Holy crow! Where has this month gone? I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I need to post an update... I'll just have to catch up for the whole month :). For now, I'm just curious to know what you listen to while running or working out. I haven't run in a while. My excuses? My ankle. The icy paths. Whatever. I have been putting our Free Motion Elliptical to use though! I thought I'd share my playlist in hope you'd share yours with me. This is my new and improved list. I had to say goodbye (temporarily) to SexyBack, Lose Yourself, Pink, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and my others standbys... I needed to shake things up. So here it is:
I've really liked this list on shuffle even though it still has some of my old playlist songs. Mumford & Sons and Muse are new additions. Every time Uprising comes on it makes me grin and I want to clap-clap with every other beat... What gets you going? I'm still looking for new songs to add.
When I woke up this morning, I laid in bed trying to decide wether to close my eyes and go back to sleep, or get up and go for a run. I've been out of the habit of running for a while, since I rolled my ankle hiking Mt. Bierstadt. It's hard to get back to the point where it's easy to get up and go. Or well, to the point that it's easier to get out of bed to go running. I had to give myself a pep talk, or rather debate with myself. It went something like this...
You know you want to run a 5K before the end of the year...
But I was sleeping so well, I could get at least another half hour...
You'll sleep better tonight if you run this morning.
Maybe.
You know you'll feel great the rest of the day if you go.
Great, I probably won't be able to fall back asleep now.
Your Nike+ mini (screen saver) will stop whining.
Who cares, I'm deleting the stupid Nike+ mini
It will be awesomeness, the weather is perfect.
You won't meet your goals if you stay here.
Ugh. OK.
So, I did the hardest part and got up and got dressed. I ran. I didn't get a runner's high like I did last time, but it was a good run. It was the longest I've run in over a year - 25 minutes of running (or jogging depending on how you define it) straight. I feel good about it :). I'm so glad I got my butt in gear this morning and just DID IT.
When I went to sync up my iPhone with Nike+ afterwards, I saw this video posted on my friend's wall on facebook. I'm still thinking about it hours later, so I thought I'd share it here.
Talk about inspiring! The body is such an amazing thing. I love watching people learn this for themselves. Learn that they can do ANYTHING with determination. You can also check out his blog, Ben Does Life.
I'm a wannabe runner.
I couldn't run a mile until I was 29 years old. I never had the desire to.... and when I was younger I'd laugh at the idea of people running to run, and not because they were being chased. I have friends that are runners, and I'm not sure how it happened but they must have rubbed off on me. Or maybe I just wanted to defy turning 30, but I got the bug. I completed the Couch to 5K (C25K) training program, and then I ran my first 5K in January of 2008.
I'd like to say that I've been an avid runner ever since, but unfortunately, no. Though I had fallen in love with running, which for me become a therapy of sorts... I had some issues with my right knee after starting the One Hour Runner program, which I started because I wanted to run a faster 5K, and eventually a 10K. However, every time I hit about 4 miles, something funky happened to my knee and it made me back off... Then summer came with temperatures in the 90s/100s, I found some more excuses, and I pretty much stopped running altogether except for the occasional short run. I missed it. Really missed it. Then we moved to Colorado, and being so close to trails, I was excited to get back into running again. I wanted to try to strengthen up my knee, and go to a doctor if necessary to figure it out.
I thought I was gonna die on my first run. My heart was going to burst out of my chest. Darn altitude. Eventually I decided I should just re-do the C25K program and gradually work back up to running. It was all going great, and I was scoping out my next 5K when I rolled my ankle about a month ago. That was a huge bummer. I have a weak right ankle (which is most likely related to the knee issue I have), but it had been doing so well for a long time.
Earlier this week I returned to the program since I felt more confident about my ankle. I started where I left off, by repeating week 6 day 2 and was shocked by how awesome I felt. First of all I ran further (which means faster) than I had the last time, and I didn't feel like I was dying, in fact, I felt great! This was shocking to me since a) I hadn't ran in almost a month, and b) I had been expecting to struggle since I'd heard (from multiple sources) that stopping for more than a week and starting again, at altitude, you have to adjust again. All I can think of is that my hiking has kept me in better shape than I had thought. I have been hiking at around 8-10,000 ft so I'm guessing it helped keep me in some sort of condition, making running at ~5,500 ft not as difficult as it would have been... had I done nothing. Seriously, the body is amazing in how it is constantly adapting, and able to change. All we have to do is push ourselves.
Wow, this got long! Sorry for the rambling if you made it this far :). I guess that's what an inspiring video that makes me cry does to me!
Last weekend I participated in the 2010 Slacker Half Marathon. I say participate because I didn't do it for the race, but the scenery, and also to help condition my body for walking/hiking long distances. The Slacker starts in the beautiful Loveland Ski Area at 10,630 ft of elevation and the course ends downhill in downtown Georgetown at 8,400 ft. Here's a course description:
"The half marathon/relay begins on a dirt road at Loveland Ski Area and descends five miles to Bakerville. At this point, racers travel a paved road 4.5 miles to Silver Plume. From here, racers travel 3.5 miles of paved bike path and paved/dirt road to downtown Georgetown. The 4M begins at Silver Plume and travels 4 miles on paved bike path and road to the Town of Georgetown. These courses offer a fast race time for the serious runner and a scenic, fun route for the novice!"
What a great way to spend a Saturday morning! Here are some pictures that I took on my iPhone 4 (heart!) from the day... I should mention that most of these were taken during a quick pause in walking as I didn't want to stop for too long:
At the start line, waiting for the gun.
Past the 10 mile marker
Looking down on part of the Georgetown Loop Railroad
Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the finish. My husband was there along the route taking pictures with his DSLR but I haven't seen them yet. I'm sure he got some great pictures! Since my friend K and I were walking together we missed out on some of the after party festivities so we had our own party at Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs where we had mountain pies (Yukon is my fav, yum!) and Tommyknockers. That's my Jack Wacker Wheat Ale front and center. Mmm... Since the Tommyknocker Brewery is a couple of doors down from this Beau Jo's they have their beer on tap.
Perfect ending to a beautiful morning in the mountains! Here are some fun tips on how NOT to train or race a half marathon:
Wait until 10 days before the big day to start training (I got sick TWICE in the month before)
Stop at every water station and take two cups of water or gatorade (we were paranoid about the altitude and were not carrying water)
Use the potties at mile 5 and mile 9
Stop along the route to take pictures of the pretty scenery :)
I signed up for the 2010 SELF Challenge again this year, which started today. For the month 1 strength workout they have you download the video clip of all the moves from Exercise TV. What a find! They have free online workout videos, it's like FitTV but online! I looked them up on Hulu and they have episodes on there as well. WOOT! I used to record shows off of FitTV but since we moved and gave up cable/satellite TV I havn't found anything to replace them. It's actually one of the only things I missed about paying for cable/satellite (thanks to over the air HD, Netflix, and Hulu). Well not anymore!
Anyone else doing the SELF Challenge this year? It's not too late to start!
