Decisions, Decisions

I spent the second half of last week discussing my thoughts on the Spring/Summer with my husband.

First major decision was the Green Bay Marathon. I had thought very seriously about doing it and knew my run up to Disney was a good foundation to begin training for the May race. It is a flat course, hometown for my husband and has a very generous race time.



While I know the challenges at Disney were mostly out of my hands, the 16 minute per mile average threw me. Between that and all the transitions my son is currently going through, I knew this wasn't the time for me to take on the hours of training. So, we haven't told my mother in law yet, but I know she will understand.

The next decision I/we had to make was Disneyland. The race was selling out so fast in February, I impulsively signed up for it.  I knew there was a chance that vacation plans and travel wouldn't work out and I would have to forfeit the money. That wasn't a happy thought, but it is the Sunday before school starts for the kids, over the Labor Day weekend and what the family needs does come first.



Long story, short, I seem to have worked it out with everyone. We are going on our family vacation in early August and I will take the kids to my parents in CA the week before the race. I still need to decide if we are going to take a red eye back or come back on Monday. Looks like I will earn my coast to coast medal after all. Laura and Sandie are running too, so we will be back together again. :)

All in all I happy that we are getting closer to have a finished plan for the summer. I am looking forward to the races I am registered for, the Marine Corps 17.75 and the Nike Women's Half. After that I need to come up with a plan to keep up my momentum!

Redemption Run

Last week didn't turn out quite the way I had planned. I failed at many of my workouts and didn't replace them with anything. Not sure what my problem was, but I was definitely low energy and high eating. In the end the damage wasn't too terribly bad, but I needed something to kick me back in gear. 

This weekend was incredibly busy schedule wise, so I was struggling with when I was going to find 2 hours to get a run in. In the end I decided that Saturday afternoon made the most sense. We got through TKD and swim practice, I had lunch and then set off. I had in my head I wanted to do 8 miles. I had done 7 last weekend and have the 17.75 (km) race coming up in two weeks. I can't slack off on my mileage now! 

Lonely left over snow rock. 

Due to our non-snow/but still precipitation event I wasn't sure how muddy the trails would be. Being as I was game to run with as few hills as possible, I decided to set out that way. It has been quite awhile since I have run outside, but the weather was treating us to a springlike day and I didn't want to miss out! 

I started the path and felt good. I haven't been having such great runs since the Princess, so I was a little nervous. I felt strong, maybe missing those workouts was a good rest! 

I had purchased new earphones at Target this morning as my old ones had gone through the wash. I had tried them out and they seemed to be shorting. My original pair, that I love go over my ears and I picked them up in the checkout line at TJ Maxx. You know where they stuff all the candy/food from who knows when and other odd assortments. Yup. Just sitting there. Any rate, due to this, I know I will never find them again. The new ones from Target seem way to big. I didn't have time to fiddle with them, so I plugged in the old ones hoping they would at least be on for most of the run. Of course, they worked perfectly the whole time! Why didn't I try them before I ripped open the other package?? 

Anyways, I set off on the trail. I was pretty sure I had a 7 mile loop I had run in preparation for Woodrow Wilson, but wasn't exactly sure. I decided to wing it. My extended neighborhood has enough loops that you can pretty much do as little or long as you want. I followed the trail from our park to another park, which is about 2.5 miles. Felt good and I had hit upon the 5k to 10k podcast from kissmyblackass.org. She was running me 12 minutes with 1 minute walks. Feeling strong I headed onto the sidewalk, which is where the hills begin to come into play. I walked up the first big one and then started another 12 minute cycle, still going well. Jogged into a few cul de sacs to add to my distance and then finally headed towards the school my kids go to. Got up a big hill by the school (running!) and then took streets to get from the front of the school to the back. Headed down the street a little further and I found an entry to the trail I hadn't taken before. 

So headed back and then I was at about 7 miles. I had taken a few walk breaks, but the sun and the perfect air temp were pushing me on. I ran past the playground my kids and I have spent many an hour at and grinned at how many people were there. Love when folks take advantage of good weather. Looped through my neighborhood proper and headed home. 

In the end I finished my 8 miles about 1 hour 40 mins. SO much better! That is a pace of about 12:45, which is where I have been for the most part. Redemption for the 16:10 pace at Disney! 

The day was beautiful and I am so glad I was able to clear the decks of responsibility for my run. I am also happy because I used to allow myself 15 minutes per mile when scheduling my runs. While it isn't a big difference finishing 8 miles under 1:45 seems like a big win to me! 

Friday night we celebrated my son bridging over to Boy Scouts, I am so proud of him! 

One out of Two Isn't Bad

Well, all I can say is the snow was a big bust. It started out promising. School was cancelled, Governments closed, snow coming down from the sky. However, the weather goddesses weren't cooperating and the temperatures just couldn't come down far enough to keep the snow from being a big slushfest. The kids made it work by sledding and generally run around in the rain/sleet/snow.

Even though my office was technically closed, I had calls scheduled with a vendor, so the show must go on.

I did get a 3 mile run in and bumped up the speed just a notch the last .25 mile. This is my pattern before I move up to a new speed for my weekday runs. Its a slow progress, but I seem to be able to make it work for me so far. Afterwards I took time to stretch. This is so important, but I don't always do it. (see all the entries where I am running up to the minute before I need to go someplace)

After that I decided all was not lost on the arm workout and I went to clear our sidewalks of the remaining slush. It was heavy, but with a corner lot, we get a lot of traffic. I wanted to make sure it was clear so tomorrow it will just be wet rather then iced over.

I now have the kids in bed, a fire in the fireplace and a glass of wine in hand. Relaxation is on deck for me and then some heavenly sleep. 2 more days of this hectic week to get through!

Who Cares About Running....Its Going to Snow!!

I live outside of DC and we haven't had a good snow storm for 2 years. It is going to snow starting in a few hours and I am EXCITED. 

Courtesy of  Capital Weather Gang/Washington Post

Isn't it beautiful? 

I am sorry to say that I slept through boot camp this morning. Silly alarm mistake, but an honest one. When the cleaner comes through our rooms and dusts she always manages to turn the volume way down. She hasn't done it in awhile, but my alarm was screaming with no voice this morning. 

When I woke up I was a little upset. I had planned to be at boot camp 3 times this week, and this was going to throw a wrench in things. Tonight was my son's first Boy Scout meeting and they were having a parent meeting as well. I wanted to go and meet the other parents, so today became a rest day. I think it will be ok, as tomorrow is shaping up to be a big upper body workout. (see above!)

All seems right with the world right now, so we are going with that. 

Planning for Success

I am sitting here watching the Biggest Loser contestants get their make overs. It seems like this gets set up as a big goal for them and something to work for. Just another example of why setting goals and milestones is so important.

You may have noticed that I split up my year long goals into smaller chunks. The overall goal of 750 miles for the year is represented as 62 miles each month. I know if I have a lower month it won't mean I am not going to hit my goal, but it will serve as a good reminder to get back on the treadmill.

For my plank goal I set 1 minute, 1.5 minutes, etc working towards my goal of 3 minutes. I have gained strength faster then I expected, having started at only being able to hold one for 30 seconds.

What was my non-scale victory today? I stacked my feet during push ups at boot camp. It wasn't as hard as I thought at all. Gave myself a little pat on the back for that!

I have also been seeing some progress on the scale side. Double bonus.

Workout schedule
Monday - boot camp
Tuesday - Boot camp/short run
Wednesday - snow expected! 30 day shred or run
Thursday - rest
Friday - boot camp
Saturday - 30 day shred
Sunday - Long run

What have been your non scale or scale related victories lately?

2013 Goal Check In

The days march on and I thought it would be good to do a check in on my goals.

January

Run 62.5 miles (1/12th of my goal of 750 for the year) - Done (69 actually, but who is counting? Hrm, me I guess!)
Kid's Shower fix and garbage disposal (see how I grouped those plumbing issues - genius I tell you) - Done
Summer Vacation Planned - Not yet, but we know what we are doing, I just have to get the house. I have been doing legwork on this, so its only a matter of another week or two before we are set.

February

Disney Half - Done

62.5 Miles - Done (68 this month, not bad for 28 days)

Kitchen Fixes - got an estimate, but the contractor is kind of sketching out on me. May have to start from square one with this. Also paired with a goal for March.

Taxes - Done, but not filed. For some reason I like to let them sit awhile. I am not sure why because I never change anything and don't have the smarts to actually find anything wrong on the forms themselves.

Summer Camps - Done. Whew, that was a tough one. 2 kids that need full time camp. Everyone has camp at the local TKD studio several weeks, but then there are specialty weeks too, scout camp etc.

March

1 minute plank - Done, My full year goal is 3 minutes, so I broke it up. I have been using the great tracking sheets runwithjess.com puts out. Been slacking on planks the last few days, so need to get back to that and not lose my progress.

62.5 - Time will tell. I did 7 today, it was way ugly, but done. Still trying to decide about marathon training, but I think 2013 isn't the year. Princess was not the magical race I wanted it to be as far as pumping up my can do attitude for a marathon.

Shower fixes - notice a trend? In 2010 we redid our kitchen and I was totally turned off of calling any contractor for 2 years after that effort. I am finally getting back to the house fixes we need to get done. Then maybe I can do another "fun" project.

Weekend Trip - the last several years the family has taken weekend trips to cover a gap in the private school schedule. My daughter isn't in Montessori anymore, but I don't want to give up that time exploring the nearby areas. Haven't figured out what yet, but I still have the month of March to figure it out.

So there you have it. I feel like I am moving along with the things I wanted to get accomplished so far. I need to pick up speed on the house items because they only get more involved as the year goes on. I am happy with my workout schedule and feel like my running base is really starting to develop. Yea!

We are hitting some big transitions at home however. My son is moving from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts starting this week and he earned his Black belt, which changed his class schedule from one that was perfect for me to get midweek runs in to one that isn't so accommodating. Soon it will be all up for grabs as baseball season is starting. That means my husband and son will be on the ball field for hours a week and I will have my daughter more. This isn't an issue when the weather is bad and I don't mind being on the treadmill, but when the weather is nice its tough to be stuck inside.

On another note, I didn't make this a written down goal, but I would like to lose 6 lbs again this year. This was more to keep me in the mindset of not letting my weight rise 1 or 2 pounds at a time. So far - I am holding even, but not losing anything.

How are you doing on your goals?

And We Are Off.....

The race started and it was packed. I was able to get moving at a pretty good pace. I knew I needed to take it slow as it was plenty warm and humid. I had my water bottle, skittles and phone on me.

It was dark!

The first thing I saw in the distance was a pirate ship and Jack Sparrow! I knew I wanted to stop and take pictures, but I also wanted to be smart about it. I have been running a 13:30 minute mile in training, but Disney is serious about the 16 minute mile limit. I didn't completely understand this when I headed out.

After the race there was all sorts of comments on the Run Disney page about walkers starting in earlier corrals to give them a buffer from the sweep bus. I was in Corral F, so I did have some buffer. Apparently the sweeper bus picked up many runners at mile 8, but I was unaware and apparently not close to that action - thankfully!

We then passed the princes. I didn't run with Laura, but she stopped at many places I didn't so I am going to  intermix our pictures so you get a good idea. Plus hers are so much clearer then mine!

Each mile marker was a cute little storybook page. At the 5k mile marker I was running a 13:31 minute mile. So right on pace. I had a lot of walkers in my corral, so it was hard to get around and through people. We were out on the road, so we had good space, but there are only so many ways around friends all walking together. I am by no means fast, so I am fully supportive of walkers. It does add on to the mileage though.

We ran past the speedway and I saw this sign. I wasn't considering it at this point, but I thought knowing where the exit was would be a good thing. I missed a picture of Lightening McQueen just outside the Speedway.

The first several miles there were DJs and these photo ops, but I only did drive by pictures. I wasn't ready to stop yet and didn't know what was ahead of me.
We headed toward the magic Kingdom. I made sure to watch my footing as we headed over the speed bumps entering the parking lot. I had heard about them at the expo and falling was not on my docket for the day.

We hit main street and everyone was clearly excited. I was still running nicely and had stopped at every water stop, alternating water and poweraide.

Yikes! Hot, Humid and excited to be here? 

This is more like it! 

We ran up Main Street, through Tomorrowland, around Fantesyland and then through the castle.

I had to stop for Tiana, even though this was the same one I had pictures with on Friday night.

Wish I had stopped for Mickey and Minnie

At the 10k mark my time was 1:30:02, 14:29 minute miles. Not sure what caused the slowdown as I was feeling good still. The course did narrow quite a bit, so that could explain some of it. 

They had a vote for the song of the race before and at the halfway mark it was playing. So fun and got me moving.

Things were still going well at mile 8. I was tired and hot, but still moving forward. I was walking some, but not too worried about my time or stamina. At mile 9 they had a gu station, but I haven't had one yet and I didn't think that I wanted to experiment. Maybe I should have grabbed one for later to try it. My time at the 15k was 2:18:21 a 14:51 minute mile pace. Still within a decent range, but a little slow for me.
And then I hit Mile 10, or thereabouts. I can't be sure as the memories are fuzzy. I decided that I needed to stop and go to the bathroom. Kicking myself for not doing so in the park, but we were through it on our way back to Epcot by this point. So I stopped as the line wasn't very long. Soon after stopping I started to feel a little woozy. I stopped and sat down on a guardrail. A nice runner stopped and asked if I needed something to eat. I declined as I had a good breakfast and had been drinking and eating my skittles. I know it sounds low tech, but I wasn't going to change things up in the middle of a race. I decided to keep going. Soon I decided I needed to look for some help. I wasn't sure what was ahead, so I stopped at a security SUV.

I stopped and took a breather hanging over the hood of the SUV. I eventually sat down and caught a cool breeze from the side of the route. I am not sure how long I sat there, maybe 10 minutes, but eventually I decided I should try to keep going. I didn't really think about much there, just trying to listen to my body. After my stop, I slowly started gaining my energy back again.

I don't look like I almost passed out, do I? 

We had to go through a clover leaf pattern so we could see the folks on the overpass above us. Then it was a nice hill to get up there ourselves. Some folks were talking about sweepers, but I wasn't worried. There were so many people behind us that I didn't think it was possible to get into trouble.

I hit mile 12 and knew I could finish the race. I just pushing forward at that point and not paying too much attention to others. It was still crowded and in many places there were runners darting through the crowd. I can't figure out how they got behind me if they were so fast, but I can only assume they have great character pictures!
Coming into Epcot I saw a woman walking that clearly was going to pass out. She kept talking about how she had missed her time goal and how she had to finish. We were still at least 3/4 of a mile away from the finish line. I ended up moving on to alert the medics.

Finally we saw Epcot. The race takes you in the park a little ways and then you turn around and head right out into the parking lot. As we exited through the employee gate there was a gospel choir. So cool!

Finally the finish line was in sight! I didn't get my camera out until too late, but this is what it looked like to me.

Mickey and Minnie were there, and so were the medals!

The Volunteers were awesome! 

I finished in 3:31:51. Not anywhere close to my half in October, but I wasn't going for time, so it was all ok with me. A tough, but super fun race.