Three Things Thursday

1. My friend Becka is in Greece for her FIRST full marathon, and she's going to be so awesome :). I'm so proud of her!

2. How is running going?! Well... Today is NOT REST DAY, which means I'm running tonight. And, I'm a little psyched about it! I think I'm broken. Or, at least, coming around ;). I did 2.5 miles Tuesday, and thought I might die, which seems to be a recurring theme. Hopefully that settles down tonight.

3. This conversation between the H and I actually happened last night:
Me: So I'm looking at flights... I can fly red-eye out on Friday, and back Monday morning?
H: Fly where?
Me: For the Disney Princess Half?
H: Oh. That's not here? I thought it was at Disneyland.

:blink:

Apparently, I wasn't super clear about how super, super psyched I am to get this training DOWN and hit the Princess Half. You know. The one in FLORIDA.


and... I know it's 3 things, but here's number...
4. The arrangement I made with H and myself.
a. If I do the Turkey Trot 5K without walking, under 34 minutes, I get the pink argyle hotness from Running Skirts.
b. If I do the Make Room for Santa 10K without walking, under 1:15, I can register for the Princess Half.

"Photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place..."

My weekend in pictures. OC > Julian > Miramar > La Jolla > OC

No pain, no gain?

I think I'm doing something wrong.

I am certainly RUNNING longer than I've done before, ever.

I'm being fairly careful to try to run on alternating days, particularly now that I'm not doing intervals.

I'm icing a few times a day, in 15 minute intervals.

I'm not pacing myself well, I think. My pace gets faster every time. Which I'm stoked about.

What I'm NOT stoked about, is the frozen corn currently residing on my legs. Because they HURT. A. LOT.

I know I need to slow the pace. I know it. Then I just... Don't.

Even tonight on the treadmill, here I can SEE the pace, I just... Can't help it. I'm competitive, apparently. Who knew.

I need to cut it out. I need to stop racing myself. I mean. I'm on a treadmill. I'm not going anywhere. Right?

Running outside, take 1

One word.

Awful.

I made the (apparently fatal) mistake of trying to keep up with The H.

The H who runs significantly faster than me.

Awful.

I'll be revisiting my bff the treadmill tomorrow.

"Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan."

I'm kind of a planner.

I am always cooking up something.. a trip, a plan, something. Sometimes it's little, like dinner tonight. Sometimes, it's big, like a trip in 3 years. But it's always something. Another time, I'll wonder about what that says about me, that I don't just stop and enjoy the moment. Another time.

My newest obsession, to go along with my new-found enjoyment of running, is race planning. I'm stalking all types of websites, listing different races available in the next 12 months. I'm mentally calculating the number of weeks between today and mid-February, and wondering if I'll be ready for a half, and if so, what I should expect to set my goal time at.

Early? Perhaps. I mean, definitely. I can barely run 2.5 miles, I probably should not be eyeballing marathons. I think my problem is that everything past 4 miles, in my mind, kind of all blends together. I mean. If I can do a 10K (6.2 miles), how much worse could a half be (13.1 miles)? It all seems to be the same.

I've already committed to the Dana Point Turkey Trot 5K. I'm looking at a race before that, just... because? No real reason. It seems like a silly idea, but now I'm obsessed with the whole IDEA of race planning, and I want to do it. Now. Patience is not my strongest trait. And being in SoCal, there are TONS to choose from, all the time.

So, my plan is going to be:
Dana Point 5K, Nov. 25
Irvine Make Room for Santa 10K, Dec. 12
Disney Princess Half, Feb. 26

I think.

I've also been investigating Becoming a One Hour Runner, to move on to after C25K. The next (and last) three weeks of C25K are just running, straight through, no more intervals. Conveniently, the first four weeks for One Hour Runner are almost identical to what I'm looking forward to on C25K...

Or I could contiune Bridge to 10K, but it goes back to interval training... which seems like a step backwards? 10 min run, 1 min walk? Hm.

Anyone tried One Hour Runner? Good, bad?

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there."

I've started and re-started C25K so many times in the last year that it's... crazy. I'd hit week 4 and just lose interest. Or be too busy. Or whatever.

This time, though, I stuck through week 4. And week 5. Last night, I graduated week 6.

Which means, in the last 4 weeks since I started (I cheated and started at week 2. Shhh.), I've gone from feeling like I might DIE after jogging for 60 seconds, to last night, running 2.25 miles straight through, in 25 minutes.

And it was glorious.

I never, ever imagined I would be... excited to try it again. But I am. I'm resting today, per my schedule (and the ginormous cold gifted to me by Baby), but tomorrow, I'm gonna hop on the treadmill and do it all. over. again.

And it's going to be magical.

We are signing up for the Dana Point Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning... The CDM5K time in June was 37:57. I'm aiming for under 32 minutes for Dana Point.

Meanwhile, H is training for sub-20 minutes. Beacuse he's insane.

Anyawy. I added this rad updatey thing from Daily Mile, which is my new fabvorite site. I love seeing everything laid out for me the way it is there.

So. Stoked.

A blogger I follow, Endurance isn't only Physical, is hosting a CEP compression leg sleeve giveaway. Check it out, enter, and good luck!

Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.

Things to do before December 31st:

1. Visit the mountains DONE
2. Complete 10K DONE
3. Limit eating out to 1 meal per week
4. Henna the Hair
5. New park, one per month
6. BUDGET my holiday gift spending, and DO IT (ha?) DONE
7. Increase weekly mileage to 15 miles per week DONE
8. Register for 2 races DONE
9. Pick up a new ingredient and use it! DONE
10. Call the cousins more
11. Stick to the Garbage Bag cleaning plan DONE
12. Revisit vegetarianism
13. Get back to the farmers market
14. Switch the schedule to running in the mornings
15. Drop 1 size DONE

Phew.

Can I call myself a runner now?

So, I've NEVER been super athletic, ever. I mean. I took personal fitness twice in high school, 'cause I refused to run. I have done races, I've run/walked all of them, some pretty successfully... but never, ever have I really run. Ever.

But I've been coveting these running skirts, and then I tried to tell H I wanted to run the Disney Princess half next spring... and he scoffed at me.

So I bribed myself, and told myself I could buy a skirt when I run a mile, straight through, and don't stop to walk. If I can do a 5K straight through by the November race I've registered for, I'll do the Disney trip. I figured, these are good goals. I have - literally - never, ever run more than half a mile at a time, ever, and that was only right before the CDM5K Snork and I did in June. Then I stopped running, until, like a month ago.

Then. Last week? I ran 3/4 of a mile. And I was shocked - SHOCKED! - texting poor Squirrel, as if my 3/4 compares at all to her millions of miles a week. (Who, BTW, just reviewed what seems to be the most magical sports bra ever, and I think I need a Zensah Sports Bra, like, yesterday.)

Then!! Last night?



I'm not even sure how that happened. But it did. IT DID!