Ankles, knees, and hips oh my!

Sigh. Today's run did not go as planned. I was hoping to continue my sub 8 minute/mile streak, but fell super short.

I can list all of the reasons why I didn't run faster ... Aches and pains in my right ankle, both knees, right hip, and tummy issues beforehand, but it still doesn't change the fact that I didn't deliver.

What's amusing to me is that I'm disappointed in my performance, but really shouldn't be. I still got outside and ran 8 miles. I ran on Tuesday and Wednesday so my legs were anything but fresh. I changed up what I ate for breakfast beforehand. And I ran a partially new course.

Mile 1 8:03
Mile 2 7:57
Mile 3 8:03
Mile 4 8:25
Mile 5 7:31 (what was I thinking??)
Mile 6 7:53
Mile 7 8:39
Mile 8 9:01

Oh and I threw up a little when I got back to my car (fortunately not IN the car).




I tried a new pandora station, hip hop and pop work out station. It was good and kept me motivated.


Definitely picked a nice cool time to get my run done.


How I felt after running and subsequently puking (gross GU flavor blackberry)


Rocking my pink pro compression socks.


Massive lunch I made myself after I showered. Two eggs, red beans, cheese quesadilla, and chopped green bell peppers, onions, and chorizo. Lots of sour cream and hot sauce please!



And of course a silly picture of Honey while we were driving to pick Mason up from school.


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a day in the life

I'm not entirely sure if I've written a "day in the life" post ever ... or if I have, if it's been in the past year.

Regardless I figured it might be fun (for me) to see what I do during the day and where all 24 hours go.
.........
7:05am - I wake up to Ryan talking to Honey (the dog)

7:10am - I walk into Mason's room and see him standing in his crib having a good time.  The kid sure likes to party.  I carry him into our room to see Honey and dada and the first thing he says to Ryan is "Hat!"  

7:15-8:00am - I take Mason downstairs for his milk and most of a banana.  He helps me in the kitchen while I make breakfast and get his lunch ready for school.  we eat as a family (which is always nice).  Ryan finishes up his coffee while chatting with Mason so I have a few minutes to work on the dishes.

8:00-8:30am - we play upstairs and get dressed for school.  one last diaper change before we head out the door (poopie!)

8:30am - I realize the car seat is still in Ryan's car and curse under my breath.  Mason is (safely) playing in the front yard while I wrestle with the seat belt in the back seat.

8:35-9:00am - Holy cow we hit a lot of traffic this morning on the way to school!  I manage to walk him inside a couple of minutes late and notice he's only the 3rd one in his class.  Guess the other moms are running late too.

9:10am - I start my run around the neighborhood surrounding Mason's school.  I originally set out to do 6 miles but my hips are killing me and I tell myself to just run 3 today.  Fortunately I am able to push out 4 miles and head back to the car.

10:00-10:45am - I grab an iced coffee through the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru and head to my happy place, Target.  I literally wander the aisles with a huge smile plastered to my face as I revel in my time away from a rambunctious toddler. 

10:45-10:55am - I run (ha) over to Run For Your Life to pick up our awards from Saturday's 5k but am told that they have no idea where they are.  The sales chick tells me to call back tomorrow to find out where they are storing the awards.  Fortunately the store is on my way home so I'm not too annoyed.

11:05am - I hurry inside the house to get showered.  Today I actually have time to wash my hair (hurray) but no time to dry or style it.  Messy wet bun it is. I head downstairs to make lunch for Ryan and I.  The lunch sits on the counter until I get home from picking up Mason.

11:45am-12:05pm - I drive over to Mason's school and curse myself for being early.  I wander inside and chat with a couple of the other moms while we wait for our cue.

12:15-12:35pm - Mason and I drive home and catch up with abuela on the phone.  

12:35-12:55pm - I open Mason's lunchbox and notice the kid hasn't eaten the majority of his lunch.  Lame.  I sit him in his highchair and give him his leftover lunch and eat my taco salad from earlier.

12:55-1:05pm - Diaper for Mason and a handful of books before I lay him down for a nap.

1:05-2:05pm - Computer time for mom while listening to the baby monitor.  Mason is partying and doesn't fall asleep until 1:30pm.   

2:05-2:30pm - on phone (mostly on hold) with Novant Medical Group about an owed hospital refund from when Mason was born.  this has now been the 4th call about money that is owed to us which is frustrating.  I straighten my hair during most of the call while having the phone on speaker.

2:30-4:00pm - household chores while Mason continues his nap.  ah the glamorous life of stay at home moms.

4:00pm - Mason is awake!  I give him his milk while I grab his dirty laundry and combine it with the rest of the awaiting dirty laundry downstairs.  start the washing machine and head back upstairs.

4:00-4:30pm - play time with Mason upstairs.  new diaper and then I give him a snack (fruit/veggie pouch) before heading out to Trader Joe's for groceries.

4:35pm - instantly regret decision to head out for groceries so close to "rush hour."  annoyed at traffic but am entertained by Mason's gibberish in the backseat

4:45-5:15pm - shopping at Trader Joe's ... basically filling the cart with the same 5 products we buy weekly ... eggs, yogurt, tomatoes, apples, frozen silver dollar pancakes, you know the usual toddler groceries.

5:20pm - arrive at Chinese take-out restaurant and chat with Katie while waiting for our food

5:50-6:30pm - dinner with the family and subsequent clean up.  

6:30-7:00pm - Mason is in rare form and super hyper after dinner.  he spends most of the 30 minutes playing basketball with dada and basically running around our play room.

7:00-7:15pm - bedtime routine with Mason.  no bath tonight.  new diaper and some killer Elmo pajamas.  brush his teeth with his nooth grush (you would understand if you read Dr. Seuss books).  read a ton of books while he wanders around the room.  finally gives some hugs and kisses to dada and then mom gets to spend a few quiet minutes with her babybear.  some rocking in the rocking chair and some more snuggles.

7:20pm - I walk out of his room and head back downstairs to finish laundry and cleaning up rest of the kitchen.  I finish my glass of wine from dinner and pour a little more (no judging).  

8:00pm - laundry is put away and my own pajamas are on.  listening to Ryan watch some nonsense on tv while I finish computer stuff.

8:15-10:00pm - tv time with Ryan and lots of playing on my phone (pinterest is a vortex of time and space),

10:00pm - lights out!

 

10 miles done

After dropping Mason off at school it was time for me to do my weekly long run. This time I ran around our neighborhood and surrounding areas. I had to cross one major intersection (which I hate) but otherwise love the route.

It was my first time taking a GU during this training season and I had the triple berry flavor around miles 4-5.

Mile 1 8:20
Mile 2 8:05
Mile 3 7:51
Mile 4 7:51
Mile 5 7:57
Mile 6 7:57
Mile 7 7:52
Mile 8 7:48
Mile 9 7:56
Mile 10 7:51
10.05 miles in 1:19:55 minutes

I passed an older gentleman around mile 8 who told me to "keep it up." I took his advice and kept repeating it over and over during the last 2 miles. I really wanted to run sub 8 minute miles and I succeeded. So glad I pushed myself.



Now it's time for some recovery in my awesome procompression socks and some lunch before its time to pick Mason back up.


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Wednesdays are the worst

Other than being "hump day" Wednesdays are the worst day because its garbage day in my
'hood.




That meant running alongside some stinky trash. I used this and the chilly weather as an excuse to only run 2 miles.




8:41 - mile 1
7:18 - mile 2
2.16 miles in 17:10 minutes

Tomorrow should be my long run for the week. Fingers crossed all goes well!


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A girly run

Today I felt more girly during my sweaty run because I was wearing a skirt!




Check out my biker shorts!


After dropping off some race entries at Run For Your Life I decided to browse their sale racks. I found this awesome gray Moving Comfort skirt on sale for 40% off and a pair of Brooks running shorts that were 40% off too.

I love the skirt and think the biker shorts underneath are the perfect length. I felt super comfortable during my 3 mile run and am looking forward to wearing the skirt on some longer runs.


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One month to go

There is only one more month to go before I run the Rocktoberfest Half Marathon.  After giving my training some thought, I decided to run 7 miles today.

Today's run featured some firsts ...
1) I swallowed a bug within the first 1/2 mile.  I contemplated throwing up along side the road but figured the bug would give me some extra protein (YUCK!)

2) I wore my new SPIbelt from Dick's Sporting Goods ... originally $19.99, on sale for $15.99 AND I used my $10 gift certificate winnings from the Hog Jog.  It held my phone and keys perfectly which was a nice change from having to hold everything in my hands.

I ran from Mason's preschool to Freedom Park, and then along the Greenway for a couple of miles.  Only parts of the run were shaded, unfortunately, which made the run super hot an sweaty.

mile 1 - 8:29
mile 2 - 8:28
mile 3 - 8:19
mile 4 - 8:16
mile 5 - 8:14
mile 6 - 9:26
mile 7 - 8:22
7 miles in 59:35 minutes

Once I was done and showered I refueled with a Naked "Green Machine" smoothie.  At 10 ounces it was the perfect size!


I also decided to wear my compression socks to aid in recovery. I had to pick Mason up from school and didn't want all of the moms to think I was some weirdo so I wore jeans to cover them up (on a super hot day).  That probably made me look stranger than just wearing compression socks. 

run around Queens University

This morning after dropping Mason off at preschool (2nd day tears) I headed out for a run.  I left my car parked at the church parking lot and figured I would do 3-4 miles around the area.

The city of Charlotte was named after one of Britain's queens, Queen Charlotte.  It's nickname is "the Queen city" and there are like 500 different variations of Queen Road.  That's a slight exaggeration, but still, my entire run was on a different version of Queen Road.  I even ran by Queens University.  At least it made it easy to remember how to get back to my car :)
 
I forgot my headphones at home but enjoyed the music-less run.  I think the lack of music affects my speed negatively since I found myself having a more relaxed pace the entire time.

mile 1 - 8:22 minutes
mile 2 - 8:13 minutes
mile 3 - 8:08 minutes
mile 4 - 8:01 minutes
4 miles in 32:45 minutes, negative splits!

I'm planning on taking tomorrow off from running and attempting a "long run" on Thursday after I drop Mason off. 

It's like he knows ...

Mason and his nap schedule coincidentally fall in line with the start of 1pm NFL games.



Although we attempted to watch some football at an actual bar today, Mason knew that 1pm meant nap time and wanted to head home. So I put him to bed and set up shop outside in our sunroom.


Cold beer, baby monitor, laptop with my fantasy football team, and the Bucs game on ... Not a bad way to start off football season.


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Hog Jog 5k

As my friend Katie knows, if you're in town visiting me there is a good chance I'll make you run a race.  My friend Melissa is in town for work (she works for Nascar) and is staying with us before moving to a hotel on Sunday night.  Her punishment, payment, activity this morning was running the Hog Jog 5k at 8am in Uptown Charlotte.

I did not want to race, let alone run this morning.  Mason seemed indifferent which in this case was good since we ended up being there so long.  We got to the race start a little early and after we picked up our race chips we gave Mason some snacks and waited for the start. 

Mason and I headed to the front of the pack, along with 2 lonely baby strollers (pushed by dudes), and awaited our usual 5 minute head-start.  When the organizer said there would be no head-start for baby joggers, I felt sort of slighted since that meant mass chaos at the start.  And of course as soon as he yelled "GO!" we were off in a giant clump of runners.  Since we were right in front, I was racing along the elite, which made me try to run a little faster than normal.

The course was hilly, of course, and was super challenging on tired legs (from Flywheel on Wednesday).  After around 1.5 miles, we went to take a turn and the BOB jerked and skid off to the side.  I stopped for a few seconds to get our bearings and then began running again.

I'm honestly surprised that I finished the 5k in 23:29 minutes.  It felt so much slower because of the hills and my general lack of energy.
 


What was even MORE surprising is that I placed 1st in my age group, 30-34 years old.  I got a cool medal and a $10 gift certificate to a sports store.  Mason was a total trooper for hanging out so long at the race while we waited for the awards ceremony.  He was rewarded with a pancake breakfast at Terrace Cafe, while Melissa and I rewarded ourselves with bloody marys.  To each their own I guess.

This was the 4th race I've run with Mason this running season ... we have 2 left and I'm still trying to find that individual 5k to sneak in.  Next 5k will be in 2 weeks!

Labor Day 5k

Ok so maybe I didn't participate in an official Labor Day 5k but I did run one on my own around my neighborhood.

It's super humid and muggy in Charlotte today and running at 10am made it a little warmer than usual. Those excuses didn't stop me from pushing myself and completing my fastest unofficial 5k ever!




3.1 miles in 22:30 minutes!


I even managed to get negative splits and a sub 7 minute mile.


I love running with Mason in races but am curious to see how I would do solo in a 5k. Maybe I can sneak one in this fall!


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