TNT!

This is gonna be real short… but I’m totally pumped! I signed up for Team in Training last night. I now have to raise $4200, but it’s for a totally good cause (Leukemia and Lymphoma society) and I’m excited to do it. I’ll post more details on that later, including how YOU can help! Yeah you! Give me money. Or rather, donate money in my name! Wooo.

Ran tonight. It was supposed to be a longer run, but H had plans so we moved the longer run to tomorrow. It worked out well considering my body hates me and decided to seize up and I had cramps for about half the run. Yay dehydration. Tomorrow I’ll make sure that I drink water all day long so when it comes time to run, I’ll be nice and hydrated. So yeah, lesson learned, dehydration and the resulting cramps are wicked uncool. You know what’s also uncool? Lovebugs! Those stupid things are back and that means I have the pleasure of running into them and then having them stick to my sweaty body. So pleasant, really, I know.

I was looking at my mileage and I have the highest mileage for the month since the beginning of the year. Yipee. 55 miles for April. And that doesn’t even take into account that after the Bay to Bay, I slacked a lot because I didn’t have anything hard to train for. But anyway, it’s not a lot, but I’m making progress and working on making running a daily habit and balancing my body’s need for rest days. My silly feet still hurt, so I’m not trying to over stress them too much.

Rain! Where art thou?!

Seriously. It didn’t rain. Barely any sprinkles even. And since it didn’t rain it was unreasonably humid. Yuck. But I ran 5.3 miles. Not quite 6, but something is better than nothing and we’ll see how my knees and feet feel tomorrow. I’m thinking that I’ll do a quick 2-3 miles tomorrow before the TNT meeting and then Wednesday maybe try and go out for a longer run. 

 

I have a half day of work tomorrow because I get the pleasure of working on Saturday… Which will be wonderful when I can leave at 12:30 tomorrow, but will royally suck when it comes to Saturday morning and I have to get up at 7am. Boo. 

 

I want coffee. I want a coffee date or study date. Hrm, maybe tomorrow I’ll take my lovely self and some books and go get coffee and hang out. 

I feel like a little adventure!

Summer! My trip to Orlando this weekend convinced me that it is finally summertime. Not to be confused with the season which brings awful hot and humid weather that occurs during these months in Florida, but summer time as in good music, pictures, road trips, beach days, ice cream and parties! Driving back home it seemed like the appropriate time to break out the pop-punk music and jam out with the windows down. I feel like old school yellowcard, i12 and fall out boy and beach trips go hand in hand and they just bring back so many good memories. Anyway, I’m just so excited. I have lots of road trips and trips to jax beach planned for the next couple months and while I don’t officially get a summer break, I will be making the most of my weekends. 

I really want to go on some adventures. I think my life needs some adventures right now… Both planned ones and spontaneous ones. Perhaps the jax beach day and the potential I12 concert will be a good way to get in some adventuring. But beyond that, I hope that something memorable happens this summer to make it stand out from the rest of the year.  

 

I continue to be excited about all the good TV on this week and in upcoming weeks. I’m addicted to trashy teen dramas and grey’s anatomy. I love me some gossip girl, one tree hill and greek. Why are WB (I just can’t bring myself to call it the CW) shows so stinkin’ addictive? 

 

I caught another counterfeit bill at work today. This makes the fourth one. Seriously, could someone else please find the next one because frankly I’m sick of filling out the paperwork. 

 

Well I’m off to go run. Hopefully at a minimum of 5 miles, preferably 6 or 6 1/2… I really need to up my mileage before Sunday, or least be capable of running around 7 so that I can not die during the 15k. Ugh. It’s also raining. Well, sprinkling. I’ve always thought it’d be romantic to run in the rain. We’re about to see if it’s romantic or just annoying. Wish me luck. I’ll report back later. 

PS –

Grey’s Anatomy was awesome.

TNT meeting next Tuesday!

Minnie 15k next Saturday.

Life is good.

Waaay past my bedtime.

The short update:

Good:

SAW DOLPHINS! Ran 5 miles. Didn’t feel like I was going to keel over.

Bad:

Rottweiler (hrm. spell check says that is the correct spelling, but it looks funny to me) aka big scary dog that wants to eat me, was on the loose. Therefore had to switch to the other side of causeway isles neighborhood. And why is Florida so freakin hot all the time.

Bedtime. The sooner I get to sleep, the sooner it’s Friday and the sooner my weekend begins!

decent.

I had a decent run today… my feet hurt, which makes me think rest is much needed. It was the kinda hurting that I used to feel when I first started running. Today was also my 6th day of running, thus tomorrow has to be a rest day.

No cute boys. Went running too early. But enjoyed being outdoors.

I want to get into cycling… eventually. Both as a mode of transportation and to be active. I think it’d be groovy to go on biking adventures. Or kayaking! I wanna kayak!

But I love running. It makes me sane.

Best run ever!

Today was supposed to be my rest day, but when I let Rickie outside it was GORGEOUS outside. Instead of still being hot and sticky outside, it had cooled down and the sky was clear with the sun setting. I decided that I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go for a run. It would have been a shame to sit inside and not enjoy the amazing weather, especially with the heat and humidity of the summer rapidly approaching.

This run was actually the first run that I’ve done at home by myself. I was a little nervous because running with someone else is a real motivating factor and I was worried that I wouldn’t push myself very hard when I was alone. Thankfully, that was not the case. I originally intended on running to the end of the causeway isles, but then I was like, hey, just go over the bridge… and then the thought of running BACK over the bridge immediately didn’t seem appealing, so I decided on the first stoplight of the TI neighborhood and ultimately kept going till the end of the neighborhood. So my 2 mile run turned into a 4 mile run! Plus, I pushed my pace more than usual, so I was running at a decent speed. I wish I had a garmin so I could know exactly what my pace was, but so be it…

Anyway, my run was extremely liberating. It was so relaxing and peaceful that it energized me for future solo runs. I can’t express how great it was to get out there and clear my head and experience a pretty sunset and take in a little fresh air.

Oh and along the way I came across several little girls who were playing in their driveway and as I ran past they asked me if I wanted a chocolate. haha. How strange… I wonder if the idea of not accepting candy from strangers applies to little girls as well. Also, I sadly did not encounter any cute boys… but my search will continue. Perhaps I’ll see one of the cute boys again… maybe even the original cute boy. Hey! let me get those digits!

funny!

Here is a funny comment from a friend in reference to running and paying to do races:

“…you have to PAY to wake up at the crack of hell and run around? …this is a retarded hobby, my dear”

I found it very amusing. I do pay (and enjoy) waking up at stupidly early times on my weekends to run around… but it’s the races and the paying for them which is a big motivator. It’s my commitment to doing the race and training for it.

Plus, I’m in it for the t’s

Running… always running.

Went running four days this week… Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and
then today as my long run. Considering how much I’ve been running in
previous weeks, this is quite an impressive feat. My weekly average is
23.2! yay!

Let’s see the highlights of the week:

- I managed to drag my butt out of laziness both Wednesday and
Thursday despite my lack of a running partner. Furthermore, I ran the
whole time and pushed myself to run a bit faster than usual…

- I saw two different hot boys while running (who were also running) and had interactions with both!

Cute boy #1 – He was definitely cuter than the second guy so I
wouldn’t mind running into him again… he acknowledged me by giving me
a peace out sign as he ran by, which was very similar to the way I
jokingly go “peace out *peace sign*”.. so obviously we’re destined to
be soul (sole) mates.

Cute boy #2 – I saw him on my long run both on my way towards the
beach and on my way back home… but it was on the way back that as H
and I passed him he yelled “keep up the good pace!” which was perfect
timining since I was on the verge of giving up and walking. So of
course I couldn’t let cute boy see me slacking, so I ran a little
harder thinking to myself “cute boy…*pant*… must not *pant… see
me *pant* slow down!” But once he was far enough away I did of course
resume my trudging.

**cue A Knight’s Tale quoting**

To trudge the slow weary depressing yet determined
walk of a man who has nothing in his life except the impulse to simply
soldier on.

- I ran the entire long run despite my overwelming urge of wanting
to quit with about 2 miles left… Yay! I rule. Although I definitely
did push myself. I had nothing left by the end, so sprinting was not
even an option.

As far as the 15k in a couple weeks… I still think it’s doable. I
really want to be able to run the entire time. In order to do that, I
need to probably run about four times during the week and a long run on
the weekend. I think I should aim to run 3 miles one day slightly fast
and then 5 or 6 at a slower pace, but for the long run do 8 miles or
so. Hopefully the fact that the first hour or so of the race will be in
the dark will be seriously helpful. My endurance decreases
significantly in the heat and humidity.

Oh yeah and I want a garmin forerunner. Probably a 305. Not sure if
it’s something that I actually need. No, I know it’s not something that
I need, but it would be way cool. To know my exactly distance, pace,
time, location for each run would be so sweet. I’m such a geek. So I’m
keeping my eyes open for good prices… but I should probably put my
computer fund BEFORE any new unnecessary gadgets.

And in completely unrelated running news – tv this week is going to
be glorious! Grey’s returns on Thursday and all new One Tree Hill and
Gossip Girl.

Harvey’s Festival Run – Race Report

Saturday was the Harvey’s 5k Festival Run in downtown St. Pete. It followed a similar course to the second half of the Suncoast Classic 10k… which I did not enjoy at the time and in turn made this course not as appealing as other race courses. It was also hot and humid out despite it being 8:30 in the morning. The last 10 minutes were run in the blazing sun, which was not pleasant. My finish time was around 32 minutes, which was not great. I started off the race a little quicker than usual and did the first mile in about 10 minutes but after that I was breathing hard and suddenly had to pee. As the race progressed I continued to breath hard and was slowed down by my overexertion from the beginning and my growing urge to pee. I’m a little disappointed by my time. Last week my time was faster and there were hills, but you live and learn.

Overall the race was okay as a motivator to keep running, but the race itself was nothing special.

H and I did a 4.5 mile run in place of our intended long run. I guess something is better than nothing. Oh and it helped clear up my headache. That’s always a plus. Maybe whenever I get a headache I should take it as a cue to go on a run. haha. Anyway, the last mile H picked up the pace and we ran a little harder than usual. I definitely think that I need to work on increasing my pace. I’m not usually tired cardiovascually but more so just leg fatigue… so I think that would mean I need to push myself a bit and probably add in some strength training to work on the leg fatigue.

We really need to step up the running because we did in fact decide to sign up for the Disney Minnie 15k run which is in 3 weeks. 15k=9.3 miles. We have only been running about 4-5 at a max… ugh. I think if we run in varying lengths from 3-6 miles and then a long run of 8-9 miles on Sundays with maybe some strength training two days a week, then we should be okay. If not, we’ll walk part of it… as long as we can maintain a 15 min per mile pace we’ll be fine. But I do think it’s doable. Wish us luck.