The good kind of sore muscles

This past Sunday, I had every intention of going for a run while Lorelai napped. And then the lure of my couch, my computer and my comfy pants won out and I bailed. But then I got mad at myself because there was a Becky-shaped butt print in my couch and I just felt blah.

Monday rolled around, and since Adam and I were both working from home with the kids for MLK day, I decided to just take the afternoon off from work. I couldn't come up with a legit reason NOT to run, so run I did. I think the key that day was that I got dressed for the day in my running gear, so all I had to do was throw on shoes and go.

It was a gorgeous day for running--not too hot or too cold--so Adam took the kids out to play while I waved to them on each of 3 laps around my neighborhood, for a total of a little over 3 miles. I did C25K week 4, but at the end of the program, I was still feeling good so I did another mile(ish)!




But DUDE was I sore on Tuesday. It was the good kind of sore though. Made me feel like I got a good workout, but I was still mobile (although I visibly limped down the hall at work on a couple of occasions after sitting for too long and getting crazy stiff...).

And I even did some yoga and a couple of those exercise sportskool Thin in 10 programs a couple more days throughout the week. Go me!

Could it be that I'm finally back in the swing of things with working out?! I sure hope so, because I hate starting all over again.

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 Linking up with Noel @ High Heeled Mama

It felt like I weighed 300 pounds

You know the feeling of getting out of the pool when you're hugely pregnant? That's how I feel sometimes when I run. Like I'm wearing ankle weights and it takes every ounce of effort in me to move my legs.

 

Maybe I didn't drink enough water today, maybe it was the crappy lunch I ate, but my run today SUCKED. It was so bad that towards the end of a short sprint interval after my C25K intervals ended, I got lightheaded and almost had to sit down on the sidewalk, which has never happened before. I did end up going almost 3.5 miles, but had to walk more than I wanted at the end. 

Can't say I'm looking forward to my next run at this point, but I guess unless I actually pass out or vomit on the side of the road, I'll keep at this whole torture running thing...

 

Holy crap, I actually won!

Adam and I, along with a couple of friends, ran in another race last weekend, the 5k Shamrock Run for Hope (it's a Relay for Life event). It was in Pittsboro, and the course actually ran right past my in-laws' bed & breakfast. It was perfect, we just dropped the kids off with them and they hung out in the driveway until we ran past. The boys gave us high-fives, and Adam even stopped for a Lorelai hug. My mom came to cheer us on, too.

Just like each of the two other races I've done, the boys have asked me if I won. Of course, the answer I gave them was basically, no, but I did my best and I finished, and that's the most important thing. I got my best time yet (30:28), even despite some massive hills that kicked my butt.

So imagine my surprise when later that afternoon, a co-worker who also did the race posted on my facebook wall that I'd won a prize! The results weren't published yet, so I didn't know exactly what prize I won or for what, but I imagined something along the lines of a Miss Congeniality award. Like a "most enthusiastic sprint to the finish" or something (man, I booked it at the end and look ridiculous in that pic of me crossing the finish).

Once the results were published that evening, I looked up my time and discovered, to my utter shock, that I'd won first place in my age category!! Are you kidding me?! FIRST? Holy wow. Granted, it was a pretty small race with 112 people in the 5k and only 16 people in my age group, but still! I'm really proud of myself.

Since it didn't even cross my mind to stay for the awards, I didn't know what my prize was until today. The boys were hoping for a gold trophy, but it ended up being a pretty silk scarf.

Adam finished not long after me, at 32:13. Not to shabby, considering he only ran a handful of times in preparation. But he got new shoes and downloaded the couch to 5K podcasts I've used, so hopefully once this pollen clears up, he can get back out there to finish the program. I think he'll keep taking Aidan out with him, so maybe the three of us can run in a 5k together later this year. We'll see...especially since I'm considering retiring from running and ending on a high note :) (Just kidding!)

Happy New Year!

Well hello there, 2012. We started off the year on a fun note at my friends' annual New Year's Eve party while my mom had a slumber party at our house with the kids. I tried (and failed) to stay on my feet all night in my new party shoes. There may or may not have been some adult beverages involved, but the real culprit is the fact that I have no experience in 5-inch platform heels (I swear, and you can't convince me otherwise!). But they were only 15 bucks and go with my navy dress, so I just couldn't pass them up, walking be damned.

My heel got caught in the back deck and down I went. Hoping for better luck when I wear
them to my company party in a few weeks!

After a lazy morning on the couch recovering from a fun night (me and Adam) and trying to recover from a mysterious case of the hives (Aidan), the kids and I went to watch Adam play in an alumni soccer game at our high school. We enjoyed the nice 60 degree weather (before the cold blows in) and Adam started of the new year with some exercise, good for him!

Having fun on the bleachers, but check out those hives! My poor Aidan :(

Let's just hope that me falling on my butt and Aidan having hives aren't a sign of the year to come. (Oh, and my possible case of pink eye. Yeah, awesome.) Seems like all the best stuff happens for me during the even years: my birth (obvs), getting married, kids being born...so I have high hopes for 2012. (Though there will be no more marriages or kids for me, ha!) A trip to London is in the works, so that should be a real highlight!

So I don't usually declare any official resolutions, but I do have some goals I want to achieve. I guess they're technically resolutions, whatever.

• Start running again. I got lazy after the 10k in October, and with the shorter days, colder weather, holidays and sickness I've been dealing with, I pretty much quit running. I'm hoping I haven't lost all of my endurance, but I'm definitely going to try my hardest to make time for exercise starting soon. Maybe I'll start with yoga while it's really cold, but I really do want to run in another race in 2012, so I've got to start training again.
• Take better photos. Adam and the boys got me a nice new camera lens for Christmas and I'd love to learn how to use it, and my camera better. 
• Get better about sharing/maintaining my photos. I'm so bad about leaving pictures on my camera, building up a huge backlog of unedited and more importantly, unshared photos. I should also really catch up with my photo albums, but I've got almost 2 years of unprinted photos that need to be in an album, and that's just plain daunting, so I'll just start by posting them more often (on the blog and Facebook). What good is a photo if no one ever sees it? Which leads me to my next one...
• Blog more regularly. Even if it's just a few words and couple of pictures. I started this blog with the best of intentions, and I disappointed myself that I didn't keep up with it like I had planned. 
• Do more Pinterest projects. I've spent so much time pinning tons of cool things, I really need to follow through. There's a sunburst mirror I'm dying to DIY (even though sunburst mirrors are SO 2011, lol).
• Organize my house. The boys' closet is piled high with toys, the linen closet is bursting at the seams, half of the garage is almost unusable, and the desk in the middle of our kitchen/living room is a total eyesore. I will organize at LEAST one of those spaces this year.
• Paint the kitchen cabinets. I've got to put this one on here. Adam and I are know to be all talk, little action, so I don't want that huge portion of our kitchen renovation to go undone. Since we're planning on tackling it ourselves, it's a time-consuming project that has procrastination written all over it!

Of course I'd also like to eat more healthy, but I've already tried and failed miserably, so I won't set myself up for failure yet again. But these goals seem manageable to me, so we'll see how well I do. I've got a whole 12 months, that's plenty of time! (Famous last words, right?!)

Happy New Year!

10K, done!

I did it and I'm so freakin' proud of myself!!

Post-race. Congrats to my running buddies Adrianne, CC and Adam!

Apparently, all my worrying was for nothing. I did so much better than I ever thought I could, and didn't even have to walk at all!! I finished the 10K in 1:02:47 (393rd out of 538). That's a whole 4 minutes better than my previous (only other) time. Woohoo! I'm attributing my success to race day adrenaline—I was definitely feeling the nerves beforehand—so I'm not sure I could pull off that time again, but that's ok.

I actually felt really good while I was running. In fact, probably better than I've ever felt during a run. Not overly tired and my quad didn't bother me at all. Plus, the hills weren't as bad as I had thought (although there were a couple of doozies). I was definitely sore on Sunday and Monday, but nothing too terrible.

I'm also really impressed with Adam. He kept up with me for the first mile, then fell a little behind so I was worried about him. He hung in there though, and kept at it with a combination of sprinting, jogging and walking. He finished at 1:12:24 in 503rd place. (Not last like he thought he might be!)

I'm definitely not planning any marathons or half marathons in the future, but I could totally see myself signing up for another 10K, as well as some 5Ks.

Speaking of 5Ks, I actually ran one the weekend before the 10K! It was kind of impromptu, but I figured it would be a good way to prepare me for the 10K. I think it ended up being a good first race (despite the rainy start). I finished in 31:09 (132nd out of 199).

The home stretch; waving to my fans; sprinting (or floating?) to the finish; T.I.R.E.D

My running buddies

The best part was that Adam and the kids were at the finish line cheering me on. When I told them I was running in a race, they asked me if I was going to win. I said I definitely wasn't going to come in first (it blows my mind that someone can run it in 15:54!!) but winning to me meant that I finished and did the best I could. Of course, Logan just had to tell me that a little girl beat me (it's true, several 11-year-olds kicked my butt), but I had to let him know that I did actually finish before the 7-year-old girl who he thought beat me. Ha, I'm so petty.



So the couch to 5K program was clearly a success. I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep up with running over the winter because of the dark evenings and cold weather (ouch, my lungs!) but I don't want to fall too out of shape because I don't want to have to start from scratch with training again. I guess we'll see. Plus, I want to get Aidan to run with me. If that 7-year-old can do it, so can he!

Unless you puke, faint or die, keep going!

quote from Jillian Michaels, image via

Tomorrow is the big day. The day I've been dreading and training for since I started running in June.  I'm trying to psych myself up for the 10k I'll be running at the butt crack of dawn. Honestly, I'm in freakout mode right now. I don't think I'm ready. I've only ever run that distance once EVER in my life. I've never run this course and apparently it's hilly (ugh). I think I'm getting a cold because my throat is starting to hurt. And most worrisome, my right quad hurts from something I did to it while running on Tuesday. Plus, Adam and I are going to a Hurricanes hockey game tonight so I won't be eating a healthy dinner and going to bed as early as I should. See? Totally not ready.

But it's too late to back out now. So I've just got to tell myself that it's just a little over an hour out of my life and then I never have to run again if I don't want to (although I probably will, just maybe not as far).

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Oh and did I mention Adam's running it with me? As much as I feel like I'm not ready, at least I'm more ready than he is. Is it a macho guy thing that he thinks he can just go run a 10k without any kind of training whatsoever?! Sure, he's played tennis and some soccer since June, but the very first time he ran in preparation for this race was Tuesday. He ran this race back in 2007 and says he didn't train then either and did fine (better than fine—55:32—which is faster than I could ever hope to run). So we'll see how he does! (But I swear he did train...he bought new shoes and definitely went out running more than once before the race.) Major props to him for not backing out at the last second, but he's not allowed to complain that he's not prepared since he's had 4 months to train :)

I, of course, am allowed to complain since I tried my best to prepare. Plus, it's my blog and I'm allowed to have double standards, right?!

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I know for a fact based on previous race stats that I'll be among the last to cross the finish line, but as Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder says,"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that."

I'll be upset if I'm dead last, but I will feel accomplished that I even finished at all. Bonus points if I don't totally screw up my quad in the process ;)


Wish us luck!

I may not be breaking any speed records but...

I DID IT!!!! 6.2 miles, baby, and here's the proof!



I did walk for exactly 1 minute about every 1.25 miles, so even though that slowed down my overall time, I'm sure it helped with my overall endurance.

I gotta be honest--I seriously doubted it was possible for me to go that far, even after I officially ran 3.1 for the first time (ever in my life), especially since I felt all tingly and like I was going die. Plus, when I ran last week, I could barely go 2 miles so I thought I had peaked. Turns out I was just having an "off" day. Whew!

But I'm SO impressed with myself. I even graduated from my 8-week couch to 5K program 2 weeks early, motivated by a run with a local running club!

I don't plan on running for over an hour every time because let's face it, it's boring as hell (and I'd prefer to not run in the dark). But now I know I can do it and I'm a little less freaked out about my 10K on October 1. Let's just hope the adrenaline kicks in and I'm not having an off day then...

Oh, and by the way, I don't think I totally hate running any more. I solidly tolerate it now. And I fixed the whole running hurts like hell issue with a new pair of shoes. The local running store I got them from exchanged them for me. Score!

Another big score? My team came in 3rd place in the health challenge, so we each won $100. Paid for my shoes!

WOOHOOOO!!!!!!

(c)OUCH! to 5k update

I feel like a total failure. I just finished week 3 of my couch to 5K program and my muscles aren't sore at all, but oh my aching ankles, knees and hips! I've definitely got some sort of injury going on here, although I have no idea what it is. Dr. Google tells me it might be tendonitis (achilles? posterior tibial?) or iliotibial band syndrome, or...?

Ice packs everywhere. Poor me.

Whatever it is, I hope it's just an unfortunate coincidence that this all happens right after I get brand spankin' new running shoes. I was so excited to go to a running store and get fitted for shoes to replace my seven-year-old beaters (which I'm pretty sure weren't even actual running shoes anyway). That was kind of awkward, by the way, because the dude watched me run. I kept thinking I should have worn a sports bra and was hoping I didn't run like Phoebe. Apparently I don't pronate, so he put me in a neutral shoe (a Saucony) that feels like I'm running on clouds. Ok, felt. That first run with the new shoes was great. Since then? Not so much. {Sad face}

I know I tweaked my ankle after my first run with the new shoes and I think maybe the next time I ran, I ran differently because of it, which then caused my other ankle and my knees to hurt (that happened to me before in high school and caused achilles tendonitis). Either that, or the new shoes totally screwed up the way I run and caused my injuries. {Mad face}

Anyway, I've decided that the pain has sidelined me for a little while until I stop walking around like a geriatric patient. I would hate to make anything worse to the point that I can't run anymore. So I'll be in the pool this week, which is perfectly convenient since the boys are getting swim lesson from my Aunt this week.

And I'll keep icing my ankles and knees and poppin' the ibuprofen until I'm as good as new!

my new bff

So has anyone else had pain after getting new shoes? Did it go away quickly? Any advice? Should I just give up and accept my place on the couch?

I hate running.

I really do. I've always hated it, ever since high school field hockey and those tortuous runs we had to do during practice. I'm not good at it. I'm super slow and my endurance always just sucked.

So I did what any sane person who hates running does--I decided to run a 10k. Makes total sense, right?!

See, at work we're participating in a health challenge. Individuals earn points for completing weekly exercise/food/health-related challenges that contribute to your team's points. At the end of 12 weeks, the top team earns $500 per member, and teams 2-5 get $100 per member.

My team is currently in 2nd place. If not for the points and the potential to win some money, I would almost definitely be sitting on my butt on the couch instead out out exercising. Yeah, sure, the real prize is a healthier lifestyle, blah blah blah. But I want to win some money, darn it! This challenge has really lit a fire under my butt to get me working out again. And that 10k was worth the max 60 points, so that's why I chose it (the 5k was 'only' worth 55 points...I went all out for those extra 5 points).

Last week I started the couch to 5k program and I as much as I hate running, I really am excited to get back in shape and maybe get back some of the muscle tone I lost along with the baby weight after I had Lorelai.



I got into pretty good shape the summer before I got pregnant with Lorelai with the anticipation of wanting to be really healthy and in shape for pregnancy, and I walked, swam, did Zumba and lots of yoga while I was pregnant with her. Unfortunately, I haven't done much exercising aside from Zumba since I had her. I thought I had lost all of the endurance I had built up since I haven't run in a couple of years (I'm not really counting the week I went out running with Lorelai in the jogging stroller when she was a month old), but maybe not!

I think starting off slowly and easing into it is a really good way to go. It seems crazy that I'll go from running 60 seconds at a time to running a 5k without stopping in just a couple of months. The 10k is in October, so I'm thinking if I can run a 5k in 2 months, I will hopefully be able to run a 10k in 4 months. Even if I can't run the whole way, my only real goal is to finish and not come in last place (and maybe not hate running so much by then).

Wish me luck!