A Year in Running Pictures 2017

I had SO much fun doing this last year that I thought I would do another one!

January

Since Stella was laid up with IMPA, most of my first of the year pics were with my other running buddy Deuce!

February

Our winter was oddly mild.  Very little snow and warmer temps than usual! This pic is proof!  Short sleeves and sweat in February.  Great for running, not so great for getting rid of bugs and other stupid critters that i hate.

March

Deuce did his first 20 miler!  We trained all winter for the Andrew Jackson Marathon and the Prairie Spirit 50K.  I really enjoyed training in the winter for a longer distance versus training in the summer, but we didn't have much snow, so that makes a huge difference. 

April

Andrew Jackson Marathon.  Marathon number 2 in the books.  Not a PR (thanks to a two loop course defeating me mentally), but a huge nostalgic run as I ran through the streets I grew up in. I even ran past my child hood home, several schools I attended, and where my old church use to stand. I got to see the family a few times on course, which really helped my spirits!  I won third place in my age group but missed the actual ceremony since I was so slow:)

April gets three pictures because well, two epic races.  3rd 50 K attempted and 2nd finished!  Prairie Spirit 50K in the books.  It stormed, rained, hailed, blew, and stormed some more.  Mel and I persevered and got er done!

May

Ran the Bill Snyder Highway Half for the first time!  What a fun course as it is point to point.  I will be back for more and maybe a PR?

Typical Kansas spring!  May was about recovery before the next cycle of racing.

June

June found us doing our first mud run!  We had so much fun even if Andrew wouldn't do half the obstacles!  I did as I don't have any problems being silly!!!  Can't wait to do this one again next year, and maybe little red will actually play in the mud with me!

July

The dogs pretty much ran with me all summer thanks to getting up at 4 am most days to hit the road!  Stella even joined us end of June beginning of July.

August

August usually means local 10Ks.  Unfortunately, the weather had other plans.  Horrible rain and storms canceled the Brew to Shoe 10K (Pat was dressed as Phelps the swimmer) and I ended up volunteering for the other local 10k, the Speedy PD.

August gets 3 pics because I got to race with my best girlie in the whole wide world.  Back to School 5K for my son's kindergarten school/PTO.  Andrew ran the kid's race again.  Look at that form!!!!  Those kids were rocking it during the kid's race!  Next year I think we will be ready to conquer the mile run and the kid's run.

September

Another hot and humid summer meant a hot fall.  We still got some afternoon and post work runs in.  Gearing up for Chicago and my first timed 50K race!

October

October was one busy month as well!  My second Chicago Marathon and my 3rd marathon overall!  

I battled through a hot day and a hateful hip, so no PR, but I so love Chicago, and my love will bring me back again and again.  I was SO excited to celebrate my 40th birthday year with the Chicago Marathon's 40th birthday year!

Plus my very first pacing gig at the Kansas City Half. I really, really enjoyed pacing and can't wait to do it again!!!!!  I always knew my big mouth could be used for the greater good:) . I paced the 2:40 group and was a back pacer.  I made some new friends and helped a few people to a PR.  Goal met and exceeded!  Thanks to Lindsey and Livinglovingrunner for inspiring me to try this out and giving me TONS of advice before to calm my nerves.

November

November started out with my favorite trail run with my best girlie, Tails on the Trail 5K!  Stella and I are on the brochure and we love the cause it represents, so any year we are physically able to, we are so there!  The course is a mix of flat and open and trail and I just love it.

AND I finished my very first timed event!  All races are timed per se, but this one had a time limit of 50 K in 6 hours.  While I was slightly short in my goal, I did finish the distance and got 50K in 6 hours and 8 minutes!  I thought running on a 1.356 mile loop would kill me mentally, but I really enjoyed it.  I liked the fact that my stuff was always a mile away and I didn't have to be a pack mule and carrying all.the.things.  Shiny belt buckle, maybe next year????

Of course November ended with a new tradition, our local Turkey Trot.  What a fun and fast course with perfect weather to help.  Got a HUGE PR in the 5K, finally breaking into the 26s.  Thank you distance running for giving me some huge ups in the speed department.

December

December started with our GOTR 5K!!!!  I am SO proud of these girls and how hard they have worked.   In fact, we are trying to figure out how to start a run club so some of the girls can continue to run through the year.  We are not doing a spring semester team, so it is going to be hard to wait that long if we don't figure something out! 

Training started back for my next full marathon late December and I can't wait to do some actual runs on the course AND have my dog stella by my side if the weather allows on race day!

I hope you enjoyed my look back as I sure did!  I try and take lots of pictures and will continue to do so in 2018 because my new phone doesn't care about the cold and has a portable battery as part of it's case.   I am still thinking about fall 2018 and will let you know as soon as I decide what I am up to! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Recovery Week 5

Why wear one of the items when you can wear three of the items for the week of festivity?  

Monday:  Rest day and wrestling.  We still aren't on our normal Tuesday/Thursday schedule with wrestling.  Lots going on at the high school where we practice.  Makes me SO happy that Andrew is so excited every night it is wrestling night and cries when it gets canceled.  So many of his friends are wrestling this year and I think they are all having a ball with it!  While I don't regret him starting last year, I would recommend to all, let them start when they are in kindergarten and have lots of other friends also wrestling.

You know I am going to bite you for this right?

Tuesday:  We did a switcheroo on the schedule this weekend.  Mel had the day off and didn't want to get up at 4 am, although she still had to get up at 4:30 to meet us all at 5 :) . We did an easy 4 to ease into the week.  The dogs were kind of being butt heads.  They kept running in front of us and then stopping, something they very rarely do to Mel and I.  I am not sure why they are doing this and I wish they would stop.  I don't want to loose our fun new running partner.  I guess we may have to keep them on leash for a while if they can't stop stopping.

Holiday sock day.  When did my kiddo get SO tall???

Wednesday: Strength.  YES!  Finally.  After having yet another day of doing a tiny bit for KSU and a tiny bit for Coleman Electric, and still having most of the day to fill, I told myself NO MORE EXCUSES!  The routine my coach had me do only took me 30 minutes to do and I felt so good after wards.  Now help keep me accountable!  I had thought about cross training by biking as well but the 20 mph wind kind of quashed that thought. Instead my undergrad, who is graduating today after being my lab mate for 5 years, and I walked to down town and got lunch and then walked back and I walked to pick up Andrew from school and walked back.  I also later on took another freezer meal class.  We had not only finished our last class but had recreated a few of our favorite meals, so we were ready for a new round of meals.  These meals have really, really gotten us back into cooking regularly and I have even started doing some cooking!  Who am I?????  I was brave and took on a recipe that was a little more challenging this time but had a partner so kind of cheated.  Even helped with another recipe that was super hard and didn't screw it up :)

I made Chicken Cacitore in my class and I can't wait to try it!

Thursday:  Speedwork.  Same as last week, 2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy x 8 for a total of 6 miles.  None of us were feeling this run.  Amber had a sick kiddo all night so she got some extra zzzzzs and skipped, Mel woke up late and had to rush, and I just felt like crap the whole run.  I had no gas in the tank, my left hip of all things hurt (WHY?), and my tummy was not a happy camper in  that it felt super unsettled like it was hungry the whole run.  I could barely walk up the steps when I got home, and I am hoping it is just a ton of soreness from my work out yesterday. 

Friday:  Rest day.  My hip is not happy again, but I probably should say now that I don't think the pain is from my hip per se but the glute area.  I think the top of my hamstring is not happy because when I do my running man stationary exercise, that area gets happy.  My hip still gets tight and the trigger points can get a little angry, but as long as I do my exercises and use my roller, I am good to go.  Must do more rehab/prehab exercises for sure. 

Also, still trying to figure out what to make of Andrew's latest parent teacher conference.  I had yet another one Thursday afternoon and I am just not sure where to go with the latest round of information.  We are still sort of battling his weird tummy issues, but now also battling him just not wanting to participate in reading group and also in carpet time.  It's so weird because he can be such an out going kid, so him not wanting to participate and talk and sing is just off to me.  The teacher is now worried he isn't progressing like he should be, so they are going to break his day down into smaller more manageable goals that earn him special play time.  I hope this works, finger's crossed.  I swear, raising kids is so much like dog training that it is scary.  We are splitting instead of lumping :)

Saturday:  Long run.  I honestly hemmed and hawed about doing a long run or just getting my shorter recovery run done.  I tried to sleep in, but little man had other ideas and was up and talking at 6 am.  Got him to sort of sleep for 30 more minutes before we officially got up.  Then just took my time eating and getting ready.  My run wasn't bad, just enjoyed my podcast and the snow geese flying over.  Post run, we headed to Manhattan to see Santa at Hyvee.  We saw him last year and he was SO good with Andrew, so we were hoping it was the same guy again and it WAS!  Andrew was still a little shy, but he did talk with Santa about his tree and his Thomas super station that he so wants.

Between the Santa at the Hyvee and the Santa at the Union Hall, we are very lucky to have such patient, wonderful men playing Santa.  We also checked out a new to us comic book/collectible/coffee shop/game store.  I hope andrew and I can come back and learn how to play pokemon some time.

Sunday:  Recovery run 4 miles. I honestly haven't had a day in a long long time where I woke up and had 0 desire to run, but this was the day.  I ran a low grade fever all day and just felt overall run down.  Even though I had a great night's sleep,  I wanted to sleep all day and after grocery shopping, I went right back to sleep for a few hours, but still didn't feel better. 

Have a great week!  I am downing Zicam and praying that I am not coming down with some stupid virus.  Two more school days and little man will be on Christmas break!

Recovery week 4

As always, here are some random pictures.  You're welcome (and yes I said that in my head like Maui).

I am a sucker for personalized TRAIN ornaments

Coach let me decide if I wanted structure until my next training cycle.  She gave me the option of a payment free month and me just doing what I wanted when I wanted, or structure and a plan, and I voted for structure.  When I said the S word structure, I think she mistakenly took that for the other S word, speed work.  I was a little surprised to see speed work back on the schedule so soon.  I really need to think about my goals for this spring to see where we need to go with my speed work.  Part of me would like one more crack at a 2 hour half, but part of me is kind of enjoying not having time goals and letting PRs happen as the may.  My A race is certainly my trail marathon for sure, but Running with the Cows is post my marathon, so there is that.

Monday:  Rest day.  Which turned into oops, wrestling day at the last minute, and oh yeah you didn't get this ambassador program you wanted.  Bummer.  I need to work more on building up my social media and moving this blog to a better platform, so I get it.  I have a couple more ambassador programs  out there, so holding out hope that I might get one of those!  The most important to me is the AMR ambassador program, so I guess I will be checking and rechecking my emails until I hear back :).

The last selfie post phone screen destruction

Post wrestling and pre eating, I was skipping in the parking lot with Andrew, and my phone, which has not been in a case due to it's weird over heating issue/shutting down issue hit the ground at just the right angle to completely shatter the screen.  Of course i have almost a month left till I can upgrade.  Insert screaming into pillow.  Lucky for me, I have a super great grad student/friend who can repair screens.  She quickly directed me on what to buy and we found a screen I could pay a little bit more for shipping and have by Wednesday.  I really, really don't like not having a phone.  I listen to podcasts, talk to my mom, update my facebook, you know all the important things in life on that stupid phone.  

Tuesday:  Speed work.  1 mile warm up.  2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy x 8.  Cool down till you hit 6.  We had three of us plus both dogs, and we had a blast.  It was feels like 18 when we started, and feels like 16 by the time we ended.  We all were at different speeds and different recoveries, but we ended up running the warm up and cool down together, and got some Christmas light looking in at the end.

Wednesday:  Rest day.

Naughty Elf, stay off of my medals!

Thursday:  An easy 4.  Nothing like a good recovery run post some hard speed work.  We are all still trying to get back into the routine and we are all struggling.  I have a fear since we have a new member to our running duo, that I am going to sleep in and miss our run, so I am waking up at 4 am on the dot every morning, go figure.

After attempting to repair my phone screen and being unsuccessful, I threw myself on the mercy of the minions at the sprint store.  I begged for them to help me figure out anyway to speed up my upgrade.  After much button pushing and hmmmming the kid at the store decided the best way to circumvent the fact that I was NOT due for an upgrade till the 1st of the year was to add a second line and deactivate the first line.  I got a great  (I think) deal on a new iphone 7, plus I got a new tablet on my data plan that we can use for trips to Tennessee or trips period since little man's tablet is only good on wifi.

Friday:  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  Bad me.  We did have another one of our freezer meals and this one was delicious.  After the first couple were just meh, the rest were AMAZING!  This was a cilantro lime chicken that you cooked in the crock pot all day and the whole house smelled so good!  We served it with tortilla chips and sour cream, but I bet it would be good over rice as well.

Saturday:  8 miles and then MY FAVORITE MURDER PODCAST!

First we ran.  8 miles of sun, cold, and podcasts.  My new phone is wonderful as the temperature doesn't seem to phase the battery life at all!

Then we ran to town to get some stuff for Andrews school's week of holiday fun money money money.  If I were a pintrest mom, I could have made all of this stuff, but alas, I am not, so to target we went.  We found a really ugly Christmas sweater that he should be able to wear for a couple of years, elf ears, some Christmas socks, and some bows.  

We also got a tree from the local tree stand.  It's a little smaller than our usual tree we like to pick out,  but that was all they had left, and andrew picked it out, so it's ours.  Honestly I think it will be nice having a slightly smaller tree this year.  Less to decorate!

Later, we headed to KC to see the live taping of one of my most favorite podcasts, My Favorite Murder.  First we went shopping at the Legends, where as usual, I stocked up on stuff for my kiddo.  I wish my clothes went on sale for 2 and 3 dollars a piece!  WOW!  Then we headed downtown to eat and see the show.  Unfortunately the Yard House, where we wanted to eat and have a drink or two pre show had a 2 hour wait.  Instead we ate the House of Protein, and were pleasantly surprised.  They had some amazing food!!!!  The sweet potatoes needed a tiny bit of sugar, but other than that, YUM!  My egg whites and steak breakfast burrito was delicious.  

Robin did a great job with our tickets and we were 6 rows from the stage!!!!  This theater was beautiful and I took lots of pictures of the woodwork and lights and ceilings.  We got one drink and settled in for the show.  Let's just say I laughed, I cried a little (i am a sap), and I clapped and screamed for almost 2 hours.  SSDGM baby!!!!!

 

Sunday:  4 easy miles.  After not getting in till midnight and then not really getting much good sleep, I woke up feeling not so great.  I had only had one drink, so not really hung over, but just not feeling great due to lack of sleep.  Apparently I have become an old woman and I need like 12 hours of sleep a night to feel good.  Of course I had a million things to do, so after two cups of coffee, I tried to tame the laundry/dishes/dog hair tumbleweeds.  We also grocery shop on sunday mornings and we wanted to recreate some of the freezer meal dishes, so we ran to Manhattan to get groceries.  Post running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I finally got out the door for a run...in shorts and a t shirt!  Is this winter time?  So weird for Kansas in December.  I decided to run solo with Miss Stella and we just took it easy.

Post running, we decided to finally get our Christmas stuff out and start decorating.  It's really getting fun as Andrew gets older.  He can actually help put ornaments on the tree and help daddy put lights on.  Starting to feel a little more festive, even if it is super warm outside and it doesn't feel like winter at all. 

Our tree with the Snowmen glasses on

Have a great week!  I feel like I am finally getting back into the groove, so time to start getting that strength training back on as well as ALL of my prehab and rehab exercises.   Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings!

Year in Running 2017

It always is super fun to look back at my year in racing and pick out my favorite races, experiences, and runs!  I am planning a year in racing in pictures blog post because I did that last year and had so much fun looking back.  In 2017, I cut back on the number of races I participated in as I increased my distance.  I tried a spring and fall marathon for the first time, as well as a spring and fall 50K, and did my first "timed" race in which I ran for 6 hours trying to chase that 50K belt buckle.   I also jumped into the world of pacing and really, really enjoyed it!  I can't wait till 2018 to try some more pacing and some new to me races!

Best Race Experience:  This is pretty easy as it is ALL about Chicago!!!!!  The Chicago marathon is not just about the race, but also for my hubby and I to get a little mini vacation for just the two of us, since little man stays with Grammy.  We love the city of Chicago and can't wait to go back and visit more of it each time we go back.  We always try and see different sights when we go and this year we did the City Bus tour and we got to see more of the entire city, not just what you can see from the river tour and the area surrounding our hotel.  We also stayed the night post the race instead of flying back that night, and had fun just laying around in the hotel room watching tv and resting.  The race itself, while tough due to weather conditions, was fun as always, and if my hip had not checked out, I think i could have had an even better race time.  Thanks for letting me celebrate my 40th year with you celebrating your 40th year Chicago!  See you in 10 years for our 50th????

Best Run:  I know this is going to be weird to say, but my best run was running for almost 7 hours in the rain, hail, wind gusts, and cold that we experienced at the Heartland 50.  Conquering those conditions was an amazing feeling, one I will never ever forget.  Even better, I got to do this race with my running partner Mel.  While we didn't run the first half together, we hooked up at the half way point and stayed together till the end.  We sang silly songs, crossed some pretty scary water crossings, and she pulled my butt over some super slick cattle guards.  I am for sure going to have to revisit this race some day but hopefully with better weather conditions!

Best New Piece of Running Gear:  I pretty much stick to what I know works and don't really add too much new stuff BUT for this year for my 40th birthday, my hubby splurged and got me a new Garmin 235 and it is the bomb dot com.  I have had the 230 for years but didn't have heart rate capability or all the other fun additions that the 235 has in store.  I am still getting use to all of the data it throws at me, but I am loving the heart rate information and the sleep information. 

Best Running Advice you have Received all year:  Sleep is the best recovery tool you have, use it wisely!  I have been trying really hard to hit the hay much much earlier than I use to, and that goal has been way more attainable as little man is getting more tired during the day thanks to kindergarten (and NOT napping).

Most Inspirational Runner:  I know that Shalane Flannagen is going to be most people's pick and her win at NYC was amazing, but my favorite new to me runner is Devon Yanko, ultra runner extraordinaire.  I heard her on a podcast this year and she just said so many things that just clicked with me! She also has been through some really horrible and crazy situations and lived to tell about it and her words are so powerful for me.  Check out her blog posts here, you won't be disappointed.  

Favorite Picture from a Run or Race this year: Okay can I have a top three please?  Seriously if you made me pick I guess the picture from the finish line of the Heartland 50 tells the best tale.

Relief.  Major relief.

Race Experience you would repeat in a heartbeat:  This one is easy because I already am.  The Bill Snyder half marathon is a race I am repeating, this year as a pacer.  I really love the point to point concept and the fact that the race is down hill.  While that may prove challenging to my pacing group, in 2018, I love running through the city I work in, and BONUS you can't beat finishing right by the stadium and getting your medals from the legend himself, Bill Synder.

Can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for me!!!  Have a great racing year!