Random Tuesday Thoughts

What a piece of shit run this was this morning. I wish it took me a mile or so to figure out the run is going to suck…but I’m a lucky gal…I know about 2 steps out the door what’s waiting for me. Skip says he can always tell because I hit the snooze on my cellphone…I’m going to have to pay attention to that and see if he’s right.



I’m finding it hard to dial back the mileage. It just feels wrong and strange not to run for at least an hour or at least 6 miles. Did I just get so used to it that I shouldn’t try? I know I need to recover and rest before embarking on this marathon journey…..but is this just my new norm?


Tomorrow I’m starting with my quest to get CRAZY strong. Jari Love has 3 new DVD’s out and I told Skip tonight that I want them for my birthday….that will give me 8 of her wicked weight workouts to keep me busy this summer. I hate this little broad…and I don’t particularly love strength training…but I know I have to do it. I’m hoping that putting those 3 new workouts into the rotation will bump me….or something. And hopefully it will make it easier to NOT run as much. 




Things I learned today.


-It costs over 100 dollars to replace all the trim on a garage after your wife throws a hissy fit and tears it all off.


-Running into the wind on a crappy run only makes it worse and you can’t fix it by trying a ‘pretty new road.’


-When the lady who heads the ER asks you if you ‘did’ her cousin..tell her no..no matter how funny it is when you raise an eyebrow and tell her ‘probably’. *she was referring to his work physical*


-Young men these days think it is perfectly acceptable to tell you they ‘have to piss’.






And that’s my ADD post for a Tuesday evening. Hope everyone has a great week!

American Cancer Society 5K

I am so full of gush and love and pride that I just want to burst!!! Today was my Sunday girl’s first race and they did incredible!! And Vincent….Vincent…my boy who can drive me out of my mind at all times except when we’re running….I take my hat off to that boy…and love him to pieces.



So I’m actually going to do a recap…but not really about me….but…today wasn’t about me. I woke V up around 8:30 since I wanted to head over there around 9 and get him plenty warm before the race. I told Dom I wanted him to stay with Julie and be motivational…and that’s exactly what he did.


So we get there….find my co-workers...they did a great job too btw….and Dr. F…who made his first appearance at this race that the rest of us have run 3 times…lol. It was freezing…poured the whole way over there but didn’t drop a drip through the entire race. I found my girls and they were looking and feeling really good. I didn’t have much time to spend with them but they knew what they were doing….and I needed to concentrate on V. So I pinned his bib on him..and mine on me…numbers 50 and 51…and we started to warm up. Just some light running but he has a habit of cramping so I wanted to try to minimize that as much as possible. It was a good size field…I think the runners’ numbers were up over 250 this year. We headed over to the start line and I told him to get up front….no make up time…there were some serious looking dudes there this year…and I was a bit worried. I gave him a hug and told him to try to hit the ball diamond….around the 2 mile mark….in 12 minutes…then he’d cinch his time. I only saw him once after that….holding steady at 3rd and wearing a look of TOTAL determination.


After that I was on my own….I went out too fast….5K is just NOT my distance…or not enough distance? I didn’t PR and the whole race I just kept thinking about V. I knew by around mile 2 that I wasn’t going to PR..just didn’t have it today…or any other for that matter..HA!...and I just wanted to see my boy…and then go back and finish with my girls. My official clock time was 28:54…..I wanted to go under 28.


So I finish…see my family including my dad parked in his dirty plastic lawn chair by the finish line…blew him a kiss and found V. He finished 3rd overall…took his age group….and PR’d for this race at 21 minutes. He didn’t sub 20…not sure what happened when he did it in under 17 minutes a week or so ago…but he was happy. It was a crappy windy course as usual. But the dude who DID win it only took V by 40 seconds or so. I wanted to die I was so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!


After I got my breath back…V and I jogged back until we found the girls and Dom. They were pooped but holding on. We finished with them…Dom sprinted at the end and puked!!! That was almost the best part I think. That’s the farthest he’s ever run and I was beaming at the awesomeness of my children and friends! My mom wasn’t terribly far behind and we went back for her too. She sprinted it in with V and that was that. The girls finished in 46 minutes or so…which is 10 minutes faster then they’ve ever ran it. Couch 2 5K success!!!


And the track coach from one of the Kenosha high schools*who Vincent beat* came up to V after the race wanting to know how old he was and where he was going to highschool….how freaking funny.


Here’s the photo proof…please excuse the 2005 date on the pics…if that was the case I would have still been pregnant with lil T.

*before*Traci, Amy, Julie, and me.

V and Dom *before*

V

Getting ready to finish.

Dom post puking...running it in.

Amy, Traci, me and Jules...all done...these broads rock my world!

V waiting for his trophy.

There it is folks...his first ...age group 13-19.  Third overall.

Changing Seasons

So I’ve been planning…it’s one of my specialties you see….along with worrying, eating, not sleeping…whatnot. But here’s the loose one.



Summer-


Get CRAZY strong. Really concentrate on my weight training so my body can withstand the stress of marathon training. I don’t want to just finish and die….I want to finish strong..and be able to walk the next day. I don’t want my training to be a painful nightmare…not pleasant…but not horrible either. I want to finish in under 5 hours…and I will. I’ll keep my mileage around 30 per week…give or take…but I’m not going to stress about it....but I will up my weight training to no less then 2 days a week for an hour a day....more along the lines of 3 days a week.   Not going to try to up my mileage…just keep it steady.


I don’t have much on the race front this summer. After the 5K this weekend I only have 2 other races planned. Lighthouse which is a WONDERFUL race for anyone that’s interested *Katie that means you*. There’s a 10 mile and a 4 mile. The girls I’ve been working with on Sunday are on board for the 4 mile…I’ll do the 10. Check out the website *here*. And I also have a 10K planned…the Firecracker in Kenosha. I have my reasons for doing this one…but one of them is that I want to run in Kenosha before the marathon.


Take the family on a roadtrip that is NOT ‘skip finding a new job’ related.


Work on this Godforsaken house that I hate so very much. If I’m going to be stuck in it…maybe I can make it more tolerable? It needs to be painted again. The kids and I put in 13 bags of mulch around the bushes in the front the other day. Today lil T and I are going to start scraping the trim on the garage…I already bought the paint. I want to pull out all the landscape rock in the back and do something.


Fall-


Enjoy it…revel in the beauty of running during this season. Watch V play his first season of football. Watch my baby start kindergarten. Watch Dom do whatever it is that Dom wants to do. Continue with getting CRAZY strong if I’m not by then…HA!


Quit smoking….now there’s a dirty little secret that only 1 of you knew about me. I don’t smoke tons…but I do smoke..and need to leave it alone for good by the time I start my marathon training. I quit when I had surgery…for awhile. But little by little got back into it. I know my running would be 100 times easier on me….and maybe putting it here will keep me to it.


Winter-


Start my training the mid to the end of January. I found a plan that I think I can live with…..and with a small amount of tweeking I think it will be perfect. January and February are generally the worst months around here so my real work won’t start till it’s sorta warming up again. I will still be off Thursdays next year so I’m toying with the idea of making that my long run day. That will free up my weekends and keep the running impact on my family minimal. Plus lil T will be in kindergarten…so I won’t have to worry about her those days.


Anyways….those are my thoughts for the day. Hope everyone enjoys the last day of sun for a bit. This will be my 3rd time running this 5K this weekend…and this is the 3rd year in a row that the weather has been awful…what’s up with that?

Puking and the Marathon Plan

Does running my son in circles till he pukes make me a bad mom? Probably…but worse was the fact that I got such a darn kick out of it. We dropped Dom off at ping pong club and headed with lil T over to the track. After more reading I’ve come to the conclusion that he should be running shorter intervals because his race is only a 5K…so tonight..instead of the 800’s….he did 400’s…and did 8 of them…with 200 meter recoveries in between. The puking came after the 6th one….and he felt much better for it. He was fairly consistent with running those 400 meters in around 1 minute 30 seconds. Not bad for his 2nd speed session. Never once wanted to stop...doesn't even occur to him.  I’m so proud of him….I’m half tempted to just ditch this 5K for myself just so I can see him finish. I would if this wasn’t the first race that either of us had ever run…so it’s special for me too….and honestly…the tension of watching him would make me come out of my skin…so I won’t…but that’s the first thing I want to know when I’m done.



I ran my own intervals this morning…well…Brian and I did. Five 800 meter intervals at around 4 minutes each. I think these suck worse then the 1600 meters….ugg…I hate Thursday s.


I also did a lot of thinking this morning…since lil T didn’t make her morning appearance till almost 10 AM. *This* post got me thinking again….thoughts I’d pushed down while training for the half. I want to do a full marathon….and I’ve been talking myself out of it due to time restraints. But I spent the morning pouring over different plans and it’s doable. Not this year…but next for sure. Kenosha has a full in the beginning of May….and that’s my pick. There are several things that factor in to that choice. One is that it’s close…no traveling required. I grew up there…feel comfortable there. And lets be honest…I pushed off the half until they put one in my backyard. Two is that I found a couple plans that will work and not take too much time away from the family. Three is that it will keep me training through next winter and that worked very well for me this year. And four….and this one is kind of morbid…goes along with bumping up the timing of doing this. I had said for awhile that it would be several years before I did a full. At least until lil T was in school and I had more time. But….and here’s the morbid part….I want my Dad to see me finish…and he’s not a real healthy guy…lots of health problems…and he’s 75 now. He’s proud of me no matter what I do..even when I’d given him nothing to be proud of…but I want him to have THOSE bragging rights…I want him to see me cross a finish line leaving a trail of blood ,sweat and tears that’s 26.2 miles long…and know I did it…not just for me…but for him.


So there it is folks….there’s no holding me to it….I’m good at holding myself.

V or Pre?

So I told V to take out my Garmin and run at least 3 miles and do them at 7 minute miles or less. I got home from work around 5 and he brings me the Garmin I plug it into the computer…and it reads.



Overall


Time: 00:19:47


Distance: 3.69 mi


Elevation Gain: 28 ft


Calories: 432 C

Average pace of 5:22 minutes per mile.


Ummm....ok.  I guess he can run a sub 20 minute 5K if he can run a sub 20 minute 3.69 mile.    Holy crap!  The guy who WON the 5K race at the half marathon I ran this weekend ran it in 20:05....Vincent went half a mile farther and still beat that dudes time.  I don't even know what to say...except what could this kid do if he had an actual coach?  He's run a handfull of times since last fall....did his FIRST speedwork session a couple days ago.  I was actually worried when I saw this...went and asked him if he felt alright.  Crazy crazy crazy.

I'm still dumbfounded and need to go to bed.

Oh...and Brian and I had a decent tempo run this morning to the tune of 4 miles and I broke 10 minute miles....doesn't sound very impressive now...LMAO!!!  I'm so proud of that boy.  We're heading over to the track Thurs. night. 

V's 5K Goal...and the Oval

So V has decided he’s going to go sub 20 minutes in this next race we’re doing. It was his first race two years ago….mine too. His best 5K to date was 22 minutes 24 seconds…and that was last summer. He ran cross country this fall and clocked some decent times on the 2.5 mile. So I told him that I’d get him there…or at least try and tweek out a program that would get him close. He can do the 3.1 miles already…he can hang with me for 5 or so miles before starting to complain and I had him out on a couple tempo runs the last few weeks. Today I introduced him to the oval….and 800 meter intervals. Using the McMillan Running Calculator and entered his desired time to run the 5K…and took him to the track this morning before going to meet up with the girls. We were able to find an open one at the nearby college with no one on it…and in we went. He needs to clock around 6.4 minute miles to do what he wants….so I jogged once around that track with him….and then we set the stopwatch…and I put my Garmin on him…man did he like that thing.


Anyways….he needs to be doing those 800 meters at around 3.2 minutes….preferably less…but that’s a good start. Today….first day on the track and first time sprinting…he was doing them at 3.15…and that was the 3rd one…LMAO….I don’t even remember what he did the first 2 repeats in. He has so much natural ability and is so beautiful to watch. I think he’ll hit his goal time. He’ll do a tempo run with me on Tuesday and I’ll take him to the track again Thursday evening. With only two weeks till the 5K there’s not much time….but I think he can get there. I feel bad…I should have been working with him more…but there just wasn’t time while preparing for my half…


So after his track workout…we headed to Lake Andrea to meet up with the girls. Just Traci and Amy today…and Amy’s little girl..who hung in there for 1.5 miles I might add. Two weeks ago we were running 4 minutes and walking 1…..but since I was in the mood to exhaust people today….I threw down 9 minutes running and 1 minute walking. They were a little taken aback…but game. They’ve both been running several other days during the week….and with the race only 2 weeks out…I figured it was about time to up the ante….again…I should have been working them harder…but just didn’t. But you know what? The hung on…did their 9’s and 1’s with NO complaints….rocked em out like we’ve been doing them all along. Makes me think I should have done this weeks ago…LOL. At the 1.5 mile mark Amy’s little one was kind of hanging back so I slapped my Garmin on V and told him to pace them the rest of the way…sticking to the 9’s and 1’s to the finish…and I stayed with her and walked it. Made me so proud to see him take off with these two grown amazing women and finish the run with them after he was ready to drop on the track…that’s my boy…through and through.


Beautiful Sunday…and on to the next. New PR for my 5K…..if V can get one…can’t I? Have a great week everyone!

Mt. Pleasant Half...DONE!

So I’m not one of those runners that will give you a mile by mile play by play….to be honest…I’m really not paying attention. So what I will say is that it was good. I finished strong and beat my goal time by 14 minutes…..BAM! 2 hours 16 minutes 51 seconds...I think.  And here’s some pics.

Leaving the house.

Getting ready to start.

I think around mile 5?

Bitchin into the wind.

So happy to be done....with V...proud of me for a change :)

To hell with the bannana...where's my pizza?

Tinky found some Canadian Geese Eggs.

And finally...my photographer...my love.

Edited to add...we're not moving to the Quad Cities...THANK GOD!  And a HUGE congratulations to Katie on finishing her first Half in AWESOME TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So proud of you girl!!!

Ready

So tomorrow it is…hell or high water…I’ll be there.



I took the kids and went to the *expo* over at the packet pickup place. I use the term expo lightly because….can you really count like 1 booth with some flyers as an expo? So my bib number is 100 which I think is a good sign as that’s how much weight I’ve lost. 2.5 years ago I never could have dreamed of doing this…never would have dreamed of putting myself out there for the world to see and sweat, puke, crawl , drag myself to a finish line. Also picked up my tech shirt and was told I’m supposed to wear it tomorrow during the race….oh really? I will only put that ugly thing on if they hold me down and force me….good luck with that folks…it’ll be like trying to put panties on a wildcat.


So I’m ready…as ready as I’m getting. I sewed a keychain inside the waistband of my shorts so I have something to hook my little bag that holds my racegels, extra battery and mp3. Not sure how that’s going to workout but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. I have to lace that chiptime thingy into my shoes…maybe I’ll make Skip do that when he gets home. My Garmin is charged…all I need is some sleep.


So the plan is to wake up around 6 AM, eat something, shower and get dressed. I plan to walk to the start line…which is under a mile from my house..that way my muscles will be sort of warm by the time I get there. I’m curious to see how this differs from my last race…which was 10 months ago….man that sounds like a long time. As long as I finish under 2 hours 30 minutes I’ll be happy…beyond that..I don’t know. I feel calm..rested. I haven’t run in two days and tapered as I saw fit.


So tonight I read and roll over….tomorrow…I run.


Sending out excellent wellness vibes to the shores of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee….good luck Katie…here’s to dragging our stupid sick asses to the start line in the AM…see ya on the flipside.

Road ID and my Last Long Run

So I headed out this morning to complete my last long run before my half. I ran down to the Root River and knocked out 10 miles. An interesting thing…was that for the first time ever….I saw not one…not two…but 14 other runners this morning…*yes I counted them*. I have ‘heard’ that there is a Racine Running club that meets Saturday mornings and I’m thinking this HAD to be them. A nice group…not one of them didn’t smile and say ‘hey’ to me….the lone little runner chic with my new hand held Nathans water bottle….which rocked btw and held not only my cellphone in it’s little pouchy thingy….but an energy gel as well. 



Anyways…I’ve also been thinking about getting a RoadID. I know I should already have one…what with the mileage I put in and the fact that I’m usually running alone without ANY i.d…..but I know a lot of things I should do and just haven’t yet. I actually went to their site tonight and built one…but ended up not buying it because I was thinking by this time next week…we ‘should’ know if Skip got that job and we’ll have decided if we’re moving….so the ICE (in case of emergency) number will have to change….so I held off.


On that note…here’s a few pics of my darling brood from our trip….for your viewing pleasure.

My Biggest Fan

Why I run...or..what I run from?

Davenport, IA and their running store

The Mississippi

The John Deere Museum..oh yes...I went there...much cooler then it sounds.

Little beast....kept us all up the first night.  3 AM and asking if it was time to go swimming.

And she finally konks out...2 minutes from home.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!