New Site

It's official! After too much annoyance with Blogger, I finally moved my site. Come visit me!!

http://nyrunnergirl.com/

Chicago!!!

The countdown is on! 4 hours and my plane to Chicago will be taking off :)

I packed! We also are sharing a bag, this is impressive, seriously impressive. 

 I haven't been back to Illinois in about 5 years and haven't been into Chicago since I moved to Boston (I was 11). The Chicago trip is for two reasons. One the Rock n Roll Chicago 1/2 marathon. 

GU galore! 

We also are going to see my dad and step mom! We are only there a short amount of time, tonight until Monday afternoon, but I'm so excited. There will be lots of walking around the city and eating Saturday, perfect carbo loading for the day before the race. The same will probably occur on Sunday, perfect for post race! 

Chicago. From Rock n Roll's Facebook

The race starts at 6:30am, again pretty freaking early. We are staying right near the race start though which will mean a little bit of sleeping in. You know, until at least 5:30 right? It is going to be about 95 degrees out, so it will be quite the sweaty day. 

Luckily I own this shirt, which means I clearly heart sweat now, so sweaty races are good with me

I plan to stick with a pace team for the race, and hopefully will come in under 2hrs 45mins. Other than that, I plan to enjoy the race through a city that a miss! I think I'll recognize at least a few of the stops along the course, since I've been to just about all of them before. 

Happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend everyone!! 

Jamestown 1/2 Marathon

Wake up for Jamestown was at some unacceptable hour close to 4 or 4:30 am. After a quick stop at dunkin donuts for bagels and coffee, and we were on our way. 

So nice to be in New England and see Red Sox cups! 

Paul and I drove over to where packet pick up had been to load the buses to the race. The race information was very vocal about no parking around the race, so they had buses to take everyone over. The buses were very organized and we waited in line for maybe 2 minutes before getting on and taking the quick trip to Jamestown. 

We got let out of the bus on the highway, or at least I think it was the highway, but it was completely blocked off and shut down. It was a small group of people, I would guess around 550 showed up. Those 550 were all standing around looking not so happy. It had started to drizzle, which made me incredibly unhappy, but I knew that was not the reason for everyone being upset. Then I looked to my left and saw all the porta potties being delivered. This was at 6:15, and the race was scheduled to start at 6:30. The amount of unhappy runners who had been here for at least a half hour waiting for a bathroom was out of control. The race organizers and volunteers got them off the bus and ready for use (minus toilette paper) asap. I still had to go but hate not starting a race with everyone so skipped it and lined up. Paul and I say bye and good luck while he waited in line for the bathroom. Because of all the bathroom chaos, the race started about 5 minutes late, and about half the people were still waiting in line for the bathroom when the race started.

Course map from UHC Website.

The first mile was interesting. I was running easy and holding pace around 11:15, good for me. Usually people tend to settle into their pace, during the first mile, but because of the delayed bathrooms, people were flying by from time to time catching up. During mile 1 a guy that I had run into before the race ran up next to me. We had bonded over being the only two people not talking during the national anthem, and the lack of bag check. I saw him mouth the word time (had my headphones in) and stuck out my Garmin for him to see thinking he wanted to know how much time had passed. I took my headphones out to talk and he said "no, what are you aiming for?". I replied with 2:45 (which I was but knew wouldn't happen), and he said "ok I'll run with you I think". I thought the guy was crazy. "You want to run with me? The girl who walks a lot and can't pace herself for shit?" It was nice though, he was with me for about two miles before a hill showed up and  he left me in his dust.

This is my attempt at smiling at the camera. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I should not be photographed while running. It ends badly every time. 

I learned many things during this run, but one important thing I learned was that I cannot read a elevation chart to save my life. I read that there was one large hill in the middle of the course, which there was. I did not however, notice all the other less dramatic hills. No worries though, they all were there. I was running pretty continuously with walk breaks here and there for the hills. I continued this through the first 5 miles. I was happy with my time and was ahead of pace. One nice thing about this course was that there were very few turns, so a 1/2 a mile away you could see a mile mark. If I was tired or slacking, I would look and see the mile marker. It made the end of that mile seem that much closer. My legs didn't hurt, but I could tell I was getting a few blisters on my feet already from not running in my shoes enough. Then mile 6 came. During the mile I thought,  "if I don't PR, it will be 100% because of this hill". I pretty much lost it after that. The hill was so steep and was pretty long, a combination I didn't really think existed. 

I enjoyed the nice downhill after and tried to get back on track. I knew I had lost serious time and was worried. Miles 7, 8, and 9 went by quick, not that I was quick, they just felt like they were flying by. I hit mile 10 though and had no shot at having a PR. It was probably the only area of the race that wasn't on the water, instead it was back roads by houses. I was pretty over the race at that point. I had gone 10 miles, was still behind the same couple that I had been directly behind the whole time, and no PR was happening.  I got myself moving though, passed the couple I had been behind the whole time, and looked forward to the finish.

Please note the both feet of the ground. It's rare. I'm sort of smiling, another rare part of a race.

The last mile we were running along the water and had a great view. By that point I knew I wasn't going for time goals, and decided I might as well take a picture. 

Pretty freaking gorgeous

The last .1 miles was directly down hill, which is nice for a speedy finish, but you couldn't see the finish line at all until the last second. I saw Paul on the side cheering and I think yelled something about being over it and slow. I also almost threw my water bottle at him to hold but he had three gatorades in his hand, so I thought otherwise. 

It was finally over, and it took me about 3 hours. Not my best by any means, and again also not my worst. While I had no expectations for the race, I know I can do better. I let the hill at mile 6 get the best of me, and it went down hill (ha no pun even intended on that one!) from there. 

We headed back on the bus to our cars and went back to hotel. We showered and packed up to head out of the hotel. We made a few pit stops first though.  

Twix Iced Coffee!

Marylou's coffee, definitely a perfect post race treat. Then we made a special stop and my Uncle and Aunts house to see 8 of the cutest puppies. Ever!

I mean seriously? Does it get cuter? 

My favorite. Adorable

Bella had 8 of the cutest puppies! I think it will be an new pick me up requirement after every race, play with 8 perfect puppies. If you want more details check out Bella's Blog and see more pictures too! 

Jamestown and the second leg of the UHC triple crown is done. Now on to Rock n Roll Chicago 1/2, which is 3 days away. Goals for that race still to come! 

Happy Thursday everyone!

Pre-Jamestown

The Jamestown 1/2 marathon was the second leg of the three leg United Health Care Triple Crown. 

Basically, I got free entry to the three races for blogging (including a race I've been waiting to do again) and get bonus swag. Who doesn't want bonus swag? Providence 1/2 marathon was the first leg and went surprisingly well, but I did not expect another surprise PR at this race. 

I have Friday's off of work in the summer which is AMAZING and what I have always had since I started working after Quinnipiac. This basically means if I ever have a job requiring me to work Friday's in the summer, I might cry. Paul had a job interview Friday morning, so I took advantage of a relaxing morning and sat outside reading my book. The Hunger Games part 1 if you are curious, I saw the movie and now am addicted. 

Yeah a little spoiled. The amazing view of the LI Sound from the porch. 

After Paul picked me up and grabbed some lunch, we were on the road to Rhode Island. I must admit that Rhode Island is one of my favorite places. I always have a great time while I'm there, and get to have the New England vibe that I miss sometimes when I'm in NY. After tons of unnecessary traffic, we finally made it to our hotel and HUGE room. Having more than one room in a hotel room (not including the bathroom) is a luxury that I do not have, ever. We dropped our bags and headed to packet pick up which was small. I talked myself into and out of buying a new pair of shoes that were on sale before heading to dinner at Carabas. One delicious whole wheat pasta with shrimp and lemon garlic alfredo later, I was a happy girl. Just about every race morning Paul and I will have bagels with peanut butter. Sadly, dunkin donuts does not have peanut butter, so we decided to make a quick stop at target to pick some up. 15 minutes, and $104 dollars later, we left target with peanut butter an this amazingness. 

Margarita maker! I mean come on it was 50% off! Largest impulse buy ever! 

Ok back to important things, other than all the margarita parties I will be having soon. We got back to the hotel and laid everything out for the next day, (we are both a little Type A when it comes to planning things out) before heading to bed early. I will leave you with that for now, because if I throw the recap in here too this post will go on for days! Also blogger is killing me right now and I want to switch. Well I wanted to switch before, and now I'm impatiently waiting to switch out of blogger. It took me forever to get this post to even slightly look how I wanted (it kept highlighting everything) and I still have weird spaces!

Happy Wednesday everyone!  

Realizations

I realized a few things during the Jamestown half marathon this past Saturday. I will have a full recap of Jamestown up soon, but had so many important realizations that I had to share these first. By important I mean important to me, you may not find them important or you may have already realized them and during this whole post will be thinking "No kidding, Amy. Way to be late on this realization". That's cool, enjoy feeling more intelligent than me while reading.

One of the things I realized is just how much of a "run thinker" I am. I will have my music playing and enjoy it, but I spend the entire run thinking about one thing or another. My best problem solving comes during a run, and most of my "how did I never realize that before" thinking comes during runs as well.

How can you not do serious thinking about life when this is your view? Courtesy of UHC facebook page

If you don't train to PR, you will not PR. This sounds so beyond obvious. It is something I of course always knew, but actually fully realized during the race. I was around mile 6 and realized I probably wouldn't PR unless I some how started running 8min miles for the second half, and that was more than likely not going to happen. I got frustrated and then started to actually think about it. I hadn't trained to PR this race. I put very little effort into training lately, and the effort I did put in, was not PR worthy effort. It was completely half-assed. I did not PR at Jamestown and I did not PR at Fairfield because I didn't deserve to. I didn't put the time, effort, or energy into training for either of them, and that's what I got for it. If I want to PR the early morning runs and after work runs need to happen.

Doing math while running is incredibly difficult. I always try to calculate if I can PR and etc at my races. Doing math and trying to come up with "if I run this pace for the next however many miles, I can PR" is not easy. Math is not my best subject, but simple math should not be that complicated. At some point in the race I realized to PR I needed to run the last 2.5 miles in 20 minutes. I did some ridiculous calculation quickly and came up with 5 minute miles. Yes 5 minute miles. I thought to myself "that's not happening, it's not like I am...." and I thought and thought. For whatever reason I couldn't come up with a single name of someone who could run in the Olympics, and I couldn't for the life of me think of what pace that actually would be. Had I been able to do simple math I would of realized this was 8 min miles, I know plenty of people who can do 8min miles (the boyfriend included). Instead the final name that came into my head when I decided I couldn't run that pace because I wasn't...Jesus. Jesus, in my mind, is a fantastic runner. Moral of the story, don't ask me to do math or come up with names of famous runners during a race. It will not end well. 

My calf hurting is not a shoe problem. I have tried on far too many new types of shoes lately looking for "the right ones" that won't cause me any issues. I had problems with my right calf when I wore compression socks, so I stopped wearing them. Then I had problems with it again when I was trying new shoes. It happened with a few shoes and I continued to say "it's the shoes causing pain, I need new ones". While one of the shoe types did not work for me at all, the other ones hurting me more than likely had nothing to do with my shoes. It is either that I am not running enough (highly likely) or there is something wrong with my leg (far less likely). Either way, I, and by that I really mean my bank account, cannot continue to buy new shoes. If I am running more and my leg still bothers me, I go see someone. If it stops then I found my solution. The shoes I have now are staying, end of story. 

Races have hills, get over it. My Fairfield 1/2 fell apart at the first hill, which was about 1 mile into it. I hadn't trained for hills even though I knew there were plenty along the course. This goes back to not training for a PR. I knew about the hills, and I didn't train for them, so I ended up walking up the hills. You lose SO much time walking up a hill. It's one thing to be slow running up a hill, its another when you are just walking up them all together. Serious time (that I don't have cause I'm already not the fastest person in the world, which if you read above already know I consider this to be Jesus) is lost walking up hills. Jamestown also had hills, and again I thought "I'll walk up the hills, it will be fine". No it wont. Get off your ass (by your I'm referring to my own, you all can continue sitting and reading) and go run hills to get ready for the race. All the races have them, get over it. 

Running (or walking) past someone who has finished the race while you are still going is painful for everyone involved. I have been on both sides of this. I think it is a personal preference on how you want to handle it. For me, if I see someone walking by me with a medal while I am still trying to finish, I do NOT want them to acknowledge me. It's more of an "I'm so embarrassed I'm so slow" thing for me than a "I hate you for being done, don't look at me cause I'm still going" thing. On the other hand, if I have finished a race and someone is still going that I walk by, my first thoughts are to yell something encouraging. Clearly I am the person I hate during the race. The key to fixing this problem is run faster so you are not so embarrassed when someone walks by you. This goes back again to the whole training thing. Are we sensing a pattern? 

Running 9 races between March and November, may not be my best idea. I had not planned, at all, to do this many races in this span of time this year. My hope was for maybe 3 half marathons at the most and a 5k. Not 8 half marathons and a 5k. I am definitely feeling a little bit burnt out, which is causing some major slacking on training on my end. I knew going into these races it wasn't going to be easy, and need to pick the training back up for the 4 half's I have left. 

I listen to the most bizarre playlist when I run. It includes everything from Pink, to My Chemical Romance, to Pitbull, to Eminem, to DMX, to country. It's crazy and random and I love it. 

I need to eat better. I know, I know. I post far too often about the delicious cupcakes, awesome margaritas, or great fattening dinner I've had. Does this make you run faster? Nope not one bit. I'm not saying I need to cut out everything unhealthy, because lets be real, me without chocolate or margarita's is just scary. Plus I just purchased a margarita maker, I can't give it up now. I can however, eat healthier overall on a regular basis. 

Maybe having this as a random "I want dessert right now" isn't great? But so delicious!

I hate when people don't put there finish time on a race recap. I have done this before, just another example of how I really just do things to annoy myself apparently. But in reality, I hate when people do this. From what I can tell it is when someone doesn't like there time. That is why I didn't post it on one of my own recaps. Looking back though I think that's ridiculous. You will have good races and bad races, it is known all over my blog my absolute worst 1/2 marathon time ever was my first one (3 hours 27 minutes. True story). I have never had a time close to that since that race. If I'm good with broadcasting my worst time, whats wrong with telling people a time I'm not thrilled with. This is progress right here people if you didn't realize. 

I need to run with a tape recorder. I had many more realizations than these listed, and can't remember them all. Running with a tape recorder clearly would help. 

If I come up with the rest of my realizations, I'll post them at some point. The full recap for Jamestown will be up tomorrow, with hopefully some pictures if they are posted by then. 

Happy Monday Everyone! 

4th of July!

I hope you all are enjoying the 4th of July, aka one of my favorite holidays! 

Resolution Check In

With 6 months already done for 2012, I figured I would check in with my resolutions for the year. There are some ones that I clearly am sticking to, and ones that I stopped sticking to on January 2.

1. Run a race for every holiday
-I missed New Years Day and Valentines Day. I did St. Patrick's Day. Does Cinco De Mayo count? What about Memorial Day? I will run tomorrow for the 4th but no race, so that's out too. Not my best work.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2. Run 2, possibly 3, half marathons.
-Success! I completed one goal how awesome am I? No not that awesome? Ok cool!

3. Stretch Every morning
-I'm not sure why this is even on the list. Can I take resolutions away in July?

4. Run at least 10 miles every week
-Usually happens because of the race training, so calling this a success so far

This run actually sucked, a lot.

5&6. Faster 5k/10k times
-Might look at this a little in the fall, but not really planning on doing any 5k/10ks right now so probably wont happen.

7. Take a Pilates class
-I am so determined to do this one. Time.Money.Effort. all standing in my way.

I also just noticed I only had 7 resolutions. Odd number, should of picked 10. Also probably should of picked some better/different resolutions. Oh well. I have 6 months left and a lot of work to do!

Happy almost 4th of July!!

Much needed vacation

I had an amazing 3 days off of work and took full advantage of it! For starters, I finally was able to catch you all up on the Fairfield Half, but that was one of the few things I did for running during this vacation. Wednesday, my first vacation day, was originally set to be spent figuring out my car insurance/registration. Lucky for me, the DMV is choosing to take an exceptional amount of time making it official that I live in NY, so I had a free day! Paul and I went out a nice little recovery run. I tried out my new shoes (I've lost count at this point of  how many new shoes I had that I didn't like and tried different ones), and just hoped he didn't lap me in our runs around the block (he didn't yay!). My legs were tight the first mile, but after that everything felt great and I ran faster than usual which was a nice surprise.

After lunch Wednesday we got to lounge around outside and while Paul read, I caught up on my reading/celebrity gossip. Women's Health Magazine and People all the way. Some quality relaxation time right there. Paul decided to be grill master that night!

Ignore the fake smile, he was excited

Chicken/Veggie Kabobs and corn on the cob. It was delicious! We relaxed and watched the Olympic Trials for the rest of the night, which is basically all we've been doing lately. Thursday was a beach day!!!

So amazing

I decided to skip the trashy magazine for the day. I have a stack of about 100 books that I want to read this summer, so I started to finally pick away at them. I sadly started with a book about a girl who works in the admissions department of a college and her life. I decided about 75 pages in that it was unhealthy for me to read a book about my own life while I was on vacation, so I stopped reading and played in the waves instead. A day at the beach is one of the best ways to get me to relax. Which is definitely what I needed since that night was apartment hunting night. It was good and bad, but in the end no apartment for me. I was able to make a pit stop for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in the middle of the search though, so that made everything better. Also, I swear there is some healthy eating days coming soon. My froyo and cheesecake nights are behind me...for the most part. 

Friday and Saturday were pretty relaxed. It was too hot to do just about anything. I was a little burnt from the beach on Thursday too and wasn't looking to go back out on Friday like an idiot. I also had my GRE's on Saturday that I decided spending 4 hours the day before I was taking them to study would be great, since I hadn't studied at all. There was more trials watching, and enjoying everyone that was kicking ass through them all.

Sunday was July 1! It marked one year since I moved and became NewYorkRunner! I had bought tickets for Paul and I to go to the Yankee vs White Sox game for our 2 year anniversary. I wanted to go to a Red Sox/Yankees game, but the dates didn't work out. Cheering for Chicago is almost as awesome as cheering for Boston, almost. It also happened to be Old Timers Day, I thought it was a special day for old people and was worried, I was wrong. We got a good deal and good seats (2nd row in left field).

Yup, aren't I awesome! I got us great seats to sit from 10am-4pm in direct sunshine during a 90 degree day! I know I rock!

We went and saw our seats and the field first then decided instead of spending 6 hours straight outside for the old timers game and actual game, we'd head inside for lunch and come back out for the game. 

We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and SAP is the company my brother works for. SAP had pictures all over the stadium because they are big sponsors, which was sweet. Hard Rock Cafe was delicious, I had fish and chips and this awesome drink. 

Waborita

True story...I'll drink just about anything that is blue. We went back outside after lunch and caught the rest of the old timers game. It was hot as hell out there and these guys decided it was a good time to get a tan. 

I was interested to see when they would start burning cause they had no sunscreen, but they left before the game started. Overall the game was fun, I got to cheer for Chicago, and cheer against the yankees. Always a good time. Other than it being 100 degrees, and having to get water every inning, and the 6 year old 4 seats over from me throwing up, it was a pretty awesome way to celebrate 2 years (a little late) and one year in NY. 

Successful vacation complete! Now I'm back at work for two days, 4th of July aka my favorite holiday, and then two more days of work. Oh and you know back to the running thing. I enjoyed my few days off from running because of the heat, but am excited to get back out there now for early morning or late night runs when it is cooler. Only 2 weeks till Jamestown and 3 weeks till Chicago!!

Happy Monday everyone!! 

Fairfield 1/2 Marathon

This post has gone back and forth a few times. This race...well it sucked. No way around that.

I was going to skip talking about Fairfield all together. Then I was going to give every dirty detail. Then I was back to skipping over it all. In the end I realized the fact that I sucked on race day (and HATED the course) doesn't take away from Stratton Faxon doing a great job putting on a race. They deserve credit for that, so here it goes.

Originally, I wasn't doing Fairfield at all. Paul was doing it and I was happy to sit it out. I have no good reason why I joined in with under a month to go, but it happened and I signed up. I had heard good things about the race in general but got a little nervous when I read bloggers past posts about the hills. I heard good race, tough hills.
 

I HATE HILLS. 

There is nothing else to be said about that really. I hate them with a passion. Nothing is fun about them, going uphill is painful, going downhill is also painful if not done correctly (I don't do most things correctly fyi). I added in hills to my training plan, but didn't really follow through with that part. I also heard there was an adjustment to the course so I thought maybe not so many hills (oh spoiler, I was wrong).

Paul and I drove to Fairfield and got our packets on race morning. The race started right along the beach, which I LOVE! The pick up was quick and easy. I give tons of credit to the race directors for taking care of everyone picking up their packet before the race in a quick fashion.

The race started at 8:30am, which for end of June means it was incredibly warm. The start was also a separate mens and women's start which was strange, but fine. The first mile was ok but my legs were heavy and tired. There had been no hills at this point and I knew it was going to be a tough race for me. Had it not been a race day, this would of been a run that I said screw it, I'll try again later because running now will do more harm than good. But it was a race day, and there was nothing I could do but go the next 12.1 miles.

Towards the end of the second mile the first hill came. At this point I didn't know how many hills there were, I just new this one was going to suck. I made it through and thought "maybe I'll negative split for the next mile at least". Of course I was wrong. The hills did not stop. They just came one after another after another. It seemed like the end of each mile looked something like this...

Ok maybe I'm being a tiny bit dramatic, but by the fourth one, it seemed like I was running straight up something like this. I don't have all the details of how I did each mile. Each mile hurt more than the first. It was a mixture of a bad run day for me, a really tough course that I wasn't prepared for, and 85 degrees without shade. In the end I got through all 13.1 miles, and surprise no PR for me. After mile 1 I could of cared less about a PR, I just wanted it done.

There were lots of good things about this race that absolutely need to be mentioned. The organization of this race was great. Every mile was marked perfectly and there were plenty of water stations along the way. Along the course both the residents of Fairfield and the Fairfield fire department had out hoses to hose you down, which was amazing in the heat.

{credit: CTPost.com }

The fans along the course and the volunteers were great and you couldn't ask for more from them. I have to say the best part about this race though, the lululemon crew!

{credit: CTPost.com }

I would guess that there were about 7-10 people there from lululemon and they were awesome. Any race I have been at that lululemon has been cheering at has been fun, but this group was hands down the best I've seen yet! Great job guys! 

So there it is. The Fairfield half is finally done. I loved so much about this race, but can't get over how much I hated the course and the heat. Would I do it again? I have no idea. Maybe I'll come back for redemption one day, but for now I'm just looking to the next one. 

Happy Thursday everyone! 

It takes one run

So I could apologize for not posting, but in reality, nobody would of wanted to read what I had to say about my running lately. It also apparently took too much effort for me to post "I suck at running right now, please come back later". Every single time I went out for a run it was bad. There was not one positive thing I could take away from the runs, and at some point the "well at least you went out to run" theory was becoming an everyday saying. That sucks a lot when you have a race coming up.

I had been trying out some new shoes as well which I think was the problem. I had old Kswiss shoes that I got rid of after the Providence 1/2 marathon, and got a new set of Brooks. I didn't love or hate my kswiss shoes, I just felt like a change. I tried out the Brooks ones and my first run was ok. It went downhill after that. Every run that I had trouble with also included intense calf pain. This happened for short runs as well as my long 6 mile, 8 mile, and 10 mile runs. It was the absolute worst. Finally I decided this wasn't me just having a tough time or not running enough, the shoes were not working. I put on a different pair of kswiss shoes that I had worn once or twice and went out for all my runs in those. I had no issues. None at all.

Last weekend was my last "long run" before the race. I went out for a 5 mile run and it was amazing. We will ignore the fact that I tripped during mile 2 and almost completely face planted on the sidewalk in front of 1000 (or 7, you choose) people. By the time I was done running, I was smiling and jumping up and down. I think I scared Paul who had been dealing with my angry face after all my runs lately. I was running faster than I had been lately and at the end of the run felt like I could of kept going. It had been WEEKS since I felt that way. This run was just what I needed before my Fairfield 1/2. It just took one run to get my mind set back in it.

Then there was this little bundle of amazingness!

 Benjamin Daniel! 

My best friend Carolyn had a baby last week! Nothing seems bad with a new baby in the world. I was able to drive back to Boston for not even 24 hours to see this cutey and loved every minute of it! 

 I'm obsessed, but it's cool

I swear he smiled at one point, it wasn't all sad faces 

Between my awesome run, baby Ben, and good news at work (will share later when I can!) my mindset about things is turning around completely. I'm back in it and ready to go for race day Sunday! 

Goal post to come asap along with more pictures of baby Ben! He's one week as of yesterday! 

Happy Wednesday everyone! 

Good News/Bad News & 2 years!

My blogging has been slow lately mostly because my running has been slow. I've been having a rough time getting up early in the mornings to do the runs, so instead I do them after work. I'm happy with myself for doing the runs in general each day, but disappointed with my pace lately. We'll get back to that though.

I had two days off which gave me plenty of time to catch up on errands and beach time! That was the good news.

The bad news was that I neglected to put on as much sunscreen as I should of and got BURNT. It was pretty bad. Considering I was also only there for about 3 hours as well. I saved you all and forgot to take a picture of the nasty burn, so you're welcome for not having to see just how bad it was. I ran after the beach, but the sunburn hadn't set in yet, so I had no problems with it. Friday was my day off from running thankfully because I was in pain! I was really nervous about the long run on Saturday with my burn. Friday night I also received my anniversary present! Paul bought me a new Garmin Forerunner, probably 1/2 because I complained and 1/2 because he was tired of sharing his.

I had it all ready to go for my run on Saturday morning. Before I went out, we headed over to pick up Paul's race packet for one of his next triathlons. I ended up not getting out to run until around 11:30. Not the best plan since there was not a single cloud in the sky, and it was already about 85 degrees. I know, great planning on my part. I had Paul spray me down from head to toe in sunscreen so that I wouldn't burn anymore and was on my way. There was more good news/bad news with the garmin.The 100% upside is that I've needed and wanted the watch for a while now. I'm tired of guessing if my mileage is exact to what I need it to be, or having to bring my phone with me to track my mileage that way. The bad news is, I (as well as all of you) now get to know exactly how slow I am. Having that in my face the entire run is tough for me. It proved to be incredibly tough for me on Saturday. 

I was set to do 8 miles and was determined to get through all 8. I found a different route, thanks to the garmin, which was amazing. My run started and I felt good, and continued to feel good as it went on. I ran the first two miles without a problem. I can't tell you the last time that happened. I honestly don't even remember. Two miles straight, not one second of walking. Some of you may think I'm either insane for finding this exciting, or suck majorly at running that this was my excitement. It has been a while that I had any interest in pushing myself to just keep running, and I was so happy I was able to start and push myself. It may not have been my best time to try this out however since I had 6 more miles to go. 

Those next 6 were tough for me mentally. I was getting through them with very little walking and was so happy about that, but I was so disappointed with my time. What was the point of running it all if I was going to run as slow as possible. I got it all done and was thrilled when it was over. I had gone into the run focusing on walking very little, and doing mostly running. I did this. I should of been happy that I completed the goal for the run, but it was a major disappointment. 

I know continuing to push myself to run further and further without walking will be better for me in the end. After that I can work on speed more. I have a tough time of being patient with my running, by that I mean I'm not patient...at all. I want to run more and faster, and I want that now. Sadly it takes lots of time and effort, that in the past I wasn't willing to put into my training. Now that I am willing to, I need to give it time. I'm not going to suddenly run 20 miles, at a 8:30 pace. Lots of time and lots of effort.

I'm ready to get back out today for a short run and keep on track with my plan. Lucky for me, I have a boyfriend who is very understanding and even though it is our two year anniversary and I already have to work late, he's ok with pushing back dinner for me to run after work.

Happy Monday everyone!

Memorial Day Weekend Success

I had many plans for myself this weekend. I believe I succeeded in doing just about all of them too. We'll get it out of the way from the start, I planned to go running and I did. Go me! I planned to have Starbucks, cupcakes, margaritas, and nuun; all goals accomplished. There was sadly no beach trip, but I did lay outside so I was happy.

The weekend kicked off in the best way, leaving work at 1pm on Friday. It was almost as good as not having to work at all on Friday. I went home and relaxed for a little while before dinner at my favorite mexican restaurant with Paul and friends. I got to enjoy the first margarita of the weekend there.

Amazing

This was followed up by watching a depressing Rangers game, and a few more skinnygirl margaritas. 

At some point I went to bed, only to be greeted in the morning by the amazing sunny and warm weather. For various reasons the long run was pushed from Saturday to Sunday, which meant coffee and relaxing Saturday morning. I got to enjoy some time in the sun before it started to completely downpour! 

Unhappy iPhone having to deal with the heat!

Saturday night was a cookout with friends. This meant more skinny girl margaritas, and PLENTY of food. Don't think I'm exaggerating one bit when I say all I did this weekend was eat and drink. The cook off included: chips, hot dog, cheeseburger, sausage, pasta salad, cupcakes and cookies. All of it was delicious and I didn't regret any of it (even if I should of). 

Sunday morning was a little iffy with the weather. It was going to rain which would of ruined my long run plans and immediately put me in a bad mood all morning. I had a coffee and a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast (more proof that all I did was eat this weekend). It ended up being incredibly sunny out so around noon Paul and I finally went out for a run. It was about 100 degrees (or 85 you decide) and humid. The entire run was gross. First of all who knew that coffee, chocolate chip muffins, margaritas, cupcakes, and massive amounts of meat were not what you should eat to prep for a long run? Clearly I did and chose to ignore it. It was a long run to say the least. My stomach wasn't happy, and my entire body would of rather been standing in a pool instead of running through the streets without shade. If it was socially acceptable to just run in underwear, I promise you I would have on Sunday. TOO FREAKING HOT! In reality it was my own fault for waiting till noon, but whatever. I'm happy with myself for getting through the 6 miles, and following it up with eating yet another cupcake. 

I had a deal from living social for 6 cupcakes and finally picked them up this weekend. AMAZING. Key Lime, Red Velvet, Peanut Butter, Salted Chocolate Caramel, M&M, and Oreo. Yes, Paul and I did eat all of those this weekend, again I don't feel bad about it. 

Sunday night was dinner with friends at another great restaurant. There was a challenge with dumplings, and basically I ended up eating 10....and that was before dinner got there. If you are sick of hearing just how much I ate this weekend I understand, because it is now that I'm realizing just how out of control it was. I ran though, so I get some credit right? No? Ok, cool moving on. 

I'll sum up Monday for you a little faster. There was a graduation party, more fun with friends, lots more food, and a misspelled cake. All in all, a great time. 

Other than the fact that I basically ate 24/7 the entire weekend, it was a really great time. I need another weekend to calm down and relax from this weekend now. Lucky for me I have tomorrow and Thursday off of work. :) Happy girl right here. I have runs scheduled for today, tomorrow, and Thursday. My hopes are maybe I can run off everything I ate in the past 3 days, although I think a lot more than 3 days of running would be necessary for that. 

I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend! Happy Tuesday! 

Memorial Day Weekend!

Finally the weekend! I had Monday off and this still felt like the longest week ever. Please enjoy this photo cluster of what I will be doing this long weekend!

There will be some of this. Not racing, just regular running. And it will most likely include me making faces during the run.

Starbucks <3 

 There will be lots of cupcakes. It's memorial day weekend people! I'm going to enjoy! 

Nuun drinking! 

 Possibility of a track workout at some point during the weekend 

 Plenty of margarita drinking! So much so that there will be two pictures of me partaking in it! 

Margarita love <3

Some swimming

And of course, some beach going...shh don't tell Paul

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This is me, doing back flips thinking about the awesome weekend to come. 

ps...this is not really me at all

 Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! I hope you enjoy it!