Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Sprinkles

I'm not going to meet my goal again. :( I have fewer miles this month than last month and it's not because this is a short month. I was determined to get at least a few more miles in this month so I wanted to run today.

Rachael was going to go to a friend's house after school, but decided to join me on a run. Oh thank you, Rachael. If it weren't for that, I would have probably not gone out today. When I left school it was raining. We started in sprinkles, but it quickly went to rain and rained most of the run. It wasn't bad, but with winter running clothes, I got heavy quickly. I weighed myself when I got home and after taking off my wet clothes - FOUR pounds of wet clothes! Yeah, that's a lot of extra weight I was carrying around. Does that equal an extra mile today?

today's mileage: 5 miles
weekly mileage: 5 miles
monthly mileage: 60 miles
annual mileage: 130 miles

Sunday, February 26, 2012

15 in town

Since I haven't run in the past 7 days, I knew my weekly goal of 20+ miles wasn't going to cut it. That would mean a minimum of a 20 mile run today. So, I set a goal of at least 13, but really wanted 15. For some reason, a half marathon distance was really weighing on me for a long run this week. I did 12 last week, so I mentally needed the 13 this week. What am I thankful for this week regarding running? I made my 15 mile long run goal. In town!

So I woke up and looked at the weather and there was a wind advisory! Oh my, this was going to be a long run. Think positive! I can do this. I will break it down into 3 - 5 mile runs. That's Ethanol 3 times. Bill is on call this week so he can't be far from home. We got about 8-9 miles before we had to go back over some streets again. It was a beautiful morning if we didn't go south much. :)

At 5 miles we came back home, refilled beverages and Rachael got on the bike. She rode the next 5 miles. Bill dropped off at mile 9 and Rachael and I finished the next leg. At mile 10 we were home again to drop the bike, catch our breath and back out. When we first started again, I was very light-headed and mildly disoriented. It was like I was approaching the wall! I was dumbfounded. It just didn't make any sense to me.

About mile 13 I didn't feel like I could go anymore. We stopped and walked a bit, about 1/4 mile. I had already taken 3 gels during the run, but another at this point wouldn't kick in until we were about done. I kept forging ahead. We took another break about mile 13.77 It was all I could do to keep moving. I started talking to myself out loud and Rachael was encouraging me. :) This brought me to the finish line. It was good to be done, but felt great! There's that runner's high I was looking forward to. Accomplished.

today's mileage: 15 miles
weekly mileage: 15 miles
monthly mileage: 55 miles
annual mileage: 125 miles

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Keep Smiling!

It was a beautiful day in February so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go for a run! We all started getting ready to go with little push. We motivated each other. It was a good team effort. I have been really stressed at school so it was great to have this team effort today!

The run was good, but had a tough time in the middle. I thought of Chrissie Wellington...just keep smiling! If you smile on the outside, you can't help but smile on the inside. It was a good feeling. I tried to enjoy the natural environment and the beauty of it all. It helped make for a good run.

today's mileage: 10 miles
weekly mileage: 15 miles
monthly mileage: 40 miles
annual mileage: 110 miles

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Busybusybusy

Last week was so crazy busy that I didn't get time to go out. I feel behind now. Tuesday Bill walked in the door and we were out again soon. The battery in my watch was nearly dead, but I hooked it up anyway. We actually got about 4 miles out of it before it completely died.

This was a rough run, but it was good to have Bill with me! The wind was strong from the southwest so it would have been hard to escape it today. It was great to chat with bill on the run. We seem to solve lots of world problems that way.

today's mileage: 5 miles
weekly mileage: 5 miles
monthly mileage: 30 miles
annual mileage: 100 miles

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Surprise!

How lucky I am to have a supportive husband. I really wanted to go out for supper tonight because it was a long day. On the way home I was really chilly and thought I would just run 5 miles in the basement. Deep down I knew I would come up with some excuse to not run at all. I got home and was really chilly so when I got all my stuff off I just felt like staying home. I started supper. Pretty soon Bill came in the door and said he was going running! What?! I want to go!

Rachael went skiing today so she stayed home. It was nice to have a running date tonight. We did an Ethanol Loop. We didn't necessarily chat a whole lot about anything, but it was nice and relaxing. We had 4 negative splits and averaged 9:24 pace, with the last mile being 8:59 pace! I might pay for this one later.

today's mileage: 5 miles
weekly mileage: 5 miles
monthly mileage: 25 miles
annual mileage: 95 miles

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Massage ahhhhh

Oh how I love my husband! Last night I got the most amazing massage on my legs and feet. This morning I woke up with the worst monthly cramps ever. 3 Tylenol, biofreeze on the right shin, toe socks, and I was out the door.

While I have been full of excuses, and this seemed to be a convenient one today, the massage carried me through a great run! Rachael and I had a rough mile on mile 6 (9:54 pace) but ended with a 9:24 pace for an average of 9:34. It was a bit chilly, but we were strong through at least 11 miles. We both felt successful! It was the first time Rachael had been in the double digits for a few months. My toes didn't even suffer too badly. :)


today's mileage: 12 miles
weekly mileage: 23 miles
monthly mileage: 20 miles
annual mileage: 90 miles

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Rosy Cheeks

I wasn't going to do this, but I woke up this morning and wanted to do the Rosy Cheeks 5K Run in Story City this morning. It wasn't until 9:00, which was good for me, but the weather was icy and we were still expecting more snow and high winds. I texted a friend and she was unsure as well. We will run in snow and cold, but ice is a whole other story!

Long story short, we decided to go down there and check out how the streets were in town, if they sanded and how things were going there. Bill and I took one step out the back door and about fell flat on our faces! Bad sign. We picked up my running friend and headed south. The highway seemed fine so we kept going. Were we crazy?! Yes, we're runners! After some chatting with the volunteers there and checking out some streets, we decided we would attempt it.

Overall it was a good run and one that I may try again someday. There was some icy streets and a bridge, but we were able to find some traction, or at least some grass, to safely complete the run. We even made a PR to boot! I'd call it successful!

today's mileage: 3 miles
weekly mileage: 11 miles
monthly mileage: 8 miles
annual mileage: 78 miles

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Backwards

We have been so fortunate to have such great weather this winter. Tomorrow we are expecting up to 7" of snow after some freezing rain. I definitely wanted to get out for a run before all that came in and messed up my beautiful running roads.

Rachael and I decided to do the Ethanol Loop backwards, compared to how we usually run it, just to mix things up a bit. I have been cautious of my runs lately and really wanted keep this one slow and steady. This was perhaps the most consistent running I've ever done! We averaged 9:36 pace and didn't waiver more than 5 seconds either side of that. We even had our fastest mile during the last mile. I'd call our backwards run a success!

Today's mileage: 5 miles
weekly mileage: 8 miles
monthly mileage: 5 miles
annual mileage: 75 miles