Happy Halloween!!

I forgot to wish everyone a Happy Halloween!! I don't usually post non running related pics but here is a glimpse of what I was this year...I went to a couple parties so I dressed as two things

Holly Golightly- Audrey Hepburn "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

Mime

Saturday Night was a bit messy, so I showed up like this with the Audrey Costume underneath. People thought I was Jackie O...so this was me this morning on the way to work.

I'm either Jackie O or a person in mourning (because all of my clothes are black anyway)..

I made over the blog to GO PURPLE!!! I am still $265 from my goal. Please follow the link on the upper right hand side "Make a Donation Here," if you haven't already. Every dollar counts guys :) And thank you to everyone who has already donated this year, and in the past. We are all making a difference!

Working Out the Final Touches

Oddly, I am not sore today! Hooray!!! I did get a full 8 hours of sleep last night, well 7 hrs and 45 minutes. So glad for night time showers! I feel refreshed today :)

I was googling, and came across this link of tips from Hal Higdon for Marathon beginner’s. I don’t care how many races I run, I would like to remain a beginner please. Thank you. I think with only 20 days remaining I will read a little each day so I get more and more excited for the big day!
Marathon Tips  


Since it was just two coaches and I yesterday for the last 9 miles, I got to pick their brains. They told me to wear whatever I plan on wearing for race day, this weekend for the 18 mile run. Her exact words were ‘Nobody wants mystery chaffing day of.’ Agreed. I remember running this summer, I think it was the 6 hr run and my arms being chaffed for like a week because I chose to wear a ribbed tank top. Fail. But I learned my lesson and the 8 hr run was minimal chaffing I think. I would like to be loud in my attire choices, because why not? It will be something to celebrate!

I know I have brought it up several times through writing and in person, but the intro speech at the Nashville Marathon was my absolute favorite and I continue to think of race day this way. The announcer talked about the months it takes to train for a marathon, and how much that is a part of it. I mean race day itself is such a small part of the whole. He said ‘You all have put in your work already, now it’s time to take your victory lap. That’s what today is.’ Immediate goose bumps. (I have heard people call goose bumps, goose pimples at least 8 times in the past month and it still catches me off guard. TomAyto..Tomahto).

I have an 18 mile run and a 10 mile run left that’s it! I didn’t realize til just now, holy crap! 20 days left…less than 3 weeks!! And 10 weeks til Disney!!! Holy Moly!! Where did the time go?

"Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.”

Sweat It Out

Today I ran my fastest 12 miles ever! 2 hours even! My PR for a Half Marathon (13.1 miles) is 2:28.. So had I been running a Half today I would have broken my record!

Big things!!

It was a chilly one, but nothing I hadn't done before. I was talking about training for Nashville and the 16 miles we did in 18 degree weather. Not too many people came out this AM.
I ran with Annie at first, she ran the Nike Women's Half two weeks ago in San Fran. She told me all about it, sounded hilly. But I love the fact that they get Tiffany Necklaces at the end instead of medals, mixes it up. She said the expo had booths where you could have your hair done, or make a smoothie, or get a facial... Typical womanly things. All in all she had fun.

She ran the first 3 miles with me and then two of the women coaches met me before Falls Bridge. We ran to the 6 mile marker and turned around.

I was doing 2:1 today but when I was with the two coaches the pace was quicker. I thought my watch had stopped working at the end of the run when I looked down and saw the time. I was glad I didn't have to run alone.

When I got home I still felt good, so I text my friend to see if she was around to check out the Bikram Yoga place. We went to a 3:30 class today. Man that was hot, I sweat so much. It was hard and I'm pretty sure I'll be sore tomorrow. I paid for the intro so I can go whenever this week. I'm gonna have to fit at least two more in.

Some people are so flexible it's crazy. I accept my stiffness though. I can hold a tree pose for an hour yet I can't touch my toes or lift my legs straight up while lying down. I don't know why that is.

Today was a good exercise day. I feel good oh and the Eagles just beat the Cowboys do obviously it was a great ending to a wonderful day :)

Treadmills….arg!

That is pretty much what I think about that. The best, possibly only, good thing is being able to watch TV while you run.

The other night I went to the gym to run and it is pretty annoying to do the intervals, but I did it. A guy got on the treadmill next to me…There were about 11 empty ones, not exactly sure why he wanted to go right next to me. I was the only other person running. My gym is weird though, because it is all windows and I can see why people would count the row closest to the street out immediately. Awkward…

So kid gets on the treadmill and I am about 15 mins into my run already. He starts his jogging and you guys know the deal, he started looking at my machine. Probably because I was changing the speed every 2 minutes, but I made sure not to look at his. At least until he was off of it and couldn’t see me.

He didn’t bother me too much and when he got off, I glanced over to get the results: 30 mins and ran 3.76 miles I just smiled. It doesn’t matter how fast people go, even though I will look every time. After my 5 I still felt really good, which is good because I will have to do 5 times that in a couple weeks.

Anyway, the gym process is not my favorite. I cannot tell you how many times I have gone through routines with trainers on free weights and exercises yet every time I get there I hit the treadmill and unless I am taking a class, I leave. I know that strength training is important but I don’t know I am set to Cardio for some reason.

The Team Run this week is at Kelly Drive, 12 miles. I love how the down week is still pretty far to most people but 12 miles sounds like heaven to me now. I know I can do that, and I know that it will be freezing! I do love running in the cold though. It has been awhile, but if you go back in the blog I posted a pic from Valley Forge in 2010 when the Gatorade froze on the ground, I think we had done 16 that morning.

Now that the cold is coming, I have to fish through my running clothes. There are countless zip ups….somewhere in the clothes. I did learn my lesson on Sunday which I often forget, run home. I need to run home or at least not stay out for extended periods of time after my run. I need to change my clothes (shower) and get warm. Once I am sweating and then sit for awhile I start shaking and it is freezing! So Sunday I will run my 12 and run HOME!

Quieting the Mind- Opening the Soul

I have been really tired the last couple days. The good news is, I have been sleeping alot. I just joined the gym near my new apartment and with that I always make a decision to attend the fitness classes.

I have always dabbled with Yoga over the past few years, since High school actually. I go through phases where I practice once or twice a week for a few weeks before falling out of it again. I feel like more and more of my friends have been doing Yoga regularly and I would like to join them. They have Vinyasa at my gym and there is a studio on Sansom St that does Bikram, which is where a few of my friends go.

Bikram Yoga is done in an 120 degree room. I sweat when it is 50 degrees outside so I am sure I would lose buckets... But not one person had anything negative to say about it. I think I will give that a try the next couple weeks.

Obviously I will still be training, with 25 days to go, but I think Yoga will be a nice addition to it. I wish that I had the ocean at my doorstep to go to each morning and meditate and stretch. I do have the Schuylkill River right there and a new gym membership so no more excuses.

"Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind"

Many the Miles...

26 Days!!! Holy Crap! Yesterday I ran my longest run for this training, 20 miles! I went camping (well in cabins so kind of camping) this weekend and missed the team run at Valley Forge Saturday. I did my 20 at Kelly Drive yesterday from 2:15- 6:45…

Man, let me just tell you, there is nothing more powerful in the human body than the mind. I have been lucky to not have hit ‘The Wall’ in every one of my long runs, however yesterday was a different story. It was nice out, nice enough to run in my skort, a t shirt, and I brought the sleeves in case. What I did not think through was the sun going down around mile 18.5 and then I was freezing!

Anyway, so the wall… I ran the first 15 miles with the 2:1 interval, Run 2 mins walk 1. And it was good, kept about an 11-11:30 mile to that point. Then I started to get tired (Mentally I was coming up with reasons why this was harder then it needed to be) I switched my interval to 1:2 and thought that it would help so I could keep the running steady for that one minute and get to walk more.

My brain was just not having it. I started to feel my muscles ache and about then was when my left knee started to creek. In fairness the knee usually starts to hurt after 12-13 miles but when my mind notices and is looking for reasons to through in the towel the pain pulses in my mind and I can’t let it go. I started to resent the beep of my watch, even for 60 seconds I didn’t want to run anymore. The dilemma here being, I just needed to get to where I was going and I would be done. It wasn’t like I could just get in my car and finish the run. I was going to get the miles in no matter what.

About 16.5  miles in I heard someone call my name. It was my friend Suzy! We stopped and talked for 10 mins or so and I was so happy to see someone. Even though it was only 3 and a half hours or so of no talking, I was so happy to have a conversation.

Friday I did get to run 5 miles in the morning before work. I was laying in bed thinking of a hundred reasons why I should not get up but thankfully I got out there. I took some pics from that run:

Oh I forgot, Saturday I went Horseback riding. It was my second time ever on a Horse (Midnight). I had a lot of fun but a little soreness in the thigh area. 



Today I am sore city. I got a cramp in my left calf when I was sleeping Saturday morning, in the bunk and man it was painful. Usually I will punch my leg and cry until it goes away but it was 9am and there were a couple other girls sleeping in the cabin so I quietly held my leg with a death grip until I could swing it to the side and hop in my sleeping bag a couple feet. The pain was there about an hour after I was awake and went away, but today the left calf is a hurtin'. I laid in bed until the absolute last minute this morning, wishing I could sleep for just one more day.. But I got up and I am here, at work.. Wanted to Update this before I got back to the grind for real.

I have Nutrition tonight, which is pretty cool to take a look at, however I feel like I exclude myself from what we discuss. Like the fact that I ate eggs, potatoes, and a bagel this morning...I think the whole 20 mile run yesterday gives me a free bagel card  :)

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." ~Buddha

It's when I think about the miles behind me and the ones left ahead that my mind gets overwhelmed, but when I focus on just this one minute or one mile, anything is possible.

Up Before The Sun

I actually woke up in time to run yesterday. Got a slow start but I thought if I could just get outside then God will take care of the rest. I started running toward the River and saw Hot pink in the sky from a few blocks away. It was a gorgeous sunrise.

On the way home I ran into Caroline and it was nice to see a friendly face so early. I tried to run through city hall but the cops have their paddy wagons blocking the 4 entrances. Occupy Philly has grown over the past 2 weeks and there are tents everywhere on the West side of City Hall. Everyone was still sleeping when I ran by but I snapped some pictures on the way.

I am exactly $300 from my fundraising goal with one month left! If you haven't already and can donate even one dollar, please click my donation link on the upper right corner of this page.

I am kind of looking forward to my 20 mile run this weekend. I know that sounds crazy but it is my farthest training run and once it is finished I will know I am in the home stretch of my training.

I watched 'Run Fatboy Run' the other night and I still love. Training for a marathon in 3 weeks, hilarious Brit humor. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly suggest it.

Here are some pics from yesterday:

One month 3 Days

Yesterday I ran 12 miles at Valley Green. It was a gorgeous day for a run. I feel like I'm the runner with ADD.. But nature can be so overwhelmingly beautiful that all I want to do is capture it. Pictures never justify the sites or moments but I continuously try to. Here are some pics from yesterday...