One last schweaty run?!

Okay, so maybe the title is pure wishing, but it was so cool this morning, the roomie and I opened up the doors, aired out the house, and didn't end up with a humidity and heat induced glow! This all blew in last night, about the time Mom and I left the house to go pick up Chinese for dinner :)

Sooo maybe I run because I eat that, but it was a super special Mom weekend! Anyway, when we left, the rental car told us it was 81*. By the time I'd gotten totally lost talking to the cashier when she told me my frequent user card was only for Chinese people, gotten my food and re-started the car, it was 74. But...Um... I know a couple of Japanese people at work, but no authentic Chinese people, so how did I end up with this?! She told me it was only for students, so I explained I used to be a student at State, I just tend to lose and find these cards! It might have been the one KR gave me :P We swap fro-yo rewards cards for Chinese, win win!

 Okay, so yeah, it was typical warm and humid yesterday morning! The sun didn't come out til that last mile when we were on a tree-lined trail, and for that, I was truly thankful! We did a nice as-flat-as-Raleigh-has-to-offer 6 miles on mostly tree-lined greenways around a lake, behind/between housing and apartment complexes, and chatted about all sorts of things. For example, the main person I run with from my group is probably old enough to be my mom and she recommended Hope Springs, the Meryl Streep movie. A new person dropped down to our pace group and she's about my age, and she had good things to say about it. What?! Urgh...fine. Sooo that's what my mom and I ended up seeing yesterday, and she was thankful I would go see it with her, sparing her the humiliation of being that middle-aged woman sitting alone in a clearly-aimed-at-her movie.

 We'd been warned about this beforehand, but we saw something similar to this:

 Okay minus the striking, fake screaming or water balloon. More like this:

 Thankfully one of the faster pace groups saw a guy like this just getting warm (or cool?!) on the trail and while the participants just stopped and backed off, a fellow mentor SPRINTED back with a pep in her step saying "Copperhead COPPERHEAD in the trail!" I stopped our group there, turned around to pass on the message. I was ready to strangle a couple of runners that were like "oh, COOL!" until I realized they weren't from our training group, so if they wanted to tangle with this venomous {see, Huck! I listen} creature, more power to them- and no legal obligation to our training group!

He eventually slithered off, and you could still see the majority of his body continuing to go into the grass by the time we passed. Shudder! Totally gave our group an adrenaline rush and I'm pretty sure we dropped average pace by a few seconds even with our 30 second pause!

The group is experimenting with in-run nutrition and I'm realizing that running for 70 minutes means I need to eat twice. That last mile, I could feel my brain start to shut down, I talked even less clearly than normal (which if you know me says a LOT!) and had to seriously focus on getting through. I had a chocolate outrage Gu that had caffeine, and I really liked it. The consistency and taste were definitely chocolate icing and I wouldn't want to down one of those without water to wash it down, just to get the super intense sweetness out of my mouth. Sorry if this is TMI, but coffee makes me have to pee, so for long runs, the last thing you want to do is need to pee when you're 3 miles from the closest bathrooms, so I liked that this flavor had caffeine built in. Morning runs demand caffeine! I definitely stayed up til past midnight on that shot and a 20 minute nap!

I'm super-nerding it up this week, determined to take advantage of these cool mornings, so I have not just my work outfits laid out but my running outfits! Sports bras and non-cotton socks included :) My legs are getting tired and my right knee bugs me after long runs, so I'm taking the advice of the other mentor for my pace group and going to keep running on tired legs to build up the endurance. I'm going to use shorter runs to get my mileage, even though it might mean a 3 miler before work and another couple after. Tuesday's cross training will be some elliptical, too- "mileage" without the impact.

Off to get in some upper body strength :) What good are awesome legs if you have pudge arms?!

Here's to the next tv timeout!

-Syd

Run more, blog less?

Scatterbrained...

• I am now a mentor for... a HALF-MARATHON training program! Its actually amazing and wonderful because my mantra used to be "I don't run when it's above 70*" and I think out of the 8 runs I've done in the past 3 weeks, only one has been under 70. It sucks, I "glisten" by mile 1 and then sweat like a dog the rest of the way, I chug water like a pro from my new hydration backpack, and when its all over, I stretch until I'm putty, including the pesky upper leg muscles that aren't helped by sitting at work all day, and then drink some aaaaamazing protein recovery drink.
• I am stupidly happy when I run. Like, that and a good cup of coffee and I might be dancing all day at work. 
• My job? Amazing! I have lots of fun, its challenging but not so much that I run screaming because I have no clue what's going on, but I know there's lots to learn and the support I have around and above me is top notch. 
• Other super cool thing about my job?  My boss runs! He goes out during the day, even when its 11:30, sunny, 90*, 80% humidity... I ran with him and this other guy that is in a related division last week. I'm still acclimating to running and I knew that I would be slow, but the men were running my spring pace and I'm in out of shape summer pace :/ We'll see how I do when I keep training and it flippin' cooooools down!
• Final "yay!" thing about my work- the shower is amazing! Like... better than Huck's house! Might have to utilize that more this winter, run when its still light outside from work, shower, and hopefully rush hour traffic will have somewhat cleared by then. Oh my plots!
• Speaking of plots, talking to my mom tonight, I said "have I told you about my evil plot?" I'm sort of worried because her reply was "which evil plot?" I swear it was running related, but I'll tell you when I put where my money where my mouth is :)
• Back to mentoring- I LOVE the other woman mentoring the pace group with me since she's chill, laid back, total opposite of me, but when we get to rough parts, we're both offering up the "head up, shoulders back, hands loose" etc form cues. The people in the group are also neat- upbeat, thankful to be there, determined, and a lot of fun to talk to :)

So... I stink. The roomie tried to wash the shower curtains today (thanks!) but it failed, so she was out stimulating the economy when I got home and now that I'm thoroughly ripe, its time to shower :) 

Here's to the next TV timeout :)

-Syd

EEP!

I was supposed to be in bed 45 minutes ago BUT I need to say...

I RAN TODAY!

Well, sorta. I think elliptical machines are cheating, but my work gym has ONE treadmill and I got in at the same time as a lady who was FOCUSED and knew what she was doing, so she beat me to it :/

So glad we had 2 ellipticals to fall back on... Little does Huck know, I'm stealing his resistance bands and doing something p90x tomorrow so I can get in some soul-crushing weights :D BUT! I did 3.1 miles, the first mile in 9:04, the second in 10min and the third was just zoning out a lot. Total, it took me a little over 30 minutes, but like I said, the third was me looking at a lot of birds outside. I've been around this guy too long:

Like I said, ellipticals are "cheating", so I might as well go faster on them!

Off to bed (should've been there almost an hour ago!)... EEP!

Here's to the next TV timeout! (or fun gym workout or P90x shred or...)

-Syd

And such

First off, I need to be more aware of the weather. When it was triple digits for so long, I just gave up on it ever being less than 80 outside and it was 60-something last night. WHY DIDN'T I GO FOR A RUN THEN?! Well, a kitten with a broken jaw that I was feeding through a tube for one reason. Anyway, I'm going to check the weather every couple days, see if I can't catch some 70's weather. I might be getting up at 5am on Saturday to get a couple jogging miles in.

So here's my other random fitness stuff, out of my brain, onto the blog. Be afeared! :) <-- I've lived in the South too long... w/e. Embrace it, like barbecue, sweetea and y'all!

1- http://hellogiggles.com/10-reasons-running-doesnt-suck-as-much-as-you-think  Love this!

2- Pullup work continues! I can now do very slow, controlled negatives on the pullup bar. I can even hang with my chin up for a couple seconds :)

3- I had fun this week TAKING in some of my jeans :)

Before:

Jeans that fit that I used as my template:

After:

For the record, these are all Old Navy 10's. The template pair is a few years old and you can tell a huge difference in the denim. The old pair is very sturdy, feels like you could wear it for years, not wear a hold anywhere. New pairs? Ripped when I took out some overzealous seams!

I also took in the tech shirt I got for running my half marathon. I was super bummed when I got it and realized it was just too big. I gave it to Huck for a while, but darnit, I earned it! So I took it back, told him he could have my 10k shirt, and used a shirt I'd gotten from my training 8k group to know where to sew new seams for the half shirt. So far, so good :)

4- Its been over a month since Huck's been on the Paleo diet. He cheat a LOT thanks to the yummy summer drinks out like Lime-a-Ritas (not high class, but YUMMY!), but between the diet and pretty regular p90x, he's had to add another notch to his belt and I can tell he's lost the beer gut he gained after ending Insanity but before we got back into p90x and he went Paleo. Foods he used to take or leave have become treats, like almonds and other nuts.

As he's gotten more familiar with what is and isn't in the plan, the meals he cooks have become more varied and he can even find paleo meals at restaurants. Last night, he made these amazing eggplant lasagna stacks using fresh eggplants a coworker gave him. When he went to Cracker Barrel at lunch, instead of his usual chicken and dumplings, he got a Cobb salad, brushing off the bread crumbs and getting a vinaigrette dressing, which seems like a totally normal meal, but not only was it Paleo, it was SUPER YUMMY!  No longer is it steamed veggies and a hunk of meat, but its spaghetti squash with standard marinara, veggie stir fries, roasted any veggie, lots of summer meats like sausage and brats, lettuce wrap fajitas and typical meals, just making the rice or pasta sides for the non Paleo people like kids or girlfriends (:D) that might be eating. I don't know if I'm ready to go Paleo, but I do find myself eating less bread, just because I don't buy it as much and rely on the few English muffins or tortillas I might have in the house, and keep an eye on potential Paleo meals or ingredients to pass on to Huck.

5- For more info about the kitty with the broken jaw: http://dearwiley.blogspot.com/2012/07/more-adventures.html

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

PS- get access to a gym next week... might we see a return of a running Sydney?!?!

StronGrrrr

So since we're still in my summer running motto phase (I don't run when its above 70* outside) thanks to the fourth day in a week of triple digit heat in NC, I decided to set an attainable INDOOR fitness goal. Doing p90x with Huck, I've had to do more pushups, squats, pot stirrers and the grandaddy exercise of pullups than ever before.

Trust me... there are days where the things I CAN do- squats, all 50 million variations, bicep curls, evil pushup variations, and still be waddling like a penguin, so the days where my friend Tony gives us 10 different variations of pullups to do?! Yeah... when you can't even do one normal easy (whatever works for you) pullup, doing the scarecrow variations (go up, tilt right, tilt left, go back, then down)?! Make me laugh with the "yeah, right!" giggles and give me a break while I watch Huck get all buff.

Until.... Well, there are girls on the show that use resistance bands or utilize a chair to help them cheat, and I want to be them. They "bring it", don't wuss out, and look AMAZING as a result. That, plus lots of brown rice, chicken and steamed broccoli meals or lives as professional dancers. Whatever. So... in my self-imposed "man up! don't wuss out!" mantra, I've decided my goal by July 31 is to be able to do at LEAST 1 unassisted pullup.

To start off, my world of Googling told me to try with negatives. I jump up to the top, arms contracted, and lower myself down, hopefully slowly and controlled. So far, I'm using Huck's knee to jump up. Yes, ladies, I've figured out how to get a man down on one knee :) What, does that mean something to ladies in a committed dating relationship?!

Enough razzing the so-not-there-yet bf... more about progress! I remembered to do it on Monday, got in 1 solid one, and 2 semi-solid ones, then we did tris and shoulders, so that the next day I was still sore on the bottom half thanks to Saturday's legs and back workout, and then any arm movement made you aware of the muscles to twist or turn :) I did a happy circuit of pushups, squats, calf raises, Russian twists and jumping jacks (and other random bodyweight exercises) Wednesday morning when I could finally move with minimal pain, and before fireworks commenced, tried to get more negatives in to keep the progress. Now that I'm trying to remember how many I did, I totally can't remember. I did try to get above the bar on my own but having a pullup bar in a hallway just lets you Spidey up the wall :/

So that's my story :) Can't run?! Do pullups! Adapt or wither... and don't be a wuss!

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Syd

So many things

1- I SURVIVED (barely) Illinois' toughest 15k. I have the medal to prove it:

The medal is hanging around my nec.k... don't know how I have enough energy to smile

2- It was h-e-double-hockey-sticks! I don't run when its above 70 outside by choice. It was 70 at the starting line, before I had to go up this evil hill twice! I killed that hill the first time, was doing well despite an absent water stop pre-hill, even when I got lapped by...well... a lot of people! But... somewhere around that first loop near the zoo, even after going past one of my best friends who was doing a lock-in (Zoo Znooze) , the leg that pressed on the gas pedal for 13 hours a couple days before cramped up, the heat exhausted me, and the impending meet up with my dad started to suck the happy go-go-GO right outta me. I got down the happy little hill, had a spectator tell me my braid looked cute and whimpered at the sight of the hill again with no water break until I was up it and started to walk like a pro. My chest exploded and hamstring cramped up like never before as the heat and panic rushed over me to have me bawling right before mile 7. I thought about this picture:

And kept going. I knew that right after mile 7, it was down one hill, 2 miles of straight and flat at the end with my momma and sister waiting to cheer me in after they'd done the 4 mile race.

Oof.

3- I didn't run much after that. Serious amounts of pain. I even put this Biofreeze gel on my leg to try to numb it, and omg it got numbed and I smelled like mint and couldn't feel my leg the rest of the day.

4- The next time I ran? I was in Savannah, GA at a $42/night hotel with one of my best friends from high school, on the treadmill in the gym. I turned on tv, enjoyed The Mentalist, checked out my form while I ran, and tried to get in some speed work. I'd only waited about 20 minutes after eating this AMAZING $7.50 low country boil so when I was upping the speed (to 7.0 mph!! and BEYOND) I slowed down when I started tasting the shrimp, crab, sausage, corn and 'taters again. Had a GREAT time doing the HIIT though!

5- I've decided my goal for the month of July while it decides to stay in the triple digits outside in the BLAZING humidity is to do at least 1 unassisted pullup by the time August comes around. Huck has a pullup bar in the hall of his kitchen/living room, so I have a plan... if I can't run outside, I shall become a beast!

6- For the awesome new job (yes yes, official job offer paperwork came in a couple weeks ago! WOOO), I had to get a physical. The doctor told me that people like me keep him from being busy. I compared the results of my cholesterol from 3 years ago, when I would go to work, sit down, come home, sit down, go to sleep, repeat. My total cholesterol has gone down by 1 point, but the triglycerides, HDL and LDL all tell the story of a much healthier and active person :) As a scientist, its nice to see proof in fancy numbers like that.

7- Other proof that I'm doing something right? When I went home, my mom had tons of my high school stuff for me to go through, since she would be putting the house up for sale a couple days after I left (it sold in 40 hours, no joke). Out of curiosity, I tried on my junior year prom dress. At 25, the dress that 17 year old me wore doesn't fit... because its too loose! My senior year prom dress?! Even worse! At least the junior year one has just an inch or 2 of fabric that you can grab here and there. Because of the cut of the senior year one, it just doesn't fit at all! It doesn't help that I don't gain fat in the most...um.. desirable?! places for a girl, but even the back is loose enough to hold a 6 pack :)

Ok... I promise more updates! Life should settle down here shortly and you'll get to hear about pullup progress :)

Here's to the Next TV timeout!

-Syd

Sweaty Beast

OMG I was a little workout queen Sunday, thanks to TurboFire! And no, I dont have any photos of this and yes, you should be thankful!

My "to-do" list for Saturday turned from a "today" into a "tonight" and then "tomorrow" list. Things like putting away the laundry that sat in the dryer for 4 days and had now been sitting in a hamper for 2 days :/ (Somehow, I still have days where I think I have no clothes! Not true. Valid point, however? Clothes that fit! The joy of losing 30 lbs and now not knowing what the dress code at the new job is! eep!!! sorry, back to your regularly scheduled programming...) Things like making food at home to eat with the roomie (at the same time!), shower, and, of course, work out!

I just winged it as to which of the TurboFire dvd's to do since I'd ignored the plan to do p90x last week. Sooo I started at the beginning! I was supposed to do the Fire 45 and then Stretch 10 one day and then the HIIT 20 and  Stretch 10 sooo I had my game plan. Do the 45 min workout, and if I had it in me, the 20 min HIIT workout, and of course, the Stretch 10!

As usual, I got a bit lost on the choreography for the 3rd set of the Fire 45 and could feel my intensity was way down from the time I'd done the back to back fire drills. Chalene asked me to dig deep, and I said "k, fine! I'll do the HIIT workout!" I LOVED it because she walks you through it first (marking it) and then you do it 2 or 3 times. I totally stopped during the first HIIT session because I thought my tank was empty...and then I saw I had 9 seconds left, so I sucked it up and finished. No more stopping!

The post-workout stretch?! Gloooorious. It'd been about a week since I had done that video, so I'd forgotten just how much I loved it :) I was only a little sore today and I was walking down lots and looots of peanut rows, getting dirt in my shoes!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

X Training

Hey,

I realize I might only run once or twice a week now days (yayyy 90*+ weather :/ ) but I'm actually working my butt out more because I don't have to think about saving energy for the tempo/long/fartlek run, I can do what I do now barefoot (less socks for laundry!) and pretty much anywhere with minimal planning.

Huck has p90x, and I'll do that with him a few afternoons a week when he comes home from work. There's some of the workouts I'm just not strong enough to do, like the chest and backs, mainly because that's almost exclusively pushup and pullup variations. When I did it last week, I got through the first half, then went to do something else. Huck pushed me this week to at least get to the next water break after the halfway point. I'm never going to build up the muscles to do a pullup if I don't keep trying, right?

Tony Horton's plyometrics X is KILLER! Lots of sweating and trying to land softly and quietly...like a CAT :) The first time I did this, you could hear the thunks from outside. This week, I got a fist bump and "nice!" from Huck :) We needed to get some other stuff done that night, so we cut it short, but I still smoked his butt for some of it.

I went to KR's house on Wednesday for girl time, which included getting my hair blonded up! While driving to her place, I got the call that I get to start my REAL JOB in July! There's so many other awesomely happy things about this, but when they said "July" I did the math and decided to follow in KR's footsteps and add some bright (bubble gum, to be precise) pink to my hair. That, and making dinner and a celebration red velvet cake, took so long KR and I did the Insanity Upper Body Strength DVD Thursday morning.

I'd made Huck promise to kick my butt on hills at Fleet Feet's social run on Thursday night, so within 12 hours of Insanity working my arms, I was pounding the pavement. Huck had done a 45 minute p90x in 30 minutes so we could be on time, and it cleeearly killed him. Don't get me wrong, it was still warm, and our 1 mile warmup and then killing Mount Leonard 4 times was... ouch. He would sprint up the hills way faster than me and I'd have to gasp out "keep moving" to him, but we were both just ready to collapse after that 4th time. We tried to catch a group of ladies who had run a 3 mile route but to no avail :/

So that's my story :) I'm officially signed up for Illinois' Toughest 15k next Saturday and I'm trying to gain 5 lbs any way possible to compete in the Athena category but this darn cardio mixup is thwarting my plans. I've never wanted to gain weight more in my life!

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Sydney

How to run your first 10k

I know, I'm going in a weird trajectory this year. First there was an 8k, then a half-marathon, and then the 10 miler, and the (utterly failed) 10k on Mother's Day weekend, but today, I successfully completed my first 10k!

I'd roped the roomie into this a few months ago when she stopped running and I figured a carrot at the end of the stick would get her back on track. She's eating amazingly well, so keeping up with exercise that she kicks butt at just means she looks even HOTTER while she's on the prowl for Mr. Right!

Her longest run (before today) was 6 miles, and I might have freaked her out by explaining that the hill we were running down at the beginning was the exact same one we'd be climbing up a the very bitter end...oops! But let's not worry about that! We took our pretty picture at the beginning (race day braids, ftw!) and watched the half-marathon'ers take off.

15 minutes later, we lined up and jostled around for prime starting spot. We should've jostled more, because we definitely got stuck behind first time 5k'ers who didn't realize people would be breezing past them instantly. Oh yeah, did I mention there was a 10 AND 5k component to this race? Anyway, once we got into our own happy pack, down the hill and onto the greenway, it was amazingly smooth sailing. There were mile markers, happy cheering volunteers, and lots of water stops and port-a-potties! <<deep sigh of happiness>>

The route went from "and now, we RACE!" to "lovely Sunday run on a greenway" after the 5k turnaround. All 3 distances were on the same path, they just turned you back at different points. So many of the distracting people- super bouncy, insane pronators, stiff legged- turned back at the 5k mark, thank heaven! You can only run behind them for so long, darnit!

After our very own turnaround, and by the world's most unenthusiastic spectators, I lost the roomie for a bit. I knew I had the fuel in me (or on me!) and that 6.2 was nada after 13.1, so I opened up a little, saving enough for the hill on the way back. Roomie and I ended up entertaining the bored spectators and she caught up to me about a mile after the turnaround. Seeing the mile markers for the half kept us motivated, we walked through the 2 water stops, and life was GRAND...until we got back to the hill.

I'm still not sure if she was there when I told her "slow and steady" or if I was just talking to myself, but I definitely cut wayyy back on pace, focused on keeping my steps tiny but still coming, and just stared at the asphalt in front of me. Hooray for roads with minimal cantor , so I could find a groove in the road and just stay in that to keep me on the most efficient path up the hill.

The heavy breathing woman that came up the hill beyond me knew the fine Raleigh police officers that were keeping cars from running over us, and we exchanged as many words as our out of breath bodies would let us- "great job!" "almost there!"- and I just. kept. moving. My goal was to NOT let any of the half marathoners pass me, which was a definite probability, given their 15 minute head start and my 10+ min pace. I heard the guy on the microphone that the end of all good races have, and was actually sad that the finish line was so hidden, because as soon as I saw it, sprinting to it was the easiest thing in the world! We estimate our finish time was around 1:07, since the clock started with the half marathoners and our "gun" was 15 min later-esque.

I was able to get my water and in position behind the finish gates in time to get out my phone and snap a picture of the roomie coming across the finish line. She was super excited, also sad the finish line was so hidden, but started spewing some nonsense about doing a half next :) Oh, and we totally were cooled down by the time the first half finisher came across the line, phew!

We asked some random person to take our "after" picture, walked back to the car, and generally reveled in our awesome Sunday morning. I can totally tell my right hamstring is going to be problematic if I don't baby it the next few days, based on how much its tightening.

Overall, GREAT race! Super excited to have my first 10k under my belt, and now its time to keep making hills my B**** before a very special race in 2 weekends :)

Here's to the next tv timeout!
-Syd

Sweet and Sour

Why yes, I had Chinese for dinner, why do you ask?!

This is the story of a "sweet" run and a very "sour" run! My sour run was Tuesday morning with KR. The tl;dr story? Flippin' heat. Almost 2 miles in, when we stopped to talk to the scandalous roomie, my head tried to explode, which my brain and ears didn't appreciate. I at least got up the major part of the hill, after I didn't start attacking it until 1.3 miles into the run, so yay for small victories.


\ <-- sorry about that! to hear from the culprit, go here : http://bit.ly/K5aYcj

Okay, so, on to my "sweet" run...a friend from my gladiator training days posted on facebook yesterday, asking if anyone would go do a 3 mile run with her on Saturday morning. I know her pace, and I can go that speed talking all day now. Serious signs of improvement for me, considering 11:30 pace used to mean concentrating :)

Heather told me it might end up only being 2, not 3, and considering the Roomie and I are doing a hilly 10k tomorrow morning, I was totally okay with that. I figured this run would just be a good "hey, legs, remember what its like to run? ok, then great, we have to do more of this tomorrow!" loosening up.

As we got to running, my running buddy explained her feet have been going numb around the 2 mile mark of her runs, no matter the shoes she wears and no, her laces aren't tight, tyvm. We talked the entire time, and it was weird being the fast one! If I talked, we sped up. If she talked, we slowed down. The first 2.38 miles, we did an 11:30 pace, but we stopped to let her feet get un-numb.

After the remnants of the tropical depression and other high/low pressure system mixtures hit NC, we've gotten lots of rain, which means lots of puddles on greenways. There was one that is obviously a continual problem, because off to the side, someone had placed 2 planks of wood for a makeshift bridge over a washed out creekbed next to a long puddle on the asphalt. This very high tech bad@$$ guy came and splashed in the puddle, couldn't get over it. I backed up a couple steps, hit the last high point on the puddle's edge, and made it across, no big :) Heather saw it and just laughed. You know how you race against people on the treadmills in the gym? I puddle jump competitively, apparently ;)

I've been trying to keep up the general fitness with the help of Beachbody :) Huck has p90x and I did a few workouts with him, and I wake up at 5am now to do TurboFire by myself. Its not as intense- its as intense as you make it, all body weight cardio stuff so far- but the cardio gets your heart rate up and turns you into a sweaty mess. INSIDE! Totally better than running when its 70, or 80 or even the 90 it likes hitting now!

We'll see how well the crosstraining is working after the 10k tomorrow. Recap and pictures tomorrow :)

Here's to the next TV timeout
-Syd

1,2,3

Theres been lots of reasons why I've been failing at updating. First. I havent been running as much. The heat is truly kicking my butt. My 3 miles this morning ended up being 2, a hilly 2, but the humidity made it impossible for me to catch my breath. The hill I've become so accustomed to destroying? Yeah that was 1.5 into my route this morning and I was thankful to get 75% of the way through it, took a detour to walk and then ran down. 

What I found on my detour- a Rose Garden! I stopped, smelled the air, and took pictures :)

I also had a "so bad I don't want to blog about it" run last Tuesday. We had 50 minutes and KR and Huck convinced me we could do the 4.5 mile route...and the the people talked for 5 minutes and the pressure was on to do 10 minute miles. Have I ever explained how badly I fail at running under pressure?! I waived KR and Huck on after a half a mile, said I'd wind my way back to the store and started bawling. Yes, some of it was the oppressive heat and (again) humidity, but I still wasn't over the crap race the Saturday before and the news that my dad's once full thick head of hair was coming out in chunks, thanks to the chemo. As much as I try to stay cool and calm, the surface keeps cracking and with less pressure now.

The second and third reasons I've been a running slacker? Well, they make me much happier. I started biking to work, which is only 4 miles roundtrip, but, being Raleigh, you're either pedaling for your life up a hill or coasting down its backside. Along with that crosstraining, I've been following through with my self made promise to get more weights in. Sometimes its just 18 burpees in the lawn, but last night it was 1/3 of the p90x video that made me hate Tony Horton. For the record, we're doing better, Tony and I, thanks Huck :)

The last reason? Well, he's cute and fluffy and 5 weeks old and still mastering the pounce. It's super hard to wake up and not just let my little Wiley man play all day. The first day I had to leave him and go to work?! Slayed me! Now I get the anxiety women get leaving their babies to go back to work! But, we're getting into a routine now, and I'm fairly confident Wiley will live, and he's growing with minimal parasites on/in him :) and like I said, he's mastering the pounce!

I fear I might have to give up running outside soon. When it was 63, the coolest part of the day, and my lungs couldn't keep up?! No bueno! When I get into a real job, I'll probably check out these gyms that advertise for $10/month memberships and go run on a treadmill and take classes, too! Until then, I'll run as much as possible, keep biking to work (after my "saddle" heals some!), and fall in love with Tony. I've already agreed to do the bi's and tri's tonight, heaven help me! (UPDATE: did it. rocked it! WOO, baby!)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Yep...he might be cuter than Lucy, but don't tell the roomie!

Incredibly cute and maddeningly frustrating

Alright, let's start this off where I thought I would be gushing. This is my in my positively neon outfit for this morning's 10k. Huck and I signed up for the Run for Your Momma 5k/10k in the 10k division, obviously. If you can tell behind me, the ground is a bit sandy, the joys of running in Wilmington, NC. We came to his parents' place for Mother's Day and they live close by, so we figured we'd support a great cause (domestic abuse shelters), get a good run in, PR on a stupidly flat course, and originally, I thought my recent UNC-W alum cousin could run with us. She smartly declined, given the state of her liver last night and I'm thinking tonight, too!

 

Instead, what happened was the most frustrating thing to ever happen during a race. Huck and I realized the field was small enough, we could legitimately place in our age groups, so I told him to go run his race, I'd run mine. After about the first half mile, thanks to all the turns  on neighborhood streets, I'd lost Huck and most of the field.  There was one woman hanging out around me, so we chatted for about 2 miles, and got through a water and Gatorade stop. 

The numerous turns were easy to get through for the most part thanks to volunteers explaining just where we went since their little spray painted wooden stakes didn't match up with where the people were directing us. No big, right?

Until we got to a turn where the volunteer had his top half in a van, explaining where they needed to go to avoid road closures. We kept going on the road we turned down since we could see another white shirted person and runners on the street beyond that guy. Except... that white shirted man was watering his lawn and hadn't seen any runners pass by him, and the people running in front of us were 5k-ers. Cursed baby jogger people that only do 5ks actually came in handy! 

Our little trio turned around, ran up the main street we'd gone past and knew went to the finish/start line. People were cheering us on because we were the first 10kers to come through!...yeah, we crossed over the other set of timing stuff, yelled at the race director "WE GOT LOST!" He told us "its those headphones! You can't hear the directions!"

Yeah... I run with one earbud in when I'm on the sidewalks, so a race that forces me onto 2 lane roads through neighborhoods? You bed I'm keeping an ear out (literally) for cars and I guess "directions", but, as the Roomie said "audio cues?! What is this, Hunger Games?! No booming voice from above!"

It took me so much self control to not just tell the race director where he could shove my earbuds, so our lost trio turned around and just headed out the way we'd come. We decided we'd just add enough mileage to get to 6.2 and say "to hell with the course." 

This strategy meant there were no more water breaks, volunteers looked at us like we were crazy, and my favorite? When, after seeing Huck at the top of my mini-hill (like up 20 feet when my big hill is up 100), I knew something was seriously up. I told the volunteer that wanted me to run down a street to a FLIPPING CONE to shut the crap up, I'd gotten lost and didn't give a crap any more, so for the first (and last?!) time ever, I beat Huck across the finish line.

When every 10k runner got to talking, we realized nobody did the "right" course. What the race director had told us about running on trails? Never happened. Huck's GPS said he ran 6.5, I did 5.95 on my hacked course, volunteers were far away from injured parties, etc. One runner even said when this same group put on a half marathon, there were 3 water stops. After I survived my half, I was thankful for practically all 8 water stops! My 10 miler had 4 water stops... Huck and I were spitting mad, so we left to go meet my cousin for breakfast and said screw the awards. We didn't run the course, so why the crap does it matter if we got awards for our hacking? 

Worst. Race. EVER....and I've run some inaugural races and evil courses before!

What made my day better? When we went back to Huck's house, there was Cerra with her 7 puppies: 

We're pretttty sure Huck's male dog is the father. He's black, just like 5 of the pups!

See those precious little pups?! They were born on Wednesday, so these Friday night pictures are of literally 2 day old babies. They're squirmy and whiny and soooo adorable! Momma dog just lays there and accepts her duty as a milkmaid. 

But the best part?

Those are my two favorite men!

Wiley Mew is about 4 weeks old and his teenage mom had two of her kittens die and sort of gave up on this one, so he was placed in my arms by Huck's parents and it was instant love. Given that Huck has two big dogs that aren't used to cats, much less kittens, and my roomie is allergic to cats, I figured I'd just be surrogate mom for the weekend.

Until... we got back from the race today and for the 2nd straight hour, Wiley wasn't more than 5 feet away from me, a streak that's mostly been kept up all night, even when I was eating sushi for lunch, and Huck said "so... this can happen ONLY if you take care of it, clean the litter box, get it food, take it to the vet...but...because I trust you, we can take him home if you want." I had this tiny thing in my lap, so I couldn't do the same dance I did after a company said "yeah, we'll be making you an offer for a full time position in the Raleigh area this week, or maybe early next week" aka SUUUUUUUUPPPPPER EXCITED! 

 Sooo I'm a kitty mom! Wiley Mew (I named him, Huck and I went back and forth, his middle name was almost "Inigo" ) shall be called "Mew-Mew" until he stops making that sound, but we refer to him as "Wiley" in conversation :) The shirt I was wearing Friday night has become his baby Bjorn. I folded it in half hot-dog style, put him in the crease, and tuck the neck and hem under my arms so I can walk around while still snuggling. I made PB and Nutella sandwiches for breakfast like that today, so it works pretty well :)

Yeah, I think I'm going to like this...

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd (and Wiley)

Things that make me go run...

1. Pushup babies. Let's be honest here.
2. The defined leg muscles. Not just the calves, although seeing the side cut and the split calf muscles are nice, but when you get them in your thighs too :)
3. Waking up at 6:30 and realizing the temperature outside is 50. Just 50. When you know that moments of late spring are quickly fading, 50 makes a warmblooded girl like me put on my socks and get OUT ZE DOOR! 

That was my story Thursday morning, and I was so blindly happy, I just went out the door with the music, no tracking app started. I went right up the baby hill, got to the end of the street, turned around and did the big hill until I hit the other end of the street. I always try to make myself go beyond the apex of hills, so I went to the fire hydrant, turned around, and hoofed it home.

The route was around 3 miles and I figured it was just a good "loosen up the legs, kill some hills" before Saturday's planned flat 10k. No clue on time or pace, and sometimes you just need to run, get out of your head. I mildly give up on getting out of my head, so now I just take those worries and pray. I figure that's more productive!

Up next? One of the most frustrating events of my life, which was followed by quite possibly the cutest event. Trust me...there's already 20 pictures of the cuteness!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

A good run

Like I mentioned here, I've been in need of a "good" run! I made a 10k training program for the roomie in light of the 10k we're doing in June, so I offered to run with her for some of the days. She'd had a bad run on Sunday, too, so we were ready to attack our Tuesday run, wraaarrrgh! She was short on time, having to work a morning shift, couple hour break, and then go to her normal store to finish up for the night. End result? We had to run at 1pm, not my fave time to run, but WHATEVER, this was going to be a GOOD run!

I used my super-secret-awesome trick to keep cool by folding over a hand towel I'd wet with water and then tucking it under my shirt on my neck, held up by bra straps, thus keeping me mildly immune from the muggy slightly overcast afternoon. The funniest part? The roomie's phone said we were going further and faster than mine. Accidental scientific survey :/ Unfortunately, I think mine was a bit closer, which makes our run less bad@$$tic, but when you consider we stopped at lots of stoplights, our pace was closer to my average :)

Pretty sure, based on how I'm walking today, I pulled something during the run. Nothing hurt when I was running, I stretched out like a pro to baby my achy knee, but today I swear someone tugged on my right glutes! I'm meeting friends for dinner and AVENGERS!!! and have warned them I'll be sporting some awesome compression gear :)

Ignoring SC this week (what's new?!) and instead of doing a tempo run, will just run a 10k this weekend in Wilmington and probably 4 miles after it to make it an even 10 :) I might do a couple easy miles tomorrow to keep my miles up without getting too burnt out.

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

PS- my baby hydrangea plant has new baby LEAVES!!! This is the blue one, super excited its not dying :)

Bad runs --> bad blogger

Ok, so I admit that when a run doesn't go how I really want it to- or it happens so flipping early that I forget I did it by the time most people's days start- I don't want to talk about it! Last Wednesday (score one for getting it in before the 1 week date!) Huck and I were out the door by 5:30 for our little jaunt. SC told us to go do 4 miles, but I was a bum and didn't map out a route before, figuring that Huck, battling some sort of ailment, wouldn't join me and I could do the run later in the day after I'd mapped it out blah blah blah. But! He joined me, and I punted on where to go.

Thankfully he lives near NC State, so even at o'dark 30, we had lots of well lit sidewalks, trails and side streets to run on. We did a little loop, then curley cued around, retraced our steps some, and then headed up this slightly evil hill on campus before going home. The route was only 3.2 miles, not 4, but we kept up a 10 min pace, which took a lot over hills like Dan Allen! The short little hills are fun to train on, because you can see the ending and just power through it.

The "bad" run came on Sunday. I was a bad runner and just didn't go on Saturday, even though I had an event I could've gone running at with people I know and even like! But its rare you can just sleep in on a Saturday and I'm usually an 8:30 Sunday church girl. Usually... I worked Saturday night for a place an hour away from home and after pounding LOTS of coffee and Mountain Dew to keep me alive through work and driving back (in the rain, where NC drivers just fail...flashers?! WTH?!) I stared at the back of my eyelids, gave up and puttered around the internet until 1am... so my grand plan of running before 8:30 church went out the window!

I decided on 11am church and planned out my run...and did other random home things...and finally got out the door at 9:30 and realized my awesomely planned out 4 miler would result in a pretty ripe me walking into the sanctuary. I realize God loves everyone, regardless of how badly they might smell or tired they might look after 4 miles with 2.5 killer hills, but I like getting dressed up for church on Sunday, so my 4 mile route got scrapped for the simple 1.5-er. Only, I full blown RAN up the .5 mile hill. RAN. Got into a ZONE and destroyed it! ... and then got to the top, wanting to throw up and realizing that the "oh, this isn't too bad" 75 and slightly humid it'd been when I walked out the front door now felt like a straight up sauna!

So I turned around, easily jogged down the hill and back home and reminded myself to not be a bum! Run early, run the route, get the results you WANT!

The romie had a bad run on Sunday, too, so we plotted to run together, because sometimes you just need a good run!...which I'll save for tomorrow :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Syd

PS- http://bit.ly/JaisAy  <-- why I started crying during the Tarheel 10 miler

Bargaining for the Win

I'd gotten so used to the SC plan telling me to do an EZ 2 miles on Mondays that I just thought that's what I had to do again for Monday, and when I got home and was comfy in my chair, ready to destroy the kitchen cook more, I definitely got to a sad face when I went to confirm my target pace, and maybe finagle the run for Tuesday, not comfy Monday night, and discovered this week is all short runs but Monday was an EZ 4, not 2!

By this time, Huck, who had done p90x and biked over to my house to run with me and would have to bike the 3 miles back to his place when we were done, was game for 4. We bargained back and forth, played with routes on mapmyrun, and settled on a flipping hilly 3. I got out of my comfy cooking clothes and actually put a damp wash cloth on my back and tucked into my bra straps to help keep my cool. There's a heat wave rolling over Raleigh this week and I'm so not used to this running in 77+ heat! (Side note- its supposed to hit 90 multiple days this week, so maybe its kismet that no long runs this week mean less time to be in the heat, but still get acclimated to running in it... sneaky sneaky!)

Huck and I didn't talk about pace for this run, but he'd basically echoed KR's sentiments of "there's no reason for you to run 11 min miles when you can run 8:30s during speedwork for a mile and not collapse by the side of the road" at lunch on Saturday, so I was bound and determined to keep up with him. Did I mention that he'd already been working out for 75 minutes before we started running?! Total point of personal pride to not let this pre-tired man beat me! I just didn't want to run 11 min miles- I'd take 10:45s and say the heat and the hills were my lesson, so I was alright when, at 7 minutes in, the GPS app told me we were doing just that, 10:45s.

The route was running one street end to end, plus a little beyond one end to make it 3 miles and still have a long cool down to look forward to. The I wasn't used to the first part of the run, but it was an uphill, turn around, come back down, down, down, kill the evil hill I always mention, keep going, turn around, run down the hill, the end.

People who train on flats crack me up. In fact, I signed up for a race Mother's Day weekend and since its within running distance of the beach, methinks it'll be pretty flat. Can't WAIT to destroy that 10k!

Anyway, the second time I heard our pace, we were at the bottom of the long evil hill, and we'd dropped down to 10 min pace. I literally laughed outloud to Huck who was a few strides ahead of me. Normally, I'd yell at him about being a bad pacer, but I knew he was just pushing through, and it challenged me to a) keep up with him instead of slowing him down and b) get into my own little uncomfortable groove. I definitely couldn't keep a conversation, but I could eek out "you okay?!" every now and then.

At the 2/3 point up the hill (trust me, I've run this road way too many times to know just where I get to look forward to a break in the hill), Huck doubled over, and I kept running, but I was the good gf and turned around to see how he was doing. He waved me on, so I kept trekking. Before we got to the top of the hill, though, he had passed me again, but he had to stop again at our brief moment of flat, and when he told me "I feel like $***", I told him to just walk back, I'd pass him when I'd turned around. Yes, this sounds mean, but he told me to come run with him that night and "kick my @$$!"


I cheated the turnaround a bit because I knew Huck was back there struggling, and I figured that knocking off .2 miles when I had these hills around me wouldn't make or break me. I'll add it on to another run this week! I picked up the speed down the final hill when I realized I was due any minute for another update to say I'd been going for 28 minutes, so I wanted to finish the roughly 3 mile course before I got that notification. Final stats:

Like I said, warm night, flipping hilly, but I pushed. I feel great this morning, and my little damp washcloth helped keep me cool. It was great to have when we walked back on the cool down. My face turns into a salt lick when I run, so clearing that off and having a cool relief made a world of difference.

Gotta go put my big girl suit on! Not one but TWO interviews today!

Here's to the next TV Timeout!
-Syd

8 at 8

I'm just going to start this with a huge disclaimer. When I was prepping for last weekend's 10 miler race, I made sure to eat my go-to pb and banana on whole wheat bread 2 hours before I ran and kept fueling throughout the run. When I prepped for this Saturday's planned 10 miles? I ate a Mojo bar at 7:15 and was running at 7:40 with limited fuel on me. Can you see where this is headed?!

I ran from Huck's house to Fleet Feet, where I joined up with their Saucony Grassroots run. It was a special event designed to join local (and 30 min away "local" ) run groups with people that might be interested in having people closer to home to talk to when they jog. I looked at all the routes and the main difference between them all was where the turnaround point was. Mentally frustrating for me?! They all required me to go back the direction I'd just come from!

SC wanted me to do 10, but after getting exhausted in a "dear heavens I have no calories to burn after 8 hours of sleep and 2 miles of running and a FRICKIN GRANOLA BAR!" way, I figured I'd go and see how everything felt. I ran with someone I'd never met before, which was a challenge to keep talking as we explained what we did, how we got into running, etc. I'm so used to running with Huck or KR that it was a challenge to remember that not everyone knows that I like to be on the edge of the sidewalk, to your right, and that I'll let you go first when we need to go single file.

Our path took us through Meredith College, over the 440 bridge and through the dreaded NC Art Museum trails/hills :/ I wimped out on them going out, but after we turned around to make the route 6 miles, I bucked up a bit and ran all the way up the longest hill coming back. When we got out of Meredith, I turned right, thanked my running partner for the entertainment, and trekked back to my car at Huck's.

This run took a looooot out of me. I did one round of speedplay, and when I got over a hill and on to where I could do a 2nd round, I didn't trust my balance enough to keep going that speed, but at least I kept going, because Huck drove by!

End result: 8.1 miles in 1:34 on a friggin' empty stomach with hilllllllsssss!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

PS- Huck was out getting pallets, and look what he and his buddies made on a Sunday afternoon :)

Maybe the chair was a bit big?!

Downtown Challenge

Remember when I did the little Easter egg hunt around town? The same store and organizing group had a different challenge this past Thursday. In their Tuesday e-mail, they sent out the clues for Thursday's run, the text of 10 historical signs located around DTR- downtown Raleigh. There are over 32 signs in Raleigh, so knowing which 10 could give you points was key. Oh, as was finding out just WHERE the signs were. And then you had to make the most efficient route as possible to try to max out your options. Ohhh the strategy!

I looked up the clues and sign locations, completely messed up on one of the clues' locations, but still managed to map out a route that hit 8 of the 10 signs and was 5.3 miles. KR agreed to come with me, and since DTR is safe, but not exactly where I'd want to be with just another girl and my running gear, Huck agreed to be our running bodyguard as well. I kept looking at the map on Thursday and managed to cut out .4 miles of running, but keeping all 8 signs. By the way, you had only an hour to do this and get back to the store.

Huck and I loaded the mapmyrun route onto our phones and I had this scrap piece of paper with the turn by turn directions and little stars to remind me that hey, somewhere around here you should be looking for a sign! There were only a few signs that we had all to ourselves, making the process of finding exactly where on the corner our target was super streamlined. Our little trio took pictures at each stop, then figured out where to go next.

KR and Huck are about the same pace, so they ran ahead of me, chatted and every now and then turned around to go "hey, where do we go?!" or "come on!" Lol, I kept up with them pretty well, but I know they had to restrain themselves a bunch with me! In his boredom, Huck ran up a ramp and leaped over the railing at the top of the ramp onto the concrete sidewalk below where his minimalist shoes did jack squat to protect his heel when he landed. He now has a really pretty red bruise not on the heel that hurts, but on the inside of his ankle and chides me to slow down when we walk places together :/

When we got back to the store, 4.83 miles and 55 minutes later, we showed off our pictures for tickets. See the pretty pictures?!

It should be noted that my app never stopped, even when we paused to take pictures, cross the street or figure out just which way to turn and where! A free beer and mass amounts of water  made the pain go away, and I put my tickets in to try to win a foam roller, ice pack, visor or t-shirt/pint glass combination. KR was going for socks and the foam roller, and she did this squeal when they drew for the foam roller first and on her first attempt at the Downtown Challenge, she won the first item! She also won her pair of socks, so she was double happy!

Overall, it was a pretty fun run! Having Huck AND KR run together went very well, which I realized was a gamble since they've only met a few times even though they both hear tons of stories about the other one. Those two swapped notes and realized I can go faster than I have been, so I have this evil feeling I might start getting pushed more soon!

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Syd

Because sometimes I wing it

And by winging it, I mean I use SC (smartcoach) as a guide when I'm recovering from the 10 miler. Monday was icky and rainy and while normally I'd love that, it seriously shot down my motivation to go run. Even the roomie wasn't going to hold me to our 2 mile date. Crap.

But then I committed a cardinal sin of running- I double booked myself! I asked both the roomie AND Huck to do 2 miles on Tuesday!!!...except the roomie went during the day since she had it off and that left Huck and I to do whatever for the evening.

When I thought I'd be double booked, I mentally moved Wednesday's tempo run to Thursday, figuring I'd do my Thursday miles on Tuesday. Confused yet? Don't worry, it'll all be working out in the end :) Instead, I went right instead of left as I left Huck's place (he lives in a valley so its pick a hill to walk up as your warmup!) and he suggested we do a route we'd mapped out a while ago. It meant we had to survive an evil hill, but at least it was done and over with at the beginning of the route, and relatively flat from there.

Huck asked what our goal pace was, and I told him "survive?!" after the gray shaded (aka evil) hill. Surprisingly, we talked from the start through that hill. I'd gotten details of the news from Saturday and I shared them with Huck, along with what I will and won't be doing. Right now, it looks like I'm going home for a very special holiday in June, both to be there for my family and run a race with some of them! I was so focused on the run as we talked that I didn't have any extra energy to cry :)

The mapmyrun lady told me our pace kept dropping... and dropping...even as Huck and I chatted a bit and I focused on NOT crying, so when we got a little bit beyond this awesome photo op, Huck went all Super Coach on me. It was neat having him coach me with fixes that I could do without messing up my form or other crazy stunt. He pushed when I needed it, and we agreed on start/stop points to test out our sprints.

Our fartleks were focusing on one step per sidewalk "square." When the squares were uneven- two where there should've been three- it was hard to keep at it, but to keep up the momentum of such long strides, your speed had to really ratchet up. I don't really know if my turnover increased that much, but lengthening my stride considerably dropped the average pace for our last mostly downhill/fartlek-ing .25 miles a 8:19 mile pace.

Overall, 2.25 miles in 22:10. I'll take it! Fun run for tomorrow night. I've already nerded out about it!!!

Here's to the Next TV Timeout!
-Syd

PS- My tech shirt for my half marathon? Unisex medium and I can swim in that thing. The Tarheel 10 miler tech shirt? I ordered a medium, thinking it was unisex and even if it wasn't, I'm an Old Navy (tall) medium, so even if its tighter than I like, its still not baring everything. When I got to packet pickup, they said these shirts ran small, so they bumped everyone up a size. I should've gone up 2. or 3. the front barely covered my belly button! I've lost most of this tummy and gained a defined waist since I started running! WT...! AND, I realize I have relatively broad shoulders for a girl, but the sleeves started on top of my shoulders by a good inch on each side. Combine that shirt with shorts that are a bit big, oooh dear I was self conscious. Someone yelled something at me from their car as they turned into their apartments but it was during the speed time and they can bite me, so I flashed them not one but two fingers in a gesture of peace- no really, the peace symbol! not two of the same finger but on different hands!- and kept going.

TarHILL 10 Miler

First off, someone else coined the title of the post, but its more PG than what I wanted to call Saturday. Namely, its one vowel too far, but a lot of that has to do with how much I just doooon't like Chapel Hill.

Annnyway. Easiest race recap ever. Ya ready?

The more detailed version goes like this:

Lined up in the endzone of the field at Kenan Stadium, UNC-Chapel Hill (better known to everyone outside of NC as just plain "Carolina"), behind the 10:30 pace group sign. My goal was 11 min miles. Ran into a few people I knew and had last seen at the NC Half in Charlotte, which made me feel slightly less alone! I tried to ignore the people lined up behind me talking about hos compression gear was all a placebo effect, as I had my fancy hot pink compression sleeves on my shins :( Listened to Meb give some inspirational advice, and then, we were off!...sort of. I had to travel the from my endzone to the other one, around, and halfway back down the field before I hit the start line. It was quite an antsy while, which you'll see in my chip vs. gun times.

The course was pretty, well laid out, tons of volunteers making sure you were going the right place, and many chances to see other runners. For one part of it, the 2nd loop around was 2 lanes of the street and the slower first loop around was the other half of the street. I had to keep reminding myself to run MY race and also not get distracted looking at the form of the faster runners.

Water breaks were at the 2, 6 and 8 mile marks, with Gu at the last one. I made the mistake of taking the Gu last, so the last taste I had in my mouth was the vanilla bean Gu, which is a good taste, but I had to climb an evil hill- no really, they do a split time of just that 1 mile stretch because the hill is *that* evil- and finding water after the finish line was like hunting it in the Sahara sooo I should've rethought that strategy. Or they should've had the Gu lady first, not last at the station.

Anyway, I almost stopped at 3 miles in. Not because I hurt, but because a family member I haven't talked to in nearly 3 years called. Other people had been keeping me in the loop, but still, to get the call directly from them was enough to make me break down in tears on the side of the course. I read the Google Voice transcript of their voicemail and had this moment of "what the crap do I do?!" I could've walked back to the stadium, but the more I breathed and thought logically, the less good I figured that would do. I had trained for 10 miles, knew I had it in me, and I'm pretty sure that the way I will deal with this news is running, so might as well get used to it now. Besides, there was nothing I could do, so I might as well just keep running. Yes, the irony of getting a phone call 3 miles into a race that raises money for a cancer research center from someone calling to tell you they're dying of cancer.

I cried, a lot, and pretty sure between my already red-hot face, sunglasses, and my location solidly in the 2nd half of runners, people just thought I was tired and injured. What hurt first, however, were my hips. Just like in my half, I was super excited that what came to my "um...ow?!" senses first wasn't my shins or my knees. My shins felt fine and my knees weren't painfree, but whatever. There were hills, if I haven't mentioned that yet, and some of them were steep mofos, so I don't blame the hip flexors for hurting first. Later that day, my glutes would also scream their "hey, remember us?!?!" message :/

Where am I in this seemingly meandering race recap? Uh, how about if I just get to the end. I was running 10:30 miles until I hit the hill, and I just didn't have the mental focus to keep running, no matter how slow. Only a few short walk breaks, but dang, that killed my pace. My clock time had me doing 11:41 miles, but chip time was better than that :) You can see just how flipping long it took to actually start!

1:56 is my gun time, 1:47 is my chip time, 10:47 is my pace. First 2 numbers are start and end of the eeeevil hill!

I wasn't the happiest camper at the finish line. There was a pause in handing out the medals, so I had to wait on the field surrounded by other recent finishers, no water, no liquid refreshment, and seeing medals finally getting handed out halfway up the stairs with people completely oblivious to the horde waiting for them to MOOOOOOVE below. When I finally got my medal, I was still ready to strangle every volunteer who HADN'T run up Laurel Hill since the last time they had water and told me "oh its not very far"... If I can pass 2 tents of volunteers between you and the water, don't lie to me!

Good race, don't know if I'll do it again, just because its a weird distance, I detest Chapel Hill and UNC especially (hazards of being a State alum) and that hill is nothing but evil.

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Flat Speed

I got behind. Lots of reasons, but Wednesday's speed workout was one I'd been scared to do. I asked the rehabbing KR to be my pacer for it. We built a mini-girl date out of it, so quite fun :) I did just what KR suggested- drank my water and held on tight when we took off! She was keeping track on her wrist GPS and I deliberately turned off my GPS app from telling me average pace. Because we ran on trails, my phone would occasionally tell me my current pace, alternating between 16 and 6 minutes per mile. The 6 was never accurate, although when I took my walk breaks, the 16 might not have been off, but I got told that during my fast times!

The goal for the day was 4 miles total, with 2 single mile fast runs, with 1/2 mile in between. The fast miles I was aiming for 8:45 pace, which was my fastest single mile EVER! KR kept us between 8:15 and 9 pace, occasionally giving me hand taps to slow down (hee hee, never thought I'd have to write THAT!) but even more, especially the 2nd mile, gesturing the "gimme more!"

KR sort of chided me, a lot:/ Her point, methinks, was that I could do the fast miles and not die. Or puke. Not puking is a good thing! IT might be painful, but enh, running for 2 hours is painful. Running for 2.5 hours is a different pain. Be the fast pain. Get back to views like this faster:

Here's to the next TV timeout,
-Syd

A case of the Mondays

SmartCoach told me to go run an easy 2 miles, at a bit faster pace for Monday. When I looked at the weather forecast for Monday at, oh, 11:50pm while reading an old Runner's World magazine Sunday night, I realized that I'd need to be out the door by 8am to have any chance of finishing my run before it got to 70*, and yes, I am still a heat wimp when it comes to exercising. Only then. Other times I'm the first person to be cold in a room and deathly hate all air blowing on me.

Back on track... I put my magazine down and set my alarm for 7am, and figured that if SC wanted me to run 12:31 and I've been trying to go 90 seconds faster, that was 11 min pace...which I knew I could do, no big. Then I looked forward to the speedwork for Wednesday, and well, I'm panicking. Staring down only my 2nd glass of water for the day (whoops!) and remembering what KR wrote to me " Anyone can pump out an mile at a time with a rest, so quit stressing, hydrate and just prep for it, then cling on for dear life when we take off on wed :)"




Wrar, so, alarm went off, I put on my awesome new compression sleeve (story about the uber pinkness some time), made a cute little claw to make sure I got a full 2 miles in, and I killed the final hill so I had to run up and OVER the hill, with a nice long recovery walk back to the house and sleeping roommate :) The entire time, I had this in my head:

And I busted out 10:11 min miles with serious up and down hills. Even MapMyRun calls my standard hill a scorcher! Showered, got on with my awesome day, and generally did my happy "woo!" dance for the day. I did before 8 am more than lots of people do all day :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Syd