Running in the Rockies

I did it!! Six days in a row - finally!!!!!! I have to admit I was pretty tired on today's run, but I did it and I feel (to borrow from Michelle) JOYFUL AND TRIUMPHANT!! I like to celebrate every little achievement! And I feel like a true runner today because I ran through the rain. Somehow that seems like a rite of passage or something.

We had a book club luncheon at my house today - our once a year tradition. We read Ladies Auxiliary, which is set in a Jewish Orthodox society; and since we're a few days away from Hannakah, I decorated in blue and white and someone brought latkes. It was fun. Christmas is going to be much more fun this year since our 6 year old is finally very excited about the tree and presents - and our 1 year old is actually leaving the tree alone (partly out of fear - it scratched her as we were setting it up and she hasn't forgiven it!) Have a Merry Christmas season, everyone!

This was a true Monday. There was nothing that went wrong, but I felt *blah* all day and just wanted to sleep or take a holiday from being a Mom. That defines a true "Monday" to me - inherently a bummer due only to its existence. ;o)

My legs felt great on today's run and my pace is finally back to where it was before Thanksgiving, without pushing it. Mentally, I kept trying to look for a way to shorten my run (see above paragraph), but my legs just kept going. lol

Ave pace: 11:29

Wow, I almost forgot to post today's run .. and it was a hard one! I had to push myself out the door, and I had to push myself to begin running, and I had to push myself to keep going. I don't know why today was so hard, but it felt -mentally- like the hardest run so far. I've had others where my legs hurt more, or my lungs were heaving, but today ... something else was just unwilling to run. I hope consistency will pay off and tomorrow's run won't be quite so bad.

On a side note - I had a BUG fly into my EYE while I was running today! Not my eyelid...my eye! Weird, huh? Poor thing met its death soon after. Pay attention while you're flying, eh?

Ave pace: 11:36

I think this whole week is turning out to be a tough one for running. I feel beat up. Maybe I need to work harder on getting to bed earlier. I'm still waking up once to nurse, and then the kids are all up around 6:00 or 6:30. Going to bed at 11:00 is not cutting it. Windy today, but still warm. It was 49 degrees; yesterday was an amazing 68 degrees ... in December! ... in Colorado Springs!! I'm gonna see if I can go sneak in a nap while the babies are asleep.

No running today. My foot was hurting a little this morning, and as after shopping and a RS Christmas party, it is now hurting so much that I'm limping horribly. It's the same foot that I hurt when I fell down the stairs last week; but I've been able to run on it 3-4 times since then -- so why is it starting to hurt now? I think it's sprained, so I wrapped it and I'm going to take some ibuprofen when I go to bed tonight. We'll see how it's doing tomorrow.

Well, my foot is finally feeling good enough to run. I had it wrapped and limping for 2 days; the 3rd day I was hurting everywhere else from limping; and the 4th day the pain was almost completely gone. So really, I should've gone running yesterday but I was absorbed in a book again.

Today, I can finally say that I ran through the snow, while it was snowing, and when it was below freezing (all 3 firsts for me!) The snow made downhill a dream - easy and padded. Uphill was tough, though. I had to laugh at my outfit, too -- I was so worried that I didn't have warm enough running gear, so I piled on everything I could think of. So, while I was running in 2 pairs of socks, 2 pants, 2 shirts, a windbreaker, a hat, and a scarf .... I remembered Sasha saying that 20 degrees was the borderline for him between shorts or pants. I was running in 25 degrees, and would've died in shorts! Of course, I only went 2 miles (rather than 7-15 that he runs) and was comfortable the first mile and carrying my scarf and gloves on the second mile. lol

Glad I finally got out. I was actually missing it. (Never thought I'd feel that way about running - that is progress all in itself, isn't it?)

This is actually a guesstimate on my mileage because my garmin wigged out for some reason. I actually ran in the dark tonight and it wasn't nearly as scary as I always thought it would be. I was dreading going on the elliptical tonight, so even though it was 15 degrees and dark, I bundled up and went running. I only wore 1 shirt this time (see my abominable snowman gear from my last run) and didn't take my scarf, but I used a ski mask for my cheeks and face. I really liked the ski mask -- even though it got a little hot on the uphills, it was great for the downhills. It was a little icy out tonight, but I never tripped, luckily. I went without my iPod so I could be aware of my surroundings, and it was actually enjoyable -- it was so peaceful and I just listened to the rhythm of the crunching snow and my breathing, while I sang Christmas carols in my head. I wanted to go a little longer, but chickened out in the end. Nice run - felt great!

I tried Yoga tonight. It was hard on my wrists with all the down dogs (I don't even know if that's correctly spelled for yoga) but it was good for my arms. I think I'll try adding it on after a run sometime because I missed the workout that running is for my legs.

My garmin is really acting weird! It said that my run today was 3.8 miles, when I know it was closer to 3.1. Plus, I'm sure that my average pace was not 8 something, like it was saying. Very odd. Is there someway to fix a garmin that's acting up??

Anyway ... it was a tricky run today because half of it was on ice and snow with hardened footprints. Luckily, I never slipped, though I did throw my arms in the air once I told myself that my ankles were getting a workout by trying to keep me steady on a very uneven sidewalk. ;o)

My mileage is a guesstimate again because I went without the Garmin - but I think it's pretty accurate. I really didn't want to run on ice today, so I ran my trail route twice. It was actually pretty hard to start that second time out - partly because it's uphill again. But I'm glad that I did it. Besides that hard section, it was actually a great run. I'm now able to run without an iPod and survive (hee,hee).

The only thing that's been bugging me this evening is my left heel. About an hour after my run my it started aching to step on it. Hopefully it'll be gone tomorrow. BTW, we've had great weather so far this week - in the 40's and no wind!! I could really get used to running all winter in this weather!

I chickened out on night running this evening and went on the elliptical instead. It was a good workout; it was harder on my legs than my cardio - but that's probably a good thing for cross-training. I also did stetching and push-ups when I got bored of the elliptical. The whole workout was about 45 minutes.

I missed the best opportunity to run while both girls were down for their first nap around 9:00 - not that I knew it at the time! But when I went at 1:30, it was cloudy and windy instead of sunny and calm. At least I got in my run before the snow started! ;o)

I took the garmin today and apparently it's doing better because it read my distance correctly. I tried something new today - I used the "alerts" to tell me when I was running slower than 12:30. Ha! After going uphill for a while, the poor alert was going off all the time as I was getting more and more pooped. My average pace was 11:37.

Well, I only made it out 4 times this week which is a bummer - but on the positive side, they were all over 3 miles! I'm going to have to try to earn those Garmin commando points in a week or two, Brent, because as James (Monaflash) says, that alert thing can be down right irritating! It was back to cold today - good bye to the nice 40 degree highs that we've had this week. It was 27 when I went. I hope Santa gets me some warm running gear. ;o)

It's 3 days till Christmas and I still haven't sent out my Christmas cards. But I can't even send them because I haven't received them in the mail yet. It seems like every January, I tell myself that this year I'm not going to procrastinate taking family pictures ... and then ... October... November... December all fly by and I'm stuck with no professional pictues yet and the Christmas cards are late. Bummer.

This was a difficult run, for some reason. I got cramps in my back at the 2 mile mark, and then when that finally went away, I got a cramp in my left chest. Very odd. I think I actually grunted a couple times during the run. And guess what? I actually ran faster going gradually uphill, rather than downhill (the last mile). I kept trying to keep my pace up that last mile, since it's all gradual downhill and usually much easier. But I was tired today or something.

ave pace 11:12

Well, we're here in Phoenix and I'm loving the flat terrain!!  My average pace was 10:46.  The third mile, I got a cramp in my back again but it didn't last very long. 

Well, I'm not sure what happened to my morning run blog, so I'll just add it on to my race report.

I went running in the morning and got in 3.33 miles in this lovely flat terrain of Phoenix!  My average pace was 10:57, which is faster than in Colorado but slower than my Phx run on Saturday.  In the afternoon, Lybi convinced me to run a race that night (which is crazy for both of us - I had already run today and she was still hurting from her 12 miler on Saturday, but it sounded too run to be able to run together!!!) 

We showed up an hour before the race and I registered (while Lybi ran "bandit" - shh! don't tell).  It was surprisingly cold for Phoenix, or at least my nerves made it feel cold.  The temperature was only 49, but we kept getting in the car to warm up.  Lybi recommended we jog around and do strides for a warm up, so I added .5 miles to my total distance. 

When the race finally started, Lybi had the Garmin and she would check it for our pace periodically.  Our goal had been 10:00 for the 1st mile, and then 9:30 for the next 2.  I had the best pacer in the world!!!!  Lybi talked the ENTIRE way!  :)  She rattled on about running technique, how I was doing great, or goals that she had for the coming year.  I seriously don't know how she did it!  I love her!!!  The first mile was good; I could tell it was faster than usual, but it wasn't demanding too much up front.  The second mile felt harder (as it should), but Lybi kept talking and stayed 1 step ahead of me but still to the side - so I was always reaching to keep up with her.  During the third mile, Lybi had us pick up the pace and we tried to play "games" to keep me from winding down.  She would race ahead of me and I had to catch up and pass her, then she would pass me.  I was surprised I had any energy left to pass her.  My breathing was getting very heavy and a cramp in my back was hurting with each breath.  I kept wanting to swing me head and flail my arms (what a wimp, I know!).  When we finally turned for the home stretch (Lybi said it was about half a lap), we tried to pick up the pace again.  I couldn't keep it up for long and started slacking, but then I heard footsteps behind me and found more energy!  The last 50 yards, I heard some fast footsteps behind me, and as Lybi peeled off away from the course, I laid everything on the line so this person couldn't pass me.  I sprinted as fast as I could, but he had more momentum and passed me within 10 feet of the finish line.  Grrr.  And, it turns out, he was 67 years old.  Grrr.  Oh well, he got me to pick it up at the very end, so I can't begrudge him too much.  ;o)

Overall, it was a great race - I wish I could always race with Lybi!!!!  She kept me diverted and focused on giving more.  And my pace really showed her help:

mile 1 - 9:30

mile 2 - 9:46

mile 3 - 9:22

I don't think those numbers quite add up, so Lybi will have to put the accurate numbers.  But my official time was 28:50!!!!!!  We were trying to figure out how to compare that to my last 5K and I think it means that I would've been sub-30 for a 5K and shaved off 6 minutes from my last time of 36:37!!!!!!!!!!!!  Woohoo!!!!!  (I'll let Sasha correct the comparison, if I was wrong)

So, flat terrain, lower altitute, and a great sister made for a very fun race to ring in the new year!  HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRB!!!