possible 2015 races

so... yes... i've been looking at races.  i did, however, go run even tho' i was dragging my feet earlier today waiting for the rain to stop.  below are the races i've got my eye on for next year.

ice age 50K - 31.06mi - may 9, 2015 (already signed up for this one)

summerfest rock 'n sole - 1/2 marathon - june 13, 2015 (signed up)

ragnar chicago - madison to chicago - june 12-13, 2015

dances with dirt - 1/2 marathon - july 11, 2015 (signed up)

ragnar great river - winona to minneapolis, mn - august 14-15, 2015

striders 1/2 marathon - august 29, 2015

instep trail races - 1/2 marathon - september 5, 2015

lakefront marathon - october 4, 2015 (signed up)


i'm really liking this line up.  i might go with it.

sometimes blah sometimes pee yourself excited

this wisconsin weather blows!

it was -15 this morning when i got in my car and i guess there's just going to be more of the same.  tomorrow will be a balmy 24 degrees but then it will plummet to a high of -15 or so.  what this means for me is that i am very reluctant to run after work.  it is dark outside and frozen and my other option is the dreadmill which i absolutely hate. 

last night i mapped out my training plan for the next 4.5 months.  it will take me through a 10K in march, a marathon and a 20K in april, ending with my 50K in may. in the midst of all that i'll be heading to florida for the easter break in april while still trying to maintain my training schedule.  so.much.running!

the bulk of my mileage is in april too so that will be interesting... driving the couple of thousand miles to florida and then trying to run 22 miles when we arrive.  i might have to alter those two weekends of training to accommodate the travel. lol!

so where was i going with this... oh yeah, the cold.  my weeknight miles are supposed to be (key words here are supposed to) in the 3-7 mile range and the kicker is that because its been so cold and i hate the dreadmill... i've not been logging them like i should.  i love running... i want to continue to love running... so i feel that doing it when i'm not feeling it (for whatever reason) is not in my best interest.  however, it IS in the best interest of my fitness and readiness to tackle a marathon and a 50K.  *sigh*

what's a girl to do for motivation?  that is the million dollar question at this point.  i have no problem with motivating during daylight hours no matter how cold out it is... I.WILL.RUN!

so how do i motivate to get on the treadmill after being at work all day and it's dark out?  how do i STAY on the treadmill for more than 3 miles?  ugh... sounds torturous! 

i guess i'll just plug away at it and maybe get it done without crying. lol!  maybe just the fact that i want to succeed at the longer distances will be motivation enough?  maybe i will look at my butt and decide i want it to look awesome in a swimsuit when we go to florida... or maybe i'll just get home from work, snuggle up under the covers, watch some t.v., and go to sleep.

inspiration, injuries (still), and such...

i haven't run AT ALL all week.  not even a few feet.  my left ankle is really painful to the point that i've been taking ibuprofen every day for it.  i've done some icing (admittedly ONCE) but other than that i've just been trying to let the thing heal by giving it time.  my right ankle hurts a little but not enough to keep me from running.  i figured after a week of rest (which was a considerable challenge all by itself) my ankles would feel better.  it seems to me that they sometimes feel WORSE!  what's up with that?!?

today... 4 rest days AFTER my 1/2 marathon... my left ankle is really starting to worry me.  i'm pretty sure that it's only tendenitis but the hypocondriac in me thinks its something worse. 

tomorrow i'm running a tiny 5K in lapham peak... the lapham peak colorama run/walk & smokey bear fun run.  i'm worried.  i ran this last year and really just want to beat my time but i'm worried that after having taken an entire week off of running my time will be shit.  i suppose that i'll find out tomorrow.

today i read this guy's blog.  he's got 3 new entries up and man... reading other peoples' race reports and thoughts on races really inspires me.  i am really excited for my 5K tomorrow even if i bomb it.  i love love love running in lapham peak.  it is incredibly challenging and beautiful.  i find it very inspiring to run there. 

so... stay tuned for tomorrow's race report and i'll let you know if i totally land on my face or if i PR... let's hope for the PR. 

Brewers Mini Marathon (13.1mi)

Brewers Mini Marathon (13.1) - September 28, 2013
time = 1:48:42 (1:48:40 official results)
pace = 8:14 (8:18 official results)
placed  15th in my age group (40-44) out of 288
placed 171th in women out of 2440
placed 532 overall out of 4043


why do they call it a "mini marathon" when it's really a HALF marathon?  i've been wondering this for awhile now.  still... no one can tell me the answer so if you know please let ME know.  k? thanks...

the sunrise was set for 6:48am today so needless to say (but i'm gonna say it anyway) it was dark out when we left the house at 5:30am.

i'm not really nervous when i have races.  i was for my first few 5Ks and then for my first half but not really anymore.  i'm more worried about not pooping myself as well as pacing myself.  there were so many people and the energy was great!

lots of fun already.  as the sun came up i ran into my friend jeni and shortly after that megan arrived.  we decided to do one last bathroom break before we began and apparently EVERYONE AND THEIR MOM had the same idea.  we were in the bathroom line when the national anthem played.  we got to our corral just in time and then they announced that they were going to start 10 minutes late.  we were crammed like sardines!  i really intended to PR at today's race and i'm sad to report that i did no such thing.  as you can clearly see from my splits:

 

we were running really strong for the first few miles but it was long incline after long incline and i lost megan on the 27th street bridge at about mile 5.3 because she needed to sit down.  after that it was all downhill from there (and i don't mean logistically).  *sigh*

we started to lose the 1:45 pacers near mile 5 because of the long incline on clybourn st. (all the inclines were long... did i mention that?  let me say it a couple more times... REALLY LONG.  only 1 REAL hill but LOTS of gradual inclines).  so by the time we got to 27th both of us were losing momentum.  right after we parted ways tho'... i really just slowed down more each mile.  lame...

national ave. and 35th street were pretty flat so i spent that time trying to move my ass to no avail.  thankfully state street is a beautiful and welcome downhill right past miller brewery.  i stretched out my legs with longer strides, and tried to gain some lost speed/time there.  i managed to maintain the momentum for awhile after it leveled out, but still i knew that i wasn't going to finish in the time i was hoping for.  my legs were really tired although my foot felt pretty good with very little pain.  it was more just an annoying ache than actual pain.

next came hawley road which was the only incline that i'd consider an actual hill.  i actually walked a few steps here.  once i got up to the top tho' i started running again and felt pretty good.  another downhill came just before we got back to the stadium area.  it was wonderful to get a chance to stretch my legs again.  

when there's only one mile left we all got to run on the outer edge of the baseball diamond in miller park.  that was pretty cool because they put everyone's image on the jumbotron and there were so many people cheering us on from in there.

this was a really great race.  the sun was shining the whole time and the temperature was perfect!  there was a bit of a headwind but i'm thinking i wouldn't have even noticed it if i had been running a training run instead of a race.  

as i sit here with really fatigued legs i am really happy with this race.  i'd probably do it again next year. it was well planned and wonderfully organized.  the food at the end was awesome and it just seemed to go on and on... table after table of goodies.  the police were awesome blocking off all the streets and the volunteers were supportive and positive.  i had a really great time today.

all photos by therd

pain in the tuckus

*sigh*

remember this?  well, that wasn't the only injury i gave myself while trail running that particular week.  i also stepped squarely on a big enough rock with my left foot to hurt something fierce...

i've been nursing both of these injuries ever since.  i haven't been too concerned about either injury until yesterday.  the foot doesn't hurt when i poke and prod it so i figured that maybe it was just an internal bruise.  i did my long run on saturday (12mi) and then went to chicago for the day.  it was my birthday and we decided to spend the day walking around parts of chicago.  we parked by millennium park and then walked to the water tower.  in between we went to navy pier for an art festival thing that was going on and also to a restaurant for some food.  it was a wonderful day overall but i'm sure contributed to the way my foot has been feeling.

yesterday, however, my run was brutal.

from the very first running step both of my lower extremities were giving me hell... the right, because of the pulled muscle, felt tight and uncomfortable but did not actually hurt.  the left, because of the (possibly) bruised foot, felt weak and overall painful with each delicately pounding step.  this was compounded since i was on uneven terrain.  ultimately the pain subsided some as i got deeper into the run. 

i cannot tell you how beautiful it is running in lapham!

i completed the black route in just over an hour... slower than the last couple of times but man... that foot!  my time was 1:02:17 for the 6.5 miles. i tried not to walk the hills but walked a minute on the south hill and maybe a minute or less on another hill further in.  not too bad.

when i got home my foot was awful to step on.  did i take any ibuprofen?  oh no... of course not!  i just got in bed and watched a little tv instead. 

this morning it was so painful to walk on that i was limping.  3 ibuprofen later and it doesn't hurt at all... must be some sort of inflammation.  what a pain in the tuckus!  geez... 

this weekend i have the brewers mini marathon and i'm supposed to do 2 more training runs before my off days.  i always take the 2 days before a race off as rest days. 

when i got up this morning i decided i wasn't going to run my last 2 training runs, but now that my foot doesn't hurt i think i might just do an easy 5-6mi road run after work instead of running the trails.  give my foot a break and all that jazz.  i guess i'll decide for certain after work and see how i feel then.  i guess that's the problem with being a bit obsessive... i feel awful not getting my runs in.

my mileage for this month has been awesome compared to april - august... i haven't made my goal mileage any of those months.  then i did the striders 1/2 and was thoroughly disappointed in my time.  i decided that i needed to kick it up a few notches so that the brewers 1/2 goes better.  i was really hoping to PR in the striders so now that's my goal for the brewers.  time will tell.