Race #2

So after weeks of training and complaining about training I have completed my goal. Not only did I run all five miles of this course, but I also ran it in 55.34 (which is 3.02 minutes faster than Sunday), and it was 50 degrees and Sunny this morning? Yeah all things I never thought I would say, the last one of course being that it's November 26 in Buffalo, NY and past weather history would show that 50 degrees and sunny is not a normal occurance on this date in this place.

To the race...
I woke up early so that I could get a little run in and a stretch... I also made sure to drink water prior to the race so we wouldn't have the same debacle as last time.

I meet my friends at the race, and HOLY this is a little different than Sunday. So the race Sunday was like 4-500 people... this race had to stop registration because over 12,000 people registered. Only 10,935 people actually participated - I hope you caught the sarcasm of only - and it was a complete mad house when the race started. There were so many people at the event (and if you know my friends and I you know we are notorious for being late) and we were all the way in the back, and by the time we crossed the start line, the race had already been going for over eight minutes. To put this in perspective, the winner of the trot was nearing mile three and I hadn't even started.

We start the race and right away I knew the pace Catherine was setting was WAY too fast for this girl. I keep up for a bit, but then realize I will never, ever finish if I try and continue, so I drop back from my friends. It is there where I see this girl dressed very similarly to myself who seems to be running at the same pace as where I want to be. I start to follow her and we end up running four miles together before getting lost in the chaos of the last mile. I don't know who she was, and we didn't speak, but for that race she was my best friend ha.

This next section is going to be very confusing if you aren't familiar with Delaware Avenue, but just pretend like you know the landmarks I am speaking of anyway.

The race starts near Mighty Taco, but as mentioned above we were at the back of the line, a la Frank's Sunny Italy. We start heading toward downtown (I'm not good with compass directions, south maybe?) where we pass by a few relatives who are cheering us on outside Tim Hortons. Around the Marshall's plaza I drop back from my friends and continue on my own until I meet my new friend at the S curves. After completing the S curves I see a few girls I know who have already started walking, and Carly yells that this mile and a half is the furthest she's ever gone before walking (and when she says ever she means she's been doing this for multiple years now). Upon seeing them walking, I begin to feel tired, but I didn't want them to see me stop after I laughed at them for walking. I tell myself that if I could just make it to Caniusius High School then I would be allowed to take a walking break. After what feels like an eternity, I make it to Canisius and just as I decide it's time to walk, I see the flag for mile three a few streets ahead. I think to myself, how could you stop so close to mile three, you have to keep going. So I do. And when I get to the mile three flag there were people cheering like crazy the Saturn Club chefs were all outside, and I didn't want to let anybody down, so I said I would just keep going until the sidewalks cleared out a bit and people wouldn't notice (read: less people would notice) me stopping. By this time I can see the next mile flag and as I did for the last one, I told myself Rachel you can't stop until you get to the flag. I didn't. At this point were at about W. Tupper so there is a great view of that tall pointy thing in Niagra Square that looks like this:

Seeing that makes me so happy because I know I am almost downtown. I also know that at this point we are multiple blocks past Arby's and that on plenty of St. Patrick's Days we have made the walk from Allen to Chippewa with no problems, and so my next "stopping point" (obviously in quotes because I didn't actually stop, as I ruined the surprise for you in the second sentence of this email) was Chippewa... but of course I told myself Quote nightclub so that I could get a quick chuckle in. Once crossing Chippewa there are only two more streets before reaching Niagara Square so the crowd is getting real intense and my second wind kicks in and I start to pick up my pace. This is where I lose my dear friend, whose name I will never know.

If you've run this race, then you know they love to make you detour around Niagara Square and take the long way to the finish line at the convention center... however I did enjoy it because it gave a nice straight-away finish. I complete the race and my legs feel like jello, and I realize that I lost my friends at mile one and I did not have any way of contacting them. Luckily I hear my name shouted from the crowd and it was Jamie and Lauren who had just finished as well. We looked around but didn't see anyone we knew so we decided to see if they were in the after party. At this time it is just after 10am and there is a live band and draft beer and I was so proud of myself because all I wanted was a banana and some water. The thought of drinking a beer after running five miles was nauseating. Kudos to those who could. It took some time, but we finally found our friends and then got a ride home, where I could nap away my jello legs before thanksgiving dinner.

Oh yeah - not only did I run this race three minutes faster than my first, but it was also 0.2 miles longer, so it was even faster than that. Go me!

XOXO

55.34 minutes
Miles Ran 5.2

I did it!

I might die and may never walk again, but I did it!

So this morning was my first actual race, and overall I am very pleased. My friend Kat ran it with me and THANK GOODNESS she did because I don't know what I would have done without her. We had big plans on walking the course the day before so we would be able to pick out some landmarks and such for the next day, but of course that didn't work out so we entered this race blindly.

As a non-professional runner, I thought the course was full of hills, but Kat swears it wasn't that bad - except that hill just before Mile-3 you can't deny that one. Anyway, Kat and I get there early so we could warm up and stretch. I felt great doing that, we ran around a bit, got our tshirts - which were men's sizes and they had no smalls left and we both got nightgowns - and then it was time to line up.

Dear YMCA,

In the future, I think it would be best that you close off the streets that the race takes place on, because we almost got run over multiple times.

Love,

Kat, Rachel and the other 400 runners that almost died

So the first mile went well, I felt pretty good... the second mile I desperately wanted water... the third mile I was kicking myself for drinking water because I now had a cramp... the fourth mile I drank more water because I thought I was going to die... and the fifth mile was the last mile and I just wanted to finish. I will admit I stopped to walk twice (three?) times, but my walking pace was just as fast as my running pace at that point so it was okay - not really because I wanted to run the whole thing, but in terms of time, it was okay.

Afterward, the Y was nice enough to offer some amazing food (especially that lentil soup mmm) and free massages to race participants. You better believe Kat and I waited in line for those and that we made the massagers (I don't know what they're really called?) stay extra late to take us because we refused to get out of line. And then we lied to them and said we were going to come to their actual place of employment for massages and they gave us coupons for it, but we knew we were never going.

I then went back to my house where I passed out on the couch for a few hours, still dressed from the race and now I am finally ready to shower.

XOXO

58.36 minutes
Miles Ran: 5

Fruits and Veggies

This post is not running related, but I wanted to talk about it anyway... and since my races will both be completed in 9 days (what?!?), I figure I better think of other things to talk about so this blog doesn't just end.

As mentioned in previous posts (maybe? if not, I'm mentioning it now) I have been keeping track of everything I eat on a website called sparkpeople and even though it only tracks calories, fat, protein and carbohydrates for you on your tracker... there is a spot for you to count your fruits & veggies intake as well as water. I know I definitely have mentioned that I need to increase my water intake, which I have been working on, still not hitting eight glasses everyday though, and now I think it's time to concentrate on the fruits & veggies tracker.

As a child - when I saw child I mean until last year - I was the pickiest eater in the world. I have since improved immensly and can actually say that I, Rachel, LOVE fruits and vegetables. There are very few that I won't eat, which says a lot considering I went through a phase where I didn't eat anything that was the color green. Funny, because my favorite vegetable is broccoli now? Also, my mother is probably reading this in disbelief since I put her through a lot of hell when it came to meals.

Though I love fruits and veggies, I have noticed that I am not eating as much as I should. When I was in grad school and the only thing I had to do all day was go to class at 6pm, I snacked on fruit all day long. However, at work, my snacks include the girl scout cookies I bought because the lady selling them came over just before lunch - pretty sure she did that on purpose.

I do really well when it comes to incorporating vegetables into my dinners, but there's no way I can eat the recommended 5 cups in one sitting. So, in order to combat this issue, I have decided that I need to drink at least 1 cup of fruits/veggies a day. That's when I remembered the V8 commercials where they announce that one serving of V8 has one cup's worth of vegetables. Then I remembered that I drank V8 at my friend's house recently and it was so delicious. I asked her what flavor we had and then looked it up on the V8 website so I could pick out the bottle in the store without staring like a lost child forever. Of course, the one she drinks, and I like, is the V8 Splash, which doesn't have the same nutrional value. Therefore, that idea was out. However, the V8 Fusion and the basic V8 drinks both count as 1 serving. There are a whole bunch of choices when it comes to the V8 Fusion, and I am TERRIBLE at making decisions, so I sucked it up and bought the basic V8. It came in six little cans called the "weekly pack" or something else that a sucker impulse buyer like me would enjoy. The cans are only 5.5oz, so I figured I could suck it up and choke it down.

I had my first this morning, and it really wasn't bad. It was basically cold tomato soup (because I put the cans in the fridge, not sure if you're supposed to? couldn't find anything that said refrigerate... or not refrigerate? looking on website now to make sure I don't die). If you talked to me a few months ago, I wouldn't recognize this flavor because I didn't have my first bowl of tomato soup until this past summer. Like I said, serious picky eater. But ever since I had my first bowl at Magnolia's on Park Ave, I have been hooked. Thank you Mandi for forcing me to eat it that day. Though I am much less of a picky eater, I still don't like tomato sauce - I know, worst Italian, sorry Gram - and I feared that this juice would be straight tomato sauce, so I was pleased to find it was more soupy than saucy.

In conclusion, try it, you'll love it... well, only if cold tomato soup is your thing.

So now that I'm such a fan of V8, I have been browsing their website, and they make soups that look absolutly delicious. Here's the link: V8 Soups. Also, there's a whole bunch of recipes that look the bomb and each one includes a V8 Soup, which also contains 1 serving of veggies. I already tried the Southwestern Turkey, Corn and Chile... so easy and delicious.

I bet V8 is loving this free advertising right now!

XOXO

3 Miles - The Story

Prior to yesterday's run, the longest amount of time spent running was 8-minutes. So the fact that the next run on the training schedule was 3-miles completely blew my mind. I thought for sure that (1) I would not make it and (2) I would die trying. Then I remembered that when I played softball, we started each practice with a 10-minute run. I would not do physical activity between seasons, but I could still do that run. A year and half is a little longer than a few months, but for my insanity I counted it as the same. Therefore, I knew that I could run 10 straight minutes without stopping once to walk/breathe/drink water.

I went into yesterday's run excited, because I obviously wasn't thinking clearly since everyone knows you can't run 3-miles in 10-minutes (well maybe someone can, but that someone is definitely not me). I also skipped Monday's workout, which was also 3-miles, because I had walked almost 6 on Sunday and was wiped out, so I knew I had to complete this yesterday because I had already slacked.

I got out of work at 6pm, but if you had told me it was midnight I would have believed you. It seriously is so dark I can't handle it! Prior to leaving work, I used my handy friend mapmyrun.com to help me find a good 3-mile route near my house. There wasn't one, unless I wanted to run on some sketchy streets, but if you remember last time I think it's best I avoid that option. My other choice was to run up and down the same streets, in which case, I will look like a crazy lost person, and would hate risking my reputation (since so many people know me (I hope you caught that sarcasm)). I have ADD and figured running in the same circle until I got to 3-miles would drive me crazy so I decided to drive to the park near my house.

I forgot that you can only drive in the park while it's light out, so of course the gate was closed, however there are parking spots on the street right next to it, crisis averted. I called a friend of mine who lives in the same neighborhood and had her convince me that even though cars weren't allowed in the park, people still were. She agreed and I went on my way. I noticed many people walking up and down the hill that is normally the car entrance, so I felt safe, even though it was dark. I climbed to the top of the hill where you can see the entire Rochester skyline all lit up. So beautiful. It was then that I noticed that all the people I saw were only on the hill and not at the top. I pretend this doesn't bother me and start to jog along the resevoir at the top. At 0.69 miles it's about 4.5 times around to reach 3-miles. I make it about 0.01-miles before freaking myself out, turning around, sprinting to the start, running down the hill and back into my car. I start yelling at myself, since I mentioned above I had already skipped this run once before, and start driving. I figured that worst case scenario I would drive to good old RIT because the loop around campus is equvalent to a 5K - just over 3-miles (3.1 to be exact), and because I really didn't want to drive twenty minutes out of my way to run I would check out the local schools on the way. I drive past Brighton High School - track is pitch black. Drive past McQuaid High School - track is pitch black. Drive past MCC - no idea if they have a track/if they do where it is. RIT it is.

I get to RIT and remember how I spent the last year of my life in grad school, getting out of classes at 10pm, and swerving to avoid runners -even when they were on sidewalks and I was in the street. I get scared easily, I'm sorry. So of course I freak myself out, and decide to run on the track there instead. I contemplated running on a treadmill, but then realized that even though I still have an ID card, I am not a student, and I can no longer use the gym for free - unless I know who's working, and unfortunately I didn't know the girl.

Since I had done a little run at the park before driving there, I felt no need for a warm-up lap. I stretched myself out and got at it. The track is 4x around per mile and I didn't have anyone with me to count my laps so I decided I would change directions after each mile so that I only had to pay attention until I got to 4 instead of 12 - turns out, best idea. Also - remember earlier in this post when I said that I had ADD and didn't want to run in the same circles, I obviously wasn't thinking clearly again.

The first mile was a piece of cake. I was feeling my music, I was going at a good pace, everything was great. The second mile starts and I get a little tired, feel a cramp coming, wanted to vomit. The third mile, I feel great again. I know I'm almost finished and get excited. That was the first lap, before I realized I still had three left. Laps two and three I was getting angry at myself. Yelling. Asking what was I thinking. And then it was the last lap. I would have loved to have sprinted it with all my excess energy, but I had none, so snail's pace had to do. My favorite song (of the week) came on (Iyaz - Replay, in case you were wondering), I got so excited, even caught myself singing outloud - good thing I was alone.

I finish, but my legs feel like jell-o so I can't stop moving. I just started walking around and shaking them out. It reminded me of when I used to swim, we used to always shake out our limbs after races... pretty weird if you think about it? Anyway, as soon as sensation came back into my legs, I felt my muscles start to tighten. I stretched out really well, but I still felt shaky. My legs were still tight so I started doing high knees, then some butt kicks to try and help... I don't know what got into me, but once I started I had to continue the entire routine from softball practice. I did some defensive slides, a couple grapevines, some frankensteins (no idea what they're really called but that's what we called them), high skips, my favorite groin stretches and even a couple sprints. This probably made things worse, but I couldn't stop myself.

I then got into my car and called my mother immediately to tell her what I had just done. She said that talking about it had made her tired, so I must be exhausted - I was. I got home and looked up to see how fast I had run this in (I pressed stop in the middle of the song as soon as I crossed the "finish" line and had been repeating 1:57 over and over to myself the whole ride home). I added it all up and realized that it took me 33 minutes to complete this. I am pretty sure I could have walked faster. I take it back, I am positive I could walk that faster.

Dear Friends who are running the Turkry Trot with me: I will not be offended when you leave me in your dust.

For my first 3-mile run, I feel accomplished. However, this time is going to need to decrease drastically because the actual race involves 2 ADDTIONAL miles and I just can't picture myself running for an hour straight!

XOXO

-----
STATS

33 Minutes

Miles Ran: 3
Cumulative Miles: 21.32

Days until Race: 10

3 miles!

Just ran three miles. I'm about to collapse. I will post in more detail tomorrow.

XOXO

Walking Weekend

So this past weekend I did not have any scheduled runs - though I admit I have not been up to par on the last several runs, so I should probably add some more "practice" runs to my workout if I am going to make it through my race in 2 weeks, yes TWO WEEKS (I'm kind of freaking out if you couldn't tell).

Anyway, the weather in Rochester has been unseasonably nice (not complaining, but definitely confused by it), and I decided to take advantage. Saturday my friend and I opted to cancel our movie plans and take a walk around High Falls, aka downtown Rochester. Since we stopped to look at THE waterfall - there is only one waterfall in Rochester, which is very strange to see coming from Buffalo where Niagara Falls is just a mere ten minutes away - so I didn't count this in terms of my fitness numbers because I was unsure of how to calculate it.

Sunday, was even nicer than Saturday. Besides my walk downtown the day before, I had been pretty unproductive, so I made myself go for a "run." I quoted run because it was supposed to be a run, but I ended up walking almost all of it. If you are unfamiliar with Rochester, this route is going to mean nothing to you, but if you are familiar with the area, you are going to realize what an idiot I was to think it wasn't that far.

I started at my house close to the Park/Culver intersection and continued up Culver to Monroe. I crossed the street to Cobbs Hill Park and climbed the freaking hill, which always leaves me out of breath (~1 mile). From there I did two loops around the resevoir (0.69 miles x 2), but was totally disapointed to find it had been drained and there was no water inside. I was however exstatic that the leaves have fallen from the trees that the downtown skyline is completely visible. It is so beautiful up there, I do love it, minus the hill to get to the top. I then avoided the hill by climbing down the road and exited onto Highland. I turned left on Highland and continued until Winton Rd (~1 mile). On Winton Rd I turned Right and continued until Monroe Ave (~1 mile). I stopped at my friends house - who lives a few houses in from the Winton/Monroe intersection - for a glass of water and to use the facilities, and then continued back to my house (~2 miles).

Including the break for water/bathroom/part of a football game, it took me two hours. Therefore, I calculated just the walking at 90 minutes. The good news, even if I walk the entire race, I will finish in less than that (especially since it's 0.67 miles shorter). The bad news, my body is TIRED. I can see it now, upon completion of the first race, me laying in bed until race #2.

The numbers in parenthesis have all been rounded up, so the total milage was actually 5.67 miles. I was exhausted when I got back to my house. So much so, that my sister came to visit me and I was in such a dead sleep on my couch that I did not hear my phone ring 8 times, the 3 times the voicemail indicator chimed, or my doorbell. Sorry again about that.

Today I am supposed to run 3-miles. My legs are pretty sore, but I want to at least attempt it. I hope I have a success story for tomorrow.

XOXO

-----
STATS

90 minutes walk

Miles Ran: 5.67
Cumulative Miles: 18.32

Days until Race: NOT ENOUGH - or 13, your choice

Some Advice

Last week I posed the question, How do I make myself run when it's dark and cold? Well I think I found an answer. Thank you to Nicole for her great advice, let's see if it works out?!?

Another lesson...

So every Tuesday, my friend and I make dinner together and catch up on all the Thursday night shows that we always seem to miss. This week was his turn to host, so I decided that I would get my run in on my way to his house. I mapped it out ahead of time and it was almost 2 miles, so that sounded good to me. I got home from work and changed into some gym clothes and then began to leave for my run. It then occurred to me that I would get to his house sweating and disgusting and have nothing to change into. It also occurred to me, that I would need somewhere to store my house keys (normally I just leave them in the mailbox) and I would probably want my cell phone since I had to run down some busy streets to get there.

I decided that I would bring a backpack along for this run so that I could store a towel to shower with when I got there, some non-sweaty clothes to put on and of course my keys and cell phone.

I have a smaller-sized backpack that came with one of those enormous backpacking ones for when you're in Europe and I figured it would be a good fit for what I needed. I filled it up. Strapped it on as tight as it would go. And off I went.

I started with a warm-up walk because I like to do that anyway, and because I had to cross the 490-overpass and it freaks me out, and when I made it across I started my run. I made it about 5-feet when I realized that running with a backpack was by far the stupidest thing I've done - when running. It was so annoying bouncing around even though I pulled the straps and even buckled the buckle around my waist. It didn't matter. It was terrible.

However, I made the best playlist for this "run" - I put quotes around that because it was a little half-assed since the backpack was causing so many issues - so I was able to at least sing along and bob my head to the beat. I also put really upbeat songs on it, so even when I was walking I was doing it at the pace of the music and really booking it.

Not my most successful run, but I did make it to his house, where I was able to shower and smell good before dinner. Also, even though it was pitch black out, running down a busy street where there were multiple other runners out and about - probably wondering why I was running with a backpack on - was not as scary as my last night time experience.

XOXO

-----
STATS

19 Minutes: 90-second run, 1-minute walk, 4-minute run, 3-minute walk REPEAT

Miles Ran: 1.8
Cumulative Miles: 12.65

Days until Race: 17

Lessons Learned

Don't run on Monroe Ave.
Don't run at night.
And most importantly, don't run on Monroe Ave at night.

I decided to switch my route up a bit and run down some different streets. Last night, I chose to run on Monroe Ave, which can be really nice in places, and can be really ghetto in others. I chose to run in the ghetto area... well I shouldn't say that, it was more of where it makes its switch to becoming ghetto so it's like half and half. Anyway, creepers were out at every corner and bus stop and instead of giving them the benefit of the doubt, I freaked myself out.

It actually wasn't SO bad, but once I started thinking crazy things in my head - particularly after I saw the boy dressed in full camo wearing a ninja headband - the thoughts started flowing. Then I started laughing, and the man walking his dog passing by me probably thought I was a crazy that escaped from the asylum, I mean why else would some girl running down the street burst into a fit of giggles for no particular reason? The laughing however, was because I thought about how freaked out I was by a few hoodlums hanging out on the corner, when in actuality, I had a better shot of slipping on the wet leaves I was running on than being abducted by them.

The mere fact that I really thought I was going to be abducted is enough to laugh, but then when I started thinking about all the ways I could hurt myself running is where I really lost it...

I am pretty clumsy sometimes, and tripping on my own feet happens more often than I would like to admit, add some bumps in the sidewalk and that could be a pretty funny faceplant.

I also fear animals of all kinds (as mentioned in earlier posts, please keep your dogs away from me) so being attacked by one naturally comes to mind.

I run past many bushes that I fear I may trip and fall into - because that happens on a regular basis?

I do live in the city, where there are cars, maybe someone will drive up on the sidewalk and run me over? The accident has to take place on the sidewalk because I am too scared to run in the street. No, really.

See, there are so many (funny) things that are more likely to happen than being abducted by someone waiting at the bus stop. However, I don't think I am going to risk it and run down Monroe Ave in the dark again... at least not anytime soon.

XOXO

-----
STATS

25 Minutes: Run 90-seconds, Walk slowly 2-minutes

Miles Ran: 1.7
Cumulative Miles: 10.85

Days until Race: 22

Woo for Two Miles

On my latest run, in which I was ready to collapse at interval 2, I broke a milestone... 2 miles! And, it wasn't just two miles, but 2.18 miles. Go Me!

I am very excited about the end result, but since I don't map my runs until I return from them I was instead miserable during these 25 minutes. I have been sick for sometime now, without an ending in sight. It happens every year, it starts with my allergies - that I do not take care of - this causes excess mucous to build up and cause a sinus infection and usually results in an ear infection (luckily I did not have one of those this time around). I usually see it coming for a few days, followed by a few really bad coughing/nose running days, and then I wake up perfectly fine. This time, not so much. I don't feel sick, but that excess of mucous loves staying in my head. Depending on the day, I am stuffed, blowing my nose, or choking on what my nose drains down the back of my throat. Gross, I know. Sorry. Anyway, this creates a problem when I am trying to run and my nose is stuffed so I have to breathe through my mouth, and this is when my nose decides to drain into my mouth and I cough and choke my way through multiple intervals of my run... or my nose is stuffed and I have to breathe through my mouth and it gets dry so I have to close it for a second, and my body acts like I have completely stopped breathing and am dying at any second... then I re-open my mouth to wheezing and coughing as if I had been suffocated. It's interesting I tell you. I wish you could all witness it, and then I would die of embarrassment so please don't ask to run with me.

Oh and I also did a quick check over my running calendar/training schedule and saw that this week marked 25 minute runs. So of course I continue to do 1-minute run, 1-minute walk instead of the recommended 90-second run, 2-minute walk. Silly girl, I might not have been so winded had I followed directions.

XOXO

-----
STATS

25 Minutes: Run 90-seconds, Walk slowly 2-minutes

Miles Ran: 2.18
Cumulative Miles: 9.15

Days until Race: 24

Help!

I need some advice... Currently in Rochester, NY the sun has been setting at around 6pm, the same time I am usually leaving work. However, daylight savings doesn't start until this weekend, so the sun isn't rising until around 7:30am. This creates a problem because I do NOT like running in the dark. If I wait until the sun rises, I will be late for work, but when I get home from work, it's already dark.

What do I do?!?

Finally, A New Update

Don't think that by not updating this blog for a few days, I haven't been very active, because I promise I have been.

Let's start back on Friday when I realized that there is a serious and notable difference in my performance when I am not very well hydrated. I have been trying very hard to drink eight glasses of water in a day, but I'll be the first to admit, I don't hit that goal as much as I would like. I have been averaging about six glasses a day, not including water-based drinks. Well, on Friday I ran into my old nemesis, Diet Pop, and so instead of my usual afternoon snack of water (because I try and drink all my water while at work since I know I am lazy at home and will not get up to refill my glass every time it is empty), I drank a serious amount of artificial sweetners. That being said, when I went for my run after work, I noticed a BIG difference. I felt fatigued and a little light-headed and that I wasn't able to concentrate on the music more than the actual running as I had been able to do in the past. I also started to cramp a little, which is never fun. I also ran after it had poured all day and the ground was pretty wet and slippery, especially since all the trees are losing their leaves, and the leaves are covering the sidewalks along my entire route. Of course I have to slip on some leaves and roll my ankle... which hurt a lot upon rolling it and was a little sore on Saturday, but is better now. I assume that it would have hurt less on Saturday if I had stopped running after hurting it, but I turned and ran home instead. I ended up cutting my run short by about 5 minutes because of this injury so I did yoga when I got back.

This was my second attempt at the yoga video, and in terms of knowing how to do the required moves, it was a better experience. In terms of muscle pain, this was a worse experience. Since yoga is a great way to stretch out your muscles, I thought it was a perfect after-run activity... except the yoga video I have is geared toward your abs, and in order to work your abs, there are a lot of leg movements involved. I didn't realize how much your legs are used in this video until they were shaking worse than my abs. I made it through the video, and then laid dead on the floor for a few minutes in a pool of sweat. I ran with a suit of spandex on under my shorts and t-shirt since it was cold out, and never took it off when doing the video. I am a wuss and have had my heat on for several weeks now and with a temperature of 68 degrees aka I did not need all that clothing on.

I didn't get much sleep Friday night, so Saturday was kind of a wasted day. It was surprisingly nice out, so I did go for a short walk - to Subway for lunch, but at least it was a walk. The rest of the day was spent mainly on a couch.

Sunday was another story though. My sister and I convinced my dad that he wanted to go apple/pumpkin picking and we drove out to a farm near our house. We spent about two hours outdoors frolicking through the apple orchard and pumpkin patch. We also thought it was a good idea to stuff our bags as full of apples as possible, and pick the biggest pumpkins we could carry with one hand - since our other hand was carrying apples. This was only a good idea, until we had to hike back to our car, which was not as close as we had originally thought.

My sister and I had to take a break from carrying our things, while we waited for our hayride back from the pumpkin patch:

So that is my fitness update for the weekend. I have a scheduled run after work today, so I will blog more tomorrow.

XOXO

-----
STATS

20 Minutes: Run 1-minute, Walk slowly 90-seconds
Miles Ran: 1.18
Cumulative Miles: 6.97

Yoga video - 30 minutes
Apple/Pumpkin picking - 120 minutes
Total fitness minutes: 165

Days until Race: 26

Success

When I played softball, we used to have one day off a week, and the day after our day of rest, I always felt out of shape and like I was unable to move as well. So I was worried that by taking off three days, I would get that feeling back. My friend Allison, who played softball with me, and is currently training for a marathon, told me that comparing practice to a run is not the same. I admit, I had my doubts, but she was right. When I went for my run yesterday, I felt completely fine, if anything I felt better than I did last week. My muscles were no longer sore and I was actually able to sprint the last two intervals. This may also have been attributable to the fact that it is getting darker sooner now, and when I started my run at 6:30 it was still light, but the longer I ran the darker it got SLASH it definitely was the reason because I'm a huge wuss and hate the dark.

There were quite a few more people out running yesterday than I saw last week, but luckily I saw no dogs. I did however run past an all white cat with red eyes... that was a little spooky, but I lived to tell about it, so I guess we're all good.

In short, after my three day hiatus, I finally got myself moving again!

----
STATS
Day of Training: 3 (should be 4)/18
20 Minutes: Run 1-minute, Walk slowly 90-seconds

Miles Ran: 1.95
Cumulative Miles: 5.79

Days until Race: 34

Slacker Part II

I did not run once this weekend even though I promised myself I would Saturday morning... and when I didn't, I promised I would after watching the Bills game... and then I said I would get up and run before work this morning... and now I am promising to run after work today. Since I am posting about it, I feel I have a much better chance of actually doing it.

Kate - I know you will appreciate a motivating quote, so here is a good one I found: There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results. Kenneth Blanchard. So far I only appear to be interested in running, but hopefully I will become committed after this week? month? soon?

XOXO

Slacker

I did not run this morning :(

Training Schedule

Many of you have asked where I got this training schedule from, so here is the link... http://run5miles.com/. There are three separate training programs based on how far you can currently run. They suggest you do the "intial test" to see how far you can run without stopping to determine your group number, but I knew I was meant for group 1 without doing so.

Happy Running!

MotionTraxx

Also, if you checked out MotionTraxx like I suggested and you liked it, vote for them for the People's Choice Podcast Awards. I copied the email below with all the details.

XOXO

----
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hey Motion Traxx fans,

Hope you're staying in 'motion' and that Motion Traxx is making your runs and workouts fun and effective. More great episodes are on the way.

I would like to personally request your support with helping us win this year's People's Choice Podcast Awards.

First, we have to make it through the Nomination Phase. Nominations will close very soon (this Sunday!), so please take a minute to nominate us today, and please spread the word. We would appreciate it GREATLY.

Here's what to do:
1. Visit this link: http://www.podcastawards.com

2. Scroll down until you see the form.
IMPORTANT: please nominate us ONLY for the two categories below:

3. At the TOP LEFT of the form, nominate Motion Traxx under the "PEOPLE'S CHOICE" category (podcast name: Motion Traxx, podcast url: www.motiontraxx.com)

4. At the MIDDLE RIGHT of the form, nominate Motion Traxx under the "HEALTH / FITNESS" category

5. At the BOTTOM LEFT, fill out your details, check 'Listener' and click on the SUBMIT button

Once you're done, please FORWARD this email to a friends and ask them to nominate us too.

That's It! Thanks again so much!
~ Deekron 'The Fitness DJ'

23 and Fabolous

Yes, I know that is not how you spell fabulous, but every time I try and spell it, I just think of the song "Young'n" where Fabolous (the singer) spells out his name F-A-B-O-L-O-U-S. And then I think about how stupit (spelled wrong on purpose because my sister hate's how I pronounce it like this) I was when the song came out in 2001 and really believed that was how fabulous was spelled. And today I feel fabulous/fabolous because it's my birthday!!!!!

Anyway, I went for run day-2 yesterday, and since day-1 ended about a block from my house I didn't feel I had an adequate cool down. Therefore I added an extra set of blocks into the run thinking it would give me a little longer of a cool down. I calculated it on http://www.mapmyrun.com/ and found that it only added about 0.06miles to my last run, which I thought would be perfect. I was wrong.

If you recall, when I ran the first time, I sprinted my first few intervals. Well this time, I was much better at pacing myself and therefore should have stuck to the same route, because I finished my run about eight blocks from home. Now I can't complain because that was an extra walk and the more serious cool down I was looking for, but it was also FREEZING in Rochester, NY yesterday where the high was 40 degrees!!!!! So by the time I got back home I had already cooled down my body and was shivering.

On a positive note, pacing myself really paid off, because I felt so much better after this run. I even felt like I had more in me and could have gone longer... of course I didn't because, but the thought was there. I also am WAY less sore today than I was after day-1, but in a good way, not a I slacked off and didn't really try way.

I also posted previously about controlling your dogs. Well, I need to add children to that list, and the fact that small children that look to be three feet tall should not be allowed to walk the family dog. With that said, I will explain why...

As I was running down Barrington, hoping I didn't bump into the woman I babysit for (she's a talker) I see two little kids playing with their dog. As I come running toward them they come running toward me. I smile and pass by them and continue on my way. When I run, I am not one of those whose iPod can be heard down the street. I keep it low enough that I can still hear if a car is coming at me and more importantly, that I won't burst into song mid-run. Only a few houses past the little kids, and I hear hysterical laughter. I turn around to see the dog chasing me and the two children chasing the dog down the street. My minute run was ending so I came to a stop to begin walking. It was then, that the children were able to catch up to their dog and regain control, and I was able to walk-on alone.

As stated previously, today is my birthday and I am still young and plan on having a few drinks tonight. With that said, tomorrow morning's run might not be the prettiest. Stay tuned for that update (which may not come until Monday because I am too cheap to pay for internet and have to steal the neighbors).

XOXO

----
STATS
Day of Training: 2/18
20 Minutes: Run slowly 1-minute, Walk slowly 90-seconds

Miles Ran: 1.95
Cumulative Miles: 3.84

Days until Race: 38

Sore Muscles

So since I lied to myself and didn't run on Monday when I was supposed to, my muscles were very sore yesterday. My last post discussed how just my quads hated me (I think? if not, I meant ot write it), but by the end of the day, many other muscles did too. I didn't want to risk pulling anything on day-2 and since the original workout called for a day of rest anyway, I figured it couldn't hurt to try something else instead.

Moral of that story: I did not run yesterday.

Instead, I decided to pull out this DVD I bought years ago and had yet to view. The DVD is a yoga workout focused on abs. I figured this was an okay thing to do since my abs could use some work and since yoga is a great way to stretch your bod.

The video started with some breathing excercises, but don't get fooled like I did because after the first three minutes I was in a full sweat. This man had me rolling around the floor bending, unbending, inhaling, exhaling, standing, sitting. I didn't know what was going on, and just as my abs were reaching their breaking point (because they have not been involved in physical activity in forev), we went back to breathing excercises, and then it ended. I was shocked actually, because that half hour completely flew by.

For my first yoga experience, I admit, it was pretty interesting. Afterwards I didn't feel winded at all, but very calm and relaxed. It was a nice feeling, except I normally like that winded feeling because I know I exerted myself. This morning, however, I could barely sit up. My abs are so tight, I can feel that six pack forming already, and my legs are no less sore than yesterday. If anything, I think they hurt worse.

None the less, I promise to go for a little jog after work today so that I have something interesting to discuss tomorrow.

XOXO

----
STATS

Yoga video - 30 minutes

Days until Race: 39

Liar Liar Pants On Fire

Okay so I know you expected a post yesterday morning about how my run went on Monday, but you didn't get one because I didn't actually run on Monday.

I know I know day-1 and I am already a slacker, but I had good reason. I had some grocery shopping to do after work because my friends ate me out of house and home this weekend (and I barely had food to start with before they got there)... and it doesn't help that I usually get out late on Monday's anyway, so by the time I got home it was after seven and dark and I am a female and didn't want to be out running at night alone AKA I was looking for any excuse to not go. I told myself I would wake up early on Tuesday and run before work so that I could still post something for you to read and hide from you the fact that I was slacking already, but that obviously didn't work out.

SO I eventually did the run, but it wasn't until after work on Tuesday. The workout was 90second walk followed by a 1minute run for 20 minutes. I wish I paid closer attention to the training schedule I printed out because I had my music set for 1minute intervals and I could definitely have used that extra 30seconds on each walk.

Speaking of the music, my friend turned me on to this website. It's motiontraxx.com and they have all these premade mixes you can download for your workouts. I downloaded the 20minute ciruit one and put it on my iPod. Technically it is not for a running workout (as you will notice if you listen because you are told to do jumping jacks and squat thrusts instead of walk and run), but I pretended that it was because the music did change every minute. Deekron the fitness DJ comes on and talks to you during it and it's pretty motivating, I am definitly interested in testing out some more of their music... and maybe on a non-run day I will attempt the jumping jacks and squat thrusts. Maybe being the operative word.

I guess you want to hear about the actual run/walk... well I started with some stretches because I love to stretch even when not doing physical activity and I got real loose and went outside (and it was FREEZING) and I started off with a warm-up walk and in my head I was telling myself "maybe your first race should be in summer where there is sun" but I didn't let that stop me. So Deekron the fitness DJ comes on my pod and he tells me were about to do jumping jacks and I get read to run and the bell rings and I take off... I mean really take off. I felt great sprinting down the street. My muscles felt good. My body warmed up. I started saying things like "why didn't you do this sooner" and "this is easier than I thought it was going to be" all positive, motivating things.

This happens for about 3 sets of the run/walk and then it starts to hit me. I am out of shape and should never have sprinted the first few sets, especially when the training schedule said "walk slowly 90 seconds" "run slowly 1minute" and here I was sprinting a minute, walking a minute. I really need to start reading directions!!!

There are also quite a few dogs that like to be walked at 6:30pm when I am trying to run, and if there's one thing I hate more than running, it's animals. I mean if you have a pet that is fine, just don't let it slobber or shed on me and we can still hang out... and by all means do not let it try and run after me down the street. Please control your dogs!

Half-way through this I started to say motivating things again because then I could count down the number of intervals left (even though Deekron the fitness DJ was counting up in my ears). I remember doing this many times during softball practice, especially during our dreaded first day of practice and the timed mile. That lasted the whole half-way mark, then I went back to saying obsene things in my head and my shoe came untied so I wasted part of my walking that I was enjoying so much with shoe-tying because knowing me I would have faceplanted otherwise. Note to self, double knot.

I wasn't really sure how far I would get in 20 minutes, especially since walking was involved so I just started running down this one street, got to the end, turned around and came back... and go figure it was perfect timing. The running portion finished three blocks from home so then I had a little cool down before I got back to my apartment to stretch. I live on the second floor, and walking up the stairs was a little painful, I got nervous I wouldn't be able to get out of bed this morning, but I must have stretched everything out pretty well because all but my quads are okay... however, sore muscles make me feel like I did something great so I'll take it. All in all it was a success. I completed the entire 20 minutes and using another website that I love (mapmyrun.com) I discovered that my route was 1.89 miles. Not too shabby... only 3.06 miles to go until I get to 4.97 (8k).

I plan on keeping Day-2 today, so I will have another post for you tomorrow.

XOXO

----
STATS

Day of Training: 1/18
20 Minutes: Run slowly 1-minute, Walk slowly 90-seconds

Miles Ran: 1.89
Cumulative Miles: 1.89

Days until Race: 40

See ya later couch potater

I spend eight hours (sometimes more) a day working a sedentary job, in front of a computer, not walking more than a few times a day, the ten feet it takes to get to the bathroom. I then leave work after 6:00pm only to find myself ready for dinner and a night of tv on the couch.

At my ripe old age of 22 (23 on Friday!!), I don't find this behavior to be very healthy... especially since I was an athlete for seventeen years and am used to a schedule of workouts. Since graduating from college in May 2008, thus ending my athletic career, I have found that I no longer have motivation to go to the gym. I have also found, that my only motivation was the fact that my coaches and captains required these workouts and that I never really had much motivation to workout at all. I know this because I can count on one hand the number of times I have entered a gym since my last softball game of college - which was 16 months ago, not that I'm counting.

In an attempt to change my mindset about this whole "I hate working out" thing, I decided to run a race that my friends run every year. The race is the Turkey Trot sponsored by the YMCA in Buffalo, NY. It is held every year on Thanksgiving morning - hence the name - and is an 8k race. Though I thought it was a 5k when I agreed to run it :(

Since the race costs money, I know that by paying it I will force myself to show up to the event. However, the hope is that I actually run the entire event. There are some obstacles in the way - namely that the night before Thanksgiving is the biggest drinking night of the year - but I have no doubts (okay maybe a few) that I can complete this. I find the whole running an 8k hungover pretty comical, so I decided to participate in Rochester's version of this race the Sunday before. I have promised myself that I will not drink before this event, and then compare times and see how alcohol hinders my ability to run an 8k. I found a training schedule online that tells me all I need is six weeks to learn to run five miles, so if it works I will share it, and if not I will probably share it as well, but with more hateful words. I plan on recording my thoughts of each workout after I complete each workout. I am a complainer by nature so I warn you the first few might be filled with yelling and screaming and why did I do this to myself type responses, but hopefully by the end I learn to love to run (ha) and will continue to want to run even after the races are complete and the snow season in Rochester is in full force (a girl can dream right).

Lou Holtz said "no one has ever drowned in sweat" - let's just hope he researched this statement before getting my hopes up.

Day-1 of training is TODAY. Expect a post later tonight/tomorrow morning of how it goes!

Happy Reading!

XOXO