You know the only thing that can make a 10 mile run harder...?

When you get blasted by salt from a plow driving by right next to you. Other plows drove past me just fine, I didn't think I needed to jump out of the way for this one. But no such luck, it hit me right in my leg when I was only at 6.52 miles (thanks Garmin).  Haha I'm seriously still hurting/laughing from it.

However, the real reason I was going to write this blog post was because I made a nice little video blog along my run but I just had to share that fun story :)

Enjoy!

Feels like Florida!

Another fun story I need to share about "just doing it"is about this old Marine I met at my landlord's bar the other night. He was an older guy who had not your typical older man opinion on life. He told me about how he knew women were going to rule the world one day and he was pretty ok with it. We got to talking about working out and how I was training for the marathon. He told me how he used to run everyday in the Marines and when he was overseas.

He then asked me if I was going to win. I just laugh and say of course not! He replies, "Not with that attitude."

Now go put on some workout clothes and go!

Leg Hangover/I'm a baby dinosaur

Since I have plenty of time to think during my long runs, I've been coming up with all these great running terms.

A "leg hangover" is actually something I thought of on the fly on a client call. It was our weekly call with a client after New Year's and he asked if I was super hungover after New Year's Eve. If you remember I ran 14 miles and then snowboarded the next day at Killington (terrible idea) for New Year's before going out that night. I told him I handled the drinking just fine but I still had a terrible leg hangover from all of my leg involving activities.

I hate to admit when I'm feeling mortal but I guess I was/am kind of sick? I had a terrible stuffy head last week after Sunday River (lots of bad triathlete activities occurred that weekend) and just felt really run down all week. I did have an awesome morning run with Sarah and I have changed my morning workout alarm to "Call on Me". I just keep hitting snooze as I'm getting ready so whenever it comes back on I just sort of break out into the dance a little and then hit snooze, repeat. Hey, whatever works to get you out the door in the morning, right?

I knew when I headed out for my run on Saturday morning it was going to be a rough one. I never really got into my happy running place and I kept coughing and just feeling crappy. I thought we were going for 16 miles but when they announced the runs options they had a 12, 14, 15.3, 16.5. I was like hmm I don't think I have it in me to increase my longest run by 2.5 today. I decided I would try for the 15.3 but reevaluate at 14. I got to the 7 mile water stop and really really debated just turning around and only doing 14. I really didn't want to because 14 is a distance I have already done but no one else seemed to be going further. All of a sudden a group of about 4-5 people from another charity showed up at the water stop. They were like join us for the 15.3! Forrest Gumping at it's finest :)

So I hung out and ran further and up and over Heartbreak Hill with the Project Hope people. It was really great seeing all the charities out running in the carriage lane of Comm ave. and how friendly everyone is. It still really hurt but I pushed on. I think the biggest thing about long runs is just keeping your mind super calm. I was about a mile away from the finish and I felt my mind racing ahead, I just wanted to be done. I put myself in a mental time out and told myself (I actually might have said it out loud) to just relax because I still had quite a distance to go and there was no use in thinking I was done yet. I also realized during the run I needed to consume some calories. I had a gu and then tried to eat some pretzels at the last water stop....it didn't work out so well. I pretty much accidentally inhaled part of a pretzel because I was already coughing from being sick I just sort of ended up choking myself more. We will need to rethink pretzels as a food option on race day. Apparently my Garmin was .3 off when it was trying to find satellites because everyone had 15.3 and mine only said 15. O well.

All filled out, it's official!

Of course I had no time to relax as I had to run off to a hair apt and then off to the Bruins opening game!

My hairdresser. Let's just say, she would be a badass, very tattooed...marathon runner. Of course we start talking about training and the first thing she says is, "So how hungry are you right now...?" OMG. I'm a freakin baby dinosaur. I've never had an appetite like the one I have now and it is killing me. I'm not someone who is used to being hungry all the time but recently I am starving and always a member of the clean plate club. BABY DINOSAUR...ahhhhh!

Great seats, Bruins win YAY :)

Flash forward to Sunday: Leg Hangover, baby dinosaur appetite to the extreme. It's best said with photos:

Yes, I just drop my sweatpants in the middle of our kitchen and shove my 110% with ice packs. I think my roomies have finally kinda gotten used to it...maybe. I also might have worn my calf sleeves under my skinny jeans to the Bruins game...don't worry, I took the ice out.

I got my ice, Tedy's Team long sleeve, dog armrest, big ole Jack 'n diet...might have also been getting a foot massage. Life is pretty good as a cripple :)

FUN last of the post: I'm doing the November Project Ninja Race tomorrow night (since I'm all into links this post why stop now) : NINJA RACE  "Start will be very stealth so please do not show up early and hang around like an idiot ninja. The good ninjas will form from thin air at 9:14PM ready to race."

Thank god I finally have another opportunity to use the sword that's on my desk in my cube.

I freakin love these guys.

Happy Tuesday!
-Bad leg hungover'd baby dinosaur triathlete

Forrest Gump-ing

First post of 2013!

You may have noticed that it has recently been cold and snowing. I know, my brain is still stuck on summer too (5 months until tri season!) That also means, I forgot about this little thing called snowboarding. After last year's lack of a winter (I went riding twice) I didn't even think snowboarding would interfere with my marathon schedule. Of course it does!

My mentality has always been that there is a solution to every problem and this solution is to do the long runs on my own. So my last two long runs (12 and 14 miles) have been done not with the team. They actually haven't been too bad. I didn't reason the benefit to living in Brighton is that I can easy run on the course on Beacon and Comm ave and that friends would join me along the way.

Which brings me to my new favorite term: Forest Gump-ing.

The first long run I did alone (12 miles) was done after a mini-annual party at my house in which I didn't go to bed until the wee hours. We also had to drive up to Killington later in that day to start the NYE festivities. There I go on no sleep (people thought I wasn't going to do it pssh) I had company for the first 2 miles, ran 7 alone and then met up with Jenny (yes, nice Forest Gump coincidence) and ran the last 5 with her. I actually used my Garmin, correctly! My phone also died on my way to find Jenny so the last text she got from me was "Ahhhhh". 12 done and done, off to Killington we go!

Quick summary without re-posting photos I already put on fbook: NYE was awesome at the Pickle Barrel (so much flannel!), we stayed in a Snow Dome/Igloo thing with a fire pole going down the middle, crazy fuzzy walls/disco wallpaper in the bathrooms and got stuck in the driveway. Also, DO NOT go snowboarding the day after you run 12 miles. You will finish the day by just putting your knees and head on the ground, thighs burning and just saying WHYYYYYY. Order the Switchback as you cannot buy it at gas stations.

So then this weekend I had to run 14. On Saturday I competed in the Wachusett Winter Wild race and opted for the division called Heavy Metal where you hike up with your board and then snowboard down. It was awesome! Right after I was off for some NH fun time. That meant I needed to run the 14 scheduled miles the next day.

I did a similar thing to the 12 miles. I ran 1.5 alone, ran 5.6 with a friend, and then solo 7. Weird/funny thing about the run last night...I almost fell asleep while running. No lie. I always felt that long runs were like meditating to me and then my mind and body just get calm during them (most of the time.) There I was running up that hill on Beacon St coming from Washington Sq going to Coolidge Corner and I felt my eye lids getting heavy. I realized my eyelids were kinda low and I felt very peaceful like I was just laying down relaxing. Crazy, I know.

After I dropped my friend off back at Cleveland Circle I headed down Comm to run in the carriage lane and get some heartbreak hill action in my run. As I was running by BC, I couldn't help but notice how pretty it was. I thought, what the heck, I'll run through BC. Not really sure where I went but I ran around it a bit and took this pretty picture:

It was cool because the bells were chiming as I was going through.

That brings me to the conclusion and main point of this post (I know, I'm a terrible blogger) I like doing these long runs where I run with different people and just sort of pick them up/drop them off along the way. I kind of feel like Forest Gump when he is just running and all those people just sort of tag along with him. It also breaks the run up when I know I'm meeting this person at Cleveland Circle and then another person at Comm and Center St. It makes the long run more like a social event.

I'm not allowing myself to reschedule any long runs after Jan, however, I do need to reschedule two 10.5 mile runs in Jan! I'm throwing the option out to people to join me for them, for however many miles you would like to do. I don't care if it is 1, 2 or 10 miles, just don't make me stop or else I can't start again haha

Dates for runs:

For this week's sat run I'm thinking of Monday, 1/14, 10.5 miles

And then for then for the Bentley Killington weekend I'm thinking of Monday, 1/28 running 10.5 miles

Comment, fbook, text, send a message carrying alpaca (preferred method) and let me know!

"Life's like a box of chocolates...it doesn't last very long for fat people."  ;)

Let's get running!
-cat