Zero Week

I always have the best intentions when it comes to posting, but things have really gotten away from me lately.

I did spend the last two days on the couch with a sore throat and fever, but otherwise I don't have any good excuses.

Tom and I ran a trail race last weekend with a bunch of my Rivertown buddies. The Leatherman's Loop is a 10k (it's actually a little longer, but they say it's a 10k) that runs through wooded trails, mud flats, water crossings and sand hills. It is a lot of jumping over tree roots and making sure you don't trip on rocks.

Tom was a little undertrained, and I was still recovering from the Hook Half the weekend before, so we ran together. We did not have an amazing finish time, but it was a lot of fun! It would be nice to run when my legs are a little more well-rested.

The muddy shoe aftermath:

Photo Credit: Sue Chiarulli

In house news: I've been working away at the painting that needs to get done in the upstairs. I feel like it's taking me forever, but that's because when we painted the primer there were three of us working. 

This is the hall bathroom. There's going to be wainscoting on the bottom part of the wall and a shower enclosure around the tub, I'm not just incredibly lazy in my painting. 

I had plans to get the master bathroom painted this week too, but my body had other plans.

Buddy loves it when I'm sick. He gets extra couch time, even if he takes up half the couch.

I was feeling better this morning so we went for a (very) short walk. Buddy collapsed like we'd been running for miles when we got home. He's so dramatic.

My unplanned couch time led to an unplanned zero week when it comes to running. I haven't run a single mile since last weekend. I'm hoping to get some easy miles in this weekend, but we'll see how quickly my energy comes back to me. I don't have any races until June, so I'm not too worried about the lost mileage.

Double Digits

I keep having runs where I drag my feet getting out the door, and for the first mile or so, and then I suddenly feel better and end up having a really good (and fast!) run. It's weird. I guess it's better than being excited to run and having a sluggish run.

Check out this 5 miler from Friday:

I can't believe there's a mile that starts with a 7 in there!

My Saturday started off extra early this morning. 

Some of my weekend running buddies decided to meet up for 3 miles before the regular Saturday 7 miles that we run. I had a 10 miler on my training plan this weekend anyway, and 10 miles with friends always goes faster than 10 solo miles.

It was a brisk 17 degrees out when I left the house, though it warmed up to a toasty 23 by the time I parked the car, tied my shoes and hit the trails. Three of us ran 3 early miles and went back to the parking lot to meet up with the rest of the group.

I kept having to remind myself that we had already run a few miles, because some miles felt tougher than they normally would have. We had to run a bit past our cars to hit 10 miles, but we weren't about to come up short after waking up early to run. I'm happy with the 9:28 pace we managed to maintain.

Plus it's nice to have a recent double digit run. I think the last time I hit 10 miles was on Thanksgiving.

I drove home and waffled up some cinnamon rolls (because we don't have an oven).

Post-long-run breakfast lunch of champions.

What's your run this weekend?

Do you have a go-to post-long-run meal?

Weekend Things

Things are happening with the house again! We had the plumber and electrician out this weekend for a few little things. They needed to get finished because insulation work starts tomorrow!

We actually started talking about paint colors today - it's happening! We aren't going to live in a construction zone forever!  :)

The plumber was going to be here early on Saturday morning, so I didn't think I would be able to meet up with my running group. He ended up having a schedule change which worked out nicely for me.

I was up and out the door early on Saturday and ran just shy of 7 miles on the trails with my group. Some of our normal trails still had snow/ice on them from last weekend's storm, so we were a little limited in our route.

I came home and lounged around with the pooch and some coffee.

My post-run clashing game is only growing stronger.

I got my race packet for the Nuun Year Dash, a virtual race that's being held next weekend. I'm not usually big on virtual races, but when it's hosted by Nuun, you know I can't say no!

There's a new flavor of Nuun coming out next week - I've heard a rumor that it's orange mango. I'm not usually big on all things mango, but I'll definitely give it a try!

Today was mostly errands and chores. I took our recycling in, which we only do about once every 6 months or when it threatens to take over the kitchen. Today's haul was 215 bottles and cans, which may be a record for us. The afternoon was spent moving firewood from the wood pile to the front porch, necessary, but no fun.

Today was also the last day of Yoga Camp. I have really enjoyed yoga camp, and I'm really impressed that I did every single day. It showed me that I can always find/make time to get a little yoga/stretching in. I'm really good about getting my runs in, but I'm also really good at convincing myself I don't have time for the other stuff.

So, what's next? Well, I'm almost definitely signing up for a free trial week of Adriene's subscription site, and we'll see how things go from there.

I may have started looking at fall marathons this weekend. Maybe.

A Fiery New Year

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Happy New Year!

We celebrated the new year with some friends the traditional way: by lighting a giant bonfire of Christmas trees collected from surrounding neighborhoods. 

Buddy was more than ready for bed by the time we got home. He doesn't stay up late.

I woke up this morning and couldn't find my Moov anywhere. I shook out my clothes that I wore to the bonfire, and then checked the bed. It was all tangled up in the sheets. I don't know if it got hooked on something or if I took it off in my sleep, but at least I found it.

We'll see if it happens again.

My running group has a New Years day run every year, so I drove down to join them. They're reasonable, and don't meet up until noon. We had a really good turnout, I think there were around 40 people in the group photo before the run.

I bought myself a FlipBelt the other day and hadn't tried it out yet. I put my phone in at the start and it didn't budge the entire 7 mile run - no bouncing! It might be one of my new favorite running accessories. And now I may actually run with my phone like I know I should - safety and whatnot.

I also got in three 30 second planks as a part of my 100 days of fitness challenge. Everyone was being a bunch of overachievers so I didn't just do the bare minimum. That's the good version of peer pressure.

Buddy got a new chew toy from Tom's parents for Christmas.  I think it's safe to say he likes it!

I love when he holds things with his paws like that.

How did you ring in the New Year?

Are you participating in any challenges to jump start 2016?

Jingle All the Way

I saw snow this morning! It didn't stick around or anything, but it was a nice festive start to my day.

My running group (Rivertown Runners) likes to run with jingle bells the weekend before Christmas, so we were a noisy bunch on the trails today.

We had a pretty good turnout, and it was actually cold out!

I swiped this photo from the facebook page - photo credit to Joe Golden. You can see my black headband 4 in from the left.

For some reason, the run felt tougher than usual, but having people to run with always makes things go more quickly than running alone.

In house news, there hasn't been a lot going on that I can really show you pictures of. Rough electrical and plumbing just don't scream photo op.

Our shower base and tub are in now, one of these days we'll take that window out!

That right there is a 6 foot tub. It's going to be awesome to have a tub that you can actually soak in. I hate tubs where you have to choose whether you want your legs or your torso in the water.

Buddy's very excited.

Our weekend project (well, one of them) is to re-watch the Star Wars movies so we can go see the new movie on Monday or Tuesday while kids are still in school.

Have you seen the new Star Wars yet? Are you going to?

What's the last movie you saw in the theater? We pretty much never go. The last movie we saw in the theater was The Martian, but before that it was the third Hunger Games movie - we average about one per year.

The Best Intentions

I had planned on getting back to the blog sooner. The days around the holidays just go by so quickly!

I tried to update iTunes the other day. The install failed and then I had no iTunes at all. I then spent several days trying to figure out the problem. In the end, I have no idea which of the many things I tried actually solved the problem, but at least I have access to my music and audiobooks again.

Technology is fun like that.

Buddy is the best training partner. I don't know anyone who is always this excited to go for a run.

I have been taking him with me two days a week for 2-3 miles, and he's doing great! He gets so excited when I change into my running clothes, and I always feel bad when I don't take him with me. Maybe someday we'll work up to longer runs.

I couldn't pass these up at the grocery store the other day. They're already gone.

I met up with my old running group again on Saturday. I was really tired, but it ended up being a really nice run on the trails. It was almost too hot by the time we finished. Our weather is really weird right now (way too warm for December), it doesn't feel like Christmas is almost here.

When I got home I hung out (in my running gear) with the lap dog for a while.

And I learned that there is an entire channel just hanging out, waiting for the Star Wars red carpet. Seems weird.

I had a long run on my (made up) training plan for today. I was shooting for 10, but quickly realized that was not going to happen. I don't know if it was the weather, my 7 miles on Saturday, or if I'm just tired, but every mile was a struggle today.

I pushed through and my last mile was actually my fastest least slow, so at least I rallied and finished 8 miles strong.

What's your weather doing? 

How's your running lately?

I Ran The Farm

Blogging consistency is not my strong point right now.

I ran a really fun trail race called Run the Farm on Sunday. I mostly didn't want to go anywhere, but I had already paid my registration fee and two of my old weekend running buddies were going to be there, so I couldn't back out.

Of course, I'm really glad I went, because it was a lot of fun!

The race was only 5 miles, but that was plenty because it was a serious trail race. There were a lot of single track sections where I kept getting stuck behind people, there were fallen trees and tree roots to jump over, and tons of rocks (the better to twist your ankle with, my dear). It was a really challenging race, partly because I have been running on the roads all summer (nevermind the hills), but it was a beautiful course.

I unintentionally make the best faces in race photos.

They have a farmer's market at the farm every weekend, and race finishers got 5 farm bucks to spend at the market. Mostly I think all the runners were enjoying all the free samples - runners love free food. We did pick up a couple of sausages, and my running buddies went home with a few containers of pickles.

I think we may have convinced Tom to run with us next year.

It was so much fun to run with my people again! I really need to make the drive down for our Saturday run again one of these days.

Morning Miles and Procrastinating Packing

Sorry I'm so all over the place lately. We've been busy with work things, packing and planning - I'm still not sure how we're going to get everything done. One day I'll get back to posting more often than you care to read, and then it will be full of running updates and home improvement projects!

I woke up early this morning to meet up with two of my weekend running buddies for some extra miles. We ended up running just shy of 11 miles. It was my last run with the group for a while since my next race is a week from today and then we're moving. It's going to be about an hour long drive to meet up with them once we move, but I'm planning on making the trek for some of my longer runs during marathon training. Miles go faster with friends!

I spent some time boxing up some of my loose things in the basement and re-taping the boxes that I never bothered to unpack when we moved from Alaska. I also boxed up some books and found a bunch of bags/backpacks that will soon be full of things.

I found this picture from my derby days while I was packing things up in the basement.

I'm the one not on the ground.

See those shelves? There were (more) books on them earlier! I'm celebrating tiny victories today, it helps me feel productive.

We keep telling Buddy that he needs to pack up his toys, but he's about as good as we are about packing.

Running in the Rain

I have still not started packing. I did, however, make brownies, which is really more important in the short term if you ask me.

Yesterday I was determined to run outside. And then it was raining and I got lazy and ran inside. Today I was determined to run outside again. And then it was raining again. But this time I sucked it up and dragged myself out the door to hit the trails.

Very few people thought it was a good day for visiting the park.

But you know what? Once I just accepted the inevitable (getting completely drenched), I had a lot of fun! There was only one other crazy person out running the trails, so it was like having the place to myself.

I ran a little over 5 miles in 47:07 - I'm pretty happy with that considering the puddle dodging, mud, and hills.

Luckily I had the presence of mind to bring a towel with me to keep my car seat dry for the drive home.

This wussy dog was shivering after his last walk, so I brought out his blanket and he's much happier now, regardless of the look on his face.

You would think it was the middle of winter the way he's burrowing.

Do you like running in the rain? What's your favorite running weather?

Long Island Adventure Race

I was up extra early this morning to meet up with a couple of my usual Saturday running buddies. They were putting in some extra miles before the group run, and since I was going to otherwise miss my group run for the week, I decided to join them.

We ran about 4 miles at around a 9:00 pace, in lots of humidity and sunshine. It was really hot for 7:30 in the morning.

The reason I didn't make it to the group run was because Tom signed up to run an adventure race on Long Island. It was SO different than the races I'm used to.

The course was just under 4 miles, and there were over 20 obstacles. There were big groups, teams, families and individuals running. Tom ended up running with a 19 and a 22 year old who were very impressed that he was keeping up with them.

There was a lot of running through the woods, so I missed a lot of obstacles, but I took pictures of the ones I could get to.

These were dumpsters filled with ice water. The one on the right had boards across it so people had to get completely under the water.

I would have looked more like the girl on the right if I had tried to run this race. Tom landed safely on the other side.

There was some rope climbing.

 

Some tire flipping.

And a crazy plank walk.

Then some monkey bars over a mud pit, naturally.

And a giant bubble and water pit at the bottom of a ramp/wall. I have no idea how I managed to not get any bubbles in the picture because they were everywhere! This is where having a group was helpful. Part of the time there were race volunteers at the top to help people up. All the obstacles were optional, so if things got too tricky, people could go around.

Then there was some (more) mud.

And a little more mud.

They had finishers medals, bananas and water waiting at the finish line, and the fire department was there to help take care of the mud.

Tom had a great time and I managed to only get a little sunburned. A pretty fun day overall!

Have you run an obstacle course race? Would you want to?

I haven't, and I don't know that I would want to - I'm not big on rope climbing and dumpsters full of ice water :)