Just Plodding Along

Last Sunday I ran a 5K in memory of a constable who often volunteered for the local races my running store puts on. He was killed during an altercation at a haunted house this past Halloween. Being the first year the race was pretty small with about 100 people coming out. My plan was to run hard. No watch, just push and try not to throw up. When it comes to race planning I really nail it...don't vomit..it is good to have goals. The course is not super easy with quite a bit of climbing and ending pretty much uphill but that means there are downhills which are always nice. I don't have splits cause I didn't wear my watch but I took off too fast and then struggled to not die for the rest of the race. On the last hill I was the third place female but then a youngin came motoring up behind me at top speed and left me in the dust. Need to work on my hill game. But fourth female, 17th overall and a finish time of 25:58 with 1st in my age group seems not bad at all. My r...

Guess where I am headed today to celebrate with one of my besties the fact that each year we get older but yet each year we are just more awesome. Okay really we wanted to go to Vegas to celebrate turning 30 like two years ago we are just a couple years behind schedule. And neither one of our birthdays is in January. But who the hell cares we are goin to Vegas anyway. And by awesome I just want to clarify I am pretty sure both of us packed a pair of sweatpants for each day we will be there cause we are over thirty and being comfortable is just the best. Awesome is a relative term. I promise to only wear them in the hotel while consuming room service...promise.  And we are going to see  And no I will not wear sweatpants there either...not until after. I have prepared for this epic moment by forcing everyone who resides with me to listen non-stop to the I Heart Radio Britney station. You are welcome husband and dog!  So Vegas prepare yourself...

This week was a bit low on the mileage and training. I took Thursday and Friday off to let an ache in my left hip/ lower back have some time to rest. I am pretty sure my SI joint is a bit out of whack so I have been doing exercise and stretches that are supposed to help it pop back into its proper space and then keep it there. It is feeling better and luckily running doesn't really seem to bother it. Not gonna lie, with this 2015 miles in 2015 goal I feel a bit of pressure to keep at it. This is good and bad. I don't want to take unplanned rest breaks but at the same time sometimes they are necessary so I just have to let it go. Monday:  Race against Racism 10k. 2nd in age group. 55:48 Tuesday: 1/2 hour of Pilates, Weights, 5 miles with my 1/2 marathon training group. Notice hip and back feel funny. Wednesday:  Easy 7 miles. Notice hip and back still feel weird.Spend time with my roller and tendon exercises. Thursday: Rest day from running. Lifted weights and stretc...

One of my goals for this year was to race a different distance than my usual half marathon or full marathon. So I decided to either do a 10k or 10 miler. Monday there happened to be a 10K so I signed up figuring it would be a good workout in pushing the pace in preparation for the half marathon. Plus it was on a flat course which is nice since lately I have been running quite a bit of hills. As always when I sign up for a longer distance....as I passed the 5K turn around I was like why do you gotta be an over achiever. But 10Ks are a good challenge. Result- well I was reminded the flat courses are not really that easy and the nice thing about hills are that there are downhills. I also finished in 55:48 with an average mile time of 8:58 and placed second in my age group! Whoop I will take it! The good thing about this 10K is at the end I felt like I could have held a hard pace for a few more miles. This is good since the half marathon coming up in February is longer than 6 miles...

This past weekend was awesome. One of my very favorite people in the whole world came to visit! Maren, one of my besties since 7th grade (she has put up with me for a very long time) flew down from frozen Minneapolis to hang with me. Unfortunately El Paso is a little bit lacking in exciting things to do but we made it work. D took us on a base tour which included the Old Fort Replica.  We did not in fact feed the plastic replica animals. Such rule followers.....We also took a drive up to scenic drive to check out downtown and spy on Mexico since it is right there. Then we hit up Independent Burger and Belle Sucre Bakery  to get birthday supplies in the form of mini cakes since it was Maren's Bday on Saturday. Yes to mini cakes and go to Belle Sucre Bakery if you are local. So delicious.  Saturday after I got home from running with the half marathon group I am training we headed to Mesilla in New Mexico for birthday adventure time. Super cute little town. We ...

This week I was a little bit tired and sore, probably from all the miles last week. Still got quite a few miles in and passed the 100 mile mark for the year! Making good progress on my 2015 miles in 2015. I also feel like I have made significant gains in my fitness and speed the last few months. Trying extra hard to stay healthy and injury free because I think consistent training has really been a positive thing. Monday: Da track for some track torture in the form of 4 X 1200 with mile warm-up and cool-down and 200 walk recovery. Little more tired this week. Probably from the high mileage last week. 8:13 average pace. Full body weight workout = ouch. Tuesday: 3 mile morning treadmill walk. Hour of Pilates. 5 mile half marathon training group run with four of those miles sub 10 minutes. Wednesday: Woke up tired and sore and really struggled . But got 13 miles in. Immediately proceeded to nap time before work (true bonus of working in the afternoons.) Thursday: No running. Rest d...

First off I love, LOVE this ad. It is real and empowering and who doesn't love a good Missy Elliot song. This morning the struggle was real....It was one of these days I was just not having it. The plan was 14 miles, The thoughts in the first mile ranged from I just want to lie down and curl into a ball, to maybe I can make it six. I was tired and sore and over it. Lucky for me my most amazing running buddy was super cool about it and like no worries we will take it slow and do what we can. And what I could do was 13 miles whhaaaaatt. Isn't it amazing how having company can make difficult things so much easier. It was not the fastest or strongest miles I have ever run, they were actually slow and included a lot of walk breaks with some serious whining. At the end I was happy that I was able to run so far but a bit disappointed that my running was not strong. And then I was like knock the crazy off. A double digit run is a double digit run. Not every run is gonna be s...

This past week I rocked the miles. Feeling stronger and faster. It is a nice feeling. Monday Track torture- 10X800. Average pace was an 8:05 mile. Not bad. With the warm-up and cool down a total of 8 miles on the track. Lifted arms Tuesday: 2 miles ran/walked while training. 5 miles run with my half marathon training group at an average pace of 10:08. Pilates and some balance and tendon strengthening stuff. Wednesday: 11 miles in the Valley. Average time was 10:44 per mile but that included some Gu and nose blowing walk breaks cause it is COLD. Later that night 1.5 with my new couch to 5k group. For a total of 12.5 miles. Thursday: Walked 2 miles on the treadmill. Lifted legs....which was a mistake I paid for on Friday. Some serious stretching and rolling out. Friday:  Tempo run on the El Paso Half race course. After my legs warmed up and felt like they were not going to fall off due to lifting weights this run felt great. It was a new route and a tempo of 3 minu...

Registered for some 2015 fun! In no particular order of excitement...or dates... The half marathon Fall marathon possibilities: Fingers crossed If fingers crossed doesn't work Fingers crossed And to top it off of course, this little challenge..... Running 2,015 miles in 2015

LOVE I really love the New Year. Everything is shiny and new. A fresh start. New challenges to look forward too. A time you can plan adventures and resolutions. A time to shake of any disappointments or issues of the old year. A time to guesstimate how many new medals you will acquire by the end of the year....(fingers crossed for double digits). This morning I took off to tackle one of my resolutions or goals for 2015 which is to run/walk/hike 2,015 miles this year. 7.4 miles done- 6.4 running and 1 mile walking. I decided on a familiar route to kick off the year. Northeast trails for the win. Uphill  about two miles, two miles of trails and then back down. This is a route that when I first started running in El Paso would kick my butt...repeatedly...every time. It didn't help that I was coming back from two months of no running/ barely moving and had moved to a higher elevation and it was an inferno outside. This route really stuck it to me. Repeated walk breaks, Feel...