Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Tangent Tuesday (version 1.31)

I've officially completed my longest running streak!!!!
31 days of running 😊

I'm also doing a 10 thousand steps a day challenge but unfortunately I haven't been as good with getting my steps in...
(the broken blue line represents all the days that I didn't have 10,000 steps... as you can see that was a lot 😞)

I may not have done well with the steps challenge but I'm really proud up myself for keeping up the running streak. I've made getting my run completed a priority so I just hope I can continue to do so for the rest of the year, especially on the days after my really long runs when my muscles are aching.
***

Monday, January 30, 2017

Bling Chaser...

The day after race day is a "bling chaser's" dream...

And while I did not walk around with my weekend medals dangling from my neck, I'm so happy with them. I think both medals are nicely designed, especially the half marathon medal...

Today I was planning on blogging about core workouts. Mainly because I need to focus on them myself and also because I didn't know what to blog about and a friend of mine gave me that great suggestion. However after I had dinner and went for a run, I started to have an allergic reaction to the shrimp tacos I ate. The hives started at first and then the coughing started and my chest felt tight. And then I discovered that I'm probably the only pediatric nurse and mother that does not have Benadryl stocked in her medicine cabinet 🙈. That's what happens when you live right next to a pharmacy... you get "comfortable" and neglect to stock up on basic medical necessities 😔. 

Anyway, after a quick trip to "the corner of happy and healthy" I was able to take some Benadryl...

Thankfully my throat and chest are feeling better and my hives are going down; but (right on schedule) the drowsiness is starting to kick in 😴. So I'm off to bed for the night!

How was your Monday?

Are you allergic to any food/drinks?

What's your favorite race medal?

Sunday, January 29, 2017

2017 Miami Half Marathon {Race Recap}

I'm typing this race recap of the Miami Half Marathon while I wait for my bone marrow to defrost. It was that cold this morning. Usually, I love running in the cold, but this morning it was also raining and overcast so the combination of cold and wet made my insides freeze. Apart from that the race was incredible!

Jani and I got to the parking garage around 4:20am and stayed in the car (with the heat on) and took a nap. We both got less than ideal sleep last night so we were very tired. But eventually we had to pry ourselves from the warmth and safety of the car and make our way to the corrals. We were in Corral J...
(Corral K was behind us)

(The Start)

While waiting in our corral, the rain started, turning a cold very cold morning into a very cold and very wet morning. Jani and I had ponchos and thermal blankets (and long sleeved tops) but we were still bone chilling cold. Now I know that probably sounds ridiculous to anyone reading this who lives in a cold state. It's even more ridiculous coming from me since I really want to live in Chicago. But waiting in the cold and rain just made me wish I was on a beach tanning somewhere (which, knowing South Florida's weather, I'm probably going to be able to do tomorrow 😉).

Anyway we finally started and our race strategy was pretty straight forward: I was going to do my run 1 mile: walk 1 min intervals and Jani (who tried that interval for the first time during the Tropical 5K yesterday) was going to do it for as long as she could and then cut back her intervals as needed. We both ended up maintaining the 1 mile:1 min intervals (despite the cold & wet conditions) for the entire race 😊. The course was a little different this year, but the spots that were the same felt familiar, and it was nice having a sense of familiarity with the route.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Tropical 5K {Race Recap}

The weather was nice and cold for the Tropical 5K this morning! Of course, it feels amazing when you're running, but when you're waiting to start it's a lot less fun 😉. Andy, Jani and I met at 5am to head down to Miami for the race and once we got there we stayed in the car with the heat on for as long as we could. After we braved the elements while waiting in line to pay for parking, we made our way to the start shoot....

At the start we hung out for a bit and tried to keep warm while taking selfies...

Friday, January 27, 2017

The Tropical 5K & Miami Half Expo...

This year the race expo for the Tropical 5K & Miami Half (and full) marathon was held at the Marlins Park (baseball stadium). This is a new location for the event (at least I've never been to an expo held there before) and required some adjusting and a lot of patience. But it was nice to be there for the pre-race festivities of their 15th anniversary...

The expo started outside and then runners needed to make their way through the outside vendor section, through security, and up the ramp to the bib pick up area...
(picture of outside vendors taken from the ramp)

Once we were inside chaos ensued. The entire bib pick-up process was disorganized and they didn't have enough people giving directions and providing instructions on where to go... 

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Switching Things Up & Something New...

I did my run in the morning with Andy...

We did the first mile with 2:1 intervals; I ran the next 1.5 miles non-stop; then I met back up with Andy and we did the last 0.5 mile with intervals...

Total run: 3 miles...

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

The Numbers: 1 day at a time

Today makes 25 days that I've been doing this running (& blogging) streak...

19 days since my cousin and uncle went missing...

And even in the presence of profound sadness, it's been 5 days since I found this...

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Surprise Visits & Hide and Seek...

Guess who came to visit me today???!!!
It's munchkin #2

And munchkin #1!

I had just finished my one mile run not too long before my brother and the munchkins came over...

So Day 24 of the running streak went well. I'm really starting to like these one mile evening runs because it helps me decompress from the day. The only real drawback is that I have to wait until after I run to eat (and sometimes that ends up being very late). 

Monday, January 23, 2017

The First Race Week of 2017!!!

It's hard to believe I'm less than a week away from the Miami Half Marathon (and of course the Tropical 5K). In 2016 when I signed up for the 2017 full marathon I was confident I would be ready. And even though a part of me (a very small part) wishes that I was properly trained for the full, I'm really glad I decided to do the half marathon instead. 

I love the Miami Half Marathon experience! I've enjoyed this race the past two years that I've done it. The race truly feels like a party from start to finish line. The vibe is incredible and the weather even more so (it's been cold for the past 2 years, so therefore amazing)

Going into the race I know I'm going to have the same pre-race jitters I normally do when I'm aiming for a specific finish time. But I'm trying to figure out how to turn that nervous energy into speed since I'm hoping for a course PR this year. In previous years I was able to shave off a few seconds off my Miami Half time. In 2015 my finish time was 2:39:59, and in 2016 my finish time was 2:39:22. My goal for this year is a finish time of 2:38:59 (or faster). 

I know it won't be easy because I haven't been running at that pace over long distances, and my muscles are already tired from this running streak...
 

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Fatal Attraction...

I broke up my 10 miles into two runs today. Mainly because my running group was only doing 7 miles and also because I wanted to start my run earlier than my group was starting...
(first 3.1 miles solo)

After the 5K portion I drove to the meet up spot for the group run and waited for my running buddies to arrive. Then we set out on my second (their first) run of the day...
(second 7 (.09) miles with my group)

By the time we were done it was way too hot and way too sunny outside...

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Saturday Recap...

Today's 5K was supposed to be a simulation run in preparation for my first race of 2017 (which will be the Tropical 5K next week Saturday). I was aiming for an 11min/mile pace...

So not quite there but still not too bad overall. One good thing was my negative splits...
There is always a desire to push myself a little more but I'm scheduled to run 10 miles tomorrow (a 5K solo run & a 7 mile run with my group) so I didn't want to go overboard this morning.

After my run I dropped Kai to a car wash fundraiser that she was doing with her track team (pictures to follow) and then went to see my brother and his family. My nephew was super excited to see me...

Friday, January 20, 2017

Gryffindor...

I was back with my running group (well two of us) for this morning's run...

We did almost 3.5 miles at a slow and steady conversational pace, and took our usual post-run selfie...

Despite running this morning and having over 15 thousands steps...

I still had a pretty sedentary day...
77%???!!!😱

I was really surprised at the sedentary % to be honest. I didn't realize I sat at my desk for such long periods today...

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Putting It In Writing...

I started to use my Commit30 planner today...

I didn't get very far to be honest but I can't begin to tell you how nice it was to check off all the days that I've kept up my blogging and running streak...
(I like it when the calendars match 😊)

I was thinking about getting a different colored pen for each of the monthly goals I set but maybe that will make it too messy? We'll see. It definitely needs more... pizzazz (so stickers and other fun stuff will be coming soon).

Even though my goal is to blog every day and run at least a mile every day for the entire year, breaking those streaks down into monthly goals makes them more manageable. But, because that means having the same goals listed every month, I decided to add a third goal (that will more than likely change each month). For January, I am going to try something new. I haven't figured out what that "something" will be yet so if you have any suggestions please let me know (I could count the Pure Barre class I did last weekend as my "something new" for this month, but it kind of feels like cheating since I did it already). 

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

I Had Nothing More...

It was late. I was tired. But I gave it all I could...

Summary of today...

I'm going to keep it short today guys. I'm still dealing with my family crisis so please continue to pray and think positive thoughts. I hope all is going well with your training and running :) 

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Do What You Can...

I finally settled on a training journal! I know that we are more than halfway through the month but it took me forever to decide which one I really wanted and then I had to wait for standing shipping & handling to bring it to me...

The Commit 30 planner is not specific to running but it's perfect for all the streaks I'm currently doing and is an easy way for me to track my workouts (week by week AND month by month)... 

It also has a mini "vision board" with different areas of focus so you can monitor your overall goals for the year... 
(I'm probably going to change some of the categories)

It may not be the perfect training planner but I think it will work really well with helping me stay focused on different aspects of my running (and blogging) life. And one of my favorite things about the planner is that each month starts with a quote...

I was really glad when I got home and saw the Commit 30 planner in the mail. And since one of the things I committed to this year was my running streak, I made sure I didn't skip today's run...

And finally I was able to end my day by adding this to the list of three things that made me smile...
(This is currently taking place in my body 🙈)

Have you ever used the Commit 30 planner?

What are some of the 30 day commitment challenges you've done in the past? (or are currently doing)

Are you doing a running streak right now? How is it going? (my legs are in a steady state of tired now)

Monday, January 16, 2017

Engineered for Endurance...

We all have our running "go to" brands. The ones we rely on for accuracy, comfort or safety. The brands with products that are permanently on our wish lists. And while I have different brands that I depend on for different things, my "go to" brand for running tights is CW-X. Without a doubt they are the best running tights I've ever worn!

I'm not going to go into all the magical technical details about their patented support web because you can read all about it on their website [link at the end of the post]. But what I will do is give you my personal (unpaid and therefore unbiased) review.

{As a little disclaimer, I did get a pair of running pants to tryout. But CW-X didn't ask me to review or promote it. I'm doing that on my own because I love their products, and they work really well for me}

Back in the dark days (let's call that period "pre-CW-X") I wore a knee brace and used KT tape and a variety of different warps when I ran. During my pre-CW-X days I needed the knee brace, and then that progressed into being too scared to run without it. But one day (let's call that "the day my knees fell back in love with me") I heard about CW-X and found my way to their website to check them out. I did hours of research on their line of running tights since I wasn't 100% certain what type of support I needed. I also looked at a few reviews, and stopped people after races to ask them if they thought the tights were a good deal (they all said yes). But at the end of the day, when I went to buy my very first pair I chose the tights that had the most symbols beside it cause I figured the more stuff the tights can do the better...