Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving day

What a day!  I am so blessed to have a fabulous cook in my family who prides himself on making the holidays a culinary treat!  I am also excited that andrew is showing major interest in cooking as well.  Last night he was trying to show me how he "cooks" oranges.  This year we decided to do something different.  Even though we had an extra person (who can put away some major food), we decided to stay on budget, to cook less and to try baked turkey vesus fried turkey.
 I am honest, I am not a turkey fan very much at all, especially baked so this was a hard decision to make for me.  Last year we bought a smoked turkey and it was okay, so I was interested to see what baking might mean.  Well, baking meant that my hubby had to cook most everything last night and finish today with very limited room in the oven meaning we had thanksgiving dinner around 2 pm.  As usual, it was perfect and yummy and even though I tried to eat smaller portions, I still over ate.  I am still pretty full (it's 7 pm as I type this), so maybe that will mean we won't be hungry for dinner.  Heck we didn't even eat our dessert today so maybe dessert for dinner?
Then this happened.  Everyone and I mean everyone including the dogs passed out and took a long nap.  I kind of enjoyed just laying around and binge watching Orange is the New Black on my phone with headphones on, of course:).
I was super glad I did my mileage early in the day before motivation was lost.  It was cold but beautiful and I savored every mile.  Still running/walking per my PT's instructions.  I am now up to running half a mile and walking half a mile, rinse and repeat for four miles.  I am looking forward to what next week might be.  Solid running sounds like a possibility.  I did go in and get work done on my leg wednesday.  I had pain during my run tuesday and it kind of scared me yet again. I don't know if I can buy into this whole, once you have had an injury you will always have pain bit. I have pain in the parts of my legs that are being used that haven't been used before but I am still having pains in old places.  I am still trying not to over think it but it still bothers me.  I have taken it easy for over 8 weeks now, yet i know with dogs, soft tissue injuries are a bear.  I have been utilizing biofreeze and compression socks like no one's business.  I am trying to just deal with each pain and not freak out but as my PT says, I am a control freak and type A to the max so any kink in the plan throws me off.  
This was our post turkey trot four mile picture attempt.  They were too excited to sit still for very long so all of the pics were blurry!
Now, I need to talk about what I am thankful for.  For sure, my PT for putting up with me and my freak outs.  My mom for buying andrew's santa stuff (she got a GREAT deal on a train table in TN) and driving all the way to KS to deliver it.  My BIL and hubby for cooking all night last night and today and my hubby for cooking and taking care of us EVERY DAY.  Also my hubby for putting up with me going to PT twice a week at night and still letting me run and listening to my whining when I can't:).  And of course again to my BIL for baby sitting so the hubs and I can go on some dates and enjoy time alone.  I am thankful for FB so I can keep up with all of the Gordons, the Days,  and the Colemans, since we are so far away from our families.  I also have to say thanks to my Savior and Lord who provides for us everyday.  Even though I tend to freak out about the pile of medical bills that keep coming, I am very thankful that he always provides for us no matter how bad it gets.  I need to remember to trust in him, he has always gotten us through everything else and this is nothing.  Of course I would be remiss to not say a HUGE thanks to my running and dog friends who are always there for me.  My BRF is always there to listen to me and give me some good therapy and I am really looking forward to some long runs in the near future with her so we can get it all out.  I am also super thankful that other than deuce's odd allergy issues that we are still baffled about, that my dogs are healthy and alive and making my life interesting every single day.  I am also very thankful for my sweet little crazy red headed two legger that makes every day an adventure, sometimes challenging, but always full of blessings and of course exhausting LOL.  
I leave you with this.  I call this snow geese, please don't poop on my head!  The video really doesn't do the sheer number of them justice.  I am kind of like the double rainbow guy when it comes to cool nature stuff.  I tried to keep my calm.  I did however skype my stepdad so he could see them and he was freaking out too at how many and the noise they were making.

Okay time for apple pie.  Hope you had a great turkey day and that your life is full of blessings.  Have fun black friday if that is your thing and talk to you later!

 

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Pre-Thanksgiving update

I crave a long run.  It sounds so weird, but I do.  I crave that feeling of being out on the road for an hour or more with just me and my thoughts or me and BRF and our thoughts.  I am starting to get a little bit of a runner's high with each run/walk session and that makes me really, really happy.  I do miss my running routes and my scenery. Just the other day, the snow geese were landing in the fields just out of  reach for my goal run/walk distance for the day.  Part of me just wanted to say screw it and keep going and have my hubby come and pick me up, so I didn't have to turn around and go back.  Running is so ingrained in me now, such a part of who I am that I miss it and want it back, fully.  The good news is, my PT is progressing slowly but surely, and I am now allowed to run up to half a mile at a time with a total of 2 miles of half mile segments interspersed into a total of 4 miles of running and walking.  I will take it.  I have resigned myself to the fact that this process needs to be done right and the pace will be unknown. Technically, I don't have to be training again till January for my spring half series anyway so no need to panic.  I want to ease into this slowly and make sure this injury does not re occur.  I am still enjoying my pool sessions and looking forward to some biking this winter on the trainer as well.

 I did get four days of run/walking in last week, which made me happy but sore.  I am having to come to peace with the new soreness and what it means.  It doesn't mean re injury, it just means hey, you are using parts of your leg that haven't EVER properly been used, don't freak out.
The best part of my run/walks is that Mr. Deuce gets to come along.  It was a wee bit windy the other day and the pups were using each other for warmth and wind blockage.  It was kind of cute.  I guess If baby D is going to run with us this winter, we are going to have to find him a coat that he can run in and not get too hot in.  Stella has a nice thick winter undercoat but poor D is naked as a jaybird (what is a jaybird, always wondered but that is the saying so hmmm).  
I had to laugh at miss sulky face.  This was saturday after the race.  She would lay behind me or at my feet and just sigh the biggest sighs.  Sorry Miss Stella, you can't come to every race.  Such a drama queen.

Well, looking forward to some quality walk/runs this week. Hope you have the same and an awesome Thanksgiving!!!!


Saturday, November 22, 2014

Race day

I guess I should really back up and talk about yesterday first.  It was my birthday.  Am i the only one that feels like the older you get, the less meaning this day really has?  I had needed a hydration vest before the 25 K trail race I did so that was my birthday present, back in the summer.  My hubby and i have been on a tight budget and have not been eating out so we chose to celebrate by eating a nice meal out.  Unfortunately, the fog was super dense and I really didn't want to drive all the way back to manhattan to eat so we decided to stay local and go to the local bar that also has a very yummy deli.  My cake was a beer or two (whoops, race the next day), but I had two very, very slowly and ate very slowly and just enjoyed being out of the house and not having to rush home (my mom is still here:)  The beer pictured is a nice 1554 from New Belgium in Colorado.  It was dark, full and perfect.
Then this happened today.  Mom and I ran our first 5 K together at the Bad to the Bone 5 K.
It was suppose to be warm and sunny but it turned out kind of cold and dreary and drizzly.  It was hard to dress for and both mom and I got a little warm by the end.  Mom did great.  She got a PR of over 4 minutes on her previous 5 K time.  The course was very nice, mostly flat with a few short hills and some nice long down hills.  We started out on the track and then headed out on a sidewalk that took us around a the nice park at Cico.  We did have one section on a road but that quickly dumped us back onto a side walk portion.  Mom did great, running when she could and power walking when she couldn't.  
She wore her grandma strong socks today and got tons of compliments.  She was a very strong lady today!
Love the free pictures.  She was awesome, only getting mad at me once for trying to get her to run:)  Love you mom!  Yes, I smiled pretty much the last straight away till the timing mat and on.  I could see the clock and knew she was getting a PR.
She won first place in her age group and won a turkey!  This is Marvin, the man, the legend. 
We had a hot chocolate social after the race and he gave a speech that brought many of us to tears.  Running is about community and the friends you make and keep.  My running friends are like my dog friends, we are all so close.  We celebrate triumphs and commiserate injuries and races that didn't go the way we plan.  He stressed the importance of our running friends and races and getting together to support causes, like the one today, to raise scholarships for kids to continue on to college.  It really was the perfect speech from someone who has been running and racing for many, many years.  
Afterwards, mom was craving carbs.  Even though I took it easy and stuck to my run/walk quarter mile segments, my tummy was not wanting to eat.  I managed to eat a little though.  Don't those nachos look yummy?  

Overall, I had a blast cheering for her,  motivating her and running with her.  I so need to be a pace leader some day.  I really, really enjoyed the whole experience of not racing, just helping others meet their goals.  I knew she could do it, I just had to find a way to get it out of her and I did.  I look forward to our next 5 K together for sure!!!!

A side note:  I noticed that in several of the race pictures, my legs and feet were totally out.  I am disappointed to see that as I felt like we were making huge progress.  I do feel like I was more focused on my mom and her experience and less on keeping my legs straight so there is that.  







Friday, November 21, 2014

Panic and Relief

Wow, between work, mom being here and crazy nights, I just haven't had time to write.  Taking a break here at work while I am dealing with an issue to write a minute.  I am just beginning to feel sort of back to normal.  True to what everyone was telling me, this virus did take almost two weeks to get over.  The coughing all night really took it out of me though and I still feel like I am behind in catching up on sleep.  I found a combo of vicks on my feet and nyquil (which i absolutely hate taking) was the only thing that helped me to not cough all night.  Of course around 4 am, the medicine/vicks would wear off and i would be back to coughing.  I also did something kind of stupid.  I let little red stay up a friday and saturday night and we slept in saturday and sunday mornings and now I can't get him back on a schedule.  The past few nights he has been up till 11 pm or later, not wanting to sleep.  I guess this is just the way it goes with a toddler some times so I am trying not to bemoan my loss of sleep, but instead learn how to do work in a gray fuzz.

Running is going well, well until Tuesday.  I had been slowing upping my quarter mile segments and for whatever reason, when I upped my walking to 3 miles and my quarter mile segments to 1.25 miles of segments, my leg started hurting.  Like really hurting.  Like panic mode hurt.  This was my biggest fear, to be back at square one, and I thought we were back there and then some.  I had felt fine during our walk/run, but I noticed my leg was tight during the running portion.  I was going slow in order to help mom keep a comfortable pace, but something during that run triggered pain. Afterwards it got more and more sore and of course I had had PT the night before, so I couldn't tell exactly where the soreness was due to the aches and pains that PT causes.  I knew I had some muscle soreness on the outside of my leg, but I felt that spot that had been bothering me was hurting and that the spot had actually gone from about the size of a dime to more like a half dollar size of pain.  I iced and prayed.

I had another PT visit last night and I just wanted to cry when I saw him.  I really thought I had some how screwed up everything, all the hard work we had done.  He took one look at me and took me back to the treatment room, where he used a tuning fork to determine that NO it was NOT a stress fracture at all.  Long story short, after some painful massage, my leg felt 1000 X better.  I was instructed to keep running and doing what I was doing at to just expect some pain along the way.  I felt SO much relief.   He actually put me on a treadmill last night and let me run some so he could watch, and he said my bio mechanics look so much better now.  My right foot still wants to turn out slightly but honestly, the left leg is the one I have been focusing much of my attention to.  My hips are getting tons stronger and I have moved up to the highest resistance on my resistance band work.  I am ready to run again tonight and see how it does.  Mom and I completed a 5 K with 1.25 miles total of running segments and we finished in around 48 minutes.  I am excited for race day so that we can push it and try to get her a PR!  Her PB is around 47 and with the stopping we had to do the other night due to ice and a dog chasing us, I think we can do it.
So did I tell you about what this race is about and why I want to do it no matter what?  This race is to benefit kids who are track stars but maybe not good enough to get a big fancy scholarship.  The funds raised will go to establishing scholarships for high school students wanting to go to college to run and learn.  It also is in honor of Marvin Hachmeister, a local running legend who is at EVERY local race and is in his 80s now!  He runs a lap for every year of his life on his birthday and this year ran 80 laps!  Here is an article about Marvin and his running career.  He truly is a running god in our area and we all love him dearly!  It is suppose to be a nice day (high in the low 60s) and the race starts later in the day so that should equate to some nice race conditions.  Mom and I ran again last night and she came in at 46:47!  




Saturday, November 15, 2014

A week's worth of catch up!

Wow, has it been almost a week?  Where is time going these days?  So much has happened so let's being at the beginning.
The week's weather has been great till today.  Sunny, 60s and 70s with some wind.  I have been enjoying hitting the pavement even if it is a little walking and running.  By the end of this week,  I will be up to walking 3 miles with 6 quarter mile segments of running interspersed.  I am SO glad to be back running, even it it isn't continual running yet.  I have run three times this week, with some small aches and pains due to the PT I am doing and the re-structuring of my stride and mechanics.  My medial ankle is the most sore since it is now actually getting used.  I am still being very cautious and listening to every little ache and pain.  I am going to continue to try and get at least 4 run/walks in a week for now to get my body ready for eventual running full miles.  
This picture makes me happy.  I am not evening trying some times and my feet aren't out like I am in some ballet position.  I know my PT is working and it makes it worth the pain I feel during and after.  I am hoping this means I will be injury free for a long time.  
The dogs sure are happy to go out.  I am a night runner so I run right after work.  We wear tons of reflective gear so we can be seen at night.   And poop bags.  You never can have too many poop bags. 
Mom was planning on coming up next monday and staying the week but the threat of snow and nasty weather brought her out early.  We enjoyed a little girl time this morning complete with some purse shopping and some fru fru coffee.  I SO enjoy her weeks with me.  She takes the load off of me by doing lots of housework and taking care of andrew so I get a break.  Since I am still battling this cough and cold, I am very glad she is here so I can get some rest.  
Mom and I are doing a 5 K next weekend.  This was the last race I had signed up for months in advance (I am missing yet another half marathon today:).  I guess I have learned my lesson, don't sign up for a ton of races, especially far far in advance because you never know what will happen.  She signed up today, so that I can still do it and stay slow.  She is a smoker of many, many years, who quit when andrew was born.  She has been super active the last few years going to the gym doing Barre class and walking/running, but she still can't do a sustained run.  That is fine and will work great to keep me from "racing".  It will be an honor to run/walk our first race together.  
We went from 70s and nice weather to this.  So far it has been just a dusting but the roads were very messy for run/walking today.  Mom was going to go with me but I didn't want her falling and hurting herself.  I may have to put her on the treadmill this week if this continues.  We are also going to try and get to the pool this week.  Last week was a bust because of busy days.  This week may be equally as bad which makes me happy and sad.  Glad to be busy at work but missing my pool work outs and my little old men.  

Have a great weekend!  Hope the weather is better where you are than it is here today!



Sunday, November 9, 2014

Challenges

Been a few challenges here lately.  Little red is working on his 5th day of being sick.  He has been fever free all day so let's hope that tonight is as well so he can go to daycare tomorrow.  He still has a cough that gets worse when he runs too much and his nose is a fountain but no fevers.
The good and bad news is that he kind of found a present we got him last year that we had decided was too complex for his age.  We put it together and at first it was wonderful.  It was remote control so he could just sit or stand and watch the train go by.  Then he really wanted to play with it tear it up,  and he couldn't do that with it on the dining room table.  He kept giving  me a heart attack by standing on the bench to the table and bashing his head into the edge of the table trying to get stuff that he had dropped under the table.  
This was the solution, move it up to his room and put it on the floor.  Of course it is in a thousand pieces now thanks to a little godzilla action, but he is happy and i don't have to worry about stitches.  

The other challenge is that I have been released to start running.  My PT guy and I decided 2 quarter mile sections in my 3-4 mile walks I do.  I have completed three of these, doing one walk/run with just one quarter mile and the other two with two quarter mile runs.  My leg feels off.  Not sore, kind of tight and odd.  I am not sore the day after but I am really, really being careful.  I am doing EVERY PT exercise I am prescribed.  I am being very mindful of keeping my left leg turned in as much as I can.  I am warming up and cooling down and wearing my compression sleeve and icing after every run.  I am scared that i am going to re injure myself and I don't want to miss even more time out.  At some point the mileage is going to climb and i am ready but scared.
The scenery has been so beautiful and weather has been gorgeous.  I am going to dread next week with the highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s.  Just not ready for winter yet!!!!
So a lot of my "beginner runner" problems are back.  My stomach is having to re adjust to running again. Oh joy.  My stomach had really just gotten use to me running after like 2 years.  Now back to square one.  I also have been surprisingly winded for just running a quarter of a mile.  Today was understandable as I was pushing the stroller but the other day, I was alone and there was no wind.  I thought I would retain some fitness through water jogging and biking intervals but maybe not?
Still glad to be back on the road, even if I have some GI issues and feel out of shape.  I have missed it so much and I pretty much break out into a smile every time I get to get that quarter mile in.  
So does stella:)  We both say bring on the challenge.  We are ready!



 

Friday, November 7, 2014

A long odd week

It's been an odd week so let's re-cap.  I was suppose to have another PT session on monday but my kiddo was sick and he had given it to me.  Not anything bad, just a little cold, but I knew it was highly contagious and did not want to give it to my PT guy.   He got better, thankfully by monday so he could go to school, but I was sick sunday and monday.
I decided to take sunday and monday off from any work out activities to get better. If I have learned anything from running, I have learned that when you are sick, give yourself time to heal instead of killing your self running and working out hard.  I did get back to it on tuesday and have done two water work outs this week so far and had planned at least one more but oh well, life.   One was one of my killer interval sessions with my student and then a nice pace run  (I guess you could call it that) while talking to the older gentlemen who come every day and water jog while I am there.  I learned that one of the guys has been water jogging for 25 years!  He jogs for an hour a day every day with one of his friends (he was a retired professor and the other gentleman still teaches) and loves it.   He was a former runner who had to give up running on the road thanks to arthritis.  We had a ton of fun getting to know each other while we water jogged together.  His partner kind of swim/runs, but he has perfect form and just zooms around the pool and sets a blazing pace.  After about 45 minutes with these guys, I was one tired lady!
We had our annual safety run at the local running store to celebrate runner safety month.  They gave out free kick butt florescent shirts and raffled a ton of cool prizes.  It was funny, I got a ticket when I came in for the raffle and then lost it.  I got another one to replace the one i lost and then found the one I thought I lost so gave one of my tickets to another runner.  She won, I didn't LOL.  I was good and just walked probably a mile total out and back while everyone else ran a three mile loop.  They had a huge turn out and everyone had fun.  Afterwards I headed to my favorite place, Chik Fil A with another runner and had some yummy dinner and great conversation.  I just LOVE my running friends:)

I  have walked twice (not counting the safety run), getting a 4 and a 3 mile walk in (my phone died both times so recorded less than that).  My BRF is walking with me at nights and we get to catch up on everything.  This weekend is the Muddy Udder Run and we were going to be on a team.  Now I will just have to cheer on the ladies from a far.  My PT guy was very leery of obstacles, even if they are man made, and of course the whole idea of 5 miles of running.  From what I have heard, most obstacle runs are run and wait and run and wait, but I will follow his lead and sit yet another race out.  Sigh.
This may be one race where I get my friends to pick up my shirt.  It is just TOO cute to not get!
Then this happened.  The viral stuff reared it's head again and round two was much worse.  When we picked him up from school on Wednesday, they said he was coughing and felt a little hot.  I had another PT session, so had to go back to town and leave him with his daddy.  I knew we were in trouble when got home at 8:30 and he was already asleep.  We didn't wake him to try and get meds in and at 2 am he was up with a 102.7 fever.  We got meds on board and it took about an hour with the assistance of some ice water, Popsicles and ice packs to get his fever down.  Then we had to watch Clifford for another hour and finally were back to sleep by around 4 am.  Poor  hubs had to go to work and I stayed home on sick duty.  Round two not only had high fevers but it had coughing.  The fevers didn't bother me but the coughing did.  I made an appointment to see our pediatrician knowing that it was more than likely viral and there was nothing they could do, but i wanted the cough to be checked out.  His chest sounded good and his throat and ears were also good so at least I got piece of mind.  He slept better last night and other than the coughing, seems fever free today.
He was all smiles at the doctor until he spiked a fever and started feeling awful again. Poor guy!  He has been out of daycare for two days now and I am hoping he gets to feeling better soon.  

Now on to the good news.  I got re-tested at the PT this week and all the resistance band work is paying off!  My legs are now balanced (remember my right one was about 3 times as strong), so we can start working on other things.  I am going to continue the band work in a balanced fashion(equal exercises on both sides) and work on increasing the reps and the resistance band resistance.  I am excited to be moving in the right direction.  All of the exercises that have been uncomfortable and awkward are becoming easy and comfortable.  This makes me and my PT happy:)  I have been released to run a quarter of a mile a day during my three mile walks.  We will re-evaluate on monday.  It also appears my hammies are getting stronger too and I have upped the weight on those exercises as well.  We are moving in the right direction, just slow.  I am ready to run more, yet still scared of screwing up and causing injury again.  I am not signed up for any races in december and I am going to keep it that way.  I am signed up for spring races, so I need to keep my eye on that.  I want to do the Heartland Series three years in a row for sure and that needs to be my goal.  I will miss the obstacle race this weekend and the next half.  The 5 k will be questionable.  I am not sure I will be up to running that far yet, if I am only on a quarter of a mile now.  That isn't important anyway to me.  To be healthy is important and to run this spring is important.  
And to have this little boy well again.  He has been puking as I have been working on this post:(.   Stupid virus!

 Have a good weekend all and have some good long runs for me!


  


Monday, November 3, 2014

Running Coaches

I get the question a lot about running coaches and how to find them.   Many of my running friends do not use running coaches at all.  Most go by online free plans or plans in books.  They are all doing very well in their running endeavors.  I chose to go a different way and let me explain why and how.
I started running training for my first 5 K using the Couch to 5 K program.  I loved the program and loved how it gave you a very specific plan to follow per day.  Remember, I am super Type A so any protocol or written out plan makes me very happy.  After the conclusion of the program and the running of my first 5 K, I had to no clue where to go from there.  Was I still a novice runner (YES)?  Should I immediately start training for longer distances (MAYBE)?  I had my sights set on several local 5 Ks but also a 10 K that was in my little town of Wamego.  I really didn't know what to do.  I was in luck in that as I was training, I started having many pitfalls and thanks to Facebook, was posting whining about them maybe a little too much.  Thanks to a face book friendship with another aussie lover who also has a dog from the same breeder as Stella and Deuce, I found my first running coach or should I say she found me.  She had noticed my rather annoying yet honest posts about bonking and training and was willing to help me with one catch.  She would give me a plan for free and in turn, I would blog every single day in a blog for her eyes only, what I did running wise and what I ate and how I felt.  Well, you know I love blogging so this wasn't any problems for me.  Her job then was to write her own blog about my rather poor nutrition, how it affected my training (total truth) and how I could change it for the better.  I enjoyed the feedback I got from her in her blogs and changed many of my bad nutritional habits.  Then I found out i was pregnant.  Upon her advice and of course the start of all day sickness that is the first trimester, I gave up running.  I did some running once I was in the second trimester but very slow and usually on the treadmill.
After little red was born, I had to slowly get back into running thanks to my c-section.  I didn't want to take advantage of my coach anymore (She would probably disagree that I wasn't taking advantage of her, but I did feel guilty a lot), so I looked into running coaches again.  It just so happened that I was going to my massage guy a ton for all of the aches and pains I was having post baby, and he was just getting ready to hire a running coach for his business.
Not only was Sydney (the coach he hired) a registered dietitian, but also a Big 12 athlete extraordinaire!  Since I was her first client, I was not charged what typical coaches charge, but I was charged by the training cycle.  I had decided I wanted to go bigger than the 10 Ks and 5 Ks I had been doing pre-baby.  I wanted to increase my speed and endurance and go for the goal of a half marathon.  I honestly thought I would be one and done.  I laugh at this thought now:)  Sydney handcrafted an awesome plan for me that helped me figure out not only paces for various distances, but also fueling for longer runs during and before.  Because of her and of course my BRF who shared my plan and was running her first half in the form of a 25 K, I made it through my first half marathon in one piece!  And since that first half, I have gone on to run four more plus two 10 Ks and a 25 K, each one with a new PR!  

So what are the advantages to having a coach?  Here are some of my top reasons why I love having a coach:

1.  I like having a plan tailored to me and my paces.  We commonly re-evaluate my paces as I improve as a runner and re-vamp my plans.

2.  I like the fact that if I have problems with a particular work out, I can work through these issues and figure out why.  It may be something simple that as a newer runner, I just don't know or it may be more complex.  Most coaches are runners themselves and they have been there, done that. You get to learn from their mistakes so you don't make your own:)

3.  I like the fact that when life gets in the way of my plan (which hello, this happens often), my coach and I can discuss how to best approach the problem.  Like when I get sick or injured.  I haven't been in this game long enough to know what to do in every situation.  My coaches have gotten me through pregnancy, pneumonia, and now this stupid injury.

4.  I like being pushed.  I think if i didn't have a coach asking me how thing are going, I would tend to skip the harder workouts like tempo and pace runs.  The fact that i have weeks with two speed work outs per week I am sure, has helped me reach many PRs this year.

5.  I like goal setting and coaches are great about helping you set realistic goals.  I went from doing one half to doing four in a row.  I probably would not have even made that a goal if I didn't have a coach to help me plan and figure out if it was even feasible.  

6.  Most coaches are certified meaning they have gone through classes or workshops and testing to be coaches.  This is very important to me.  There is science behind running and I like the fact that my coaches have been taught the science as well as the methods and madness.

7.  Most running coaches have gone through injuries or have had friends who have.  They can advise you on what doctors to see and how to respond until you can get in and also how to interpret what the doctors mean.  When you are injured, you are often scared and confused and they can help you make sense of the emotions and the pain.  

8.  You have your own personal cheerleader!  Who doesn't want a hugely positive person in your life cheering you on no matter what you are tackling?  Your friends and family won't fully understand what you are going through and even though they are happy for you, if they aren't runners themselves, they won't know the highs and lows you are about to experience like a fellow runner.  

So there you have it!  There are a few disadvantages to having a coach, cost being one of them and of course accountability (but hey, that is also a positive), but you can find lower cost alternatives out there and hello, who doesn't need a kick in the pants occasionally.  Just be cautious and remember to look at  qualifications.  I have seen many "coaches" who may have some experience, but they have no certifications or no teaching to back up what they preach.  Winning doesn't always mean someone is the best, so don't let accolades on the track cover up the real person and how they coach.  Every coach might have to help you get your head out of your butt now and then, but they shouldn't be resorting to yelling or violence on a regular basis to get you going.  I have been very lucky to have not only one of the best agility coaches in the world but also two great running coaches.  They are out there, they exist, now go and find them!  


PS.  I am excited to make a blog post soon about my post injury direction that I am going with my coach.   Can't say much yet but just wait for it!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Halloween 2014

This was a picture on the preschool webpage.  Not sure why little red looks so grumpy.  God bless those teachers that took those kids trick or treating through the business complex this year.  
We celebrated halloween last year but I don't think Andrew had a clue what was going on.    Remember this picture?
Yep, Jake the pirate who carries a light saber.  We didn't really go trick or treating last year because he wasn't really ready for candy and I didn't want any sitting around tempting me.  We went to three or four houses max and then ate 50 cent corn dogs from sonic.  I was kind of dreading this year and hoping he still didn't really understand what the holiday was all about.  I really don't think he realized that candy gluttony was the point but he sure did LOVE dressing up.
I wasn't sure how the whole go down thing would go.  There are TONS of kids and lines everywhere.  Last year we walked down there and after waiting in a line that didn't seem to move for a while, we decided it wasn't worth it.  I guess we just hit it at just the right time last night because the line moved efficiently.  Little red got to practice saying his trick or treat and his manners by saying thank you to everyone.  He also got to meet Clifford the big red dog and some cool fire fighters.  I think he had fun and in the end, we all got some candy that we all liked:)  Candy tax right?  
Then there was this, this morning that i missed:
Oh well, there is always next year.  I hope someone got my shirt and loves it as much as I always do.  Stella and Deuce and I got a nice 3 mile walk in when it warmed up slightly.  It felt good and I am so ready to be running again, even if it is low mileage.  Any mileage at this point would be great.  Three miles walking feels good but it would feel even better if I could just pick up the pace and run a little.  I am hoping to get out and walk again today with my BRF.  Little red has the first cold of the year and he graciously gave it to me so not sure if I want to spread it.  He woke up this morning feeling better but I feel worse. URGH.  Preschool is wonderful and horrible all at the same time.  I thought I had a kick butt immune system till I had a kid in preschool LOL!

Oh well, RLH for all of those running the New York Marathon today!  Good luck and have tons of fun!