It's Been A While

I've needed to rest. A lot.

Logged the least amount of miles this year...EVER. It felt like every run took too much effort just to get going. I have to say that in the past couple of years we did do quite a bit of training for events and actually doing those events. This year is the first time that I had to not do an event and decide to switch from one distance to a shorter one. And struggling on others ones.

Yup - running has been not so great this year. I tried really hard to not beat myself up...I'm not a loser, I'm not a loser...

Indeed I am not.

Still though, in the last couple of months I have been trying to do something and at the same time not really doing much. Nike+ has been so frustrating and that just makes me want to scream. Sometimes I do! With my lack of motivation I'm surprised we got out and did anything at all!

Last week we got out to walk a couple of days and during those times we discussed what our goals might be for 2017. I've got Multisport on the brain for sure - so I am thinking of doing the Blue Lake event in June. We'll need to research that first - I think some of the event distances have changed. I also want to do a half somewhere in there. Maybe Vancouver USA now that the date has been changed to sometime in mid-September.

In the end, I have been paying attention to what my body is "saying" and actually has probably been SCREAMING all year...just slow down and REST! So I have and done the least amount possible, but still doing a little bit of something.

The next event that we will do is a fun one - we'll stay local and do the Ugly Christmas Sweater run in Ridgefield. Not only is it local, it's low-key and totally family friendly. AND with not as many participants placing in your age division is a possibility! Go HERE for that race report.

What have I learned? Hard to say, but I know that I need to take better care of myself and not push so much.

Those medals are awfully pretty and I just want to keep adding more to the collection.

Dropped Off...

I kind of lost all enthusiasm for running after my last race in July....well, the last big race.

See Jane Run Bling

That was See Jane Run which I did not enjoy one bit. Go here to check it out. I do not wish to re-live that one.

Decent pic from See Jane Run!

Another thing that is happening or not happening would be the Runner's World Half & Festival. About a month ago it became very clear that I am not going to be ready to do any big events anytime soon. Let alone a Hat Trick. Tom and I talked about it and he could see how I was not feeling so great about this event and agreed that we would skip it this year and look to going sometime in the future.

This year just did not start out well and here we are in October (?!) and the last month ended with low mileage. So, I am realizing that this is definitely a down year for me. It had to happen sometime I guess. My running is better than the average person, but still not great. Just as long as I get out and try and do something I usually don't feel so bad about myself. I always think that I might add some sort of strength training or whatever to help things along, but when we don't have a training run I am more than happy to hang out and drink coffee and catch up with Words with Friends on the kindle.

Consolation prize for dropping down to the 5k

I should have known that the year would not go well. I missed the first race that I signed up for in March - can't remember if it was a 5k or 12k. Either way, I ended up a little under the weather. Enough to know better and not  push it. Event #2 was a few weeks later and was the Hop Hop Half in Portland. Since my running was already derailed because of a little illness I made the decision to do the 5k instead of the half. On top of that Tom was home sick this time. So I decided it would be best to do the easy race and head home.

Home Town Goodness

The race that I did do in which I didn't feel like a major loser would be the Vancouver USA Half Marathon. Even though I didn't have enough training for this race this year, I didn't feel horrible. There is a big ol' hill around mile five and a half and I was pretty proud of myself because I actually ran more of that hill this year than I did last year!! I had Tom with me to motivate me a bit too. So that's my happy moment of that day. The rest of that route isn't too bad, but I did start having spasms in my calf. Fortunately they were not bad and once we reach Evergreen Blvd and the last hill was all done, it was easy-peasy to the finish. AND I finally passed a woman that we could not shake for the previous couple of miles...pretty much left her in the dust Wahoo!

Race for the Homeless

The other race that was pretty fun and easy to boot, was the Race for the Homeless. A charity run for a local shelter here in Vancouver. The race was being put on by a local church and 100% of the race fees were designated to Open House Ministries. The 5k route was basically the same out and back route that we have done in other races so we knew exactly what to expect. It was a fun morning and we actually saw some of "our" people that we were able to get to commit to the event which made for a fun morning.

So, now we currently have nothing scheduled, but are planning to run Hot Buttered Run the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Always a good race! Another run that we might do, the Ugly Sweater Run in Ridgefield. It might be one of those things that we have to decide on ONE event. Don't want to over extend ourselves now...

What's on the agenda for 2017? Well, I have been intrigued with doing some sort of series and I think I have the perfect one already picked out. The Oregon Half Marathon series which is organized and put on by Uberthons. The races are Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. I think the timing of the events will still allow us to do shorter races in between the big races. As excited as I was about the idea of doing the Hat Trick in PA this month, I think am more excited for this series. I am really looking forward to tackling 4 separate races in the series and adding to the hardware collection!

Until then my mantra for the rest of the year...

"I will not beat myself up. I am not a loser" 

Now go run and repeat mantra all the way until it sticks!

It's Time To Get Serious!

We are less than 3 months away from traveling to Pennsylvania again and participating in the Runner's World Half & Festival...YIKES! It's crazy to think that fall is just around the corner - Summer has barely arrived and the weather still makes it feel like spring around here.

My running has been WAY off. Had some set-backs and all around disappointing results from my efforts to get out and run. I'm down miles and I am STILL running in the shoes that I got in January. With my mostly mediocre training I usually end up replacing my shoes after they reach around 300 miles maybe a little more. 

The last race was a partial disappointment in that I did not run as much as I wanted to, but at least I finished. Fortunately, See Jane Run was the last BIG event for me - so now we can focus on preparing for the Hat Trick in October.

That's right...we are both going to do the Hat Trick! I realized last year that there were plenty of other average runners who might have a little more training (not necessarily better) - that could be ME! I thought about it for a day or so and then made the decision to actually just do it. 

AAAAAHHHHH.....

Okay...back to work for the both of us! I took a week off...kind of. I got out when Tom wanted to go to the track on Monday. I walked all the way to the track walked a couple of laps and then tried to run one and then walked home. Probably not the best decision to get out the day after. THEN we got out again on Wednesday where I actually did a fair amount of running, just not pushing it so much. My Saturday run was pretty good. Only 3 walking breaks in 3 miles and a decent pace for having tiredness all over the place. This morning we got out on the bikes and tomorrow is another run day...

I know...boring, boring. 

I'm looking forward to getting into our routine and getting ready for this HUUUUGE challenge. 

Yes. I like a challenge. Because I know that I am capable of things that I put my mind to.

See Jane Run

Half Marathon Bling #8!

Man, Oh, Man...I knew that this race would be rough - I just didn't anticipate how much so. This race was my second half of the year - should have been my 3rd half, but the first one didn't happen and #2 was okay.

This one...oh man, I was so bummed that I couldn't get enough training in for the first one so that I could do some maintenance type miles for this one. Then I wasn't able to log many miles in the last 3 weeks mostly because I spent time recovering from Vancouver Half and then I spent most of the week before SJR suffering from headaches - boo hoo...NOT.

I know that my plans are not necessarily going to happen the way that I like, so I'm cool with that. What I don't like is when something comes up during a race and I know WHY it's happening, not so cool.

For the first 6 miles I was doing pretty good with running and walking - I felt fairly decent actually. Also, I had remembed to strap on my pouch that I had a stash of shot blocks in and was downing those during my walk breaks along with electrolytes from the aid stations. Yup...doing a decent job and enjoying the morning and then BAM...

Calf Muscle Spasm. NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

It's only mile six for cryin' out loud! So back to walking for this girl. For the next 4 miles I walked most of the time and tried to run now and then. It wasn't meant to be. I made my peace with what was happening and decided  that I would just try to save it all for the end and try to run the last mile in. That was a silly idea! Once I reached the 12 mile mark I was feeling fairly demoralized because I just couldn't get my body to go and just plain tired because I really tried to step lively and I pretty much am not a fan of walking. Walking a mile when the finish is "right around the corner" feels very, very long.

Once I made the turn to go to the path back to the finish I saw Tom was waiting for me. I tried to run a little more, but that was not really an option, my body was rebelling! However, with Tom giving me a little bit of a pep talk...I was able to run the last stretch through the finish. I was sure that it wasn't pretty, but the photos were just posted and I actually looked okay!

While I'm glad that I did this race, it is one that I will not do again. The course was fine, it went around Lake Union and there were some nice views. However, the first 4 miles were basically an out and back course and then went down and around the lake and the last 3 miles was the 5k course - again, out and back. I am not a fan of out and back courses except if it's just a 5k race...then no problem. I feel like on anything longer I'm back-tracking and that's not my favorite thing to do.

There were plenty of volunteers, but I was so far back that it was kind of hard to tell if the person was a volunteer or just another person hanging out. Special shirts would be good for those people...make them stand out a little more! The food was not that great and there were no electrolytes (that I could see) at the finish.

I guess I have been spoiled by Energy events and how they organize races. They are the BEST!

Now I'll have a few more days of rest and then we'll be getting back into training mode. This time for the BIG event this fall!! Runner's World Half & Festival here we come!

Hat Trick Baby!!!

2016 VUM

Yesterday was the big day! All the training - which wasn't that much...wasn't all  for nothing. We finished and I was able to finish fairly strong too.

My running mojo finally kicked in during May. Most of our training runs felt pretty good, but we didn't have enough time to log decent long runs like we should, but we did log more miles in May than in April and definitely more than March. So I'm  okay about that. I know that we'll have to get the longer runs on the weekends in, but fortunately we'll have lots of time to do that for Runner's World in the mean time.

For our first real big race of the year - one that we both are running I was pretty excited. Since this was the first one since the Hop Hop at the end of March I wasn't feeling terribly confident. I know that I should have a better attitude about my abilities, but sometimes I fall back into the old routine of feeling not so good about my running. In the end, I think I did alright - I paced myself quite a bit which in the end made for my slowest half marathon yet at 3:20:01. Now I know what to shoot for at See Jane Run. If I can take 10 minutes off this time I'll be happy. Then I can really focus on making RW my PR!