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