I am writing this post from my new HTC Droid Incredible. I am sitting in a park in Payson, Arizona, where the temperature is probably about 72 degrees. I just finished a 13 mile run and I‘m feeling pretty good! I‘ve been running up here on the weekends now for for 3 weeks. Its only about hours drive from my house, but the elevation changes from 1,000 ft to 5,000 feet in that hour. The temperature drops a good 20 degrees. So over the last few weeks I have wondered how I could make more of a day in Payson instead of driving up here and just turning around and heading back to the hot desert as soon as I am done. A good friend suggested I get a laptop so I could blog from anywhere. That would be wonderful except I really don‘t have the cash for that. So instead I opted for a full size blue tooth keyboard that pairs with my Droid phone. WOW. All I can say is… this is freaking awesome.

I got my HTC Incredible back in July and I have been loving every second of being a smart phone owner. I downloaded the WordPress app right away and intended to blog from my vacation in Mammoth CA where I did a ton of running. Unfortunately, as nice as the little touch keyboard is, it really is not conducive to creative writing. I doubt you all want to read a blog post filled with text message shorthand. The keyboard is called the “Freedom Pro“ and I definitely recommend it. It even folds up and has a carrying case for easy transport.

I‘ve been playing around with a lot of different running apps on my phone since I got it. Unfortunately I have been somewhat disappointed in nearly every app on the market. This phone isn‘t going to be replacing my Garmin anytime soon.  It is interesting to think that I could have all of my running gadgets combined into one – gps, radio, mp3 player, map, cell phone, and camera. At this point, I think I can use it for everything but the GPS. It IS accurate enough, but my biggest problem is that I have yet to find an app that will pause recording if you stop.

In future posts, I hope to go through all of the running apps I and cell phone products I have tried and review them. Maybe I can save someone my frustrations.

But before I do that I thought I‘d just give you all an update on my life and running.  I‘m mentally gearing up for the fall and winter racing season. I‘m still trying to figure out what races I want to run and if I‘m going to attempt 26.2 again in January. I for sure will do a half or two before then.  There are a couple of halfs in November I will probably run.

My long run buddies are no longer available, so I‘ll be doing my long runs alone this season. I‘m sort of bummed out about that, but at the same time I‘m sort of an introspective soul and a good long run can be enjoyable.

My average speed seems to have dropped over the last couple of months. Its no surprise, its hot out there and my milage has dropped as well. I‘m in the process now of slowly upping the weekly milage, and adding in some speedwork here and there so that come October I can really start pushing myself. I‘ve still got another month of hot temperatures to deal with so I can‘t expect too much out of myself.

That’s it for now. I have to drive back down the hill so I can meet my hubby for lunch. Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend all!

2. Find your comfort cutoff. Get a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer that measures both the temperature and humidity. Then track the conditions before you leave on your run and after you return (if you run at dawn or dusk this can actually change quite a bit). Keep track of how you felt in each temperature and humidity combination. This way, you can start to get a feel for where your comfort cutoff is. I get up most mornings around 4:30 am and check my thermometer. I know if the temperature is above 80 degrees while the humidity is above 30%, it’s going to be too hot to run outside by the time the sun comes up (and I go back to bed or hit the gym). Your tolerance may be different. Knowing your range will allow you to watch the weather forecast and predict the days you might be able to run. I keep an eye on the “overnight low” forecast since I usually run at dawn when its close to that temperature. I’ve found that the midday high prediction really has no bearing on the overnight low.

Besides the humidity and the temperature, the last factor you’ll want to track is the presence of the sun. I have found I can run in temperatures between 85 and 100 fairly comfortably when its dark or very cloudy. Especially if the humidity is lower than 25%.  I have also found that 80 degrees in direct sunlight, feels a whole lot hotter than 80 degrees in the shade or darkness.

4. Start exploring the gym. I’ll be the first to admit that being in the gym SUCKS. I am a nature girl at heart and I’m sure that’s one of the reasons I love running so much. On top of that, I’m also an endorphin junky so when I do go to the gym its a rare occasion when I venture out of the cardio room. But since mother nature and I aren’t on such good terms during the summer I make do with the gym. The problem is that the treadmill is BORING. This summer I hired a personal trainer for a few sessions since I have very little knowledge or experience with weight training. Now when I’m stuck going to the gym, I run on the treadmill for about 25 minutes and do 25 min of weights. It works well for me because I am far less bored. I do different muscle groups each day so it’s always something new. There are such a variety of exercises you can do in a gym that no day has to be exactly the same. I usually spend my time on the treadmill planning my weights workout which keeps the boredom away. Another thing I really like about weight training it leaves me feeling pleasantly fatigued, where 25 minutes of running wouldn’t be enough to give me that “ahhhh” feeling as I walked out of the gym.

5. Do intervals on the treadmill. By mid July I cannot stand the thought of getting on the treadmill. The boredom can be crushing. I combat it with doing intervals – after all the treadmill is the perfect place to run a prescribed pace for a specific time. You spend all that time staring at the numbers on the console, might as well make it work for you! I like the book “Run Less, Run Faster” to pull interval workouts (I convert the paces to MPH using an online calculator). But you don’t have to be that precise. Make up your own intervals if you want. Just varying the speed breaks up the monotony. Instead of thinking “geeze I’ve got 45 more minutes to stare at this wall”, you are thinking “just 5 minutes till the end of this interval” By running harder, you can run less and still get in a great workout that will help you PR come fall.

Snapped this photo of the sunrise on an early morning run last week.

I thought I’d just give a little update incase you are wondering if I fell off the face of the earth. I am here! I am well. And yes of course I am still running. The summer is upon me again and so my running has been relegated to mostly very early mornings or the treadmill. I’m doing about 17-25 miles a week at the moment, and happy with that since I’m mostly just trying to stay in shape. Race specific training won’t start up again until mid-September.

I am excited to report that I’ve been doing resistance training more regularly and really enjoying it! I have a good friend that is a personal trainer and she agreed to give me a 8 sessions if I paid for her 3 month gym membership – working out to $20 a session. I jumped that that opportunity! After those 8 sessions, I feel stronger, much more toned and way more confident in the gym. I’ve become pretty comfortable with different types of resistance equipment and I’m able to throw together an a routine on the fly that covers all the major muscle groups. Upper body and core anyway. I’m still shying away from lower body work because I don’t want to compromise my runs by making my legs sore.

I’ve been kinda fascinated with this new world of fitness that isn’t 100% cardio and even more fascinated by the results I’ve had. I feel like I’m getting more fit, with less work, and less boredom. I’ve been soaking up all the information I can get my hands on and trying a lot of new things. I’m hoping that this summer I’ll be forced to get out of my comfort zone even more with the oppressive heat limiting my running to the treadmill.

If I’m lucky, I’ll be inspired enough to blog about it.

If you want to follow my training more regularly please friend me on Facebook or Daily Mile.

Happy running.

The clouds are starting to clear –  figuratively, not literally, since it has been raining for the last two days. What I mean is that I’m starting to feel at home in my own skin again. I felt surprisingly good on my 9 mile run this weekend and over the last couple of nights I have fallen asleep easily and slept all night long.  After work most nights, I’m finding that I’m able  to sit on the couch with my husband and enjoy his company while watching an un-interesting war documentary without losing my mind. In fact I’ve spent quite a bit of time on that couch over the last few days just taking it easy. I find it amazing that I am able to do this. Usually anxious thoughts would prevent me from taking time to rest and I’d feel guilty for being unproductive. As I’m coming out of this, I am realizing just how much my body and mind are needing to recharge. I’m also noticing just how much I have used running to relieve anxiety. I honestly feel a little bit like I’ve already run on days that I haven’t! Hard to explain, but it feels a little bit like those lingering endorphins you have throughout the day after you’ve had a good early morning run. Its so weird!

So what’s next with running? I’m not sure. I am supposed to be doing a half marathon in Tucson at the end of this month, but I have a feeling I will let that pass. We shall see. I don’t have any huge goals for running at the moment. I’m sure there will come a time when I’m ready to make some, but not today. I’m definitely going to keep running. But I’m talking it day to day.

I’m sorry for the lack of commenting on all your wonderful blogs. I hope to get caught up in the next few days. Have a wonderful week and happy running!

Friday morning I had to get up really early to be at work by 6:30.  When that alarm clock went off at 5 am, I had an intuition that something in my body was off. Boy was I right.

By about 11 am that morning, I knew it without a doubt. I was getting sick.

I’m one of those people who very rarely gets sick. It’s so rare in fact that my husband made the comment that “I can’t remember you being sick since we’ve gotten married” (over 4 years ago). I have had my share of bugs over the years, but nothing so bad that I have to call in sick or lay in bed all day. Not the case this time. By 4 pm on Friday I had a sinus headache (only on the right side) so bad that I was seeing double at times. Even my jaw and teeth were aching. I could not breathe at all out of my right nostril at all and stupid Tylenol sinus was doing absolutely nothing for me. To make matters worse, I ended up working until 7 pm Friday night (yes that was a 12.5 hour day) frantically making changes to a project last minute. When I finally got in the car to drive home, I contemplated calling Joe to pick me up because I wasn’t sure if I was fit to drive!

Luckily I made it home safely and collapsed into bed. Not before telling Joe not to drink too much beer because he might be taking me to the emergency room in the middle of the night if this headache continued to worsen. I wanted serious painkillers, I wasn’t gonna mess around with Tylenol anymore!!  I closed my eyes and no joke I could see strange flashing lights.

Before I hit the pillow, I did manage to send a text to Sheila saying I wouldn’t be able to run 12 miles with her in the morning as planned. I was bummed to miss my long run, but I knew trying to run in this state was not an option.

Amazingly I did sleep that night. Joe had to work Saturday so I awoke to an empty house and the same headache from the night before, although a bit better. As I tried to do a few things around the house, the sinus headache quickly worsened and I ended up surrendering to the couch. It felt like my face and ear and forehead on the right side was on fire. To make matters worse I could not breathe out of my nose at all. It seemed like the only thing that brought some relief was to lay on my back or side with my head tipped slightly back.

I can’t remember the last Saturday morning that did not include a run. I felt sort of guilty for being such a bum and wasting a perfectly beautiful Saturday laying on the couch, but logically I knew there wasn’t much choice. I didn’t even have the energy to text my friend back, obviously I was in no shape to run. I watched two movies on cable and by noon I finally decided I needed do something. I needed to seek out some good drugs.

First I called my mom only to find out she was in central phoenix with my dad running some errands. She only lives about a mile away, so I was bummed she wasn’t closer. I had hoped she could drive me somewhere or at least come baby me a little bit! I was starting to wonder if I could get into a Urgent Care clinic. A few years ago I had had a similar headache and was prescribed some strong migraine medicine. I actually never took it because I was scared to while I was working and needed to be awake, but now I was thinking that was just what I needed!

Since I had no other option I finally decided I could make it to Walgreens down the street by myself. My mom had mentioned there was some kind of mini clinic there and I thought I’d check it out. I really expected to just talk to the pharmacist about trying something else beside Tylenol Sinus. It’s prime snowbird season here and I imagined there would be a line out the door for the clinic.

To my surprise there was absolutely no one in line and a smiling nurse practitioner was just standing there bored when I walked up! They took my insurance and within few minutes I was telling her my symptoms. Actually getting up and moving around had the surprising effect of making me feel a little better and so when she asked me the level of pain from 1-10 I said 6. I kinda wish I had said more, because I didn’t get the painkillers I had hoped for. I DID however walk out of there with a prescription for antibiotics for the sinus infection so all was not lost! She said it would make me feel better in 24 hours and until then I could take 1000 milligrams of Tylenol every 6 hours.

I toughed out the rest of the day on the couch and 24 hours later, she came through with her promise. My headache cleared (though my stuffy nose did not) and I was able to be somewhat functional most of Sunday. I even got made it to a superbowl party some of our friends were having.

I went to work today and despite low energy and a drippy, stuffy nose, I didn’t feel too bad. So when I got home tonight, I thought what the heck, let’s try an easy run. The sun was setting, I was in a meditative mood, so I set my iPod on a slow playlist and started trotting down the street at an easy pace.

At the end of the first mile, I knew I was definitely not the same runner I was last Thursday when I breezed through 6 miles at an 8:30 pace. Now holding a 9:30 was difficult. I managed 3 miles total tonight and I am pleased with it. I don’t think I could have done anymore.

I guess I’ll just have to see how I feel when it comes to runs this week. I’m supposed to be running a half marathon on Sunday with Sheila, but I am not signed up yet. I figure I will just have to wait until the last minute to see if I’m fit to run it. I’ll be bummed if I have to miss it. It’s the Lost Dutchman and its one of my favorites.

So I’m on the mend. Thank goodness for the Take Care Clinic at Walgreens and good antibiotics!

Happy running!!

I signed up for this race about a week ago on a whim. I knew I needed some motivation to do a long run this weekend since neither of my running buddies were going to be available. I waffled on signing up for a few days until I finally went to MarathonGuide.com (there was a marathon also) and read the glowing reviews from past participants. The cost was only about $40 and I could see from the chart on the race website that the course had a slight uphill on the way out and a slight down hill on the way back. Hmmm, a recipe for a PR? I was itching to test my speed so I finally bit the bullet and signed up.

I spent the night at my friend Jackie’s house Friday night since she lives a lot closer to the starting line than I do. It took me awhile to get out there with Friday traffic and so we didn’t get to eating dinner until about 8 o’clock. We had the yummiest Mexican food! We both ate until we were stuffed and then the waiter brought out some kind of deep fried desert and serenaded us with mariachi music since I had offhandedly mentioned it was Jackie’s birthday. The song went on and on. It seemed like it would never end! We laughed so hard after the waiter left. Then we went back to her house and watched a funny movie until about 11 o’clock. I finally hit the sack around 11:30 after setting my alarm clock for 4:30 am.

I had hoped those 5 hours of sleep would be quality but I was not in luck. I had a hard time falling asleep and when I finally did, I had terrible dreams that kept waking me up. First I dreamt there had been a huge earthquake which I woke up yelling about (no idea how Jackie slept through that!). Then I dreamt my teeth were falling out one by one and I was going to have to go to the dentist for some terrible procedure – that one had me waking up drenched in sweat and panicky (I HATE the dentist)! And finally, around 3 am, a helicopter started circling Jackie’s neighborhood and I awoke fearful there was some criminal on the loose. I couldn’t go back to sleep since that helicopter kept circling for more than an hour.

Needless to say, when the alarm finally went off, I was NOT well rested. I got up and did my usual pre-race routine, but the bagel seemed to sit really heavy in my stomach and my body felt out of sorts. I resigned myself to the fact that this may not be my day to PR.

I arrived at the race start at about 6:25 am and the race started at 7. I should have been there closer to 6 because I found myself a little rushed trying to get parking, and then standing in separate lines for my bib, timing chip and t-shirt. When I finally had all those things I had about 10 minutes to spare so I darted back to my car to ditch the t-shirt and extra clothes I was wearing. Luckily the parking lot was not far from the start line.

When I made it to the start line, to my surprise there was a porta potty that only had 2 people in line. I was able to use it and jump into the corral with time to spare. Before long they were playing one of my favorite running songs “Beautiful Day” by Aerosmith and the gun had gone off. It was still really dark, the clouds to the east were just starting to turn orange and pink. It WAS a really was a beautiful day. I was excited.

I snapped this pic of the sunrise right before the gun went off.

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We ran west along Bell road in the wide bike lane. No part of the road was closed to traffic in either direction but there were cones separating the runners from the cars. I was a little concerned about that, but that concern faded fast when the mass of runners quickly thinned out. The traffic on Bell was pretty light. It seemed like by the 2^nd mile I was at least 100 feet from the nearest runner.

Splits:
Mile 1 – 8:04
Mile 2 – 8:14
Mile 3 – 8:05

The scene was absolutely picturesque. I longed to stop and take a bunch of pictures for you all because it was just gorgeous.  We ran into the wide open desert away from town. To our backs, the rising sun made a fantastic sunrise (I kept looking over my shoulder and admiring it). It cast a pinkish hue on the mountains ahead of us. There was a lot of moisture in the air from this week’s rain, and the mist caught the light from the sunrise. On top of that, the full moon was sinking ahead of us and it became very large and slowly faded into the mist. I wished so many times I could just stop and take pictures! I chose instead to just try to take in as much as I could and enjoy the peaceful run for what it was. There was a photographer at the event. Click here to see some of his fantastic shots of the sunrise.

I snapped this one with my phone during the 2nd mile

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At about the 2nd mile, a tall skinny woman with long bleached blond hair passed me and proceeded to take off her sweatshirt right in front of me. I had to laugh. She had on full length running tights, arm sleeves, and an ear warmer headband, and yet she felt the need to strip down to her sports bra. I don’t get it. Is her stomach the only part of her body that doesn’t get cold?  “Barbie” got farther and farther ahead of me but at some point appeared to not be getting any farther. I decided that I would make it my goal to pass her in the end. Unfortunately I never got the chance because I think she must have been running the full marathon. I never saw her when people started turning around at the halfway point.

Mile 4 - 8:01
Mile 5 – 8:11
Mile 6 – 8:12

At about mile 3 I heard footsteps approaching and that’s when I met Mark. Mark was running the marathon as a training run for a 50k he was planning to run in a few weeks. Apparently he wanted to run a 50k before he turned 60 years old. I was surprised he was that old! We had a pleasant conversation that lasted until the turn around point. Turns out, we were both trying to maintain an 8 min/mile pace so we were a good match. It was great to have someone to chat with because this part of the course had the steepest uphill. I think I would have noticed it more if I wasn’t distracted by talking.

In the 5th and 6th mile we finally started to see a few runners trickle back towards us. Not as many as I expected! I wished Mark good luck as I made the u-turn around the cone and back towards the start. At that point I finally had to drop my Oakleys down on to my face as I was now headed directly towards the sun. Luckily there were scattered clouds, so it wasn’t too blinding.

Mile 7 – 7:59
Mile 8 – 7:47
Mile 9 - 7:54
Mile 10 – 8:01

I put my headphones in after having had them out for the couple of miles I ran with Mark. One of my favorite songs was playing and I was now running downhill. I realized I felt really GOOD, so I started pushing it.

Picture courtesy Mike Smith

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As I tuned back towards the start, I saw that most of the other runners were behind me. I encountered the most people between mile 7 and 8 and then by mile 9 I was totally alone. I could see no one ahead of me and only a few people far back behind me. So much for the strategy of trying to pass runners to gain speed. I had to dig deep and find my own motivation to keep up a fast pace.

Mile 11 – 8:03
Mile 12 – 7:45
Mile 13 – 7:36
Last .12 – :47

I kept picturing myself making a good hard sprint in the last mile so I held back a little until the Mile 12 marker. Unfortunately there was a decent hill in the last half mile, so it was impossible to see the finish line. I kept glancing at my Garmin and then at the hill and reminding myself that the finish line is probably right on the other side. I was right. When I finally got to the base of the hill I hit it hard and when I reached the top I could see that beautiful finish line. What a contrast from running the Arizona Rock and Roll Half, where the course was packed with spectators over the last mile. From the top of the hill I could see the finish line, but only a small crowd mingled around. I soared down the backside of the hill, which felt fantastic and flew over the finish line. There wasn’t another runner in sight! The clock said 1:44:45, a new PR!!!

The finish line

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There was little fanfare at the finish. Some guy sitting at a table with a computer and that was about it. I stopped suddenly and was told to return my timing chip. I could feel the world spinning as I tried for way too long to get my shoelaces untied. I finally got it off and then stood there to watch a few other runners trickle in. It wasn’t too exciting so I wandered over to the to the area where the food was. There was a nice spread of fruit and bagels. I grabbed a banana and half a bagel and the stretched and texted my friends until the awards were announced.

The awards ceremony was about 30 minutes later. I had a good feeling I placed so I waited anxiously. When they got to my age group, my heart kinda fluttered when they announced 3^rd place and it wasn’t me. I thought I must have been a few seconds too slow. But then they got to second place and I heard my name! Yippee! I don’t think I’ve ever gotten better than third place! I was excited. Here’s the cool medal that I got:

My First 2nd Place!

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Overall, I really enjoyed this race. The scenery was awesome, and it seemed to be well organized. Not much in the way of a crowd, but I had my fill of that at the Arizona Rock and Roll marathon. I was just happy that I didn’t have too much trouble finding a parking spot or a porta-potty! The water stations were well stocked and the volunteers were nice. I would definitely recommend if you’re looking for a small inexpensive race. Hammer sponsored the race, so we got a free hammer gel and water bottle in our goodie bag. The dry-fit t-shirts are way nicer than I expected too. Even the design is pretty cool. So overall, I’d say this race has pretty good bang for your buck!

Next up: The Lost Dutchman Half Marathon on Feb 14. I can’t wait!!!

I was tagged in the “Beautiful Blogger Award”  by Jill, over at Jill Will Run recently. Part of the game is to post 7 random facts about yourself in a post on your site. These things come around every so often, but I do enjoy disclosing random facts about myself, so here goes:

1. I LOVE the soft inside of brand new sweatshirt. I went to Kohl’s last weekend and bought 3 new sweatshirts! Such a waste of money when I already own plenty of sweatshirts but I don’t care. I just love snuggling into the soft fleece. I wonder if they’ll stay soft if I dry clean them?!

2. I’m NOT very spontaneous. I like to plan and know what’s coming far in advance, especially when it comes to running. But this week I have broken out of my box! On Monday I was surfing Active.com and realized there is a small, inexpensive half marathon being run this weekend only an hour from my house. I thought about it for 24 hours and Tuesday night, I signed up.  How’s that for spontaneity? I thought it pretty comical that Active wanted to sell me an online “Training Plan” for the race. Really? I only have 4 days left to train!!

3. I have known my best friend Jackie since the 3rd grade. We bonded playing barbies and have been best friends ever since.

4. I have an older half sister I did not know existed until I was 23 years old! Its really a neat story. My mom gave her up for adoption 10 years before I was born and 38 years later they reunited. She’s super cool! She totally fits in in my family. I get to see her and my two neices again in April. I am very excited.

5. I HATE the taste of fish. Even more, I HATE HATE HATE the smell of it!

6. I secretly want a mini cooper. Ok it’s not that much of a secret. Unfortunately  it doesn’t make a good family car, and our next vehicle is probably going to need to be one.

7. I am ashamed to say that I throw away most our leftovers along with the plastic container. Not only do we waste the most of the food, we waste the container because I’m so easily grossed out. I need to buy stock in Glad and Ziplock. Maybe I’ll recoup some of my losses!

Now I need to tag some bloggers to also get this award. I tag:
Ariana at ArianaHilborn.com
Lauren at Failed Muffins
Anne at Run DMZ
Lindsay at Chasing the Kenyans
Lauren at Sassy Molassy

I dreamt that I had signed up on a whim to run a small half marathon near my house. When I showed up at the start line there were only about 10 people running. The gun went off and suddenly we were running down MY street towards my house. Then, to my surprise, the race continued right into my front door and around the couch in the living room. I’m at the front of the group with one other guy. We circled into all three rooms in my house and around the couch and then again and again. This entire race consisted of laps around my house (which is only 1400 sq feet mind you!). I thought, “I can’t run a half marathon like this!” as I continued to make the loop. But then I realized I was doing so well and at the front of the pack I could actually win! So I kept looping with this one other guy not far behind me. Finally I stop and look around and think, “this is stupid!, I’m going to have to make a million laps to run a half marathon in my house!”. So I sit down on the couch I’ve been circling and Joe is there watching TV as people continue to run through the house. He isn’t bothered. He just sips his beer, puts his arm around me and says something like “I thought it was stupid too!”.

How’s that for a crazy dream! Now you know I am completely insane! So how about you guys? Have you ever had a weird dream about running?