8 miles... I did it

I went to the gym today and headed to the treadmill to clock in 8 horrible miles on the treadmill..ugh..nobody likes running 8 miles on a mill.  I plugged in to the football game, lions v  Vikings and Giants v Eagles game..I think I need to run to football games more often.  I just kept plugging away and it wasn't too terrible!  Yeah!!

 Now I just need a volunteer to run in front of me for the Army 10 miler and my half marathon with a TV with a football game on it. :)  Any takers? 

with or without you??

Do I want to run my next half marathon with or without music?  I usually have music in while I run.  I know I know you shouldn't run with music it is dangerous.  I only run with one ear bud in so I can hear what is happening around me.  I have ran without music a few times and I like it, but I like listening to music too.  I sometimes like the fact that I can tune into the song and not think about how much I want to be at the finish line. :)  But on the same note, sometimes I spend more time trying to keep my ear bud in my ear...or I can't hear the music because I have so much sweat pouring down my head that I think it has short circuited the headphones.

Runner's World wrote an article about the pros and cons of running with music. 
Studies find that music reduces your perception of how hard you are running by about 10 percent. An external stimulus such as music can actually block some of the internal stimuli trying to reach the brain—such as fatigue-related messages from muscles and organs. When these messages are blocked, this reduces a runner's perception of effort, so you feel like you can run farther, faster.

Great if I go music less I will feel like I am pulling two trucks instead of the normal one truck.  I might have to rethink my running sans music.  I think I may try a few more runs without music to see if I want to attempt the Heritage Half without music. 

Do you run with our without music?  How far have you ran without music?

1 year ago this past weekend what were you doing??

Well I can tell you what I was doing a year ago this past weekend..running my first half marathon!  If you want to read about my experience check it out :) 

I still have a bit of disappointment for my first half..who gets sick after all of the training I did??  And the crazy part is I actually stuck to my training plan pretty well going into that half.  Since then I have ran 2 more half marathons (one I did great and one I had my first DNF).    I am currently training for my 4th half marathon in October.  I can't say that my training is going the greatest, but I am trying to run through any problems. 

I have two more half marathons on the plans for next year.  Crazy to think that it was only a year ago that I was nervous about my first half.

Searching for my blog?? Here's what they are typing..

So people are finding my blog by typing some odd things.  Here are some of the key words that could bring you to my blog:

Axel Rose
Sponge Bob head and Happy birthday Sponge Bob
flooding Mount Vernon Trail
broken scale (mine is always broken..at least that is what I hear anyway)
sweater with nsync (hmm...now I would love a sweater with N'Sync)
Facebook shirt
Mike Wallace signing autographs
Demotivational running (I didn't know I was demotivating everyone..I will try to do better)
Messed up my face with a fat transfer (I am not asking how this gets you to my blog or why someone would search that..)

What are some of the crazy search words that they are using to find your blog?

9/11 run

For the past 3 years I have ran the 9/11 run in Arlington, Va.  This year was no different.  If you are not familiar with this run, it is a really great run to participate in.  It is a very family friendly run.  People are running with kids, dogs and lots of strollers.  The run begins at 6pm.  This is great if you like to sleep in and hate getting up early for a race.  The downside of this run is if it has been hot all day long, it bakes the pavement.  The last portion of the run is around the Pentagon parking lot.  That parking lot is really hot!

That parking lot gets the best of me every year!  I always tell myself I am going to run the entire thing and I always end up walking parts of the parking lot.  You can just feel the heat coming off of the pavement.  It just kills me mentally every year.  Next year I will run that parking lot!There are usually some bagpipe players towards the end of the race too.  Usually they hang out under the overpass, this year they moved.  It was great seeing them run in and cross the finish line at the end of the race too. 

I did notice that there were less emergency personnel running the race.  Usually you see a bunch of firefighters, police officers and military running this race.  I think because of the heightened security around DC that most of the regular emergency people were on call or working. 

Great race and it was extra fun because we met some friends from run club.  It was great cheering them on and having some beer and pizza afterwards.  Then we all decided to head to Shirlington for some more beers.  Next on the racing schedule is the Army 10 miler in October.  10 miles here I come!

Things I have learned at the gym

1.  All the cool kids hang out in the parking lot and sit in the bed of a truck.  (wonder if the cool kids will see me with my water bottle and ask me to hang out)

2.  Dunkin' Donuts makes donuts around 7pm at night.  I haven't decided if I should go at this time or stay away...it does smell sooo good.

3.  When I use the recumbent bike for more than 30 minutes my plantar fasciatitis kicks in big time.

4.  When did they get rid of the rock climbing wall??  This could have been the month that I attempt to climb that moving wall of rocks.

5.  2:30 in the afternoon during the week is the time to go for no wait for a treadmill.  Wonder if I will get another surprise day off because of flood to come back at 2:30...

Who would have thunk it that I would learn five new things simply by going back to the gym.  Imagine how much new information I may learn if I go to the gym more frequently! 

We had a flood day today so no school.  The county that I work in was hit pretty hard with flooding yesterday after the week long rain fest and the torrential downpour that happen all day yesterday.  Some of the schools have some flood damage and lots of roads were closed and some homes were evacuated to the local high school.  On a happy note, I had a super productive day off!  I finally got the oil and my slow leaking tire looked at.  Thank you tire patch and no lines at the auto place!  I went to Walmart and did not get irritated once and found a filter that I have been looking for for my vacuum cleaner.  I went to the gym and had a great run!  The only issue I had was that stupid little emergency stop magnet piece came off mid run.  Ugh!!!!  Just throws me off when I am suddenly stopped and I can't continue my current mileage count.  I know I can add the two distances, but it just throws me off.  All in all I had a great flood day.  Monday it will back to work.

Back to school

 

Today is the first day of school.  Good bye summer.  Hopefully today goes by quickly.  I have realized I need to eat more salads..my back to school pants (ok they are just my work pants from last year) are a bit snug.  Grrr...maybe more running is needed??  Looks like tonight will be a wet rainy run club. 

Hope everyone has a great day!

Mount Vernon Trail Run

 Went running with Kristen this morning.  We decided to meet up at Mount Vernon to try out the Mount Vernon trail.  Why has it taken me so long to discover this great bike/run path?  The Mount Vernon trail is about 18 miles long (we did not run 18 miles) and runs along the Potomac River. 

We started at the beginning at Mount Vernon, which turned out great.  We didn't have that much bike traffic so I wasn't worried about getting run down by Lance Armstrong and their were plenty of trees to help with the heat.  It was a very pretty 8 mile run/walk.  Not bad considering my longest run has been 4 miles.  I am thinking  I might head back there tomorrow and walk with my dog (we will see). 

 The Potomac River was on our right as we ran out.  It was such a great morning for a run.  The only problem is I have been eating all day long like I am Michael Phelps.  There were some great wooden bridges to run over too.  This has been by far the best place to run to date!!!

Here is a barrel of water which came in handy when my hand held became bone dry on the trip back :)