Things That Happened in May

I was a running machine in May.  Perfect weather coupled with some free time means I meet and exceed my goals.  I have this habit of making a cumulative mileage goals every month. In May I was able to power through that goal.  71 miles in the whole month!! 

I also destroyed my 5 miler PR. So maybe not placement wise, but beating my time from 9 years ago meant a lot to me. 

Harpoon 5 Miler 6/4/2005 
1163 (place) 55:35 11:07 509 (place in Division 21-39) 591 (Place in Female div)

Harpoon 5 Miler 5/18/2014

3337 (overall) 52:19 10:28 644 out of 817 (Female 30-39) 

A week later, Memorial Day weekend, Gavin and I decided it would be all about running.  Friday to Monday I ran a total of 18.78 miles. 

Marblehead run

Post Boston Run

I Have Surprised Myself

Usually when the new year comes around and I hit the treadmill after the holidays I have to start right back at the beginning.  I can barely make a mile on my first run back.  This year after barely running during November - February, I have been able to do a slow 3 miles, which feels great! I have already started my 10K training program.

With my success on the treadmill this far I have not been gun shy about pulling the trigger on race sign ups. I have signed Gavin and I up for our 3rd annual Energize the Earth 5K in Beverly, MA (My PR course).  Also, since running the half in San Jose last year I have been debating on which half to run this year. The one that stands out the most from seeing friends run it last year on Facebook and since it was my backup if I couldn't make the California trip work, was Smuttynose Rockfest Half in Hampton, NH. Gavin and I are all signed up for him to run his first half. Everyone I know that ran it in the past said it is a great flat course. Tomorrow me and 5 other girls are going to enter the lottery for the Harpoon 5miler, last time I ran that was 2005... Oh, how things were different 9 years ago!

One week from today I will be running my first 5K of the year, Ras na hEirearnn.  It is my second year in a row running it. My time last year was 35:03 and although my training has been lacking this year, I want to beat my previous time. Last year was all about firsts, this year it is all about competing against myself.

My First Half: Complete! Rock N' Roll San Jose

Who knew that running for 2 hours and 44 minutes while suffering from dehydration would be fun... but I am here to tell you that it was.

I have to admit there were a few times during the race I was a bit concerned.  Around mile 10 I could feel myself slowing down, not necessarily my feet since I was already at a snails pace in the running world.  Around mile 10.5 I walked a bit to get my GU (I stole 2) and hydrate.

Gavin was able to run the first 5 miles (the Mini Marathon) with me so that made it even more fun! I also had the best cheerleaders in the world.  Although there were local high schools and college teams present my sister and brother in law came out and watched me run by them at 3 different spots along the course!! The local cheer squads had nothing on them.

The course was a great way to see San Jose, my family has lived out there for more than a decade and I still get confused within the City limits. My sister's neighborhood was very close to the first neighborhood we ran through and the people there were so into watching the runners go by.  Although there were a decent amount of people that seemed surprised that so many people were so excited to run that early in the morning. There were band stands within each mile marker playing, but in this neighborhood people just came out and played with their bands. It was really fun to see the community get involved and they were excited to be part of the race. 

The other part of town that was nice to run through was the Garden District, the houses and yards were very impressive, although the community support was a little less impressive. 

Although I saw lots of the city, I am pretty sure I wouldn't be able to give anyone a tour. My sister tried to ask me questions about the course the next day and I had no answers, I guess I was in a zone. Or it could have been when I started seeing stars. I was trying to stay ahead of the thirst, drinking at every hydration stand.  I think my chances of over-hydration were slim... definitely need to work on the electrolytes in the future. 

The course was for the most part flat, an underpass or 2, but nothing that I couldn't handle at the time. It was also amazing how many people I had to run around. Around mile 7, my Garmin was giving about .5 mile more than the mile markers, you don't think about how much more your run. 

Was so nice having Gavin to run with for the first 4.5 miles. 

Gavin finishing out the 5 miles

Honestly this is just a happy face, the guy was standing there with a camera and I felt the need to do something! 

I am ready for the next... Mentally maybe, physically I need to get on my training shoes!

Competitive... against myself

Workout: week 1 of Ripped in 30

Work up and did a Jillian video this AM. It is great for strength, jumping part of the new sensation HIIT (High Intensity Ingerval Training). Now I want to take a nap, so I think it worked!

When I sign up for a "race" it never occurs to me to try and win... funny thought, I am not sure that that will ever be me. I know where I am physically. No matter how I will raise my Lactate Threshold or possibly increase my VO2 max, I don't ever see that as being my goal. The pure adrenaline of running with a group of people for a collective goal, to finish, which leads to the feeling of accomplisment.

I can be a competitive person, I get excited when I can guess correctly on Trivia Pursuit and I don't play Pictonary because 60 seconds is not enough time to craft my masterpiece. I get more frustrated when I can't do something than if I don't win, (eg, Baseball on the PS2). When it comes to running, I want to beat myself.  I am very impressed with people that run a sub 7 minute mile, but I succeed to them in a race. I am willing to take my tail back to the 11 minute mile corral.

My current 5K PR is 33:05, now this is something I want to improve. My PR for 5 miles is 54:18 and my only 9K (5.58 miles) was at 1:03:16. I am going to estimate that my 10K will be around 1:10:xx, closer to my 9K time than based on the estimates that my 5K gives me.

If you go onto RunnersWorld.com they give you estimates based on your race times.

• 1500 meters: 9:14 (not sure when I would need to run this distance)
• 1 mile: 9:54 (surprising)
• 3K: 19:15 (another strange distance)
• 5K: 33:05 
• 5 miles: 54:47 (very close to one of my previous times)
• 10K: 1:08:59 (not sure I will hit this, but it is close to my estimate)
• 10 miles: 1:54:13
• Half: 2:32:11 
• 26.2 miles: 5:17:18 (still not sure I want to take on this many miles at once)

I don't feel 100% confident about this upcoming 10K, but it is my first and a good way to set the bar!

For graduation... not sure which one, someone gave me this journal and I haven't done anything with it yet. It has now officially become my running log. I like to actually write my ideas down before they go onto the computer. 

History Lesson... Sometimes the Past isn't great but we can learn from it.

I made the mistake of going back in time. Turns out, even in my prime of 24 I was a bit pokey as a runner. 

Fun Fact: CoolRunning keeps everything. If you ever had race results that were recorded there, then they are still there!


Turns out I have always been a slow-ski.


25th Irish Feet are Runnin' 5 Miler 3/6/2005
(I seem to recall being slightly hungover and getting sick after this one, oh to be 24 again)
210 54:18 10:52 24 17/17 F 232


Harpoon 5 Miler 6/4/2005
1163 55:35 11:07 509 21-39 591 F


The Harpoon 5miler after party!

Run To Home Base 9K 5/22/2011
1754 270/340 F3039 1:03:16 11:19


Post 9K


Today was a rest day... probably should have gone for the cross training, but 2 days in a row of running I figured that my body needed a rest.

Nike+ Fails or Rewards

Workout: 5.07 miles / 55 minutes

Only 8.03 miles more and I would have been able to run 13.1 miles!

Today I just felt like running!

I started using earndit.com  as a suggestion from a  co-Sparker  I love a good bargain. (Christmas Tree Shop jingle insert here) If you don't know it... oh so sad.

It syncs with all kinds of different apps including runkeeper.com, as a user I figured, can't go wrong.  I went wrong... it doesn't count manually entered data, and since I have been using a treadmill, manual entry is my only option. The other option that I could potentially use is the Nike+ for my ipod. I had it on my sneaks a few years ago and was too lazy to take it out stepped in a puddle and the rest was history.

Or not as history as I thought, it works! (I swear it wasn't working last time I tried to use it) What a difference time makes when it comes to electronics and water.

I used it this morning so that I could rack up some points, it definitely needs to re-calibrated, but this was not the morning to mess with it.  So while the treadmill had me at 5.07 miles, the Nike+ had 5.7, oopsies!  Is it my fault that they are willing to take my false reading vs the accurate manual entry?  I don't think so!

One of the kids, our Audrey. (Just for fun) She has Gavin wrapped around her left front paw.