Renaissance Festival and evening long run

I feel so good right now! It's been a long (but nice) day.

This morning, we got a phone call at 5:30 saying that the kids' school was canceled due to fog. Normally, they just have a two-hour delay when there is dense fog like there was this morning, but they were already scheduled for a half-day of school, so it made more sense to just cancel school for the day. The kids and been begging me yesterday if they could skip school today, because it was only a half day, so when they got up this morning, I told them they could skip (haha! I left out the part that it was canceled).

I had a long run scheduled today (well, actually, my schedule said a 5K race for this week, but I didn't plan to do that, so I just figured I'd repeat last week's long run of 8 miles). When school was canceled, I decided to just do my long run Sunday morning instead, so I could spend time with the kids today.

We wanted to do something fun with them, because Jerry was off work today, so we were browsing the internet for ideas. We finally decided to go to the Renaissance Festival in Holly, Michigan. I'd been there once before, but it was when I was in college (2000-ish), so I couldn't remember much. We were going to buy the tickets online, and I was shocked at how expensive they were--$22 for adults, and $12 for kids. I started looking for discount codes, and couldn't find any, so we just decided to hold off and get the tickets at the door.

We drove up there (about an hour and a half away) and when we got in line for tickets, a man asked me if we needed to buy tickets. I said yes, and he handed me three tickets and said he had extra. How awesome is that?! So we just had to buy one more ticket, and all four of us got in for the cost of a $12 ticket. I was so glad we hadn't bought the tickets online. The generosity of strangers is awesome.

We walked around for a bit, and watched a few shows. I really liked the magician and the acrobats.

Magician cutting a banana with a bull whip

I can't even!

Watching the jousting show

I have a photo of me in this cutout from 2000, and I wish I could find it!

Jerry looks like he was meant for this cutout

The boys all wanted a turkey leg for lunch. We should have gotten just one and let them each try it to make sure they liked it, because Jerry and Eli didn't even end up liking it! Eli may have liked it more if he wasn't missing so many teeth--poor kid, he has a hard time eating anything that isn't cut into small bites because he lost so many baby teeth at once. ;)

We stayed about three hours, and then headed home. I was thinking about how I'd skipped my run, and thought maybe I should just do it tonight, and get it over with. I didn't want to have to think about it all weekend. So at around 4:30, I got dressed to head out for 8 miles. I very rarely run in the afternoon/evening, especially a long run!

I wasn't sure how I'd feel, considering the time of day, the heat, and the fact that I was walking around at the festival for a few hours. So I decided to just run however it felt comfortable for the first mile, and let that determine what I'd aim for during the rest of the run. Surprisingly, I felt pretty good, and did the first mile in 9:46. So I decided to aim for sub-10:00 splits. I planned a 5-mile loop and then a 3-mile loop, so that I could get water after mile 5 if needed.

Toward the third mile, I wasn't feeling so hot, and decided that if I could hit all sub-10's for the 5-mile loop, I could stop after that fifth mile. Since I was technically only scheduled for a 5K, I figured it'd be fine to cut the run short at 5 miles. I made it a mission to hit sub-10's for the fourth and fifth mile. When I reached my house, Jerry had my water outside for me, so I gulped some down. I was trying to decide if I should aim for 3 more. I didn't feel terrible, so I knew I could do it. I asked Jerry if he'd finish it out with me, and he agreed. I needed a little something to get me through that last 3 miles, so a running partner was perfect.

I told him I was aiming for sub-10's, but after a half mile, I said forget it--let's just slow down and run easy. My pace slowed to about 10:10, and with a quarter mile to go, I was feeling little better, and decided to just go for sub-10's all around. The last three miles was VERY tough, especially in the sun, but I managed to do it! I can't even describe how good I felt when I was done.

I couldn't believe it when I saw my recovery time--my Garmin determines how long I need to recover from a run based on how hard it was. Normally, it will tell me anywhere from 24-36 hours, occasionally up to 60 hours if it's really tough. Today? It wasn't even measured in hours, but in DAYS. Bahaha! At first glance, I thought it said 35 hours, but upon closer inspection...

Turns out I had burned 103 calories per mile--that's a lot for me! Now I can rest over the weekend, which sounds very nice :) My uncle is in town from Florida, so we have plans to have dinner and watch the Tigers game with him tomorrow night.

Continue Reading...

Gadgets and stripes

Today is already Thursday! I feel like I was just whining about my long run yesterday, but it was actually a week ago. Tomorrow, I have another long run, and I just hope I feel more motivated than last week.

After the kids left for school this morning, I got ready to run. I downloaded a card game app to my phone yesterday, and I really wanted to play it--but I told myself I couldn't play it until after I'd gotten my run done (just three miles). I had been browsing through apps on my new phone when I noticed one with a bunch of card games (I love cards). I discovered that it actually has "my" game--the one that I've been playing since I was probably Eli's age, and have never won. I play it (with actual playing cards) several times a week, hoping that I might win it someday. Anyway, it's on the app, which I was so excited about! It's called 13 Stacks. (The app is called Card Shark Collection, by the way, and it has all of my favorite games--well worth the $1.99 download if you like cards!)

Anyway, after getting ready to run, I felt a bit ridiculous with all the gadgets I was wearing (I forgot to take a pic in my running clothes, so I had to recreate it in my jeans):

Gadgets? What gadgets?

The Fitbit is so small (and I normally wear it under my jeans, attached to my underwear) that I don't really notice it. But since I'm wearing this iFit band for a few weeks, it feels awkward wearing my Garmin along with it. When I got ready for my run today, I had all three gadgets on, and felt a little ridiculous ;)

It was really humid this morning. I noticed it when I was walking Eli to the bus stop, and quizzing him on his spelling words. The paper that listed his words felt soggy by the time we got to the end of our street. So even though the temp was low (48 degrees), I still got really sweaty for a three-miler, and looked like I'd run much farther.

As I was running today, I was thinking about how hard this pace feels right now, when just a year ago, I was running 10+ miles at an 8:45 pace. I'm not necessarily upset about it, because I haven't been focusing on speed at all this year (I can't even remember the last time I did speed work, actually!); but I think I'd like to get back to doing some speed work after the Runner's World Half & Festival next month. I feel like I'm starting back at the beginning, and I'm sure it'll be really difficult at first, but hopefully my muscles (and my lungs) remember how to run fast!

I'm setting a goal to be able to get back down to a sub-2:00 half-marathon by May 2nd. What's on May 2nd? The 500 Festival Mini Marathon in Indianapolis! I've done that half-marathon four times (I walked it in 2008, 2009, and 2010; and ran it in 2011). It was the first race I've ever participated in, actually, and it holds a very special place in my runner's heart.

And in May, I'm going with some very special friends: my Ragnar team, From Strangers to Sole Mates, is having a reunion. I'm SO excited about this! So I'd really like to get back in good running shape for that reunion, and hopefully pull off a sub-2:00. Anyone else doing the Mini in May? If I remember correctly, it's the largest half-marathon in the country, so I'm hoping to run into a few readers.

---

Noah cracks me up! My mom's neighbor gave me some really nice clothes that she didn't want anymore, and when I tried on this blue and white striped shirt, I couldn't decide if it was really cute or not cute at all. I liked it on the hanger, but I wasn't sure if it looked okay on me. Noah was the only one around, so I asked him, "Do you think this shirt is cute? Or ugly?" He studied me for a second, then said seriously, "Well, I think it would look nice if you wore blue and white striped pants with it."

Haha! Jeans are out--I guess I need to find me some blue and white striped pants ;) That's what I get for asking a 10-year old boy for fashion advice. I ended up wearing the shirt--I like it!

Continue Reading...

Unusual items seen on a run

Today was a rest day, but I didn't really want to completely rest, because we are having this iFit competition with the Runner's World Half bloggers. I decided that I'd go for a long walk today. After I got the kids off to school, I answered some email, and then spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to decide where and how far to walk. I was using Garmin Connect to map out spots to walk, and feeling really ambitious (mapping out 10-ish miles).

Finally, I just got annoyed that I was wasting so much time, so I threw on my shoes and headed out the door. Because I was walking, and not running, I brought along my iPod to listen to podcasts. I felt like I was walking FOREVER when I finally reached what I knew as the one-mile mark from home. I'd only walked a mile, but it felt like slow motion, and my thoughts of an 8-10 mile walk were gone. I was tempted to either break into a run, or turn around and head back home, but I kept going.

There are some weird things on the side of the road:

Lace panties

Naked Barbies

Mattresses

It's kind of funny, but out of the unusual items I see along the side of the road, underwear is probably what I see the most of. I see men's and women's underwear all the time--so weird!

Actually, maybe it's not that weird... remember the incident with my purple thong? ;)

Other unusual things I've seen on a walk or run: someone's iPhone; condoms (used--gross!); hypodermic needles; an entire McDonald's meal that looked untouched; at Easter time, there was a dead rabbit on the road--and someone had laid out Easter grass and candy Easter eggs out behind it; and I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

Toward the end of my walk (which ended up being 5.5 miles), I was starving for lunch, and all I could think about was an antipasto salad. I am not a salad-person, so this was a strange craving that came out of nowhere, but in the spirit of intuitive eating, I decided to get one for lunch. I was so hungry by the time I got home that I didn't even want to go very far to buy one, so I hoped that the local pizza place would have them. I was pretty impressed at how good it looked!

It tasted okay (I added Italian dressing after I took the photo), but I don't think I'd ever order one again. I still feel like I'm in the "doughnuts and Doritos phase" of intuitive eating, and I keep waiting for when I'll stop craving junk and start craving veggies or fruit. The salad was a start, I guess. When I think about it, my diet is gradually getting a little healthier than it was on August 1st, when I first started intuitive eating.

My weight today was exactly the same as it was on August 1st--I'll consider that a good thing. Like I mentioned yesterday, I tend to lose weight during the week, and then go overboard and gain it back on the weekends. I keep hoping that once I start to crave healthier foods, my weight will drop. But when I look at the fact that I've eaten whatever I've wanted, without measuring or counting anything, and my weight is the same--I'm happy about that!

So out of curiosity: What's the most unusual thing you've ever come across while out for a run, walk, or bike ride?

Continue Reading...

Race sign ideas

A few days ago, I received a new little gadget to play with, courtesy of Icon Fitness and Runner's World. It's called the iFit Active, and it's an activity monitor similar to a Fitbit. I love my Fitbit, so I wasn't looking for a new activity monitor, but Icon is sponsoring a little contest between the bloggers who are doing the Runner's World Half & Festival next month.

They sent each of us one of the iFit Active bands to keep track of our steps for a three week period. We can earn entries into a drawing by getting the most number of steps per week. The prize? An iFit enabled machine of our choice!! That's an AWESOME prize, and of course when I learned about that, I wanted to get as many steps as possible. The challenge started yesterday.

I have no idea what possessed me to want to run on the treadmill instead of outside yesterday, but that's what I chose to do. I only had three miles on the schedule, so I did them at a nice, easy pace on the 'mill. I was curious if the iFit band would know to count the steps when on the treadmill, and my step count was very similar to what the Fitbit read afterward. After I wear it a little longer, I'll do a short comparison of the Fitbit and iFit Active.

Jerry was off work today, so after we got the kids off to school, he said he'd accompany me on my four-miler. Jerry wanted to try running somewhere he's never run before, so we went to run along the River Raisin. We just did an out-and-back route. It was so nice outside today! I wore long sleeves, but again, after a mile or so, I wished I'd worn short sleeves. When the sun is out, it always feels warmer than the temp reads (41 today).

It was a good run today, and we managed negative splits again.

When we were done running, we went straight to the Verizon store. I'd been due for a phone upgrade since May, but I was holding out for the iPhone 6. I had an iPhone 4S, and it was in perfect condition, so today, they gave me $200 credit for trading it in. The iPhone 6 (16 gig) was only $200 because I was due for the upgrade, so it was essentially free! I ended up paying a little out of pocket to get the 64 gig one, but it was still a great deal. I'm already in love with the phone--I can't get over how much faster it is than my 4S was!

---

Intuitive eating is still going well. I have a hard time on the weekends, though, because we've had busy weekends for the past month or so. We were in Punta Cana, and then my brother's wedding, and then Jerry's birthday. So what's been happening is that I'll lose about five pounds during the week, and then overdo it on the weekends and gain it back. I haven't been binge eating, because the intuitive eating has really helped me get a grip on that, but on the weekends, I've been eating more than normal or when I'm not actually hungry. So I'm really going to try to keep the weekends the same as the weekdays as far as my eating goes. There's no reason NOT to, because I'm not restricting my eating at all during the week.

I keep meaning to do some sort of "What I Ate Wednesday" post, to show what a day of intuitive eating looks like for me, but I always forget about it by lunchtime. I'll try and remember to do that soon. It's not super exciting, but it's definitely different than how I ate on Weight Watchers.

---

My brother's first marathon is in less than four weeks! It's actually been pretty fun planning how I'm going to support him during the race. My parents, the kids, Jerry, Jeanie (my sister), Kendall (Nathan's girlfriend) and I are all going to the race. I've run that race, and last year I spectated it, so I know a few good spots to go. We're going to go to the starting line, then miles 8, 15.5, 19, 22.5, and the finish line.

Kendall and I are going to get together and make some signs soon, and I want to do something creative. Anyone have any ideas for signs? Maybe signs you really liked seeing at races that were different from the norm? My two favorites are "Remember when you thought you couldn't do this?" (inspirational), and "Hurry up! The Kenyans are drinking your beer!" (funny). My brother would enjoy the funny signs most, so I'd like to come up with a couple more.

Continue Reading...

Motivational Monday #79

Happy Motivational Monday! There are lots of stories to share today, so I'm just going to jump right in to the good stuff :)

---

Jennifer had a very busy weekend--she ran two back-to-back half-marathons! She had committed to completing the Marathons of Wisconsin series, which consists of running at least a half-marathon in five specific races this year in Wisconsin--and one has to be a full marathon. Last year, she really enjoyed the Brewers Mini-Marathon, and wanted to run it again this year. It just so happened to fall on the same weekend as one of the races in the M of W series. So she did what any crazy runner would do, and ran them both! ;)

---

Mia started running in February, and not long after, she fell, causing her to break her fibula and sprain her ankle. After months of physical therapy and a 20-pound weight gain, she is finally back to running and hiking. She's lost half the weight, and she recently ran her farthest distance to date--4 miles! She's running her first 5K in October, and is super excited for it.

---

Ashley just finished her first 5K! She was happy with her time of 42 minutes, especially considering the heat (105 in Phoenix--yikes!). Four years ago, she was at her heaviest weight, and decided to do something about it. She lost 40 pounds, and felt so great that she decided she was ready to start a family. She believes that her healthier lifestyle contributed to a happy, healthy pregnancy. After her son was born, she had a hard time getting back to the routine, but she's in a good place now and has lost 12 pounds of "baby weight". She feels great!

---

On Saturday, Celeste ran her fastest 5K ever. She typically runs a 5K between 30-32 minutes, and once or twice she barely hit the sub-30 mark. She and her husband just ran a very small race in Osakis, Minnesota. She actually almost didn't run, because the weather wasn't great, and she wasn't feeling very good. But she crossed the finish line in 28:30! Celeste and her husband have lost a collective 100 pounds, and have run over 100 races together. (Celeste's blog)

---

Mallory just ran her first 5K distance! Last week, she had her fastest 2-mile time, and was really nervous about adding another mile onto that. But she "shut out the doubts" and just did it. She met a friend, Andrea, in Zumba, and the two started running together. She said that having a running partner has made a huge difference in her motivation. The two have even lost about 40 pounds each over the last few months!

---

Amy reached a huge milestone yesterday: she ran/walked 7 miles! She completed the Disney 10K in February, and her knees gave her problems afterward. She thought she'd never run more than 6 miles again, but she felt great during this run, and kept moving (despite the fact that it started to rain). She said while she was running, she kept thinking back to when she first started--she was gasping for breath within seconds. She walked some 5K's, and started to make real progress. There was one race that was very upsetting, and almost caused her to quit: she was given a size XL race shirt, instead of the 2XL that she was used to. The shirt didn't fit, and she was very upset that she wouldn't be able to wear it to the race. She was able to wear the shirt yesterday, and it's very big on her now!

---

Last year, Rachel and her mom completed their first 5K at the Colorado Walk to End Alzheimer's, in honor of her Grandma Charlie, who was living with the disease. Sadly, Grandma Charlie passed away in December, but Rachel and her mom turned their team of 2 into a team of 22 this year! They raised over $1,000 for the Colorado Alzheimer's Association. This was the first 5K for many of the team members. Grandma Charlie's sister, "Aunt Bee", proudly walked the entire distance to honor her sister and other siblings fighting the disease. Rachel says that Team Charlie's Angels is proof that anyone, at any age, can complete a 5K!

---

Erin and her husband completed their first half-marathon yesterday! They had been registered to run one last weekend, but it was canceled, so they signed up at the last-minute for a different race. It poured rain most of the race, but Erin was very happy with her finish time of 2:15. She also reached her secret goal: to beat her husband! ;)

---

Jen was very proud of her little guy, who ran the Terry Fox Run at school. He ran the entire mile, without stopping to walk!

---

Don't forget to check out more stories on the Motivational Monday Facebook post!

Continue Reading...

Noah's first XC invitational

My internet was down all day yesterday, so I couldn't write a post. Charter finally came out this morning to fix it. It's so strange not having internet when I want it! I found myself thinking, "Oh, I'm going to Google that..." and then remembered that I couldn't. Or going to balance my checkbook, but not having access to my account info online. We've gotten spoiled, because everything is so convenient and quick.

Today, I wanted to make a pineapple upside down cake for my dad, because it's his birthday and that's his favorite. When I was looking online for a recipe, I was SO overwhelmed. There are so many different recipes for the same cake! I actually kind of miss the days when there weren't all those options--you just used the recipe that was in your cookbook. My dad's cake ended up turning out good, though:

---

Anyways, yesterday was Noah's first cross country invitational. It was at the State Park, so he was familiar with the location, but we had run on the paved bike paths. For cross country, the entire race is on grass. It was a really pretty day outside, but kind of hot for an afternoon race--almost 80 degrees. I was nervous for Noah, because neither of us had ever been to a cross country invitational before, so we didn't know what to expect.

When we got there, it seemed so chaotic. There were a LOT of schools there, and each school had a tent (or two or three) set up somewhere that the runners could put their stuff or relax until race time. We signed Noah in, and discovered his team hadn't gotten their team shirts yet, unfortunately. They pinned a tag to his shirt, and then we had over an hour until his race time (we were told to get there at 1:00, and his race was at 2:20).

Once all the kids were signed in, the coach walked them around to show them their course (a 1.3-mile makeshift trail on grass). My dad came to watch his race, too, so we went over to the starting line together when it was time to line up. There were hundreds of kids at the starting line (I just looked up the results, and there were 216 total in Noah's division). It was kind of crazy to me to think that they would all start at one time (the races aren't chip timed, and there isn't a staggered start).

The horn sounded, and it was instant chaos. I was taking a video of the start, and I lost track of Noah. As I was taking the video, I saw a few kids fall, and other kids plowing over them or falling themselves. It was scary, and I immediately felt panicked for Noah.

I finally spotted him. He looked like he was really pacing himself, and he fell to the back of the pack, which was fine and what I had expected. My biggest concern was just that he would get discouraged.

The race was so short that my dad and I immediately went over to the finish line to watch for the kids coming through. The first kid, a sixth grader, came through in 7:00 flat. That's a 5:23/mile pace!! In the top 10 or so kids came this one boy who was carrying one of his shoes--it had obviously come off while he was running, so he carried it and ran with one shoe the rest of the way, still finishing with a 6:00-ish mile pace.

When Noah and I ran together at the State Park on Thursday, I took note of his 1.3-mile split, because I knew that was going to be the distance of his race. He did it in 17:00 even, which is a pace of 13:05/mile. I told him it would be awesome if he could hit a 13:00/mi pace at his race, and to do that, he'd just have to push himself a little harder than when we practiced. I told him that by the end of the season, he could probably have a pace in the 10:00's if he kept training.

About 12 minutes in, my dad looked at the clock and said we still had about 5 minutes before Noah would come through. Shortly after he said that, I spotted Noah!

He looked like he had pushed himself hard, and he crossed the finish line with an official time of 12:32 (9:38/mile pace). (There was confusion about whether the course was 1.25 or 1.3 miles, but the official results list 1.3, so we'll go with that.) He placed 161 out of 216. I was completely dumbfounded when I saw him cross the finish line with that time--I didn't even think he'd hit that pace during the whole season, let alone the first invitational!

Noah was exhausted, and he bent over for a minute like he was going to throw up. I handed him a bottle of water, and he said he thought he was going to puke. He had really pushed himself hard, and it just blew my mind how much time he took off of his practice run! I asked him if he had fun, and he said yes--so that was the most important thing anyway. He's really proud of himself and he really likes cross country. I'm so glad!

Continue Reading...

Naked and Afraid

For the past few nights, the kids, Jerry, and I have been watching an episode or two of Naked and Afraid. It's a survivalist show about two strangers (man and woman) who are put in a very remote place (the Amazon, or on an island in the middle of nowhere, etc.) without food, water, or clothing, and they have to survive off the land for 21 days. The only thing they get for doing it is bragging rights. I wouldn't last an hour on that show!

Anyway, after watching an episode yesterday, Eli said to Noah, "Let's go outside and build a shelter!" so the two of them went out into the woods across the street and started collecting sticks and branches off the ground to build a "shelter" in the front yard. It was so cute to see them working together as a team! They even found a Christmas tree that someone had thrown into the woods, and when Jerry got home from work, they had him saw the branches off. They actually built a pretty impressive fort!

---

This morning, I had my long run on the schedule--8 miles. I was feeling really, really lazy, and the last thing I wanted to do today was run. I got dressed to run right when I woke up, before I could even think about it, but after I got the kids off to school, I sat on the couch for about 10 minutes coming up with excuses not to run today. I almost had myself convinced to do my long run on Sunday instead of today, but I knew that come Sunday, I'd regret that decision!

Finally, I forced myself out the door. I decided to drive 20 minutes to a bike path instead of running around here, because I knew if I drove that far to get there, I'd be less likely to quit early. I didn't set any sort of time goal, and I just told myself that I could go as slowly as I felt like, as long as I was running it. It was 45 degrees again, and I felt really cold taking the kids to the bus stops, so I wore long sleeves for my run.

I call this particular path the Metropark Trail, because it connects four of the Metroparks around here, and is probably about 30 miles long. I usually run the southeastern 5-10 miles of it as an out-and-back. I parked at the community center, and then headed out. Immediately, my legs felt really clumsy and rubbery, so I knew my pace wasn't going to be on par with last week, but I was totally fine with that. I just wanted to finish!

The run was pretty uneventful, except for when I almost got hit by a car (twice!) due to drivers who were texting while driving. Thankfully, I pay attention to the drivers, and I was able to jump out of the way before getting hit. I always obey the crosswalk signals, but the drivers who aren't paying attention don't notice when I'm crossing, so when they go to turn on red while looking at their phones, they nearly hit me.

The hardest part about this path is that there is an overpass that I have to run over. That's the only form of hill training I ever get, because we just don't have hills around here. I love running the overpass, even though it's hard, because it's a pretty cool view from the top.

Eight miles later, I was so glad to be back at the car! Of course, after running, I'm always glad I did it--it's just hard to make myself go when I really feel like wearing sweats and reading my book on the couch ;) But now, I have two rest days in a row, so it was worth it.

Tomorrow, Noah has his first cross country meet--eek! I'm nervous/excited for him. I know he'll do great, though!

Continue Reading...

Noah's a runner!

For the past couple of days, I've been consumed with reading a book that I impulsively downloaded from the library to my Kindle. It's called Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn. I read her book Gone Girl a while ago, and I really liked it, so I wanted to try another of her books. I love the way she writes from different characters points of view. Each chapter gets really interesting, and then suddenly it switches to a different person's point of view, and I get hooked on their storyline. It makes me not want to put the book down!

I was reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed, but after reading a page or two at a time for a couple of months, I finally gave up on it. I wanted to like it, especially because it was recently turned into a movie, but I just couldn't get into it. I like books that are suspenseful, because then I want to keep reading, and they're hard to put down.

Anyway, Jerry was off work yesterday, and we decided to go for a run together. We got the kids off to school in the morning, and then got ready to run. We planned to go to the State Park to run four miles, but halfway there, Jerry suggested going to the Metropark instead. It's a little farther away, but I liked the idea, so we went there to do an out-and-back four-miler.

Usually when I run with Jerry, we end up going pretty slowly, because we talk a lot. We hit the first mile in 10:07, so I suggested we try to get negative splits (faster each mile). The second mile felt really hard to me for some reason (a lot of it was in the sun), and the third wasn't much better. But I felt really good during the last mile. When I looked at our splits, I saw that our second mile was just 1/10th of a SECOND faster than the first... but we'd managed negative splits!

Yes, that's right--46 degrees! I actually wore a long-sleeved shirt to run in. With the full sun, though, it wasn't as cold as I'd expected, and I wished I'd worn short sleeves by mile two. It was nice to run with Jerry, though. It's been a while since we were able to.

For those that comment on Jerry's smile (the "Jerry face") that he usually has, he deliberately tried to smile "normally" for this photo. He said this picture just proves why he doesn't smile normally, because when he does, it makes him look like a creeper ;)

Noah had cross country practice in the afternoon, so we went to watch. (I'm the only parent that actually goes and watches practice--so it may be weird, but I like to see how Noah's doing!) As soon as we got there, we saw Noah was running with the coach, and he looked really upset. He came over to the fence to get the Gatorade we brought him, and he was crying.

I asked him what was wrong, and he said that a group of girls were making fun of him because he's a slow runner. I stayed calm, but inside, I was pissed--I wanted to find out who they were and get all "bitchy mom" on them. Noah is a slow runner, usually last in the group, but he never felt ashamed of that until yesterday when the girls teased him for it. I had told him when he joined the team that it doesn't matter how fast or slow he goes, that he should just do his best and try to improve HIMSELF, and not worry about what anyone else does.

He didn't try to quit or anything when we got there, thankfully. I didn't want him to cry, because that would certainly make the teasing worse, so I just gave him a quick pep talk and he kept going. There was a boy that stuck with him the whole time, which made me glad that Noah had someone to run with (the reason he joined was to make some friends and become a better runner).

They had to do a 1.2 mile run, and the two of them finished last, but they ran the entire distance (a lot of the kids would sprint, then walk, then sprint... because they didn't know how to pace themselves). I was SO proud of Noah for running the entire way, because when we did the 5K, he was only running one minute at a time (run one, walk one, over and and over).

He didn't have practice today, so I decided to pick him up from school and take him to the State Park to go for a short run. There's a small loop there that I guessed to be about a mile around, so I figured we could do that once. I told him that he could run at whatever pace he wanted, and I would just go along for the company.

I was so impressed that he didn't end up taking any walk breaks! He's improved so much since the 5K's we did over the summer. During his first 5K, his mile time was about 13:45-14:00 on average. Today, his first mile was 13:07. The loop ended up being longer than I thought--1.56 miles--and the 0.56 part of the run was a pace of 11:57. So he overall average pace for 1.56 miles was 12:42. A big improvement!

He was very proud of himself for being able to run the entire way without stopping. On the way home, we stopped for an ice cream (probably our last of the season at the local ice cream shop). It's so strange--since I started intuitive eating, I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten ice cream! Ice cream is my very favorite food, but I just haven't craved it much when I've really been listening to my body. Today, though, it sounded really good after our run. I got a small flurry, and I only ate half of it before I was satisfied. What the--?! I can assure you, I've NEVER eaten just half of a flurry. I threw the rest out, and it wasn't even hard to do. That was a big moment for me ;)

Continue Reading...

Gettin' crafty

Yesterday morning, I had three miles on the schedule, so I went to the State Park after getting the kids off to school. I've been going there (and other places) a lot for running lately, because I was just getting tired of the same old routes from my house. The State Park has a loop that is a near-perfect 5K (it's 3.14 miles), so I like to use that for my 3-mile runs.

I had forgotten my heart rate monitor for my 8-miler on Friday, so I made sure to put it on before I left the house. Then, I drove 10 minutes to the State Park, and realized that I forgot my Garmin! Since it was only a 3-mile run, and it would take me 20 minutes round trip to pick up my Garmin, I decided to just run without it (gasp!). I knew the distance was 3.14 miles, so I decided to just use the timer on my phone to have an accurate time when I was done. (Because God forbid I make a guesstimate for once!)

I was trying really hard to run slowly and enjoy the scenery, but I had no clue what my pace was. At times, I felt like I was running ridiculously slow, and other times, I felt like I was going too fast (based on my breathing). I kept my phone in my Flipbelt the entire time I was running, so I wouldn't be tempted to calculate my pace.

I took it out at around the 3-mile mark, to get ready to hit the stop button, and I noticed I was really close to 30 minutes. I wanted to at least hit a sub-30 5K, so I picked up the pace--but it was too little, too late. Finished 3.14 miles in 30:18 (a 9:41/mi pace). Not bad for not having anything to pace off of, though!

Yesterday afternoon was a bit of a disaster. On Sunday, Jerry and I bought a nice futon frame at Goodwill (for $25!), but we had no way to get it home. So I asked my brother, Nathan, if he could pick it up in his truck, and he said he could do it Monday afternoon. Noah had cross country after school, and my dad had told me he'd pick up Eli from school.

I realized I forgot to give Noah his Gatorade for cross country, so at 3:00, I went to his practice to give that to him. Then Nathan called me to say he was on his way to my house with the futon, so I told Noah I'd be back by 4:00 to pick him up, and I went home to meet Nathan. He brought the futon, and we wrangled it into the house, and then he left because he had an 18-mile run to do. Just before I was going to leave to pick up Noah, I decided to call my dad to double check that he had picked up Eli.

Turns out my dad was fishing! He forgot to tell me that he wouldn't be picking Eli up after all.

It was too late for ME to pick up Eli, so I had to wait for him to get home on the bus, which arrives at around 4:00. Noah's practice ended at 4:00, and Jerry was at work. Nathan was gone, my dad was fishing, my mom was 40 minutes away. This has never happened before, and I panicked for a minute. I either had to stay and wait for Eli, making Noah wonder where I was while the other kids left, or go get Noah, and Eli would arrive to an empty house.

Then I remembered that Noah's friend was on the team, so I sent a text to his mom to see if she could wait with Noah until I could get there. She said she could do one better, and her husband picked up the boys and drove Noah home after practice. So I was here when Eli got home, and everything worked out fine in the end, but it was pretty crazy for a little while.

Nathan drove up near his girlfriend's house to do his 18-miler, otherwise I would have planned to meet him during the run and refill his water and all that. He set up the live tracking on his Garmin and sent me a link, so that I could see how he was doing.

I called his girlfriend and suggested that she go meet Nathan at around mile 12 or so, because he'd be really surprised to see her, and she thought that was a great idea. We didn't know his exact route, so I was watching the live tracking and trying to figure out about where she could meet him. At mile 9, he turned around to do an out-and-back, so that made it easy! She met up with him before mile 13, bringing ice water. Ice water during a long run is so good!

Nathan had an AWESOME 18-miler. That was his longest distance run to date, and he held a 9:09/mi average pace! The live tracking is a really cool feature on the new Garmins that I really should use more often. Nathan is going to use it during the marathon so that we can find him along the course. I'm going to try and make it to miles 8, 15.5, 19, 22.5, and then the finish line. It's going to be close getting from 22.5 to the finish line before Nathan, but I'll try!

This afternoon, I was really in the mood to make some sort of craft, so I went to Hobby Lobby for some beads. I'm going to try to replicate a purse that my sister has. Here is a picture of hers:

It'll be a big, tedious project, but I love that purse! I actually took that picture in 2010 with plans of making one, but just never got around to it. She bought it at a Goodwill store, and said she gets compliments on it every time she uses it.

I wasn't able to find some of the matte beads, so I'm going to wait until I get them before I start on it. But I bought some fabric paint and a couple of t-shirts, and when I got home, I got to work making a couple of Runs for Cookies shirts (for no particular reason at all).

Lettering with fabric paint was a thousand times faster and easier than doing fabric lettering and ironing/sewing them on. The other shirt I made is a long-sleeved black t-shirt, with the same "Runs for Cookies" letting on the front. I'm hoping that the paint holds through the washing machine; if it does, I'll probably stencil a couple of tech shirts for races. (The ones I did today were just $3 cotton shirts.)

I was supposed to run four miles today, but I'm going to do it tomorrow instead. Jerry is off work tomorrow, and he said he wanted to run with me, so I just switched my rest day to today instead. Running with company sounds much better!

Continue Reading...

Motivational Monday #78

Happy Motivational Monday! It's been feeling so good to get back in a nice routine now that the kids are in school and it doesn't really like summer anymore. The weather here has been absolutely perfect all week long, and I'm starting to remember what it was that I enjoyed about running. It's easy to forget the good parts about running when it's so hot and humid all summer!

My "proud moment" of the week was when I hit my goal of sub-10 miles for my 8-mile run on Friday. It wasn't a very lofty goal, because I've been running sub-10's regularly for a couple of years now, but my pace has slowed a LOT this summer. So I was very happy to hit that goal for my long run this week.

I have some inspiring stories to share for Motivational Monday today. Enjoy!

---

Jessi has been working really hard to have a healthy pregnancy. She's currently over 33 weeks pregnant, but she just completed The Color Run 5K! She took her time, and says she was "nowhere near fast", but she was out to have a great time with friends, and her friends stuck by her the whole way. She's very proud to have completed the race, and plans to continue with the exercise as long as she can.

---

Andrea ran her very first 5K distance this week! About six weeks ago, she decided that she wasn't going to be overweight or unhealthy anymore, so she started tracking her calories on My Fitness Pal and following the 5K Runner app. She registered for her first 5K race, which will take place on October 12th. Her goal was to run the whole race in less than 45 minutes, and this week, she decided to see just where she was as far as distance and pace are concerned. She took a few short walk breaks, but she beat her goal of sub-45... a whole month early! She's lost about 15 pounds and gained tons of confidence the past few weeks, and now she's really looking forward to her first 5K race.

---

Emily just completed her first 5K! She said she was always the kid panting at the halfway mark in the high school mile, because nobody ever told her about pacing. She's been running off and on since college, but not consistently, and she has gained weight over the years. On August 1st, she decided to take charge of her health, and she signed up for a 5K. She's lost 20 pounds, and last night, she completed the Girls Night Out 5K in 50:06! She's also proud of her daughter, who completed the 1/4-mile Rosebud Run. Her daughter's advice to her before the race was: 1) Don't get hurt; 2) Don't run too fast, or you will get "hydrated"; and 3) Don't drink too much or you'll pee your pants!

---

Lindsey just completed her first triathlon! She's done 5K's and half-marathons in the past, but a triathlon was new to her. She said it was very different, but a great experience! She enjoyed it so much that she's planning on focusing on triathlons for a while.

---

Renee is proud to announce that she PR'ed her 10K time yesterday! Despite a difficult summer for training (moving, starting a new job in a new city, and the heat/humidity), she finished 31 seconds faster than her previous best time. She feels confident that she's going to do great at her second half-marathon next month! (Renee's race report)

---

Marine, and her friend, Caroline, completed their first race--the La Parisienne 6.7K race around the Eiffel Tower! They had a great time, and saved enough energy to sprint to the finish line. They finished in 40:28, and they're already planning on doing another race together!

---

Don't forget to check out the Motivational Monday Facebook post for more stories!

If you have a photo and accomplishment you'd like to share for Motivational Monday, you can email it to me at Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, with the subject "Motivational Monday", and I may include it on a future MM post :)

Continue Reading...