Cold weather running

One of the best parts of running in the winter is running with the dogs! My parents' dog Mia and my sister's dog Henry love to run when it's cold and they don't get too overheated. Last week both of my sisters, my mom, me and the dogs went for a run on a bike trail and I did my best to document.

Mia is a little gray blur at the left of Mary's feet (Mary is in orange) and you can see Henry rarin' to go!

Story about this hat: Ryan was in St Louis for a weekend while I was shopping with my family in Lake of the Ozarks. We both bought my mom running hats for Christmas. I got the one we didn't give to her!

The little reflective bits on the back of Mary's hat look like Ninja eyes!

I couldn't get any pictures of the dogs while we were running...they're too fast, and they were too excited! But here's Henry coming in from the snow earlier this week:

And Mia in the snow!

Winter sucks, and I am SO READY for spring, but what is one of your favorite parts about the cold weather?

Side note: I am successfully back on the work-out wagon, thanks to a gym pass to the same gym my sister goes to! I shoot for 5 workouts a week, regardless of what they are--anything that takes 30 minutes counts, even if its a very leisurely elliptical session. Holding myself up to unreasonable expectations--6-7 workouts of set intensity--just set me up for failure.

Mileage

So I'm at work, finishing up the San Antonio, Texas script (if anyone watches the January 3 D'Ann Harper real estate show, I wrote it! I like to have something to listen to while I write easy scripts like this) and I'm listening to "Spirit of the Marathon" on Hulu. You can watch the movie for free here. The movie profile about 5-6 different marathoners of all abilities...a 70 year old guy who runs 12 minute miles and some of the top marathoners in the world.

Deena Kastor

Deena Kastor, a beyond amazing female marathoner (she won the bronze for the marathon at Athens) is profiled, and she gets injured while training for the Chicago marathon. She mentions "it's amazing to me that I can run 140 miles a week for 8 or 9 years and not get injured but I can roll over a pine cone in the back yard and be out for 2 months" (not word for word, but you get the idea). 140 miles. I cannot comprehend that number, you all! That's an average of 20 miles a week. That's almost a marathon every day for 8 or 9 years. Is she a robot? Does she have cartilage inserted in her knees weekly? That kind of mileage is brutal on your body. Seriously, I whine about 20 miles a week? That level of fitness is just beyond amazing to me, just had to share!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Running Update

So I started training for a half marathon, and so far so good! Sunday I ran 8, the first 4 with Ryan. We ran to his friend's house who I swear looks just like this:


This is him, minus the beard and long hair. Ryan and I saw this in an antique story and I was like, "Oh my gosh, it's Chris!"

We picked his friend up, and I ran with those 2 for a 1/2 mile, and then I had another 3.5 miles to do by myself. Normally when I'm visiting Ryan in St. Charles, he runs with me or I pay $7 to cross train at the rec center, but since my long runs fall on Sundays and I'm typically in St. Charles on Sundays, it is high time that I be able to run by myself when I'm up there. So Ryan plotted out a super simple route in familiar territory that I ran while he finished up his run with his friend. It was hilly, but I ended up running 7.8 miles at an 8:30ish pace, which I was very happy with. After long runs like that my knees tend to hurt, and they did this time too, but nothing major. My feet also ached, but I think it's just because my shoes are about done (you can only get about 300 miles out of running shoes, which isn't much when you train a lot....you should've seen how many shoes Ryan went through when he was training for Boston!). I am getting a new pair for Christmas, so no worries!

So True

So the first long run was a success! Even after running for a year or so now, it still amazes me when I see my watch pass an hour...I am still shocked that I can run for that long.

I will say, that hauling my butt out of bed at 5:44 a.m. (I only wake up on even numbers) when it's dark and cold out to get a run in is tough. It means that I am in bed by 9 p.m.!

Are you aiming for any fitness goals right now?

NCAA Nationals

I'm not a huge sports fan my friends, but a runner that Ryan coached and is great friends with is a freshman at a Division I school in the Southwest. He's running in his first Nationals meet as a college athlete, so if you could send well wishes his way around 11 a.m. Central time, I would be much obliged! This kid is in crazy good shape, and Ryan and some of his old teammates are cheering him on today at the meet in Indiana. Thanks everyone!

Running Season

It's training season you guys! January 23rd I am running St. Louis' Frostbite Series Half Marathon. I ran it last year in 2:00:32, and I'm hoping to run under 2 hours this year. This is how cold it was last year:


NINJA RUNNER! Just kidding, they don't call it the Frostbite series for nothing...that half marathon was my biggest education in winter running gear. I will be dressed much better this year.

I mention this because I have no one to run with, and the runners out there know that when you have no one to run with, it is much, much easier to just not run at all. Which is not an option, because if this half marathon goes well, then I might, might run a full marathon in May. We'll see how this training goes. I'd love to run a full marathon before I get married. Basically, I feel that by announcing this to you all, I will have to run the race and if I'm going to run the race then I have to train for it...I hope you all don't mind that I'm using your for accountability purposes!

Any other St. Louis ladies out there running any of the Frostbite Series? Do you all have any fitness goals you're reaching for?

Conference

Last Thursday, my sister Alli and my dad and I headed to the thriving metropolis of Poplar Bluff, Missouri to watch my little sister Mary compete in her cross country team's conference meet.

I took advantage of the 1 1/2 hour drive to get some flowers knocked out.


This is a luscious red silk I got off of Etsy.


So right before the season started, Mary came down with Mono. She was devastated, because she had been running all summer to prepare for the season and felt that all of her hard work was wasted. The first couple weeks of the season, she had trouble finishing work outs. I felt awful for her, because she loves to run. She was quite the trouper and biked when she couldn't run (her doctor said it was ok...by the time she was diagnosed with mono, she was past the enlarged spleen part). She stuck it out and is now in great shape! Mary's in the middle in the orange jersey.


Mary and another girl were at the front of the varsity race within 3 feet of each other for the entire meet. It was so nerve-racking...when Mary came flying around the last curve 15 feet ahead of anyone else, we freaked out!

Here's me and Alli, professional Cross Country spectators. Alli ran in high school, too.


Me and Alli with Mary, the Conference Champ! She ended up dominating.


Mary and I are wearing the new girl's Cross Country shirts...the back says "running is our long distance relationship." Love that!

I love to watch Mary run, and I couldn't have been more proud of her. She battled through her mono and now she's back, better than before. This weekend is districts, then sectionals, then state!

Do you like to watch friends and family do something they love?

Running2Win Log of the Week

I ran 4 miles in 35:10, which is 8:47/minutes per mile. I had to run hard to get this pace, which is unfortunate. This heat makes every run feel like a tempo run, but my pace isn't close to what it should be considering the effort I put in. I am sick of this heat--the heat index has been over 100 degrees every day for the past 2 weeks. It's miserable even at 5 am. Yesterday I did the Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones workout dvd and my legs hurt so bad from it, so I don't think that helped. That woman is trying to kill me, but I hope that it will get me nice and toned.

Has the heat of the summer had any effect on your workouts, or is it just me?

Running2Win Log of the Week

For those of you unfamiliar with Running2Win, it's a fantastic website where you can log all of your runs. You can track so many variables, like heartrate, the weather that day, how hard the run felt, etc. It's free, too! Here's what I logged for today:

Ran with Ryan when we got back from Branson. It rained for the first 2 miles, and it felt great. We ran from Ryan's apartment to Lacroix church and back, so lots of hills. The first mile was the fastest, the second mile the second fastest, etc, so each mile got progressively slower. I ran the 4 in 33:49, so an 8:27/mile pace. I think I am more fit than I think I am.

Ready Ready Ready, Ready to Run

Me as a smoker in the spring of 2006. I might have had a few in this picture.

I quit smoking in October of 2007. I took Chantix to quit (find out more about Chantix here), and I took it for a month and a half. After I quit taking it, I got hungry. Hungrier than I had been since I started smoking in 2003. So I ate a lot.

I gained a few pounds, but I'm petite, and it really shows on me. So I had to do something about it. I started running while Ryan and I were just friends (I actually quit smoking just 2 weeks before I met him. Weird, huh?), and I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I was running 1 or 2 miles a few times a week. By May 2008, when Ryan and I had been dating for just a month and a half, I asked for his expertise. He's coached high school distance running for years, and he's helped coach collegiately for a year now, so he really knows his stuff. He got me started on a running program and patiently built up my mileage.

I didn't make these lifestyle changes because of Ryan, I was in the process of making them when I met him. He's been a big help and support.

Now it's less than 2 years after quitting smoking, and I've got a couple 5k's and 2 half marathons under my belt. My mom, who smoked for years, quit about a month after I did, and now we run together!

I'm pondering where to go from here, running-wise. Being in Boston and watching the marathon really got me wanting to run a marathon. My little sister, Mary, who runs for her high school team, said she would train for and run a qualifying marathon and then Boston with me. This would be ideal, except that it will be a while. She's only 16, so we would have to wait to start training until she graduated from high school. She's considering running at the collegiate level (she's really talented), so if she does that, then we'll have to wait until she's done with college. By then, I will hopefully be popping out children. I'm pretty sure they recommend not marathoning when knocked up.



So I kind of want to start training for a marathon now. There are a few things holding me back. One, I don't think I want to do it unless someone else is doing it with me. That might sound silly, but 19 miles is a long time to be by yourself on the road for long runs. Training for those half marathons on my own was really tough, and I am not sure if I could motivate myself without a training partner. Also, if Ryan gets a coaching job in who knows where, will there be a marathon close by? We'll be saving for the wedding, so I doubt we'll want to spend money to travel to a race.

As of right now, I'm thinking a half marathon in the fall is a good goal, and then I'll go from there. Ryan said half marathons are much more common than full marathons, so no matter where we move, we should be able to find one close by. I want to run the half marathon and the full in about 8:30 minute miles, as I'm looking to qualify for Boston, so we'll see. I did my 8 mile long run on Sunday in 8:34's, so I have a solid fitness foundation to go from.

I think I am not fair with myself. I need to be happy with the progress I have made, and much more realistic about what I can achieve. It's hard because the only running times I hear about are Ryan's athlete's (and they are Division I college athletes) times, and my All State runner sister Mary (she got 22nd in the state for the 5k last fall), so I don't think I am being realistic with myself.

I never would have imagined 2 years ago, as a smoker, that I would be where I am now. I feel so much stronger, and better all around.


What are you training for, and how far have you come? Any other ex-smokers out there?

Ryan and I on the finish line at the Boston Marathon

Running2Win Log of the Day

I post my daily runs on a fabulous website. It's free, and it's a great way to track progress. It will even tell you when your shoes are worn out. Which mine are, by the way, I need to order a new pair.

You probably don't care about my daily runs, so once a week I'll post on here what I post in my running2win log. I am just staying in shape, I'm not training for anything in particular. I am on a 3-week rotation, so I have 2 normal weeks and then 1 easy week. I'm on my easy week this week. My wonderful fiance makes my schedule for me (I am so spoiled).

"Ran 2 miles with Allison (my sister and maid of honor) and Henry (my dog). It was about to storm so it was humid. We did the Capaha loop twice. My shins hurt, I have to get better about rolling them out. We did 9 minute miles. Henry was being a booger. 2 miles in 18 minutes."

Going the Distance

Source

Running has played a huge part in Ryan and I's relationship. I met him at a cross country meet (he coached my youngest sister). When we first started dating, he whipped my butt into shape on runs with me. He helped me train for and ran a half marathon with me, and brought me in almost 7 minutes under my goal time. He paces me for 5ks. We cheer on my sister's high school cross country and track team together. I would bike with him on his long runs when he trained for Boston. He proposed at the start line of the Boston marathon. Running has been and will be a major part of Ryan and I's life together, especially since Ryan is pursuing work in the distance running coaching field.

I really want to incorporate running into our wedding somehow, but I don't want it to be cheesy. I was thinking about taking some of our engagement pictures (which Ryan cannot see the point of) with us on a run together, or...something? I have few ideas on this one. Maybe we could name the tables after famous marathons? Or put something in the vows about us "running the marathon/race of life together."

Some of Ryan's athletes will (hopefully, we haven't formally asked them yet since we haven't set a date) act as ushers, and if Ryan is coaching a team when we get married, all of his athletes will be invited. We've talked about inviting some of the runners and their parents from my little sister's cross country team, as they really watched our relationship develop and are all around great people. So there's some incorporation of running, but I don't think it's enough.

Any ideas?

The Proposal

I love the way that Ryan proposed! I couldn't have asked for anything better, it was perfect.

We went to Boston April 17th-April 21st. Ryan ran the marathon on Monday, April 20th. That's him the red shorts and black singlet, black arm warmers.

Shout out to the running nerds out there, here's the women's elite at mile 10 in Natick, MA. Kara Goucher is in the middle in the front row of runners.

Here's the men's elite:



Ryan Hall is in the middle of the pack.

My Ryan ran an absolutely amazing race. He placed 158 overall, out of about 25,000 runners. He PR'd at 2:38:46, about 6 minute miles. He is really hard on himself, and even he was thrilled with his time. Everyone was ecstatic about his race (everyone being me, his parents, his best friend, and his best friends wife).


After the race, we went to the Sam Adam's brewery. It's actually their research and development facility, where they test all of their new beers.




After the brewery tour and tasting (yay!), we headed to Hopkinton, MA, where the start line to the marathon is. Ryan wanted to get some pictures here, and I wanted to see it anyway, being a running nerd myself. Someday, if I get good enough, I will be crossing this myself. I would love to run Boston.





We took lots of pictures, and Ryan said that he wanted a picture of a certain street sign. I thought it was kind of odd--it was a pretty non-descript street sign. So across the street we went to take the picture. I took it, and Ryan started hugging me and saying these really nice, sweet, things. It didn't strike me as odd until he kept saying these wonderful things, and before I knew it, he was down on one knee! How he got down on one knee after racing 26.2 miles, I don't know, but he did it. He did say it hurt, though! Of course I said yes, and his parents, best friend, and best friend's wife (who were all across the street documenting this for us) starting cheering. I was teary, and Ryan started hugging me again--I was very close to falling over, so this was a good thing. We hugged for a long time. Then Ryan holds the ring up and says "Would you like to put this on now?" It was everything I wanted the proposal to be, times 1000.





That's us right after he asked me, when we had both calmed down enough to pose for a picture. I love the grin on his face.


Not even 24 hours later, people were already asking us when we were getting married. What is that? I think that has been the biggest surprise in terms of being engaged--people expect big plans to made, fast.


The ring! He did so good.








I used the tutorial on Weddingbee to take the ring pictures, and if I can do, then anyone can--trust me.


How were you proposed to, or what is your dream proposal?