Running Skirts?

A new triathlon store just opened up in my little town! I went to the open house last week, and entered a drawing. The next day, I discovered I was a winner! Yipee! I went and picked up my winning the next day. Much to my surprise, I won a pair of SkirtSport pants (seen on the left).

What the heck? A skirt on running tights? Very odd. Would I like them? They did come in my size, which is handy. I told Lael about them, and she assured me I would like them.

I only have 1 pair of running pants right now. I LOVE my current pants! They are very cozy and warm during the cold Minnesota runs. I knew that if I kept running outdoors this winter I would need another pair of pants. Now, a pair had fallen in my lap!

I had also been wondering what do wear during the 1/2 marathon in 6 days. Again, I LOVE my current pants, but they are warm. In the upper 40s/50s they can be almost too warm. Will they be too warm when my mileage increases? But, will it be too cool for shorts? The temperatures should be in the upper 40s for the start and near 60 at the end. What to do?

So, I decided to try out these new girlie pants today. It was 44 degrees, with a slight breeze. I felt it was a good temperature to test them out at. It was a bit cool for me. I'm so used to my wonderful trusty warm pants, that I prepared to feel cool. It did hold back the wind though, just not the 44 degree temperature.

At the end of my 5K training run, I thought that these might be my perfect solution for the 1/2 marathon. They seem to be a good in between set of pants. Don't get me wrong, I am bringing along my old trusty pants and a set of shorts just in case.

Pants and a skirt... still odd.

Wordle

OK, so I saw this on my friend's blog. It looked so cool I had to try it myself. I did this on http://www.wordle.net/.

It's pretty darn cool to see what words I use the most. I'm surprised good is so big. I'm glad to see Greg is larger than most.

7 Days until the 1/2 marathon. I can't wait!

Turkey Trot and 5 mile Run

Thanksgiving was a beautiful and crisp day. I decided to run the Turkey Day 5K again this year. Last year was very slow and painful. I was much heavier, and really just getting back into running after a few months off. I did it last year so I could eat dinner with less guilt. I ran it this year for much the same reason, but also to continue my training.

I talked Lael into doing it with me this year. She is doing such an amazing job with her training. She is working towards the Danskin Triathlon next year with the rest of us girls. Anyway, I picked her up at 7:15am, and we headed to Minneapolis.

This is a beautiful run through downtown. We started at the Target Center and headed down towards the metrodome. A few blocks from the dome, we turned and ran in front of the Guthrie Center. After the Guthrie, we turned and ran up along the Mississippi river, and behind the Warehouse district. It was gorgeous! There is also a stretch of wooden roads back there.

The run felt great! I was motivated and inspired by all the runners around me. It was amazing to note the difference from last year. What a difference a year makes. Lael did great too! It is wonderful to know you have a friend out there. I'm just so inspired by her. I'm so glad she's game to do these races with me! What a great way to spend time with one of my very best friends!!

Today, I ran an easy 5 miles. I'm in the heart of tappering for my 1/2 marathon. It's now on ly 8 days away! I think I'm ready, but we'll see. The nerves are starting to set in. I'm trying to ignore it, but it's gaining strength. I need to just concentrate on spending time with Greg and Kari in Vegas. How lucky am I? I get to spend a weekend in Vegas with 2 more of my best friends. I'm blessed.

8 miles run, 15 days left...

Today was a good day to go for a run. Just a few puffy clouds, temps in the upper 40s, but a pretty good Southerly wind (maybe not so good).

I had my power breakfast of coffee and Peanut Butter/ Pumpkin Butter sandwich. An half hour later, I hit the trail.

The first 2.5 miles were good, because the wind was at my back for the first 1/2, then it was a nice crosswind. However, when I turned to head south, the wind hit me head on. My southern leg is downhill, so I didn't think it would be that bad, but it was. The wind slowed me down by quite a bit. The last tenth of a mile is uphill, and that was so hard. It was made more difficult, because on my 8 mile route, I had to do this southern leg 3 total times. Ugh!

After 3 miles, I turned around to do it all over again. The next 2 miles were good, again. I really enjoyed my music and the sights around me. I could appreciate the plowed fields, the wild prairies, and the un-harvested cornfield next to the hospital. The site I didn't enjoy... the St Olaf College wind turbine spinning very fast. In the words of my niece... I'm just going to ignore that.

The 2nd time encountering my southern leg wasn't quite so bad, because I knew it would kick my butt. At 6 miles, I turned around and headed back out for my last 2 miles, this time heading home at the hospital entrance.

Those last 2 miles were good. I felt strong. I felt pretty confident. I was happy.

At 8 miles I was happy to be done. I also felt like if I had to I could have kept running. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't want to keep going. I was very happy to be done. Now, the really tapering begins! Only 15 days until my half marathon!!!

*** One addition. Upon further review, I ran 8.26 miles yesterday. Here's the route... http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/MN/Northfield/891125891008487925. I ran it in 1:26:10. Not too shabby for my sorry butt :)

10 miler!

Today was the big training day, the dreaded 10 miler! This was terrifying and exciting all at the same time. I was excited to see what my body was capable of now.

After a quick PB&J I hit the road. Greg had been out for 1 1/2 hours already, doing his 10 miler. I was excited to see him along the way.

The weather was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky, temperatures in the upper 40s and about 10kts of NE winds. Not too shabby, especially after the wet and cold fall we've had so far.

The first 2 miles felt great. It was hard to slow my pace, but I tried to remember how much it would pay off in the long run. I saw Greg almost 1 mile into my run, as he had a little under 2 miles left in his day. It was so good to see him, and he look fairly happy for this distance. It gave me hope and encouragement.

The route we planned was to follow the path out from our house, 1.5 miles, come back and repeat 2 more times, then head back out 1/2 mile and turn around to head to the house. It sounded like such a good plan.

After 2 miles, the thoughts of how many more times I'd pass a certain corn stalk were creeping into my head. I started my mental countdown. I was obsessing over what I had left. If I could just get to 5 miles things would be better.

At 5 miles, things did get better. I don't know why, but once I pass the 1/2 way point, everything else seems so much easier. It's as if everything is now downhill. Don't get me wrong, it was still tough, but so much easier than miles 3 and 4.

The last 2 miles included a lot of grunting. It wasn't grunting for the sake of pain. It was grunting for the emotion of 2 more miles, 1.8 more miles, 1.6 more miles... I just wanted to be done.

At mile 9, I was just across the street from my house. It would have been so much easier to just go home, but no! I had to turn around and head out for another 1/2 mile, then back. That was a very hard 1/2 away from home.

I do feel good about being done with the 10 miles. It's only been 1.5 hours since the big run, so the runners high hasn't kicked in yet. We'll see if euphoria hits tonight. Right now, I just want to take a nap on the couch next to Greg (who is sleeping as I type).

Oh yeah, I ran it in 1 hour 47 min and 10 seconds.

8.1 MILES!!!

Today was just a normal training day for our 1/2 marathon. However, last Saturday, we were supposed to run for 8 miles. Instead we ran a Halloween 5K run. It was a great run, and I wouldn't change what we did for anything. However, we had this 8 miles looming over our heads.

As Greg and I were flying down to Keesler AFB, we talked about what we were each going to do for training. Greg had planned on doing his 8 mile run today, to get it out of the way. See, on Saturday we are supposed to run 6 miles, then 9 miles the next week. It just made sense to get our 8 miles out of the way.

However, I have my Air Force Physical Fitness Test this weekend. I need to run 1.5 miles for time. I'm doing so much better than I've done in 15+ years. I'm excited to see what I can do. So, would running for 8 miles before this test be in best interest?

I originally thought that long distances now wouldn't be good for me. Then, Greg planted the 8 mile seed in my brain. I realized that my faster times have been coming after 50 minute runs. Those are 5 mile runs. 8 miles would not hurt me. So, I was in! It was going to be perfect, because I wasn't schedule to fly until tonight, so I didn't have to go to work until 3pm. I could sleep in and still run!

We did sleep in and had a great breakfast of Special K and bananas. I didn't have my morning coffee, but Coke Zero filled the caffeine gap for me. I hit the road at 10:30am. It was perfect! The temperatures were in the low 60s (better than our MN highs in the 40s). All the Active Duty Air Force PT was done by now. We had the road to ourselves.

The first mile was tough, but it always is. However, I was running in my favorite place, the Keesler AFB flight line path! My squadron was out flying touch and goes during this time, so it was even more motivating.

Greg had mapped out a 8 mile run, that was 4 miles out and back. It was perfect for me! I got to see the flight line twice!! I got to my 4 mile point and was so excited to turn back around. It was so much easier to head home than out. I really tried to keep a slower pace on the way out. I didn't want to use up all of my energy in the first 1/2. It was also very hard not to look at my times. I was in it for distance, not time.

At 6.2 miles, I realized I was now in no man's land. I'd never run more than 6.2 miles in my life! At 6.6 miles, I knew I was at the half way point of my half marathon. I felt good! I can do this!

At 7 miles, I saw my boss. As we stood there running in place, he told me that he'd been trying to get a hold of me. We had storm tasking for tomorrow, so my night flight was cancelled. Did I want to fly a tropical storm invest tomorrow? Of course!

The last mile was great! I was on the home stretch! And, I was flying a storm the next day! I love my job so much, and still get a thrill during every tropical storm/hurricane flight. What a great day!

Greg finished 7 minutes behind me. We were slow, but 8 miles are now in the history books. However, after further review, we see we did 8.1 miles. Every tenth of a mile counts! Can we really do this 1/2 marathon thing? YES!!!

Grey Ghost Run

This year, Greg and I decided to run the Anoka, MN Grey Ghost Run. Anoka is the Halloween capital of the world! That and it is just north of my home town of Coon Rapids. The timing of the run seemed perfect for our training, giving us one more taste of a group run before the big 1/2 marathon.

This run was different from others that I've done. It started at 12:50pm. An odd time, but it did make sense. The Grande Day Parade began at 1:00pm. How does this make sense? The first mile of our route was the parade route. We began the parade. How crazy is that?

There were so many people in funky costumes in the race. I saw a ton of cats, teenage mutant ninja turtles, and Matrix dudes (odd). The best was a group of 6 basketball player, complete with a hoop on wheels. They looked like a great 80's vintage team with fabulous wigs!

There were about 1500 people running this day, so the start was chaos. Greg and I had decided early on the run our own race, and not with each other. It was a great decision, because we lost each other about 50 feet into the race. My family was about 1/2 mile down the road, so it was exciting to know we'd see them along the way. However, they only saw me because I yelled at them. They did find Greg though.

The first mile was GREAT! There were so many people cheering us on, and high fiving the runners. It really pumped me up! Beginning mile 2, the crowd disappeared. We left the parade route and hit the neighborhoods. Then, the hills came up. It was a very hilly 2 miles. Just past the 2 mile point, we turned back around to head to our finish line. About 1 minute after my turn around, there was Greg! I still can't believe we saw each other. He was doing so well.

The end was just as chaotic as the beginning. They had 3 corrals to collect our run numbers. They girls collecting the numbers were moving slow, and the line dragged. This is not what I needed after running a hilly race. I went from pushing it at the end, to a dead stop. Not good! The line moved so slow, that I missed Greg's big finish. I'm just glad he suggested I bring my phone with me. I never would have found him without it.

I finished in 30:15, and Greg finished in 32:20. It was a good run, and even better when I consider that I didn't train much last week because I was down with a cold that sucked the life out of me. I'm still pretty happy with my time.