A huge confidence-boost

After signing up for the Turkey Trot yesterday, and worrying about whether I'd be able to finish in the required amount of time, I decided to do a "test run" today. I had four miles on the schedule, so instead of doing them at an easy pace, I wanted to try to run 8:50-ish per mile. That's the pace I would need to hold for a sub-55:00 10K.

Looking back on my training for the year, about 99% of my mileage was "easy". Even the races I did were just for fun, or pacing someone slower than me. The only race that I really ran hard was the Martian Meteor 5K in April. It was my younger brother's first 5K, and he just said he wanted to aim for sub-9:00's. I assumed that meant close to 8:59, but he made it challenging ;) I did my best to keep up with him, and finished in 26:11 (8:25/mi pace). Nowhere near a PR, but that was the last race that I really gave a lot of effort.

I am so glad I took a break from racing for 2014, becauseI just felt sort of burnt out after training so hard for the Chicago Marathon. On the other hand, I think one of the reasons I backed off of racing hard was because I knew a PR was out of reach. Having gained weight, my pace slowed from what it was 2013; and even running my best, I knew that I wouldn't PR. So rather than trying my best, I just took it easy instead. Not the smartest attitude to have, but it wasn't something I did consciously.

Recently, I have gotten really fired up to race hard again. I know that I won't be setting PR's right now, but I set some short term and long term racing goals that I'd like to aim for. Reaching those will feel almost as good as a PR. It feels almost like being a new runner again, which is a great feeling, because you see so much progress!

So today, I had a goal of sub-9:00 splits, but I was really hoping to hit 8:50's. I figured if I could hit 8:50 for 4 miles, then I *should* be able to hit 9:00-ish for the 10K on Thursday. Today was the perfect running weather! It was 45 degrees, overcast, and drizzling. If I could choose my running weather, that would be exactly what I would choose.

I went outside, thought, "Here goes nothing!", and started running. It always takes me a quarter- to a half-mile to get a good pace; I usually start out too fast, then my pace drops too slow because I'm recovering from starting too fast, and then I find a good balance. That's exactly what happened today. Once I settled into pace, my Garmin read 8:40. That was faster than I'd planned, but I just went with it anyway, figuring I'd slow down for sure after a mile or two.

I was really uncomfortable running at that pace, but that's how it's supposed to feel when you're racing (I was treating this as a mock-race in a way). My legs felt really good, but my breathing was tough. So I just tried to focus on the principles of the "Running On Air" book I mentioned--inhale for 3 steps, exhale for 2. I also tried to remember the running form tips that I learned from Golden (founder of Altra shoes). I was trying to focus on anything other than how uncomfortable I felt!

My first two splits were almost dead-even: 8:39.6 and 8:39.2. After I turned around (I was doing an out-and-back route), I kept focusing on just making it to mile three. Once I hit mile three, I knew that mentally, it would be a whole lot easier. Knowing I would have just a mile left would help me get through it. I hit mile three just a tad faster, at 8:37.6. I knew then that I would finish, but that last mile was so hard! I reached my house just as my Garmin beeped, and saw my last mile was 8:34.3.

I can't even explain how excited I was to have done it! This run wasn't an actual race, it wasn't a PR for distance or speed, it wasn't anything special at all--but I just felt really excited that I'd reached (what I knew would be) a really difficult goal at this point.

A run worthy of a Jerry-face ;)

When I got my fastest in early 2013, that was exactly how it started--just setting small goals for each individual run, getting a little faster each time.

It was the same with my weight loss--I would set my sights on all sorts of mini-milestones (my pre-pregnancy weight, my college weight, under 200, my high school weight, etc.). I'm going to try to have the same mindset with my weight loss as I do with the running right now. I want to get excited about each milestone again, instead of thinking about how much I gained this year, or how far I have to go until my goal.

Right now I just feel really excited to race again! This Thursday, I'm going to aim for sub-55:00 at the 10K. It's a super crowded race, so that may hinder my goal--but even if I don't hit that goal now, I'll just try again until I do. The weather was perfect today, but that may not be the case for Thursday (right now it shows cold and snowing), so we'll see what happens. But today was a HUGE confidence-booster in what I can do! I really needed that. :)

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Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday, so if you have something to share, please email it to me ASAP :)

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Turkey Trot plans

I completely forgot to mention this yesterday, but Renee told me about a little encounter she had at the airport. She ran the NYC Marathon a few weeks ago, and while she was at La Guardia airport, she happened to bump into her high school cross country coach. She didn't think he'd remember her, but she stopped and chatted with him.

Well, it turns out that her high school cross country coach was Kevin Hanson--as in "Hansons Marathon Method"! I've been raving about the Hansons Marathon Method a year and a half, and I'd talked to Renee about it several times. She'd never realized that the "Hanson" part of the method was in reference to her high school cross country coach!

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Yesterday, Nathan came over to pick up his pie. I was glad to get it out of the house! But he mentioned that he's going to do the Thanksgiving day Turkey Trot in Detroit, and asked if I would be interested in doing it, too. I've never actually done a turkey trot! Jerry is off work that day, so it would be easy for me to get away (not having to worry about child care).

Nathan said he's doing the "Drumstick Double", which is a 10K followed by a 5K. You get three medals for doing it--one for each race, plus one for doing both. I was tempted, until he told me that the 5K starts exactly one hour after the 10K starts. That means I'd have to run the 10K and make it to the starting line of the 5K in under an hour.

A year ago, that wouldn't have been a problem at all! But my pace is so iffy right now, and I haven't actually raced a 10K in a long time, so I have no idea what I could do. But there really is no bigger motivator to run fast than knowing I have to finish in a certain amount of time so I can do the next race. So I ended up registering for the Drumstick Double this morning.

I'm really nervous! I'm not worried about the 5K, or the number of miles--but my pace for the 10K is what concerns me. To finish under 60 minutes, I'd have to run a 9:39/mi pace. I'm sure I can do that, because my recent half-marathon pace was 9:44; and when I just ran 5.5 miles with Dean, our pace was 9:24. But I need a few minutes as a cushion in order to walk from the finish line to the starting line of the 5K. Ideally, I would finish in about 55:00, which is a pace of 8:51. Possible? Perhaps. Likely? Not really.

According to the McMillan race calculator, and based on my most recent half-marathon time, I should be able to run the 10K in 57:33 (a 9:16 pace). McMillan has always been pretty spot-on for predicting my times with races half-marathon-distance and under. So this is probably what I should aim for.

Even though I'm nervous, I like having this challenge. I kind of miss racing (where I actually push myself hard), so this will be a good indicator of where I'm at. I'm going to try my very best to hit sub-9:00's, and if not that, I'll aim for 9:16. I think I should be okay as long as I hit 9:30's or so. I'm sure the 10K is going to take everything out of me, so it's likely my 5K time will be very slow. ;)

I really like the idea of kicking off Thanksgiving with a Turkey Trot! Thanksgiving dinner has never really been a huge temptation for me (except for the sweet potato casserole--love that stuff!), but I am planning to make a pecan pie to bring to my mom's. Pecan pie has about a million points per slice, so running 9.3 miles that morning should cover some of it!

Anyone else running a race on Thanksgiving morning?

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A long run with extra mileage

First off, let me announce the winners of the 500 Festival Mini Marathon registration giveaway:

Kara R. and Mindy K.--Congrats! I've sent each of you an email. If you've changed your mind, or aren't able to make it to the race, please let me know so I can pick a new winner. I hope you love the race as much as I do!

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This morning, I had plans to do a long run with Stephanie. I had 8 miles on the schedule, and that's what she was planning to run, too. Normally, she works on Fridays, but she happened to have today off, so it worked out well to get together. It was cold this morning, but not as cold or windy as it's been all week:

When walking the kids to their bus stops this morning, I was really second guessing whether I wanted to run outside. It felt a lot colder than 14 degrees! I put on Under Armour Cold Gear tights, and then another pair of tights over them. I wore a Cold Gear shirt and a jacket over that. I put Aquaphor on my cheeks, and then put on a hat and gloves, and I was ready.

Stephanie picked me up, and when she got here, she realized she'd forgotten her hydration belt. Since I never use my belt, I told her she could use it today. We drove to the State park to run from there. I let Stephanie set the pace--she usually runs about 11:30/mi for her long runs--and we headed out. My hands were so cold at first! I started thinking I should probably have brought warmer gloves. They eventually warmed up, of course.

I was worried about it being icy, but it wasn't--the path had a lot of snow, but it was the "sticky" kind of snow that wasn't hard to run on at all.

We took a right and went around the lake, and then headed out of the park until we reached four miles. When we hit the four mile mark to turn around, Stephanie discovered that she'd forgotten the water bottle. She had the belt on, but she had taken a drink of water in the car, and realized she must have forgotten to put it back in the belt.

We went back the way we came, but when we got to the lake, we stayed to the right and went around the opposite side of the lake. We reached 8 miles just as we got back to the car. It was a great run!

When Stephanie opened the car to get the water bottle, it wasn't there. We discovered that she must have had the water bottle in the belt, but it fell out along the route. Since the route was (mostly) out and back, we would have seen it on the way back. But since we chose to go around the lake from the other side, there was a stretch of about 1.5 miles where it could possibly be.

I hated to leave it, because the hydration belt was expensive; but on the other hand, I never use it, so it's not really a big loss. But since I knew it had to be within that 1.5 mile section, I decided to go look for it. Stephanie was going to come walk with me, but I volunteered to run it. It was too cold to walk in my sweaty clothes, so I figured running would keep me warmer.

Once I started running, I started my Garmin. If I was going to run, I wanted it to count! ;)  We had only seen two other people at the park, because it was so cold, so I was confident I'd find the bottle. I can't imagine why anyone would want to take it! I just kept hoping it would be closer to the car rather than farther. There is no road access along that whole stretch, so the only way to look is on foot.

I ran until I got to the turn that led out of the park, and there was no sign of the water bottle. So either someone had taken it, or we just didn't see it along the route on our way back. On the bright side, I got in an extra 2.6 miles, making my total run 10.6 miles today :)

This is not November weather!

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I did great getting back on track today. I had plans to get together with Renee for wine, but she sent me a text to see if I'd want to go out to dinner instead. I didn't want to let that voice of "just one more day of being off track!" start playing in my head, so I looked up the menu to plan out what I was going to have. I actually decided on a Michigan salad--which is strange, because I never order salads, but it sounded really good! Once I got to the restaurant, however, I changed my mind. Renee told me that the Vegetarian Hash was really good, and I was in the mood for something warm. The hash dish was sweet potatoes, onions, and bell peppers topped with two eggs.

I ate both eggs and about 2/3 of the hash, plus half a slice of dry toast. I'm estimating what I ate to be 14 PointsPlus. Since I'd earned so many Activity PP on my run today, I had plenty for wine, too. It was really nice catching up with Renee. She's had a ton of stuff going on this year!

Now, I'm going to try and read the entire Mockingjay book this weekend. It's been a long time since I read it, but I want to read it again before watching the movie. I'm hoping to go see the movie this weekend! If not, then maybe early next week.

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Moving on after a bad day (or two) of eating...

Yesterday turned out not to be a very good food day for me. And unfortunately, I let it carry over into today, which I hate doing!

It all started innocently enough. I haven't been eating a ton of sweets lately, and I seem to be doing fine with just having a piece or two of chocolate now and then. So yesterday, I thought I'd be fine to make some fudge (in retrospect, I should have seen in coming! haha). I made the fudge, cut it into a whole bunch of little pieces (3 PointsPlus each), and then promptly ate way too many of them. So much for my plan of having a piece for dessert each night!

I had already put a healthy dinner in the Crock Pot (Split Pea Soup), so I decided to just play it off like the fudge hadn't happened, and continue on with my day. After Eli got home from school, the kids were really excited to eat the soup. As strange as it sounds, my kids' very favorite food that I cook is Split Pea Soup!

I gave the soup a stir, and thought, "Wow, this isn't even close to done! The peas still seem hard." Sure enough, I had the Crock Pot turned on all day, but it was UNPLUGGED. I had been burning a new candle all day as well, so I had just thought the lack of "yummy soup smell" was because the candle was overpowering it.

I was so frustrated. I plugged in the Crock Pot to cook the soup then, but knew that wouldn't be done until at least 10:00 pm, so I started thinking of just ordering pizza for dinner. I felt like the day was already shot, so might as well. Instead, though, I just looked through the pantry and decided on Ramen noodles. It was freezing cold outside, and Ramen noodles actually sounded better than pizza anyway. Ramen isn't exactly healthy, of course, but it was a little more Points-friendly than pizza was. The soup situation felt like it mentally messed me up all evening--I had a handful of Goldfish here, and a handful of dried cherries there.

Today, I decided to cut my losses with the fudge and evening snacking, and just get right back on plan. I was doing really well, too--until I got a phone call from the school asking me to come pick up the pies that Noah had sold. Noah had a fundraiser several weeks ago, and he sold four pies--I let the kids pick one out to buy, and then my parents ordered one, my sister ordered one, and my younger brother ordered one. When I sent Nathan a text telling him he could pick up his pie (Oreo), he told me that I could take some of it if I wanted. He'd only ordered it because Noah had asked him to, and he wouldn't mind if it wasn't all there. Such a nice brother! ;)

Nathan's Oreo pie

After lunch, it was like without even thinking it through, I just opened up the box and cut a slice. I was hoping it would be terrible, but it was actually really good. Since it was Nathan's pie, though, I left the rest alone. When Noah got home, he really wanted to try the pie that he and Eli had picked out (Peanut Butter Cup!). So I cut a slice for him, and then even though I knew better, I cut a slice for myself as well. We sat down and ate it together, and Noah kept saying how delicious it was. I shouldn't have taken any, because after the Oreo pie earlier, it honestly just didn't sound good. But since I was on a roll, I guess I just figured I might as well (I wish I could cut that habit, I really do!).

I'm sure it would have tasted much better if I had been hungry for it, but it was just really rich and I didn't even finish the piece. But of course I was mad at myself for taking it when I didn't *really* want it.

Peanut Butter Cup pie

Anyway, that's how one bad day turns into two. And if I'm not careful, it can turn into three, or a week, or a month! So I thought I'd write a little of how I get back on plan after a day or two of going (way) over my PointsPlus. A lot of people ask me how I count the PointsPlus if I know that I've gone way over--do I try to eat my minimum target for the rest of the week? Pretend it didn't happen? Count it and keep a negative balance?

It can go one of several ways. If I add up all those PointsPlus I spent on the fudge and the pies and other stuff I ate, I would have been way over my allotted PointsPlus for the day AND the week. I get 49 PP per week to use whenever I'd like, but those would be gone, leaving me with nothing until my week resets on Wednesday. In the past, when I've done that, it almost inevitably leads to a binge. I can't live on 26 PP per day! I get too hungry, and I just say "Screw it!"

The worst scenario would be to just ride out the rest of the week without counting anything, and feeling like, "I already blew it, might as well just eat whatever I want until my week starts over on Wednesday." This has never turned out well, and is definitely not a solution!

What I find works best for me in this situation is to look at the entire week as 7 separate days (instead of as a week as a whole). So for me, I get 26 PP per day, every day, no matter what. I also get any activity PointsPlus that I earn. AND, I get 49 PointsPlus per WEEK (which would average out to 7 per day). So if I was to break that down into days, I would get 26 daily PP + 7 weekly PP + activity PP earned that day. Instead of letting those two days ruin my entire week, what I like to do is just discount those two days by treating them as if I'd eaten 26 PP + 7 PP + the activity PP I'd earned.

So yesterday, for example, I earned 3 activity PP. So I would count yesterday's points as 26 daily + 3 activity + 7 weekly = 36 PP. I know that I ate much more than that, because of the fudge, Goldfish, and a couple of other snacks here and there, but for the sake of keeping my sanity and really working hard to get back on track, I just count that day as done and over with at 36 PP. I just tend to think of it as a 6-day week instead of a 7-day week. If I try to make up for the excess fudge and pie and whatever else, I find that I just get frustrated and overwhelmed and I try to "wait until Wednesday" to start fresh for the week.

It probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and sometimes I'll end up with a weight gain, but I know that it would be much worse if I just stopped counting until the new week. If I was having way more bad days than good days, this wouldn't work. But I've found that when I'm on track for most of the time (say, 12 or 13 out of 14 days), that one day doesn't matter so much.

I dumped the rest of the fudge in the garbage today, and I'm not even tempted by the pies anymore. Tomorrow, I will continue to count my PointsPlus, eating all 26 daily PP, my activity PP, and if I want to use any of my remaining weekly. Today, I had my heathy Split Pea Soup for dinner, so I at least ended the day on the right note! ;)

I have plans to meet up with Stephanie tomorrow morning to do a long run together (yay company! But it's going to be a super cold run.) And tomorrow evening, I have plans to go to Renee's for wine. I haven't sat and had a conversation with her in a long time! I think since February-ish. This whole year is just going by so quickly. Anyway, tomorrow should be a good day :)

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Jen, a long-time reader of mine, recently interviewed me for her blog. You can check it out here, if you'd like! I feel honored that she asked me, because she's interviewed some pretty great people recently--Bart Yasso, Jeff Galloway, Mark Remy, and others.

Finally, last chance to enter the giveaway for the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon registration! I'll be pulling two winners tomorrow. Good luck!

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Goal or Skydiving

You could say it was just a tad bit chilly this November morning, even for Michigan:

When I walked Noah to the bus stop at 6:45, I felt like my face was going to freeze off! The average high this time of year is 48, and low is 33, so this cold and wind is definitely not the norm.

Yesterday, the roads were actually pretty bad in the morning. They were really icy when I walked the kids to the bus stop, and since I had speed work on the schedule, I decided to do it on the treadmill. A few people mentioned using Yak Trax or IceSpikes on the ice--my IceSpikes work well when the roads are covered in ice or in packed snow, but I hate using them on dry ground. So for now, with icy patches, the IceSpikes are just more of a nuisance. After last winter, I actually really started to enjoy the treadmill, and I honestly don't mind using it. Besides, I do my fastest speed work on the treadmill, and I think that was a big factor in helping me get my PR's last year.

I had a 35 minute tempo run on the schedule--a 5-minute warm-up, then 25 minutes at tempo pace, and then a 5-minute cool down. I was hoping to be able to hit 8:27-8:41 for a my tempo pace, but that pace sounds scarily fast to me right now. I figured I'd try it, and hope for the best, but I could slow down if needed.

I did my 5-minute warm-up at 6.0 mph (10:00/mi pace), and then switched to 7.0 mph (8:34/mi pace). I was watching Season 4 of Pretty Little Liars on Netflix, which helped the time go by faster. The pace felt good for a tempo run--not too hard to sustain, but definitely not easy. My Garmin was showing a pace much faster than the treadmill was showing, but I was sure I wasn't running an 8:00/mi pace, so I suspected the foot pod calibration that had worked so well on the track wasn't working on the treadmill.

I noticed that I had accidentally selected the wrong tempo workout (30 minutes instead of 35), so when the Garmin beeped to alert me to cool down, I had to keep running at tempo pace for 5 more minutes (which is why my splits don't reflect a cool down).

I knew there was no way that I ran 25 minutes at a sub-8:00 pace, so I decided to try to see how accurate my treadmill was.

First, I measured the belt of the treadmill all the way around, which was 124.5 inches. Then came the tedious part--counting the rotations. I sat on the floor to count how many times the word "EPIC" on the belt passed by a little white piece of lint on the side of the 'mill.

I set the treadmill at 6.0 mph and started counting. I counted 200 rotations (about as long as I could stand it) and then stopped the treadmill. I multiplied the 200 rotations by 124.5 inches, which gave me 24,900 inches (.393 miles). The treadmill showed 0.398 miles, so based on my super scientific experiment, I'd say that the treadmill is pretty darn accurate (or close enough).

Needless to say, I'm bummed that I wasn't actually running a sub-8:00 mile pace, but I expected that ;)

Today, even though I would have loved to run in "Real Feel -9* F" (ha!), I decided to do my easy run on the treadmill to calibrate the food pod to the treadmill. I took a guess at the calibration factor and set it at 93.0%. It ended up being fairly close! I ran three miles at 6.2 mph (a 9:40/mi pace), and this is what it showed:

I stopped running after mile 3, but forgot to turn off my Garmin
for 10 seconds, so you can ignore the fourth split.

It showed about a 9:46-ish pace, so it was showing my pace to be just slightly slower than the treadmill. After my run, I used the calibration formula (actual distance divided by displayed distance x current calibration factor)... 3.03 / 3.00 x 0.930=0.9393. So that gives me a calibration factor of 93.9%. I'll try that next time and see how close it is. When I'm at the track, I'll have to set the calibration factor to one number, and then change it for the treadmill. I'm not sure why the numbers are so different.

When running on the treadmill, my heart rate tends to be quite a bit lower than when running outside, so I may adjust my pace goals when I run inside. Today, I probably could have done a 9:15/mi pace and still have kept my heart rate in the "easy" zone.

I'm getting kind of excited to set goals for next year. Today, I was toying with the idea of maybe running a half-marathon once a month for all of 2015. My biggest goal right now is to hit sub-2:00 for Indy, and I certainly think that's possible. Depending on where I'm at in February, I may even try to aim for a PR (currently 1:52:07). I'll list all my running goals and post them next month--I have a couple of big ones.

As for my weight, of course I'm still working on that (will it ever end?! ha). I'm still hopeful of being back at my goal by the time I go to Portland in March. It's kind of funny; I was texting Thomas about it a few days ago, and he dropped this bomb:

HAHAHA, that made me laugh so hard, because if there is ONE thing I can say with 100% certainty, it is that I will NEVER go skydiving (and he knows that). You couldn't pay me $10 million to jump out of an airplane! Of course Thomas was just joking when he said that, but if there was any way that he could actually enforce the skydiving threat, there is no question that I would be at goal LONG before I go to Portland. I would have no problem saying no to any ice cream, wine, cookies, etc ;)

Can you imagine if there was some sort of company whose job it was to enforce your worst nightmare if you couldn't reach a goal? You would work as hard as possible to get to that goal. It made me really think about how much of this struggle is mental. If you take the mental part out of the equation, it would be easy! I'm probably not explaining this very well, but I just think that with the right motivation (i.e. doing everything in my power NOT to have to skydive), I could reach pretty much any goal I want. On one hand, I'm so glad that Thomas can't enforce the threat to go skydiving; on the other hand, all of my food decisions would be easy ones if he could! Haha

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Motivational Monday #87

Happy Motivational Monday! I don't know what I was thinking, but I totally spaced out that today was Monday until I went to write my blog post. It feels like it should be Sunday, but my kids went to school, so that doesn't really make sense. We got a couple of inches of snow yesterday, and it was so pretty outside today! It was actually the perfect day for being lazy and watching movies. Jerry was off work, so that's exactly what we did :)

I'm still counting my Weight Watchers points, but this week I've had a few moments that were extremely difficult. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to binge! The thing that has helped me to stay on track the best has been looking through my "motivation" photo folder on my phone. Seeing the photos of me at my goal weight last year make me really motivated to get back to that place!

I can't really think of anything about my week that makes me exceptionally proud. A couple of days ago, I was having a particularly week moment, and was very close to bingeing. Instead, I posted on Instagram a few screenshot photos from a video taken last year while I was trying to pogo-stick with the kids. I was at (or very close to) my goal weight in that video, and seeing those screen shots gave me the push I needed to avoid bingeing. So I guess that was a proud moment for me!

Here are a couple of motivating stories to start the week off:

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When Megan (on the right in photo) was born, there was never any hope that she'd one day be able to run. Her right hip wasn't fully developed, so she had to wear a brace that kept her knees to her chest for the first year of her life. Her tendons would also become hyper extended, which caused her a lot of difficulty with standing for more than 30 minutes or so at a time. She ended up needing steel braces on her legs just to be able to walk. After six surgeries over the years, her surgeon told her that it may have worked. She could walk normally, but would probably need another surgery later on in life. She stopped living in fear, and started working on being more active. Since then, she's lost 50 pounds, run her first 5K in 30:11, and signed up for her first half-marathon... all things that she believes are truly miracles of God. She has two active little boys, and she is happy to be able to set a good example for them.

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Erin just completed her first half-marathon after battling breast cancer--twice. She's a mom of four kids, and she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 29 and again at 34 years old. She has remained cancer-free for several years now, and after recovering from a 12-hour reconstructive surgery, she decided to start running. She signed up for the Indy Monumental Half-Marathon, and despite the 18-degree weather that day, she exceeded her expectations! She assumed she'd finish in around 3:30, but she ended up crossing the finish line in 3:22. She's looking forward to beating that time at her next race ;)

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If you have a photo of an accomplishment that you'd like to share, you can email it to me at Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, subject: Motivational Monday, along with a brief description, and I may include it on a future MM post!

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My Favorite Gift Ideas for Runners

I know that pretty much everyone with a blog writes a post of gift ideas this time of year. I've never done one of those posts before (at least that I can remember!), so I thought it would be fun to compile a list of my favorite running items that I think would make great gifts for others.

A few of the items on this list are items that I had received for a review; but I am not an ambassador for anyone, nor am I on any of these companies' payroll, so I have nothing to gain from recommending these things. (Some of the links are Amazon Affiliate links, however--so if you were to buy them through the link, I may get a small commission from Amazon.)

These are all just items that I found I truly love, and think others will as well!

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1) A race registration. Perhaps the runner you're hoping to get a gift for has been running for as long as you can remember, and they have everything there is to have related to running. You can never go wrong with a race registration! I would make a handmade "coupon" to give them, saying that it's good for one race registration of his/her choice. Unless you know someone really well, I wouldn't recommend just choosing a race and registering that person without talking about it first, however. The cost of this varies enormously, so I'm not going to put a number on it.

2) A subscription to Runner's World magazine. When I first started running, this magazine was SO helpful. I learned all sorts of running terms that I'd never heard before, read inspiring stories that kept me motivated, and got lots of tips for training. I was a huge fan of this magazine long before I was featured in the April 2014 issue ;) DiscountMags has a sale today for $5/year. It's very rare to find it that cheap! The $5 sale usually only lasts a day or two. Through Runner's World or Amazon, it's $20 per year.

I look this excited every single time I get RW in the mail!
Just kidding. But I do immediately start reading it.

3) Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner book by Dean Karnazes. This book is a very entertaining read for any runner! I don't do ultramarathons, but I loved reading about Dean's races. My brother and sister read it and loved it as well. $9.34 for paperback on Amazon.

4) Balega socks. I was never brand-loyal for any socks until I tried the Balega socks. I have five pairs now, and I rotate them as quickly as I can wash them. They fit very well, don't have annoying seams that can cause blisters on my toes, and are very comfy! $9-12/pair on Amazon

5) My Life on the Run: The Wit, Wisdom, and Insights of a Road Racing Icon book by Bart Yasso. I was very fortunate to have met Bart a couple of times at Runner's World events, and I was amazed at the running stories he has from years of experience. He's seen and done it all, it seems! His book shares some stories of notable races, and it's very entertaining. $12.96 for paperback on Amazon.

6) Yurbuds Inspire Sport Earphones I don't listen to music when I run, but I know lots of runners do. I've tried several earbuds, including some fancy schmancy blutooth ones, but the yurbuds are my favorite. I use them when I go for walks to listen to podcasts, or to hear movies when I'm traveling by plane. I wrote a more detailed review of them here. $18.92 on Amazon.

7) Hydraform Handheld Ergo-Lite water bottle by Amphipod. When I do short runs during the summer, and don't need nearly as much water as the Camelbak holds, I prefer to carry a handheld bottle. I bought this particular bottle from Amphipod, and I'm very happy with it. It holds 10.5 ounces (also available in 16 oz), which is great for a short run (or if you have places to refill). It fits very comfortable in my palm, it's not heavy, and there is even a little pocket that you can fit something small (a key or a Gu). $22.50 on Amazon.

8) FlipBelt I've tried several running belts (including the popular SPIbelt) to store things (keys, Gu, Shotbloks, my iPhone, etc), and the FlipBelt is, hands down, the best one I've tried. It's very comfortable, it doesn't bounce at all, and when "flipped", nothing will budge out of it. I wore this for the first time during the Chicago Marathon, and now I wear it during just about every run that I do. I always like to carry my phone with me, and the FlipBelt easily holds it. $28.99 on Amazon. (I've found that if you are between sizes, it's best to go with the smaller size--just FYI)

I know that looks like me, but it's not. Honest. (photo source)

9) Black Diamond Sprinter Headlamp. I hate running in the dark, but during the times when I do it (like during a Ragnar Relay), I adore this headlamp! It's pricey when compared to several others, but it's well worth it. It's ridiculously bright, rechargeable, and best of all--it doesn't bounce. When I ran Ragnar Florida Keys (through the Everglades, mind you!), I had a headlamp that bounced terribly, wasn't very bright at all, and drove me crazy the entire time. As soon as I got home, I started researching headlamps, and ended up buying this Black Diamond one. I wore it for Ragnar SoCal, and I was in love. $55.70 on Amazon.

Thomas is wincing because he's blinded by the brightness of my headlamp.
Or maybe because he just ran 6 miles at 5:00 a.m. 

10) CamelBak Marathoner Hydration Vest. (ETA 8/2/19): The "Marathoner I'm wearing below is no longer being produced, but the link above is one that is very similar). I received one of these for review, and I fully expected that I wasn't going to like it. I thought it would be heavy, hot, and cause chafing. I was blown away at how much I loved it! I prefer this to a hydration belt any day. I wore a belt when training for my first marathon, and it hurt my back after a while. But I trained for Chicago with this CamelBak, and I was very happy with it. Here is a link to my (more detailed) review. $76 on Amazon.

11) Hire someone to turn the runner's race shirts into a quilt. This is something you would either have to ask about beforehand, or give a "coupon" for, because you could risk making some really angry if you cut up his/her shirts! It's also very expensive because of the labor involved, but it's such a special gift. I cut up my shirts and made a quilt top out of them. My sister-in-law and her mom did the quilting for me, and I should have it back next week! A lot of runners have more race shirts than they know what to do with, and putting them into a quilt is an awesome way to preserve those memories. Sarah, a reader of mine, takes orders for handmade quilts. You can check out her blog and pricing here. Upwards of $200 + supplies.

This is my quilt top. Sarah's work looks much better!

12) GARMIN Forerunner 220. I saved my very favorite gadget for last. Very basically, a Garmin Forerunner is a GPS watch that gives you "real time" data of your distance, time, pace, etc. While I have the FR 620 model, I actually wouldn't recommend that one. The FR 220 is nearly identical, and it's a couple hundred dollars cheaper! If I were to go back in time, I would have bought the 220 instead. The 620 gives a few extra pieces of information that the 220 does not; but the extra information is stuff that I found to be pretty useless (how many milliseconds your foot touches the ground when running; how high your body bounces; how long you "should" spend recovering before running again). Without the heart rate monitor, it's $239.99. With the heart rate monitor, it's $286.22 on Amazon. I love using my heart rate monitor, and would recommend spending the extra $50-ish to get that option.

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Hopefully this gives you some ideas! If there are any products that YOU love, feel free to share them in the comments.

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Picture motivation

It's been ridiculously cold the past few days! After running with Dean on Wednesday, it only continued to get colder. Wednesday was the day I was supposed to ride my bike, but this whole week has gotten kind of screwed up because of the half-marathon on Sunday, rest day on Monday, etc. Normally, I don't run on Wednesdays, but running with Dean was worth it ;) I decided to just do the biking on Thursday instead.

Except it was 28 degrees and snowing.

Since I made it a goal to bike once a week for all of November, I didn't want to skip it entirely. I wasn't sure if my membership was still active at the rec center, so I verified that it was, and then decided to go to there to use an indoor bike. The cardio room there is extremely boring (they have two TVs playing without sound--one of them is on Sports Center and the other is on the local access channel). I remembered this from the one or two other times I'd been in there, so I brought my phone and earbuds.

I was hoping to be the only one in there, so I wouldn't feel like an ass as I tried to figure out how to use the equipment. The fat girl in me still makes me feel so self-doubtful and out-of-place at the gym, if that makes any sense. Unfortunately, there were a couple of other women in there, so I just tried to pretend that I knew what I was doing.

There were a bunch of bikes, ellipticals, and treadmills. There was only one upright bike (most were recumbent); I knew I wanted the upright one, because it's better for cross-training for running. I hoped I wouldn't have to adjust the seat or anything, because I had no idea how to do that! As I was fiddling with my phone and earbuds, I was looking at the bike, trying to find the button to turn it on.

When I was ready to start, I just couldn't get it turned on. I was pushing all the buttons I could, pressing and holding the "Go" button, etc. Eventually, the woman behind me offered help--which, even though it was embarrassing, I was grateful for. She told me I had to pedal the bike for a few seconds and it would turn on automatically. Bingo--it worked.

The upright bike was nice, because I could just lean forward onto my elbows, which left my hands free to use my phone. I put on some music, and then browsed around Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter while I pedaled. I set the bike to a "rolling hills" workout, and it was pretty tough. I was really sweaty by the time I was done. I only did 30 minutes--much less than if I had biked outside, but there was no way that I wanted to do more than that in the cardio room!

My membership expires on December 3rd, but I think I will renew it so that I can continue to go through the winter. The rec center is only $100 for our whole family for a year, which is super cheap compared to gyms. It's nice when I want to use the indoor track or to take the kids swimming.

Yesterday was my long run day. My schedule was up to 7 miles already. It's kind of funny--when I started the new schedule, I was really looking forward to having "short" long runs (5 miles, 6 miles). That didn't last very long!

For yesterday's run, I knew I had to prepare for the cold. It was 28 degrees, but a "feels like" temp of 20. The wind wasn't too bad at 9 mph, but it felt SO much worse when it was that cold. I wore my Cold Gear tights, a long-sleeved top with a heavier long-sleeve top over it, a hat, and gloves. I also rubbed Aquaphor on my cheeks to hopefully block the wind a little.

I headed outside, and while I was expecting the cold, I was NOT expecting the ice! The shoulders of the roads I was running on had a thin layer of black ice on them, and it was hard to run on. The first mile wasn't bad (and since I did an out-and-back route, the last mile was the same). During the other miles, though, I spent a lot of the time focused on my footing, which was mentally exhausting. I was more worried about the cars hitting a patch of ice and sliding into me.

It wasn't a good run, overall. I didn't feel my best, and running on ice is never fun. Next time it's icy, I'll use the treadmill. But I got it done!

In the afternoon, I had plans to meet up with my friend Stacie, who I usually only see a couple of times a year (she was actually the one I walked the Indy Mini with in 2008). I saw her at the Monroe Half, and we made plans to get together for coffee. The last time I saw her was about a year ago, so we had a ton to catch up on. We met at Tim Hortons, and spent two and a half hours talking about the last year. I didn't have a whole lot to talk about except for Mark's story. She knew all about Mark, because we've been friends since high school, but I explained all that had happened with his illness.

I've been really excited for Stacie, because she's always wanted to write and publish a book--and now it's actually happening! She went on a solo hike in Sedona, Arizona, a few years ago, and it was life-changing for her. She wrote a book about her experience, called On The Edge: A Solo Hiker's Journey (Amazon affiliate link), which is going to be released next month.

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Today, my mom had a Thirty-One party at her house. I wasn't *planning* to buy anything, but you know how that goes. I spent way too much money, but when you see all the organizational bags, it makes you feel like you've been missing out all along! She had brunch there, but I had already eaten breakfast, so I just had some tea. Then when I got home, I was starving for lunch; but even after eating lunch, I started having binge thoughts. Logically, I knew I would regret it horribly if I did binge; but I was still really struggling. Finally, I started going through a picture folder on my phone called "Motivation"--it's a folder of a couple dozen photos of me at my goal weight, where I looked good and felt happy.

Thankfully, looking through that folder was exactly what I needed to stay on track! I managed not to binge, and instead, I went to the store to get some groceries for dinner. I need to remember to look through that folder whenever I'm feeling binge-y.

Anyone else have ideas for staying on track when you are having a tough time? Feel free to share! The most motivating for me is to look at pictures of me at my goal. It always makes me feel nostalgic.

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My 500 Festival Mini-Marathon history (and a giveaway!)

I have a very exciting giveaway to share with you. In fact, out of all the giveaways I've done, this one is one of the most exciting for me, because of my history with this race.

Back in 2008, when I was well over 200 pounds, my sister asked me to walk a half-marathon with her: the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon. When I signed up, I had all these plans of training and losing weight before the race. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. On race day, I only had a few miles of walking under my belt, but I did the race anyway. It was extremely difficult, and I even wound up getting bad tendonitis from my nonexistent training, but I loved the race itself. That was the first race I'd ever done, so I didn't have a clue what to expect, but I definitely wasn't expecting it to be so fun!

2008

I immediately signed up to do the race again the following year. Despite my intentions of losing the weight (again), I toed the line in 2009 at my heaviest--253 pounds. However, I did prepare and train this time, and had a much better race. It was during the 2009 race where the infamous "before" photo of me in the blue shirt was taken.

2009

It was that year that I really felt out of place with the group that had gone--I was the "fat one" in the group, and I hated that feeling. Again, I vowed to lose the weight for the following year (because of course I was going to do it again!). And to make a very long story short, I followed through. In 2010, I was down to 165 pounds and I had trained my butt off for the race. I shaved nearly 30 minutes off of my walking finish time for the race, too.

2010

Seeing my brother, Brian, along with my sister's friend, Jen, and my friend, Renee, run that year lit a fire under me to start running. Instead of making weight loss resolutions, I decided I was going to run the half-marathon in 2011. I had been doing a little running up until then, and was at the point where I could run 5K, so I started adding mileage and working my way up to training for a half-marathon.

In 2011, I was 147 pounds, and ready to run 13.1 miles for the first time. I am SO glad that I chose the Indy Mini as the first half-marathon I ran! The course is so entertaining that the miles just flew by, and I truly (honestly!) enjoyed each minute of it. I ran the entire way, and crossed the finish line in 2:10:40.

The 500 Festival Mini Marathon is a FANTASTIC race, especially for first-time half-marathoners. With 35,000 participants, the Mini is the largest half-marathon and the seventh-largest road race in the U.S., as well as the 18th largest road race in the world. The course is lined with over 80 bands (yes, EIGHTY!). There are also several groups and cheer squads along the course to entertain the runners and walkers.

The race is also very walker-friendly! I walked this race for three years before I decided to run it. The course has minimum pace requirement of 18:00/mile, but even if you're just starting out, I believe there is plenty of time to train to meet that requirement. I held a 17:41/mile pace at my heaviest weight (after training). With 35,000 participants, there are a LOT of people walking; I never felt embarrassed to be walking instead of running. Here is the plan I used to train to walk the race; and here is the plan I used to train to run the race.

The course is unique in that you get to run around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway race track. That's where the name "500 Festival" comes from--the Indianapolis 500 is a 500-mile motor race around the track held over Memorial Day weekend on that track.

Personally, my favorite part of the course is actually in the first mile, when you get to run past the zoo. If you look to your right, you can see the elephants :) It's kind of crazy, but when I walked the race, just before the 2-mile mark, you can see the elite runners as they approach mile 12! They start the race right as the gun goes off, but since I was in the back of the pack of 35,000 people, it took me nearly 30 minutes just to get to the starting line. So the timing makes sense that the elites would be there at that point. The first place finishers usually finish under 1:02 (about 4:43/mile). Crazy fast!

Each time I've gone, we've made a fun weekend out of it. We get a hotel right at the starting line (the Embassy Suites Downtown Indianapolis), so we can literally walk out of the hotel and into our corral. We've always gone out for pasta at Buca di Beppo the night before the race. And I LOVE that this race is on a Saturday, because that means we can spend the afternoon/evening drinking relaxing at the hotel instead of making the drive home.

Anyway, I was already registered for the 2015 race when the Director of Marketing contacted me to see if I'd like to offer a giveaway on my blog. I'm not an ambassador for the race or anything--I just truly love love LOVE this race, and I would love to give the opportunity to someone else! I'm really looking forward to spending the weekend there in 2015 with my Sole Mates Ragnar team.

I have not one, but TWO free registrations to give away. Right now, the registration cost is $85, and it jumps to $95 on January 1st (the race usually sells out before then, however). I know that because of the location, many of you may not be able to enter; but if you're considering a destination race next year, this is a great one to do!

So, if you'd like to enter to win a registration for the Indy Mini, just fill out the form below. Before entering, please just double check that you're able to go to the race if you should win.  (ETA: There was an issue with the form--my mistake. So sorry if you weren't able to have access to it before! It appears to be working now.)



I will close entries and choose a winner on Friday, November 21st at 1:00 PM EST. Good luck!

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A run with Dean!

A couple of nights ago, I was feeling kind of down, and I posted about it to my Sole Mates team on Facebook. I absolutely love my teammates--I feel like I can tell them anything, and they always have great advice or know just what to say to make me feel better. The next morning (yesterday), I got a text from Dean, asking if I may want to get together for lunch or a run today.

It was really great timing, and of course I said yes. While lunch sounded good, I always have a hard time with counting points while eating out, so the run was a better idea. We made plans to meet just outside of the State Park near my house for a 5.5-mile lollipop route.

It was really warm on Monday and yesterday (67 and 60 degrees), but this morning, it was in the 30's! I was freezing just before we started to run, but I warmed up about a mile in. I even took off my gloves after a couple of miles.

Dean is much faster than I am (he just ran his first marathon in 3:52!) so I felt bad about slowing him down, but he didn't mind. I made it a point not to look at my watch during the run, and the only time I looked at it was at around mile four. I felt like we were going faster than I would have run on my own, but I had no idea just what our pace was. I haven't run with someone in a while, and it was nice to be able to have a conversation while running--definitely makes the time go by faster!

Just before we finished, I saw a truck up ahead that looked like my dad's, and it turned out that it was actually my parents. We stopped and talked to them for a minute, and then ran back to our cars. Our average pace was 9:24, and we had (mostly) negative splits. Considering we were talking the entire time, I was very happy with that!

Dean had driven about 45 minutes to meet me, so I invited him back to my house until lunch time, when he had plans to meet up with his sister. Jerry was off work today, so we sat and chatted for a couple of hours. Estelle loved meeting Dean, and took it upon herself to cozy up on his lap the whole time he was here.

Anyway, it was a fun morning, and I hope we do it again soon!

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When I was at the Heartbreak Hill Half in June, one of the bloggers I met was Amanda from Run to the Finish. She noticed that Noah has gotten into running lately, and she recently asked me to write a post about getting kids interested in running (without pushing them into it). I loved the idea, so I wrote some tips that I hope are useful ;)  You can read the blog post here: How to Get Kids Interested in Running.

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