Running is the devil. It hurts people.

NEW BLOG ADDRESS HERE:  runaroundsara.blogspot.com

As I sit here with ice on my shins, I’m reflecting back to the past few months. I’ve been so emotionally drained because I’m pushing myself physically and yet, still, I cannot run for 3 minutes straight. I’ve been doing this since January. Swimming, biking and trying to run. I’ve surpassed my swimming and biking goals easily. Yet I’m stuck on running. I’ve tried the Couch to 5K program in the past and haven’t been able to move past week 3 because I can’t get up to running for 3 minutes straight. So in beginning this triathlon journey I decided to follow a triathlon plan and work on the running that way. It didn’t work. So I switched to other running plans. I tried running drills, I tried short intervals for longer periods of time, I tried everything I could think of, but I just couldn’t get this running thing done. Finally I decided to give Couch to 5K another chance. I worked my way up through week 2 and I felt strong and confident that maybe I could do this. I had been building up endurance and strength in other areas since January, and now I needed to work on the running. Finally, I hit week 3 and even though I knew I hadn’t been able to do it in the past, I felt confident. Until I tried it again. I’ve tried Week 3, day 1 three times now. I told myself I wasn’t going to go past a day that I couldn’t complete and go about it at my own pace, but that I’d keep to the schedule so that I didn’t do too much too fast and get hurt.


Well guess what. I’m hurt. Last night I went for a walk with my mom and dogs, but decided to do a few running intervals up and down the side streets of our complex. I started having shin pain and had to walk most of the time. Tonight, I tried Week 3 day 1 again and couldn’t run for more than 45 seconds before I had to walk due to the pain in my shins. First, I had a hissy-fit and flailed my arms, stomped my foot (which made my shin hurt more) then cried "Why the hell can't I just DO this?". Finn looked at me curiously, probably wondering if I was talking to him or myself. Then I re-grouped, because now I was crying in public and I tried doing a speed-walker shuffle/pee-pee dance run-walk thing. That alleviated the pain and I was going faster than my normal walking, but it’s still not running. And I’m sure I looked wicked cool. Seriously, just try and picture it.


I started thinking about why I’m having shin pain now, after 6 months of trying this running stuff and I think I’ve found the culprit. Pavement. I’ve done almost all of my training up until now on the treadmill. Besides my 5K races, I haven’t been outside at all before Week 2 day 3 of Couch to 5K. Even though I’m completely discouraged, and pissed off that I can’t do this, I’m not a quitter and I will complete this.


I have two options right now. I can continue my training on the treadmill and finish the couch to 5K program on the treadmill and then transition to pavement after I know I can run for 30+ minutes straight. Or, I can start over. Week 1, Day 1 on the pavement and build up that way. I'm seriously torn between the two. Both have pros and cons. Your thoughts?


Either way right now I need to take a few days off of running so my shins can stop hurting. I also need to be stretching more. Maybe take a few yoga classes like I keep talking about to get myself more limber. 


But no matter what I decide, I will never quit. Quitting is a weakness and I’m way too proud for that bullshit.


By the way, don’t forget to check out my “What’s in a Name” contest. It ends on Friday night. Hurry up and enter, because as it stands, Jenn and Richelle are winning by default as they have the only entries! And really with so few entries your odds of winning are huge! 

What's in a name?

NEW BLOG ADDRESS HERE:  runaroundsara.blogspot.com

I've been thinking about the name of my blog and I want to change it. I think. 


More specifically, the address. Right now it's http://sariah8.blogspot.com. Since this is a blog about my mission to a triathlon and what I'm doing to train, I'd like it to be something about that and not "sariah8" which is really a username more than anything. And because I'm also planning on a half marathon after the triathlon, I guess I'm in this for the long haul and don't know if I just want it to be all about the tri. But, I'm indecisive. And I also can't think of a name. So I need your help.


Any ideas? I was thinking of making this a contest/giveaway, but I'm new at this and don't really have anything to give away. Um, a pair of socks? YES. A special fun, funky pair of socks. Who doesn't like socks? And I'll choose the socks based on the winner's personality. So they'll definitely be fun, funky & cool! Really, this is a win-win situation for all of us!


Here's the deal, you can list as many blog names as you like. But put each idea/name in a different comment. And follow me too. Yes, bonus points if you're a follower. Who knows, maybe 2 pairs of socks will be given away! (Probably) Actually, yes. I will choose a winner based on the blog name choice and another winner will be chosen at random for a bonus prize.


Okay, let's get organized. First winner will be chosen based on my biased opinion and what I like for a blog name. The second winner will be chosen at random. The prize: besides the sheer satisfaction of being the winner, SOCKS.


Enter as follows (each entry needs a new comment):

• Suggest a name for my blog (or two, or three, or seven)
• Follow my blog (and then you'll have to re-follow my new blog once the new name is chosen, haha!!)
• Promote this contest/giveaway on your blog, twitter, facebook, run through the streets screaming, make posters, etc.

What I'd like:

• Something clever of course, because you know me. I'm clever.
• Using my name is good (it's Sara in case you're new around here)
• Anything dealing with swimming, biking, running, triathlon, racing, etc
• Catchy is good
• Play on words
• What you think when you think of me (maybe I don't want that)
• Brutal honesty

I'll end the contest on Friday of this week (6/17/11) and announce the winner on Saturday, 6/18/11. A whole week of fun!

I can't wait too see all your ideas!! And GO.

April vs. May: The ultimate showdown on National Running Day

NEW BLOG ADDRESS HERE:  runaroundsara.blogspot.com

April totals

Swim: 1.45 miles

Bike: 42.16 miles

Run: 18.5 miles

Rest days: 12

Yoga: 20 mins

May totals

Swim: 2.62 miles

Bike: 25.27 miles

Run: 18.03 miles

Rest days: 15

Compared to April, May sucked. I mean, it wasn’t horrible, but my running was less, my biking was almost half, and I had more rest days. I need to work on that hardcore. Swimming looked pretty good though! I really felt like I did more in May. And seeing the numbers puts me in my place. So I need to cut it out and stop with so many rest days. I mean, I know I need to rest my body, and I think I really only took rest days when I was in pain, sick or utterly exhausted (or unless I hadn’t taken a rest day that week and it was scheduled). Except for last weekend. Two of those rest days were complete laziness. But 2 out of 15 isn’t too bad. Should I really be putting myself down for this? Or is it normal? I feel like I should have done better.

I’m stepping up my game in June. I swear. Maybe.

I started that enthusiasm with a run this afternoon. I had a vet appointment for my mom’s cat at 6pm. I get out of work at 5pm, So, I planned to run after I got home from the vet at around 6:30 or 7pm. Instead, I got out of work early around 3:15 and called my vet to get an earlier appointment. They didn’t have one for the cat doctor, but I needed to take my dog, Snickers, in for her yearly exam anyway and scheduled a 4pm with the dog doctor.

Meanwhile, a huge storm front was moving through.

The white X is where I live. On the outskirts of the storm.

By huge, I mean severe thunderstorms and tornado watches. Since it was only sprinkling when I left the vet’s office for the first time, I decided to get my run in before my second vet appointment. I took my other dog, Finn, with me. He’s 7 months old and not a good leash dog, but I figured, practice makes perfect, right? So we set out. It was barely sprinkling as we started and figured I wasn’t going to melt so why not? Well, after about 3/4 mile, it started downpouring. That’s why not. One of my neighbors saw me go by and opened her door and yelled out to me “We’re under a tornado watch! You should get inside!” I replied “Yes, I know, thank you!” and continued on my way.

See those 3 blue spirals? Yup, tornado touchdowns.

Finn actually did quite well on the leash.
New running partner!

Completely soaked.

What was I thinking? I have to admit, I was more concerned with getting hit by lightening that I was with a tornado. I was counting the seconds between lightening and thunder to make sure I was safe. All of a sudden, I saw lightening and counted to ONE, before the thunder snapped all around me. Finn was jogging slightly behind me at this point and he hightailed it up to me and tried to go between my legs, almost toppling me in the process. I was already soaked, I didn’t need to fall into a puddle, thankyouverymuch.

I took that as a sign to turn around and go home. After vet appointment number two, the sun came out. My timing is amazing.

But about the actually running. I re-did Couch to 5K week 2 day 3, since I hadn’t run in a week, but I felt like it was easy. I mean, not easy, but I probably could have done week 3 day 1 which goes from a 1:30 running intervals to 3 minute intervals. And, this was outside and not on my treadmill where I’ve been doing the C25K program. I thought it was going to be harder. I was pleasantly surprised. However, my biggest critic (myself) had been analyzing everything. Either my biking last weekend really helped strengthen my legs and made my running stronger, or, I was running a lot slower than I do on the treadmill. My pace on my Garmin says that I was running slower. WAY slower. Yet my average times are right on point, even faster, than what I was doing on the treadmill. Whatever, who knows. Blame it on the rain. And really, isn’t the point to keep running for longer periods of time, and work on the speed later? Right, I thought so.

I guess it was only fitting that today is National Running Day

I found that out tonight after my run. No, that’s a lie, I heard about it earlier today on twitter, but I forgot about it until I saw people talking about it, and showing off their badges, when I was reading blogs tonight. So of course, I got my very own badge. I mean, really, If I’m gonna do it, I want a medal badge for it.

Uh, not really. I run because I have to. Because it's part of the triathlon. It doesn't feel great. Whoever tells you that is lying. It hurts.

Stow Run for the Woods 2011 Race Report

I've moved!!

NEW BLOG ADDRESS HERE:  runaroundsara.blogspot.com

I had planned this race because my chiropractor told me about it and that they would be at the race doing massages for the runners. I figured, why not? It’s local, not too hilly, they were giving medals to all finishers, and who doesn’t want a free massage after a 5K? If you answered, "I don't", we aren’t going to get along.

The day before, I was in bed all day with a stomach bug. I was so mad because I really wanted to do this race! And I had already paid for it. But as the day went on, I started rationalizing what would really happen if I couldn’t do it. I at least could get myself out of bed in the morning to pick up my free (kinda paid for) t-shirt. Then I figured if I could get out of bed for a t-shirt, I could at least stay and hang out for a bit and cheer on people that I know (and I suppose people I didn’t know). I debated setting my alarm for the morning and was really contemplating just skipping it when I suddenly remembered. Medals to all finishers. Problem solved. I set my alarm.

I woke up feeling much better. No stomach pains, no nausea. I was glad I didn’t have to try and endure a 5K while feeling yucky. I knew I had to eat something since all I had was soup the day before, so I went with a bland bagel with nothing on it and vanilla yogurt. I couldn’t finish the bagel and halfway to the race, I started getting stomach pains again. Excellent. I got my race number and t-shirt and went back to my car to sit and try to relax before the race.

Look at that. The date. Ten cool points.

Eventually I heard someone talking over a megaphone and I figured I should pay attention. I wasn’t even thinking about not doing the race at this point, because I still hadn’t forgotten about the medals to all finishers. Although, I was replaying the race route in my mind thinking, where I could possibly cut off part of the race and only do, like, a mile. Just kidding. Actually, no, I actually thought about it. But I knew I wouldn’t actually do it, so technically, still kidding. Maybe.

By race time I was feeling better, no stomach pains or nausea, so that was good. And of course there was a guy playing his bagpipes there, so that makes most things better. Or worse, depending on how you look at it.

Yes I sure did get right next to him as he was playing.

I did a fairly good walking warm up before the race so I didn’t have to start out walking. I was doing pretty good with my walking/running intervals and was faster per mile than I had ever been during a race, so I was feeling pretty confident that I’d be able to beat my previous time. Pretty awesome feeling, especially since they were giving medals to all finishers. It would be sweet to get a medal on a day I got a PR.

At one of the loops (the only loop) there was a volunteer cheering everyone on. She had a positive comment for every single person who passed by her and she was funny. I asked her what her name was because I knew that the second I got back to the finish line, I had to tell someone to give Maureen a raise, because she’s an amazing person. So nice, so encouraging, funny, and just amazing. But then I remembered that the race was sponsored by the Stow Conservation Trust, which is a committee, and most likely unpaid. AND, she was a volunteer. Duh. This is what running does to me. I get dumber. But she was awesome!

So, besides by blond moment, everything was great. Until I hit 1.4 miles. Sharp pains in stomach. Waves of nausea. Turning of the head, bending over the bushes. Almost puked. Almost. False alarm. Sucked down some more water to keep it all down. And kept moving.

And then I was fine. Until 2.5 miles. Same sharp pains in stomach. Same waves of nausea. Different bushes. Almost puked again. Almost. Same false alarm. OUT OF WATER. Kept moving anyway.  Then it was downhill for a while. Literally. On the downhill, there was a water station and some great volunteers hooking me up with that sweet, sweet (and much needed) H2O.

After that, I was okay until the end of the race and after, when I tried to eat an orange. Best diet ever, right? Put food in, get sick, and don’t want to eat. Besides the pain, I like it!

I finally heard the bagpipes again, so I knew I was getting close to the end of the race. I saw my friends near the finish line and then I saw the clock showing a time of 48:xx. I actually got excited, because I haven’t don’t a 5K under 50...ever.

The race results have me down for a time of 49:28, but with no chip timing and me crossing the start line after the actual start, my Garmin says I finished with a time of 49:03. As I was crossing the finish line, I was yelling to my friends “Look! Under 50! Under 50!” and I almost stopped. They had to remind me to keep going and actually cross the finish line instead of looking at my time. I’m smart. Right as I finished, there were volunteers handing out the medals. Yes, even with a time of 49:03, I got a medal!

Obviously I'm so proud of myself here.
And wicked excited about the medal!

And I was NOT LAST. I was second to last. But NOT LAST!

I beat my previous 5K time by 2:25. That’s pretty damn good right? 

After all that drama throughout the race, I looked around for my free massage. Yeah, they weren't there. Liars.

It's my party and I'll freak out if I want to!

I've moved!!

NEW BLOG ADDRESS HERE:  runaroundsara.blogspot.com

I just had a moment of freaking out. It was slight. Don’t worry I’m fine. But I just realized that my triathlon is less than 4 months away. Swimming, check (even though I discovered something tricky about the course). Biking, check. Running, stop, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

I’m on track for the swimming. Here’s the tricky part. The course is listed as being 1/4 mile. I wanted to see what the exact distance was because maybe it was 0.22 miles, maybe it was 0.26 miles, but the closest measurement was 1/4 mile. I also wanted to swim this summer in the lake near my house in NH, and I wanted a route to practice. So I had to measure. I used Map My Fitness to check the swim route.

0.30 miles

NOT 1/4 MILE.  It measures as 0.30 miles. That’s closer to 1/3 mile than 1/4. Why not round up? They rounded up for the bike route. That’s listed as 10 miles, but the route is really only 9.9 miles.

Glad I know. I’ll now train for 1/3 mile instead of 1/4. It may not seem like much, but lap-wise at the pool, it’s 9 laps for 1/4 mile and 12 laps for 1/3 mile. If I’m only prepared to swim “9 laps” on race day, those 3 extra “laps” aren’t gonna be fun. I want to be completely prepared. Luckily, at the lake I’d like to train in, in NH, beach to beach is 0.31 miles. Almost exactly the distance for race day. Score.

0.31 miles

Swimming, check.

The biking isn’t impressive, but it’s comfortable. I’d like to get out on the race course to get a feel for it and see how I can handle the hills it had to offer. I keep thinking, “Oh, I have time, it’s not until September”, but IT’s 4 MONTHS AWAY! I will plan a ride out there. I will. If only it would Just. Stop. Raining.

Or maybe I’ll hop on my brand new spin bike that I picked up on the way home tonight.

Sexy, isn't it?

And by picked up, I mean it was on the side of the road with a “FREE” sign on it. I don’t know if it works. We’ll find out, won’t we? Yes, you’ll hear about it, I’m sure. I’ve already injured myself with it and I haven’t even gotten on it yet.

The running business is still in slow mo. But I’m doing it. I decided to start Couch 2 5K again. This is my 3rd time trying it. I’m on track so far, but these 5Ks keep getting in the way. I know it’s good to have 5Ks to do to keep myself on track for the triathlon in September, but I’m starting to wonder if the 5Ks are messing up my rhythm with the C25K plan. I’ve seen running training plans where people to long runs one day a week. Could a 5K be my “long run” for now? Or is that too ambitious for right now? Thoughts? (I’m looking at you, you runner people)

Something is happening though. I’m not too sure if I like it. Today is my rest day. And I am adamant about my rest days. Trust. But I was actually slightly upset that I ran yesterday because, get ready for it, I wanted to run today. Who am I becoming?

I’ve read many places that you shouldn’t run back to back days, especially as a beginner, but I’ve seen running schedules in other people’s blogs where they run 6 days a week with one rest day. How are they not crippled, or dead, or both?

Beach to Beach 5K Race Report

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NEW BLOG ADDRESS HERE:  runaroundsara.blogspot.com

Today I got an e-mail from Active.com asking me what I thought of the Beach to Beach 5K event. It was pretty much a form letter, but I’ve registered for all of my 5Ks with Active and have never received this after a race before today. My first thought was, “Great, I’ve been flagged as a hostile racer and now they’re keeping an eye on me”. Ha! Well, if they want to know what I thought, I might as well not keep them waiting!

 

Yesterday was my third 5K of the 2011 season. Or ever. However you want to look at it.

The Beach to Beach 5K was in Marblehead, MA. I didn’t realize it until today, but it was further away from me than the 5K races in NH I’ve done. I figured being in MA it would be closer, but nope. Oh well, live and learn.

We got there around 8:30am. Race time was 10am. So we picked up our packets at the registration table. It was very organized. They had envelopes with everything we needed inside of it: Race bibs, safety pins, labels with the t-shirt size we ordered, plus coupons for Road ID bracelets, info packets on other races, and tips for running. Very cool.

We then decided to hit the bathrooms, but there weren’t any port-o-potties anywhere. Excellent. So we asked the registration people if there were bathrooms around, and there were. Right in the middle of the parking lot, there was a brick building. One ladies room. One men’s room. We took advantage of our early arrival and headed over. Out of two toilets, only one was working. Again, grateful for the early arrival. As people started to arrive, it got crazy! Maybe a few port-o-potties would help this situation!! This is the only race I've seen that didn't have adequate bathroom control. Of course because I've been to so many, I'm an expert, so you should listen to me.

Women's room line.

Men's room line.

Juice Plus table.

There were only a few tables set up for things other than the registration, but being sponsored by the Junior Aid society, I figured their goal was to raise money, and therefore, I didn’t expect much. However, they definitely went for quality over quantity! They had a booth set up by Juice Plus who made smoothies before and after the race for people to try.

They used a powder made from fruits and vegetables that had been juiced and then converted to powder for the smoothies. They were actually pretty good. The goal of their company was to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables and be more healthy overall. I had a nice talk with the ladies who were manning the booth. We talked about the horrific lunches I see some of the kids in my class eat everyday. And they’re right; kids really do need to be healthier.

The Junior Aid society also had a raffle going on with some sweet baskets. I bought 6 raffle tickets.

I didn't win, but they had some pretty cool stuff in those baskets!

There was a DJ there playing music to hype up all the racers and all it did was result in some FANTASTIC dancing on my part. Be sad you missed it.

The race didn’t actually start where everything was set up. It started up the street a little bit. The DJ kept announcing how much longer to the race and even with him announcing the race start every 5 minutes, I was shocked to see that it was already 9:50 and we were still hanging out in the parking lot. Still dancing.

I decided to grab a few pictures of the set up before the race, so I quickly went over to the tables to snap a few shots. This took me about 2 minutes. When I got back to the spot where we were all standing, everyone was gone. And by everyone, I mean the group I was with. The bastards just left me! So I headed to the start line to find them.

Along my way, I saw two women with walking poles. I stopped to talk to them about them and one of them told me that the poles have helped her get back into walking and they take 40% of your weight as you walk.

Pretty cool to see them tackling a 5K!

I met up with my people, but none of us saw a starting line. Rewind. Earlier, we discovered that our race bibs did not have timing chips on them. So we were a bit confused as to how this was going to be “professionally timed” as it advertised during registration. Back to present. We didn’t see a starting line, because there wasn’t one. Hm. Confusing. At one point the started pushing the crowd back because people had gone past the starting point. There must have been a marking somewhere, because the race people knew where it started, but I never saw it. I just started my Garmin about 20 seconds after I started walking. I figured it was close enough.

The "start" line.

We were all standing around talking, mainly figuring out how we were supposed to all start, when everyone around us started taking off. I said, “I think that means GO”. And we started. I decided to approach this race differently that others. Since I clearly don’t warm up before races (because really how can you when you’re clustered together, not moving before a race?), I decided to start out walking and do my warm up as part of the race. I figured I could start my running intervals after I was warmed up, instead of trying to start out running and end up getting too tired too fast, or getting hurt. It worked out well for me. So until I’m up to actually running a full 5K (don’t get your hopes up...not any time soon), I’ll start out walking.

About 15 minutes into the race, I passed the finish line. They were setting up their timing system and it looked WAY complicated. I didn’t stop to look, because, I was in a race! But now that I knew it WAS being timed, I decided to maybe pick up the pace a bit. I had been toying with just walking the race, since I wasn’t feeling 100%, but then in typical Sara fashion, I gave myself a good talking to and decided to do some running intervals. 

Really what kept me going was my insane competitive nature. There was a girl about my age nearby and we kept passing each other. It was obvious she didn’t want me to beat her. And by hell, I was not going to let her beat me either. So chica, whoever you are, wherever you are, Thank you. You got me moving faster.

On the way back, I passed the lady with the walking poles again.  I spoke with her after the race and she said that she didn’t finish, but she got closer than she did the last time and she’s doing another 5K in August and plans to finish it. I’m going to look up that race and possibly go so I can cheer her on! I hope she gets to finish a race soon. She was so inspirational!

I finished the race with a time of 51:52 according to the race timing system (which, by the way, was very efficient given the lack of visible technology. I was impressed!) But according my to Garmin it was 51:28. I’m going with my Garmin since I’m sure they started the clock before I crossed over the invisible start line. Guess what. I WAS NOT LAST! And my time was a full 34 seconds faster than my previous personal best. Yes, I know, exciting.

DONE!

And the best part of this race? The T-shirts had the year on them.

Beach to Beach 5K 2011.

Girl trouble. Or rather: Trouble with the "girls"

I've moved!!

NEW BLOG ADDRESS HERE:  runaroundsara.blogspot.com

Here’s a story for the ladies. I’m serious. Ladies only please. Guys, stop reading. Now.

Today while changing into a sports bra for my “run”, I noticed that I have 3 broken blood vessels on my left breast and one on my right breast. I’m assuming this is due to lack of support from my bras while running.

I’m well endowed in the breast department. Okay, let’s be honest, I’m well endowed in every department, but this here story is about the girls. My sports bras are from Target and I only have two really good ones. The others aren’t that great, but I’ve been wearing them lately while running. Stupid, I know. I won’t get graphic here, I’ll let you make your own visuals for this gem, but I will say that there’s a lot more bounce in my step while running. If you know what I mean.

I know the best sports bras are ones that allow the least amount of movement of the twins, but I also don’t want something that will cut off my air supply. I’d like something that will give me different results from what happened to me tonight, yet still be supportive.

I noticed the popped blood vessels as I was putting on one of my less effective sports bras. I then scoured my bra drawer for a better one. I found one from about 4 years ago that I had used when I was doing a boot camp class where they made us do jump rope drills. I wasn’t willing to get black eyes because of a stupid jump rope, so I went out and bought an “amazing sports bra for larger women”. It actually worked quite well, although I only used it a few times. As soon as I saw it in my drawer today, I thought “A-ha, I’ve got you now, suckers! You aren’t going anywhere now”. Well then.

I started my intervals, and instantly had trouble breathing. I could not get a full breath at all. I tried my trick of lifting my bra to get the girls up a little but since they were already squashed against me, that didn’t work too well. This “amazing sports bra for larger women” was equipped with a clasp, unlike other sports bras I have, so I unclasped it. It’s a crossover, so it was still on me pretty snug, and I ran with it half off me. With my slight wardrobe malfunction, I still had enough support to continue running, but it made this bra more like my other sports bras.

So here’s the impending question. What is the best sports bra you own? And why do you like it so much? Or rather, why should I get that specific one?

And all you men who didn’t follow my advice and stop reading at the beginning of this adventure - You can never unread this.

There's magic in the air. Or maybe it's the yogurt.

Eat me with peanut butter. Do it.

I've moved!!

NEW BLOG ADDRESS HERE:  runaroundsara.blogspot.com

This morning I was running out the door (not to be confused with actual running) to meet up with some people. I didn’t have much time for a breakfast, but I wanted to make sure it would sustain me for a while and still be with me for an afternoon bike ride. I grabbed a vanilla Oikos Greek yogurt (which I discovered at the Stonyfield 5K) and then planned to have a half a bagel with some peanut butter on it. After I had the bagel already in the toaster, I remembered that I find plain bagels boring and buy only onion bagels. I didn’t think peanut butter on an onion bagel sounded too appetizing, so I put the peanut butter in my yogurt instead. Since I have weird OCD tendencies, I wanted to make sure it would mix well and not be lumpy, so I used a fork to get the peanut butter out of the jar instead of using a spoon and dirtying two utensils, even though in the near future I’d be using a spoon to actually eat the yogurt (there is a reason I’m mentioning this). (Also, I over-think things just a little bit.) I didn’t get a lot of peanut butter; it was maybe a ½ tablespoon. Okay, it was probably a whole tablespoon. Or, really, in this case, a tablefork. Heh, I just made myself laugh. Anyway. I put the peanut butter into my yogurt and stirred it around a bit. Then I tasted it. It was magic in my mouth. I ate the rest of it with my fork because I didn’t want to waste any time pausing to open the drawer, get a spoon, put the fork in the dishwasher and THEN get back to my yogurt. No, I wanted it all in my mouth. And I wanted it fast. (Get your mind out of the gutter. You know who you are.)

Seriously. Try it some time. It was magic. And I’m doing it again tomorrow. But this time I’ll be prepared with a spoon. Or maybe I won’t. I like to keep you people on your toes.

In other news, I started Couch to 5K again last week. I did one day of it, then had the Margaritas 5K. I timed it well, I think. Scoff. I did days 2 and 3 of week 1 this week and I was surprised. Day two was a good workout. I didn’t even want to do it, because, well, it’s running. We know how I feel about that. I did it anyway and I felt strong throughout. Surprisingly, the intervals seemed shorter than they actually were. I actually thought, "It's done already?" after one of the running intervals. I was definitely happy with the progress. I guess I had me one of them “good runs”. Who am I?

Today, it was raining in the afternoon, so I switched my planned bike ride to another C25K run, even though I didn’t want to get on the treadmill, again. Shockingly, it was another good running workout. Two in a row. Again, I ask you, who am I? (Don’t worry, I still didn’t like it.)

Now that I think about it, it might have been the yogurt. It really was magical.

Margaritas 5K Race Report

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My 2nd 5K of 2011

So we all know by now that I’m not in this 5K business for the running. I'm in it for the T-shirts and the free stuff. Aren't most people? No? Okay, maybe it’s just me. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of running. I think I've mentioned it a few times before. However, I'm determined to complete my triathlon in September and running a 5K is part of it. My goal by September is to be able to run the entire 5K. I don't care how slow I go (that's a lie, I don't want to be last!), I just want to finish.

Anyway, about the Margaritas 5K race. Great concept. Not impressed. The Stonyfield Earth Day 5K was so well organized and filled with sponsors and volunteers who were on their game and it spoiled me. The Margaritas 5K had great volunteers, but it lacked everywhere else. Besides the free Mexican food and free margaritas after the race (no thanks, I'd rather not drink alcohol after sweating out my toxins) there wasn't really much to it. The T-shirts were bright orange with Margaritas 5K sprawled across the front. No date or other information to determine the time and place. I'm betting they'll use the same ones next year. I would rather it show something to distinguish it from year to year. But, obviously not my decision.

I’m not gonna lie. I check out race details every time I sign up for one and if it says, "T-shirt to the first 500 registrants", I'll act as if I'm registering and if it doesn't give me a space to select my T-shirt size, I know they've surpassed 500 and I don't bother. Maybe that makes me a race snob, but it's one of my things. I want mementos to remember my races.

Back to the race. I didn't do so well. Well, I didn't do badly either. I did my thing, but I didn't feel so good doing it. I had played softball the day before and I was the pitcher. Every pitch is like a lunge, so my left ass cheek was a little sore in the muscle department (along with my right arm/pec/boob area, but that's a different story!). Before the race, I actually warmed up this time. Kinda. And was ready to go when they said go. Yes, they actually said "On your mark, get set, GO, go, go, go, go". Really? Okay. So we went. But there was no start line. They gave us bibs to record our chip time, but no start line. So when they said go, they set the clock off and when you cross the finish line, they get your time with a chip sensor. They set up two traffic barricades to act as the start line, but NO START LINE. I know I'm not exactly a race connoisseur, but uh, there's supposed to be a start line, right? 

Anyway, I had my Garmin on so I recorded my time myself. I started off running (HA…jogging…slowly) and didn't go very far, but probably farther (and longer) than I have before, only because there were crazy people running behind me and I didn't want to stop short in front of them. I'm considerate like that. I didn't glance at my Garmin to check the time, although I should have. I immediately felt pain and tightness in my shins. Excellent. As I was walking I felt like I was barely moving and the person I was with kept holding up her stride for me. I felt bad so I told her to go on with out me. But before she did, another one of our group members was off to the side waiting for us. I told her to leave me as well. I felt bad that I was holding up someone else's race time because I'm a slow walker, but she was having pains in her hip so she decided to walk with me and attempt some run intervals here and there. I was grateful to have her there and she definitely helped me keep a faster pace than I normally would have. (Thank you again, a million times, Jenn!!!!)

As we trudged on, my left knee started hurting as well. I was literally falling apart. My left side was not agreeing with the race, apparently. Every time we saw a mile marker sign - yes, all 3 of them - we ran (again, laughter, jogged slowly) to it then walked again. Towards the end of the second mile, I saw that someone had lost their jacket. I grabbed it to bring back to the volunteer stand and hopefully find its owner. About 30 seconds later, I found a set of headphones and grabbed those as well. Same pretenses. Each time I bent over to get them off the street, I fell apart some more. My hip started hurting, then my lower back – both on the left side. My hypochondriac self thought briefly, “Ohmigod, I'm having a stroke”. But I kept moving. I'm probably okay.

I saw a volunteer along the side of the road waving us on with a flag. I told him, "Hey, I like your flag!" because I like to make conversation with random people when I'm in pain and still have to run more in the near future. He responded "Oh come on, the jacket is much better", while gesturing to his police like glow-in-the-dark vest. I replied, "Actually the hat is the best! Wish I had one". He then took it off his head and GAVE IT TO ME. I said, "Seriously?" and he said, "Yeah, sure, why not?". So at this point, I had a jacket, headphones and a hat in my possession, while still doing this race. And here, I thought the point was to not carry anything while racing.

I crossed the finish line at 52:27. Twenty seconds slower than my PR (personal record) at Stonyfield. At first I was bummed, since the whole point of this 5K business is to improve, but then I realized that I walked a LOT more than I had at Stonyfield and I was limping for part of this race. Therefore, if I had run as much as I had at Stonyfield, I'd have beat my time. That made me feel a little bit better. I also know I'm not always going to do better than the last time, even though I want to see constant improvement. This will not happen overnight, though I wish it would so I could stop training! I also need to stop being so negative. Eventually I will embrace running, but first I have to overcome my mental hurdles about it. I'm working on it.

After the race, they had chicken burritos and margaritas for everyone who had participated. The margarita line was 5 times as long as the burrito line. I get that people like their drinks (as do I from time to time) but after a 5K? I just couldn't. I also don't like tequila, so there's that. Instead I had myself a Kiwi-Strawberry Propel, which was amazing. I must buy myself some of those. It was yum.

We all hung around and chatted about the race, upcoming races, and discussed why we weren’t already friends on Facebook. And of course we took tons of pictures.

Before the race. See how happy we look?

After the race. Post race meal and drinks. See how tired we look?

NOT LAST!!

I was about halfway home when I realized that I threw my stuff in the car after the race and forgot to turn in the jacket and headphones I found. Plus side? Jacket is my size.

I also now have a shirt to wear to work on Cinco de Mayo!

**UPDATE** I received an e-mail from a representative at Loco Sports regarding this blog about the Margaritas 5K. I don't think they were too happy with my comments!! Check out her e-mail and my response to it here. :)

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

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I’ve gotten so caught up (and by that I mean obsessed) with finding more 5Ks to run that I have given swimming a backseat in my triathlon training. I’m a strong swimmer and I’m confident in my ability, but I also know that by focusing solely on running, for the mere fact that it sucks and I hate it, therefore I need to overcome it, I am weakening my biking and swimming strengths. Or so they say. I’ve been swimming since I could walk. I swam every day, every summer when I was at camp as a kid and I was became a lifeguard by the age of 16. I think I’m good in that department. 

Nonethless, I decided to brush up by doing some swimming drills. I have never in my life done swimming drills. I’ve always just done laps, treading, brick tests, etc. So I took the plunge (pun intended) and did some drills, which included thumb to thigh, touch and go, swimming with closed fists and swimming with one arm. Seriously. If you ever want to mess with someone while you’re swimming and make them think you’re drowning, try swimming with your fists closed. You will flail around like an idiot, while literally punching the water, trying to stay afloat. After I started that drill, I noticed the lifeguard started watching me a little more closely, with a lot more concern. Right after that, I started the one arm drills. More people stared. One girl arrived just as I was starting the one arm drills and she was sitting in the hot tub, just watching me in horror. I started laughing while I was swimming, because I realized that she really thought I only had one arm. It’s also hard to swim and laugh at the same time. That added more flailing.

The good thing about the drills, though, was I lost track of time completely because I was concentrating on form (and trying not to drown) and not just swimming laps. It gets pretty boring in the pool just swimming laps. There’s no music to listen to, no one to talk to, nothing at all except random thoughts. And if you’re swimming for distance, you have to count laps. I’ve lost count many times. So I’ve gotten in the habit of making up songs while swimming laps as a way to count my laps. Not kidding. “The laps go swimming one by one, hurrah, hurrah. The laps go swimming one by one, hurrah, hurrah. This lap was swam one time, just one, and I’m the one not sucking my thumb and I keep one swimming until the end of the lane, of the lane boom, boom, boom. The laps go swimming two by two hurrah, hurrah....” and so on and so forth. I also tend to slack on the kicking part so I have to remind myself every one in a while with a bit of perfectly placed “Just keep kicking, just keep kicking”, as Dory in Finding Nemo might say. I get weird while swimming. It’s the truth.

I swam for an hour yesterday and I’m exhausted today. I always forget how much swimming laps (or in this case drills) tires me out. It’s a good workout though you use your whole body to keep yourself from drowning. There’s good motivation right there!

Tomorrow, I have another 5K. It’s in Exeter, NH and it’s the Margarita 5K. Meaning there will be a margarita party at the end of the race. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not too sure that they’ve classified margaritas as a good post race recovery drink. 

Plus, I don’t like tequila anyway. I’m just in it for the shirt.

Stonyfield Earth Day 5K 2011 Race Report

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It was a dark and stormy night. Wait, this isn't a murder mystery. It's a 5K.

It was a raining, snowing, sleeting, 36-degree morning in Londonderry, NH. Perfect. That sounds much more like a 5K-race set up. Eye roll. Good thing I found my long lost waterproof jacket last night. I definitely needed it today.

I carpooled the hour and some change ride to the Stonyfield Earth Day 5K in Londonderry, NH with two people from our group and we got there around 8am. Race time was 10am. It was 36-degrees. We got our race numbers, grabbed a free yogurt and ran back to sit in the car and keep warm. Since we had gotten there so early, we were parked right next to the registration tent and all of the vendor tents. We watched the vendors set up their giveaways and chatted about the best types of sneakers to wear, how people run barefoot (and how strange it is) and sneakers that have toes on them to mimic barefoot running. Interesting stuff.

I had my eye on the pretzel lady because she parked next to us and looked to be unloading some fancy stuff out of her car. I took a break from staring her down and conversed with my comrades. All of a sudden, I see people milling around her tent, holding BAGS. I’m not exactly sure what happened next, but there was yelling, rushing, and clambering out of the car. I don’t mess around when it comes to free stuff. We each got a bag and then walked around to the other tents to check out what they had. We filled up our new pretzel bags with lots of other cool free stuff.

Look-it!

Then it was back to the car again to keep warm. Because it was still 36-degrees. By this time, we realized there was snow mixed in with the sleet. Awesome.

About 15 minutes before race time, we used the stylish port-o-potties and headed over to the start line. I spotted a guy warming up near the start line and he was barefoot. Weird, we had just been discussing that. Also, he was crazy. It was 36-god-damn-degrees. My feet were cold and I had wool socks on. I tried to pay attention to the announcer, but I was a little to far away from the line to really hear him well. This was my view:

As we kind of stretched, kind of danced around to keep warm, a woman came up next to me and asked me if I was running or walking. I responded, "I don't know yet. I guess we'll find out". We then compared Garmin watches. She had on the 205 and I had the 305.

Let’s backtrack. About a week ago, I was looking for a GPS/heart-rate monitor watch to help me keep track of my running activities. I figure I need to see how I’m doing in order to keep getting better. I discovered the Garmin Forerunner 305. It was way too expensive for my paycheck, but after looking around for cheaper models, I found the 305 on amazon for $128. Almost $275 cheaper than what it retails for on the Garmin site. Sold.

As I'm chatting with this woman about our watches, I glance down and see her shoes. They have toes. I'm floored that not only was this the second thing for us to see that we had been talking about, but that she was actually wearing them! They look like slippers. Weird, toe slippers. But I'm not gonna lie. I'm curious

In the distance I hear, "GO". Everyone lurches forward, then stops. Then we all lurch forward again, but this time it's for real. I’m in the middle of a big crowd and I have no choice but to start off running, which I’m not used to. I usually do a warm up walk of about 5 minutes before I start running, but not today! Today, I pretended to be a runner. For at least 500 feet!

I knew I had to keep myself entertained throughout the race so I played a game of leapfrog with some people around me. I’d run past them, take a break to walk, wait for them to run past me, wait for them to take a break to walk, then run again. It worked out pretty well until I got distracted by the front-runners of the race. They were coming back from the first loop and passed all of us going the other way. Everyone was cheering them on, but all I noticed were three or four of them really giving it their all trying to pass each other. I thought to myself, "Jeez, calm down. It's not a race". Oh wait.

I saw a few people from our group while on the race. We waved at each other and cheered each other on, but for the most part, I was by myself. I expected to be because I'm a slower runner than the people I went with.

At one point, I passed a girl and her mother who were jogging along and I thought to myself, "Hey, at least I'm faster than somebody!" until I realized that they had stopped for the girl to tie her shoe. Whatever.

Towards the end of the race, right near the last loop, I started a conversation with a woman (Hi Marguerite!!) who I had been playing leapfrog with almost the whole race. We talked for the last half-mile and it absolutely flew by. Next time I'm definitely sticking with someone for conversation!

Of course, me being me, I had to run the last bit to the finish line. Someone said that they were announcing names as people crossed the finish line, but I didn't hear them say my name. Probably because I was pumping my fists up in the air like a fool, trying not to trip over the mats on the finish line. I’m classy like that.

And finishing right before me is the girl and her mother who I passed. They must have cut the last mile loop short, because I KNOW they didn't pass me again. I would have recognized her shoes.

My finish time was 52:07 making my average page 16:31 minutes per mile. An even better time that the other night’s dreadmill run. Things are looking up. I didn't even mind that I came in last among the group I went with, or that I was 840/882. That’s a lie. It’s a little depressing. But, at least I wasn't last! And then Amanda sent me this picture/quote, which really put things into perspective and made it a little bit better.

It was still freezing cold so we headed back to the car to go home almost immediately. Thankfully I brought along a change of clothes in case I got wet because all four layers of my clothes were soaked.

My waterproof jacket? Not waterproof.