Tag Archives: 13.1

Happy Full Moon Monday

Sunday I had my “long” run. There was so much going on in my brain while I was running… great thoughts for my weekly update, random silliness, and so on and so forth, but when I finally sat down to write it all out, I drew completely blank. The only explanation I can come up with is because that’s pretty how much last week went for me… the sooner forgotten the better!

Not that anything majorly bad happened… I’m healthy, no injuries, I have a job and a home, and I have a wonderful family (blessings counted every single day). However, I was tired. Like crawl into bed and sleep for 2 days tired. Is it because my mileage is peaking as Lake Sammamish is only 2 weeks away? Have I not eaten enough hamburgers recently? Maybe not enough chocolate? Perhaps it’s the effects of the impending full moon…

Anyway, for whatever reason, I did not have a good week. But I won’t dwell on the negative… only the positive, so I’ll see if I can highlight something happy…

…

Oh, wait, I’ve got it…

One happy thing that happened to me last week… I won $11 in the lottery! I can now say “I’ve won the lottery,” because I won more than I spent. Yay! Happy-happy-joy-joy! (yeah, stretching it, I know)
Also, I have streaked for 53 days now, a total of 121 miles, and last week I ran a total of 17 miles, so that’s a positive, although my long run on Sunday didn’t quite go as planned. I got up at 7, with plans to be out of the house by 9. However, I lolligagged around and didn’t leave until 11. By then the energy I got from my peanut-butter bagel had diminished, I was feeling lazy, and I was super tight when I hit the trail. I took my GoPro out to record my run, but I only got about 20 minutes of footage as my memory thingamabob stick was full, so that didn’t work out. And then it started raining and hailing on me… I swear it felt like it was going to snow. No, it didn’t snow, only a downpour of rain, but I had to call it after 5 miles. I just wasn’t feeling it. Best to have a bad run before the race then on race day. We’ll chalk it up to that and just aim for better next time. I’ll go ahead and get a 10 or 11 miler in this coming weekend and I should be good to go for the race. (wait… I’m supposed to focus on the positive, aren’t I…)
James decided we needed to do an ultra event… Hamster Endurance Run in August. I get to thank Rebecca from Travel, Running, and a Little Bit of Style for putting that little seed into Jamesy’s head. She signed up to do one, James read about it, thought it was super cool, and voila! We will now be doing one (it’s okay Rebecca, really, it’s okay, ;D). As this is our first endurance run, we’re choosing the 6-hour option… a chance for James to get his 50K sticker and for me to run past my half-marathon distance. He has it all figured out for me… all I have to do is circle the course 10 times plus an additional 0.2 miles and I will have completed my first marathon distance (rrrrright). Regardless, it looks like a fun event, lots of social opportunities (eat, drink, and be merry) and we’re looking forward to the challenge.
We decided that not only are we going to go see Adele this summer, but we are also going to snag tickets to see Howard Jones, OMD, and Barenaked Ladies on July 16. Back in the Eighties, I had 3 groups/musicians that I loved… Tears For Fears, Wham!, and Howard Jones. So this is kind of exciting for me to actually get to see him perform after all these years! I wonder if he’s as “out there” at 60 as he was 30 years ago!
While it rained every day last week, the sun still came out every single day.

Huh! Go figure! I guess last week wasn’t such a bad week after all! I guess when you start writing out the positives, the negatives quickly go by the wayside. Lesson learned!

James has a new thing he’s doing on his blog every Monday. If you’re a music lover, go check it out! Motivational Music Monday! Post some songs that inspire you and get you to move, or songs that just make you happy (or sad if that’s the way you roll)!

And as it IS Motivational Monday, I will leave you with a thought:

… and I am that river…

Have a great week!

Anything you’re looking forward to this coming summer? Race? Concert? Major life-changing event?

Echoes Of My Neighbourhood #10

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I am joining Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha from A Cooking Pot and Twisted Tales for her series, “Echoes of My Neighbourhood,” where she challenges us all to share a photo of bits and pieces of wherever you are at any point in time.

I live in a rural area in the Pacific Northwest. For 3 of our seasons, you can pretty much count on the rain being somewhere in the weather forecast. But I love the rain, every day of it, otherwise I wouldn’t live here.

Anyway, as I said, we’re very rural. And on those long country roads, one sees various outbuildings just hanging about for no particular reason. They’re small and they have a bench and they provide cover from the rain. The only thing I can surmise is at one time, they were used by children waiting for the school bus. But if I’m wrong and if someone knows their actual use, please shout it out. It’s been a great mystery to me for years. Regardless, they come in a variety of shapes and colors and are quite fun to look at.

The following is actually a “free library” on the side of the road. Donate a book, take a book, go sit on the bench and read a book. The planters are gorgeous in the summer, filled with flowers and color. Every spring the wood is touched up made to look new again which, in turn, makes the bench look super inviting. What a fabulous idea to promote reading and re-use! Kudos to the incredible people who created this!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Credit: Raptor Resource Project

Jamesy and I have had a wonderful child-less Valentine’s weekend! As well, it’s been great for AJ to get out, get unplugged, and go play in the snow! AJ is due back any moment now, and while James and I have very much enjoyed our alone time together, both of us are going to be very happy to give him a nice Valentine’s Day hug.

Our special Valentine’s Day treat to ourselves… shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate! Happy Valentine’s Day to my forever sweetheart and the best husband ever!

There are only about 3 weekends left before the Lake Sammamish Half Marathon, and today was our normally scheduled long-run day. After lazing around for most of the morning waiting for the rain to stop, we finally decided to suck it up and hit the trail; James for 12 miles, me for 10. I was not thrilled about going for my run today for some reason. Just one of those days, I guess. But then again, 10 miles is a long way to have to wrap your head around.

Still, out I went. The weather was beautiful, nice and misty, cool but not freezing, and not too many people on the trail… which was good as I just wasn’t in the mood for people. However, I did run into a couple of teenagers/young adults who seemed like they were up to no good. There is a marijuana … store… that backs up onto one part of the trail, and these kids were peeking in the fence, almost casing the place really… I just had a bad feeling about them. So I steered clear, pulled the headphones out of my ears so I could hear them and everything around me, and kept my eye on them until they were out of my line of sight. What on earth do you do in a situation like that? Yes, I had a bad feeling, BUT, what if they were just being curious and really only looking around? They weren’t breaking any laws so I couldn’t justify a call to the police… or should I have called them just because? They weren’t even trespassing… they were just… creepy. <sigh>

Anyway, the run went fairly well other than that little blip above. I started to get tired at about mile 8, was going to make a loop around my house to give me that last mile, BUT, once I actually saw my house, my body and mind said, “oh hell no,” and that was that. I officially ran 8.6… tsk, tsk. I’m feeling a bit bad about that as I only have 1 long run left, but hopefully if I nail my mid-week runs, there won’t be any serious repercussions from the setback of cutting today’s long run short.

To sum it up, I ran 19 miles this past week and am on day 45 of the 2016 run streak.

Favorite song on playlist today: Charlie Puth — Marvin Gaye (pretty fitting for Valentine’s Day, ;D)
Number of cookies, pictured above, consumed thus far: 4
Number of calories per cookie: 200 (good thing I ran long today)
Number of fish that perished in my care this weekend: 2
Number of dinners I ruined this weekend: 1 (I’m getting better!)

James has written a wonderful little training update at 50 in 50 Marathon Quest… go check it out! As well… a huge shout-out to Miss Dorothea of Wanderwolf Running for running a screaming fast marathon today, a BQ time (!), with some really cool bling!! Well done Dorothea! Very proud of you!

Would you have called the police had you been in my situation? How did you “treat” yourself today? What’s your favorite race bling?! Have a great week!!

Echoes Of My Neighbourhood 9

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It’s time to see bits and pieces of Seattle!!

Above: The Columbia Tower… currently the 2nd tallest building on the West Coast and tallest in the State of Washington.

Above: The Clock Tower in front of Century Link Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Sounders.

I live about 35 miles away from the hustle and bustle of Seattle, but it sure is fun to go visit every now and again!

Have a great weekend!! Who’s got a race coming up??

My First Vlog

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I was so inspired by Jacqueline at A Cooking Pot and Twisted Tales, Cameron at The World’s Biggest Fridge Magnet, and Lynn at Lynz Real Cooking by their video blogs, that I just had to try one! It was wonderful hearing their voices and I feel I know them just that much more! So I wanted you to see and hear me and my family, for real… 🙂 Hope you enjoy (we tried to make it quick)!

Echoes Of My Neighbourhood #8

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I live about 10 miles/20 minutes from where I work. My travel is purely through farmland and the back roads of the country. I know I annoy a lot of drivers, but I am constantly looking around during the drive as I never know what I will see, such as…

Usually a few deer:

Lots of horses, ponies, and goats:

And cows (this particular cow was quite willing to have her picture taken):

Various farms and houses, such as this one:

And this one:

And the beautifully landscaped yards and driveways with freaky trees that have arms:

And beautiful carvings from tree stumps:

Regardless of my view during my drive, the highlight is when I finally get there and see this guy waiting for his breakfast salad:

Daryl

Month One Down

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I think it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything… I’ve been enjoying getting caught up with all of you so much, I forgot I should probably write something too!

I was finally able to hit my beloved trail again last Saturday for my long-ish run (“-ish” as it’s only the first week of training). The trail definitely looks a bit different in the winter! But now you can kind of see how tall and skinny the trees are and why I freak out so much when it’s windy. Because things are so bare, I actually discovered a house that I didn’t know was there before. (No, I didn’t take a picture of it, :D)

About 3 miles up is a walkway out to a hidden treasure, Lake Cassidy. People fish in this lake, but I can guarantee you I wouldn’t be eating anything that comes out of it. I see what floats around in that lake… it’s disgusting. To be honest, I wouldn’t even swim in it… which people do as well. Regardless, it’s nice to have and is gorgeous to look at and so peaceful, especially during the summer.

I’ve thankfully been hitting all my runs, including my streak runs. I’ve been streaking for 34 days now, and my total mileage since starting is about 70. Well… hmmm… that number should improve as I amp up my training mileage. By the end of February, I’ll be at my peak, so it’ll be interesting to compare the numbers month to month (my next race is March 5th). But then I’ll have 2 weeks of recovery in March again, just like I did in January, so my numbers will be low in March too. Such a vicious circle, haha.

James and I had our celebratory karaoke night last Saturday. We’ve decided to have one of those every time we finish a race. We can’t do it while we’re training as the *drinking* part of it tends to interfere, but when we’re in recovery mode, look out! Turn up that music and turn on the mic! It’s time to get footloose and fancy free! Our child even got involved and decided he wanted to sing too! I’m a proud mama! Especially as he was tackling some tough ones that I had no idea what they were! Yep, super proud mama!

Anyone besides me love to karaoke? Go ahead… ‘fess up! You’re amongst friends!!

Have a great rest of your week!

Me? Run A Marathon?

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No.

But this is the conversation between The Motivator and I tonight:

ME: I think I need to train for a marathon.

JAMES: <shocked look, jaw dropped>

ME: If I train for a marathon, it might help me get faster in my half-marathons.

JAMES: Let me write this down… “Let it be noted that on January 31st, Paula said she wanted to train for a marathon.” This way when you’re saying ‘why the f*** am I doing this‘ in about 8 months, we can review my notes and know it’s because you said you wanted to.

I didn’t say I wanted to run a marathon, just train for one. 😀

Vibrant: My new PR running shoes!

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My new running shoes arrived on my doorstep this afternoon… Brooks Glycerin 13! I ordered them at the beginning of the week so I would have them in time for my long run this weekend! After melting my feet in Maui, I learned a huge lesson not to stray from the tried and true, and because of that, I believe these are going to give me a new PR at each and every race I run in 2016! They shall now and forevermore be known as my 2016 PR Shoes! Woo hoo! They are, indeed, vibrant!!

And so it begins… again…

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What a cool-looking dude!

James and I were doing a finger count tonight, and there are now 38 days until our next half-marathon in Lake Sammamish. Don’t know why we thought it was 6 weeks away; hence, the counting on our fingers. So today began the start of my next short and sweet training cycle. As I just did a half and don’t really have the time on the calendar, I won’t be cutting back in mileage much. My long runs for the next 4 weeks will be 8, 10, 12, 6, then 13.1. Hmmm, that’s kind of scary. But doable, especially as the weather is now cooperating and all the snow and ice has moved east (sorry East Coast). Once again, I can run outside! (Happy dance!)

Tonight was a scheduled 3 miles. However, I was feeling pretty good and decided to attempt Mo Fo Hill, my nemesis. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. At least I got some major work in on improving my VO2 (major major). And just when my legs were feeling pretty good after my recent half, now my quads are screaming at me. No pain, no gain! (lovin’ those good old motivational mantras right now!)

Meeps is thinking he could really go for some overall body toning…

I also really liked the workout that Alana had posted on Living Out Loud, so I wanted to give that a try after my run as well. A great workout! I had to forego a couple of things on her list because my legs just weren’t having it (like the sumo squats and jumping jacks), but it was a great way to kick-start some toning and strength training (as my quads were already screaming at me, they especially weren’t too impressed after the wall sits). So if you are in need of some toning, give one of Alana’s workouts a go! She has lots of different ones to try. Thanks Alana!

And the super good news is that I ordered a new pair of Brooks Glycerin’s 13, a full size larger this time (see, I really did learn my lesson). I will have them just in time for my 8 miles this Sunday! I’m so excited! Can’t wait! (You can read about my adoration of the Glycerin’s here.)

As well, it’s time to lose all that vacation weight! Have you ever noticed that most everything in Hawaii comes with a side of chips/crisps? So the dinner menu tonight consisted of spaghetti squash as the main course for Meatless Tuesday (it’s really supposed to be Meatless Monday, but… well… today is Tuesday).

And yes, according to my 5 running apps, the streaking continues…

Have a happy week! 😀

If you were to rule Mondays as meatless, what would you choose to serve?

Never A Dull Bling

The trials and tribulations of a 40-something novice runner

Tag Archives: 13.1

Happy Full Moon Monday

Echoes Of My Neighbourhood #10

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Echoes Of My Neighbourhood 9

My First Vlog

Echoes Of My Neighbourhood #8

Month One Down

Me? Run A Marathon?

Vibrant: My new PR running shoes!

And so it begins… again…

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