Beautiful day

I wanted to title this post "my a$$ hurts", but thought that wasn't necessarily what people would want to see on their blog rolls and in their readers.

This morning when I dropped off Jones at school, I commented that I needed to get Shoo to early drop off to take advantage of the beautiful day. She looked at me like I'd grown an extra head. Why? Because it was about 60 degrees, grey, and drizzly. As I said, a beautiful day for a long run. ;o)

I dropped off Shoo and headed out on my run. I was in a wonderful mood. My legs felt great. My butt was complaining with every step. What the heck was up with that? I ran a fast five miles yesterday evening (9:08, 8:45, 8:39, 8:28, 8:16) on a pretty hilly route and I did a ton of laundry and cleaning. Oddly, my butt was sorer from that than it was from racing the Army 10 miler.

Despite the soreness (which slowed me way down), I had a nice run. I finished the 8 miles in 1:18:19, with negative splits. I've been working really hard lately to start slow and finish fast and that seems to be really coming together.

After my run, the clouds went away and it warmed up to the high 60s. I was glad I was done with my run, as it was now a truly beautiful day, but I liked running in the cool much better. Am I the only weirdo who trains hard over the winter and just tries to maintain during the summer?

My parents just flew in for the weekend and we'll be celebrating Shoo's birthday, as well as Halloween and dad and I are running an 8k, so I may be MIA for a few days. Hopefully I'll get a chance to post some pics from the festivities, but if not, have a happy and safe Halloween!

Color me crazy

Beer Geek says I'm happiest when I have something to obsess over. I say I'm happiest when I have goals and am working toward them. Either way, I don't do well when my life is in "wash, rinse, repeat" mode. I find myself unmotivated and just sort of blah. Things are fine here and even pretty busy, but I don't have any major goals right now. I suppose I could start a project on the house (it certainly needs it) or maybe start preparing for my eventual return to work by volunteering or taking classes or something. But, no, I've decided to obsess about a new running goal.

As I mentioned last week, I joined the Half Fanatics. Right now, I'm at the Neptune level. I don't want to stay at that level. As RunningLaur mentioned, staying at Uranus doesn't sound pleasant LOL and I'm all about efficiency. So, what's the fastest way to move up? Back to back half marathons. Yep, I'm planning to run a half on Saturday and a half on Sunday in either April or May.

Right now, I have two different plans. The first is to run the Charlottesville Half on April 17, 2010 and the Run for the Shelter Half on April 18, 2010. This has the definite benefit of being relatively local. However, the C'ville Half is hella hilly. Not sure I want to run a really hilly half and then run another the next day. The second plan is to run the Capital City Half in Columbus, Ohio on May 1, 2010 and the Pittsburgh Half on May 2, 2010. The plus side to this is that I would gain two states on my 50 state quest. The downsides? 6+ hour drive each way. We'd need to get my parents to watch the kids, as I don't like taking Jones out of school. Beer Geek prefers the first option, but I'm pushing the brewpub and weird geography angle.

Either way, I need to come up with a training plan that leads toward back to back long runs. I do well with flexibility, but I figure I need to come up with a plan that slowly builds both long runs. I'll likely create my own, if someone knows a plan that trains for something like Goofy, I'd be interested. Of course, I also need to figure out how to not race the first HM of the weekend...

I had a nice run yesterday. It didn't start off well. I was cold and extremely stiff, but suddenly at the 2.5 mile point, I hit my stride. Unfortunately, I was only planning to run three miles. I ended up running 4 just because it felt so good I wanted to keep going, but I only had a small amount of time to run. My first mile was 10:09, my last was 8:50. I think I'm starting to get the negative split thing down.

Wishing good luck to all the marathoners tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the Marine Corps Marathon. It's hard to believe that it's been a year since I ran it. I started this blog to have an outlet during training and not drive all of my friends and family crazy. I chose the name "MCM Mama" without considering that I might keep writing after the marathon. Yet, here I am still writing, still running albeit much shorter distances these days. Sometimes I wonder if I should change the name of my blog or maybe just come up with something else to have MCM stand for (I know you can help me out here, Glaven). I'd better start figuring out my 2010 calendar as I'm feeling a bit lost LOL.

I went out for a nice, slow, rainy 3.5 mile run today. My legs were a bit heavy, thanks to running 10 miles on Thursday and then spending yesterday at a Fall Festival and then at Boo at the Zoo. I was really feeling all that hilly walking in my glutes this morning when I ran.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a perfect fall day. I'll enjoy my planned short run while thinking of all the runners out doing 26.2. Good luck Amy and all the other runners!

TIART: Tell me about your racing

Today I'm the host of Take It and Run Thursday for the Runner's Lounge. I've been looking forward to this for months! I enjoy reading everyone's contributions each week and I'm really looking to hearing what you all have to say.

So, my question for this week was this:

We've all discussed why we run, but why do you RACE and how do you choose which races to run?

Do you look for certain distances, swag, location, start time, or something else? Tell me how you decide where and when to race. Also, I'm currently on a quest to run a race in every state. Please tell me--and others about a particular race you've run that is not to be missed.

I guess I should answer my own questions, huh?

Why do I race? Pretty much the obvious reason - I need external motivation to improve my running. I've run on and off for years as a way to keep my weight where I want it and to keep depression at bay. Starting to run races, however, has taken my running to a whole new level. My longest run before I started racing was 4 miles. Now, that's my minimum run length. I never would have pushed my body to achieve the endurance I now have if I hadn't trained for a marathon. In fact, I really need to get a half marathon on the calendar soon as I'm struggling to find the motivation to get past 10 miles on my long runs.

Also, I run by myself. Running races gives me a chance to interact with my IRL running community (as opposed to all the cool runners in my computer). It's fun to chat with people I've never met and challenge myself at the end of a race to keep up with (or pass) another runner.

As for choosing races, for the most part, races have to be either 1)walking distance to my house or 2) in a state in which I haven't raced. I'm lucky in that I have 3 or 4 races every year that start within a mile of my house. These go on my calendar as soon as they are announced and the rest of my racing schedule works around them. The next most important category for me is new states. I raced in 6 new states this year (plus 2 in prior years), so I have 42 more states to go and 10.5 years to hit 50 by age 50. I try to find a race anytime we travel out of the area. Also, since Beer Geek loves to travel to new brewpubs/breweries and to geographic "oddities", I can usually convince him at least once a year to take a trip specifically to hit a race.

As far as individual races go, I have yet to run in a "bad" race. (I've had some sucky races, but none of that has ever been the organizers' fault.) They've all been well organized, with good swag and decent courses. My favorite race so far though was the Marine Corps Marathon. It was incredibly well organized (as one might expect), the course was awesome, and the swag was pretty nice (a long sleeve mock turtleneck and a medal). The fact that it started and ended only a few miles from my house didn't hurt either.

Thanks to all those who participate! I can't wait to hear about why you race and where you race.

Unrelated to TIART, I managed to run 10 miles today. I was not feeling the love of running, thanks to a cold my body is fighting and the fact that Beer Geek has been traveling this week. I really just wanted to spend the time Shoo was at preschool sitting by myself with a book and a cup of coffee. Instead, I forced myself out the door with a Honey Stinger gel (awesome and didn't upset my tummy) and my handheld full of Nuun. I promised myself I'd run at least 4 miles and then ran 2.75 miles away from my house to guarantee I'd have to run at least 5.5. I started at a ten minute pace and managed to speed up every mile, finishing mile 9 in 8:48! I then did mile 10 very slowly as a cool down. Other than being overdressed (capris and a short sleeve shirt), it was a really nice run.

I'm a Fanatic!

OK, really just a "Half Fanatic". Yep, with that lovely combination of two half marathons in two weekends in May, I qualified for the lowest level of membership, AKA a Neptune.

The best part about it? Now I have my first goal for 2010 - to qualify for the next level. I don't know if I'll get beyond the second level anytime in the near future, but I feel the need to at least get out of the bottom level. I guess I have "issues" with just barely qualifying for something LOL.

Shoo and I headed out to Cox Farms today while Jones was at school. We had a blast! This is the first time I've gone to a fall festival with only one child (I was HUGELY pregnant with Shoo when we took Jones to his first one). It was so much fun to just focus on him and do the things he wanted to do.

Shoo with one of the many random things he chose to pose with.

Shoo milking a cow

Happily, Jones' school is going on Friday and I got a babysitter for Shoo so that I can go and have a fun time with Jones.

I also got approached by the school librarian at Jones' school today. She generally doesn't use parent volunteers, but she'd heard through the grapevine that I might be looking for employment at some point in the near future. She asked me to volunteer as a sub in November while she's out a couple of days, so that I can get familiar with the library, its catalog, and the procedures. Then she'll give my name to the substitute coordinator so that I might officially get to sub. A toe in the door! Since I'm not in a hurry to work until Shoo goes to kindergarten and even then, I'd love to just sub out to different elementary school libraries rather than have a real job, this is a perfect start.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the "happy stuff" trend continues this week.

TIART: If I only had a...

This week Tall Mom is hosting Take it and Run Thursday for the Runner's Lounge. She asks...

Scarecrow asked for a Brain, Tin Man for a Heart, and Lion for Courage. If you could meet the Wizard of Running and ask for anything what would it be? When your wish was granted how would your travels down the Yellow Brick Road of running be different?

I have had a really hard time coming up with an answer to this question. Some fairly obvious things came to mind: speed, patience, motivation. All of those would be lovely and would certainly make my trip down the "Yellow Brick Road" of running go more smoothly. But what I really think I need is to be more decisive and to learn to be more at peace with my decisions.

I'm having a really hard time figuring out where to go from "here" and not just with running. Do I dedicate more time to running and run another marathon or do I let running take a bit of a backseat and focus on finding a new career path? Do I "specialize" in the 10K to 10 mile distance and work on speed or do I start building my endurance for longer distances again?

I'm an "accidental" stay at home mom. I never planned to quit my job and shelve my career. Circumstances made becoming a stay at home mom the best decision at the time. While some things have changed, this is still the best situation for our family for now. But, not a day goes by where I don't wonder if I'd be a better mom if I was still doing a job I enjoyed.

I'm also an "accidental" marathoner. I randomly blurted out to a friend one day that I was thinking about doing a marathon. He thought that was so cool and wanted to know which one. I told him the Marine Corps Marathon and then felt like I HAD to do it because I'd said I was. I don't regret doing it, but there was a whole lot of "what was I thinking" during the training.

So, yeah, I"d like to decide what direction I want to go in with my running and then find a training plan and get on with it. Maybe that'd free up some brain cells for more important questions, like "what do I want to be when I grow up". LOL

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Some other random things going on...

• I picked up the Wizard of Oz for Jones to read a few weeks ago at the library. He was shocked when I told him there was a movie too. What kind of slacker parent am I?
• I spent today switching out warm weather and cold weather clothes in my dresser and closet. In the process, I threw out an entire garbage bag of stuff and put together a box for donating. I'm 5'3" and fairly small, why exactly did I have a bunch of men's XL shirts? I gave a couple to my (6' tall) husband and donated the rest.
• My Senseo coffee maker broke yesterday. I don't really NEED a new one, but I was really sad when I had to make a small pot of coffee in the regular pot.
• I ran an awesome 4 mile run on the treadmill this evening. So awesome that I can't even remember how long it took. That's 18 miles in three days and all the miles felt great. Dollars to donuts my next run will suck because I just posted that.
• I need to end this stream of consciousness post and head to bed.

The Forerunner is not an attractive bracelet...

Unfortunately, despite charging it last night, my garmin was not up for the 8 mile run today and crashed almost immediately. Grrr.

Fortunately, the run was good despite my missing running buddy. I ran an approximately four mile loop and then a three mile loop and then one of my measured miles that I use for speed work. From what I can figure out from MapMyRun, I ran around 8.5 miles and averaged a 9:45ish pace. I did the last mile in 8:45!

I haven't felt this strong for a long run in a long time. I made one major change - I ate more last night and then had a snack about 15 minutes before I ran this morning. Instead of feeling like the running dead, I felt great the whole time (well, except for a quick race to the bathroom at the end of mile 4). It was finally cool here today and I ran in capris and a long sleeve tech shirt and was quite comfortable. I did realize why I love the garmin so much, though. 1)The numbers give me something to think about while I'm running and 2) I can run wherever I want and know how far I'v gone. Today I had to run some known loops and it was a bit of a boring run.

I've been feeling antsy lately. I haven't had anything really big going on since I trained for the Marine Corps Marathon. I'm happy that my life is pretty normal and stable, but I need to have something to occupy me. To that end, I've made a few short term goals to get me to the end of the year. Then I'll start training for... something. Whether that will be a marathon or a series of half marathons, I don't know yet.

Short term goals:

1) PR at the 5 mile race on November 1

2) Get a personal best at the Turkey Trot (I'm unlikely to PR as my PR was on a flat, fast course and the TT is super hilly.

3) Complete a minimum of 1030 miles for 2009 (I'd like to do more, but this is the number I'll hit if I keep up the 20 mile weeks. Beer Geek has three weeks of travel coming up, plus the boys are out of school for various holidays, etc, so increasing much is probably out of the question).

4) Go to the county gym at least once. I need to see if it is a viable cross-training option.

So, what are your goals for the rest of 2009 and have you started thinking about your "A" race(s) for the spring?

Pimping me out to races

As a runner, it's important to have the support of family and friends. As a running mom, it's essential. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to run and race if I didn't have Beer Geek's support. He's always been really good about making sure I have time to run and sometimes sends me out for a run when he realizes that it's necessary for my mental state.

Lately though, his support has reached a new level. He's been finding new races for me to run. A race that ends or starts at a brewery? "Let's" do it! A race that does something weird like cross a border? Hey, honey, I think you should run that. At least he hasn't decided that this is a good idea (yet).

I had an excellent run tonight. It was one of those runs I just didn't want to do and my knee was bothering me when I first started. Thankfully, the knee worked out its issues quickly and I settled into a nice pace. Mile 1: 9:21. Nice, felt good. I was just running comfortably. Mile 2: 9:11. OK, I'll take that. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to Garmin, but when I glanced down near the end of mile 3, I realized I was comfortably running an 8:45 pace. Mile 3: 8:52. Hmm, well, I wonder if I can beat that for mile 4. Yep. Mile 4: 8:40. Well, must finish strong. Mile 5: 8:23! even with a huge uphill at the end. 5 miles in about 44:45. I ran an extra half mile to cool down and called it good.

Tomorrow is my long run. I'm planning 8 miles. I wonder how it'll go with less than 24 hours between tonight's speedy run and tomorrow's long run. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Round 1 done

Running and blogging have had to take a bit of a back seat this past week. I've been a little busy with other endeavors. Jones turned 8 today and I got to spend the better part of yesterday creating this masterpiece:

In case you can't tell, those are lightsabers from Star Wars. I'm neither a good baker nor particularly artistic, but twice a year, I get to create a masterpiece. Thankfully, while their ideas are grandiose, the boys have fairly low standards for the actual execution LOL.

Today may have been Jones' best birthday party ever, at least from my perspective. We held it at a local bowling alley and it included bowling, pizza, and all set up/clean up, so all I had to do was show up with a cake. Awesome!

In running news, I ran a hilly four miles Friday at a 9:25 pace. My only goal was to stay in the shade, since it was a sunny 82 degrees out (I know, I'm a warm weather wimp), so I was pleased with the average pace. Today, I made a failed attempt at speed work. I briefly contemplated doing mile repeats, but after the near fail of the first one, I cut back my plan to 1 x 1 mile, 2 x .5 mile and 4 x .25 mile (and I didn't even manage that). My goal was approximately an 8 minute pace.

1 mile: 8:04 (almost hit it)

1st .5 mile: 3:59 (ok)

2nd .5 mile: 4:13 (FAIL!)

At that point, I decided speed work was just not in the cards today. My breathing was fine, but I just couldn't get my legs to do the necessary turnover. So, I just ran enough to hit 5 miles in 45 and change. Guess I have my work cut out for me as my next race is an 8k.

Three weeks until round 2 (AKA Shoo's birthday). Wonder what creation I'll get to come up with for him...

Where to from here?

I ran most of the summer without a plan. I had a vague plan to make sure I put in enough long runs to be able to finish the 10 miler, but that was about it. I only ran a few runs longer than 8 miles and speedwork was pretty much non-existant.

All I have left on the books for 2009 is a Turkey Trot 5k that goes right past my house. There's an 8k that I'm eyeing because the start line is less than a mile from my house. It's on Halloween weekend, though, which is crazy busy with my parents visiting, Halloween, and Shoo's birthday. However, I try to run every race that is walking distance from my house and all the chocolate and sugar from Halloween should provide good carbo loading.

It seems to be too early in the year to be done with race season. I feel like I should have at least a 10K coming up or a half marathon or something. So far, I haven't found anything that interests me that doesn't conflict with other stuff in our lives, so I may be done racing longer distances until 2010. (Although if I can find a December race, I'll have run a race in every month of 2009 except January and July.)

So, my plan for the rest of the year? I have no idea LOL. I'm definitely going to be adding some speedwork and hilly runs to prepare for the very hilly 5k. I'm also planning to bump up my long runs so that I do a 9-12 mile run each week at the very least. Right now, I can run strong for 6 miles. I may be tired (and near the puke threshold) if I race or run a tempo, but my legs can run strong for that distance. I'd like to build my running so that I can say that about a 10 mile run.

Why? Because 2010 will either be the year of another marathon or the year of multiple half marathons. I'm feeling the need for a "big" goal.

In actual running news, I ran an easy four miles yesterday and seven miles today. Nothing fast or exciting, just good strong, slow paced runs. Despite having run HARD on Sunday, both runs so far this week felt really good.

Moral of the story: Run your own race

Short story: 1:30:49, which was a PR, but not my goal.

Longer story:

Mile 1 - 9:28

Mile 2 - 8:37

Mile 3 - 8:32

Mile 4 - 8:24

Mile 5 - 8:53

Mile 6 - 8:59

Mile 7 - 9:22

Mile 8 - 9:11

Mile 9 - 9:02

Mile 10 - 9:19

(Times don't add up exactly as garmin says I ran 10.16 miles.)

The logistics of starting the Army 10 Miler were actually a lot less worrisome than I expected. I had no trouble parking where I planned, even though I left my house 15 minutes later than I planned. Security was a bit more relaxed this year - they just made sure you had a race bib on. Last time they actually asked if you had a prohibited item (cell phone, ipod, camera, etc) and did a visual inspection. This year I could have walked through with my cell in my hand (rather than in my shorts pocket). Porta potty lines moved smoothly. The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny with a nice breeze. I was chilly while I was waiting, which is the perfect way to start a race.

I got in my appropriate corral with about 8 minutes to race time. I happened to be right near the 9:00 minute pacer. Since that was the speed I was planning, I decided to run with the pace group. Eight minutes passed before we got to the start line. Finally, we were able to start running. The first mile was spent getting around slower runners and walkers (really - you should not be walking at mile one if you are in the 9 minute corral. really.) At the end of mile one, I was about 30 seconds off of goal pace, as was the 9 minute pace group.

For the next three miles, I ran hard to keep up with the 9 minute group as the pacer made up time. HUGE mistake on my part. HUGE! I didn't walk the water stops and several times when I looked down at Garmin, I was running around an 8 minute pace. I should have dropped back after mile two when the pacer kept trying to make up time. I was running too hard too early. But, I decided to try to stay with them until mile 5.

I ended up staying with them until the water stop just after mile 6. I was DONE. I need to catch my breath and my legs felt like lead. After walking the water stop and getting in a decent amount of gatorade, I picked up the pace again and got close enough to see the pacer. I figured I'd hang back, but keep them in sight. At the start of mile 7, I knew I was running out of steam. I should have had my GU at that point, but I couldn't remember when the next water stop was. I slowed down and just tried to stay under a 9:30 pace.

At the end of mile 8, there was another water stop, but I didn't eat the GU. Not sure why, but in retrospect, I totally should have. I drank gatorade and sped back up to an 8:50 pace, but it was too late in the game. I had very little left to give and the last two miles were a total battle. I pushed as much as I could. In the last mile, there were a number of uphills to get over the bridge back into Virginia and it was all I could to do maintain my pace. I did manage a sprint for the last tenth of a mile, but it wasn't a particularly impressive one.

My planned race involved going out slow (did that), maintaining a 9-9:15 pace for the first 5, a GU at mile 5, and then a gradual increase in pace. I don't know if that plan would have gotten me sub 1:30, but I'm pretty sure it would have allowed me to finish stronger, instead of being totally spent long before I hit the finish line. All in all, I'm happy with my time and I ran a strong race for the most part, but I don't think I ran a smart race. I did notice the monuments this time though. ;o)

After the race, I grabbed some water, chatted with a friend who was volunteering, and headed to my car. I didn't grab any food as the line was horrendous and I needed to get home. I hadn't thought to put anything in the car to eat, so I was ravenous by the time I got home. After a quick snack and a shower, we headed out to the National Zoo's Autumn Conservation Festival, where I walked a number of hilly miles. Amazingly, my legs felt fine today. Guess I'm stronger than I was when I ran this two years ago (and then could barely walk for days LOL).

Chip time: 1:30:49, approximately 8000 out of 21000 total finishers, top quarter of my division.

Goals? What goals?

It's been a while since I visited my goals for the year. I'm beginning to think about next year, so I thought I'd check in and see how I'm doing this year.

1) Run at least three half marathons, with the eventual goal of a sub-2 hour half. All done, with two of them at sub-2. Revised goal: Beat 1:30 at the Army 10 miler in October. This is not looking likely. I'm just not feeling speedy lately, so I may just take it easy on this race and actually try to pay attention to where we are running. I've run near the monuments during races before, yet I really have never notice them LOL. I'd at least like to meet my finish time from the last time I ran this race, which was 1:35. We'll see.

2) Run races in at least three new states (but I'm aiming for 5).
Blew this one away. Delaware, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine, and Illinois this year.

3) Workout five times a week. I'm still running four times a week and I'm back to walking at least 1.5 miles on weekdays to take Jones to school. Sometimes I get another 1.5 in the afternoon if Shoo and I walk to get Jones or another walk with a friend after dropping Jones off. Shoo is two weeks into preschool, so I'm hoping soon to figure out some sort of cross-training that works for me.

4) Stop stressing about my weight and start lifting weights. I actually lost the weight I wanted by being more mindful of what I was putting in my mouth. I have totally sucked on the weight lifting though. Hoping to figure that out this fall as well.

5) Run at least 8-10 races this year.
Done

11 down, 2 to go.

Current schedule

February 1 -12k (done)

March 15 - half marathon (done)

April 11 - 5k done

April 26 - 10 miler done

May 10 - half marathon done

May 17 - half marathon done

June 21 - 10 miler done

June 27 - 10K done

August 2 - 10k done

August 28 - 5k done

September 26 - 10k done

October 4 - 10 miler

November 26 - 5k

I've accomplished most of my goals, as well as having hit 20 miles or more a week for the last 17 weeks. After the race this weekend, I have nothing except the neighborhood Turkey Trot. I'm ok with that. For a short while, running needs to take a back seat while I get some other things in life a little more settled. That doesn't mean I won't be running, but I do think I'll be barely hitting 20 miles per week, if that. I'm being pulled in too many directions right now and Beer Geek is traveling for part of two weeks later this month. Also, lately, my "bad" runs have outnumbered my "good" runs at least 2 to 1. I need to figure out where my energy went (I'm guessing bad fueling choices and having to get up an hour and a half earlier than I was during the summer...).

Two days until the 10 miler. I'm remembering now why I said I'd never run it again. It was a total pain picking up my packet today - they moved pick up to the Armory, which is 45 minutes by metro from my house, the line took 45 minutes, and then I had to metro home. Meanwhile, Shoo was with a babysitter, so I paid for the privilege of standing in line by myself. Parking will be a pain on Sunday (luckily, I know the area, so I will be able to get a spot). You have to go through a security checkpoint and cell phones are not allowed. 30,000 people are registered, so there will be lines for everything and the first mile is spent tripping over others. Don't get me wrong - it's an amazingly well run race and a great course, but I've realized I much prefer smaller races. I want to spend my energy running, not juggling logistics.

Have good weekend everyone. I'll be back Sunday night with a race report. Who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself and eek out a PR...