I’M GOING STREAKING!

Sooooo Runner’s World started a holiday running streak yesterday that will last through New Year’s day!  To complete the streak, I have to run at least one mile everyday, which I’m hoping I can make myself do after working 12 hour shifts.  I feel like this is just what I need to motivate me through December and make me feel better after a long day of work.  I have been so used to running 5-6 days a week since January when I began running, and since starting my new job in October I have noticed that I feel more sluggish and just plain yucky on the days that I don’t run.

I’m hoping that by changing up my routine and running at least a mile everyday, I’ll bring some fun into my runs and by putting a new twist on my running routine.  I ran on Thanksgiving and this morning, so I am hereby pledging that I will continue to run at least one mile everyday until New Year’s day!  No, I won’t be streaking through the quad, just on the rail trail… and my treadmill…fully clothed.

Turkey Trotting in Shinnston

Sooooo I started my Thanksgiving off the best way I could think of, by running!  Josh and I packed up the car and drove ten minutes to Shinnston for the annual Turkey Trot 5K!  I had to work last Thanksgiving but had run it the year before and it was a pretty fun race with growing popularity each year.

It was cold AGAIN today, same temperature as Sunday actually but today didn’t feel quite as cold and there was snow on the ground!  (Not a lot of snow, but I assure you, there was snow.)  The race had about 400 people running in it this year, and for the area that’s kind of a lot, so the directors had changed the course since I run it two years ago.  The course used to be an out and back on the rail trail, but this year we took it to the streets!  The course had chip timing which is always nice but I also ran with my Garmin watch cause I have to know just how far and fast I run!  The course was very accurate with my watch which doesn’t happen most of the time.  The race started and we ran up a little hill across a bridge and up and down and up and down a few more small hills.  Then we turned around and ran down and up and down and up those very same hills, across the bridge and got on the rail trail to finish.  Josh finished before I, of course, with a modest 3rd place finish overall! 1st place was running in a tank top and shorts so you knew he meant business… or he was crazy… but he was a runner so maybe a little bit of both?  That’s usually how it works.  Anyway, I finished 100somethingth and almost PR’d so I was pretty happy considering that I haven’t been able to run since the half on Sunday!

Josh and I after the race!  Today started off fun with the race and then I got to hang out with my family which made the day even better!  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and thanks for reading!!

The 27 Degree, 13.1 Mile Race!

Sooooo yesterday I finished my first half!  It was SO stinkin cold, but I’m glad I finished!  The temperature was in the high 20’s yesterday but there was a breeze that would make you swear it was 10 degrees colder!  

My prep yesterday wasn’t the best… not gonna lie, and that had a little bit to do with my finishing time, but not everything.  I was totally happy that I finished since as I said in my last post that my goal was to just finish.  However, I did have an upper time limit that I wanted to finish under, two and a half hours, and I did that too so I was pretty pleased!  Like I said, before the race yesterday I wasn’t the smartest, I ate breakfast around 9:30ish and didn’t have anything else until after the race and when I stupidly say nothing, I mean nothing… no food or water.  Yeah, I said it no water, not cause I was trying to be a tough guy and not drink water, I just kinda forget to drink it sometimes…

I found a friend, Carly, to run with for the majority of the race so that was an awesome unexpected surprise!  We talked and ran, and talked and ran, and talked and ran some more!  Around mile 7 or so one of my calves felt like it had a rock in it and then around mile 11 the other calf felt like a 5 pound weight was strapped to it so that kinda sucked.  The run was flat at least so I didn’t have to strain my legs very hard near the end to finish.  When I started to feel junky around mile 11 I told Carly to go ahead since we didn’t make like a kool-aid pact or anything and I finished about 5 minutes behind her at 2:24:something.  We were both so super excited to finish and to finish close to the pace we were hoping for!  And as we looked today at the race pictures that were taken, we def didn’t look our best… but who does when they’re running?  

Oh yeah, Josh won the whole thing!   Which is so cool!  As I was just turning around to finish mile 7, he was running to the finish!  It was cool that I got to see him some throughout the race, and he also got a half marathon PR outta the day too!  So in the end, we both did about what we were hoping to do, and I got a Big Mac after so I was a happy runner : ) 

Oh yeah, here’s my medal!  I slacked on the pre/post race pictures cause it was so darn cold!  Also, sorry this was so short, I get a few days off starting Thanksgiving so hopefully I can do some better posts then!

 

 

Thanks for reading!!

November Goals & October Challenge

Soooooooo I know this is kind of late, but I’ve been busy adjusting back to this whole working, keeping up with school work, and having a life business. Anyway, another West Virginia runner who has an awesome blog (running hills and hollers, right here on WordPress) posts goals at the beginning of the month, and I started thinking that by actually writing down my goals I would be more likely to commit to them, so here goes!

1. I NEED to drink more water!!!!  It can be very hard at work to have time or remember to drink water, so I’m going to try to drink two full water bottles a day ( I have a water bottle that I can keep in my area at work so it’s accessible when I have a minute for a drink!)

2. I HOPE to run at least 85 miles this month.  I went from running 100 in September to 78 in October.  Yes, October was jumbled with starting my new job, but I’ve come up with a plan to ensure that I keep my mileage where it needs to be.

3. I WANT to finish the Miles of Smiles half marathon on the 24th of this month.  Although I have completed a full marathon already, this will be my first half, so I’m not going to give myself a time to shoot for, instead I just want to finish.

4. I WILL try to incorporate cross training into my routine 3 times a week.  Running isn’t the only way to become a better runner, so I’ll try to add in some cross training to strengthen my core and legs.

5. I MUST have a more positive attitude about my running.  I have a tendency to over-think things, especially when it’s related to how well or how poor I have done things.  If I can think more positively about myself I think it will translate into my running.

6. I PROMISE to post to my blog at least 5 times this month.  I always think about posting to my blog and then move onto something else and don’t get back to it or say I’ll do it tomorrow.  So I’ve got to get 5 posts in this month, and I will do it!

What goals do you have for the month of November?  I also have more personal goals for myself to accomplish this month, but I won’t bore you with that!

 

And now for the October Challenge.  Kim, the author of the blog I mentioned earlier, posted an October challenge last month.  The challenge was to take 6 pictures while running that represent fall.  I don’t run with my phone that often, but I did manage to take 5 pictures of the beautiful scenery that I get to enjoy while I run.

West Virginia truly is a beautiful state to run in, especially in the fall when all of the leaves start to turn colors, it adds something to look at and think about during long runs!

I am also proud to announce that I am officially registered to run the Aramco Houston Half Marathon!!!!! The half will take place on January 19th, 2014 in Houston, Texas.  I went to Houston last year to visit my sister and watch her finish the race and it was such an awesome atmosphere, that now that I am into running I decided I would kill two birds with one stone and visit my sister and complete my first big half marathon!  Josh is going to be running in the marathon as well.

 

Out with the old and in with the new!

Any runner who denies having fears, nerves, or some other kind of disposition is a bad athlete, or a liar. – Gordon Pirie

Sooooooo I found this quote in a Runner’s World magazine a few months ago, and when I was thinking about the month of October, it really seemed to fit the theme the month brought on.

I know, I know, I made one post in the beginning of October and then nothing!  Believe me, I wasn’t thrilled with the fact that I didn’t make more posts or even run more… October was a pretty crazy month for me, I finally got back in the workforce and started my new job at Ruby Memorial Hospital on the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).  I have only been on the unit for two weeks, this week will make three, and I have already learned so much and become more amazed with treatments and the care that is provided to these neonates.  I am so thankful to have a job again, and I’m even more thankful that there are plenty of kind, helpful staff members on my unit to help me get the ins and outs of the unit.  I’m not gonna lie though, the first day was rough and I only mainly observed.  This was the first time I had worked a 12 hour shift in like 10 months!  I found it easier to make it through the work day after that though.  Working 12 hour shifts also left little time in the day to run, more like no time because I’m commuting about 45 minutes each way to work, and I’m not complaining, I just needed to figure out how I would be able to get all of my runs in and make them quality runs.

The 26th of October, Josh and I were signed up to participate in the Fairmont Night Glow race, a race that I had done the year before.  It’s a pretty fun race, for those of you who know Fairmont, you start on the Gateway Connector (a really big bridge/road/on-ramp that leads to the interstate, making it more convenient for those living in the middle of fairmont, to get to the interstate) and you race through fairmont, at night.  Runners wear glow accessories and bright clothes and it’s a pretty fun night.  Except that this year the course wasn’t even a full 5K.  Josh and I both have Garmin GPS watches, and I’m pretty sure two of them wouldn’t be wrong.  I’m not trying to be a bummer Betty, but we both would’ve had PR’s because the first mile of the course is down hill and the rest is flat!!!! (yes, there’s plenty of frustration in that typing).  Anywho, Josh won the thing, and the clock said I ran a 5K in 25 minutes… HA HA HA!  It was a cold, but pretty fun evening overall.

Me, with that pre-glow run, glow!

After a week of thinking about it, I decided that I just wouldn’t run on the days that I worked and I would kick up the mileage on the days when I didn’t work.  This has been going pretty well for the most part, this week, I have a block where I have five days off in a row (today is day 4 of 5), and with my long run being today… let’s just say my legs really felt running five days in a row.  The first two minutes of my run went pretty well aaaaaaaand then I rolled my ankle on some really awesome tree branches and fell… I didn’t even make it a half mile into my run and I freakin fell!  I still had like 9.whatever miles to go.  Luckily I didn’t actually hurt my body, just my pride, and I was able to eek through the rest of the run.

Back to the quote at the beginning of the post, I get nervous before I run races and even before a long run by myself, a little bit because I want to do well, but more because of the unknown.  I don’t know how I’m going to do in the race, will I run too fast, too slow, and as far as long runs go, it’s been a while since I’ve done some longer runs (I ran 9 and 10 miles for the first time since the marathon this past April), and I’m learning that it’s okay to be uncomfortable; to embrace the unknown.  The job that I started this month pushes me out of my comfort zone each and every time that I’m there, AND I LOVE IT!  It’s an amazing feeling when you are able to prove yourself wrong, and learn that your fears aren’t that scary.  No matter what we do in our lives, we will face uncertainty and be a little nervous about something, and that is okay.  Anyone who says they aren’t worried about something, is just plain crazy, that’s basically what Gordon Pirie said, and he was an Olympian so….