Run for the Zoo 10K - short version

Not sure if I'm going to write a more coherent race report or not.  This is pretty much just a brain dump.

• It was overcast, cold, and windy at the start.  This is May, right? It felt more like March.

  

  Running partner and I shivering at the start

• We lined up with the 10min/mi group, but ended up getting boxed in at the beginning of the race.  Took a lot of jockeying for position just to pull off a 10:30 for the first mile.  After that, we were able to run at a pace of our choosing.
• My running partner and I were averaging just under 10:00 min/mi for miles 2-5.
• Then the wheels fell off the bus for me.  I think part of it is mental.  But I just felt like I ran out of steam during that last mile. Had to let her go on up ahead. 

I'm not kidding when I say the wheels fell off at mile 6 

• At least I had enough energy to pick up the pace for the final stretch once the finish line was in sight.
• Not going to be happy with my 10K performance until I can master that last mile.  More long runs!  I'm going to keep trying until I get it right. 
• Will probably do it again next year, but will line up with the 9s just to get a better start.
• It's worth noting that my knee did not bother me at all.  Yay!
• Went into the zoo for about 45 mins afterwards.  Got to see the baby rhino (that I love!) and a new baby giraffe.  
• Got a photo of peacock strutting his stuff for us.  Loved it!

  

  Pretty Peacock. How cool is that?!?!

• Official time:  1:03:02.  26 of 57 women 45-49.  Not sure about my overall placement, but the zoo site says that the 'average' time for the 5K was 01:05:00 for women and 00:57:00 for men, so I'm guessing somewhere near the middle, which is a good enough place for me.
• My Garmin measured this course a little long and has my avg pace calculated at 10:03 (vs 10:02 at the race 2 weeks ago).   Maybe I should consider it to be a more a comparable race performance than it appears based solely on the finish time?

Friday Five

1. SOLD OUT:  The Run for the Zoo is sold out! I've been registered for quite some time, so it's no big deal to me.  However, this is a large, popular event in Albuquerque and I'm sure there are some folks who waited too long and will now be disappointed.  Events hardly ever sell out here.
2. UNDIE RUN:  Last night, Daughter joined Husband & I for an Isotopes Game on a chilly evening  It was great to have her there.  She had to leave early though because she was participating in an Undie Run at 9pm.  I had never heard of this before and had to look it up.  Let me just say, whoever thought this up is brilliant.  They are apparently popular at college campuses.  The students run in their underwear, after stripping off new or gently used clothing to be donated to a local homeless shelter.  It's perfect for college kids needing to to blow off steam on a Thursday night the week before finals!  And apparently, it was quite a success despite being a rather chilly evening. 
3. SHORT RUN:  This morning I met with a friend for what should have been a 5 mile run.  She started feeling nauseous at about 2 miles in, so we turned early and walked for a bit.  I wasn't too surprised, because she told me she wasn't feeling well the day before either.  At least we got out there.
4. TRI TRAINING:  Now that I've signed up for the live.love.tri, I'm getting serious about putting a triathlon focused training plan together. Stay tuned!

5. HALF-N-HALF HAIR:  It has been 49 weeks since I last colored my hair.  I still have over a year to go before the grey is fully grown in given my current hair style (shoulder length bob).  This is a long, painstaking, process.  Right now is probably the worst stage, half-n-half hair.  Bleh.

April Summary

Numbers

• 96.2 miles by feet (55.6 running, 40.6 walking)
• 25.4 miles by seat
• 8 hrs painting (aka upper body)
• 4 hrs yard/garden work (aka lower body)
• 3 dog interval runs (aka fartleks)
• 10 workouts involving hills
• 2 chiro appt for IT band
• 1 race (10K)

Thoughts

• Better month than March, but way behind on cycling compared to where I wanted to be.  Last year I was more disciplined about mid week cycling.  I need to get that back.
• Seem to be managing my knee fairly well.  Must continue that. 
• Yesterday I ran with some different people.  I helped them go a bit farther than they would have otherwise and they helped me go a bit faster than I would have otherwise.  It was a win-win.  

Plans for May

• Run for Zoo 10K this coming weekend
• Figure out June races. I have two 10Ks on my watch list, but haven't signed up for either (yet).
• Decide whether to do Live.Love.Tri in August or not.  Sign up if decide that it's a go.   (This particular item is now a done deal, I signed up last night.  Woot!)
• More time on bike!
• Continue to be smart about knee.

Unconventional Training Entries

I keep track of my workouts in my trusty rusty notebook.  I was flipping through it to see how the month was shaping up and noticed that I had some unusual entries.  Theses that will show up in my monthly summary.  They are activities that I thought were worth tracking, but it's not necessarily obvious how they link to training:

• Dog intervals - That's what I call it when I end up taking the dogs for a run/walk.  I consider this to be a form of speed work because it's essentially a fartlek run. We sprint when we run, with periods of walking in between.  The distances end up determined mostly by the dogs.  BTW, this is actually a good exercise for the dogs too (The inserted image is about dog intervals on a treadmill.  We run outside, but the benefit to the dogs remains).

• Painting - I spent several hours painting a section of the interior of the house. I consider this to be a form of upper body exercise.The part I was painting required using brushes, not a roller, and took a long time given the actual dimensions of the walls.  I definitely feel it in my arms afterwards.

• Yard Work/Gardening - Right now I'm working out the kinks in the irrigation system. In a few weeks I will be planing my veggie garden.  Then there will be weeding. I consider this to be a form of lower body exercise because it requires a lot of squatting.  

Do you log any unconventional training activities as workouts?

Saturday Stuff

Looking over this past week, my running plus fitness walking mileage isn't bad.

• Sun:  1.0 walk
• Mon: 1.5 walk + chiro appt with focus on IT band/knee issues
• Tue: 4.8 run, 0.5 walk
• Wed: 1.5 walk
• Thu: 3.4 run, 1.0 walk
• Fri: 3.5 run, 2.8 walk 
• Sat: 7.7 run, 0.5 walk

That adds up to 19.4 miles running plus 8.8 miles fitness walking for a grand total of 28.2 miles by feet. Woohoo!!  Not a bad week.  And of course, the best part is that my knee is behaving.  I think walking, stretching, and having the chiro work on my IT band is helping.  Plus running only on dirt and avoiding hills.  It isn't a recipe for fast racing, but it does seem to be a combination that is keeping me running without pain.

Side note, sometimes I find running to be, at best, calorie neutral. Why?  Well, here's an example. This morning my running partner and I ended up on the topic of baking while we were running.  I ended up stopping at the store for some blueberries and the next thing I know I'm making over-sized blueberry muffins with a cinnamon crumb topping.  I wouldn't doubt it if I undid the caloric benefit from running by consuming a few muffins. Oh well.  What can I say? I like baking!

How was the past week for you?  And are you baking anything yummy?

Mid week miscellany

Mostly non-running related.

• Son is finishing his junior year at Cal in Berkeley. He landed a software engineering internship in Seattle over the summer. At this point, we are hoping he comes home to visit for a week before he starts his job. Planning to visit him there one weekend this summer as well. I'm happy that he's doing well, but I really miss him. 

•  Daughter is finishing her freshman year at UNM in Albuquerque. She'll be back home this summer.  She's focusing in on what she wants to do for a career and needs to change her major. We had a very good talk last Friday, and now she's got an appointment for academic advisement this afternoon to explore a new option. I'm really proud of her for working through this.  It's tough (and can be discouraging) when you start college a bit unsure of what you want to do with your life.

• This weekend I need to check our irrigation system.  Every year we start the growing season with lots of irrigation issues that need to be fixed, so this is not a fun chore.  But it will be time to plant our veggie garden in a few weeks when the threat of frost has past.  For now, I have Green Chile Bobblehead watching over my little tomato plants on the window sill while they wait to be transplanted to the garden.  

• My running partner and I had a really slow run after work yesterday.  No I mean REALLY slow.  It took us almost as long as it did for the entire 10K, but we only covered 4.8 miles.  Granted, it was really windy last night (30+mph).  But still...   

• Have I mentioned that I despise spring?  Allergies are kicking my butt, and I am so over the stupid wind.  

• I'm a huge fan of our AAA baseball team, the Isotopes. I spent all winter counting down to opening day. We've been to three games so far.  Going again next Thursday.  Woot!

• I'm fairly certain that this recent round of knee issues has been IT band related rather than my normal knee arthritis. That's a good thing.  I've been doing a lot of rolling and am back in my old running shoes (Kinvara 2s).  I'm going to try the Kinvara 4s when they come out.   

Reflections from an under-trained 10K

This morning I ran the 10K race at Albuquerque Half Marathon's.  I went in horribly under-trained as my knee has been bothering me, and I didn't expect it to go very well.

Actually, I started with a goal of not having it be a personal worst, but that wasn't much of a goal. My running partner and I and decided to make this a training run in which we would try to hit a 10:30 pace, which gave us 1:05:00 as a target. I've been running most of my training runs at about an 11:15 pace lately, so that seemed a bit aggressive under the circumstances.

Look!  They put our names on the bibs.  Cool.

But, of course, sometimes things go better than expected.  Thanks to a cooperating knee, the excitement of the other runners, a nice flat course, and a beautiful calm morning, we ended up running much closer to a 10:00 pace.  My finish time ended up being 1:02:17, about a 10:02 average pace.  She was about 9 seconds in front of me.  Husband finished in 53-something.  I know that I was 5th in my AG (F45-49), but I don't know how many people there were.  All-in-all, I am quite pleased.

The photo from her phone!

I got to briefly meet a fellow blogger. (Just) Trying is for Little Girls was running the half-marathon in her quest for the 50 states.  I really hoped to have time to chat before the race, but wasn't able to locate her until a few minutes before her race started, so our meet-up ended up being only about 30 seconds long. She has photo evidence of the meet-up on her phone.  Hopefully she'll post it on her race report.  For now, you'll just have to take my word for it.  

Updated:  Added the photo from her phone.  Hope she doesn't mind!  My number is on my leg because I wanted to take off the long sleeves before my race started.  The car was too far away to stash it there, so I ended up running with it tied around my waist. 

Also, the results are posted and I now know that I was 5 of 8 women in my age group.  99 of 184 overall runners for the 10K

One more update:  I saw a friend/colleague who ran in Boston last week at the finish line cheering us and others on like he often does.  For some reason though, he had decided to go back to his hotel and clean up right after his race ended on Monday and wasn't hanging around the finish line  when the explosions happened. Anyway, he said that he plans on running Boston again next year if he can get in because he won't let terror win.  I'm not sure I would be so brave.   

Next up for me is Run for the Zoo 10K in two weeks.

TTT - Feelings, Failures, & Fears

FEELINGS:  I still have so many feelings about what happened on Monday, but find that I'm not able to state them eloquently. So I won't even try. But believe me, it's been heavy on my mind all week.

FAILURES:  My plan to get up early and run on Mon & Wed before work was only a partial success. Monday went well. But things fell apart on Wednesday. It wasn't my fault though! Husband was having trouble sleeping and decided to turn off the alarm in the bedroom and sleep on the couch with an alarm set on his mobile device. He intended to come in and set the alarm for me in the morning, but forgot. Most of the time I end up waking up before the alarm anyway, but not yesterday. I ended up oversleeping. Oh well.

FEARS:  I am so not prepared for the 10K on Saturday! At this point, I'm afraid it will end up being a personal worst. Why? Well, In addition to not being in 10K racing shape, I have a concern that my knee will act up and I'll end up needing to walk a sizable portion since this course is entirely road running. Sigh.  In the grand scheme of things, I realize that how fast or slow I cover the 10K distance on Saturday isn't important.  But right now that doesn't seem to stop me from fretting over it.

light shines in the darkness

I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around what happened yesterday in Boston. 

One thing that struck me, though, was the heroism shown even in those first moments after the explosions. I'm fairly sure my first instict would be to run away, but yet there were so many brave men and women who headed immediately into the chaos, thinking only of getting to those in need.  Many more offered their help over the next several hours and continue today.  Incredible stories of heroism and kindness rising out of such a senseless act of tragedy. 

I offer a heart felt THANK YOU to the heros of the day (police, national guard, bystanders, volunteers, medical personnel, etc.) for their acts of kindness and bravery. 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it - John 1:5 (NLT) 

Best laid plans

often go awry.

Without going into too much of a rant, let me just say that I'm really tired of two things right now: scheduling my runs around others & the freaking wind.

I've been planning my running schedule so that it works out better with others.  Generally, this means planning to run in the afternoon which is when the wind is at it's worst.  Too often that results in us cancelling due to excessive wind (and sand-blasting and allergies and general ickyness).  I'm so over that.

Given past performance with weather conditions such as those in the forecast for the first half of the week, I just know I need to do something different.

The new plan is that I will *really* try to run solo in the morning before work (at least on Monday & Wednesday) before work before the wind gets too bad.

Disadvantages:  No running partner, colder running temps, earlier wake-up (coldest part of the day is right after the sun comes up, so temps will be close to the lows listed in the weather forecast)

Advantages:  Less wind, Can run from home (vs. drive to meet somewhere), less rushing after work.

Wish me luck!  I'll need it when the alarm goes off...

[Updated:  Thanks for the well-wishes.  Day 1 was a success!!!]

Confidence Builder

Just a brief update.

I've been rolling.  And I decided to switch back to my old running shoes (just to eliminate another variable).  Ended up doing a run/walk with a friend Friday evening, and then a 7 mile run with my running partner Saturday morning.

Guess what?!  No Knee Pain.

Both efforts were quite slow, but getting through them without knee pain resulted in a huge boost to my confidence. Oh, and I still plan to make the cupcakes. ;-p

Freaking Knee

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you know that I have a recurring problem with my left knee.  To be more exact, I have an ongoing problem with my left knee and get periodic relief from it thanks to Euflexxa injections.  The underlying problem is never going away, so it is inevitable that the pain will return again and again.

It was bothering me in PHX.  I thought maybe it was due to spending more time on my feet than usual.  I've been in a bit of denial, but to be honest, it's bothering me again.  I have NOT been spending that much time on my feet. If anything, my training is way behind schedule.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do. 

• I could go back to the orthopedic doc now and request that she starts the injections, and that would force me into an 8-12 week break from running. 
• I could go back to the orthopedic doc now and see if she has some other suggestion besides the injections.
• I could continue to scale back my running and wait until I get past one or both of the 10Ks on my schedule and THEN go see the orthopedic doc.
• I could make a couple dozen death by oreo cupcakes and eat them all in one sitting.  I'm not sure what effect that would have on my knee, but I'd be happy for a little while until the sugar coma kicks in...

Blah.

[Update:  Husband suggests that I roll my IT Band to rule that out as the cause vs. my 'regular' knee issue.  Sounds like a good plan.  I'll try that first.]

March Recap

Numbers

Tempo Twist shorts from Nike Outlet

• 92.4 miles by feet (59.5 running, 32.9 walking)
• 22.0 miles by seat
• 1 purchase from Nike outlet
• 2 sick days
• 2 travel days
• 3 spring training baseball games
• 1 "fun run" event

Thoughts

• March was better than February in many regards, but my running is not going as well as I would like.
• Looks like it will be warm enough to run in shorts after work today.  Hoping to give those new shorts a test run.
• Went for a bike ride on Easter that ended with me walking my bike the final half mile due to a flat.  I was too lazy to fix it given that I was so close to home when I realized that the tire was flat.

Plans

• Keep training for 10Ks in April & early May.
• Get out on bike more often.
• Try to smile and enjoy life.

I hate spring

I know I'm probably going to get some flack about this, especially from those of you who are still experiencing winter weather.

This is the weather forecast for the next 5 days.  The high temp seems reasonable, it's the stupid wind every.single.day that has me frustrated.  It's not even considered windy unless the winds average over 20mph, but to me 15+mph winds most days combined with seasonal allergies =  no fun.

Since running after work hasn't been working out for me for one reason or another, I'm going to try running tomorrow morning before work.  It looks like the temp will be about ~40deg at that time which isn't too bad.

For what it's worth, my favorite season is fall.  I *love* fall.  But spring.  Blah.  Not a fan.  How about you?

Wind, wind, go away...

Let me begin by saying that it was windy on Saturday.  REALY windy.  Something like 25-30 mph winds with 50-60 mph gusts. Blustery.  Very blustery.

The plan for the morning was to run 3 miles, then do a 5K fun run.  What actually happened is that we begrudgingly ran 3 miles, then talked about skipping the fun run.   

But the fun run was to celebrate a new running store opened by our running coach.  A dream come true for him.  How could we skip out on that?  So we decided to do the run anyway.  But with the cold wind, it really sucked, and we ended up bailing after 2.5 miles.  Because we could.  And because it was decidedly not fun with the wind.

And a side note.  My Garmin is trying to commit Garmin suicide.  I can't get the buttons to work, and couldn't get it to turn off the other day.  So I have no idea how fast we ran on Saturday, but I'm pretty sure it was on the slow side.

Fast forward to Sunday.  The plan was to run 6 miles.  But my running partner had to cancel leaving me with a decision. I didn't want to run 6 by myself, but didn't want to totally skip an opportunity to do SOMETHING, so decided to get out on my bike. 

Smiling - before the ride

I decided to go with the bike.  I knew I hadn't been on it for awhile, but I didn't realize how long it had been. I actually had to remove the race numbers from my bike from the triathlon back in August. 

Yikes! That was like 7 months ago!  Has it really been that long?!?!

Decided on a fairly short, but somewhat hilly route.  Compared to the blustery winds on Saturday, the 10-15 mph winds this afternoon seemed mildly breezy.  But the wind, combined with my lack of cycling, resulted in it being much more difficult than it really should have been.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I got out there, but it wasn't fun.

Where does that leave me?

Well, for someone who does all of this for fun, a not-fun run on Saturday and a not-fun ride on Sunday made for a not-so-awesome weekend. To be honest, I'm feeling discouraged. I'm trying to stay positive, but I'm not really succeeding at that right now. Sigh.

I'm supposed to run a 10K in a month.  I'm not feeling very confident about that.  I think I'm going to sign up for another 10K that is about 3 weeks after that (Zoo Run).  I'm thinking that maybe that's the one to target, and use the first one for practice.

[Updated to add:  It's a done deal.  I've signed up for the Run for the Zoo 10K.  I will also do the Albuquerque Half Marathon 10K, but that will be in prep for the Zoo run rather than treated as a race.  I think that's a good plan. Fingers crossed that it goes well!].

Where did the week go?!?

Ran this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday and had high expectations to run on both Tuesday and Thursday after work.

On Tuesday, my running partner cancelled.  I could have run by myself, but opted to walk my dogs instead.  We went on our "regular" 2 mile hill walk.  The dogs loved it.  I haven't been walking the hill very much recently, so I really felt it in my glutes.

The next afternoon, I started coming down with some weird ailment.  Chills and body ache like I had a fever, but no actual fever.  Worked from home on Thursday and sadly cancelled my run.  While I think it was the right thing to do, it's disappointing that it's now Friday and I haven't run at all since the weekend.  First week that I could fully take advantage of  DST and nada on the running front.

At this point, I'm planning on running solo today.  Then tomorrow we're probably going to run 3 miles before a 5K fun run, then the actual fun run.  Sounds like a good plan at the moment, I'm sure I'll be questioning my sanity during the fun run portion tomorrow though.  LOL.  The bottom line is that I need to be training for a 10K and a simple 5K run tomorrow won't get me there.

In other news:  Husband & I celebrated our "almost silver" anniversary on Monday. Things change as the years pass by, but life is good. Son (who goes to school in California) will be spending the summer in Seattle due to landing an intership there; we will likely go visit sometime in late June.  Daughter (who goes to school here in NM)  is spending this weekend in the Chicago area to visit her Navy boyfriend who graduates bootcamp today and has day liberty until he starts A school next week.

Transitioning to DST

Yes, I know the rest of you did the whole Daylight Savings thing a week ago, but we spent the week in AZ so I didn't end up transitioning to DST until we got back.

Saguaro - We don't have those at home

While we were gone, we ran a few times.  Husband asked if I noticed a difference running in AZ.  Did it feel easier?  It should have, we had plenty of oxygen at the lower altitude.  But I didn't have my Garmin and don't know how fast I was going.  It would be easier to tell a difference if I could say, for the same effort I was going faster or for the same speed it was so much easier.  I would probably really be able to tell a difference on hills, but we ran on a flat surface.  So, not really sure.

It was nice to run in shorts in the morning instead of tights; it was much warmer than at home in central New Mexico.  Actually it was quite pleasant during the first half of the week, but then it got freaking hot and I was ready to go home.

Back to the topic of DST.  Let me just tell you - the alarm seemed to go off REALLY early today. Generally speaking, I'm a fan of DST.  This week we'll have plenty of daylight after work to run!  But it is definitely tough in the morning.

What are your thoughts on DST?  Fan or Foe?

Hi-Visibility Clothing

A few of my running friends have recently commented that they can always see me coming "from a mile away."  Hahahah.  I don't know if it's true that they can see me from that far away, but it means that I've been successful in my quest to be seen.  Being an invisible runner can be dangerous.  In contrast, being highly visible means less likely a car won't notice you.

Depending on the weather, here are my three go-to pieces for being highly visible

For warmish weather I have what I call my 'safety cone orange' shirt.  Sometimes worn with some pretty wild arm arm warmers.  But I couldn't find it.  So this will have to do.The black shorts, the skirt, even the arm warmers don't really stand out in this blurry camera phone photo.  But the safety cone orange shirt does!

For cooler weather I like my Brooks Night-life half-zip.  I'm told that the green color really glows in the sunlight. In this photo, I was standing in the shade, and it still stands out (which is good, I want to be seen in both good and poor lighting conditions)

When temps are frigid, I wear this jacket with the florescent yellow body.  Yellow in the front and back.  Black sleeves.  Even in the photo, you can see how the yellow stands out and the black just disappears into the background.  That's why I try to avoid running in black as an outer layer.

Your turn!  What are some of your favorite hi-visibility pieces?

Running and Stress Reduction

Ever have anyone ask you why you run?  More and more, I realize that I'm a very social runner.  I almost always run with someone else.  I have a hard time motivating myself to run alone.  I guess the social aspect must be one of the main reasons that I run.

But what I find even more interesting, is how I feel when I don't run as often as I want.  I don't really feel lonely. I don't necessarily miss my friends.  Despite it being a social activity, I don't necessarily miss the social part so much. However, I definitely notice an increase in my stress level. I also become more irritable and more easily agitated.  Clearly, running must be a large part of my coping strategy, a way to deal with stress even if I don't recognize that as one of the main reasons why I run.

I'm not sure if it's the running itself or the combination of running and talking that works so well for me.  Whatever it is, it works. So going with an analogy along the lines of the saying that running is cheaper than therapy*, perhaps my running partners are my therapists and the trail is my couch, or something like that.

Where am I going with this?

As it turns out, I haven't been able to run after work during the week since November due to lack of daylight.  Eek!  Not a recipe for a happy me.

Well, we finally have just enough daylight to make a 30 min run possible.  So I met up with two of my running friends after work yesterday, so we ran.  Afterwards, I felt terrific!  Not in the "this was a great run the way that people who normally measure runs" kind of way, but in a "wow, I forgot how effective running is at melting away my mid-week stress, especially right after work!"  I'd venture to guess that my co-workers will find me much more pleasant to be around today.

How about you?  Is running a big part of your coping strategy as well?  If so, do you find that running solo works for you?  Or are you a social running like me? 

* I'm not fully convinced that running actually *is* cheaper than therapy.  However, I am certain that it is more fun.  ;-)

Half the battle is in your mind...

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." - John Wooden

Not sure how (or if) I'm going to work that quote into my post today, but it seems like a good thought, especially for a Monday.

Over the course of the past 4 days, I managed to "run" (and I use the term loosely) a total of 16.9 miles.  May not seem like much to you, but given that I only ran 29.4 miles the entire month of February, this is a step up for me.

Here's the best part.  On Sunday afternoon, I was running with my running partner and we were both feeling really sluggish.  We had decided to run "to the gate" which essentially means until the path we were on dead ends.  We were maybe half a mile from the gate when I abruptly turned around and said "I just can't do this today."  But then I decided that was crazy talk.  I could in fact do this, I simply didn't want to.  And actually, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that, I actually *did* want to.  So we turned around again, screamed "We can do this!" and in fact went all the way to the gate.  Huzzah!  Positive self-talk for the win!

I deserve a cookie or 12 for that, don't you think?  No?  Well how about something fitness-related then?  Better?  Yeah, I thought so too.  I am now the happy owner of a second pair of the new Merrell Mix Master Move Glide, this time in the greenish color scheme.  You can't really tell from the photo, but they are some BRIGHT shoes.  

Truth be told, I bought the shoes before my break-through positive self-talk moment.  But at least now I feel like I deserve them.  And as you may have guessed, this means that I have decided that I am happy with this particular style.  

Mondays are typically my rest day, but there is a part of me that is itching to get on my bike.  Looking at the weather, it probably won't happen today.  The forecast for the afternoon shows crazy wind (30mph-ish).  Ick. Okay, maybe tomorrow... 

Happy Monday!

Feb Numbers and March Plans

Numbers

• 48.9 miles by feet (20.0 miles walking, 29.8 miles running)
• 1 race (sweetheart 5K)
• 2 visits to chiropractor (grrrr....stupid back)
• 1 pair new running shoes (Merrell move glide)
• 1 pair new glasses (and hey...I like them!)
• 2 birthdays (mine and husband's)
• 2nd t-shirt quilt (love it!)
• 1 vacation planned
• 1 year long "photo a day" project completed

Thoughts

• February always seems to be a challenge for me.  And once again, not really the numbers I wanted to achieve.  But it is what it is.  No looking back.  Just looking forward.
• The time change is just around the corner.  I expect my running to increase when the opportunity to run in daylight after work presents itself again.  

Plans

• This weekend I'm planning to register for the 10K at the Albuquerque Half Marathon.  I need a goal to help me get serious about running again.

Thursday Three

1) I received my t-shirt quilt.  Yay!  Similar to the first one that I had done, I had this one made with 12 shirts, which works out to a nice size for a throw.  Here's a close up of two of the squares.  I'd like to point out that even the square from a really boring black print on white t-shirt looks interesting with a coordinating border around it. Nice way to reuse those old event shirts that are taking up space in the closet.

2) As if I'm not having enough aches and pains already, I had to do something stupid to add some more.  This morning I tripped over one of my dogs while looking for the headset for my phone.  I'm now sporting two lovely bruises: one on my knee, one on my hip.  I'm sure that will make running tomorrow fun...

3)  The recent winter storm has managed to bypass us for the most part.  They had more snow in Tuscon & Phoenix (which pretty much never get snow) than we did here in the Albuquerque area.  That is bizarre.  I'm not complaining, just amazed.  Here's hoping for good running weather this weekend!!

First Impressions

My new Merrell Mix Master Move Glide running shoes arrived!  Just in time for my birthday and Valentines Day.  Haven't had a chance to run in them yet, but here are my first impressions from trying them on around the house.

1) They are very similar in cut/style/fit/weight/feel to my beloved Kinvara 2s.  This is a good thing. One difference is the tread.  I'm guessing that the Kinvara is intended to be more of a road shoe whereas this is intended to be more of a trail shoe. In any event, I'm currently feeling confident that these will work out well for me.

2) I ordered the same size that I wear in the Pace Glove which is also the same size that I wear in the Kinvara 2.  Seems like the correct call.

3) Looks like the shoe will hold up well, but of course the only way to really know for sure is to put some miles on them.

4) The reflective stripe around the shoe is a nice add.  I appreciate the effort to improve my visibility as a runner.

5) I haven't even run in them yet and I'm already thinking about what color I want for my next pair! :-)

NM Sweetheart Run 5K Race Report

Husband & I signed up once again for the NM Sweetheart Run, and chose the 5K distance.  This event typically falls near our birthdays.  This year it was on his birthday, in fact.  What a great way to celebrate another year.  My regular running partner also signed up.

Husband's Age Medal & Event Shirt

The design on the event shirt is pretty cute this year.  But because it is a cotton t-shirt, it will probably sit around in my closet until I'm ready to send another batch of shirts in for a quilt.  Sometimes I really wish they gave the option to forego the shirt.  But I digress.

The weather this morning was chilly, 24deg with enough wind that the feels like temp was 14.  Brrrr.  It wasn't too bad with the wind at our back, but running north into the cold wind was brutal.

Elevation Profile

This is also not what I would describe as a flat course, although not too horrible. The difference from the lowest to the highest point is only 60 ft, not exactly the mountain that it looks like in the graph.  But still...definitely not flat.  And I've been training on flat because my knee doesn't like hills.

Anyway, I ran the race along with my run partner.  We knew we weren't "race ready" and did okay, not great.  My finish time was 29:51, hers was a few seconds faster because she had a stronger kick at the end.  It's roughly a ~9:45 avg pace. [update - a few more stats now that official results are posted: 8 of 17 W40-49, 93 of 205 overall].  Overall, it was about what I'd expect on any given weekend when I've been running casually vs. training to race. 
Husband, on the other hand, had a great race.  He's been hill training all winter and it seems to have paid off.  He ended up 2nd in his age group!  Nice, huh?! That's his age group medal in the first photo.  :-)

The next race on my horizon is the 10K at the Albuquerque Half Marathon.  After today, my running partner & I decided that we need to start going a bit longer for our long runs and get back up to our regular 7 milers.  We also need to incorporate some hills even if I just walk them.  Also some pavement - not too much, but enough to ready to race on it rather than dirt.

Shoe Stuff

Kinvara 2

My all time favorite"go to" running shoe has been the Kinvara2.   Love, love, love them.  Have three pairs, but two of them *really* need to be retired.  Can't find the Kinvara2 very easily these days.  All sold out. Although I did find one more pair in my size on ebay...

Kinvara  3

Seems that they've moved on to the Kinvara3.  Quite frankly, I don't like the way the Kinvara3 look. But my real concern is that there have been multiple negative reviews complaining that the redesigned women's shoe is cut higher in the back and causing blisters/pain in the  ankles.  What to do, what to do, what to do?

Move Glide

Thanks to a post by Run Faster Mommy, I now know that Merrell is coming out with a new lightweight trail/mixed running shoe with a 4mm drop. Sweet!  The women's model is called  Mix Master Move Glide.  I really want to try these, as I adore my Merrell Pace Gloves (just not for running), but it seems I need to be a bit patient.  They don't seem to be in stock *anywhere* at the moment. But they are supposed to be coming very soon (days?)

Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get a pair for myself for Valentines Day.  :-)

[UPDATE:  I found my size/color choice for the Move Glide online at llbean and have them on their way. WooHoo!! Hoping they work out from a comfort perspective and the size is right.  If not, I can return/exchange.]

A Few Lessons from a Solo Run

I have become such a social runner that I haven't actually run solo in a long time, like over half a year at least.  It's been long enough that I have forgotten how to do it successfully.  Today was the day to relearn all that I have forgotten, because none of my potential running partners were available and it was too nice out to use that as an excuse to skip another opportunity to run.

Here are a few things I learned (or perhaps re-learned):

• Choice of music matters.  I don't usually run with music, but since I had no-one to talk to, today I did.  I started with Ziggy Marley.  It got me all mellow and at peace with myself, but didn't motivate me to speed up to much faster than a slow jog.  I switched to Andy Grammer and picked up my pace by at least a minute per mile.
• Remember a cell phone.  My regular running partner always carries hers, so I tend to leave mine behind.  But running solo means being self-sufficient.  I don't expect to need my phone, but definitely want it with me in case of emergency.
• Commit to the distance.  Running with someone means being held accountable. Running solo means no accountability partner.  Today I failed to commit to the distance, and ended up running shorter than I would have if I was running with someone else.
• Make sure the iPod is charged.  I ran solo again on Sunday and didn't check my iPod charge ahead of time. It died about a mile and a half in.  With nobody to talk to and no music, it felt really lonely out there.

Do you regularly run solo?  What would you add to the list?

Jan Summary

Numbers

• 25.6 miles running
• 21.3 miles walking
• 5 upper body strength sessions
• 3 yoga sessions
• 1 chiro appt
• 1 orthopedic appt
• 1 eye appt
• 1 primary care doc appt
• 1 mammo appt
• 2 kids back off to college

Thoughts

• New insurance = many appts establishing self as a new patient appts on top of the usual mayhem in January.  I think next week is the first week for a while with zero appts.  Yay.
• Not getting outside as often as I'd like, but it's a start.  And since I despise the treadmill, if I don't get outside, I don't run.  At least I'm doing something.  In another 4 weeks or so, it should be light outside  long enough after work to run.  That will help a lot.
• Stopped doing yoga in favor of upper body strength work.  Ideally, I should be doing both. 
• I'm actually happy about my weight at the moment.  Usually I have 5lbs or so to lose after the holidays.  Not this year.  Yay me! 

Plans

• Husband & I signed up to run a 5K in a few weeks.  It's on his birthday. :-)
• Try to get outside more.
• Get serious about doing strength *and* yoga (not one or the other).

A Few of My Favorite Things

Sure, everyone loves their iPod and Garmin, favorite shoes, and whatnot.  But these are a few of my not so obvious favorites, that I feel are all worth mentioning.  I purposely decided to leave out clothing. For what it's worth, these are unsolicited opinions; I spent my own hard earned cash on these and just want to share my thoughts.

Weider PowerSwitch adjustable dumbbells.  I love these because they don't take up as much space as 4 separate sets of dumbbells.  Each of these can adjust from 2.5(just the bar) to 12.5lbs.  I'd actually like to get the ones adjust from 5(just the bar)-25 lbs each at some point, but for the most part, this lower weight set works okay for me for now.  

Ampiphod Hydroform lite.  Holds 12 oz and seems to fit my hand perfectly.  When I get to the point that I feel I need to carry more than 12oz, I switch to a belt.  But I honestly much prefer carrying the handheld.  Maybe I should try carrying one with larger capacity for those longer runs instead.  Oh, and they make this one with a plain black pocket too, but I think the blue print is more fun.  :-)

Strawberry-Lemonade flavored Nuun.  It happens to be my favorite flavor of Nuun and it supports a good cause.  50 cents goes to Komen foundation for each tube of the pink lemonade flavor that Nuun sells. 

What about you?  What are a few of your not-so-obvious favorite things?

Midweek Miscellany

Bargain Shopping - Snatched up a black preppy argyle running skirt from ebay the other week.  Woot!  It fits great, is so cute, and the price was right.  Now I just need some warmer weather to really be able to enjoy it. Ebay rocks.

Second Opinions - Due to change in insurance, I need to change to a new orthopedic for my knee.  Had an appointment yesterday to get established as a new patient.  I wasn't happy about the l-o-n-g wait, but it may have been worth it in the end.  I really like her.  She's a runner!  Anyway, the plan of action is to continue with the Euflexxa injections as needed.  I don't need them again now, but when I do, I just need to call and she'll get it set up for me.  And it was nice to have a second opinion.  I don't have an injury, it's "just" moderate arthritis present in both knees, actually.  Sadly, it's just going to get worse over time, but I'll just have to take it one day/month/year at a time.

To Race or Not to Race?  - There are two races in the short term that I'm mulling over.  One is a Super Bowl race (5K or 10K) and the other is a Sweetheart Race the following weekend.  I've decided to do the 5K at the Sweetheart Race. Probably will pass on the super bowl one and just run for fun that weekend.

Mixing Things Up - I'm not doing so well at keeping with the Yoga.  But I have been doing my upper body strength training twice a week.  Ideally, I'd like to do both of those things, but I guess making them both habits is more challenging from a motivation perspective than I expected.

Longer Days - The days are just barely getting long enough that I was able to take my dogs for on our normal 2 mile hill route after work before running out of daylight.  They loved it and so did I.  Just another month, I think, and after work running will be a possibility again. I can barely wait!

TTT - White Tea, Workout Tracking, & Strength Work

White Tea - Remember when I said I was going to start drinking white tea?  Yes? No?  Well I did and I have been.  I've tried several types and discovered that for the most part, I rather like White Tea.  Who knew?!  My two favorites are White Peony and Blueberry Pomegranate White Tea, both from Art of Tea.  I've also discovered some that I really don't care for, namely anything with bergamot or ginger added.  Live and learn.

Workout Tracking - Some of you use fancy schmancy programs to track your workouts.  Some of you use charts. I happen to be a fan of the pen and paper method via a little calendar notebook. However, I didn't buy a new one until recently.  So my tracking for this month has not been going well.  I find myself trying to remember what I did and back fill it.  Also, without the tracking, I've been a bit sloppy with the excuses.  This should all come to a head now that I have a new notebook in place though.  Phew!

Strength Work - I've been feeling that my routine has been getting stale.  It's been a long time since I've done straight up strengthening exercises with weights, so I decided to give that a go yesterday.  My arms are sore today, in a good way, so I must have done something right.  Time will tell as to whether or not I stick with this or not, but for now I am interested in working this in.

Oh, and it looks to be a balmy 31 deg at my scheduled running times tomorrow & Saturday.  Woot!  So much better than the frigid stupid cold last weekend.

Monday Madness

It's been freaking cold.  Saturday morning it was 5deg when I woke up.  Five.Degrees!!  The running group was meeting at 9am when it had warmed up to 13deg, "feels like 7".  I felt like a hard @$$ for running in that weather, but it wasn't a lot of fun and I only did 3 miles.  Brr.freaking.rrrr.  I should have worn an extra pair of socks, thicker gloves, and a balaclava.  Lesson learned.

Ran again Sunday afternoon with a friend when it was a balmy 24 deg.  This time did 4 miles.  Piece of cake compared to Saturday morning.

In any event, I am ready so ready for spring.

Speaking of cold weather, what better to do on a cold day then cuddle on the couch, right?!

I'm having another quilt made with some of my race/event shirts.  I had one made with 12 shirts about 3 years ago.  It turned out really cute and it has become a family favorite for lounging on the couch.  What a great way to recycle those old event shirts into something artsy and functional, don't you agree?  Anyway, sent my shirts off in the mail today.  It will probably be a few months before I get them back in the form of a quilt, but I'm looking forward to it.

On an unrelated topic.  I'm on an organic pear kick. Cannot.get.enough.  Yummy!!

In with the New

I'm not what I call a "resolutionist", meaning I don't make New Year's resolutions.  But I am a goal-oriented person and given that it's new month, especially combined with a New Year, has given me pause to think about what I most want to achieve in the coming months. This isn't a full year look-ahead, but bigger than just a month.  I decided that a stop, start, continue format would work best for this.

START

• Take measures to deal with estrogen dominance (look it up - in my case this is related to being a middle-aged woman).  I've added a few new supplements to my routine. I think that I'll know if it's working if I feel that I'm sleeping better
• Be more of an "encourager".  I almost put this in the continue bucket because I'd like to believe that I'm already somewhat encouraging to others, but I really want to step up my game here.  

STOP

• In the past few weeks, the 365 project (one photo a day for a year) seems to have turned into a chore rather than a hobby.  I found myself missing days then trying to make up for it.  Over and over again.  To the point that I realized that I've lost interest in this and it's no longer fun.  I'd been doing for 10 of the planned 12 months.  Since this was nothing more than a hobby, I decided to 'officially' put it to a close on New Years Eve day.  I feel good about that decision.  Maybe I'll start up again on March 1. But this time, rather than call it a 365, I'll call it a photo-a-day and let the duration happen naturally.

CONTINUE

• Be smart about my knee.  Race for fun, keep the distances reasonable, stop when it hurts. I'd rather run short and slow than not at all. This worked well for me in 2012 and I want to repeat that in 2013. Looking at some fun runs in the next few months to kick-start the new year.
• 3x week yoga, 2-3/week running, 3/week fitness walking seems like a good maintenance plan for my body.  I want to keep this up and build from there. 
• Read at least 1-2 books a week.  This may sound odd to you, but until my Husband bought me a Nexus 7 in the beginning of August, I hadn't read for fun EVER.  Since then, I've been reading like a fool.  I want to keep this up and read at least 1-2 books a week just for fun. 

Out with the Old

December Tally

• 1 nasty back spasm
• 7 chiro sessions
• 7 unplanned rest days
• 16.5 miles walking
• 10.0 miles running
• 13 yoga sessions
• 1 4-day trip to Chicago/Deerfield

Thoughts

• It's hard enough to stay on the fitness bandwagon in December without a back spasm that knocks one out for the better part of a week.  I didn't totally give up though. I can only do what I can do, right?

Plans for January

• Back on the fitness bandwagon.  The January goal is 2 per week running, 5 3 per week yoga, 3 per week fitness walking. [edited because I realize that 5/week yoga isn't going to happen.  3/week is more reasonable]

2012 in a Glance

• High-lights
• Travel:  Way more travel than usual this year.  Trip to Grand Cayman, Trip to Washington DC, Trip to San Francisco, Trip to Indiana/Ohio, Trip to Kauai, Trip to Italy, Trip to Chicago/Deerfield.
• Fitness:  Not many races, but steady progress and lots of fun.  And I ended the year weighing less than I did when it started.  
• Immediate Family:  Daughter went on mission trip to Haiti during spring break, graduated high school, moved on campus, and started college.  Son landed an internship over the summer in CA and continues to do well in school, now in his junior year at Cal.  Husband & I went on sabbatical.  
• Visits with Extended Family:  Husband's parents came down for Daughter's graduation. Saw members of my family in Ohio during August. Saw members of Husband's family during December in Deerfield/Chicago.  Also his Dad came down for Christmas.
• Low-lights
• Still dealing with the chronic issue with my left knee.  It has been particularly problematic during travel, but I'm able to manage it fairly well at home. Need to avoid stairs, and excessive walking.  Also need to run shorter distances, preferably on dirt.
• Husband's youngest sister's diagnosis of stage 4 metastasized breast cancer.  :-(

All in all, 2012 was a pretty good year.  Not sure it's possible, but I'm going to try to have an even better 2013.  Bring it on!!

Oh...and  I kicked off the New Year with 4 miles on the trail with my running partner.  Off to a great start!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Cold Weather Running

Met my running partner Friday morning for a 3 mile run.  It was cold and windy....24deg with a 18degF windchill factor.  As soon as I got out of the car she exclaimed, "What the H3LL were we thinking?!?"

I'll be honest, that's getting pretty close to my lower limit.  I usually won't go out if the temp/windchill is below 15deg.  What about you?  How cold is too cold for you?

Of course, as is usually the case, running was way better than not running
And when we were done we decided to meet again the next day, same time same place. So I guess it wasn't THAT bad.

Guess What I Did Today?!?

It's been roughly 7 weeks since my last run, but as of today I am cleared to try easy running. I thought I might aim for 1.5 miles, but ended up doing 2.0 and then walking a half mile cool down. My knee felt okay the entire time.  Woot!

I didn't go far, and I didn't go fast, but I got out there and it was fantastic.

Turned out to be a nice morning for it also.  It rained last night and the cloud cover kept the temperature warmer than usual for this time of year.

What a great way to kick off my weekend!

White Tea and Yoga

Hard to believe that I would blog about either one of these topics, much less both at once, but here we go!

White Tea - I've had and on/off relationship with tea where I go through phases of consistent tea drinking and then give tit p entirely.  When my kids were home at Thanksgiving, they were interested in sampling the various loose leaf teas that we have at home.  And this got me more interested in teas as well.  I decided to add to my collection and stumbled apon a discover that maybe you already knew, but white tea is especially good for your health, even more so than green tea!  And I had never even heard of white tea.  So I have one new white tea already and two more on the way.  I'm going to try to consume 3-4 cups of white tea per day at least 5 times per week for about 3 months and then report back on any positive effects that I notice.  Have any of you tried white tea?  What benefits did you notice?

Yoga - I'm actually on day 6 of my recommitment to yoga (via Kate Perry's Namaste Yoga DVDs - a collection of ~22 minutes episodes).  So far so good; I've done it every day for the past 6 days!  I'm actually really enjoying this particular yoga series and the length is just perfect for me even if the episodes are a bit challenging for my yoga-challenged self.  If I can continue to do this every day, that would rock.  However, just like the tea experiment, I'm actually just hoping to accomplish it 5 times per week for 3 months and report back on any positive effects that I notice. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Thoughts: 

1. I figured at least one of you will wonder why it is that my goals to do something 5 times per week rather than every day?  Because it's something I think I can be successful at, whereas I'm almost certain that something will come up to keep me from doing it every single day, and when I start to feel like I'm failing, I tend to quit.  So I'm trying to set myself up for succses so that I will continue!  Also, by doing it for 3 months, it gives me something to focus on during the winter months. :-)
2. And just because it's too exciting not to mention, I'm going to attempt my first run-walk post knee injections on Friday morning. T-3 days and counting!
3. You can look up the health benefits of white tea yourself, but what caught my attention was the anti-bacterial/anti-viral properties and abundance of antioxidants

Jingle Bell Run Spectator Summary

I ended up as a spectator while Husband ran the 5K.  He had a good race with a strong finish and I suspect an age group placing (I don't think there was anyone over 50 ahead of him, but I could be wrong).  He didn't want to stick around for awards though.  For the record, if it ever looks like *I* am going to place in my age group, I *will* stick around, but to each his own.

It was a beautiful day!  I took some photos with my phone.

The race was at a local park

There was a category to walk with a dog, but these folks actually brought a piglet!

This was at mile 1.  See the guy running in a Christmas Tree costume?!  Hahaha

Husband (in black & grey)  finishing strong and with good running form.

Our local chapter raised about $26.5K for the Arthritis Foundation.through this event this year.  I really wish I would have been able to run, but spectating was still fun.  I'm hoping for next year.

Namaste Yoga

I've decided to try to recommit to yoga and instead of doing long sessions less often, I will aim for shorter (20-25min) sessions more often.

The month got off to a bad start with my back spasm issues, but things are looking up now and yesterday I decided that I felt well enough to give it a go.

What I know about myself is that I need some sort of video or DVD to follow along with.  I wanted to try something different from what I've tried in the past and settled on Kate Potter's Namaste Yoga.  I've actually ordered the full Season 1 DVD set (13 episodes, each is about 22-24 minutes long - PERFECT) and found a few episodes online to follow along with while I wait for my DVDs to arrive.

I have sort of a love-hate relationship with yoga.  For one thing, I pretty much suck at it.  But it does make me feel better afterwards and I know that if I stick with it I will see improvements in flexibility and strength. I've failed in the past trying to do classes - travel time and the rigid schedule make it difficult and feeling like I have two left feet in a class full of graceful students doesn't help my motivation one bit.  I've also failed with longer DVD workouts, I seem to have a lot of trouble making time for them.  But these shorter sessions seem just right from a time perspective.

So far I'm two for two, but the real test will probably be whether or not I'm still doing it a few weeks from now.

I could use some yoga motivation.  If you are a yoga fan, please tell me about your favorite yoga classes, poses, style, DVDs, etc. If you aren't a yoga fan, if you have ideas on how to stick with it anyway, I'd be happy to hear about that as well.

p.s. From a knee perspective, I'm cleared to try easy running again one week from today!  Yippee!!

Chiropractic Therapy

One the positive side, this latest back spasm issue is distracting me from the boredom of letting the injections heal my knee.  I can think of several alternatives that I would have preferred as distractions, but in life you get what you get.

In my adult life, I've been to three different chiropractors.  I really didn't like the first one very much, more of a traditional high impact chiropractic practice that was a little bit scary.  Really like the second one though, he did something more akin to ART and everything was low impact. I always felt better after seeing him and nothing he did was scary. Unfortunately, he has retired and is no longer in practice.  I then switched to someone who is somewhat in between in methods.  She is mostly low impact, not the same as my favorite chiropractor, but much better than the first one.

I had been going monthly for maintenance, but had to cancel my last appointment and simply forgot to follow up later.  With my favorite chiropractor, I never would forget to go.  Since I'm sort of ambivalent toward this one's particular methods, it had't been a priority for me to go.  As it turns out, I hadn't been to the chiropractor for several months when my back spasms hit.  Perhaps not getting regular adjustments may have been a contributing factor.

So I'm back again.  I've had appoints for Tuesday, Wednesday, and then again later today.  On Tuesday, she sent me to a physical therapist for electro-stimulation and heat for my back as well as percussive therapy after the adjustment.  I really didn't like how that stuff felt, but I do think it helped.  Yesterday, I just got an adjustment.  This morning my husband commented that I was standing up and walking with 'almost normal' posture.  That's quite an improvement from where I've been all week, so I think the chiropractic adjustments have helped.  

This afternoon I believe she wants to talk to me about setting up an appointment for getting therapeutic massage sometime next week as well.  I think that's a good idea as well.

I think I want to continue seeing a chiropractor on an ongoing basis, but she may not be the right one for me. I hate the thought of starting over with someone new though.  And with so many different chiropractors out there, it's not that easy to find the 'right' one.

How many of you have seen chiropractors?  Have you had good experiences, bad, or a mixed bag?

Oh, and to get closer to topic.  Husband is running a 5K on Saturday.  I'm thinking of either signing up to walk the 5K or signing up for the 2.5K walk that is happening at the same venue. Alternatively, I may just go and be a cheerleader for him.  It all depends on how I feel Saturday morning.  Whatever I do will likely involve race day registration.

November by the numbers

Numbers for November

• Knee injections: 3
• Young adult children home for Thanksgiving: 2
• Miles walked: 18.7
• Miles run: 7.6
• Pounds gained:  nada

Thoughts

• Very low activity this month due to forced rest while getting the series of injections. That's all part of the healing process though.  I'm now past the worst of it and should be able to try easy running in about two weeks.
• It was nice having both kids home for Thanksgiving.  They'll both be home for winter break as well.

Plans for December

• Ease back into running in mid-December.  If I could get even something as small as 10 miles of running total this month, it would rock.  
• Keep eating at bay.  Remember that maintaining weight is about calories in vs calories out and right now my calories out isn't as high as usual.
• Start walking more now the the knee isn't a limiting factor.  I'd like to average at least 10 miles per week fitness walking (purposeful brisk walking, not casual walking).
• Unfortunately, started the month off with back spasms.  If it isn't one thing it's another, geez!  Hopefully in another week or so all of this nonsense will be behind me and I'll be back to a normal routine.  
• Try adding in yoga.  Long sessions have never worked well for me, but maybe 2-3 days per week for 20mins at a time would be a good goal.

Injections and insights

Well, it's the day after Thanksgiving.  While some of you were out for black Friday shopping, I was at the orthopedic office receiving my third and final injection. Admit it, you're jealous, aren't you?  ;-)

Now I wait.  I can try running again in three weeks.  From past experience, it takes 5-6 weeks before running is okay though.  Also, in 6 weeks, if my knee is pain-free, this will have been considered a success and I'll have another 6-9 months before needing to head back for another round.  If, however, I'm still having knee pain, I need to go back and try something else.  It's worked well for me in the past, and the condition with my knee is progressing very slowly. I have confidence that it will be successful again.

My husband went for a run this afternoon and my son (home for the holiday weekend) went yesterday.  I suggested to my husband that he ask our son if he wanted to join him when he went out.  "I'm not a social runner" was his reply.  I realized that we are really different in that regard. In contrast to him, I am *totally* a social runner.  I would never pass up an opportunity to run with someone vs. running alone.  In fact, these days I actually find that I have a hard time getting motivated for a run when I don't have someone to run with.

How about you?  Are you a social runner or not?

I found it interesting that my son mentioned something about how running releases "happy chemicals" in your brain (he was relaying conversations he's had some somebody studying cognitive-neuroscience or something like that).  That's something I know all too well, and I've been missing those "happy chemicals" for a few weeks already.  *sigh*

Knee Update

Well, I had my appt with the orthopedic on Friday.  The good news is that the situation with my knee is progressing slowly.  It seems like the injections will work for me for quite some time (not at all close to needing surgery, for example).  The injections require insurance pre-authorization, which they were able to get by phone while I was there, so I was able to get started right away.  Two more appts one week a part and I'll be done for another 9-10 months or so.

The less good news is that I can't run during this time.  I need to wait at least 3 weeks after the last injection. From past experience, running may be uncomfortable until 6 weeks past the last injection.  But all-in-all, this really isn't a bad time to take a break anyway.

Not sure how much blogging I will do. I find that when I'm not running, I'm not all that interested in blogging. But I do expect to be back in full force when I'm back on the trail.