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Sunday Ramblings

On frozen pond… but soon to be in warm ocean! 🙂

One week from today, James and I will be running in Hawaii at the Maui Oceanfront Marathon, him the full, me the half (just in case you missed that news in every other post I’ve written for the past 3 months). Gone will be the snow and ice… only sun and fun! I’ll probably be mostly packed for the trip by day’s end even though we don’t leave until Friday. I figure, hey, why not. Goodness knows I won’t be needing any of my summer clothes here anytime soon!!

Our custom bibs for the race came in the mail yesterday. James’s is because he’s running all 50 states (yes, I’m running all 50 states too, but I won’t get mine until later). I opted for a different bib… one in honor of my big brother. He died this past November from cancer. He loved Maui. He got married there, and he went back every year. I felt it was appropriate.

As well, the streak lives on. Yes, sometimes I only run 1 mile, other times I run more. I like looking at the overall picture. While I don’t train for the full-distance marathons, nor do I train to be Speedy Gonzales, I feel these runs are actually helping me to get stronger. As I said before, I’m getting really good at running 2 miles… now if we can just switch that up to say, “I’m getting really good at running 13.1 miles!” Eh… you never know what the year is going to bring!

And in other news, the Seahawks won their football game today (so sorry if you’re from Minnesota, but hey). If you didn’t happen to watch the game, it was unreal. The Seahawks were leading the game 10-9. Minnesota had the ball with less than a minute to go. All they had to do was kick a 27-yard field goal, and the game was theirs. We’ll just say that The Vikings did not have a good day. (Laces out, people, laces out!) Seahawks advance in the playoffs to face the Carolina Panthers next Sunday. The 12th Man Flag will be coming to Maui with us for a little fan support next week. But… we’ll be in the middle of our races when the game is on, so we might miss the outcome. Still… very exciting stuff!

Also, James wrote a great article about running apps here just in case you’re shopping around. So if you’re a technical geek (like we are), go check it out!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend! Are you an extreme sports fan? Did your football team play today? If you ran Disney, show off that bling!!

A Day Is A Day Is A Day

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Ice warming up on Lake Conner. It’s like steam…

Some days I’m just not in the mood to be happy and cheerful. Today was one of those days. It started off way too early this morning when driving to work. The roads were icy. They looked like they were only wet, but they were pure ice. There were times when I slid across the center line because my tires had no traction. I’m fast starting to really dislike winter…

Then the internet was down when I got there. Something was off with Frontier/Hughes Net (our satellite service), but they weren’t owning up to it (and no, I’m not afraid to name names). The printer/fax/copy machine also decided to go kaput. Hurt animals seemed to come into the facility in droves. One guy brought in an injured hawk in a compression nylon hose garment thing, keeping its wings pinned to its side. The poor bird was so stressed by not being able to move, and he had to be cut out of this stupid compression hose thing. The guy who brought him seemed like a caring person, but this is what he thought was appropriate to contain a hawk… pin his wings to his side. Bloody clueless is what he was.

As well, some delivery guy backed out over one of the facility’s signs and destroyed it…

And never mind the headless deer at the end of the facility’s drive who had been hit by a car. What the hell happened to its head?! Oh right… a dog was seen running off with it… What??!!

Dessert of the week… chocolate pudding snack with whip cream… 😛

But then I got home, had a nice cup of tea, and checked out my WordPress Reader. Reading so many good stories and blogs seemed to make all my cares go away…

I got to read about:

A loving couple at The Revenge Wogger, a husband being so wonderful to his wife who has been newly diagnosed with breast cancer;
A two-legged dog overcoming obstacles on Kindness – Pass It On;
Funny signs on Chuckles and Laughs;
Taking a total “me” day on The Shameful Sheep;
Watch what you say (it could have long-term damage) on Uldis Blog;
A response in avoidance of (that cracks me up, avoidance of) The Daily Post’s Writing Prompt (gorgeous pictures of her Savannah and Savannah/Bengal kitties) at Zombie Flamingoes;
A beautiful picture-flower-thank-you to blogger Lynn at Lynz Real Cooking;
Tasha at Hit Below The Belt Hard with her Friday Funnies…
And I can always count on Jane from Jane Runs Wild and Sharon from Artistic Sharon Runs and Lucy from Losing Anonymously to keep me motivated daily to get on that treadmill to continue with my running streak!

Just to name a few!! It was so nice to be able to come out of myself and go far away from my world. I appreciate you all, and I appreciate what you write.

Drink of the week… I’m about to go to Maui… keep your flu bugs away from me!!

In other news… I have streaked for 8 days now, for a total of 16 miles. The mileage will go up a little bit once we hit Maui next week. And yes! Only 1 more week until I’m sipping cocktails on the beach… in the warm sun… no snow, no ice… and swimming!! Swimming in January when I’ve been frozen to the bone since November… I can’t wait!!

In the meantime, to all of you… keep up the great blogging! You reach a lot of people, and you never know who you might make smile… or make their day with your encouraging words or life lessons!

Back In The Saddle

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Another Christmas has come and gone, but happily the holiday celebration continues! We still have New Year’s Eve coming up!

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend, and Santa was super generous this year. AJ got his very first desktop computer, but to be fair, he had saved his money and paid for half of it while James paid for the rest and bought him the monitor. He’s one happy gamer.

And I actually got the Go Pro I asked for with a helmet mount. I tested it out on my run today and snapped a few pictures. I wore it on my head over my visor and it did get a little heavy on my forehead after the first hour of running, but it was tons of fun to play with.

I’m not too keen on the fish bowl effect, but I guess all you have to do is change the aspect ratio, although I need to figure out which is which. I’m not a photographer in any shape or form, so it’s something to be researched. On my next run, I’ll try out the video part of it.

Speaking of running, I’m completely healthy now and have recovered from whatever winter bug was going around. Hence, back to my long runs on Sunday. And as there are only 21 days until my Maui Half, that’s a really good thing. I was almost concerned. I managed 118 minutes of activity today with most of it running. The wonderful thing is that my legs were strong, whereas last week when I first went out, they felt like floppy noodles. I’m beginning to think I wasn’t fully recovered at that point as that just didn’t make sense when they were completely rested. Anyhoo, I didn’t go full out, but I’m so excited that the little graph thingy shows me running more than walking. When I first began this journey back in July, I was nowhere near that ratio, and I love to see improvement in black and white and on charts and graphs, not only from how I feel. Again, today I am thankful for that stoopid treadmill and my forced interval training.

Go Pro Pics

Anyone ever play frisbee golf? The above is a frisbee golf park. I passed it on my run. Right down the street from it is a game store that sells specialized frisbees specifically for this sport. They’re hard little disks, not the usual frisbees you’d toss for your dog to catch. I’ve not tried it yet, but maybe one day.

Above is a charming little house out in the middle of nowhere across from the trail. Lots of room for a little animal farm, goats, chickens, a couple of cows…

Okay, I didn’t take this one with the Go Pro… it’s just Jamesy all decked out for watching the ‘Hawks. But we won’t talk about that…

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Stay healthy out there… I’m seeing lots of little germy bugs going on everywhere!

What are your plans for New Year’s? Will you be running January 1st?

Weekly Wrap

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I’m linking up with Holly from HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for the Weekly Wrap. You don’t have to be runnin’ to share your funnin’, so go visit them, link up, and join the party.

It’s been a weird couple of weeks training-wise. Washington has had one storm system after another and it has not been runner-friendly at all. I guess this is the first real winter that I’ve had to train for a January race, and I’m thinking I’m not too impressed. One thing’s for sure… we’re getting our money’s worth out of that treadmill.

This is supposed to be a pond, not a lake.

Anyway, I’ve kept it going, I’m just not putting in the mileage I want. I have been nailing my interval training though, pretty much every single time I get on the treadmill. Hehe, it’s the only thing that entertains me while I’m on it. I have noticed that my breathing is getting better at a faster pace, so that’s relatively encouraging, but I won’t know how it holds up until I can get back out on the trail to test it out.

Another fallen tree. He had it mostly cleared by the time I snapped the picture.

Today was long-run Sunday and it was rainy and windy, of course. Shortly after I woke up, I heard a chainsaw buzzing in the neighborhood. I couldn’t believe that someone would be using a bloody chainsaw on a Sunday morning at 7! I looked out to investigate… yet another downed tree blocking the road. <sigh> I’ll be happy when we get back to normal. While The Motivator was very… brave… to face the unnatural weather elements no matter what, I chose to stick to my beloved treadmill. I aimed for two hours… ha. After one hour, I called it quits.

One neat thing I’ve been testing is the Charity Miles app. I’m super pleased with it (my tweets say I walked, but it should say I ran…, I just never thought to change the wording). This app works inside or outside, so that’s bonus. At 25 cents a mile, it’s win-win. While 5 miles may only be $1.25, over time it will add up, and I think one of my next goals will be to try streaking. You know, take the Runner’s World Run Streak challenge. At least 1 mile every day for 365 days. I think that’s totally doable. Even on rest days, it shouldn’t be difficult to tackle at least 1 mile. The treadmill and I are the best of friends now (or bitter enemies), so I think it can be done. There are actually some people who have been streaking since the 1980s! That impresses the hell out of me! When AJ graduates from high school in 2023 (anyone feel old besides me?), he can tell all his friends that his mom has been “streaking” since 2016. Yeah, that might be kinda cool.

And speaking of the boy, he just recently had his very last elementary school Christmas concert. He’s in the above picture, 4th from left, back row. Yes, definitely one of the tallest in the school, but I think a couple of girls may possibly be taller. He’s on to middle school next year, but I’d be okay if he stayed this age forever. 🙂

Your turn! If you have an upcoming race, how is your training going? Ever run into wicked winter weather that slowed you down? How do you deal with it?

Weekly Wrap–Mukilteo Turkey Trot

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Maui Half-Marathon Training, week 7

Monday: Treadmill Torture. After participating in the Redmond Turkey Trot the previous Saturday, I really wanted to try to beat my time for the upcoming Turkey Trot on Thursday. So I forced myself to run on the treadmill at a faster pace that I knew would beat my previous time, assuming I could hold that pace for very long. It was a good workout, and my legs got a feeling for what they needed to run to PR. The plan was to channel that treadmill workout the whole entire race on Thursday.

Tuesday and Wednesday: Total rest and relaxation and mentally preparing for Thursday, as well as trying to figure out Thanksgiving dinner. As it was just the 3 of us, none of us were too fussed about what we were going to eat come Thursday, when we were going to it, etc. I was really more concerned about what was going to be for breakfast post-race!

Thursday: Mukilteo Turkey Trot in Mukilteo, WA. Once again, we were up and at ’em way earlier than a normal weekday. It was nicely below freezing (see that? feels like 22). Oh yay.

Luckily I was wearing 3 layers all over my entire body. And I stayed in the heated car until it was time to go line up at the start line.

Although this race was sponsored by the same people who had put on the Redmond Turkey Trot the previous Saturday, I think more people showed up today. They were offering prize money for the top place finishers, so that brought out some fast runners. They were still offering the yummy pies too for each age group.

James did the 10K, and I did the 5K, so James lined up with the elite group and headed out first. Hehe, okay, he didn’t really go out with the elite as there weren’t any elite there, just some mighty fast runners of which he was one. Anyway, off he went, and I went out with the back of the crowd per normal, but I was kind of pleased I actually passed some people along the way. It’s usually the other way around! We went a bit up the street, turned the corner, then BAM! There it was! The first nasty hill of the run. Yes, I’m sure you can guess what I was thinking… “I should’ve done more hill torture.”

It was a rolling hill-type of a race, up and down and up and down, but it was all good. Not too severe. I didn’t get my PR like I wanted; however, I did run that hilly course at about the same pace I ran the other Turkey Trot which was mostly flat, so I consider it a success. I’ll have other chances to PR my 5K, so it’s okay. James nailed his 10K PR by 3 minutes but unfortunately came in 4th for his age group, so no pie for us on Thanksgiving Day. The funny thing is, if he would’ve been 2 years younger, he would have won that particular age group by 4 minutes. He gives a pretty decent race recap at 50 in 50 Marathon Quest, so go check it out.

As for post-race breakfast, I found a fabulous slow cooker egg bake from My Fitness Pal that was ready by the time we got home. Yes, there was bacon, 🙂

Friday: Trail run with Jamesy. James felt it necessary to pace me on a 2-mile run post-Thanksgiving debauchery and 1 day post-race. Ouchie. He runs fast. ‘Nuff said. At least we waited until most of the ice had melted on the trail.

Saturday: Total rest day. I am so good at these rest days, I amaze myself. We played games and James made a sinfully delightful chocolate-chip bread pudding. It’ll probably be a good thing when this holiday weekend is over so we can get back to good.

Sunday: Long run day. Another freezing cold day (I will never complain about the heat I again, I promise… okay, not really, I’ll still complain about the heat too). As it’s a step-down week (thanks to my Turkey Trotting), I just did an easy-peasy stretch around the block. Today was the Seattle Marathon of which James had entertained the idea of running way back in July. I’m so glad he changed his mind. I would’ve been not too impressed having to go out in this freezing cold weather at a stupid-early time for one of the hilliest courses ever with all that ice out there. For those who did run it… kudos to you. I’ll bet the portaloos were fun on your bum first thing. Yikes!

Only 6 more weeks until Maui. Holy cow, I’m looking forward to some warmth! And I have a lot of work to do between now and then. My pace has come down quite a bit, and I’m aiming for a 15-minute PR in Maui = 3:15. Holiday season, ice, cold, snow or not… it’s time to get busy!

And how was your week?

Weekly Wrap – Redmond Turkey Trot

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I’m linking up with Holly from HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for the Weekly Wrap!

Maui Half-Marathon Training, Week 6

Not a good week for training. Power outages, massive wind storms, rain, freezing weather… I pretty much just kept my legs loosened up for the 5K Turkey Trot on Saturday. I think I’ll just get right to that…

Inaugural Redmond Turkey Trot

Woke up on Saturday at a much earlier time than I do during the week (only for a race, right?!). Weather conditions were freezing and clear… and I do mean freezing.

The start of the race was in the middle of Redmond Town Center, Redmond, WA.

We picked up our race packets nice and early, took a couple of photos, then went back to the car to stay warm (especially as one of us was racing in shorts, of all things… hint: it wasn’t me).

Just wait until you take those track pants off, Jamesy.

The fountain froze along the outside edge.

We managed to snag a couple of hand warmers from a booth, which didn’t actually help the freezing fingers any, but it was nice being warm somewhere even if it was just the palms of my hands. They decided to start the race a couple of minutes early, which was fine with us as everyone was jumping around trying to keep the blood flowing. And James was in shorts!

I’m not used to running in such extreme conditions, so it was kind of breathtaking. Literally. I thought my lungs were going to freeze up with every breath I took. I didn’t regain feeling in my lips and face until after mile 1 somewhere. Everything was uncomfortably numb.

I was aiming for a 40-minute time goal (it’s perfectly alright that I’m slower than most, I’m okay with that), so I didn’t stop to take any pictures of the course. It was a nice running trail, mostly flat, next to a river or a stream (that I didn’t drink out of), and in places it was a little bit icy. I tiptoed very carefully through the icy parts.

James finished his race quickly, then came back to pace me the last half-mile or so. It was nice being able to trod along with him. He talked the whole entire time, and I listened; and for those who aren’t runners, that means I was running just hard enough that I was not able to carry on a conversation. James veered off just as I “entered the finish chute.” (There wasn’t an actual chute, just a nice red brick path in which to “bring it on home.“)

Unfortunately, I didn’t make my 40 minutes, I finished in about 44. BUT, the good news is that, according to my watch and Garmin Connect and Strava and Nike+, I had 6 personal records. I’m very, very pleased with how the race went and with my time and with how much effort I put into it. It’s proof positive that I’m getting better and faster as time goes on. All it takes is practice (and a whole lot of patience… oh, and hard work, can’t forget the hard work).

James had a stellar performance. He had never done a 5K before (a few marathons, but never a 5K, go figure), so his was a given PR. He managed to place 2nd in his age group. You can read his awesome race report here. He finished in 23:16 and won a pie. A freaking pie. So awesome. And so tasty.

Shorts and pie!

Afterwards, we headed off for our celebratory breakfast. We did have to change out of our race gear first. We were in the parking garage of the Redmond Town Center, and I crawled into the back of our Honda CRV with the hatchback and changed my clothes. Have you ever changed your clothes in such a tiny confined space?! Let me rephrase that… have you ever tried to get out of a sports bra in such a tiny confined space?! James held up a towel to shield me from the peeping toms.

We had breakfast at The Commons, just outside of Woodinville. They didn’t have my pancakes and bacon, so I went with biscuits and gravy… the next best thing.

It was a fabulous day, tons of fun, a great race with great results, a great breakfast, and great company! While this was not an official “race-cation,” this was a wonderful “race date.” Next up for us is the Mukilteo Turkey Trot this Thursday. James is doing the 10K, aiming for a PR, and I’m doing the 5K, still aiming for my 40 minutes.

And what makes this all worth it? Why, it’s all about the bling, of course! Happy Running!

Weekly Wrap

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Once again, I’m linking up with Holly from HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for the Weekly Wrap!

Maui Half-Marathon Training, week 5

It seems I can barely remember what I did 5 minutes ago, let alone last week! Let’s see if I can give this a go…

Tuesday: 3 miles on the treadmill. I really dislike the treadmill, but it keeps me moving at a steady pace, so I guess I should just suck it up, go with it, and quit complaining. The Pacific Northwest is in the midst of a huge weather system that just won’t let up, so it’s either stay dry on the treadmill or get drenched on the trail. Just for today, I chose the treadmill.

Winter is right around the corner…

Wednesday: I took a rest day today, hoping for better weather on Thursday. The rain just keeps coming and coming and coming…

Thursday: More rain, more treadmill. Only this time, the iFit program on our treadmill decided to do an update and really screwed up my workout. I couldn’t get the speed adjusted properly, the fan wouldn’t come on, it kept stalling. Out of frustration, I only did just over 2 miles. Not looking very promising for being a successful running week…

On the bright side of things, I did receive a package in the mail today from Brooks Running! It seems they got word of me having to retire my shoes (A Proper Send-Off), the CEO apparently read my blog post, and they sent me a little acknowledgement for being a Brooks fan! A swag bag!! The thought was hugely appreciated!

Friday: More rain, no hill torture, no outside running. Tragedy in Paris, OMH, God bless them all. So I chose happy hour over any kind of workout. The rain has never bothered me before, but for some reason, right now it’s affecting me. I seem to have less energy than normal. We had a great happy hour though! We got to have a drink and play a couple of board games, of which I lost both games, but we also had a fabulous dinner and dessert. I think I’ll be the one choosing the game we play next week…

Sunday: As I’d had such a set back during the week, I cut my mileage way down for my long run. I was supposed to go out for 12 miles, but I decided to go on the trail for a nice 10K instead. The rain let up at about 10 a.m., so I made a mad dash for it. I came back home and did another 2 miles on the treadmill, aiming for a steady pace. I always inadvertently slow down the higher my mileage goes, so I’m trying to get stronger during the last part of my long runs. I figure if I can maintain on a treadmill for about 2 miles at a steady pace when I’m fatigued, maybe it’ll help me. It certainly can’t hurt.

Coming up: As I look at my calendar and countdown clocks, I see that I have two Turkey Trots coming up in the next week or so… the first one this Saturday, and the next on Thanksgiving Day. And as of today, it’s only 61 days until Maui. Dear, oh dear… looks like I’m going to be Nuun-ing it for the next 2 months. And for my non-running friends, that just means caffeine is about to become my best friend…

Have a wonderful week!

Weekly Wrap

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I am joining the Weekly Wrap hosted by HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin. The Weekly Wrap is a blog link-up where bloggers share their active lifestyle and other exciting things weekly. For more information, see the rules here.

Half-Marathon Training, Week 4

Monday: The day after the time change, ugh. I was supposed to cross train, but I’m having a hard time coming around to this part of my training. The Motivator guarantees it’ll make me stronger and a better runner, but, the day after the time change and a long run?! I opted out and took a rest day. 🙂

Tuesday: This was my slow, easy, 3.1-mile run coming off of the 8 miles from Sunday. I lost GPS signal, and it was bitterly cold. I know I’ve said it’s not supposed to snow here this year, but boy it felt like it was gearing up to do just that! My time was okay, not great, and my Nike+ App had an “I felt so-so” face on it, so I’m thinking I was still feeling the effects of the time change.

Wednesday: I did another 3 miles, aiming for race pace (should’ve been 4). I was a little bit slower than race pace, BUT, still I was tired. I’m beginning to think I’m not a fan of this daylight savings thing. It’s daft.

Thursday: Yay! Another cross train day!! I took a nap!!

Friday: I was finally starting to feel my normal self again, and I had my hill training planned for today. I was praying for rain! <sigh> I didn’t get the rain I wanted, so I sucked it up and went to meet my nemesis. I warmed up for just over a mile first thing, reached the base of MoFo Hill, looked up, and had a panic attack. Okay, not really… I gave it my all. I really did. I was feeling my normal energy, but MoFo got me after 1-1/2 times. I consider it a success because Jamesy usually only does it 4 or 5 times, so 1-1/2 times is not too shabby… well, at least for me. Anyway, I’ll enjoy watching myself improve. Hopefully, hehe.

Saturday: An official rest day!! Oh hallelujah!! Jamesy and I had a new board game we played… Kingdom Builder. Loved it! The child downloaded the new Call of Duty on his X-box on Thursday night, so he was nowhere to be seen all weekend long. No worries though… I threw him scraps of food here and there when he requested it.

Fall! My favorite time of year!

Sunday: Long run day. I had 11 miles scheduled. I was good and ready, despite the rain. I started with the hilly 3-mile loop around my house so I could stop back home for a quick “aid station,” then hit the trail for an 8-mile out and back. One of the things I’m working on this training cycle is getting stronger when I hit the big mileage (in case you’re wondering why I’m only in week 4 and at 11 miles already). I knew I was going to get fatigued near mile 6, so that wasn’t any surprise. But I did cut the run short a mile because it was raining, so I only accomplished 10, and the last 4 miles were tough going. As well, my ankle joint seized up, a new one for me, and that made the last 2 miles kind of painful. Gotta tell you though, there is no better feeling than getting in a hot shower after being so cold and wet for so long. The ankle is fine… I just needed to “pop” it to get it feeling normal again which I wasn’t able to do out on the trail. Finished the night off with a fabulous shrimp and rice dinner, courtesy of my wonderful husband because, after all, he only ran 15 miles. 😉

Did anyone else experience any lethargy while running the previous week courtesy of the evil time change?

Never A Dull Bling

The trials and tribulations of a 40-something novice runner

Tag Archives: weekly wrap

Sunday Ramblings

A Day Is A Day Is A Day

Back In The Saddle

Weekly Wrap

Weekly Wrap–Mukilteo Turkey Trot

Weekly Wrap – Redmond Turkey Trot

Weekly Wrap

Weekly Wrap

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