people who had large weddings (over 200 guests) only because their parents invited everyone of their own friends (and everyone they ever made contact with..lol). Several of these marriages have already ended (one didn't even make it a full year).

What Ridiculous stuff have you heard lately? Do you have any idea what's wrong with my ipod? -M

Just a drop in the Bucket List

The term "Bucket List" carries a lot of weight around here.  It's reserved for those things that we've always wanted to do . They may be things that may have felt just a little out of our reach or perhaps would take a while to get to. In essence, it's not a term we throw around lightly. 

And if we have to be honest, I really don't think either of us has created a bucket list of races. Sure there may be races that come up that we would like to try, but would they be considered "Bucket List"?  Probably not. 

Here are our thoughts........

Meranda
When I first started running the Disney races, I had a list in my head of all the ones I wanted to run ( yes, I suppose you could call this list a Bucket list).  After November, I will have checked all of those races off of my list.  I recently started wondering what it would be that I would have to look forward to next (as far as running was concerned).  I suppose I have a few favorites that I will continue to run from year to year and I have also started to research some new ones in places that I want to visit. These new to me races wouldn't be bucket list races, but just ones that I think I might enjoy.


Lacey
Like most people, The Boston Marathon was on my Bucket List. Sadly, that's pretty much the only race that was. Anyone that knows me knows that I really don't plan that far ahead and I just take advantage of opportunities that are presented to me. If it's a race, yea I'll probably run it. I've been asked several times if I have any desire to run the NYC Marathon. I'd like to say yes, because it is one of the Marathon Majors and running it would then have me completing all the majors in the USA.  It's also close logistically so that's definitely a plus. However, it seems like it would be a major expense with hotel and traveling . Also the logistics on race day and maneuvering around the city stresses me out just thinking about it. 

What will you do when you run all your "bucket list" races?   Can you suggest any really great races on the East Coast? 

                                         We are linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap ...It's October!

Welcome to October! I think all things Fall have arrived! Is this not the largest mum you've ever seen? To put it in perspective, Baylee is an 80 lb lab sitting next to it and it is still huge!

Unfortunately the mum now looks like this because of all the rain we got this weekend!

And speaking of fall.....

I had my first Pumpkin Spice Frappe and Pumpkin soup of the season! The Frappe was only okay. If I didn't already know that it was Pumpkin Spice, I probably wouldn't have been able to tell by tasting it. I could taste a little bit of nutmeg but that was it.  The pumpkin soup on the other hand was AMAZING!  ( I got that at a local restaurant ).


As far as the gym goes, I've continued to be consistent with showing up on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays!  You know that those are also my running days as well.  However,  I needed to take Monday off this week from running because I just get too worn down from the weekend and need an extra day of rest. Wednesday was a non running day as well because I had the opportunity to spend some time with family instead. So my only hope was to get a run in on Friday and hopefully a long one on Saturday.

So on Thursday night I had an accident with the dog gate and it fell down and hit me in the back of the calf. It hurt and it started bruising up immediately.  Now I was worried about if I was even going to get my run in on Friday.  On Friday afternoon at work I finally had some time to prop it up and ice it for a while.

Friday was the start of our less than perfect weather. It pretty much rained all day long. My running friend Heather was coming to visit and I worried how the weather would affect our plans.  Before she arrived I had time to get in my last gym session for the week.

By the time I came out of the gym it had stopped raining and it was rather warm. I decided to slip on my visor (in case it started to sprinkle) and see if I could run with this big bruise on my calf.  Turns out I got three pretty fast miles in through town and the pain in my calf did not bother me at all while I ran.

On Saturday I planned to do a long run with my friend Heather on the Rail Trail. Thank you all for your advice on my post on Friday on how I should be ramping up my mileage. I did have that conversation with my PT and he did say that I should be getting in 2 weekend of 13 mile runs before race day!  This surprised me as I thought he would want me to be more conservative seeing as I am injury prone.  He made a plan for me and I think I should be able to stick too it.


Because there was rain in the forecast pretty much all day, we knew that this long run was going to be a challenge.  The sky was clear till we got to the trail and then as soon as we got out of the car, BAM! it poured. We got back in the car and waited about 5 minutes. It stopped. We then found our little window of opportunity.

Thumbs up for a rain free run! 

God must have felt sorry for us so gave us some great weather for our entire run. Heather had 12 miles on her plan and I was only going to do 10 of those miles with her because I didn't want to push too much.  Since The weather was perfect, and we were doing a run/walk, I decided to go ahead and do those extra 2 miles with her. I was having way too much fun to stop!

We completed 12 happy miles and as soon as we got back to the car, it started to pour again. We couldn't have planned it any better than this! 

We still have some adventures to get to today so hopefully the weather will hold out just a bit longer! -M

We are linking up with the lovely Holly and Tricia for their weekly wrap!

Runfessing about Fall

Sadly this is the extent of the leaves that are falling around here. Not too plentiful yet, huh? 

So as we finally approach Fall around here, I have some things to Runfess.......

1. 5K races are pretty plentiful around here, especially in the fall. I planned to do that Lights 5K that is run at night time and I also planned to do a few Halloween themed ones in October.  Well, the night time 5K was this past Friday night and I didn't end up signing up and I probably won't sign up for any in October either.  My reason is,  I need to stop using my weekends to run 5Ks and start using them for long training runs! 

2. My longest run to date has only been 8 miles.  I have never felt so behind on a training plan before. I don't want to ramp up mileage too quickly but I wonder if I should even try to do 13.1 before race day?  I've always gotten in a 13 mile training run during every other cycle.  I know people who've only ever trained up to 10 miles for a half. I can definitely get in 10 miles by then.  If I DO ended up squeezing in the 13 miles, I definitely won't have any taper time.  What do you guys think on this one?

3. I'm meeting one of my favorite running friends this weekend! I can't wait to show her my favorite places to run and walk. Unfortunately it looks like our lovely weather is coming to the end and we will have rain this weekend.  Boo...

4. I haven't gone shopping for clothes (running or work clothes) since May. I'm planning a weekend to hit up some of my favorite stores sometime in October. I'm also hoping to pick up a few fall decorations for my house.

5. I've been trying to keep a better handle on my post run nutrition. I am one of those people who can't even begin to think of food after a run so I rarely eat anything. This certainly isn't good. I've stocked up on these Quest protein powders for after my runs. I've already had one of each of these flavors and the one I keep buying more of is the Salted Caramel! I mix mine with Vanilla Almond milk so I'm thinking it's sweeter than what it probably is suppose to be.

What is your advice on #2?  Share anything else about Fall with me!  -M

We are linking up with the gals from the Friday 5.

The solo group run

When I have a long run on the schedule I usually run with my running buddy because we all know that miles fly by when you have someone to run with. Every now and then I will meet with a running group if the time and day work out with my schedule. After several times meeting the group, I began to wonder why I even meet up with them. Sure groups can be motivating, but isn’t the point to stay together in the group? Every time I meet with the group, I find myself just running with my running buddy solo anyway.  The runners that meet up are either at a different pace or not running the same mileage we plan to.   It is such a process from the start. Everyone knows what time the run is supposed to take place, but everyone is not on time, so we have to wait.  And then we have to discuss how far everyone plans on going, and then wait for everyone to get a signal from their watch. By then it has been at least 20 minutes, I could have had at least two miles done. 

That is what happened last week during our long run.  Since we normally don’t run with others there are different points throughout the route that we usually meet up at such as water fountains and restrooms. But until we wait around for them to get there just to say hi and see how they are doing, we could have another mile down.  My running buddy and I were plugging right along so I thought. I was feeling really good and actually keeping up with a faster pace than I normally do on the trails. I asked him how he was doing and he said he was struggling a bit. What? My running buddy struggles???  I found this odd because usually I am the one struggling between us. He is faster than me and he keeps me going during our runs.

 I thought it was a perfect day for a run, but then again I always like it on the warm side. He thought it was too humid. We had about a mile left into our run and he just stops to walk. He has never done this for as long as we have been running together. Usually he is the one that asks me if I am okay or if I need to slow down or walk. I guess there is a first time for everything. I asked if he wanted me to stop and walk with him, but of course he said no and that he would catch up. I continued the last mile solo, since no one else in the group was running at my pace. Glad it was only a mile to go, because I do not like running by myself without any music. I arrived back to the parking lot and finished with 13.5 miles and waited for him to come. After we were done we met up with a few people from the group to see how their run went, while others had already left.  

So for me, group runs can be sort of a challenge lately. Sometimes they can even be awkward. 

Do you find your group runs to be similar or different? L

Challenge me to Chicago

 I have been reading quite a few blogs within the last week in which people completed their last long run before Chicago. It made me realize that I haven’t done a super long run yet so I better get on that. I was hoping to do it last week. But after my 12 mile run on Monday which was partially in the run, it ended up raining the rest of the week and actually flooded, so there was no run. I had to work the rest of the weekend then I planned to go home to visit family the following week, so I knew a long run would not take place then.  My only time to get my long run in would be a Saturday morning long run. This in itself became another one of those challenging runs.

I can't believe in just 2 weeks I will be at this start line.   Source

After working until midnight the night before, I knew getting up at 6 am would be a challenge but I was ready for it. I planned to meet my running buddy, because he is always helpful when I need to get a long run in. I was hoping to do 16-18 miles. I haven’t been to a Saturday morning long run in quite sometime. My running buddy never plans it, but I know he is always out there every week at 7. I thought this week I would surprise him and actually show up.

Well he surprised me and wasn’t there. Luckily I brought my Ipod that had two new podcast episodes on it.  So I set off running through the State Park like usual. I was about a mile and half into my run and I find the trail completely flooded. This was not a good sign I thought. Maybe I should turn around now. No, I was getting my run in! I didn’t get up to cut it short! Luckily there was a portion on the road that was not flooded that still lead into the park.

 I continued my run and was about 5 miles into it until my next obstacle, a fallen down tree. I was either jumping over it, or ducking underneath it since it was on an angle. I was able to just bend underneath it since I am so short.  I decided I would go out of the park and start heading up to the oceanfront area.

When I exited the park there was a stand out for a running group that was training but they were offering Gatorade and water to all runners going by.  I didn’t need anything so I continued down the sidewalk towards the boardwalk. On the sidewalk I noticed inspirational saying such as, you can do it and don’t give up written with sidewalk chalk. I wonder if it was the group that was handing out water.

Yea, I was totally taking a nap when I got home.

 When I arrived on the boardwalk I was at 7 miles. I knew the length the board walk was about 3 miles.  I was feeling really good and keeping a good pace now that I was running on the boardwalk rather than the trail. I made it all the way to the end of the boardwalk and saw my watch hit 10 miles….wohoo! Now I just had to make my way back home. I went the same route back that I did when I headed out. I passed the table again with Gatorade and water and took this opportunity to fill my water bottle up.  

Right before I entered the park again, my Podcast finished and I had to switch it to my music playlist. I noticed that my Ipod was in the red and knew it was going to die soon. I had 5 miles left, so I began to pick up my pace to see how far I can get before it shut off. Only a mile left and I was out of the park by now but still on a sidewalk trail where there are some stores and shops on the other side.

Another stand was out by the trail. It was behind a chiropractor building that said they were doing a free 2 minute posture screenings that morning. I thought for a second that may be nice, but already knew what they would tell me, that I have a forward lean. So I told them I’d stop but I was on a time frame now. They said you’re looking great, keep up the good work. I knew I was almost home and wasn’t quite at 20 miles so I ran up another block until I saw my watch hit 20 miles! Of course I was happy to be finished with my run, but most of all I was happy that I felt great during my whole run. I am ready for Chicago!

Later that day, I told my running buddy I missed him during my long run. He told me that his foot had been bother him and wanted to take the day off. I hope he feels better soon, because we have plenty of long runs in our future for our fall race schedules! 

We will be linking up with our friends from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap.....September 25th

 So what's been up this week?  We got quite a bit of rain. Instead of recapping my entire week of runs I decided to just focus on this one memorable one!

I haven’t run in almost a week due to work conflicts but I planned on doing a long run on my day off. I heard it was supposed to rain on that day too. My goal was to get out there before it started. We all know I am not a morning person, so getting up just to get my run in was not going to happen.  I slept in like I usually do on my day off and slowly got ready for my run. The plan was to do a longer run, preferably double digits, weather permitting. 

I started out feeling pretty good despite the humidity. I could tell the rain was coming, but I didn’t want to turn around right away so I continued on.  It did start to sprinkle two miles into my run, but I told myself I was good, besides I had my visor on so the rain wouldn’t get into my eyes.  It actually felt refreshing and less humid so I didn’t bother to turn around. Besides, I cannot predict weather race day, so this would be a good training run.   I knew soon that I would be approaching the park where it is tree covered and feeling the rain would be minimal. And that is just what happened. I got about another mile into my run still feeling good, but then I started hearing the rain, it sounded like it was coming down a lot harder than earlier, and it did! All of a sudden it started pouring and what wasn’t wet from my sweat got wet from the rain. My visor was no help at this point since it was coming down in buckets. 

I don't run with my phone but this is a picture I took later on.

I told myself I think now is the time to turn around. I was a bit disappointed because heading back now would only make 8 miles for me. I continued back through the park jumping over puddles and feeling my shoes fill with water. I was listening to a new podcast that was talking about mental toughness. Well if this wasn’t it, what was? This couldn’t have come at a better time.

By the time I was coming out of the park, it started to clear up, the rain stopped and the sun came back out. At first I was mad that I turned around, had I known it wasn’t going to last I could have continued my run. Then I thought, well heck why can’t I? So I decided to take a different route on the sidewalk where it was completely dry. I ran about another mile and then saw a really nice track at a school. 
Well maybe I should stop and do some speed work, since I never incorporate that into my training. And that is just what I did. I jogged the straight away and sprinted the turns. Not sure if this is how other runner incorporate their speed work, but it was working for me and I was feeling the burn. When I was sprinting I would get down to 5:50's.(Of course that was only a 100 yards) So I needed that next 100 yards to catch my breath. I continued this pattern for two more miles. When I was finishing up, I could tell the rain was coming back. It got very dark and windy so I decided to head back and got home just in time before it started pouring again. I finished with 12 miles. I was hoping for a few more, but I like to think it evened out with the speed work I incorporated.

Running in the rain, Yay, or nay?   Tell me about your speed work.  -L

We are linking up with Holly and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap!