December 19, 2012
I can't remember the last time I laced up my Addidas Marathons and hit the pavement. I can't remember the last time I laced up my Addidas Duramos and hit the mill. I am ashamed to say I can't remember the last time I ran. I would like to say it is because I was dealing with my mother's illness. I would like to say I was busy with sick kids and Thanksgiving. I would like to say I was busy with sick kids and Christmas (what is it with my kids and holidays that they have to get sick during those times?). Unfortunately, the truth is that I am lazy and once again I have hit that sweet spot in my chair that doesn't want me to get out of it. Stupid chair! Lazy me! Is it too early to start my New Year's Resolution? I hope not because I'm going to! But first an update.
My last blog I shared that my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and that she had had a lumpectomy with a bit of reconstructive surgery. They had taken a sample of her lymph nodes to be certain the cancer wasn't in those. That was over a month ago and of course the samples have come back....some time ago in fact. There was no cancer in her lymph nodes, praise God! The doctors did some further tests and to make a long story short my mother was given the option of chemotherapy or radiation treatment. Needless to say she chose radiation treatment. She is in her second week of treatment and is feeling good. She has been told to expect to feel tender like she has a sunburn and to feel tired but so far she is feeling good. This is awesome considering the holidays are a busy time of year. She's even offered to come and help me get my house ready for the holidays. I always host the Christmas Day dinner at my house and with three kids at home getting the house in order and keeping it that way isn't always easy. I haven't taken her up on that although I might this weekend since I've not finished getting my house decorated with the Christmas decorations. I have such lovely decorations this year; my mother in law gave me some awesome things and I bought some new decorations and I'm excited to get them put up. Unfortunately I do have a sick boy this week and it's putting a damper on both house cleaning and decorating. Not easy to decorate the house when you're cleaning up puke. UGH!!! Uh-oh, I digressed.....AGAIN. Anyway, my mother is doing fine and that's the update on that!
As far as my running goes, the plan is to start up again after Christmas. I had planned to get back to it two months ago but once again I got in a slump. It's so easy to find excuses not to do what you know you need to do but it's so hard to get up out of the chair, especially when I know I have to acclimate to those stupid hills again! Stupid hills! I think this time I'm going to start right out on the street instead of on the mill. If I'm running on the street then I automatically have to adjust to the hills and it's not like I have to readjust from running flat. That's what I keep telling myself anyway, the old "That's my story and I'm sticking to it!" thing, yeah, that's it! LOL!!! Anyway, so the plan is to get out there on the 26th and get a run in....that is as long as there's no ice on the ground. So far it's looking promising. It's not terribly cold out and I've got my cold running clothes. I just heard thunder, yes, folks, thunder in December, so I'm not sure what's going down with the weather. I would like a little snow on Christmas and then for it to go away so I can run outside the day after. :-)
I guess that's it for now....no more excuses, no more updates!
Happy Running,
KEA
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
On a Serious Note and Having Nothing to Do With Running At All
November 1, 2012
My last few blogs have been boring and short, sweet and to the point. This is because I didn't get them posted when the runs occurred and I had forgotten details. I'm sort of chronologically OCD and couldn't skip them so I just posted the basics and what I could remember of each run so I could have them sort of to follow myself chronologically. There are a couple that I don't even remember the date so they weren't dated (which, incidentally bugs the crap out of me but there's nothing I can do about it so I just have to live with it). Anyway, the reason I haven't been posting and I've not even been running or training or even thinking about running and/or training is because in the past month my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer has always been a cause that I have always felt particularly strong about but a few years ago my Aunt Bonnie, my mother's younger sister, was diagnosed and it became a much more important cause to me. In June, I ran my first 5k and it was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in St. Louis, MO. I have never seen so many people affected by one thing in my whole life as I saw that day. So many women had someone's name on their back.....many had more than one. One family had three women's names on their back all "In Memory Of;" all three women listed had lost their lives to breast cancer. I was so grateful that sign on my back said "In Celebration Of Aunt Bonnie" instead of "In Memory Of" and my heart went out to all those who weren't fortunate enough to have "In Celebration Of."
Even now as I write I am overwhelmed with the emotion of the race and the women who were there but most of all the women in the Survivors Procession which was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. Thousands of women waving their arms in victory and if there was one person there who wasn't moved I would be surprised. But most of all I am overwhelmed with emotion over the past month because all of sudden it was MY mother and it was MY family that has been affected by this disease. Now it is us who is going to the doctor and looking on the internet for answers to questions that we didn't even know how to ask.....the first being "Is my mother going to die?" I am 42 years old; my mother is 72 and I have accepted that as I get older my mother's life expectancy gets shorter. I have accepted that one day my mother will indeed die. We even joke about. We walk through her house and she asks me about what I want from her collections of pretty things and her china and her teapots and such so she can let her husband know what is to be mine and what goes to my sister when she dies. We tease about what she doesn't want at her funeral but at the same time these discussions hold a note of seriousness. These are things that need to be discussed and decided so no one has to make decisions when the time comes. No one wants to make those kinds of decisions when they are overwrought with grief. I have these discussions myself with my husband ("If something happens to me, I want you to make sure that _________________"). But for the first time in my life this reality has become a real reality. It was so close that if I could reach out and touch it I could have touched it; if you understand what I mean. I don't like the way that feels. I can accept the fact that my mother is going to die but until it happens I don't want to think about it and all of sudden I had to think about it. It was terrifying and unsettling. My life seemed to stop in my head for a whole two weeks while we were waiting to find out if she indeed had breast cancer and after we found out while we waited to see the doctor about options.
I went to the doctor with my mother and her husband. I knew the doctor we were going to see. I had seen her when I had problems with my first mammogram. She is very kind and reassuring. And she knows what she is talking about (as I hope she would since she is the expert on boobies here!) One of the first things she told us was that my mother is NOT going to die of this breast cancer. I had been putting on a brave front and told my children, my husband and my sister as well as anyone else who knew that I was not going to worry until the doctor told me too and while this was true to an extent, it is hard to follow up with it by actually believing it fully myself. So when the doctor told us this I was much more relaxed. My mother's cancer had been caught soon enough and it is very responsive to treatment. As I type this, my mother is currently at home....well, I can't say that for sure. She might be out running errands because when I talked to her this morning she was curling her hair and I'm not sure if she does that if she is just going to hang around the house or if she does it every day regardless of her daily plans. She does like to be a well put together woman so I wouldn't be surprised if she was doing it just because it's what she does....but I digress, my mother is doing fine right now. She had a lumpectomy on Tuesday along with a little bit of reconstructive surgery. They took the infected tissue out as well as some lymph nodes for testing. They want to be sure her lymph nodes do not have cancer. If they do, then her treatment plan will have to be revised. We do not expect the lymph nodes to be cancerous. This is the power of positive thinking but also due to the fact that the cancer was caught so soon. Because of the tissue that was removed, things needed to be adjusted a little so my mother's chest wouldn't look funny, thus the reconstructive surgery; it just involved moving a little tissue around. When my mother has healed from the surgery, she will begin radiation treatment five days a week for I think six weeks. After that she will take an oral hormone for five years and as long as the cancer doesn't come back (my aunt's has not come back and it's been four or five years) Mom will be fine. Prognosis is excellent and we are on the right track but this bump in the road has me thinking a lot about life and many things.
I put my life on hold and I got stalled for a very long time. Now that treatment has begun it is much easier for me to get back to my life and the way things were. This is why I haven't been running despite my running friends telling me that I needed to get out there and get to it since running is exercise and exercise is stress relief and I love running so much. I must remember to take care of myself and my children despite the stresses of life, even if one of those stresses is the potential death of my own mother. I was blessed this time. My mother will continue her life and I am happy for that. But there is going to be a time when I won't be so blessed. My mother will die and so will my father. It's a part of life and I thought I was prepared for it, but I'm not. I guess I need to work on being more like my husband. He believes that we need to enjoy people while they are here and in our lives because one day those people are not going to be in our lives whether it be through distance or death or whatever. He believes that we shouldn't be sad when we lose those we love; we should appreciate the time we had with them. I need to learn to be more like that in some ways.
KEA
My last few blogs have been boring and short, sweet and to the point. This is because I didn't get them posted when the runs occurred and I had forgotten details. I'm sort of chronologically OCD and couldn't skip them so I just posted the basics and what I could remember of each run so I could have them sort of to follow myself chronologically. There are a couple that I don't even remember the date so they weren't dated (which, incidentally bugs the crap out of me but there's nothing I can do about it so I just have to live with it). Anyway, the reason I haven't been posting and I've not even been running or training or even thinking about running and/or training is because in the past month my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer has always been a cause that I have always felt particularly strong about but a few years ago my Aunt Bonnie, my mother's younger sister, was diagnosed and it became a much more important cause to me. In June, I ran my first 5k and it was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in St. Louis, MO. I have never seen so many people affected by one thing in my whole life as I saw that day. So many women had someone's name on their back.....many had more than one. One family had three women's names on their back all "In Memory Of;" all three women listed had lost their lives to breast cancer. I was so grateful that sign on my back said "In Celebration Of Aunt Bonnie" instead of "In Memory Of" and my heart went out to all those who weren't fortunate enough to have "In Celebration Of."
Even now as I write I am overwhelmed with the emotion of the race and the women who were there but most of all the women in the Survivors Procession which was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. Thousands of women waving their arms in victory and if there was one person there who wasn't moved I would be surprised. But most of all I am overwhelmed with emotion over the past month because all of sudden it was MY mother and it was MY family that has been affected by this disease. Now it is us who is going to the doctor and looking on the internet for answers to questions that we didn't even know how to ask.....the first being "Is my mother going to die?" I am 42 years old; my mother is 72 and I have accepted that as I get older my mother's life expectancy gets shorter. I have accepted that one day my mother will indeed die. We even joke about. We walk through her house and she asks me about what I want from her collections of pretty things and her china and her teapots and such so she can let her husband know what is to be mine and what goes to my sister when she dies. We tease about what she doesn't want at her funeral but at the same time these discussions hold a note of seriousness. These are things that need to be discussed and decided so no one has to make decisions when the time comes. No one wants to make those kinds of decisions when they are overwrought with grief. I have these discussions myself with my husband ("If something happens to me, I want you to make sure that _________________"). But for the first time in my life this reality has become a real reality. It was so close that if I could reach out and touch it I could have touched it; if you understand what I mean. I don't like the way that feels. I can accept the fact that my mother is going to die but until it happens I don't want to think about it and all of sudden I had to think about it. It was terrifying and unsettling. My life seemed to stop in my head for a whole two weeks while we were waiting to find out if she indeed had breast cancer and after we found out while we waited to see the doctor about options.
I went to the doctor with my mother and her husband. I knew the doctor we were going to see. I had seen her when I had problems with my first mammogram. She is very kind and reassuring. And she knows what she is talking about (as I hope she would since she is the expert on boobies here!) One of the first things she told us was that my mother is NOT going to die of this breast cancer. I had been putting on a brave front and told my children, my husband and my sister as well as anyone else who knew that I was not going to worry until the doctor told me too and while this was true to an extent, it is hard to follow up with it by actually believing it fully myself. So when the doctor told us this I was much more relaxed. My mother's cancer had been caught soon enough and it is very responsive to treatment. As I type this, my mother is currently at home....well, I can't say that for sure. She might be out running errands because when I talked to her this morning she was curling her hair and I'm not sure if she does that if she is just going to hang around the house or if she does it every day regardless of her daily plans. She does like to be a well put together woman so I wouldn't be surprised if she was doing it just because it's what she does....but I digress, my mother is doing fine right now. She had a lumpectomy on Tuesday along with a little bit of reconstructive surgery. They took the infected tissue out as well as some lymph nodes for testing. They want to be sure her lymph nodes do not have cancer. If they do, then her treatment plan will have to be revised. We do not expect the lymph nodes to be cancerous. This is the power of positive thinking but also due to the fact that the cancer was caught so soon. Because of the tissue that was removed, things needed to be adjusted a little so my mother's chest wouldn't look funny, thus the reconstructive surgery; it just involved moving a little tissue around. When my mother has healed from the surgery, she will begin radiation treatment five days a week for I think six weeks. After that she will take an oral hormone for five years and as long as the cancer doesn't come back (my aunt's has not come back and it's been four or five years) Mom will be fine. Prognosis is excellent and we are on the right track but this bump in the road has me thinking a lot about life and many things.
I put my life on hold and I got stalled for a very long time. Now that treatment has begun it is much easier for me to get back to my life and the way things were. This is why I haven't been running despite my running friends telling me that I needed to get out there and get to it since running is exercise and exercise is stress relief and I love running so much. I must remember to take care of myself and my children despite the stresses of life, even if one of those stresses is the potential death of my own mother. I was blessed this time. My mother will continue her life and I am happy for that. But there is going to be a time when I won't be so blessed. My mother will die and so will my father. It's a part of life and I thought I was prepared for it, but I'm not. I guess I need to work on being more like my husband. He believes that we need to enjoy people while they are here and in our lives because one day those people are not going to be in our lives whether it be through distance or death or whatever. He believes that we shouldn't be sad when we lose those we love; we should appreciate the time we had with them. I need to learn to be more like that in some ways.
KEA
CES Wildcats, Go Team Go!
October 6, 2012
I made a trip up to my hometown specifically to run this 5k. I attended CES which now goes by another name from my first grade year all the way to graduate from 8th grade (with the exception of my 7th grade year which I attended at another school in another town.) I am very proud to say that I was a CES Wildcat and I was very pleased to run in this 5k to represent my old grade school/junior high. I have many wonderful memories of going to school there. One of my eighth grade teachers still teaches there and I am glad to say I have her as a friend on my Facebook as well. :-) She teaches history and she is how I found out about this race. I immediately signed up and began training (sort of.....)
So....my youngest daughter and I made the three hour drive and planned on staying the whole weekend. I was super excited about this trip because not only did I get to run a 5k, I got to spend time with my besties. It's hard to live so far away from your best friends and I cherish every weekend I get to spend with them! We got there on Friday evening. I had to go to the school to pick up my race packet so while we were there, my daughter and I toured the school. The school that we toured was not the school I went to. In the many years (we won't say just how many) that have passed since I graduated eighth grade the school/church has moved and expanded. It's funny how even though this is not the building I attended in it was just like going back to the old school. The building had the same feel to it and the memories of my grade school years came flooding back. It was amazing and my daughter told me she wished she could go there. I wish she could too! After we left the school we went to one of my best friends' house where we would be staying for the weekend. We had a wonderful visit and we went out to eat where I made my second mistake. We went to the Longhorn Steakhouse....I think that's where we went. We had the homemade potato chips, oh so good! I had a salad and the bread (but not too much)....YUM YUM YUM!!! Then I had steak that was stuffed with cheese. Oh, it was all so good! I tried not to eat too much but I'm afraid I probably did (second mistake, first being I just didn't train hard enough). We then went back and talked for a while then went to bed since we had to get up early the next day for racing day!
My best friend and my other best friend's mother went to the race with us. It was super cold!!!! It was about 39 degrees!!!! COLD COLD COLD!!! This was the first opportunity I have had to try out my new cold weather running gear. I had bought a pair of full legged, warm running pants and a long sleeved top and had yet to try them out. This was the first opportunity I had and I was very pleased with them. While it was very cold out, I stayed warm with a jacket. I only wished I had warmer socks and that I had remembered to bring gloves and I wished I had a headband to cover my ears....oh, and I wished I had more tissues in my pocket! By the time I was done with the race, the one that I carried was full of holes and well, just plain used up!
So at the start of the race I was cold. We ran across the parking lot of the church through the grass and into a wooded area on a trail that was covered in wood chips. I would like to express now that I do NOT like to run on wood chips. They feel unstable and I felt like I was being careful so as not to trip over a tree root or something unexpected. While we were only on the wood chips a very short time I felt like it cut into my time. We next hit a concrete surface and my body and mind were very happy to be back on familiar (and stable) territory. I ran with a woman my age for a bit and we hit a wooden bridge. It was icy and I slipped and decided it was safest just to walk very fast and hold onto the railing. I did this for two bridges, more time lost. I pulled ahead of the lady I was running with after the bridges and rounded the half way point. By this time I was running with a twenty-something and we chatted for a bit as we were running along. This was her first 5k and she was afraid she had made a mistake in signing up for it. I assured her she was doing fine, especially when she ran on ahead and finished quite a bit ahead of me! The going got harder and I was back on the bridges again.....more lost time again as I didn't want to fall and bust my booty; I'm not as young as I used to be and while I can endure the embarrassment of falling, I'm not sure my body would be so happy at me falling, especially when it was so cold! I was also wearing out and I can't remember wanting to be done so bad! This made me sad because I had been looking forward to running this race for so long! I guess I should've been training harder and I should've been running out in the cold so I would be better prepared. Although, in my defense, this was the first time it had been this cold in a while. I was very tempted to do some walking but again, this feels like defeat to me and I kept it going even if it was more of a walk with a bounce. I came into the home stretch and I will confess, I wanted to do a full sprint home, but 1) the grass was wet and slippery and 2) I just couldn't get my body to respond to my brain's commands. How disappointing. :-(
Here are the details: I ran 3.13 miles and according to my Garmin my time was 33:28. According to the chip on my shoe my time was 33:08.....who's for going with the chip's time? Yes, yes, I think we will. LOL! My overall pace was 10:42 and it was super cold....39 degrees (that's in Fairenheit for those that it matters) and for the first mile I couldn't feel my feet! I placed 24th out of 65 and came in second for my age group....GO ME!!! My second post on the dailymile.com says that the race posted my time at 33:15 while my chip had me at 33:09 and my Garmin timed me at 33:20 something. I'm not unhappy with any of those times so we will just post them all and be content.
Overall, I'm disappointed in myself as I felt awful throughout the whole run. It was painful and even though I say I'm content with the time I felt I could have done better. My goal is to do a 5k in under 30 minutes so I better get to training because I just don't know when the next one will be!
Happy Running!
KEA
I made a trip up to my hometown specifically to run this 5k. I attended CES which now goes by another name from my first grade year all the way to graduate from 8th grade (with the exception of my 7th grade year which I attended at another school in another town.) I am very proud to say that I was a CES Wildcat and I was very pleased to run in this 5k to represent my old grade school/junior high. I have many wonderful memories of going to school there. One of my eighth grade teachers still teaches there and I am glad to say I have her as a friend on my Facebook as well. :-) She teaches history and she is how I found out about this race. I immediately signed up and began training (sort of.....)
So....my youngest daughter and I made the three hour drive and planned on staying the whole weekend. I was super excited about this trip because not only did I get to run a 5k, I got to spend time with my besties. It's hard to live so far away from your best friends and I cherish every weekend I get to spend with them! We got there on Friday evening. I had to go to the school to pick up my race packet so while we were there, my daughter and I toured the school. The school that we toured was not the school I went to. In the many years (we won't say just how many) that have passed since I graduated eighth grade the school/church has moved and expanded. It's funny how even though this is not the building I attended in it was just like going back to the old school. The building had the same feel to it and the memories of my grade school years came flooding back. It was amazing and my daughter told me she wished she could go there. I wish she could too! After we left the school we went to one of my best friends' house where we would be staying for the weekend. We had a wonderful visit and we went out to eat where I made my second mistake. We went to the Longhorn Steakhouse....I think that's where we went. We had the homemade potato chips, oh so good! I had a salad and the bread (but not too much)....YUM YUM YUM!!! Then I had steak that was stuffed with cheese. Oh, it was all so good! I tried not to eat too much but I'm afraid I probably did (second mistake, first being I just didn't train hard enough). We then went back and talked for a while then went to bed since we had to get up early the next day for racing day!
My best friend and my other best friend's mother went to the race with us. It was super cold!!!! It was about 39 degrees!!!! COLD COLD COLD!!! This was the first opportunity I have had to try out my new cold weather running gear. I had bought a pair of full legged, warm running pants and a long sleeved top and had yet to try them out. This was the first opportunity I had and I was very pleased with them. While it was very cold out, I stayed warm with a jacket. I only wished I had warmer socks and that I had remembered to bring gloves and I wished I had a headband to cover my ears....oh, and I wished I had more tissues in my pocket! By the time I was done with the race, the one that I carried was full of holes and well, just plain used up!
So at the start of the race I was cold. We ran across the parking lot of the church through the grass and into a wooded area on a trail that was covered in wood chips. I would like to express now that I do NOT like to run on wood chips. They feel unstable and I felt like I was being careful so as not to trip over a tree root or something unexpected. While we were only on the wood chips a very short time I felt like it cut into my time. We next hit a concrete surface and my body and mind were very happy to be back on familiar (and stable) territory. I ran with a woman my age for a bit and we hit a wooden bridge. It was icy and I slipped and decided it was safest just to walk very fast and hold onto the railing. I did this for two bridges, more time lost. I pulled ahead of the lady I was running with after the bridges and rounded the half way point. By this time I was running with a twenty-something and we chatted for a bit as we were running along. This was her first 5k and she was afraid she had made a mistake in signing up for it. I assured her she was doing fine, especially when she ran on ahead and finished quite a bit ahead of me! The going got harder and I was back on the bridges again.....more lost time again as I didn't want to fall and bust my booty; I'm not as young as I used to be and while I can endure the embarrassment of falling, I'm not sure my body would be so happy at me falling, especially when it was so cold! I was also wearing out and I can't remember wanting to be done so bad! This made me sad because I had been looking forward to running this race for so long! I guess I should've been training harder and I should've been running out in the cold so I would be better prepared. Although, in my defense, this was the first time it had been this cold in a while. I was very tempted to do some walking but again, this feels like defeat to me and I kept it going even if it was more of a walk with a bounce. I came into the home stretch and I will confess, I wanted to do a full sprint home, but 1) the grass was wet and slippery and 2) I just couldn't get my body to respond to my brain's commands. How disappointing. :-(
Here are the details: I ran 3.13 miles and according to my Garmin my time was 33:28. According to the chip on my shoe my time was 33:08.....who's for going with the chip's time? Yes, yes, I think we will. LOL! My overall pace was 10:42 and it was super cold....39 degrees (that's in Fairenheit for those that it matters) and for the first mile I couldn't feel my feet! I placed 24th out of 65 and came in second for my age group....GO ME!!! My second post on the dailymile.com says that the race posted my time at 33:15 while my chip had me at 33:09 and my Garmin timed me at 33:20 something. I'm not unhappy with any of those times so we will just post them all and be content.
Overall, I'm disappointed in myself as I felt awful throughout the whole run. It was painful and even though I say I'm content with the time I felt I could have done better. My goal is to do a 5k in under 30 minutes so I better get to training because I just don't know when the next one will be!
Happy Running!
KEA
DOH!!!!
Okay....so today I did a super stupid thing. While cleaning the bathroom I put bleach in the toilet because it was REALLY nasty. Then I wasn't think about the consequences and later added toilet bowl cleaner to the bleach. It created intense fumes and I had to go outside. Thought I was going to throw up for a while but I didn't. I didn't feel well all afternoon but when it was time for cheer leading practice I knew I had to get out there and get a run in because I had a race coming up on Saturday. Did I mention I signed up for another 5k? Oh, I did. This time it is for my old grade school in my hometown. I am super stoked about it so I needed to get some practice in.
So, I laced on my running shoes and headed out. This run was really hard. I was having trouble with my breathing due to the toilet bowl incident. My stomach was still feeling upset and my nose was burning. I had to walk a lot through this run. I think it was because of the toilet bowl incident but it might also have something to do with the fact that I've been neglecting my running. This is not a good thing since I've got that upcoming 5k. I'm a little worried.
I will keep this one short and sweet since there's nothing really to share about it other than the fact that I was feeling pretty awful. Mental note: NEVER mix bleach and toilet bowl cleaner again. As I type I'm feeling nauseated just thinking about it! Anyway, here's the details: I ran 3.23 miles and it took me 35 minutes. My average pace was 10:44.
I'm not terribly pleased with this run for obvious reasons. I wasn't feeling good; I've got a race coming up and I like to have a better time. But all in all I'm glad I got out there despite feeling like poop.
Happy Running!
KEA
So, I laced on my running shoes and headed out. This run was really hard. I was having trouble with my breathing due to the toilet bowl incident. My stomach was still feeling upset and my nose was burning. I had to walk a lot through this run. I think it was because of the toilet bowl incident but it might also have something to do with the fact that I've been neglecting my running. This is not a good thing since I've got that upcoming 5k. I'm a little worried.
I will keep this one short and sweet since there's nothing really to share about it other than the fact that I was feeling pretty awful. Mental note: NEVER mix bleach and toilet bowl cleaner again. As I type I'm feeling nauseated just thinking about it! Anyway, here's the details: I ran 3.23 miles and it took me 35 minutes. My average pace was 10:44.
I'm not terribly pleased with this run for obvious reasons. I wasn't feeling good; I've got a race coming up and I like to have a better time. But all in all I'm glad I got out there despite feeling like poop.
Happy Running!
KEA
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy
Happy, happy, joy, joy! I have found the place for the new shoes! It is on the treadmill! Who would've thought, eh? WOOT WOOT!!!! Today I hit the mill and again I played with the speed button. I started out with the speed at 6.0 MPH which, in retrospect I probably shouldn't have done because after I ran one mile at that speed I was wiped out! It felt good to be running that fast though. I want to be able to do that on a regular basis. My side started hurting and I had to slow down. I kicked the mill down to 5.6 MPH and ran that for a bit but it was still too fast for me after running @ 6.0 MPH so I slowed down to 5.4, then 5.2. Unfortunately I was just worn out and I had to finally end up running at 5.0 MPH. This was a little disappointing for me but then I've always got high expectations for myself. I really need to get over that. I need to work on that!
Here are the details: Boring run today aside from messing with the speed. I didn't experiment with the incline today, just the default 1.5 incline. I ran for 3.16 miles and it took me 35 minutes. Had to stop quite a bit today. I wore myself out. My average pace was 11:04 which again, seems slow. I really need to work on my speed. I need to get back to reading my book on how to improve my speed.
Once again, sorry this one isn't more lively. Treadmill running is boring but I'm happy with my new shoes on the treadmill. They feel much better on the mill than on the trail. On another note, there's a 5k in my hometown for the grade school/junior high I attended. I signed up for it and I'm really excited for it! It's in a couple of weeks. Gotta get to training!
Happy Running!
KEA
Dirty Shoes, Uber Sad Face :-(
September 25, 2012
I've not been feeling well lately and I'm not sleeping well either. So this run didn't feel as good as the last one. I decided to give my new shoes another workout so I laced up and headed out to the cheer leading trail again. The sky was looking a little rough so I hoped to be done before it started to rain.
This run was uneventful except that somehow my shoes have gotten dirty! Somewhere along the line my shoes have gotten some kind of berry on them. It's very strange because the berry mess is on the top of the foot and that makes me sad, silly I know but still....You know how when you get a new pair of shoes you want to keep them clean as long as possible? Well, you get the picture. I mean, this is only the second time I'd worn these shoes and they are already dirty! Bummer....
So, anyway, this run was uneventful. It was just me grinding out my 3.1 miles trying to get done before the rain hit.
Here's the breakdown: I ran 3.11 miles. It took me 33 minutes to get it done and my average pace was 10:40. Just as I was hitting the end I saw lightening streak across the sky so I finished just in time for them to cancel the rest of cheer leading practice.
Not much else to say about this one, guys. Sorry I'm boring!
Happy Running,
KEA
I've not been feeling well lately and I'm not sleeping well either. So this run didn't feel as good as the last one. I decided to give my new shoes another workout so I laced up and headed out to the cheer leading trail again. The sky was looking a little rough so I hoped to be done before it started to rain.
This run was uneventful except that somehow my shoes have gotten dirty! Somewhere along the line my shoes have gotten some kind of berry on them. It's very strange because the berry mess is on the top of the foot and that makes me sad, silly I know but still....You know how when you get a new pair of shoes you want to keep them clean as long as possible? Well, you get the picture. I mean, this is only the second time I'd worn these shoes and they are already dirty! Bummer....
So, anyway, this run was uneventful. It was just me grinding out my 3.1 miles trying to get done before the rain hit.
Here's the breakdown: I ran 3.11 miles. It took me 33 minutes to get it done and my average pace was 10:40. Just as I was hitting the end I saw lightening streak across the sky so I finished just in time for them to cancel the rest of cheer leading practice.
Not much else to say about this one, guys. Sorry I'm boring!
Happy Running,
KEA
I Am a Beast!
September 13, 2012
I recently got a new pair of shoes and so many things kept coming up (and I kept using them as an excuse not to run) that I haven't had the opportunity to try them out until tonight. They are Addidas (my current brand of choice) Duramo 4's and the jury is still out as to whether or not I like them. They fit well and I guess they are okay but I didn't love them as much as I do my Addidas Marathon 10's. Perhaps I'm just more attached to the Marathons. We shall see as I intend to give the Duramo's the benefit of the doubt and will continue to break them in.
Tonight's run was the cheer leading practice trail. The loop is getting boring but the hills are getting easier. There's that big one at the beginning of my run and it's hard but it is less intimidating each time I run this route. That makes me happy.
Tonight I was just in a great place both physically and mentally. I haven't run much lately and I thought I would have a problem with the hills, with exhaustion and with lack of enthusiasm but I didn't. Tonight I just felt like the wind was in me and I was just "on". It felt great! (Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on the new shoes? LOL!) It came down to the last bit of the my usual 5k distance and I was listening to my iPod. I had recently added some new music to my "marathon mix" that I run to and I was listening to Amy Grant's "Sing Your Praise to the Lord". There's just something about that intro where the piano is playing and it comes to a grand crescendo and I couldn't help myself; I did a huge ballerina leap right on the path. I didn't care who saw me and I didn't care if anyone thought I was nuts. I just couldn't help myself. I felt great and my feet just left the ground. I know I probably looked silly but it doesn't matter because I felt great and when you feel great you have the right to do a ridiculous ballerina leap on the path of the trail! And, if I do say so myself, I don't think I looked as ridiculous as you might think. :-) Finally, to top it all off I ran farther than I have run in a very long time. All this makes me very happy....except for the shoes which didn't feel comfortable.
So, here's the break down: I ran 3.52 miles (GO ME) and it took me 40 minutes to do it. My average pace was 11:21 which seems slow but since I ran farther than I've run in a while and I was wearing new shoes I'm really content with this run. I felt great when I was done (as evidenced by said ballerina leap) and I felt like I'd accomplished something so at the risk of being made fun of by those who run double digits faster than I can run one simple mile; I am a beast!
Happy Running!
KEA
I recently got a new pair of shoes and so many things kept coming up (and I kept using them as an excuse not to run) that I haven't had the opportunity to try them out until tonight. They are Addidas (my current brand of choice) Duramo 4's and the jury is still out as to whether or not I like them. They fit well and I guess they are okay but I didn't love them as much as I do my Addidas Marathon 10's. Perhaps I'm just more attached to the Marathons. We shall see as I intend to give the Duramo's the benefit of the doubt and will continue to break them in.
Tonight's run was the cheer leading practice trail. The loop is getting boring but the hills are getting easier. There's that big one at the beginning of my run and it's hard but it is less intimidating each time I run this route. That makes me happy.
Tonight I was just in a great place both physically and mentally. I haven't run much lately and I thought I would have a problem with the hills, with exhaustion and with lack of enthusiasm but I didn't. Tonight I just felt like the wind was in me and I was just "on". It felt great! (Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on the new shoes? LOL!) It came down to the last bit of the my usual 5k distance and I was listening to my iPod. I had recently added some new music to my "marathon mix" that I run to and I was listening to Amy Grant's "Sing Your Praise to the Lord". There's just something about that intro where the piano is playing and it comes to a grand crescendo and I couldn't help myself; I did a huge ballerina leap right on the path. I didn't care who saw me and I didn't care if anyone thought I was nuts. I just couldn't help myself. I felt great and my feet just left the ground. I know I probably looked silly but it doesn't matter because I felt great and when you feel great you have the right to do a ridiculous ballerina leap on the path of the trail! And, if I do say so myself, I don't think I looked as ridiculous as you might think. :-) Finally, to top it all off I ran farther than I have run in a very long time. All this makes me very happy....except for the shoes which didn't feel comfortable.
So, here's the break down: I ran 3.52 miles (GO ME) and it took me 40 minutes to do it. My average pace was 11:21 which seems slow but since I ran farther than I've run in a while and I was wearing new shoes I'm really content with this run. I felt great when I was done (as evidenced by said ballerina leap) and I felt like I'd accomplished something so at the risk of being made fun of by those who run double digits faster than I can run one simple mile; I am a beast!
Happy Running!
KEA
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