It's hard to believe another year is approaching a close and I'm still running and still blogging about it. Before I post about my goals for 2013, I feel the need to asses 2012. Verdict? 2012 was a good year. Running Continue to run injury free in 2012. LISTEN to my body and visit my chiro as needed. I FINALLY seem to be doing well. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, and all that. Build my "base mileage" to at least 30 miles per week. Then consider various training options. I'm in the middle of a major mileage build right now - up to 38 miles per week, heading towards 60. Run a "balls to the wall, leave it all on the course, go right up to the puke threshold (maybe beyond)" 5k at the Love the Run You're with 5k in February. … [Read more...]
September in my rearview mirror
It's hard to believe that we are three quarters of the way through 2012. We are nearly one month into the school year. We've refinanced our house, I've worked a lot of hours, and the kids have kept us busy. I keep thinking "things will slow down soon", but somehow they never really do. So, I'm just taking things one day at a time. Running Continue to run injury free in 2012. LISTEN to my body and visit my chiro as needed. I seem to be running pain free. Sadly pain free continues to mean super slow and not a lot of miles. Build my "base mileage" to at least 30 miles per week. Then consider various training options. Bwahahaha - I haven't even managed 20 in who knows how long - I've stopped tracking and often run "naked." Run a … [Read more...]
Yoohoo! Wagon! Over here!
Virginia has a law about kids starting school before Labor Day, so my kids technically have one more week of summer. However, this morning, they start a full day Martial Arts camp. (Why, yes, I am nervous about Shoo learning how to fight with swords...) So, today our lives return to a schedule. I tend to be a very flexible, fly by the seat of my pants, sort of person, but when it comes to health and fitness, I do actually do well on a schedule. Now I just have to force my body back to reality. Here's how I'm planning to do it: Just do it. I know that sounds simplistic, but despite going to bed too late last night, I got up at my "school" time this morning. Yes, it was painful when the alarm went off, but shocking my system … [Read more...]
Halfway? Really?
If you are reading this post at MommyTrack, please realize that this post was borrowed without my permission. If you enjoy my material, please read it at my actual website. Thank you. The last few days have been sort of a surreal existence. Who knew that a 30ish minute thunderstorm could knock a region on its rear? So many here are still without power. Just yesterday morning, I went on a search for gas at 8 am. I ended up filling up one car at one station (using a debit card because their credit system was down.) I filled the other car at a different station using every bit of cash I had on me because they didn't have anything working except the pumps. Trees are still down - I had to find a new route to the airport to pick up my … [Read more...]
About those goals…
After I wrote Friday's post, it occurred to me that I had actually written a goal post for 2012. I had no memory of what I'd written, so I thought "hey, let me go see how I am doing on those." (Obviously I was really concerned about them, seeing as how I hadn't even thought about them since January. LOL) 2012 Goals Running Continue to run injury free in 2012. LISTEN to my body and visit my chiro as needed. Doing pretty good here. I'm seeing my chiro about every three weeks and I'm making it nearly that long without my calf freaking out. Build my "base mileage" to at least 30 miles per week. Then consider various training options. We'll give this goal a B. I've only hit 3o miles one week, but I've been consistently running … [Read more...]
Unfocused
Most of my life I've felt like I've been working towards a specific goal. There was always something. First, there was the goal of graduating near the top of my class and getting into a good college. Then there was the goal of getting through college and finding a job. Then getting into a top graduate school for my masters. Then I hit the work force. I was only in the full-time work force post graduate degree for about 6 years. But, man, I pushed hard those six years. My salary and level of responsibility increased quickly and I was well on my way to the career goals I set. Life has a way of pulling the rug out from under you though. My goals changed and my focus changed and eventually I found myself as a stay at home mom to … [Read more...]
New Year, New Me?
Yeah, not so much. I'm not really a "resolution" kind of girl. I mean, really? "Spend more time with family and friends?" (I see plenty of my kids thankyouverymuch) "Fit in Fitness?" (Think I've got that one covered.) "Get Organized?" (How 'bout we all just accept that I'm a train wreck and move on.)No, I'm not making resolutions.I am, however, making goals. SMART goals. Because you aren't going to get anywhere if you don't have a destination.I liked last year's "how not to have my head pop off from stress" style of goals. I'm a whole lot less stressed this year, but there's always room for improvement. So,without further ado, here are my 2012 goals.Running Continue to run injury free in … [Read more...]
Staying true to myself
I'm not a "keeping up with the Joneses" kind of girl. Anyone who knows me IRL knows that. I tend to zig when others zag. Beer Geek is even more like that.We live in a small house because we chose location over size. And, while a master bath or a stove that's not older than me might be nice, I don't really need much more than what we have (thankfully beer is a relatively cheap luxury item). I have a masters degree and had a very successful career before kids. I could easily get back into that, but have found that my "drive" to succeed in that way is gone. Now I want to do something that I enjoy, on my own schedule, the way I want to do it. When I ponder winning the lottery (which I never … [Read more...]
2010 Plans and Goals
2010 is a big year here. In May, Beer Geek and I will have been married 15 years. In August, I turn 40. To celebrate, we have some exciting plans.Big Plan #1 - We are going to Alaska. We honeymooned in Alaska and had a fabulous time. Now we are going to take the boys and hopefully spend two weeks exploring near Anchorage, likely the Kenai Peninsula and Denali National Park. My parents are considering going with us as well. I love doing cool stuff with my family and I will certainly appreciate being able to go out at least one night without the boys.Big Plan #2 - I'm going to run a spring marathon. The Marine Corps Marathon did not go quite as I had planned. I want to run another to see if I can train better and run smarter and … [Read more...]
Closing out the year
2009 was the first year I've ever set out really specific goals for running. I think they were fairly realistic, without being "easy", so I'm pretty happy that I was mostly successful.Run at least three half marathons, with the eventual goal of a sub-2 hour half. All done, with two of them at sub-2. I was even able to join the Half Fanatics because two of them were on consecutive weekends. Revised goal: Beat 1:30 at the Army 10 miler in October. I missed this goal by 49 seconds. I'm ok with that and it taught me a very important lesson - "Run your own race".Run races in at least three new states (but I'm aiming for 5).Blew this one away. Delaware, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine, and Illinois this year.Workout five times a week. … [Read more...]
Scaling back
Lately, long runs have become something I dread. Partly because they are long and a bit boring and partly because I have so many other things I could be doing with that time right now. They feel a lot like a chore. So, I'm not going to do them any more. OK, at least not for the remainder of December. I'm going to take a step back and not run anything over 7 miles and most of my runs will be closer to 4. I can do four miles between Beer Geek getting home and the time I need to start dinner. Shoo only has four more days of preschool before the holidays (ack!) and Jones' last day is December 23rd. I haven't done our annual calendar yet. All the Christmas cards are currently waiting for mailing labels and stamps. I'm mostly done shopping for … [Read more...]
The Forerunner is not an attractive bracelet…
Unfortunately, despite charging it last night, my garmin was not up for the 8 mile run today and crashed almost immediately. Grrr.Fortunately, the run was good despite my missing running buddy. I ran an approximately four mile loop and then a three mile loop and then one of my measured miles that I use for speed work. From what I can figure out from MapMyRun, I ran around 8.5 miles and averaged a 9:45ish pace. I did the last mile in 8:45!I haven't felt this strong for a long run in a long time. I made one major change - I ate more last night and then had a snack about 15 minutes before I ran this morning. Instead of feeling like the running dead, I felt great the whole time (well, except for a quick race to the bathroom at the end of … [Read more...]
