December 29, 2014 1000 Mile Goal

TA-DA!!!!! I completed 1000 miles of running this year! Yay me! I've been streaking and will continue at least for now, so this isn't a final number for 2014 yet, but here is a picture from yesterday when I completed the 1000 miles :)

Random update: remember my horrible gross bruised tonail that got shut in the car door? Well here is a picture of the day it happened and then what it looks like right now, 7 months later and still not normal lol.

December - Frozen Foot - 1000 miles goal

It's finally December and time to see if I fulfilled my goals! I've run a race every month this year and I'm just 22 miles shy of my 1000 mile goal, which I'm totally hitting.

Frozen Foot

A freezing cold 4 mile run in Canton, NY. The cost is only $5 for all 3 races, so that's great for the wallet.  I did well and felt great even though it was a big icy! 

Yay for making goals and completing them.  Time to think about next year!

November 2014 - Hobble Gobble & Turkey Trot

So yep, I've been really bad about blogging!   Still running and I have completed my year or racing one race per month.  In November I ran two races, the Hobble Gobble 6 miler and the Turkey Trot 5k.

Hobble Gobble

Well it was a freaking cold day and I was sick.  I had a temperature of 102 and felt like barfing ever second. Buuuut well I just can't stay home and rest!  LOL! So I went and ran and then left directly after eating a bagel.  I had barely eaten anything and I did ok for the first 4.5 miles and then I felt like death and my pace dropped a lot. But, I finished! And, I got a medal and a cool shirt :). I actually ran with Molly Ladouceur and Chelsea Bill for much of the race.  Chelsea ended up falling behind while Molly pulled ahead in the last leg.

Turkey Trot

This race starts right in my town and the cost is simply a donation to the local food bank.  So I brought my donation to the Fire Hall (.3 miles from my house), but I had the times wrong and showed up an hour early. So I went back home and waited a bit before heading back.  It was another cold day, of course... November in NY and all that.  But I ran pretty well and finished about 5th overall of the women. It was definitely fun :)

October - Halloween team Marathon

Toward the end of October I ran a team marathon where we each ran about 5 or 6 miles at the same time to complete that 26.2! It's was fun and low key, they didn't have a big turn out but I would totally do it again! Our team included Kristine, Molly, Eliza, Chelsea and myself. They even gave out a certificate, water and a banana, and a goody bag with Halloween candy at the end. I scored my awesome caped t-shirt at walmart for less than $10!

October 29, Empire State 1/2 Marathon and Fall Fun Team Marathon

October 19 was the Empire State 1/2 Marathon. I had wanted to do another serious race and I have been wanting to PR my 1/2 marathon time and so I signed up to run this just days before the race. We made an appointment to get our ipad fixed on saturday (cracked screen not from an impact, and we ended up with a brand new ipad for free!), so I woke up that day and went and did cross fit with Nicole and Craig Thornhill and then did a little zumba before heading home, late oppsie, to shower and change. I was definitely rushed out the door. We went straight to the mall to get the ipad fixed and Josh ran in while the kids and I waited in the car (I am not interested in taking 3 kids into that huge and busy mall). During that time I realized that I had forgot about 1/2 the stuff I wanted to bring for the race... yeah not cool. So after we left the mall we went to the race expo and I got my goodie bag and shirt and bought new arm sleeves, arm band, headphones, jelly beans, and spibelt. Yep, there goes all my money :( We stayed the night at my mother-in-law's who lives just a few minutes from this race. For once, I actually got a full nights sleep, going to bed at 10 and waking at 6:15. I got dressed and left for the race stopping for coffee, a bagel and a water on the way. It was cold and rainy! YUCK!! Once I got there and wandered around a bit I saw there was a vendor selling winter hats, so a grabbed one for $15. It's actually a really nice hat too, thankfully.



So I never finished this and never posted it and forgot a lot of the details lol. But, what I basically remember is that it was cold. I ran my little heart out trying to pace myself fast, but yet the first mile, for once, was my slowest. I held up my time for the duration of the race finishing in 1:59:05, keeping my net pace at 9:06 BUT according to map my run app all my miles were under 9 minutes with the exception of my first mile at 9:10. Still, I'm so happy I squeaked by getting my goal of finishing in under 2 hours :)

I bumped into a couple of women I graduated with too, and watched them finish their first 1/2 marathon! They did an awesome job and it's always great to see people you know getting out there and having fun and being able to cheer them on.

I don't really remember much else, I guess I should have finished posting this in October instead of the end of December hahahaha!

October 4, 2014 Ragnar Relay ADK

Last weekend I ran a Ragnar Relay in the ADK. This is a 2 day, 200 mile (approx, ours was actually 197), relay running race from Saratoga Springs to Lake Placid, NY. Luckily, it ended 2 hours closer to home then it started because we were tired. It was seriously stressful to get this off the ground and share the work of getting everything good to go with Kristine. STRESSFUL. In the end we brought one team down (we originally planned on bringing two) and three volunteers (Emily, Brian, and Mama Kath).

Team NO[rth] FEAR
1. Alexis
2. Kristine
3. KatieM
4. KatieT
5. KatieN
6. Jacki
7. Tom
8. Sam
9. Blair
10. Eliza
11. Mark
12. Amanda

We brought my vehicle as one of the two team "vans." I left my house at 1:30am Friday morning and picked up KatieT, Alexis, Kristine, Tom, KatieM and KatieM. On the way down we saw a moose in the middle of the road acting all drunk and crazy; I believe we were down near Long Lake at that point. There were more people out driving then I expected during the night! Once we got on 87 south we passed two other vans on their way to Ragnar all decorated and realized we should have decorated our vehicle too! (Next time for sure!) We got to the start and used the porta potties, got our bibs and shirts and got all ready for Alexis to start us off. She started at 7:15am and kept a good pace. While she ran we drove to a Dunkin Donuts where they were less than friendly. KatieN asked what kind of bagels they have and was told "their on the second shelf" or something like that, indicating she could bloody well look for herself. hahahahahaha that woman hated her job!! We then drove the van to the 1st exchange and got the next runner ready to go and then waited for Kristine to start her first leg. Right before our 5th runner started we met up with the other van quickly to drop off some of their gear and Tom (he was riding with them and participating from their vehicle as one of the 2nd set of 6 on our team). When KatieT finished this leg she told us that she had stepped on a pair of poopy running spanx *blech* someone must have crapped themselves and wiggled out of them and left them... ugh. I was runner 6 and I ran the last leg for our van. My leg was partly on a pretty rough trail, which I wasn't expecting, and through Saratoga and some residental areas (aboutu 5.5 miles). At the first van exchange (when I finished, the last person in our van) we got something to eat (I had a pulled pork sandwich and a soda, I went omnivore for the weekend, back to veggie now). Some of the women noticed that Boniband (sp?) had left free headbands on people's van mirrors and so we went and stole lots of them hahahaha! Then we drove up to the beach where we got to take a few hours off and shower, nap, and just relax. I took a shower but forgot a towel and so had to use my sweatpants to dry off!! At this point we also let another team tag and decorate our vechile and in turn they let us use their markers to add some of our own things to our vehicle like the names of the people in our van and boxes to check off after each leg.

The other van finished their first set of legs at the beach where we started up again and they got to take a few hours off. So we started up again around 6pm and knew that we would be starting to run our night section. At this point we all had to get on our reflective vests, headlamps and taillights, a safety requirement for this race from 5:30pm-7:30am. Right after the third person started to run we got in the car to leave and were sitting there when the van next to us started backing up, well, I thought we were backing up and sliding into the ditch and started to freak the fuck out. I was moving levers and hitting the brakes, trying to shut the car off... yeah we weren't moving. HAHAHAHAHAHA A little sleep deprived? At this point I had a total of 3 hours of sleep since Thursday night... it was now late Friday night. Unfortunetly, I wouldn't get that much more sleep the rest of the trip. That was the one big down side. During the nighttime run KatieM totally biffed it in front of a water station and scraped her hands up. Ugh. We could have all used MORE SLEEP!!! At the next van exchange I was exhausted, I had just finished my night run which was actually pretty nice (8 miles), the weather was perfect. I kept thinking I was running really slow because I kept getting passed, but, I kept an average of 10 minute mile pace, which is far from my best, but, decent considering the lack of sleep, and not enough food! This next, exchange was at Ticonderoga High School where you could pay $2 for a shower, $2 for a bathroom and $8 for a pasta dinner. Yep so I got the pasta dinner and it was seriously cafeteria slop just like we got back in school. BARF. I ate the garlic bread and drank a water and gatorade. I threw the rest away. What a waste of $8. So I was going to take a shower until I asked about them... KatieN said she had gone and paid $2 for the shower, walked in and realized it was ONE OPEN ROOM where everyone was openly showering naked. So she walked right out again and said, "Can I get my money back? That isn't what I expected. I will not be taking a shower." They gave her the money back hahahahaha. So yea, no thanks! I ended up using a porta potty and then catching about 3 hours of sleep in the car. It was not enough LOL. At some point during the night or early morning KatieT relized, as she went to the bathroom, that her undies were on inside out AND backwards hahahaha!!

So we drive to the next van exchange, which is a fairground and dropped off Alexis for her final run! My final run was very hilly. It started out on a long downhill were I averaged 2 8 minute miles. Then the hills started going th other way. I had to walk up 4 of the hills but I maintained an overall pace of 10 minute per mile which considering the walking up hills was great. The last downhill was crazy steep. I thought I would wipe out for sure!! Finally, after my, just shy of 9 mile, last leg our van was done. We headed toward what we thought was Lake Placid BUT was Plattsburg and lost about 30 minutes going the wrong way. But, we finally got on track. Toward Lake Placid we saw a runner down with an ambulance there, scary. We stopped to eat some pizza and everyone ordered their own medium pizza, except Alexis, and then we tried to scarf it all down. I managed to eat 5 pieces hahaha! I'm a pizza pig for sure. After eating we headed to the finish to wait for our team. We changed into our team shirts and got ready for Amanda. When she got to the finish we all crossed together and then got our picture taken. Afteward, we waited a bit for my mom and then divided up the people and gear into my vehicle and hers. I rode home with my mom and so did the Heuvelton people. Kristine and Tom drove my vehicle to her house and dropped off the Ogdensburg people.

It was so much fun, I would definitley do this again!! In fact, my suburban still has the writting on it a week later. One huge downside, I took out my diamond earrings so I didn't lose them on a run, placing them in a ziplock baggie. Yep, totally through them out :(

Sept 19, 2014 Fobare's Fruits' 5k

Sunday the 14 I ran in the Fobare's Fruits' 5k Cancer walk/run (and I measured it and it was only 2.5 miles). Anyway, this year I gave my shirt to kellen, last year I gave it to Addison. It was freezing, and it was last year too. I finished in 1st place overall, woot woot!! I don't know how many people there were actaully serious runners or whatever but yep, I won!

In other news I've starting doing cross fit a couple times a week. And, I don't know what I did yesterday but we did 3 sets of 1/2 mile run, 15 overhead squats, 15 pull ups and now my right forearm and thumb are all tingly (like the "asleep" feeling you get sometimes). It's been like this for amost 24 hours, yep that's not normal. I'm not really sure what to do about it though. I really like it so far, I want to get stronger and I'm hoping the cross training will improve my speed and endurance with running. My next big running goal is an under 20 minute 5k which would be under 6.5 minute miles. I understand this is going to take some time, possibly a whole year, as that is shaving a minute per mile off my best 5k time.

Next weekend is our Ragnar Relay! Squee I'm so excited, I really hope it doesn't suck, haha!

2014 Miles: 753.49

Sept 1, 2014 Heuvelton Labor Day 4 Mile Fun Run, and The 18.12 Challenge

First things first, I definitely could not keep up with the 300 miles last month, once I missed one day it all went down hill. I did get 130 miles though, and I'll take it! I finished out my streak at about 36 days before I really needed a rest. I started having lots of tighness in the inside of my hips, towards my abs not towards the outside. So I took some easy weeks and kept running but taking days off and now I feel much better. I might shoot for 200 miles this month though, why not? :)

Heuvelton Labor Day 4 miles:

So this race is for part of our town's Labor Day festivities. My gps said it was 3.86 miles but I noticed that other people had less or more distance. Either way, I'm going to assume it was shy of 4 miles. Regardless, I finished in 29:35 and was the second female finisher (Jacqueline Danis finished in 27 mins and some change). I got a medal for 2nd Place female aged 20-40, yay! It was fun and I got to talk with lots of people and just have a good time.

The 18.12 Challege:

Yesterday I ran the 18.12 Challenge which is 18.12 miles, running from Watertown, NY to Sacketts Harbor, NY. The day did not look promising because of the weather but, we were all there ready to go anyway. I started with Nicole (2:58:23) and Craig Thornill (2:20:00) and Karen Mathews (2:42:45) and Kendra Moran (2:30:39)(sisters, and they are fast!). Away we went. I felt great all the way until mile 7 when I started to feel the blister on my right foot. It didn't hurt I could just tell it was there. I was pretty thirsty the whole time too, I didn't bring my own water and I was hungry but carried a bar and jelly beans, although, I only ate the beans (I couldn't open the bar because the wrapper was all wet from the rain). It rained off and on the whole race sometime sprinkling sometimes almost hailing the rain was so cold and hard. By mile 13 my blister hurt with every step, almost like I was getting poked by a needle every time I put my foot down. Still, that was my only issue. At mile 15 or so it started to downpour. My shoes were soaked through within seconds and suddenly felt like they weighed 10 pounds each. Nothing to do but keep going, I was aiming for under 3 hours. The last 3 miles were really painful and completely mental, they seemed to last for 30 minutes each. When I rounded the final corner and could see the finished the wind picked up and I was running straight into it and it was downpouring. The wind was so hard it felt like it was pushing me backward. I thought the clock said 2:59:38 and I thought to myself that I needed to sprint because if I fell over the 3 hour mark by seconds I would be so dissapointed (failing by 10 minutes would have been better really). I crossed to the finish and realized it was 2:54:39, YAY :) I feel so bad for the people who took an hour longer or more to finish, I can not imagine how wet and awful they felt, especially considering how awful I felt after only being soaked through my shoes for 3 miles. It took my shoes off right away and yeah, my blister sucks!!  I got my medal and shirt, congratulated Nicole and Craig and then hopped in mom's car and came home.

August Miles: 130.28
2014 Miles: 735.96

August 13, 2014 Donate for Life 5k, Summer Sunset Series #3

Pretty sure there is no chance I will hit 300 miles now lol. The weather has been super sucky, and I've been feeling super lazy. I'm still streaking though and still doing some local races. Saturday I ran the Donate for Life 5k in Massena finishing in 26:04. It ended up being pretty hot out and I ran the wrong way and had to turn around LOL. I came in 2nd place overall for women, with a friend, Nicole Thornhill finishing first. The race was in honor of Shep Lapage (State Trooper) who has leukemia and people were invited to register as bone marrow donors. I've been meaning to do it for a while, and missed my chance a month or so ago in Ogdensburg, so I'm proud to say I'm now a registered bone marrow donor! Then last night was the final race in the Summer Sunset Series in Canton, NY. I don't know what it is about this race that brings on the rain, but, it was raining hard during the whole thing last night. And, it was fairly dark! Since it was raining I couldn't wear my glasses so that was really fun haha! I finished in 27:04, having to tie my shoe and not being able to see well, I'll take it!

streak days: 32 (after I run today)
august miles: 73.91
2014 miles: 679.05

August 5, 2014

Sooo I'm on track to hit 300 miles still, but I'm definitely sore. But, what is sore is so random. My lower abs are killing me. I have never had my abs bother me from running and it took me forever to figure out what it was. I ketp thinking that my hips were bothering me!! So lots of stretching is on the agenda for all these miles. I've been running slow tired miles in the morning and feel good miles in the evening. I'm just not a morning person and I definitely do not perform my best at 5am, it's like I'm shuffling haha!

streak days: 24
august miles: 38.57
2014 miles: 643.7

August 2, 2014

Finished up July with 134.58 miles. On to August! I'm really hoping to hit 300 miles, I've never done that before so why not? We will see how it goes.

I ran 9 miles today, still have lots of aches and pain and now 3 blisters, yay! I also got caught in a thunder/lightening storm for the 2nd time this week. So my feet were squishy for the last few miles. 

streak days: 22
August Miles: 17.04
2014 miles: 622.17

July 28, 2014

I ran 13.1 miles yesterday and my IT band, my hips and my side were acting up. I'm guessing it's all conected somehow, boo! Did a slow, very slow, recovery run this morning and while the front of my hips felt tight my side was so painful, w.t.f.?

In better news, I made it over 100 miles this month, in the next couple days I'll have ran more than 100 miles than I did last month haha!

streaking days: 17
July miles: 122.18
2014 miles: 592.73

July 23, 2014 - streaking - beat 2013 miles

I have finally ran more miles this year than last year! Yay! I'm on track to easily hit 1000 miles for 2014 even with one really bad month (28 miles). I'm also on an 11 day running streak; I wonder how long I can keep that up (started July 13). Not only that, but, I've been waking up early every morning to run and have run twice on some days. It's kind of amazing just to run however far I want just for fun not training for anything.


Streak Days: 11
July Miles: 94.77
2014 Miles: 565.33

July 20 - Boilermaker - Vacation - Seaway Festival 4 Miler

This will be quite the update!

Boilermaker

July 13, 2014 I ran the Boilermaker road race in Utica, NY for the second time. This race is so much fun, 14,000 people run it and the energy is through the roof. I got to the race really REALLY early which allowed me to get a really close parking space to the front of the race, maybe a block away. Once I got there, I picked up my packet and then got back in my car and ate and read and waited. I bumped into Alan and Mary Kelly and stood and talked with them for a little while, and then Kristine and Tom found all of us. I waited with Kristine until the gun went off and away we went. The course is easy (IMO) there are really only 2 hills, but, I love running hills (I love pushing up hill and then just letting gravity take me down the hill as fast as my legs can go). My brain however, felt a bit foggy and I was so hungy. I'm thinking I was a bit low on sugar because at one point I felt very dizzy and started looking for sugar treats from spectators and finally managed to snag a frozen pop. I finished in 1:30 (30 minutes faster than last year) and I am a little dissapointed because I know I could have ran 10 minutes faster, but, I just was too dizzy :( I ate lots of good food and picked up my pint glass then hopped a bus back to my car and hit the road for vacation.

Pretty soon I'll have a whole collection of race glasses :)

Vacation

I'm proud to say that I ran every single day of vacation. I woke up early and ran 3 miles every day (one day 4) and it was so nice to run near the ocean.

Seaway Festival 4 miler

So this morning I woke up early (5am - I'm thinking this should become a habit) and ran 5 miles. It took me over 50 minutes. I was dragging and just felt tired. Maybe I need to drink coffee before I head out. Well, I got home and thought about the local race I told Josh I was thinking about doing and decided to skip it. My morning run had sucked so whatever. But, then I felt really good and relaxed and decided to do it. I got to the race and saw that there were some really serious runners there, a few I knew, most I could tell were serious just because they were warming up. I ran my little heart out as fast as I could while keeping my breathing regular and finished in 33:03 which is about 8:15 minutes a mile :) Yay me! (That would be running a 24:45 5k which is right at my PR time). So it's good to know my fitness level has started to return since my miscarriage. I still came in 29 place overall, it's hard to believe there were that many people there faster than me considering there were about 50 runners total. It was definitely fun though, and I'm proud of myself for doing it even when I thought it might suck.

July 9, 2014 - Summer Sunset #2

Well, the race got rained out. We had some pouring rain with thunder and lightening. I was on my way to the race when K sent a message saying it was cancelled but she had signed me in saying I had shown up (hey, I want my t-shirt).

But, after the storm had passed, the mood was full and shinning bright, it was windy and chilly and perfect. It was my favorite type of weather. I couldn't resist heading out for a run at 9:30pm. So I ran 5 miles but I definitely had lots of pain in my right leg, but, I couldn't really figure out where it was coming from. My hamstring hurt, my calf and my knee. I rolled out and stretched really well so I'm hoping that helps. I was definitely limping for the last mile.

July 8, 2014

Beautiful night for a run last night, although a bit muggy. Ran 4 miles mostly on dirt paths in my Altras and I think I really do like them. I want to get an Altra road shoe and there is a pair on sale but I'll have to wait until after vacation and hope they are still there. The Summer Sunset Series is tonight in Canton, let's hope for some nice weather. And, I really need to roll out my calves.

July miles: 32.2
2014 miles: 502.76

July 7, 2014

Finally.

Finally, I've been back running regularly this week. Mainly I wanted to start fresh and serious in July and I think I did! I've ran 28.2 miles in the last 7 days; not to shabby. Yesterday I ran my first ever trail run and it was amazing! I did the Independence Day Star Spangled Banner 1/2 Marathon at Paul Smith's College with Kristine. It was so much fun that I kept catching myself with a huge smile on my face and even laughing aloud. It was definitely challenging as I'm not used to running on anything except roads and the ocassional gravel, but, I think that's part of why I enjoyed myself so much. I forgot how much I love going to the mountains and just being outside. It was a perfect day, just shy of 80 degrees with a solid breeze. Most of the race was under cover of the trees so it never got brutally hot. I finished much slower than my PR of 2:04 by coming in at around 3 hours, I'll have to check and see if they ever posted offical times. Some of the other runners looked like they were born on the mountain. I got passed by 3 marathon runners that bounded by me like deer, never seeming to lose their footing. I am thankful that I didn't fall or get any injuries although it was close a couple of times! I would do another in a heartbeat!!

June 18, 2014

Well I haven't updated in quite some time. I haven't been running very frequently. At first I was just coming down from the marathon and taking it easy, but, now it's because I've had a miscarrige. I'm doing ok. It's taken a toll on me, psyically I've been very tired and lethargic, mentally it's been rough.


In between the last post and today, I've done one race. The race is one of three 5k races in Canton, NY called the Summer Sunset Series. I came in at 26:01 and the course was actually 3.25 miles.

I planned on running at least 100 miles this month but have fallen well behind. I'm still aiming to reach that 1000 mile goal, so I need to get running!!

June Miles: 19.71
2014 Miles: 461.42

May 27, 2014

Did a nice little 5 mile recovery run last night. Took close to an hour to finish, but, it helped loosen everything back up. My hamstrings are pretty tight and I have one weird/sore glute muscle on the left side. Otherwise I'm feeling good! Didn't get to run today because the man was fixing the lawn mower and then mowing and I didn't feel like staying up late to get some miles in.

May miles: 81.05
2014 miles: 441.71 (in 120 miles I'll have beaten last years miles in half the time! - Hopefully I'll hit that by the end of June)

May 25, 2014 - Buffalo Marathon

Ok, so running in the puke trimester may not have been the best plan. Sadly, I felt like crap the whole run, I was holding back puke the whole time. It was horrible lol. I say LOL because I did it, it's over, and it's kinda funny that after all that training it sucked so bad right from mile 1. I've posted that my runs have been hit or miss lately, well this was a big miss! I came in with a gun time of 4:57:24, chip time of 4:54:58, so 30 minutes longer than I was trying for. I stayed just ahead of the 4:20 pacer until mile 7ish when I had to stop and pee and had to wait in line and saw the 4:20 pacer go by, and then the 4:30 pacer go by... ugh. Right from the begining I had to play catch up too because I could not get any closer to the 4:20 pacer and actually started behind the 4:30 pacer. Around mile 14 I told Josh to come get me, and he said he would but I decided to keep going. I didn't want to have spent all the money to go to Buffalo and to stay in a hotel and pay for the race, only to quit and not even be able to say I did it. But, it's done now... thank goodness haha! So I completed my 2nd marathon and improved my chip time from 5:46:51 to 4:54:58 which is about 52 minutes. The first was last October which was 7 months ago, so that's actually a pretty good improvement. Bah, I'm still really dissapointed.


May miles: 75.93
2014 miles: 436.59

May 21, 2014

Tapering.... I'm definitely getting nervous. My time goal for Sunday is under 4:20!!

And we announce our pregnancy today, here is the annoucement!

May 18, 2014

My new running shirt came :) I might have to break it out for the Buffalo Marathon next weekend. I'm definitely getting nervous for the race because how I feel while running has been very hit or miss the last 2 weeks. Yesterday I felt fantastic, no problems, other days I feel horrible and end up walking a lot because of round ligament pain. Ugh! I'm just going to cross my fingers that everything goes well Sunday.

8 mile run this morning, felt great. I am a little sore afterwards. I need to stretch better and more often!!


And, it finally happened. Word got out about the new bambino, and today someone made a comment about my running and the baby, how it isn't a good idea, and how I need to care for the baby first. I knew this would happen, but, I'm still annoyed. This isn't my first bambino, and I've already made sure to listen to my body and go hard and fast when I feel great, and take lots of walks and go slow when I don't. It might be a long 7 more months if these comments keep up :(

May miles 43:53
2014 miles 404.29 (only 100 less than 2013 and it's only May :) Looks like I should hit that 1000 mile goal!)

May 18, 2014

Baby and I won our first race yesterday! It was a local 5k with about 40 people walking/running called Free the Girls 5k. You could run in a bra and then donate it to women in 3rd world countries who would then fix them up and sell them. Here is a little bit about the race from the Zonta Club website:

WHY BRAS?
Freethegirls.org: Women we work with were sold into prostitution, often as children. Bras provide the following:
GREAT INCOME
Second-hand clothing is a profitable market in many countries around the world. Bras are usually sought after items. Some of the girls in our program are making 3-5x the minimum wage in their community by selling bras!
SAFE ENVIRONMENT
Bras provide an opportunity for these women to work with other women, since they have a history of being abused and used by men.
FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE
Most of the women we work with were sold into prostitution as children, only 8-10 years old. Because their lives were stolen from them, they missed out on going to school and getting an education. Selling bras allows them to work as much or as little as their school schedule permits.
SUSTAINABLE MODEL
Once a program has been started with a safe house, it is designed to sustain itself. The women in our program receive their starting inventory as a donation, and are then able to buy additional inventory from Free The Girls for below wholesale value to help maintain their competitive edge in the marketplace. Revenue from inventory sales helps subsidize overseas program costs.


Anyway, the weather was great, if a little windy, and I PR'd at about 24:45, for my 1st ever race win! So that's about 8 minute miles, not super fast, but finally getting faster! (Obviously non of the fast folks showed up to race, it seems like there is always someone who finishes with a sub 20 time.) Regardless, I'm super proud of myself and the little bambino! Here are a couple of pics of my awesome outfit.

May 6, 2014

Ran 5 miles last night, nice and slow. I did get some side stiches going on :( I'm guess it's just from taking time off and from not being hydrated enough the day before. I have 8 miles on the to do list for today. It's crunch time, less than 3 weeks left until the Buffalo Marathon. Eek!

I've also made an executive decision and decided that after this I will be sticking to half marathon distances for the duration of my pregnancy. I know lots of women keep it up and run marathons while pregnant, and I want to stay in shape, but I don't want to go overboard and have to worry about too much stress, not being hydrated, being alone on the road for 4+ hours in the middle of nowhere. So yep, that is that. And, I just ordered a "Running for two" shirt!!


May miles: 8.1
2014 miles: 368.77

May 5, 2014

I had a great time at the Color Me Rad run! It was such a fun day!!! We left bright and early and shortly after arriving Nikki got up on stage to do a zumba warm up for the crowd. She asked Terri, Jordan and I to go up, and it was so much fun!!! The run was great, I ran it with Jordan and then lost her in the rush at the end. Actually, I lost everyone hahaha I didn't see them again until Kristine text me asking where I was. I had found my family and was hanging out with them. I was covered in color, even in my ears lol. I would definitely do this again, especially with a group of friends. And, now I'm going to bombard you with pictures!

May 3, 2014

I haven't ran since Monday, because I've been under the weather with a pretty bad head cold and just feeling run down and tired. I don't think it's baby related at this point (5 weeks!), but, I'm sure that isn't helping! Hoping to do 4 miles tonight once the kids go to bed. But, if I don't, I am doing my first color run tomorrow morning. A bunch of us from zumba are running for a charity called Lucky Fins Project, which is a charity for kiddos born with a limb differnce as a mama that goes to zumba has a LO born w/a limb differnce. It should be lots of fun :)

April 29, 2014

I'm happy to announce baby and mommy's first race together happened yesterday and we did great! (I just found out I'm 4 weeks pregnant a few days ago!)

In preparation for the Flower City 1/2 Marathon in Rochester, NY, I took 3 days off right before hand to act as a mini taper week (since I can't really afford to taper!). It was a good plan! It was a little chilly on race day (April 27) so I wore cropped tights, a tank, and a pullover 1/2 zip with arm sleeves under it. I actually felt comfortably dressed the whole time; I was worried that the arm sleeves would make me too hot! I was aiming for under 2 hours and I pushed pretty well, I did stop and walk at a few of the water stations for a tiny bit, and I did stop to wait for a potty and then changed my mind. A couple times I felt myself slow from pace but I grabbed back on. I finished in 2:04:07 just shy of my goal. BUT, I still shaved 18 minutes off my 1/2 marathon time from 6 months ago so I'll take it :) It was a really nice course, some great hills, lots of things to look at. I even ran by our hotel and could see my little people looking out the window!! Lots of people were cheering everyone on. And, I'm happy that I finished in the middle of all the runners instead of toward the end, it's a great feeling. Last year I was constantly dissapointed that I was toward the end every time. Looks like all the extra miles and speedwork are paying off!


Last night I did an easy 5 mile recovery run, I was definitely a little sore and tight. I'll have to stretch out really well today.

Weekly miles: 18.59
April miles: 156.88
2014 miles: 360.66

April 23, 2014

So last night I was all snuggled in bed at 10pm when Kristine text me about what a nice night it is for a run, the weather is perfect, it's not raining anymore blah blah blah. So of course I have to get out of bed and run 5 miles haha! It was definitely a recovery run, slow, and a bit painful. It was a beautiful night, perfect for running. I did see TONS of worms and TONS of dead frogs, a few live ones too. And, of course living right on the river there was definitely that fishy after it rains smell going on. But, I'm glad I got out of bed and did it :)

So I weighed myself this morning... 150, opps... I've gained 7 lbs, not good. Apparently, eating mostly healthy but also constantly isn't working out for me. So I'm back to tracking all my calories and making sure every bite is clean. A year ago I was in the 170s, so I'm not brokenhearted, but I'm definitely not happy. So now I'm back up to 15 lbs to hit my goal weight. I definitely want to get these 7 extra off before my marathon, ever pound gone makes it that much easier to run.

weekly miles:29.14
April miles: 138.29
2014 miles: 342.07

April 22, 2014

So April 20, my attempt at 20 miles was LAUGHABLE. I knew 5 minutes into the run I'd never make it. I had no energy, just felt like my legs had nothing to give. So I decided to switch my run and finished 4 miles for Monday and would try 20 on Monday for Sunday. Confused yet? So then yesterday (Monday) I went out to run 20. At about mile 13 I started to feel lousy, my stomach hurt :( I got back to my house just after mile 16 hit and I really didn't think I'd have time to finish 4 more miles, take a little rest, make dinner, and then still make it to zumba. So, I quit at 16, rested, rinsed off and made dinner. Then I went to zumba, my knees where definitely a bit sore. After zumba I put the kids to bed and pounded out 4 more miles, and they were quick and easy, felt like I had been resting for a week. I had no real IT band pain yesterday. I had a little back pain and some sore and tight hamstrings. I just have to keep remembering to stretch!!! 5 days until the Flower City 1/2 Marathon in Rochester, aiming at a time of 2:10, but less would be better! We will see how I'm feeling, you never know when you are travelling and sleeping in a hotel room with 3 kids!

weekly miles: 24.4
april miles: 133.29 (um yeah, crushed every month I've ever done, those 20 mile runs sure help!)
2014 miles: 337.07

April 20, 2014

Eek, totally have forgotten about the blog! Last sunday I ran a long horrible 13 miles, it took forever. My IT band hurt SO BAD. So I ran my recovery 4 miles on Monday and it was also very painful. Therefore, I decided to take 3 days off for rest. Friday I did a double run, I ran 5 miles and did 7 hills at the end. Phew I was dead after that haha! My IT band still bothered me. Last night I ran 10 miles on pace and only had a little bit of pain from my IT band. I'm hoping all the stretching is starting to pay off. I'm getting nervous about attempting 20 miles today and then my marathon just because of this IT band problem. It will be long and painful if I can't get past it :(

this weeks miles: 35.53
April miles: 109.15
2014 miles: 312.94

Aptil 9 , 2014

Ugh, horrible shin splints last night. Took forever to run 6 miles. I just felt tired, worn out and had those splints. Must be that 20 miles taht didn't hurt yesterday caught up to me :(

weekly miles: 30.91
april miles: 55.38
2014 miles: 259.16

April 8, 2014

Ran a nice and easy 4.9 miles yesterday. Have a little bit of shin splints today, could be my new shoes that I ran the 20 miler in, Brooks Ghost. These shoes just seem to be just shy of perfect for me, I was lucky before when the first real pair of running shoes I tried I loved. Now I'm just not quite there and my pair was discontinued :( Anyway... was planning on 10 but had 4 on the calander so I did more than I needed to. Kristine was out on her longest run to date on what started out at 55 degrees and finished off at 37 and raining, so I brought her some gear and water and then went home put my kids to bed and ran out to meet her and help her finish her 16 miles. She was in pain and boy do I know the feeling. I hope being there helped her and that I wasn't annoying with all my trying to take her mind off it bit. I am so proud of the both of us. Mommies that were chunky monkies last winter (2013) and that are buff hotties this spring! And, in the spirit of transformation Tuesday here is mine!


Last January I weighed 184.4, this April I'm in the lower 140's :) Hard work right there!

weekly miles: 24.91
April miles: 49.37
2014 miles: 253.16

April 7, 2014

Yesterday was a beautiful day! It was 43 degrees which felt so warm after this long cold winter. I couldn't wait for my run but when Josh got up he wanted to do some shopping first and made me a deal that if we did that first then I could run as long as I wanted (not that I don't usually get to). He may have regretted that haha! I ran my first 20 miler of the year finishing in 3:36:29 (my map my run time was 3:32:39 but I did pause it when I stopped for a bathroom break and a water refil). Last year I ran the 18.12 Challenge in 3:24:47 so that means I ran about 1 mile further in the same time yesterday, yay for improvement! My 13 mile time yesterday was 3:08:20, lets see how close I can get to 3 hours when I run the Flower City 1/2 Marathon in Rochester this month! I ate 2 larabars and a bag of salted nuts during the run and drank about 30 oz of water. Got home and chugged my chocolate milk and stretched out. My IT band on my left side ached a little in the night, but, I wore compression sleeves to bed so my calves were good. My feet were cramping up for a bit after but were fine in the night. And I'm only a tad bit sore today on my left side (knee and IT band). I'd call that a pretty good run and recovery! This week is a drop back week with a 12 mile run on the menu for the long run day.

weekly miles: 20
monthly miles: 44.47
2014 miles: 248.25

April 4, 2014

Did my 5 last night, definitely had a tight IT band and some back pain. Tonight was a 45 minute tempo and I ran a total of 5.4 miles in those 45 minutes :) I ran the first 4 miles in 35 minutes but forgot to restart after a pause and really have no real idea how long the last bit took but I'm going with that :) Those are some quick miles for me but I pushed myself, not sprinting, but breathing heavy and doing that the whole time :) And, it was so warm I took my second layer off leaving me with one long sleeve thicker mock turtle 1/2 zip, and tights, and ankle socks and a headband and hat. It was rainy which I personally love to run it. Finally, getting warmer out!!

***I just checked mapmyrun and looked at my splits and it only missed 2 minutes of that last mile saying it took my 6:31, so I'm going to assume it was 8:45 and that means that all my miles were under 9 minutes. The last .4 miles I did a restart and just did a slow cooldown, but I didn't want to mess with my average time so this pic leave those extra few out. Eek, I'm just so proud that I've improved my times so much since last year :)

weekly miles: 43.29
April miles: 24.47
2014 miles: 228.25

April 3, 2014

I did it! I hit my 100 miles for March. I just barely made it finishing out a 14 mile run on the 31 that was actually supossed to be a 12 miler on the 30. I came in at 11:30pm with 100.41 miles :) While I am proud, it's dissapointing that it wasn't more only because I took an entire week off from being sick. I should have been at 160. If I don't miss 1 mile this month I will end April with 202 miles. Those 20 miles runs sure add up! Can I hit 200? That would be AMAZING. I'm not sure how well my back is going to hold up. It starts aching around mile 5 and gets more and more persistant as I progress. 5 easy miles tonight!

Oooohhh and monday when I ran 14 I decided to really test the LED hat and run the Horseshoe Road loop in the dark. Yeah... met a guy all dressed in dark clothes not far past my brother's house. I definitely PR'd those next few miles. I kept expecting him to run up behind me and grab me!!! Creepy!!!





March 28 - 6 miles
March 29 - off
March 30 - 4.82 miles
March 31 - 14.01 miles
April 1 - 4.01 miles
April 2 - 10.01 miles



April miles - 14.02
2014 miles 217.8

Mar 28, 2014 Determination

So I got a clothing magazine in the mail from one of my new favorite stores Athleta. I was browsing through it when a picture caught my eye. This woman had the most amazing body ever. Just perfect. She had muscled abs a 6 pack but not too cut to make it look hard and I want. So that's my new goal. Abs. Great movtivation to get serious about weight loss again. So I weighed in this morning at 148... thanks pizza grrrr! But I went for a 3 mile run this morning and did my hills. It was snowing/raining and windy but it felt great. Hoping to do some zumba tonight!! Now I know why people run in the am, I have been bouncing off the walls since my run! No coffee needed that's why I only had 1/4 cup lol.



Breakfast(s)
-Larabar
-2 clementines
-quick hummus salad, small serving
- 1/4 cup coffee
-2 apple cookies (this was before I saw the ab picture!!)

Snacks
-chips and salsa (thanks Kristine)
-banana chips

lunch
blueberry pommegrante greek yogurt

81.58 March Miles
184.96 2014 Miles

March 27, 2014

Yep, my knees still hurt a lot. I am blaming the pure drifts and the face that I haven't been running in minimalist shoes very often, just my pure drifts but they aren't as minimalist as these. And this morning I'm tired and cranky, and so are the kids... yay!

So I decided to move my hill day until tomorrow since my knees are bothering me. We had a birthday party tonight for our nephew and Josh and I ate a gluten free pizza from Little Italy, yummy!!!

March 26, 2014

Today I ate perfectly, yay :) Josh got home from work early enough that I ran during the daylight (crazy haha).It was still only 21 degrees (come on spring, what the heck?!). I tried out my brooks pure drifts since this was a short run, 4 miles. Big mistake. I tried them in December and didn't really like them, and I still don't. For one thing there are too big. my foot kept sliding foreward until my toes rubbed on the front of the shoe. I ended up with a sore toe nail and sore knees and weird calf pain only durning the run. But I still ran it in 40 minutes (not bad considering I hobbled for the last mile). Then I went to zumba... 54 ladies crammed into a tiny room. It was fun and yet awful. It's so hard to dance and actually be able to move when you are concentrating so hard on not bumping into people or kicking the table. But, Nikki text me to ask if I would be there because she has vertigo. And, that sucks more. I can't imagine trying to do the moves with vertigo, I was just waiting for her to pass out. My cousin Shelby was there, which was exciting! I hope she comes again because she has been starting running and is at 2 miles now, and I know zumba really helped with my stamina in running. Plus it's just fun :)


78.4 miles so far in March
181.77 miles this year (can I reach 1000?)

March 25, 2014

And, this is why I am horrible at blogging and keeping a diary. I just can't keep up with it! Anyway, I was sick the day before the 5k race and still did the race but felt yucky after. Just as I got over the tummy sickness, I got a horrible cold, complete with watery itchy eyes, sneezing, congestion etc. So I didn't run for A WHOLE WEEK! Yeah, not good. Sunday I was going to do 13 but hit the wall hard at 8, probably because I had been sick and finally gave up at mile 10. Yesterday (Monday) I did six, making up for teh 3 I missed even though I know it's not the same thing. Tonight I have 9 planned. If I don't miss any more runs I will still hit over 100 miles this week. One good thing, the weather is finally warming up, hopefully, for good. It is 31 degrees today but should be even warmer tomorrow and the rest of the week.

9 miles complete, it took a lot longer than it should have 1:44 but it was that lovely first day of the month (sorry for the TMI but it definitely plays a role in how women feel and preform while running). I did run to my brother's house in the dark and pop up in his window beside the TV he was watching bahahahahahaha! You see, I got a hat with/LED lights in the brim and had to try them out and the safest rather close place I could run to in the dark was his house because it only constitues running about 1/2 mile total in the dark. I didn't scare them that bad, he said my neon green shirt gave me away, but, it still felt awesome haha!

74.8 miles so far this month! So close to that 100 mile goal!

March 17, 2014

breakfast
larabar
1 cup coffee

lunch
tortilla chips w/a little cheese and some salsa
cucumber salad w/cherry tomatoes, feta, and a dressing

snacks
chocolate peanut butter ice cream 1 serving

March 16, 2014

40 Minute Tempo
yeah this was one slow tempo haha, I mamaged about 3.6 miles but I did a very slow 10 minute warm up where I didn't hit a mile and a very slow cool down 10 minutes where my phone shut off so I don't think it was even 10 minutes. It was in the negatives outside again BRRRRRRR!! I always run so slow when it's that cold, but, I made sure I was running fast enough that I couldn't speak in conversation, it would have been very broken words, and there were a couple good hills in there to make up for it being a slow tempo. I was originially going to do a 17 miler but I didn't want to skip the speed work, and I still didn't feel 100% and it's freaking cold so I pushed it back and instead am making up for the days I missed. So the long run will fall on wednesday or tuesday if it's warmer. That way I can do the 2 8 milers that I missed while sick.

General Health
a bit sluggish, still getting over the sickness and yeahhhh the girl scout cookies aren't helping, but that box is gone so no more for me!

breakfast
larabar

snacks
girl scout cookies
tortilla chips w/ salsa
raw broccoli
sliced cheese (I have no idea the kind, white something haha)
espresso ice cream

dinner
gluten free pasta w/mozzerella, and marinara sauce
salad w/cranberries, walnuts, almonds, and apple cider vinegar dressing

March 15, 2014

I don't think I mentioned copying Kristine's 12 months of racing idea, but I am, and today was March's race. She and I did the Orebred Sugar Shack 5k in Dekalb. Only 3 people, including us, showed up. I felt pretty bad for the people who organized it, that can't be a good feeling. Although, it does make me glad that we went. So we had a wet (it's warm 33 degrees and slushy and snowing) 3.1 miles. The road makes for some nice short and steep hills and it was a dirt road. It was a slow 35 minutes, but we chatted the whole time and had fun. I still felt off from being sick, gassy and had a good side stitch going on. I'd actually like to go back and run there sometime this year once it isn't so wet out. The sugar shack had a ton of things for sale, I was surprised. Lots of syrup, candies and other treats. I will try and remember to head back out there soon. We got these sweet t-shirts too!

I know I just offically started this 12 months of racing, but, I just ran a race a couple weeks ago in Ogdensburg, The Lion's Club Polar Bear 5k. I came in 2nd place female and 4th place overall not bad. Ran that one in 27 minutes :) Here is the shirt from that race!

Now, it's been a couple days since I've blogged because I have been sick with a little bug. I was throwing up in the night and then just felt crappy and so I haven't ran. But here is the rest of today's run down.


Today's diet... embarassing. Tomorrow is a new day right?

breakfast
girls scout cookies... yeah so good and yet so bad

lunch
yogurt with granola
1/4 cup coffee

dinner
pizza logs w/sauce