I've moved!!

For various reasons I have decided to move my blog over to wordpress. I am still new to this blogging thing and am learning as I go. I checked out the wordpress site earlier this week and have slowly started working on my blog there. I like having more options to develop my blog as I learn and grow and it seems a bit more user friendly. Also, the stats on this blog have never completely worked right and I never could get an answer on how to fix it. So please come follow my new and slowly improving blog over at http://randomrunnerramblings.wordpress.com/. 

Thanks to everyone for reading and I hope you enjoy the new look and location of my blog!!

It's a love/hate relationship

As the weather has slowly (or quickly, depending on your location) cooled off I have had to reacquaint myself with running in the cooler weather. This had me weighing the pros and cons of running in the heat versus running in the cold. So here, in no particular order, are the reasons I love/hate running in the cold:

1. I don't sweat as much which means less chafing and painful burning of my eyes.
 *However, I still sweat, which just makes me colder when the wind hits me.

2. With less humidity in the air I can breath easier and it doesn't feel like I'm running through a river.
*The trade off is that the cold air makes my lungs burn and my nose clog up/run like crazy.

3. I don't have to get up before the crack of dawn to run outside and beat the heat of the sun.
*I actually enjoy the quietness and solitude that running this early delivers. I like focusing on my run without having to worry about cars, dogs, or other people.

4. I get to go and buy fun cold weather running gear that gets me excited for my runs.
*After a few miles, I get so hot that I no longer need all the fun gear I spent mucho mula on, but then I'm stuck carrying it.

5. I really enjoy long sleeved shirts since my arms are always cold and I don't have to worry about straps falling or baggy short sleeves bothering me.
*I have some weird OCD thing where I constantly push my sleeves up my arm and them pull them down again when I am uncomfortable or anxious which tends to slow me down while running.

6. When it is cool enough to run in the daylight I am free to run anywhere, without having to stick to the lighted sidewalks.
*I live and run on an Air Force base, where the planes start flying early, so I might as well be running outside the Atlanta airport with all the noise and air pollutants I have to deal with. 

 All in all, I do like when the weather gets a little cooler but anything below 50 and I'm hesitant to leave the warmth of my bed/couch/house. If I can overcome my aversion to the cold, my new love for running will hopefully continue and I will conquer the winter blues like a boss.

  

Triple Terrific Tuesday

Tuesday has been an amazing day, and as I type this it is only halfway over. 

Reason #1: Today and for the rest of the week I get to wake up with my husband and this beautiful view

Reason #2: I had a amazing workout at the gym this morning which included 25 minutes of interval training on the treadmill (I wanted to quit so bad, but I made it through!!), 35 minutes on the cross trainer, 35 minutes on the stationary bike, and some strength training (including using this amazing beauty that I have missed at our gym the last few years). I loved getting my sweat on this morning!!

Assisted Triceps dip and chin ups done!

Reason #3: I got to meet Chris for lunch and we tried out this amazing place with the most delicious fries. 

I had the B.L.T. fries

Chris had a build your own and he topped them with taco meat and cheddar cheese sauce

These were both the small size but it was plenty filling. I got a water to drink and Chris got a Diet Coke and our entire meal was less than $12. You can't beat that! The service was fast and very friendly, they took the time to share info about the menu and what the most popular options were. I was very pleased with my restaurant decision!

I hope the rest of the day continues to bring amazing things. Okay I will stop saying amazing now..AMAZING!! Someone please tell me you saw this episode of Bones. I can't ever say amazing anymore without hearing David Alan Grier in my head.

Come run with us on Friday!

After my stellar 15 mile run on Sunday, Chris came out to meet me and walk the last mile back to the condo. I was really hurting at this point and just wanted to get back and stretch, take an ice bath, and foam roll. Once we got back, I started stretching and suddenly I felt so much better! I think I must have stretched for at least 20 minutes because it felt so good. Then I braved the freezing cold water of my ice bath for about 2.7 minutes and quickly hopped in the warm shower because I was way too cold.

After my shower, I plopped down on the couch and didn't move for about 3 hours while I caught up on my blogging, facebook, twitter, and email. I finally decided around 11:30 that it was time to eat breakfast (I just didn't have an appetite after my run was done, there must be something wrong with me!!). After my Kashi Island Vanilla goodness there was more laying around, playing on the computer, and searching for races to participate in.

The early afternoon brought in a thunderstorm, so Chris and I went out on the balcony to check it out. This is my OMG!, I could have been out running in this face:

And here's a couple of the storm rolling in:

The rest of Sunday was spent pretty much the same with a little football and candy thrown in.

As I was walking around that night I mentioned to Chris that I wasn't as sore as  I thought I would be after running 15 miles, he said he noticed and he was amazed how I was acting like I didn't run at all that morning. I guess my body is getting used to these longer distances.

Monday morning I woke up at 5:45 and couldn't go back to sleep, so I just laid there for awhile and then finally got up and saw Chris off to work. Then I got dressed and went down to the gym to loosen up my legs from the run on Sunday. I did 30 minutes on the stationary bike, sweated like crazy, then came back to the room and did some lunges, squats, pushups and planks. 

One quick breakfast and a shower later, I headed out the door to take our 5k registrations to the Run-N-Tri store. On Friday night we will be running in the Thumbs up for Bill Memorial 5k. (Click the link for more details) There are no awards, just a timed run, a t-shirt, and our money going to a great cause. If you are in the Gulfport area, you should join us for a little running at 6:30 on Friday. Come on out so we can run together!!

15 long miles later

While we were at the mall on Saturday, Chris suggested we have biscuits and gravy for dinner. We agreed it would be a delicious way to carb load for my planned 15 miler on Sunday morning. When Chris got out the bisquick box I saw the picture of pancakes and made a comment that those looked really good. Before I knew it, Chris said it was ready and I walked out to the kitchen to find this delicious spread.

Pancakes, biscuits & gravy, bacon and all the fixins

Chris also made some scrambled egg whites and he shared a little of those with me. I made a complete piggy out of myself and ate all 4 of those pancakes, 2 biscuits with gravy, 4 pieces of bacon, along with the scrambled eggs. I finished it all off with my butterfinger pumpkin, but sadly it was too much chocolate for me to handle (how is that possible?). 

1st plate of delicious carbs

I only ate half of his face off

Then we spent the rest of the night relaxing and watching Prometheus, which I am still undecided about whether I liked it or not. I got all my stuff ready for the next morning and set my alarm for 5am. Sunday morning my eyes popped open and the alarm clock said 4:58, dang 2 minutes before the alarm. Then I remembered the time change and I checked my phone hoping I had another hour of sleep ahead of me, but alas the alarm clock had changed automatically and it really was time to get up. I went out on the balcony to test the temperature and saw some scary looking fog hanging around but I decided not to let it affect my run. 
*Note, this is not my photo, but a good representation of what it looked like. This photo can be found here: source

Foggy morning on the beach

I was out the door and running by 5:30 at an easy warm up pace, but I thought it might be a little faster than a 10 minute mile. That first mile set the tone for the rest of the run, and I think my body knew I needed to take it easy so that I would be able to run further than I ever had before. (My previous longest distance was 13.5 miles) Unfortunately, around mile 2 I had to run through some sand piles and managed to kick a large amount of sand into my shoes, so I had to stop and empty them out. It was a long, slow run, but somehow I managed to make it through and ran the entire 15 miles in 2 hours 37 minutes. That was exactly a 10:30 pace and I was pretty proud of that considering it included the stop to clean out my shoes, the short walk breaks I took at miles 5, 8, and 11 to refuel, and stopping for a water refill at mile 9. I'm really proud of this run and I feel like I fought for every single mile I finished. 

I'm thinking I might need to find something else to use on these long runs to hold my fuel and water. My fuel belt was really bothering me today, it kept riding up and I was fighting with it the entire run. Also, I'm starting to need more water than I can carry on this particular belt. Anyone have any recommendations? I really hate having extra stuff on me during my run, so I don't want anything too big or annoying. I have a Camelback that I use for long bike rides, but I just don't know if I could handle all the sloshing and bouncing that it would do if I tried to run with it. 

Please share what you use to carry your essentials for those long runs??

Playing catch-up

Yes, I know, I'm being a lazy blogger again. But I have been somewhat busy and having lots of fun so please forgive me. Let me catch you up on the last few days: Thursday was spent unpacking, doing laundry, repacking, cleaning the house, running some errands, and getting some much needed sleep. 

I got up at 6am on Friday morning, loaded the car, and headed down to the Gulf Coast so I could spend the next week with my much missed hubby. I know I was just down here last weekend but I needed some more quality time with my awesome man. What a pretty drive it was with all the changing colors! 

The picture doesn't do it justice, I love fall!

I got here about 11am and met Chris for lunch. We had Charley's subs, and I tried something new instead of getting my usual philly steak. I got a turkey and cheddar, sorry no picture of this as I was starving and scarfed it down way too quick. Chris was also nice enough to share his fries with me, just another reason that I love him!

I always think of this when I think about sharing food.

Chris headed back to work and I headed to the condo to rest for a little bit and change for our run at the Ocean Springs bridge that afternoon. Let me just say that it was HOT out there! It was also really sunny and I was squinting hard. Chris wanted to run 3.5 miles at his speedy pace and I was just looking to get in a easy run so I decided to run 3 miles. The run felt good and I was enjoying tackling the hills but just when I was about to finish strong a bug flew in my eye at 2.80 miles. It hit me right in my tear duct and hurt like crazy but I kept running and trying to get it out of my eye at the same time. I finally made it the 3 miles and then stopped to walk. At this point my eye was really hurting and I wasn't sure if I had actually gotten the bug out of my eye. I finally caught up with Chris and asked him if he could see it in there and he said no, so I figured it was still hurting from the trauma and it would stop soon. This wouldn't have happened if I had a nice pair of running sunglasses (hint, hint). 

What it felt like when that bug flew in my eye!

After the run, we headed back to the condo to shower and get dressed. Then we headed out to dinner and Chris took me to a place I had never eaten at, Grains of Montana. It was delicous! I got a cashew chicken salad sandwich on sourdough bread with the house chips. I have had chicken salad with walnuts or pecans but never cashews and it was interesting. The chips were really good and had a flavor that I could not figure out but I loved it anyway. Sorry, once again no pic as I was way too hungry to take the 5 seconds to snap one. 

Then we headed over to Target, my favorite store, to look around. It was candy corn heaven and we found some interesting stuff. 

Candy corn bark!

Corn chips, pretzels, and candy corn

We also picked up some Halloween candy on clearance including this and 2 bags of candy corn to get us through the next week. 

I found a new running shirt on clearance for $3.50, I love when I luck out and find things in my size! Then we walked around Best Buy and Dicks Sporting Goods for a bit and decided to call it a night. We got back to the condo and watched The Campaign. I thought it was pretty funny but also a sad representation of what politics have come to in America. 

We slept in on Saturday morning (7:30 is sleeping in to me) and then got up and went to Walmart for some groceries. We got back and ate breakfast (just some poptarts for me, getting those carbs in for my long run on Sunday). Then Chris worked on some school work while I caught up on my internet stalking and watched some college football. Georgia was playing awful and Chris needed a break, so we decided to go to the mall and look around. I tried on a few things in American Eagle and they really need to work on their sizing. I typically wear a size 2-4 depending on the brand, I tried on a pair of size 00 shorts that fit really well, a pair of size 0 jeans that I couldn't get all the way up, a pair of size 0 capris that were a little loose and a pair of size 4 capris that fell off of me. I decided I didn't need any more clothes so we did some more walking around and left the mall empty handed.

We got back in time to see Georgia kicking butt, I guess I just needed to stop watching so they would win! Well, I think I have gotten close to catching you up on my weekend, my next post will include the rest of my Saturday and my 15 miler on Sunday!

Had to share the beautiful sunset from Friday night.

How I spent my Halloween

Since I stayed for the awards after the race on Tuesday night and then made a stop by Walmart, I didn't get home until 8:45. I didn't end up getting in bed until well after 11, which is way late for this old lady. So I slept in until 8:30 and that's only because my phone rang and woke me up. 

Since my day started so late I decided to take it easy and wait for it to warm up a bit before I went on my easy 6 mile run. I had breakfast (shredded wheat, skim milk, and a banana) and caught up on all my social networking. Since I usually find it hard to get motivated to work out if I don't do it first thing in the morning, I kept procrastinating my run. 

Finally, at around noon I got up and started to get ready to go. I made it out the door around 12:45 but by then it was at least warm enough (for me) to try out my new Under Armor shirt and give my new shorts a second test run. 

I wanted to run at a casual, easy pace just to see what an easy pace is now that the half marathon training is over. I forgot about how bad the wind is here, especially in the middle of the day when the planes are flying (I live on an Air Force base). The problem with wind is it makes me run faster than I should because I keep hoping I can outrun it or at least change directions so it isn't smacking me in the face. 

I pushed way too hard during my first mile and the rest of the run reflected that. I had to stop and fix my hair because it was falling down and I also stopped for a walk break halfway in. I wanted to use this run to work on my form so I kept having to focus and remind myself to keep my arms down, land with my feet under me not in front of me, and keep my breathing even and controlled. This focus takes a lot of my energy so between that and everything I did on Tuesday I was just not feeling it. Even with all that I still managed to finish my "easy" run in an hour and 2 minutes.

After my run it was time for lunch. I had the usual turkey wrap and then a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I have a hard time deciding what treat I want with my lunch so I end up piling on a few different things in the hopes that I will satisfy whatever craving I am having and can't identify.

I spent the next few hours snacking on my weight in candy corn and dipping about half of it in peanut butter (seriously, try it!). At around 6pm I made a quick dinner so I could go sit in my bedroom with all the lights off and avoid the trick or treaters because I failed to get the tons of candy required to last the 2 hours of trick or treating on base. 

Dessert consisted of this: 

Then its time to hit the hay because I have a very busy day ahead of me for Thursday, hope I don't have a sugar crash and get lazy.