In Other News...

Hello!
So, yesterday's post was about what has happened in my life over the last month that I didn't post.
However, this is a running blog, and I didn't mention one darned thing about running during that entire post!

So, here is how THAT has been going lately:

I'm actually kind of pleased with how running went during our 2 1/2 week road trip. When we were in Wisconsin seeing the fiance's family, I made it out on two wonderful, long (for me) runs of 5.1 and 7.8 miles. OK, so it was pretty much back and forth on the road he lives on, but it worked well enough for me.
Going home to Michigan, I got some great runs in. I also got a few new toys:

YES! New shoes! (I needed those badly! They're the same type I had before [Asics Foundation], just different colors.) I love them, so much.
And, look--no more soup can weight workouts for me, because I have actual weights! Thanks, Assistant Coach Little Sister! The red ones are 3's, the red ones are 5's. She also got me a Yoga mat, which I badly needed, too.
So, even with taking days off because I was sick, on the road, or had other things going on, I still had an AWESOME December mileage total: 56.93 miles. That was my 3rd highest month in 2010, and my highest non-half-training month of the year! :D
January started off great, it really did. I got in a few good treadmill runs at home, including one at 6am the day we left to head up here, and one AWESOME one at the hotel on our apartment hunt. I got a nasty cold, though, right after that. So, between that and our one last Lake-Effect-Snowpocolypse before we left, that week dropped right off.
Once we got to Duluth, I re-met an old friend: fear of new things. It took me nearly a week to get the stones to go seek out a safe place to run and go for it. Not being familiar with this place at all, and it being SO much bigger than the 900 person village I'd been living in, I was completely terrified to go, and especially to go alone. I was doing Yoga, some Bob Harper videos, and skating to keep myself somewhat active, but I was getting frustrated. I knew I needed to run, but I was crippling myself with fear.
I finally got brave this past Monday, and I headed down to check out a trail I kept hearing about. It was great, actually--relatively clear considering the weather, right on the water, and varied enough to be interesting and a challenge at points. It's within walking distance of my apartment, too, so that's always nice.
Even with my new discovery and my fear conquered, I still wasn't able to get out as much as I wanted. This is why:

 Uh, yeah. It's cold here. (It barely broke 0 yesterday. I wish I was kidding.) Too cold for me to feel safe being outside for more than about 15 minutes, let alone the time it would take for me to do 3 miles or more. Money is SUPER tight right now, so a gym treadmill is sadly out of the question, so I've only ran twice this week. Again, I did a ton of Yoga and fitness videos, but it's just not the same. I know I need to be getting in the mileage to get ready to start training, and I know once training starts, I won't be able to slack off.  I'm either going to have to get brave and face the weather, or find a super cheap and/or free alternative option to run inside (maybe even doing laps at the nearby hockey rink, if they'll let me!)
So, that's where I'm at in terms of running and fitness of late. It looks like this nasty cold spell is going to break tomorrow, so next week I will hit the trail hard every chance I can to make up for my slacking.

All right, time to get off the computer and on with my day! Hope you all have a great one!

12/14/10--What a bum!

So I've been a complete bum the last few days.
Sunday was just my usual day of rest, even though I took a "rest day" on Friday, too.
Yesterday, it was brutally cold. The windchill didn't break 0 until late afternoon. I was griping to Coach Mom about how bad I felt skipping a run, but she reminded me that sometimes being safer is smarter than trying to prove toughness.
I really did mean to do some Yoga and Bob videos, but I never did. :( Now that, I can feel a bit of shame for, am I right?
Anyway... It's another snowtacular morning in the Copper Country.

 Our poor cars! (One is mine, the other is Brandon's.)

 This is the view out of the back window.

This is out in front of our building--beautiful, bustling, busy South Range. -_- I really enjoy how the snowbanks along the sidewalk here are nearly to my waist.
And, while I don't have to shovel much snow (unless cleaning off my beastly car counts...), I could still appreciate this thought from Hal Higdon this morning:

I leave you with this:
I was very sad this fall when I couldn't carve pumpkins for Halloween. I was also feeling kind of lonely because Brandon was always either working or at school, so one afternoon I decided I was going to find a way to have cute pumpkins, no matter what.
This was the end result:

He thought it was kind of funny in that "Wow, you're kinda strange" way.
So, last night, he asks me if I've done any artwork lately. I was really confused, so he clarified--drawings, like the pumpkins. I told him I hadn't, because I actually had a Christmas tree, though if he really wanted me to draw one, I would.
So, this morning, I produced this masterpiece, which I may or may not have posted to his Facebook wall...

I think our actual tree is cuter, though. I mean, it has a squirrel for a topper!

OK, that's enough foolishness. I promise, I'll have a workout update later.

10/27/10--Remember that day...?

...when I woke up thinking it was going to be a normal day? And then I saw that we had no power, the heat wasn't working, and it was way cold? I spent most of the morning in the Houghton McDonalds, nursing a medium coffee, using the free WiFi, and trying to not look like a homeless bum camping out for the day. I wound up there until just before 1, and unfortunately ate. Twice. The first time around wasn't SO bad... I had the fruit and walnut salad thing, coffee, and a hashbrown for a "treat".

When I was still there at lunchtime, the Boyfriend escaped the clutches of the university that currently owns a large portion of his soul and joined me. That's when the McNuggets and fries came in to play. Hey, I wanted the Monopoly pieces.

Yeah, so not worth it. I came home, and repeated the "sit in the box and feel shame" routine.

I needed to run. I needed to do something. I had to balance out what I just did to myself.

Run? Ok... welllll....

I had tentatively set my plan for my double digit run for the middle of this week. Then, as I mentioned, the weather decided to get fun. This was this morning:

No, that white stuff was not junk on my iPod screen (though I thought so at first and got really frustrated when it wasn't coming off). Hello, snowflakes...

This is right now:

So, 2 degrees took it from snow to cold rain. Fantastic.

Now, I know last winter I was running in worse. Hell, didn't I run just before an expected winter storm last May? Well, yes. However, there is an adjustment period, at least for me. Besides, 10 miles in this? That sounds not only unpleasant, but not smart.

So, will the double digit happen? Yes, but not today. Today, I hung out with Bob again. I'm really finding that the videos on his site are a great alternative to my outdoor runs on days like today. I'm still doing something, and I'm working on muscle groups I don't normally work on, so that's an added bonus!

I did about 30 minutes worth of activities, but the hardest were by far the previously mentioned core workout of doom and the boxing challenge. Instead of weights, I used soup cans--hey, use what you've got, right?

(For the record, I cannot decide if me learning how to use PhotoBooth was a great thing or a horrible, horrible thing...)

So, while today was pretty much off-kilter and not what I expected/wanted... I still was somewhat productive... right?

OK, I'm off. Have fun, all!

10/24/10--Is it OK...?

Today's run: 5 miles (49:24)

Week to date: 5 miles

Month to date: 35 miles

So... yeah.

I didn't run at all last week. Not one single mile, not one single day. And, I am not proud of myself at all, because this week was a lot of pouting, eating bad things or not eating at all. Instead of dealing with my problems like a mature, healthy, active adult, I went back to being a petulant teenager/college student with all of the nasty behavior (and spontaneous crying jags to boot).

And you know what? I'm owning this. I can't pretend this didn't happen, and jump back in to my routine here of making the best meal choices I can think of and trying to hit mileage goals like I didn't revert back to my old self for a week.

Source.

I'm owning it, but I'm moving forward.

Or, so I wanted to, anyway.

I set out on a 5 mile run this morning, after this exchange went on in my head for a good half hour:

The Slacker: Uuuuhnnggnnhhh, it's so cold and damp and dreary outside. I don't want to run.

The Inner-Coach-Mom: So? Go run.

tS: Uuhhmmnngghhgghhh, but my pjs are so comfy... can'tI just go longer tomorrow?

tICM: You said that yesterday. Go run.

tS: Uunnnhhhggghhhnnhhggghhhh, but what if I get shot by someone out hunting?

tICM: WHAT? You're just making stuff up now. Wear bright colors and GO RUN!

tS: Uhhhhnnnnngghhguuhgggnnnhhggnhhhh, FINE.

(If anyone reading is unfamiliar with how it works, when you're running in an area that there may be people hunting (which in the UP is pretty much anywhere...), you're supposed to wear blaze orange, or at the very least something bright colored that screams, "Hey, I'm not an animal, don't shoot me!)

At least it gives me a reason to wear this shirt:

Oh, the things we do for love...

So, I finally got out the door, and I decided something: Let's see how fast I can do this! I did 8 miles the other day in 1:17 and change.... let's see if I can do a 5 miler in 45! I mean, I'm not talking a blistering pace here, I'm talking barely sub-9's.

Yeah. That SO didn't happen. I felt like I was running through Jell-O out there, and I came back in a blistering 49:24. So, instead of running barely-sub-9's, I ran just-barely-sub-10's. I ran slower than I ran last week on the 8 miler. I ran slower than I ran a freaking 13.1 miler!

I'm going to view it as punishment for my behavior last week. I am better than this, and your body can't do the absurd things you ask of it on a Sunday morning if you haven't done anything to help it along for the previous week.

I sit in the box and I feel shame.

OK. Time to play lunch delivery service for the Boyfriend--he's alone at work today and can't leave to get food. Have a great day!