12 Miles in the Books....and Weekend Plans

With the Capital City Half Marathon next Saturday and not that many long runs under my belt, I knew I had to get in a solid 12 mile run this morning. I started running from our place and headed to the Heritage Rail Trail which is 1.5 miles away. I jumped on the trail at one of the trail heads and headed another 2.5 miles to the start of the trail to meet Todd. The plan was for me to run 4 miles by myself then meet Todd and we would run another 8 miles together.

The beginning of the Heritage Rail Trail

Rounding the corner to meet Todd
Finishing up 4 miles by myself

I finished my 4 miles in 8:03 pace and was ready to run another 8 miles with Todd. We turned around and headed back down the path where I had just come. We ran the next 4 miles very evenly paced and the miles were all clicking off right around 8:30 pace. Once we hit our next turnaround, we headed back to the start of the trail. We didn't notice a tailwind when we headed out but wow, on the way back, the wind seemed strong at some points and our pace definitely slowed down to about 8:50. I knew Todd was getting tired and he told me with one mile to go to push myself to the finish. I was happy to do that because I wanted to see if I could pick up the pace with tired legs. I ran the last mile in 7:48 pace and finished 12 miles in 8:23 pace. I was pleased with this especially since this was the farthest I'd run since the Columbus Marathon in October.

Todd & I after running 12 miles (me) & 8 miles (Todd)

Our plans for the rest of the weekend include making beer, hopefully unpacking the rest of our place, going on a date tonight, and going to see Mary Poppins at the Ohio Theatre tomorrow evening.

Grinding grain for the beer (with wet hair)
It's hard work!

Inspiration & Motivation

“...I felt amazingly at home in the race, as though I had finally discovered what I’d really been born for. Discovering the marathon was like falling in love with running all over again. I had found my best and favorite place in the sport.”

-Kara Goucher

I just finished reading, or rather skimming, Kara Goucher's new book and although it wasn't the greatest book for running advice I'd read, I really loved reading more about Kara as a runner and everything she has overcome. I had no idea she's had as many injuries as she has and she has still come out on top. The advice given is pretty basic so for a beginner, this book would be great. She has motivational quotes, "Dear Kara" questions, and snippets of info scattered throughout the book, which is why I skimmed the book rather than read it thoroughly cover to cover. I think reading about Kara was just the inspiration & motivation I needed to jump back on the marathon bandwagon.

Easter Weekend

Todd & I headed up to Leetonia, in northwest Ohio, on Saturday to spend Easter weekend with Todd's family. My parent's went to San Francisco for the week to visit my brother so it was an easy decision who's family we would be spending the holiday with. We stopped a couple hours into the drive for a quick lunch and on the way out of the parking lot, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this horse & buggy load a tank of gas onto the back. It seemed a little ironic if you ask me.

We got in to Leetonia in the middle of the afternoon and Todd's nephew, Andrew, was just getting up for a nap. He kept us busy as we watched him ride his bike outside and play hide-and-go-seek. After dinner, Todd, Andrew, and I dyed Easter eggs. I hadn't done this since the last time we came up for Easter 2 years ago and it was surprisingly fun.

Todd was pretty serious about dying his Easter eggs

All of our beautiful eggs

We woke up early on Sunday to a rainy Easter day and got ready for church. After we got home from church, we ate breakfast, which I followed with dessert, which rolled right over into lunch. I really felt like I ate for about 4 hours straight! Besides Todd's parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, there were several other cousins and family members that joined us for Easter lunch. We hadn't seen most of them since Christmas so it was nice to catch up and even though the trip went by fast, it was a great weekend.

Todd & I after church

The family

Lots of delicious Easter food
Followed by too many desserts & sweets to choose from

Weekly Recap: April 18-24

As I mentioned later last week, I came down with what I think was a sinus infection on Wednesday. I had a fever, chills, congestion, and terrible pressure in my head. I took Thursday & Friday off of work (I can't remember the last time I took 2 days off in a row due to sickness) but unfortunately still taught spinning on Thursday evening. I know that wasn't my brightest idea ever because I came home from class and went straight to bed.

On Saturday, I woke up feeling a lot better and headed to the gym since I had 12 miles on my schedule & it's been raining for the past week. I didn't have any intention of doing 12 miles but was hoping to get in at least 8 miles. Even though I was feeling better, I could tell I was still a little under the weather because I was struggling with running. I felt tired, breathless and I was running slow. I managed to run 7 miles in a little under 9:00 min pace. Since Todd & I went to visit his family for Easter for the rest of the weekend, I gave myself another rest day yesterday in hopes to have a great running week this week.

Monday: 4 mi (7:39 pace)

Tuesday: taught 1 hr Spin/TRX combo class
taught 1 hr spinning

Wednesday: 6 mi (8:37 pace)

Thursday: taught 1 hr spinning

Friday: REST

Saturday: 7 mi (8:54 pace)

Sunday: REST

TOTAL: 17 mi

Love Letter to the Boston Marathon

This pretty much sums up all feelings I have for Boston.

Love Letter to the Boston Marathon

source: Deseret News

Sometimes We Need a Rest Day

With the move, "training" for a half marathon (ok, so I really haven't been training that much), teaching 5 classes/week, and working full-time, it shouldn't come to a surprise that I'm worn down. I didn't have much time on Monday to workout so I squeezed in a quick 4 miler on the treadmill in 7:39 pace. I felt awesome, it was one of those runs when you feel like you could go forever.

Yesterday, I planned to run 8 miles. We had a night of terrible thunderstorms that continued into the early morning so I again was forced to the treadmill. I knew from the start of my run that it wasn't going to be anywhere near how I felt on Monday. I was struggling to run under 9:00 pace from the beginning. My breathing felt labored and I just felt tired. I managed to run 6 miles in 8:37 pace but felt exhausted.

It truly is amazing how our bodies respond when we're worn down. I don't think I could have run any faster on that 6 mile run if I had tried yet a couple days beforehand I was banging out miles at a pace almost 1 minute faster. So, on top of everything that's been going on, I woke up this morning with a fever of almost 101 degrees. Clearly, my body is responding to all the stress & craziness going on in my life and is telling me, sometimes we need a rest day. I haven't taken a sick day in almost a year and a half, and today, I'm resting my body in hopes to be refreshed for a trip to Leetonia this weekend to visit Todd's family for Easter.

Unpacking....Slowly

Todd & I moved in to our new place together last Thursday and we're slowly getting unpacked. It's hard when we've both been living by ourselves for years and now we have two of everything....2 toasters, 2 blenders, 2 waffle makers, 2 quesadilla makers....you get the point. So not only are we trying to unpack everything and decide where to put it all, we also have to decide what we're actually keeping. I'm hoping our place will be livable by the end of the month but that might be stretching it.

Our family room

Our kitchen Another view of the kitchen

I was pretty excited to finally open my package from Amazon the other day too while unpacking. I didn't see the need to open the box at my old apartment and then repack it to move a few days later so I just opened it over the weekend. Once I finish the book I'm currently reading about the Chilean miners, I'm going to start on these.

One of the shelves of our bookshelf is full of running...you can never have too many running books

And in honor of the Boston Marathon yesterday, I couldn't resist having a Boston Cream Pie toaster strudel....definitely not as good as the real thing in Beantown though. Reading about the race yesterday and hearing about how some of my friends did really makes me want to go back to Boston again, maybe 2013?

Weekly Recap: April 11-17

I was really hoping to get in at least a 11 or 12 mi run last week but moving put an end to those plans. Todd & I hired movers on Thursday and they didn't leave until almost 7:00 PM from unloading our stuff into our new place and we hadn't even begun to unpack yet. I was able to get up on Friday and run outside on a fantastic bike path only 1.5 mi away from our townhome. It was windy on the way out but on the way back I was hitting 7:30s for my splits and was very happy with that. The only downside is that my bunion on my left foot has really been hurting recently and I think I've been overcompensating for this and running more on the outside of my foot. The next day, the bottom of the outside of my foot was killing me so I need to figure out what's going on. I have my half marathon in a few weeks with no goal in mind so I might just go into this race and have fun. Oh, and we still have a ton of boxes to unpack.

Monday: 45 min elliptical; lifted total body

Tuesday: taught 1 hr Spin/TRX combo class

3 mi w/Todd (8:42 pace)

Wednesday: 6 mi (8:07 pace)

Thursday: taught 1 hr Spin/TRX combo class

taught 1 hr spinning

Friday: 6 mi (7:46 pace)

Saturday: 30 min Yoga on Exercise on Demand

Sunday: taught 20 min core & taught 50 min spinning

taught 1 hr TRX class

TOTAL: 15 mi

My 2009 Boston Experience

With the Boston Marathon approaching on Monday, I've been thinking a lot about my own Boston experiences. Although I've qualified for the past 3 Boston Marathons, I've only run one--2009. I qualified in my second marathon, Rock & Roll Arizona 2008, with a time of 3:38. A few months after that race, I started running with Sara (my former coworker & friend who's wedding I met Todd at) who introduced me to Emily and Tracy. The 4 of us ran together every weekend and Em & I typically ran together during the week. We all had a goal to qualify and run Boston in 2009. I was lucky enough that I already had my BQ but still trained throughout the summer of 2008 with the girls and ran the Columbus Marathon in the fall in 3:34. Em also qualified at Columbus, Tracy qualified at the Akron Marathon, and Sara had deferred her Boston entry from the previous year.

Despite Sara moving to Pittsburgh in the fall of 2008, the 4 of us still trained for Boston together. We took a roadtrip to Pittsburgh for one 20-miler and Sara came to Columbus for another one. We had a blast training together and wanted to have just as much fun running Boston. We worked so hard to qualify that we were going to use Boston as our victory lap. Running the Boston Marathon was a dream of all of ours and I ran all 26.2 miles with a huge smile on my face.

Entrance to 2009 Expo

Em, Tracy, Sara, and I at dinner the night before the race

Oh, did I forget to mention my brother was also running?

The 4 of us in Athlete's Village before the start

We had matching outfits (thanks to Sara who worked for Mizuno!) and were still all smiles at mile 17 despite Heartbreak Hill on the horizon

Running strong with less than 1 mile to go

Our official Boston finish line photo....quite possibly one of my favorite all-time pictures

We did it! We ran 3:55 and it was a day that I will never forget

Lots of Change

While there is lots of change going on in my life right now with Todd & I moving in together tomorrow, we also had lots of loose change that we needed to count. We combined both of our jars of loose change and headed to coinstar to turn it in. Since coinstar takes almost 10% of the money it counts, we decided to turn in our change for an Amazon giftcard instead so we didn't lose any money.

Our jar of coins

Todd & I bet each other how much we thought was in the jar--Todd guessed $83 and I guessed $127. We were both way off!

We had $200.18 in the jar!

Todd is excited for our Amazon giftcard

Now we just have to agree on what we want to buy with it...

Weekly Recap: April 4-10

My goal for the week was to run between 20-25 miles and I hit that perfectly with 23 miles over 3 days. My legs were definitely beat after running 10 miles on Saturday then immediately teaching a 1 hour Spinning/TRX combo class but I was able to wear my compression socks and lay on the couch for a bit afterwards. I'm not really sure what this week will hold since Todd & I are moving on Thursday but I'm hoping to get in at least 25 miles and have my long run at 11 or 12 miles.

Monday: 7 mi (8:06 pace)

75 min Power Flow Yoga

Tuesday: taught 1 hr Spinning/TRX combo class

Wednesday: 6 mi (8:19 pace)

Thursday: taught 1 hr Spinning/TRX combo class

taught 1 hr spinning

Friday: REST

Saturday: 10 mi w/ Todd (8:40 pace)

taught 1 hr Spinning/TRX combo class

Sunday: taught 20 min core & taught 50 min spinning

TOTAL: 23 mi

Building Up My Mileage

I got up bright & early this morning to get in a 10 mile run before teaching a class at the gym. I ran the first 2 miles by myself in 7:50 pace than Todd joined me for another 8 miles. We ran the 8 miles in 8:51 pace so my overall time for 10 miles was 1:26:37 for 8:40 pace. I was very proud of Todd for running 8 miles in under 9:00 min pace because he hadn't run this far in almost 2 months. I definitely enjoyed his company while running and it made the time fly by. The weather was perfect too, in the low 50s and the sun just barely peeking out. My half marathon is in 4 weeks and I feel confident after my 10 mile run this morning that I'll be able to squeeze in a few more double digit runs before race day.

After the run, I took a quick shower and relaxed for about an hour before heading out to teach a 1 hour Spinning/TRX combo class. By the time the class was over, I was exhausted! It was a little after noon and I hadn't had anything to eat yet except a glass of Gatorade. I stopped by Whole Foods and picked up an afternoon treat for myself...

Mint Chocolate Luna Protein Bar (new flavor!) and a giant soft pretzel

The rest of the day will be spent packing up my apartment and attempting to watch most of the shows I have DVR'ed over the past couple months. Tomorrow will be a gorgeous day in central Ohio with temps in the mid-80s and the sun shining!

Warrior Dash 2011

Todd & I signed up for the Warrior Dash at the beginning of the year. I had heard of it before but now that the race is in Ohio for the first time, I swear, everyone I know is doing it! The Warrior Dash will be held in Logan, Ohio on June 4-5 and we'll be toeing the line on Saturday, June 4 at 9:00 AM. Heats of the race go off every so often throughout the day and we're the first heat on Saturday. The race is 2.91 miles long and consists of 14 challenges:

Wicked Windstorm--run through gale force winds

Knee High Hell--speed step through hundreds of tires

Junkyard Jam--stampede through a scrap yard

Deadweight Drifter--trudge through waist deep water & over logs

Tunnels of Terror--crawl through dark black tunnels

Hell's Hill--sprint to the summit

Walk the Plank--traverse the gully on wooden planks

Warrior Wall--climb over a wooden wall

Hay Fever--hustle up & over giant bales of hay

Rio Run--dash down the river

Cliffhanger--rappel down the steep ravine

Cargo Climb--maneuver over the cargo nets

Warrior Roast--leap over fire

Muddy Mayhem--crawl under barbed wire

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little nervous! I obviously know I can run 2.91 miles but some of these challenges look, well, a little challenging! Luckily, we're just doing the race for fun so we don't need to stress over performing well.

Here's a few pictures I found on google from previous Warrior Dash races.

2 months till race day!

Wedding Wednesday

Todd & I have spent the past few weekends not only beginning to pack up our apartments so we can move in together in 1 week (!!) but also registering for our wedding at Crate & Barrel, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and Macy's. We also met with our priest and music director at the church we're getting married at. Unfortunately, there aren't really any fun pictures to show for this stuff. My Matron of Honor, who designed our Save the Dates, is currently designing our invitations. Once we have them mailed out in a couple months, I'll be showing those on the blog.

One of the bigger issues I had a few months ago was finding the perfect shoes to match the bridesmaid dresses. Any time I would find grey peep-toe heels that were cute, they would be sold out of some of the sizes my girls needed. I probably looked online at least 2x/week for a couple months before I found a fabulous pair. The good news, they were on sale at DSW and only had to pay $40 so they got both their dress & shoes for under $100! I think I should be nominated for bride of the year. Oh, and even if you add to that the cost of getting their hair done the day of the wedding, I'm pretty sure the groomsmen will be paying more to rent a tux.

Bridesmaid dress

The matching shoes

Weekly Recap: March 28-April 3

My running was down significantly last week because I was busy teaching--I ended up teaching 6 classes! I'm hoping to run a total of 20-25 miles this week with my long run being around 10 miles. I only have 4 weeks until my half marathon!

Monday: taught 1 hr TRX class

Tuesday: 3 mi (8:17 pace)

taught 20 min core class

Wednesday: 5 mi (8:11 pace)

1 hr Power Flow Yoga

Thursday: taught 75 min Spinning/TRX combo class

Friday: 40 min elliptical

Saturday: taught 45 min spinning

4 mi (7:41 pace)

Sunday: taught 20 min core & taught 50 min spinning

TOTAL: 12 mi

First Wedding Shower of the Season

Todd went to his first ever wedding shower & I went to my first wedding shower of the season last night for my friends, Courtney & Craig. They had a couple's shower and while I wasn't really sure what to expect with a couple's shower, it was a blast. It was great to have all my best girlfriends and their significant others all together. I feel very lucky that I'm not only still close to my friends from high school but also that our significant others get along so well. After some big disappointments the last few weeks, this was just the night I needed and I haven't laughed this much in a long time.

The spread....mini burgers, bruschetta, veggies, fruit, chips & guac, pasta salad, and some yummy desserts

The Sexy 7....the bride is in the middle in bright pink

Hanging out with my Matron of Honor & one of my bridesmaids

Todd & I

Courtney & Craig opening presents