In the beginning, when I was signing us up for races, Eric would always ask, is there a medal? I always thought that was such a silly question/requirement. “T-shirts are awesome, who wants a silly medal,” I thought. Well I completely understand why he was asking. Getting something at the finish makes you feel awesome! Sure you get a T-shirt at packet pick up and anybody can sign up and get a t-shirt. But a medal…that is reserved for people who actually finish the race.

Is there a medal?

The first thing I used to look at when deciding which races to sign up for was the course map and elevation. I hate hills and if the course was ridiculously hilly I didn’t sign up. Now the first thing I look at is if there is a finisher medal. So the thing I laughed at Eric about 6 months ago, I’m now obsessed with. I think we are spoiled with the Monster Series because every race has a medal and they are pretty awesome. See:

Polar Dash 5K 

 Get Lucky 7K

For the Turkey Trot race we got a lousy collapsible water bottle (No T-SHIRT!!), Reindeer Run was a nice long sleeve t-shirt, Frosty Foot a lame t-shirt, but it was their first year so I forgive them. I know we will get a medal for Goldy’s run in 12 days. I WANT MEDALS.

Getting an awesome finisher medal, was the only reason Eric said yes to the San Francisco 10K (which I discovered is a “trail run” not a “road run” so we get to run up stairs, on hiking paths and on the beach…eek!) I googled what last year’s medal looked like and it is cool, it has the Golden Gate Bridge on it.

Vacation Planning

So I have truly gone off the deep end because I now plan vacations around races in the area. I have a whole list of races I want to do and I’m trying to plan vacations around them. For instance, I found a really awesome Resolution 5k/10K in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve. How cool would that be? And guess what…there is a finisher medal. I mentioned it to my brother and he said he would probably join us too! So it looks like we might be ringing in 2015 in Vegas…again! :)

Speaking of 2015, my birthday next year is on a Sunday and there is a Half Marathon in San Diego that day…just saying.

Other races on my list, and it is short because I just started looking during my lunch, include:

• Oakley New York Mini 10K - Middle June
• TD Beach To Beacon 10k Road Race, Cape Elizabeth, ME - Early August
• Dodge Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon - Late August
• Porter’s 10k or Big Cottonwood Half Marathon, Salt Lake City, UT - Early September
• Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas 10K - Middle November  
• Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Half Marathon - Early December

Of course I don't plan on doing all these in one year. I have about 5 years of vacations there. :)

Unfortunately there are no races in Denver, San Diego or Seattle when we are in town.

And #1 question I have now, “Is there a Medal?”

I’m a novice when it comes to running and I use the word runner lightly.  I do the motion of running but I don’t really consider myself a “runner”. Since starting this most recent running streak (I have tried many times before but eventually gave up), I have learned a lot things.

Do:

• Pee before a run.
• Wear clothing for the temperature your body will feel like after a mile instead of what it feels like outside at the beginning otherwise you will need to strip mid-run or risk getting overheated.
• In the winter, if at all possible, run into the wind at the beginning and with the wind on the way back because you will sweat and there is nothing worse than running into the wind with sweat on your body…you will freeze!
• Test out shoes in cold weather beforehand to determine which ones will keep your feet warm. I learned this on the hard way…I never wore my Brooks outside and decided to wear them to Polar Dash…the coldest race of the year and suffered miserably!
• Take a break if you are in pain, don’t tough it out!
• Walk if you need to, it isn’t evil and can be beneficial!
• Ease into running otherwise you will give up. I have eased into this time and look, 7 months later and I’m still running and actually like it!
• Sign up for races so you stay on track.
• Shop at Kohl’s for new, smaller clothes before a long run will keep you motivated!

Don’t:

• Eat a Davanni’s deep dish all-meat pizza before a run and expect to go far.
• Eat a Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll right before a run, you will get sick.
• Run hard every day! Do some “easy” runs. Even if that means just going for walk.
• Start too fast, ease into the run so you can finish it later.
• Focus on speed, especially in the beginning because it will make you frustrated and more likely means you will give up. So what if a person passed you like you were standing still, let them run their run, you run yours…they could be a pro, you never know!

Learning!

So two of things on the list I learned today. Shopping at Kohl’s for new, smaller clothes before a long run is a good motivator to make you want to run because the running makes you smaller. That means in no time at all you can buy more, smaller clothes. And don’t eat a Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll right before hand. I didn’t get puking sick but I really didn’t think I’d make it. I hadn’t planned to eat the nut roll but I had to pee and forgot to use the bathroom at Kohl’s so I went to the convenience store by the park to pee and you can’t just use the bathroom without buying something and I thought the salted nut roll would be good. Wrong!

6.1 Miles

So my run today was 6.1 miles and was a bit slow. My average pace was 13:27 or something but I’m not upset, I had some really hard runs earlier this week so this was my easy run. Also there were some icy spots that I walked over because I don't want to get hurt. And don't forget I ate a salted nut roll beforehand so I wasn't feeling 100%! 

Here are the splits:

 Also this week…

I did a speed work out at the community center track on Thursday. I ran a lap at normal pace and a lap faster and repeat over and over. Some of the fast paces were around an 11 minute mile pace so I just have to get used to running that pace. Last night we went to the KC Fish Fry for dinner with Greg, Celeste, Evelyn, Beth and Abbie.  And then afterwards we took Beth and Abbie to Mystic Lake Casino for their first gambling experience. They both did well. Here were their winnings.

Miles ran in 2014:  153 miles (only 247 miles left to go)

Week 28 Mileage: Swim = 0 miles; Bike = 0 miles; Run = 14.9 miles; Total = 14.9 miles 

At 7:30pm last night I was falling asleep on the couch and had only thoughts of going to bed. I don’t know if it was the late night of volleyball the day before that made me exhausted but all I wanted was my warm bed and the TV. I thought about my goals and seriously doubted that I’d make my 50 miles for March and really didn’t care. But then something sparked inside and I dragged my butt off the couch at 7:45pm. I dreaded every single step up the stairs to change into my clothes. I also dreaded the fact that I was going to be inside. But somehow I managed to motivate myself to go out the front door.

Running inside

14 laps at the community center equals one mile. I still needed 13 miles this month to reach my goal of 50 for March so I thought a 2 mile run was all I needed. It was a miracle I was there in the first place. But something changed in me. I’m not sure if it was watching the two extremely large guys walking around the track (which I know must have been hard for them…I was there once) or the fact that it was only me and these two guys. I love when there is very few people at the track. It had been a while since I was at the track as it has been somewhat warm enough to go outside. The last time I ran inside was the beginning of the month and my pace was over 13:30. I didn’t know what to expect last night since my pace has suddenly gotten faster over the last 2 weeks. I did the first half mile in less than 6 minutes. Where has this sudden speed come from? But the biggest thing I noticed last night was how easy it was to run!

Easy???

It is amazing that less than 30 minutes before I started my run last night, I was on the couch falling asleep. Then out of nowhere, I had a burst of energy. I felt fantastic the entire run, almost like I was looking down at me running laps and thinking who is that awesome runner? and like I said it all of a sudden felt easy. Wait, did I say that running was easy? I know some of my friends love running and say that it is so easy. I used to think they were crazy. But for the first time in my life, I began thinking the same thing. What was this weird feeling?  Was it that runners’ high that I hear so much about?  I’m not really sure but I do know I can’t wait to go running again.

42 laps later…

I ended up doing 42 laps which is 3 miles and I ran my last mile faster than my first. And I really thought at the end of lap 42 that I could keep going but it was getting close to closing time so I had to go. On the ride home, I felt really strange. I was so energetic and so happy it was a very interesting experience. My overall pace for the run was 12:30 which made me very excited. Again where did this faster pace come from?  I am enjoying it and hope I can get faster but I really don’t understand it. I have lost over a minute on my mile pace in 2 weeks. That is unbelievable. I can’t wait to hit the ground running again and maybe I can get to the 10 minute mile in no time. 

It was so nice to have a three day weekend and I really don’t want to go back to work tomorrow. So what did I do on my long weekend? 

Spring Lake Regional Park

Well I took Friday off because I had an appointment in the morning. After that I went shopping for a chest of drawers. Ashley wanted over $1000. Yikes! I went for a long run at Spring Lake Regional Park. It is located about 6 miles from our house, across the road from Mystic Lake casino. I had never been there before and I just happened upon it while looking for new places to run. I never imagine an awesome place like this was so close to our house! There are miles and miles of paved trails through the woods and on the open plains. I did a 5 mile run and it felt great. My pace was a little slow, well slow considering I’ve been averaging around 12 minute miles. It was still 13:04 pace and with all those hills that is amazing. It was definitely a great hill work out, I had an overall gain of over 300 feet on my run.  Usually I run on flats.

ZombieRunner San Francisco Run

After completing my 5 mile run, I looked up runs while we are on vacation and found the ZombieRunner San Francisco Run. It is a 10K by the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a very hilly course but I’m not trying to break any land speed records. We have a 3 hour time limit to finish the race, I’m not worried. Eric thinks I’m trying to kill him but he agreed to do it so he can’t blame me completely.

I love Ikea!

Yesterday we went out to lunch at Chick-fil-A with Greg, Celeste and Evelyn. We dropped Greg off at the airport, he is in Brazil. And then we went shopping to Ikea. I bought a new chest of drawers for about $200. I love that place.  It was a pain the butt to put together but Eric and I did it together and we didn’t get into any major fight. We worked so well together. Now I have extra drawer space for all of Eric’s T-shirts and blisters on my hands from all the hard work!

Back to the flats

Today I went for a 3.25 mile run around the neighborhood.  My pace was faster than Friday which made me very happy. I wasn’t expecting that since it was so windy (and cold). I can’t wait for warmer weather…maybe it will come in April.

Here are my splits from the 5 mile run:

Training Recap

For some reason the pool was closed on Wednesday and Friday I ran instead of swimming so no swim miles for me. :(

Miles ran in 2014:  141 miles (only 259 miles left to go)

Week 27 Mileage: Swim = 0 miles; Bike = 0 miles; Run = 12.3 miles; Total = 12.3 miles