Good bye 2011, you were Awesome!

Long run

Almost 15 mile run. Not bad. Felt pretty strong until the usual 12/13 wall. Gummy bears, pretzels, GU, Nuun...all great & necessary, gotta bring all that on next long trek. Some foot soreness, new socks needed? Hmmmmmm

Podcast DJ was RAD! Looking forward to marathon for the TIME I get to run. Right now it's hard to get out the door, then I barely have 3-3:30 hrs to run. Excited to run all day, crazy thought I know. Runners are odd creatures like that. Excited for short run tomorrow & next day just because.

Toasty Toes

Warm awesome new socks from Blondie, gracias!

Balance

Ran 16.2 on Christmas eve morning, had to grunt for that last 2 miles. My quads & calf muscles were screaming. More than a bit excited but nervous for 26.2.

Spent last two days eating wonderful food, dips & sugar product. Time to get back on the wagon! Hello New Year, so glad to see you!!!

FAT is a feminist issue...

Covert Baily, Fat is a feminist issue....I always remember that book title from my mom's bookshelf :-). Loved a little ditty from a blogger today....woman just had a baby 3 wks ago and was sitting down nursing and texted her friend "I feel fat." Her friend texted back "Fat is NOT a feeling. How do you FEEL?"

Fat is not a feeling. So true and yet so hard to understand and make peace with. At the doctor yesterday I got weighed, and sadly I felt a twinge of anger at the #... Currently I am in the best shape of my adult life, lots of muscles....strong legs, calves, core, back. Only thing I would love to sculpt & define are my jiggly mom arms.
Other than that, nothing. Sure I have miles of cellulite on my thighs but that's just bad genetics, nothing gonna make that go away, aside from surgery or a wish from a genie lamp. Not 10 mile runs or 25 mile bike rides or skipping breakfast. Nothing. So why oh why did I feel dejected at my scale weight when the only thing on my entire human body I wish to alter (and can) is my arms? I think it's a chick thing, sad to say. Yup, some dudes go thru it too but I think a majority of it is women. We are taught that fat IS a feeling & a state of mind from a young age. So not true. If you move, groove & get your blood pumping & feel good in your skin, and love your mind & body & spirit~you should feel like a rock star. Simple as that. I wish it were that easy.
I do know for me, I have stopped wasting valuable energy & brain space on pondering my weight or the space my ass takes up in this world. If I put on jeans that are too tight, I pull them off, throw on black tights & a dress & feel fabulous. If I'm not feeling sexy in my swimsuit, I spend money on a gorgeous cover-up dress or sarong and rock that instead. "Making what ya got work & working what ya got"... My motto right now, at the highly enlightened age of a fabulous 38... :-)

Sunny in December

Running view... Not bad

Marathon training...a solitary endeavor

Gorgeous run. Only 10 miles~need a 16-18 this weekend. Trying to think 10 is rad tho, I hate the pressure of marathon training and 10 miles not being awesome enough. Seriously?

Fantastic run! Strong, had lots of gas in the tank but not the time. That's a good problem to have!

I'm a Runner...and so much more...

On the trail today grinding out a run before we leave for the weekend.  So hard to make a run a priority when all you want to do is pack, snuggle kiddo and get away for the weekend but...got it done.  Boooyah!!!!  As I was running I had this overwhelming feeling/rush of "I AM A RUNNER" from the gear to the resolve to the joy I get from being out there.  It is an amazing feeling, especially because there was a time when I could not (when pushed) define myself at all.  Curled up in the corner of a couch, sad & weepy when asked "what are your hobbies/interests?" by my counselor.  Now I can strongly say "I am a runner, swimmer, biker chick, triathlete, part-time vegan, fitness enthusiast, life ....enthusiast!  The one thing I have realized in the past few years that is ever important to me is LOVE.  Love for myself, if I don't have that, I have absolutely nothing to give to all the amazing people in my life.  They deserve so much, from me...and in order to give that to them, I need to give SO much more to myself first.

Getting my gift giving groove on!

Celtic sea salt, lucky NYE peas & protein power packed green peas!

Need to run BIG

Loving my running lately buuuuuuuut need to run BIG...that's it.  Need to run BIG....and soon.  That's the only bummer about a marathon.  Hard to just chill and enjoy running just to run, if you don't put up big numbers at least once a week, you might be in trouble come game day.

Cookie Break

Cookie baking day...so much sugar & junk food. Gotta get back on track tomorrow :-). 2.5 mile jog around the avenue, gorgeous view, easy run.

This week is two big rides, a short run and 16-18miles somehow/somewhere!

Got Something Done

I was pretty sure I wasn't gonna run today and then I kicked myself in the ass and said "JUST TRY" and so I did.  Within 6 minutes of huffing & puffing my mindset was 100% turned around and I am yet again in a state of shock & awe about how INSANELY AWESOME exercise is.  A total mood adjuster in the purest form.  I really wish today had allowed me to run 16-18 miles but I didn't.  I ran 3.6 glorious miles, felt like a rock star, improved my mood and the feel of my pms-laden body & spirit and....all is good.

One Bad Mother Runner

Bad being the key word. Training for Maui is going BADly...life creeps in & takes over. I literally have zero time for a long run until NEXT Thursday. Today was supposed to be 14-16m, I even fueled this AM with a big bowl of oats...but a sick kiddo with a bellyache coming into our bed at 1am & stealing my pillow and then all of us sleeping till 8am, put a damper on the long run plans. Along with crushing pms & cramps that make me want to curl on the couch with Amelia, Brokeback Mountain & drink tea all day...running/training is not getting done at the right level today. Big Sigh.

So IT might not be getting done today but something will get done...Wish me luck.

Grit Run

So many factors against my run today: 4 hrs sleep, PMS, tired headache, chilly air, lack of motivation, yadda yadda. The factors in my favor: clear sunshine, time, the right gear, bomb-ass music & the looming date of 26.2 Jan 22. First few paces of the run were torture, sore, cold toes, crunchy bod, heavy...I think I literally clenched my teeth to soldier on.

Tunes bumping...people who run without music are rad, that's not me. I NEED my beats to move, then I'm rad. Settled into run, only thing that really kept me going was that I knew I needed to log this maintenance run & then it started to feel awesome as usual. I did the out & back trick...run AWAY from your car, so you can't cut a run short, you gotta get it done to get home!

Took Galloway 1min walk breaks & still ended up with 11:17, not bad at all. Feeling groovy, now I get to have fun & swim :-)

Ultra

Somehow my run keeper stayed on & logged 52 miles over a few days. I gotta say, for someone who wants to do an ULTRA at some point in her life...seeing that 52 miles is exhilarating & motivating!

Happy Feet

Sunkist Toes for December

Rodota Sunshine Run

Gorgeous run today, perfect running weather.  Brilliant sunshine but cool temps, enough to not crazy overheat.  Got on the trail by 8:45am, early for a weekend~hard to tear myself away from the family.  I gotta plan for more mid-week long runs when dad is at work and dude is in school.

Overall, a great run but I was secretly shooting for 15-16 and ended up just shy of 14.  Not too shabby for a workout but not too great for marathon training.  As I wrapped up the run I kept thinking to myself "can't you pull out another 2 miles?"  The answer was a resounding "nope."  During the run I felt great, no real issues aside from the standard: slight yelps from achilles & just being tired/ a bit bored (despite the gorgeous scenery & being out RUNNING!) and needing to push myself to keep going.  Hard to look at your watch and think "oh wow, wrapped up an hour...only 2 more to go!)  Que thoughts of the English Patient, about as long as I run...would always choose to run for 3 hrs vs. EVER watch that movie again.  I brought along water (big bonus, turns out I am a hydration hog), gummies, Gu and pretzels. I could tell I didn't eat breakfast (bad I know) by mile 7, I was bonking.  Won't make that mistake again.  Had a few funny crazy thoughts...one guy rode by on his bike and I thought "wow! how unsafe to be biking without a life vest!"  Then I realized I was thinking of the wrong sport, got a good laugh out of that for a few minutes that pushed me along.  I also decide that in the last 2 miles I would end at Coffee Catz and get a latte, so my mind kept chanting "will run for coffee, will run for coffee..."

Really going to try and make running performance my priority.  By that I mean not just running but sleeping and eating.  I have been eating whatever I want due to being so hungry from ramping up running.  I really want to make smarter, healthier choices, less dairy/meat/sugar and lots more veggies & lean protein.  Also WATER WATER WATER.  More Nuun too, when I had a stockpile of Nuun I drank way more water, gotta buy more Nuun.

Felt Ok about the 13.6m until I heard my marathon buddy ran 17.5m...When it comes to running I have zero competition, for distance or time.  The past few years I haven't felt that zing of jealousy or competition in really any area of my life...kids, jobs, fitness skill, Jean size...just don't feel the high school pull of envy at all any more.  Yet, when I saw that she ran 17.5 I could not help but think my run wasn't 'good enough.'  So NOT true I know but still felt a twinge.  Good thing to pay attention to, breathe through it, pat myself on the back, pop ibuprofen (sore!) and adventure on at my own pace & on my own journey.  Enjoying it all.

Fair...????

THIS is exactly why I have run free (no gps or timing or watches) for so long.  I like to know my exact mileage lately but I don't like RunKeeper classifying my hard-earned run as FAIR.  Dislike!

Run Stats

Ok, time to admit I am a solid (can't stand that word, makes me feel heavy in so many senses of the word but oh well) 11:30 miler.  There are worse things in life, like not getting off the couch!

When I am cruising along I don't feel slow but apparently I am (on most pace calendars the last pace calculation is 12:00 miles).  At an 11:30m pace, I 'should' finish Maui in 5:01, a hilariously 1:17 faster than Portland (dude, what happened there?  Oh yeah, RAIN & Injury & Dehydration/Hypothermia.  Still a total blast tho') I know that if I am watching the time and if it's possible for my body, I want to push it a bit and finish at 4:59 at least :-) 4:58 would be better tho' :-)