Deb's Ridiculous Run
My adventures with running and life
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Eeee. So excited!
I've never posted from my phone. I'm so excited that my hubby put up our his & her running bibs up tonight in our exercise room. It almost makes me want to run on the treadmill tomorrow. Almost.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
How I Gave Up Diet Coke by Accident
Water, Water Everywhere
I can’t believe that I’ve kind of of given up diet
coke. It was not intentional. My favorite treat in the world was a
large 32 oz. fountain soda of diet coke in a Styrofoam cup.
Even when I go to McDonald’s I ask them
to “sub a foam cup”. I would only have
really one diet coke a day. Mid
day. If I was lucky it was the
glorious Styrofoam cup if not it was a Tervis Tumbler with a can of diet.
Any who, I started reading this book, 52 Small Changes to a Happier, Healthier Life.
I found this through The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans on Facebook. As the New Year approached, I knew I really needed to get some of this unwanted weight off. So, I thought this book couldn’t hurt. The first week’s small change was drink more water. I read that a person should drink half of their body weight in ounces a day. What? That’s crazy talk. Sad to say, that’s would be (at the time) 74 oz of water a day. Now, I only need to drink 70 oz. (just sayin’).
So, my goal was not that much. It was going to be 3 bottles of waters a day. 16.9 x 3. That would be 50.7 oz. of water a day. Which would be a 50 more oz. than I had
been drinking. I was trying to
drink a bottle on the way to work.
Gulp, gulp, gulp. then one before lunch and lastly one in the evening. It was going well. I was getting my water in and drinking
a diet coke for lunch.
Then I discovered…Sparkling Water. My husband has drunk Perrier for years. I never liked it. Ick! My discovery occurred one evening. I sometimes like to have a beer in the evening but Weight
Watchers doesn’t favor alcohol.
Those are wasted points.
So, I thought I try one of the pretty waters that I got my husband from Wegman’s. Not bad. Carbonated and it was taking the place of my carbonated
beer.
And so it began, I started to like sparkling water. I started bringing it to school and
trading it out for one of my regular waters. Then some super weird happened. Diet coke started tasting unbelievable sweet. My beloved diet coke that had seen me
through think and thin since college was betraying me. We became friends to begin with to cut
calories during the freshman fifteen.
I finally bought the bullet and traded coke for diet coke all those
years ago.
So now, two months into it, diet coke is just not
appealing to me. You know, I’ve
thought about giving up diet coke for lent and then thought better of it. And just like that diet coke is less
apart of my life. Silly as it
sounds, it makes me a bit sad. It
was apart of me for so long. I’m
sure both of us will be okay. Here's to making new friends. My current favorite is Sparkling Mandarin Orange by Nestle.
* all water bottles photos taken directly from manufacture's site.
* all water bottles photos taken directly from manufacture's site.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
My 2015 Resolutions
In 2014, I completed one 1 mile
race, eight 5ks (32.35 PR), one 5 miler, two 10Ks, one 12 miler, and one ½
marathon. Fourteen Races. It was my goal to complete 14 races in
2014 although not a resolution.
My goal is not complete 15 in 15.
Here are some of my resolutions:
Run 10 miles in a row without
stopping (except maybe for a second for a water sip)
Wash my face every night before I
go to bed. I’m pretty hit or
miss.
Seriously, lose 15-20 pounds. Darn it.
Read more and less iPad before bed. My current book is Anita Shreve's Stella Bain. She's my favorite author.
House projects! This is my husband’s but I’m happy to join
this one. Our 14-year-old house
is beginning to show some wear.
Make part of our basement
a workout room. YEA!!
Investigate the 52 Small Changes: One Year to a Happier, Healthier You book. The first change
is drinking more water. I
can certainly work to change that.
Going to give it a try.
Get faster. I’d like to improve my 5k PR and get
under an 11-minute mile. This will be a big goal!
Start a running journal. I bought one. I’m usually terrible at this kind of thing but I’ll give it
a try. This is the one I
bought. Believe Training Journal
I think I’d like to try and run 500 miles this year.
When you write them down – they are more real!
Reflecting on 2014's Resolutions
Here's last year's resolutions:
Run 10 miles - this
needs to happen by April 6th. This is causing me some
anxiety.
Run a ½
marathon – less anxiety - not until October
Eat out
less/ make dinner more – I make dinner a lot but some days after
working all day – I’m like let’s go to Chili’s, Friendly’s, anywhere that I
don’t have to make food. Having children that are 13 and 16 means no more
kids meals. A typical dinner at Chili’s is like $75. That’s one
drink for the hubby and I, chips and salsa and meals. Getting crazy!
Lose 14
pounds – I was going to say 10 but being 2014 and all plus it gives me some
wiggle room
Make my
children more responsible for chores around the house – really,
they need to pony up! Chore list??
How did I do?
Well, I did a ½ marathon and a 12-miler but I only ran for
about 8 straight miles of those. I
know it counts but I’m putting10 miles to next year list.
Yep, did the ½.
Signed up for another one in May.
That eating out less thing… I tried. I
don’t know. We did have less fancy
dinners and we ate more fast dinners at home.
Big fail on the losing weight. Gained 5 pounds. :(
Making my children more responsible - still a work in progress
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Running with Friends (or without them)
Finding a Local Running Club
Continuing with my blog blitz into the New Year. I really wanted to catch up with the things I wanted to write about but haven’t had time for the past few months.
I have never really liked to run with people. I was so excited when my husband wanted
to start to run with me. But when
he actually ran with me it caused me great anxiety. I guess my biggest reason not to run with people is I’m
afraid I’ll hold them back or on the rare (rare) occasion they might hold me
back. I’ve gotten more comfortable
running with my husband, good thing since I’ve known him for thirty years and
we’ve been married for twenty. But
really when it comes down to it, we always say I meet you at the end whether
it’s a training run or a race. The
last race we did, a 5 miler, we caught up to each other at then end and
finished together, very unusual for us.
I found a local running group that are the kindest, most
welcoming, nicest, (fastest), supportive group you’ll ever meet. But the fastest part is a bit
intimating. They have these great
things called Bagel Runs. I’ve
done a couple with them. At first,
I thought they ran to the Bagel shop, which would be cool, too. Each week they
pick a different location and run 3-5 miles. Then afterwards everyone meets for bagels and coffee and to
socialize. This is right up my
alley! The first one I went to, I
was training for my 12-miler. One of the members (who I also know my church)
ran some with me. It was my first
time running 8 miles. It helped me
to have someone do the last 3 with me.
My husband was on the mend from an injury at the time. I got my husband to go with me to the
next one months later. We ran with the group but I felt funny because I was so
slow. I’m not used to be last when
I do things and when I run with them there is a good chance I’m last. Let me tell you again, these people are
super nice and would run at my pace if I ask them to help me.
My husband and I also went to a Holiday Light Night Run with
them.
Everyone was so gracious but
again I had some nervousness running.
I didn’t like the dark and there was the last thing again. These people are all ages but they are
fast as lightning. Lightning I
say!
But let me tell you what is great about running with a
group.
They get you out the door. We met them for an 8 a.m. run. Would I have gotten out of bed for just me? Nope! I met the walking group on Monday. Would I have walked by myself that morning? I would not. I for sure would not of run through the night looking at the Christmas Lights and will do it next year (I’ll be more comfortable or run the route ahead of time).
Beautiful Crisp Morning Run |
They get you out the door. We met them for an 8 a.m. run. Would I have gotten out of bed for just me? Nope! I met the walking group on Monday. Would I have walked by myself that morning? I would not. I for sure would not of run through the night looking at the Christmas Lights and will do it next year (I’ll be more comfortable or run the route ahead of time).
There are so many opportunities. They have a Tuesday running group, they just started a c25k
group. All good stuff! I mentioned to one of the ladies that
one of my goals for 2015 was to get faster. She said she’d help me. I might eventually like running with friends! I’ll keep trying.
Tomorrow:
Reflection on 2014 resolutions.
Thursday: 2015 Resolutions
Monday, December 29, 2014
Across the Bay 10k Recap
The Bay Bridge Run
So, we decided to make another weekend out of a race. We started by driving to
Annapolis to pick up our packets at the Navy Marine Corps Stadium. It was very cool to be in the
stadium and very cold. Packet pick
up was very organizing as well as purchasing the parking pass. The expo could have been better. It was
in the narrow halls of the stadium.
And it was freezing. I did
snag hubby a long sleeve training shirt which I found out later was a good
thing. By the time we got there the only men’s shirt they had left was
large. Bummer. We scooted out of there pretty
quickly.
We headed to our hotel. And had a nice dinner in Annapolis. I wish we’d had more time and light to
look around a bit. We headed back
and relaxed a bit then hit the sack.
Race Day
The race included 10 waves. We were wave 6 which started at 8:30. I was pretty happy not to start at
7:30. We did head out to catch the
shuttle at 7:30 at the Navy Marine Corps Stadium. We were unsure we to expect: we were actually expecting it to be chaos. We were pleasantly surprised, it was so organized! They were carefully checking bibs
numbers and getting everyone on buses.
We arrived at the Northrop Grumman. It was a beautiful crisp morning. We had a lovely view of the bridge.
Our start was about 10 minutes late, but no worries. One of my concerns was there were no
cups at the water stations so I bought a clip-on portable cup, the Hydra Pouch. I was determined to use it. I did. The water stations had places to fill your water bottles
but also water fountains. Had I known about the fountains, I would have forgone my cup. We started out. It turned out to be a bright sunny
day. I was bit over dressed and
wished I worn a thinner shirt and capris.
I was steady. My husband
and I ran together for the first mile, and then he went ahead (which is always
fine with me). Running
across the bridge was very cool, almost breathtaking.
I was torn between keeping going and looking at
everything. I caught up to hubby
about mile 4. We got this amazing
shot. My husband put it on canvas
for my birthday. It is one of my
favorite pictures of us.
At that point my husband was slowing down a bit. He told me to go so I did. We were heading off the bridge at
this point. A bit of a let down
because I still had about 1.5 to the finish. My official time was 1:09.27 which was a PR for
me. Hubby came in two minutes
after me. We got our medals and
headed toward the race party. They
gave us a bag of food and we grabbed our beers and had a seat on the
grass. At this point I wished I’d
grabbed one of the silver blanket thingies, it was getting a little chilly. We walked over to the Paul Reed Smith booth. Honey played a little guitar then we
listen to the band for a bit.
Paul Reed Smith Band |
Post Race Medal Selfie
Then
we were ready to head on out.
Getting back to the other side was well organized but took a little bit
of time. As we rode back on the
shuttle we got to see the last people on the bridge. Behind them were police and some of the race day
equipment. We headed back towards
home and stopped in Columbia for some post race grub at Uno’s.
My husband and I were so impressed with the organization of
this race. There were so many
things that could of gone wrong and didn’t. It is definitely a race we would do again!
Sunday, December 28, 2014
First Half Marathon
Baltimore Half Marathon
I’ve run a ½ marathon.
Here’s how it went ~
I have a new position at work, which I love. It has taken toll on running, actually
work in general, takes it toll on running. Ahhh, Summer, run when you want early morning, late at night
– any time – just beat the heat.
The sun is out all day and all night. I truly didn’t appreciate it when it was here.
My training was less then stellar for the ½ but I was
determined to go forward. I felt
like I had conquered the 12-mile race in August. I knew I could do this even if it wasn’t going to be
perfect.
I always get crazy nervous the night before a race. We made
arrangements to stay downtown. We
did it last year when we ran the 5k.
It was so awesome to walk out the door and the race is right there. It also allowed us to go to the expo
the night before and not have to go to Baltimore twice. My husband could of picked up the
packet for us but then I couldn’t shop.
We arrived at the expo. I
love looking around and my husband is usually done in 5 minutes and patiently waits
for me. I think I bought six 13.1
magnets and ½ zip for each of us, oh yeah, and some finisher glasses. If I was going 13.1 I wanted proof and souvenirs.
After we got done we went to dinner at a nice little Italian
restaurant near the hotel. Now I
am usually wound pretty tight before any race and my husband usually takes it
in stride. I am careful
about what I eat before a 5k but a ½ marathon – very careful. I ordered some pasta - not creamed based which I would of
love, a salad and a glass a wine, although if I don’t think I even drank
half. My husband on the other
hand, he ordered and gin and tonic (fine) and that creamed based pasta. Then he ordered another G & T. You’re having two? Okay… I was anxious just looking at his food. He totally enjoyed everything. Then, he got dessert. A big, giant dessert and enjoyed every morsel
of it. Gulp. I was hoping it would be okay for
him.
There he is, enjoying it all! |
Here’s the thing, when you’re running a race the next day
it’s not like you are going to go out and party the night before so we went
back to the hotel and rented a movie, A Million Ways to Die in the West with Seth McFarlane. It was pretty funny and kept my mind
off the next day.
Then sleep, sleep, sleep.
As I said, we walked right out to the start of the half then
had to walk like a ½ mile to our wave.
My goal was to make it to the lake with mile 7-8, all running, then rest
I would see how it went.
The first 6 miles were okay. My husband and I usually don’t run together but he was
recovering for an injury and we took it slow together. Then my left knee start bothering
me. I had to walk some and around
that beautiful lake. Then it kind
of worked it self out. I ran most
and walked some. When running the
Charles Street 12, there were lots of landmarks. I’m sure there were landmarks just none that I really
knew. After lake we went through
Charles Village, that was cool.
There were college kids out cheering us on. At one point there was a table with Natty Boh shots. I thought it better that I did not
indulge. I some how caught up to
my husband around mile 10. Meghan
Trainor’s All About that Bass came on my iPod, went over what I call the
Artscape bridge (really, it’s the Howard Street Bridge) and I pushed through
for the last 3 miles.
Running Selfie on the Bridge |
Getting Closer! |
Zaching towards the finish |
Hubby
finished a couple minutes before me even with that big meal. He still is teasing me but I’m still
not eating a big meal before a race. My official time was 2:48.53.
I’ve signed up for next half. It’s in May. The St. Michael’s Half Marathon. It supposed to be incredible flat because the Baltimore Half
was not.
One of my favorite running slogans is "I love running...when I'm done!" Look how happy I look!
KISS! |
I could of used this guy about mile 7! |
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