Monthly Archives: April 2012

Friday Favorites: Nuun and ‘Nsync

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Good Morning and welcome to Friday!

I’m currently posting from my bed, which feels both awesome and ironic for a running blog. I got to sleep in until the very late hour of 7 am, so that was a treat. My hammies are hating me for the hills yesterday, but they better shape up their attitude because tomorrow is scheduled with a big scary 20 miler. I’m considering scooting down to Tacoma to do some of the marathon course, which while I think will be helpful I also feel like it might play some mental games. We’ll see.

However, that is not what today is about. Today is about Favorite Things and resting. If you’re new to this blog, every Friday I pay homage to some of my favorite things in life…of which there are many, which is a good thing or else this whole game would have died a long time ago.

Just when I think I’m running out of the little things in life to be appreciative for, something new pops its head around the corner and adds even more joy to the sometimes mundane nature of regular routines. And let’s face it…for someone who gets a major kick out of things like Safeway Club Card deals and little children dressed in cute outfits, it’s not hard to conglomerate a weekly list.

So let’s move onto this week’s Friday Favorites!

Cherry Blossom Trees

These bountiful beauties are in full bloom here in Seattle—and throughout the entire country it seems like. They can make even the most homely, industrial, sketchball-filled neighborhood (Read: Tacoma, Washington) seem like an A-Okay place to be. They bring a smile to my face whenever I drive by them, and I always want to pull over and sit underneath their lovely branches and sing songs about what a wonderful world we live in. But I’m already weird enough, so instead I just take trying-to-be-artistic photos of them.

These blooms don’t last too long, which I suppose is one of the reasons they are so gosh darn lovely.

Nuun

So, because this is a blog about running and sweating and all that (at least most of the time) I think it’s appropriate to mention some exercise-related favorite things, right?

That said, let me introduce you to my newest addiction/fascination, Nuun. If you’re a seasoned runner or endurance athlete, you have undoubtedly heard of this new electrolyte-replenishment supplement—as they’ve been at tons of race expos and running stores all over the country. Now, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of Gels, Gatorade, Gus, etc., etc. Basically, most of this stuff kind of hurts my stomach and I naively just rely on water and sometimes Sport Beans.

In comes Nuun, and I’m a convert.

I’ve only been using this magical little caplet in my water in the afternoons after morning runs, not mid-run, but I’m completely hooked. You know the commercials for 5 Hour Energy? How they turn the “2 pm slump” into a hugely productive and happy-go-lucky party? Well, that is exactly what Nuun in the afternuun does for me. {What I did there…you saw it didn’t you?} It’s sort of like when you drink a cup of coffee after not having caffeine for three weeks—lots of giggling and tingly goodness. I don’t know if it’s a placebo effect or not, but I can actually feel my low electrolyte levels getting filled, and my entire body feels refreshed and ready to go swim the English Channel.

Needless to say, PSYCHED to try this crack fuel mid-run.

13 Simple Steps to Get You Through a Rough Day

Sorry, I’m going to redirect you to this link, but trust me…it will be worth your while. Click it!

 

Done? Okay great.

I find this article HILARIOUS, and I’ve laughed, literally L-O-L, every time I’ve read it. My favorite section is Step 8, “Be happy you are not one of these people”—particularly the baby with the scary self-portrait taking mom and the Chris Kirkpatrick reference. Poor Chris, Justin got all the girls and the long career, JC got Justin’s leftovers and a dance show judging gig, Joey got to be in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Lance got all the Outer Space and coming-out-of-the-closet attention, and what did you get? Well, I don’t even know…which I suppose is the point. Sorry buddy, I still love your very-backup vocals.

And for the record, ‘Nsync was, is, and will always be better than BSB. Don’t agree? Please go away. No, you can stay, but I propose a street fight to the tune of “It’s Gonna Be Me” and “Tearin’ Up My Heart.” Cough Leanne cough.

Drive By, Train

I have always and will always love Train. Somehow, I’ve actually seen them twice in concert, and they put on a great show and are super personable and funny. I think they’re underrated in the pop-music industry, especially since so many of their songs go viral and no one seems to give them much credit after everyone’s moved onto the next Katy Perry or Pitbull song. Love you Katy, but I gotta give this one to the boys.

This song is so catchy, and it’s been on repeat one too many times in the past few weeks. Overplaying songs? Who me? I only do this with EVERY song I start to love, but after a break of two or so days I can jump right back into them. This song is just so happy and has all the right uplifting chords. Good job Train…download now if you’re interested. Or, you know, just listen to the YouTube video over and over again if you’re like me.

This Kitty

He's in there I promise...right by the steps to the porch.

Okay, I realize this picture isn’t entirely ideal, but because this isn’t my kitty the only way to photograph him is by luck and quick phone camera skills. BF took this, by the way, because he knows how I adore this little cat. And that is reason 34566 why I love him.

This little Kitty, which we’ve learned is named Socks (c’mon, how cute is that?), roams around our street and frequently sits atop the hood of cars for warmth. He greets me very frequently when I arrive home, and I think he would agree that we are BFF at this point.

Anyways, I would generally consider myself a dog person—which you could have probably guessed based on my frequent ranting about golden doodles and puppies—but I do have a place in my heart for cats. Yea yea I know…tons of people hate cats, which is justifiable, but I so happen to have owned THE best cat, named Jack, for the majority of my childhood, therefore cats are good in my book. Poor Jackie went to kitty heaven last year, and although I miss him a lot, I like to think that Socks is his reincarnation; they look SO much alike, same coloring and everything, and they have the same “I am way too cool for school but I’ll still let you adore me” attitude about them.

Maybe someday he’ll “forget” to go to his real home and decide to run inside and snuggle with me forever. That’s okay, right BF? Your allergies are probably gone by now, I’m sure.

_______

I hope you have a great weekend!

What are some of your favorite things right now? What are your plans for the weekend? Are you going to go YouTube every ‘Nsync song you can possibly remember for the rest of the workday just like I am as soon as I’m done writing this post? If you do, let’s compare memories/favorite songs.

Hills, 2012 Miles Update, and Pancakes

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Hello!

I don’t have anything monumental or ground-breaking to say today (because, you know, the rest of my posts are essentially scholarly journal-worthy), however I thought I’d drop in for a quick update on some goals that have been discussed before.

To start off, on Tuesday I made a vow to add some hill training into my routine in order to train for my {new} marathon course in Tacoma. Actually, I don’t really think I vowed that—but I did in my head, and now I’m admitting it, which means I’m accountable.

But it’s okay! Because I am adding hills!

Exhibit A: Today’s run…

Look! Hills!

I realize that might be crazy hard to read, but the elevation change is there—I promise. There is a nice 6 mile loop near our house that goes something like this: Flat, down, down down, flat, flat, flat, flat, then up, up, up, up. Isn’t my topography narration pro? This should probably be a science blog. Anyways, here is a visual:

This probably means a whole lot to you, I know.

In order to get my semi-long-run miles for the day (12) in and include some up-and-down hill action, I decided to do this loop twice.

And let me just say, adding 350 feet of climbing TWICE into a 12 mile run makes the whole experience a lot more—interesting—than my normal candy route of out and back on beach-front, flat path heaven. The first loop I kept thinking “Oh great, I get to do this all again,” and so that was a little distracting, however the second loop was glorious and actually a bit faster than the first. I finished in 1:43:30, meaning just below 8:40 average/mile.

Note: If you’re wondering why I never post splits, it’s because I don’t own a Garmin, and I haven’t decided yet if I want one. Currently, I record my “splits” and pace and min/mile using a lot of mental math and number memorization. The way I knew that the second uphill run was faster than the first was because I played the same song both times up, and the second time I was further up the hill when the song ended. Again, so pro. But creativity points, perhaps?

And because I know you’re dying to know…yes the song was Defying Gravity, and yes it was awesome.

A Garmin someday… I do have a birthday in less than a month, don’t I? 😉

Anyways, although that pace isn’t ideal, I was happy with it—particularly because it took into account the probable 10 min/mile trudge I was racking up on those big hills.

Good news is that I know Tacoma doesn’t have climbs nearly this steep for this long, so if I just keep thinking a “hilly course” includes some of these monsters, maybe marathon day won’t be quiet so daunting?

 

Moving on, I realized recently that I hadn’t been updating or keeping track of my 2012 miles since the whole knee debacle started. I panicked a little, thinking there was no way I would be able to come up with my most recent number, but thanks to some memory skillz and past blog posts, I came to a final tally.

Miles Run in 2012: 538.7

Percentage of 2012 Goal Completed: 26.77%

Percentage of Year Over: 26.22%

Success still! Even though I definitely lost some of my progress when I was busy resting instead of running, I’m glad that I had accumulated enough cushion to make up for lost time. Again, this goal is more of a “just for fun” thing, so I’m not completely engrossed with making it happen, but it’s kinda cool to keep track of mileage build up.

This mileage tally also indicated that I need to buy some new shoes. I’m nearing 500 miles on these ones I’m wearing now, and so I’m due for some upgrading.

And finally, I leave you with this beauty of a breakfast-for-dinner created by BF and myself last night:

If you cover pancakes with enough strawberries, all the syrup you have already put on them is cancelled out. Fact.

I realize I’ve been talking about pancakes a lot recently (i.e. in reference to the Eugene Marathon, photos of weekend happenings, etc.) and it’s a little strange because I actually don’t love pancakes that much. I mean, I love all food, and pancakes are delicious, but I am not nearly as passionate about them as my blog has been showcasing recently. They are not, for example, equivalent to peanut butter or Cadbury Mini Eggs, both of which I could easily write long poems about every day.

However, apparently both BF and I are on a pancake kick, and we really can’t get enough. The shapes you are seeing portray various inside jokes between the two of us, and none of them—surprisingly—are inappropriate. Shocking, really, if you know our humor. There’s still more batches to be made though…

__________

Friday Favorites tomorrow! See you then, and if you don’t mind sharing:

What pancake shape is your favorite? Is there a design you’ve made that you’re particularly proud of?

 

 

Spring Marathon Announcement

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I have a kinda-sorta-semi significant announcement to make, and it involves a change in my spring marathon plans. I got this idea planted in my head last week, and upon mulling it over and weighing all the pros and cons and whatnot—I’m confident that this is the best call for a variety of reasons.

To put it simply (WHAT? Crazy…I never do that) here you have it:

I am not running the Eugene Marathon.

Instead, I am running the Tacoma City Marathon.

I realize that this is really only a big deal for me, but since some of you may have been following me throughout this training cycle(hey followers! I love you!)—which has, up until this time, been focused solely on running in Pre’s old stomping grounds—I figured I owed an explanation.

The idea to switch my marathon plans first came about during a run (weird, right?) last week. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve recently been battling back-and-forth with some intense knee bursitis. I had to alter a lot of my training plan, visit the orthopedic doc (aka: Dr. I’ll Give You Cortisone Therefore I’m a Godsend), and generally wait out the inflammation that has been crippling my entire left leg. So needless to say, although I’m on the way out of injury land and kicking back into training mode, I definitely lost some time.

The Tacoma City Marathon is a week after Eugene, and I knew this only because I was planning on going to volunteer for it. I began thinking about the logistics of Eugene (aka: travel, lodging, time, etc.) and I thought, “Huh, if only I was doing Tacoma instead…that would be so much easier.”

Obviously this triggered all of my logical-decision versus idealistic-decision making thoughts, which looked a little something like this:

(Note: when I talk to myself, I don’t really use second person, but for the sake of blog-talk, just go with it.)

“Wait, why don’t you just do Tacoma instead?”

“But Eugene has been the plan all along. It’s flat! It ends in Hayward Field! I could BQ in Eugene!”

“You would have to go to Eugene by yourself, buy a hotel room, pay for gas, and spend 12 hours driving ALONE.”

“But you already paid for Eugene! And they have pancakes at the end!”

“Tacoma is HALF AN HOUR AWAY. BF could come. You won’t have to celebrate at the finish line alone. You will SAVE money.”

So, this went on for approximately 4 days (Doesn’t my brain sound like a party?!), and thanks to some guidance from Mama, they always are right—aren’t they?, and some big time pros in the “Tacoma” category…I’ve decided to forgo my Eugene Marathon plans, as well as my dreams of a flat-PR accessible course.

Yes, that entire paragraph is one sentence. Too lazy to change…it’s free form, right?

The course change is really the biggest downside of this decision: Eugene is notorious for dishing up PRs and BQs to its participants, right alongside the all-you-can-eat pancakes at the end. And while this wasn’t the reason I chose this race, it has certainly helped encourage my secret-but-not-really-secret BQ goals.

No big deal, you say, just go for a BQ in Tacoma instead.

Yea…that’s the thing about the Tacoma race. One word can be used to describe the course, and it starts with an “H” and ends with a long, exhausting, oh-my-God-never-ending “ILLS.” No one sugarcoats the hill factor when describing the Tacoma Marathon—even the website says “train for hills!” in an annoyingly chipper yet threatening way. I know websites don’t have a tone of voice, but I was offended by this statement.

Not that I’m necessarily bad at hills, but when you go from training for a flat/marginally downhill race to training for a constantly rolling hill race, your time goals dial back a bit. And you know what? It’s okay.

Truthfully, I had already come to terms with the fact that a BQ was perhaps not in the cards for this spring, due to bursitis being an a-hole and sidelining me for three weeks. Also, it’s not like I won’t try my very hardest in Tacoma—and I look forward to seeing how my effort thus far emancipates on race day.

There are also many reasons why Tacoma is definitely the smarter and more logical choice. Let’s do some listing, because that’s what being type-A is all about, right? Cool.

–Tacoma is where I first started to love running. I went to school in Tacoma, and while it took me a few years and many boxes of wine to eventually lace up and head out on the roads, I do feel a certain home field advantage about racing in this town. Although I love Seattle and will never live in Tacoma again (that’s putting it nicely btw), there is a certain nostalgia I get when I think about running in Tacoma.

– Money. Monetarily, I’ll probably end up better off. Yes, I’ll have to bite the $90-Eugene-Registration bullet and tack on another registration fee for Tacoma. However, given the fact that with Eugene I’d had to pay for accommodations, gas, food, and all the race shwag that I’ll rationalize with “But I came all this way!!!!”, I’m thinking I’ll actually save money.

–Time. For me, a marathon is certainly a good reason to spend a whole weekend traveling, but the fact that I won’t have to drive 6 hours after running 26.2 miles (and not to mention beforehand) provides some enormous relief. Post marathon time should only be spent at Chipotle, on the couch, or in the Dairy Queen drive-thru. ONLY.

–(Boy)Friends! I know it’s silly to consider having a cheering section as an advantage, however I am comforted by thinking that I’ll have some supporters in Tacoma. BF is in crazy-busy-work-mode right now, and there was no way he would have been able to come to Eugene. This way, not only will he be able to come, but he’s thinking he’ll race the half too! Hooray couple racing! Also, I have some friends in Tacoma that I’m planning on forcing nicely asking to come to the finish line. My sister also said she’d be able to make it to Tacoma. It’s just a T-town party, all kinds of fun.

–Revenge. That sounds intense, because it is. Let’s back track: Last year, I signed up to do the Tacoma City Half Marathon and was all amp-ed up for it: It would be spring, it would be in my own backyard, and it would be ON MY BIRTHDAY. Perfect situation for 13.1 miles right? And it was…but not for me. You see that was the time of the year that my little friend Torn Hip Flexor was hanging around and decided that it wouldn’t let me walk or run for a very long time. Racing was out of the question, and I had to settle with my first “DNS.” So, when I say that “revenge” is motivating my change in race plans, I’m being very serious. Although it was not the race itself that disabled me from running, I do feel a certain call from it to come back and get some redemption. And oh Tacoma City Marathon, I will get that redemption…and instead of taking back those 13.1 miles I was robbed of last year, I’m going to tack on another 13.1 just to prove my point.

Are you scared of me yet? Just think I’m insane and spend too much time by myself? Well, agree to agree with you on that one. Threatening and personifying a perfectly innocent race is perhaps one of the insights into my psyche I should have kept to myself.

But in all seriousness, I’m feeling pretty pumped at the thought of redeeming my Half DNS from last year with a full marathon. I have no clue how well it will go, I am still working on some time goals (stay tuned for that), but I’m psyched to run 26.2 miles on the roads where I first started to love running. So Tacoma, next time I see your smelly, sketchy, humble little self, I’ll be waving at you with a race number tagged on and presumably a lot of salt on my face. Hey, if you’re not dressing up for me…I won’t pull out the stops for you. Let’s just be stinky and tired-looking together, okay? It will be beautiful.

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I hope your Tuesday is going well! And today I’d like to know…

Do you have any spring racing plans? Have you ever changed a race plan mid-training? Do you enjoy thinking of races as living, breathing things that you want to get in a fight with?

 

Warning: Sparkly Excitement Ahead

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You know how you secretly hate those people who are all “Happy Monday!” “Welcome to the week!” “I love life!”? Seriously, pretty much everyone is merely trying to get through this first day of the week, why do you need to shove it in our faces that you are hyped on Prozac and caffeine and unicorns all the time?

Yea, well…today, I am one of those people. So, if you aren’t feeling exclamation points and glass-over-flowing-with-excitement optimism this afternoon, go ahead and quietly scroll your arrow to the little “x” box at the top right corner of your screen and pretend like you were never here. No hard feelings.

Still with me? Sweet! Now let’s make some sweet sweet rainbows and sunshine together.

On Friday, I posted a bit about my hopefulness and hesitation for the fate of my spring marathon aspirations. Due to my knee being a huge a-hole and my training getting thwarted for two weeks, I was coming to terms with the fact that things may not pan out as I’d hoped.

And I was okay with it…I really was.

Then came yesterday’s run. Oh dear, sweet yesterday’s run.

After very grudgingly getting out of bed for an attempted “long run,” I decided that I would be shooting for 16 miles. That was the ideal, and if I had to cut it short, I would accept it. Because that’s the Smart Runner Bird I’m trying to be, remember?

So then, I started to run. And I felt fantastic. And I kept running…and I still felt fantastic.

Call it cortisone, call it rest, call it luck, call it the Aleve I took literally 3 minutes before walking out the door, but no matter what it was…it worked. I kept running, waiting for my bursa sack to inflame and immobilize the rest of my leg the way it had been for the past two weeks.

NADA. NOTHING.

I stopped halfway through to stretch a bit, and while my knee tingled a bit, there was no indication that running was irritating or bothering it in any way. As I started off on the last half, you could not get the smile off my face. It was ridiculous and reminiscent of an elementary school “You Can Do It!” motivational poster…but I just couldn’t help it. The thought, “I’m back!” kept reverberating in my brain, and I relished every moment. It also didn’t hurt that despite a forecast of rain and wind, there was sunshine and {some} wind instead.

So proud of you Seattle, so proud of you knee.

I even threw in a mile long hill at the end of it all with a 300 ft. elevation gain for some added grunt, and the knee seemed to take it all in stride. I felt as if my knee was like, “Okay Robyn, since you actually did the right thing and laid off me I’ll suck it up and get better. You win.”

Total mileage? 17.22

SO PSYCHED. This was super encouraging, as I’ll {hopefully} still be able to get in two, 20+ milers before taper.

Please excuse my overly enthusiastic Tweet yesterday in which I had miscalculated my mileage before mapping it.

awkward.

No problem. 18 would have been great, but 17 is great too.

Side note: I have this weird thing about running distances that are odd numbers. As in, I am really uncomfortable with it, and I almost always try and run even numbers of miles. Half Marathons are great, but 13.1 is scary numerically to me. Fun Fact Monday. Well, maybe not fun, but maybe it helps make you feel more normal?

I even foam rolled afterwards and stretched! Improvements!

I would like to say this face was exaggerated, but that would be a lie. Self portrait attempts + quad mutilation via hunk of foam + face caked in salt= the essence of beauty.

And if I hadn’t already basked in pain-free running glory enough, I decided to do the wise injury-prevention thing and go to yoga yesterday afternoon. It was definitely not my best performance, and I stuck to all the easier versions of the poses, but my calves and hammies were very happy with all the stretchy attention the got. I think I fell asleep for a minute in savasana also, but that must mean I was really meditative and Zen. Right? Good.

And speaking of meditative and happiness and birdies, this was also a necessary end to the day:

Oh buttery, sugar-coated, pink, bird sugar cookie, I love you.

I am feeling wonderfully sore and sleepy today. After not doing a long run for a few weeks, those miles definitely wiped me out in the best possible way. I’m still on the watch for lingering injury pain, but yesterday was definitely a fat ole’ confidence boost kick-in-the-butt. {I also don’t think you can get more adjectives/descriptive nouns in one sentence. Way to go English major, way to utilize your inability to tone down your detailing.}

Nothing like a little patience to really make a run feel like solid gold.

Shake out run today, and presuming things keep going well, I’m looking forward to continuing on in this [final!] month of marathon training.

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Now… please let me hear your lovely voices! Did you race this weekend? Long run? How’d it go? Are you as sad as I am that Alec Baldwin is engaged?