Funny how time just slips by. Hope everyone had a good holiday. I know I did. Last Saturday, I got in my longest run yet and 8.5 miles, the best part about the long run was how I felt afterward. Typically anything after 6 miles leaves me pretty hobbled. I have a bad foot and back that has left me confined to the couch for a couple of days at a time. My half marathons have been kind of brutal on my body :) but I felt great after my run. My muscles were tired but not broken. I took Sunday off then ran another 6.2 miles on Monday. My running partner injured her Achilles on our Saturday run and then on Monday realized it was worse than she thought, so I told her to take the rest of the week off and re-evaluate on Friday whether she can run on Saturday. This was not supposed to absolve me of running, alas I am lazy and ended up trying to rest my body as well. Not sure if that was good or bad, but it is what it is. It's supposed to beautiful day today, so I'm going to head over to the lake after work today and try to get 4 miles in.

My November running goal was 60 miles for the month. I'm super happy to report that not only did I meet that goal I exceeded it by 5 miles. I've already chosen my December goal and I'm adding 20 miles to it. I think 80 miles is pretty attainable. My long runs are now supposed to be 7,8, & 9 miles and I always seem to do just a little bit more than is expected of me. Now if only I could do something with my eating habits so this running thing translates into weight loss!

Monday run

I wasn't expecting to go as far as I did today. My only plan was to run my typical 3 mile run that my training program required. I was hoping to have one "fast mile" and then just finish the rest at whatever pace I did. I ended up doing 6.1 miles in 1:18 minutes. It felt so good to just keep going. And that's really surprising to me because I felt pretty sluggish for the first 3 miles. In the past, when I felt this sluggish I would have stopped and gave up. I'm pretty proud of myself right now and I'm feeling good!

On a side note, this is my second run in a row without music and I'm really liking it. I think because I concentrate on the run and my surroundings rather than what song and how many songs have played.

What's your take... Run with or without music and why?

Did I just do that?

Wednesday's run marked the 5th day in a row that I exercised. This is pretty big, as I spent every month since my first half in April, trying very hard to not exercise very much. i.e. I got lazy. So 5 days in a row is a miracle over here in Krissy-land. :)

My run. I got to the lake and wasn't sure I would even be able to run. Both my foot and my head were hurting. I knew i could survive the foot pain... the head I wasn't so sure about. See, how I tried to convince myself to just go home instead? I pretty much have these talks everyday, some days I win some days I lose. I ran anyway. My pace was slower than it has been, but I kept trucking along until I was back at my car 5.6 miles later. I did not stop once. I ran the entire way! It's been at least 7 months since I ran more than 2 miles without stopping to walk... once again I will repeat and say I am lazy. My goal for next week is to actually hit 6 miles without stopping to walk. For now I have a rest day, which for me means swimming laps at the YMCA so get a workout that is much easier on my body than running is.

I've been on this training regimen for 3 weeks now. The first 2 weeks, I did not see any movement on the scale. That was a little disheartening... to work hard and actually see a gain rather than a loss. But no more! I have lost over 6 lbs this week. I'm hoping to be down 4 more lbs before Thanksgiving... just so I can eat on Thanksgiving without guilt. :) I love me some mashed potatoes.

Last night, I made my first attempt at buffalo wings. My BF will not do fried foods, which is a very good thing, because it helps keep me in line as well. So I baked them instead. My sauce was a little sweet and will have to make that differently next time, but it was still good! I made boneless chicken for me and put in on a salad, rather than eating wings, since I refuse to eat meat that is still attached to the bone. I was pretty pleased with my first attempt at a new recipe. Have you tried a new recipe lately? Any good healthy suggestions for dinner tonight?

Funday Monday Recap

I've been running for 2 weeks now with my friend. Saturday was a 4 mile run, so off we went and completed 4 miles. Afterward, I couldn't help but notice that nothing hurt. Not one muscle. When I run by myself, I am usually in pain somewhere (or everywhere) when I am done. I talked to John about it afterward and he suggested that it might be because I am not running fast enough when I am with my friend. And it is true, my pace is about 4 minutes slower when I run with her than when I run alone. So yesterday, when we met up at Creve Couer Lake I suggested that I do the long course and she do the short run. We are still in the early days of training and are only required to run 3 miles, but I've been running more than 3 miles since day 1 program. She would get her 3 miles in and I would get just under 6 miles by going different ways. The plan was I was trying to catch up to her and she was trying to not let me.

So we split off in different directions and I booked it. Well for me anyway. The first 2 miles I was at 10:17 pace, that's like really good for me. I typically stay in the 12 minute a mile pace because I'm slow like that! Miles 3, without even realizing it did slow down to the 12 min pace, when I looked down at my watch, I was like "ouch" and sped back up. I never did get back in the the 10 min pace area but stayed steady at 11:20 for the last 2 miles. I never did catch my friend. She was warm and snug in her car by the time I finished. The good news that came out of it though, is that she only stopped long enough to get a drink at the 2 mile marker and that's it. She basically ran her first 5K. Her pace was almost 15 minutes a mile, but she didn't stop.

We came to the conclusion that I make her run faster than she is ready for, which is why she has to stop at least 3 times when we run together. We are going to try the experiment again on Wednesday and see if she can go faster. My goal is to try and keep my pace steady rather starting out too fast (for me).

Afterward, I headed home to eat dinner (which I did not take a picture of) but it was a recipe that I saw on Run Eat Repeat. I did however take a pic of dessert, which I ate before dinner :)

It's a Chocolate Peanut butter cupcake from Trader Joe's. So so good and I am looking forward to working out hard again tonight, just so I can eat another one of those cupcakes.

have a great day!

Wednesday run

I got in another 5.5 miles yesterday. It was cold. My first 2 miles were by myself and I ran those pretty good, but I felt a little off. The last 3.5 miles I ran/walked with my friend. She's still building up endurance and can't run for as long as me, even if she can keep up my pace.

When I was done with my run, I posted this on Facebook:

I love running! Except for the heel pain. And the shin pain. and the knee pain. And the tight back. Yep, I love running.

Everything hurt yesterday. It started with my calf, that twinge went away at mile 2, then everything else decided to hurt. Today, my heel is still killing me and my quads are a little sore. Everything else went away about an hour after I stopped running though. And really despite all the aches and pains, I really do think I'm starting to love running. It feels a little weird writing that, because I never ever ever...(I'm singing Taylor Swift in my head right now) thought I would say that.

Have you ever done something you that you never thought you would like, let alone love, and it turns you were wrong?

Managed to get in a 5 mile run yesterday. I not only felt great during the run, I felt fabulous afterward. It's funny how a run can make you feel so much better after a relatively ho hum day. I try to run at least 4 days a week. I'm still no where near being able to say that I love running. Most days I dread knowing I have to get out there and run, but it is starting to grow on me. Do you love running? If you do, how long did it take for you to love it?

Afterward, I went over to my friend's house and we did our weekly watching of How I Met Your Mother. I don't get to see Ann as often as I used to, something that happens when you are both in stable relationships. So our Monday night TV watching is the one thing we do, so we can stay connected with each other and is most likely the only time during the week that we see each other. What do you do to connect with friends?

Thursday Run

Today was Day 2 of running with my friend, Stephanie. I got to the lake about 30 minutes early and instead of just sitting in the car and waiting for her to show up, I got out of the car and started running. I knew I could get in at least a mile before she got there. So my plan was to turn my watch on and when I hit .5 miles I would turn around and go back to the car and meet up with her for the rest of the run. It turns out, she was running a few minutes late and I was feeling great. So I got 2 miles in and made it back to the parking lot just as she showed up. Total win for me. We walked a 1/2 mile warm up for her and then got another 3 miles in before it was time to head home. This run was so much better than my Monday run with her. We spent more time running than walking, kept a much better pace; Somewhere around 11 minutes a mile, and we both felt really good when we were done.

However, she thinks I'm crazy, because I do not warm up before I start running. I just go. I figure my first mile is my warm up. Where as she needs at least a 1/2 mile of walking before she will even consider starting her run. Which camp do you fall in?

No running on the agenda tonight. I am meeting my daughter for icecream and social time before she goes off and does her thing with her friends and then I am heading to a 90 minute Zumba class.

Wednesday Run

Yesterday I took a run around the lake by myself. Most days I will be running with a partner as she wants to complete a half marathon. Since it was Halloween yesterday she couldn't make it, so I trekked on down there and did it alone. (I have goals and they must be met!) According to the training program, I only had to do 3 miles. So no biggie. I decided to just knock out a 5k so can a starting time. I know where I want to end up with my 5k time, but I still didn't know what my starting time was. Now I do...

My time was 38:34 and I want to get to 30:00, so I need to knock off more than 8 minutes off my time. I'm nothing if not ambitious, with a dose of realistic. :)

The run itself was great. The weather was perfect and I ran the whole way. Which is a miracle in and of itself! I typically have no problem convincing myself it's time to take a breather and walk for a minute or two.

There will be another run today, but with my friend so I don't expect to break any records running. But running is running.