Tag: running

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FINALLY!

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I haven’t uploaded my runs to Nike+ for a looong time, so I finally did today and noticed there are now MILE SPLITS available! Hallelujah!

Yesterday’s cold, rainy, miserable run from Aaron’s place to Green Lake, around the lake and back (training plan called for 4 miles):

And the splits (not including the last .33 mile):

You can tell by the increasing pace each mile that it got colder, wetter and tougher throughout the journey…

This was the first time I’d voluntarily run in the rain — meaning it was already raining when we started and we decided to go anyway. I’m usually a wimp about being cold and wet, but I didn’t want to bail on my 10K training plan in the first week.

And, as with all runs, I was glad I went.

CONGRATS to everyone who ran in the rain, ran a race or ran a race in the rain (TheMightyLife, holla!) this weekend!!!

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First tempo of 10K training

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Purple face! Big sweaty times! It’s good to be back on the treadmill.

4 miles in 40 minutes while watching Marquette beat West Virginia.

My tempo:

– 15 minutes between 10:10 and 10:30 pace
– 15 minutes between 9:10 and 9:30 pace
– 10 minutes between 10:00 and 10:20 pace

I had to keep going back and forth, faster/slower, because I’ve definitely lost some endurance since my last 5K. I pushed it a bit in the end to get to 4 miles because I like round numbers. A lot.

I’ve also decided to not be upset about the 4:30 time limit for the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon. I’m gonna train like hell and run that mother anyway.

Earning myself a DNF — Did Not Finish — is a helluva lot better than Did Not Try.

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Patience. Passion. A plan.

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My first 10K is 6 weeks away. I’m intimidated by the idea of running a 10K, even though I’m already signed up for a 15K and half marathon, because I’ve gotten comfortable with 5Ks (I’ve run 6) and the first step up to racing a new distance seems the most terrifying.

I’m also coming off of one week of being really sick and one week of being on vacation. Just getting back into running, let alone starting to train for a new distance, seems daunting.

But today I remembered something I wrote when I was in the midst of getting out of debt. I wrote that to achieve any goal, you need to have three things: patience, passion and a plan.

Everything begins with passion –  the passion to achieve a goal, whether it’s becoming debt-free, losing weight or tackling a race. That passion will fuel your plan, which is a written roadmap of everything you need to do to achieve your goal. Patience is what helps see you through all the doubts and roadbumps you’ll encounter along the way.

I love Zig Ziglar’s quote: “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” For me, a written plan gives strong legs to the passion I feel for tackling this 10K – I just spent my lunch break creating my training plan. It gives me something concrete to aim for, every single day.

I may not hit what I’m aiming for all the time – sometimes my humanness will get in the way – but I know I’ll succeed in the end because I’ve aimed at something.

And whenever I have doubts, I’ll just remind myself that I already have everything I need to crush this race. Patience. Passion. A plan.

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Did my first run in about two weeks yesterday!! I was REALLY sick the week before leaving on vacation, and I’ve been on vacation/still recovering from sickness this whole past week.

We ran from our hotel along Waikiki Beach up toward Diamond Head Beach Park (about 1.5 miles) and then kept walking through some super rich neighborhoods. One house was for sale for $6 million and it didn’t even have an ocean view!! I can’t even imagine what the ocean view/oceanfront houses cost…

We walked back to where we stopped running (it was really hot by this point) and then ran the 1.5 miles back to the beach. We then ripped off our shoes and socks and ran right into the water (significantly warmer water than the kind we ran into during the Polar Bear Dive). It was the best end to a run ever!

Overall, it was nearly 6 miles of running/walking. It felt good to get back to running, but I’ll enjoy the cooler weather of Seattle for my outdoor runs when I get home. : )

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Back from the dead!

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Oh, Tumblr, I’ve left you hanging for a while.

I’ve been doing all sorts of fun stuff besides running, like batting (horribly)…

…cooking (this became a casserole)…

…drinking…

…and, holy cow, eating delicious cupcakes.

And now I’m sick, so I can’t even fathom running/working out. It’s frustrating because I hate not feeling like myself and not being able to keep up my fitness level. I felt like I did pretty good with my 5K training, and now I’ll have to start from scratch for the 10K I want to run in April.

Ah, well. We fall. We pick ourselves back up again.

And we run.

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The Burke-Gilman

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Are y’all ready to be jealous?

This is the running/biking trail that runs less than half a mile away from my house. It’s called the Burke-Gilman Trail, and the whole thing is 27 miles long.

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That’s 27 miles of car-free, exhaust-free, smooth-as-a-baby’s-butt paved trail for Seattle’s active enjoyment. I do all my outdoor runs on the ol’ Burke-Gilman.

Maybe someday, I’ll run the whole damn thing.

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Ahhh! Whose idea was it to run 8 miles again? Oh, yeah… mine.

Aaron and I set out for 7 miles on this cold, blustery day, and sure enough we hit a groove about a mile in. We both felt good still after 2.5 miles, so I said, “Do you want to run 8 miles? I mean, we might as well.” Done.

My left knee started hurting about halfway through and never got much better. I stopped to walk and massage it a few times, but it felt like it was grinding the whole time — ick. I hope this will get better with some rest and short, easy runs.

Navigating the stairs up and down my three-level townhouse on my worn-out legs is exciting, especially since my bedroom is on the third floor. I’ve settled on a wide-legged hobbling strategy, much like a crab walks. Now I’m all cozied up in my bed, contemplating never leaving it, let alone tackling those stairs again.

Also, my belly is full of tuna casserole (my fave), which I smartly assembled prior to the run, then popped in the oven immediately upon returning. Yum, yum, yum. After running 8 miles, it’s never tasted better.

EDIT: It’s not even funny how fast I was able to upload this run to my new laptop. Not. Even. Funny.

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Run, run, drink, fail

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Monday: 3 miles, 31 minutes, 10:20 pace. Big sweaty times at the gym.

Tuesday: 3.85 miles, 40 minutes, 10:23 pace. My first successful tempo run — 15 minutes at 10:42 pace, 15 minutes at 9:40 pace, 10 minutes at 10:42 pace. My right leg started to feel weird near the end, like I tied my shoe too tightly.

Wednesday: Quarterly bonus day at work! We had a party in the afternoon, and by “a party,” I mean quite a bit of food and booze at a swanky lounge downtown. Yum!

Today: 3 miles, 31 minutes, 10:20 pace. I wanted this run to be over the minute it started. My right shin and knee hurt, both legs felt like lead, etc. I blame the food. And the free booze (I had a bit).

Tomorrow: Executive decision: 5 miles (per training plan) will be postponed until Saturday; beginner yoga class will happen instead. Hopefully the shin/knee situation will resolve itself in the midst of a down dog.

On an unrelated note: Sauteed asparagus is so good. Fresh red bell pepper dipped in roasted red pepper hummus is so good. My dinner = so good.

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6 miles, baby! This was the farthest I’ve ever run… and it was amazing.

Aaron and I ran along the Burke-Gilman Trail to Wallingford (nearly to my old apartment/the I-5 overpass) and back on a pleasant, partly sunny Saturday afternoon. We kept a comfortable, steady pace (10:29 average) — easy enough to chat, per Hal Higdon’s instructions — and we ran the entire time.

Just to recap: a) this was the farthest I’ve ever run; b) this was the first time that I’ve run for more than an hour; and c) we ran the entire time.

My legs felt a bit wobbly afterward, but the run felt amazingly good. Outdoor runs are far superior to treadmill runs for so many reasons, including fresh air, interesting scenery, cool breezes and a sense of going somewhere. I’ll look forward to these Saturday runs, even though they’ll be long — 7 miles for the next two Saturdays.

Not that the distance is a bad thing. I felt like I could have run 10 miles… or more. Conquering a new distance makes the 15K, half-marathon and marathon seem less intimidating.

I ran 20.5 miles this past week, including 10 miles in two days (Friday and Saturday). This is nuts. For the first time, I feel like a runner.

And it feels awesome.

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4 miles on a Friday night

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Guess what? Not a lot of people go to the gym on Friday night! It was the emptiest I’d ever seen it. Probably because, you know, people have social lives and stuff. So I hear.

4 miles on the treadmill in 39:54 (9:58 pace). I got SO HOT while running because the gym doesn’t have air conditioning, just fans, and I get overheated and red/purple-faced very easily. It’s extremely attractive.

I had to stop a few times just to cool down and drink some water, which was frustrating because endurance-wise, I felt fine. Since there weren’t many people around, I was also able to move a fan so that it pointed directly at me, and that helped a lot for the rest of the run.

Hal Higdon said to do this run “fast,” but I just went the fastest I could. It was still faster than my last “easy” run (10:37 pace), so I think it counts. Yup.

6 miles to do today. This will be the farthest I’ve EVER run. Whoa.

I may or may not have just finished crying a bit after reading a first-marathon story. I tear up every time I read one of these. Las Vegas 2011, baby.