We Interrupt This Running Blog

To bring you...

 

skiing!!

 

Some of my more intuitive readers may have wisely realized that this activity cannot take place in Florida. Indeed, wise friends, we took the boys for a long weekend to North Carolina. The two youngers have never tried any sort of snowy sports, so we figured it cheapest best to start them out on tiny, East Coast mountains.

 

Never ceasing to amaze, though, they took to skiing and snowboarding like ducks to water...or maybe penguins to ice blocks....whatever. They were naturals.

oh. They were really cute, too.

Bonus: The Oldest is big enough to wear The Husband's gear!

 

Middle-of-the-night road trip, followed by an entire day on the slopes should have led to utter exhaustion followed by complete meltdowns. Our children surprised us, once again, by being totally compliant, sweet and in total enjoyment of every second of the day.

 



snow angels

 

I know you were dying to know what my feet looked like when not clad in running shoes

 

On the off chance you stopped by my blog to get your much-needed fix of my awesome running tales, there was a bit of that on this trip, too. After our free!! hotel breakfast, I hopped out for a short, hilly jaunt. It wasn't quite as cold as it had been the previous day, and the overnight rain had washed away any snow. It was still lovely to be in new surroundings, enjoying the beautiful area and the feeling of the cool air on my cheeks.

one of the pic-worthy spots on my route

 

I spotted an enormous hill, just off the main road, and decided to attack it. First, though, I pulled out my phone to take a picture from the bottom. I've always seen photos of hills with a caption that reads something like this : "This picture doesn't do it justice" or "You can't really tell how tall it was from this picture".

 

Mentally scoffing at those who'd gone before me, I positioned myself just right to photographically capture a true depiction of the mountain I was about to conquer.

Listen, you can't really tell from this picture how high that thing really was

 

I made it just over halfway up before gasping and panting my way (carefully) back down. My poor, sick lungs were just not ready for that sort of challenge. That yet-to-be-recapped Marathon did a number on me!

 

We took our sweet, sight-seeing time back to Florida. The trip was long enough to squeeze in just about everything we wanted to do, but short enough to where we weren't aching for home by the end of it.

 

pausing the rock-skipping to pose for mom

 

How was your weekend? 





 



 

 



New Year, New Post

The running portion of my 2012 ended with uneventful miles. Sadly, I didn't make the connection, until after the run, that it'd be my final one of the year. I'd like to think that I'd have done something clever to commemorate it, had I realized it sooner.

Instead, I ran three, easy miles, with some running friends and then dropped my ipod.

I've got to find a better way to celebrate milestones.

Boo! :(

 

The worst part is that the resilient little sucker still works just fine. It refuses to be replaced.

 

Soon, I would like to  recap my running and racing from the previous year. I'd love to re-live some of the moments and hope to learn from the ones I'd prefer to pretend never happened. Today's not the day for all that, though.

 

Today is more about this:

Eraser Tea!

 

In a pathetic attempt to counteract the effects of this:

much tastier than tea

 

Before your start imagining me, as a wild partying animal, I have to confess I was the first guest to make my way up to bed. I did stay up past midnight (go, me!) but definitely won the Boring Old Lady Award.

Me and some non-boring ladies







 

Today also turned out to be an un-planned rest day from running. I'm sure my body is thanking me for the break, anyway. Tomorrow will likely involve a few more miles (what else can I drop and break?!) and more pathetic attempts to not stress about :

yikes



 

How did you ring in 2013?

 



 



Lip Tickling and Other Forms of Punishment

my torture device

 

My sister and I enjoy coming up with disgusting terms to apply to otherwise normal objects and/or activities. Elliptical...using the elliptical machine...ellipticalling...lip tickling. Get it? Gross, huh?

 

Punishment: I set aside today for Cross Training. Most of the time, I'll cheat on this and still do some sort of running. For example, I'll go to the pool...and run in the water.  Or, sometimes, I'll say I'm going for a 12 minute/mile "walk". Today, though, I felt compelled to actually ramp up my cardio in a way that was completely non-running.

 

Blech.

 

We have a large tv mounted in front of our elliptical machine. The husband installed a ceiling fan almost directly above it. He even went so far as to handily rig up a laptop/book holder on the front of it. (you can just make it out in the picture)

 

I think, even if that machine was spewing ice cream and dollar bills, I would still despise it.

 

The only reason I can attribute this to is that it makes me sweat buckets and doesn't give me nearly the rewarding rush of endorphins or sense of accomplishment that a good run does.

 

Anyone else feel this way?

 

Reward? : followed this up with my bi-weekly shower, (you're welcome, everyone) and this :

who had the dumb idea to buy a house with this much tile?

 

Punishment: My beloved and handy Shark Steamvac bit the dust a few months ago. I'm way too cheap lazy smart too buy another, so I've resorted to using a good ol' fashioned mop on our (miles?!) of tile floors. I'm not sure if I sweat more after that or 30 minutes on the elliptical.

 

Reward?: Clean floors! This will last for approximately 4.2 minutes

 

Fear not! This entire post isn't dedicated to my Workout Pity Parties

 

I also wanted to share my thoughts on this : There comes a time, in a runner's life, where your rewarding activing is also met with a reward.

 

Punishment?: Thoroughly enjoyable, nighttime, easy-paced, kid-free, mop-free, conversation-filled running with some of your best friends. If we're to be honest with ourselves, that would actually count as our daily reward/indulgence.

 

Nevertheless, we "endured" the run and rewarded ourselves with more grown-up time at the "finish line" of our route. It's pretty rare that any of us muster up the energy to leave our houses after about 6 pm. (soccer practice doesn't count) This was a rare treat.

 

pretend I'm there, filling that empty seat and looking way less cute than them

 

Bonus : We practically had the place to ourselves! What? You think this is because we looked and smelled like we'd just run all the way there? Ohhh....yeah. Maybe.

 

Bonus #2: My Berry Lemon Shandy was one of the best things I've ever sipped AND it cost a whopping $2.56.

 

Really? All I had to do was get some exercise to make this night happen? Next time I mop those floors, there'd better be an ice cold beer waiting for me...

 

all four of us are hoping to be further rewarded (with shiny PRs) for punishing ourselves through some 5 & 10ks, this weekend! Anyone else have any sort of torture and/or reward planned?

 

 

 

 

 

 



 







Burning Questions

I've been in need of some decent sunglasses, to wear while running, for a few months. Every once in a while I'll wear a hat or visor to keep the squinting at bay. However, I've noticed when I wear those, it intensifies the sound of my breathing, to my ears. It feels like my head's in a box and the sound of my hideous, labored breath is all I can hear.

Unpleasant.

Runglasses are the obvious fix but my "thriftiness" has prevented me from buying any. The cheapest ones I've found are about 3x more than I generally spend on a pair of sunglasses. I tried running in my regular, $10 shades, but they envelope way too much of my crooked face. Within about 5 seconds, pools of sweat built up behind the lenses and I was temporarily cursing...screaming...blinded.

Right before a 5k, in April, I counted out my change to splurge for another ($10) pair that were much lighter and allowed a bit of a breeze. Also, they had pretty purple frames.

hoping my face conveys how happy I am with those glasses

 

I tried them out while running my warm-up for the race. They bounced up and down so hard I thought I'd have a bloody forehead AND chin by the time I'd ripped them off my face. It was also too late to run them back to the car so I was stuck carrying the stupid things for the entire race. (1st in my division, though. Maybe they really are good for something!)

 

Since then I've stuck to squinting and cursing the sun for burning my poor eyes.

 

Today, though, I broke down and spent a whopping $30.00 on a pair that may actually be designed for some sort of physical activity.

man, my pictures are phenomenal, today!

 

I haven't tested them, yet, but will be happy to report back when I do. Try to refrain from holding your breath in suspense.

 

Until then, How do you keep the sun out of your eyes, while you run? Any good sunglass recommendations?

 

Finally, Have you ever seen anything more frightening than my neck, while I was trying on sunglasses?

 



 what the heck is that? Am I really that old?!

 

 

 



Throwback Thursday

Today's trip down memory lane is about The Time I Ran a Half-Marathon While Carrying a Vodka Bottle. You're probably thinking to yourself "Hmm. What sort of fun riddle is involved with that title?!"
Nope.
This story could not possibly be named anything else.

When I first started running, it was completely solo. My husband has always been athletic, but dislikes running. (ALOT) . We had a few friends and family members that ran, sporadically, at that time. I shudder to think of the clothes and shoes I wore in my early running days. (I'll save those stellar choice stories for another Thursday.)

Why do my shins hurt SO bad?!

For the most part, this was due to a complete lack of knowledge or research, on my part. When I did finally start stalking other runners looking into gear options, the overwhelmingly Cheap-O part of me was horrified. No thank you very much. I will never be spending all of those dollars on my hobby. My husband picked out and bought me my very first, actual running shirt and shorts. Probably he was tired of the "sad for you" looks our neighbors gave us as I ran, cheerily, by. (and he's very generous to me) Questioning my Cheap-Ness? I still posses AND wear those shorts he bought me SEVEN years ago.

Anyway, one day, I learned folks were actually drinking fluids while they ran. You'd think, after running in Florida for long enough, this concept would've occurred to me sooner. I just chalked up my dry cracked lips, dizzy spells and dry heaves to "the joys of running".

After googling "hand-held water bottles" I disgustedly turned off the PC and weighed my hydrating options.

I tried carrying a plastic Zephyrhills water bottle on my next run. I threw it, in utter disgust about 42 seconds in. Carrying a water bottle was definitely not for me.

Next, I tried another option that's too embarrassing to admit. I tried typing it and was unable to finish.

Then, while shopping at the Liquor store, I had my moment of brilliance. There, attached to a giant bottle of vodka, was a teensy, fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand, matching bottle of vodka! I snatched those beauties off the shelf, hopefully? paid for them, and drove home.

I could. not. WAIT to try out my new water flask! To keep this blog family-friendly, we'll say I dumped the vodka from the tiny bottle down the drain. I'm also mostly sure I rinsed it out, too. Either way, I re-filled it with a shot of water and scurried out the door for a test run.

Fast-forward to my 1st and 2nd half-marathons. While laying out my race gear, the night before, the tiny vodka bottle was lain carefully atop my bibs. Sad, right? Worse, still, is that there are professional photos of me, running a half-marathon, carrying a vodka bottle. Wanna see? (or maybe you just want to feel better about your race photos) Feel free to visit www.marathonfoto.com . Enter bib # 1103 for the Women's Half Marathon St Petersburg 2011.

Sidenote : I know everyone complains about their race photos. Mine are truly, truly frightening. View at your own risk. Also, notice my beet-red face. I was freaking dehydrated!

Soon after this race, my husband bought me a very comfy, very wonderful hand-held water bottle.

Notice a trend?

 

Moral : don't get photographed while racing with your vodka bottle.

 

Additional Moral: don't be cheap.

 

Still thinking my cheapiness might fall under the "somewhat normal" category? Here's a pic I took. Tonight. Yes, it's the original.