Finally!

Today I ran for the first time in far too long!  I’ve been on winter break for the week and kept telling myself I had to do it while I actually had the time.  Wednesday I spent the morning at appointments, and by the time I got home, had lost my motivation.  Yesterday, I slept in and then made the excuse that I wouldn’t have time before I had to get ready for a lunch date (such a lie).  Finally today, I got all the motivation I needed at the OB/GYN.  My doctor was doing the typical exam and kept making comments about how healthy I was (taking into account things like my height and weight, muscle tone, etc). All I could think was how much of a lie that was considering not only my recent eating habits, but my activity level.  I used to run daily and now the most running I do each week is at our Saturday football game.  I knew that if I didn’t want to feel like a fraud the next time I saw her, I had to make a change.  So I did…

I knew I needed to start out easy since this was my first run in so long, but I also wanted to push myself.  I remembered seeing an interval workout on SarahFit.com months ago.  After a few minutes searching her site, I found it.  I decided it’d be a nice challenge because it included five, 5-minute cycles of “fast running, steady jogging, and slow jogging” followed by 2 minutes of walking.  Let me tell you, Sarah wasn’t lying when she said you’d be praying for the fifth interval to end.  The first one or two intervals of each five minute interval were challenging, but by the last interval before the break, I was always counting down the seconds until I could walk!  It was intense! It probably didn’t help that many of the short 10-second sprint portions just happened to be UP inclines! 

In 45 minutes, including a 5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool-down, I covered exactly 4.5 miles.  The “run” portion included 4 minutes, 10 seconds of sprinting, 8 minutes, 20 seconds of steady jogging, and 12 minutes, 30 seconds of slow jogging.   It also included 10 minutes of walk breaks.  Not a bad distance to cover when you look at the breakdown, and definitely a good workout to break back into the sport.  I am looking forward to doing it again soon.  Just going to make sure I plan the route better so I don’t spend the 10 second sprints on inclines again!

Week 1 in Review

It's been just over a week since 2012 began and (so far) I've kept on track with my goals for 2012.

I was active for at least 4 days this week. I played dodgeball Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night. I played football with friends on Saturday morning. And I ran a 5k on Sunday morning (race for January DONE). This led me into achieving (kind of) another one of my goals: break 24 minutes in the 5k!

Sunday morning, I picked Corey up way too early to head to the Frostbite 5k in Quincy, MA. We got to the YMCA that was hosting the event with more than an hour to spare - better early than late I guess. After warming up sitting and chatting for over an hour, we finally toed the start line.

As usual, I hadn't checked out the course map ahead of time because I don't like to know what lies ahead. I didn't wear my Garmin either, which meant I was running entirely by feel. This was my plan since I had only run at most 5 times in December.

I started out fast and could see the lead runners in the distance for the first half mile. However, the course had us turning onto a lot of side streets so eventually I lost them. The entire race felt challenging. I pushed myself as hard as I could. About 2 miles into the race, we hit an incline that was steep enough to force some people around me to walk. I wanted to join them but I thought I was keeping a pretty good pace and wanted to see what I could pull off with no training.

Before I knew it, I came around a corner and could see the high school that the finish line was across from in the distance. I didn't think I had any kick left in me, until I saw the clock from far away with a 22:XX on it. I couldn't believe it. I had a chance to break 24 minutes. I pushed with everything I had left and crossed the finish line in 23:25. I was stoked (after I stopped dry-heaving), but I was almost immediately certain that the course was short.

After going inside, Corey and I confirmed it with another runner who came in the top 3. He wasn't certain but said he'd guess it was between .1-.2 miles short. I was bummed because I really wanted to break 24 minutes and knew that if it had been the actual distance, I would have just missed it. Corey and I checked our times after they were posted (he came out 14th overall - speedy gonzales!) and headed home.

So I technically broke 24 minutes in the 5k, but after mapping out the course today and finding that it was exactly 3 miles, I'm not crossing this goal off yet. We're planning to run another 5k in February so I'm going to do some speed work this month in an attempt to officially break 24 minutes!

Overall: 63/260
Age Group: 4/29
Gender: 18/152

New Year - New Goals!

The New Year will be here in a mere 8 hours. Last year I set one goal and failed within the first month. This year, I'm hoping that if I write the goals down and share them with someone, I'll be more likely to stick to them. So without further ado...

Goal #1: Run one race a month. This can be anything from a road race, to a scavenger hunt to a triathalon. This coming year has lots of fun in store with a Zombie 5k, Urban Iditarod, and Tough Mudder already on the agenda. Luckily I've got lots of great, active friends who are joining me in this pursuit, so it should be a wonderful time!

Goal #2: Break 24 minutes in the 5k. Right now my 5k PR is 24:19. It's from October 2009. I was in the best shape of my (short) life then and just happened to hit this time. If I want to break 24 minutes this year, it'll take some focused training to do so! I'm hoping to start this training in January so I can knock this goal out in the late winter/early spring time so I can move onto my next goal...

Goal #3: Break 2 hours in the half-marathon. I've run 4 halves in the past year and a half. Each (official) one has gotten faster but my fastest is only 2:11 at RnR Providence. This half was not run as a race, but as a long run for my marathon. While I wasn't running my hardest or fastest at the time, I don't think I could have broken 2 hours if I tried. Again, this goal will take some focused training, but I think it's possible towards the late summer/early fall time of 2012.

Goal #4: Complete a marathon. If all goes well with Goals #2 & #3, I'd like to attempt 26.2 again in 2012. I tried it in 2011, but it didn't end well. An injury, failure to properly train, and pre-race and race day factors all caused me to drop out after 14 miles (my un-official 4th half in my eyes). My goal is to train smart and hopefully complete a full marathon in late fall/early winter. However, I want to be prepared for this race, so if I don't feel like I can race it well, I'll put this one on hold until 2013.

Goal #5: Be active at least 4 days a week. Like most, I have a love/hate relationship with both running and the gym. There are weeks where I never take a break from either and then there are weeks where I never once lace up the sneaks or set foot inside the gym. Therefore, my goal for the year is not to run or lift 4 times a week, but stay active. This could mean going for a walk, playing dodgeball or anything else that gets the blood pumping!

Goal #6: Put myself out there more. I tend to embrace routine and stay away from change. I avoid situations if I think they'll make me uncomfortable or feel awkward. However, I'd like to be more adventurous this year and try some new things: whether it be new sports, new hangouts or anything else that wouldn't normally strike my fancy.

I think that's good enough for now! I may add a few if I think of something I'd really like to do, but six goals seems like more than enough to focus on for one year! Here's to a wonderful 2012!

Thankful Things - Day 7 - 17

Thankful Thing - Day 7

Today I'm thankful for genuinely nice people. Had a gentleman take a good 20 minutes out of his day to help me with something he didn't need to. He could have simply brushed me off but took the time to assist me. So sweet.

Post Edit: I left my North Face at a softball game a few weeks ago and have been hunting it down ever sense. I called the head of the league to try and track it down to the teams that played after me. This gentleman spent a large portion of his time calling captains, umpires and players alike trying to find my coat. Although it was never located, I still greatly appreciated his efforts.


Thankful Thing - Day 8

Today I am thankful for amazing coworkers. I've got some of the best around!

Post Edit: Now that I am typing this over a month later, I don't remember what exactly it was that caused me to write this post. However, this thankful thing still stands. My coworkers rock!


Thankful Thing - Day 9

Today I am thankful for running. While I may not be the best at it, and some runs just plain suck, I know there are plenty of people out there who don't have the ability to run and would love nothing more than to be able to do so.

Post Edit: Still so true. I have really been slacking on the running front. However, I ran three out of the last four days, and realized just how much I missed it! Running and I are going to have a kick-ass reunion this coming year!


Thankful Thing - Day 10

Today I'm thankful for my students. They rock (sometimes).

Post Edit: Again, I forget what specifically they did, but my kids really are awesome, SOMETIMES. They still drive me absolutely insane most days, but there are also those days where they literally make me smile all day long.


Thankful Thing - Day 11

Today I'm thankful for those who have served, are serving and will serve our country one day. Without you, I would not be here today. THANK YOU!

Post Edit: This will ALWAYS be something I am thankful for.


Thankful Thing - Day 12

Today I'm thankful for friends who travel to Boston for the weekend to visit me! ♥ you Hayley!


Thankful Thing - Day 13

Today I am thankful for friends who make me smile when I'm having a bad day.

Post Edit: I'm pretty sure this thankful thing was directed at my handsome friend Stephen. We had just started officially dating but hadn't told our mutual friends yet so I had to keep him incognito. Either way, he still makes me smile on a daily basis and I am oh so thankful for that and for him!


Thankful Thing - Day 14

Toady I am thankful for parents who are seriously invested in their child's success and are willing to do whatever is necessary to help them to flourish.

Post Edit: This all goes back to those darn kids I am thankful for. I remember this clearly - one of my kiddo's mother came in for his parent teacher conference. As a special ed. teacher, I get 1 of 3 parents: those who don't care (or put up the facade that they don't), those that do care but don't have the means to help like they want to, and those that care and do whatever they can to help their child. Unfortunately I usually get the former, and sometimes that middle one. Very rarely do I have the parent who is 100% invested in their child's success. However, this day, this parent was willing to do anything necessary to see her son succeed. We talked for nearly an hour about what WE could do TOGETHER to help her son. It was amazing and I truly am thankful for parents like her.


Thankful Thing - Day 15

Today I'm thankful for having so many things to be thankful for that I can't narrow it down to just one! But if I must, I'll say one of my kiddos telling me I'm gangster. Definitely made me laugh out loud.

Post Edit: We were doing character analysis and of course we had to analyze a character they knew quite well first - ME! So I modeled for them with what I say, do, feel, and look like. I gave one or two answers for each category and then asked them to come up with some of their own. Needless to say, one of my students called me gangster. When I asked him to provide evidence of how he got to that conclusion, he could not. However, it still made me laugh for a very long time!


Thankful Thing - Day 16

Today I'm thankful for pictures. It's amazing how looking back through photos of the past can make me smile!


Thankful Thing - Day 17

Today I'm thankful for all my amazing friends who came to Friendsgiving! I have the BEST friends around!

Post Edit: Friendsgiving will get its own post at some point because I have so many pictures from it. But needless to say, it was EPIC!

Thankful Things - Day 5 and 6

Thankful Thing - Day 5

Today I am thankful for my cross-country kiddos. I've talked about how I'm a teacher before but never really elaborated on it. Fact is, I teach at a K-6 school in an urban area where a lot of the children sadly don't have the opportunities their peers in other areas do to get out and be active. Whether they live in an unsafe area, or have other responsibilities that take precedent, many of our students aren't as active as they need to be.

Luckily, our school has an awesome athletic program that affords 5th and 6th graders the opportunity to be involved in a multitude of sports throughout the school year. During the fall, students can choose between volleyball and cross-country. Having run xc in high school and still being active in the running community today, it wasn't hard to decide where I would be helping out.

I unofficially dubbed myself "assistant coach/cheerleader" and showed up to as many practices as I could. Whether I was yelling encouraging students from the sidelines or pacing them in a run, I've been working with a small group of students for the past 2 months.

They are a great group of kids who seriously picked me up with their spirits on those days when I just wanted to go home and crawl into bed. I always left practice with a smile on my face.

In this time I have been able to watch first hand as my good friend, Bridget (the real coach) did some amazing things with a bunch of adolescents who, a few short months ago, struggled to run a lap around the track. Today many of that original bunch ran their little hearts out at the state meet for over a mile and a half! It was so amazing to be able to witness this awesome personal growth in such a short period of time.

And so the countdown to track season begins!


Thankful Thing - Day 6

Today I am thankful for good friends. Plain and simple.