Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Hitting the Pavement

After a long hiatus from blogging, and a short hiatus from running, I was back on the road this gorgeous spring evening for a mid-week shortie.


Apologies for the abrupt disappearance from the "blogosphere," I promise I've been doing MUCH better at adhering to the training plan (thanks to my slave driver - I mean sister).  I even hit 11 miles down at Kelly Drive on Sunday!  I just haven't been able to find the words to match the work my legs and feet are putting into this journey.


Now that I'm back (hopefully for good!) I had two newsworthy items I wanted to share with you:


--Last Thursday Melissa and I got our bib numbers!  I'm apparently the only one who's excited about this, but it just seems to make the race that much more official!  My bib number is 1808 and Melissa's is 1809.


--Last Thursday was also a big milestone because we hit the ONE MONTH till race day mark!  April 25 is just around the corner - so exciting!  Melissa mapped out my training plan for the rest of the month - so I have no excuses for not being ready mentally and physically come race day. (thanks sis!)


Here's a quick recap of my recent runs since the last post by me:
3/20 - 6 miles in Providence, RI - running in a new city definitely taught me that I want to know the course and landmarks prior to race day.  I will definitely be driving the course ahead of time so I know what to expect!


3/24 - 6 miles in Lower Merion - amazing run!  beautiful night!  I love daylight savings time.


3/28 - 11 miles at Kelly Drive - my legs are STILL reeling from that one...


3/31 (tonight) 5 miles in Lower Merion - a quick little run on a lovely evening


To celebrate another great run, I'm heading to Rita's tonight for my first water ice of the season.  Dad loved water ice (pronounced wooder ice for all of you non-philadelphians) - he would always get a combo of chocolate cherry.  After Phillies games we'd head to Pop's in South Philly for water ice, down the shore we'd go to Lucy's, and any random evening we'd hit up Rita's or Lix in the neighborhood.  Dad had his favorite water ice hot spots in any neighborhood!  In celebration of Dad tonight - I think I'll get a chocolate cherry myself!


Happy Spring!
Victoria

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Rest & Reading

Last night when I got back from DC (which was tons of fun!) I was talking to my roommate about how I didn't even feel like I had ran 12 miles the day before. Well, I jinxed myself. This morning my legs would NOT listen to me. I was running so slowly and even though my head was in it, I just could not run faster. I think I saw a snail pass me. Since I wanted to push harder, I don't think it had anything to do with laziness or lacking heart. I think after the past couple runs, I'm just physically exhausted.

I'm considering cutting a run out this week or cutting my mileage on my long run this week. This is the last week I had planned on increasing my mileage before race day anyway. I really wanted to run 13 miles before race day, but I'm not sure if it's the smartest idea to push myself past my limits. I know that I can finish the half marathon, even if it's not as fast as I would like it to be, so maybe easing up a bit would be beneficial. I need to think about it some more.  

Here are my not-so-hot splits:

Mile 1: 10:34
Mile 2: 9:59
Mile 3: 10:38
Mile 4: 11:19
Mile 5: 11:32
Mile 6: 11:05
Mile 7: 20:04 (cool down)
.09: 1:45

The first 3 miles went well and then my legs were like "no way, we're not doing this anymore!" Frustrating.

Anyway, I finally finished the book Born to Run that Vic sent to me!

I really enjoyed reading it. Parts of it were really slow but for the most part it was a really interesting book. Some passages were so inspiring and made me want to throw my book aside and lace up my shoes! Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"Ask nothing from your running, in other words, and you'll get more than you ever imagined."
"If there's any magic bullet to make human beings healthy, it's to run."
"Running was the superpower that made us human--which means it's a superpower all humans possess."
"Just move your legs. Because if you don't think you were born to run, you're not only denying history. You're denying who you are."

I think that last one is so powerful! Over the weekend Vic and I were talking about how we have the ability to relate virtually any situation to Dad. Vic said, "I can make everything about Dad...even........socks" and then she said, "actually socks are an easy one, but you know what I mean." Obviously socks are an easy one...because of his hatred for them haha. Anyway, Dad was the fastest reader I've ever seen. He could pick up a book and wouldn't put it down until he was done (usually later that same day). Here is a picture of Daddy caught in the act of reading Cosmo, and you can see that he isn't wearing socks :) 

 Fall 2008

I'm off to rest these legs!

--Melissa

Friday, March 26, 2010

Ouch.

That was hands down the hardest run I've ever been on. The ENTIRE time I was just thinking about how bad it hurt. From mile 1 all the way to mile 12, I struggled. After my rough run earlier this week, I had high hopes for today. However, I just felt off this morning. I think it might have been a combination of just being tired and slightly dehydrated (despite a good nights sleep and trying to drink lots of water). Either way, my heart was just not in it today. I'm going to write my splits now and just get it over with. They are kind of embarrassing, but oh well, I'm still proud of myself for finishing the hardest 12 miles ever. Also, I'm not going to write any notes like I did last week, because basically my thoughts the whole time were "this sucks! X miles to go! Don't quit!!!!"

Mile 1: 10:25
Mile 2: 10:29
Mile 3: 10:38
Mile 4: 10:38
Mile 5: 10:40
Mile 6: 10:57
Mile 7: 11:02
Mile 8: 11:09
Mile 9: 11:13
Mile 10: 11:10
Mile 11: 11:20
Mile 12: 11:01
Mile 13: 16:56 (.11 was still running, the rest was cool down)
.06: .57
I ran 12.11 miles in roughly 2 hours and 12 minutes. With the cool down the total time was 2 hours, 28 minutes, 43 seconds

As you can see, this was much slower than I've been running on my other runs (both long and short). I was a little discouraged at first, but my main purpose for running this race is to remember Daddy and hopefully help accelerate finding a cure for blood cancers. With that being said, as nice as it would be to meet my speed goals, I don't really care about anything except for finishing the race.

I had planned on writing about more than just my run in this post, but I think a nap is in order...right now! Then I'm off for a trip to DC with Mom and Vic. My cousin Jon is giving us a tour of the White House. So excited!
 Daddy and Jon

--Melissa

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Squashing negativity

I read a quote a few days ago it was "if it were easy, everyone would do it". I forget where I saw it, but it was in reference to running either a half or a whole marathon. But I suppose you could apply this quote to running any distance, or any situation really. Anyway, while Friday's and Sunday's runs weren't necessarily easy, they weren't exactly hard either. I was beginning to think my attitude towards running was crazy! However, today that was not the case.

I woke up and did not want to get out of bed at all. I thought about skipping my run, I thought up every imaginable excuse:
"I'm still tired"...but I knew once I got up I'd feel fine.
"It rained yesterday and it's supposed to rain again today"...but it wasn't raining when I woke up.
"I don't feel like it"...but my IT band has been feeling fine (knock on wood) and I know that when I couldn't run before I wished that I could.
After hitting snooze a few times, I finally got up.
I headed outside to do my usual early morning run on the roads. My legs did not want to move. I had to push through every single step. I almost quit several times, but then I imagined how I would feel if I quit, and how I would feel if I finished my 5 miles and kept chugging along. I kept playing mental games with myself (only X more miles) to try and squash the negative thoughts I was having. Around mile 4.5 I almost stopped but then forced myself to run the last half mile. When I hit the planned 5 miles, I forced myself to run a quarter mile more as a "punishment" for all my negativity. In retrospect, that was kind of a dumb idea, because even though it might not be easy, running shouldn't be a punishment! One bad run doesn't mean that I hate running, but I'm looking forward to the runs I have planned for later this week so I can redeem myself from today's bad run. Despite the fact that I was mentally not in it today, my splits were decent! I managed to hit negative splits...maybe to match my mood ;)

Mile 1: 10:30
Mile 2: 10:20
Mile 3: 10:07
Mile 4: 10:07
Mile 5: 10:01
.79: 12:25 (.25 was still running, .54 was cool down walking)

After my run, my cool down was extremely slow and I took a super long shower. Then I took a long time getting ready. Before I knew it, I only had a few minutes to get to class. I caught myself thinking "let's boogie" which is something Dad always said :) 

I have a lot of fun things planned for later this week, which I'm really excited about! Included in that is this week's long run...TWELVE miles!! I'll post a recap after! 

--Melissa

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Spring has sprung!

Ok I'm going to make this a very speedy post, because I spent all day outside yesterday instead of doing work. Even though I have a ton to do today, it was such a great weekend! My roommate and I laid out on our roof and sipped some drinks for a few hours. Though the trees were still bare, it was a beautiful day:

Before laying out yesterday, I hit the gym to bike for a little while. I'm convinced that biking after my long runs is what keeps my legs from feeling stiff and sore. After, I didn't even feel like I had ran 11 miles the day before!

This morning I had a short 5 mile run planned. It's funny how just a few weeks ago that was my "long run" and now I consider 5 to be short! It was so nice outside on my run today! I went down to the trail, and it was packed with runners, walkers, and bikers. I ran a mile to the trail, then I had planned to do 2 out and 2 back, and then do a cool down walk home. When I hit my turn around point I decided to go a little further. It was just too nice outside and I didn't want my run to end because I'm going to be inside for the rest of the day trying to finish (and start) 2 projects :( So I ended up running 6 miles, and then I had to force myself to stop and walk home 1.11 miles. The splits:

Mile 1: 9:50
Mile 2: 9:37
Mile 3: 9:58
Mile 4: 10:31
Mile 5: 10:21
Mile 6: 9:34
Total run time: 59 minutes, 55 seconds
Mile 7: 18:13 (cool down, I got stopped at every. single. light.)
.11: I forgot to stop my watch, so let's just say 2 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes (ish)

I was so hot during this run! I came home and chugged some ice water. I will definitely have to adjust when/how much I hydrate with the temperatures getting warmer. Okay, time to tackle that homework!

--Melissa

Friday, March 19, 2010

Epic Eleven

As I write this post, I am on a serious runner's high. This morning I went for an 11 mile run, and it was FANTASTIC! As terrible as the weather was last week, that's how unbelievably perfect the weather was today. I wore pants and my Team in Training practice tech tee. This outfit left me without pockets, so I had to get creative with where to put my key. I used to just loop it through my shoe laces, but when I did that I found myself constantly looking down to make sure it was still attached, which was very annoying. Instead, I thought up a little key contraption:
 I threaded my headphones through the top of the key and then kept it flat by wrapping a hair tie around the key and my shuffle. Brilliant, or so I thought. The key ended up flying out of the hair tie and bobbing around on my headphones after running for about 5 seconds. I ended up just wrapping the hair tie through the key and wearing it around my wrist. Not perfect, but it worked, maybe I'll buy myself a super cool Spi Belt (essentially a fanny pack for runners).
Before I left I set up a little fuel station in my living room:
A clemintine and water

My plan was to run a mile to the trail, run out 2.5 miles, run back 2.5 miles, and then run the 1 mile back from the trail. This would get me to 7 miles, and then I would stop for some water and a couple sections of clemintine. Then I planned to do a 2 mile loop around campus, stop for more water, and then finally do 2 more miles. I stuck to the original 7 mile plan, but I ended up doing the whole 4 miles at once. My legs felt really tired after my quick pit stop at home. After ~1.5 miles though my legs felt better and so I didn't want to stop for another break. After the 11 miles, I did a one mile cool down walk. Here are the splits with some notes:

Mile 1: 10:18 (waited at a light for a while, walked slowly down the steps leading from the bridge down to the trail)
Mile 2: 9:48 (on the trail, feeling great!)
Mile 3: 9:58 (on the trail)
Mile 4: 10:10 (around the 3/4 mile mark I was starting to feel a little tired, wishing water wasn't ~2 miles away)
Mile 5: 9:59 (feeling better, still on the trail)
Mile 6: 9:39 (back to the part of the trail I feel most familiar with, feeling great!) 
Mile 7: 10:26 (walked very slowly up the stairs leading from the trail to the bridge, got stuck at a light)
Water break with 2 sections of clemintine for some fuel. I probably should have had more but my stomach didn't like it. 
Mile 8: 9:50 (on campus, feeling a little icky)
Mile 9: 10:25 (on campus, legs feeling really weak, 2 hills)
Mile 10: 9:55 (feeling much, much better, ready to rock out these last 2 miles)
Mile 11: 9:21 (!!!!! I sprinted at the end pretending it was the end of the race)
Total run time: 1 hour, 49 minutes, 54 seconds!!!! 
Mile 12(.01): 17:18 (cool down)
Total time: 2:06:54

I definitely could have ran 2 more miles and completed a half! It was awesome! Maybe it was because of the weather, or that I ran over half on the trail (which I generally find slightly easier than on the road), or that I got a really good night's sleep, but whatever the reason I feel like I completely rocked those 11 miles!!!! 

As I was running, on this gorgeous day, I thought about Dad. Not only was it perfect running weather, but it was also perfect golf weather. And we all know Dad loved a good golf day :) 
Antigua, 2007
I see stretching and a nap in my future!

--Melissa 

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Adventures in Puerto Rico

My calves have been really stiff since our 10 mile run on Saturday. I think because of all the rain it affected my stride and I was running slightly differently than usual. I also blame the stiffness on the fact that on Sunday Vic and I sat on a train home from NYC for hours. Usually the day after a long run I bike for a while to flush out my legs. But, NYC was fun, I got to meet Vic's friends from Puerto Rico (Hi Hilary!)
 Me and Vic in NYC

I'm now back at school and even though I was still stiff when I woke up this morning I wanted to get back into my routine and I went for an early morning run. It seemed especially early since I forgot to switch my Garmin on day light savings time! I took it nice and easy today doing my usual 5 mile route. When I got to the 5 mile turn around point, my watch said that it wasn't quite 5 miles yet and I ran a bit further. So either the past few weeks I was doing less than 5, or today I did more than 5. I am annoyed with my watch and I kind of wish I had splurged and got the more expensive Garmin which you don't need to calibrate, but I also don't really care about a tenth of mile. For the rest of training I'm just going to go by my watch, and if it's a little more or less...oh well! Today's splits:

Mile 1: 10:29
Mile 2: 10:38
Mile 3: 10:18
Mile 4: 10:14
Mile 5: 10:20
.87: 14:33 (cool down)

I'm going to do a lot of stretching later today (I didn't have time this morning because I had to get to class) so hopefully that will loosen me up a bit!

Anyway, a lot of people have been saying that we are crazy/nuts/other adjectives for doing this race. This got me thinking about other crazy things I've done. Last May, Mom, Dad and I went down to Puerto Rico to visit Vic. Dad wasn't feeling to great, but he still made an effort to have a great time and try new things. One in particular was when the 2 of us rented a jet ski and went out on the gorgeous ocean. I was scared out of my mind and screaming at him to slow down the entire time. But it was a ton of fun and something that I will never forget doing with Dad! 
Us in the pool, May 2009
Dad and Me, May 2009

--Melissa

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Soapy Knees

We officially joined the double digits club!!!

For those of you not in the northeast, it is monsooning today. But, when you have a 10 mile run planned a little (or a lot) rain isn't going to stop you! It wasn't easy running with soaking wet clothes, but we did it! And we did it with a lot of laughs! Here are some of the funny highlights (some of which we're sure you had to be there for, but we'll share them anyway):

1. When we were getting our gear together for the run this morning Vic was filling up her water bottle. She filled it up a little too high and it spilled onto the floor, she said sarcastically "oh no, my shoe got wet". We were both hysterically laughing before we even left the house because we both knew we were going to be more than a little wet once we were at Kelly Drive. 

2. We decided to run out 3 miles and then back 3 miles to stop for water and an orange slice at the car and then out and back for 2 more miles for our total 10. At just about 3 miles we were getting excited for our first turn around, but little did we know that the running path was very, very close to the road at this part. We learned this the hard way when a car came speeding by us right through a gigantic puddle. A tidal wave of disgusting Philadelphia street water flew up and splattered ALL OVER us. If we had seen it happen to anyone else it would have been funny and we couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous we were for running through the torrential downpour.

3. After our water break, we were around mile 7 when Melissa glanced down and noticed something on her knees. She stopped running because she thought something was wrong with her, Vic stopped too. Then Melissa realized that it was SOAP! There must have been detergent still on her pants, and because of the rain her knees were actually bubbly with soap! We were cracking up as we started to run again.
 
4. There were geese everywhere on this run. Not gigantic geese like the one's Melissa saw on her run up at Lehigh, but they made up for it in quantity. On our water break one even went right up to Vic!


5. When we were at about mile 6.5 we saw some familiar faces! Two of the other TNT members were running in the opposite direction and yelled out to us "I guess we weren't the only crazy ones today!" Well, that or all 4 of us are crazy!    

6. At mile 8.5 we were pretty excited that we were nearing the end and we started to go a little crazy and we busted out some dance moves (believe us, they were awesome...nearly as awesome as our singing voices). Just then another runner going in the other direction passed us and laughed at us a little. Hey, it's not worth it if you're not having fun! :)

7. Also around mile 8.5 we were convinced that it had stopped raining. In reality it had just slowed a little bit, but by mile 9 it was a monsoon again. We thought it was pretty funny that we were convinced it had stopped.


Then before we knew it we were done 10 miles in 1 hour and 46ish minutes! Not too shabby considering we were literally soaking wet! Now we are off to take a little nap and then head up to New York City in this gorgeous weather :)

--Victoria and Melissa

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

High School

Today I headed out to the high school track again. I ran 1 mile and it was off by .01, then I ran a second mile to calibrate it again and it was off by .07. The first mile didn't bother me, being .01 off is not a huge deal, but .07 would definitely add up. I asked a woman who was walking around the track if she knew whether the track was 400 or 440 meters (sometimes tracks are 440 for some reason). She said she had no idea but she thought 400 and she asked why. I told her I was trying to calibrate my watch and that it was giving me the wrong distance. She said "oh well that's a good thing!" I thought to myself...yeah...if you hate accuracy?! Clearly this lady had no clue what she was talking about.

I decided to do another mile on the track even though I really did not want to run around in circles anymore. In the middle of my third mile, a gym class from the high school came outside. I have never seen girls more overdressed for gym class in my life. I am SO glad I'm not in high school anymore! It reminded me of the movie Mean Girls:
You would think people would learn after seeing Regina George get hit by a bus in the movie! Anyway I asked one of the gym teachers about the length of the track and he said he was almost positive it was 400. I calibrated my watch for miles 3, 4, and 5 and they were all off by .04-.07. Each of the 5 miles was also off in different directions. By this point I had ran 20 laps around the track and I was ready to go. So for future reference, I know that my watch will not be 100% accurate. I was more concerned with my pacing though because on Monday night's run, it was saying I was running 12 minute miles when I was obviously running faster than that. Today at least my pacing was more accurate (give or take about 15-45 seconds in either direction depending on the mile):

Mile 1: 9:45
Mile 2: 10:19
Mile 3: 9:03
Mile 4: 9:09
Mile 5: 9:19

While mile 3 seems fast for me for a 5 mile run, it is possible because for the first half of the last lap I picked up my speed and for the second half I all out sprinted. But since that lap was off by about .05 it's also possible that mile was more like 9:33...who knows! I really wanted to run a little on the streets because that's where my pacing was all screwed up the other night, but I figured 5 miles was enough for one day. So we'll have to see how the watch holds up on Saturday morning at Kelly Drive again when Vic and I take on TEN MILES! Then we are off to NYC for the weekend!

--Melissa

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Too much technology

My Garmin has been giving me nothing but a headache! After Saturday's run I knew I had to recalibrate my watch. Last night, Vic and I headed to the high school track to do both our watches to make sure it was 100% accurate. However, it made my watch worse! After recalibrating, we hit the road for 4 more miles of running. I ran slightly further than Vic and it said that I was running a shorter distance (?!) it also said I was running a really, really slow pace. It was really frustrating! I called Garmin to see what's up today and the guy on the phone told me to try and manually calibrate my watch. It's based on a percentage and will take a lot of trial and error...ugh! But I'd rather it be accurate so tomorrow I'm going to head back to the track. I hope I don't feel too much like this:

Anyway, on a much brighter note the weather was so gorgeous last night that I got to run in my TNT training tee! It was so great running in short sleeves. The only problem was that I had no pockets for my iPod. So, today I went to the apple store and bought more technology! Hopefully this little guy won't give me any issues:

I love it already!

Today I went to the gym for a cross training workout. I planned on biking and strength training but my legs were feeling really tired and I decided to skip the biking. As I was leaving, I got a little freebie trial session on this new thing they have at the gym called a power plate.
At first glance I was skeptical, but since it was free (usually I think it costs like $30+) I decided to give it a shot. It's this vibrating plate thingy and you do regular moves on it. I started with squats, and for 30 seconds you do squats while the plate vibrates. The only difference between this and a regular squat (other than the vibrating) is that you lift your heels too. The power plate is used a lot for sports injuries...hello IT band! I told the demo guy about my injury and he had me do some hip moves next. Then just to check it out I did push ups and tricep dips on it. Oh my goodness...insane!

The whole shtick of the power plate is that it's supposed to give you a 2 hour work out in 30 minutes. I could definitely see how because it was really tough! Afterward, my hips felt SO loose! I don't think the guy was too psyched about giving a free session, otherwise I would have asked to stay on it longer!! It was awesome!

--Melissa

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Impulse Shopping...

After a FABULOUS first run with my sister yesterday, I didn't think our running life could get more perfect.


Each week we're getting less and less sore after our increasing-mileage runs, and each week the thought of 13.1 miles (or 13.2 as Melissa recently pointed out  to me as the actual length of our course) is becoming less and less overwhelming.  We did NINE MILES YESTERDAY, made really good time, and had a blast doing it.  I'm so excited and proud of us for embarking on this journey!


So, as I was saying, I didn't think our running life could possibly get any better, until today's trip to - where else - Bryn Mawr Running Company.  If you haven't been there and you're a main liner/runner/running wanna-be, you absolutely must check it out.  After all of our raving about it, Melissa and I took Mom there today in search of new running shoes for her.  


Since I tend to be *slightly* impulsive in my shopping (I like to call it doing my part to support the economy), I said to Mom and Melissa when we walked in, that under no circumstances was I allowed to buy anything.  Shockingly enough, that didn't last very long, as Melissa pointed out that my running shoes - which I absolutely adore - are sold in HOT PINK!  Clearly I could not pass this opportunity up.  


So I'm now the proud owner of PINK Nike LunarGlide+, but I'm not sure if I'm going to save them for after the race, or start to break them in soon.  I'll have to make the judgement call in the next couple days - but now I'm just super excited.


Think Pink!
Victoria





PS - Mom also got new running shoes today so we at least accomplished that as well.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Nice, Easy Nine!

This morning Vic and I woke up at the crack of dawn to go down to Kelly Drive for my first ever Team in Training group run. I was nervous beforehand because would you believe I have NEVER run with people! Running has always been my solo thing, but as it turns out I absolutely loved running with the team and my sister today!! When we arrived at Kelly Drive it was pretty cold, but it was a gorgeous day and once we got moving it was the perfect day for a 9 mile run! Before we started Vic's TNT mentor showed me some new IT band stretches which I will definitely be doing again.

For the first 5 miles Vic and I ran with 3 other TNT team members and were rocking a nice steady pace. We were running behind the others and it was a really comfortable few miles. After the water station, Vic and I ended up in front and we were even faster! We ended up losing the other team members which was a shame but we were on a roll and nothing could stop us! As we were about to complete "the loop" at Kelly Drive, Vic and I doubled back for a 1/4 mile in order to hit the 9 mile mark for the day! We completed the 9 miles in 92 minutes and 45 seconds!

This morning when we started our run my watch was acting weird, and I kept gaining mileage compared to Vic's watch. When we finished mine said 9.52 and Vic's said 9 miles. It was so strange! And annoying! I'm going to recalibrate my watch on my next run, so hopefully that will fix it.

Anyway, as we were running I had a funny Daddy memory. When we were little we would occasionally go biking at Kelly Drive. One time, Dad loaded up the car with our bikes and we headed off to the Drive. When we got there and Dad took the bikes out, he found that all of the bike tires were flat! I forget what happened, but I think he ended up going home again to get an air pump or something and we still went on our family bike ride! Dad to the rescue :)



After toady's run I took a great nap, but I'm still pretty sleepy! I'm off to relax!

--Melissa

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Hitting My Stride


So I rediscovered the joy of running last night.  We had a Team In Training special mid-week practice at Kelly Drive, so I left work early expecting a lot of traffic (as there usually is) on the Schuylkill Expressway.  Shockingly, I got there 30 minutes ahead of the team, so I decided to go for a solo run instead of waiting.  I ran five miles and my body was just humming.  I can remember just a few short weeks ago when I could barely run 5K!  I’m so excited that my body is finally succumbing to the torture I’ve been instilling on it, and accepting the fact that do or die, I’m going to finish this half marathon!  I so enjoyed running outside, and the path on Kelly Drive was very well lit, so I think I will continue to head out there at least once a week for my mid-week trainings.  It’s so much better than the treadmill!
Last night was also a special night at home because I got a message from one of Dad’s favorite nurses at Hahnemann (we love you Jami!)  It’s so nice to hear from others about the relationships they had with Dad, and to be able to maintain connections with those people who were such a big part of our lives in 2009. 
Perhaps the strangest part of this whole thing is that life does go on - whether you want it to or not.  I’m still faced with all of life’s mundane tasks like grocery shopping and getting gas in my car.  I still have to put one foot in front of the other everyday – whether it’s for the walk from my car to work – or to complete a slightly more daunting 13.1 miles.  Whatever it is, I know my Dad’s with me every step of the journey.
--Victoria

zzz

Just dropping in for a quick post. I had the worst night of sleep ever last night-- first I couldn't fall asleep and then I woke up just about every hour. Ugh! But when my alarm went off this morning I was ready to run! Since I was so tired I had a hard time moving fast, so I settled into a nice steady pace and ran the exact same route as Tuesday's run. Except I ran on the far side of the street for one block because of 2 scary dogs (I think they can smell my fear), so it was actually .02 miles longer than Tuesday :)



It was absolutely gorgeous out this morning. Fingers crossed that all this winter nonsense is finally over!!

Today's splits:

Mile 1: 9:59
Mile 2: 10:15
Mile 3: 10:07
Mile 4: 10:04
Mile 5: 10:12
.79: 13:12 (cool down)

It was a nice run, and now I'm officially on spring break! Woo! Tomorrow is a much needed rest day and then I'm off for my first team run on Saturday-- 9 miles!

--Melissa

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Butt Kicking

This morning sort of felt like SPRING!!! I hopped out of bed this morning to go for an outdoor run.
 

I haven't been able to do an early morning outdoor run in a while because of all the snow we've gotten, but today there was not a flurry in sight and the roads were dry! I was really happy because I fully blame the treadmill for my sore IT band last week. (Maybe it really is the dreadmill!!) I'm still not feeling 100%, but it is definitely somewhat better. I knew that I didn't want to do my run on the treadmill though, so it was either outside or not at all.

Instead of treking down to the trail, I decided to just run on the roads. I really like running on the trail, but it's been pretty muddy and I also think it's good to change it up occasionally. In the interest of time, I skipped my warm up mile this morning. I figured one time skipping it wouldn't be a terrible thing. There is a little loop that I thought was 2.2 miles from my house and back--turns out I was right! So I did that loop, and then just randomly ran up and down the streets and eventually across the bridge to the north side. I hit 5 miles just I reached the end of the bridge and then I turned around and walked the .77 miles home.

It was a gorgeous morning and perfect for an early morning run! My splits weren't great for a short-ish run, but I tackled several hills! I had been trying to avoid hills but I know that the race won't be completely flat so it's good to incorporate them sometimes. Anyway, here are the splits:

Mile 1: 9:38
Mile 2: 9:51
Mile 3: 9:49
Mile 4: 10:01
Mile 5: 10:08
.77: 12:55 (cool down)

Now my glutes are yelling at me. It could be from a number of things:
1) Sunday's 8 mile run
2) Falling down the stairs on Sunday night. :( Yup, on Sunday night my roommate was sitting downstairs watching TV and I ran to go tell her something. I was only wearing socks and I slipped on the stairs. I kind of flew over them and landed at the bottom.

 
Taken at the Vatican in Rome :)

3) Today's hills

One of these things totally kicked my butt!!

--Melissa