Another Year...

another age group.

It's not like I am all that great in all that I do, but I feel like at some point, there won't be many people in my age group as I get older. At 50 I think that the hopes of actually placing in my age group will still have to wait until I'm WAY older than I am now...

Example: for my most recent race I would have to be in my 70s to place...and it would be an automatic win as there were no 70-ish aged women who were running - THIS year. With my luck, once I reach that age group there will be all sorts of other 70-ish aged women "running."

Sigh...

Back At It!

Nine days of no running and this morning was GLORIOUS!! I had to work at it just a little, but this morning was GOOD! Seriously, I was happy to get out and I was pretty happy when we got back home. It will still take a little work, but at least I have had a bit of a break and I really enjoyed being out early again.

What? Why do people do...???

The smiley face of a non-runner

A couple of months ago, as usual, we were out early...for a run. As we were passing the elementary school we passed a man who was walking, in the same direction as we were heading. After a few seconds I heard this man declare that he hates running.

Ooookaaaay...

WHY do people feel that they need to say anything at all? I just don't get it. I wasn't looking for any commentary or anything. Just out for a run because it's been a while since I had a decent run, don't mess with my mojo dude.

So, just because I couldn't let that be the last word I yelled back "Well, somebody has to!"

Whatever.

Another thing that happens is the occasional person who will talk about how bad running is for your knees/feet/body once they find out that I run. Interesting, I don't suffer from any particular ailments because I run. I might have pain because something is not right somewhere else in my body. Whether it's my lack of strength which equals lack of support in certain areas or if I'm dealing with some stressful stuff which can show up just about ANYWHERE in my body because the stress has to go somewhere, right?

If you don't like running and I do and it's the first time we are meeting - please don't try to justify why you don't run....I'm not going to convince you to run.

Okay, enough said.

What's Up?!

REST

Oh to sit like an elephant

During our last run which was last Friday I made a realization that running was becoming more of a chore and took more effort than it had in the past. This feeling has been building for a little while. Probably since we decided to bump up the intensity of our training and started running a few more miles during the week than we are to in our previous training plans.

Leading up to the Vancouver USA Half, I was questioning how prepared or unprepared I felt. I know that attitude is everything and that a bad attitude can affect a person's running. Well, my running had been affected as I had been feeling very iffy about my ability in the couple of weeks before our second half for the year. I am REALLY good at negative self talk and there were a couple of things that had been weighing heavy on my mind and heart that made running not terribly enjoyable.

So, after doing the VUM Half we took a few days off and then started up again...slow and steady and looking forward to our favorite local 5k in Ridgefield. While I enjoyed the race very much I wasn't really looking forward to starting training again which bring us to our last run last week on Friday morning.

During that run I decided that a rest would be probably do me good. Mentally and physically, but mostly mentally. I freely admit that I beat myself up more than I should and that I feel like my standards for my training runs are becoming unattainable. Not a very good combination.

This past Saturday we started our rest week which will actually last through this coming Sunday. I have to say that I have enjoyed not running, but at the same time am looking forward to getting back out on the road again. We haven't totally abandoned any activity - the week started off with a walk around the "neighborhood" and then we did some crossfit at home. I poo-poo crossfit (not out loud), but we tried it out once - I think I'll go back to Tabata since I can get more short rests in than with Crossfit where rest is okay, but the goal is to do the work out which happened to be as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes. While I didn't die in the process I DID question why I decided put myself through that whole routine. Yeah, definitely more Tabata tomorrow.

WHAT'S NEXT?

2015 Bling for Wahine

The next event that I am registered for is the Wahine All Women's Tri & Du coming up on August 1st. Last year I did the Hula Girl 5k along with some of my peeps and it was fun to get back out to Blue Lake - I've missed it! This year, I was able to encourage my friend Mary to partner with me to do the Sprint Duathlon. I will do run #1 and the bike and Mary will finish up with the 2nd run. I haven't been out on my bike for a couple of months. That will be on my agenda in the next week or so...I should get out at least ONE time. I need to check out my Trek anyway...maybe lube the chain up and make sure that the aerobars are still where they should be. What I should do is practice my transition from running shoes to my cycling shoes...it might be a little slow.

I'm excited! All Women's is always a fun one. All the participants are so friendly and encouraging....so at least I won't feel like a huge loser!

Here's to a few more days of rest and then hitting the road again on foot and on two wheels.

HALF MARATHON - more training

this is NOT my training plan...just a representation of what is to come :)

For someone who is tired and weary...training plans are never far away from my mind. I have the next training plan all ready to start the Monday after Wahine...so I DO miss this running stuff - HA! We'll be training for our 3rd and final Half Marathon for this year. It's going to be EPIC! I'm excited because we'll be going across the US to Pennsylvania! I've NEVER been to Pennsylvania...more to come on how the training for that goes.

Get out there and move or stay in and rest...only you know what your body needs. Right now my body needs rest, but I'm almost ready to go again!

Independence Run 2015

Another Independence run is DONE...I feel like that is all I can say each year post race day.

After getting my official time I was feeling like I was REALLY slow. Today, I decided to look back on my times and this one wasn't my slowest - YAY. Then I looked back on the website at my past times...and this one is wasn't nearly as bad as I first thought. This is the "fastest" of my slowest times...hehe. 

With that, I can say that this year I felt pretty good on the hills, even though I still walked some of the course - I can also say, with confidence, that I actually did run up some of the first big ol' honkin' hill at around mile one...and part way up the hill leading up to the finish. The BEST part is coming from  the turn around where it is down hill for quite a distance and I have been kind of working on continuing running downhill without stopping. 

We looked for a old friend of ours from Federal Hwys, but I ended up seeing one of the guys from work along with his wife and son. It was fun to see him there! I'm hoping that Suzy & Jim will be able to join the fun next year...she's a good match for Tom ;)

Ridgefield's Independence Run #7 is in the books! Next year will be about at least getting closer to last year's time. Something to work toward!

Wahine is up next ~ time to get out on my bike!