Swarmed

Is "swarmed" a word?  Oh well.

As my running increases, I could possibly see that my desire to write about it also could increase.  It's been almost a year now since I've been in a slump running-wise.  I was still running last year in July and August, but I was gradually decreasing the miles to try to ease my foot pain. 

At the end of November when I ran for the first time in 2 months I was elated to go run, but taking a slow approach to increasing my miles, while good for my feet, seems to have affected my desire to go run negatively.  Lately I have noticed that I just don't want to run very badly, even now the thought of running 12 miles in 2 weeks (this next Sunday is a scale back week to 7 miles) does not excite me.  A few years ago when I decided to do a half marathon, the higher mileage excited me.  I was excited to see if I could run 8, 9, 10 miles.  Now it's not as exciting to me.  I don't know why and it bothers me.  I'd really like to get that excitement back.  Maybe once I go over the half marathon mileage it will, I'll be in new territory again.  But after this marathon, then what?  I don't want to be an ultra runner, it seems crazy.  (I've said that before, about a half marathon and about a marathon).

Last week I was a little worried about running 9 miles.  I looked on MapMyRun to find out when the last time I had run 9 miles was (June 2014).  I obsessed about going to get some sort of fuel for the run, I even laid out my clothes the night before and decided what to eat and drink and how early to get up.  Yesterday I laid around all morning, drank some coffee, ate my eggs, and then decided to start getting ready for my run about 10am.  I was almost out the door when I thought "crap! 10 miles, I hope I have fuel!"  Luckily I had some left over from last week.  And off I went. 

It was actually a pretty eventful run, which usually isn't a good thing. 

I did the same route that I did last week, and knew I was going to add a loop that was about half a mile, so I figured I'd just run an extra half mile at the end of the run.  I always end on the same trail and it's 2 miles long, but I usually end at the one mile mark, but if I need to keep going to get the mileage I know that I can.  I don't like adding the mileage at the end because I'm tired and it's a psychological pain to run past where I normally end, but I can do it. 

In mile 5 I thought that I should find a bathroom and remembered that there was one at a park I was going to run past, it was out of my way, but I needed to add that half a mile to my run so I thought I'd take a detour and see if it was enough.  I ended up not needing the bathroom, but the detour was exactly the half mile I needed, so I was happy I wouldn't have to tag it on at the end of the run. 

And then 2 things happened in mile 8.  First a guy walking towards me kept smiling really big at me.  As I got closer he said "you passed me on Divison." I smiled and said something brilliant, I'm sure, and kept running.  The spot I had passed him was in mile 3 and even though I had run 4.5 more miles, he had walked around 3 miles.  Such a coincidence, which I found nice.

Then right before I hit the 8 mile mark I hit something with my hand.  I looked down and saw something fly away, which I thought was a fly, maybe a bee, and then a second thing hit me.  And then a whole swarm of them were chasing me and stinging me.  I screamed, ran faster, screamed, and screamed again.  And then I was falling.  It's funny how things in your mind seem to take forever, but happen so fast.  That fall seemed to take forever, I was probably halfway down and still thinking I could recover.  I didn't, and skidded on my hip and elbow about a foot (or it felt like a foot).  Again, that whole thing where it feels like forever, but is actually only a few min.  As I was laying on the ground I was thinking I need to get up now before the bees really attack, I was probably on my feet seconds after I hit the ground, and was running again. 

Somehow the bees left me not long after I fell and I ran to a grassy area and sat down.  I assessed the damage, I could only feel one sting at that time, but the scrapes on my elbow and hip were pretty bad.  I thought about stopping my run, but decided I could finish.  So after sitting for  few min, I got up and continued running.  The last two miles felt terrible, but when I got home and looked at my splits, the last mile was my fastest one.

I finished my 10 miles and felt badass afterward.  The utter exhaustion I felt last week after my 9 miles didn't hit me this week.  I think it was the late night on the 4th and the early run on the 5th that made me so tired.  I was happy that I was able to function much better this week.  I even cleaned my house.  ; )  I am also less sore today, and other than my hip and elbow, feel okay.  =)  (Oh, and in case you're wondering, my feet are fine.)

When I told a friend that I was attacked by bees, he said "you've been attacked by a dog, by your neighbor, and now bees."  He's right, maybe I should quit running?  Not likely.  =)  (I'm so happy we moved away from those crazy neighbors, by the way.)

Yesterday evening I got curious as to when my last 10 mile run was, so I looked it up.  My last 10 mile run was Sept 1, 2013.  2013!  And my last run longer than 9 miles was Sept 8, 2013, my last half marathon.  It seriously doesn't seem like it's been that long.

Musings

The temperatures here have cooled down quite a bit, and there was even a smattering of rain . . . or mist . ..  on my windshield as I drove into work today.  Not enough to do anything other than frizz my hair, but it's more moisture than we've had for several weeks. 

I have still been waking up early to run in the morning, which I don't like but am getting used to.  I don't think I will be waking up at 5:30am tomorrow or Sunday though to run like I did last weekend though.  The weather is supposed to be considerately cooler than last week which means I'll be able to run in the late morning, which I prefer on weekends.  I love the hot weather, but I don't like running in it.  So part of me hopes it cools down next week so I can go back to running after work, and part of me wants it to stay hot. =)

Yesterday I was up at 4:30am to run 5 miles.  I didn't leave the house until about 4:45, but I thought that was pretty good.  I have been trying to eat an egg before I run and gulp down some water.  I am not willing to wake up any earlier just so I can eat more and drink some coffee and water . . . and then let it all go through my system, so I figure as long as the runs are very long, I can get away with an egg and a little water.  When I run 3 miles in the morning, I don't always eat anything.  I try to drink some water, but I figure 3 miles isn't that far, and I can get away with no food.  So far I haven't had any issues. 

After running 9 miles on Sunday, I was a little worried how my feet would feel later in the week.  I have noticed when I have aches in my feet, it's often 2 or so days after my runs.  I haven't had any issues all week.  I've been rolling them regularly (speaking of, I should do that now) so maybe that is why I haven't had any issues.  Even today after running 17 miles already this week (I have another 3 scheduled for tomorrow) they aren't bothering me.  This makes me feel really good about my chances of actually being able to run the marathon. 

Last year at this time I was training for the same marathon in October, using a much more rigorous training schedule, and I had to give up the training and marathon about this time, maybe a few weeks later. Of course, last year I was running 5 days a week, 5 miles a day with one long run of 8 or so miles, so somewhere between 25 and 30 miles a week.  And I picked a training schedule that started me off with higher mileage. 

This year my training is only 4 days a week.  And this week, after almost a month of training, I am only up to 20 miles.  It's going to increase, but I think it's a much gentler approach than what I had last year.

Anyway, I'm optimistic about my feet (I've been boarding on pessimistic about it).

As I typed I rolled my feet.  =)

Tonight we're going to a Mariner's game.  My work offered everyone cheap tickets, so I invited my sister, her husband, and our neighbors/friends.  There are 11 people in my group alone, so it will be fun.  =)  I don't follow baseball, I always say, the only baseball I watch is Damian's, but going to the games in person is fun.  I haven't been in close to 10 years, so it will be good.  =)

9 miles and I survived

I hope everyone had a safe and good 4th of July (well, everyone in the US).  We went our friend's inlaws house, which we have done for 4 years now.  The kids (including the adult kids {the husbands}) set off their own fireworks and we have food and visit.  Since we've been going there for so long, it has gotten a lot more comfortable for me to be there and I enjoyed it a lot this year. 

 

Maddox was high up in that tree on the bottom.

We didn't get home until midnight or so.  Poor Chris had to get up and work, and poor me had to get up and run 9 miles.  It's been so warm here, so I've been doing morning runs (hate it, but it's cool) and with 9 miles I really didn't want to be out running in 75+ degree weather (I know, some places would be happy to run in 75 degrees, this western WA acclimated girl doesn't care for it).  So I set my alarm for 5:30am and was going to try to get out the door by 6 (I was also trying to avoid having to wake up Damian to watch Maddox).  However, I remembered that I have to eat and drink something before doing 9 miles, so I readjusted and decided to leave by 7am. 

I did it.  I ran 9 miles and survived.  =)  I knew I would survive, but honestly I was rather worried about making it through 9 miles.  It's been a little over a year since I've run that far and I wasn't sure if I could.  This training plan I am using for my marathon had me do 7 miles, then 5, then 9, I felt the jump from 7 to 9 was a lot, especially since it scaled me down last week, but I did it.  Not only did I do it, but I crushed the last mile, coming in with an 8.46 min/mile, my fastest mile for the whole 9 miles. 

At mile 7 I stopped to take a picture of the river (I really love running along the river, even if it's not very long) and shortly after that I started seeing sayings and stuff chalked onto the sidewalk.  I was running past them all thinking there must have been a fun run on the 4th when I thought "I need to stop and take a picture" and how appropriate that the first one I took said "You are Strong."  I felt I needed it.  Then at 7.5 miles I came up to "Run Happy" which is one of my favorite hashtags to use on Instagram, so of course I had to take a picture. 

I got home about 9am and both Damian and Maddox were still sleeping, so I was happy about that.  I took a shower and then decided to have a 3rd cup of coffee (I usually only drink 2, which I did before I ran) and roll my feet to (hopefully) prevent any pain. 

The rest of the day I was completely wiped out.  I was so tired.  I don't know if it was the 5 and a half hours of sleep, or the long run, or both, but I was exhausted.  I couldn't make myself do anything.  I laid around on the couch all day.  The kids across the street came and got Maddox to play for a little while and I took a short nap, even after that I could barely keep my eyes open.  When Maddox came home I decided to go lay in our little kiddie pool, but even that proved to be too exhausting, so instead I had some wine while Maddox played with the water. 

My pool boy. =)

I did cook dinner, so that is something, right?  ;-)  I ended up falling asleep on the couch (or nodding off) about 8pm., so I finally drug myself to bed at 8:30 and slept pretty good.  =)  I also managed to drink a lot of wine.  So I guess I accomplished a lot.  =)

Today I am feeling okay.  My feet aren't hurting more than normal fatigue from running farther than they are used to.  I can feel how tight my hips are, and it was getting really uncomfortable, so I decided to do a yoga pose that is supposed to help with that while I read a training online.  (very boring, by the way) 


This is "Happy Cow Pose" supposed to be very good for tight hips.

Next week is 10 miles . . . I should be okay, right?  ;-)

9 miles, oh my!

Last weekend I had a second interview, and then we went to Lake Padden for Chris's birthday.  He invited a bunch of his friends (after all, it was his birthday) and I invited one friend (I needed someone to talk to).  I had met all of them (Chris's friends) at least once, but wasn't very comfortable with most.  And then my friend text me to say that she was sick and couldn't come.  =(  Anyway, for the most part, I had a good time and I think Chris did too. 

Sadly, the only picture of Chris I took.

The rest of the weekend I just sat outside and enjoyed the sun.  It has been very warm here (I always hesitate to say hot because it's nothing compared to places like eastern WA where it was 112 yesterday but it's hot for this area).  It was a record setting June here.  3 degrees hotter than the last hottest June from 1992.

Frozen cherries as ice cubes.

 Well, I guess that on Sunday Chris got a call saying his brother, who is in the Army and stationed in California, was at his mom's house in Bellingham, so we went there after he got off work and hung out for the evening.  His brother is getting married next year, so we met his fiancée. 

I LOVE our house.  We got an air conditioner last year from a yard sale (they said it had only been used for one year) and we have found that we don't really need it at our new house.  It is warm, and it would be nice on some evenings, but there's a ceiling fan and then with all the windows and the sliding door open it keeps the living room fairly cool.  Plus, the kitchen is on the west side of the house, and that is where the sun beats down (it does get hot in there) but the living room is sorta insulated.  Plus, we have a big deck, so we can go sit outside on that if it gets too warm.  It really is nice.  Even though we were only in the Burlington house for 6 months, in the winter/spring months, there were a few days where it was warm, and that house was really hot, so maybe that's another positive for having to move again.  (I really am seeing more and more positives to the move back to Mt. Vernon than staying in the Burlington house, even though it was bigger.) 

Last week was a scale back week in my marathon training.  My long run was only 5 miles.  It's been so warm in the evening that I haven't wanted to run after work. On Tuesday I decided to skip my run and get up early on Wednesday to run.  It is so hard for me to get up, but I did.  I set my alarm for 4:30am, and was out the door by 4:45ish after drinking a little bit of water and eating a hard boiled egg.  I am usually pretty slow in the morning and my first mile was slower than normal, but then I sped up (it was the egg kicking in) and all 3 miles averaged under 9 min/mile. 

Then I saw that today is supposed to be hotter than yesterday so I set my alarm again and told myself to get up.  In fact, I set 5 alarms . . .  and ignored them all until the last one.  At 4:30 I thought about it and decided I just do my run tomorrow.  Then at 4:50 (the last alarm) I thought, if I do my run tomorrow I'll end up running 3 days in a row and I've been trying to avoid that. I thought maybe I'd run this evening, but it's supposed to be even hotter today so I jumped out of bed and left for my run.  I think it was a record for how fast I got out of the house.  I was walking out the door at 5am.  I am glad I did, it's already 73 degrees and it's only 9:30am.

This week my long run jumps to 9 miles.  I'm fairly worried about it.  I haven't run 9 miles since last June.  I haven't even run 8 miles since last July (7/13/2014).  I definitely won't be as fast as I was a year ago.  My 3 mile runs are close to 9 min/miles, sometimes a little under, but not usually.  Last year (6/22/2014 to be exact) my 9 mile run averaged 9.18 min/mile.  I don't think that will happen on Sunday. 

I need to remember to buy some sort of energy chews.  I haven't had a long enough run to need energy chews in so long that I no longer have any.  And 9 miles is definitely past the point of needing them. 

Wish me luck!  ;-)

job, running, and pants

Tomorrow is Chris's birthday.  I was planning on taking the entire day off.  Not just because of his birthday, but also because I just need a break away from my job.  I'm frustrated and paranoid and all sorts of annoyed at the company I work for.  After the incredibly difficult week I had two weeks ago I started looking for another job.  I haven't looked very much, and there's nothing out there for what I want to do (work with kids) in the area I want (Mount Vernon), so I look at a wider area, and there's still not a lot.  The really bad week I did apply for 2 jobs, one isn't for me, and the other one I had an interview at last Friday.  They called me back for a second interview for tomorrow. So I'm hopeful.

Anyway, because I had to come to work late last week because of the interview (which my current job doesn't know about) I am only taking a half day tomorrow . . . however, it works out well because I'm interviewing tomorrow as well.  This new job is in Bellingham, which is north of where I live, I currently work in Everett, south of where I live and just north of Seattle.  But Bellingham is a tad closer to home, and the starting pay is a dollar an hour more than what I currently make.  So I'm hopeful.

I've been unemployed 2 times (not by choice) in the last 6 years, so the last 2 jobs I've had (this one included) have been "desperation jobs."  They were the first places that would hire me after a long period of unemployment.  Anyway, I feel more relaxed about this job interview (well, both of them at this company) because I don't feel the desperation I have in the past.  But the periods of unemployment (one was 9 months, one was 5 months) have definitely made me cautious of being too hopeful about a job.

Although, I do like my current job.  A lot actually.  It's just the atmosphere at the office that is toxic.  So I'm quite torn about even looking for a job, I'm not sure I want a new one (I've only been here 7 months and I like it) (mostly). 

Anyway, 4 miles tonight.  I'm looking forward to it.  Was even thinking of taking the jogging stroller to the park with Maddox.  I did that on Saturday and he loved it.  I was doing that quite a lot last summer when I had lost my job, and even some on the weekends this winter when we lived in Burlington.  Maddox definitely remembers that when he goes running with me in the stroller he gets to play at the park.  =)  The jogging stroller is a lot of work though, so I dread it usually. Today it feels like it might be fun. 

I have never followed a training plan, by the way.  Two years ago when I did my 2 half marathons I was running however long I wanted, and decided that I'd just add mileage to my long runs to train.  It started out as "I wonder if I can run 8 miles, I've never done it, I've done 6 (or 6.5 or 7) I should be able to do 8" So that was my long run.  And then I decided I wanted to do a half marathon, and I had already ran   miles, so I figured I could do a couple longer runs before the half and I'd be fine.  I didn't like the idea of something telling me how long to run on what days, so I didn't follow a schedule.  Now I'm liking having a schedule tell me how far to run.  Although I don't run on the days it says I'm supposed to.  I'm still (mostly) running Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the schedule says Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, but I like my days better. 

I ran my 3 miles on Tuesday with my pants inside out.  I noticed it about half a mile into my run, but what was I supposed to do?  I wasn't going to turn around and I wasn't going to stop and fix them on the street, so I just run.  Who cares anyway?  =)

And that's about all I have today.  Nothing too exciting I guess. 

Week 2

Well, another week has passed and I only posted on here once.  Oh well, I need to quit obsessing about how often I post.  I have very few followers, so it's not as if anyone notices when I'm so far between postings. 

I have read in so many other places that "blogging isn't like it used to be."  I'm not sure what that means.  Maybe I'm not a big enough blog to know.  Or maybe I haven't been blogging long enough.  (I've been doing this since March 2012.)  Anyway, the way it works in my world is that I read the blogs that interest me and that I follow, and write when I feel like it.  Admittedly, the writing has gone down quite a lot, but I think I've been pretty good at doing it at least once a week.  ; )

Last week was week 2 of marathon training.  Yesterday was 7 miles.  I was super excited to do 7 miles.  My routine for months now has been 3 days of 3 miles and a long run of 6 miles.  I've been bored.  Bored with running.  I don't know if it's because I haven't had anything to look forward to, just the same ole, same ole. I don't know, but I rarely feel like I WANT to go for a run.  I usually I run because I feel like I need to.  I want to maintain the weight I have lost and if I don't run I worry I'll regain it.  Running is the only exercise I have ever stuck with (well, other than high school sports).  I did Tae-bo (Billy Blanks is looking old) for a little while after I had Damian.  I started Zumba a few years ago, but quit that as well.  I start and stop yoga more often than anything else (although, I have successfully done it for the last 4 weeks, at least 5 times a week).

Anyway, back to the marathon training/7 mile run.  I was excited to change it up yesterday.  7 miles . . . only one mile more than I have been doing, but it felt exciting.  (And then I realized that week 3's long run is only 5 miles.)  I am really looking forward to increasing my mileage again.  I seriously can't wait for week 10 when I will have run 15 miles and can say that is my longest run ever, rather than my longest run since Sept. 

Anyway (I keep getting sidetracked), 7 miles . . . It was a good 7 miles.  I was still almost a half mile from home when I hit 7, and I felt like I could have ran the half mile easily, but I decided that I didn't want to push myself too hard. (not that I think a half mile more would have been "too hard" but it was the thought of hurting myself that made me stop)

Today my feet hurt a bit.  I can't decide if they hurt from normal long run soreness, or it's still the plantar faciitis.  I really, really want to increase my mileage and I really, really want to do a marathon this year, but now I'm super worried about my feet.  I hate this feeling.

Last Thursday was Maddox's birthday.  He turned 4.  I can't believe how fast time goes. He went from this . . .

 To this in just a few minutes.

Oh, and yes, he got into his cake before we gave it to him.  =)

Week one done

Week 1 of marathon training is finished.  I actually ended up running one mile less than the training calls for, but I had a good reason.  =)  Last week at work was one of the hardest I’ve had in a very long time and Friday was the worst.  I won’t go into any details because this is public, but it was a really, really bad week and Friday was horrible. 

On my way home from work on Friday I actually cried, I haven’t done that in a very long time, and the last time I did I changed jobs as soon as I could find another.  I was thinking that I couldn’t wait to get home to the bottle of wine I had waiting, and then I realized that wine wasn’t really what I wanted.  Alcohol would only make me depressed and I decided I didn’t think that was the way to unwind.  So I decided that I wanted a really, really hard run.

When I got home I got dressed and went for a run.  And then I decided, while I was running, that I would do hill repeats.  I have never done hill repeats, I’ve heard they are hard, and I guess I figured I ran enough hills in my normal runs that I don’t need to do repeats.  But on Friday I needed the hardness of that type of run.  I ran the hill at the beginning of my normal runs, I ran it 2 times and then decided I needed a needed a hill that didn’t have a stoplight in the middle of the hill.  The hill that I chose was longer and steeper, I did that hill 4 times and thought I was done.  I collapsed at the top of the hill after my 4^th time and had to sit for a minute because my legs felt like jelly.  It was at a fairly busy intersection and I got a few looks, but I really didn’t care.  I was able to take a picture of myself, though.  As I was walking down the hill towards home, I decided I wasn’t done and ran the first hill 3 more times. 

It was a good workout, but I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t harder.  I was still able to walk home and I wasn’t sore at all the next few days afterwards.  I feel like that means I wasn’t working hard enough.  But I did get home in a much, much better mood.  I was able to put aside the week and have a decent evening.

Anyway, because I did the hills on Friday, which was only 2 miles, I didn’t do the scheduled 3 miles on Saturday.  I did 6 miles on Sunday and that was the end of my first week of marathon training.  It feels weird and a little wrong to say last week was the first week of marathon training, when I didn’t run any more than I normally have been and actually less than the week before.  Next week I add one mile to my long run, so not much added but that’s okay.  I wanted the lower start mileage so that I didn’t reinjure my feet.

Week one done.

And then there is this video of Damian doing pushups.  I want to be like him when I grow up.  =)

Memory lane

2015 marks my 20 year anniversary from graduating high school.  I'm getting old.  I'm sure I've mentioned it before, I went to school in a very small farming town in eastern WA.  Very small.  15 people in my graduating class.  I was not close to most of the people in my high school.  I had 2 very good friends, and a couple other people I considered friends, but that was it. 

I'm the blond on the far right, my bestest friend is right
behind me with short brown hair

The town is so small that they have a community Alumni Banquet, where anyone that has ever graduated from Lind can come to the Banquet, but they only "honor" classes every 10 years.  So my class was "honored" this year.  Several months ago I asked my classmates on Facebook that I'm "friends" with if anyone was planning on going to the Alumni Banquet, everyone said no, or don't know.  So I didn't go either. 

My hometown also has the only Combine Demolition Derby in America (or at least I think it is, I know if there are others they were copied from Lind).  This started in 1989, the town's centennial year and it's grown quite huge.  People have come from the eastern US to see the Derby (no joke). 

Anyway, a few people asked me if I was going to this year's derby and I wasn't sure at the time.  I think it would have been fun to schedule a class reunion for the weekend of the derby, but nothing ever was scheduled.  This weekend is the derby and I'm not going.  Honestly, it's not as fun for locals who have moved away and come back anymore because it's gotten so big and you don't really see people you know anymore. 

It's weird to think that I graduated high school 20 years ago.  It doesn't seem that long ago.  And yet, it seems like a different lifetime.  My bestest friend, I haven't talked to her in years.  We were BFF's before BFF was a popular term, we were inseparable from kindergarten to 12th grade.  It was "Lisa and Cathy" or "Cathy and Lisa," never just one of us, but always both.  Her birthday is Feb 2nd and her old phone number is 509-677-3263 (don't call it, who knows who has it now, I know it's not her parents since they don't live there anymore). 

Funny the things you remember. 

Funny how the people in your life that were once so important to you fade away as you get older.

Funny how life turns out. 

Yoga-ing

Well, my first week of marathon training isn't going as planned.  I wanted to run yesterday but when I got home at 5:30pm there was no one home to watch Maddox.  I really didn't want to run, but decided that I needed to so I put my running clothes on thinking I'd go as soon as Chris or Damian walked in the door.  However, a neighbor/good friend came  over instead and asked if I could take him to Sedro Woolley (20 min or so away) to pick up the car he bought for his son.  He's done a lot for us, so I said yes.  By the time I got back I decided to skip my run and do it today. 

I am also a little worried about my feet.  I noticed that my left foot is bothering me a little after running 5 miles on Saturday and then 6 miles on Sunday.  If I can't run 11 miles in 2 days, then how am I going to run 26.2 miles all at once?  I'm still determined to try to do it, but I guess if my feet don't hold up I'll have to put it on hold again. 

Today was really hard for me to get up and do yoga.  I didn't want to get up.  I decided to just do my "favorite" moves, or at least the ones that I feel are most beneficial to me and running.  So I did, and honestly, I enjoyed it.  While I was laying in bed I had thought about which moves I wanted to do, so I had an idea of which ones, and I enjoyed it.  I usually enjoy yoga, it's just the motivation to do it that I lack. My motivation stems from wanting to be flexible, but I want to be flexible now, not in a year or more.  I feel like this is a slower process than running.  In 20 weeks, with training, I can run a marathon.  Yes, there is a base there before I even start training, but I just feel like with 20 weeks of yoga, I won't be where I'd like to be flexibility-wise.  I'll likely be better, but not there yet.  Of course, I've never actually done 20 weeks straight of yoga, so maybe I'm wrong.  But you know where I'll be yoga-wise in 20 weeks if I don't continue with it, exactly where I am right now, maybe even less flexible.  So, for now, I force myself to get out of bed and do it. 

I was trying to get a picture of "pigeon pose" because I want to be able to compare, but the room was too dark, and the flash focused on other things, other than me, well, maybe my big butt.  The other picture I took is completely black.  Yes, I do my yoga in my pj's, ask me if I care.  ;-)

If I don't force myself in the morning, then I won't do it because I just don't want to in the afternoon.  I'm already running in the afternoon, so it seems like the morning is the best time for me.  Plus, I don't have to shower after I do yoga, so it's much less time consuming.  30 min of yoga equals 30 min of yoga.  30 min of running is more like 60 or more min of running when you add shower and having to dry your hair (although my hair air dries, which means if I run in the morning I can't straighten it, which I do more often than not now). 

I don't know if it's yoga related, or something else going on, but I seem to be losing a little weight again.  I am back down, consistently, to 145ish.  That started just in the last few weeks that I've been yoga-ing.  (Yoga has also helped me create a new language, yoga-wise, yoga-ing.) ;-)  Whatever the cause, I hope it sticks.  My body seems to have a happy weight of 147, but I'd love that happy weight to go down 7-15 lbs.  :-)

Weekend beauty

This week is the official beginning of marathon training.  However, this week's runs will look a lot like my last 2 months of running.  3 days of 3 miles and a long run of 6 miles.  Exactly what I've been doing for awhile now.  But that's okay.  I picked this training plan exactly because it started right where I was and I wanted to ease into it slowly with my feet issues.  I am doing Hal Higdon's Novice 1 program, although, I added two weeks to it.  I added a long run of 24 miles two weeks after Hal has his 20 mile run.  I honestly just don't understand how you can only run 20 miles and say that you are ready for 26.2, there's a whole 'nother 10K after 20 miles!  I was actually talking to my sister, who doesn't run, about this, and she was the one that suggested just adding another long run of 24-26 miles, so I did. 

I am a little worried about my feet.  They still bother me occasionally, which is extremely frustrating.  I would like to be going into this training confident that they won't flair up and cause me to stop training again like I had to last year.  I worry that I didn't give them enough time to heal, because in reality, I only gave them two months (the hardest months ever!).  I did ease back into running, and whenever they started bothering me again would decrease back to where I wasn't hurting.  I've been doing that since December.  I went from running 30 miles a week to no miles to slowly (over 6 months) building up to 15 miles a week.  I hope it's enough.

Last week I decided I really wanted to do a run longer than 3 miles on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day and I wanted to add some more scenery, so I set out with an idea of where I was going, and the thought that it would be around 4 miles.  Turns out it was 5 miles. The problem with living where I do right now, is that it is so close to where I used to live.  In fact, it is along the route of most of my old running routes, right at the end of the route.  So all distances I have in my head of my old routes are from my old house, and they are about 0.3 miles off.  I try to remember that I'm cutting my run short because I'm stopping sooner than I used to, so I try to compensate by adding just a little.  On Saturday that compensation was a mile.  It may take me a little while to figure out the new mileage from my new house because I did my old routes from my old house for so long.

After my run on Saturday I took Damian with me to get pedicures.  He asked me a couple weeks ago if he could go with me the next time I went and I said yes.  He likes the massage chair and getting his feet rubbed.  I think it's awesome that he wants to do it with me.  :-)

Sunday I ran 6 miles.  I briefly thought about skipping it because I did 5 on Saturday, plus the training says that Sunday is a cross training day.  However, I think I've decided to keep with my current schedule of running.  Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  I guess if I need an extra day off right after my long runs, I'll switch it up, but for now this seems to be working with my feet., gives them a rest between most runs. 

After my run I got my nails done, hyper color nails, they get darker when they get cold, I think they are awesome.  And then I went and got the oil changed in my car.  The technician flirted with me pretty heavily.  He was good looking too, although younger than me (even better).  :-)

I am still yoga-ing in the morning.  Although,  I'm finding weekend yoga is much harder.  I love running on the weekend, but not yoga so much.  If I don't do it right away in the morning, I don't do it, and I like my weekend morning of coffeetime and the Bravo shows that Chris won't let me watch while he's around.  Today was hard to get up as well.  I almost skipped it, but then I remembered how badly I want to be flexible and how I have a tendency to quit.  If I had continued yoga a year ago (or so) think of where I'd be now.  Definitely not starting over again.  So with those thoughts in my head I drug myself out of bed and did 20 min of yoga.

I think my biggest problem is that I've gotten bored with my go-to 20 min yoga youtube video and I haven't been able to find another one that is only 20 min.  I found one today, but she was kinda weird, very "new age" in her way of talking (Is that still a term, or am I showing my age?) and she didn't explain the moves very well, so I had to watch her do it, and then by the time I was in position she was moving to the next one.  I guess I need to look for videos sometime other than 5am when I'm trying to get started so that I can be done in time.  :-)

I'm going to leave you with a bunch of pictures from this weekend.  It really was beautiful outside.

  Pedicure time with Damian. :-)

 

 Saturday night winetime that turned into Saturday night firetime, with wine.  :-)

From my run on Sunday

Last week

I suppose I should update my blog.  I really do writing on here, but lately I have just not felt like it.

I started doing yoga every morning.  I have long wanted to be more flexible.  When I was younger I was very flexible, but not at all now.  I often do yoga regularly for a few weeks and then stop for months.  Last week I was on Instagram and saw some yoga pages and decided I wanted to do it more faithfully.  I am not a morning exercise person, but I decided I could spare 20 min or so in the morning before getting ready for work.  I continue to get up at the same time, I just have less time to sit and relax and drink my coffee before I have to leave.  I decided that I would do a 5 day challenge, I started on Monday, last week (Memorial Day) and was going to do it through Friday to see how I felt about it.  On Friday when I got home and was tired and sore from being so busy, I went outside and did 10 min of yoga and felt so much better afterwards.  And that made me think I need to keep up with it, I really, really enjoyed it.  I skipped Sunday, I just didn't want to get up (I wasn't going to do it as early on the weekdays, but still didn't want to get up).  But this morning I was up at 5 and did my 20 min routine.  There are a couple of other routines I like, but they are longer, and on Monday's 20 min is all I have.  The only pose I have down is child's pose, and even in that my butt is too high.


On Thursday of last week I went for a run and Maddox wanted to go with me.  So I told Chris to have Maddox ready in about 20 min and I would take him around the block with me when I got back.  Maddox wore my armband with my phone in it and listened to music and he wore my sunglasses.  It was awesome.  I had to take a picture, of course.  =)

Saturday was a very hot day to run, and I had to wait for Damian to be done with his football practice, so I didn't go run until about 1pm.  I got back and noticed that I had a ripe strawberry on my plant, the first one of the season, so of course I had to eat it.  It was extremely refreshing.

 

I ran 69 miles in May.  I was annoyed when I saw that.  If I had known that I was one mile short of 70 miles, I would have ran 7 miles on Sunday instead of 6.  Oh well.

Next week is my official beginning of marathon training.  However, the first week, and even the 2nd week is pretty much exactly like what I'm doing right now.  I'm nervous to increase my mileage because of my feet, but I'm also very ready to do longer than 6 miles for my long run.  I guess we'll see how it goes in a few weeks.  =)