January is Almost Over...

My goal of spending more time with my blog has already been a huge failure.  Three weeks into the new year and I have blogged about a whole lot of nothing.  Maybe I need to get a life.

So what's been going on?  Running.  Work.  Family.  Food.  (Not necessarily in that particular order.)  Basically a whole lot of boring, everyday, regular life sort of things.  You could probably add a big dose of Race Envy to that list.  Apparently, I have friends that do plan races every now and again.  Maybe I should be hanging out with those friends more.

We are three weeks into January and I have logged 78 miles so far.  I should be on track to start the new year with a 100 mile month.  Don't get too excited because the universe has a way of wrecking my plans when I get too excited.  One day at a time, right?

So let's talk about today.




 

We don't usually run on Wednesdays, but Mother Nature has scheduled a bit of cold weather for tomorrow, so we opted to run our Thursday hilly route today.  After yesterday's 6, very cold, very windy miles, my legs were a little bummed to be asked to run again. I did everything I could to push them up and down the new, hilly route we have added from Rochelle's house for the last couple of weeks.  Let's just say I am glad that is over.

 

I did get a new pair of my beloved Brooks Ravenna 4s earlier this month and I am loving them.  I am sad that the 5s are so different, and my local shoe expert thinks the new version is not a good choice for me.  Apparently it's too much shoe for my narrow feet.  There is even talk of my second shoe being a brand other than Brooks.

 

Here's hoping they will change their minds and go back to the 4s when the 6s come out at the end of the year.  Although, I don't think this one pair will last me that long. 

 

I do need to do some serious thinking about what race I want to run next.  As always I feel a little lost and without direction.  I like to have a plan, but sometimes it's hard to come up with one.

 

One non-running relating bit of news, Camy has her audition for the high school orchestra tomorrow.  Seriously, high school!  I don't know if I'm more nervous for her to do well, which I am confident she will, or freaked out over the fact that she is auditioning for HIGH SCHOOL.  I am no where ready for that. 

 

This cannot be good for my mid-life crisis. 

 

I'm going to go sit in the corner and take some deep cleansing breaths.  

Hitting the Streets...

It happened. I finally got out of bed for a early morning, weekday run. It happened two days in a row this week. We wimped out on Tuesday because it was cold and windy, so we waited until Wednesday.

The mornings after yoga are always hard to get up for a run, and after sleeping so well for the last couple of weeks I did not sleep well Tuesday night. I woke up at one point and thought I had overslept, when I looked at my watch and it said 10:45. For some reason I thought it was am. Once I wrapped my mind around the fact that it was the middle of the night, I went back to sleep. Then I woke up at 4 am.

After not really falling back to sleep my alarm went off at 4:45. I put on some layers and headed out to meet Rochelle and Sarah. We tried out a partially new route, we ran from the Y to the OU football stadium. Turns out it is six miles out and back. The wind wasn't bad at all.

We got our six mils in at a 9:09 pace. I didn't feel as fantastic as I did on Saturday, but I didn't feel horrible.

I did a total of an hour walking on the treadmill at work and ended up with a good step count for the day.

Since we moved our run to Wednesday we ended up doing back to back runs. It has been ages since we ran back to back. After a not so great night of sleep, I was again awake at 4 am this morning. Maybe I was just excited about this.

New shoes! I finally got my Brooks Ravenna 4s last night. They are so cute! They came with black shoe laces too, but why wouldn't you go with the yellow ones? I cannot tell you how happy I was to be back in my beloved Brooks. You can't tell from the picture, but my blue Injinji socks really didn't match.

Rochelle, Sarah, Abby and Laura were all there for our usually run to CVS and back. I was feeling less than fabulous out there today. We got our six miles in at a 9:01 pace, that was even with an extra walk break. It is always great when how you feel is reflected differently on your Garmin.

I have been saying for ages that I wanted to have two pairs of shoes to train in. When I was training for my first marathon I rotated two pairs of Brooks Adrenalines. I am very excited because I ordered these today.

Tomorrow is a rest day, and I am looking forward to sleeping in.

Lastly, I stole this off the Brooks Running Facebook page.

I need this on a shirt.

 

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I Think I Am Ready To Run...

It has only been three days since my last run. Although I don't think I would call the horrific two mile treadmill torture a run. I have no plans to run tomorrow, so I am going on five days off.

I went to yoga tonight, and while my quads and hamstrings were still a little tired, especially during chair pose, they felt about a million times better than they did a the class on Tuesday night. I suspect the ankle and arch pain and swelling I had been experiencing are from poor form at the end of Sunday's race, and maybe the New Balance shoes I have been running in have a little less arch support that the Brooks Ravennas I had previously been running in.

At yoga on Tuesday it was hard to straighten my foot while I was on my mat for upward facing dog. Tonight there was much improvement. You might say that my body is feeling back to normal. I even got that nervous excited feeling when talking about the plan for Saturday morning.

I always feel nervous when I feel like I'm going to find out if my legs still work like they should. All of this sleeping in this week has been too nice I think. The cold weather has probably helped that, the thought of getting up to run next week just doesn't sound fun, but the thought of getting back with my favorite running friends for our early morning miles makes me realize how much I have missed all of them.

So what't up next? Who knows. There is a pretty big local race that is two months away. I happen to be registered for the full there, but it's probably more probable that I will be running 13.1 miles that day. We shall see what happens.

Most importantly right now is to get back to running in my beloved Brooks.

According to my banker I will be getting a pair of these lovelies in a week. I can't wait.

Until then I hope everyone has a runtastic Friday!

 

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A New Jacket and A Good Movie...

My favorite running store had a jacket on sale yesterday that I just had to have.

The Brooks Infiniti jacket. And it's purple, and it has thumb holes. I can't wait to wear it on my long run in the morning.

The kiddos went to stay at a friend's house so we actually went to the movies.

I have wanted to see a silver Linings Playbook for weeks and I am so glad we finally got to see it. It was so good. If you haven't seen it already you should go see it now. Like right now. You won't be sorry.

I love a good story that mixes sadness with laughter. And it's Bradley Cooper. What more do you want.

Happy Friday friends!

 

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Sick Day, But Not For Me...

My Thursday started off with hill repeats; brutal, horrible, I can't breathe hill repeats. We only did 3.79 miles by my Garmin and I was so glad when we were done. It was weird to be home by 6:00.

Camy was't feeling well ls night a she was already awake after I got home and was still not feeling well. We decided that I would get her into the doctor and let her get some sleep today.

I had breakfast before I took Carson to school.

Chocolate Frosted Mini Wheats with a banana and almond milk.

While Camy took a nap, I snuck out to a hot yoga class. I love when I can take a class at a time that I normally can't. I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my life. After how horrible the hill repeats were it was nice to feel amazing after yoga.

I went and got Camy some chicken noodle soup and 7-Up, because that's what you need if you aren't feeling well. Unless it's the stomach flu, then you need 7-Up and jello.

We had a little time to kill before we went to the doctor, so we watched a movie.

I had not seen the remake of Footloose, and Camy had not seen the original, so we decided to watch it. I can't decide if I liked it more than the original, but Camy did like it. There were some differences, but overall I thought they did a very good job.

Then we headed to the doctor's office.

She doesn't look that sick.

She was smiling before they came in and did the strep test. No flu, no strep, looks like it is just a cold. We went to Target to get a humidifier and some Mucinex. We picked up some ice cream, and these...

Not too bad.

Rochelle texted me a beautiful picture last night, and I just had to go see for myself.

The new Brooks Ravenna 4, they weren't supposed to be out until February. They are so cute! I haven't bought them yet, I had to get them put in the budget. I am excited to have two pairs of shoes to rotate in my training. I am totally a Brooks girl, but I have been happy with the New Balance shoes I have been running in for the last month or so.

I could probably tell you what model of New Balance these are, but I just don't know. I do like these shoes though. I had one small issue with a blister on the inside of my right foot but my favorite shoe expert made me an insert that has helped eliminate that problem. I am still very excited to get my new pair of kicks.

I almost forgot something funny that happened yesterday morning. We told Penny to get in the kennel, but then we couldn't find Rocky anywhere. Then we realized what had happened.

Penny got in the same kennel with Rocky. Good thing we were paying attention because Rocky isn't one to complain much. Oh yeah, and there was this...

I love my girls.

 

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Who Needs Toenails...

Workouts:
Monday-7.25 miles run/walk emphasis on the walk.  It was about a million degrees out and we were all hurting.
Tuesday-Hi/Low cardio class
Wednesday-3 mile run in 31 minutes, getting the feel of the new shoes.

My feet are seriously suffering from my 20 mile run around the Y track Friday morning.  Not only do I have blisters under about six of my toenails, I had blisters on both big toes and the side of my right foot.  What the heck?  I have a week and a half before the marathon and I felt the need for some serious action.

I went to a local running store, and they put me on the treadmill to analyze my gait.  This is not the usual store that I go to, but I had a good experience with them recently with a return so I thought I'd check out the high tech stuff they offer.  They had me hop on the treadmill barefoot, and run for about a minute.  Then I got to see exactly how my feet react when I run.  I also decided that if I could just run barefoot I'd be very happy, but it was a little weird to be on the treadmill with no shoes on.  Anyway...

They fitted me in the same shoes I have been training in.  Guess my local running store does know their stuff, without all the high tech gadgets. 

I got a new pair of these:

But I also decided to go with a pair of these:

I am hoping that the new insoles will give me the arch support that I need, and will help keep my feet from sliding forward in my shoes.  Apparently, when your feet slide forward in your shoe and hit the inside of your shoe over and over again for 20 miles or so (give or take 10 or 15 miles) that causes blisters, and bruises under your toenails, and it will help you loose your toenails.

I personally don't see the point of toenails, but it is spring time and I do love my flip flops, so I am trying really hard to hang onto them for as long as possible.  Good thing I'm a girl, because I can at least paint my toenails to make them seem half way normal, or I can paint the skin where there once was a toenail to give the illusion that there is still one. 

I did seek some advice from the Brooks Fanatics group on facebook, and it appears that I am not the only one that suffers from this ailment.  Clearly I am the only one in my running group.  Well maybe not, but I guess I'd rather loose toenails than suffer from IT Band issues, or knee issues, or hip issues, or back issues.  So maybe I'm pretty lucky, but my toenails might beg to differ.

New Shoes...Finally!

Finally, after running for as long as I could in my old Brooks Arials, I bought a new pair of real running shoes this weekend.

They are super light and so cute!  I was so excited when they fit me in something that actually came in pink and purple.  They don't seem as big and bulky as my old shoesand they fit really well.

I got to test them out for four miles on the treadmill last night and was very happy with how they feel.  Though my toes have not completely healed from the half they didn't feel any worse for the wear after the run last night.  I am expecting a lot of great miles out of these.