Nobody puts baby in a corner

It's Saturday, the night before my 16 mile training run. What am I doing?  Well I did some shopping and then came home and decided to go through my filing cabinet and get rid of a bunch of old stuff from the days when I first started teaching. It's amazing the amount of papers that one person can accumulate. I now have a large trash bag of old papers leaving my house on trash day. Don't be jealous of my Saturday. 

After the great paper purge of 2014 I headed downstairs to see what was on tv. Now I'm not a huge tv person. It is usually background noise while I'm on my iPad. I don't watch a lot of movies either. Very rarely do I head to the movies. Today must have been my lucky day. As I'm surfing to find something to watch I find one of my favorite movies of all time...Dirty Dancing!  

I know most of the words and I'm a bit annoying to watch it with. Luckily Riley doesn't mind. 

Following Dirty dancing is Grease. Looks like I'm watching a bunch of tv tonight. One thing for sure my legs shouldn't be tired for tomorrow's long run. 

15 miles done

Jen and I met up for a 15 mile run on Saturday. I didn't have any real expectations for the run except it will be chilly. Sunday was supposed to be rainy so Saturday was probably the best run day of the weekend. 

We headed out from Jen's house towards shirlington. We were just chatting and running. I could tell that this weeks long run was going to be better than last weeks. Around mile six I was feeling pretty good. We were headed into shirlington and I needed a bathroom so we detoured to the library. I love indoor plumbing!  

I also love tissues. Not only was I happy to use the facilities but was excited to be able to blow my nose!  I've been battling a head cold for the last couple of days. I actually think the run may have helped loosen my sinuses up. I haven't felt nearly as stuffy since Saturday. Score one for long runs!

So after our mini rest stop we headed back on the trail.  We ran until we hit 7 1/2 miles and turned around. We had one older gentleman ask how far we were going to run and once we told him I think he almost had aheart attack. As we approached the 8 or 9 mile mark we realized that was around the point in the previous week I started yelling out "I hate running!"  I was not to that point yet so this run was looking much better that last weeks. We were maintaining a pretty consistent pace. I wasn't  frozen to death. The sun was out. It was a great run!  

The last two miles I had to dig a little deeper, which always happens at the end of my runs. But we finished with smiles on our faces. I drank some chocolate milk at Jen's and then took off for home. 

Nothing is better after a long run in the winter than a nice hot bath. Which is just what I did. Then I spent the day finishing a book that I was reading. I love weekends when you can just lay around and relax. 

 

It takes a village

After Kristi finished her first half she enjoyed it so much she wanted to try the full together. I may have groaned a bit inside. Looking back over last year, racing sucked. It sucked because my training sucked. As I've told my students I wasn't good at doing my running homework. When you don't do the homework, race day is not much fun. 

This marathon is going to be different. The village is coming together to keep me accountable. First kristi's husband Shawn is currently deployed. He is state side for now. He is running the marathon training program along with Kristi even though he is not running a race. He is also checking in on my training to help me keep on track. He knows I'm not the best at keeping to a program. I randomly get messages on Facebook and texts asking about my long runs. 

Thanks Shawn for keeping me honest!

Kristi also checks in on my training. She doesn't want me to be left at the start line on race day. It's great hearing her excitement as she runs longer and feels pretty good. I guess that is what happens when you follow a program. 

Jen has been great about running long with me. She has a half in February and yet she is currently plotting our 15 mile run this weekend. It is so much better to run with someone. I think Megan may be joining us in a few weeks too. She has a full coming up in May. 

It definitely takes a village to get me across the finishline of my third full marathon. But come March it will be worth it. 

The day my cheeks almost fell off!

On Sunday Jen and I met up to get our long run in. She is training for a half marathon in February and I have the full in March. She was looking to run ten and I was looking for 13. Being the good sport she decided to run my 13 with me. We picked Sunday to run since it was the warmer weekend day. I was hoping that the temps would reach 30 degrees.  I don't think it got that warm. 

We headed out after talking about our outfits. You would think by January I would figure out what to wear in the cold temperatures. No, I still am figuring it out. I'm sure I will get it right around March. I decided to lose the knit hat and go with a baseball cap to keep the sun out of my eyes and some ear headband. Turned out the headband didn't last a mile before I had to tear it off. I also had my tights on with some shorts overtop since my rear always gets cold. 

We took off and had a nice slow run along the Potomac river. 

By the turn around point everything from my butt down was starting to get icy.  It was great having Jen to run with because I'm not sure I would have completed the entire cold thirteen miles. But we slogged through them. We even stopped to a photo along the way. 

By the 11th mile I was convinced that I was not going to have a$$ cheeks left because they were ice cubes. My knees were also turning into ice cubes too. The last two miles were by far the most horrid of the entire 13 miles. Im also convinced that someone moved Jen's house farther away!

When we got back to Jen's she was kind enough to make some hot chocolate to help warm us up. It didn't really work.  I couldn't get warm at all.  I headed home and took a nice hot bath. That is the only way to warm up my body, a hot bath. Next weekend I have 15 on the calendar and it is supposed to be in the 40's. So hopefully my lower half will stay warm. 

no soda more water

So if you know me you know I love Coke.

I don't  buy Coke for my home because I would just keep drinking it and drinking it.  I usually have a coke at work though..  I also enjoy coke when I go out to eat.  Well I am happy to say that I haven't had a Coke since the week before Christmas.  I've been a very good water girl.  Now I know why I shouldn't drink soda.  I have seen the articles about the evils of soda.  But it doesn't change the fact that I really love Coke.

I've given up Coke before.  I have given it up hoping to lose some weight.  Never works for me.  I always end up thinking if I am not losing weight than I might as well just drink soda again.  So I have one Coke which then leads to a Coke or more a day. 

I know that when I have my Coke at work I really don't drink much water.  Now I have been having 4 large glasses of water during the day.  When I drink a Coke that is usually it for me for the workday.  It also should help me be a better runner too.  That's what I am going to keep telling myself.  We will see how long this lasts.  So far I have been enjoying my water and haven't caved to a Coke.  I almost did today.  It was a crazy day with a 2nd grade classroom moving into the library because of the cold temperatures outside and I had classes all day long.  A recipe for a disaster of a day and an easy "I need a Coke fix" excuse. But I didn't have the coke, I had water.  

No running for me tonight..It was just way to cold, but no Coke either, so it is a winning night!

baby its cold outside!

Yesterday I woke up to no snow.  We were supposed to get some but it never came.  Then while I was driving to work I found the snow...and the ice.  Talk about horrible driving conditions.  The roads we not treated and I was sliding while driving a measly 10 miles per hour.  Yeah 10 miles..at some points it was barely that.  At one point I thought I could run this faster than I am driving.  Normally it takes me thirty minutes to get to work, yesterday it took almost an hour and half.  Ugh.  Then when I got to work only 1 bus was able to make it to school.  The rest were stuck somewhere.  We should have had the day off.  The roads were horrid!  So the day didn't start off the greatest.  Needless to say I did not feel like getting back in my car and trekking up to run club after a crazy day.  So I made my own run club at home.  Now I didn't get to see any of the cool people that I normally would see running.  And it was a rather small club of one, but it worked.  I knocked out a cold 3 miles.  I'm not a huge cold weather running fan, but since there is a marathon in my future I figured I needed to get out there and get some miles in.  That and my friends Kristi and Shawn keep checking on my running totals.  For some reason Kristi wants to make sure I am training for this marathon since she will be running with me on marathon day.

Well you know that it is a cold night of running when I wear a hat. The only bad thing is that I wore these tights that will never see a running mile again. The entire three mile run I had to hold them up.  The didn't have drawstring in them so they kept falling down.  I didn't want to scare the neighbors so I held them up.  Note to self I must buy some running tights that stay up.


Apparently I also looked like I lost something.  I was running with my headlamp in my hand.  I hate headlamps on my head so I usually hold it in my hand.  As I was finishing up, there was a boy on a scooter and he wanted to know what I was looking for.  I told him I wanted to make sure I could see where I was running and I didn't want any cars to hit me.  He seemed a bit disappointed with my answer.  I guess I should have told him zombies or something.

Wednesday night I am taking the day off from running because it is cold cold cold.  Below zero with the wind chill.  Yeah I will stay in and do some ab work. :)  

At what temperature do you stay indoors and refuse to run outside? 

Vacation and a run

I spent my two week Christmas break at my moms house in Pennsylvania. While visiting mom I actually completed a 9 mile run. I know that doesn't sound like much but I normally do not run at my mom's house. It is too hilly for me. I got out there on a cold drizzling day. I got one of my two long runs in for my March marathon. I am going to train for this marathon. My last marine corps marathon was brutal because of my lack of training. I'm not going to have a replay of that race. It was so rough. 

While at mom's I also got to see my steelers lose their playoff game. I got two tickets before Christmas. I decided to see if mom want to go with me. The day of the game it was pouring. Thankfully it stopped during the game. And luckily the temps were not as brutal as the could be. At the beginning of the game I had to take my coat off. That doesn't normally happen for December games. So the 45 degree temps were working for me. 

It was a great game even though we lost. Maybe next year. Both mom and I had loads of fun. 

2014 in pictures

Sorry I've been M.I.A. lately. I haven't really liked running much. That doesn't mean I haven't ran any races since my last post, I have, I just haven't loved getting out there and actually running. Well it is a new year so it calls for a new attitude towards running. I also will get back to reading everyone's blogs too.  I have been such a bad blogger on all fronts. 2015 will be different. 

February was my birthday 5k. 

March screams St. Patrick's day run with president Wilson and other friends of course. 

I met lots of fanatics throughout the year. 

Crystal city 5k

Friends to cheer for and friends cheering me on 

A 2nd full marathon has come and gone. Yes, I know I said one and done...

I got to run with Kristi as she completed her first half marathon!

Run club was a great time hanging out with great friends. 

I've run 13 races this year from 5ks to a full marathon. 2014 was a pretty productive year for races. I am going to try and have 2015 be the year for training for races!  

I hope everyone has a great 2015! Now get out there and run something! 😃