Where's the Beach?

As I mentioned, I may have taken a break from blogging , but I jumped right back into running and racing. Downtown Dash After the Little Rock Half Marathon, I was signed up for the Downtown Dash 10K to support the Junior League. I had done this race last year, and thought it'd be a good race to try to help me continue to regain my endurance, and confidence truth be told. Though, I knew that the course was kind of tricky. It's a double loop and there are some challenging long, gradual inclines. It may not be a straight up big hill, the those gradual inclines really sneak up on you. The race started just over a mile from my house, so I did a slow, easy warmup run down to the start. Only it was warm and humid. I knew right away it was not going to be a good running day. Not only was my cardio still down, but the humidity is never good for my asthma. I lined up near the front. Unfortunately, several kids and slower runners did as well. It's a small race so maybe it...

Knock knock.  Who's there?  Me.  Me Who? Oh you know, the gal that used to blog ... After 5 1/2 years of blogging, I simply needed a break. I needed to reconnect to my life, not an online life. It was beyond refreshing I must say. Also, I felt like my posts were starting to feel contrived, especially after finishing my first full marathon and then ending up sidelined with that good old stress fracture . I didn't know what more to say. I wasn't feeling inspired in the kitchen. I most definitely wasn't inspired by running, since I couldn't. I didn't want my posts to be all "woe is me" because in the grand scheme of everything in life, my life wasn't necessarily bad. I was just having some set backs. After my injury, I set on the road to regaining my running endurance - both distance and cardiovascular endurance. It was hard. It was frustrating. Any runner who's been sidelined knows all about the comeback game. It's as mentall...

On Sunday, March 1, I woke up and ran the  Little Rock Half Marathon  for the 5th time. I'm beginning to think this race is completely cursed for me. The only time I've run it well was my first time. Since then, it's been injuries, torn plantar fascia, craptastic weather ... and this year it was seemingly all of the above. Even the finisher medals hadn't arrived! (Though, while we didn't get our real medals, the race directors made certain that we had a temporary medal after we crossed that line.) So, here I was completely untrained coming off of a stress fracture. 100% chance of rain, cold rain at that. I had only been running again for 2 weeks. No speed work, longest distance was 8 miles (done the day before). However, I was feeling pretty good overall. No foot pain. Just a lowered endurance level, to be expected after not running for 37 long days. I didn't really announce that I was going to run. I wasn't completely sure I would. But, when it came d...

Half Marathon number 10 is in the books with a shiny new PR! Saturday I ran the CASA Half Marathon . This was the 2nd time running this particular race. It's a smaller race, but for a great cause as it supports the CASA Women's Shelter. It's still a new race, and is continuing to grow, and for good reason. It's truly a flat and fast course. I earned a PR last year at the race actually. Because of my marathon training, I initially wasn't sure if I would go into this as a race or as a training run. The day of, I knew I was racing 100%. It was in the mid- to upper-40s at the start with overcast skies, but very little wind. My plan was to just go with how I was feeling, find a pace and try to sustain it for as long as possible. I know many runners start out slower and increase their pace. I tend to be pretty consistent with my splits throughout. I did a super easy 1 mile run to warm up before heading to the start. I wanted up closer to the front, but not the very ...

I truly had good intentions of getting my Soaring Wings Half Marathon race recap posted Monday. But, yeah, well ... Let's just say I took the day off, went out for a recovery run and got a massage instead. Saturday I raced my 9th half marathon, the 4th time I've done this particular race. It's usually one of the first cold runs of the season. It's usually a really good race because of that, especially coming off of a brutal summer. And there is usually a fantastic crowd support on the course. Usually is the key word here folks. This year Mother Nature had something else in store. It was 60 degrees at the start of the race, sunny and temperatures quickly increasing. It was also nice and humid. A winning combo right? I lined up in Corral B, which only had one pace group of 1:35. I knew I wasn't going to be able to hang with that time. It's a hilly course and then with the heat added into the mix ... well, I was doubting myself from the beginning. My fastest...

Sunday was definitely an Epic day to say the least. That was the theme of the this year's Little Rock Marathon and it lived up to the theme for sure. I apologize for the length of this ramble in advance. This race has always been tough for me. Even though I run portions of the race route during almost every single run I do, I am always shocked at how difficult it ends up being. And the half course isn't as hilly as the full. It starts off relatively flat, even a great downhill going into North Little Rock. But then you come back over the bridge and it's up, up, up .... up before finally getting to some downhills. Of course, by that time, any of the rolling hills on that last mile feel like mountains. The forecast for race day was not looking good. All week they were predicting severe storms rolling through with frigid temperatures behind the front. Thankfully it wasn't pouring rain with thunder and lightening at the start, that was to come later, for those doing ...

Marcia at Marcia's Healthy Slice did another Runfessions post for the Holidays. I "borrowed" her Runfessions idea once before , and am borrowing it again for Fun for Friday . I hope she doesn't mind ;-) I thought I would do a Runfessions - Race Day  edition since I finished another half marathon last week and it's still fresh on my mind, especially the mistakes I made that day. Funny how you can PR but also have a host of silly mistakes. But I have a few other confessions to make, so it's not all about mistakes. Though, I did make several no-no race day mistakes. I broke the golden rule of never doing anything new the day of a race. Not only did I break that one once, I broke it twice. So, here it goes... 1. I tried a new gel on race day. I had been coveting my Salted Caramel GU packets for weeks. I was practically salivating at the mere thought of trying them out. My special treat to myself for the race. Now, the error had nothing to do with the f...

MissZippy started a wonderful post idea, Year of Running . I have really enjoyed reading other people's year of running recaps, but wasn't sure if I could pull one together. It can be hard to pinpoint a best run or name the most inspiring runner. But, when I sit back and reflect on my year, running has been such a huge part of it. This was the biggest running year for me period. And it's funny because it didn't start out with running at all. Many of you will recall that I was sidelined with a blood clot in my left jugular. I was told no running, no exercise, sit on the couch. It was a tough pill to swallow. Not only was I terrified because of the clot, the one thing that I could do to decompress, to sort of get away from it all, I couldn't do. I couldn't run. I couldn't run away from the problem. I couldn't have that zen me time. Once I was cleared to run, I tried to jump right back into it, but it was HARD. I could barely run two miles. I struggle...

I wanted to thank everyone again for the congratulations on my CASA Half Marathon . If you ever want to sleep very very soundly, run your fastest half. I slept 12 hours Saturday night. That was even after having had a catnap around 3:45. I imagine the other way to sleep that soundly is by running a full. Sunday was a very lazy day for me other than running a few errands. Basically, the rest of the weekend was a no hair and no make up weekend for me. The only reason I got out of PJs was to leave the house. By Monday, my hamstrings and inner thighs (odd right?), and piriformis were hating me from the race. I knew I needed to get my legs moving to work out some of the stiffness. I also desperately needed a massage. And I do mean desperate. I actually do not like massages at all. I know, I know ... crazy. I don't know what most people's post-race recovery is like, but I'm usually pretty wiped out and the muscle soreness starts to set in big time by day 2. I also know that...

If you recall, I posted last Thursday about not feeling truly prepared for this half marathon. We had been having very cold temps that seemed to be negatively impacting my running. My last training week was slow and felt very difficult overall. Luckily, the temperatures for the CASA Half Marathon had started to go up. Race start was 39 degrees with a "feels like" temperature of 36. The problem was that it was heavy fog and the winds were starting to kick up. This means damp and raw basically. The CASA Half Marathon is a small race. It's one I had not done before. I decided to sign up for it on the tail end of the PR high from the Soaring Wings Half . Sometimes I think there should be a law that states you must wait x number of weeks after one race before signing up for another. Seriously, runner's amnesia can bite you in the butt. But, I signed up for it. I was going to run it. It was a flat course, so I was kind of looking forward to that for a change. But, I ...

Well, I wasn't sure about doing this post today. Normally I'd be posting about pre-race jitters. How I'm feeling about Saturday's CASA Half Marathon really doesn't even have anything to do with jitters this time around. Now, I know many of you will automatically want to disagree with me when I say that I feel very under-prepared.  It's true though. I've been putting in the miles, yes. But since my last half marathon , my runs have slowed down some and I've not pushed out any tempo runs other than the 10-Mile Treadmill last Saturday. Yes, my body knows the distance. I'm not worried about that. I guess I'm worried about this sudden slow down of my pace. I know, shake your heads if you will, it's still how I'm feeling about Saturday. Slow. The thing is, my last race was in very ideal weather conditions. It was in the 40's, sunny, no wind. So while the course was hard, the weather was perfection, especially coming out of the h...

I feel like everyone is saying this, but wow, how on earth is it November already? Didn't we just have the 4th of July? Weren't we just lounging in pools? There's definitely no lounging in our pool now, though, with recent highs in the upper 70s, I suppose it would almost be plausible. At the beginning of the week, it felt more like September. We were running in tanks and shorts. Today, it was 48 at the start and 46 when I got back to the house. Frozen fingers. I suppose it actually felt like November today. Just in time right? I do know that I'm super excited about the time change. It'll be nice to see sunrises while running again, as well as to see the ground. I used to dread the time change because it meant dark at 5 pm. But, now that I run, I've changed my mind. Speaking of minds, I'll stop rambling now and get right on to Fun for Friday . This will be a post-race edition. I have mentioned many times that I don't really enjoy racing. I love to ...

I wanted to write some fantastic, funny, witty race recap. I always enjoy those. Apparently I don't pay enough attention to the details during my races though. So, here's my race recap from the Soaring Wings Half Marathon as best as I can tell it. Saturday morning started off super early, dark, and cold. We woke up around 5:30. I wanted plenty of time to wake up, get breakfast down, and allow for any delays. Let's just say Jason can be hard to get out the door sometimes. After lots of debating, I ended up wearing shorts and a long-sleeved top and throw away gloves. It was about 40 degrees out, dry, little wind. I should have gone with short sleeves, but I just couldn't convince myself. At least I was able to push my sleeve up during the race. I also ditched my water bottle for the first time. I feared this would be my undoing for my time goal. PB & Bananas for the win The race was about 30 minutes away. Not a horrible drive, but just enough to make me...

I don't have anything for Tasty Tuesday, or even Taco Tuesday, so how about Taper Tuesday? Ok, it's technically taper week for me. But, Taper Tuesday sounds good together. Sorry for the weird smile, I take terrible selfies - any pointers from the pros? Saturday I got in my last long run - 12 miles - before my upcoming half marathon. Saturday I'll be doing my 6th half, Soaring Wings . This will be the 3rd time running this course. I'll be honest, this one is a tough one for me. The first year I ran it, I had not been doing hill work. The city is flat. Well, so I thought. They apparently found the only hills in Conway. The first 4 miles are reasonable, but then they just start coming at you. Mile 12 is literally on a hill. Thankfully the last mile is down and then flat, but it's the longest mile of course. Also, this tends to be the coldest morning of the fall. Right now the temps are looking to be between 40-45 depending on what meteorologist I follow. I...

Happy Friday! It's been a long one and I even took Monday off after the Little Rock Half Marathon to recoup. The crazy thing is, other than my foot problem, I felt absolutely fine. No real muscle soreness in my legs. In fact, had my foot not been hurting, you better believe I would have been out running on Monday. Unfortunately, I pushed too hard and am sidelined again. Apparently I don't learn. I've tried really hard not to get down about not running this week. The first few days were ok. I got to try out more of Cathe's XTrain series and spent time on my bike trainer. However, the weather was rapidly improving -sunshine, warming temps, no gusting crazy winds. I think it was even harder because I was still riding that post-race high. You know - thinking about running, looking at more races to enter (why doesn't AR have more races by the way), missing that long weekend run. Gotta love runner's amnesia for helping us all forget the hellish parts of a run som...