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Tonight I made my mother proud and my decision to quit my job and move to Baltimore with lady_trinket was reinforced: I snapped a mousetrap on my tongue. On purpose.

Congratulations to Paco, Casey, and all the Cheeky Monkeys for a great show tonight! lady_trinket and Noelle were smoking as The Darwin Sisters : ) well done, ladies.

Tonight I made my mother proud and my decision to quit my job and move to Baltimore with lady_trinket was reinforced: I snapped a mousetrap on my tongue. On purpose.

Congratulations to Paco, Casey, and all the Cheeky Monkeys for a great show tonight! lady_trinket and Noelle were smoking as The Darwin Sisters : ) well done, ladies.

Sooo... I just got a Garmin 305!! My parents wanted to get me one for Christmas and told me to pick it out, so I ordered it on amazon when they were 53% off. I got the one with a heart rate monitor for only $139. Whee! So I've spent the afternoon playing with it and will hopefully take it out for its first run tomorrow. I don't want to be the girl with a million "i have a new Garmin" questions but I did want to ask you guys two quick things about it:

1) Someone previously asked whether the 305 can be worn in the rain. It looks like two people said yes it's fine and one person said it gets rain inside. It's supposed to rain tomorrow but I'm dying to take it out for a spin... do I seriously have a 1 in 3 chance of rain-ruining it?? Is it in fact *supposed* to be water resistant? Would you risk wearing it if it's rainy, or no?

2) Where do you ladies put the heart rate monitor strap relative to your sports bra?? I tried it on directly under the band of my sports bra and it just seems really... tight and uncomfortable. Will I get an accurate reading if I place it lower on my torso so it's not under the band of/interfering with my sports bra? Is there some other way I'm supposed to be wearing this thing?

Also, one non-Garmin related question for the fellas while I'm posting... my (male) running buddy is really tall and skinny and has been shopping for warm tights for winter running, but hasn't been able to find any pairs that are long enough. Regular tights seem to hit him mid-calf rather than coming down to the ankles. Do you guys know of any cold-weather tights that you can buy in a long length? He's looking for tights rather than pants. There have to be other tall skinny male runners out there... there *must* be some company that makes long lengths, or maybe a brand that just happens to run long for the regular fit? I told him I'd check in with you guys...

Thanks everyone!

Is it possible for my stamina to deteriorate greatly after not running for 2 weeks?

The first week I was busy to run. The second week I went on a tough mountain hike.

2 days after the hike I started running again. But I can only run half of what I used to, even though I'm running at a slower speed.

Could it be that my body is still worn out from the hike, or has my stamina really worsened?

does anyone have any experience running while taking adderall?

After my 30 min 3 miles run about a week ago I took some time off to rest. And also because I was a little scared I wouldn't improve since that run kicked my butt.

I promised myself I would run today before I could go see my guy after work...3 miles in 28:36! Which also kicked my butt!

The last mile I got off pace because this woman decided she might want to run me over and it was difficult to get back my breath and into the zone.

On Thanksgiving, I did my third race ever (my second 5K), the Erie Runner's Club Turkey Trot in Erie, PA. I had originally intended to do the 10K, but my training schedule got a bit truncated from starting grad school, so I settled for running the 5K. My goal: sub-40.

( Cut! )
x-posted to my own journal

I'm a little disappointed, and I don't know how much of it to blame on myself and how much on the 30 mph winds.

I was out at a 5:58, and I felt fine. So I should have gone by feeling. Instead, I did what virtually every other person who didn't run the course first did: I backed off the second mile. This was a huge mistake, because it turns out the 5:58 was a slight downhill with a tailwind. So the second mile was a little slow, and the third mile was a slight uphill into 30 mph headwinds. Having backed off, I was already behind, and the headwind didn't help, and I really, completely fell apart. I finished in 20:41.

I thought I was in low 20 shape so this isn't great news. Any idea how much the wind affects a 5K time? Part of it was my poor strategy, backing off when I felt fine. If I had kept racing hard I think I could have run pretty well.

I did win my age group, but I had to turn down the money to stay NCAA eligible... Winning has never felt so lame...

Good morning runners! Here's the daily training thread!

My fortnight of a break from running is drawing to a close and the timing is pretty good, I'm starting to get that hunger to get back to training. Today, however, will be spent getting a frame for my brand new mattress and then watching lots of college football. I might also go for a walk in the woods. And today will be Day 2 of putting a dent on all the leftover food from Thanksgiving.

So what is everyone else up to today, training and otherwise?

A BIG GOOD LUCK to everyone racing today or tomorrow or otherwise going for some sort of PR!

I'm not even going to pretend this has some relevance (although you can try to rationalize it for me), I just really like this ditty by Wilco and Feist:



Discuss... and HAPPY RUNNING!

As a back of the pack runner, I found this to be very interesting.  One goal in every race I enter is to run the entire thing without walking.  I don't always succeed, but I try.

<http://www.womentalksports.com/items/read/46/81529>

Well, I have done it again. Last year on this very day, I swore that I would not get talked into running another cross country race, but here I am, sweaty and exhausted, sitting down at my computer to recap the 2009 Southern California USATF Cross Country Championships.

I began running in September of 2008. Truthfully, I always flirted with the idea of being a runner. As a competitive swimmer, we used running as cross-training on occasion, and on those cold early mornings with my toes on the edge of a swimming pool that I was sure would be freezing enough to make me scream, I just wanted to lace up a pair of shoes and run far, far away. However, I always made that chilly plunge (typically once my coach pushed me in), and my running shoes sat in my swim bag, collecting more mold than mileage.

As I retired from swimming following my senior year of college at the University of Nebraska back in 2003, I took five good years to be a “normal” person who doesn’t attend six hours of practice per day and who could sleep in past 4:45am. I felt like a lazy bum during those years, but I think that my body truly needed rest and time off. I started competitive athletics (gymnastics, then swimming) at the age of nine, and didn’t really come up for a breath until my 22nd birthday.

Things changed during the summer of 2008 after I returned to my hometown of Eugene, Oregon to watch my college friends Ann Gaffigan (my roommate in the dorms back in 2000) and Anne Shadle, compete in the Track and Field Olympic Trials at Hayward Field. The intensely competitive atmosphere of that incredible event made me realize that the desire to train for something was not dead inside of me. I have no delusions about my place in the sport of distance running. I know that by beginning at the age of 27, I will never be a factor in competitive events or set anything other than personal records, but I get a strange satisfaction out of kicking my own butt into shape on the track week after week.

This brings me to Track Club Los Angeles (TCLA), where I have been training every Tuesday night with a group of adults who, like myself, aren’t willing to hang up their shoes just because college is over. Through TCLA, my coach, Eric Barron, encouraged me to run (notice that I did not use the word “compete”) at the Southern California USATF Cross Country Championships in both 2008 and 2009.

Last year, I was so new to the sport that I readily joined USATF and showed up to the race expecting a field like any other road race where I could blend into the masses. However, the field was made up of roughly 20 women whom had nearly all competed in the sport of cross country for their colleges, however long ago that may have been.

That day, it was 96 degrees at the start of the race and the air was filled with smoke from the seemingly annual Los Angeles fires. Never having to deal with overheating in a swimming race, the sun has become my kryptonite as a runner. Regardless of the shape that I am in, when I get too hot, I am simply done. So as I turned various shades of red while running the 6K race last November, the only thought that crossed my mind was, “I wonder if anyone would notice if I hid behind that tree and just quit.” Needless to say, my 2008 XC experience left me almost in tears as I crossed the finish line dizzy, dehydrated, and dead last.

I came up with a million excuses as to why I would not be running this race again in 2009. I had been injured over the spring and summer, the hills weren’t good for my still recovering hip, the weather would probably be scorching, blah, blah, blah. Truthfully, I just didn’t want to get last place and realize, yet again, that I am still very much a novice in this new sport that I have come to love.

Six days before this year’s race, I finally decided, with the encouragement (a nice word for “pressure”) from my TCLA teammates and coach that I would suck up my pride and represent my club again. After all, I would be the 5th girl, and we needed five to score. I spent the days between my decision to run and the race by obsessing over the weather forecast, pleading with friends on Facebook to come and run as well, and contemplating a sudden and fictitious bout of the dreaded swine flu.

Race day was upon me, and the weather, although sunny, was not unbearably hot. As the much faster runners around me were lacing up their spikes in preparation for the race, I readjusted the laces on my own regular running shoes to look cool and legitimate and cracked jokes with my teammate, Ginna Ladd, who was about as uncomfortable with the whole situation as I was (it should be noted that she just ran 3:03 at the Chicago Marathon and had no reason to feel out of place). I warned Ginna about the fast pace that the women took out in last year’s race and we agreed to stay controlled despite our nerves.

As I approached the starting line, I took a deep breath and told myself, “Just forget about getting last, who cares? Close your eyes, let them run away from you at the start, and concentrate on being tougher and faster than you were last year.” As it turns out, running my own race works much better for me than focusing on the widening gap between the lead pack and myself. As I was running the three-loop course, I finally realized that getting last place is not the worst thing in the world, but lacking the courage to step up to the line or the determination not to finish what you have started just might be.

I crossed the finish line of the hilly 6K four minutes faster than I did last year, accepted my 17th place medal (there were only 18 runners, which need not be mentioned in further retellings of this story), and put on my flip-flops because my feet still think that running is torture and consistently punish me with impressively large blisters. As my times begin to drop and my weekly mileage continues to increase, I am reminded that although this sport is difficult and requires amounts of stamina that I’ve never tapped into before, I do love distance running, even if it is from the back of the pack.

Yay for holiday racing! Yesterday, I did the Webster Turkey Trot in Webster NY. It was a ridiculous experience, full of costumes (not worn by me), expletives (used extensively by all), and all tied together by a certain letsrun forum:


( Gobble Gobble! )And man, do I suck at LJ cuts :)

I have nothing interesting or useful to say, so I bring you this, recently spotted on splodefromcute.



This kitten has epic fierce. Also, jazz paws.

You don't necessarily need sound, but you might need a high-pressure cute suit. I have watched it about ten times and I can't not smile every time.

So I went to buy shoes today. Instead of getting any of the models I asked about on Monday, I wound up getting two pair of Asics Gel Nimbus 11. The store (Road Runner Sports) has a 60-day no-questions-asked return policy, so it's a fairly safe purchase; if I don't like them, I can return them for a full refund. (Only their VIP Club members can get a refund; everyone else gets store credit.)

What tipped me to them instead of the others is that they had a 15% off sale today, which coupled with my VIP Club discount, gave me 25% off on the price of the shoes.

I had been wearing stability shoes before (Asics 2140), but their "Shoe Dog" analysis (which is the most complete analysis I've seen in any shoe store in my admittedly limited experience) says that I have moderately high arches and normal pronation.

I walked 5K in them today, and will run 18 miles in them tomorrow. That should give me a good idea of whether I'll want to keep them. I plan to wear one pair all week (just when running, of course) and then wear them in the half marathon on Dec 6.

I haven't done a lot of research on it, but Costco.com has the Garmin Forerunner 405 for $229 delivered today.

Yesterday my friend and I drove over to Detroit for the Mashed Potato Mile (a warm-up for both of us), the Stuffing Strut (5K that my friend walked- and ran part of!) and Turkey Trot (10K that I ran).

( Read all about it )

Also, a question! I went to Running Fit (local running specialty store) for running tights today. They were having Black Friday sales. I tried on 3 pairs. One was too big and does not come in a smaller size. One was wayyyy too long. The third pair fit well! Naturally they were the $110 CWX tights!! They were not on sale but the guy gave me a 20% discount anyway (sweet!), so I got them for $93. Still way expensive, but I'm hoping it will be worth it.

( So a couple questions for those of you who wear running tights )

Just thought I'd pick the brains of the community on a few things:

- Is it worthwhile getting a slightly lighter shoe to race in, even though I'm quite slow (~8 min/mile pace for a 5k, 9 min/mile for half-marathon)? I usually train in Asics Gel-Kayano 15's, and I've done all my racing up to now in them or my old Kayano 14's too, but I'm considering a pair of Nike Lunarglides or Asics DS-Trainers for racing (5k to HM) and speedwork.

- Is it just me, or is buying knee-high boots a pain in the butt when you're a runner? I've found that every time I've gone shopping for boots lately, nothing fits around the top of the calf due to lots of muscle being there, and I'm not exactly huge (I'm a UK size 12 in clothes, I think that's about a US size 8).

- Any suggestions for improving my 5 mile time? I'm doing a 5 mile race on 31 January that I'd really like to get a strong PB in (preferably as close to 40 minutes as possible), and I'm looking for good training programs for that distance or 10k. I'm running about 20-25 miles a week at the moment, but am planning to build that up over the next while, because this month has mostly been about recovering from my marathon.

Thanks for your help, and happy Thanksgiving for yesterday to all the Americans here :)

I'm getting just a bit nervous about the big race tomorrow!! I have only run 2 10 mile races in my life. 10 miles is a very long distance for me to run seeing as I usually run 5 K races, but I know I can do it! I am also dragging my boyfriend along, even though he is really a sprinter, because he ran cross country so he can run distance too. I have to beat the science teacher that challenged me though, or I will never live it down!!!!! I hope my athsma doesn't get as bad as it did yesterday during my run, that is my only concern! Other than that I am ready!!! =)

Yesterday I ran the ( Manchester Road Race )


In summary, I hit all my goals: Run less than 55 minutes, run negative splits, run the whole thing with no walk breaks, and don't die. I was pretty darn happy with my performance.

Good morning runners! Here's the daily training thread!

Today I'll be setting up the Christmas tree (I love the holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas!) and taking my parents on a tour of the various areas of Gunpowder Falls State Park; There will probably be some walking along the trails.

So what is everyone else up to today, training and otherwise?

Today is something like the biggest shopping day of the year here in the US. So question! How do you do your holiday shopping? Did you brave the crowds and trampling risks this morning at 5am? Or do you wait til the last minute?

The satellite internet here is being finicky so just pretend I posted a youtube clip of Sinbad and Ahhhnold fighting over a toy in Jingle All The Way.

Discuss... and HAPPY RUNNING!

Yesterday I ran the Berbee Derby 10K. I was a little more nervous for this race than for any of my other races because this was the first time I had raced the distance before. A PR was no longer a given! I had run this race last year in 57:50 (a 9:18/mile pace), so obviously I wanted to beat that (hopefully easy goal). My medium goal was to run it all under a 9:00 pace. And my ridiculously hard goal was to run it at an 8:26 pace, because race calculators would predict my next marathon time at 4:00. I pretty much knew that that wasn't going to happen, since 8 weeks ago I ran my marathon in 4:38. And I've taken it fairly easy since then.

So off we went. I didn't have too much of a strategy besides to run at whatever pace below 9:00 felt manageable. There were 1540 other people running the 10k, and I had lined up near the back, so the first mile was spent dodging people. The first mile felt good, and I think I did that in about 8:40. By the second mile, I could definitely feel that I was running harder than normal. But that's okay, it's a race! My 5k time was 26:54, which I was very happy about. I decided my goal at that point was 54:00.

I was still passing people, but I couldn't tell if I was maintaining/increasing my pace or if others were just slowing down more than me. Once I reached mile 5, I could hear the announcer, so even though I desperately wanted to slow down at that point, I knew it was almost over. And yet, it seemed so far away. I remembered that the final 1.2 miles seemed awfully difficult last year, and the same thing happened this year! There were a couple of decent hills that I remembered, so I thought I was in the clear after that. But then there was one more big one. My watch said 50:00, so I knew that if I met my goal, there was just 4 more minutes of this to go. I pushed. I passed an 11 year old boy who was running with his dad, begging him to slow down (they did for the hill, and then they still beat me by 20 seconds :)). Mile 6 came and I gave it all I had, which didn't end up being a sprint, but something faster than what I had been running. I had to dogde 5K walkers who were finishing at the same time, which I found very annoying. And then, I finished!

Final chip time: 54:19 (8:45 pace).

I'm pretty pleased with how I ran this race. Although I had positive splits, the second half's pace was just 10 seconds slower than the first half. Considering the hills and the strong headwind, I don't think that's too bad. AND, I'm happy that I had raced hard enough that I didn't have the energy to sprint the last bit to the end. Even in my marathon, I sprinted to the finish. I'm glad that I had given it my all during this race and had nothing left over. And it's pretty awesome that I shaved 3:30 off my time from last year. :) Next year's goal: sub-50:00.