Thursday, March 31, 2016

Half Marathon Training Recap Week 7: Shamrocks and Jogging Strollers

At the end of my week as a pirate, I had an 8 mile long run scheduled for Saturday.  I had made the decision awhile ago to move it to Sunday to align with the 2 mile Shamrock Shuffle in Manchester, NH that I was registered for.  Somewhere along the line, probably before I started my training plan, I thought it was a good idea to push my 35 pound toddler in her 22 pound jogging stroller (if you did the math right you came up with a total of 57 pounds) during it.  This would mean I would run 6 miles before the race and then 2 miles during it so that I got my 8 mile long run in that weekend.
6 treadmill miles pre-race!  

Brilliant, right?

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be but it did require a fair bit of planning.  I had to make sure I got up early enough to get 6 miles in before we left and we had to get to the start line early because our 3 year old ran in the kids' Leprechaun Dash beforehand.  We did it and everything went off (nearly) without a hitch.  

And the Leprechaun Dash?  Yeah, that was hell.  It was a mess of 50-75 children under the age of 4 running 100 yards.  Doesn't sound terrible but then you throw in some barricades that kept you from getting to your kids after the race and now you're just doomed.  I won't lie, there was a brief period of time that Scarlett wasn't being watched and was for all intents and purposes "lost."  Luckily, she stayed with her classmate who also ran the race and who's parents were also searching for him so she was safe. Plus, the race organizers wouldn't let any unclaimied kids out of those same barricades that were keeping the frantic parents out.  Whew!

After the Dash we lined up at the way back of the pack that was designated for strollers and walkers.  There was a fair number of us lot of us.   I gave Scarlett a pep talk, really she had the easy part of just sitting there, and then we were off.  Well, after about 2 minutes of shuffling to the start line we were off.

This was the first race I've been in where I didn't wear my headphones.  I hate the thought of listening to myself breathe, but this time was different.  Since I didn't care about a PR (it was a 2 mile race and I was pushing a stroller) I was able to just take in all of the race atmosphere.  I overheard other runners/walkers supporting each other, parents encouraging their children to pace themselves, the cheerleaders cheering for the runners as they went by and even the drum corps that was stationed in the middle of the one and only hill to encourage runners to keep going.  It was great!  I even got to hear Scarlett quip, "Mommy, why you no running?" as I struggled to push nearly 60 extra pounds up said tough hill.  Once we made it back to Elm Street where the race started, we had the extra encouragement of the St. Patrick's Day parade spectators who were already lining the street.  Scarlett was so quiet that I knew she had to be soaking it all in.

At the start of the race, I told my husband, Matt, "I'll see you in 25 minutes!'  Even though I can run a 9 minute mile, I didn't know what I was capable of when pushing a toddler in a stroller.  Lo and behold, I surprised myself by finishing in 21:23!  Even after 6 miles and pushing all that extra weight, I was cutting in front of the regular runners just to keep up the pace that my legs wanted me to go.

Even though fitting in my long run and coordinating it with this little race was an extra headache, I really enjoyed the family atmosphere.  I've already told Scarlett that we're doing it next year, but she's got to run with me!  Maybe I'll even get Matt to join us too.  

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Fat Kid Running

I've always been fat.

I've always struggled with my weight.

I wasn't lucky enough to be born skinny. My family's fat genes are prevalent and I've slowly learned to be OK with that.

It's a part of who I am but it does not define me.

As a child, I didn't start to get chunky until the first grade. My guess is that sitting at a desk at school all day coupled with being greeted at home by a lonely mom, I am an only child after all, with a bowl full of ice cream as an afterschool snack contributed to my childhood obesity.

My poor nutrition wasn't the only reason I was overweight. One of my favorite activities as a kid was watching TV. When we weren't watching one of my many kids shows, we were watching one of my mom's favorites.  It was our thing. It's what we did together. Some parents tossed around a ball with their kids, my mom watched tv with me. As I got older I used to pretend I was sick so we could stay home to watch the The Price is Right.  I  did this a lot since i struggled at school and I had a hard time fitting in and making friends. It didn't help that I was very self-concious of how much fatter I was than the other kids.

One of the worst things that I had to do at school at least once a year was run a mile. Nobody enjoyed doing it especially as the summer months approached and it was hazy, hot and humid every day, but for  a roly-poly elementary school student whose pants are always tight, it was even worse.

It should come as no surprise that I barely survived these yearly torture rituals. I have vivid memories of our gym teacher giving us 8 pennies and instructing us to run around a set of cones 8 times. Each time we reached the start we were to give her a penny until we had none. I always started out just alright, but it didn't take long for me to be huffing, puffing and sweating like a pig in the boiling sun. I was miserable.  I hated those damn pennies, but they weren't the problem.

I'm pretty sure there were several years that I technically didn't finish the mile because I gave up quickly and resorted to walking.   Class often ended before I could walk my way to the finish.
Needless to say, it was upsetting to me to always be last and to be known as the fat one when all of my classmates could finish the mile run before class was up.

The year I thought it would be funny to cross my eyes in every picture on my birthday.
I wish I could say that early on I was so upset by this that I confided to my parents and they started instilling some healthy changes, but that's not how the story goes. Both of them have battled with obesity for most of their lives so they were pretty unclear on how to go about it with their child. I know it upset my Dad who was athletic as a kid having played football and basketball in high school.  He tried to make me be more active but it just made me feel worse about myself. It was like admitting something was wrong with me. My mom, whose health suffers to this day thanks to her unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle, saw no problem with it. I was fat, unhealthy and lazy from an early age and that's just the way it was.

Years later, when we had to repeat this mile challenge in high school I got it done in 18 minutes.  I was dead last.  Again. That number has stuck with me for some reason nearly 20 years after I graduated.  Was I embarrassed?   Absolutely. Did I change anything about it. Nah, not really.
Flash forward nearly 20 years and my fastest mile to date after 7 months of training, as a 38 year old I might add, is 9 minutes - half of the time it took me when I was much younger and my body could recover a lot faster.

You have no idea what this means to the fat kid that is still inside of me.

5th grade.  UGH.  
Just the other day I went out on my first group run with my running group. It was an easy 3 mile out and back course. Everyone there was running at different paces. Some runners ran/walked. I was quietly reminded of those awful mile runs in school and the shame and guilt I felt about my weight and lack of physical fitness at such a young age. I was always in the back of the pack, struggling, sweating, wishing someone would throw me a SunnyD and a Devil Dog, you know for recovery purposes. 

This run was different. I didn't know anyone, really, and they didn't care what my abilities were. We were all there to support each other. The plan was to run and then celebrate with drinks after.
It started easy enough. I popped in my headphones and started up my Half Marathon playlist. I had barely run all week so my legs were well rested and they just wanted to run. 
I managed to get ahead of the pack early on and I just took off. I hadn't wanted to run all week. I was hoping this run would give me my mojo back.
Me on my 18th birthday.  
Not only were my legs strong but my lungs were powerful. With every step I became faster. Every once in awhile I would look back to see where everybody was and they were far behind.  In fact, only 3 women were in front of me out of their 30 plus women that attended. They ended up being too fast to catch but that wasn't the point. I was running as fast as my legs could take me.
I was running fast.

At the 1.5 mile mark we were to turn around and run back to where we started.  When I did, I ran by the other women in the group.

And guess what?  They smiled at me. They laughed. They cheered me on. I think even one of them called me "speedy."  Me, the fat, slow and lazy kid being called speedy?  Wow. What an incredible feeling to be thought of like that by strangers.

But that wasn't even the best part. I was HAPPY just to run. Me, happy to run and not completely miserable wishing that the torture would end so I could go back inside and sit down. I enjoyed myself and what my body could do. There was no shame or embarrassment about what my body couldn't do. I was proud and in awe of all I had acomplished and all that I was capable of doing. I wasn't holding myself back anymore because I was the fat kid. I was running as fast as my body would take me that day. It was glorious.

Even though I was never able to catch up to the 3 women in front of the pack, I was the first person to arrive back to our meeting point after them. I enjoyed giving kudos to them and to the women who followed me.  

I've put in a lot of hard work during the last 2 months of my half marathon training and even though this wasn't a race, I was incredibly satisfied to be ahead for once.



Guess what?   That fat kid inside of me is a runner now.


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Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Why I Won't Cuddle My Daughter Anymore


For this week, I naively rearranged my half marathon training schedule so I could capitalize on the predicted sunny and warm spring weather. That meant Monday and Tuesday were rest days with a few rounds of strength training.  I enjoyed the downtime and was even able to perform the Food Intolerance Test my nutritionist gave me. Life was good and everything was going smoothly.

Then I had to put my 3 year old daughter to bed.

Over the last several weeks I've grown to dread our once private and pleasant Mommy - daughter cuddle fests in her big girl bed. She would tell me all about who hit and pushed who in her Nursery Class and I would listen with rapt attention. Then something changed. She became wild at bedtime and our cuddles turned into kicks and headbutts. It was painful. I barely endured it. I secretly didn't want to cuddle with her anymore.
Ahoy, mateys!  It's a pirate's life for me.

This particular Tuesday night was no different from the rest. She went bonkers at bedtime.  All of my questions to find out the events of her day were answered with silly noises and nonsense. I finally sang her the bedtime song she's had since she was a baby: "Soft Kitty" from the TV show The Big Bang Theory. At the end I leaned in for one last kiss and it was met with the most horrific pain I've ever felt. It took everything I had to not scream and fling obscenities at her. I managed an, "I'm all done with this!" before I stormed out the door and slammed it behind me.
I ran into the bathroom to quickly wash my face in the hopes of alleviating some pain. It almost helped.

I jumped into the shower and tried to forgot that my 3 year old just punched me in the eye.

Only, she didn't punch me in the eye, but I didn't know that yet. Even when I woke up at 3 am with a swollen eye that dripped tears like a leaky faucet I didn't think anything different, just, "Wow, she got me good!"  At 5:30 am when my alarm went off and I quite literally stumbled out of bed and couldn't open my right eye because of the blinding pain, I started to get concerned.

I told myself and my husband that I just needed some ice and ibuprofen and I'd be fine. Don't worry about me. I've got this. I even straightened my hair with a burning hot flat iron with my eyes closed thinking I'd still be going to work.

I'm in total control. I've got this.

2 hours of icing my eye and 800 MG of ibuprofen later and I was ready to relinquish control and give up. Somewhere around the 1 hour mark I had called work to let them know I'd be a little late, "Oh no big deal, my daughter punched me in the eye and I'm blind now."

 It was now time to wave the white flag and call the doctor's office.

After explaining my situation and admitting that just maybe, maybe my daughter didn't just punch me in the eye but she actually scratched it, the nurse told me that I had better come in to get checked out and not to drive.

1 mile walk from hell, but we met a cat.
Luckily, my father lives only a half hour away so he was able to drive me to my appointment which was a good thing because by that point the only way I felt good was to lay down with my eyes closed. The dangerous part about that was my 3 year old, who was home with me, knows how to open doors. She kept begging me to go out and play. As tempted as I was to kick her out of
the house for beating me up, I silently thanked our landlord for installing a deadbolt and crawled back to the couch.

The doctor confirmed my suspicion - I had a scratched cornea.   When putting Scarlett to bed she hadn't punched me, she scratched the outer protective layer of my eye and left a good sized abrasion.
The remedy was an eye patch, eye drops and a follow-up appointment in 2 days. Oh, and no work or driving for the rest of the day. Sounds great, right?

Needless to say, the rest of my day was spent watching kids' TV shows and "relaxing" while watching my 3 year old with my eyes closed. Because I'm stubborn as hell, we managed to take a 1 mile walk around the neighborhood which I almost instantly regretted.

 And I thought I was going to run 7 miles that day!

"Mommy, I'm a pirate!"  Glad you think it's funny, kid.
A very sweaty 5K 3 days "after."
In the end, (a lot of) wine was consumed, a candy bar was eaten and I resumed normal activities the next day. By Friday, I was running again and that same day I found out the abrasion was completely gone. Who knew the eyes heal so quickly? 

I know you are all wondering if I still snuggle with Scarlett at bedtime anymore and the answer is I do not. She knows she poked mommy in the eye and it made her a pirate for the day, which was not as fun as it may seem.  She's not happy I won't cuddle in her big girl bed anymore but she knows that when she learns to settle down we will try again. Until then I simply sing her our bedtime song, give her a kiss while I hold her hands down to her sides and then quickly flee the room because this Momma is no dummy.


Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Running On Empty

Tonight, I had a mini-meltdown a few minutes after walking through the door.

It's a beautiful, sunny, nearly 50 degree Spring afternoon and my training plan calls for an easy 5 miles. This is a no brainer.  I should go home, do what I need to do as quickly as I can so I can lace up my running shoes and just run. Duh.

But like an unruly toddler I can't. I won't. You can't make me. I'm tiiiiiirrrrreeed. 

Why?  Our little family had another non-stop busy weekend. One of those weekends where I had every detail planned down to the minute and if anything veered off course it would have derailed us and of course, led to complete disaster. OK, maybe I'm being dramatic but you get the point.
Toss in the fact that I work full time, have a three(nager) and I've been dealing with some medical issues lately (I was at the doctor's office 4 times in a week) plus I can't seem to sleep longer than 5 hours a night (hello, adrenal fatigue) I'm as one friend called me "a hot mess." 

5 easy miles ain't easy when you are this tired and just over it.
Am I going to beat myself up over this?  The perfectionist in me will a little. Sure. Did I give myself a pep talk into trying to go for a run?  Oh yeah, didn't work. Don't care either. I'm that beat.

I'm running on empty.  My body and my mind need a break and a rest.

I started this journey to be a better version of myself, but to be a better wife and mother too. I can't do that running on empty. If I had gone on that run tonight I guarantee I would have felt better at some point but I would have felt lousy to come home to see my overtired daughter who had a rough day at school sobbing for her mommy while my equally overtired husband, who works his butt off for this family every day, trying to console her.  That kind of situation isn't good for anyone.  By not running tonight I'm still putting myself first.

Tonight, I'm hanging up my running shoes and snuggling with my family because right now that's what I need more and I'm alright with that.

I'll run tomorrow. I'm OK with that even if I am changing The Plan. I might even run better.

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Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Week 6 Half Marathon Training Recap

This week's long run was 9 miles!  My longest to date.  Scroll down to see if and how I survived!


Monday

I wasn't able to fit in the circuit run today so I I just completed Super Short Strength Circuit 3 instead.  These strength training videos and moves are really working because I am starting to see definition in my arms!  Who knew? Seriously, these moves are tough but totally doable and you don't have to spend hours and hours away from your kids doing them so there are no excuses for not getting them done.

Tuesday

I moved some of the runs around on my plan because we were forecasted to get some spectacular weather that I just couldn't pass up running in.  Tuesday ended up being my rest day with SSSC3 (see video above).



Wednesday

I am so glad that I moved my 6 mile long run to this day!  The weather was gorgeous for early March.  I can't think of many days in the past that it hit 70 degrees in New England in the WINTER.  I planed on running the first 3 miles on my lunch break and then the last 3 when I got home.

After 3 days of basically rest, my legs were ready to run!  In fact, I ran my fastest mile ever - 9mm!  It is still hard to believe that 7 months ago I was only able to "run" 1 mile at a 15 mm pace.  I try to remind myself of that whenever I get discouraged in my training.

I was hoping that I would PR for a 5K on this run, but it just didn't happen.  It was still one of my fastest 5K's that I've run.  I did notice that my quads were on fire because of the pace I was keeping.  Time to do more runner's lunges.  All and all, it was a glorious run just like the weather.

After work, my husband told me to hurry up so I could get my last 3 miles in before the sun went down.  I actually managed to pull it off.  My legs were tired by then and just wanted to recover from earlier, but I got it done and my time was really good (for me) too.

Thursday 

Otherwise known as "Hill Repeats!" day.  It was another gorgeous day weather wise so I knew this was the day to get actual hill repeats done and not just run up and down my stairs.  Again, I quickly did some laundry and packed my running clothes to run on lunch break (or "runching" as it is known in the running world).

No doubt about it, my legs were tired.  Once this run was done I had put in 9 miles in under 24 hours with a not-so-great night of sleep.  I started out by running for a mile to warm-up and then it was time to tackle the local hill by work that I picked out.  My goal was to run up it and then jog back down it for 15 minutes.

It was hotter than I was used to so the heat got to me and I felt dehydrated to boot.  Luckily, the side of the street that I was running on was in the shade.  I definitely didn't charge up it at full speed as I was supposed to, but once I got going I was able to up my pace.

Once the 15 minutes were up, I jogged back to work feeling very sweaty and tired.



Friday

For Friday I had the option to run 3 miles or cross-train and then perform SSSC3.  I decided to give my poor tired legs a break and just did 20 minutes on my husband's rowing machine and the SSSC3.  I was so happy it was Friday because my body and mind were ready for a break.  I really didn't know what to expect for my first 9 mile long run the next day.


Saturday- Long Run Day!  

9 miles.  9 miles that I had never run before.  9 miles that I wasn't sure I was mentally ready for.  9 long miles, on a warm March day in New Hampshire.  

Sometimes you surprise yourself and today was one of those days.  

I took my nutrionist's advice, more on this in another post, and fueled up with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and a half a cup of Bolthouse Farm's Mixed Berry.  Prior to that I had fasted for about 16 hours per usual.  

For mental prep, I read this blog post from Sarah at Run Far Girl.  I decided to try to run this 9 miler like she suggested.  I made my first 3 miles my warm-up and took it as slow as I was comfortable with.  Then for my middle 3 I dialed up my pace a little, but not too much since I wanted to leave enough energy to run my last 3 as fast as I could to the finish.  Now my last 3 were not my fastest 5K times ever, but mile 5 was my fastest of all my miles and mile 9, which included a hill, was my fastest mile running up that hill (miles 3 and 6 included the same hill).  Not too shabby.

After that I run, it became clear that I need a hydration pack.  I'm just getting too dehydrated.  I hope to pick one up in the next week or two.

9 miles.  Wow.  How was it that just a few months ago I was chugging through 1 mile?  This is why we train though to make the runs more bearable.  



Sunday, March 6, 2016

Week 5 Half Marathon Training Recap

How have 5 weeks come and gone already?!  Just 10 more weeks and I'll be running the Gate City Half Marathon in Nashua, NH.  Eeek!  Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that just 8 months ago I jumped on the neighbor's old treadmill for the first time and jogged a mile at a gingerly 15 mile per minute pace.  Now, here I am training for my first half.  All things considered it's a lofty goal indeed.


Monday

Today's run was supposed to be a circuit followed by SSSC 3.  Since these runs really only amount to a half hour or about 2 miles, my plan was to get it done after work.  That plan was quickly foiled when I was created by an aging corgi at the door who was clearly in pain.  Her back was crumpled up, she was whining and just couldn't get comfortable.  I frantically called our veterinarian's office and got no help.  I called 2 other places and they couldn't see her.  I took the hint, dosed her with more baby aspirin, quickly got the circuit part done (arm circles and the such) and the SSSC 3 and called it good.  I spent the rest of the night snuggling with her on the couch.  In case you are wondering, by Wednesday she was just fine!  

Tuesday



The plan called for 5 easy miles.  My legs and mind were a wreck from Sunday's dehydrated long run so I did 3 and called it good.  I spent a lot of time resting and rolling my legs on this day.

Wednesday

REST DAY!  Hallelujah!  My legs and body just needed it.  Usually, I hate rest day, but not on this day.  I was hurting.  Looking back, I now have first hand experience on why nutrition and hydration are so important for athletes.  If you don't do it right your whole body pays for it.  I did complete the SSSC 3 exercises though.  The Russian twists kill me (in a good way, I think).  




Thursday

Check out my new MRTT shirt!  
My Swag Bag from Another Mother Runner arrived!
Easy 3-5 miles you say?  I set my alarm for what I thought was 4:30 am but it turns out that I just set two alarms for my normal wake up time of 5:30 am.  My body knew something was up because I jolted away at 4:41 am and in a panic got ready for my treadmill run.  I find that if I don't shower the night before than I have even more motivation to get up and get these early morning runs done before work because I'm going to have to get up early for a shower so I might as well get sweaty anyway.  I completed 3 glorious miles. My legs felt so much better!  All of the rolling, hydration and wearing compression socks non-stop paid off.  

Friday

I happily woke up at 4:30 am to get 3 miles in before work.  Legs still felt great and I pushed myself on the pace because I felt that good.  I was supposed to get another round of SSSC 3 in, but it just didn't happen.  I forgot to squeeze it in during the day and by the time I got home from work all I wanted was a dance party in the kitchen and a cold beer!  It's the little things in life, you know?

Saturday - Long Run Day!  


Splits from my Garmin Forerunner 620
8 miles were to be completed today with a 5 minute strong finish.  If you think back, you'll remember that I completed my first 8 mile run, my longest ever, just a few weeks ago.  My goal was to run it without stopping which has been hard lately.  I always seem to need to stretch my calves or my arms or run home for water because I am D-Y-I-N-G.  One of my very good friends, really she is more of a sister to me, texted me to see what my plans were.  We decided to meet up that afternoon once it warmed up to bang out 8 miles.  She's one of the best runners I know so I was worried that my 11 mm race pace would be too slow for her, but she said it was exactly what she needed, plus she did 10 miles of intervals before hand on the treadmill so this was more of a recovery run for her.  
Splits from my Nike Plus running app.

The weather was beautiful, not too cold, not too hot and the sun was out.  This was my first run with a friend and without my music.  I was nervous about that at first, but our conversation made the time go by faster which I appreciated.  I did have some pretty bad side stitches but that could just have been from talking more than normal.  Yes, I did eat my raisins at mile 6 so we did stop for that, but nothing else.  We even conquered 2 big hills and 1 small one!  I'm happy that I was well hydrated for this run, that I ran in a new location with a good friend and just generally got out of my comfort zone.  It's amazing what all of that combined does for your mental focus.


When I got home I treated myself to a good beer, Sebago's Bonfire Rye, and a hot bath with Epsom salts.  I even managed to get a few pages read in my book, Tales from Another Mother Runner.  



Now I'm on to week 6 and my first NINE mile run on this coming Saturday!  









Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Low Carb Italian, Chinese and Mexican Recipe Roundup!



As you can tell by glancing at this month's menu, my crock pot will be getting a workout!  February kicked off my half marathon training and I just barely had the time let alone energy to make dinner every night or even every other night.  Not good for me as an athlete because if dinner wasn't ready after a run then I was tempted to grab something quick and easy, and not necessarily healthy just to refuel my body.

I don't have a link for my corned beef recipe because, well, it's in my head.  It's the same one I've been using for years and I don't know measurements and such plus it is not quite low-carb.  But what are holidays if not a good time to cheat (with limits)?


Low Carb Italian Dinners


Low Carb Mexican Food

American Low Carb Food

St. Patrick's Day Dinner (March 17)


Easter Dinner (March 27)

Cheese-Filled Mini Meatloaf

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Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Half Marathon Training Week 4 Recap: Birthday Week

I'm not going to lie and try to make this week sound better than it was. It sucked. My training plan was fairly easy and thankful so because my birthday fell on the Thursday of this week so I was mopey. Yes, mopey is the only word that truly captures how I felt. I had Impending Birthday Doom. I definitely was not looking forward to it. If I could have curled up in a ball eating chips and mac and cheese all week I would have. Instead, I did the bare minimum I needed to get my training done and indulged in beer, wine, birthday cake and Chinese food!  

Just a note, I did switch things up a bit on my training plan to fit my family's schedule better this week.  I'd rather get it done just on different days than not at all.  

Monday

Stayed home with a sick kiddo today, but I decided to get in a 6 mile run once my husband got home so I didn't have to wake up at 4 am tomorrow to run 7 miles. I was exhausted and my stomach hurt, but I found the drive to get it done. I'm glad I did because I felt so much better afterwards.


Tuesday

I switched up Monday and Tuesday's workout on the plan.  Tuesday ended up being a rest day with a Super Short Strength Circuit (SSSC) to work my triceps and core.  I really wasn't into these set of moves this week.

Wednesday

Wednesday should have been a fun workout with SSSC, but the fun never happened.  I honestly can't remember what I did instead, probably just made dinner and cuddled on the couch.  Remember, I wasn't really feeling it this week. 

Thursday - My Birthday!  Yay? 

My birthday AND I get to run INTERVALS.  YAY!  I decided to spend the first day of my 38th year circling the sun by getting up at 4:30 am to get this done.  I won't lie - I originally got back into bed, but after 30 seconds or so I had guilt tripped myself into getting up again to run.  

According to my plan I had to do a 10 minute warm up, Then 3 rotations of 1 minute in zone 4-5 with a 2 minute recovery then 2 minutes in zone 4-5 with a 2 minute recovery.  Cool down was 10 minutes.  

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be and I was happy to get it done.  It gave me enough energy to get through the day which ended in beer and birthday cake.  


Friday

I took Friday off from work for my birthday and so Scarlett and I could get our physical exams done for the year.  I did manage to squeeze in a 3 mile run (was supposed to be 4) before we left.  It was hard fought and I'm pretty sure I sweated out all of my beer from the night before.  There was really nothing easy about it, but again I was just happy to get something done.

Saturday

Today was supposed to be my long run day, but since Sunday was supposed to be the nicer of the 2 days I switched it.  Instead we all took a 1 mile family walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the Spring-like weather.

Sunday (Long Runday)

The day was finally here!  It was time to get my 7 mile long run done.  Before my run I made sure to stretch out my calves because they have been so tight lately.  It felt good to stretch and I was hoping they would hold up for this run.  I headed out around mid-morning hoping the weather would be just perfect.  I bought a runner's water bottle, you know the kind that straps to your hand, and tried it out for the first time.  I was irritated with it after the first mile so I dropped it at home.  By mile 4 I had regretted that decision and had to stop home for a drink.  I just needed enough to wet my whistle.  

Overall, this run was just OK.  I felt dehydrated, and my stomach was really unhappy.  Hell, even my allergies were bugging me.  My calves stayed sore for most of the run.  I still managed to make pretty good time all things considered.  

I'm definitely going to have to figure out something to eat at mile 6 besides raisins.  I haven't perfected how to eat them while running and without dropping them all over the ground.  I do have an idea that I am working on and it involves my fat bomb!  Stay tuned!