Night time running

My streak of night time runs continue.  My hubby is actually back working in Manhattan and I really thought about getting up early this morning and running a double but i just couldn't do it.  I  have to say that I am enjoying my night running.  I get done about the time andrew is winding down and then the time it takes me to wind down is the time it takes him to get to sleep.  I have actually gotten some good reading in lately, while we both get ready for the sand man.  I was an avid reader pre-kiddo and it feels good to get back to that status.  I have to admit, when I started running, it was at night with an aussie, and I have come full circle back to night running with an aussie.

The humidity is usually so much lower and the town is usually quiet and ready for bed when I head out.  I will look forward to fall running when I can run when I get home versus waiting till the temperature drops (last night it was bearable at 8:30, other nights it is closer till 9 pm) so I don't have to eat the minute I step in the door.

On another note, I am learning how to program my watch for specific work outs.  We have had experiments lately with lots of down time so I have had time to read up and watch videos.  I do like using my phone as I use it for all of the challenges that Map my Run has but I would like to not have to stare at my watch for paces or distances when I am doing repeats or hill work outs.  I think I have it down but don't have another speed work out till tomorrow.

Tonight is four easy miles and I can't wait!  Been putting in a lot of hard work with repeats, the recent 10 K race and even have hill repeats on the schedule this week.  As I have said before, I really like speed work that involves recovery, so fartleks are pretty much one of my most favorite speed workouts and I got to do some last night.  Last night was just one of those dream runs that felt effortless.  I saw low 7s on my 1 minute fartleks and felt like my recovery happened quickly in my 2 minutes slow jog.  I did 7 repeats per my coach's instruction with 5 minute warm up and cool down.  I did have a biker on a road bike blow by me which scared the heck out of me.  I didn't have earphones in, just was running with my music playing on my phone, and I didn't even hear him till he was right by me.  I also got a little leery because I had decided to run sans stella since it was still in the 90s, and I was out in the middle of no where on a dark highway.  While my hubby can live track me, he doesn't always take his phone to upstairs with him at night and he didn't last night, since it was on the bar when I got home.  I do run with my phone so I could have at least called 911 if needed (not saying this guy was a bad guy but he was out on a bike in the pitch black dark at 9 pm).  It just left me feeling unsettled and I am not sure why.  I guess my normal routes that I run at night usually don't have traffic or bikers and or I don't usually go out without stella.  Maybe miss stella will have to go out tonight no matter what with her cool coat on.

Since I am running at night, I am not getting lots of cool pictures so I leave you with this one:

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Running on empty

Here are a few shots from the race the other day.  They aren't the best but you can't beat free!

 Hiding behind the clock, making the turn  at the 5 K mat!

 Almost there!  Thanks for the down hill!

I have the weirdest running form but I guess it works!

I actually did something non running and non dog sunday.  I had a ladies night out with a couple of runner friends.  We went to the Motley Crue concert in KC.  Unfortunately it got started almost an hour and a half late.  We waited in line out side in the heat and then inside crammed together like sardines.  I am 5 foot even so I am usually the shortest person there so I tend to get a little claustrophobic when I am in crowds. 

This picture was taken by a friend of a friend and posted on my FB page.  It was hot and many people got very upset. I am glad were at least inside but if people would have gotten rowdy or a fire had happened, I shudder to think what would have happened to us.  Let's just say the fact that I know how to do some deep yoga breathing helped immensely.  People may or may not have thought I was crazy.  

They finally let us up to the level where our seats were but still not in our seats.  At least it was less crowded and we could sit.  My poor friends both had on substantial heels so I know they were glad to sit.  It just so happened that there was a fruity beverage stand right where we were seated.  This was so delicious and so needed at the time.  

Our seats were far up but amazing.  Both alice cooper and motely crue had big stage productions so it was good to be far away to take it all in.  I had a little panic attack with the height of things but once the concert started I was fine.  I even stood up for a few songs to sing and dance.  

The only pic i got when Motley Crue started playing.  Man, their music brings back so many memories of childhood.  I can remember me and my best friend mendy hanging out with her older sister (because she was way cool) and listening to her albums like Ozzy and MC and Poison.  I remember going to the yearly fair and riding rides and hearing hair metal being blared out of the speakers.  I also remember watching MTV and thinking they way they dressed and acted was SO normal.  It was a great night and one of the best stage shows I have ever seen.  Vince's voice wasn't as bad as I had heard but they did drown him out the whole first half of the concert.  Alice cooper was amazing as well but we couldn't see details in his stage show since we were so far away and they didn't use the huge video screens.  I really loved Tommy Lee's drum fiasco or solo or whatever you want to call it but it did make me sick watching him go upside down and spin while playing the drums.  The best part was the encore, when MC came out and played Home Sweet Home on a stage that raised up and was almost level with our section.  It made going home and getting in bed at 3 am a little bit better.  Still don't know why everything was so late but it was a great night out with the ladies and I can't wait to hit another ladies night out concert!  Tonight's my first run after not getting much sleep the last two nights so should be interesting for sure!

Random sunday

Just a little funny video of andrew in the bouncy house.  In a way, it was a good thing that he had the bouncy house to hang out in while I waited for awards and for the raffle.  It kept him busy and wore him out so we could nap as soon as we got home.

I also really enjoyed this chocolate milk post race and on the way home.  I convinced my mom to stop and get us chocolate covered doughnuts and she came out with chocolate milk too. She is so wonderful!

A few facts about yesterday's race.  I was 259th out of 375.  I was the 99th female out of 194 and 18th out of 33 in my age group.  The first place overall male came in at 30:30 and the overall first place female finished in 39:06.  All i can say is WOW!  I admire their fleet feet on a tough course.  I also love this race because you get free pictures and free video of your finish.    They take a few days to post so as I soon as I get them, I will post them.  I am not sure that I did my typical finish pose as I was pretty close to throwing up from pushing it but hopefully they didn't catch me turning off my watch.  

I just framed all of my spring half pictures.  I now need to print off my various 5 K and 10 k pics and get them framed.  I saw some pretty awesome collage frames at hobby lobby the other day and they had a 50% off sale on all frames.  I don't mind paying 25 bucks for a nice collage frame versus 50 bucks.  Now to get a medal holder to finish off that wall and get those medals off of my bedroom mirror.  

We had one last walk before mom headed out this morning. I ran three slow recovery miles with my BRF and then to cool off, we walked two before she got in her van and drove off.  I am really sad to see her go.  Andrew loves her so much and she does so much for me when she is here.  This trip she got to see my new job and equipment and we spent quite a bit of time together.  I so wish she would move to Kansas because i love her so and miss her so when she leaves.  She was so generous to stay an extra day or to so I could race and run this morning.  Safe travels mom!

Brew to Shoe review

I am so excited!  This was the first race I did post andrew last year and I knew I could do better this year.   I am a much stronger runner this year and hills don't scare me near as much after I did the hospital hill run.  I had decided I would push the first three miles and then hope I could hang on for the last three and shoot for under an hour time.  I knew weather would play a big part in how i did so I was praying for little to no humidity.  So let's start a few days before.

I had repeats on my schedule.  This is where I commonly do my repeats.  It's in an industrial park and there is little to no traffic.  I can also have stella pretty much off leash and I can't have her at all on the track so I go here a lot.  Mom even did a few with me.  Here is a picture of her during the repeats.   

Bless her heart. She is 66 this year and running and working out is her thing!  You could call her a gym rat for sure.  They don't have many options for running safely outdoors so I have shown her all of my favorite routes this week in hopes she will move to Kansas just so she can run LOL!  I sure had hoped that having repeats and then one day of rest was enough before the race and I think it was.  My legs felt good the entire race. 

Mom decided we would have a date night so Tony and I went to the pasta feed.  The proceeds of the pasta feed benefitted special olympics.  Unfortunately, out of 700 something runners, only 10 signed up for the pasta feed and boy did they miss out.  The pasta came from a local eatery called Coco Bolos that does food that is out of this world.  We got a HUGE plate of a cheesy, chicken pasta with a roll and a beer and or water.  We got to keep the pint glass and coozie, which was a bonus.  I was on the fence about the beer. It is one of my favorite beers, so I had to take a few sips before giving it to my hubby.  Major sad face.  The pasta was very delicious and very filling.  I ate 2/3 of it and then had to tap out.  It immediately gave me indigestion, but I didn't care because it was yummy.  Nothing a little zantac can't fix.  Us and the other 8 people got to sit in an VIP section and watch a concert that was put on at the bandshell in the park.  The band was called Run Boy Run and they were a bluegrass/folksy type of band that we really enjoyed.  If both of us weren't so incredibly tired from andrew getting us all up at 5:30 that morning, we would have enjoyed it so much more.  We ended up coming home close to 10 to try and get some sleep.  Our little angel was already tuckered out which was a good thing.  Thanks grammy!

5:00 came way to early, but I wanted a full 2 hours before the run to digest.  I normally don't eat for 10 Ks but I wanted to try and get my long run eating habit in place just in case it helped.  I really think it did.  Anyway, we had to wake up the rest of the house as well around 5:30 so the hubby could go to work and i could get dropped off at the start line.  My hope was that andrew would go back to sleep in the car and mom could even get a little bit of shut eye before the race ended.   That didn't happen, but that was okay because we all took a four hour nap post race.  It was so much fun seeing all of my local and non local running friends before the race.  Some of them I only see at this race so I really look forward to it.
My game plan was to take advantage of the mostly flat road for the first three miles and really push it and hope I had enough leg for the second three.  There was a smaller hill in the four mile leg and the big three were at mile 5.  According to my watch, I was 9:12, 9:18, and 9:26 with a 28:55 5 K time.  I had locked on to a couple of women who were running at the pace I wanted to go, so I kept repeating to myself my typical pace run mantra, comfortably hard, comfortably hard.  I started seeing 9:30-9:45 from mile 3-4  and I was trying not to let it bother me.  Mile 4 was a 9:37 and after the big hills, I was at a 10:28 for mile 5.  I am not going to get down on myself for the time creeping up.  By the time I hit the hills, I was getting hot and tired.  I had my own water but I was getting water at the water stations and dumping it on my head.  I had stopped taking water because I felt like I was getting a stitch in my side and I had, had problems with those the other night when I was doing intervals and taking in more water than normal.  What I am a little mad about was my mile 6 time of 9:59.  I think I could have done better, but it is what it is.  The last mile was on a very narrow side walk, and I had caught up with the walking five K people.  While most got out of our way, a few didn't and I got stuck a few times.  I also got stuck behind a walker that had a double stroller.  I don't remember this being an issue last year but I am wondering if there would be anyway to have them on a different course or start them much later or have a course for those just wanting to walk.  I also heard several people got caught up having to wait for traffic.  I was lucky in that I was always with a pack and that never happened, but that would have upset me if it did.  I am very happy with my finish time of 59:08, which is a course PR for me and a 10 K PR for me since my last PR pre-andrew was 59:59.  I am ready to tackle my next 10 K in a couple of weeks and try for another PR.  I am not sure I will be under an hour but I think I can do better than my previous course time of 1 hour 4 minutes.   The course has a HUGE hill that is at least half a mile long and my goal is no walking this year on that hill as I had to walk some last year on the up and down.

This year was better organized post race than last year so kudos to all involved.  I got my beer and pizza slice (last year they ran out of both fairly quickly) and strangely at 8 am wanted to eat and drink.  One of my running buddies got third in our age group, so I stayed for awards and the amazing raffle.  You have to love a race that gives out beer mugs as placement prizes.   I didn't win anything in the raffle this year again, but there is always next year.   They had a free bouncy house for the kids and andrew pretty much stayed in it for at least an hour, which is kind of funny considering in april he was terrified of them.  I can't wait till next year and hope we have the amazing weather we had this year.  Chilly at the start and hot at the finish but no humidity.  I also hope they do a better job of advertising the pasta feed.  It was a great deal with yummy food and all for a good cause.   Overall, one of my favorite races and I look forward to shooting for an even better time next year!

Brew to Shoe week. It's go time!

 It's been yet another week of running at night and surprise, I am still tired all the time.  I am currently making a list of things to talk about with my doctor when I finally get in to see her in august.  Like the fact that I am tired pretty much 100% of the time.  This isn't really a new thing, but it is new in that I always thought it was strictly because i ran in the morning and got up so early.  So it's been around a while but I just ignore it.  Also the dizzy/buzzy spells I get,usually in the afternoon.  I always attributed that to too much caffeine in the morning but here lately, I haven't been drinking as much caffeine.  Lots of things to think about and discuss.  Sure, I get a runner's high every time I run but I also get long run hangovers like you wouldn't believe.  Yeah, we don't eat well, but we do eat red meat and some veggies and I am a lover of apples and bananas so while I don't eat them every single day, I do get them in occasionally.  I know my eating could always use a boost in the healthy direction but it is what it is.  I am getting around 9 hours of sleep a night and yes, that is all night sleep.  I have been blessed so far, with a child that goes down and is out till I wake him up at 7:20 in the morning.  I also haven't noticed a big effect on my sleep by running at night.  We usually eat between 6 and 7 so I go out around 9 pm and I have been in bed a little after 10 every night and out by 10:30.

The good news is my mommy is still here.  She has been going out and walking/running with me at night or taking andrew in his jogging stroller so I have a water source when I pass by.  The weather has been absolutely perfect this week, some say even chilly in the mornings.  Kind of glad I am still running at night.  It's just as peaceful at that time of night and no humidity.  There is a wee bit more traffic getting out to my running routes, but once out on the gravel or at the industrial park, I am good to go.  Mom even did a couple of hill repeats with me after my three mile run.  My coach is trying to get me ready for the two 10 Ks coming up this weekend and two weekends from then.  Both have monster hills around mile 5 that kick your butt if you haven't trained for them.  I blogged about the Brew to Shoe last year here.  It was my first 10 K post baby, and I was really happy with my effort.  I am a much stronger runner now so I expect to do better this year.  I would like to PR if my health and the weather all cooperate.  Hills are not near as scary, post my four half marathons this spring.  In two of my halfs, they had a timing mat at the 10 K mark and I was under an hour for both so I know I can do this. Just need to make my brain get in the game.  That brain that says, stay slow, you will need power for those hills later in the game.  As of right now, my game plan is to try and stay in the low 9s the whole race.  I have been doing hill work as my body has allowed it as I strangely enough love running hill repeats.  I smile when I see them on the schedule. Probably has to do with the whole recovery walk back down the hill thing.  I am going to be sad that tony has to work but very glad that my mom and my kiddo will be there to cheer me on.    

Mom got to run with reds all this week:)

A Longish run

After a kind of disappointing training week (thanks mystery fever), I was hoping to re-coup some of my runs this weekend.  I had hoped I could at least do my four saturday morning before the heat hit and my 8 on sunday when it was suppose to be cooler.  Saturday dawned at 5:30 with me running yet another low grade fever.  Enough to make me hit snooze and roll over and go back to sleep till almost 8 am.  I am pretty serious about running, so for me to not get up and run is serious.  I enjoyed the extra sleep but not the stupid low grade fever.  I had decided that I would go to the local convienent care if  I was still feverish when everyone got up and ready to go for the day but by that time, I was back to normal.  We were under yet another heat advisory so I figured yet another rest day might not be a bad idea. Yes, I have a dreadmill but hello, who wants to run on a dreadmill.  I needed to do some shopping in town anyway so to town we went.  We had fun at target and we even had time for a fro yo date.  Couldn't find my name in the Coke name bottles but did find the hubby's name so just had to get one:)

I kept debating throughout the day that I might get on the dreadmill and run but I was still a little worn down from the fever and i kept telling myself yet another rest day was NOT a bad idea.  I did walk a couple of miles at 9 pm with my mom to fulfill her 10 K steps requirement for her fitbit.  It was HOT.  We were dripping two minutes into the walk and we were briskly walking at best.

Sunday dawned with cooler temps but SUPER high humidity.  Like 100% at 5:30 am.  I decided to go ahead and get up and fuel up in the hopes that the humidity would go down at some point in the morning.  After waiting till past 8 am and watching the temp and the dew point climb while the humidity stubbornly stayed put, I finally decided to head out.  It was cloudy and there was a breeze from the north and west so I hoped to not melt.  I have been freezing my water bottle so that it was nice and cold, but I was worried that I wouldn't have enough.  I was correct in my worry as we started running low around mile 4.  I usually do this route as a point to point route but I decided I wanted to keep stella and I off of the blacktop.  I figured we would go four out on the gravel and four back. I am glad that we did, as that kept us a little cooler I think.  I would stop every mile, take a swig of water and let stella drink as much as she wanted.  This picture is at 3 miles in.  

We were lucky that the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of our run.  If the sun had been out, that and the humidity would have made running  impossible.  I called my hubby to come and bring me more water around mile 4.  He obliged and tried to take stella with him.  We felt she was okay, but I didn't want to push it.  She freaked out when he left, so much so that he had to pull over and let her come back to me.  He said he had never seen her freak out that bad.  I guess she could still see me and that was too much for her.  She was barking and whining and clawing at the door of his truck.  With our new ice water and bigger supply, I would pour water on my running hat and all over her as well and we would both drink.  We made our 8 but we were both spent afterwards.  My pace was about 2 whole minutes slower than I normally run, but any running in these conditions is good.  I usually do NOT have a time goal when I run LSD so I didn't even look at my watch.  My phone was reporting by mile which was the only way I knew where I was even at pace wise.  I hope we don't have many more of these days, especially as my long runs begin to build again.  8 miles was doable at a slow pace but any more than 10 would be killer.  I say a huge KUDOS to my marathon training friends who ran 17 or more miles today.  Mentally, I don't think I could have done it.  Here is to a better week both health and running-wise!  

Yet another fever!

I have yet another mystery fever.  This is becoming a regular occurence.  It happened a couple of weeks ago and I wrote about it here and also here.  I did call my doctor and I can get a complete physical in august but no sooner thanks to insurance.  I have decided that if I have fever on monday, I WILL go to the doctor and demand tests.  This is happening almost every two weeks and is totally inhibiting my training.  I am tired of it.  I am NOT a sickly person and I am NOT one to lay around. I am getting plenty of sleep, good food, and water so it isn't any of these things causing me to be sick.  I would think if it was serious, I would be having a continuous fever but I am not.  This time it has stayed around 100 so just enough to drive me nuts and make me not want to train.  This time it started on thursday.  I had gotten dressed and was heading out to do my 800 meter repeats when I got a chill.  I just thought it was because it was so hot outside and so cold inside.  I took my temp just in case because I also had a dull headache.  100.2.  Sigh.  Put on my pjs and went to bed.  Took friday off anyway as I had signed up to be a chaperone for andrew's class.  Woke up fever free so thought I was in the clear.

After helping with andrew's trip to the fair and the playground, I started feeling weak and had the chills again and yep, it was back.  I had planned on having a rest day friday anyway since we had yet another day with a heat advisory and temps over 100.  I had hoped that if I rested two days in a row, that I would be okay.  I had hoped that this morning I would feel good enough to maybe do a short slow run but that was not to be either. I woke up at 5:45 and quickly turned my alarm clock off and slept till 8 when andrew woke up.

The weather is suppose to be nicer tomorrow so still holding out hope that I can get 8 miles in or maybe even pull a double tomorrow.  Brew to Shoe is one week away and I HAVE to do well.  I so want an under an hour PR and I know I can do it if I am healthy.  So, will take it easy and try and run if I am fever free today.  I have been hovering around the high 99s so far so fingers crossed!