Marathon Training Update (Week 7)

August 7, 2013

Today was a raining, overcast, breezy, 75 degree day.

I feel like I am the weather man, reporting the weather on every blog post. But ever since I became a runner, I have become obsessed with the weather, and even more so now that I am in Marathon training mode.

Because it was raining hard when I woke up I started my work out by weight lifting at the gym. I did arms and abs. Once the rain stopped a little, I headed outside to hit the trail. It was spectacular today for a runner. I can’t believe it is August and I was comfortable running in pants. I ran along the MVT trail, around 10:30 am. No one was out there. I had the whole rainy trail to myself. I kept my pace consistent between a 9:00 and 9:30 min/mile. My training plan called for 4 miles, so I stuck to that.

Tomorrow is between 7-8 miles. I’ll keep you updated. 😉

How is your training going? Hope you are doing well!!

Keep Calm and Run on

June 4, 2013

“Never let success get to your head. Never let failure get to your heart. ” When reading these words, I have come to the conclusion that I rarely almost never let success get to my head. The problem that I have is letting failure get to my heart.

It happens more often with work stuff. Most of the time I let things go. However, because I work so closely with people, sometimes I find myself absorbing their energy, even when it is negative. I try to leave work stuff at work, but sometimes it is impossible. I began to dwell, which can be emotionally draining, and then I find myself at home exhausted. Call me sensitive, I am a pisces.

This is when a night run is necessary.

After a long hard day of work, the average person finds relaxation by curling up on the couch and watching their favorite TV show. For me, I prefer to go running and on really stressful days, I like to run fast.

Running in the morning is rejuvenating. Running at night is relaxing.

It is an amazing feeling to wake up early and hit the running trail first thing in the morning. On the weekdays, you may be totally alone, just you and the running trail. On weekends, the trail may be packed with other runners, but which ever it may be, running in the morning brings this amazing energy that lasts the whole day.

However, if you are looking for relaxation, and a stress reliever, nothing is better than running in the evening…

On Sunday night, I needed to find a way to relax. After a long hard work week, I was exhausted and stressed. They were calling for thunderstorms, which made my desire to run even more. When ever it is about to rain, I always feel like, “Gosh, I gotta get out there.” It is almost like I feel this rushed urge to get my run in before the rain starts.

So that is exactly what happened. I hit the MVT. I ran a short 5K, but I went all out in a speedy sprint. I know it will get hotter, so I am trying to cherish these cooler hours of the day, but it was a major sweat session, being around 80 degrees, and extremely humid. There was a slight breeze and then the sky turned dark. And the rain came.

Do you find running relaxing or rejuvenating?

Oh and if you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out kindrunner.com!

8 mile runs on Monday mornings…

January 16, 2013

Now, if you are from a place, where it is seriously cold, and you are getting dumped on with snow, you are probably thinking this girl should count her blessings. But let me tell ya, I would rather have snow than rain. I would rather it be 30 degrees and sunny. I can tolerate crisp, refreshing, winter air, as long as, the sun is shining bright. With that being said…

It has been dark and dreary. Fog has formed, and a cold mist of rain has been lingering since early last week. It is totally dull, gloomy, depressing. I know it is January, but the weatherman promised the weekend would be a warm 65 degrees.

He lied.

It stayed around 50 degrees, the sun never came out, it was raining, but I still ran. I actually ran everyday…

Saturday, 1/12/13 – I ran an easy 5 mile run. It was 50 degrees, but gray and gloomy.

Sunday, 1/13/13 – I woke up early, and met L before work, for a 5.32 mile run. This one was full of “bitch” hills. It was a little warmer than 50 degrees, but again gray and gloomy.

Monday, 1/14/13 – I met up with L and ran 8.29 miles. This was the warmest of all the days, being 61 degrees. It still was gray and gloomy, with rain. This run actually felt amazing, and gave me the energy I needed for the rest of the day.

Today, Tuesday, 1/15/13 – I had my Art class in the morning, before work, so I took a rest day. It was gray, gloomy, and by the end of the day the rain was coming down hard.

You are probably wondering what is giving me my drive, to run on miserable, dull, winter days of gloom?

Well…

I am reading an amazing book called, Eat and Run, by Scott Jurek. It is inspiring me in many ways, including giving me motivation to run an eight mile run on a rain drizzle filled monday morning, like yesterday.

(photo taken from my iPhone)

“and now, running had turned into something other than training. It had turned into a kind of meditation, a place where I could let my mind… float free.”

Above is one of my favorite passages from the book, so far. Trust me, there are many more quotes to share… and although, the weather around here has been totally depressing, running in it, though it, all around it, feels good and keeps me sane.

Questions for You?

What is the weather like near you?
What motivates you to work out, run, eat healthy?

Running the A-10. A race in the rain!

August 31, 2012

I have been waiting to write this blog post because it just wouldn’t be as good with out photos. So here it goes…

Races around here fill up so fast. Marine Corps Marathon has a total of 30,000 entries and filled up this year in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Army 10 Miler has a total of 50,000 runners and filled up over night. The Color Run 5K filled up in 2 days. The Cherry Blossom 10 miler is now a lottery entry, just like the NYC Marathon, because it is that popular.

If you really want to run a popular race in the DC area, your best bet is to stay awake until midnight and register the minute the race opens. There is still that frantic feeling that your computer will freeze and the race will sell out. This was the feeling Lina (my running buddy) was having.

It all began in June, while I was on my vacation in Idaho. I received a phone call from my sister saying that Lina had contacted her through Facebook. She told me that Lina was trying to get a hold of me. We had just run the Cherry Blossom 10 miler and The Parkway Classic in April, but Lina was ready to sign up for her next race, and honestly I was too. She was debating between the Spartan Run or the Annapolis 10 Miler. Both of these races fill up fast so she wanted to sign up ASAP. So immediately the three of us got registered, for the A-10.

All summer, Lina and I ran. However, this was the first summer in three years that I was NOT intensely training for a Marathon. So although I did run, I will admit, it was a different type of running. It was shorter runs. It was faster runs. It was running experiments in my Newton shoes. It was runs focused on form.

Well after three months of this type of training it was finally the weekend of the Annapolis 10 miler. On Saturday, August 25th, around 1 pm, my sister and I left DC and headed to Annapolis. Unfortunately, the predicted forecast of Sunshine changed. And although, Hurricane Isaac, was swarming around the Florida Keys, winds and tropical storms were all over the Annapolis Harbor.

The expo was really small, but I accepted that because the race was organized by a local running group. It was also outside under a tent and it started to drizzle so people were getting their bibs and heading on out. My sister and I had to rush on through because we had reservations to go sailing.

Me at the Expo getting my Bib for the A-10. I got a cool hat too!

When my sister and I got down to the Harbor to catch our boat, we both were a little annoyed about the weather. Questions like, Should we go? Should we get our money back? It sucks that it is not sunny. It is horrible weather? But we sucked it up and got on the boat. And I am glad we did.

Sailing in Annapolis.

Me Sailing!

So let me tell you about this boat ride! It felt like we were on an amusement park ride. I felt like I was going to go over board several times. The sail boat tipped to one side and then the sailors would change the sail and it would aggressively tip to the other side. The sailors were loving it. They would yell, “Wohoo! This is the best wind we’ve had in months.” This was definitely not a peaceful boat ride, but it was fun, and actually the best boat ride I have ever been on.

We got off the boat looking like we had just came from Gilligan’s Island. We tried to clean up the best we could in the Marriot Hotel’s bathroom. And then we headed to an Italian restaurant for dinner. The food was amazing. We both ate vegetarian dishes and they were delicious.

After dinner we walked around the harbor and checked out some of the boutiques. I of corse hit up one of the local tea shops, called The Spice and Tea Exchange.

Finally we arrived at the hotel. We prepared our running stuff for the morning and set our alarms for 5:30 am.

My running stuff! Newton shoes and Lululemon!

RACE MORNING

I woke up the morning of the race not to my alarm but rather thunder.

Thunder in the morning!

OMG, I thought the race would be canceled for sure. But we got ready and headed to the start. We were lucky because we had saved our ponchos from sail boat ride we took the day before, and we had umbrellas.

At 7:45 right on time, the race started and we began to run. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have corrals, because I had seen Lina in the parking lot and told her to meet me at the 8-9 min corral. So we didn’t start together, but I did see her later in the race.

At the start we thought, maybe the rain would stop, but boy were we wrong. It just came down harder and harder. This rain was the type of rain that when you are driving your windshield wipers can’t keep up and you have to pull over to the side because you can’t see.

My sister and I running in the rain!

MY iPOD

At mile 2 my iPod’s volume got really low and then it just shut down because it was that wet. My sister and I actually pulled over to the side of the race because she thought her iPod was dying too. I ended up moving my iPod to the outside of my shirt, in hope that the crazy hurricane like winds would dry it off. This actually worked and at mile 7 my iPod randomly started playing again.

MY GARMIN

All week I had been training without my garmin because it had a full memory and I needed a new USB plug. I purchased a new one on Amazon and received it that week. Well I went through all that trouble for nothing. When I started running, I looked at my garmin and noticed the numbers were all fucked up. It turns out that I am an idiot and didn’t realize until mile nine that my watch was programed for km and not miles. So I basically was clueless the whole race about my pace and milage.

NEWTON SHOES

As you may know from previous posts, I was using this race as the ultimate test for my Newton shoes, and I was expecting to run it super fast, however I did not PR. I do want to say this though, my Newton shoes felt awesome, and in the end, I love them, and will continue training and racing in them. I was also very surprised to see so many others wearing Newton shoes.

No Regrets!

So although, this race was not a PR for me, WOW what a race! Thunder, lightning, torrential downpour, hurricane like winds, iPod dying from being wet, and garmin programmed for km, not miles. I ran across the finish line soaked and muddy in 1:33:23. I have come to the conclusion that you just might not PR in every race and I am totally fine with that. And like the above photo says, “I really regret that run. -Said no one. Ever.” I have no regrets.

Me with my game face on!

Let me hear your stories… Questions for You…

Have you run through bad weather?
Have you had a race when all your electronics died on you?

Peace and Beauty after the Storm

August 12, 2012

Grammy,

When I left MA it was storming, but I knew you were in a better place, because then the sky suddenly lit up with color, making it peaceful. Thank you for showing me beauty, honesty, sweetness, strength, bravery, courage. You will forever have immortality, because you are a part of me and all of those who love you.

xoxo

love, Meg