Turkey Trot- Fort Dodge, IA Race Report

5 miles. 47:02.

This was a great race because I have never done a 5 mile before. So, it was bound to be a PR. I was pretty happy with the time. The race was really small and informal (just like I like them) and the people were so nice! About 200 people ran (and a dozen or so dogs). No rules against ipods either, which is awesome since I run faster with music. The trail was soft (no concrete... all dirt and gravel) and flat and the weather was a little cool... in the 30s, but nowhere near the 11 degrees it was at the start last year. All in all, I would run this race again for sure for the flat course and the nice people. Fun times!!!

November 13 Training Update

Last Sunday: 3 miles. 31:31
Tuesday: 6 miles. 58:09
Thursday: 4 miles. 38:24.
Saturday: Body Combat
Today: 5 miles. 47:57.

It is interesting looking at the times because the 5 miles I did today was the hilliest and windiest route of the week but it was one of the fastest. Go figure!

Another Thursday Afternoon Run

3 miles. 28:00 even. Beautiful day... most of the snow on the sidewalks was melted.

This week so far...

Monday. 3 miles. 29:29
Tuesday. 4 miles. 39:16

We got like a foot or more of snow last night (and had blizzard conditions this morning) so I am taking a rest day today.

Bolder Boulder 2011 Race Report

This post was a long time in coming so I will keep it brief. I ran the Bolder Boulder 10K with my good friend Carolynn and my brother-in-law, Mike. It was Carolynn's first 10K and Mike's first Bolder. I ran just for fun and kept pace with Carolynn, but I beat Mike anyway. That will probably never happen again. As always, it was an extremely well-run race and we all agreed we will be running it again next year. Can't wait!

Saturday in KC

5 miles. 48:05. I coughed pretty much the whole time but after a rest day I should be fine.

Today's Run

4 miles. 37:37. Starting to get my speed back, yay!

Getting It Together

After a long absence, I am hoping to get back to using this blog to chronicle my running and log training and races. I am registering for three winter races here in Denver as part of a winter distance series. It means I run a 10K in December and two ten milers in January and February. I want to PR at the 10K, and if I can stay injury free, I am on track for that right now. The 10 milers should be interesting because I have never run that distance (which means a guaranteed PR, yay!).

Rock N Roll Half Marathon Race Report

You will notice that this is not a marathon race report. Unfortunately, EHL tendinitis kept me from running the full under doctor's orders. But a nice big cortisone shot in the top of my foot got me through the half and I am very grateful for that! :) There's not much to report about the race itself, except that it was a beautiful day and I am a huge fan of the Rock N Roll race series now. There were bands everywhere and it was so much fun!!!

Pre-race (Noah was tired!):Race start:Near the end:

Marathon Training Again

I have decided to run the Denver Rock-N-Roll Marathon in October. So far, the training is going pretty well, but it has been tough building the miles back up from the injury-induced break. I did 8.5 miles or so on a trail outside of Crested Butte on Saturday and two days later, I am still hurting. This week's mileage is 3-5-3-11 (for a total of 22), so I'll see how the foot holds up to that. Acupuncture has really helped the Plantar Fasciitis so far... hopefully that will continue.

Time Flies... and All That

I can't believe it has been over 2 months since I posted anything on here. I guess I should start with a run down of what has happened in that time.

1. Noah turned 4!!! I can't believe I have a 4-year-old child. He is the best and so much fun. I feel so lucky to be his mom. I need to post pictures of the party on here soon.

2. Noah finished up his soccer season and started playing tee-ball. Dan is coaching and he is doing a great job, of course!

3. We went to Yellowstone for Memorial Day weekend. I need to post pictures and a trip report soon as well.

4. School is out! Yee-haw... another year down and all the children are accounted for!

5. My stud of a hubby rode Elephant Rock 100 mile bike ride. Need to post pics of that one as well.

6. Debroah and Joel (our friends from Camp Buckskin) moved here from Australia with their two kids, Maysa and Emerson. We have been having a blast welcoming them to Denver and taking care of their gorgeous dog, Charlie, while they look for a house.

7. We just got back from 6 days in San Diego. Pictures are coming! We did Legoland, La Jolla Shores beach, Coronado, Disneyland (in Anaheim), and Sea World. It was a whirlwind but so much fun. I love staying in hotels!!! :)

8. I started doing acupuncture for my plantar fasciitis and it is working! I am finally able to do some decent running and I am kicking saround the idea of another marathon in October!

9. I am on my 4th class at JIU for my administration certification (and another masters to go along with it). It is business management for learning organizations and I have to admit, it's not really my thing. The teacher and classmates are great though and I am doing pretty well!

That's about all... can you see why the blogging has taken a back seat???

Back in Colorado

Well, I made it back from Europe. It was a great trip, but I missed Dan and Noah tons and I am very glad to be home. I hope to start uploading pictures tonight so hopefully there will be more posts soon about Spain and France. It was really fun traveling with Mom and Amanda and Amanda definitely picked a cool place to live for a semester!

I am still totally jet lagged and can't seem to get myself back on mountain time. I am getting there, but not fast enough for my taste. There is so much going on! I was behind at work already before I left and missing 3 work days did not help that any, as you might imagine. Also, one of my admin classes ended while I was gone and another started up, so that is in full swing already. My new class is Strategic Planning for Educational Organizations. It sounds interesting and so far I like the professor.

Noah's soccer started while I was gone and I am the assistant coach, so that is fun but crazy too! I had my coaching debut last night and it was nuts! Those kids run all over the place. I was cracking up half the time and the other half, I was chasing either balls or children who had gone out of bounds. Noah's first game is a week from tomorrow!

Dan is a trooper as always. I don't know how he did everything while I was gone all by himself. He is amazing and I am so lucky to be married to him.

I started the Couch to 5K program yesterday. I know that sounds crazy, but I just think that with all of my injuries, it is better to start up running again really slowly. It is insanely easy, but maybe that is the point. I am going to pick a 5K to run in about 8 weeks and then hopefully I can get back to normal this summer. I am really getting my heart set on an October marathon (or maybe even Pikes if registration is still open by the time I am fully better), so I am focusing on injury prevention.

Watch for another post later today about my first days in Spain!

Life in the Slow Lane

I suppose something about my life should force me to slow down; I just wish it wasn't running. As I have been trying to add mileage, my foot is giving me trouble again. A little over a week ago I was ready to give up and just not run anymore. But then something happened. I took a week off and the foot felt better. So, on Wednesday afternoon, I did a short slow run of 2 miles. Foot felt fine. So today I did a short show run of 2.5 miles. Foot is a little sore, but I would be willing to bet tomorrow it will feel fine. In between, I am riding my bike on Dan's new bike trainer, which rocks, by the way.

Anyway, as I was running today, I was thinking about what I've learned from this stupid plantar fasciitis thing. I have learned to slow it down. I'm not that fast anyway, so I might as well slow down if that is what will prevent injury. What difference does it make if I am running a 9 minute mile or an 11 minute mile? Nobody cares but me, and if they do, they don't have enough going on in their own lives.

So, I am slowing down, and I am enjoying the runs more again. Running only 2-3 times per week is also making me appreciate the runs more. Today was beautiful! Sunny and in the high 40s. Perfect running weather (ok, I would have liked warmer, but I'm not going to complain considering the winter we have had).

I am still planning on Pikes this year, but I am not going to push the speed. It isn't helping me and it's making my foot worse anyway. I am going to slow down and enjoy the run!

Happy trails!

Update

Me = So lame about blogging lately.

I just haven't had any time. I am now into my second admin class. I really like this one so far. It is about student conduct. If you know me at all, you know I am fascinated with behavior so it's a good one for me to be in. Right now, I am geeking out on Colorado student conduct law for a paper I have due tomorrow. I need to focus and just get it done.

Noah and Dan and Japhy are still wonderful. Dan really helps out when I have to work on school stuff and Noah is really a constant joy! Today he showed me the sign language for "beautiful," and after I praised him for it, he said, "because you are beautiful, Mommy." I had tears in my eyes....

Work is calming down. We have been down 4 people for about 2 months now which means more work for everyone. But we only have one more position to fill at this point, so things are getting much better. I got to be on the interview committee for 2 of the positions, which was a good experience for me. I did that a few times at my previous job, but it is good experience for whatever my next move might be.

My foot is getting better too. I am finally at 3 miles, 3 times per week. That may not sound like much, but I could barely run a mile 2 months ago without my foot feeling like I wanted to cut it off, so I am happy with that. One of Noah's friend's moms (who is a serious runner... like she has done Pikes 4 times) suggested that I do the St. Patrick's 7K in Denver with her, and I am considering it. I am so excited to be able to run races again, but let's face it, I've lost some fitness. The good news is that I've been watching what I eat, and I am down 5 lbs. since New Years (I had gained a little), so that should lessen the pounding my foot is taking.

Planning to Spain trip had gotten to be too stressful for me, so I let it go for a while. We have our plane tickets, so one way or another, we will be there! :)

That's all for now! Yay, Olympics are on! Go US!!!

Friday Fun!

Denver Half Marathon Race Report

First of all, this was the most fun half marathon EVER!!! I had so much fun, mostly because my friend, Erika, from college was here. She is such a blast to hang out with and even more fun to run with. I usually run by myself, especailly over long distances, so it was a nice change to run with people.

So, Dan and Noah and I piled into the car on race day and went into downtown Denver. It was an easy drive, Noah was really good, and we found Erika and her group easily at the big red chair with the horse on it near the Denver Library. Noah was wearing his skeleton jammies and refused to take them off the rest of the day, in spite of the fact that it was 80 degrees by 11:00.

We all headed to the bathroom and then to the starting line with 10,000 of our closest friends and we were off! Dan and Noah cheered us on, but the crowd was so big I couldn't even see them. They went to breakfast during the race and then watched us at the finish line, but I didn't see them there either. Poor Erika was freezing at the starting line so she had on a trash bag. Race chic!

The race itself was uneventful and really really nice up until about Mile 10. At Mile 10, it felt like someone was trying to hammer a big old nail up into my heel. It was the plantar fasciitis acting up again. I knew I was in for it because I didn't take enough time off running after Pike's, but I was hoping I could just get through this race and THEN rest. Not so much.

Erika was so nice. She coaches running teams and she totally got me through the last three miles. My foot hurt so freaking bad I just wanted to stop every second. But she kept me talking and we ran all the way to the end. The last three miles were pretty slow, but we made it! Our official time was 2:14:53. I was ok with that considering the foot.

After the race, Erika and I had a few beers. I took this picture of Erika through the fence that they had around the beer garden. I was joking that they wouldn't let her out because she drank too much. We both kept getting tickets for free beer (through no fault of our own, haha)!

Dan and Noah played by the stage (they had bands playing. Noah was very happy with a ball he got at the post race expo. He named the ball Scott.

I am so glad I ran this race. It is a great one. Next year it is going to be the Rock N Roll Denver Marathon, which will make it even better. Erika wants to make it an annual tradition and I am all over that! I may even be up for the full, depending on what I do for Pike's next year. If you are looking at running a half or full marathon, I HIGHLY recommend Denver. They had some great sponsors and everything was really well run.

Denver Half Marathon

My half marathon is tomorrow. Dan and Noah and I just got back from picking up my race packet at the Expo. We met my friend Erika there (the one who flew in from St. Louis to run the race). She was cracking me up telling me that she can't breathe and doesn't know how she will run tomorrow. She is in great shape and I'm sure she will be dragging my butt along by Mile 10.

Remiss

I have been completely and inexcusably remiss in my blogging duties over the last 2 weeks. I apologize to the two or three of you who check it regularly. So here is a little update on everything going on here:

Noah:
Still my amazingly talented-in-every-way-athletic-little genius! ;) He has gotten into playing the "guitar," which he made at school out of a shoebox, a pencil, and a few rubber bands. It is hilarious and I really need to get a video posted of him playing and singing. His school year is in full swing and they have started phonics, a little bit of writing, and Spanish! My kid already officially knows more Spanish than I do. Sad, I know, but I am just so proud I don't even care.

Dan:
He is finally riding his bike again, which is cool. He took a little break after his big race in August but he is glad to be back in the saddle again, so to speak. He is happy and cool as usual. When I married him, I had no idea how much strength that guy has and I am amazed every day at his positivity and his openness to whatever the universe throws at him. He rocks!

Japhy:
Annoying dog as ever...but we love him!

Work:
Well, let's just say that work is a big reason I haven't been blogging. I have never had a position that left me as drained at the end of the day as I am now. But it also has parts I absolutely love and I am not leaving, at least not today, hehe. We are in a situation right now that requires a LOT of paperwork and I don't like the amount of time it is taking away from kids, but it is temporary. And I treasure the time I CAN get with kids that much more! I am pretty sure that sometime before I retire (you know, when I am 101 years old), I will go back to teaching in a classroom. I don't care what anyone says, that is the most important job in education and it is the only place where you can develop that unique close relationship with kids.

Running:
Running is going pretty well, even the speed work. For my training plan right now, I have target paces for every run that will help me hit 1:59:59 in the half marathon. I have hit target pace for every run except for one (I would blame that on my watch because I messed it up in the middle of a 4 mile tempo run, but I know that is a cop-out.). My foot has been hurting and my legs are pretty sore, but other than that, it feels great to work on speed again. The only bummer is that I am not doing much trail running right now since I am working on speed (and because it is dark in the morning when I run now). I miss it, but I will get right back to it after the Denver Half. I have also added one day of biking/week for cross training and I am really liking the change from running.

That about wraps it up. It was my birthday last weekend so I am 37 now. I can't believe it. I don't feel 37. I feel about 24 most days (ask Dan... I still laugh at fart jokes). I even laughed today when my boss said "arrears." Hahahaha! She said "rear." Seriously. Good thing she is cool.

Back in Training Mode

It seems like I feel lost these days without something to train for. Like my whole life is meaningless. Just kidding. But I did struggle with letting my body heal up after Pikes. I finally forced myself to take a week off. It lasted 3 days, but it worked. I am back to a full schedule of running plus one day of biking (thanks again to Dan for fixing my mountain bike!). So I am officially training for the Denver Half Marathon, which is only six weeks away. Yikes! I should probably get myself registered.

I am changing up the schedule though a little to add some speed work because I would like to finish this 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours. I am realistic though so I will be happy with anything under 2:05, and I can live with anything under 2:11. The 1/2 is October 18, so I have to be ok with the fact that there could be snow on the ground for it, or it could be sunny and hot.

My speedwork consists of intervals on the track on Tuesdays and tempo runs on Thursdays. So far, my paces are right on track with what MacMillan says I need to do to finish in under 2 hours. It's definitely different than the Pikes training I did, but it is nice to be running fast (or at least faster) again.

I Have a Butt Problem

But probably not the kind you are thinking.

Basically, I am pretty sure I jacked up a muscle (either my glute or my high left hamstring) by picking up running again too quickly after Pikes Peak. I probably should have waited longer than 3 days to resume running. The pain started last weekend when I bent down to pick up one of Noah's ridiculously large array of toys and I felt a twinge. That's when I told Dan that my butt hurt. Hence the title of this blog post.

Then I did intervals on Tuesday because I am trying to get speedier for the Denver Half Marathon. While running a 46 second 200M (a 200M PR for me), I felt the twinge again but this time it really hurt.

Yesterday I didn't run at all, which I think probably helped. But this morning I attempted a 3 mile tempo run and it went from bad to worse. As I was going up my first uphill, I saw that a dude running with his dog was gaining on me. Pride goeth before a fall. I know that is true because I really picked up the pace because I didn't want him to pass me. Big mistake. By the time I got to the top of the hill, the guy was passing me anyway and my legs were wasted. Now everything hurts and I am relegated to taking a week off of running.

The good news is that Dan fixed my mountain bike today. So I will be biking and maybe swimming for the next week instead of running. I am also due for new running shoes, so I am going to get those tomorrow. Hopefully by this time next week, my legs will feel better and I'll be back on track to my next 1/2 Marathon PR.