12/11/10--In 3 Acts

Today's run: 3.05 miles
Week to date: 15.1 miles
Month to date: 23.28 miles

Act 1: Return to WiiFit
Wednesday, I wanted to do an alternative activity day. I couldn't get my Yoga Podcasts to work on my iPod Touch, so I used my friend's WiiFit. This spring, I used my old roommate's then-fiance's WiiFit regularly and loved it, so I was excited to get back to it.
Sadly, it was not nearly as much fun as I remembered. :( I did a body test (that I failed miserably. I'm 25 going on 37, apparently...) This was followed by boxing, a few Yoga poses, and some Ski jumping balance games. It was all right, but no where near as fun or challenging as I remembered.

Act 2: Negative Split 4 Miler
Thursday, I went back to the fitness center to use the treadmill again. I wanted to see if I could run a negative split 4 miler. I was doing great until the last mile (I had it set at an 8:56 min/mi pace for this one). 1/4 mile in, and I started gagging. I hopped off long enough to take care of business, and finished my run. It was really discouraging. I mean, my miles were 9:46, 9:30, 9:15, and then 8:56 (I think, I forgot to write these down, but those seem close enough), and THAT led me to the point where I was getting sick? We're not exactly talking speed demon here. Clearly, I have a lot of work to do if I want to get to the point I'd like to be by May.

Act 3: Pre-Snowpocolypse run
Look what we have today up here!

Fortunately, it hadn't started by the time I could peel my eyes open this morning, because this was what my weather app said:

So I suited up...

...and headed out.
(For the record, all of my top layers are pink. What can I say, I was feeling girly today, in many ways...)
I'd like to say I made the best of not feeling 100% and running in what I have now adjusted to as normal weather for SR, but I can't do that honestly. Half the time, I was mentally whining about something, either being cold, being tired, how icky I was feeling, the street conditions, any number of things. The other half, I was picturing the map I made on MapMyFitness, telling myself how much further I had left and trying to be self-encouraging.
But, for 2 weeks in a row, I hit my target mileage. And, now I can say that I have run during a winter storm warning twice! (The first time was back in May.) Does this earn me some kind of runner or Yooper merit badge? No? Aw, OK.

OK, it is time for a sandwich and to get caught up on blogs from the last few days. My advance apologies for the comment onslaught, ladies. Have a great day, everyone!

12/6/10--More Snow and More Dogs

Today's run: 3.05 miles
Week to date: 3.05 miles
Month to date: 11.23 miles

So, remember yesterday, when I said that the cold and snowy day made it perfect for an off-day?
Well, welcome to today:

18. Feels like 6.  I don't know, maybe they were wrong about that, too, because they sure were wrong about the only being cloudy thing! Still, it was definitely cold!

So, I bundled up

and I went for it.

It was just as cold, windy, and snowy as I expected. I especially loved all the looks I was getting from the township workers out plowing. I also got to meet the two lovable dogs of a husband and wife pair out clearing their driveway. I'm not sure what kind they were, but they were big! And, once they realized I wasn't going to hurt anybody, I was their new BFF and they almost weren't going to let me leave! Their owners got them corralled back in to the garage, and I slipped out of sight before my new doggie BFFs could follow me on my snowy insanity.

Speaking of lovable dogs and snow...

Meet my "nephew", Assistant Coach Little Sister's Shih-Tzu, Dave. He's 8 months old, and he's having his first adventures with snow. Word from back home is that the little guy loves it. I've never been one for little dogs, but Davey stole my heart right away. I know he likes me, too--I had a little brown and white shadow while I was home for Thanksgiving, and he was trying really hard to come with me when I headed back up here!

OK, time to get warm! Have a great day, everyone!! :)

11/30/10--Out of the box...

Today's run: 3.08 miles
Week to date: 7.08 miles
Month to date: 40.68 miles

Another month complete! I thought it would be interesting to look at my monthly totals, so here they are:
January: 18.1
February: 16
March: 4 (Oh goodness...)
April: 37
May: 45.76
June: 26
July: 69.4
August: 70
September: 32.1
October: 35.1
November: 40.68

Yeah, I realize that most of those monthly totals are some people's WEEKLY totals, but that's OK. This is my journey, and even the smallest of those is better than what I had been doing before 2010. So, while they're not stellar compared to some, I'm proud, especially of from April on. It just shows how far I've come this year, and it makes me want to keep going.

Anyway, on to today's adventure!
The weather:

And the outfit: 

(Yup!! I decorated the apartment yesterday!)

And, it has made its triumphant seasonal return: the All-Star Toque! 

I had some fun while ransacking my winter clothes stash to find this hat:

First, I found my Grandpa's band jacket.

And then I found mine!

Then, I found something that is NOT mine, and that I do NOT approve of.

Eventually, I stopped playing with PhotoBooth and decided to, you know, actually go for a run.

I noticed on my drives to and from town yesterday and today that the shoulder of the highway was probably going to be my safest bet for running for a while. They were surprisingly clear, and it's not like it's a terribly busy stretch anyway. 

There was a bit of climb involved, too.

And boy, did I feel that coming back! It wasn't anything daunting, but just enough to feel.

I felt much safer today than I did yesterday. I don't think this will be a run I try right after a snowfall, but knowing HoCo, I think this will be safer than trying the streets in Houghton overall. Plus, the hills will only make me stronger in the end, right?

OK--time for breakfast! I had a basically empty peanut butter jar in the cupboard that I was saving just for some Oats-in-a-jar! :D

Have a great day, all!

11/8/10--Paranoia, Paranoia...

Today's run: 3 miles

Week to date: 3 miles

Month to date: 10.5 miles

Welcome home, Lindsey!

Cuteness side story: I left notes everywhere in the apartment for Brandon (the Boyfriend) to find before I left on Tuesday. When I came home, he was standing at the door

holding up this:

In case it's hard to read, it just says "I love you too", and yes, my boyfriend probably does have better handwriting than me. Oh well. Still, he's so freaking cute sometimes... :)

Anyway, home sweet home, and back on the trail here. Today's weather:

And, once again, over-dressed:
To be fair, the report was cooler before I left. Oh well.

It was a pretty basic 3 miler. I hit a kind of second wind right around mile 2, and I felt awesome and strong, but other than that not much of note.

Hunting season is definitely approaching quickly, however. I heard all kinds of gunshots while I was out. I've made the unofficial decision that I'm going to run in town during deer season, just to be on the safe side of things. I mean, I trust hunters and all (my entire family does it), but I think since I'm running by myself all the time, and usually coming home to an empty apartment, it's probably in my best interest to err on the side of over-caution.

In other news, after reading Caitlin's blog this morning, I was inspired to take on a new challenge:

This site gives a 6 week training plan to work up to doing 200 consecutive sit-ups. My mom and I have talked about what I would need to do to work up to running my first marathon, and strengthening my core is high on that list. I did the initial test this morning, and sadly only eked out 20. :( Yeah, my core needs some serious work. I'm excited to see where this goes!

OK. Time for some food. Have a great day, all! :)

11/1/10--"I'm sorry, but you threw off the Emperor's groove."

Today's run: 3 miles

Week to date: 3 miles

Month to date: 3 miles

Happy 1st of the month!

So... October goals were not met. I never did the double digit run, and I did not hit 50 miles. I'm a little bummed, but that's life.

I've noticed I'm lacking a bit of consistency with my running. I have GREAT weeks, and I have off weeks. There's very little middle ground. So, my November goal is to run consistently: 3-4 times per week. No mileage goals, just to get out and go.

So... on to today!

My groove was a bit thrown off this morning. I have developed a kind of routine for my mornings when I'm not subbing, and a lot of it really kind of centers on being home alone. Coffee, breakfast, listening to music or the TV to wake myself up, and at least 2 trips to the bathroom, among other things. The Boyfriend is usually gone pretty early, but he's not working this week as he wraps up his senior design. So, having him around kind of threw off my morning routine because I felt like I couldn't turn on my music or TV shows, I was waiting to use the bathroom until he got in and showered, I felt somewhat obligated to make him something for breakfast when I got my food, too. I wish I had an explanation why having him around threw me off so much, but it really did.

However, the run went on.

Today's weather:

And today's "I'm not an animal, please don't shoot me as I run through the woods" ensemble:

And here's me being a goofball with the Boyfriend's goalie stick:

And, finally, here's me being mad at said boyfriend for not eating his banana this morning:

(Seriously, who decided it would be a good idea for me to have PhotoBooth?)

My plan when I got back was to do the Core Challenge of Doom, but when I went to the site, I got this:

OK then.

All right, time to get on with my day. Hope you have a good one!