Holy Shit!!

Oh Yeah....  I ran 4 miles... and it felt AMAZING!!   Well, I worked from home today and had every crappy file we have!  ARGH!  By the time 4:30 came around I was spent but not finished...so I changed into my running clothes and SEE YA!   Before I left I mapped out a 4 mile run because I had decided to start increasing my mileage and felt today was a great day to start- any chance to run in the evening sounds good to me.   Oh, and I also had my new Nike Tempo shorts and long sleeved running jersey on which for the record-was a dream to run in!   Well, I did my normal loop up around the school then headed out to La Veta to zig zag every street between the school and home to make the 4 miles....  probably about 3 miles in my knee started hurting a bit and I was starting to get tired BUT I did NOT stop!   I talked myself thru it- remembering things I've heard or read from other runners...like you should feel some pain because your pushing your body to it's limits.  I also remembered reading that as long as the pain does not change my stride and I'm not having to compensate for it and can still run then I'm ok.... and I reminded myself not to give up on myself that I would be OH SO HAPPY if I finished the 4 miles.  So I kept on running and I did it!   I am so very happy and proud of myself and can't wait to do it again.   I timed myself and it took around 46 minutes.  I always forget to stop the timer but shortly after stopping it said 46 min...

Gobble Gobble

Where to begin....   ok after 2 really good runs in a row,  I had high hopes of setting a new PR for the 5k Turkey Trot.  I'll save you the suspense- it didn't happen.  BUT and I say BUT because I give myself and Michelle and Josh all KUDOS for even running the darn thing!  Let me say that I was woke up this morning by the sound of thunder... yes thunder.  By the time I even poured my cup of coffee it was raining buckets.  I was still hopeful thinking that maybe by the time I left or worse case by the time we had to run it would be over....  so I get ready and leave (still pouring).  Drive to Dana Point and about 5 min from my exit I hear a "special report" on the radio that goes something like this "There is a storm system approx 15 miles off the coast of Dana Point (yep that's where I'm going) that is capable of producing a WATER SPOUT.  All boats and watercraft are advised to take safe harbor and people are instructed to stay indoors"   What the foolio!?!  I'm driving right into the storm to run a 5k!  I must be crazy... but I continue on because we're already this far we may as well "check it out" right?  So we get there, by now it's only drizzling,  park about 1 mile away from the start line.  Start walking thru the river that was once a street, shoes are completely soaked thru and we're there.  We figure we drove all that way in the rain and are already wet so we may as well run.  Then there's the fact that I had about 12 people donate to the cause, the least I can do is run!  So we run...  by the time we actually started running it had stopped so it wasn't bad at all.  Josh ran an awesome time and mine was 37:12 which sucked but oh well...it was fun after all.   

On Saturday morning Michelle and I met at 8:00am for a 40 mile ride that ended up being way too ambitious considering we had not ridden in about 2 months and did a 5k two days earlier...so we ended up with 30 miles that took every last drop of effort on my part.  I seriously don't think I could have rode one more mile unless my life depended on it...  but it was a beautiful day and it was fun!

All in all I'm very happy because I ended up running about 9 miles and riding 30 miles for the week.  Not a bad week of exercise if you ask me.  YAY!!

2 for 2

Woot Woot! I'm on a roll.... ain't no stopping me now... I was expecting a not so good run today since I ran Sunday evening and had such an awesome run.  But I took off, thought I'd do an easy 2 miles since I ran 3.2 on Sunday and I have a 5k Thursday morning I didn't want to push it....I really want to break my PR of 36:02 on Thursday.  Anyway I went out and did my usual loop but threw in a little zig zag across a couple blocks and added a half mile to my run so ended up with 2.5 and felt really good.  I'm so excited because the shins felt good and I felt good.  I'll be really excited too since this is the first week I've actually gotten 3 fairly long runs in... (well for me they are long... )  If I can keep this up for a couple more weeks I'm going to start adding distance to work up to the 4 mile mark...there are some trail runs Michelle and I are going to do after the first of the year and they are 4 miles...  Todays run was once again in the evening...  my coughing is worse in the morning so on Thursday I'm going to have to get up really early, take some meds and hit the trail...   well gotta go, time for The Biggest Loser!

ciao!

one foot in front of the other...

It sounds easy, one foot in front of the other... that's basically what running is.  But geez, could we get some consistency here?!  Yesterday evening Michelle and I and the kids all met over at Yorba Regional Park to get a run in.  We had not run together since our last 5k.  The kids had their bike and scooter and our plan was to run 3 miles on the bike trail along the riverbed, but when we got there we realized the path thru the park is a 5k trail, so we decided to run that.  We started out together and then about half way thru I inched ahead of her and I had one of the best runs I have ever run!  I felt good, my legs felt good and everything just melded together... which explains my question- why can't they all be like that?   I was a little worried early in the day because I have still been coughing alot from my "smoke run" last week.  But I didn't cough at all while I was running.  I wonder too if it had anything to do with the time of day- evening vs. morning?  I just wish I could feel that good on every run but for some reason it feels like every other run is good and every other one is just so so or a struggle...  I better try and get my "so so" run in before thursday mornings 5k!  I'm really looking forward to it!  

Running on empty...

Well after last Monday's run in the smoke filled air I gave myself 3 days of rest, not so much because I thought I needed the rest but more because I've been coughing up gunk all week.  I ignored the warning that the air quality was poor and ran anyway.  I didn't smell smoke in the air so it must be fine- NOT!  Note to self....don't ignore the "poor air quality warnings" no matter how the air smells!  Anyway,  todays run was less than spectacular.  I had good intentions of running 5k to try and gauge my time for next Thursdays Turkey Trot that Michelle, Josh and I are running Thanksgiving morning.  But I got about 1/5 mile into my run and the wheels fell off my bus.  My nose was running and I had phantom shin pains...  I say phantom because I still walk a fine line between shins that are fine and shin splints- no going willy nilly for me and running 2 days in a row or anything CRAZY like that...oh no!   My shins have felt fine all week for the most part but somehow when I get out and run I start to feel the ache...and I haven't been doing this long enough to know when to run thru the pain and when to stop.  I do know that even the most seasoned runners say the first mile sucks so usually if I can get past the first mile I'm ok but for some reason sometimes I just stop running and walk without even realizing I'm doing it.  I really need to work on being conscious and running thru the walls that come up.  For me running is as much a mental workout as it is a physical one.  Which is completely unlike riding which I could do all day everyday... Last week on the Biggest Loser Jillian said something that totally stuck with me and I need to apply that here-  she said something to the effect of "pain is fear leaving the body, physical pain and emotional pain.  You are allowed to feel the pain but you are NOT allowed to let it hold you back"   I'm going to give it another shot on Sunday.  I think I will run in the evening since that seems to be a better running time for me than mornings.