Miles

Saturday, February 4, 2012

What a difference shoes make

Got my new shoes yesterday. I got the Kayano 18's from Asics. I loved my 16's so much I just had to keep the brand. I got them for an insanely great deal from Running Warehouse. $110.06 for the shoes (msrp $150) a pair of socks and a shopping bag. Not to mention free 2 Day air from UPS!! Crazy!

So I tried them out today at the gym and put in a 4 mile run. My feet didn't hurt and my thighs weren't screaming at me a minute into my run. Felt awesome!!! So glad to have some new shoes to help with my mileage. I'm working my way up to 5 for the Shamrock Shuffle coming up at the end of March- woo hoo! Run on!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

on a side note...

I logged 27.51 miles for the Month of January. Well below my goal. I've set the same goal for February, I have new shoes coming Friday. I'm hoping that's the kick in the pants I need.

afraid

trying to get the courage to hit submit. I'm trying to decide if I will be able to run the Shamrock shuffle 8k in March. That's 5 miles (right?)
January 2nd is the last time I ran 5 miles. In  65 minutes. I have not been able to get past 2.5 miles on the treadmill. I did run the 5k in January- and that was ok. Had to keep telling myself to keep going.
I'm afraid.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Is it worth it?

I've been asking myself that question a lot lately. My actions, are they worth it? Am I worth it?  What's the point anyway? I hate those questions. really really hate them.

I realized this morning that, dammit- I AM worth it. Me. Me. Me. I am worth it.

I worked last night, didn't get home til 11:30ish and by the time I was ready for bed, it was past midnight. I knew I needed to get up to run this morning. I knew it was going to be tough. I also new it was going to be cold. On my drive home from work last night I thought to myself,  "maybe I can just forget to set my alarm. Maybe I can set it too low to hear. I'll wait til I see what I feel like in the morning."

6:30 came awfully damn soon. I heard my alarm. heard it loud and clear. I snoozed. I thought, "Do I really want to get out of this nice, warm, comfortable bed. Just to go run a race?"
I did. I got out of bed, and got dressed. I wore Ken's under armour, the race shirt, and my Monster Dash performance fleece. I wore my capri's and then my comfy yoga pants on top. Ate breakfast- and out the door I went. Stopped at Dunkin Donuts for the best coffee in the world and drove on my merry way.

During the drive, I came across some early morning runners. They loooked cold. really cold. I almost turned around to go back home. I asked myself, "Is it really worth it? Is it really worth the gas? Is it really worth worth it? I didn't think it was, but I kept driving to my destination anyway.
Arrived to my destination. It looked cold. The volunteers were setting up the cones, the plow trucks were salting the roads. It looked cold. My Saturnmometer read 14 degrees. yuck. I wanna go home and go back to sleep in my nice comfy bed.

I messaged some friends.."It's 14 degrees outside and I'm waiting in line for a 5k. Who am I?"

I am a runner. I am a determined runner to get fit and healthy and not fat and flabby. I am Sue. I am worth it.

Race started, good crowd! I was not expecting so many people for being a park district event. That made it easier for me to do this. Lots of people running. In the cold. For nothing other than the fact that you finished. I did get a nice tech tshirt and they were serving soup from Olive Garden afterwards. But no one was paying these people to run. No one paid me to go. I did it on my own.

I kept about a 11:09 (that's what runkeeper kept telling me) minute pace. At the halfway point I wanted to stop to walk. I kept telling myself not to stop. If I stop to walk, I'll stop to walk again. I just kept repeating to myself, "You can do this. You can finish. You can get there."

And I did. my time was 36:07. [ EDIT: Official from active.com 153    83 SUSAN LEWIS                F  34  22/28   36:05.4 11:37 LOCKPORT, IL ]    I am happy with that time. It could be faster, yes, but 36:07 is a good time. for me. After the race was complete and I stood in line for my water and banana (I passed on the soup like an idiot) I felt so proud of me. Who gets up at the ass crack of dawn to run outside in 14* weather? WHO DOES THAT? Only crazy people. Crazy people like ME!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Race day is tomorrow!!!

Gotta get my gear together tonight so I can be ready in the a.m. I work tonight, hopefully I'm out early. I don't think I close- I sure do hope not!!!
I haven't put much mileage in this week either. I don't think it'll be a problem for tomorrow, but we'll see!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Why?

Why can't I get to 5 miles again??? After taking the month of December totally off from all gym type activities, I was able to run 5 miles in a little over 60 minutes. Now, second time, I can barely get to 2 miles. I'm not winded just bored and tired by 2 miles. Frustrating!!!!
Soooo for today I put in 3.1 (took 39 effing minutes) and 15 minutes on the stepper. Today also started the 100 Day Burpee Challenge. 1 burpee this morning, done and done! A few friends and I are in the 100 day challenge. Today was 1 burpee, tomorrow 2 burpee's and so on. Til we get to 100 days. Abbi is in it too. Great motivation right there!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

anatomy 101

When I go back to school this coming August, I am for sure including an Anatomy class. I wish I knew what all the muscles and bones were called in my body. I ran today, while being sick. Was only able to muster 2.5 miles. I did finish in 30 minutes, so I guess that's right on target with the 60 minute 5 miles. As I was cooling down, I felt a twinge in my left lower thigh area. I'm thinking hamstring? Not sure. I'm gonna stretch and ice. Hopefully it feels better by Monday's run (hopefully all kids and myself will be healthy!) which is going to be 5 miles.

As for today, I:
warmed up for one song @3.7
ran for 8 songs @5.2-5.5
cooled down to one song @3.5

then I went on the stepper machine for 16 minutes. Did the 5 program(glutes) at a level 7. Got 1.5 miles in that way.

this is by far my favorite elliptical machine. It's older, but is really awesome for getting rid of the flabby flab hanging onto your hips.

After my workout, I went to BB and bought myself a new iphone armband for the upcoming Frosty 5k. It's a rocketfish and was onsale and is soooooo much better than the cheapo I got off Ebay last year!

Tomorrow, Abbi has a gymnastics meet at Illinois Wesleyan University down in Bloomington, IL. No work out for me- just walking and sitting and cheering. And takin pics!!