How About a Trail Run...

I have been thinking about what my first race of 2014 would be.  I think maybe I haven't really wanted to jinx myself my actually planning a race, and when I woke up this morning I had no races scheduled.

What a difference a day makes.

I have been saying that I would like to run an actual trail race.  One with registration fees, race t-shirts, timing chips and aid stations.  Looks like I'm going to get my wish.

Tomorrow at 9 am, I will be participating in the Sooner State Games trail race.  I actually registered for this event in 2011, but I believe it got snowy/icy and we opted to run our planned long run for marathon training instead.  There is no backing out now.

What's even better is three of my favorite running peeps will be joining me on the trails, and I will get so see some of my favorite trail runners too.  It should make for a very interesting day.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that we are doing the long race?  It's only 12 miles, and I know that the "only" portion of that statement is purely subjective, but up until now, the farthest I have ever run/walked on trails is six miles.  Peer pressure from my running friends sure makes my life more interesting!

Of course, now the big question is: What do we wear?  Guess I need to work on a little carb loading and hydration.

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.  

WIAW, It’s a New Year…

I have not done a WIAW post in a long time, so I thought I would just see what kinds of food pictures I’ve taken recently.

Could be really boring, so here goes.

The last couple of weeks seem to have had a number of these.  I love being able to pick up a bottle of wine at CVS in other states that don’t have stupid liquor laws.  We drank a little red and white while we were in Chicago for Christmas.

We found the cutest little Italian restaurant while we were in Chicago, compliments of yelp.  I had to go with the house sangria, and I was not disappointed.

My sister-in-law’s boyfriend, Ryan, told us we had to check out Potbelly Sandwich Shop before we made our way back to Oklahoma.  We waited until almost the last minute, we had lunch in the airport before we caught our flight home.  I had the Mediterranean, with hummus, feta, cucumbers, roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts.  I am only sad that we don’t have these in Oklahoma.

Lots of cookies were baked this year, sugar cookies go with pumpkin beer, right?  Of course they do.  Sugar cookies go with everything.

I took the girls to Blu on Friday for lunch.  We had my favorite blue cheese truffle chips, and they were big fans.  We will be going back for these.

I have been making lots of soup lately.  It has become my favorite thing to pack for weekday lunches.  Sweet potato with roasted cauliflower and barley.  It was really good.  The recipe didn’t call for barley, but it just needed something, and it turns out that barley was just the thing.

Veggie pot pie soup, one of my favorites.  It’s just comfort in a bowl.

So there you have it, my most recent eats.  Or the ones that have been documented most recently.  We will see if we can get back on track with the WIAW posts in the new year.

Let’s Wrap it Up…

It is no secret that 2013 has been a less than fabulous year for me.  I have had personal and professional challenges that have not been, and will not be discussed on the blog, but let’s just say it has been difficult on all fronts.

I thought I would talk about some other bad parts of the year, and then focus a little on the good parts of my year.

First of all, there were two injuries, an accident, and an appendectomy.  I went from training for the Redman half ironman triathlon, to training for the Kansas City half marathon, to just going along as a spectator as my friends ran the marathon.  I know that in the big picture these setbacks are pretty minor in relation to some of the challenges others faced this year, The fact that I kept taking one step forward and two steps back all year, on top of the previously mentioned, but not discussed, personal and professional difficulties of the year just seemed to make it all that much harder.

I did have some good pictures though…

My lovely sprained ankle.

My chin is still scarred.

My shoulder had a little scarring, but I got lucky with not so much road rash.  Guess when you fall straight down and don’t slide it means fewer scars.

Don’t worry, I won’t show you my surgery scars.  No one needs to see them.  I think this picture was right before they gave me medicine that gave me a nice allergic reaction.  Oh, what an adventure.

So there were the lower points of 2013, so let’s talk about the good things.

First of all, I ran my second marathon this year.

It wasn’t as strong a race as I had hoped, but I did it.  It was hard, but it is 26.2 miles, how can that not be hard?

I spent a lot of time on my yoga mat this year.  While I didn’t get my first headstand in in 2013, I learned a lot and will carry what I have learned into 2014.  I have learned to accept the small victories of yoga, and have embraced the progress I have made this year.

I ran two unofficial trail runs this year.  One in the spring, one in the fall.  Although, the one in the spring is probably not a highlight of Josh’s year.  He managed to dislocate his ankle.  Cheaters never win…

Josh and I took the girls to the beach in North Carolina this summer.  We made pit stop in Nashville to see one of my favorite bands, Wilco on the way.  It was a fantastic vacation with plenty of time spent laying on the beach and wave jumping.

My girls became teenagers in August.  Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

In September, I scored cheap tickets and took them and my niece Paige to see Mumford and Sons in Guthrie.  So cool!  It was such a fun day with three of my favorite teenagers.

Can you tell we spent the day sweating our butts off in the Oklahoma sun?  Teenagers love to have their pictures taken.

Traveling to Kansas City to watch some of my favorite people run a marathon was also a positive thing that happened this year.

It was such a fun trip, even if I didn’t get to run.  Marathon stalking is an art and I think I did a pretty good job.

I did have a good half marathon in November at the Route 66.

Finally, we finished off the year by spending Christmas in Chicago.  I will get to that recap soon, it was a fantastic trip.

Here’s the running breakdown:

• 902.88 miles logged
• 1 marathon
• 2 half marathons
• 4 5k’s
• 1 run in Chicago
• 2 runs at the beach

I think the good did outweigh the bad, but I am sure looking forward to starting fresh in 2014. 

Technorati Tags: running,injury,vacation,mumford & sons,wilco

Finally, There Was a Turkey Day 5k…

For the third year in a row I ran a 5k to start off Thanksgiving.  The beauty of this year’s race was that Norman finally had it’s own Turkey Day 5k.  If I’m going to run a 5k, not having to get up early and drive far makes it much more tolerable. 

I met Anne a little early and we ran an easy mile to get warmed up, and then there were pictures.

Tray, Tiffany, Jerry, me and Anne

I love local races and being able to see so many familiar faces out there.

After my strong run on Sunday at the Route 66 Half, I was ready to go out for a fun run. Anne and I talked about what our race goals were and we were shooting for a 25 minute race.

We set out and were running around an 8 minute pace, and it didn’t feel horrible.  I felt like I was pushing but I was not killing myself.  We were still chatting through the race.

This was in the second mile, and I really wish I looked like I was actually running.  I hate crappy race photos!

I pulled a little ahead of Anne, but she ended up passing me on the last turn on the track to the finish line.  Unofficially her time was 24:59 and mine was 25:01.  My clock time was 25:24, which was my fastest 5k of the entire year.  I hope that 2014 will bring a little more speed and a little fewer setbacks.

We did get some good post race pics.

Anne and I

Kim and I.

Kim’s friend, Kim, Julie and I.

Julie and I.  I almost didn’t recognize Julie out on the roads!

It was a great morning with some great friends.  I will definitely be back next year.  They gave long sleeved t-shirts at the finish line, along with Christmas ornaments.  What a great idea!  I am a sucker for a long sleeved t-shirt, and this was not a technical shirt either, which never seems to happen these days.

Technorati Tags: Turkey Day 5k,running

Route 66 Marathon…

The Route 66 marathon holds a special place in my heart.  It was my first half marathon three years ago, and I have been there to toe the line every year since.

Of course, I was going to be there at the starting line this year, after everything that has happened to derail my running/triathlon efforts this year, I was determined to be there when the gun went off.  On Friday afternoon, I was doubting that we were going to make it to Tulsa.  Ice and snow had me thinking that I wasn’t going to see another half marathon in 2013.  We changed our plans and decided to see what it looked like on Saturday morning and were happy to see passable roads were waiting for us.

We loaded up the dogs and the girls and headed up to the race expo.

It was a great relief to have an actual race bib in my possession.

I was pretty disappointed by the lack of name printed on my bib, and the crappy corral assignments for this race.  The last years they have done a great job, I don’t know why they screwed it all up this year.

Race day was very cold.  It was about 23 degrees out, but there was no wind.  I am not going to lie, it was really cold getting to the starting line, but once we got moving it was pretty awesome out there.  There were a couple of areas on the course that had a little ice, but overall conditions were very good.

Jen and I started together, but she twisted her ankle about a half a mile in.  She told me to go on, but then caught back up to me at about mile four.  My only goal for this race was to run a complete race.  My plan was to just settle in with a pace that was sustainable for me on that particular day.  After everything that had happened this fall I was just excited to be there and to be able to run a half marathon.

I did get to chat with a couple of other runners.  There was a man that was running his 50th marathon on his 60th birthday, and a woman that was running her 100th marathon.  I love the people you see out on the race course.

I knew that Josh and the girls were not going to be out there cheering me on, it was freezing outside, and really, it was only a half marathon.  I was expecting to see my friend Ramsey.  He and his friends had planned to break out the drum set and shots and be out there cheering the runners on.  I saw him at about mile 8.5 and I cannot tell you how much it helped me to finish the race strong.

We did get a picture.

I will even forgive him his OSU gear.  After this picture, I put my headphones in, cranked up the music and set out for the rest of the race.  I definitely had a little more pep in my step and was able to pick up my pace a little bit.

They changed the route again this year, and it was hard to run past where the race has finished the last three years.  The fact that there was a HUGE hill in the last mile of the race didn’t help either.  I just plugged along, never felt like I was killing myself and had my head in the race the entire 13.1 miles.

It was definitely not fast, for me.  My official time was 2:04, which was slower than my horrible showing at the Memorial half in May.  This day I ran my own race, I didn’t care how anyone else ran, I just focused on being able to run my only half marathon this fall.  Mentally, it was a huge accomplishment for me.

I met Jen at the finish line and we had a very cold, very slow walk back to the car.  She did get her ankle checked out the next day and it was a severe sprain.  It’s amazing what you can do when you sprain your ankle mid run. 

I met Josh, the girls and my in-laws for breakfast and then we headed back home.  I had been worried about how the weekend would turn out with the weather and the race, but in the end it turned out just fine.

Technorati Tags: running,route 66 Marathon

Race for the Cure 2013…

It is a tradition for my sisters and I to get our families up early on a Saturday in October for the OKC Race for the Cure.  It happened to be on a Sunday this year.

The morning after my weekend of marathon stalking in Kansas City, I got Josh and the girls up at the crack of dawn to head downtown for my third 5k of 2013.  It is purely sentimental reasons that get me to the starting line of this race each year.  It is my PR 5k from 2011, I knew that there was no way I would be running a sub 24 minute race this year.

Jen and I were the only ones that were planning on running the timed 5k.  I opted for my Lululemon running skirt instead of my tutu from last year.  I love this run skirt, I would wear it every day if I could.

Anyway, we headed to the start line and I got ready to settle in and just run strong, with no expectations as to speed.  It was only three weeks after my appendectomy and I was still suffering the after affects of being knocked off my feet.  I set out and settled in and just ran as hard as I could.

The course was new this year, apparently the race organizers went back to the original course, and I did enjoy the different route.  I happened to see my friend Ginger in the last mile.  She was in her car looking for parking and happened to drive past me and gave me a nice shout out.  I definitely tried to look like I was running strong, even if I was not feeling it.  It’s okay to look bad in front of your running friends, but not in front of your non-running friends.

In all, it was not a bad day.  It’s not a race that will be remembered as being fabulous, but my 26:26 is was a perfectly respectable time.  I finished 4th in my age group, which after being in the top three the last two years, I’m a little bummed that I won’t be getting another medal in the mail.  Oh well, there is always next year.

We did have pictures after the timed race, before the start of the walk.

Karen, Jen and I.

Carson, Elizabeth, Camy, Hailey, Hannah, Paige and Parker. 

We started the 5k walk, opted for the 1 mile and then headed for breakfast.  It was a great way to warm up after a very chilly morning.