Waves of Regret (I should have gone for that run)!

It has only taken me five months to find this statement truly true.  Yes, before this morning there were a few times when I didn't run and I should have but I never really felt guilty about not going. Until today.

My alarm went off at 04:31 like always. I let it snooze a few times while I checked Facebook, my email and the weather on my phone like I always do. I changed into my running clothes and then went to the bathroom like I always do. But once I made it to the kitchen I just decided that I didn't want to go and started being really slow about half-assing getting ready for my run. Then, "Oops--it is too late to go.  Guess I will just have to sleep a bit on the couch until it is time to get ready for work." Which is exactly what I did, covered up with my favorite afghan and curled up with some pillows.  When I finally got up, that's when the waves of regret hit me. Yes, I should have run this morning. I was not running that late, and I could have even gone for 3 1/2 miles instead of the 4 I was planning.  That would have been better than the zero miles I actually went.

Maybe this evening I will head out for a short run. I can hit the hills and feel like I am doing double duty. But, I also have to run tomorrow morning and Thursday morning.  No races this weekend, but I really should work in my short recovery run to make sure my milage is increasing each week.  That's an easy run--as long as I actually get out and run. 

Never Again... Never Say Never (Win)

Today, on Facebook, there was a post with comments about what a certain runner (my mom) is thinking about when they run. So on tonight's run I collected a few thoughts that I will share with you now.

"Okay, the sun is finally setting, I think I will be okay if I head out now."

"Nope, should have brought sunglasses."

"Ugh, this light takes forever to change."

"Why are there so many cars?  I need to cross the street here instead of having crossed twice at that night."

"Hills suck."

"Hills are awesome!"

"Uh oh, why is there a police car just sitting there."

"BUNNIES!"

"Ouch, how did I pull that muscle?"

"Could I blow my nose with one of those dog poop bags?"

"I should take the short cut up the hill."

"When I blog about this later do I want to say that I took the short cut home?"

"Yay--time to walk and it happens to be when I am going up the hill."
"Do I know that person in that car?"

"So glad I didn't bring sunglasses, they would be falling off the top of my head by now."

"I am about half a mile from home, can go home now and still have gone a good distance."

"Love this song, who cares if I sing out loud for a bit while I am walking."

"When will I need to eat my almonds?"

"NICE STOP, Jerk!"

"My toes hurt."

"My hamstring hurts."

"My back hurts."

"How many people will be out of work tomorrow?"

"Do I really want to wear that shirt to school tomorrow?"

"I am going to rock that shirt tomorrow because I am doing half of a half-marathon tonight!"

"HEY Lady!  Share the road!"

"I am almost out of water. Can I get some at Circle K?"

"Going to walk through this running segment, I need a longer break."

"Almost there, one last running segment."

"Okay, one more running segment, with perfect form!"

"Awe man, just two tenths of a mile to go, I will run past my house to get that extra distance!"

"Thank you Endomondo! I love you! Please show me a personal best distance for something when I get home."

"I think I will do my blog post right when I get home."

As I sit at home fresh from my run (if "fresh" is really the way to describe it), I ice my hamstring and think about how I pushed through on this run with a few opportunities to go home sooner than I planned and with a pulled muscle in my leg it would have been a valid excuse for going home early. But I didn't. I figured it hurt already, it is going to hurt tomorrow, I might as well keep going! So I did.

I say "Never Again" because I much prefer my early morning runs to running in the evening. The sun wasn't to much of a problem because it was cool and eventually set, and it is always cooler running the canals anyway. But there were just so many cars. Twice, TWICE, there were cars that were not paying as much attention to me as I was to them and I could easily have been run over tonight!  But, since I didn't run yesterday, and I didn't run this morning; tonight was my only option to get out for a run. I at least felt safer on the streets with cars about than on the canal with no one around. Once it gets dark, that could be really creepy. 

Next weekend, get up early to run--I can always take a nap.

How To Set A PR (Win)

Last night, I went out for my first run in Yuma's series of city runs--The Zombie Run.

Based on how my last organized race went, I really didn't think I would be setting any goals because if it was too crowded it would really be hard to be consistent with my speed.  But that was really not a problem last night.  I also was running with the ten year old son of another teacher from my school. Luckily, he was the boost that I needed to make this goal!

I felt bad the first time I had to take a walk break. It seemed like we hadn't run very far, or for very long and that I can usually wait a bit longer when I am out on runs by myself. But I needed the break and we walked for a couple of minutes.  We kept up our running and walking until the Endomondo told us we had already gone one mile.  One mile in eleven minutes was all I heard! Really?!  I hadn't run a mile in eleven minutes in a long time!  The second mile of our 5k was 13 minutes, still a bit faster than my recent miles.  And the third mile--eleven minutes again!

During the run I was talking with my young running partner about how I was working on a goal time for this race, and since we were doing so well along the way we might be able to make my goal time!  When we heard the Endomondo give the time for the third mile as 36 minutes he shouted "We can make it" and we ran through the finish line in 37 minutes and 47 seconds.  Holy moly!  I just made my goal and shaved 2+ minutes of my time!  Yay--I finally can get my new Birkenstock sandals and have finally met a goal I've been working towards for a long time!

I figured out why we were so fast in this race. First, I didn't have much to talk with a ten year old about, so we were not distracted from running by our conversations.  Second, he's a faster runner than me and I was always trying to keep up with him when we were running.  I had to push myself to have longer strides and go just a bit farther before taking a walk break.  He was gracious about when I needed to walk and was excited to be doing the run anyways.

So, while I am out today getting my new sandals I have been waiting for, I also need to pick up a neat treat for my buddy since he did help me make my goal and was totally cool running with me even though we had to walk some too!

Saturday's Six Mile Run (Win)

This morning I set out for a six mile run--and I finished it.  Aside from not being able to take a "short cut" home, I stuck it out and continued running, even if only running on the downhill parts during the last mile.  It wasn't a very creative route to take, but most of it was roads I was familiar with and that helped me feel safe. Plus, running in a giant rectangle I was able to pretty easily determine my distance based on my location.

This time I took different fuel with me. I brought a packet of maple almond butter to try on this run.  It was kind of tasty, a bit "grittier" than I expected. But it was hard to consume. I had trouble getting the packet open while holding a bottle in my hand, and then I ended up tearing it all the way across and it was too wide to try to gracefully squeeze a decent amount into my mouth while walking.  So, after a weird experience of licking gobs of almond butter out of a foil packet I decided that I'll save the chocolate hazelnut butter that I have at home for some toast or other tasty treat!  Maybe I'll experiment with Honey Stingers next.  That name just sounds like something so yummy.

Actually, I did kick a ton of ass this morning on my six mile run, but I am surprised how much my ass hurts from running too.  Yikes--and I didn't even do any squats this week!

But my ass-kicking needs to continue if I am going to run a 6.2 mile race on Friday!  I can't believe that it is coming up so quickly.

To get ready I will:
Not skip a day at the gym.
Run at least 4 miles on running days.
Eat cleaner this week than I have the last two weeks!

In six days, hopefully I can PR at my race for my second six mile run (or at least in my 5k time so I can finally get my new Birkenstocks)!

Happy Tuesday (Win)

This morning I set out on a four mile run. It went well except that my C25K app kept turning off and I had to restart it  But other than that everything went okay.  I was done in one hour and still had time to get ready for work and arrive at school on time.  I think that I am going to start doing the four mile runs during the week instead of the three mile runs. 

Yesterday, my mom and I signed for the series of runs that the City of Yuma is putting on starting in October and going through until March.  We signed up to do the runs as 10Ks instead of 5Ks.  Should be interesting, but by the first race I should have in at least one six mile run. This will just be extra practice.  We can call them "quarter marathons" in preparation for the half marathon we'll run in February.

Sunday I ran my first five mile run!  Yes--five miles!  I was really proud of myself and actually felt really great after my run. Better than I usually feel.  That route was a combination of two 3-mile runs and I thought that I would have trouble with it, but I didn't.  It was also the first time I had to fuel up while out on a run.  I took a small bag of 10 almonds with me to munch on and was over three and a half miles in before I remembered to eat them.  I ate only five, and felt great the rest of the time.  I'll have to remember almonds in the future.  This weekend I also bought some individual packets of almond butter and chocolate hazelnut butter at Target for $0.99 and hopefully they too will be easy to consume on a run.  

Someone flipped the weather switch in Yuma this weekend because the mornings have been very cool, almost chilly.  Such a difference from running in 80º+ weather.  But I love it.  Sunday it was pretty windy, but it kept me dry while running even if making it a bit difficult to listen to my audio book.  I am looking forward to training in much cooler weather!

Four Miles On A School Day?! (Win)

Today on the training schedule it said 4 miles. So, since my 4 mile run over the weekend was just under an hour, I set out to run my 4 miles before work today.  I made sure my alarm went off a few minutes early so that I could get on the road on time. I decided to do the same run I did on Saturday and see how my time was different.

Well, it was slower. But I still went!  I made it home a few minutes after when I wanted to be home, yet I was still able to leave the house on time for work.  As training continues there are 4, 5, and 6 mile runs during the week. I don't know if I will be able to keep up with that many week day miles, but I'll have to try it and see.

I've been getting a bit bored of my music while running. Yes, even bored of my Pandora stations.  I need to listen to music that I like, music that is fast paced, and music that I can sing along with out loud while I am doing especially awesome or just don't care any more.  This weekend I tried something else. I got an audiobook from the library and put the files on my phone and have been listening to that while I am out running.  I'm listening to Phantom by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo.  I've read this book before, but it was the easiest to find on the library's audiobook website. Plus, the next book in this series is on it's way from the UK to my house--it is a nice refresher before starting Police! So far, I am just under two hours of listening to it and I am enjoying having the book read while I am running.  It gives me something else to concentrate on.

I am glad that I was able to survive my day at work even after a longer weekday run than usual, and no morning nap.  Five miles this weekend--hopefully that goes well!

Seven Minutes And Four Seconds Faster! (Win)

04:31 this morning is when my alarm went off, but I have already been awake for a while.  I was waiting for it to be a reasonable time to get up so that I could go for my run.  It wasn't that I was super excited about this Saturday morning run, but that I haven't been sleeping well the last few weeks, and 03:30 am did not seem like a reasonable time to go for a run.  In only that when I leave just before 5 am it is not long before the sun starts peaking over the horizon and providing me with light.  However, I was more tired getting out of bed around 04:45 than if I would have just got out of bed when I woke up.

But I still went for my run!  Four miles is what I set out to complete today.  Since I was sick a few weeks ago I have had trouble jumping back into my half marathon training. I don't seem to be able to run for as long in between walking breaks and I don't seem to be able to push myself as hard as I was before. But this morning, I decided that was all going to change!  While working on increasing my distance, I will also work on increasing my time spent running. This is going to be more challenging--but I think that I am up for it!

Looking at the forecasted weather for the next ten days, I am excited to see some morning lows in the 70s (and even the 60s--but I doubt that will actually happen).  I hope that running in the cooler weather will help me stick it out on my runs and push myself a little bit further each time.  

Tomorrow is three miles, and Monday is a rest day!  Next weekend--FIVE miles!  Wish me luck, no, remind me that I already know that I can do it!