Definitely Feeling Better!

Last night I went out for 5 miles, and felt so much better than Saturday, TG! My time was 47:58, my plan was to do mile 1 & 2 "quicker", mile 3 slower, then 4 & 5 quicker again. It went pretty good, I liked knowing that I was going to get a chance to recover. I also tried out my new water belt, I really liked it! For those of you that have asked, there have been NO Trail Hottie sightings, I'm starting to think that he was a mirage!!!

I don't remember if I included this info in my post from Saturday, but I also have new insoles that I'm trying to get used to, so I'm sure that was part of the problem. The new insoles were reccomended by the Ortho Surgeon that I saw on Friday for my on-going foot problem. Since I had that bone removed 4 years ago, the nerve on the side of my foot has "shifted" out more and has become really inflamed. It's also in the same spot as the infamous blister! So, the insoles are supposed to slightly change the way my foot hits, thus keeping it from rubbing in the same spot. It seems to be working, but they aren't as "cushy" as before, but we'll see how they work out. I would love to be able to switch them out at some point....

Today I am on sight for a photo shoot for work, I might try to post some pictures from it later! We are shooting the cover for our catalog and a special ad that was my idea, very exciting!!

Longest 12 (ended up being 10) Miles EVER

So, this morning should have been a great run. I was scheduled for 12 miles with my Team in Training group, the weather was great, I went to bed early, all good stuff. However, since Thursday, my legs have been SORE and TIGHT. Thursday morning I met with my other group at the track and did lots of sprints and laps and some jumps (side to side like you're skiing). Really good workout, but I haven't done it in a couple weeks. So as the day went on I could already feel that I was getting a little tight, but oh well. Thursday night I went out for 6 miles and did really good, I don't have my Garmin right here, but I finished it right around 56 minutes. I was totally struggling by the end but kept pushing. My legs were beat!
Back to this morning, I felt like I was running in wet concrete. Every part of my legs and feet were killing me...totally disappointing. I finished the first 5 miles in ok time (however I forgot to push start on my Garmin at the beginning and ended up catching it a little less than 1/2 through the first 5). When I came in from the first 5 loop I knew I wasn't going back out with the same group and that I wasn't doing 12. I waited a little while and kept drinking until the run/walk group came in (they run 5 minutes walk 2) and decided to head back out with them. I only stayed with them for about 3 minutes because there was no way that I was going to be able to run that slow then stop to walk every 5 minutes, I wanted these 5 frigging miles OVER! So I decided to run 1 mile walk 1 minute. That's what I did for the rest of the time, so it took me around 1,000,000 hours to go 5 miles. Oh well, what can you do? I know one thing is for sure, I'm never sprinting on a Thursday ever again, only on Mondays or Tuesdays, that's it!
I feel a little better now that I'm home and all cleaned up, definitely ready for a little nap! Later tonight I'm heading out to dinner at Cheesecake Factory with a group of girlfriends, can't wait!!

Music Must Haves - Tell Me Yours!

I am in the process of updating my IPod with all my favorites, and got to thining, I bet there are a ton of songs that I've totally forgotten about. So, what are your favorites for the long runs? Favorites for the short ones? Heck, you can tell me your favorite tunes for anything! I LOVE music! If someone found my ipod they would definitely think it belonged to at least 3 different people, totally a diverse mix of music.
What are my favorites? Funny you should ask....
Need pumped up? Gotta go with "List of Demands" by Saul Williamson. Best Song Ever!
Wanna pick up the tempo? Try "Sour Cherry" by The Kills
Going for the longer, slower pace, feeling a little mellow? "Falls Apart" by Sugar Ray
Need a pick up in the middle? "Not Given Up" by Natasha Bedingfield
Looking for a little "dig deep" music with a Country twang? "How Bad Do You Want It" by Tim McGraw will do the trick (*even if you don't like country this song is worth listening to)
Some of my other favorites -
"Salute Your Salution" The Raconteurs
"Bleed it Out" Linkin Park
"Pork and Beans" Weezer
"Psycho" Puddle of Mudd
Soooooo many more!!! I can't wait to hear what your favorites are...

Update from Tuesday Nights Run
Went back to Peters Trail (no sign of the Trail Hottie!)
I had 4 miles on my schedule, my goal was to pick up my pace, and I'm pretty happy with how I did. Keep in mind, this whole "faster than 10 minute miles" is new to me!
Total time - 37:16
Mile 1 - 8:32
Mile 2 - 9:55
Mile 3 - 9:54
Mile 4 - 8:50

I'm looking forward to doing this again, but my goals will be different. I think I'll shoot for keeping them all under 9:15.

Recommitment Day!

Well, today is the day that our "recommitment paperwork" was due into Team in Training for the Marine Corps Marathon!!! I was so excited to fill it out and send it in, I'm amazed that I've made it this far! Honestly, when I signed up in May I was so scared that when this day came I would be checking the "I am unable to fulfill the requirements box", it almost kept me from signing up at all. Now, here I am, running miles, upon miles, upon miles!!!! On top of that I am getting stronger and stronger (both physically and mentally)!!!

This weekend was totally busy! In addition to my "regular job" I started a side business 3 years ago, I make custom competition suits for women that compete in Fitness and Figure Competitions (think tiny bikinis covered in Swarovski Rhinestones on SERIOUS bodies!!).

Here is a picture of 2 of my clients in their suits -



So, this weekend was a huge competition in Pittsburgh and I had a booth there selling my line of tank tops, sweatpants, and suits. So that was all day Friday and Saturday, both nights I didn't get to bed until after 12:00. Then on Sunday I had my long run with my Team in Training group.

I was so tired when I got up Sunday, I was totally struggling to get to the run. When I got there I couldn't find my Garmin in my bag, so I figured I must have left it on the kitchen table, not happy about that at all! I love that thing!!!! Lucky for me I was able to pair up with another girl that is doing the MCM and she was planning to do the same distance as me, around 12 miles. It was great running with her, it worked out really well. We ended up really running a total of 10.7 miles and walking a total of about 1 mile, so for me that counts as a total of 11.7 miles! I was really happy with it, especially after such a crazy weekend and the extreme heat!
Today I have been super tired and have had a headache pretty much the whole day, I'm guessing that I haven't been able to catch up on my water? I decided to just relax tonight and tomorrow night I will hit the trail and keep an eye out for "trail hottie"! LOL!

Song I've been rockin' out to all day - Pork and Beans by Weezer!!! Sing it with me "I'ma do the things I wanna do, I ain't gotta thing to prove to you" and my other favorite line - "I'm finally dandy with the me inside One look in the mirror and I'm tickled pink I don't give a hoot about what you think"

Some More About Me (SMAM)

Ok, so far I've kept this bolg pretty much on track with running, and it've been debating going into anything else. I've decided to share a little more, but not too much!

Of course it involves the whole guy situation/dating. For a quick re-cap on what got me into this whole running thing, read my very first post, or here is an excerpt from it -
"I'll spare you the details (for now), but I went through a situation with a friend of mine right around my 32nd birthday, and it wore me out....completely. It was stressful, painful, scarey, and exhausting. The thing is, it wasn't "about me", I was merely helping this person out when they were in a very bad place in their life. Eventually it took a toll on me and left me questioning everything about myself, somehow it rocked my confidence and left me low, to pick up the pieces on my own.Sometimes to find yourself or "get yourself back" you need to push outside of your comfort zone. Show yourself how strong you are and exactly what you can do, prove that you are not broken. Well, at least this is the way my brain works. So, that is exactly what I did."
So, that "person", has been a significant part of my life, on and off, for nearly 10 years. We are now in differnet states, but sometimes you would never know it. We are TOTALLY NOT together, at all, I am completely single. It's the relationship that won't go away, but it's the relationship that won't work. We've always been there for each other (moment of honesty - I have always been there, his attendance is more like 60% at best). Anyway, I should have walked away a long time ago, actually I should have sprinted! There have been some other random dates for me, NOTHING of any significance, as I have still been "carrying the torch" BIG TIME!
Things can go on for a couple weeks, few phone calls here and there, no big deal, and then something happens and it's like a bomb, and everything spirals out of control (for me). In reality, nothing really happens, but at the moment it feels like something really bad has happened.
That is what happened yesterday. Something (that was really nothing) happened, and there I was - spiraling away! The rest of the day pretty much sucked......until I went out for my run last night. It took a lot of prodding to get my booty out there, then I remembered I might run into the "trail hottie" from the previous post, and got myself out there. I never did see "trail hottie", but the more I ran the better I felt, so I ran a little further and a little faster than I planned. When I was done I felt a million times better, like I got myself back.
This will be an ongoing challenge for me (moving on), but I am up for it.
So here is my plan (always gotta have a plan)!!!
1. Keep getting out there more (happy hour, running groups, ...)
2. Keep everything in perspective and not let the actions of someone else effect my day in such a huge way.
3. Work on "keeping the distance" from the negative, and FOCUS on my progress, my goals, and all things positive!!

Enough of my "other stuff", here's a re-cap of my run last night-
Back to Peters Trail, did 5.5 miles. My 5 mile time was 47 minutes!
My Blister - it came back. So sad, but I'm going to get rid of it, one way or another!!!!

Gotta Catch Up!

Wow, where do I begin? I feel like I've been away from Blogland forever! I'll go for a quick review!
So last week I ran with the "People who run Downtown" on Tuesday and then again on Thursday. The Thursday night group was bigger, definitely a good time. Afterwards a bunch of us hung out and ate dinner at "Jo Mamma's", I had the BEST pizza!
Saturday I ran with my Team in Training group at North Park. I was hoping to do 12 miles, but after our 7 mile loop I could feel a blister brewing on my left foot. I went back out for the 3.4 mile loop, I could really feel it them. So when I came back in and took off my shoe....yikes! There it was, gross. Our running coach, Coach Chris, looked at it and said the damage I would do running on it would outweigh the good of getting in another mile and a half. Booooo. Good news though is that for the first 7 miles I averaged 9:17/mile, so I was happy with that. After the run I went to my nieces Birthday Party, too fun! I was psyched to see that they were having pizza, I was starving!!! The rest of the day was a blur, I basically napped, ate, napped, ate, etc.
Sunday I took my bike out for a ride on the Peters Trail. My friend Linda met up with me and we did 11 miles. The whole time I kept thinking - this is so much easier than running! I think my foot was happy for the break!
Monday morning I met up with my group at the track, we did our 2 mile timed run. My first mile was 8:15 and second was 8:06!!! AWESOME!
Monday night I hit the Peters trail to get in the 6 miles that were on my schedule, it went pretty good. I had to walk a few times because of that freaking blister, but I got it done in 59 minutes (that's technically less than 10 minute miles!). But the best part about the Monday night run was the HOTTIE that I spotted on a bike!!!!!!!! Seriously, I will be frequenting this trail with the hopes of spotting him again! I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure he was checking me out, after he rode past me (we were going in opposite directions) we both did the "turn around and look", I was ready to do the "turn around and chase" LOL!!!!
Well, time to get to work! We have photo shoots today and tomorrow, so long days ahead!
I will post more details from the past week later on!

Running Downtown: Pretty Good!

Well I'm back from my first run with the "downtown group" and it was pretty good! I had a hard time finding the place, so I was a little later than I wanted to be, but luckily 2 people had hung back for the "stragglers" and there ended up being 5 of us that headed out together. The beginning of the run was very tough, total climb up this mountain of a hill. By the time I got to the top my mouth was soooooooooo dry I could barely swallow, and of course I forgot my gum!! Also leaving with no water was completely stupid on my part, even though no one else had it, I NEED WATER!!!!
The rest of the run was pretty cool, we went across one of the many bridges in Pittsburgh then down the South Side trail, turned around and crossed over a different bridge then back to the meeting place. After the run a lot of people hung around outside, they had pitchers of water and veggie tray. There was some decent socializing, everyone seems really nice and they told me about another group that meets on Thursday nights to run. This will definitely help with getting in the miles during the week.
Overall I ended up getting in 5 miles, it took me WAY too long, but I'm glad I got the miles in! Not bad considering the extreme heat and the fact that my mouth was so dry!!!
Thanks to everybody for the encouragement to give the group a try!!

Trying Something New...

So, I've been realizing that I REALLY need "get out there more" (be more social, meet more new people, potentially start dating....yikes!!!), in addition to that I HAVE to start getting in more miles during the week. Sooooooo, today after work I am going to venture into Downtown Pittsburgh to meet up with a group of runners group called "People Who Run Downtown". They meet every Tuesday at a different location (usually a restaurant) and have 2, 4, and 6 mile maps. From there you head on out and that there is usually a decent group of people so finding someone at your pace shouldn't be too hard, so we'll see how it goes. After the run they grab a drink or some food at the restaurant (not sure how that will work considering when I'm done running I don't think anyone will want to stand near me let alone eat a burger!), and that's it. Chances are I'll bail before too much socializing can happen, but maybe I'll be pleasently surprised! I'm always hoping to meet some new girl friends (not a "girlfriend", lol), most of mine are popping out kids and hanging out with their husbands!
I'll be sure to post an update after my outing!

Brentwood Firecracker 5k - PR!

I did it! My goal was to finish the 5k under 30 minutes and I did it in 28:34, I was totally happy! There were 1,278 people, that put me in 767th place overall (so funny to hear that!) and 76th in my age group. Wooooooooo hoooooooo, that's all fine by me!
After the run I helped my mom out with the parade, the kids were so cute with their pom poms, it was a great parade!
Once I got home I was ready for a nice nap, then it was off to my neighborhood block party. TONS of food and plenty of margaritas! Now I'm home and ready to get to bed!
I hope everyone had a great 4th!

The Weekend is Almost Here!

It is so nice that today is the final day of the work week! Tomorrow I will be running in the Brentwood Firecracker 5K. It's a great "out and back" course that is usually packed with runners and spectators. My Mom's dancing school is in Brentwood, so every year her students (the 3-6 year olds) are in the parade that follows the race. So after I finish my out and back I will head back down to the turnaround of the race, that's where the parade starts. I'll "march" along with them and keep the little one's in line! It should be a fun time though!
I'm excited for the 5K, I haven't run much this week because my foot has been bothering me. I'm hoping that it will feel pretty good for tomorrow though. I haven't done a 5K under 30 minutes in a while and I am REALLY hoping to finish it under 29.
Hope you all have a Happy Fourth of July!

7:58 Mile?? Who, me????

So, yesterday I met with my workout group in the morning at the track, it was really good (except for my foot hurting, but I'll get to that in a minute!).
We started off with a 1 mile run for time and as you could guess from the title of this post, I did it in 7:58!!!! That means I did it in less than 8 minutes (which is also less than 9 minutes!!!!)!!! I was blown away, I didn't know I could go that fast! Of course as soon as I finished, I was DONE! If you would have told me "Skip 10 feet down the track and I'll give you an ice cream cone", I would have told you "Skip your ass down there, get it and bring it back to me, I just ran a mile in less than 8 minutes!!!"
After that we did some sprinting drills on the field, along with side shuffles and a few other random things. My left foot and my right ankle were still bothering me from Saturday's run (and Friday night's Zumba). Sidenote - my left foot has been a "pain" for about the past 7 years. It all started with a stress fracture to the sesmoid bone that would not heal. Eventually after 3 years of dealing with it they ended up taking the sesmoid bone OUT of my foot...lovely! So, this is always a weak spot for me, if something is going to go wrong that's where it will be.
After all the drills we went back on the track for another mile....yeah, that didn't work for me. After about 1 lap I decided to walk and stretch, realizing that at this point 1 more mile was going to cause more pain than it was worth!
Overall it was still a great workout. I iced my foot on and off yesterday and this morning it is feeling much better. I'm icing it again at this moment while I'm at work...gotta love frozen peas!