First D.C. Run

After many days of packing, moving and slowly unpacking boxes, I set out for a run in my new city. It was 68 degrees, sunny and I wasn't at work, so basically a perfect day. I only did 2 miles because I had many boxes to get back to unpacking, but it was wonderful! I did a city run and not through Rock Creek Park as I originally planned so I could try to get my bearings for navigating the area.

I also wanted to see where I would be meeting the running group I joined on Saturday morning to train for a 10k on May 20. Should be doing a half, but this group training was starting my first Saturday in D.C. so I just went for it. This is my first time training for a run with a group and I'm excited to meet new runners and to hopefully improve my speed.

Making Running a Priority

Running always seems to take a backseat when something else is going on in my life. Last week, I was sick and didn’t set one foot on a treadmill or trail. My last run was Feb. 3. Today, I am back at the treadmill after work, hoping and praying my week off doesn’t mean any ground I gained with speed has already diminished.

I’m also preparing to move to Washington, D.C. My husband tells me I will find so many people to run with there.  I hope this is true because I need a very specific running partner—a slow one. So while the next few weeks are doing to be insane with moving and starting a new job, I am going to try to get out and run 4 days a week. I hope that putting it in writing will make me more likely to do it!

Adventures in Cross-Training

I know cross-training is a good idea. I read about it, hear about it on podcasts and see my own friends doing it, yet I rarely do any myself. One of the biggest reasons I got into running was because you only had to do one activity. I’m not a switch-machines-at-the-gym-for-two-hours kinda girl. I hate working out inside. I’d rather be shivering outside on a trail running than sweating my butt off on the treadmill watching whatever annoying program the person next to me picked out.

However, I have two issues that I need to work on that I think will need cross-training to be resolved.

1.)    I overpronate. I don’t know how to fix this other than by trying some strengthening exercises.

2.)    I want to be faster.

So I’m not going to get crazy with the cross-training. We’re talking one day a week of cycling and another day of the week where I will do strengthening moves.

Anyone find cross-training hugely helped them? What kind of exercise do you do when you’re not running?

2012 Running Goals at a Glance

With the new year, everyone's resolutions are kicking into high gear. I am channeling my own resolution energy to  make a plan for my running this year. I think my first half marathon will be in May and it will be the New Jersey one in Long Branch.

Since I have one race under my belt, I'm actually going to set a time goal for this one (TBD). I'm debating shelling out $14.95 for one of Hal Higdon's plans. Has anyone done this and found it worth it? I know it's a minimal investment, but I'm more interested in if you felt getting the daily emails and detailed workout plans helped you more than the free version you can grab online.

Happy 2012 running!

Cheryl vs. Her First Half

It’s been a month since I ran my first half-marathon, but I am finally writing the race recap. Hopefully my brain remembers all the sensations I felt during those 2+ hours.

Race Arrival

I’m really bad with arriving to races on time. I just don’t like standing around pretending to stretch and watch people doing strides. I just don’t do prep. When I go running, I walk outside my house and just go, so I follow the same motto at races. I showed up about 8 a.m. (start time was 8, but I knew I wasn’t going to cross the start line for about 30 minutes). Lots of standing around. I thought I would meet my new running BFF, but I didn’t speak to anyone until about mile 8.

Miles 1-7

So stupidly, when I was doing all my standing around to cross the start line, I had to pee, but I was hesitant to get out of my corral because what if they left without me? So I waited until mile 2 when I saw porta potties without much of a line. I knew I was losing minutes off my time, but it’s not like I was about to win any medals here.

I can’t even believe I am typing these words, but miles 1-7 flew by and miles don’t ever fly by for me. I remember and feel each one. But I was running along and just enjoying it. I also saw my husband twice and he had made a sign (aww!).

Still smiling at mile 5

Miles 8-11

Around mile 8, my left knee started to hurt. And then the right one followed. I was forced to take walk breaks and stretch breaks to try to get a little relief. The course also started to suck at this point because we’re winding along a river trail and since there is basically no parking, there are really no spectators to cheer you on until you get much closer to the finish line.

This is the moment when someone finally spoke to me. A woman turned my way and told me she wanted to die. Not feeling particularly inspired by her energy, I took out a GU and trudged ahead.

By around mile 10, I was just annoyed at my knees. But suddenly all the clouds in my brain cleared and I realized as the 11 mile marker was in sight that I only had 2 miles left. The end was near.

Miles 11-12

These really just sucked. I knew I was near the end, but the pain was rough. I also saw an ambulance coming to pick up another runner, which is always scary.

Less smiling is involved at this point.

Mile 13

I was never so pleased to see a finish line in my life. I hobbled my way across, took my medal, and sat down to enjoy Bret Michaels. (sidebar—does he have hair or is that a bandana attached to a wig?)

Final time: 2:46. Not what I wanted. I was hoping for 2:30. But I learned a few things. One, don’t trust your Garmin. Mine had me finishing miles before they were marked. However, this could be because I don’t run very consistently and veer all over the course, so maybe I added distance on myself.

Two, don’t doubt yourself. The week before the race I felt unprepared and wanted to drop out. I dragged myself there and ran 13 miles for the first time.

Still Alive, but Maybe Only Til Sunday

I don't think I've blogged in over a month. But hey, things got crazy--I got married, our huge work conference is coming up, and I have my first half-marathon on Sunday. I am EXTREMELY nervous about this race--I wanted to drop out last week and forget running. I haven't dropped out yet, but it's still in the back of my mind that 13 miles is no picnic and maybe I'm not really prepared to do this. I've done 12 miles, but I just don't feel ready.

At least Bret Michaels will be there. Don't try to tell me you didn't watch Rock of Love Bus.

So stay tuned. You'll either get a race recap next week or some excuse for why I didn't run the race at all.

More of the Same

I have nothing exciting to report in my running. I've been doing it, my times are getting a little better each time and that's about it. I do have my first 8-miler of 2011 on tap for this weekend, which will probably end up being Monday because nothing says Happy Fourth like sweating your butt off on some hills in the 'Burgh. Also mostly because I am attending 2 weddings in 2 days, which won't leave me any time for runs.

Hope everyone's running is going well!

Running Machine

Just after I told you last week that I was getting ready to renounce running as my preferred method of exercise, last week happened. Every run was good. Seriously, all four of them didn’t make me want to die, I enjoyed portions of them and I ran well! This never happens. It’s like running overheard me getting ready to cut it from my life and decided to rope me back in.

I can attribute this stellar week to two things:

• Every run was a morning run. Waking up early is not my thing, but I hauled myself out of bed around 6 on the weekdays and at 8 for my weekend run. I could definitely feel a temperature difference, so I think that was helpful. Interestingly, I don’t eat when I run in the morning—I just go. So I would have thought my runs would have been poor since my energy levels were quite low, but I surprised myself.
• I have stopped my warm-up walk. I would usually walk a few blocks/minutes to get warmed up. Now I just start running. 

This week I continue with four runs, all of them are pretty easy, I guess because last week was tougher. But I saw the following week my first 8-miler of the training will be on tap. Kinda odd because at no point have I done 7 miles. A bunch of 6-ers and 5-ers, but now we’re just moving into 8. But I can blow worrying about that off for a little less than 2 weeks.

On a totally unrelated note, today is exactly 2 months until my wedding!

In Love

I can’t decide if I can fully embrace morning runs. I had no choice but to wake up at 6:30 this morning to bang out a quick 3 miles before work. As I hauled myself out of bed and into running clothes, I counted the ways in which this run would suck.

BUT IT DIDN’T! The weather was cool and the sun was just starting to fully take over the sky and I ran the entire time.  No easing in with a walk for a block or two. Just full-on running and no stops (except at a light where traffic was steadily moving). I thoroughly had a good time!

Ironically, just last night I was asking my fiancé (who is a marathoner) if he’s having an awesome time while he’s running. He told me at some point in the run he always likes it. Sometimes not until halfway through, sometimes not until it’s over. I told him that maybe running isn’t for me—that maybe I would run this half-marathon in September and then switch to a different workout—like dancing, yoga or even a go at P90X or Insanity. Something I like more. Then today happened and I am in love with running again!

I may indeed try Insanity or P90X at some point, but perhaps when life is a little less hectic.

My First Race Recap!

For someone who has been trying to be a runner for quite some time, I don't race very often. So this will be my very first race recap!

My fiance and two friends ran the Warrior Dash in northern Pennsylvania on Saturday. It was one of the most fun things I have ever done!

Our wave of runners wasn't taking off until 12:30 p.m., so we took our time leaving Philly and stopped for McDonald's breakfast for the ride up (breakfast of champions? I actually ate fruit and a croissant from Whole Foods to make everyone else in the car feel guilty.) I was in one of my cutest outfits: a free shirt I received on spring break in 2003 that dubs me "official keg stand coordinator 69" and a pair of shorts circa 2002 with "Outer Banks" plastered across the butt.

We took our place at the start and some fire blasts signaled our start. The first mile was pretty uneventful. We ran through some mud and mostly just followed a trail. (Side note--I need to work at trail running. My vision feels off because I'm looking down but also ahead and I think it messes with my brain.) But then the mud got deeper and stickier. One of our friends lost his shoe and had to tug it out. A guy in the group behind us popped his ankle out of place and had to leave the course.

Then we hit a tunnel we had to crawl through in the dark. No biggie. The next obstacle freaked me out a bit. We had to walk across wooden beams that were angled up and down. I don't have an image of this, so I'll send you to another blog to check it out.

Next three obstacles were also not totally insane. We had to scale some hurdles and then slide under some others, crawl through a tube and make our way through a bunch of ropes strung like a giant spider web. The cool thing about this race was the sense of camaraderie. People were holding ropes for each other and just laughing and talking along the way.

We then made our way through waist-deep water, which was also surprisingly easy. But don't think I'm a stellar athlete yet. We then came to the great warrior wall. I couldn't do it. So I had to skip it. I didn't feel too bad because a good chunk of other people weren't making it either. 

The next set of obstacles were my favorite part. We had a cargo net to scale. Some guy behind me was apparently a little too close because he was able to tell me he liked my underwear (it was pretty cute). Stupid Outer Banks shorts.

Once you drop down the other side of the net, the finish was in sight. Between me and the finish was a set of tires--I don't know what this is called, but it looks like those drills football players do where you hop through tires--and then scale a bunch of junked-up cars.

Following this was fire to jump over--super cool! Then a giant mud pit you bust through and then eventually crawl through because there is barbed wire over you. My knees are still thanking me for that one--there were a lot of stones under the mud, so my knees are cut and bruised (warrior wounds).

Then you slither out of the mud and run to the finish! I was kind of a jerk once we hit the cargo net and beyond because I just got excited and completely ditched my group and finished without them.

We then got hosed down by a firetruck and openly stripped down in a field. It was that kinda weekend.
I officially retired as the keg stand coordinator (I was not taking that beat on shirt home, and those shorts, they can't even hide my underwear, so they also stayed at the dash.)

This is after we were hosed off:

 Andrew and me. A couple who gets muddy together stays together.

The rest of our race crew.

After this, we promptly got the free beers we were promised and set out to see what northern Pa. has to offer. We found the World's Largest General Store, which was indeed huge and full of odd things. Like these ducklings to pet:

And a dinosaur in the middle of the furniture section:

We capped the night off by seeing X-Men at the drive-in. I love drive-ins even though you have to worry about draining your car's battery, usually drop popcorn all over your car and end up kinda crammed into a weird position.

Not a Morning Person (or Runner)

I had high hopes last night of getting to bed early so I could wake up at 6 and do a 5-miler while it wasn't hot out. Well, the alarm went off, and I instantly thought, "This is stupid," and then I slept until 7ish. Now with the weather heating up (86 degrees or so) I am dreading this run after work. I'm going to push it til about 6:45 so I can get a little heat relief. Thursday promises to be 95+ degrees, so hopefully that will be my motivation for that wake-up call.

How do you manage in the heat? Do your drag yourselves out of bed in the morning or sweat it out later in the day? My sister points out I could run inside, but more than 3 miles on the treadmill is endless to me. Plus my work gym is weird.

Am I a Warrior?

I'll have the opportunity to find out if I am in just 9 days. A million years ago (or maybe January), my fiance signed us both up for Warrior Dash Pa. If you haven't heard of Warrior Dash, they do a series of runs all around the country. It's only a 3.5 mile run, but there are obstacles. Like fire to jump over, walls to scale, waist-deep water to wade through, etc.

After checking out some photos on Facebook, I wonder if I have bitten off more than I can chew.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot (and Annoyed)

Man, my running route last night was less than desirable. The pros were that I had a wide sidewalk and not many stoplights to slow me down. The cons were much more plentiful. At one point there was construction on both sides of the street, so I was running down the street between moving vehicles and parked vehicles and then an older woman decided she needed to suddenly cross the street and stroll right into my path. Thanks lady, that's just what I was hoping you'd do.

I continued running and then got to 2 blocks of just trash. I need to bring my camera on a run sometime just to take pictures of all the random junk on the ground--huge empty bottles of vodka, random pedals from bicycles, some rubber cords and then your typical trash. Gross. City-living and running at its finest in Philly.

It was also really hot last night, and I am still adjusting to running in heat so I was probably angrier than usual at little things that get in my way while running, but I wanted to scream when this couple ahead of me proceeded to take up the entire sidewalk. Luckily, since they were slow, my pace slowed and good ol' Garmin chimed at me to speed up. This chime scared the crap out of these people, and while they were stunned by technology I used that opportunity to speed past them. But seriously people, I don't care if you're walking or running--share the sidewalk. You don't need the whole thing. Trust me.

Dancing Is a Form of Cross-Training

Well, maybe dancing isn't quite cross-training, but let's pretend so I can feel extra athletic this week. Now actual dance classes where you sweat it out to some intense moves is indeed legit exercise, but the dance I speak of is ballroom. My fiance and I took our first wedding dance lesson last week and we have two on tap for this week. I truly have no idea how to dance with another person. I can manage on my own, but put someone else's hands in mine and I'm lost.

So in an effort to have our wedding not feel like a middle school dance (anyone else do the 7th grade sway--hands barely touching partner and rocking back and forth?), we are learning the rumba, hustle, swing and something I forget. And we have finally chosen our first dance song!

Tonight I've got to hit a dance lesson at 5:30 and then run 4 miles since my trip to Atlanta this weekend really threw off my running schedule.

Running, running, running

So I haven't  blogged much lately and that usually means I haven't been running, but not this time! I've been trucking along--4 miles on Saturday, 5 miles on Sunday and 3 miles yesterday. I've also got 3 miles on tap for tonight and then 4 on Thursday. I don't usually like to stack so many runs in a row, but I'm going to be visiting my sister in Atlanta this weekend so I don't want to have to worry about getting a run in while I'm there. Plus I'm not quite prepared to run in 80 degrees and lots of humidity yet. I still have about 3-4 weeks of normal temps before summer hits Philadelphia.

New Shoes Needed

Tonight I am planning on going to an actual running store and getting running shoes that are the right fit for me. I'm told I overpronate (I can't see the back of myself, so I can't confirm this), but I do know when I bought my last pair of shoes I selected ones for overpronators and my fiance told me it helped my form. (Why is he always looking at me from behind? Hmmm.)

Anyway, this store comes highly rated from my running fiend co-worker, so we'll see what happens. Hopefully my running will be faster and unfortunately my wallet will be a little lighter in a few hours.

Finally, a Decent Run

I may have had a running epiphany yesterday. After last week’s mediocre runs, I wasn’t too sure how this was going to pan out. I only needed to log 3 miles and the weather was perfect. Not too hot, a light breeze, a little bit of sun. I started out slowly as usual, but then I kinda thought, “I’m just going to run this thing and let it feel natural. If I go out too fast and need to walk, that’s OK.”

Guess what? I didn’t walk and I actually felt better going faster! I honestly think I was expending energy to slow down (if that makes any sense). So I think I did 3 miles in 33 odd minutes, which is not bad considering in the first mile I walked for the first couple of blocks and then also ran that mile slowly. I have to plug in my Garmin for more pace details.

I need to make sure this isn’t a fluke. I’m going to do the same run tonight and see what happens. Am I totally crazy or is it possible that making myself run slow has been the issuing plaguing my progress?

Hello 80 Degrees

Living in the Northeast, I forget every year about what it's finally like when it's warm outside. We've been having some 80+ degree days lately, which has been awesome in general, but I was in for quite a shock when I went for a 3-mile jaunt yesterday. I was dripping in sweat and just felt all around HOT. I ended up having to walk. Twice. But never for more than a block. I never got in the zone, so to speak. My zone is when a half mile or mile goes by and I don't even realize how it happened. Let's just say that yesterday, I knew when every .10 mile was happening.

Despite this, I am returning for another 3 mile run tonight. It's also 80+ degrees, but today it's cloudy, so that buys me a little coolness.

Registering is Half the Battle

After talking, talking, talking about running my first half-marathon, I have officially registered for it! The Rock & Roll Half in Philadelphia on Sept. 18. I know that's so far away, but summer is hot and I have this little thing called my wedding in August, which is sucking up a lot of my free time.

I've heard mixed reviews about Rock & Rolls--I know they're super crowded, but I just needed something local and after August 20, and this fit the bill. I printed out this insane training program from Runners World. Not insane as in "difficult" or "tough" but insane in that it's a 25 week training program (hey, I like to be prepared) and I've actually already in week 5.

I would love to hear other people's first half experiences and thoughts on Rock & Roll races in general.

A Run and a Ride

Sunday was one of the most athletic days I've had in awhile. I ran 3 miles, but I was slow. I walked twice and felt kinda lame. Then I had my first dog encounter on a run. It was a small dog that was ignoring me but as I passed it, the dog jumped on me while barking and dug its claws into my leg leaving me with a cut and a bruise (bruit? cruise?). Luckily it's claws didn't pierce my new running capris or I might have flipped out on its owner. But I will say that I have noted that people cop out of training small dogs quite often  because they assume they are small and don't cause damage. Not true--train your pets, people. If you're too lazy to do so, then you shouldn't own an animal. (Rant over.)

The best part of the day was the 8.5 mile bike ride my fiance and I did along the River Trail where we live. We both recently got  bikes, so this was our first time debuting them. Biking doesn't even feel like a workout--it's so much fun!

Today is technically my rest day, but I may take the bike out again since it's 84 degrees!