Spooky running - It's October!

[VeganBikeChick]

Thank you so much, Emily. Your words are very inspirational and I appreciate your perspective!!

Yay to you for persevering (!!), and owie about your hands - crossing fingers that you heal quickly.

[emily_in_nc]

Thank you so much, Emily. Your words are very inspirational and I appreciate your perspective!!

Yay to you for persevering (!!), and owie about your hands - crossing fingers that you heal quickly.

Awww, thanks! Glad my words could make you feel a bit better about your efforts. I think you're doing just fine - excellent, in fact!

My hands are just fine today, thanks. At least I took my tumble on sand, not on pavement!

[Crankin]

I have found it harder to break any barriers in running than in any other sport I do. I chalk it up to the fact my body just doesn't like it. So, whatever I do, I am now happy with. Hey, I still sweat if I run 2.5 miles or 4 miles, no matter how slowly I run.
I ran one 5K race and I would prefer never to have that experience again, despite the fact I have run 5K distance many many times when I am just out there. My time of 34 minutes wasn't even that bad for a 95 degree day and just having come back from my tour in Spain 4 days earlier. I hated the race so much, I told my friend, who was running the event, at the finish line, "I hate you."

[OakLeaf]

VeganBikeChick, you're doing fine for just starting out. Anyone always does more in a race than in training - there's just a little switch that goes off somewhere in our heads! Just increase your run intervals and decrease the walk breaks, little by little, you'll be where you want to be.

Emily, ouch!! Hope your hands aren't too badly scraped.



Yesterday it was about 41° and raining, not hard, but a steady light rain, and it just felt so good to get out and run for the first time since Sunday! Normally I'm such a wuss about weather. Still, I just did three miles easy - not enough for my shoes to get soaked. I've run in soaked shoes and that is a whole 'nother puddle of misery.

I'll probably do another little jog today then ride tomorrow, when it's supposed to be sunny. I really want to carry this energy forward into a BQ, but I'm dithering over what my next marathon will be - where and when I'll have my best chance. I've pretty much eliminated Grandma's just because I really don't want to wait until June, and I think Disney is too soon at this point. Champaign Illinois is still in the running. Anyone run Myrtle Beach?

[Blueberry]

So I'm going to try to follow the quicker Beginner Triathlete plan....we'll see. I'll back up if I need to - but it's sort of what fit with what I was wanting to do.

Did workout 2 of week 2 today - but probably ran closer to 4 minutes. Managed an "interval" of 2:39 running. On grass. Breathing is hard - but everything else felt good. Perfect fall day with crunchy leaves.

Sore calves again.

[Jolt]

"Long" run today, road/trail combo, just over an hour (not sure of distance because of the trails). Sunny and high 50s--very nice running weather although the trails were pretty wet from the rain yesterday morning/Wednesday.

[skhill]

Today was supposed to be a long run-- but about 1.5 miles in, I splashed through a puddle in the shadows. It was only 35F, cold for dry VFFs even with socks, but with a wet one... So I turned around, headed for home, planning on changing shoes and running more. Somehow it didn't happen. So just 3 miles today.

[rubysoho]

just got back from a forty-five minute trail run/walk (mostly run, yay!). I took my dog and this was our best run together so far (she can be a spaz and instead of my run being zen time it is just frustrating). I think it helped that we were on a wooded trail so the path focused her some. The water table is still pretty high so I am going to start a thread on some shoe options. I either need something water proof or a solution to cut the smell my shoes are begining to have. (ewww!)

Anyway, I am so happy the cold weather has cut back on the spider webs and the trails aren't so overgrown. I looooooove running on these trails.

[jessmarimba]

Woke up this morning and felt kinda blah. Met my group, decided to play it by ear (theoretically, my taper schedule should be 12-10-8 or 6). Started running and felt ok enough, so I went for 12. Rationale being, if I didn't do it today, I probably wouldn't feel like it later.

Got it done a little slower than I'd hoped for, but I feel like crap. I've been in bed all day. I think it's just a cold but the soreness from the run isn't helping my mood! If I could do my run today fast enough to finish a half in 2:10, surely dropping 5,000 feet in altitude and not feeling sick can wipe a few minutes off my time, right?

[Blueberry]

Beautiful weather! Love it!!

Did Week 2, Workout 3: except ran more than I was supposed to - 6 minutes of running. Not getting easier - 1 minute of running has me completely out of breath and with a rocketing heart rate. I'm sure it will get easier.

I hold at this level for a while it looks like (2 weeks) - I am loving running with the crunching leaves!!

[OakLeaf]

I just did five today. I was planning on running longer, but I'm pretty bummed out today, plus my ride yesterday showed me that I'm not 100% recovered from the half marathon yet. So just a jog to the top of the fifth hill and back - it was a beautiful day (my laundry actually dried completely!) and it felt good to get out.

[indysteel]

Did three miles today. This was only my second run since getting my thyroid back to some semblance of normal. I felt pretty good. I took a few breathers but I didn't feel as out of breath as I felt last spring when my thyroid was hyperactive. With cooler weather, I'm hoping to get back onto the swing of it.

[VeganBikeChick]

Did my first 4 miler today. 2 walk breaks, but pretty awesome for only having done this a little over a month.

Now I'm looking into heart rate monitors (should probably be in another thread) but does anyone have suggestions? Don't need GPS, just for recreational use. Have been looking at the Suunto M4.

[Blueberry]

I would look at the Garmin FR60 - it has a lot of features (and no GPS). Works well for bikes too.

[limewave]

DH and I did a Haunted Trail Adv. Saturday night that was a cross between a trail run 5k and an Adventure Race. The race took place at nightfall in the woods on the lighted ski trails. Although, "lighted" trails is a little deceptiive, without snow on the ground to reflect the light, it was much darker than I anticipated--flashlights were not allowed.

There were over 300 participants for this first time event, just about everyone had on costumes. Mostly everyone was in teams of 2 people. And about half of the participants were under 17! Yay!

Everyone got a map of the ski trails. There were 6 checkpoints on the map that you had to find and then have your "pass card" punched (to prove you were actually there). You chose your own route and you could get the checkpoints in any order.

The trails were haunted along the way with werewolves, a guy with a chainsaw, people hiding in the dark that would crawl out and your legs. They did a good job. The checkpoints were "haunted destinations." One was a graveyard with dead people crawling out of open graves, a witches lair, a butcher house . . . it sounds creepy and it was in a way just b/c you're in the woods in the dark, but the even twas a fundraiser for a junior high program--so it wasn't over-the-top.

DH and I did really awesome, we took an uncoventional route and, DH knowing some shortcuts, was able to save us a chunk of time. Although, the shortcut was not part of the lighted trails so it was slow going. We were by ourselves for the first 5 minutes or so and it was really quiet running through the woods. Then suddenly a guy, dressed all in black with red glowing eyes jumped out of a tree and grabbed DH. That was the scariest part. We knew SOMETHING was coming, but we did not expect that at all!

We got to the last checkpoint and I double-checked our pass card and realized that one of the punches did not go all the way through our pass card!!!! And it was the station that was on top of the highest ski hill!!!! We took off in a sprint . . . but DH got turned around and didn't check the map. We ended up going in the opposite direction.

After all of that, we ran the course twice. If we hadn't of made that silly mistake, we would have won the race. I don't think either one of us was "out-to-win," we were just there to have fun. And it was a blast!

The after party was great too. For $25 we got a long sleeve t-shirt, water bottle, glow sticks/necklaces, Pizza, brownies, and Oktoberfest beer from a local brewery. There were bonfires and scary movies playing outside.

It was a lot of fun. I think Zoom-Zoom should do this race next year with her DH You could wear a zombie costume!

Here's little video from the race on youtube.