Miles Miles and More Miles

This is the third week of my training plan for running the Chevron Houston Marathon, let me tell you it’s been interesting. The first week “sore” was an understatement when I finally had a cross training day I realized very quickly how important it really is. I decided to get on the stationary bike and I did some exercises on the big ole’ exercise ball and I felt so much better getting a chance to stretch out and wake up all my other muscles.

I dislike hate running in the sun and heat is my kryptonite, so even though I’ve claimed to dislike the treadmill I decided to go that route instead. Turns out I can at least feel cooler inside at the gym with the fan blowing at me and not melt. I have to make the treadmill interesting, so I take it a ¼ mile at a time, then a mile at a time and then 2 miles at a time. In each quarter mile I set my pace and increase it little by little and then start all over, at a mile I check my time and then try to improve it the next mile. Finally I’ll break at two miles reset the treadmill and try to improve all of it all over again. I know this sounds like a lot but let me tell you the treadmill.is.boring. very very boring.

I know if I attempted to go out in the heat I would throw in the towel I know myself and I know I would give up long before I hit 5 or 6 miles. So the treadmill has been my better than nothing go to. I pray for cooler weather, for an over cast sky and even for a little sprinkle but while the temps still hit 90 degrees plus and Mr. Sun insist on shining bright I’ll head inside and battle it out on the treadmill.

On the 19^th I ran the Kemah’s Toughest 10K and it was warmer than I would liked and this past weekend I did the B.I.G Love 5K fun run and by the time we got going 8:30am I was feeling a little hot too but each run was done and great - I’ll fill you in on those later :)

For now I’m adding on the miles and keeping my eye on the goal.  I had this fantasy that when I would increase the miles that my pounds would start melting off. Of course this is yet to happen. I am going to be the bigger person here (haha!) and understand that running more mile does not equal losing weight. This crazy thing happens when you go for a longer run – you get hungry like hangry kind of hungry and I might be guilty of feeling like if I just ran 6 miles then a bacon cheese burger should be my lunch. SO I am adjusting and planning my nutrition better and I am hoping to see better results within the next few weeks. I pray to the weight loss god’s that if they could please hurry up, the next bridge run is on Oct. 17^th and I’d really like to carry the least amount of lb’s up the Galveston causeway. Please and Thank you in advance!! 

Jumping back into things!

I keep wanting to write a blog, you know just jump in with both feet (or hands or 10 fingers, either way) and write. I can’t seem to do it without addressing the obvious… where have I been?  Well, you see, what had happen was… nothing and everything at the same time.

 

I’ve been running all this time, mind you it’s not been the world greatest running but there have been runs – I promise!  I even did a Glow Run waaaaay back in July but I couldn’t write a race report because it sucked big time – oh and I felt like I hadn’t come clean with me being MIA for so long.

 

Truth is, it’s much easier to tell you about all the wonderful happenings of me running and what a great influence it is to me as well as to others. AND then it sucks big time to tell you about how unmotivated I feel about stuff sometimes – no that’s not right it’s not unmotivated. I feel overwhelmed. Ever feel that way?  It has been a busy summer, a lot has happen and I am hoping that in the end it makes me a stronger person, mother, wife, friend and runner.

 

I am kicking this blog again because I was never really finished with it to begin with.  This fall and winter will be jammed packed with running and with new adventures so by all means I have to share it with you.

 

My circle of “sole sisters” has grown over the past few months and I want to make sure I get to share with you their story, their “why” they run. My “why” I run has evolved and I want to make sure I get to tell you about that and the huge pain in the booty it’s going to be over the next couple of months to get my pace and eating habits back to normal.

 

I will write again soon :) we have a lot of catching up to do!  

Crescent City Classic 10K Race Day Report

Hehehe my BF is unstoppable!

Last weekend we got to travel a few miles out of good ole’ Texas to Louisiana to run in the CCC10K (Crescent City Classic 10K). I’ve expressed here before how each race I’ve done has something about it that makes it super awesome, running my first ever 5K was awesome, it would have never matter what the course looked like or what the weather was like - it was just awesome because it was my first. After that almost every run has something pretty cool that makes it memorable :)

Even before signing up for the CCC10K, it was awesome. My best friend asked me to do this one with her a few months ago, when she asked me she had just started a running app, and had recently finished running/walking her first 5K! I simply answered her if you do the training to get to 6.2 miles I will SO run it with you. Over the past month I ran with her on the weekends working up her mileage as much as we could, we celebrated running past 3 miles with no walking and then running more than 4 miles. I don’t care who you are but the first time you do something you never thought you could be capable of you feel unstoppable :)    

With our awesome tour guide!!

So come Friday the 18th we set off on our mini-road trip to New Orleans! The CCC10K is part of a running series held by New Orleans throughout the year, and let me tell you it causes quite a stir out there. I am talking about hotels being booked like crazy within a few mile radius of the start and finish of the race. They have an expo that make you feel like are about to go out and run a full on marathon! You can tell people from all over come out for this run which makes it buzz with energy before the actual race day!

I would like to tell you about our whole experience out there in New Orleans, from the great company and tour guide, to the sights and the omg!! yumma food! BUT that’s not what you’re here for right?? Noooo we are going to talk about the race, and really the race itself was a great overview to how great trip was. In the race itself, we saw crazy people, with live music almost every mile or less - live music from bands and from random people with their own thing going on. You had people with grills set up and ice chest with beer to hand out to the runners. My very own phone died out about a mile into the run, so I ran the rest with no headphone and no music but honestly I didn't need it, there was too much going on along the way to keep us distracted and entertained. The course was setup through downtown New Orleans, past the French Quarter and up Esplanade Ave right into City Park- in other words you get a pretty awesome tour of New Orleans by the time you are done with your run.

Clarissa did pretty amazing throughout the race, the plan was to start off nice and easy the first 3 miles or so and then pick up the pace toward the end. In the end, I think we kept up a pretty even pace throughout the whole race. The first two miles or so I had to keep pulling her back a little, if I’d let her go, that girl would have just flown through her first 3 miles!! I don’t know what that would have to done to her at the end, so I didn’t take that chance :) Around mile 4 we had pretty much gotten into a good strong pace and at mile 5 - Clarissa was running longer that she had ever run up until then!! Around the 5.4 mile or so Clarissa got a real bad cramp in her heel, we pulled over to the side and stretched out and then she said just what I would have said “I’ve gone this far not to run to the finish…” so despite the pain in her foot we jumped back in and ran!! The City Park in NO is beautiful :) it makes for a great finish but what makes an even better finish… looking out to the finish and knowing that my best friend was about to kick her first ever 10k’s butt!! HA!!

The run was awesome, it carried with it yet another moment together in our lives that we will never forget, it also seems to be the beginning for a long summer of training to come for us as we set our eyes on a full marathon! I can’t wait to see what this has in store for me, last year helped me get closer to Alma (my aunt) and Cindy as we learned just how much this running thing would change us and make us stronger women, sole sisters! This year we get to add to our sisterhood and I could not be more excited to see just how crazy we can be :)

10 milers...

There has been so much going on lately that I have not been able to slow my brain down and get something worth reading typed out! So finally I have decided to just throw it out there, it’s funny how I think I don’t have anything solid to write about until I start writing…

Running: First things first right? How’s the running going? Good, great and border line awesome! Saturday before last I hit 10 miles and I did 10 miles again this Sunday! A lot of training plans for a first timer’s half marathon will tell you to get to ten miles and that you are ready for the half, so with that said I feel REALLY confidant that I’m ready! This last month will be for fine tuning and preparing. This is my plan; I will run my longs – while trying out my running gear – while trying out different type of re-fueling to see what works and what does not – while trying to improve my time.

·         GEAR- I have some thought on what I’m going to wear the day of, the thought that it will be VERY Cold is a GOOD possibility so here is my game plan- I bought some cold gear tights and I tried them out the on both 10 mile runs when it was 38 degrees – not bad didn’t get hot in them and I felt like it could have been colder and I still would have been just fine. First time I wore a short sleeve dri-fit top with a hoodie over it- not bad although I did get hot with the hoodie, I was able to ditch it at my friend’s house along my run. Although it was around the same temps on both runs one was sunny and the other was not, second run I kept the hoodie on the entire time!! So as many runners recommend I think I’m going to buy an inexpensive hoodie that I can ditch along the way and not have to worry about, maybe I will hit up some thrift stores and see what I can find. I didn’t mind the short sleeve top too much, if I felt cold I just speed up a bit and normally didn’t get bothered by it much.  I will try a long sleeve and see how that works out… I did find a cheap pair of gloves and I ran with them on my second 10 miler, I’m glad they are cheapies I think I’d need some I can dispose of if I need to. Lastly I think I’ll need ear warmers… it’s a good thing I have a month to work out the details, plus it’s gotten cold here so, perfect weather to try things out!

·         FUEL- When running there comes a time to refuel. This time varies for everyone but here’s the deal… can you run a half marathon without re-fueling? Yes but it’ll be a better run if you do re-fuel. But how and when? For each of its different, how fast you’re going and your digestive system has lot to do with it. So glad I have some time to sort this out a little better for myself :) But when should I start to refuel? All I can say is I’ve read and asked other runners and a rule of thumb is to start to re-fuel about 45 minutes in and then every 45 minutes after that. According to my pace I’ll be out there somewhere between 2.5-3 hours!! Yikes!

·         Time – So far, my time has been okay. I have not speed up drastically but I’m okay with that :-)  I am going to set my ultimate goal time to finish my Half Marathon in 2:45, I will ultimately be happy if it’s with a few minutes of my goal. My other goals for this race to give it my best and finish a Half Marathon!! LOL! I have taken a break from really speed training for some time, focusing more on my distance than anything else, I think that these final weeks I will try to work on speed and see how it goes!

 Lastly, I have some notes for what’s to come this New Year, by the time I run my Half Marathon I will have officially be running a year and a week! Wow… I’m looking forward to that anniversary!  I have some fun ideas on some pictures I’d like to take just to show what a difference a year will have made. Running in 2014 will consist of hopefully doing more runs for a cause, I have done runs for fun and runs for a cause and by far nothing feels as great as knowing that you are bringing awareness to something greater than yourself.

 These last few months I felt overwhelmed and I have felt pressed for time, training for this half during some of the busiest months of the year has been challenging. I could feel the pressure coming from my family for time, or so that’s how I felt.  The other night talking to my husband and my son while cooking a quick dinner, they asked me if I was ready for a full marathon, I was shocked! I told them I didn’t know if that would ever happen, and they both were shocked!  They both answered “You’ve come this far and you could totally do a full!!” So after much pondering here’s the deal, I will commit to doing a few more half’s this next year and if all is good I will start training for a full the following year. I think. LOL! I trained to do a 5k and then throughout this year improved my time and my endurance to do a better 5k each time, training for the half came up in such an off the cuff idea, that I don’t think I have had time to breath. To be honest my family has been understanding all year long, I’ve just taken on a lot this year! SO I will run, and I’m going to focus on improving my time and endurance for longer runs, hopefully doing better in my half marathons along the way…and we will see where the miles take me :)

Time & Stuff

This week has been a rough week; I believe this week has been hard on all of us. If you are a Texan, American, if you are a father, mother, son, daughter, and yes if you are a runner (novice or experienced). It did not seem right to post anything without first addressing the Boston Marathon and close to home the fertilizer plant explosion in West Texas.  I still am in shock and at a loss for the right words to say.  This is such a tragedy. The impact of what happen Monday will affect our lives for years to some, the same way that 9/11 has and the same way that Columbine has, the same way every sick and disturbing terrorist act has.  The lives lost, the homes destroyed and the people affected also have years of healing ahead of them and it breaks my heart.

Will we over come? I have no doubt that we will. We should hold strong to our Faith and Believe.

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Running & Numbers - Okay I’ve stated before that I am a slow runner, I’ve been told “I can walk as fast as you can run!” yes it’s true and you know what? That’s perfectly fine with me, because you should have seen me walking LOL! Actually in the beginning I think I could run as fast as I could walk!

The first time I ran 3 miles it took me about 46 minutes and which translates to 15:40 per mile. In my defense I really was not sure I could run 3 miles at that time so I really paced myself. By March 30^th when I ran COLOR ME RAD my time had improved and my average was 13:30 per mile.  Pacing yourself is very important, this I can vouch for. The first half of my 5k that day many people flew passed me, in the second half I slowly but surely started catching up to people that flew by me in the beginning.  Amazingly by the time I was in my 3^rd mile I started passing a few people, mind you I’m sure that they were in better shape than I am but pacing yourself is important. 

If you ever try to start running by seeing how fast you can run then you will burn yourself out!

I would love to have been a person that hadn’t run since forever and then just took off running, no problems all Speedy-Gonzalez like - (AH-EM Alma!) No, I am still over-weight and learning the ropes of running day by day. I read other blogs about running and talk to other runners whenever I get a chance.

One awesome thing about running is that you goals are always getting pushed to the next level. I’m always pushing for a faster pace and I’m even training for a 10k (GULP!). This past Saturday I finally ran at a pace under 13min per mile! A goal I have been trying to reach for the last two weeks!!

I decided to post my running times on another page, so if you want to see where I’m at in this crazy mess I’ve gotten myself you can check it out here.  In the mean time I am encouraged daily by other people – normal people – girls that are just like me. Fighting the weight loss battle for themselves for their families and for their own sanity!