Isn't there a law against that?

3.5 miles - Way busy day today and wanted to get a run in before dark as I wanted to watch The Grammy's tonight. 3 of my co-workers are there making sure the website doesn't crash, pretty cool, eh? So, I got home in time for a quick run at dusk. I felt pretty good today and the only thing hindering me was the darn Beaverdale neighborhood folk who do not make any attempt at clearing their sidewalks. I mean seriously. A half-A attempt is better than not even acknowledging that we got another 6 inches last week. Some of you, like one of my sisters, i'm not gonna mention names, you know who you are...Hee. Hee. can probably relate to these people. But unless you are super old, get on it. I'm gonna say about 10 people on my short run today should be fined or somethin'. That's dangerous but more than anything, annoying and it gets snow in my shoes. Not cool. So other than me being a hater for some of the run, it went well. I used my new fancy iPhone app and it was great to hear the mile markers and how "slow" my average pace was. I'm gonna blame fear of wiping out on the snow and using snowbanks as hurdles at intersections. O.K. and I was a bit tired. :) As a sidenote: I do realize that the people with the crappy sidewalks are probably just as annoyed with me for running outside in these conditions.

Highlight of the run: heated bathroom.

10 miles - It was bound to happen... I had a slow run on Saturday. Coulda been the 3 layers of pants and tops I had on. Coulda been the 6 degrees we ran in. Coulda been the food I ate the night before (pitstop at the Latin King while friends were in town). But it was not the wine, because I gave that up all weekend and I had guests all weekend! Lesson learned from last weekend. So there were only four of us, counting coach, Sat morning and it was darn cold. But with the "half full" new years resolution that I've committed to, I'd like to point out that there was no wind. Yay! A rare pleasure in the great midwest. So we had THAT going for us. It was a kinda crazy morning as we had a pitstop to find a stray cat which one of my teammates got to the parks and rec people to take to the humane society. I also had to make a pitstop at the restroom (their heated. Way nice. didn't want to leave.) because my intestines were not happy with me. Which is pretty much what the rest of my day entailed as well. yikes. not a good situation. Let me just say I'm diligently trying to identify the culprit for the future. Despite the fact that hardly any team members showed up, the lake was pretty busy, I'm guessing it's cause we actually saw the sun early in the AM. What a treat, despite the cold temps. people were coming out to enjoy it. So, though we didn't do the 12 miles on the schedule so as not to freeze, we did 10 miles today and I made it through despite my stomach issues. woohoo. Just needed to get a bad run out of the way apparently, now back to the good stuff. FYI: I'm headed to NYC for work at the end of this week over the weekend so I'll be doing my long run alone when I get back early in the week.

Recovery

0 miles - Today is a day of rest/recovery, before the 12 mile excursion that I will be partaking in tomorrow morning. Honestly with the forecast of subzero temps once again, I'm not sure how long we'll be out there but we'll see. My Mom and a couple of her friends are coming into town tonight. They like wine. A lot. SO jealous! I guess I'll be the DD for the night. *sigh* So be it! My mom & dad also got me a cool little Runner's calendar to track my progress and stuff totaling all miles. So for 2010 I've run 95 miles as of yesterday. Yippee!

And I'm still plodding away at not only the running, but the fundraising to help with a cure. Thank you so much for all that have donated to the cause. I'm almost 50% to my goal! Today I want to honor a friend of mine's (Jen OC) sister. Her name is Terri O'Connell. Jen told me that "she's sitting at chemo #10 and the last CT & PET scan showed that things are working." Three cheers for Terri. Hip hip hooray. hip hip hooray. hip hip hooray! Everyone please throw up a prayer for Terri and her family. I know I'm gonna and I'm gonna make sure we run in honor of her recovery June 6th as well!

Team Coco

So I went to a get together out in WDSM at Graze this evening and was still too scared from my Sunday hangover to have a drink. So I enjoyed my water and contemplated my late night run which was inevitable as I hadn't squeezed it into my day yet = Mental battle #1. Today I opted for the 3 miles in the recommended 3-5 miles for the day. Telling myself with a 6 day a week running schedule I can be o.k. with the lesser amount = Mental battle #2. I was on the phone with my sister Lydia for a while putting off the run, you know how it goes. Then she pulled a "mom" and said "well you better get running it's late." Which of course made me NOT want to do the run cause she told me to. Hee. Hee. Not sure why that is. So she had to pull some reverse psychology on me so I'd get my butt to the treadmill = Mental battle #3. Ah, the mental battles I wage with myself. ;) Run went well and I love how 3 miles feels like a treat. I've gotten in the habit of icing both knees after every run which I think helps long term with the soreness, even if it's placebo effect, I'll take it. And it gives me time to watch some Conan after my late night runs. I'm definitely on team Coco. Last night as I'm icing he had Jamie Foxx on the show. So funny and total hottie. I think I'd like to go on a date with Jamie Foxx.

Full Moon or Fool Moon?

4.5 miles - Sure felt like it last night at the 6pm twilight run when the Kristen/Ken duo and I headed out on the lower Beaver Ave trail along the river. Kristen with the sole headlamp, talk about rebels... I felt like I was in good hands with these garmin bound, head lamp wearing outdoorsy people. Much more prepared than I! It was great that they organize the weekly group run. It was kinda cool cause we only really needed the headlamp in the snow/ice covered trail areas. Otherwise the bright moon reflecting off of the snow made it pretty bright out. Part of my new years resolution #2 = glass half full. So I'm thinking it was cool that even though it was like 20 degrees, dark and icy... it was sorta peaceful, illuminating and made me feel darn loyal to my running program. Heck yeah! And it does beat the hour on the treadmill in the basement.

Incidentally, I got to thinking I needed a garmin to track my runs, so instead of spending $$$.$$ I don't have, I looked for an iphone app last night and found one for a mere$4.99 and I'm super excited to use it (once it gets above 10 and some of the snow on the sidewalks melts. :). It tracks your runs through the GPS on the phone and alerts you at certain mileage points and can do a zillion amazing things like track your routes and store them and tell your times and when you have good vs bad runs, etc., etc. I'm just excited to know the mileage I'm doing when I'm out and about in the neighborhood. Now if I could just learn a trick to using the iphone with mittens on I'd have it made!

:-) p.s. new veggie stirfry last night included cauliflower and zucchini... one of my best batches yet. However, I did follow it up with some gummy heart candies. After all, there's only 2 more weeks left to purchase these precious gems!

The Biggest Loser

5 miles - My favorite TV show, the Biggest Loser, it's the only one that I try to watch every week. It usually inspires me for a good run, thinking if those people can work out that hard, a simple run shouldn't be a big deal on my end. So my 5 mile run today happened at 9pm. It was a decent run, although not very fast. I'm not sore today so that helps definitely. This weekend is a 12 mile run and I'm a bit nervous to take on 2 miles, but I'm sure it will be glorious! ;) So, in my mind when I signed up for the marathon, I figured many things would happen: 1) i'd have a new goal 2) i'd help raise money for a cure 3) i'd be inspired by others fighting the battle 4) i'd be a part of a team which is always fun and 5) i'd get fit and lose a few extra pounds. Apparently #5 is the only one that eludes me. I think I'm the only one I know that could be running 20+ miles per week for the last three weeks and be up a couple lbs from when I started. Can you believe it??? me neither. Mission: #5 watch your back, i'm gonna get ya.

You can be my wingman anytime...

5 miles - I figured I had to do at least 5 to compensate for my lazy Sunday. Knees still bugging me a bit but I'm icing after runs and taking my magic cartilage pills so I'm hoping they will improve. Kinda weird but my muscles are sore from the Saturday run still. Not sure what's up with that as I didn't experience that last week. So I'm planning a trip to NYC next weekend and am nervous about getting behind on runs. Not sure what I'm going to do but will have to do my long run when I get back during the week for sure. In the meantime, Goose and Maverick got me through the 5 mile run last night and I have to move on to my sappy movies as I don't have any more pump me up ones. We'll see how that goes. Food for the week = chicken noodle soup. Only seemed appropriate to whip up some homemade soup with the 50 mph winds and blowing snow that caused freeway closures for the day in Iowa. So JUST as a recap since starting the training: record snow, record lows, rainstorms and now blizzard conditions. And that is all in the month of January. I SO deserve spring right now.