A Runner’s Balancing Act

I have lots to tell! In an effort to not make this into a post that goes on forever, I will bullet point…

• 26.2 Medal Holders
I made Christmas gifts for my running buddies this year and they turned out so good I wish I had the time to make myself one. My husband is an amateur wood worker, so I raided his scrap wood and designed a little template on the computer of a 26.2 medal hanger. I’m so proud of myself, I did all the work on the bandsaw, cutting and then sanding, and my gracious husband helped me drill the holes for the pegs. We used blood wood, that is naturally dark red, so to finish them I just wiped on some tongue oil. They turned out really nice and I think the girls really liked them. If I get a chance to set up the bandsaw again and make another one, I might just have to make one to give away on the blog. Here are the pics….

26.2 Medal Hangers

26.2 Medal Hanger

• 44 mpw, a new personal record!
This past week was a personal record for me for weekly miles. I ran a total of 44 miles and only 4 days total. Hard to believe I set that on the week of Christmas! I ran six miles Monday 12/22 in the early morning with M. Then Tuesday I actually got my butt out of bed and did 6 on the treadmill at the gym before work. I’m pretty proud of that. I haven’t been motivated lately to run in the morning if I’m not meeting someone. I warmed up and then did 4 intervals of .75 miles at 8.0 with a quarter mile jog in between intervals. Wednesday was Christmas eve. I only worked a half day, so I met M to run at 1:45 pm. The weather was so unbelievably nice. 66 degrees and high clouds, and a light breeze. We chatted away and got into a good conversation. When it got to be an hour, neither of us wanted to stop. So we kept going and I ended up doing 10 miles at an average 8:52 pace that day! Not bad! I took Christmas and Friday off and then Saturday M and I did our last very long run of 22 miles. 6+6+10+22=44= new personal record, yay!!

• Christmas!
I had a great Christmas and got a few nice running related gifts. My husband heard my pleas and got me a big foam roller which is now my new best friend. M jokes that hers has become part of the family and now I can see why! My quads love this thing, not to mention every other part of my back, neck and legs. I also got my first pair of running tights from my parents. I had been hoping for capris, but since a cold winter storm came in on Friday night before our long run, I was actually quite happy they were full length.

The newest member of the family.

Christmas night Joe and I joined my family at my parents house for Christmas dinner. My running buddy M and her husband joined my family for Christmas dinner. They don’t have any family in state and with all the running M and I have been doing together we’ve become pretty close friends. Joe and her husband have also seemed to hit it off. It was nice to be able to share Christmas them.

• A 22 Miler
Saturday morning was another first for me. It was the first time I have ever run a training run longer than 20 miles AND the first time I have ever run in running tights! I was a bit nervous about this run. For one, a cold winter storm had moved in Friday nights and some parts of the valley had even gotten a light dusting of snow. I knew Friday night that the weather was going to require me to test out the new running tights. I really wasn’t wild about the idea of my first run ever in running tights being a 22 miler.  I was worried that they would rub me and become too hot by the end of the run. It was 34 degrees when I woke up Saturday morning. I knew I had to wear the pants.

The first mile of the run I knew I’d made the right decision. I was surprised that the pants had more ventilation than I had imagined. I could still feel some air on my legs, enough to keep me from getting hot, but still warm enough that the cold air was not shocking. Even by the end of the run, I was not uncomfortable in the tights.

22 miles was definitely hard by the end, but not so hard that I couldn’t have finished 26 that day if I needed to. We weren’t quite as fast as we’d hoped, finishing the run at 3:25 (not including stops at lights) averaging a 9:19 mile. Our splits were near 9:00 in the first half and 9:30-9:40 in the second half. I’m not too concerned. I really wasn’t sure if it was best to run that 22 miler at marathon pace anyways. I didn’t want to wear myself out to the point that I may not fully recover by marathon day. The cold wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. I took my gloves off and put them back on several times.  At one point we stopped at a park to refill our water bottles and were surprised that the fountain shot the water straight up in the air and all over M’s shirt. I laughed so hard as she was tying to fill her bottle. She pretty much had to turn the bottle upside down to get the stream of water to go in the bottle, but it wouldn’t stay in there since the bottle was upside down. It was hilarious. We finally had to give up and hit another fountain a few miles down.

In the last few miles our conversation wasn’t making a whole lot of sense. We giggled at our how tired we were and how crazy we mush have sounded. After we finished, we hit a near by IHOP for lunch. I didn’t think I’d be hungry, but not soon after we got in the booth my stomach started to growl. As hard as it is to run 22 miles, hanging out with M sure makes it a lot more fun. M’s about 10 years older than me and I guess you could say she’s a mentor of sorts.  We’ve shared a lot about ourselves in the many miles we’ve logged together over the last nine months.

• This week
Since the long run Saturday we’ve bounced back pretty good. We did 6 easy miles together yesterday, even walking some of the hills since our legs are still sore. Then this morning we did a nice run of 8 miles at an average 9:05 pace. Tomorrow we’re hiking and Thursday we’re going to run a bit on the last few miles of the PF Chang’s course. Oh and Friday I’m playing in an alumni Volleyball game at my old high school. I’m really looking forward to it!

Less than three weeks until PF Chang’s now. I’m getting excited! Next week I will start cutting back on the weekly miles. I think we have a pretty good shot at 4:00 or less. We shall see!!!

Happy running everyone!

What a nice night. As I sit here and type I can hear a steady rain outside. Its calm in my house for once. Things are done and I can finally relax without feeling guilty. My husband is out doing some last minute Christmas shopping and I did my run this morning, so I am here all by myself and for once the house is actually clean. Its so nice!

I have been feeling much more positive over the last few days. I was in a serious funk last week, and I’m glad that it’s over. I think it was partially hormones. I was tired, but a different kind of tired than I get from running. It’s the kind of tired that makes you fantasize about your pillow all day long and go to bed at 8pm. It’s really frustrating when there is lots that needs to be done and not much energy to do it.

But yay, its over and its almost Christmas!

Last week M and I had a really interesting run in the rain Wednesday morning. We meet at 5:45 am and the official sunrise is around 7:30. So it’s pretty dark the entire time we run now. Wednesday it was really dark because a storm had moved in overnight. We knew we had a chance of rain and agreed the night before we’d call it off in the morning if the rain was anything more than a light drizzle.

Wednesday morning when I woke up it was dry outside. Perfect. When I headed out with the headlamp, I realized the light seemed dimmer than normal. It was working perfectly, but it was very dark out and a little bit foggy. Some scary guy walking in the dark way up ahead of me shouted at me from across the quiet street asking me where a certain street was. I pointed him to where he wanted to go, but after that I was pretty shaken up. I clutched my mace with my finger on the trigger as we passed on opposite sides of the street. That got my heart racing. According to the Garmin the first mile average pace was around 8 min mile! I was running scared!

After my fast mile warm up, I met M at the designated stop light and we took off on our usual 6 mile route. After about 15 minutes it started to lightly mist. And then it got heavier. A car would drive by and we’d nearly be blinded by the mist catching the headlights. The tiny droplets of water floated on the air almost like snow. Luckily, it was about 50 degrees out, so the cold was not bad. I was wearing shorts and a long sleeve shirt.

After another 15 minutes or so of heavy mist, the clouds broke open and the rain came down hard. We were about as far away from our homes as we could possibly be on this route. It was a little scary. I live in a small town and we run through the neighborhoods, so there are no streetlights and only the occasional car headlights. The raindrops in the air would catch the light of my head lamp making it hard to see much of anything else. It felt very very dark. We joked that we weren’t going to forget this run! It actually wasn’t too bad, we were drenched, but personally I was not cold.

So tonight it is raining again. I’m glad M and I got in a run this morning. Tomorrow morning I’m hoping to do some speed work on the treadmill. Then Wednesday, M and I might meet again for a Christmas eve morning run. I have to work Christmas eve and then church and family in the evening. I’m planning on taking Christmas off from running. In year’s past I have gone for a run on Christmas day, but now I feel like the family time is just too valuable. It only comes once a year. I can run any other day. Saturday M and I are doing a 22 miler. Can’t wait to get that over with and start the taper!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. Hope you are all keeping warm, especially those of you in colder climates! Enjoy your time with family and friends this week.

and Happy Running!

Happy Holidays from Alissa and Joe

Another week has gone by and while I have lots of blog-worthy things to tell, I have no time to tell them. Between the craziness of trying to get ready for Christmas and training for a marathon, my life has been pretty much non-stop over the last week. It’s this time of year that I really get jealous of my friends who work in education. I could sure use a two week “winter break” about now. But alas, I work in the real business world where the bottom line is more important than holidays. We will get a few days after Christmas off, but that doesn’t help me much with finding time to buy gifts and put up a Christmas tree.

This past Saturday my running buddies S and L and I completed our first 20 mile training run for the PF Chang’s Rock N Roll Arizona Marathon. We plan to do another 20 -22 in two weeks. It was a good run. Tough in the last 5 miles, as 20 milers often are. S pushed me through and we ran some of our fastest splits on the last two miles. I set my Garmin to auto pause when we stopped at lights or to take our gels. S left hers running through our stops. My time was 3:03, and her’s was 3:17. Not bad. Looks like we are right on track for a 4 hour marathon.

My quads were on fire pretty much from mile 17 until I got home so I decided to attempt the dreaded ice bath. I started with cold water and then added the ice after I was in the water. Just getting in the cold water sent spikes of pain through my legs. You should have seen me trying to get into the water. It seriously took me over 15 minutes to sit down. I kept easing myself in, little by little. I wear my bathing suit and a sweatshirt to stay warm. Once I was in though, the cold water felt really good.

After the ice bath Saturday I attempted to shop the web for Christmas gifts so I didn’t have to brave the stores. The older I get the more I find I really do not like going out shopping any more. Maybe its just that I don’t have the time I once did, or maybe I just dislike parking lots, cranky drivers and the picked over crappy selection in the typical retail store. Once in awhile its fun but most of the time it’s just a lot of work and a lot of wasted time. I used to love a shopping day when I was a teen. Funny how things change.

So there I was sitting at my computer trying to figure out what to get for the people on my list when I was hit with a wave of fatigue that was crippling. I moved from the computer to the couch where I promptly fell fast asleep. I slept hard from 3 pm to 7 pm. Well there went my entire Saturday! Joe and I ended up going out to eat since we had no food in the house. It was a nice evening but I was frustrated that I had so much to do still and only one day left to do it.

Sunday was non stop domestic duties and Christmas preparation. I didn’t even make it to church. I won’t bore you with the details but it was a lot of work and I didn’t even leave the house. Sunday night after dinner was made, eaten and the dishes done, I collapsed on the couch wondering what happened to my weekend. The last thing I had wanted to do was pick up a Christmas tree, but I just ran out of time.

Sunday night depression sucks. I need to get better at making an effort have a positive attitude. Terri at Middle of the Pack girl has been blogging about the book “power of positive thinking” and I KNOW I need to read that myself. To be cliché, it just seems like there are never enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done AND have some free time for myself.

This week we found out everyone in my office is taking a 20% pay cut since the crappy economy has really hurt the business. That was a big blow until I found out that my boss, being the good guy that he is, decided that to make up for the pay cut we will be working four day work weeks starting January 1st. He says it may only be for a short time, since there is a good possibility business will pick up after the first of the year. That’s supposed to be good news.

I think I’d rather have the pay cut and the four day work week! Not the smartest financial decision, but mentally, spiritually, emotionally, it would be wonderful. As soon as I found out I’d be getting Mondays off my mind has been going wild with ideas of things I’d like to do on my “me” day. My running buddy and I can run after the sun has come up! I can become a regular at the yoga class up at my gym! (which is only offered in the middle of the day). I can organize all my closets! I can do my wedding photo album! (yeah, I’ve been married for 3 and a half years and still haven’t done it), I can learn to sell stuff on ebay! Start a Bible study! Read books! Learn Flash Actionscript! Make dinner from scratch!

Can I just be a stay at home wife?

Ok, I couldn’t do that because then I’d have to hate myself.

It just got me thinking, what if we all just made less money and worked a four day work week. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we could live with less of the stuff that money buys and had more time to enjoy life. My husband is an economics guy so he would probably frown on this. I’m sure there’s a good reason it would be bad for a society, but right now I can’t see it. It just seems like the 40+ hour work week plus commute time is unhealthy for both body and mind.

Just the crazy thoughts rolling around in my brain today. More tomorrow because I didn’t even get to tell you about my memorable run this morning!