Go Long

Remember when long runs were 10-14 miles? Or 16? Or... 20?! This week's long run was 5.

Five.

5.

But it was a true "long run" in that my brain turned off. The miles clicked by, but I wasn't counting them. On long runs the pace doesn't really matter as long as you're somewhat consistent. It was nice to have enough time to remember that how I feel for the first mile has nothing to do with how the entire run is going to go. The first mile took me 11 minutes. The fifth one took only 10 minutes and 15 seconds. It was a perfect long run. Wind, sun, pace, everything was exactly what I needed.

Overall I finished in 52 minutes. That's crazy fast for me!! I looked back at my long runs from last year and they were all 11 minute or MORE. So I'm faster now!

And I look pretty good.

Reflecting

Apparently, the end of March just isn't all that inspirational for me.

Ready, Set, no-Go

Laundry drying, dishes washing, lunches made, kiddo eating a snack, running clothes on.... then....

Nothing. Stephan heads out the door to take a test I forgot about, and it's just Sawyer and me staring at each other. Without Stephan in the house I can't run. Usually I set Sawyer down for a nap, put the baby monitor next to Stephan's head, and take off out the door.

No Stephan, no run.

Boom.

Remember When

This week's insanely warm weather keeps reminding me of the weeks that led up to last year's Nashville Marathon. It's that moment in the training year when all the time it took to put on 3 layers of pants and shirts gets taken up by putting on sunblock.

We're still only doing 3-4 miles per day. We have 10 weeks until the 10-mile race. I am very tempted to scrap training and just phone in the 10 miles. But heck, what fun would that be?

I keep feeling like something is missing in my runs lately. Then Stephan reminded me!!

Whisky!!

[Insert wailing baby-cry here]

It's too hot.

It's too sunny.

I'm too tired.

I ran 4.0 on Monday because I was too busy to do it on Sunday.

 Today is Tuesday and the schedule calls for 3.5. I don't wanna run today...................

And then....

I woke up on Sunday excited for the race. And then I ran the race. And then I rocked that race. I was a little surprised that I only came in 19th (out of more than 50), but I'm definitely not complaining. Also, then, there's this... All of my throat problems are gone. I realized it on Sunday afternoon. There's no pressure, no tightness, it's easy to breath, everything is gone. I haven't taken any of the medication I was prescribed in more than 5 days. So it's not the medication.

I've had 2 Healing Touch treatments, one massage, and I'm breathing totally differently. So... alternative medicine just won a lot of points for me! Today's 3 mile run was a little brutal. It's hot today (ok, just in the 70's) and I'm really not used to heat. And sun. And sunblock. I was wearing a LOT of sunblock. I loved it though. The sweat burned when it mixed with the sunblock and dried when the wind hit it.

And the sensation of the dry burning reminded me of all of those great victories last year when I was training for the marathon. That was awesome, and I'm started to get excited about training for the next big race. It isn't 26.2, but I'm excited to get back into distance racing again.

Official

UnOfficial

Today's 5k was awesome. I took off by myself and passed a ton of people and finished sprinting!! I controlled my breath the whole way. My throat didn't hurt (and doesn't hurt now, a few hours later). The clock time was 32:30, BUT I was way at the back of the line. So... It'll be faster than that. How fast? I don't know yet. I'll post when I do.

Don't Look Down

Look up and to the right. Then to the right. Then down and to the right.... That's the text of an eye exam I get once a year while a ophthalmologist looks for melanoma in the back of my eyes. Yeah, I know. Last Sunday started the 12 week countdown until the Soldier Field 10 Mile race. Training has officially started. Tuesday was an easy 3 mile run, and today was 20 minutes of cross training. Since there wasn't a 10 mile plan available, I'm following a 1/2 marathon plan. I figure I'll enjoy it when I finish 3.1 miles early. The fundraising is going really well. It was the part I was the most nervous about, but I hit the minimum really quickly. I raised the bar to $1000 and I'm pretty sure I'll get there! I'm doing massage for donations for the people at work, and mentioning the run to everyone I run into. I also get to wear the awesome DetermiNation t-shirt everywhere I go. I'll be wearing it on Sunday to the first 5k of the season. Sure, it's blue and not green, but I'll take a few pinches for donations!!!!

Run #4

Sun! Wind! 60 degrees!! Turn off your computer. Go outside!!!!

Run #3

One look at the radar this afternoon got me out the door. It was still a short run- mostly a 1 mile speed test with a 0.7 mile cool down. This was the run I was looking for. I didn't have any thoughts except the in-the-moment-type.

"Is that the mailman?"

"There's a car."

"I like this song."

"What's my time?"

"9:40 for a mile? Awesome."

And then it was over. I came home and drank some water. It was great. Easy. Normal. And now, let the heavens rain down sleet and snow. I'm in for the night.

Should maybe sing this post?

Last week I had a great Healing Touch session. We worked a lot with the throat chakra. I think I already wrote that the throat chakra deals with communicating your Self to the world. I've had some good runs since then too. But also, I've been crazy. Like, on a scale of 1-10, where 10 is, "Where is the padded room?" and 1 is, "What? Somebody's throwing things? What's wrong?" I'm pretty much at an 8. I came home from work the other night in tears because someone didn't want to hang out with me.

10 minutes later I was laughing uncontrollably at a commercial online. I've had angry outbursts, frustrating times, emotional breakdowns, amazing uplifting moments of clarity and joy. And that's just in one week, usually all within an hour or two.

It's like someone took a cap off of a bottle of emotions and they're just pouring out willy nilly. You know, because I'm usually so stable. (Can I insert a rolling-eye smiley face here?) I specifically did NOT run this afternoon because I just didn't have the stamina to have another epiphany today. I just wanted to cook dinner, watch a movie, and wash dishes. So that's what I did.

One suggestion for healing the 5th chakra is to hum, sing, or vocalize more often. I'm not sure how that's going to work.