Mileage and Saturday Morning Laziness

Home News:  Son from college surprised me in my classroom yesterday when he drove into town.  Hugs all around.  OMG, he is SO tall and smelled like a man.  The boy is gone.

Running News: MY LEGS ARE SO HEAVY.  Definitely 15 lbs., no 20 each.  HILL sprints(6 repeats where I dashed up for 15 seconds and then walked down hill)really mixed me up.  8 mile run yesterday was barely do-able.  Coach said NOT TO RACE the Turkey Trot on Thursday.  But it's a r-a-c-e!  I don't get it, please explain :) .

School News:  SO busy getting the little peeps at school ready for some paper costume/macaroni necklace/turkey axing fun.  I still have school until Tuesday.  Short week!

CHEERS:
Friends are running a 50 miler today while I sit here in my jammies with a case of laziness; good luck Iso, Debra,  Ernesto and Marty!  Enjoy the gorgeous weather and perfect temps!

I hope the Philly runners have an awesome marathon and have fun turkey trotters!

Head for the Hills!

Has anyone else had "that kind of a week?"  I've had the busiest week and less time to run, sit around, read blogs and scratch Daisy's belly.  Tonight, between stocking up the fridge with food for College Boy's return and rolling around the floor with Sparkle Pants,  I ran in the pitch dark.  8 miles?  Not possible, NO TIME!

So frustrated but unwilling to let that "marathon calendar" own me,  I switched it all up and choose less mileage and some more speed work.  After speed work on Tuesday, was this a good idea?  Not sure, didn't really care!  Ah, just let me run!

I decided to try Yasso's 800 workout    http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244-255-624-0,00.html.  It's supposed to predict, after some workouts,  how fast you'll run your marathon.  This is NOT on my marathon training plan but guess what?  If I own my plan,  I can switch it up a little bit, right?  Besides,  with my ADD tendencies,  I really like to switch things up every now and then.  These Yasso 800s did the trick.

THE best part of the night though, was my mad dash across the beach in the pitch dark, running to my favorite hill where I did hill sprints all last winter.  If you haven't integrated these into your marathon plan, do so! http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/staley14.htm  .  Hill sprints help me build strength for short and longer races and they just make me feel strong.  Our coach had us doing them every Tuesday all summer and I've missed them...my legs missed them too. OUCH, I felt the difference on the last one.  TRY these out for at least one month; running up and walking down hill!

This week has been an easy one and I know I'll have to step it up next week and progressively more as December rolls around.

Hope your Friday is fun and that everyone has a wonderful weekend!  Have great races this weekend and rest up for those Turkey Trots!

Running With My Guy

Just read Jill's blog: Running Sane, and it reminded me of my running "history" with my guy, Boy Scout.  We met as I started college...me, a spry little 19 year old.  He had run in college, lots of marathons and track in high school.  I was NOT an athletic girl in high school, despite my love and fascination with all things "horsey."  Yet, his love for running was enticing and I basically started it to lose weight.  In college,  we would run every night along the Back Bay in Irvine, Ca.(Glenn's territory)and BS talked me into running some 10 k s.  I actually loved racing.  I didn't win but I REALLY  wanted to!


2 babies, a teaching career, 2 moves(one across the state)and just a busy life keep running on the back burner.  I always longed to run but never had the time...soccer, football,  drama productions...the kids kept us busy!  Then I hit 40.  What?  Teenagers don't LOVE to have their mom hanging around and watching their every move.  I wanted to be home after school but I suddenly realized my BABIES needed some space.


I returned to running with a passion.  Marathons.  At first just for fun with girlfriends but BS always told me, "Good job, Hon.  But...you could have gone faster!"  I believed him and the rest is history!  Always trying to improve and having fun while doing it.


That brings us to running and our relationship.  Last January, 2008, I qualified for Boston in Arizona.  That was it.  BS caught the old bug and started running again.  You know,  when he's fit, he's fast and I liked it...he was always egging me on, joking, almost goading me on  and  some days,  it made me MAD...so I tried harder.  At the end,  all I wanted to do was hug him and squeeze him and we'd laugh.  Running had brought something back to our relationship that was planted in those early days...and now, it's just plain fun and exciting.


Last summer we ran the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon...BS had some cramping and I played "mean, pushy coach...chanting our favorite saying HTFU, HTFU."  Others around us were cracking up, BS did not laugh.  Won't do that again...


Yes,  he does encourage, no he doesn't push me in  a negative way.  Yes,  he let's me win sometimes and guess what?  The coolest thing...he let's me run with other guy friends we have and isn't a CREEP about it.  He's just a secure dude, letting his wife have some fun. Are we perfect?  NAH...there are THOSE things that keeps us irritated with each other...auk, like EVERY DAY...but it's all good.


So this year,  we won't be running Boston together but who knows what the future will bring?  An ultra?  A 50 miler?  This much for sure,  in January we'll be running our 2nd marathon together in our 22 years together...and I can honestly say it will be a team effort!

Wednesday Count Down...

Counting down until College Boy is home...3 more days.

Will I be Thankful he's home?

Musician

Clown

Dog-lover

Boy Scout's Breakfast Buddy

Singer

Hugger

Thankful to have a healthy family and two legs that might sport some HARSH blisters but can still carry me for miles and miles.

Happy Wednesday.

Thanks for Affirming My Silliness...

Yes, it's official.  I am neither perfect nor a genius.  Confirmed.  Further proven once again tonight...

Blisters and I went running together tonight.  Twin blisters by the way.  Blister One, the red, angry guy I photographed yesterday is on his way to healing up.  Thanks for your well-wishes blogging friends.  Blister Two is stubborn, discolored and caused some problems today in kindergarten. Bad boy.   At the end of the day,  my shoe had really irritated him and I almost, al-mo-st abandoned the First Annual Holiday Turkey Scavenger Hunt with our Monday night running group.  But tell me amigos, how could I turn that kind of fun down?

I envied this cute gal who showed up dressed like a turkey and her son, a pilgrim!

I felt so plain in my Brooks capris and white running top !

Boy Scout and I were convinced we could gather the scavenger hunt goodies quickly, return to claim our prizes and then head home for our Pesto Chicken Dinner...yum!

Little did we know that our "one" headlamp would prevent us from finding:

a Nike snowman(in November?), an old Nike shoe,  and other holiday related items.  I did

find every house on the block with the number "7" though!"

For a few moments,  I felt like BS and I were on the Amazing Race!

Actually, I did find the old Nike shoe and drank from it.  I'm not sure why I did that.

And BS took a picture next to another beach sign.

In the end,  we ran back to the store SUPER FAST and then I realized I had left the pesto chicken dinner I had made in the OVEN at 350 degrees and it had been baking for

2 HOURS...duh!

The chicken was dry, dry, dry(chicken jerky) and burned(sorry Sami!)...and thank goodness we don't have any little ones at home relying on us!

Oh well, it was fun running for four miles and not even realizing you're running!  We had a blast and even though we couldn't stay to collect any prizes,  at least we had a lot of fun, entertaining the twins who arrived home safely and comfortably.  Healing is a nice thing...hmm, I hope the twins behave themselves at track workout tomorrow night.

JUST DELETE MY BLOG from your list, RIGHT NOW!!!!

Today was the day of STUPID running!  Why are you even reading this?  It's not like I didn't warn you.  Of course, as one who always tries to learn  from her mistakes, I could always turn this morning's asinine running into something "insightful."  One of those, "See friends, this is what I did and pleeeese, learn from my mistakes!"  Hmmm...you decide what to do with this information which I will shortly spew.

I awoke this a.m. to run with BS and our Lake Tahoe friend who is visiting...let's call him Jaunty Joe.   He isn't a Joe but he's got this wild, short, high gait that just exemplifies FAST in every way.  Running with JJ was our first mistake.  Not really, we -heart- JJ but he is just too darned fast.

Okay, yesterday my generous BS and I bought new shoes.  I decided to wear them this morning and we were going to be running 16 miles.  Mistake 2.  Oh, and don't let me forget to mention that I put in my arch supports but forgot the pads...which resulted in this beautiful 2 inch long blister...

It hurt at 2 miles and then burned like a   &(*^%^$% FOR THE REMAINING 14!  Not sure what to do with it now.  Mistake 3.

We coincidently  met up with my fav running girl, Gazelle and her tall man.  They were running along the gorgeous coast this morning and they turned and ran with us for a while.  THAT was fun, no mistakes there.

Then, like the rookie I was today,  I volunteered us to run the hill up behind Legoland in Carlsbad which
sucked some precious energy from me and I had about an ounce of motivation to run the remaining 8 miles home.  BUT,  we did.  Hitting the campgrounds we suddenly started running a 7:14 pace.  HEY, this is a base pace run...8:30 was going to be my max!  BUT nooooooo,  not being SMART, nor wise nor strong enough to stand up and say something...I just followed along and ended up with a stomach doing flips at mile 14,  bowels that were ready to explode at mile 15.5 and legs of cement at mile 16.
There were many mistakes in this last paragraph.  Let's just say I was not a smart runner today.

The bright side???  We finished 16 miles in gorgeous weather, BS wasn't hurting and I ended the occasion with an AWESOME ice bath.  Plus, we saw cool friends, had fun with JJ and ended with 16 miles-DONE.  Hmm, thanks for not deleting me from your blog list and for being patient readers.  SOMEDAY I will learn...

ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOT SOCKZ RULE!

Do I really need to twist your arm?

I know the "look" is OLD SCHOOL and if you're 5'3" like me,  you'll  look like a gnome with the shortest legs ever but people, puhl-eese,  these socks are as important as your shoes when we're talking

RECOVERY!!

The Zoot website has them all for you to check out.

When do I wear them?  On plane rides home after a marathon or half OR even at home

if my calves, ankles or legs feel tired.

Why?  Bliss for the legs...you feel tiny tingles up and down, for real!

I met the young-very, very young guy who developed these at the BOSTON expo last year.

He just happens to live and work at the ZOOT Headquarters in Vista, near our home!

He is a brainy athlete who designed these socks for triathletes but I have to ask,

WHY AREN'T SMART RUNNERS WHO WANT TO

RECOVERY QUICKLY catching on to these?

Money?  Yes, these socks aren't cheap but I've had the same pair for two years and they are worth it in every way.

If you've tried them, give us your report.

By the way, I don't do give always on my blog, am not sponsored by Zoot nor do I ever promote anything to get something back... anything...I just think ya'll

need to know about these socks!!

Happy Friday and FUN running this weekend.

Our 16 miles(bigger miles)is this weekend...hope your runs are happy ones!

**Late addition to this post:  check out the comments attached to this post...you may learn something just like I did.  Silly me :)!  Thanks blogging friends for the INSIGHTS,  I really do like to spend lots of $$ when I could really be saving it for my son's education, really I would...