Friday's runs (yes, plural) and eats

Wow, I had no idea I had so many readers in Portland! I will definitely have to arrange a little meet-up. I'm ridiculously excited to go. The time is going to pass so slowly between now and March!

The weather was so crappy outside today. We were expecting heavy thunderstorms all day, starting at around 10:00 am, so I wanted to get my long run done right after getting the kids on the bus. I had nine miles on the schedule today. Because of the impending storms, I decided to stick close to home and do three 3-mile routes just in case I had to get home quickly.

I made an old favorite for breakfast: oatmeal with caramel, chocolate chips, and coconut (6 PointsPlus). It's a good breakfast before a long run!

It was pretty warm and humid out, so I wore capris and a tank, and I put my phone in a ziploc baggie inside my Flipbelt. I headed out for the run, and I could tell right away that it was going to be a tough one. The wind was crazy--14 mph with gusts of 25 mph. I had planned to run sub-10's, but when I had a strong headwind, I just decided not to worry about my pace at all, because I was using up too much energy in the wind.

At around mile 2, it started to rain--hard. I really wanted to finish the run, so I decided to keep going, and just prayed that my shoes and socks didn't get soaked. I was on the second three-mile loop when my feet started feeling wet. The rain came down harder, to where I really couldn't even keep my eyes open (I couldn't find my visor before leaving the house, and it would have been really helpful today!). At mile 3.25, I just turned around and headed back. There was no way I wanted to run with soaked feet, and it had just started lightening. So, I just decided that I would consider this a step-back week (reduced mileage), and call it a day.

I took a shower, and then was pretty lazy for the rest of the morning. It's hard to get motivated to do anything in this kind of weather. Last night, Jerry and I made Caesar salad with rotisserie chicken for dinner (mainly because I didn't feel like cooking, and the Caesar dressing was on Manager's Special). We had leftover stuff in the fridge, so I made it for lunch, too. Normally, I'm not a salad person, but once in a while I really like them! I had another old favorite on the side--an Asian pear. Those things are heavenly.

After lunch, the weather was pretty clear. We were supposed to have thunderstorms all day, but the sky didn't look like it was going to rain again. I thought, "I should just go finish my long run..." and I decided to go ahead and do it. I would have felt guilty all weekend for not doing a long run, so even though I was showered and dressed, I put on another set of running clothes and headed out for another five miles.

I stopped at my parents' house at around 2/3 of a mile in. My brother and his wife had just gotten in from Minnesota, so I wanted to say hello to them. I was there just long enough to watch the Tigers get two home runs in a row! Then I headed out again. I was feeling a little better this time, but as soon as I turned into the wind, I was nearly blown off my feet. Running next to the lake was really windy!

At around mile three (or seven, if you count the first run), it was like the sky just opened up all of a sudden and dropped a huge bucket of water on me. The rain was a downpour, and the wind was so strong that the rain was going sideways (it reminded me of that scene from Forrest Gump). I've never been scared of weather while out on a run before, but for about half a mile today, I was actually worried that there would be a tornado. The wind was SO strong. I wanted to stop and take a picture or video to show it, but I didn't want my phone to get ruined by taking it out of the bag. There was a really loud noise and I thought it was a low-flying plane at first, but I realized it was just the wind.

I started to think about what I would do if there actually was a tornado, and then just as quickly as it started, the rain fell to a light drizzle. It had only lasted about five minutes, but it was really bad. I decided that I was going to finish this run, no matter what, so I pushed on. My legs were really tired, but I was really determined to get through it. Finally got back home! I couldn't wait to shower (again) and put on some dry clothes (again).

See how pretty the trees in the far background are getting with the color change?

I was really hungry after the run, so I made a green smoothie for just 2 PointsPlus: 1 cup almond milk, 1 frozen banana, a handful of spinach, 1 Tbsp. of flaxseed, and 6 ice cubes. I hadn't made one of these in a long time! I put too much spinach in it, because I could really taste it, but I still liked it.

For dinner, I made turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and roasted cauliflower--comfort food! It was such a crappy day outside that it seemed perfect to make a comfort food meal. (Forgot to take a picture, naturally.) Tonight, I'm going to have a glass of wine and a Weight Watchers peanut butter brownie. Those brownies are so good! They're only about two bites big, and they're 2 PointsPlus, but they're certainly worth it.

Today was only Day 3 back on Weight Watchers, but I already feel better. I've been focusing on the fact that I want to be in really good shape when I go to Portland, and that's keeping me motivated right now. When I was originally losing the weight a few years ago, my big focus was on the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon. I was SO determined not to be "the fat friend" for the third year in a row, and I thought of that every time I felt like I was struggling. It helped me to get through all the times where I felt like quitting. It's been a good few days, so hopefully I can keep it going :)

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Old faithful

I've had something on my mind for a couple of weeks, and yesterday, I decided to do it. After two months of intuitive eating, I'm going back to doing Weight Watchers and counting points.

Intuitive eating was going really well for about six weeks, and then I'm not sure what happened. I wasn't binge eating, but I was definitely eating when I wasn't hungry, and I was eating too much. I was very aware of it, but I had such a hard time stopping it! My weight didn't change by more than a couple of pounds, so I'm no worse off than I was two months ago. And I'm actually really glad that I did the intuitive eating experiment, because I learned quite a bit about my body, which I think will help regardless of what I do to lose/maintain my weight.

One of the hardest things about intuitive eating was drinking--and I don't mean just alcohol. Fluids don't fill me up, so drinking juice, soda, milk, coffee drinks, or alcohol was really just leading to a lot of extra calories without satisfying my hunger. I'm sure there is an answer for this, but drinks weren't really addressed in the book I read, so I never really figured it out.

The main purpose for switching back to Weight Watchers really stems from my desire to get back to being in my best running shape. As I wrote in my "new size" post, and my "bikini" post, I am okay with how I look now--I don't think I look bad at this size, even though it's not ideal, and I could be happy staying this size.

September 2014: 152 pounds

But... I really want to set some challenging running goals, and I run my best when I'm 130-135 pounds.

5K in 24:03; 130 pounds

This was all brought on when I was reading a post I wrote, and then clicked on the "You might also like:" posts. Seeing some of the posts from early to mid-2013 made me feel a little nostalgic for Weight Watchers and reaching for PR's. It was fun to see myself getting faster every week, and I was over the moon when I reached my sub-2:00 half-marathon goal. The day I ran a sub-50:00 10K? I can't even describe how that felt.

(far left) 10K in 49:23; 131.5 pounds

Lately, I've been much more accepting of where I am today, at this moment, and I'm glad for that. I didn't want to spend my time being miserable until I was back at my goal weight. But when I looked and felt my best, I was following Weight Watchers and running five days a week. I had some running goals that I was always working on.

The day I finally raced a
sub-2:00 HM! 1:52:07;
133 pounds

This year has been different in so many ways. All goals were tossed aside when Mark was sick, and that was understandable. But once he passed away, I wish I'd gotten back to counting points and working on running goals. I had this attitude that life was short, so I might as well not "waste" my time or energy counting points. Mark's illness and death was the most difficult emotional thing I've gone through since losing the weight a few years ago, and I had no idea how to handle it (considering I'm an emotional eater). I wanted to have fun, and not worry about weight or calories or any of that.

Just after Mark died. Paced Audrey to 2:14 half-marathon.
I'm not sure what my weight was here, but I think 145-ish.

Anyway, I am taking away a few things from intuitive eating that will be helpful as I do Weight Watchers: I realized that it doesn't take a very large portion to satisfy me--even just half a sandwich is a satisfying lunch. I realized that I don't crave sweets as much as I thought I did, so I'm not going to purposefully save up points to eat a high-point dessert. Instead, I'm going to spend a few extra points on "real" foods like butter, regular fat cheese, hearty bread, etc., because they taste so much better. I'm going to eat what sounds best to me, and not force the foods that don't sound good.

I have a couple of spring races that I'm really looking forward to next year, and I would love to be in good great shape for them. I already wrote about the reunion in May of my Ragnar SoCal team at the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in Indianapolis, which will be super exciting.

Can't wait to see these people again!

Yesterday, I registered for another race that looks like a blast--the Shamrock Run in PORTLAND!

I've been saving up my Delta SkyMiles, and I had enough saved up to get a ticket to pretty much anywhere in the U.S. I've never been to the Northwest area of the United States, and Thomas (from my Ragnar SoCal team) lives in Portland. He suggested the Shamrock Run 15K, because it's a ginormous race and lots of fun. So I got my plane ticket yesterday, and after redeeming 40,000 miles, it was only $11.20! I love getting a good travel deal, so I don't feel so guilty about traveling for a race. Thomas is ridiculously fast, so my goal is to not give him enough time to go home and shower before waiting for me to cross the finish line ;)  (I've actually never run a 15K race, so it's an automatic PR--but I'm really hoping to just feel great through the race)

My goal for the Indy race is to get back below sub-2:00, and if all goes well during training, possibly a PR of sub-1:52:07. I'm going to use Hal Higdon's intermediate half-marathon training plan, which is what I loosely followed to become my fastest last year. I'm actually going to start that plan the week after the Runner's World Half & Festival in a couple of weeks.

Coming up with my running goals and training plans has really made me excited to work hard on those again--including doing Weight Watchers. I was surprised to admit that I kind of missed counting points over the past couple of months, in some strange way. Intuitive eating was really freeing until it wasn't--I found myself always worried about getting back into old habits and gaining weight. When I started intuitive eating, I had told myself that if it got to the point of being stressful, then I would go back to the old faithful--Weight Watchers. The past couple of weeks have definitely felt a little stressful in that regard. Jerry and I both went back to counting points yesterday, and I had a great day. It felt really nice to feel in control and to know that I'm doing my best to get back to my best running weight.

I'm hoping to start updating more about my weight and how Weight Watchers is going. It's been so hard to talk/write about all this year, because it (obviously) wasn't going well for me. I know that I've always written about the good and the bad of weight loss/maintenance, but this year was the worst struggle I've dealt with so far, and I'm still trying to get back to the point of feeling confident that I can keep the weight off. Nothing motivates me more than looking at my running photos and posts from last year!

So, to start off October...my goal this month (on top of doing Weight Watchers) is going to be to not have any Halloween candy until Halloween day. I did that a couple of years ago, and it worked out really well. I was able to stay on track all month, and then was rewarded when Eli gave me all his mini Butterfingers, haha (can you believe he didn't like Butterfingers?! Crazy kid).

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That cookie runner

I woke up at around 4:00 this morning to thunder and lightening, so I decided that I would do my run tonight instead of in the morning. Once I took the kids to their bus stops, though, the weather was absolutely PERFECT for a run. It was 54 degrees, overcast, and an occasional very light drizzle of rain. If there was ever perfect running weather, this was it.

I put on capris and a short sleeved shirt, which was the right choice for the weather. I decided not to look at my Garmin at all (not even a little peek) through the run. I didn't want to see a slow pace and feel discouraged for any reason, so I just wanted to run without giving a thought to my pace at all. As soon as stepped from my driveway onto the street, a man on a bike went by in the opposite direction. We exchanged "good morning"'s , and then I kept going.

About a mile in, I saw the same man on the bike. This time we said, "hello", as we passed. Seeing someone once is no big deal; twice is slightly awkward, because you've already exchanged greetings. But then I saw him AGAIN at around mile three. This time, he stopped and said, "Hey, you're that cookie runner, right?" I laughed and said I was. We chatted for a minute, and I learned his name was Greg. He had seen Stephanie's blog because they are both self-proclaimed "weather geeks", and found my blog through hers, which is how he recognized me. That was fun! Usually, one or two people will recognize me at a race, but never while I'm just out for a run.

I had an absolutely fantastic run today! I didn't look at my pace, but I imagined it was probably around 10:00/mile, which was fine. But what made it so great was the weather and that I just had a good day. Some runs are good, some are okay, and some are terrible, but today's felt really, really good. When I heard my Garmin beep after mile five, I pressed the button to stop it, and then I just sat on my porch for a few minutes while I cooled down.

My average pace ended up being 9:35/mile, which really surprised me (in a good way). I was even more surprised to see my splits, and how close they were without even trying.

I'm hoping for identical weather on Friday for my long run! (Oh, I am not doing that half-marathon on Saturday with Nathan after all... I forgot that Noah has a cross country invitational that day.)

I had plans to meet Jessica for lunch at a new local restaurant called Public House. They use all fresh, local ingredients, which is very refreshing for this area. I hadn't tried it yet, but Jessica said it was great. It was good to see her, because it's been a long time since we've gotten together. I've had such a busy few months that I haven't really seen any of my friends for a while, so it was nice to catch up. The food was good, too! We split an order of fried pickles (my favorite appetizer) and they were awesome.

Shortly before we left, a couple of young soldiers walked in wearing their uniforms. After seeing everything my younger brother went through, I have a special place in my heart for young guys in the military, so I paid their tab before I left. (A "pay it forward" from the stranger who gave us those tickets to the Renaissance Festival on Friday!)

Noah had his second cross country invitational today. The weather was definitely better for running today, so I was curious to see how he'd do. I picked him up from school, and then picked up Eli, and we drove to the meet. The ground there was much softer than at the last meet, and the grass was longer, so I was a little worried for Noah having to run on that. He said he was really nervous.

His race today was only 1 mile (it was 1.3 last time). Eli and I went to the starting line to see him off, and then we rushed to the finish line. The kids started coming it at the six-minute mark. I was expecting Noah between the 9:00-11:00 timeframe, based on his last race. He came in at around 10:45-ish (I don't have the official results yet). He wasn't very happy, and said he was "almost dead last". It didn't help that his friend on the team came up and told him that he (Noah) finished in 118th place (while the friend finished in the top 20 or so). This kid is super competitive, and always makes Noah feel bad about his running pace.

I told Noah that he did awesome--he finished in 10:45-ish, which is much faster than he was just a couple of weeks ago. And due to the course being more difficult (soft ground, longer grass), he should be very proud. It's hard to get him to see the value of improving his pace over keeping up with his friend.

I laughed when I saw the photos I took of him. He apparently takes after his mom in race photos--his eyes were closed in all of them!

His next invitational is on Saturday, so I hope that he has a great race. My older brother is supposed to come out and watch :)

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Motivational Monday #80

Happy Motivational Monday! Hopefully everyone has had a fantastic week. It's been challenging for me--I was hoping that the longer I did intuitive eating, the easier it would get, but the opposite has been true so far. I haven't binged, which is the most important thing to me, but there are times where I eat too much for reasons other than hunger (usually on the weekends). My weight hasn't gone up, so I'm glad about that, but I would definitely like to see it go down ;)

I always love reading your Motivational Monday stories, because they are so inspiring! Here are this week's submissions:

Marcie made a goal for 2014 to run walk/run one mile per day, every day. She also wanted to do a 5K race every month. She started with my Virtual 5K in January, and her time was nearly 60 minutes. She recently ran her first 10K, and her time was 1:18, despite the pouring rain! She's also dropped 30 pounds since she started training. Her husband, who ran with her, just completed his first half-marathon, too!

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Carly has been working on weight loss and running, and has had some very successful milestones. But now, thanks to her new healthy lifestyle, she is in a position to teach kids about health and fitness! She recently took over the Physical Education position at her elementary school, so she gets to teach fitness all day long. A couple of years ago, she never would have imagined that she'd be a PE teacher, but she passed her certification and LOVES her new job!

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Jen finished the Bellingham Bay half-marathon in Washington over the weekend, beating her goal time by 14 minutes! It was her second half-marathon, but the first one that she did by herself. She set a goal time of 3:00, and finished in 2:46!

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Rachel just celebrated her six-month anniversary of when she started working on getting healthy and fit! One of her dreams has always been to be a runner, and when she started her journey six months ago, she signed up for a 5K each month--walking at first, then adding a little running, and working to be able to run the whole race by the sixth month. She chose The Color Run as her goal race, and somehow wound up with three 5Ks and a 10K on the books in September--and is proud to report that she was able to run ALL of them! Yesterday was her goal race, and she said it was an awesome way to end the month. She's also down 62 pounds!

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Christy recently completed her third half-marathon: the US Air Force Half Marathon in celebration of the US Air Force's birthday! She finished in 2:41:48. Training was going great, and she had a fantastic 10-mile run in June, but her family got orders to move, her kids got sick, her husband had to travel for work, and fitting in the training runs was difficult. But she stuck with it, and proudly crossed the finish line!

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Thomas ran the Corvallis Fall Festival 5K just a week before the Portland Marathon (which he is also doing) and got a shiny new PR! He ran the course in 20:38 (a 6:35/mile pace... I know!!). He's been training hard all summer for the Portland Marathon, so I'm sure I'll be updating with his sub-3:30 PR next Monday ;) (Thomas's blog)

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Jessica ran/walked a 5K over the weekend! This is very significant for her, because if you may remember, I wrote about Jessica last month for Motivational Monday. She was diagnosed with Stage IV brain cancer, and underwent surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation to fight the cancer, and was just getting back to running in August. She had actually been registered for the Montreal half-marathon since before her diagnosis, but her doctor recommended that she change over to the 5K because of everything her body had been through. She had a seizure three days before the race, and then the day before the race, she started chemo, but her doctor said if she took it very easy, she had the okay to do the 5K. She, along with her two future brothers-in-law, completed the race is 47:28!

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Ashley has been running off and on for about two years, as a way to keep off the 30 pounds that she'd lost. Over the past year, she's been backpacking through Central America, so she hasn't done much running. Once back in the states, she decided to get back into shape, and she registered for a 5K--her first race ever. She was discouraged during training, because she used to run sub-9 miles, and was now struggling to run sub-10 miles, but she kept at it. The race was called the Red Hare Chase 5K, and her only goal was to run it under 30 minutes. She was thrilled and surprised when she crossed the finish line in 28:15! She even earned third place in her age group :)

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

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Faster than a speeding bullet

We had another fun day with the family today. Last night, the kids ended up staying at my parents' house, so this morning, Jerry and I decided to go for a run together. I didn't have a run on the schedule, but ironically, was in the mood for a nice, relaxing "jog"-like run. Jerry said he wanted to pick our route, and we ended up going on a trail through the woods. 

The weather was really nice, but it was pretty tough running on the trail. So much for a nice Sunday morning jog! Then I heard a bunch of gunshots. From a shotgun. And I remembered that it's hunting season, right as we were running through the woods. There was shot after shot, and I kept expecting to feel a bullet hit me--it was so scary, because the guns sounded so close! I sprinted the last little part of the woods to get the heck out of there. I thought it was funny when I saw the graph of my pace. Can you tell where the gunshots started? ;)

Just before that part, I was telling Jerry how I may walk the rest of the way, because running on the rocks and grass was hard. Then we heard the shotguns, and they totally lit a fire under me. I need to use that strategy for my next race! haha

My brother, Brian, got in from Minnesota at around noon. Jerry and I cleaned up the house and invited my whole family over here to watch the Tigers and Lions games. I made a big pot of chili with toppings, and we had a pretty low-key afternoon. I don't watch sports, so I showed my mom that card game app to download on her iPod, and taught her how to play a few games.

I was just checking out the schedule for the Runner's World Half & Festival, and I'm so bummed that I have to leave that Saturday afternoon. There are some great seminars going on that weekend! I got the latest flight available, which was 5:30 pm (and the airport is an hour's drive), so I'll have to leave at around 2:00 to make it home on Saturday night. I know I made the right decision to be here on Sunday for Nathan's marathon, and I'm really looking forward to that, but I just wish there was some way to be in two places at once ;)

Looking through the list of seminars today for the RW Half weekend, there is one that really jumped out at me. I'm so glad that it's at noon on Saturday, so I'll be able to go. Here is the description:

Seminar · Inspiration: How Running Helped Save a Soldier from Depression, Substance Abuse, and PTSDJoin us to hear Sean MacMillen, chapter captain of Team RWB (Red, White, and Blue) Lock Haven-Williamsport, tell his story. After 12 years in the U.S. Army – including three deployments to Afghanistan – this respected battalion executive officer left the service – and not by choice. "My life was in shambles," he says, "and I was in a very dark place." Learn how running, and his involvement with Team RWB – an organization that enriches the lives of America's veterans by connecting them with their communities through social and physical activity – helped Sean take back control from alcohol abuse, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

This really hits close to home for me, because my brother, Nathan, has PTSD after two deployments to Iraq--and since he started running early this year, I've seen a big change in him (healthier and happier). I asked him if he'd write a guest post for my blog about it, and he may, but I really think that running has the ability to change people's lives (more than just physically). I can't wait to hear what Sean MacMillen has to say at his seminar. 

Anyway, here is a list of the weekend's schedule. If you're near Bethlehem, or are able to go that weekend, I really think it's worth it. I loved Bart Yasso's seminar, as well as Mark Remy's. There are all kinds of seminars to check out, and they are FREE--whether you run the races or not. 

Don't forget, if you do want to run the races, I have discount codes for 10% off:

5K: blogrunsforcookies5K
10K: blogrunsforcookies10K
Half-Marathon: blogrunsforcookiesHalf
5 & Dime: blogrunsforcookies5&10
Hat Trick: blogrunsforcookiesHat

It's only three weeks away, and I'm getting really excited! I think the last race I did was a 5K in July. The weather won't be nearly as hot for the RW Half weekend!

Speaking of races, Nathan asked me today if I would want to run a half-marathon with him next weekend, called Heroes on Hines. He has a 20-mile training run on the schedule, and he's going to run the half as part of his training run. I think I'm going to do it! It will likely be my slowest-ever half-marathon time, but running a race with a bunch of other people is much more fun than doing a long run by myself. And it feels weird not to have a half-marathon planned until at least November. So if it works out, I'd like to do it!

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Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday! If you have a photo of an accomplishment you'd like to share, you can email it to me at Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, subject "Motivational Monday", with a brief description, and I may post it on tomorrow's blog :)

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Scavenger hunt at the park

I got some much needed sleep last night. My anxiety has been really bad lately, so I took a Xanax before bed, which helped me to sleep and stop worrying about everything. I woke up at 7:30, which is late for me, and felt great!

I wanted to get in some steps today, even though it's a rest day, because I'm participating in that iFit challenge with the Runner's World Half bloggers. The boys had a friend spend the night last night, so I decided to take the three of them to the State Park for a walk around the 5K loop.

When we started walking, I was trying to think of some way to keep things interesting for the boys on the long walk. I said that whoever spotted a squirrel first could choose the next thing that we'd have to look for, and so on. Then Eli had a better idea--he said that we should assign points to certain things we might see, and whoever gets the most points wins. For example, a squirrel would be worth 20 points, a spider worth 30 points, and a deer worth 100 points.

Here was the whole list we came up with. I used my phone to keep track.

The boys had a BLAST on this scavenger hunt. They really didn't even realize that they were walking/exercising. Normally, the kids complain non-stop when we go for a walk, but they didn't complain even once. They kept running ahead of each other to try to spot things first. We saw a ton of cranes, ducks, and geese, but not much else. When I go running there, I usually see a little of everything--squirrels, rabbits, deer, etc. I think the boys were so loud they scared everything off ;)

As we walked, there were some leaves falling from the trees occasionally, and they made up a rule that if you caught one in the air, it was 20 points. All three of them caught one once. It was funny to watch them try! In the end, it was really close, but Eli won by a measly caterpillar. The boys all thanked me for taking them there, because they said it was so much fun. I wish I'd have thought of that game a long time ago! Eli is very proud that it was his idea.

This evening, we went to my parents' house to see my uncle and his son (on my dad's side). My uncle drove up from Florida, and has been staying at my parents' house all week. I've only seen him a handful of times in my life, so we went over there for dinner. His son (my cousin) came over with his family, too. I think the only time I ever met him was at his brother's funeral (my cousin Christopher died in Iraq from an IED explosion). Finally, my dad's sister came over with her grandson. So it was basically a mini-family reunion on my dad's side.

After dinner, my dad made a little campfire in the driveway, so we sat around and chatted for a while. The weather was SO nice today! My dad put copper wires in the fire, so it made the flames really colorful. It's hard to see in this picture, but it looks awesome with a rainbow of colors.

Sitting around the fire like that made me think of Mark. On Halloween, we always used to bring Mark to my parents' house to celebrate his birthday, and then sit around the colorful campfire while kids came trick-or-treating. I'm not sure what the plan is this year, but it'll be sad that Mark won't be there with us. I can't believe it's been almost a year since the last time Mark was at my parents' house. He was diagnosed with cancer shortly after his birthday last year, and he wasn't able to come over afterward. (If you're a newer reader, you can read the beginning of Mark's story here, and the final post here--there was a lot in-between, from December through March).

Anyway, I'm tired, and I want to watch a show and then go to bed. My brother is coming in from Minnesota tomorrow!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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?

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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!

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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.

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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.

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