July 31, 2007

4 very ugly miles.

July 30, 2007

Clearly, I can never wear the shirt I wore yesterday in another race...I have never chaifed from a shirt before! Sports bra, yes--shirt no. Seriously, I didn't know my collar bones could get chaifed! It seriously hurts to wear a t-shirt. Neosporin+pain relief my ass. It's totally false advertising.

Headed to the gym today, I decided to take it easy on my joints and do 5 miles on the eliptical. I did it at a 10:15/mile pace (600 calories) with the resistance set at 6. I also worked with Hector...mostly legs with a little core and arms. I was my hips were sore by the end of the workout. I think I need a nice slow and easy run tomorrow so that I'm not super sore.

July 29, 2007

Today was the Fleet Feet Women's Festival. I was a bit rushed getting to the starting line...parking sucked! I think I had a mile run before the race--at least I was warmed up! I did the 10K. It was my first since the awful showing at the Run for the Zoo. I did much better, no wall, no elevation, no hills :)...it was great!

I finished 1:17:07 with a 12:25 split. Sure better than the last time! My lungs did feel really tight this morning. I think it was due to the humidity. Aside from that I really felt like I had a good stride going after mile 4.

I even ran in to Krista from Augie! It was a super speedy reunion! She also ran the 10K. We caught up on the little things and I headed home. Such a lovely morning!

I can't believe that the Chicago Distance Classic is exactly two weeks away. Is it to early to start panicing?

July 28, 2007

I know today should be a rest day, but I need to get the lactic acid out of my calfs!!

I did an easy .8 (100 calories) on the eliptical to warm up and did a combo of streaching and core for the next hour. I do feel better. I'm hopeing that did the trick!

July 26, 2007

Today I worked out with Hector...man am I still sore from those mountians!!

I warmed up on the eliptical for .8 of a mile and 100 calories.

Hector and I did core and arms. I really need to get myself streached out before this race on Sunday!

July 23, 2007

Still in the mountians of Utah...

Today was amazing!! I got up at 4:30 to go to work with Barb. It was still dark, but the view of Salt Lake City from the University Hospitol is so pretty! Barb recomended that if I wanted to see the city on my run, that I take foothill to 500S (ugh--500!) and on back to her place.

As I started my run the sun hadn't come up and it was quite dark. I was running behind the hospitol and as I neared the heli-pad I noticed a trail leading farther into the foothills. For some reason I took the detour. Climbing 3/4 of a mile straight up was a challenge, but let's face it, it was much to steep to run. I made it to the summit of one of the foothills. It was so peaceful...as dawn broke I could hear the birds begin to chirp and I saw a glorious sunrise over the mountians. It was so amazing!! The colors seemed to light the sky on fireI wish I was a better writer so that I could describe it!

I headed back down the hill, and now that I could see the path, I wondered how the hell I had gotten up the hill! This was one steep path!! I did make it down safely, with only some dirt and rocks in my shoes. I took my run throught the campus and got a bit turned around. After I stopped and picked up a map I finally found my way to 500S. I crossed to the south side of the street because I wasn't interested in running down the S-curve that I did yesterday. As I was running passed a cemetary, I noticed movement. There, beneth an evergreen tree, not 25 feet away was an eight point buck watching me run passed. I skidded to a stop and hung on the fence a few minutes just staring. I've never seen a deer that close before!! He just seemed so content!

As I got closer to Barb's, I encountered more early morning wildlife. A small flock of either quail or partridges (I'm not a bird expert) came running up some stairs as I ran down them...they were so cute! I also saw an enourmous snail on the sidewalk. He was the side of my thumb! I was worried for the little guy...didn't he know that this was SALT Lake?

This run totally made up for the mess that was yesterday! I'm so blessed to have had these moments in my run! Those 4 miles (except for the one up the mountian) really flew by!

July 22, 2007

Up in the mountians of Utah...

I have to say elevation and "foothills" suck my will to live. This was the ugliest run I've ever done. I had the brilliant (and by brilliant I mean, "WTF was I thinking!!") idea to run east up 500S in Salt Lake City. This Chicago native knows nothing of the hills of the Rocky Mountians. Seriously, there were parts of this path that had stairs because the sidewalks were too steep! I'm sure the desert climate and elevation had nothing to do with my misery either...

Things I learned:
1. Running up hill sucks ass.
2. Running downhill isn't much of a picnic either after doing the up hill climb.
3. Body Glide does NOT make you "glide" up hills easier.
4. Even after 2.5 miles up hill I am highly motivated to run to sprinklers and away from Mormons trying to convert me.
5. Salt Lake City does not have drinking fountians.
6. Even during this run, I still have the ability to come up with some truely creative strings of swear words.
7. My inhailer is my favorite running buddy.

I survived my first run at elevation, all 5 miles of it. It took more than an hour to do this run. (1:21:23--does elevation count as hitting the wall?) I think tomorrow I will get up with Barb and ride to work with her so that my run is mostly downhill with out the death inspiring up hill.

July 19, 2007

Today was the Firefighter's Run for the Kids 5K (I'm still not sure which kids, but as Damita may remember "It's for da kidz!). On the walk there, I had a conversation with another runner named Chris. I wasn't sure where the ran began, but since he had run it for the last 5 or 6 years, I followed him to the start point. He completely led me astray! It was only a matter of turning left where we should have turned right, so it's not as if we ended up another zip code or anything. We did get there with pleanty of time to streach, but taking the road less traveled involved climbing over the 7 foot iron fence surrounding Soldier Field.

After turning the 5K into a steeple chase, it was a fairly nice run. The first half was into the wind, but not horrible. I ran a perfect 35:00. Not a PR, but I don't think I could get an even 35 minutes again if I tried! There was beer and guac at the finish line (I think all runs should finish with beer and guacamole!), so I hung out until I got too chilly.

Good race! Time to pack for Utah...

July 17, 2007

Headed to the gym today. I warmed up on the bike for 5 minutes--2 miles. Then Hector worked my arms and core. He really worked my arms, at one point I told him that I'd probably hate him tomorrow! It was good, he worked me.

Then I did 4 miles on the eliptical with the resistance set at 15 and the incline at 6. I got 500 calories out of that and finished in 50 minutes.

I picked up my race packet for the 5K on Thursday. It was quite annoying that the only size for the shirts that were left was a 2XL. It's enormous, I could have a party in this shirt! They said I could try to exchange it on Thursday, they may have more shirts then.

The good news is that with my Fleet Feet rewards, I got The Stick. What is The Stick? It's a wonderful devise that rolls out muscle kinks and aches. I love The Stick! And now I have one of my very own!

July 16, 2007

I haven't been doing much lately. I had an awful, conflict filled weekend (don't worry, there were some highlights...even on the darkest days there's light!), but I didn't do much along the lines of working out or training. I still have that one HUGE blister on my heel. It's not so much of a blister as an open festering sore (gross, I know. Try living with it!!). I really want it to heal, but I also know that the Chicago Distance Classic is less than one month away!!

Hector couldn't make it today, so I headed to the gym for 4 miles on the eliptical (hoping to take some pressure off the blistered foot). I started with 20 minutes on the stair machine. That was a total of 100 floors and 250 calories. Then I did the 4 miles on the elipical. It was a 12 minute pace with the resistance set at 15 and I burned 500 calories.

On a side note, I looked back at the 2/16/07 post (exactly 5 months to the day) and realized on that day I climbed 80 floors in 20 minutes. Look at me goin' with my bad self!! If I can get in to do the Hustle next year I know I'll beat my goal of under 30 minutes!!

July 12, 2007

Today was the Niketown Bastille Day run. I thought I was going to have company for it, but it didn't work out. The race shirt was awesome--a red Nike Dry-Fit. It's almost as cool as the Run for the Zoo shirt.
I was a bit worried about this race...first I haven't trained well, and I still have blisters. Secondly, I forgot my iPod and inhailer, and had to go back for them and felt rushed getting down there. Finally, at the start I bumped in to one of the Best Men from Kim's Wedding. It was nice to see him and all, we had the small talk chit-chat, but then he said "I didn't see you at A's BBQ." That's because I wasn't invited. It was not only hard to say that, but I know it's been a year since I've seen or spoken with Kim. It's so hard because I wish I knew what I did that was so awful for her not to speak to me. Even if it was un-fixable, I just want her to know that I would never do anything to hurt her or her family. But I can't appologize for something I didn't know that I did. I guess on the off chance she reads this, I hope that she calls. I do miss her. Anywho, the point being, that shook me up.

Suprisingly, I really did have an AWESOME race!! I blew my old PR out of the water by almost 6 minutes! I guess with everthing I just took off and found my zone. I finished in 31:55, that's a 10:18 split! I was so excited with my time. I just hope that with the rest of my races I can keep up that pace.

July 10, 2007

Enough sitting around and waiting for my blisters to knit!! Keeping off my feet sucks!!

I worked out with Hector for an hour today. It was total body lifting--arms, legs and core.

I then decided to try to run on the eliptical machine. It's not the same as running on the road, but it was worth a try concidering the worst of my blister/crack hasn't healed yet. I used special blister band-aids--which actually seemed to work. They don't stay on as well as the package says but they're better than nothing.

I did 7 miles on the eliptical. It was the most boring run ever! Those last two miles were killing me...I just can't stay on one machine for more than an hour. I was so bored, but I have to admit it's better than doing nothing.

I have a race on Thursday. I don't feel prepared because of my blister-induced inactivity. It's only a 5K...I'm hoping everything will work out!

Stupid Blisters.

July 6, 2007

I've had these awful cracks/blisters on my feet. They're so deep I can barely walk let alone run. I think they've gotten infected-- red, hot, itchy and gross!

I tried to run today. I made it 2 miles out and I just couldn't get a stride. My gait was all weird, I wasn't running on my left heal at all. It wasn't good. I made it home, but I only ran 4 miles. I probably shouldn't have because it really agravated the blisters more. They need to heal!! I have the CDC in just over a month!!

July 2, 2007

After taking 4 days off to stain my deck (yeah, I really did work on it for 4 days straight--and it's still not done!!) I headed to the gym to let Hector kick my butt for an hour.

And he did. It was a leg work out. I haven't been this sore in a while! Lots of lunges and some weight work. Soreness is setting in!