Updates & Race Recaps

Wow, guys! It's been a long time since I could sit down and update you on the goings- on in my life. Sorry!!  Life has majorly gotten in the way and my blog has suffered terribly as a result. But, hopefully that will be changing in the near future!! The biggest reason for my lack of blogging is my job. I'm struggling with my work/life balance right now and it really sucks!!  I’ll spare you the gory details, but in a nut shell, I’m stuck in a monotonous, tedious job that often requires me to stay late, which is a huge issue for me. I have very little time and very limited access to the internet to write updates or stay up to date with social media as I would prefer. But, I’m hoping that there is light at the end of the tunnel VERY soon!!  My boss has promised that I get to be the case manager on the palliative floor as soon as it opens, which should be the next 2-3 weeks. She’s made promises that she hasn’t kept before, therefore I’m cautiously optimistic. But I’m also working on a backup plan so with any luck, I’ll have a better work/life balance in the next 4-6 weeks!

In other news, I completed my 30 day heart monitor. The cardiologist said that although I do have some abnormal beats, they are not anything concerning or worrisome at this time. That's good news to hear!! We completed our winter session of Pathways a couple of weeks ago. The goal race for it was the Fleet Feet Sports Sweetheart run 10k. I did the 5k first and then the 10k. I got a PR on both the 10k time and the 15k or the "double" as FF calls it. Then we immediately started the spring session of Pathways. The goal race for the spring is the Aquarium run 10k. I've been grateful for the training through the winter as I was training for several half marathons.

The first on that was on my schedule was the 2015 LR Half Marathon. I ran it last year but it was a bad experience for me for multiple reasons. It was cold and wet, I was injured and in pain the whole time. I was unable to run for about a month afterward. I wasn't even sure that I would ever run again. So, when I talked to the race directors last November and they talked me into trying it again this year, some probably thought I was crazy. I had a decent finish time in 2014 but I never really felt good about that performance. I turned in my time off request to my boss in January and waited for her to approve it. I waited and waited and waited some more......    Meanwhile, online registration closed!!!  I was so afraid that I would drive all the way to Arkansas to register at the expo only to find out that it was sold out! Plus, the weather was shaping up to be a repeat of last year......ice, snow, bitter cold temps and rain was predicted the week leading up to the race and cold, rain was expected on race day. Those are 2 of my least favorite conditions. Additionally, I really felt a little undertrained and the famous LR medals didn't arrive. Did I really want to do this again??  I wavered all week and finally made the ultimate decision on Friday morning when I woke up. We were able to get a nice hotel not far from downtown and the finish line.

Saturday morning, we got up early to head to Little Rock. It had snowed & sleeted the night before. We weren’t sure what the roads would be like but they were clear for the most part. We were able to make good time and travel safely. There were still spots available for the half when we arrived at the expo so I registered and did a little shopping. Then we grabbed some lunch and headed for the hotel. There was a slight delay with check in, but the room was very nice so it was worth the wait. After dinner, it was time to lay out the race dummy and try to get some shut eye.

Sunday morning dawned gray, damp, and cold. I got dressed and grabbed some breakfast. The hotel had a shuttle that dropped us off downtown just a few blocks from the start line. They moved the start line this year, changed the course, and made changes to the corrals.  The starting corral was still crowded, I never found my friends, but at least we didn’t have to stand in the cold rain for 20 minutes waiting for the wave start like we did last year. All of these improvements made for a much better race. I approached that start line with fear and trepidation that morning. I doubted myself and my training. “Could I do this?” I kept asking myself.  But I ran those 13.1 miles, in the cold and rain and finished with a nearly 2 minute PR!! Official time was 2:22! That was just what I needed to overcome the negativity of Little Rock 2014. I am so proud of my plastic replica medal. I can’t wait for the real one to arrive!!

That run gave me the confidence I needed to be successful on my next 2 half marathons. I ran the Go Girl Run in Oklahoma City, OK on March 22. The course was hillier than I expected but the weather was fabulous! Finish time for this one was 2:25. Official time was 2:31 but 6 of those minutes I was standing in line for a portalet at mile 9. I enjoyed running with my fellow coach, Crystal. We had so much fun! We were encouraged to stay and help cheer in the last runner which was an awesome concept!!  This race was well organized with great swag! Emphasis was not about women competing with each other as much as it was about women supporting each other. They are all about celebrating finish lines, not finish times which is as it should be!!

 

Then, I turned around the following weekend and ran the Bentonville Half Marathon in Bentonville, AR. I wasn’t really feeling well and was a little ill prepared for this race. It was cold and lightly raining at the start. I didn’t have gloves or a trash bag. My husband had an extra pair of gloves and I just relied on my light windbreaker jacket. By mile 2, I had shed the jacket and was fairly comfortable for the remainder of the race. I was nervous because I knew it was an uphill finish, but I ended up doing much better than I expected! I survived the hill! I even finished upright and smiling in 2:24!!  I would highly recommend this well organized small town race!!  The water stops were abundant with amazing course support!! 

So, I have run 3 half marathons in March, the most I’ve run in 1 month since I started running. I’ll finish the month with about 85 miles, the highest mileage month I’ve ever had!

 

I haven’t been cross training as much as I should lately but that changes today. I’ve got to get back to weight training as I think that helps me be a stronger runner!!

Other than that, I’ve just been busy with the usual life things we all deal with. Hopefully work will settle back down soon and I can get back to posting on a more regular basis!

Until next time--get up, get out, and get moving!!  Whatever you do today, be awesome at it!!

Your friend,

Theresa

Year in Review

Howdy, howdy y'all!!

I hope that you all had a good Christmas!!  We did!

The past 3 weeks have been whirlwind, crazy hectic around here hence the lack of posts!!

The last time I checked in, we were getting ready to go to St Louis for the Hot Chocolate Run. I had fully intended to recap that race, then life happened and kept on coming at me like a freight train!!

Here's a brief recap of the race. We got there late Friday night. Hubs woke up early Saturday morning sick with what I thought was a cold. We picked up our packets and got him some cold medicine. We stayed in at the hotel that night. We got up Sunday morning and hubs was still not feeling well, but he went ahead and did the 5k. The weather was so much better than last year and I was appreciating it until about mile 7 when I decided that I was overdressed. I was way too hot!! My goal time was 1:45 but I didn't make it. I finished at 1:48. I'm ok with that. I had fun and that's what matters! Not every race has to be a PR!!  Hubs still wasn't feeling well. He was coughing and sneezing all over the place. I drove most of the way home.

He finally went to the doctor and discovered that he had pneumonia!!  That significantly changed things for me!!  I've been filling in in an area of my department that I'm not 100% oriented to. My co-worker that usually does this job suffered a grade 3 sprain to her mid foot earlier this month. She isn't able to bear any weight and employee health won't let her return to work until she can. So, I've been filling in for her. Needless to say, I got a "trial by fire" type orientation to the job. It is quite hectic and stressful. I go in early most days and don't get off until late. That made Christmas shopping quite interesting!!  I'm glad most stores were open late during the holidays!!  I finally got it all done about 2 days before Christmas. I didn't have any gifts wrapped until Christmas Eve! But we made it and everyone had a jolly time!!  We're going to Iowa later this week for 2nd Christmas with the northern relatives!!

2014 was quite a year. It didn't turn out quite the way I had planned. Last year at this time, I was preparing for my first full marathon. But I was struggling with a physical injury, which later sidelined me and also with the fact that mentally, I wasn't ready for a full marathon. I don't think I ever will be!

Here's my 2014 race bling:

not nearly as much as past years, but it was still a good year.

I had some setbacks both personally and professionally that forced me to adapt and overcome. I sustained an injury to my Achilles tendon, probably due to overtraining. I struggled with that for about 3 months until I finally had to stop running. I completed the Little Rock half marathon in brutal conditions in early March and didn't run another step until April. I was just making a come back when my mother in law fell and broke her hip in May. She was hospitalized until June when she subsequently passed away. This was very difficult for my husband as she did everything for my father in law. Now, we have to do that.

In August, I was reassigned at my job. I was devastated by this change initially, but it has ultimately been a huge blessing!

I was running sporadically over the summer but not really consistently until August when I began to coach Pathways again. And that's when all became right with my world again. I love working with the runners to achieve their goals. That is very rewarding for me!!  I worked with them from August until November. Together we trained for and completed the Fleet Feet Quarter Marathon, the Tulsa Run 15k, and the Williams Route 66 half marathon. Now, we're in our first ever winter session of Pathways and we're training for the Fleet Feet Sweetheart run 10k. I've got another fun group and am enjoying this session so far!

During my time off from running, I discovered that I actually enjoy weight training. And I plan to continue that into 2015. I was doing the Team Beachbody Body Beast program but the past few weeks, I've gotten off track with that. He wasn't able to train due to his illness and I wasn't home until 9pm some nights. I took a little time off but we're back at it this week. Monday we did a Jamie Eason upper body workout and last night we did the 21 Day Fix Dirty 30.

I've avoided gaining any weight this holiday season, so far by being consistent with my clean eating. I've had a few small treats but I've kept it about 90% clean. The scale reflects it too!!  For Christmas, my mom gave me a pressure cooker. I haven't tried it yet but I'm eager to see how this will help with my weekly meal prep.

So, my 2015 goals are:

1. Continue to eat clean, NO JUNK!!
2. Restart the Body Beast program Monday, January 5
3. Continue running with Pathways, training for the Little Rock half marathon and the Go Girl half marathon, both in March.
4. Try to get back to blogging more consistently
5. Declutter my house and downsize!!  Less is more!!

So, that's all I've got for now. I hope that your 2014 was fabulous and your 2015 is even better!!

Until next time--get up, get out, and get moving!!  Whatever you do today, be awesome at it!!

Your friend,

Theresa

Do you have any New Year's resolutions/goals??

Monday Run-day

Happy Monday, lovlies!

I hope that you all had a fantastic weekend!

Mine was good but rather uneventful. It consisted of household chores, grocery shopping, and weekly and meal prep. I did go see the new movie, Divergent. And that was by far the best movie I've seen in a long time.

It's been 3 weeks since my last run and I'm starting to have withdrawals. My last run was the Little Rock Half Marathon. It was such a horrible experience that I was really not sure I would ever run again. My Achilles and peroneal tendons were so angry. This past week, I've really had minimal pain so I think the I might give it a go tonight! I think that I'll try to do a couple of slow, miles after work tonight. I'm planning to take it easy and will walk if I have to. There are only 2 weeks left in the Pathways session and I know the program coordinator is expecting me to return tonight. I'm nervous about that. I think I need to try to run on my own instead of trying to lead a group in case I have to stop. My calves have been really tight and sore the past couple of days. And I'm fairly certain that was a contributing factor to my injury in the first place. Hopefully, all will go well and a cam start building my mileage back up gradually.

That's all that I've got going on right now.

Until next time-get up, get out, and get moving!

Your friend,

Theresa

Week in Review

Good morning folks! Happy Valentine's Day!!

Today is my anniversary! 9 years ago today I married my best friend. It hasn't always been easy, but it's been a great ride so far. And I'm looking forward to many, many years with him!!  He's such a good guy!! He sent me flowers, which I usually get upset about because I think they are frivolous. But it was so thoughtful and the flowers were beautiful!

 I was a little confused because they arrived yesterday. The florist couldn't guarantee delivery today so he had them sent early. :-) We aren't doing a big celebration tonight. I have a race/training run in the morning. We're staying home tonight and having something simple like breakfast for dinner. Then tomorrow night, we're going out the dinner and dancing with some friends. Our "big" celebration is next Friday night. We have tickets to the Johnny Lang concert at the Riverspirit Casino in Tulsa. And the weekend after that, we're going to Little Rock, AR so I guess you could say we celebrate all the time!!

Weekly recap:

This is week 2 of the #Movenourishbelieve challenge focusing on nutrition. I would say that the food and nutrition part come a little bit easier for me than the workout part. I try very hard to eat mostly clean, but recently I've been out of control. I've been eating cookies, crackers, chips, etc with reckless abandon. Consequently, I've been bloated and having stomach issues. So, I decided this would be a good week to do a reset and eliminate "junk" from my diet. I've cut out gluten completely. Aditionally, I have had very limited dairy and very limited processed sugars. I was expecting to be fatigued, irritable and have cravings like mad. Well, guess what. I haven't. And I feel great! I usually don't like to do progress pics but I've noticed such a drastic difference, that I just had to share! The pic on the right was Monday morning and the left was this morning. Wow!

Here's how the challenge had gone this week:

Monday: Go meatless. I made a huge pot of homemade minestrone soup for the week, so that was my meatless dish for the day.

Tuesday: Take your lunch to work. I always take my lunch to work because my cafeteria is the most unhealthy place in the world!

Wednesday: Write it down. I used to use Myfitnesspal faithfully but have gotten out of the habit recently. So this week, I started logging my meals again. It really is very eye opening!

Thursday:smoothie day. I have been enjoying a smoothie for breakfast for a while now. My favorite combination currently is: 1 cup almond milk, 1-2 handfuls of spinach, and 1 cup of frozen berries. Yum!

Friday: go raw. This one is going to be tricky for me. I didn't plan for it, so i'm not entirely sure what I'll do for it.

Tomorrow is the Sweetheart Run. My training schedule is for 12 miles. I'm going to do the "double" at the run (5km plus the 10km) and then I'll add on some more afterward. I'm looking forward to it this year. The past couple off years have been extremely cold. It will be about 36 when we start in the morning with bright sunshine with a high breast 60! Yay! Perfect running weather in my opinion!

Ok, y'all.....I'm out! Happy Valentine's Day! Have a wonderful weekend!

How are you celebrating Valentine's day?

2013--A Running Year in Review

Good morning folks! Merry Christmas Eve!!


I can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas and that this year is almost over!!  Time sure flies when you're having fun!!

I'm going to do a quick recap of my year, runner style!

I didn't have any major race plans at the beginning of 2013. As a matter of fact, all I wanted was to be able to run without pain! I was nursing an IT band injury and wasn't sure if I would ever really be able to run again! I pushed my body pretty hard the previous year and wasn't taking care of it properly. My primary goal for 2013 was to cross train on a regular basis. I would say that I was 50% on that goal. I've slacked off the past couple of months and that has got to change effective immediately because I've got BIG goals for 2014, but that's another post ;)

Here's what I did running/racing wise in 2013:

January--Go Short, Go Long 5k, 37:13 I went short just hoping to run it without any pain. Not so much :/ I got it done, but my IT band was bothering me, especially afterwards.

February--Sweetheart Run 10k, 1:13 This was right around the time that I started seeing the chiropractor for the IT band and was on my way to being mended.

April--Jenks Aquarium 10k, 1:14 Graduation run for the spring session of Pathways; no IT band issues

April--Camp Barnabas Half Marathon, 2:28 first half marathon since December; I wasn't sure if I could do it, I was scared the IT band would flare up again but I'm proud to report that I ran the whole thing with no major problems!!

April--OKC Memorial Marathon Relay, 1:18 I ran the 3rd leg of the relay (7.5 miles) through a neighborhood that I spent a great deal of time in as a kid, no IT band issues, really enjoyed the run!

May--Cinco De Mayo 5k, 31:51 This is one of my favorite runs ever!

May--Full Moon 5k, 31:48 Another one of my favorite runs! The course is fast and flat. I was really hoping for a sub 30 5k but it was way too hot and humid!

June--Stronger 5k, 31:39 Good, flat course with proceeds going to the May tornado victims. Still hoping for a sub 30 5k

July--Bedlam 10k, 1:11 Graduation run for summer session of Pathways; not as hot and humid as the past 2 years, but hot/humid enough!

September--Quarter Marathon, 1:19 paced the fall Pathwayers

October--Tulsa Run 15k, 1:49 graduation run for the fall session of Pathways

November--Williams Route 66 Half Marathon, 2:28 cold and miserable, I didn't feel prepared for the cold

December--Hot Chocolate 15k, 1:45 another cold run but I felt better prepared for this one, one of my favorite runs this year.

So, I've done 13 races in 2013, so far. I'm doing the Run for the Ranch Half Marathon in Springfield this Saturday so my total race tally for 2013 will be 14 races, not too bad considering that I wasn't sure I would run any at the beginning of the year!

My plans for 2014 include the Go Short, Go Long 25k in January, the Sweetheart Run Double (5k and 10k) in February and the Little Rock Marathon in March.

What does your "running year in review" look like?
What are your plans for 2014??

Bedlam Run 10k Race Recap

Good morning y'all! Happy Monday!

Last Saturday morning was the Bedlam Run 10k.   Here in Oklahoma, there is a strong rivalry between the state universities: Oklahoma State and the University of Oklahoma. The annual game is known as Bedlam, hence the name.

This is the 3rd year I've run this race and it has always been one of my least favorites. The past 2 summers have been the hottest on record here in Oklahoma, so it has always been miserably hot and humid. This race offers a 5k and a 10k. It starts at Fleet Feet Sports in downtown Tulsa and runs through the Brady Arts district, past the Drillers ball park and turns around at the OSU Tulsa campus. If you do the 10k, you run the course twice, which I think makes it more challenging from a mental aspect.

But, this year was different. It was 64 degrees Saturday morning with 100% humidity. There was a cool breeze though that actually made it feel pretty comfortable. It was the graduation run for the Pathways program that I coach. We met early before the run for a group photo then we divided up into groups to determine our pacing strategy. My group is used to running intervals and they wanted to run intervals Saturday morning. My friend, Rozdi, was doing a 6:1 interval, so most of the group ran with her. I had some jack rabbits who wanted to run a bit faster, so I started out with them. My strategy was to start at our usual pace (12:00) but run until we were tired and felt like we needed to walk. In other words, I was not running a "set" interval. We started out together, but my speedies quickly passed me!! I had a difficult time keeping up with them!!

It was one of those days when everything just clicked and it ended up being a very good run. I finished in 1:10, which is my 10k PR.

It was so much fun to go back out to find my runners and run in with them. They were all amazing!!  I am so privileged to have had the opportunity to work with them this past 12 weeks. Our next session starts August 5 and several of them have signed up again, so I guess I didn't scare them off!!  LOL 

This week, I'm having some dental work done (UGH!) and taking a few vacation days to travel to Iowa to see my grandbabies!!  So, I'm not sure how much running I will be doing. I'll squeeze in what miles I can and of course, I'm on the last couple of weeks of Insanity (finally!).

That's all I've got for now; until next time.....