my achy back!

So I am on day 4 of being on rest because I tweaked my back! 5K jingle bell run tomorrow -- which I have been VERY excited for. Now I may be forced to "hobble"  it. Boo. -- I'll give a complete recap on the event tomorrow.

Half marathon training!

My plan was to start my half-marathon training yesterday. I am not off schedule by any means, I actually ran more then planned up at the track with my father-in-law. One good thing about running at the track with John is he pushes me on. The last couple times we have run together, he has me attempt to run a 10 minute mile for our last mile. Usually our 4th or 5th mile. By this time, I am tired... I don't think I can do it.. and I feel like I am going to die halfway through.. but you know what? Last night I hit 9 minutes and 53 seconds. The time before that it was 10 minutes and 10 seconds. So I AM getting better.

Now onto half marathon training talk. I found a 12 week program. Now my half-marathon is actually going to be in April, so that is 5 months away. So I should be very prepared for it.... I'll have to maintain my fitness for awhile, but I am totally ok with running some extra long distance for an extended period of time. I hope to get my milage up, and then maybe even start to work on some speed. See if I can get this thing done in under 2 hours. Not likely..... but a girl can try! :)

For my 12 week progam, I am actually going to start on week 5. The first 4 weeks are basically the same milage I have been maintaining for the last 2 months so I dont think I am going to start over.... I guess you could say then, that I have been training for my half-marathon since the end of October! haha! I might find a different one to attempt earlier in the 2012 year.

Well enough for now. I need to get back to work! Catch you in a few days.

Wet and Rainy November...

Training in November has been a love hate relationship. Last night, on my planned 6 mile run, I only made it about 3.5 miles before I had to call it quits. The rain was coming down so hard that I soaked through pretty much everything I was wearing. 

My Father-in-law received some rain gear last week for his birthday. I am seriously considering picking up some of that for my extra rainy runs! Who cares how weird I look -- it really beats having to cut your run shorts because roads are flooding and there isn't a dry stop on you. 

Well enough complaining for one day. I hope I have found the solution for at least my feet getting wet. I ordered myself a pair of Sockwas. Now these are basically a neoprene sock with some plastic on the bottom. But I believe they are more or less waterproof. I think my Vibram Five Fingers need to rest on days of pouring rain. So I plan to give these Sockwas a shot! I will let you know how it goes. 

For now, on Saturday I did a nice 6.4 mile run. I realized that I DO have my first 12K coming up in 3 weeks and I have neglected to get my distance high enough to handle that without injury. I will be attempting a "12K trial run" this coming Saturday for my long run. But for the mid week runs, I have a long 6 mile run planned for Wednesday, but I think for Tuesday and Thursday I will hang out at the 4 mile range. ---

Looks like overall, my goal of hitting 80 miles run in the month of November is going to be hard to beat. I will fall at a solid 70 miles run, but 80 is a tall order. Not to worry, December will be (more rainy) but more intense. I hope to hit a total of 100 miles run with an average of 25 miles per week. 

In addition, I have decided.... who needs to wait until January to start new goals? Half Marathon training starts now! 

Catch you later, hopefully with Sockwalicious news! 

A bunch of running!

It has been 10 days since we spoke last and I have really been pounding the pavement. I have clocked a couple 5+ miles runs, which is GREAT considering that my 12K run is coming up in a little under a month.

I ran the greenlake gobble 5K, which proved to be a blast and I beat the time for my previous 5K by 1 minute. I have my next 5K coming up in about 2 weeks and that I hope I will be able to shave off even 1 more minute from my time.

I still had to walk for a little bit in it because I was pushing myself pretty hard. I think if I can push myself to the same speed and not allow myself to walk and to keep pushing on, I think I should be able to clear off a minute from my time. I hope!

Today I hit a trail run for the first time. It was a blast and I plan to add one in every week on either a Saturday or a Sunday.

Sorry I have been so bad about writing, but I will be better. For now -- Happy Thanksgiving and I will catch up with you later.

Oh where were my running legs?

Tonight I run a slow slog of a 2.5 mile -- I felt totally unmotivated to keep going.

Although, I did download twilight on audio to listen to on my repetitive grinds of winter runs. That was actually pretty nice!

Need to pick up the distance for the rest of the month! It is going to be a tall order to hit my 80 total miles goal for the month.

Running in the dark!

I hit the streets for a planned 5 mile run. I walked out of my apartment and started jogging to the street. The wind was howling and the rain was pounding. Basically, it was pretty dang miserable. I am trotting along thinking things to myself like.... "this is real dedication" or "... This isn't even winter yet... and this is awful and miserable.. but I'll keep going." -- Basically I had to coach myself to keep running and not run screaming back to the apartment, cuddle up with a blanket, and a nice warm cup of tea!

Well after my plowing against the rain and wind for 3 miserably slow miles, the power went out. Now I am already running in the dark, but with house lighting and street lighting, it really isn't toooo dark. I had decided not to bring my head lamp today because with the pouring rain, it just reflects and makes it HARDER to see. But now I am out.. in the middle of a pitch black neighborhood without any lighting. --- with 2 scheduled miles to go.

I start to walk a little bit... let my eyes adjust to the new pitch-blackness which is my running route. After about a minute I start to slowly jog... get a little bit down the street and slip on a pile of leaves and fall on my face.

Needless to say, I did not finish my last two scheduled miles and went straight home.

Long run and plans for the future

Tonight I had a late night run. Started my trek at about 8:30... But suprisingly the moon was full and bright without a cloud in sight.. I put in an easy 4.5 mile run.

12k in a month
2012 is the year of the half marathon
2013 is the year of the marathon

Hard run...

Today I was up at the track with my father-in-law. Ran about 4.75 miles with our last mile being the fastest. I find that I have a harder time continuing to run at the track compared to when I do my normal street running. My legs tend to hurt a little more too... But I think I just push myself harder.

On a side note today, I think I am officially getting to the point where running seems more natural then walking. I find myself running to my car in the morning. Running across the street to safeway. Jogging in place when I have a minute.... Etc... I never thought the day would come.. But running is more natural then running!

3.2? Easy!

Today I ran from my apartment to a park we like to take our puppies too. It is only a short 3.2 miles away but I haven't run that particular path since last June. Throughout the run, I was surprised about how strong I felt. The last time I tried it I remember struggling to make it to the point the stopped today. I hope I continue to feel strong --- For my first 12K is cropping up in about a month! :)

Been a few months...

So I got out of the habit of blogging -- shortly after I began. August was a good month for me, I ran strong and was very motivated to keep going.. then September hit.

For some reason I only seem to be able to maintain my energy for one month! Then I have a nice month of sitting on my butt and totally regressing in everything that I just worked for the prior month. So August = Running strong and September = Well not much of anything.

October was a GREAT month for me. I regained my enthusiasm and ran 57 miles the whole month. This puts October as the highest mileage month since I have begun running. For the month of November, I have vowed to not loose my momentum and to keep running! My goal is a 80 mile month, maintaining a 20 mile a week base. In December my goal is 100 miles month with 25 mile per week base.

In October I ran my first 5 mile race. I participated in the black cat run in Tacoma, Wa. It was a blast and I finished with flying colors which really boosted my confidence. I am taking a break from races for the month of November but in December I will be doing a jungle bell run 5K and my first 12K race. In January I have 2 5K races on the schedule.

I hope to finish out 2011 strong and have a twice as amazing running season in 2012. All starting with my resolution run on January first! :)

I will attempt to start diligently logging each run from this day forth. But no guarantees.

Night! -- Mo

Rough run

Tonight my run was a little rough. It wasn't to hot and it wasn't to long, I was just kind of tired. I also made chicken, rice, and bell peppers for dinner. Which is DELICIOUS... but not the best running fuel for some reason.. the rice just kind of acts like a brick in my tummy.

I have a 4.5 mile easy run on the schedule tomorrow and a nice 5 miler for Thursday. I ordered a new running skirt which should be in on Thursday. I am excited to give it a try. I think I am going to run the Redmond puget powerline trail. Maybe I will toss in a run in bridal trails this weekend too. Not Sure, but hopefully the roughness of today is ended for the rest of the week. I really want to maintain a 20 mile per week run schedule.

Wish me luck.

- Mo

A week in a nut shell

Last week I run 17.3 miles. My goal was 20, but I ended up skipping a planned day. This week I expect to hit that goal and hope to maintain 20 miles a week as my base.

Yesterday the hubby and I went up to the north bend outlet store. Popped into the nike store and found the cutest running jacket. Although it is still to hot to wear this jacket, living in Seattle, the weather will start to go downhill in a hurry in a month or so.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday I am planning a 5 mile run. Wish me luck!

longest run in a month --

On June 17th, I twisted my foot somehow. This wasn't something I did by running, but rather by walking. It took me about 2 weeks for my foot to feel good enough to the point where I felt comfortable running on it. My first run after the injury was a month ago.

During this time I had a slight fall off the wagon. I was still running, but I found it harder for me to motivate myself to get out the door. So my mileage slipped. I was running about 20 miles a week, and after my slip-up, I fell more into a 8-12 mile a week average.

Since I still wanted to work on my new found hobby, part of the reason why I created this blog was to keep myself motivated and visually track my progress.

Now 1.5 months since my look foot miss-hap, I finally am back up to a 4 mile run. 2 more weeks I expect I will be back up to 5 mile runs. I really want to set my base at a 20-25 mile a week average. Once I can maintain this for a month or two, then I will start training for a half-marathon.

So there you have it! Tonight I ran 4 miles ---- and I felt great! PLUS my vibrams are still holding strong and my feet are not sore today!

Today was my rest day. Rest I did, from running that is! I actually took a long walk with my best friend and her dogs.

I ate a whole bunch of dinner before the walk, so I felt really sluggish and out of shape. I know this is not the case, but note to self in the future, you can eat to much food before a walk.

I am looking forward to the weekend. I hope to do a long run tomorrow. I think I am going to switch up my planned running schedule. I am going to start planning my long runs on Saturday followed by a light easy run on Sunday. I will do some speed work on Wednesdays. I am not currently training for an event, so for now, I am just enjoying running and having fun beating the streets.

On my walk tonight, my vibrams didn't irritate my feet AT ALL! It was fantastic, we will see how they hold up on tomorrows run.

For now, I am ready to watch some TV, relax, and get some sleep.

Finally on track!

Today I actually was on target. I ran what I planned. :) The whole run I had on my vibrams which proved to be a little more painful then yesterday (with the rubbing) but I expect that to go away within a week.
I will write more tomorrow, goodnight!

First run with Vibram Komoto Sports!

Broke out my new Vibrams for my run tonight. Only went a 1.5, rather then a 3 mile like planned. This is just not really a great week to follow my plan. Today, I got a late start and it was starting to get dark.

The Komoto sports are very nice. My feet felt light and free. I tripped in them once, but my feet were pretty much protected. They rubbed a little bit on my heel, which is to be expected with a brand new shoe. I expect as soon as my small blister heals, these shoes will be perfect!

Sounds like my best friend wants to start walking with me. I am excited about it, I love having time to gossip and chat and go over the day with someone. I think I may have to switch to REALLY doing my run in the morning. As much as I glare at my alarm clock, choose not to get out of bed, and snooze for 2 hours. I think I need to find a way to convince myself more so that it is a good idea in the A.M.

That will be the plan for next week. For tonight, I am going to finished watching my DVRed recording of Franklin and Bash. Tomorrow I WILL do the planned run.

Have a great evening and a wonderful day tomorrow.

This week is off to a not so great start

Yesterday I was planning a nice easy run. I ended up being so busy during the day (despite the fact that I had the day off). I just didn't really make the time to go for my run. "oh well" I say and decided I would do it today instead. I always seem to have a hard time finding the motivation to run on Mondays, but on Tuesdays I can always seem to get out the door....

But the problem for today. My husband had a seizure at work. He hasn't had one in about 4 years, so I was totally stunned when I got the call from his boss. We ended up at the emergency room.

Emergency room time moves at a different pace then the rest of the world. I don't know, I never seem to make it out of the emergency room in less then 4 hours. We didn't get home until the time in which I typically go for a run. 8:30 pm.

At this time, I haven't eaten anything in hours and I have a sick/semi-drugged hubby to attend too. So no run today.

Tomorrow, I will get back on the wagon. I want to slowly work my way up to a 10k come fall!

Running at 80 degrees!

So my original plan for the day was to run an easy 4 miler. Which I totally would have been able to do.... except things never go according to plan.

I hop on the road to do my normal route, I get my music going and realize my headphones are starting to go out. I decide to just keep at it instead of turning back to get different ones. Mistake number 1. After about .5 miles I was super irritated by this. So I turned to start heading home. The top I also decided to wear was just a normal cotton t-shirt which proved to be too hot. Mistake number 2.

At the one mile mark, I was at my front door. Switched out my headphones and changed my top. Headed out the door to try to complete 3 more miles.

Well I was able to do about half that. I went another 1.6 miles and I was blistering hot. At least I live in Washington, I am sure in 2 days we will be back to rain and 60 degree weather.

Tomorrow morning I am heading out to hike Little Si with my bro. Then in the evening hopefully it will be cool enough to continue on schedule and do an easy 4 miler.

Vibram Komoto Sport

I picked up some vibram komoto sports today! This is kind of bad, I shouldn't have bought them, but I couldn't help myself once I got them on my feet.

I plan to do my run with them tonight, hopefully they were worth the investment.

3 months in

Hello Everyone --

This is my first official post. I started running about 3 months ago. I use to be a smoker and couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded. Now 3 months into my non-smoking, running lifestyle. I have been able to run up to 6 miles without stopping.

Right now, I can pretty easily run a good 5k without to much strain. My goal concerning this is to increase my speed. My speed for a 5k currently stands at about 34 minutes. I would like to get this down to about 24 minutes before October.

I also hope to work over the next year to be able to run a half marathon next spring. I have been slacking a little bit of the last month. (been pretty warm out) But I hope to get back on track with a 4-5 day a week training schedule.

With this blog, I hope to track my journey. Not only with my running goals, but with my life in general.

I am married to a wonderful man, he basically understands me 100% which is the main thing a girl needs. He is also very supportive of whatever I decide to do. ((i.e. running -- he is my number one fan!)

I am the proud parent of two mini dachshunds -- one cute and cuddly lover and one anti-social -- over the next year I am going to be working on bringing my anti-social doxie up to speed with her brother.

I am going back to finish my BA in about 20 days!

I will elaborate on all these things more in the future, but this stands to be a basic introduction of who I am.

-- Mo