Running & Zooma

Posted on December 12, 2012 by HHRunner

Since running and I are [not] getting along so well lately, how about an entire post dedicated to the sport? I mean, that makes sense, right?

In the spirit of catching up, since I took such a nice long break from blogging, I feel that I also owe you a nice little update about Zooma. And by update, I mean I should probably tell you about it in the first place.

What [I feel like] was a long time ago, they sent out a call for Texas ambassadors… I was intrigued, I mean, I blog and run and they seem like a pretty legit little group of runners and racers, so why not respond?

Lucky for me, they seemed to like me too, and they signed me all up to be an ambassador. You can see my smiling face right here. Except, my hair was much longer then. Probably because that picture was taken last summer. But that’s how I wish my hair looked right now, so I went with it.

And then I completely stopped blogging. Ambassador for the win! I’m surprised they didn’t kick me out. Instead, they just sent me Facebook friend requests. And, naturally, I accepted. We shall be BFFs forever, now!

I’m sure you’ve probably heard from other bloggers by this point, because I am notoriously bad at falling behind on things, but they’re putting on the Muscle Milk Half Marathon Challenge. With my recent break-up from the marathon, I’m crossing my fingers I can make this half marathon happen.

The challenge is a pretty cool one, and, in the words of my email buddy Erika from Zooma, “The challenge is designed for runners with some base to go to the half marathon distance. We provide support and encouragement through our ambassadors … Also, these ladies will get a tech tee, free race entry, and participation in some special events.”

Pretty good stuff.

If you’ve been interested in bumping up to the half marathon distance, I strongly suggest checking this out. Just clickety click that little link 3 paragraphs up. And who knows, maybe I could even give you some support! Or at least lament long distance running with you.

In even more marathon news, I got this email today, which made me start to question if I should actually be running the marathon or not:

Truth: I’m pretty sad I won’t be taking advantage of my A corral assignment.

Next time. Hopefully.

Catching up with pictures

Posted on October 10, 2012 by HHRunner

First, thanks for all of your comments on yesterday’s post. They are VERY much appreciated.

There is absolutely no way to fully recap what I’ve been up to for the past, well, month because Sean and I have been on the go every. single. weekend. To say it’s been exhausting would be a massive understatement. I seriously don’t think we’ve ever been this busy. And honestly, it’s showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon. We have something going on every weekend for pretty much the rest of the year. So to try and do a mini catch up without actually rambling about every little thing (well, let’s be honest, I’ll probably ramble too), I’m gonna catch up with pictures Smile

Louie’s been sick on and off for about a month now. He’s mastered looking pathetic in the crate when he has to visit the vet. Don’t let this sad face fool you though, the vet called me one afternoon to tell me that he managed to terrorize the entire place and poop everywhere in protest at having to give a urine sample. Awesome. Proud mama right here <—insert sarcasm font.

The boy turned 27 last month. He’s getting old. We celebrated with sushi. It was delicious

Also, I feel like we might have gotten ripped off with our fortunes. I could be wrong though.

Sometime in September I stopped drinking coffee every morning and started having tea instead. I’m not really sure why. I go through phases. My favorite is the outrageously overpriced yogi tea. Mainly because of the wise advice they offer with every tea bag.

I’ve been running. I discovered a new-to-me trail on my way home from work one day. It looks like this. I love it because it’s right between two very busy roads but you once you step onto the trail you can’t tell at all. It’s very peaceful. Also, it goes on for days. I am a fan.

Here is a picture of Louie in a tiny box. If you’re wondering where Leo is, he was getting ready to pounce.

One of my friends from high school is getting married soon so we got to shower her with gifts during a recent bridal shower. She pretty much rocks. Also, I really like my dress. I got it on clearance at GAP outlet.

We’ve been hanging out with friends a lot. I love each and every one of these girls. I also will never be styling my hair like that again or wearing that outfit. The things you learn through pictures.

One of my best friends (the one standing next to me in the last picture) got married a few weeks ago. We had rockin’ bridesmaids outfits. You can’t really tell in this picture, but you can see the BEAUTIFUL Kendra Scott earrings she bought us. Also, I had my makeup airbrushed for the first time and decided that I want someone to come airbrush my makeup every day. Ironically, I am wearing zero makeup today.

In addition to running, I’ve been trying to do some crosstraining too. I’m not very good at it. Also, I am convinced that the people on the cover of Shape aren’t real. No one really looks like that, do they?

Sean has been racing motocross. Here is a picture of him dominating. Last weekend he raced twice and took 2nd and 3rd. He’s pretty much a badass.

I bought new shoes!! My Nikes had a million miles on them and I wanted to try a different type of minimalist shoe, so I decided to try out these Brooks. They look fast, so I assume that they will make me fast. Also, they were $10 cheaper than the Nikes. #priorities

To end, here is a picture of Louie in the microwave. I don’t know why he’s in there. I went to grab food out of it and while I was stirring it up he jumped in. He hung out there for a good 15 minutes while Sean and I laughed and took pictures. We have really exciting lives, promise.

And now you’re caught up, because Louie in the microwave was last night. Exciting stuff, huh?

What have you all been up to? Anyone run in Brooks Pureconnects? Any favorite minimalist running shoes?

Why I’m not racing a triathlon

Posted on August 7, 2012 by HHRunner

While I was sidelined indefinitely from running I did a lot of biking and swimming to try to replace pounding the pavement. During this time I realized a few things:

1. Biking makes me feel hardcore because I can get in a lot of miles in a short amount of time. Even though I know this logic is severely flawed, I compared my biking mileage to my running mileage and it made me feel a teensy bit better.

2. I really missed swimming. I grew up always on a swim team and I love being in the water. Swimming makes me feel powerful in a way that is different than running and I love the fluidness that comes with flip-turning at the end of each lap and flowing into the next. Swimming is something that comes effortlessly to me.

That being said, I was asked many times, especially by my dad, if all of that swimming and biking I was doing was going to turn into a triathlon.

None of these people are me. But you probably knew that.

The answer, right now, is no.

I know that it seems like a natural progression, however I just have no desire to do one. I can’t even really pinpoint why I don’t want to, I just don’t.

I also haven’t been swimming or biking in weeks. The biking I am iffy on as it is, but the swimming I really did intend on keeping up. But for one reason or another (ok, it’s so I can run) I’ve skipped out on any swims I’ve scheduled into my planner during the week. I want to eventually pick it back up again, but for now I want to just love that I can run again. I want to build up my mileage and I want to focus on slowly gaining back all of the speed and endurance that I lost.

Here I am running fast! And I am happy! And I love running!

I am also inherently lazy when it comes to working out. This probably sounds like a contradiction, because it takes a lot of motivation to not only find the time to work out, but also to actually do it, so how can I be lazy? To put it simply, I have to go to the gym to swim or bike. I own a treadmill so I can just walk to a room in my house to do that. When my alarm goes off in the morning and the option is to walk to the other side of the house or drive to the gym guess what always wins?

And then there’s the fact that I just don’t want to work out that much. Right now I’m in a bit of a lull when it comes to working out (if you follow me on DailyMile then you know that my strength-training has been virtually nonexistent) and I’ve kind of enjoyed just taking it easy and only working out for 30-45 minutes a day. After rigorous two-a-day workouts for weeks, taking it a bit slower has been divine. I feel like triathlon training would result in one thing for me: being burned out. And I don’t want to be burned out, I want to run.

My hat is off to everyone who does triathlons. I am in awe of your ability to keep up with three sports. However I just don’t see myself competing in one any time soon. Though I did say the same thing about never doing a marathon and we all know how that one turned out. So we’ll see. But not this year.

Any triathlon junkies out there? How on earth do you manage all 3 sports?!

Oh look…

Posted on January 3, 2012 by HHRunner

It’s already January 3rd. Though in my head it’s January 2nd because January 1st did not exist for me. I spent the entire day sleeping and perfecting my imprint on the couch in our living room. I didn’t work out and I ate a whole heckuva lot, starting the day with cheesy fries from Denny’s and ending with a pint of ice cream. The whole pint. I should never buy them because I just can’t stop. You win some you lose some.

I also watched Red Riding Hood with Amanda Seyfried. It was a very strange movie, but there were two very good looking gentlemen in it so it’s a win in my book. I’m not shallow at all, promise. And then I went to bed.

Luckily even though I woke up yesterday feeling like death (for reasons unbeknownst to me? it was strange. maybe it was all the food.) I still managed to kick off the day with a (very rough) 13 miler with Britt. It wasn’t very fun but it was kinda fast (I crushed my RNR SA time… stupid race), and I got to run it with my favorite running buddy (ok, and my only running buddy – why mess with a good thing?!) which means that it was ten thousand times better than if I had headed out on my own. Especially when I realized that my iPod was dead. It was also the last of my double digit runs. And I did Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown later on last night and I also managed to eat really well all day yesterday AND I cooked dinner for the first time in a while. I’ll call that a win.

In case you haven’t heard the Houston Marathon is in less than 2 weeks *gulp* and I am slowly getting more and more terrified. I keep telling myself that I kicked @$$ (for me) at the 30k so the marathon will go well, but I’m still nervous about toeing that start line. In a way, I’ve come full circle though because last year I was running the EP5k at the Houston Marathon. I told my parents that I’d be doing the half in 2012, and now I’m running the full. This also after I declared many times I had zero interest in running a full marathon. I’m not sure what happened with that one.

In other news, I’m also sporting a loooovely black toenail (sad face) that I’m hoping makes it til after the marathon. TMI? Too bad. At least I spared you a picture of it’s bruised looking self. So you’re welcome for that.

Who’s given up on their resolutions yet? Too soon? In an effort to get out of my comfort zone I bought a groupon for a boot camp that I plan on redeeming at the start of February. I’ve never done a boot camp before so I’m nervous and excited. Anyone done one? Any advice?

Running on Rainbows

Posted on October 12, 2011 by HHRunner

Yesterday I had one of those runs. You know the kind. The kind that you go into thinking “gah, I don’t want to do this” and come out of thinking “holy crap, I AM AWESOME”.

I bet you didn’t know that:

1. I was so tall and Ryan Hall was so small

2. I run with the elites

But I’m getting ahead of myself…

It started at 5:30 yesterday morning. I crawled out of bed thinking about the six 800 repeats I needed to do and how I was going to knock it out in the morning. I fumbled around in the dark for a while before stumbling into the garage to grab my running shoes, which hadn’t moved since my rainfest run on Sunday. Much to my dismay, they were still damp. Now, I like to think that I can be (key words there: can be) a hardcore runner. I will schlep it out in the rain, brave 100 degree temps coupled with 100% humidity, and face blisteringly cold weather in the dark morning hours during the winter. I will trudge through a run even when I don’t want to and force myself to finish no matter what. I will get up at 4:30 in the morning to run a 20-miler before flying out to Vegas. But if I don’t have to run in damp shoes, I’m not going to. So I threw them in the dryer and decorated my house for Fall instead – clearly an even trade.

I knew that I was going to have to tackle it when I got home, but I pushed this thought as far from my head as possible all day. I prefer morning running, even though lately I’ve been slowly doing more and more of my runs after work. I blame this on pure laziness and the knowledge that I get home an hour and a half earlier than I did previously. The fact that I was up on time yesterday morning and couldn’t run irritated me.

Typically I don’t give myself any time to even debate the thought of running. Too much time spent thinking means not a whole lot of action for me. This means that as soon as I walk through that front door after work I am throwing my purse and lunchbox on the kitchen counters and tossing off clothes walking to the bedroom. Before I know it I’m either walking outside setting my Garmin or walking to the treadmill while going over my plan of attack – and I haven’t even had time to register that I’m about to run. And usually when I run after work I usually grab shotbloks to give me some pep. A girls’ gotta do what a girls’ gotta do.

Also, Clif, please feel free to send me some shotbloks to review. I will very willingly do so!

Yesterday I realized that I was completely out. Ugh. I also spent a good 10 minutes debating switching my speedwork with my tempo run before finally just sucking it up and going with the speedwork. I told myself that if I still wasn’t feeling 800 repeats after my warmup mile, I could still switch gears. I also ate sour cherry balls from who knows when (actually, I do know when, they’re from Funfest) to trick myself into thinking they were shotbloks (ok, maybe just to reward myself for being about to run. I KNOW you aren’t supposed to give yourself rewards for working out blah blah blah but I don’t agree and I fully believe in bribes with myself).

And then some magical happened. As I pounded through my first mile listening to some pretty rockin’ tunes I started smiling. Six 800 repeats at a 7:30 pace with a minute and a half “rest” (I run my “rests” at 8:34 in case you were wondering) in between? Pssshhhh. Child’s play. Ok, maybe not child’s play, but definitely doable.

I hit them all hard. I felt like I was flying. Just call me Kara Goucher, because I felt speedy. I flew through 6.4 miles in 55 minutes which gave me a MASSIVE surge of confidence for the 10k on Saturday.

Oh, I didn’t mention that? I’m running a 10k on Saturday. My previous 10k was a pretty glorious experience that I’m hoping to recreate in a few days. I have some silent time goals that I’m praying for, but I also am trying to go into it with a level-head and the mental check that I am currently marathon training and that doesn’t equal fast it equals distance. We shall see though.

Anyone else racing this weekend? I feel like it’s been forever since I last had a race… I’m excited!

Things are a-changin’!

Posted on August 21, 2011 by HHRunner

First things first, right? You need to hop, skip and jump your way over to read my post on Texas Runner Girl’s blog today It features my favorite person.

This upcoming week is a big one for me (and the next one will be even bigger)! I’m excited and nervous, so to combat that, I’ve decided now is the perfect time to really give my house a good deep clean and clean out.

So what better way to start the day then by sleeping in and making breakfast?

Oh right, with your long run. Well that didn’t happen and this did:

I have decided that pears pan-fried with cinnamon paired (ha, no pun intended there, I am unintentionally hilarious though) with scrambled eggs, mozarella, and turkey bacon on whole wheat sandwich thins is an amazing combination.

Then I decided that my closet, master bathroom, and bedroom were getting a good fine tuning. But since I can do nothing without a good list, I made that happen first.

And then I proceeded to empty out 1/2 of my clothes. I’m planning on donating some and taking the rest to a resale shop. My closet, bathroom and bedroom are spotless (minus the pile of clothes hanging out on my bed).

I’m trying really hard to feel bad about skipping my long run today, but I did 6 (unplanned) miles of serious hillwork yesterday, my legs are kind of aching, and I’m currently sipping on a glass of red wine while watching Boston Legal.

That last sentence was false. I actually do feel really bad about skipping my long run and I’m drinking a glass of wine so that I can’t go run it because I know that it would do more harm than good because I have a slight twinge in my shin and I know in my head that it’s not worth chancing it, but the less sane part of me is craving 14 miles of awesomeness.

Think I made the right choice? Injury trumps swallowing my pride, huh?

Tell me ’bout your long runs! I want to live vicariously through you guys this weekend!

Running, Walking, And Complaining

Posted on August 11, 2011 by HHRunner

Well…

via

6 miles in around 98 degree temperatures with about 45-50% humidity. Average pace of 9:13. I felt pretty good the whole time, which is a plus, though I refused to stop for water because I knew if I stopped moving I wouldn’t start again.

via

Did you hear? I did it! I am mainly so excited because I feel like this is the first really solid outside run I’ve had in a while, and I needed that.

Ready for the walking and complaining? Because they go hand in hand.

Dear Walkers,

First off: this is not meant to offend anyone who is out there walking for exercise. Because I fully believe that walking, power-walking, running and walking, jogging and walking, and anything else with walking is a GREAT way to get moving and burn some calories.

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BUT it is very frustrating to be on a two lane jogging trail and there be a row of 5+ walkers taking up the entire lane plus some gabbing about their nail polish color and there is suddenly nowhere except oncoming traffic (and I mean cars not other runners/joggers/walkers) for the people running to go. Likewise, those who run in a solid line are equally as frustrating.

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Please be courteous of those around you. We don’t want to run into you just as much as you don’t want us to. And we really don’t want to stop running to try to figure out a way to break through your line. Especially if you’re like me and you can’t stop moving because once you do, you won’t be able to start again.

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THAT BEING SAID I do want to say that there are some ROCK STAR people out there, like Kim, who can get out on the roads and kill some major mileage walking.

For any Houston-area runners/joggers/walkers out there that are lookin’ to do some mileage on Saturday with a group, My Fit Foods is doing a 5 mile run at Memorial Park Saturday morning (and for the next couple Saturdays):

I haven’t yet decided if I’m going, but it could be fun!

Solo runners: do you like changing it up and running with others occassionally? I primarily run by myself, but I always do enjoy the company when I have it. Even though I feel bad because the last few times I’ve run with Britt, they haven’t really been solid runs for me. Sorry Britt

Likewise, group runners: do you enjoy running solo every now and then?

A week of not-so-great runs

Posted on June 9, 2011 by HHRunner

We all have them. Those runs that just don’t hit the spot. The ones that are a true struggle to get through. The ones where if it can go wrong, it does go wrong. (And if you don’t have those runs, we need to talk. Because I am clearly doing something wrong.)

This entire week has been like that for me. On Tuesday I set out to do an easy 3 miles. It was 3 miles of torture. I hated every.single.second. It felt like I was running for hours, when in reality I finished it in 26ish minutes. I was having weird stomach issues. I could only think of one thing: making it home. At the same time, you had better believe I was bound and determined to finish all 3 without stopping.

In the end, I made it. And then I spent the next 20 minutes laying on the tile in our living room with the fan on full blast hoping Sean didn’t wake up and walk into the living room and find me in my semi-dead state trying not to puke.

It was only 3 miles.

I can run 3 miles in my sleep.

So what made it so bad? I really have no idea.

This morning I had a 5 mile tempo run. The last 5 mile tempo run I had was glorious. I came out of it wanting to just keep running it over and over again.

Today… Not so much.

My head wasn’t in it. My legs were tired. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. I could give you a million reasons as to why I think it didn’t go well, but the truth is, sometimes my runs just suck.

So where am I going with all this complaining? I’m terrified now. I have a 10k on Saturday that I’ve been looking forward to for weeks, and suddenly I’ve moved into a state of unease. What was supposed to be easy and fun is now looming over me.

I’m hoping and praying for a miracle run that is all rainbows and sunshine, but preparing for the worst.

What do you do to get out of a “bad run” funk?? Any advice? I’m trying to keep my head in the right place, but I’m pretty discouraged right now.

Oh and sorry for the overkill of cat pictures, but they make me happy, and editing them in Picknik makes me happy too. I really enjoy that when it’s loading my pictures it says things like “buttering bread” and “fluffing clouds”. Just me?

new happenings

Posted on May 24, 2011 by HHRunner

A few random Tuesday Tidbits:

1. I started to try to get myself “marathon-ready” today. It’s going to be a long, slow process for me, but it’s happening.

2. Vanessa, over at Gourmet Runner, does something that I’m going to start implementing here. She posts her ‘weekly workout recap’, which I think is a great way to track workouts. What I’m going to do is on Monday’s I’ll post what I want to accomplish for the week, and then on Sundays (brace yourselves, I’ll be doing weekend posts! maybe…) I’ll tell ya how I did.

3. I love sweet potatoes. Seriously, I don’t know how I went 24 years shunning them.

4. I bought a new digital camera! It is tiny and cute!

5. I had an awesome breakfast Saturday morning with my Houston blogger friends and in true blogger FAIL none of us took any pictures. How does that happen?? Also, totally out of my comfort zone to do something like that (meeting up with randoms) BUT so glad I did. Plus I feel like we’re all secretly BFF’s even though I’d never met any of them (‘cept Heidi!) before Saturday. WIN for blogger meet-up!

But I figured to start, I’ll show you what I’m supposed to be doing this week and then Sunday (maybe Monday because it’s a long weekend) we’ll recap and see how all that business works out

Have a fantastic Tuesday!

Hills.

Posted on April 14, 2011 by HHRunner

After the Blue Bell Fun Run 5k I realized something: for as much as I train and run and cross train and strength train and do yoga and pilates, I never really focus on hills. I do some speed work here and there, but hills have been, well, obsolete in my life.

The Clover 5k in all of its suckiness SHOULD have been an indicator to this, but I gleefully ignored why the race sucked so much (other than poor layout). Hills.

The Blue Bell 5k was even more hilly than the Clover 5k, but for whatever weird race reason I floated through this race.

Once I crossed the finish line one of the first things I said to Sean was that I needed to spend some time with hills and speed work.

Hills and I had our first official date this morning, along with the trusty and reliable treadmill. We all three met up nice and early in the quiet and dark and I left a hot, sweaty mess.

6 miles of hills is brutal. My poor calves are just plum tuckered out.

This whole week (since the 5k) has been an intensive work out week. I did a 33 minute speed session Sunday, a training run Monday, Spin Class and ab work Tuesday, a training run and strength session Wednesday, 6 miles of hills, 10 minutes of Pilates and (will do) an hour of yoga today, and tomorrow I have a training run, strength work and probably another 10 minutes of Pilates. That really doesn’t sound too bad when I read it. In fact, a lot of my weeks look similar. But it’s been awhile since I’ve taken a day off. Remember when we talked about that?

I have a good reason, I really do. See tomorrow morning, I get to go and have LASIK. No more eye infections for me (hopefully).

And after I have LASIK I can’t work out at all (not even yoga, boo) for at least 3 days. My running self almost cried (I wish I was kidding). No running? No. What about yoga? NO. ehhhhhh ok. fine.

They said I could do a “light walk”. What a tease.

Anyway, I get to take the day off work tomorrow and force Sean to spend all day with me (he’s a good husband!). So hopefully I’ll have some time to update my bloggin’ friends on the rest of my life. But today, today all I can think about is those darn hills. And how much I really love them. Is that weird? Don’t get me wrong, they were AWFUL. I wanted to quit so many times. But as soon as it was over, even though I was dripping with sweat and wanted nothing more than to just sit and die, all I could think about and have been thinking about is how much I wish I started doing hills sooner.

Oh and P.S. Our one year anniversary is this weekend