The truth about off brands

Ok yesterday I went to buy allergy medicine because Atlanta has been KILLIN me lately. 

I picked up the first allergy medicine I saw that was kroger brand (aka cheaper) and bounced.  

Well, I grabbed that and some sugar free chocolate mousse but it's fine. 

Its fiiiinnneee. 

Went out this morning in my, finally, newly replaced Brooks Adrenlines and my NEW RUNNING SKORT!! But before, of course, I had a snack and popped one of these allergy meds. 

Bad. Move. 

RTFM.

(read the effin manual) 

This allergy medicine was pink, like benadryl. That's right, the drowsy medication. 

I felt like I had two-year-olds hanging on my ankles. It was the hardest run/workout to power through, not because I hurt, but because literally if I shut my eyes for two long I was worried I'd fall asleep, and the rest of my muscles felt the same way. 

Rough.

Very rough.  I'm still hazy right now.

The skort however held up wonderfully. It helps that they had super hot booty shorts underneath the skirt, and y'all know how I feel about those. (LOVE)

Time to do a lab, grade papers, and get a sweet brinner made for me tonight. 

Run happy everybody :)

 And don't forget, don't pop benadryl and run. Bad plan.

Upswing

Yesterday it rained all day in atlanta. It was miserable and my roommate and I just sat around and baked all day. 

Really, we didn't do anything.

So today was long run day, my last true long run before the half in 2 weeks.  After a disasterous 8  miles last weekened I really wanted today to be special. To feel like I hadn't been training for nothing.  

I woke up at 9:30, ate a bagel and some yogurt and didn't leave until 11:30ish. I packed my normal gatorade mix and a Cliff gel that my friend told me to try and kept a positive attitude despite the horrible weather that is here. 

It's cold.

It's windy.

Oh and it's wet everywhere.

Did I mention windy? Seriously, Atlanta is like a wind tunnel on every street.

Anyway I decided to run my usual route backwards, tackling the dreaded North Avenue hills first.  Honestly I couldn't have asked for a better run. 

Well I could have, like not freezing, and not so windy I was being pushed sideways but eh!

I ate my little gel at mile 6 as I was leaving the Highland area and by the time I got home I'd run 11.06!

I felt good. I got home, iced my knees and feet (they were achey) and smiled knowing I had hit my goal half pace.  

Now I'm sitting down to finally do school work.  

Ugh Guess I gotta put work in at some point right?

14 days till the half. Taper starts in 4 and I'm so so so ready for that!!

Run Happy everyone!

The Bad Times

Today's Running World Quote was:

"It takes faith and the courage to risk failure in order to realize one's destiny. Having had my share of failures throughout my career I know that it is well worth the risk." - Ryan Hall, American long distance runner and winner of the 2008 United States Olympic Marathon Trials

I love this quote. It really hit home after the past few weeks I have had. 

This explains a lot of my lack of posting. 

"Drama" is exactly how I'd characterize what's been going on. I'd love to divulge everything (not) but it involves tears, yelling, alcohol and honestly a little loss of dignity on my part every once in a while.  

Don't worry, you can just go watch an ABC-no-so-Family show and it will be about the same. 

Anyway the drama has caused some sidetrackedness in my focus on training. I'm still doing it but it's been more of a mind numbing get-away-from-everything thing, causing me to not want to post about it. 

On top of my 'drama' I had one of the worst runs of life on Sunday.  I had skipped my long run last weekend due to, surprise, drama and drinking, and so I was excited to get back to a 10 miler on Sunday.  I had eaten breakfast with some friends early in the morning and headed out around 2pm so I could have plenty of time to digest my food.  I felt perfectly fine when I left. Excited to run, had on new clothes, it was a beautiful day in Atlanta at a high 60's low 70's temp with some wind. 

Well I got to about mile 2.5 and realized something wasn't quite right. My legs weren't shaking that dead feeling. I chalked it up to a few days of not running and they were just stiff but I couldn't get rid of it. By mile 4.5 I was in the Virginia Highlands and had stopped. I was sitting on a bench with absolutely dead legs and a stomach ache just to add to it. My lungs were on fire and everything felt like it was falling apart.  I knew I wasn't going to make 10 miles that day, I was praying just for 8 at the rate I was going. I texted my roommate with a warning text of "this isn't going so hot" just in cased I needed her to come get me.

Yeah, I felt THAT bad. 

So I kept going, forced myself at least, slowly, and told myself that if I could just keep going and walk some/rest I'd make it through. 

The next 3.5 miles were the worst miles ever. 

I've never thrown up from working out but I was pretty damn close, and I actually WANTED to. I wanted to throw up so bad thinking it would make me feel better. Anything to make me feel better. I kept waiting for a second wind but no. And of course when you're in the middle of Atlanta you're smack in the middle of a MILLION and one hills. Steep, long hills. 

I somehow made it back to campus and when my Garmin watch hit 8 miles I just stopped. And I walked home. Walked. I've never done that in my life. It was miserable. I was miserable. I felt like such a  failure. And the half is only 3 weeks away! I was supposed to be throwin out 8 miles like nothin. 

My legs just did not want it. And I had to listen on Sunday. 

Maybe it's been the alcohol, which honestly hasn't been much because if any of y'all knew me you knew I can get a hangover from 2 beers and be hammered in 1. Maybe it's all this drama, or school, or the stress I've been putting on myself lately but it's just been a rough few weeks of training. My Monday run was sucky as well. Legs hadn't recovered yet but I knew I needed to get the miles in. 

Anyway back to the applicable quote for the day. I guess this is all of my failures right now. I keep fighting the failure feeling. I have to shake it because I start taper in 8 days and then it's race time. I've been working way too hard to let this feeling take me down.

So it's time to push the personal shit out of my mind and get it all done and get back to running happy instead of this moody gloomy running.

Shopping!!

As a Bday present to myself since I've been so good training thus far AND because I got paid a nice paycheck this week I splurged and bought...all of this :

I just do not own enough running gear. I only have 2 pairs of shorts! and I workout 6 days a week!!! SO MUCH LAUNDRY.  So, I finally decided it was time to drop some big bucks and gear up like a proper Brooks ID runner. I will probably be building my wardrobe like this every other paycheck (once a month) just so I have enough clothes on a week to week basis. I ALSO paid 5 whole extra dollars (oh my!) to get it 'expedited' here. I have no idea when they're going to ship it but pinkies crossed for today so I can get it by next Friday. I am SO excited!!! Mmmm clothes. In other, more upsetting news, I was planning on going to ABC (brewery) tonight with a bunch of friends for my birthday (I know it was Tuesday but I'm a college girl, I can't take time out of my classes to party on a Tuesday!) however I needed to get out of work from 4-8 to be able to do this.  Of course, none of my coworkers will cover it. 2 semesters I've been working the dreaded Friday Close shift and yet, no one will throw me a bone for my birthday. Such is life. On to study. Happy Friday everyone!

Birthday Week

Alright people. 

My 22nd Birthday is on Tuesday.

For some reason my friend's all want to take me out separately so I am haveing 3+ birthday dinners, which means I have a lot more running to do next week

I don't even care I'm SO excited about it! My best friend evvaaa is making me a sugar free cake from scratch! 

yay no sugar coma! 

In other news, I'm already past 11 miles for this week. I had a lovely 6.5+ mile run on Wednesday that felt like someone had literally lit a fire under my ass somehow. I was movin' out there. Maybe it was the perfect mid 40's weather or the fact that I was craving BBQ? Not sure, but it was a wonderful run.

I can really feel my speed picking up each month I'm still running.

Now for a random funny/Awkard tech boy story, I was at the gym last night up at the track doing my speedwork and I stopped in front of this guy...boy. Anyway I stopped to walk my half lap and he was passing me (walking) and turned around to talk to me. I thought he was asking if I was ok because I probably sounded like I was breathing through a straw at the time but he really was just going to do this:

Awkward boy: "Hey, you doin sprints"

Me: *wheeze**die*"yeah"

Awkward boy:"ohhh killer dude"

Me: *wheeze* "thanks?" *die*

Awkward boy: *awkward smile/wave/turn around to keep walking in front of me*

I love tech boys. They're just so cute. 

Long day ahead of me and long long run ahead of me tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get more than 5+change hours of sleep tonight. 

Hope everyone is having an amazing Friday so far!

HeavyWeight

This week I have been put through pseudo hell and back. 

My training goes light week, medium week, heavy week. This week was heavy week. The past 2 weeks have felt you know, hard, but nothing like this week. I am sore EVERYWHERE. My back hurts, my arms hurt, my legs, my ass, my abs. Everything hurts.

Today I ran 8.6 miles and it was probably the longest 8.6 miles of my training yet. It took all of my energy to get through it. I got a second wind around 4.5 miles at my turn around point in the Highlands. Seriously though my legs felt like lead. Lead jelly. 

Needless to say it took a very long hot shower of stretching to get all the kinks out of my body and I'll still be asking for a massage from Christopher later. 

This long run also brings my total mileage this week to 20 miles!!!! 

Epic. I feel epic. 

In other amazing news, I had my first Atlanta Track Club Kilometer Kids meeting Thursday! 

I'm so excited to get to work with kids. I really need to get my head out of the Engineering cloud I live in every day. 

Tomorrow is rest + super bowl day and I will be vegging on a couch and probably enjoying a whiskey coke or two. 

I hope everyone has a GREAT Sunday and enjoys it as much as I hopefully will.

Run Happy!

Bad Poster

Man, I am just AWFUL at keeping up sometimes. I vow this week I will stop posting only once a week.

Vow, promise, swear etc. 

I'm currently sitting at work, sipping my coffee, prepping for a long day in this office which I just opened at 8am. And I will be closing at 8pm.

Tricky right?

Anyway as I sip my coffee and peruse the running world websites I frequent I find myself wondering if sometimes, even though I fail to write on here, I peruse too much and don't do enough school work. 

Goodness, there, I said it. I'm preoccupied with my training. School is getting more and more difficult to focus on.  I'm stuck in this mode where I don't want to graduate, but I really want to graduate, so I'm at a standstill.  Kind of stuck in limbo honestly. I'm always/generally more than willing to get up and go for a run or go to the gym...but try and get me up early to do a lab? No thanks.  I like school, I really do, I'm just a little...well tired of it. 

Enough about that blah blah. 

My 5k last weekend was wonderful, I got a PR by 2 mins and was first in my age group! With a 26:47. Not the best time in the whole wide world, but I was very happy with it. I started off at a 9 min/mile pace because I was pacing someone else and then progressively got faster. It felt good, and smart, and like I could definitely run one faster.

Good news, I have that opportunity in a few weekends! Another free 5k! 

I'm very happy I'm an Atlanta Track Club member. 

I have a 7 mile run planned tomorrow and I am legitimately excited for it. The weather in Atlanta is supposed to be beautiful!

Look at THAT!

That's all for now. Later I will be posting everything I will be/want to order from the Brooks website.

I may-or-may-not have a very long list.

I need an overhall on my running apparel!

Doing it all

Last semester was the first semester I really felt like everything CLICKED. Well, at least in the past few months it's felt like that.

I had a rough spot from about last New Years till August/September. 

Wow that's a long rough spot looking back.

Anyway, I had a bad relationship, I lost my car before I even saw it, I had lots of health problems and friend drama all thrown in.  By July/August I'd started to get my feet back underneath me. By October I was sprinting. My grades were out of this world good, was working 20 hours a week and was training for my first Half Marathon. I was happy. 

Very happy.

I was also very organized. I knew what I wanted, when I needed things done by, how every day would go.  I had plans for just about everything. It seems kind of cyclic/boring to most but for me it worked. And the busier I was the better. Nothing could get in my way! Half marathon? So ready. Finals? Breezy. (comparitively) Yes I had a few  panic moments but otherwise, I did great! This was my best semester grade wise. I applied, and GOT, an internship with Atlanta Track Club working with kids AND now this sweet Brooks deal.  I have a wonderful boyfriend who supports me all the time and the best friends anyone could ask for. I really am doing it all right now.

I've found, after having some of the worst luck possible, that a positive outlook and a set plan really works. Yes some luck is involved, but when I set a goal I'm positive, I'm calculative and I'm persistent.  I know my limits but I also know when they should be pushed. I make sure that I wake up every morning with a positive outlook and knowing what I have planned for the day.  Maybe that's not everyone's cup of tea, but so far it's worked wonders for me!

Here's a nice little article by Active about setting goals. It's short and to the point, and if you can master all of these aspects of goal setting for running you can set goals for just about anything else in life.

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Defining_Your_Goal.htm

I think today is a rest day for me. My butt is still in quite a bit of pain.

I hope this ice/snow goes away soon. I need to run long this weekend!

Sitting Down

So, in case you haven't heard, Atlanta has been covered in ice/snow for a few days now. I haven't been in school for THREE days. Georgia Tech is like pulling a prank or something. 

Anyway despite the snow and ice and awful conditions I've been getting back into the swing of a training routine for my second half. Last night my roommate Thea and I sat down and really worked everything out for the next 10 weeks. It was a lot more involved and intense this time than it was for the first half marathon. My first one was really more for completion than for time. This time around I'm trying to shave off 17 minutes and run it in 2 hours or less.

Monday, Day 1 of the Snowpocalypse, I ran some hill workouts on the treadmill and did a few thera-ball exercises with the BF in his baby gym in the house complex he lives in. I sweat my little ass off. Clearly I've been running outside in the cold too much because I forgot how much sweating I do inside.  Tuesday I got on the stationary bike as a XT and did legs.  This involved some lunges...and some machines...

I can NOT sit down without pain, my ass hurts so bad. 

Today I ran 3 miles with some speedwork thrown in, a bunch of abs, and arms. 

These first few weeks are going to SUCK. But I'm fully ready to commit to the work that I will need for this. I want to run this well. I want my time cut down. I want a PR. And I know that by adding lifting, some speedwork and hill work will do it. I think it's going to get me past the plateau I'm on.

This morning I was up at 6:15. Alarm went off and after 3 weeks of sleeping in, it actually felt GOOD to get out, get back showered and out for breakfast and back before 11am. I feel like a champ today.

Time to try and be even MORE productive in the snowy ice snowpocalypse that's struck Atlanta.

Why?

I started this blog after I got my favorite pen and started to write down all of my runs in my little 'running notebook'.

I got the pen from the Peachtree Expo.  It was a Brooks pen and it said "Run Happy" on it.

I was obsessed with it for some reason. I loved the slogan, and after running the Peachtree, my first 10k, I wanted to start documenting and sharing why running made me happy.  I named the blog after the Brooks slogan because I believe it, and I love their product. The running community built around them is filled with good people.

Through some various things, I am now a proud member of the Brooks I.D program.

Brooks Inspire Daily. I'm so excited to represent Brooks and their philosophy. I hope I can work more at sharing my experiences on this blog and I can't wait for the coming year filled with RUNNING!

I'm beginning my training plan for my next half marathon on March 20th. 72 days. I'll be upping my speed work and adding a lot of hill exercises as well as more weights. I'll keep y'all posted.

Run Happy!!

Post Half Running

Since I've been home in Arlington, with the wonderful tracks-to-trails program, I've been trying to get back out and run. Post half marathon has been really hard. I took a week off, and then the next two weeks were dead week and finals. I ran twice during dead week, none during finals. Cluster of waaayyy too much work and I really needed sleep before I needed running.

Now that I'm home I've run twice, once just to get out and jog around Arlington, a leisurely 3.5 miles in the awful awful wind that has gripped this small county/city.  I took a day off and then the day after, the day I had PLANNED on running, the wind was insane. I mean 30+MPH gusts of wind.  I don't mind the cold, really I don't. I do better in the cold, but the wind? I can't BREATHE in the wind. It takes my breath away, it's awful. So I held off till the next day (Christmas Eve) , hoping for better weather. Only to wake up to my house sounding like it was going to fall over due to the wind. 

After going out and running errands that morning...which by the way no one should go out and buy anything on christmas eve. I almost screamed while in Harris Teeter. 

Anyway After errands, putting my gingerbread hosue together with royal icing (omg SUGAR DEATH) and making a pumpkin pie with the fam I went out for a run.

I wanted to put in 6 miles but put in 5.5 instead. It was glorious. Wasn't too cold, no real wind, my brooks shoes are still being awesome and I was surprised at how good I felt with so little running since my half.  

I'm a little achey today, my hip flexors and abductors (eh?) feel rough but otherwise my body is bouncing back wonderfully.   I had a hard time for a bit. Thinking I wouldn't want to get back into the swing after finals. I felt lazy, tired...just wanted to sit around all the time. Weak from a hard semester. 

Well I've finally rested enough. I'm back to craving runs. 

Excited to go out tomorrow and use my NEW GARMIN! 

I've been borrowing my boyfriend's long-term style but now that he's bought a road bike he's going to need his back and my parents got me my own!

SO excited! 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday.

Run Happy Y'all! 

Winter

So I'm not sure if anywhere else in the country was like this, but this "fall" Atlanta has been...well...finicky. 

That's a good word for it.

One day, its perfect fall, 50+ degrees and clear. The next its 80 and hot and muggy. And miserable.

December 1st rolls around and mother nature goes "oh shit, I guess I should make it cold" and BAM we have a 30ish degree day with wind. It was pretty  miserable. And the whole time I'm wondering "how am I ever going to run in this weather.."

Either way, I went against my loved ones/friends and ran yesterday and didn't wait the 1-week-rest period after my half marathon (which I still owe pictures of my awesome medal). I just went out for 20 minutes to test the new Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11's.  I sadly had to retire my GTS 10's right after the half. Not going to lie I got a little teary-eyed. They've done me well for the past 6 months and I've thoroughly worn them out. That and I almost had to wear RED shoes. Thank god Pacers had them in blue. I can't wear the forbidden colors of U[sic]GA.

I always thought they looked pretty new, and then I put my new ones against my old ones. Many my shoes are white. Gotta get out on the trails and fix that! 

Anyway the new shoes are great so far. I want to get more miles in them before I do an official-ish review.

Speaking of miles. Mine have been too low this week.  Here's a cute video that always makes me want to run more. 

Time for some more studying/finishing up at work then maybe a short run before trivia tonight. 

Till next time, run happy y'all!

I'm on a plane!

I'm on a plane right now, flying back to Atlanta from Arlington after a much needed Thanksgiving "break". I really studied/did homework or helped my mom with stuff the whole time, but it was worth it. I love seeing my family (including my doggies). I took the time off and didn't run at all post Half-Marathon. 

Yes I ran it, yes I know I haven't updated in...20 days. 

New Years resolution will be to keep up this blog I think. Clearly staying in shape will not be one of my worries/resolutions. 

When I get home and get a chance to take a picture of my medal (AWESOME) I'll post how the race went. 

I was going to show y'all goofy picture of me running but marathonfoto is not the best site I've ever used. It's currently down.

Again.

Hope everyone is ready to bounce back from thanksgiving stuffage and hit the roads! (I sure as hell am)

Happy Running!

Lame

I am LAME.

I am lame for not writing about the past few weeks. They have been epic. 

I had a rough rough cold after that 7 miler two weeks ago. It held on from Thursday till the next Tuesday. I  missed my long run, and my Tuesday morning run. Got back into the gym for weights on Wednesday and then had a lovely, hot, humid, muggy, early 5+ mile run on the silver comet. Mmmm flat road. 

That week (last week) I had my goal set. I had missed a long run and I had one more weekend before I could sign up for the half with the 55$ price tag. 

I was scheduled via THE PLAN for 8 miles. But I wanted 9. I set it out. I mapped it on map my run and knew on Monday that's what I'd be running Saturday. I wanted it. I dreamed of it. I told everyone I could that I was going to do it so that I could really celebrate Halloween. So I had enough people that knew I was going to do it that I wouldn't back down.

Saturday morning I rolled out of bed, meaning popped up like it was my life plan, at 7am and was out the door by 7:30. I had most of a power bar and had a gel in my pocket and was READY. I think I literally said "ok i'm ready" out loud as I left my apartment complex.

I had some issues with my left shoulder cramping up really bad, and a sidestich on the same side but they went away after about ohhhh 4 miles or so.  I can't believe I can say that so nonchalantly. 4 miles. MEH no biggy!

I found out how tough North Avenue was, the hills are absurd, and managed to finish in 9.2 miles in 1:41:11. I think I almost cried when I got home I was THAT happy. I promptly officially signed up for the Half on Thanksgiving psyched to get a personalized bib!

It was glorious, and my legs didn't even feel that bad! They felt a little sore/heavy after halloween but I think that was from my heels/falling/being absurd.

Tuesday I turned around and ran 6 miles in the morning with sub 10 min/miles. GLORIOUS. Legs felt great, everything felt great actually. Tummy has been acting up but the mileage is doing it.

So then this morning, I get up, ready to do another 5 and it's raining. And cold. I mean really cold and rainy. I was not feeling it. So I skipped. I feel awful, but I just couldn't go out in the rain before the sun came up when it was cold out. It felt like running into my own horror movie. I was going to get snatched up by a chainsaw-trucker or something. So I went back to bed. 

And watched my 20 mile week go BYE BYE. unless I make it up tomorrow or Sunday.

Saturday however, is going to be it. It's going to be my first double digit run. It's going to happen and I can't WAIT. 

I actually might cry. 

Really. 

Day 4: Running Crashers

Today was a 3-4 mile run as marked out by my lovely little planning calender. 

The BF decided last night he wanted to stay over and crash my run in the morning. More affectionately he just wanted to run with me. Which is always entertaining. 

I've finally stolen for extended use one of my friend's Garmin watch's so now I can actually track my pace on my own! I told the BF we were going to the park and back, which is right over 4 miles. 4.2 to be exact. 

Well it's all hills, and I have never ran it without stopping on purpose. There's stopping for stop lights in the middle of Atlanta and then there's me just giving up on some of those hills.  Well this morning the BF didn't give me that option. We finished with a 10:24 min/mile pace and with the sun coming up in Atlanta. It was a gorgeous morning and a very good run. I can't wait for my 5 mile run on Saturday morning. 

Today all I did was study heat transfer. Besides the feeling of impending doom of exams I've been a sore mess.  I lifted last night for the first time in a very long time and I am feeling it in every muscle above my abs. It makes me want a beer.

Mmmm Beer.

Day 2/3

Ok sorry I didn't post yesterday. School may or may not be killing me right now. 

Yesterday was day 2 of training and involved a light 3-4 mile run. I got up at 6 was out on the turf fields by 6:30 running laps. 

Who ever thought running laps was fun? Goodness gracious it's 3 laps to a mile. By lap 5 I was getting dizzy. Mind you these are big laps but still. Ridiculously boring. 

Anyway I'm not sure what pace I was at since my BF has lost his garmin watch charger....failure...but I think I was a little under 11 min/mile. Which is exactly where I'm ok sitting. I know now that to get up into those double digits I'm not going to be able to just run my little heart out at whatever pace I want. The 3 miles felt like nothing! The good news is the weather has gotten considerably better here in Atlanta. Especially in the morning. I actually had to pull out my running pseudo leggings and a sweater. It's amazing how little you sweat in the cold versus the heat. Until I stopped running, then I started pouring sweat out from every pore. 

Speaking of sweat, just to ramble about things I've learned since running.

                                                     

These (sock-ish-things stage Left)are the most amazing things EVER if your shins hurt (lightly). Once upon a time I tried to run and ignored my shins. This ignorance resulted in stress fractures and put me out of the game for 4 months. These are compression thingys. You can buy them with socks attached so that they're literally compression socks but I bought them to wear when I sleep to help my shins not feel so battered. I scoffed at the 40$ price tag but they were so worth it, especially when my shin splints were beginning to plague me again. Now I always wear them the night before runs.  Plus they're warm. Who doesn't want warm calves in the winter?

Back to the sweat. Stage right is my new (as of when I began running) deodorant. I may or may not sweat a lot. It's a problem. And not very cute, says the BF. He gave me this. It's men's deodorant. This was a conflict at first for me but DAMN does it work well. It is now my every-day deodorant. Seriously, if you sweat or stink like I do, this is for you. It's the best investment I've ever made. Those girly little deodorants don't hold a candle to this stuff.

Ramble done. Today is a weight lifting day. After a failed meeting this morning at the god-awful time of 5:45am I will be going later today. After I study system dynamics and heat transfer until my brain explodes. No worries, that won't take too long!

Tomorrow is a 4 mile run, I think I'll run to Piedmont park and back. Now that my feet and ankle are feeling much much better I'm willing to run some (aka a shit ton) of hills to get to the park. Hopefully my legs hold up.

This is me being lame and showing off my frogtown medal. 

I ended up 23rd overall in Women and 77th overall in men and women of 331 participants. Not too shabby eh? I also averaged an 11 min/mile, which for the amount of walking involved to get up the trail hills and get across the log crossings is pretty damn good in my opinion.

Off to study. Happy Running everyone!

The Uber Planner

First order of business: I won my first running medal! I placed second in my age group (for women) and 23rd over all (for women). Frogtown is definitely one of the most fun races I'll ever run. 

I got a medal, a shirt, and a lot of free swag as well as a sore ankle from nearly busting ass on the rough trails. I LOVED IT. 

Second order:

So yesterday, while I was hungover from a  night of debauchy celebrations with The BF, I made my half-marathon training plan. Randomly too. I just needed to see it on paper. So I pulled out my fancy super-awesome-super-fine-point-super-nerdy color pens and went to work.  I only have a little over 7 weeks to do this. Fingers cross I can manage it, but since I put it down on paper it feels a lot more manageable.

Long runs on Saturday morning, goal longest is 11ish. Jeez, double digit numbers scare the hell outta me! I've calculated all my long run and tempo run paces...laid out my cross training. Now It's time to get to work. Starting today with a few miles and some time in the pool.

I'm not sure if I'm giving myself enough time for this or not but I think I can do it. It may not be the fastest half ever or the most comfortable but I need to start somewhere and I need to just push myself to start training at all. 

Here's to hoping all goes well!

My Pro/Con list

First, discussion of my run this morning. I woke up at 6:30 with my BF trying to shoo him off to work after which I prepped for a nice early morning pre-atlanta-heat-humidity-run. I discovered my ipod was dead and WAS starving so I didn't actually get out the door till 7:45. I knew the time addition was going to make it HOT on my way back.

As punishment for not running this weekend, and also pigging out most of the time in-between, I challenged myself to a long run on my own.  Meaning sans my favorite running partner: the BF.  The toughest route I have in my arsenal goes to Piedmont park via 10th street. 10th is hilly and traffic heavy. And when I say hilly I mean really hilly, and long hills nonetheless.  It's 2 miles to the park exactly and I had decided to run around and then run back. At first I thought I might be able to get a 10k in..but that just wasn't happenin.

Let's just run the totals:

Miles: 5.53

Time: 51:24.22

Avg Pace: 9:17 (UH? was I being chased??)

Avg BPM: 159

Max BPM: 194 (Near Death)

The 2 miles there were nice and easy, surprisingly. I also almost got lost in the park..failure. The heartrate strap of the BFs Garmin popped off my body (er?) which gave me a much needed little break to put it back on. I got extremely lucky on the way back as well with stoplights and traffic. It was like Atlanta was saying "no wait, take a break here!".  That was the only reason I probably held that absolutely ABSURD pace listed above.  I was on the way to crushin my 10k time.  The breaks make that null and void though.   Either way, I'm very happy with the run. My knees are a tad achy today but nothing a fantastic dinner of waffles and some IB profin cannot fix. 

Now time for my Pro/Con list of running. 

I grew up a swimmer. Recruited for Fort Belvior's Swim Team (FBST) when I was 7 I immediately immersed myself in the swimming world.  Even after moving off the military base I continued to swim till I was 13.  I then took a 3 year hiatus and restarted on my high school swim team my junior year.  Junior year, senior year, summer after...I just swam all the time. I loved it, I loved training for it, and I love the people.  I continued to swim in college on GT's swim club for two years.  Intense training lead me to even faster times than in high school and drove me deeper into my obsession with it.  After a horrible championship meet I had had enough though.  I had trained for months and months and suddenly none of it was worth it. No PRs, not even swims that felt good. I was extremely discouraged.  I decided to shy away from swimming.  Running was my next route. 

It has taken a long time to get used to it. It's completely different than swimming and is even worse for my asthma.  I don't know why, but I'd always wanted to be able to run.  Now I have been running on and off long enough (on now, off before this summer) that I can compile my proper Pro/Con List...

First the CONS

1. Sweat. Holy crap do I sweat a LOT. Even with proper running clothes and non-coton shirts...and men's deodorant.  In the pool, I don't sweat. And if I do I sure as hell can't tell. 
2. Atlanta is not flat. Anywhere. That's more of a location problem then a running problem, but it's going in here because it's true.
3. When I first started, I was hungry all the time. I mean ALL the time. I now carry about 100 calories of snacks per hour I'm away from my apt if it's going to be a long day. Otherwise I go into heinous bitch mode.  No one likes that mode.
4. This will sound strange, but my swim club nickname is muffins. It's for my boobs. I'll just say it outright, I've always had big boobs. Now that I run? Well my body fat percentage has gone down a lot. So have those. Only I would be so whiney.  
5. Seriously, last whiney thing. My clothes don't fit. They're too big. I need belts. I need pins. I need a personal tailor. It's annoying. It's expensive. Sounds like a great problem. It's not. 

 Ok That's done. Not too long, but true. I now understand why all the runners I know are so skinny. You literally have to try to keep body fat on yourself. I think about eating fatty food. And I pray it goes all to my boobs and ass. Instead I continue to turn into the runner-stick-figure. Ballin. 

PROS

1. I can eat whatever I want. Almost whenever I want. When you're running 15+ miles a week, that hunger every few hours may be annoying, but it's fantastic for food lovers. I happen to be a food lover. 
2. I have finally lost the weight I've always wanted to. I am currently smaller and fitter than I've ever been in my life, even at peak of swimming. The lack of clothing choices I have right now (One pair of shorts, almost no skirts.) is worth how much healthier I am now compared to high school.
3. The runners high is everything and more of what people see. There is nothing like getting up at 5:00, running, being showered and to work before 8:00AM and feel amazing.  It's better than coffee, it's better than chocolate (...maybe..) and It's worth having to go to bed early for. 
4. I get to think, or not think. To organize my life, or not. My brain kind of floats wherever it wants when I'm going at a pace where I'm not dying up hills. It's think time. 
5. It's something I can do with the BF. The love of my life, who coincidentally actually got me into running as well, is my favorite running partner.  I love getting up at 7 and running with him.  He may be a lot faster, and can run a lot further, but knowing he's there to help me and train me is the best support I've ever had. I may have yelled at him a few times during some training runs in the beginning but he obviously knew more than I did how far I could push myself. I'm glad someone knew. 
6. Not-so-free-T-shirts. Unlike college where you really do get free T-shirts, there's an entry fee..but races are amazing and the T-shirt is a bonus. I love races because everyone is so happy. No matter how early the start, runners are some of the happiest people I've ever seen. 
7. I'm out of my party phase. I hate feeling sluggish in the morning or on a day where I want to run. And I definitely hate ruining a day of a good run with too much beer. Consequentially I'm a lightweight and don't go out as much. Instead I cuddle up with the BF, watch a movie, cook some pasta, and get up with the sun to run around the trails. It's worth it.

So despite the fact that none of my clothes fit and I'm constantly hungry. Despite that I go to bed early to get up early for no apparent reason to outsides. Despite that I'm not the most social and party 21 year old college student, I'm absolutely in love and stuck on running.  And can't wait to keep going and get better. It's worth every con because every pro counts twice.  

Speaking of run, I'm thinking 4 miles tomorrow?

Oh yeah, just like the wind.

So my 4 mile run this morning (yes I did complete the 4 miles I assigned myself) felt like it was going to kill me. I woke up with a slight headache, I'll blame the excess food and 2 mojitos from dinner last night, and just a bad feeling of tired that I couldn't shake. Now mind you, no one is happy about 5am. NO ONE should be happy about 5am unless you're getting paid boatloads of cash for it. Instead, I am paying for it in calories and hours of sleep. Good to know I've gone crazy.

Anyway, got up, stretched a bit, drank some powerade and popped a few of those new sport jelly beans (they're awesome) and headed out with the goal of 4 miles. By the time I hit .5 I knew I was in for a painful run. My body just did not want it this morning. I also think I was going a bit too fast. My pace turned out to be 9:30 min/mile. Which I'm super pumped about considering that about 8 weeks ago 4 miles would have been at about 11+ min/mile pace (I also would have been dying and had to stop many times) but I should have eased off. My pride definitely got in the way of training.

I've been on cloud 9 and feeling invincible after last week I ran 16 miles total and was starting to crank out 3 miles at a time without really thinking. This morning I've already got my weekly tally (since Monday morning) up to 12.66. Since I've realized I can run 4 miles I don't really like running anything less, unfortunately I don't think my body agrees with my logic.

I'm currently in the process of bumping up my weekly training to 15 or more miles a week. Last week felt pretty easy, it was a breakthrough week for me actually. I'm starting to see I can do a lot more than I think I can. Now I just need to know when I can't do everything.

I hurt, I'm exhausted, and I ran out of coffee this morning. Needless to say I lack my usual runners high this morning.