Hoka 10k 2018

Hoka 10k 2018

Saturday, February 21, 2015

When Running Brings Out The Crazy

Running has been bringing out a lot of inner crazy lately. About a week ago, I ran with three beautiful ladies (Jen, Stacey, Katie) in the middle of the day. A guy nearly ran us over then started yelling at us about breaking the law because we were running on the road. Don't let me forget to mention that running on the road is NOT illegal and that this guy was being a distracted driver. When I saw him, his face was down, looking towards the middle console in the car. Of course, in true Lisa nature, I started yelling at him about his jackassery. The d-bag had the nerve to turn around in someone's driveway and follow us! We told him we were going to call the cops on him and took a pic of his license plate. He yelled back saying he would call the cops on us! He was a true idiot. The rest was a blur but it ended up giving us some entertainment.
 
A couple of days later, my friends and I demonstrated our crazy by running in sub zero windchills for 7.5 or 15 miles. I know I've been running in the cold a lot the past 3 or so months but don't get the idea that I like it! Which leads me to my latest story of crazy...
 
I've been on the treadmill ALL WEEK. I really do prefer to run outside, but this week has been awful. After the race on Sunday, I'm over this snow and these temps. I knew that I would have to do my long run (18 miles this week) outside because there is absolutely no way I can run that far on a treadmill. I would have to be extremely desperate.
 
As usual, I messaged with my long run girls about our plan for the week. We had a plan...until someone checked the forecast. Temps looked great, but the snow precipitation percentage was AWFUL! 90+% from 5 a.m. until noon was the prediction at that time. We went through several potential scenarios and thought we came up with our final plan. Jackie and I were going to start at 5:30 a.m. and just deal with the snow until the YMCA opened at 7a.m. then finish on the treadmill. I know it could be a lot worse than snow but I REALLY did not want to deal with it.

As things progressed, I made a joke about waking up at midnight and running before the snow started. That actually got us to thinking...What if we ran after our jewelry party?! (Jackie's idea...she's the crazier one) Without hesitation, I said, "I would do it." Oh dear Lord, we are idiots.

Although there was some hesitation throughout the night, we decided to wear our running clothes to the party so we wouldn't change our minds at the last minute. The party ended, and we headed to the rec center in Westerville. There's a 6 miles loop of which I'm very familiar. I knew it was on city streets and sidewalks. I wanted to avoid the creepy wooded trails that late at night. We decided to run the loop 3 times to get in our 18. We had to deal with snowy sidewalks the first loop so we decided to run on the streets for the other loops. Running on Polaris Parkway, Cleveland Avenue and County Line Road sounds a little scary but we did single file when cars passed. Drivers were actually very nice about it and moved over for the most part. No honks so I'm assuming we didn't piss anyone off!

I forgot my Garmin and Jackie's watch is usually off by a quarter to half mile and approximately 10 seconds per mile. With that being said, I know we got progressively faster, which was the goal, and Jackie set her long run record! Emotions were high the last 3 miles. I, for whatever reason, started dry heaving and my legs were cramping up a little (our hydration froze so I probably needed water/Gatorade...it was also frickin' freezing so I'm sure my muscles were in shock). I almost started crying  the last mile! Not because of pain, I felt good considering the situation, but because we were about to finish 18 miles! I felt the same way I feel when I run the full marathons. Complete emotion towards the end.

I was never so glad to be finished. My only regret is that we didn't start 45 minutes later because we ended around 12:15 a.m. and Schneider's opens at 1 a.m.! Great job to my girl, Jackie. I can't believe we did it...wait, yes I can! I knew we would make that happen!
 
 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

CRRC Winter Run 2015- 15 miler

Now that some of the excitement has worn off, I can reflect and give my favorite people an update on my race. This race wasn't part of my original plan for the first half of the year. I was supposed to be part of a marathon relay team for the Last Chance for Boston race this coming weekend. When that fell through, this race sort of fell upon my lap. I heard about it's challenges (the winter weather, the hills), but I also heard about the sweeeet perks (coffee mug, hot chocolate, bragging rights). It seemed like a fair trade off.

Let me set the scene for you. Visually, it looked like we were in the middle of nowhere...kind of like home for me. Good ole country highways, sporadically placed homes, dead possums. This race started at 1 p.m. and the HIGH was single digit with wind chills of at least -10 degrees. Sounds fun already, huh?! Apparently the wind was blowing pretty good that day, too. There was leftover snow from the day before but the roads were actually pretty sturdy. Only a couple of slick spots.
 
Oh! I almost forgot...HILLS! I heard all of the horror stories about the hills on this course so I was definitely expecting the worst. I'm no stranger to hills. My first full marathon was basically 26.2 miles of hills...and not the weenie kind. I also lived in Nashville where hills are no strangers. I think the fact that I expected the worst was to my advantage. I was never scared of what may lie ahead, but I was curious.
 
The course was a 7.5 mile loop that we ran twice. Most people I spoke with that were familiar with this course thought the last few miles of the loop were the most challenging. For me, I thought the first three miles were the worst! The very beginning was a gradual incline. I started much slower than my goal pace but it was still so challenging. The last thing I wanted was for my warm up miles to be a gradual uphill! Once I got warmed up, I was ready to go!
 
I'm going to be straight up honest because I don't care about being judged when it comes to my running times, but I do want people to know that we all fail and don't meet our expectations at some point (which is why I'm sharing): My initial goal, prior to seeing the weather report, was to average an 8 minute mile. My goal for the DC half is 1:40 (7:38 average, I believe) so I felt, based on my training, that 8 minute miles were realistic. Well, that changed quickly! I didn't meet my time goal but I did run the race in 2:08:40 (average mile pace per official results was 8:35, my GPS watch showed 15.12 miles which was 8:31 average).
 
I know that many things influence one's outcome so I always set a second goal. For this race, I had two additional goals: 1) Try to win my age group. 2) For my BFF, Jackie, to be top three overall. Whether she wanted it or not, I made that her goal! LOL. I might not have met my time goal, but I did (with the help of Jackie) meet the other goal. Jackie placed 3rd overall (I was so pumped for her!!!) and that bumped me to the top of my age group.

I'll be honest, yet again...because of the elements, a lot of people either dropped out of the 15 miler or just switched to a shorter distance. I think there were only 7 female runners to do the 15 miler. Despite that, I'm still proud of my result and award because, in my heart, I feel that would have been the outcome anyway.
 
I was so excited for all of my friends who braved the weather to run this race. It was definitely an accomplishment! Because of it, I'm now on a cold strike and will stick to the treadmill until my long run on Saturday.
 
What I learned from this race: I will be going back to this course over the next several weeks to practice hills for the Flying Pig Full. I also confirmed for the bazillionth time that I totally suck at finishing a race. That last 1-2 miles of a long race always gets me! I'm pretty sure my idol,
Amanda, promised to help me with that ;)

My focus now goes to the DC half...March 14th!!! After a day of complete rest and a couple days of easy pace runs, I'll be ready to hit the speed workout with my sights set on the next goal! Thanks for everyone's support!!!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Self seeking and Easily Angered

OBVIOUSLY, I'm going through some things lately! I'm in a total funk (physically and mentally) and I just don't feel like myself. Ugh. Anyway, usually when that happens it's because I'm a little more distant from The Lord than I usually am (this time it's also because post pregnancy and breastfeeding hormones have taken over me!).
 
One of my issues is that I'm letting certain peoples' actions get me down. I'm thinking about these things A LOT and I can't get them out of my brain. It got to the point that I've wanted to totally shut this stuff out of my life in order to stop thinking about it.  I've taken steps towards doing this so maybe it will just take time.
 
One of the ways I've tried to deal with this situation is by showing love despite the actions I feel are wrong. People do wrong, I show love anyway. I mean, I'd want others to do the same for me. In fact, I've had moments the past couple of weeks that I've let things bother me to the point that I blow and act sarcastic, passive aggressive, etc. I would like to think I'd be forgiven and loved despite my moments of weakness.
 
Here's where I struggle. When I see an ongoing pattern in someone(s) and that pattern has been there for what seems like FOREVER, you start to wonder how you are supposed to deal with it. How can you keep loving someone(s) that just doesn't change?!
 
Then I think about how Jesus loves me. I'm that person that doesn't seem to change. I keep doing the same crap over and over but HE LOVES ME and has for 32 years and then some. I took the following quote from the devotional I read today:
 
"The only way to truly impact the people within our sphere of influence is to love them beyond what is humanly possible. By doing so, we show them Jesus..."
 
Why is that so hard?! I'm trying SO HARD  to make this happen but it is not easy. Ugh. If I continue to show love to these people, how will they know what they are doing and how they need to change?! This is my struggle. How to show love even though I feel people need to change a pattern in their life.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

How to Entertain Yourself While Running 12 Miles Solo

Sometimes, life happens and you can't do your long run with friends. Although I love my solo runs, I've come to enjoy doing my long run with my girls. It just makes the time go by faster. Yesterday, I set off with a positive attitude but wasn't sure how Ludacris Radio on Pandora was gonna get me through this 12 miler alone.
As I was running, since most of the route was familiar to me, I decided to just soak in my surroundings and enjoy (all while trying to keep that goal pace that is slower than I'm used to running my long runs). From all of that soaking in of my wonderful city of Gahanna, I decided my run was like it's own adventure...like a book. So, to entertain myself, I decided each mile was a different chapter. Each would get its own title to earn significance in my run. Before you knock my weirdness, you should try it! I dare you to go on a long solo run and do the same! :)
 
Without further ado, here are my chapters:



M1 Warm up while mentally preparing for the Morse Rd hill
  • I wasn't skurred or anything ;) I just knew it was coming and that I'd be tempted to stop by the taco place instead of running up the hill. So maybe I was mentally preparing not to stop and get food instead.

M2 The Hill
  • I like this hill. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's easy. Today, moderate. I've never been one to look up elevation charts but I looked up this one last night. It's approx. a 132ft climb over approx. 1.25 miles. Those numbers mean nothing to me but they might to you (and if they mean something, please tell me what that is!).

M3 Finish that hill + Sweet relief
  • There is nothing more awesome (actually there are a lot of things more awesome) than the feeling you get after reaching the top of a hill. That feeling your body gets when the ground flattens and you can breathe again.

M4 Have your best running form as you run by Second Sole
  • Every time I run by Second Sole (or any other sports place for that matter), I feel the need to straighten up my posture, run with perfect form, and, in general, look awesome...kind of like I try to do when I pass a camera during a race except not look as stupid as I tend to do! Anyone else do that?!

M5 Dodge cars and splash in puddles when they (the cars) don't move
  • I was on Johnstown Rd. in this section where it turns into Mill Street. There is no sidewalk until you get to Creekside and the street is curvy. I was being more cautious in this section because of the cars. I was doing a great job of using my agility skills to avoid puddles until one stupid car decided it wasn't going to move over for me (even though there was no other car around). My dang right foot got wet just in time for a gradual uphill section.

M6 I heart Creekside
  • My thoughts went as follows: "OH! I could go for a Local Cantina margarita right now; get out of my way person who just left the bar and didn't buy me a drink...if I turn right, I could go to Whit's...but it doesn't open until Monday!! BLAH! No win all the way around. Focus, Lisa. You are half way through this run." Safe to say that I'm random.

M7 T Pain's Booty Wurk aka my fastest mile
  • I don't have to elaborate too much here. If you don't know the song, look it up and listen. We do this one in Hip Hop Fitness and it was so hard for me not to stop and do the routine in the middle of Gahanna. So, instead, I decided to run a faster mile. It helped that it was slightly downhill.

M8 Another Mother Runner, a skunk smell, and more hills
  • It might not have been a mom, but she looked of mom age...I'd like to think she was a mom cuz I got all excited. Then I smelled a skunk just before we passed each other. She probably thought I had issues based on my face....wait, did she think I smelled like a skunk. Oh well, I need to conquer these shorter steeper hills so I can't worry about that.

M9 Familiar territory
  • Kind of a boring mile.

M10 All about gettin' low
  • "How low can you go?" asked Luda. I responded by telling him this isn't the mile in which I will show how low I can go. Then the Ying Yang Twins kept pressuring me to "Get Low"...until the sweat drop down...well, you know the rest.

M11 Envision that finish
  • ...and look like you're not tired as you pass the fire station (just like when you passed Second Sole)

M12 I can see my house!
  • Literally, I could see my house in the distance for most of this mile. I'm not sure if that was motivating or annoying. I do know that I was super happy to be there when I finally arrived. Yay for 12 solo miles on a gorgeous day :)

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Follow Up On My "C.U.T.E" Post

I'm still in my funk but I've taken some action...
 
Tuesday evening, the same day I typed the C.U.T.E.  post, I went to bed at 8 p.m.! What?! No, I did not actually fall asleep at that time but I did go to bed, turn off the lights and the T.V., shut off my phone, and cuddled with my huggy pillow. It took me some time to fall asleep but I felt so relaxed. I didn't do crap around the house but, guess what? We were all alive the next day! I didn't go to bed so early last night but it was nice to make it happen one time.
 
The nausea...it continues. I thought, just in case, I would take a pregnancy test. Of course, it was negative. I then decided the culprit must be my birth control pill. I called my MD and had them phone me in a new script. Fingers crossed that this helps. It will be a week and a half before I can start the new pill.
 
Running...it's so weird because my legs/lungs feel good but my dang belly feels awful the last few days. Fortunately, I'm racing next weekend so my miles the next few days will decrease so maybe this is perfect timing (I'm trying to stay positive!!).
 
I'm still really down about the lack of time I feel I have with James during the week. I've received some good ideas to help decrease what I have to do during the week to free up time for me to spend with my boy.
 
Cheers to a short work day on Friday and a weekend with my boys to look forward to :)
 


Tuesday, February 3, 2015

C.U.T.E.

Completely (C), utterly (U), and totally (T) exhausted (E)...that's me. I'm in some form of a major funk this week. I'm nauseous ALL THE TIME (please don't ask me if I'm pregnant...I might have to throat punch you) and I can't seem to sleep.
 
Sunday, I was so tired that I could have fallen asleep at 7pm and been happy. When 10pm rolled around and I could actually make the bed thing happen, I wasn't able to fall asleep. I seriously stared into the wild yonder for 3 HOURS!!! Yes, you read that right. I finally went to the couch at 1am and probably fell asleep by 1:30. It happened again last night but I wasn't up as late. I was supposed to get up and run at they gym but that didn't happen.
 
That's another part of my funk...running. I think I've finally hit my limit of early mornings. I'm now understanding why I always hibernate from running in the winter (or run on the treadmill). These 3:45 to 4 am wake up calls during the week are killing me. Then I turn around and get up anytime between 5 and 6 am on the weekends. WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF?! If it weren't for the friendships and the running goals, my butt would be SO HAPPY to "sleep in" until 7 or 730!
 
I don't know what I need right now. Encouragement, maybe? A race to prove that this is all worth it? I run early so it won't take time away from Mr. and Baby Boo.
 
Weeks are the hardest because, when I get home, it's go, go, go. Start dinner, put away crap from the day, prep crap for the next day, eat dinner with my family (the only time I get to sit and have quality interaction with James until he goes to bed), do chores (Boo helps, of course), and put baby to bed. If I'm lucky, I get to have extra play time with James.  On really fun nights, I have documentation to do for work after James goes to bed.
 
I feel like a lousy mother/wife/etc. Life can't be all about doing meaningless things that are necessary. I don't know what I'm asking for by typing all of this. I just know that I always feel better when I get it out.
 
I missed my run this morning because I was C.U.T.E. so I'll head to the gym after work and hope for the best.