rest day!

just woke up from an hour and a half long nap!! it's the perfect day outside to curl up and take a nice long cat nap! I had two good runs these last couple of days bringing my weekly mileage up to 23 miles - not quite where i want it - but higher than it has been - so that's good. Friday night I set out for a nice 5-6 mile run around the nieghborhood. Lesson learned - although the portion of the street you are living on has clean sidewalks - does not mean all of the neighboring streets have clean sidewalks! I ran down my street and turned down a street that doesn't have sidewalks - first mile eight minutes flat - nice! then i hit the slush ... my next miles drop down to nine minutes flat b/c i couldn't get up the hills with the snowy slushish mess under my feet! I decided to name this run the "first annual bridget's five mile snowcone fun run and snowbank steeple chase"! (I'm working on the t-shirts now!) No i seriuosly got back some of my old high school hurdling form jumping over all the snowbanks the plows made at the end of people's driveways. Well it ended up being a decent run - i found a new neighborhood to explore - and some good christmas lights. i went back the next day to take a picture of this one house that has lights that are fake tulips in their flower bed - they're kind of hard to see in this picture.

So yesterday I DID NOT want to run. As i've told a lot of you - for months now i've been running 5-6 miles pretty much everytime I run. I haven't done a long run for months. However, now that i have decided to do the pig - i have no excuse to not start ramping up the long miles. So - i decided start off small - just do an eight miler on saturday - not exactly a long run - but bumping up the mileag a bit. all i can say - is thank god for steve - who literally forced me to go running. he said "just go - i'll see you when you are happy when you get back" i yelled that it was windy and cold and I was tired and he couldn't make me run. Well i got out there and quickly realized that one part of my tantrum was completely wrong - i twas not cold - windy yes - but not cold so i was a bit overdressed. but short of taking of my tights and running in my drawers there wasn't much i could do about it - and if i went back home i knew i was going out again. Well as i was still grumbling to myself about running and how heavy my legs felt when i stepped in not one but two puddles and got sprayed by a bus driving by. During my run i saw a huge hawk - i took a picture of that too. i'll have to get a phone with a better camera to document my runs. Well i ended up running a little over eight miles at a 8:35 pace. I'm really happy with that.

On a sad note - as i was writing this steve just got a call that a good friend from his work passed away yesterday. This guy battled leukemia, graph versus host disease and whole bunch of other things that i don't know if i would be strong enough to battle. In the end his body couldn't take anymore. Please say a prayer for him - he will be missed.

Pig 2008

Wow - i can not believe it is December 20th already!!! I am never going to get all of my work done by the end of the month!!!! aggghhhh!!
Anywho - I took some time yesterday to work out my training schedule in order to get me ready for the Pig in 2008. So - it's official - i'll sign up for the pig next pay check! I know that i'll need to fine tune the schedule - but at least it's an outline of what my long runs need to be. And...I have an idea of where I need to be right now - which will be a lot better than the random running i'm doing right now. Plus - I always do better when i have a schedule where I can cross off things as I do them.
I don't really have much else to say right now -- but guess what? I think that tomorrow is the shortest day of the year... which means... the days are getting longer - which means - before you know it we can stop being vampires and start running in the daylight again!!! woo hoo!! ok - back to work...wish me luck!

i'm so tired...

Well I cracked open a red bull at 8:30 this morning. Not a good sign. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I thought i was rested from this weekend - we literally slept all day long on saturday - i can't remember ever doing that - but we got up at about 3:30 in the afternoon... who does that? well regardless i felt great come monday. We were able to get a ton of wedding stuff done the last couple of days -- and although not enough - i got a ton of work stuff done too. But i am just dragging. I really want to ramp up my workouts - get back in the pool - take a spinning class - something - but it seems all i can do is be happy if i get a workout of some sort in 3-4 times a week. I guess i need to just deal with it over the next 51 days. there is only so much time in a day right? I guess planning a wedding right after the holidays, redoing the house and working an insane job all while trying to train is a bit more than i thought it would be. all i know is 53 days til hawaii.... ahhh!!!

"There's a lot of people who would run in this shit, but i believe i am not one of them" Steve S.

Well I think Steve's quote sums it up. I was having the "to gym or not to gym" dilema today. I hate going to the gym - I know that strength training is necessary - but I just get no satisfaction out of lifting a heavy metal object repeatedly. What is the point - at least if you go for a run or for a ride - you get to go somewhere and see something. Guess that's part of the reason I loathe treadmills. (That and it's tough to run on one of those when you are the type of person who has trouble running in a straight line as it is!)
So anyway - i was having the internal diliema of to run outside in the cold or go to the gym and lift some rocks for awhile. Well i checked the weather channel. 32 degrees -- perfect! Still didn't want to get out there. So I stuck my head outside and realized it was pouring rain! So i decided to be a wuss and go to the gym. Maybe it was nature's way of telling me to get back to strength training. I was hoping that the temperature would drop the half of a degree necessary to turn the nasty rain into snow - but no such luck. So i went to the gym, got a good lift in and ran for about 30 minutes on the dreaded treadmill. I did some messed up version of an interval training workout. Not sure if it did much for me -- but at least it made the time go by faster. (mental note - look up some good treadmill workouts)
Oh and good news. Ever since I got my new shoes I have been having horrible arch and heel pain. And my toes have been falling asleep midrun. Well i was using a pair of less agressive arch supports - put the old more agressive ones in (even though they are worn down) and my feet did not fall asleep and my arches do not hurt. good thing - b/c i wasn't looking forward to taking any time off.

holly cow!

58 days til we get married. agghh!!! just needed to share the fact that i am overwhelmed with life at the moment... why can't my work just pay me to plan my wedding and let someone else do my work?? maybe i should see if they'll let me have a co-op - then i can make the co-op do all of my wedding planning. how funny would that be? I just can't believe we are down to 58 days -- that means we can actually apply for our marriage liscense. I remember telling steve after we set the date that it seemed as though we were never going to get married b/c it was so far away -- now here it is creeping up quickly!!
I think i am losing my mind... My boss told me that i need to see a doctor after I showed up to work an hour and half late because I
1.) i overslept
2.) i had to return to the house to check if the iron was plugged in
3.) had to return to check if my straightner was plugged in
4.) had to return to the house to look for my cell phone that was in pocket.
5.) got to work and said i thought i might need to go home to see if the stove was turned on
6.) told him about how i managed to get cheese all over my floor and sock that morning which delayed me as well.

Now in addition to that my cell phone is playing games with me. i have spent probably a good hour and a half this week alone looking for the darned thing. my favorite was yesterday when i finally pulled into a wallmart parking lot to try and track the bugger down in my car -- well i found it under the drivers seat -but i couldn't get it or my hand out from under the seat for a good five minutes...

ok that's it -going crazy and thought i'd let you all in on it.

666

666! What kind of omen is it when you are waiting in line to pick up your race number and you are handed a 666? Well for most normal people it's not an omen at all - rather it's just a number that enables you to get your correct time at end of said race. Well for an over analyzer like me I thought - well maybe I'll run like the devil -- or maybe it's going to be a bad day. Well, since my running ephinany of a few weeks ago - i'm starting to become a little psycho about analyzing my times. For instance i had looked at the past i don't know how many years of results at the reindeer run and decided that i was going to finish in the top 10 of my age group, i looked at the course map and decided that although the my fasted 5k in oh approximately 10 years was a 24:55 at the pig skin classic a few weeks ago - i decided that i should be able to bust out a 22 minute run.

Well I woke up that morning and thought - well i better go out there and run in the 22's or at the very least get in the 23's or this whole running ephiphany of mine will be farse. Well then i got the 666 number at which point i decided i hated my new shoes and that my running jacket i bought last year was nothing more than a large parachute and that today was not going to be a good day. How does one psych themselves out that bad?
Anywho... as usual we didn't get there in time to have any sort of warm up -- unless of course you count jogging from the car to the pavillion - so when the bell went off I was stiff and cold - but i thought - well just go out there and run the three miles. Usually when i run in a race i try to pick someone and mentally reel them in - as a way of keeping myself from slowing down. Well i was having a really hard time reeling in these two old guys and I thought sheesh today is just not my day -- i'm barely moving - all these people are passing me -- i knew today was going to be bad. Oh - and have you ever been running and gotten a stick or something stuck to the bottom of your shoe? That's what my shoe felt like -- so i spent a few minutes trying to drag my left foot along the road to scrape the offending object off my shoe -- only there didn't seem to be anything on the bottom of my shoe. I must have looked like I had a stroke or something - running along dragging my left foot behind me! Not so sure about the new shoes by the way - love the color - but i think maybe with this particular model of shoe, they've finally altered it enough that i may have to switch my alligence to another shoe. Ok - back to the race...

Well after what seemed like at least 20 minutes (i had forgotten my watch at home) i finally get to the mile marker and my time is 7:28 -- obviously i was not slugging along like i had thought! well then my brain kicked in - and said well dummy you lined up closer to the start line than you normally do - so you were up with faster people - that's why you couldn't reel them in - which made me feel better - but at the same time I was feeling pretty crappy and was worried that my pace was going to drop way off. Well then I got stuck next to a couple of people with jingle bells on their shoes, a loud breather, a grunter, and kid that sounded like he was running in clown shoes with each step. I knew I couldn't stay with that pack for the rest of the race or I would go mad! I saw i girl up ahead that had her shoe untied so i decided to catch up to her to let her know about her shoe. She was grateful to me and the next ten zillion people that told her about her shoe i'm sure! Anyway - I thought - just stick with this girl to the end. Well we pass the mile two mark and i'm at 15:20 or 15:30 something I don't remember -- but i remember thinking holy cow - yes my pace dropped off a bit - but I'm still running under and 8 minute mile -- maybe a 23 is in the cards today. As I turned the corner after the 3 mile mark I tried to kick it in - but it was one of those days that i was trying not to show the finish line my breakfast - so i just kept it strong and as i crossed the line I saw 24:09 -- which i was initially disappointed in. But... official time...23:58!!! Woo hoo -- i broke 24 for the first time in 10 years -- and I ended up #10 - out of 44 in my age group -- so mission accomplished for the day. Maybe if i stop being such a head case and start expending all of the effort i put into over-analyzing into training - maybe I'll be able to break 21 early on in the new year! Maybe i'll make my new year's resolution to stop over analysing and self doubting!!! Think i'll get a jump on it a little early though... sheesh this is a long post for such a short race!!

new shoes!!!

What better motivation is there for going out for a run on a cold wintery friday night than a new pair of shoes, a spanking brand new neon yellow vest and a head lamp? Ok so i'm on something like my eighth pair of gel nimbus' but these are even cooler b/c check out the name of the shoe's color..."Brown/Rootbeer/Latte" Maybe the rootbeer shoes will help me reach all my new goals! I'll keep you posted. Maybe I should start drinking rootbeer as well hmmm... maybe there is a theory in here somewhere...

Running in Snow

So is it weird that i woke up early the day after thanksgiving... looked out the window and said "it snowed! i'm going for a run!"? Now, had i looked outside and saw that it was gray and just kind of wet - i wouldn't have been so excited about running - but the fact that it snowed was enough to get me up and moving. This run was pretty cool b/c of the weird fall we've had... while the ground was covered with snow and even the streets had not been totally cleared - there we still leaves on the trees. This one particularly beautiful yellow that looked like it finally gave in once the snow came b/c on top of the snow was a beautiful ring of freshly fallen yellow leaves. While i was running i was thinking about an article in runners world that was talking about not gaining weight over the holidays. The one articles said get out there and run, even if it's not your best run, the longer you keep your legs moving the more calories you burn up. Well maybe that's not what it said - but that's what i got out of it. Let me tell you that was the only thing that kept moving that day - my legs were like lead! When all was said and done i ran about 4.5 miles at about a nine minute pace -- not real quick - but i burned off some turkey and got to see some really awesome sights of fall clashing with winter.

Turkey Trot

So Steve and I ran the turkey trot for this first time this thanksgiving. let me tell you - i am so glad that we signed up ahead of time - b/c there is no way i would have gotten up that morning to go run if I had not already paid my money and had my goofy turkey t-shirt in hand. Let me start by saying i love running in the snow...but i hate hate hate running in 34-40 rainy cold nastiness -- and that is exactly what was in store for me when i woke up the morning. funny it was 65 degrees the previous afternoon -- ahh gotta love ohio. So anyway I decided to just get the five miles in - not to worry too much about my time -- - just get out there and run. Well the race started and I almost got run over by some chocolate lab that was not on a leash - that was just having a grand old time running in between all the runners and barking at other dogs. there were an awful lot of dogs out there on thursday -- not sure why. but i digress -- the first mile was sooooo long and when i got there the guy said "9:20" and I was like oh well guess it's going to be a bad day. then i remembered to check the time on my watch... "7:45" much better. So instead of slowing down on mile two like i always seem to do - i made it my goal to catch as many people as I could. The race went really well from there on out. The only real tough part was where the race turned to go down and around brown's stadium. I was thinking to myself - oh good you can speed up here on the downhill -- not so much -- the wind was blowing so hard and the rain had turned into sleet/ice so i was running with one eye shut trying to make it down the hill. Now i have fallen down hills before -- but i have never had this much trouble getting to the bottom of a hill!! it was a relief when we turned to go back up the hill and the wind was at our backs! Anyway - five miles - final time 40:55 -- 26 out of 198 in my age group-- and something like 549 out of 1875 or something like that -- i am very happy -- goal next year - -top ten in my age group and next five miler -- breaking 40... enough rambling for now... happy running!!

funny outfits

ok - since i haven't written in so long i have a lot of thoughts to share today. Yesterday - got home from work and got dressed for my run. Black running tights (very proud of myself - have gotten over enough self-consciousness to actually wear tights in public with out shorts over them) bright orange long sleeve shirt, water belt, reflective vest for safety and topped it all off with one red glove and one teal glove. For those of you that have run with us - you will note that steve and i have about four sets of these one teal glove, one red glove combinations -- why we can't pair the correct colors together you ask? not sure - apparently we think dressing like a clown will help our run. who knows. well i was sitting there looking at how stinking dark it is outside thinking to myself -- so much for the running ephinany of earlier in the day - i do not want to go out into the dark. then i looked at myself in the mirror and said i should not go out in public like this -- i look insane -- kind of like a rambo crossing guard -- i tried to take a picture with my cell phone but it didn't come out real clear - hopefully i can upload it. But looking at my ridiculousness i realized that this is part of why i do this... is it ridiculous to go run in the dark where there are no sidewalks dressed like a clown when other people are sitting on their nice warms couches? yes it is - and that is exactly what i love about running. I took my watch - not to time myself - simply to make sure i had some idea of how long i was out there for - and i just ran. I simply ran - I got stuck in the middle of hillside road where it was pitch black with no sidewalks. i had to jump out of the way of several cars who apparently could not see my stylish vest -- but i made it safe and sound and thoroughly enjoyed my run. I felt like I was jogging the whole time - not putting out to much effort -- i mapped out where i had gone when i got home... 6.5 miles at exactly a 9 minute pace -- pretty good for being just an easy jog for me. Imagine if i would have pushed it...

i'm back

i've had an ephiany of sorts - i may not know how to spell the word - but i'm pretty certain that's what happened -- a running ephiany. this ephinany occured to me on monday november 18th. here's the story. I haven't been running too much lately - i've been exercising - don't get me wrong - but i've been exercising to lose weight - not to train for anything specific -- there is a very big difference between the two. When you are just exercising to lose weight - you'll do what ever is easier and more convenient - hence why i've been getting most of my workouts on the bike trainer. With my schedule as hectic as it has been - i'll take a calorie burning workout whenever i can - and most of the time it's at about eleven o'clock at night (and even in our safe city - i don't think that's the best idea to go for a run at that time of night by myself) or at 5:30 in the morning it's a lot easier to drag your butt out of bed to just go down to your warm basement where you can work out while watching whatever shows you've tivo'd during the week than it is to get your butt out in the dark to go for a run. Oh and the pool at the rec center has been closed for i think about five months -- so here i am spinning a lot and running when I can. The only redeming this is I am doing well on the weight loss front -- went from a size 10 - 157 lbs to currently a size 6 - 133 pounds. I'd like to be on the other side of 130 - but these last few pounds are slow going. So here's the weird thing - running less - not training for everything - so not calculating all the miles and all the minutes - and i find i'm getting faster. Is it merely b/c of the weight loss? is it b/c i'm for once not over analyzing myself?

well back to the ephiany - I ran the pigskin 5k on saturday - my goal was to run eight minute miles -- guess what i did it -- finished in 24:54 which is just above an eight minute mile. and guess what -- if i hadn't freaked out that the first mile was too fast and that if i didn't slow down i would end up running a forty minute 5k -- then i probably could have run maybe a 23 something. I swear i am my worst enemy when i comes to running - if i'm going to slow - i get way down on myself - if i'm going to fast - i say woah slow down you can't go that fast. so i started thinking about running and what i've accomplished since i started back up again. so i went through and i made a file of pdf's of all the races i've done since steve and i started back to running in 2005. Here's what i've found -- i've accomplished a lot - 2 marathons and 3 half marathons - plus a ton of other races. I'm pretty proud of myself. But when i look at my times - i know that i can do better. most of my 5k times are around 29 minutes -- and not that there is anything wrong with that - but back in the day when i was not nearly in as good of shape as i am now - i could bust out a sub 21 minutes 5k. So I started thinking about it, trying to figure out what is holding me back - is it the crazy work schedule, along with getting married in 73 days along with trying to redo an entire house, perhaps a bit - but the real culprit is me. So - here's the challenge i'm issuing myself -- stop selling yourself short - you are capable of more than you think. Number two - i'm putting my two main goals out there for everyone to see (well steve and elizabeth - the ones who read this blog anyway)

#1) sub 21 minute 5k
#2) sub 1 hours 50 minute half marathon
#3) sub 4 hour marathon
#4) complete olympic length triathlon

I've got a long long way to go to get there -- namely cutting 48 minutes off my marathon time -- but i know i'm capable. it's no longer a matter of can i do a marathon or a half marathon -- now it's a matter of getting my butt through that distance a whole lot faster

who needs to train for a half marathon?

Ok - so it's been a rough couple of months, my leg was hurt, my back was hurt etc... i know whine and complain whine and complain. Well i took about two - two and half months off of running. I started swimming a bunch and spinning on the trainer to keep in shape - but no running - save the 5k chili bowl that I ran. I missed st malachi and to catch a leprechaun (i'm pretty upset about not having these shirts) So long story short - a while back i signed up for the DC National 1/2 marathon. Steve and I were planning on going down there, do some sight seeing, visit his cousins and I would run the race. Well seeing as how I haven't run over six miles since I crossed the finish line at Nike on October 22nd - i wasn't sure how this race was going to well. Well i just started running - up behind the capital building - down to the washington monument... it was one of the best feeling races I've ever run. I ended up beating my first half marathon time by a minute or two and I finished that race with the biggest smile on my face ever. I looked over at Steve and said "Who says you need to train for a half marathon?" I was so happy that i was able to run the race that well let alone run the whole thing with out being swept off the course. I didn't think I had it in me after such a long break. So post race rap up - everything felt really good - think my leg is back to normal back isn't doing to bad - so it's back to running this week. Hopefully when the cinci 1/2 marathon comes around in 5 weeks I'll be a little more physically prepared and hopefully I'll be able to run it just like DC -- no overanalysing -- just enjoying the run for the sake of the run. I'm thinking about doing the towpath marathon in the fall -- anyone have any thoughts on that one?

what kind of clown hurts themselves while bowling?

Ok -- it's February 12th, 355 days til the wedding - and even scarier - 6 weeks til the DC 1/2 marathon. Haven't been running for the last oh -- 3-4 weeks -- having some pain in my right leg. Stopped running -- leg was still hurting. Stopped bowling -- leg stopped hurting - bowled two nights in a row ( i know i know you're thinking how can someone have such a stellar social life that they bowl once a week let alone two nights in a row?) Leg hurt like heck after the two nights of bowling!! Well anyway I really think i have been hurting myself from the way i shift my weight when i throw the ball! What kind of weirdo am I? Here i am being all sad and fat from not running -- and it might be because of bowling!!! Well i ordered new running shoes and got new inserts for my shoes. So -- going to try for a few miles on the treadmill tonight before pilates. Hopefully the new shoes combined with a new bowling style should correct my leg issues so that i can run this dc half marathon in a somewhat respectable time!! Wish me luck on this one kids!

passwords passwords

Am I the only person out there who can not remember their login and passwords to all of the eight billion online accounts that they have? I have had such problems recovering my username and password for this blog - hence the long absence! But ok - i'm back. So - since we've last chatted I've been very busy trying to get back into the swing of things and plan our upcoming wedding. The wedding is taking up a lot of time what with different appointments and stuff - but it is also motivating me to get back to running. Did you know that they make wedding dresses 2-4 size smaller than real dress sizes!!!? that means i'm trying on size 14's!!! I don't want to remember my wedding dress as a size 14! That being said - I've got a lot of work to do. I took my first pilates class on Monday (figured I needed to add some more strength training and toning to my regimine.) Let me tell you - i must have the core muscles of a large wet noodle! I am finally not sore today -- it's Friday!!! isn't that crazy? I'm excited to go back though - maybe I'll finally get my abs into some sort of shape! I'm currently trying to figure out what races I am going to do this year. Any suggestions for my first triathlons this summer?