Feet by Jesus!

Let's just start off with the  most important bit of information here:
THIS RUN HAPPENED!!!
Thanks to my bestest friend Jesus for wrapping my feet in his protection =)
I was really really concerned last night that we would get out there and I would be able to go 10 feet and have to call it quits.
BUT.
I  DIDN'T!!

The main info:
15 miles (10:20 avg pace)

THE DEETS:



So, we were supposed to set off at 8am when my 'rents got here but they didn't show until a little after 8:30 so by the time we drove over to the Lake it was around 8:45. I opted to have us drive as I wanted to make sure we would have access to more water (didn't want a repeat of last weekend!). We planned to do 2 laps of the Lake (each is around 7.4 miles) and get our water in the middle (I had my hydration belt so I would just refill my bottles. Hubby didn't carry any water so he made sure to slosh up at the 1/2 way point).
I ate a banana and some PB ahead of time (I usually only do 1/4-1/2 banana but I had been up so long by the time we left that I was STARVING so I opted to splurge on the other 1/2)  =)

It was AWESOME to be able to wear shorts for this run. It was 50* when we started out but the wind was cu-RAZY!  (I actually wished at the beginning that I would have worn my ear warmers, gloves and face warmer. I'm a wimp and I know it!)

I warmed up enough to take off my LS in between mile 1 and 2. There were a LOT of people out today. We even saw some roller bladers out there!
My feet (and knee!) felt great the whole first lap!  I stopped to take my first 1/2 pk of Gu at mile 6 (also, my little pouch I wear on my hydration belt broke around mile 3! Hubs carried it the rest of the way for me. So glad I brought him along)
Stopped at the van between mile 7 and 8 to get some H20.  I had drank almost both of my flasks so I'm glad we had extra to refill with.

Getting ready to start the second loop...

The wind got a shot of Red Bull or something as we were going over the dam at the beginning of the 2nd loop. It was not only CRAZY windy (as in had to yell to hear each other) but it got noticeably colder (and I had just left my long sleeve in the van!), AND then started to spit down rain as well! Not the nice misty rain, but the cold, wind-blown, pelty kind of rain. Bleh.  Thankfully it didn't last long.

Momma can take pictures WHILE running! Talent, people!

I'm pretty sure there's a limit to how much stuff you can have around your waist while you run. I'm pretty sure I've exceeded that limit.

I don't know how many times I forgot he was wearing that thing on his arm under his sweatshirt. I DO know that I slap his arm a lot when he makes me laugh. Oops! Sorry honey!

 

Ducks.  That's all.



 

So. My foot started to bug me a bit around mile 10, so I merely hopped to the side of the trail and ran there for most of the remaining 5 miles and had no issues! (the wind blew me there half the time anyway-no joke)...I was able to hop back on the pavement every so often the last couple miles. I am SO thankful I was able to complete the distance though!

The wind (and running on the grass for the last 1/3 of the run), made this run feel much harder than our 13 miler a couple weeks ago (even though the pace was more than a minute faster per mile than this run!)

DONE!

It started raining again RIGHT when we took these pictures and it was COLD and it was WINDY. I usually walk for a few minutes but it was TOO cold to walk so I did a slow jog back to the parking lot and stayed in the shelter of our van to stretch. BOY was it cold!!

Refuel with Pepperjax? Don't mind if I do!
*Funny story here: as we left the Lake, hubs was like 'Let's get Pepperjax for lunch' and I was all 'YEAH!'...we drove almost the whole way there before we both realized that neither of us had anything on us other than our driver's licenses! Grrr.....thankfully, hubs was willing to go back out after we got home and pick it up. He's a keeper

Cream filled donuts are the BEST reward after a long run (right up there with a hot shower, fuzzy socks, and feet-up-on-the-couch time!)

Do you have any favorite post-long run foods/treats that you look forward to?

Holy Speed Rockets, Batman!

Before we get to the run, I'd just like to say one thing...
IS IT SPRING YET??!!
The snow and rain and cold and general yuckiness is SO last month.
Uh, God? I'd like an order of sunshine, please? With a side of warmth. Thankyouverymuch.

So anyway, this run. ROCKED MY SOCKS OFF.  It would have been a top 10 run ANYWAY, just cuz I got to do it with the most awesome person alive, BUT the sweetness had a generous dollop of rockin' pace on top which just took it to whole 'nother adjective. (Awesomesauce? Bomb.com?  You pick.)


Hubs and I starting out at 8am

Incase you've not been here for long (and probably only 3 of you have), my starting off pics are pretty much always in the dark. I truly am a get-up-get-dressed-and-go type runner.  But hubs needed his morning coffee and my parents were coming up to be watched by our minions, I mean to watch our minions, and I didnt want to give them a dark 0' thirty time in which to be here.
So I got up at 7, ate a 1/2 a banana with some PB around 7:40 and we were on the street a little after 8.

We started off in our neighborhood and took that over to Lake Z stopping 2 or 9 times on the way over so I could blow my shnoz. Does anyone else have this issue? I always end up taking embarrassing amounts of tissue along.
I joked with hubby that I needed one of these:



It really would save a lot of time digging one out of my many pockets.

Took 1/2 a PowerBar Gel a bit before 5 miles (and again about mile 10)

I think the guy coming up behind us at this point thought it was weird that I was taking a picture of a gel. On my wrist.  *Sigh*...the things I do for you guys. 

We passed these GORGEOUS balls of fluff TWICE on our run

I oo'd and ah'd and gasped (isn't that a weird word to say out loud?), and squealed...I mean come ON. That baby was the cutest thing EVER.

This is about mile 11. Feeling pretty awesome from my second 'hit' of the gel!

WHAT??

To fully appreciate the awesomeness of this pace you can read about my first two 'real' 1/2 marathons HERE.  I ran my 1/2 last Spring (on a hilly course-I will give it that-today's was fairly flat for most of the route), at an avg pace of 9:03. So to be able to pull ^THIS^ off on a training run? Was pretty stinkin' awesome (only burmmer is that I think that blister thing a ma bobber is coming back-bleh). Pace for the last .1 miles? 7:29.  BOOOOO  YYYYAAAAAA!!

So in celebration, I went out and bought all of these:

Just kidding.
I ate 4 BIG cookies.
=)

Dont ya love when a training run is just purified AWESOMENESS the whole time??

Nov 20, 2010

Nov 20, 2010 Saturday
10 miles....1 hour 41 minutes 45 seconds (10:10 pace)....34*, windchill of 24* (BRRR.)...location: Lake Z....gear: headband, buff, tshirt, LS shirt, gloves, jacket, FILA tights, shorts, hydration belt, tunes

First off...TEN miles!!!!!! YIPPEEEEE!!!! WOO HOOO!!!!!!!! YEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAWWWW!!!

*ahem*

Ok, now that I got that out of my system.... =)
Today was CHILLY! The wind is a killer-and it really wasn't even that windy!
Hubby ran with me today and we drove over to Lake Z for our run. This is my first time running there (except for my race on Oct 30).
I told him to run at his own pace today so his legs wouldnt get so tired of shuffling along =) So he would stride way out ahead of me sometimes and then walk til I caught up with him. This seemed to help him. (After we got done, he STILL had to go play some bball w/ some highschool kids! This guy is a MANIAC I tell ya!)

I got up at 730 this morning and decided to just go ahead and eat something. I was craving corndog nuggets, so that's what I had.
Yep, I am the poster boy, or girl, for running nutrition =)
I had no ill effects from eating pre-run so I was happy about that.
We started our run a little after 10am. Super gloomy out, chilly, and windy. Lovely.

There were several times the first hour where I just felt sluggish. And that lovely wind wasn't helping any. About 50 minutes in, my right hammie started talking to me, then my right knee joined in. Then my left shin was obviously feeling a little left out. But I opened my stride up for a few mintues and that seemed to hush them up in a hurry. HA! Take that!!

Its AMAZING how quickly you get chilly when you stop running. I was almost too cold to stretch before getting in the car, but knew that would be a big mistake so I toughed it out and got it done.
After all, I HAD just thrown down 10 miles in 24* windchill, so I could handle a little nippiness for 5 minutes to stretch.
This was the first run I have worn my jacket for. I debated not even wearing it but when I got out of the car at the Lake I thought 'Weeeeeelllllll, it is windy AND chilly....I'll just wear it and tie it around my waist in 5 minutes', but I wore it for a good portion of the run, taking it off and on when I felt the need. I was VERY thankful I had it.
And the frugal side of me loves that it was only $4 at the local thrift store!! WOO HOO!!

Sacrificed another pair of gloves to the road today. Thankfully it was only a pair of those 'buy-2-for-a-dollar' variety so no big loss. Will have to make a trip to Target to get some more.

This upcoming week I will either do a 4 or 5 on Monday, then I am debating on my middle of the week schedule. I usually do 3 mi on Wed and 2 on Thursday but I am taking part in a virtual 5K on thanksgiving, so I dont really want to switch those 2 runs around (the 3 and the 2), so I may just do a 5 on Monday and the 5K on Thursday (if I have a little gas in the tank, maybe I'll add another mile onto the end of it)...then I plan to run ELEVEN miles on Saturday!!
If I'm not feeling it, I'll back that long run down to an 8 or a 9. I wasnt planning on taking any cutback weeks until after I reach 13.1 for my long runs, but I'll try to be nice to my body and listen to what its telling me.

Sometimes though, I'm hard of hearing.....

=)