Running Mom's Motivation

The running has been great lately, and I promise to post more coming up. But today is my favorite holiday and I wanted to focus on that.

To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, thank you for all of the wonderful blessings you have bestowed on me. Thank you for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life that you offer freely to all. Your love and influence in my life gives me freedom to be more than I could be on my own.


Total Miles For 2010 =239

Posted in: on Sunday, April 4, 2010 at at 7:55 AM 0 comments  

I have not done much running outside during the winter. The weather was much worse this year than last, and I have been more sensitive to the cold. I would pretty much do a run outside during the day on Tuesdays and my long run outside on Saturdays. The rest of the time I have been indoors. I know, I have turned into a wimp.

The nice thing about the treadmill is that I can watch the news while running. And I have gotten in better shape since getting the gym membership. I tend to lift weights and do more core workouts while I am at the gym. But, I forgot what it was like to do an early morning run outdoors.

This morning I had a chance to remember. With the weather getting better, I decided to run outdoors. While I always feel good after a workout no matter if I am outside or in the gym, being on the roads in the early morning is exhilarating. There just isn't much at the gym that can really be called exhilarating. The weather was crisp and it was mostly quiet. Another nice thing about running outdoors is that I have time to jump back into bed before the alarm goes off. Now if only I wasn't freezing when I got back into bed, maybe I could actually sleep.

Total Miles in 2010 =183

Posted in: on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at at 7:37 AM 0 comments  

I am so very proud of my husband. He has been working hard at the gym for many months now. He has also been eating better. He wants to have a positive impact on the rest of his life and be an example to his children. That is the same reason I started running. Although the weight is not coming off as quickly as he would like, he hasn't given up hope. He really is inspiring.


David and I rarely get a chance to work out together. I usually go to the gym at 5am and he goes at 10 or 11 at night. With the kids, there just isn't much opportunity to do it together. This weekend we are at my brother's house in Maryland. One of the great things about visiting my brother's family is that the cousins have a great time playing together and it requires very little parental involvement. Therefore, David and I were able to go for a run yesterday knowing that our children wouldn't be too much of a burden on my brother and his wife.


I told David I would let him set the pace. I didn't want to push him too hard because that is one of the primary ways to get injured. And injury often leads to defeat for the beginner. We had decided to do four miles. I knew we would be walking quite a bit, so I figured with all the work he had been doing at the gym it should be doable. I shouldn't have let David set the pace. He instantly took off too fast. I made a comment about how I wasn't going to be able to keep up with him, but I quickly realized that he wasn't going to be able to keep the pace going either. He made the common mistake of starting with a pace that feels right in the beginning, but is really too fast. The fast starting pace and the viscous hills in my brother's neighborhood really took their toll on him. David ended up having to cut the run short at 3 miles.


I finished up my fourth mile and came back home, but realized when I got in the house that I really wanted to run some more. David acted as if I was nuts when I told him I was going out for some more. He has been telling everyone how I kicked his butt. But if there is one thing I learned from the beginning of that run, it is that once he gets fit, I will have no chance of keeping up with him. For now I can revel in my superior physical fitness, and when I no longer can, I will be his biggest cheerleader.

Total Miles In 2010 = 118.3

Posted in: on Sunday, February 14, 2010 at at 10:14 AM 1 comments  

I could not get my butt out of bed this morning. I felt exhausted. But really, it is probably the darkness that keeps me there. I get tired of going out when it is dark and coming home when it is dark. At least it is getting to the point that when I leave the gym or get home from a run the sun is just starting to peek through the clouds.

The main problem with me not getting out of bed when my alarm goes off is that I feel so anxious and guilty for not getting up that I don't sleep well anyway. I will sit there and think about the miles that I have run so far this week and how many total I will have for the week if I don't make up the run I am missing. I know, I know....I am pathetic.

Total miles in 2010 = 106.3

Posted in: on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at at 8:08 AM 0 comments  

I am turning into a southerner. I find myself getting cold all of the time. But I still enjoy winter running. Well at least most of the time I do. Yesterday's run was one of the most miserable I have ever done. We were recently the beneficiaries of two large winter storms exactly one week apart.

Last Saturday I went for a run during the storm. It was cold and the snow was coming down hard. But I was able to run in the tire tracks on the roads most of the time. It was a beautiful run except when I had to run directly into the wind, which wasn't too often. I kept the run short because running through snow really tires my legs out. The snow pelting my face during those times when I was apposing the wind caused skin issues later in the day, but I was feeling good.

Contrast that to yesterday. It wasn't too cold (about 30 degrees) and there was very little snow on the road. I had gone to the battlefield near my house because it had rained all night and many of the roads around here were pretty wet. The road that I ran on had been plowed but had sections where there was some slush...no problem. I have been slowly increasing my long run and had planned to do 9 miles either last week or yesterday. But since the road is only 3.5 miles long and the weather wasn't great, I decided to cut it short and do 7. The first mile was ok. The second was heavenly. It was so beautiful in that section of road. And the snow made everything very quiet.

I just had another 1.5 to do before the turn around. As I came out from the more wooded area and entered the open fields I started to realize that there was indeed quite a bit of snow coming down.....WET SNOW! And the wind seemed to be blowing harder than I had remembered. No problem, it was just another 1.5 miles to the turn around and I would have my back to the wind. I started hitting wind gusts that seemed like they were 50 miles an hour. I am sure they were not, but it seemed that way at the time. I kept checking my garmin to see how much longer I had before I could turn around. I climbed one final hill before the turn around and thanked God that I didn't have to go any further in that direction.

When I turned around the wind died down for about 10 seconds. Then it started back up more continuously than it had been before. I was sure this must be what it was like to run in Antarctica. The funny thing is that my body was actually a little too warm, but my face felt like an icicle. The wind didn't stop until I re-entered that beautiful wooded area of the road again. As beautiful as it was, I just couldn't enjoy it anymore. By this time, the dog and I were both so miserable that we had been pushing the pace and I ended up having to stop and walk multiple times. What is crazier than running in a blizzard...why, of course, walking in a blizzard! We spent the rest of the time alternating between walking and running just trying to get back to the car as quickly as possible. Then I tried to stretch without the wind blowing me over and we were on our way back home.

Funny, looking back on it, it doesn't seem that bad. But at the time, I know that those park rangers that drove by me were not the only ones who thought I was nuts for being out there. Oh well, at least I didn't have to do my long run on the treadmill.

Posted in: on Sunday, February 7, 2010 at at 3:40 PM 0 comments  

I was really trying to keep up with this blog and did so for quite a few months, but I think I just saw a notice that said my last post was in June of 08....Really? Did I not post a thing in all of 09? Well, thank you Slugline for reminding me that someone might actually pay attention to this thing.

I will not attempt to catch you all up on the last year. Suffice it to say that I had a pretty low period where I wasn't enjoying the running much. My miles dropped and I started to gain weight. Not a lot, but I noticed it. I thought having a goal race in mind would help me to get things back on track and I picked up a new running buddy. I registered for the OBX marathon excited that it would be my first 26.2. Bad idea. While I completely loved running with my new buddy, she is much faster than I am and I ran with her too much. We didn't increase the miles too quickly ( a common runner mistake that leads to injury) but I was pushing my pace for most of my runs. Before I knew it, I was injured.

I had a pretty good case of shin splints. I tried running with the injury for a while and that didn't work. My darling brother reveled in telling me that when he was in high school and had shin splints he didn't get better until he took 3 weeks off from running. I couldn't do that....I had a marathon to train for! I would try taking a few days (3) off in a row. I would ice my leg every few hours. I would use ibuprofen. I put on a compression bandage. I would feel a little better. Then I would try to run and it would all fall apart. It got to the point where it was excruciating to run and hurt just to walk....time to see the doctor. She confirmed my fears. I didn't have shin splints after all. I had the dreaded stress fracture. My buddy told me I had time to heal and still train for the marathon, but I knew I didn't and if I attempted it I might end up in worse condition.

Around this time my husband started getting serious about wanting to shed some pounds. We joined a gym together. I could only use the stationary bikes and weight machines. It killed me to watch the other people on the treadmills while I slugged through 45 minutes on the bike with my aircast on. I gained more weight. No matter how hard I worked on that bike and lifted those weights I couldn't shed the pounds I gained. I realized that there is just no substitute for running when it comes to burning calories. It was exhilerating and scary the first time that I was allowed to walk on the treadmill with my cast on. I followed my rehab directions exactly as my doctor had given them to me. It was hard because by this time my love for running had been rekindled but I could do nothing about it.

Slowly but surely I got back to running. I have remained injury free since restarting and I am building my mileage very slowly. The good news is that I have continued to keep my gym membership. I DO NOT get on those bikes, but I do continue to weight train and work my core a couple of times a week. I am more fit than before I was injured and the wieght training apppears to be helping my running. I am considering training for another marathon, but I want to build my base slowly before I make that decision. I am hoping it will help keep me from ending up back on that bike again. I hope that when I have another period where running doesn't seem as fun any more I will look back on last year and realize that this too shall pass.

2010 miles = 97

Posted in: on at at 8:59 AM 0 comments  

The dog and I are slowly acclimating to the heat. We have been running in the morning. It is the only time I dare take him as I had a least 2 patients die from the heat this weekend. Despite running at 6am, the temperature has still been near 80, and let's not even talk about the humidity.

This morning's run was funny. We passed by two dogs that we see all the time. The last time we went past them I swear the bigger one was trying to push the smaller one over the fence after us. Well today the little one didn't need any help. He just jumped the fence on his own. I wasn't really worried about him coming after us because every time I turned and yelled at him he ran back home. What really worried me was that he would be hit by a car. I was just about to go knock on the door to his house when I saw he had gotten back behind the fence. Resourceful little sucker!

In the last half mile of our run today, we passed an older woman running in the opposite direction of us. We were running up a hill. Shortly after we ran by her she turned around and started going up the hill. She flew past us, got to the top and started going back down. It was killing me to see her do hill repeats in this heat. I told her that running those hills in the heat was impressive. She said "I am from South Carolina, this is nothing." At least that made me feel a little better.

Total Miles for 2008 = 364

Posted in: on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at at 7:57 AM 0 comments  

So we have been living in Virginia for almost a month now. I am really enjoying it so far and David and the kids seem to be adjusting well also. Figuring out where to run has been a challenge. I don't exactly like running in the city. I used to live in a pretty good sized city I know...But my previous house was so convenient to so many places that didn't make you feel like you were running in a city. It was a great place to run. But I wanted to make this a positive post. I have been bound and determined that I will get my running groove back.

When I have been running I have mostly been going from the house we are renting. It isn't too bad, but there aren't many sidewalks in this city. It is a much smaller city than we used to live in, but right now, it still feel like I am in the city. I have been able to figure out some short 3 to 5 mile routes that seem to work for me. And I don't mind running the shorter distances in the city. I also live less than two miles from work, so one day I ran home for lunch, picked up the dog, and ran back to work. So the short runs aren't too bad. The problem is all I have been doing is short runs and my stamina is severely lacking.

Saturday I was able to finally check out the area I wanted to try to do some longer runs in. I went to the Petersburg National Battlefield. I slathered on DEET (more about that later) and took the dog and headed out. I was very excited, especially when the woman at the gate said "have a nice run." She obviously knew what I was there for based on the way I was dressed. I was hoping her greeting would mean there would be a nice place to run.

I started out on a trail near where I parked the car. It was nice and I got to see a few cannons from the Civil War. But in no time I was back where I started. It was only a half mile loop! So I started on it again thinking I would take one of the trails I had seen coming off from it. Pretty soon I was back at the beginning...another half mile loop. I was getting discouraged. I had wanted to run 8 miles, and there was no way I could make 16 laps here. I took another trail. About 3/4 of a mile in I was running out to the highway...not my idea of a scenic, relaxing run. I entered back into the park on the opposite side of the highway thinking maybe I missed something. Boy was I right.

Across a bridge from where I entered the park there was a 3.5 mile one way road. There were two lanes. One was for driving, the other was for biking, parking, or hiking. It was gorgeous! Most of the road is tree-lined, so there were only a few spots where the sun was really beating down on us. It was only after I started out on the road that I started seeing all the other runners. There were plenty, and now I could see why. Very rarely did I actually see a car. The other really nice thing was that there were miles of trails off the main road. Any time I got tired of pounding the pavement or the sun got a little hot on the road, I was welcome to head off road and explore the trails. I finished my 8 miler (my first in over a month) in a much better mood than I had started.

Now back to the DEET. There is just one little thing about Virginia that I am having a hard time adjusting to. TICKS! They are everywhere. David had one crawling across his hand in our dinging room one night and I have pulled one attached one off me. We have taken to doing tick checks and when in the battlefield DEET is definitely necessary. I enjoyed the battlefield so much that I took the family back today. When we did our tick check this afternoon we didn't find any on us or the kids. We did however pull thirteen (YES...13!) off from the dog. Luckily, thanks to Frontline, most of them were dead, and those that weren't hadn't started feeding yet. So if you ever come to Virginia, don't forget to pack your bug spray. We may not have enough to share.

Total Miles in 2008... 334

Posted in: on Monday, May 26, 2008 at at 8:21 PM 0 comments  

I have been running. I haven't been writing. There is a lot going on in my life right now...so build a bridge and get over it ;). Just kidding. Our family is going to be moving and my life is consumed with packing fixing up our home and work. For any of you that I know personally, you should know that we lost all our email addresses, and our old email will only be up for a couple more weeks. Send us an email so we don't lose contact with you!

Total Miles This Year =211

Posted in: on Thursday, March 20, 2008 at at 8:30 AM 2 comments  

Well, here it is...I know that you have all been on pins and needles waiting for this report. Hope you enjoy.

I was really hoping for a 50 degree morning last Sunday. That would have been perfect racing weather for me. When we got up at 5:30 am it was already 64. We got to the parking lot with time to spare, but then has to wait for my SIL's friend to show up. So, I barely had time to get a quick bite to eat (cinnamon rolls were the pre-race snack..yum) and to do a half mile warm up. I got in line for the porta potty when they started saying we needed to line up. They kept telling up we were going to start "soon". There were probably 200 of us in line when the Mayor of Gainesville started talking. Suddenly in the middle of her speech, the gun went off!!! I looked around and saw that not to many people were getting out of line, so I took my jacket to my brother and walked to the start line. It made for a very disappointing start for me. I was probably close to 1/4 mile into my race when the national anthem started.
I purposely took the first 3 miles easy. I was feeling pretty good at that point and picked up the pace. At about mile number 5 the hills started. When I asked the people in charge of the race about hills about a month ago they said that they couldn't get any elevation information to post online because the elevation was so low. They said there were "a few hills" for the half on 16th street. Those first couple hills were just fine. I was feeling really good and thinking that I was going to be just fine. I don't really know how many hills there were, but at the last one around mile number 6 I was really dragging butt. I found out later that my Sister-in-law and her friend walked this hill. About 3/4 of the way up the hill a volunteer told us it was the last hill. That was definitely reason for celebration, but I was a little disappointed to find that over the rise, the hill continued.
Despite how hard those last couple of hills were, I felt like I could still finish with the 11 minute pace that I was hoping for. At about mile number 8 I was really starting to feel like I wished I had the time for that porta potty before the race. I stopped and had to wait for what seemed like a lifetime while the person in front of me finished up. I swear the porta potty was rocking and I was wondering what the heck was going on inside of there. But, after my pit stop I did feel much better and my pace improved again.
I am guessing that it was about mile number 10 when we went through a big balloon arch and the volunteers seemed especially lively. I stopped to drink at this station because I felt like I just really didn't get enough liquid down me at the last couple before it. I started up again just in time to come to a very busy cross road where for some reason we were expected to stop instead of traffic stopping. When I came up to the road I was completely dumb founded. I was the first runner up there in our group, and thought that maybe I had missed a turn. The Police Officer at the intersection just looked at me as I was looking around for another route and didn't say a thing. The rest of the group caught up with me and we all just sat there and waited for our light to turn green. I have to admit that my thoughts were less than gracious at this point.
In the next section of the race we had a loop around the inside of the University Of Florida stadium. I was really looking forward to this. When we got there, we just ran around the inside of the concourse. It was hot and there was very little air movement. It wasn't nearly as much fun as I had imagined.
At about 11 miles there was a couple that I came up behind. It was obvious that the woman was struggling. Her SO kept alternating between running a little ahead of her and coming back and holding her hand or arm as if he was pulling her along. How sweet.
It was shortly after this, that my chills started kicking in. I knew I didn't have long to go and that I would be just fine, but I was definitely ready for the race to be over.
As I came into the last quarter mile, I saw my husband, kids, brother and Sister-in-law cheering at the side of the road. I really needed the boost. My youngest daughter didn't see me right away but as I was running away from her I heard her yell "mommy!" I guess she jumped up and started trying to run after me and had to be rescued before a couple motor cycle cops ran her down.
I already knew that I wasn't going to make my goal time and I really didn't have any kick in me, so I didn't really finish all that strong. But I finished. Towards the end of my training with the bad weather and the problems we were having with our house and vehicle and my husband losing his job, my running really was pretty weak. I had resolved to not worry so much about my goal pace and just go out a finish. I was a little disappointed when I finished, but looking back on it, I think I ran the best race I could have. The original times that were posted were wrong, but the official chip time had me at 2:29:05. I am satisfied with an 11:22 pace for my first half, and it gives me something to shoot for next time. I liked this distance. I hope to do more of it.

Posted in: on Friday, February 29, 2008 at at 10:34 PM 5 comments  

I know, I know...I haven't blogged in a while. I am not going to write much today. I just wanted everyone to know that I finished my half marathon today. I will try to write more later, but for now I am tired.

Posted in: on Sunday, February 24, 2008 at at 3:31 PM 3 comments  

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in a while. I had great plans to tell you all about my running anniversary. Turns out I didn't run that day. But I have been running for a more than a year. Sometimes I can't believe I am still actually doing it.

My training is starting to ramp up. I am running 5 days a week starting this week. And my boss took a trip to Florida with her family over the last week. So you see, I have been kind of busy. I have a feeling that I will be blogging less as we get closer to the race on February 24th.

We have had some really warm weather this week. On Tuesday I went to track near work to do some intervals. I ended up wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but had to pull the shirt off half way through my run and just run in my sports bra because I was so hot. I am hoping for a perfect 50 degrees on race morning.

Later this weekend I have a 10 mile long run scheduled. It is the same distance as my long run last week. I ended up doing last weeks long run on New Year's Day. I was trying to figure out how to fit in all the workouts and with all the snow we had at the time I figured I would break the 10 miles up into two five mile runs in one day. I went out at 4pm and 9:30 pm. Both workouts were horrible, but the second was especially bad. At least wading through 8 inches of snow made me really work. That is one of the only days that I think I really wore the dog out. When I started to get ready for my second run, he looked at me as if to say "Really? Another run already? But we just got done!"

I will have a new format for my posts. I won't be keeping track of my total miles because it was just an estimate anyway. I will post my 2008 total. I doubt I will hit 1000 for the year, but we'll see.

Total Miles Today = 3.2 Total Miles in 2008 = 39.7

Posted in: on Friday, January 11, 2008 at at 7:26 AM 1 comments  

This may be the last year that my girls sleep in on Christmas morning. So I had to take advantage of the opportunity to go for a morning run. I was up at 6:30 this morning and out the door by 7. It was a perfect morning for a run and singing Christmas carols, which I did in my head through the entire run. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't have time to complete a run before the girls got up. Not only did I get my run in, but I got back home and had time to crawl back in bed for a nap and to warm up before the girls got up.



On a side note, Under Armour really knew what they were doing when they named their clothing line. I fell today on my run. It was no big deal, I just wasn't paying attention enough and tripped on a lip in the sidewalk. The great news, is that my Under Armour Cold Gear tights protected me so well that it didn't hurt at all. I didn't even get a scrape. Those things are expensive, but worth every penny, even if being actual body armour is not their intended use.


Total Miles Today = 5 Approximate Miles Since Beginning = 733

Posted in: on Tuesday, December 25, 2007 at at 10:31 PM 0 comments  

If I haven't said it before ( I know I have), Maria is an awesome friend. This morning was my long run. I was a little apprehensive about it because I had such an off week last week. But the good news is that the training plan I am using has me doing the same distance for my long run two weeks in a row. So since I missed a nine mile run last week, I did the same distance this week and didn't really get behind.

Maria has had a very hectic schedule this week. She worked three extra days and has multiple Christmas parties in various cities. On top of all that, her oldest son is on a travel basketball team and both of her sons had a birthday party to attend this week. I don't know how she keeps up with it all.

So you can imagine my surprise when my dear, sweet friend offers to come and do my long run with me. Keep in mind that Maria lives about an hour away from me! It almost didn't work out because her husband had plans for the day and their family has another party to go to this afternoon. But Maria's husband said he was willing to hang out with the kids if she could be home by noon (Thanks Ronnie).

So the plan was to start the run at 8am. At 7am Maria called me and asked me what the weather was like here in Lansing. She explained that there was a typhoon in Fowlerville and that she liked me a lot, but that she wouldn't risk her life to run with me. After we determined that the worst part of the storm had already passed Lansing, she continued on towards "the other side of the world."

We started our run just after 8am while David and the girls slept in on the futon in the living room. The miles seemed to pass so fast this morning. There were a few times that the wind picked up bad enough that I seriously felt like I wasn't moving at all. I learned that when the wind is that bad you just need to look at the ground to convince yourself that you are indeed moving forward. As we came into the last 100 yards or so, Maria said she was going to try to convince me to do the run at my half marathon pace, but that with the wind she thought it would be too hard. When we stopped, I quickly pulled up the history on my handy dandy Garmin and found that we had run an average pace of 10:21!!! That is faster than my anticipated pace for the half. Maria told me that she suspected we were running faster than usual, but that she didn't want to jinx me...she is an awesome friend.

Total Miles Today = 9.35 Approximate Miles Since Beginning = 728

Posted in: on Sunday, December 23, 2007 at at 11:06 AM 0 comments  

Last week was bad...really bad. I can't quite decide if I should blame it on myself or just chalk it up to really needing some sleep. Monday was a rest day because Phantom and I had run 8 miles the day before. It all started on Tuesday. I was going to get up and go to the track to do intervals. I just couldn't get my butt out of bed. I was exhausted all week and this was one of the worst days. That night I had plans, so it didn't happen then either. Wednesday at work we were too busy in the middle of the day for Maria and I to get out and go for a run. After work, David was late, so I had to pick up the kids. Finally on Thursday I got to the track to do my intervals. But, I just didn't have time to do everything I needed to before David had to go to work. So instead of the scheduled 7 miles, I only got in 3.5. Friday was more of the same at work. Saturday we worked late and we had our work Christmas party, so Maria and I only did 4 miles.

Then comes Sunday. I was scheduled to run 9 miles. I was going to make it 10 since I had such an off week. I got my butt out of bed at 6:30 am. We had gotten about 6 inches of snow over night and it was still snowing. I couldn't convince myself to go outside until 7:30. Phantom and I started running and I quickly realized there would be no way I would be running 10 miles in all that snow. I was okay with that and decided to just take it easy and see what I could do. It was hard, really hard! I got half way down our road and turned around because the wind was so cold and blowing wet snow right in my face. I knew that if I didn't stop, I would get frostbite quickly. I am not that insane. Maria got it on her big toe last year during a race, and I still think she is nuts. Now I have one more thing to add to my list of things to buy... a face mask for running.

After getting back home I quickly change into my shorts and sleeveless top to got to the track. I drove to the track. It took much longer than usual because of all the darn snow! Once I got there I was excited to see other cars there, that meant it was probably open. My excitement quickly turned to frustration when I found they were having a cheerleading meet inside and I wouldn't be able to use the track. Out of options, I gave up on my long run. So last week I had a grand total of 7.5 pitiful miles instead of the planned 22.

This morning I went to the track to do a tempo run. I still didn't have enough time to go as far as I needed to, but at least I did 4.5 out of the planned 6 miles. This training in the winter is harder than I had thought. That's okay, if anything, it will only make me adjust my race pace. I will still run the half. As I said before, I already paid, and I hate losing money.

Total Miles Today = 4.5 Approximate Miles Since Beginning = 708

Posted in: on Tuesday, December 18, 2007 at at 10:57 AM 0 comments  

Today was my long run. I spent last night and tonight out on a hill in the woods behind my church singing the same song over and over again about 30 times each night. Here is a link ...
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071209/NEWS01/712090683/1002/CONTACTUS01&GID=+PmoeO08WY11rVHS9R7fVAWEXK9f52fQC0w/jI91TUA%3D

So this morning it was very hard to get out of bed at 6:30am. I turned off the alarm and slept in until 7:30. The weather hasn't been too bad for Michigan in December, but we have had a little snow and ice. It gave me another opportunity to use my YakTracks. The good thing is that they really keep me from falling on my butt. The bad and good news is that it is hard to run with them on. It gives you a good workout, but sometimes I don't want my long run to be that hard. I ended up taking them off about three miles into the run because I was running on mainly clear, dry cement at that point. But there were a few places on the way back home that I should have had them on. I will have to remember next time that I can work harder to wear them and stay upright, or I can work harder to run through the snow and hope I don't fall on my butt when the unexpected ice pops up.

Having my Garmin allowed me to run the river trail this morning. I can run it any time I like, but it can be hard to map out online because the trees over the path kind of block out the view from the satellites. But with my Garmin I was able to tell exactly how far I had gone while I was running. Just in case you can't tell, I really like it.

My dog is so funny. He really loves the snow. Whenever we get to a section of road or trail that has even a little snow covering it, he acts like a kid that has never seen snow before. I don't mind too much as long as he stays on my left side and doesn't pull my shoulder out of joint. I also realized that he is much more competitive than I am today. He will often be a little ahead of me during the early stages of a run, but will fall back right next to me as the run goes on and he gets tired. We were about six miles into an eight mile run this morning when a woman came up on our left to pass. She made a comment about how nice it must be to have a dog that can run with me and how her Beagle is too fat to run (surprise, surprise...just ask your vet about Beagles and food). I quickly assessed that this woman was faster than me. At least today she was faster than me. As soon as she started to pass me, Phantom picked up the pace. He didn't want anyone to be in front of us! For the next half mile or so until she was out of sight it was all I could do to keep Phantom from running too fast and ruining my run. Thank goodness he slowed down when she was out of sight.

One last thing for all you people with dogs. I am talking about the active dogs. You know, the kind that need more attention than you have time for. The one that scares people not because he is mean, but because he is so hyper that no one knows what he will do next...That dog...My dog. He needs to get out and run. The best thing I could have ever done for Phantom's mental state and my own was to start running. He was a puppy (about a year) when we first got him. He calmed down a lot by just being trained and being in one home for a while, but he really became better behaved once I started running. A tired dog is a good dog! And the running will be good for you too. One word of caution...if you have a puppy don't run with her until she is at least a year old (giant breeds more like 18 months) so that you don't do any damage to her maturing joints. Always be careful in the heat and humidity and watch your dog's pads year round to make sure they aren't being damaged by the pavement or ice. Other than that, have a great time. Phantom is the best running partner I could ask for. He is always ready to go, even when I am not. And he knows instantly when I am getting ready for a run and won't let me go out the door without him. So get out there and run with your dog. He will love you for it and you can thank me later!

Total Miles Today = 8 Approximate Miles Since Beginning = 696

Posted in: on Sunday, December 9, 2007 at at 11:05 PM 2 comments  

I signed up for the Five Points Of Life Half Marathon in Gainesville, Florida today. I have to follow through now because I hate to lose money and there are no refunds. David hasn't been running much lately, but still says he is going to do the 5k. I signed him up today as well. I guess he will either start training or he is walking.

My mom seems to think that my sister-in-law is faster than me (it wouldn't surprise me). So I may be running the race by myself in February. I have a function on my Garmin called a virtual training partner (VTP). I am shooting for 11 minute miles for the half. I can set my VTP to 11 min miles and it will let me know if I am starting out too fast or if I am falling off pace. Some say this is cheating...I say it is smart!

Total Miles Yesterday = 4 Approximate Miles Since Beginning = 688

Posted in: on Saturday, December 8, 2007 at at 1:13 PM 0 comments  

I have been getting ready for my husband's office Christmas Party tonight. I wanted to get dressed up and surprise him. Little did I know that when I tried on all my nice dresses (even the ones that used to be too small), they would all be too big for me. Now that is an awesome feeling.

I have applied for a program that Runner's World is doing to help people lose weight. They want to highlight some people that have different weight loss goals in their magazine sometime next year. I will let you all know if I get picked.

Total Miles Last Night = 3 Approximate Miles Since Beginning = 684

Posted in: on Thursday, December 6, 2007 at at 2:01 PM 1 comments  

I haven't blogged in a while. I didn't think there was anything too interesting to share over the last couple of weeks. Last week was a cut back week for me, so I only ran 14 miles total and none of them were quality workouts. This week it is back to the grindstone.

I convinced my darling husband that he should buy me the only thing I really wanted for Christmas and nothing else. Maybe he conceded because I bought him what he really wanted. Or maybe it was because I was nagging a little too much. So last Saturday my Garmin Forerunner 305 came in the mail. We got an awesome price on it with rebates etc so it ended up costing $113. Not bad in comparison to the suggested retail price of over 300 or even the average retail of around 200.

So I was able to go for my first run with my Garmin today ( no wise cracks about it not being Christmas yet- Christmas is about the birth of Christ not gifts, so I am sure that God doesn't care one bit if I opened it early!) I had a tempo run planned for this morning. I was thinking about going to the indoor track at MSU because the weather has been brutal the last couple of days, but I didn't want to get up early enough to do that and David was home this morning, so I slept in until 6:30 and was on the road by 7.

My run was a 6 miler. Four miles in the middle are supposed to be at tempo. My head math screwed everything up. I thought I would run a 2 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down. Now any 1st grader could tell you that adds up to 7 miles, not 6. But I couldn't seem to comprehend that until about 4.5 miles into my run. My bad math put me doing the end of my tempo section UP A VERY LARGE HILL! So here i am trying to maintain my fast pace going up this hill when the wind kicks in. I thought my nose and lips were going to fall off right there. But after that hill it was easy. And it was an awesome run.

The Garmin is awesome too. I set it to alert me at every mile so I wouldn't have to keep track of how far I had gone. When I look at the screen it shows me time, mileage, pace and heartrate all at once. I also set it up with auto pause. That way when I stop at a street light or to let the dog do his business it automatically pauses the time and distance...now that is handy. When I got back home I plugged it into my computer and it uploaded all the information from my run. The next time I run I am going to program it to do automatic splits at every mile. That way I will get average pace for every mile. I love technology!

Total Miles Today = 6 Approximate Miles Since Beginning = 681

Posted in: on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at at 4:30 PM 0 comments  

I am still out there doing my thing. I have to train for my half marathon after all. My boss ended up having to have surgery last Tuesday. They were supposed to do it with a scope, but when they got in there, they realized that they would have to open her up. I don't know when she will feel well enough to return to work.

This surgery came up kind of suddenly. Consequently, I have been working a lot more hours than I had expected over the last couple of weeks. I have barely seen my kids. Grace has a killer cold. Rachel has pinkeye. I don't know when the last time that I balanced my checkbook was. But I am still running (at night and during my lunch hour).

Hopefully the craziness will end soon. I have told them at work that I will not work the day after Thanksgiving. I just need a break. And next week is Grace's birthday, so wish me luck in planning for that.

Total Miles Today = 7 Approximate Miles Since Beginning = 642

Posted in: on Sunday, November 18, 2007 at at 9:55 PM 0 comments