So I did a really uneventful run this morning.  It was cool out... only 43 degrees with a wind chill of just 38.  Humidity was 75% with a slight breeze but the sun was coming up and it was a beautiful morning.  I'm really enjoying the lovely flowers that I see on my runs these days.  So much nicer that the early spring months before anything was blooming or greening up.  Of course my very favorites are the miniature lilacs that are blooming in my own front yard, and sharing their wonderful scent with the neighborhood.  Many of the other lilacs have already come and gone, but this miniature variety seems to bloom just a bit later.  Twelve years ago I was traveling for 3 weeks in May and completely missed my lilacs.  I was so sad about that, but in late June, one lilac bloomed at the top of the bush, just for me.  I was thrilled to have that single bloom when there were certainly no lilacs to be found, and it's done that pretty much every year since.

Today's run was pretty slow, despite some great music.  I heard Kid Rock, Fun., Chickenfoot, The Dollyrots, the Ramones and Joan Jett!  It was a great lineup of entertainment this morning and it kept me moving even though I wasn't feel all that great.  The strangest thing happened, too.  I've heard of this, but have never experienced it.  I zoned out for a part of my run.  I don't remember a good share of my first mile.  I wasn't thinking about anything and was just running.  When I think back on my run, there are places that I really only remember being once - but I did the loop twice.

My next run is Saturday morning.  Then I'm supposed to be in Detroit for a bicycle tour at 9:45 am.  I also will be running on Sunday, which will be different because I'll be in a different city, so I'll have a whole new route that I've never done before.  Should be interesting.

First Goal Accomplished!

I ran this morning at the Feet and Friends Fighting Colon Cancer 5K (they also had an 8K but I stuck with the shorter distance).  It was great!  The starting horn sounded at 8:45 on the dot.  It was 37 degrees and the 11 mph wind resulted in a wind-chill temp of just 30!  Brrrrrr!  My fingers were frozen and I was seriously wishing I had thought to bring my running gloves.

I had a little bit to eat this morning, hoping that it would help my stamina a bit.  Seemed to work!  I had my best pace so far!  My average pace today was .17 mph faster than my previous PR, so I was thrilled with that.  My goal was to not come in last in my age division, but when I saw how much my time had improved I didn't really care where I finished in relation to anyone else.  I did NOT come in last, though.  I was 18th out of 38 women in the 40-48 age division.  Yay!  AND, overall, I came in 114th, out of 281 people!  They had music at the finish line, and just after I got done they played Joan Jett.  It couldn't get any better than that.

Teammate extraordinaire, Corey, accepting his award for
finishing 2nd in his age division!

Actually, it did get better, when my DetermiNation teammate, Corey, came in 2nd in his age division.  Go Corey!  He finished 14th overall (5K in less than 24 minutes) - and I was thrilled to be only 100 behind him!  While they were announcing the winners and handing out awards, the sun came out to warm us all up a bit, and many of the runners seemed to stick around to see the awards presentation.

It was a great time and I had a chance to get to know some of my teammates a little better.  I can't think of a better way to have spent my chilly Saturday morning. After the run we hit up the local coffee shop for some caffeine and sandwiches and hung out for a while.

I'm excited to continue on from here!  My next race is 2 weeks from tomorrow and is the Cinco de Mayo run in Detroit.  It's actually on Seis de Mayo, but that's close enough.  Definitely looking forward to that run through Mexican Town. I imagine I'll be running again on Monday - I'll know when Luke updates my training program based on today's run.  Till then...

Well, I got up early and went for my run this morning and, if I thought it was chilly out on Tuesday, it didn't really compare with today!  It was 45 degrees on Tuesday, but today the temp was 30 with a wind chill of 22!  I was prepared for the weather and wore my new cushy running sock which were AWESOME!  They kept me feet warm and dry and now I want a pair for every day that I run!  I also wore gloves and a hat, and a new running jacket (having a pocket is very convenient for my iPhone and house key).  My running tights left my legs a little cold, but otherwise I was comfortably toasty.


While I was out I saw all the usual suspects, except for the guy who was warming up his car for half an hour on Tuesday.  His truck was there, although it wasn't running.  It probably ran out of gas!  The air was really clear and there were loads of stars visible when I started out.  By the time I finished the eastern horizon had begun to lighten and was turning a wonderful royal blue.  I was pretty sure that I could have seen my breath when I exhaled, but it was too dark to actually see.  I'm guessing that you could, though, because about a second after I would breathe out, I would hear my frozen breath crash to the pavement and shatter into a million pieces.

I had great music to run to today! Everything from Def Leppard to Katie Perry and Adam Ant to Pink.  My tunes all had a great tempo to run to, but I was just a hair slower than Tuesday.  I did W4D2 of Couch to 10K and it was a little shorter than the last time.  The one I do this weekend will be 5 minutes longer and then longer, yet, when I move on to Week 5.  So today, I am proudly wearing my Runner Girl necklace (see left), and am happily going to skip the bagels that I'm taking to work today to celebrate an office birthday.  I have no intention of undoing the good I've done by eating as many calories as I just burned in simple carbs. 


Well, I'll be  back on the weekend for more of the same!

Awesome run on a chilly morning!

So, on Tuesday I started with Week 2, Day 1 of Couch to 10K and then decided to bump up a little and today did Week 3, Day 2, which increased my run to walk ratio.  It felt great and I really enjoyed it!  It was 39 degrees and pretty windy - the weather report said 8 MPH, but the gusts were a lot stronger than that!  Either way, it was chilly and breezy but it felt really good to be out there getting a morning run in.


I have realized that I truly need to refresh my playlist that I use for running because it's getting quite stale.  There are a handful of songs that I am still excited about when they pop up but, for the most part, I feel pretty indifferent to the music on my iPhone.  I plan to remedy that this week!  Some of my favorite tunes for running are "I Hate Myself for Loving You" (Joan Jett), "Because I'm Awesome" (Dollyrots), "Unskinny Bop" (Poison), "I Wanna be Sedated" (Ramones) and "Baby Got Back" (Sir Mixalot).  I know, I know... That last one got into that mix and I don't know how, but it's really fun to run to.

I only saw two people out and about at 5:35am.  One guy was getting into his car as I was trotting by and actually said "good morning" to me.  The other person was driving away, presumably to work.  Other than that, not another person, dog, cat or skunk to be seen.  Well, I did see something run across the road a ways ahead of me, but I couldn't tell what it was, so I'm just going to assume it was a cat!  That seems pretty safe.  I took this picture at the end of my run and it is representative of the whole time I was out.  The neighborhood was dark and deserted, as far as I could tell.  I'll be interested to see what it's like when we start getting a little snow!  Well, I know what the neighborhood is like when it snows, but I haven't run in it before, so that will be a whole new experience! 


I decided that, as an incentive to do my runs on my scheduled mornings, I am going to reward myself by wearing my new favorite necklace.  I got a runner girl necklace when I did the 5K in Detroit last month and I just love wearing it.  If I run in the morning, I get to wear it that day.  If I don't, I have to pick a different necklace.  I have several necklaces that are special, but that one has a little different meaning right now.  Wearing it reminds me of my accomplishment, so it seemed like a fitting way to reward myself for sticking to my schedule.  I'm proudly wearing it today, and will get to again on Saturday (Sunday, too, because I'm participating in a Jingle Bell Run).  


If you are reading, I'd love it if you would leave a comment.  I can see stats on how many people ready my blog (more than I would expect), but it would be great to hear from you, and learn how you came across my blog and where you are.  On that note, I'll sign off for today, but will be back the day after tomorrow.

Sunday run - Indoors!

Well, we got up this morning and it was raining.  So we went back to bed for a while, and when we got up a couple of hours later, the rain had stopped, but the humidity hadn't.  The air was heavy, the ground was wet, and we decided to go to the gym to work out, instead of the MetroPark.  I did a 5-minute warm up on the Arc Trainer (I love that machine) and then headed for the treadmills.  There was a woman a few rows ahead of me, on another treadmill, and she looked like she was exerting WAY too much energy to run.  Her arms were high, with her elbows out, rather than being in close to her body.  Her feet were coming up above her knee level in back of her, and she looked like she was wearing herself out.  I certainly couldn't have kept that up for very long! 

I got on the treadmill and started my run. Rather than following the C25K program today, I continued for 45 minutes at a comfortable pace (ie: pretty slow compared to most people) and then increased my speed incrementally for the last 5 minutes, topping out at about 6 MPH when my cool down kicked in.  I used my Power Song for inspiration during those last few minutes.  Thank you Joan Jett!  That doesn't sound all that fast but I'm short!  My inseam is only 26, so 3.5 mph is a pretty steady jog for me.  5mph... That's runnin'!  I felt good.  Really good!  I felt comfortable (mentally and emotionally) and when I finished I went to the stretching area and was very happy with what I had done.

Aside from working out, it's SO much fun to people watch at the gym!  There was the woman using all of her extra reserves.  A guy who was holding himself up with rigid arms while his legs ran really fast.  And there were a number of people who looked like picture-perfect runners.   I try to pay attention to my running form and make sure that I am looking somewhat like those people running who look like very natural in their running. 

Tomorrow morning is supposed to be 63 degrees with 99% humidity, so I'm not sure what the day has in store for me.  Detroit Free Press Marathon and 5K is just 5 weeks from today!

I also want to say a special thank you to all of the people who serve and protect us on the 10-year anniversary of the tragic things that happened in our country on September 11, 2001.  Thank you to those who continue to offer their service, and their lives, to maintain our safety and our freedom, and let us never forget those who have given their lives, so that we may enjoy ours. 

Fab Friday running

Another beautiful morning for a run.  Actually, I've jut learned that, based on my pace, I'm not quite running - I'm jogging!  But, despite my usual preference to be more precise when dealing with such details, it's taken me a long time to call it running, and myself a runner (as opposed to airquote running and airquote runner), so I'm just going to stick with running!

This morning I did a 35 minute run.  It felt great!  Well, at one point I did feel like slowing to a walk, but knew that it wasn't really necessary and kept going.  The feeling passed and the run was uneventful.  It was a wonderful 63 degrees (17 C).  I only saw a couple of cars while I was out - one with a dog named Max riding happily in the back seat with his head out the window.  He gave me a look like "You're running to get somewhere?  How primitive!"   From a distance I also saw my husband leaving to go to the Metropark for his morning bike ride.  We'll both be headed to the Metropark on Sunday to run and ride, then meet back up when we're done.  Still don't have my Nike+ sensor replaced, so none of my miles this week are recorded on my log. =(

I heard some great music on today's run.  Whenever I sync my iPod the playlist resets and everything shuffles into a different order while some songs are replaced.  Today I was accompanied by Queen V, Adam Ant, Nickleback, The Detroit Cobras and others.  Lady Ga Ga sang a techno version of Just Dance throughout my warm up, and it was a good start. 

I will be back on Sunday to report in on my next run, but will hopefully have my post up about meeting The Penguin and Coach Jenny tomorrow.  I didn't want to post about it until I have a chance to get the pictures off  my phone to include with it. Til Sunday...

It's a most spectacular day!

Yes, It's perfect!


Today, I got up at 6:15, and since I still didn't get a Metro Park permit, decided to just go "run" in my neighborhood.  It was wonderful!  I felt great.  My pace was not as fast as Friday - which is funny, because I realized half-way through that I should have gone to the bathroom before I headed out and I would have thought that would make me run a little faster!  Regardless, there were amazing post-storm clouds in the sky as the sun was rising and it was about 70 degrees with a little breeze.  Music was great - starting out with Queen V and then Joan Jett.  I wore one of my favorite t-shirts that  says "Screw Cancer" on the front and while I was out there reflected on the fact that 4 years ago today I was in the hospital having a large abdominal tumor removed and learning that I had cancer!  I couldn't have felt better this morning!


Just like on workdays, I didn't see anybody else out at that time of morning.  Just me, the robins (who were joyfully chirping) a bunny in a neighbor's yard, and the cat that gives me the dirty looks when I use his street - and even he didn't seem so grumpy this morning (I hope that didn't have anything to do with the feathers that I saw not too far from where he was hanging out).  When I got done with my 2 miles, I went home and got Roxie, our 100 lb. mutt, and we walked for another mile.  Later, we went out for breakfast and drove the route for the Detroit Free Press 5K to see what it was like.


I am so appreciative of all that I have.  Now cancer-free, I have the most wonderful husband and family, amazing friends (many of whom I spent yesterday evening with while watching a mildly ferocious storm with the biggest hail I've ever seen) and still another day off on this long holiday weekend.  I couldn't ask for more!  Later today I'm off to buy my Metro Park pass so I can run there tomorrow morning, then go back to work for a short week.


Today's run weather: 70 degrees, pretty humid, slightly breezy, and beautiful at 6:15 am (on a Sunday!)