Continual State of Becoming

Wahoo!  I finished the Reston 10 miler last weekend!  Not even the freezing temps and snow could stop me.  Finish time 1:47:18, for an overall 10:42 pace.  Not too shabby.  Especially since I didn't run outside AT ALL for the entire month of February.  And it was kind of hilly (not as bad as I had heard (and feared) it would be, but not as flat as the Cherry Blossom 10 miler last year) And I didn't run any further than 8 miles all month either.  Sometimes life just makes it hard.  But that's alright.  I did what I could and I enjoyed the race (frozen as a popsicle), which is all I really wanted to do.  Plus I got a finisher's medal.  That always makes me happy :) I'm racing and it's SNOWING!!!!!  Life is good. Focused and relaxed.  That's how I like to run. At the finish line. For finishing! I haven't done any real running stats on my blog in a while, but I still keep track of everything in my runni...

Last year was my year of running.  After running during the summer of 2009 to help (successfully) lose stubborn baby weight, I decided to do the same in 2013 when I had another round of stubborn baby weight that wouldn't come off.  Mostly due to the fact that I wasn't very active, unless eating is considered active.  So in March I slowly started running again.  With a crazy goal of running the Leesburg 20k that August.  It didn't happen.  It was too much too soon, especially for a non-athletic person like myself, and I ended up with a hip that hurt so bad I barely wanted to move.  So I backed off for a while, sat out the 20k (didn't even manage to run the 5k they offer the same day).  And in October of 2013 I started running again.  One mile at a time.  With no goal other than to put on my shoes and go.  In December I crazily threw my name into the Cherry Blossom 10 mile lottery, thinking I'd get skipped over the first year I entere...

Total Miles for the month: 105.1 Total Miles for 2014: 331.9 Longest run: 13.1 miles Fastest mile time:  Still the same. Well, I conquered the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon a couple days ago.  It actually wasn't too terrible.  I think I prepared pretty well so it didn't completely overwhelm me and I've recovered just fine.  The race itself was GREAT.  Beautiful weather, well organized, and a beautiful course.  Lots of shade and lots of rolling hills (I'm not saying I loved the hills, but I am happy that they weren't worse than they were).  My finishing time was 2:23:21 which made me happy because I was really hoping to finish in under 2:30:00, but wasn't sure I would due to bad allergies, hills, heat, etc.  So that gave me an overall 10:57 pace.  Which is awesome, in that I broke an 11:00 pace.  And even more awesome when I look back at last May and see that I ran a 5k with an 11:16 pace.  So it's not that I'm necessarily ...

Total Miles for the month: 61.0 Total Miles for 2014: 226.8 Longest run: 10 miles Fastest mile time:  Still the same from last month. Wow, I'm really starting to rack up the miles.  61 miles this month?  Pretty impressive, especially since I had a minor surgery and didn't think I'd do much running at all.  Fortunately there was no pain post surgery, so I didn't really miss that much of my running routine.  (Though I was surprised by how long the tiredness from the anesthesia lasted).  Which is a good thing because I didn't have too long to lie around doing nothing since I have that half marathon coming up... one month and a day from now.  Eek.  :)  Nothing too much to note overall with running this month.  Other than extending all of my runs just a tad bit (and intentionally running up more hills) I'm pretty much keeping to my routine since that worked out well for the last race. Push Ups: So the surgery did keep me from my push up...

About 2 weeks ago I was at the bus stop waiting for Dylan to come home.  Usually he's the only kid who gets off at this stop, but occasionally there's another mom who picks up her daughter there as well.  So of course, she happened to be there that day... the day I just barely finished a 6 mile run on the treadmill and was still dripping sweat as I ran outside to make the drop off in time.  When she saw me she said "oh, are you a runner?" To which I said "no, I'm just training for a race."  Huh, isn't that a little contradictory then.  What a weird way to answer her.  But I just wasn't ready for that label... I mean, I've only been running for a little over a year, and I'm not fast... aren't runners supposed to be fast?  Isn't that what people would assume of me? So a week later I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 miler.  It was a great race.  I was really nervous when it was about a week away.  Mostly I just didn't want to trip and...

This was the month for me to really push things while running.  And I'm really proud of how well the month went.  I managed four easy 9 mile runs (as in, I let myself run easy, not that running 9 miles is easy), worked on speed, and worked on my ideal long run pace.  I don't know much about official training routines, but I think this has been working for me.  I did get REALLY tired toward the end of the month, and would have loved to take a week off to rest and recover a bit, but I'm so close to the 10 mile race that I made myself push through it.  Which was hard, but I managed.  Besides I'm having a small surgical procedure in 2 weeks which will require time off from exercising, so I will get my (well earned) rest soon enough :)  And then I'll start running again as soon as I get the okay... I've already got a few races in mind for late spring, so I really hope I can be ready in time. Total Miles for the month: 65.2 (wow, that's higher than I expec...

This has been a pretty good month for running, despite the fact that it's the middle of winter which means it's been cold and snowy.  If I knew that every Virginia winter was going to be like this, I'd happily switch over to cross country skiing during these months.  But sadly, these kinds of winters are rare.  Anyway, here are my monthly stats. Total Miles for the month: 50.5  Total Miles for 2014: 100.6 Longest run: 9 miles, which is my longest run ever!  My overall pace was 11:07, which puts me 30 seconds ahead of my super-wishful goal when I do the 10 miler (I'm hoping to do that with an 11:30-12:00 min pace).  I could hardly believe it. Fastest mile time:  I probably won't check again until it's warmer out Indoors, on the treadmill:  getting my comfortable/maintainable pace close to 6.0 (still working on this, getting better).  Recovery pace is solid at 5.0 and I've declared Wednesdays my "Run 3 miles in under 30mins" day. ...

Today I set a personal running record for farthest distance... 9 miles!!!!  It was a good, but tough run.  I felt really great right up until mile 6 when I ran a slow mile to recover from a quick previous 2 miles and also ran on a different sidewalk than I normally do (a rundown, old, asphalt sidewalk) because the bike trail was super crowded.  I'm not sure if it was the mental aspect of the long run, or the sidewalk itself, but I really felt the impact of each step during that mile and it hurt!  Luckily, no one else was on that sidewalk because I audibly groaned quite a few times.  But I got back on track and felt great through miles 7 and 8.  9 was another tough one because I un-smartly finished my run going up an incline (usually I try my best to avoid that)... it definitely wasn't my fastest mile, but wasn't my slowest either, so I was happy with that.  When I finished I was STARVING and my legs were TIRED.  But other than that I felt an aw...

One month into the new year!  Here are my stats: Total Miles for the month: 50.1 (wahoo!!) Longest run: 7.1 miles Fastest mile time:  still haven't checked in a while, though sometimes I do a 9:45 on my longer runs Indoors, on the treadmill:  getting my comfortable/maintainable pace close to 6.0 Pain:  a little bit is coming back to my hip, but I'm trying to keep it in check Other:  This year I started a push-up challenge (I got the idea from a friend who did this last year).  Basically I started with one push-up on the first of January, and every day I add a push up.  Which means today I did 31.  I definitely needed to do something about my crazy weak arms because 1- I strained a forearm muscle while hanging laundry, it took nearly a week to stop hurting (pathetic I know), and 2- sometimes when I'm running my arms get tired before my legs (super pathetic, I know).  So far the push-ups are going well.  I even throw in lunges...

I'm a little over due for an update on my running progress... Here are my stats for the beginning of 2014: On the treadmill: Average comfortable pace:  5.5 mph Fastest pace I can hold for 2 minutes without needing to stop:  8.0 mph Recovery pace:  5.0 mph (I'm working on getting this faster, it's up from 4.5) Typical run length: between 30-45 minutes Haven't checked my mile lately. Outside: Longest run:  6.2 miles with an 10:30 minute mile average, which has held true for all of my longer weekend runs lately.  A big improvement over 6 months ago when my long distance runs were at a 12:30 pace. Running outside this time of year is COLD! Aches and Pains: Not too bad lately.  I feel a little bit in my left hip on the longer runs, but I'm mostly pain free. Other interesting news: I ran a 10k on New Year's Eve with a time of 1:05:13 which put me at a 10:30 pace.  Which is awesome especially since the last time I ran a 10k was in 2009 and ...

Running has been going pretty good lately.  No major break throughs or personal records or races to report.  Just the slow and steady progress of a continued effort.  Which in and of itself is a success at this point.  I've accepted the fact that I can only really run 3 times a week.  Any more than that makes me a little crazy (schedule wise).  And I've also been running outside in really cold weather for the first time.  Other than needing to get perhaps a pair or 2 of pants and some sort of decent long sleeve top to run in, that has actually been fine.  I tend to run in the middle of the day, so it's not too bitterly cold.  And once I get going I feel totally fine.  The coldest part is after I get back home and need to take a shower.  But it's not as bad as I thought running outside in the cold would be. So my running stats... as much as I've been keeping track anyway. On the treadmill: Average comfortable pace:  5.0 mph ...

So I'm obviously back into running.  I had to take a little break at that end of the summer because my left leg had pain pretty much everywhere.  I used the month of October to try and get close to back where I left off.  Except I haven't been running long distances.  Three miles at most.  Which at this point is all I can really handle anyway.  I still have a little lingering hip pain but overall I've been feeling much better, so I feel like I can really get back into it now. So here are some of my end of October stats. Longest distance:  3 miles, in about 35 minutes Mile time:  9:06, which is my new PR.  I can hardly believe it! Slow pace on treadmill:  4.5 mph Comfortable to maintain for a while pace:  5.2 mph (not quite back to the 5.5-5.7 pace, but I'll get there) Fast pace 7.5 for 2 minute "sprints" or 8 mph for 1.5 minute "sprints" Goals going forward: -Run a 5k in under 30 minutes -Run a race every month between...