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Marathon Training Thus Far…

24 Apr

In the past 9 weeks:

  • I have ran 183.07 miles.
  • My highest mileage week was @ 25.48 (although technically, my highest mileage 7-day period was last week @ 37.59 miles but I track Monday – Sunday, not Sunday – Saturday).
  • My longest run was 13.1 miles.
  • I set a new half marathon PR.

What’s Not Surprising about Training:

  • I’m tired often. Going to bed at 8:30 is tough when I run after work and then cook dinner. We usually don’t even eat until around 7:30 or 8. But I have maintained my motivation to cook actual dinners, which is good.
  • My feet have developed giant calluses/blisters on the outsides of my big toes and balls of my feet, and the nail next to my big toe on my right foot has died but has yet to fall off. Wearing different socks seems to help with the blisters. Apparently, my feet don’t like Smart Wool.
  • Most days, I have good runs. Other days, bad runs. It happens to everyone. Generally, I see a correlation between being tired and having a bad run.
  • I have skipped strength training or cross training at least once every week. I don’t really care though.
  • I have been chafed by my sports bras about 3 times on long runs. Be more careful with the Body Glide application!
  • I have bought at least 10 new items of running apparel and 1 pair of shoes (soon to be followed by another) and earned 2 race shirts. But I think I’m still a pretty frugal runner, comparatively.

What Is Surprising about Training:

  • I haven’t really experienced any runger. My appetite is pretty normal overall. In fact, since I’ve started eating oatmeal for breakfast, I don’t usually get hungry at work until 11 at the earliest. I used to get hungry around 9. My cereal love has been replaced. Sorry Oatmeal Squares!
  • I haven’t lost any weight, even though I don’t feel like I’m eating a ton to compensate for running. I kind of expect the appetite to pick up soon here though…
  • I feel thirsty. This might not seem strange to most runners, but I used to never feel thirsty. I don’t really drink that much more than I used to (64 oz a day), but now, I actually feel thirsty.
  • I am a lot warmer than I used to be. Most days, I am too warm at work to wear anything but a short-sleeve shirt (even though I sit at a desk all day). When I do wear sweaters, I end up taking them off. This is strange for me because I used to be cold constantly and everywhere.
  • In the past 9 weeks, I haven’t skipped a single run. My stubbornness at its best.
  • I think I might enjoy solo or duo long runs more than running a race. I don’t like having to run around people and it’s harder for me to zone out.
  • I actually really like gels for fuel during runs. Who knew?

I have convinced Travis to run the Taste of Louisville Half on June 2 with me! That race will be part of my longest long run of 20 miles.

Looking forward to it.

Did you observe anything surprising while training for a marathon?

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Week 9 Training Recap: 4/16 – 4/22

23 Apr

Week 9 of my 18-week training plan is done, which means… I’m halfway there!

I’m very excited for the next stage of marathon training (it’s uncharted territory for me!), though I know that it’s going to be challenging to stay motivated for the longer distances after work. At least it’s light and warm outside, right?

Last week’s training:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 2.58 mile run, untimed; PT strength exercises

I was expecting this run to feel like crap after the previous Sunday’s half marathon PR, but my legs actually felt amazing. What didn’t feel amazing, however, were my blistered feet. I turned around early, cutting 3 miles to 2.5.

Wednesday: 4.1 mile fartlek run (43:36; 10:38/mile)

My legs felt a little slow and tired this day (maybe from strength training on Tuesday?), but pace was decent.

Thursday: 7.88 mile tempo run (1:24:51; 10:46/mile)

I didn’t intentionally run this as a tempo run but it’s at a tempo pace, so I’ll take it.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 9.93 mile long run (1:55:36; 11:38/mile)

More details below.

Sunday: Rest

Total Running Miles = 24.39

………………………

On Saturday morning, Travis and I drove out to DIA to have breakfast with my parents, who were at the airport during a layover on their way to Mexico. I ate a Belgian waffle, covered with bananas and strawberries, topped with syrup. That, along with getting out of my long run routine (even though it was worth it to see my parents!), and being ridiculously tired, made for a tough long run.

I got up to Boulder around 11 and since it was in the high 60s/low 70s, I wore my Aspaeris Pivot compression shorts under my new running skirt. The combination worked really well, although I did miss my 2XU compression tights a bit. One of my favorite features of the running skirt is that the inside of the waistband has “silicon strips” (aka sticky rubber) so that it doesn’t slide up while you’re running. Genius!

From the very start of the run, I just wasn’t into it. I could name a dozen other things I would rather have been doing – and at the top of that list was sleeping. I was just so. tired. But I had driven all the way up to Boulder to run 10 miles so I sucked it up and just ran at an easy pace. It was a gorgeous day and I didn’t get too hot at all during the run (though I was sweating quite a bit), but the whole time I was counting down the miles so that I could be done.

I don’t know if it was the 8 miles on Thursday or running at a slower pace or not stretching as much this past week, but by about mile 7, my legs started to hurt. Specifically my left glute and IT band/knee. Uh oh. (Although two years ago, it was my right IT band/knee that kept me from running the full Malibu Marathon). I’m putting my money on the whole “not stretching enough” thing and am really going to buckle down on that for the second half of the plan. It’s not that I don’t want to stretch – I just fit my weekday runs in right before dashing off to a church function so I don’t have time to stretch. But one of those meetings is ending tomorrow so that will help.

Yesterday, instead of doing yoga or walking, I took a nap and we planted our garden.

It was fun being outside but man, gardening is hard on the body! We have those fences up because of the dogs (even though they don’t stop them from getting in) and my back and legs were not happy with bending over them to plant things. I can crouch down for about 2 minutes before they demand that I stop. I don’t see a lot of gardening in my future before the marathon.

My tulips are happy at least (though I want to plant more this fall so they’re not so spread out).

On Saturday, Travis put down landscaping fabric and mulch on the back of our house:

It looks so much better!

I had been thinking about going to hot yoga this past Sunday – but we had a church meeting at the same time. Next Sunday, I’m going to a baby shower, and the Sunday after that, we’re going camping. So hot yoga has been rescheduled to May 13. Maybe that means I can convince some friends to join me…

I have some interesting observations about marathon training coming up soon!

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Five for Friday

20 Apr

1. I ran 7.88 miles last night after work, which I haven’t done in a long time. Despite it threatening to rain and the wind blowing me around, it was actually a pretty good run. I averaged a pace of 10:46, which I’m pretty excited about.

And right now is my favorite time of the year to run because of all the beautiful flowers. Especially the lilacs. They’re at their peak:

I’m pretty impressed that my phone took that picture.

I’m willing to bet that the Russian Olive trees are out in full force up in Boulder too, which has me contemplating a run around my 9 mile loop again tomorrow.

2. My parents are flying to Mexico tomorrow and conveniently, they have a layover in Denver! So Travis and I will trek out to the airport early tomorrow morning (like 7 am!) to have breakfast with them. It’ll totally be worth it though. Maybe I can convince them to squeeze me in their carry-on and take me to Mexico too? Work has been incredibly busy this week so I am feeling very in need of a vacation.

3. On my run last night, I discovered the secret to making gels easier to eat: heat them up in your pocket. When the gel is warm, it’s a lot more liquid-y and less gel-y so it’s easier to eat. I think this will be my strategy for future runs – store a gel in a pocket until I use it, then replace it with another gel until I need that one. (And a big THANK YOU to Lisa for hosting a giveaway that gave me lots great, free running fuel!)

I received my package from Lisa last Saturday, which was perfect timing because I was out of fuel and had forgotten to go to the store. I packed a Chocolate Cherry and a Chocolate gel.

4. I think I may have solved my blister problem by using different socks and slathering on the Body Glide. We’ll see how things go tomorrow on my 10-miler!

5. I tried out a new frozen yogurt shop on Wednesday with some friends from church. It’s called Zinga! and I really enjoyed it.

They had fewer flavors than Yogurtland but every flavor I tried was delicious. I loaded up my bowl with Raspberry, Cake Batter, Cherry Amaretto, and Mocha Latte, and loaded on the toppings.

Flavored wafers = score.

M&M’s = fail.

The M&M’s got all hard from the frozen yogurt, which made they really crunchy. I will not make that mistake again.

That’s all I got.

Have a great weekend!

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Running Shirt Dilemma

19 Apr

I got my new running duds in the mail last week. I absolutely love the skirt. It’s the perfect (modest) length, it’s nice fabric but not too heavy, the pocket on the back is big enough to actually be useful, and it’s pink.

I also really like the shirt – it’s soft and actually an extremely light teal, which makes it even cuter. Here’s my dilemma though – the medium I ordered is tighter than I’d like in the stomach. So I had the thought of exchanging it for a large. But the other issue is that the shirt is 50% polyester, 50% cotton (it says that on the website so I wasn’t surprised). I’ve never had a running-specific shirt involving cotton but Travis doesn’t think that would be good for running long distances. And since the whole point was buying a cute shirt for the marathon, I’m torn.

And I’m turning to my lovely readers. Do you have a 50/50 running shirt? Would you return the shirt for a bigger size or look for another cute, 100% polyester shirt to wear with my pink skirt?

I also just got some new sports bras. Doing a quick Google search for good running bras, I’m sure you’d come up lots of raves about Moving Comfort bras. I had ordered some last year when I was looking for a good bra to wear in my Olympic triathlon. I bought a couple of Moving Comfort bras but to be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed. Just recently, it dawned on me that I might have ordered the wrong size. And since I’m still wearing sports bras that I had in college (doubled up with others I bought more recently), I thought I’d test out my theory.

So I ordered the Fiona and Helena bras from Sierra Trading Post in one cup size smaller than I normally wear. My theory was correct. These bras actually did hold the girls down. I’m not a huge fan of the Helena (so I’m going to exchange it for another Fiona) because the band size is too small (even though it’s technically the same as the Fiona?) and is doing my underarm fat no favors. It also has very thin fabric across the front, which is not good news if you tend to get cold, ahem, after running.

But the Fiona is wonderful. It’s comfy, supportive and has thicker fabric to minimize the, ahem, coldness.

It’s also cute. That’s the main reason I have refused to try Enell bras – they look like something my grandma would wear. (Sorry, but it’s true). The other thing I like about both bras is that they fasten in the back like a regular bra. The other Moving Comfort bra I bought (the Juno) still goes over your head like a regular sports bra and fastens in the back – which is sometimes tricky to do when you’re already wearing it. I use my Juno bra for shorter distances – 10K or less – but I think that’s more because I didn’t buy the right size, than anything to do with the bra itself. I definitely plan to use my new Fiona bras for marathon training.

Short story long, if you’re looking for a supportive sports bra, Moving Comfort bras are great – you just might have to experiment with sizes.

Please give me advice about my running shirt dilemma! And if you have any ideas about where to find cute running shirts, you get bonus points!

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Getting Gas, Eating Mexican

18 Apr

Despite what you may think from the title of this post, getting gas and eating Mexican were two separate incidents. Which I will relay now…

Last night, Travis and I went out to eat at El Tapatio to celebrate the fact that he is 95% certain he’s going to graduate next month. He defended his Masters report yesterday in front of 3 professors and it went really well – which was a huge answer to prayer! Driving to work today, I realized that I even felt like a weight had been lifted – I can’t even imagine how great Travis feels! It’s been a long, hard spring for him but the end is in sight!

Even though Mexican is my least favorite food to eat at a restaurant, El Tapatio has many options that aren’t smothered in cheese (which is surprisingly hard to come by in most Mexican joints). I had the breakfast platter that included eggs and sausage. It was spicy, but delicious.

…………………..

This morning, on my way to work, I had to stop and get gas. While I probably would’ve stopped anyway (even though I was running late because I took time to hot-glue the insole of my nude heels that are falling apart), Travis had specifically requested that I stop if the gas light came on. Which it did. He claims that it’s bad to drive your car until the gas light comes on because your fuel pump ends up sucking up into the engine all the crud at the bottom of your tank that’s naturally in gasoline.

This is one of the most irritating bits of information I’ve heard in a while. In my opinion, that’s the whole point of a gas light: to tell you when you need to get gas. In fact, getting gas before the light comes on seems like overkill when you live in a big city and there are gas stations on every corner. It’s so much easier to just wait until the handy little reminder flashes its little warning light at you that you’re going to be abandoned on the side of the road and carrying a red plastic gas can that you just bought in one of the 20 gas stations in a 2-mile radius if you don’t stop and get gas relatively soon. (Why yes, I have experienced that exact situation I just described – 3 times.)

I’m clearly not a model car owner. I do absolutely nothing to keep my car running other than filling it up with gas – and apparently, I’ve been doing even that small thing incorrectly by waiting so long to fill the tank that my engine suck up contaminants and clogs itself.

Whether or not this tidbit is true (this site says yes, this site says no), no one will ever know.

What do you think? Do you wait until your gas light comes on, or do you run your tank dry?

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Training Recap: 4/9 – 4/15

16 Apr

Last week, I didn’t do any strength training or speed work in preparation for the half marathon and I actually missed it! So I’m excited to get back into the swing of things this week, just in time to enter the second half of marathon training next Monday. Because I don’t believe in the idea of jinxing things or knocking on wood, I’m going to boldly say that I have gotten farther in this training plan than I did in 2010 when I injured my IT band. From here on out, it’s uncharted territory for this girl. Which is pretty exciting, if you ask me! (It still boggles my mind that during my highest mileage week, my mid-week run will be the same length as my longest long run in half marathon training – 10 miles. On a Thursday night!)

Because of my shiny new Half Marathon PR, I’m going to say that this past week was a fabulous training week, even though my runs were kind of meh.

Monday: 3.04 mile easy run (34:22, 11:18/mile)

Tuesday: 3.15 mile easy run (33:15, 10:33/mile)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 6.19 mile easy run (1:07:33, 10:54/mile)

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Platte River Half Marathon (2:24:34, 11:03/mile)

Total Running Miles = 25.48

……………………..

While my legs felt great for the entire race yesterday, my feet are a sight for sore eyes. Poor little feet. I ended up popping a water blister on my right foot last night with a (hand)sanitized push pin because it was so tender that I couldn’t stand to put my feet under the covers to go to bed. Operation De-Blister-ation has commenced. (Sort of.) I will spare you the pictures of my ugly feet because let’s honest… no one wants to see that. But something needs to change because I don’t know if I could even put my feet into running shoes right now.

In other news, my appetite finally returned today. Not with a vengeance (surprisingly), just at its usual level. But I’m extremely thirsty. And warm. I can barely stand to keep my blazer on over my tank top. Which is so strange, since I’m usually inhumanly frigid all the time. Travis says that I have cadaver hands. And actually, even though I’m warmer than normal, my hands are still cold. Go figure.

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Race Recap: Platte River Half Marathon

15 Apr

Welp, third fourth time’s the charm. I finally beat my previous PR of 2:30:52 by coming across the finish line at 2:24:34 (unofficial), an average pace of 11:03!

I am beyond thrilled that I achieved my goal and am surprised at how well this race went mentally, but it was a tough race. I think my mental game is what saved me and turned this into my new PR. But I’ll start at the beginning.

And by beginning, I mean last night, because I think my dinner might have had something to do with how things went today. I got home from the Women of Faith conference around 6:30 (I’ll post about that later) and was starving. Travis was too and of course, his first suggestion was Mexican (always is!). After my less than enthusiastic reception of that idea, he mentioned that he’d like a steak so we went to Texas Roadhouse. Except everyone and their grandma was there, so we ventured over to Lonestar Steakhouse, which was much less crowded.

We ordered their 2 for $25 deal, which included an appetizer, 2 entrees + 1 side each, and a dessert. In short, a lot of food. The appetizer was spinach and artichoke dip (delicious!), I ordered the Bourbon salmon for my entree with a baked sweet potato (Travis got steak with green beans), and cheesecake for dessert. Everything was delicious… as was my $4 GIANT margarita. It was pretty weak as far as margaritas go (which was good because I’m totally a lightweight) but I left the restaurant feeling a bit more full than I wanted to (and I even took 1/2 of my meal home with me!).

When we got home, I checked the weather report and it said 40 degrees, rain and 25 mph winds from the NW. We would be running north so this was simply perfect weather (ha, not!). I was trying to stay positive as I grabbed my winter and spring running jackets, my 2XU compression tights, a long-sleeve shirt, a t-shirt, my running hat, and Smart Wool socks. I got everything else ready – race directions, course map, gels, Camelbak, coffee for the morning – and went to bed around 9:30.

Usually on race morning, I get up right when my alarm goes off because I’m nervous or I realize that I’m not going to get any more sleep anyway. Not this morning. I thought through what I had to do and calculated how long it would take me, so that I could stay in bed as long as possible. I reset my alarm clock and went back to sleep (kind of). Finally, I got up at 6:30.

I looked outside to this:

A little snow, but SUN! Maybe the weather wouldn’t be as bad as they said…

I got dressed, did my hair and makeup, packed my bag (makeup remover wipes which are great for wiping all the salt off my face after the race, flip-flops and a tangelo for post-race), and made my breakfast. I had eaten our last blueberry bagel yesterday morning so I ended up making an unconventional combination of asiago cheese bagel and peanut butter (maybe another contributor to how the race went?).

Pooches were all cute and cuddly:

We left around 7:20 and I drank my coffee as we drove down to the race. Packet pickup went very smoothly and I was in and out in about five minutes… leaving us with over an hour to kill. We used the bathroom 3 times. I ate my bagel. We observed a water spillway (Travis is always interested because that’s what he works on at his job) and a mural painting of historic Littleton.

Finally, it was time to go.

There were 3 waves, starting a minute apart – the first was for runners expecting to finish under 1:50, the second for those finishing under 2:10, and the third for the rest of us. The first 2 miles were through downtown Littleton and then we made our way to the greenway trail that follows the Platte River (the same trail that we ran on for the Snowman Stampede).

My legs felt strong and I couldn’t really tell whether or not I was running too fast or right on pace. I didn’t catch the first mile marker but I heard Garmins around me beeping, so I clicked my watch. 10:48. Maybe a little fast, but not crazy.

I felt the same for Mile 2 but then, my stomach started hurting. It didn’t go away at Mile 3 or Mile 4. At Mile 4.5, I decided to take my first gel to see if it would help. It made things worse by giving me a horrible side stitch.

This is where my mental game changed. I repeated to myself:

I refuse to walk. I have worked so hard to get here, and I will not let my stomach, my foot, the weather, or anything keep me from a PR.

My pace slowed,  but I kept running. The pain didn’t go away. So I prayed, Lord, please take away this stomach pain so that I can run this race.

He didn’t answer immediately but by Mile 6.5, the pain had subsided considerably. I picked the pace back up and passed a bunch of people.

That’s also when the wind started to pick up. By Mile 9, the wind was whipping. The mile marker signs were blown over, cups and sand were blowing everywhere, my hat almost flew off several times. But I was determined, even though my stomach was acting up again. I took my second gel and powered on.

The miles kept ticking down. My legs felt fantastic the entire race. There wasn’t any point in the race that they, or my lungs, felt like the limiting factor. It was all my stomach.

Finally, we got to the big hill. The wind was so strong that it almost blew us into the fence as we ran up and over the railroad yard. I didn’t stop running on the hill, and once I got to the top, I knew the end was near so I kicked it. We ran down and turned the corner… there was the finish. I was SO elated. I was going to make it. I was going to PR. Finally!

I kicked it a little too eagerly and felt like I was going to puke as I made my way down the finish chute. I glanced at my watch. I could even beat my unofficial PR from last weekend! So I kept running, toeing the line of running as fast as I could without puking.

Victory!

That was me trying to not throw up as I waited to have my chip removed (and being thrilled that I PR’ed!)

Poor Man GPS Splits:

1 – 10:44
2 – 10:38
3 – 10:41
4 – 10:58
5 – 11:12
6 – 11:29
7 – 7:03 + 4:03 (11:06)
8 – 10:50
9 – 11:18
10 – 11:22
11 & 12 – 22:37 (11:18 avg)
13 – 11:35

1st half = 1:12:46
2nd half = 1:11:48

Unofficial Time = 2:24:34

Even though the course was a net 120 feet loss, the course has quite a few underpasses, meaning downhill and uphill. Those hills weren’t too bad, but the overpass at mile 12 was a doozy.

After I got my medal, I met up with Travis and Heidi (who also ran the race) and we went in search of food. The post-race food was spread around the block… literally. Down one street were apples, bananas, fruit strips, and mini Clif bars. Down the other was the lunch, which I heard included hamburgers, breakfast burritos, fish tacos, and other stuff.

Honestly, absolutely nothing sounded good. I didn’t feel hungry. The wind was still whipping while the temperature cooled off. And the lunch line seemed to be several hundred people long and not moving an inch (what was up with that?). Standing in line, in the cold, for a lunch that I wasn’t even sure I wanted (usually I give it to Travis but he had picked up McDonald’s…naughty) wasn’t particularly appealing. So we ended up just leaving. Part of me wanted to get the lunch just so I could say I had gotten my money’s worth for the race.

I wasn’t hungry when I got home either. I took a long, hot shower, drank an Athlete’s HoneyMilk protein drink, and knew I should eat something else, and actually felt hungry, but everything sounded unappealing. I forced myself to eat a bowl of cereal, called my mom and then finished reading The Tipping Point (great book!).

After a trip to Sports Authority, a walk with the pooches, and some other hodge-podge eating, I’m now blogging and will enjoy a glass of red wine shortly. I wish tomorrow was Sunday instead of Monday!

………………………..

Overall, the Platte River Half Marathon was very well-done. They were very organized, started on time, the aid stations were well-stocked (though I didn’t use any of it), had lots of volunteers and portapoos and the t-shirt and medal are cute.

The shirt is a long-sleeve too, which I’m excited about.

The only small complaint I have is about the lunch line – I don’t know why the line was so long, or what we were waiting for, but it seemed kind of ridiculous for tired, hungry runners to have to stand in such a long line for their food. Otherwise,  I would definitely recommend this race!

……………………

Are you hungry after long runs/races? 

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TGIF! and Weekend Plans

13 Apr

I’m so happy today is Friday. Not only do I not have to go to work tomorrow, I get to go to the Women of Faith One Day conference in Loveland:

The website description: You’ve seen Women of Faith before . . . but you’ve never experienced it like this! Women of Faith ONE DAY is a brand-new event unlike anything we’ve ever done before. New format, new focus, new depth . . . you’ll connect on a whole new level. This empowering event could set your life on a new course or give you additional tools to continue what God has already started. What if one day could make all the difference? Find out at Women of Faith ONE DAY.

I’ve been thinking about going to a conference like this for a while, so when my friend Sheri talked about going, I told her I was in. And it just happened to fall on the one and only Saturday in my 4.5-month-long training plan that I wasn’t planning on running (since I’m racing on Sunday) – talk about God’s providence! My other good friend, Cathy, is going too, so I’m really looking forward to having a girls’ day.

The fun continues with a celebratory dinner tomorrow night – Travis is taking his Professional Engineer exam today! We won’t find out whether he passes until the middle of June (the bureaucracy of education continues) so we’ll just be celebrating No More Studying! And hopefully we’ll get to celebrate again next weekend, since he’s planning to defend his Masters Report this coming Tuesday (I say planning because his advisor hasn’t gotten back to him – which has been a major source of frustration through this whole process). Anyway, I’m going to let Travis choose the restaurant we go to (although I would definitely prefer something not Chinese or Mexican – they’re my least favorite food to have when we eat out. I guess I just like my own Americanized version better?)

Then Sunday morning, I will be up bright and early to head down the race site, pick up my race packet and prepare for what I hope will be a new Half Marathon PR. I’m a little bummed about the weather forecast though:

Although that’s better than what I had been hearing (high in the 30s and possible rain/snow). Bah! I just might be running another race in my obnoxiously bright yellow jacket…

On the bright side (no pun intended), I am feeling a lot more confident going into this half than I was before my last one – then, I felt like I had done everything wrong leading up to race day. Even though my runs this week haven’t been the best ones ever (just feeling tired and out of breath), I’m still maintaining an average pace that will let me easily PR – my 6 mile run yesterday had an average pace of 10:54 (I need to run 11:30/mile or faster to PR).

And I’ve been really thirsty this week so I’ve been drinking water like its my job (good). But I’ve been so tired that I refuse to get up and go to the bathroom during the night (bad).

Anyway, my strategy for the race is to just do exactly what I have been doing in my long runs – run comfortably but strong, stay hydrated, fuel around miles 5 and 9, and enjoy the experience.

Oh, and FYI, I discovered the secret to making coffee do its house-cleaning trick: drink it on an empty stomach. Because race mornings are generally so much different than my normal mornings, I have tended to drink my coffee with breakfast or on the way to the race instead of right away when I wake up like I normally do. Now I know better. Empty stomach = gears churning. Sorry if that’s TMI for you non-runners. Runners are kind of a gross bunch.

Just like my feet right now. I’m starting to think that my new Nikes are too narrow in the toe box because I’m getting blisters on the outsides of my big toes and balls of my feet. Does anyone have any tricks to prevent this from happening? I do wear drifit socks (Nike or Smart Wool brands) and put Body Glide on those areas to prevent rubbing so I’m kind of at a loss of what to do besides getting new shoes. And finding shoes wider than my Nikes will be a challenge, since I already tried on 15 or so pairs before I found these. Do you think using something like Nu-Skin would work?

I’ll be back on Sunday with hopefully a very positive report! Enjoy your weekend.

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A Sabbath Rest

12 Apr

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about my inability to relax and have realized that I operate under the belief, “If I’m not productive, I’m worthless.” I’ve felt like I always have to be “on”, that’s there no excuse for me to ever not get something done if the only thing I was doing instead was nothing. Distorted thinking, I tell ya.

But, as with my food log, with knowledge comes power. Only once I recognize the reality of my situation and accept it, can I bring it before God to have Him change it. So that’s what I’m doing through prayer – and through observing the Sabbath.

I have often felt God call me to do the one thing that scares me the most. It freaks me out to think of an entire day in which I accomplish nothing. A day when the order of my house, the food in the fridge, and the piles of dirty clothes will stay exactly as they are from dawn until dusk. What will I do with all the time gained?

Reclaim my sanity.

This is, at its core, an an issue of faith. The question is, do I really trust that God is in charge of my life? If I do, then I can trust Him to work things out for my good, even while I take a break. I am not the one holding the plates in the air. I’m not the keeping our lives from imploding into piles of dust, dirt and mold.

But the very fact that I can’t take a break reveals that in reality, I believe I am indispensable.

So I see observing the Sabbath as a declaration of my spirit: I will, as terrifying as it is, put away my to-do list and relax, trusting God that everything will be ok.

“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9-10).

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My Marathon Outfit

10 Apr

I may have found my marathon racing outfit…

This shirt from Oiselle:

The bars represent the most common race distances, from 5K to Ultra:

And then this skirt (in the pink) from Skirt Sports (I bought it on Team Estrogen’s website):

I am LOVING that it has a place to attach your running bib, and a giant pocket on the back, to make my butt look even bigger store gels in:

I bought this particular skirt because it’s 15″ long and I like a more modest cut. I also liked that it is just a cover skirt and doesn’t come with built-in shorts. I feel like shorts are something that you need to try on in the store to make sure that they don’t ride up or fit weird. And I have 2 pairs of spandex shorts (one compression and one not) already, plus 3 pairs of tri shorts.

I was thinking about buying a Sparkle Skirt for the marathon but I think I’ve decided against it because I don’t think I’ll get enough use out of it to justify the money. (I mean, how often is it socially appropriate for an almost-30-year-old to wear a sparkly skirt in public?)

Anyway, I am crossing my fingers that the pink in the shirt is the same pink as the skirt. The pictures suggest otherwise but I’m staying optimistic.

I have also decided that my “blow money” for May (money that I can spend on whatever I want according to our budget) will be going toward a Garmin Forerunner 405. So long, Poor Man’s GPS.

Do you have a running skirt? Why or why not?

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